Mark 1 Beast

"And he causes all, both small and great, and rich and poor, and free and slave, to be given a mark upon their right hand or upon their foreheads, and that no one should be able to buy or sell except he that has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is the wisdom! He who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666," Rev. 13:16-18.

NOTE: All Scriptural quotations are from the Scriptures, published by Institute for Scripture Research (PTY) L.T.D. South Africa 1998 unless otherwise noted.

I don’t know how many people have noticed this but FATHER YAHWEH has revealed a great truth to me concerning the above verses. It is an astonishing revelation that I have never encountered in any other religious works I’ve ever read (and believe me I’ve read many in the last 12 -1/2 years I’ve been studying the Scriptures). It’s really a simple revelation but much overlooked by all who study the Scriptures.

One day as I was studying Revelation 13:16-18 just as I had finished reading the verses I clearly heard a voice speak (in my head, not audibly) which said, ‘Son did you get it? Three things are mentioned in the verses of Revelation 13:16-18 and only two are related. Let me show you this deep truth because Revelation 13:16-18 speaks of two things actually, not three. First let me break them down into three things:

1. The mark of the beast.

2. The name of the beast.

3. The number of the beast’s name.

After looking at these three items closely I realized that there are really only two aspects after all because:

1. There is a mark of the beast and,

2. The name of the beast is calculated and the number of the beast is the number of a man.

But what does all this mean? We can only learn that when we learn who the beast is!

In the second chapter of the book of Daniel it is recorded that the Babylonian king Nebukadnetstsar had a dream that so troubled him he couldn’t get a good nights sleep afterward. It appears that the dream so disturbed the king that he lost many nights of sleep! (Dan. 2:1).

What troubled king Nebukadnetstsars so much was that not only didn’t he know what the dream meant, he didn’t even remember what the dream was! (v. 3) So the king called all the magicians, and the astrologers, and the practicers of witchcraft, and the Chaldeans to declare to him his dream and the interpretation. But as we all know, YAHWEH was revealing the bankruptcy of the false religions and gods of Babylon. No one was able to give the king the dream or its interpretation so the anger of the king waxed hot and in a rage he commanded that all the wise ones of Babylon were to be killed. (Dan. 2:2-13)

There was a young man in Babylon named Daniel who had been taken to Babylon during the days of the Babylonian captivity. He was taken there to be educated in all wisdom of Babylon so that he could stand before the king. Daniel and other youth were to be taught the writing and the speech of the Chaldeans. These youths were taught so that the king could use them as administrators. (Dan 2:3-5)

As Daniel was taught by the wise ones of Babylon then he too was to be put to death with them because of the king’s decree. Daniel requested further information from the executioner of why the king was doing this. When Daniel learned the truth, he by faith told the executioner to tell the king that if he would give him a little time he would tell the king his dream and the interpretation. (Dan. 2:14-16)

Immediately Daniel sought his three closest friends and they got down on their knees before YAHWEH and prayed for the dream and interpretation to be revealed to them so that they would not have to die with the rest of the wise ones of Babylon. (Dan. 2:17-18)

The secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision and Daniel gave YAHWEH all the praise due Him. He then went and made intercession for the wise ones of Babylon and requested to be taken before the king so he could reveal to Nebuchadnetstsar his dream and the interpretation. (Dan. 2:19-24)

Daniel then stood before the king and gave him his dream and the interpretation of it. I can picture it so clearly! As soon as Daniel revealed the dream to the king I can hear the king say in astonishment, "That’s it! I remember now! That’s my dream!" Daniel let the king know that it was only YAHWEH Himself the true Elohim (Elah) of heaven who could reveal to him his dream and give him the interpretation of it. (Dan. 2:25-49)

The dream and interpretation that YAHWEH gave to king Nebukadnetstsar revealed that there would only be four world empires followed by the fifth which would be the kingdom of YAHWEH. It is in this dream and interpretation that we learn who the fourth beast is that has a mysterious name which adds up to 666 (which name is also the name of a man), and it is also this fourth beast who has the mysterious mark. Who were these four empires? How can we know where they began? YAHWEH reveals to us the answer because: "The master YAHWEH does no matter unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets," Amos 3:7.

YAHWEH reveals through Daniel that Nebuchadnetstsar was the head of gold. (Dan. 2:37-38). Nebukadnetstsar was king of Babylon, thus the first empire was Babylon. Babylon lasted from 605-539 B.C.E. Therefore YAHWEH has revealed to us where to begin looking for the fulfillment of the great prophecy of Daniel chapter two!

Next, notice that after Babylon (the head of gold) there was to follow another kingdom that would be inferior to Babylon. This was the breast and arms of silver which was the kingdom of Medeo-Persia that ruled from 539-331 B.C.E. (Dan. 2:32, 39).

Then there was to kingdom inferior to Medo-Persia represented by the belly and thighs of bronze. This kingdom was the kingdom of the Greeks that lasted from 331-168 B.C.E. (Dan. 2:32, 39).

Finally, we come to the last kingdom. This kingdom was represented by two legs of iron and two feet with ten toes mixed with iron and clay. The two feet with the ten toes mixed with iron and clay are said to represent this fourth kingdom in its divided state. (Dan2:33-35; 40-43). Notice very carefully that this fourth kingdom is to last until the stone smashes it! The stone is said to be the Kingdom of YAHWEH. (Dan. 2:34-35; 44-45)

History has revealed this fourth kingdom to be the Roman Empire. We have mostly been taught that this empire lasted from 168 B.C.E. - 476 C.E. Yet this kingdom is revealed by the Scriptures to last until the setting up of the Kingdom of YAHWEH. How can these things be? Haven’t we all been taught that the Roman Empire was destroyed by the Germanic barbarians in 476 C.E.? Let’s look deeper at this fourth kingdom and learn all we can about it for we need this information!

We are told that Rome was founded by Romulus. Romulus (räm’yoo las) [L.] Rom. Myth. a son of Mars and founder and first king of Rome, deified as Quirinus; he and his twin brother Remus, left as infants to die in the Tiber, were suckled be a she-wolf. (Webster’s New World Dictionary 1996, p. 1235)

Notice that the above definition tells us that it was the mythological character Romulus who founded Rome and was its first king. Interestingly, most mythological characters and events were based upon some true characters and events. These true people and events were simply exaggerated throughout time. That Romulus founded Rome and was its first king we have no need to doubt.

I want to point out that I personally believe that to calculate the number of the beast (that is the name of a man and his number is 666) you must calculate it in the Hebrew language. Why do I say this? Without getting into a deep theological argument over Hebrew or Greek inspiration of the Scriptures (at least in this article,) I simply want to point out the known fact that: "Many linguists and historians now attest that the Evangels, the Acts, and the book of Revelation were composed in Hebrew...Early church fathers validate that the book of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew (see Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 3:39; Irenaeus Against Heresies 3:1; Epiphanius Panarion 24:9:4; Jerome’s Lives of Illustrious Men 3 and DeVir 3:36. Also see Companion Bible Appendix 94; The Bible from the Peshitta p.xi. You may also contact YAHWEH'S New Covenant Assembly P.O. Box 50 Kingdom City, MO 65262 for tracts on the Hebrew/Aramaic Origin of the New Testament. Also see preface to The Scriptures pp. xv-xvi.)

Now let us get back to our subject at hand. If the original scroll written by John called the Revelation of YAHshua the Messiah was produced in the Hebrew language, and its author was a Hebrew, then isn’t it apparent that to calculate the number of the beast you must use the Hebrew language? I personally believe that we must use Hebrew to calculate it and that it is a fact that cannot be contradicted.

If I am correct then the man who founded the fourth kingdom, Romulus (his name in Hebrew and his kingdom is called Romiith) should then calculate to 666 in Hebrew. Let’s do the calculating an see what we come up with. R = r = 200; o = w = 6; m = m = 40; i = y = 10; i = y = 10; th = t = 400. 200 + 6 + 40 + 10 + 10 + 400 = 666! Here is the fact proven right before your eyes that Romiith calculates into 666!

Is it just coincidence that the man’s name and the name of the kingdom he founded (Rome/Romiith) calculates to 666? I think not! But some might say, "How do you know that the beast of Revelation 13:1-10, 15-18 is the fourth beast of Daniel chapter two?

Because the seventh chapter of Daniel reveals it to be so! Daniel chapter seven reveals these same four empires but expands our understanding of them. Let’s look deeper at this chapter of Daniel as well to see if we can gain some deeper insight.

In the first year of Belshatstsar, sovereign of Babel, Daniel received a vision of the four winds of the heavens stirring up the Great Sea. What are the four winds of the heavens and the Great Sea?

Winds, in the Scriptures, denote war, strife, and political unrest. For example: "Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, against those who dwell in Leb Kamai, a destroying wind," Jer. 51:1 (KJV). (cf. also Jer. 4:11-13; Hos. 13:15-16, etc.)

The Great Sea symbolized the restlessness and dangerous turmoil of sinful men or nations. For example: "And he said to me, ‘The waters which you saw, where the whore sits (cf. Rev. 17:1), are peoples, and crowds, and nations, and tongues," Rev. 17:15. (cf. Dan. 7:17; Isa. 17:12-13; 57:20)

However, anciently The Great Sea was a term utilized to describe the Mediterranean Sea and the areas around it. Also all four of the kingdoms that were to successfully rule were to all arise out of this area of the Mediterranean Sea and they have. (Read Dan. 7, please)

The next important point to make is that these four strange beasts Daniel saw are said by inspiration to be four kings or kingdoms that will arise out of the earth. (cf. Dan. 7:3, 17, 23). Look at the chart below which compares Daniel chapters 2 and 7.

IDENTITY DAN. 2 GREAT IMAGE DAN. 7 FOUR BEASTS (2:31-45 ) (7:2-28)

I. Babylon Head of gold Lion with eagle’s wings

II. Medo-Persia Breast/arms silver Bear with 3 ribs

1. Babylon, conquered in 539 BCE

3 ribs 2. Lydia, conquered in 546 BCE

3. Egypt, conquered in 525 BCE

III. Greece Belly/thighs bronze Leopard with 4 wings & 4 heads

1. Cassander

2. Ptolemy Alexander the Great’s

4 heads 3. Lysimachus 4 generals who took

4. Seleucus control after he died.

IV. Rome Legs of iron w/ Fearsome & burly beast w/ great iron teeth feet & toes of iron & 10 horns & clay

Notice the progression of these four bests of Dan. 7. It is:

1. Lion - Babylon

2. Bear - Medo-Persia

3. Leopard - Greece

4. Fearsome & burly - Rome beast

Taking a look at Rev. 13:1-2, "And I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads names of blasphemy. And the beast I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like the feet 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."

Notice the regression here. This beast is a composite beast:

1. like a leopard. (Greece)

2. feet of a bear. (Medo-Persia)

3. Mouth of a lion. (Babylon)

(NOTE: Daniel looked forward in time and John backward and forward.)

Have you noticed that the fourth beast of Revelation 13:1-2 is a composite beast of all the kingdoms (or beasts) before it? In other words Rome inherited all the ancient mysteries of the empires before it beginning with Babylon through Greece. Is it any wonder that Rome was called the Second Babylon? Why was Rome called the Second Babylon in the first place?

I quote: "...from the temple of Bel, that great image of Bel was removed and taken to Rome, where it was erected. This was done by Emperor Aurelian of Rome who was known as ‘the Sun Emperor.’ Aurelian also took the image of Helios, another sun-deity, from Palmyra, and erected it in Rome. This supreme Sun-deity, Bel was honoured throughout northern Syria and had come from Babylon. So the worship of Bel, the founder of Babylon, eventually became established in Rome. No wonder the church father Augustine candidly wrote that ‘Rome was founded as the second Babylon and as the daughter of the former Babylon." (Come Out of Here My People, C.J. Koster p.92).

"The Babylonian empire had vanished but its religion was very much alive in Syria, and from here it was taken to Rome when the Roman pantheon and Greek pantheon had waned...Syria was Rome’s teacher and predecessor. The last formula reached by the religion...of the Romans, was a divinity unique, almighty, eternal, universal and ineffable, that revealed itself throughout nature, but whose most splendid and most energetic manifestation was the Sun." (Ibid pp. 92-93).

"Further testimony of Rome being Mystery Babylon, is recorded for us by Hislop in The Two Babylons, pp. 240-241 and p. 279, wherein he quotes his sources, "The true legitimate Babylonian Pontiff...after the death of Belshazzar, and the expulsion of the Chaldean priesthood from Babylon by the Medo-Persian kings, was at Pergamos, where afterwards was one of the seven churches of Asia. There in consequence, for many centuries was ‘Satan’s seat’ (Rev. 2:13). He then quotes Barker who relates that the defeated Chaldeans fled to Asia Minor, and fixed their central college at Pergamos. Hislop them continues, "...in course of time, the Pontificate of Rome and the Pontificate of Pergamos became identified. Pergamos itself became part and parcel of the Roman Empire, when Attalus III, the last of its kings, at his death, left by will all his dominions to the Roman people. B.C.E. 133." (Ibid. p. 92)

"When John wrote the book of Revelation, Babylon - as a city - had already been destroyed and left in ruins, as the Old Testament prophets had foretold (Isa. 13:19-22; Jer. 51-52). But though the city of Babylon was destroyed, religious concepts and customs that originated in Babylon continued on and were well represented in many nations of the world." (Babylon Mystery Religion Ancient and Modern by Ralph Woodrow pp. 7-8)

"This system of idolatry spread from Babylon to the nations, for it was from this location that men were scattered over the face of the earth (Gen. 11:9). So they went from Babylon, they took their worship of the mother and child, and the various mystery symbols with them. Herodotus, the world traveler and historian of antiquity, witnessed the mystery religion and its rites in numerous countries and mentions how Babylon was the primeval source from which all systems of idolatry followed. Bunsen says that the religious system of Egypt was derived from Asia and ‘the primitive empire in Babel’...

‘When Rome became a world empire, it is a known fact that she assimilated into her system the gods and religions from the various pagan countries over which she ruled. Since Babylon was the source of the paganism of these countries, we can see how the early religion of pagan Rome was but the Babylonish worship that had developed into various forms and under different names in the countries to which it had gone." (Ibid pp. 10-11)

I found it of deep interest that Mr. Hislop equates the transfer of the seat of the Pontificate of Belshazzar to Pergamos and their lineage of kings and lastly to Rome as ‘Satan’s Seat’ especially in light of Rev. 2:13; 12:9; 13:3, 4: "I know your works, and where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is. And you hold fast to My Name, and did not deny the belief in Me, even in the days in which Antipas was My trustworthy witness, who was killed near you, where Satan dwells."

"And the great dragon was thrown out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who leads all the world astray."

"And the beast I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon [Satan the Devil] gave him [Romiith - Rome] his power, and his throne, and great authority...And they worshipped the dragon [Satan the Devil] who gave authority to the beast [Romiith -Rome].

Brethren, have you realized what our Savior YAHshua has tried to reveal to us here? Satan has a throne on earth and it still resides in Babylon [Rome].

"And it shall be, in the day YAHWEH gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your trouble and the hard service in which you were made to serve, that you shall take up this proverb against the sovereign of Babel (Satan’s seat), and say, ‘How the oppressor has ceased, the gold gatherer ceased...How you have fallen from the heavens, O Helel (Satan) son of the morning! You have been cut down to the ground, you who laid low the gentiles! For you have said in your heart, ‘Let me go up to the heavens, let me raise my throne above the stars of El, and let me sit in the mount of meeting on the sides of the north; let me go up above the heights of the clouds, let me be like the Most High," Isa. 14:3-4; 12-14.

Notice that a man sits on this throne for Satan gives this man his seat, authority and power just like Rev. 13:3-4 said.

"But you are brought down to the grave, to the sides of the pit. Those who see you stare at you, and ponder over you saying, ‘Is this the man (Pontifex Maximus over all paganism or Babylonian Mystery Religion, the man Satan has given his throne, i.e. seat, authority, and great power to) who made the earth tremble, who shook reigns, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities (obviously yet future), who would not open the house of his prisoners?’ All the sovereigns of the gentiles, all of them, were laid in esteem, everyone in his own house; but you (Satan’s Pontifex Maximus) have been thrown from your grave like an abominable branch, like the garment of those who are slain, thrust through with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a trampled corpse. You are not joined with them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and slain your people. Let the seed of evil-doers never be mentioned. Prepare his (Satan’s) children for slaughter, because of the crookedness of their fathers, lest they rise up (resurrection to life after death) and possess the land (with the saints), and fill the face of the world with cities. ‘And I shall rise up against them,’ declares YAHWEH of hosts, ‘And shall cut off from Babel (Rome) the name and the remnant, and offspring and descendant’ declares YAHWEH. And I shall make it a possession for the porcupine, and marshes of muddy water; and shall sweep it with the broom of destruction,’ declares YAHWEH of hosts, " Isa. 14:15-23.

Can there be any doubt that Satan moved his throne from Babel to Pergamos (Rev. 2:13) and finally to Rome (Rev. 13:3-4)? It must be so because Romiith was the founder of Romiith (Rome) and it is a fact that a man (Romiith) is also the name of the beast (Romiith) and these both calculate the name of the man and beast into a number - 666! Romiith = 666!   To be Continued ............

  
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