16: The Earth and the Sea [Excerpt]

16: The Earth and the Sea? [Excerpt]

“Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” (Revelation 12:12)

This verse indicates that woe is coming both to Israel (the earth) and also to the nations of the rest of world (the sea). The Apostle John describes the Antichrist as “a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.” [1] The implication of him coming from the sea is that he emerges from the sea of the Gentile nations. The Bible frequently refers to the nations, outside the specific land or earth concerned, as being from the sea. Isaiah proclaims, “Alas, the uproar of many peoples who roar like the roaring of the seas.”[2] We should therefore expect the Antichrist to come from a Gentile land, which fits with him arising as the little horn from the division of Turkey, as we considered in Chapter 7.

By contrast, the False Prophet is described as “another beast coming up out of the earth.”[3] His role will be to force many to follow and worship the Antichrist. The origin of the False Prophet from the earth leads to speculation either that he will be Jewish or, at least, from the land within the borders of the current State of Israel. Indeed, Israel itself is sometimes referred to as the earth. In modern Hebrew, the term Haaretz, meaning the earth or land, is one of the names used for the land of Israel. There is even a daily newspaper in Israel called Haaretz....

[1] Revelation 13:1

[2] Isaiah 17:12

[3] Revelation 13:11

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