666

666
The Days of Distress Are Coming to Their End

> In Revelation, the Beast never came out of the abyss, only to descend again, then re-emerge as an “image” of itself.
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The Wild Beast comes out of the sea. (Rev 13:1)[1] This sea,  is symbolic, since even with your interpretation, we don’t see the UN literally coming out of the sea.
“Sea” - akin to ἅλς (better, allied to ταράσσω etc*., from its tossing*; cf. Vanicek, p. 303[2]
The sea represents darkness, spiritual blindness, and the people who are within it – *the abyss.*
Isa 57:20[3] - "But the wicked *are like the storm-tossed sea*, for it cannot be still, and its water churns up mire and muck.
Zech 10:11[4] - The LORD will pass through the sea of distress and strike the waves of the sea; all the depths of the Nile will dry up. The pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end.
Water/river can also signify people and teachings, either from Satan or from Jesus Christ.  (Rev 12:15; 17:1; 22:1)[5][6][7] Whatever we drink in, we become part if it.  John 7:38.[8]
Of Satan, God says, “I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams cling to your scales. I will haul you up from the middle of your Nile, and all the fish of your streams will cling to your scales.”  Ezek 29:4.[9]
Satan is the King of the abyss .  He is ruler over his “sea”.
Rev 9:11[10] - They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer). *(Isa 33:1)[11]*
The Wild Beast emerges from the “sea”/abyss, and nowhere in Revelation does it say he rises up once again from the sea.
Rev 11:7[12] – “Now when they have finished their testimony, *the beast that comes up from the Abyss* will attack them, and overpower and kill them.”
Rev 17:8[13] – “The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, *and yet will come up out of the Abyss* and go to its destruction.”

Demonic Expressions
Do you see anywhere in Revelation where the Beast descends into the abyss?  We only see that Satan was chained into this spiritual darkness of “not perceiving” for a symbolic thousand years.  Rev 20:3[14] He was prevented from DECEIVING the “nations”/God’s people.  How do we know it was God's people that he was prevented from deceiving?  Once he is let out, who does he attack?  All people of the world? It is the “saints” that he and his Beasts surround for the war of Armageddon, using DECEIT – DEMONIC EXPRESSIONS, NOT LITERAL ARMIES.  Rev 20:7-9; 16:13-16[15][16]
John is receiving visions of the future.  He knew of the trampling of God’s Temple by the Romans in the first century. He “saw” it - *"the beast which you saw" .*That was a figurative Beast that came against Israel.  It was the “man of lawless”, that destroyed the physical Temple – defiling it with the uncircumcised. It “once was”.
In the last days, the beast comes out of the abyss, the sea of wickedness, as the “man of lawlessness” again, warring against God’s spiritual Temple in the anointed ones – “Israel”.  (1 Pet 2:5,9; 1 Cor 3:16,17; Eph 2:20-22; Rev 13:5-7)[17][18][19][20]  The temple is defiled by “uncircumcised” Gentiles who “represent the royal priesthood”.  2 Thess 2:3,4[21]
“This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the *number of a man.* That number is 666.”  Rev 13:18[22]
“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through *signs and wonders* that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” 2 Thess 2:7-10[23]

A lie is a “demonic expression”…DECEIT.
Matt 24:24,25[24] - For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform *great signs and wonders to DECEIVE*, if possible, even the "elect"–chosen by God.

Reference

1. Rev 13:1
2. cf. Vanicek, p. 303
3. Isa 57:20
4. Zech 10:11
5. Rev 12:15
6. Rev 17:1
7. Rev 22:1
8. John 7:38
9. Ezek 29:4
10. Rev 9:11
11. Rev 17:8
12. Rev 20:3
13. Rev 17:8
14. Rev 20:3
15. Rev 20:7-9
16. Rev 16:13-16
17. 1 Pet 2:5,9
18. 1 Cor 3:16,17
19. Eph 2:20-22
20. Rev 13:5-7
21. 2 Thess 2:3,4
22. Rev 13:18
23. 2 Thess 2:7-10
24. Matt 24:24,25