1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads, blasphemous names.
And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore – the sea represents man’s salvation. The dragon, Satan, who was cast down in Rev 12:13, waits on the seashore for the beast to appear. The beast who is about to appear, will keep men away from the relationship God desires, resulting in man’s eternal destruction.
We have now passed the year 313. Let us recapitulate what happened in Revelation Chapter 12, as explained by Daniel 9:26.
In Daniel 9:26 we learned that the “people of the ruler that is to come.
① “shall destroy the city” (A.D. 70; in Luke 21:24 and Rev 11:2, ‘the city’ that Daniel mentions is equated to the New Jerusalem, with the same meaning as ‘the sanctuary’)
② “and the sanctuary” (A.D. 193, the abomination of desolation, Rev 12:14)
③ “and the end of it shall be with a flood” (to 313, the Great Persecution, Rev 12:15)
④ “And till the end of the war desolations are determined.” (Rev 12:17, we are now about to describe that war.)
a beast – as mentioned, at Rev 12:3, the four beasts of Daniel were described as four kings and four kingdoms. As a King, the fourth beast of Daniel represents Satan, the Dragon. The fourth kingdom, as John describes in Rev 13:18 is the kingdom of an “anthropos” a race of men, who are the Latins, Latienos, 666.
The kingdom of the Latins will continue through the power of the bishop of Rome, as described in Rev 13:3, “one of the heads was as slain, and his fatal wound was healed.” The Roman Empire fell through the Gothic War of 376-382, but the power of Latins continued through an alliance of the bishop of Rome and the Kings of Europe. Revelation 13 describes the power of the Latin beast that was exercised through the Bishop of Rome. This is he whom Jesus describes as “standing in the holy place” (Matt 24:25), the one who Paul says “takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God” (2 Thess 2:4). Daniel said, “he shall magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper” (Dan 11:36).
coming up out of the sea – this expression brings us back to Daniel 7:3: “four beasts came out from the sea.” In verse 2, we will only see three of the four beasts, because Rome has fallen.
having ten horns and seven heads – these are the ten horns and seven heads described more clearly in Chapter 17.
on the horns were ten diadems – the diadems were on the heads in Rev 12:3, but now power of the beast has now shifted to the ten horns. As explained clearly in Daniel 7:24, these ten horns are the ten European states that came out of Rome, and gave the beast its power.
The Roman Empire fell through the Gothic War of AD 376 – 382. Now we are in the fourth century. The fourth century was very significant for a few events. In 325, the “universal” or Catholic Church was established through the Nicene Creed. The head of the “universal church” would be the Bishop of Rome who would be called the Pope. In 325, the pope named Sunday, “the Lord’s Day.” The Nicene Creed of 325, began the Trinity doctrine, which was completed by the Nicene-Constantinople Creed of 381.
on its heads were blasphemous names – this beast was represented by the Pope, who took names on himself, such as “Christ on earth,” and “Father.” And “Our lord god the Pope.” For example, on April 30, 1922, before cardinals, bishops, priests, boys, and girls who bowed their knees before him, Pope Pius XI, said: “you know that I am the Holy Father, the representative of God on the earth, the Vicar of Christ, which means I am God on the earth.”– Pope Pius XI, quoted in the Bulwark, October, 1922, p. 104.