Question Twenty-Nine
What Is the Beast?
For thousands of years believers have been asking this question and coming up wit all kinds of answers. Many books have been written on this subject alone. I have also written quite a bit on it myself, but since I want to keep these chapters short I’ll just cover the subject briefly and refer readers who want to know more to my other writings.
So, what are the common ideas on what the Beast is? Here are a few.
(1) A dictator worse than Hitler that shall arise and control the world.
(2) An evil one-world government headed up by the European Union, or some other country.
(3) The Internet.
(4) Some evil business group
(5) The Muslims, Mormons, Catholics, Jews or even a new age religion.
(6) International bankers
There is one giant clue given in the Bible that eliminates all of these guesses. Most are aware that the Beast is an antichrist, often called the antichrist.
“And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” I John 4:3
“…even now are there many antichrists.” I John 2:18
So the antichrist, or the Beast was already in the world 2000 years ago. Could it have been here even longer? Perhaps so, for here is what we are told of the system ruled by the Beast:
“And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of ALL that were slain upon the earth.” Rev 18:24
So all the prophets and saints who lived even thousands of years before Jesus were slain by the beast. What in the world could this beast be that has always been here fighting against the saints and taking away lives and freedom?
Paul gives us a clue in a famous scripture usually linked to the antichrist:
We are told he “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” II Thess 2:4
Most Christians suppose the temple here will be a building but there is another interpretation given by Paul:
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” I Cor 3:16-17
So then the temple of God can be the physical body. Keeping this in mind the antichrist or beast could be just a human in a physical body representing himself as speaking for God. In other words, this guy’s words are to be seen as God’s words.
That said, I will now summarize what the beast is and you will see that he has indeed been here on earth for thousands of years. This will make even more sense after we cover the mark of the beast and the mysterious number 666.
The beast represents a man or woman, any human being, who replaces the voice and authority of God with his own. In other words, it is a false outer god that replaces that inner voice which is within. After all, Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:21
If the Kingdom of God is within us then so is God, or the Spirit of God. We are supposed to look within for verification of knowledge, but when a person comes along and demands we follow his words blindly without understanding then he has replaced the true God, setting himself up as a false god.
The beast represents unearned authority throughout the world and there are thousands of people who are agents of this false authority. Many of them work through various religions and cults but the beast is not limited to spiritual matters. Unearned and unjust outer authority that tells us what to think is found in all departments of life. We find them in politics, education, science, medicine, the arts, many businesses and organizations. When a member challenges this beastly authority he is attacked and ostracized from the system.
These powerful unjust authorities that take the place of the inner voice were here in the days of Jesus and from the beginning of civilized society. Just about all of us have the mark of the beast now, as we shall see.
Copyright by J J Dewey 2014
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