Does this beast / superpower sound like any nation or group of nations you can think of?
So what superpowers are there in the world today?
The former Soviet Union was truly a world power for much of the 20th century, but at this time, Russia is not considered as such.
China is often talked about as an emerging great world power.
Maybe the many Islamic nations will someday come together as one. Even though from their history this could appear unlikely, if it were to happen, the alignment would be a formidable power.
At present, the United States is really the only world superpower. Could the U.S. be this beast in Revelation 13? What about America plus her many allies?
These are all questions worth considering. What would have seemed a ridiculous notion 50 years ago now needs to be carefully thought through. At present there is no military power that begins to compare to ours. America has also moved away from her Christian roots to a large degree. Where she will be in another 10, 15 or 20 years is anybody’s guess. If I were the devil, I would seriously consider infiltrating this great nation with the intent of someday taking it over for my own evil purposes.
I honestly don’t know what superpower Revelation 13 is describing. What’s fascinating to me, however, is the way Jesus employs this apocalyptic approach to get us to consider all possibilities. In other words, there is no way our Lord would have named a modern country like the United States in the book of Revelation. America wouldn’t be founded for close to 1,700 years after this prophecy was written. And because Muhammad wasn’t born until almost 500 years following when John penned the book, mention of the Islamic nations wasn’t going to happen either. But by using symbolic language, Jesus is able to warn us about possibilities that would not have been an option through the use of conventional language.
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