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Revelation 12 describes a series of wars in which the dragon is the aggressor:
- Before Christ, it opposes the women (12:1-4),
- Then Christ (12:5),
- Then Michael and his angels in heaven (12:7-12),
- Then the woman again (12:13),
- Then the woman during the time, times and a half (12:14, 6),
- And lastly, the woman’s other children (12:17).
All of these are in the past tense.
Revelation 13 continues in the past tense. It describes:
- The beast coming out of the sea (13:1-2),
- The fatal wound and the healing of the wound (13:3-4),
- Then it refers to the beast’s persecution of God’s people for 42 months (13:5-7), which seems to refer back to the time, times, and a half of 12:14.
But suddenly, verse 8 jumps to the future tense.
The last part of Revelation 13 describes the work of the beast from the earth (13:11-15) and the work of the image of the beast (13:15-18). All of these are in the present tense.
- Why the shift in the tenses?
- Does it help us to determine the chronological sequence of events?
- Is there perhaps a relationship between the future tense in 13:8 and the reference to "the foundation of the world?"
- 13:8 looks pretty similar to 17:8. Revelation 17 describes the heads and beast in terms of the past, present, and future (17:8-11). 17:8 describe’s the beast’s worship as in the future. Is 13:8 in the future tense to link it to 17:8?
- Is 13:8 in the future tense to tell us that 13:1-7 is an interruption and 13:8 continues where 12:17 left off?
- Or is 13:8 in the future tense to say that it describes a later time than what is described by 13:1-7, which is in the past tense? But then 13:4 and 13:8 would be two different events, and they look very similar.
