Revelation 13:1-2 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Three-fold character of the beast:
The beast of Revelation 13 and the anti-Christ are one in the same but we have to separate the three-fold character of the beast in order to have a better understanding of it.
World power – The beast that John sees rising out of the sea is a world power as he describes it. It has the body of a leopard, the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. These three descriptive animals are in reverse order of the three world powers saw by Daniel in Dan 7:1-7. Therefore, it is understood that the coming beast of Rev 13 is a combined world power that was once occupied by the three world powers Daniel saw; or perhaps they are a combination of these people of that area (Dan 7:12).Many Bible scholars believe that this beast with its ten horns represents the European Union of today, but it may be that the coming world power may be a joining of some nations into a world power after the demise of America.
World ruler – From Rev 13:5-7; 2 Thes 2:3-4, 8; & Dan 7:8 we understand that there is a world ruler coming who is energized or indwelt by the devil and this individual will be a ruler over the world power described in Rev 13:1-2. This is the one some believe is killed and brought back to life again and then worshipped as God.
Economic/religious power – In Rev 13:16-17; 17:4-6; 18:9-11 we note the religious and economic aspect of this beast that rules the world and people. This may involve a one-world currency that will either be computer-type currency or association with the world government.
Time element of Christ’s return:
In Matt. 24:34; Mk 13:30; Lu 21:32 Jesus spoke of this generation not passing away until all these things are fulfilled. There has been much discussion about the word generation and what it refers to. The word can be translated as age, time, nation, generation and many have developed sophisticated timing to predict the year span of the rapture. Since we are in the year 2022 most have been shown wrong but God does not reckon time as we do, and He seems to perform His dealings according to special occasions He gave to Israel – the feasts.