HE REFERENCE TO THE BEAST that comes up out of the sea is found in a parenthetical section of Revelation that reveals aspects of Satan’s activity in the Tribulation (Rev. 12:1– 13:18). In this section John saw a red dragon, Satan, at war with Michael the archangel in heaven (12:3–7). Michael and his angels will conquer Satan, and Satan will be thrust out of heaven to earth (vv. 7–12). Realizing...

Satan has captured the imagination of writers in the English language for centuries. This figure and the notion of evil have gone through many changes in English literature of the 19 and 20 centuries. Something changed Satan during this time, and made him into an arbiter of truth rather than a figure of rebellion. In The Mysterious Stranger, Mark Twain used him as the grand narrator of the univ...

The word "mystery" as it occurs in ancient Greek and Semitic sources. as well as in the NT. refers to a secret which is only revealed to 'certain individuals. In the NT it is God who reveals the mystery and faithful believers who perceive it. Carnal believers and unbelievers are not able to understand the mystery. The mystery centers around the Lordship of Christ who is the Life of the church. ...

Satan—or the Devil, as he is alternatively known—has remained among the most popular of archetypal figures of Western civilization for more than two millennia. Evidence of strong ongoing popular interest in this imaginal figure—to say nothing of Satan’s horde of demons—can easily seen in the results of even the most cursory ad-hoc research on the World Wide Web. For example, a simple recent sea...