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“Today it is more certain than ever that apocalyptic was a factor that greatly influenced the thought and intellectual world of primitive Christianity”. (Roloff 5) The Book of Revelation is the last book in the New Testament and was written by a man named “John” who was exiled by the Roman government to a penal colony, the island of Patmos, because of his beliefs in Christ. While on the island, he experienced a series of visions, described in the Book of Revelation. The writings in the Book of Revelation are addressed to churches that were, at the time, experiencing or were threatened by persecution from Rome because they were not following the government. For this reason, some believe the Book of Revelation was written in code language, much of which was taken from other parts of the Bible. The book also illustrates the events that occur before and during the second coming of Christ. The events are exclaimed through code and weird symbolism, such as, monsters, numerology, and mythic battles. This symbolism is also used in Dan 7:2-8 to describe the apocalypse. In Revelation 13:1-18 there are some interesting versus that can be looked at in much greater detail in regards to the two beasts, the seven heads, the mortal wound, as well as the Saints and the dragon. Revelation 13 starts out by delivering the beast from the sea and stating: And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with the crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. (Collin 2325) The first beast is depicted as having seven heads and being a mismatched creature with the feet of a bear, the mouth of a lion, and the body of a leopard. Its seven heads each have crowns which are a form of leadership and rule over others. Back in the day of these writings only kings and the individuals who were seated in heaven with God. These crowns instilled an egotistical attitude into the beast; an attitude that also arose from the power that was instilled into it from the dragon (Revelation13:4). The beast’s self-conceited attitude was even further inflated by the fact that everyone worshiped in, except for the saints (Revelation 13:7-8). The power that was instilled in this beast gave it the ability to conduct war on saints and rule every tribe and language. Nevertheless this power that was granted to the beast was of limited time, forty-two months. However, this beast that is described coincides with the beast that Daniel described in 7:1-8.
Approximate Word count = 1879
Approximate Pages = 7.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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