From Iron to Animal

From Iron to Animal

Chris White is on the right track in the podcast to which I posted a link.  To reconcile these beasts and see the common theme is difficult, but this is what studying the word of God is all about.  Let me back up a bit.  Daniel had a vision of beasts in Daniel 7.  The fourth beast in that vision had ten horns.  When John had his series of visions which we call the book of Revelation, he also saw a beast with ten horns.  But there are some differences.  Let’s recap (which is short for recapitulate) for those who are just joining the conversation.

God showed Daniel what would happen in his day and the days leading up to the end of the age as far as world empires go.  He saw a vision of a beast like a lion that represents Babylon.  This was followed by a beast that was like a bear which represents Medo-Persia, commonly known as the Persian Empire.  Then there was a beast like a leopard which represents the Greek Empire.  Finally, Daniel saw a fourth beast appear and devour the previous three beasts.  These four beasts came up from the great sea, which is the Mediterranean Sea, and had their struggle on those waters.

If we look at history, the empire that was ruling during the time of Daniel’s vision was the Babylonian Empire.  The one that succeeded it was the Medo-Persian Empire, then the Greek Empire, then the Roman Empire.  Parallels can be seen throughout each of the beasts and their respective empires.  It would be good to be familiar with Daniel 2 and the four successive empires spoken of there.  Gold is the most royal of the metals and represents the Babylonian Empire.  The lion is the most kingly of all animals and is even called king of the beasts.  Silver is less valuable than gold, and the bear is somewhat less formidable and infamous than a lion.  The bear is raised up on one side to show that one side of the empire would be more dominant than the other.  Many historical sources simply call it the Persian Empire, only believing that the Medes constituted one country within the empire.  This is due to the Persian dominance toward the end.  Remember, the latter rulers got to write the history.  Then for the third empire, bronze is less valuable than silver.  It is interesting that even to this day that the medals awarded in ceremonies are based on this value system: gold for first place, silver for second place, and bronze for third place.  The leopard is chosen for the Greek Empire because of the speed with which it conquered the known world.  The four heads of the leopard show the four fold division which was the final form of that empire.

That fourth beast, though, is what really concerned Daniel.  Don’t you find it interesting that Daniel wanted to know about the fourth beast more so than any other thing that he saw?  Daniel 7:19 shows Daniel’s inner desire to know the truth of the fourth beast, and Daniel 7:23 shows the answer that he received.  It was an iron beast which matches the iron of the fourth empire in Daniel 2.  But in Daniel 7, instead of an animal representing the empire, there is no animal but only a metal.  Our imagination is left to fill in the details as to what this beast looked like.  Think of it.  It could have been an iron elephant, or an iron horse, or an iron dragon.  We should probably think of it as some fierce animal like the other three, but this vision will simply not reveal it to us.

Some have pointed out that the Roman Empire never officially conquered the Greek Empire.  This is true.  But Daniel 7 does not convey the fourth beast would conquer the third beast.  The iron empire digested the previous three empires into its being.  Remember the book of Acts.  During the time of the early church, the Greek language, wisdom, and schools had not gone out of existence, but were incorporated into the Roman Empire.  The Persian road system was still used by the Romans, being referred to by historians.  The Roman Empire was deliberately multilingual and multicultural.  Many societies existed within this greater system.  In short, Daniel’s vision was completely accurate that this beast digested all the previous beasts within its being.

John’s Revelation of Jesus Christ draws upon so much imagery from the law, psalms, and prophets, that’s it’s difficult to name them one by one.  When we come to Revelation 13, it should be obvious that Daniel 7 must be brought to the forefront.  First, John is standing on the sea.  It was stated at the beginning of his vision (see Revelation 1:9) that he is on the island of Patmos, which is located in the Mediterranean Sea.  This reminds us of Daniel’s vision where Daniel first saw the four winds of heaven striving, literally bursting forth, on the great sea.  Next, John sees a beast rising out from the sea.  Again, Daniel saw four beasts rise up in sequential order out from the Mediterranean Sea.  John notes that this beast has seven heads and ten horns.  Another parallel here is that the fourth beast that Daniel saw had ten horns.

Let’s cut away just for a minute to Revelation 17 which is an explanation of the seven headed ten horned beast.  I think this is appropriate because instead of us guessing (perhaps incorrectly) what these seven heads and ten horns represent, we can let the angel correctly interpret for us.  The seven heads are seven kingdoms, or perhaps the term “world empires” would help us better here, that have appeared and will appear over the course of many years.  The angel specifically states that five of them are past, one is currently in existence at the time of John receiving his vision, and one is future, see Revelation 17:9-11.  The commonly held view which I also hold is that those past five empires are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece.  Egypt was a beast that Satan had used to persecute Israel, see Psalm 74:12-15, Isaiah 51:9-10, but He slew.  Assyria is also pictured as a beast that persecuted Israel and that God slew, see Isaiah 27:1.  The next three as beasts have already been mentioned from Daniel 7 and also persecuted Israel.  They were beasts of their own in these other visions but here they constitute one head on the ultimate beast of Satan’s using.  The beast that was ruling the world at the time that John received his vision was the Roman Empire.  The ten horns are ten kings which will all rule at the same time, see Revelation 17:12.

Now let’s come back to the beast out of the sea in Revelation 13.  There are seven heads and ten horns on this beast and there are ten crowns upon the ten horns.  This shows that the ten kings are currently ruling as this beast rises out from the sea.  The angel explains in Revelation 17 that five empires have past, one is currently in existence, and one will come shortly.  When John sees the vision in chapter 13, he is seeing into the future from his time.  He is seeing past the current Roman Empire into the time when ten kings will arise and give their power to the one man as described in Revelation 17:12-14.  Then the persecution against the saints will encompass the world, see Revelation 13:3-8.

Here is the main point to which the title of this post refers.  This should also inspire some sense of expectancy among us.  John sees the animal form of this beast.  When John saw the vision of the dragon in Revelation 12, it had seven heads and ten horns.  It was a dragon though; and dragons were also referred to as serpents, see Revelation 12:9, Isaiah 27:1.  When we come to Revelation 13, there are two major changes to the beast from Revelation 12 to Revelation 13.  The first is that the crowns have been transferred from the heads to the horns.  This was mentioned in my last post.  But the second major change is that this beast is not in the animal form of a dragon.  The animal form is leopard, bear, and lion; and they are in the reverse order of the beasts that Daniel saw in his vision.  The beast with ten horns has the characteristics of the three beasts which it digests into its being.  What was hidden from Daniel is revealed to John.

Let’s break this down.  Daniel saw an iron beast that would devour the lion, bear, and leopard.  John sees a beast with lion, leopard, and bear incorporated into its being.  John would have understood this to be the Roman Empire in which he grew up, but with the added development of having the ten kings.  There was no division in his day of the Roman Empire into ten divisions, or having ten kings.  The expectation of the churches receiving this vision is that coming soon to a Roman Empire near you that there would appear ten kings within the bounds of the Roman Empire who would give their authority to one man who would be the ruler of them all.  He in turn would persecute Israel, the churches, and all who follow Jesus Christ.  We have been waiting for this development for almost two thousand years.

The vision is even more specific than that though.  The beast is described as a leopard, with the feet of a bear, and the mouth of a lion.  Note also the dragon (the devil) gives to this beast all his authority.  What is meant by the body of the leopard?  For the Greek Empire it meant the speed with which it conquered the known world.  Here, we can surmise that the end times empire headed by the ten kings will not take long to develop at all.  It will engulf the world with great celerity.  How about the feet of a bear?  The paws of a bear seem to be its greatest strength and they are not afraid to use them to attack.  This empire will be strong and able to attack.  The mouth of the lion could have a two fold aspect.  First, the lion as a beast roars.  It is one of the things that distinguishes it from the other beasts.  It has a frightening quality to it.  Or with the lion being the king of the beasts, perhaps this ruler will speak in a kingly way, like the kings of old.  Revelation 13:5-6 tells us what will happen when he opens his mouth.  He will speak great (Greek word megas which can mean great in number or great in rank) things, but they will be against God.  Perhaps it is the roar of the lion that he will have, terrifying to other animals, or perhaps a kingly way of speaking; or maybe both.

John’s readers would have received hope from this vision knowing that there was only one more world empire to dominate the world before the saints would inherit the kingdom, see Daniel 7:17-18, 25-27.  Five were past, one was present, and only one more was future.  It would be easily identifiable having ten kings ruling at the same time, gaining power over the Mediterranean Sea.  They would give their power to one man who would be completely against Christ and all Christ followers.  Instead of despairing, when the church saw those things happening, they were supposed to have hope in the middle of persecution knowing that the devil only had a brief moment of time left.

Some prophecy scholars do not believe that there will be a revived Roman empire.  They point to Israel’s surrounding nations and prophecies which tell that it is these nations which will comprise the end times empire.  In response to that, I remind you all that the Roman Empire at the time of John included those countries which surrounded Israel.  In fact, the Roman Empire was later divided into two portions, west and east.  The west received more attention in later years, but that eastern portion was just as much a part of the Roman Empire as the west.  The Roman Empire was basically the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.  So I believe that these nations currently surrounding Israel looking to destroy her will be just as much a part of the beast of Revelation 13 as those portions of the west.  These same scholars also point to the long gap in between John’s vision and our current circumstances.  In response I remind all of us that God’s word deals with long gaps in the midst of prophecies that weren’t completely understood until they came to pass.  God sees the big picture spanning centuries.  Many times he is not concerned with each minor development, but the overarching plan that He has to call out for Himself people from all nations called by the name of Christ before these things happen, see Amos 9:11-12 with Acts 15:14-18.

Have fun and stay busy – Luke 19:13

-The Orange Mailman

P.S.  I’m rethinking my view on the ten kings.  Because the crowns are on the horns of the beast rather than on the heads, it is possible that the emphasis in this end times empire (most likely revived Roman Empire) will be on the individual kings and not as much emphasis on the country.  Of course if they are kings, it only stands to reason that they have authority over something.  I use the term “king” loosely.  They could be prime ministers, or presidents, or something like that.  Remember the devaluation of the metals in the colossus of Daniel 2.  It went from gold, then silver, then bronze, then iron, then to a mixed form of pottery and iron.  If you look at the governmental structures of Babylon through Rome, the central ruler lost ultimate power.  The king of Babylon was sovereign.  During the Persian Empire, the king had a council that he consulted before doing anything, see Esther 1.  The Greek Empire brought us democracy, but democracy with dictators.  The Roman Empire was first a Republic with senators.  This iron empire devolves into a mix of pottery and iron, the weakest of all which will be destroyed by Christ at His coming.  Our current weakness of world leaders was foreknown by God.

P.P.S. I wanted to start this post with “and another thing”, but I didn’t want to be that guy. Ya know?