5 A mouth speaking great things and blasphemy was given to him. Authority to continue for forty-two months was given to him.
speaking arrogant words and blasphemies – here we can go back to Dan 7:8, Dan 7:20; Dan 11:36-37; and 2 Thess 2:4.
The beast is a religious/political power and has “a voice.” Satan speaks to the world through his representative, the Bishop of Rome.
authority to act for 42 months – we have shown to be from 193 to 1471 (1278 days/years). Dan 7:25 told us the “saints were given into his hand for time, times and half a time” – 42 months.
Jesus Christ established the true teachings of the Church in three and a half years (42 months). The beast, or “antichrist,” meaning “substitute Christ,” is a figurative person, represented by the Pope. He established false teachings over a period of three and a half years, which are 1278 days as years. (Days are as years throughout Daniel and Revelation).
The Spirit of Christ was “manifest in the flesh” in Jesus Christ. We might say that the Spirit of the Antichrist, “the lawless one” (2 Thess 2:8), was manifest in the flesh in the Bishop of Rome. The Bishop of Rome would later call himself “Vicarius Christi” in Latin, meaning “substitute Christ,” which translated in Greek is “antichrist.”