Day 219

I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marvelled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast. They worshipped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshipped the beast. “Who is as great as the beast?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?” REV. 13:3,4 (NLT)

The devil loves to counterfeit everything, and the closer he can get the counterfeit to the truth the more deceptive it is.
V3 contains a clear allusion to the cross. One of the beast’s heads was as if it had been slaughtered to death, then its deadly wound was healed. The word “slaughtered” is exactly the same word found in v8: “The Lamb slaughtered from the foundation of the world.” The deadly wound of the sea beast is a clear parody of the death of Jesus Christ. Now if the beast is slaughtered to death, what does it mean for the “fatal death” to be healed? A resurrection! The sea beast has a death and a resurrection like that of Jesus.

There is more to this counterfeit. In Rev 13:1 the beast is described as having ten horns and seven heads. It looks just like the dragon! Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9). If you’ve seen the sea beast, you have seen the dragon! In verse two it tells us that “the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.” This reminds us of the saying of Jesus in Matt 28:18: “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” Jesus received His authority from the Father, the sea beast received his authority from the dragon.

The sea beast also has a ministry. According to v5 that ministry is 42 months long. 3 ½ years! How long was Jesus’ ministry? 3 ½ years long. The length of the sea beast’s ministry is the same as that of Jesus but in prophetic years! That makes the question of v4 quite interesting. “Who is like the beast?” The original readers who knew a little Hebrew would have known that the name Michael (the previous reference to Jesus in Rev 12:7-9) means, “Who is like God?”

Coming up out of the sea was the papal power which was both a combination of political and religious power. In Bible prophecy, most of the beasts rise out of the sea. The reason for this is because in prophecy water represents “peoples, multitudes, nations and languages,” (See Revelation 17:15.) Pagan Rome gave to papal Rome its power, seat, and its authority over all its people and territory.