With the solid background we established, we are gonna stick to that principle-- LETTING THE BIBLE INTERPRET ITSELF-- let us now begin to take a look at this Antichrist Beast that God told us we're NOT to worship and NOT to receive the Mark from.
Revelation 13:1 "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."
2 "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."
3 "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast."
Now, this is a strong Beast. This is the Beast that God warned us about. So let me ask a question: IS THIS A REAL ANIMAL? Have you seen anything like this? No. So this is a SYMBOLIC animal, it represents something. REVELATION IS WRITTEN WITH ALL THESE KINDS OF SYMBOLISMS. Let's find out what it means, and it's very easy to break down, LET THE BIBLE INTERPRET. Let's begin with the Waters. This Beast comes up out of the waters or out of the sea. WHAT DOES THE WATERS (or the Sea) REPRESENTS?
Revelation 17:15 "And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."
Our first clue in our Bible prophecy, here we have the interpretation of the Waters. A WATER, in Bible prophecy, symbolizes MULTITUDE OF PEOPLE THAT SPEAKS DIFFERENT LANGUAGES on this earth. So this is very simple. It means the Beast is gonna come up out of a populated area on this earth where many languages are being spoken.
For our next clue we are going to the COMPANION BOOK of Revelation, which is the book of Daniel. WHENEVER THERE IS SOMETHING YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND IN REVELATION, MOST LIKELY, DANIEL IS GONNA EXPLAIN IT TO YOU and vice versa. Remember the vision of the GREAT IMAGE Daniel had in our last study? This is the SAME VISION, ONLY USING DIFFERENT SYMBOLISMS. Let's take a look at it, and this time we're taking it a little further--
Daniel 7:2 "Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea."
WIND, in Bible prophecy, represents WAR, AND STRIFE (See Rev.7:1; Isa.11:12; Jer.25:32-33; Mark 13:27; Matt.24:31). So this Beast is gonna cause a lot of turmoil among the multitudes, or people.
v3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
Here's the KEY QUESTION, the most important one: WHAT DOES A BEAST REPRESENT IN BIBLE PROPHECY? We are looking to identify this Antichrist Beast and now we got these four other beasts coming up. Let's find out--
v17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
So here we have A BEAST REPRESENTS A KING. However, it broadens a little bit further in--
v23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
So now if you read about A BEAST, it simply REPRESENTS A KING AND HIS KINGDOM. Now, that makes perfect sense. God uses different beasts or animals to represent different kingdoms of this world. If I were to say a Buffalo or an Eagle, what country do you think of? America. If I say a Dragon, that's China. If I would say a Bear, that's Russia. God has been doing this for a long, long time. In fact, we got the idea from God.
Now, how many BEASTS come up? Four. How many METALS on the image last time? Four. It's the EXACT SAME THING only using different symbolisms. So let's begin with the first beast--
v4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.
This is THE FIRST KING AND HIS KINGDOM. We discovered last time that it was King Nebuchadnezzar and the kingdom of BABYLON. What's interesting is, as you read the Bible, THE SYMBOL OF BABYLON, believe it or not, was A WINGED LION. All through the Bible, Babylon is represented as a lion with eagle's wings. In fact, you can go today to those Middle East countries, and to that area, and you will see the ancient ruins of Babylon, they have the gates to that city. Many of the walls are still standing and you will see hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of winged lions all over Babylon. It was their international symbol. God starts the prophecy where Daniel was living that time. BABYLON RULED AT 606 B.C. TO 539 B.C.
v5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
The SECOND Beast kingdom that destroyed Babylon was the kingdom of Medo-Persia. And it's interesting what it says about this bear, that it comes up on one side. You know why? You'll find out that the Persians come up first but they weren't quite powerful enough, and, then, they were joined by the Medes and they become a joined empire, and they conquered Babylon. Then you say, "What about the three ribs in his mouth? What do they represent?" I have to tell you that nowhere in the Bible specifically interprets those three ribs but since they're in his mouth as it conquered, they most likely represent the three territories of the then-known world that they conquered-- Libya, Lydia, and Egypt. MEDO-PERSIA RULED AT 539 B.C.TO 331 B.C.
v6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
The THIRD Beast was the kingdom of Greece. Now, notice something interesting: this Beast has four wings. How many wings does Babylon have? Two. Wings symbolize Swiftness. So we got here four wings for double fast, double swift. And it's a perfect symbolism because under the swift arm of Alexander the Great, Greece conquered the entire known world in a very short period of time. Alexander was an incredible general, just led the army across. Do you know what happened? When they got through conquering everything, Alexander didn't know what to do with himself anymore and he got depressed. He became an alcoholic, and one night he drank himself to death not long after he conquered the whole world. And you know what happened? His kingdom was immediately divided into four parts by his four top generals, no doubt represented by the four heads on the leopard. GREECE RULED AT 331 B.C.TO 168 B.C.
v7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
Poor Daniel. He knew what a lion, a bear, and a leopard was, but he'd never seen anything like this before.
v23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
The FOURTH Beast was the kingdom of Rome. And, again, it's a great description. Great and dreadful kingdom. Iron teeth. Rome is known as the IRON MONARCHY destroying everything. They were cruel, they were heartless. In fact, IT WAS JESUS WHO DIED ON THE ROMAN CROSS, THAT INSTRUMENT OF TORTURE. Very, very fitting as you see this particular picture. ROME RULED AT 168 B.C. TO 476 A.D.
Next up, we're going to look at what happens next in this Bible prophecy!