Revelation 13 starts with the action already happening. Satan's on the shore waiting for the beast to come out of the sea. I'm Dr. Fred. You're listening to another episode of Steady Grow Now. Welcome to Study, Grow, Know, where we discuss theology, prophecy, and current political issues from a conservative biblical perspective. Here's your host, Dr. Fred DeRuvo. Hi, and welcome to another episode of Study, Grow, Know. We're in Revelation 13 today, still in the same series, Rome Rising, based on the book I wrote, of course, all of that based on scripture. Let's take a look at Revelation 13 Verses 1 through 6. It's kind of where we left off last time. And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. And on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority. I saw one of his heads, as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed, and followed after the beast. They worshipped the dragon, because he gave his authority to the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war against him? it was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act for 42 months was given to him and he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle that is those who dwell in heaven and again that is revelation 13 the first six verses and what we need to realize there are a number of things very important there's quite a there's quite a bit happening But by now, much of it should hopefully strike familiar chords with us, or with you, because of what we've already gone over. And hopefully you've been following me along with this particular series. This is actually number 26 in this series, and we've still got a ways to go. So we're going to be on this series for a bit yet. And I would suggest that you start at the beginning. Don't just jump into the middle. But if you do jump in the middle, you've got some catching up to do. Now as we know, the dragon is standing on the seashore and he and John are seeing the same scene unfold. And we're talking of course about John the Apostle and the dragon is a representative or represents Satan. Now they're both watching and immediately A beast rises out of the sea. Now this particular beast, as described by John, has seven heads and ten horns. We're familiar with the ten horns. The ten horns are the same as the ten toes. We've gone over the ten horns and how the little horn, the eleventh, rises up among the ten. Three of the ten horns are taken out or uprooted, and so this little horn that was the eleventh becomes the eighth. Now beyond this, the beast's horns wear diadems, or crowns. And let's take a minute to discuss this before we move on. Recall from the last chapter, the last previous number of episodes in which we talked about Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 7, we learned that one of the beast referenced in Daniel 7 had four heads. And we learned that this was a reference to the Grecian Empire after Alexander had died, and four of his generals took over that empire, with each taking a fourth of the kingdom to control. Hopefully you remember that. It was still the Grecian Empire, though. Now it just took four individuals to control the empire, whereas before, with Alexander, it was just him. Well, why does this chapter in Revelation 13 talk about a beast having seven heads? That's kind of strange. Where did we get seven? Well, simply put, this beast that comes up out of the sea at this point is a conglomeration of all the empires that came before the fourth empire. The only empire missing from this picture, because it's not part of the beast, is the Messianic Kingdom, which is the rock that's made without hands and crashes into the feet of the statue. This is going to be the messianic kingdom which is instituted when the Lord Jesus physically returns at the end of the tribulation period and at the end of this current age in which we live. It's important to understand that the Bible teaches that Jesus will return physically, though a popular belief today is that he will return spiritually. And in fact, many say he has already done that. I fully disagree with that. I don't believe that that is part of what Scripture teaches. And in order to arrive at that particular position, one has to literally allegorize the Scriptures. See what I did there? Literally allegorize the Scriptures. Well, the problem with this view, as I mentioned, is it's just not supported in Scripture. And if Scripture is allowed to interpret itself, and if the Bible is understood in its most plain, ordinary sense, like we understand average, normal, everyday conversation, then it is It's really hard, maybe impossible, to get that sense out of Scripture. Yet many people believe it. For instance, one of the best proofs that Jesus will return physically, not spiritually, is found in His own words in Matthew 24. Here in the Olivet Discourse, Jesus points out many of the things that are going to take place that lead up to the time of His physical return. And then He actually speaks about His physical return in Matthew chapter 24 verses 29 through 31. And it says this, But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds in the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other. It seems pretty obvious to me that Jesus is talking about His physical return. Every eye will see Him. And then notice after the tribulation, the sign of the Son of Man will appear. And what is that sign? Well, the actual physical return of Jesus Himself is highlighted here. That's the sign. His return will herald a new age and His second coming will be seen by everyone. All the tribes of the earth will mourn. Jesus speaks of the fact that He will be returning to this earth after the tribulation of the coming days. Now some people, I believe erroneously, think that this refers to the AD 70 event when Roman armies surrounded and destroyed Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple. Yeah, that was certainly God's judgment on the nation of Israel for rejecting Jesus, the Messiah. However, He did not return in any sense at that time, though people believe He returned spiritually. You know what? God is here spiritually and has always been here spiritually, whether it's the Hebrew Bible, Old Testament, or the New Testament. God has never completely removed His presence from this earth in a spiritual sense. He did not return in any sense at that time. There is no such thing in the Bible as a spiritual returning of God. God is always here. He is always part of His creation in the sense that He upholds it all the time, physically and spiritually. Now for further proof, we only need to turn to Acts chapter 1. Here Jesus gives his followers final instructions. Then he is taken up to heaven and hidden in the clouds, while the men are still standing there, looking up into the sky, just as you and I would be doing. two other quote-unquote men who turn out to be angels come along and ask them why they're looking up in the sky. Here's the exact words, Acts 1.11. Listen carefully. Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. That's one verse. Verse 11. Now it's an interesting question they ask. It's a bit rhetorical. But notice they answer it before the disciples get a chance to even respond. The angels tell the men that this very same Jesus, who was taken up into heaven, will return exactly the way he left. How did he leave? He left physically. There's no other way to interpret this than taking it to mean that Jesus will return physically as well. This verse, coupled with Jesus's own words about his own return, not to mention numerous passages in the Old Testament as well as the New, point out that his return will be seen by every eye on earth. It will not be an invisible spiritual return. Jesus himself said, you know, implied that he's coming back physically. The angels verified that by saying, look, the Jesus that you just saw, physically floating up to the sky, then being hidden in the clouds, is going to come the same way when he returns. In the clouds, physically, every eye will see him in the sky, and then he will come to earth. That is so plain. that is so plain and only those people who want to allegorize scripture arrive at a different conclusion. Now, once Jesus returns physically, he will immediately begin preparations to set up his own kingdom on earth. And that kingdom will completely erase and replace all previous human kingdoms. And Jesus at that point will take up his throne in Jerusalem on his father's throne Humanly speaking, David. Now the beast that John sees, coming out of the sea, and the sea here represents nations. It represents all the previous empires that have come, starting with Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon kingdom. And let's take a closer look so we fully understand where the seven heads come from, because we've only really talked about four beasts, heavenly. Let's look at it. We certainly need to understand this part of things, because if we don't, we will wrongly interpret this or other areas of Scripture. And once we see the meaning, which is not that hard to discern at all, then all of a sudden it's like one of those, oh, gotcha moments, because I get it. I see where it's coming from. Now, in my book I have on page 123 an illustration which I created to help draw a picture of what's going on here. And if you're like me, as I've said this before, if you're a visual learner, illustrations like this help. The four original beasts of Daniel 2 each had one head. The Babylonian Kingdom, the Medo-Persian Kingdom, the Grecian Kingdom, and the Roman Kingdom. Each beast had one head. It isn't until later, Daniel 7, Revelation 13, that we start getting more heads in here and it can be a little bit confusing. But together there were four beasts which represented four empires and if each had one head that would make a total of four heads. Now we also have the illustration that I put in my book on page 109. that highlights specifically the third beast, which is Greece, and shows how it became a beast with four heads. And let me remind you Note that after Alexander's death at the age of 32, since he had no legitimate heir, his empire was divided, though it remained the Grecian Empire in its entirety, but areas or sections of that empire were divided so that one general could rule one part of it, another general would rule another part of it, a third would rule another part, and the fourth would rule the final part. What was once a beast with one head now becomes, after Alexander's death, a beast with four separate heads. And Daniel 7 references these as four horns. And we've talked about the fact that in Scripture, horns often refers to and means a ruler, a king, someone ruling with authority. But all the horns are applied to the same beast, which I find fascinating. So the original four heads, one for each beast, then became a total of seven heads after Alexander's death. Babylon had one head. Medo-Persia had one head, because each ruler ruled separately, one successively. There was a little bit of an overlap, but still, the two rulers ruled separately. The Grecian Empire now had four heads, and the Roman Empire had one head. This provided a grand total of seven heads that we see in the book of Revelation 13. We also need to remember that when Daniel saw these beasts, he lived during the time of Babylon and into the Medo-Persian empires. Much of Nebuchadnezzar's statue was yet in the future. And that is our show for today. I want to thank you so much for joining me. And I invite you back next time. And until we meet again, I pray that the Lord will open your eyes to show you how blessed you are. You've been listening to Study, Grow, Know with Dr. Fred DeRubo. Please join us each week for new broadcasts that deal with theology, prophecy and political issues from a biblical conservative perspective.