Although the Authorised Version says, “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea”, the better reading of the verse seems to be the one of the NASB and NIV: “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea,” These translations appears to have got it right here, for several reasons of textual critique, see remarks.
“The shore of the ‘sea’.” It is not about John standing on the beach at Patmos, or any other beach of the Mediterranean Sea: it is about the dragon being held back. There is a restraining force that keeps him standing on the ‘sea shore’, the shore of the ‘sea’ of nations. The dragon wants to vent his fury on the ‘other representatives of the seed of the woman’ i.e. on the Church, the individual believers remaining on earth who are unable to flee, and on the remnant of Israel in the land or in the diaspora, who are unable or unwilling to flee.
The German occupiers often vented their fury upon the civilian population in the period of occupation during the Second World War. For example, dozens of innocent Dutch civilians were sometimes shot in revenge when English pilots escaped with the help of local people and the resistance movement.
The ‘dragon’ is not (yet) able to go to work without restraint. He has to stay put. The fact that the ‘sea’ represents the sea of nations becomes clear when it is said later: “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.”2
Comparing Scripture with Scripture is a good way to learn to understand Scripture. This is how the Bible explains itself and initially incomprehensible images become comprehensible. ‘Woe’ to the many nations that rage—they rage like the raging sea! ‘Woe’ to the peoples who roar—they roar like the roaring of great waters! Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, when He rebukes them they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, Isaiah says.3 God is the One who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations, says David.4 Jesus says in Luke 21:25b that the anxiety of the nations is brought about by the roaring and tossing of the sea. The sea of nations is stirred up, is in an uproar, in turmoil. Disasters rise up out of the water, like the thin cattle—symbolic of famine—that rise up and devour the fat cattle which represent plenty.5 Daniel sees how the ‘great sea’ is whipped up, and he sees four monster-like creatures rising up from the great sea. “Daniel said, “I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of Heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.”6 The ‘sea’ is once again a symbol of the nations, for the monster-like creatures turn out to be four kingdoms—states with great areas of power in this world—states that arise from the sea of nations. The dragon remains standing on the shore of the ‘sea’, and John is watching. What is going to happen?
• The restraining force, which temporarily prevents the anti-Christ, the ‘lawless one’, from breaking through fully, is mentioned in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.7
• Who is ‘the one who now holds it back’? Many suggestions are given: the Roman government, Government in general as an institution of God (Romans 13:1-7), the preaching of the Gospel worldwide, the Presence of the Church of Jesus Christ on earth, the Presence of the Holy Spirit on earth, the archangel Michael, etc. Maybe there is some truth in all of these explanations. But ultimately it is God Who is the One who holds back the total breakthrough of evil, just like when He prevented the devil from killing Job, and when He prevented the men of Sodom from grabbing Lot and his family. He is the ‘Restrainer’, using His instruments to ‘restrain’ the ‘powers of darkness’.
• Textual criticism (totally different from Higher Bible Criticism) is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants in either manuscripts or printed books. Scribes can make minor mistakes when copying manuscripts by hand. Given a manuscript copy, several or many copies, but not the original document, the textual critic might seek to reconstruct the original text (‘urtext’, archetype or autograph) as closely as possible.
• For the reliability of the text of the New Testament, look at the excellent work that was done in Stuttgart – Germany. Novum Testamentum Graece (The New Testament in Greek) is a critical edition of the New Testament in its original Koine Greek, forming the basis of most modern Bible translations and biblical criticism. It is also known as the Nestle-Aland edition after its most influential editors, Eberhard Nestle and Kurt Aland. The text, edited by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research, is currently in its 28th edition. This is research as to the correct, original reading of the Bible texts, by scrutinizing and comparing the ancient manuscripts.
• Johannes Gutenberg is usually cited as the inventor of the printing press. Indeed, the German goldsmith’s 15th-century AD contribution to the technology was revolutionary — enabling the mass production of books (and the Bible!) and the rapid dissemination of knowledge throughout Europe.
Bible References:
1.NIV 2.Revelation 17:15 3.Isaiah 17:12–13 4.Psalm 68:7 5.Genesis 41:1–4 6.Daniel 7:2–3 7.2 Thessalonians 2:7
