Does the beast in Revelation refer to the Roman Empire or to the Antichrist?
The beast in Revelation carries a two-fold meaning. It symbolizes the Roman Empire, both original and revived, and it also identifies the Antichrist, the man of sin, who will rule the final world system. The imagery of the sea represents the masses of humanity from which this empire and ruler emerge.
Les explains that the word "beast" has a two-fold meaning in Revelation. It can refer to the Roman Empire, both the original and the revived form, but it also refers to the man of sin, the Antichrist, who will rule the final world system. The sea imagery is symbolic: out of the sea of humanity, the masses of the nations, comes this final empire. Les points to the European community as a restoration of the ancient Roman Empire's geographical area. He notes that though the interval from the ancient empire's demise (between 3 and 400 A.D.) to the revived empire is nearly 2,000 years, in God's mind it is a blink of the eye, as if no interval occurred. Thus, when studying Revelation, all of this is as if the whole interval never happened.