Revelation 13

The vision

The Apostle John was being given a vision. In the vision he 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. “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.”

Now these, of course are symbols. The very word “beast’ is a symbol, for they stand for real, literal things. But man can not interpret biblical symbols. And when we know what the heads and the horns are, what the feet of the bear, the mouth of the lion, and likeness to a leopard all mean, then we can know what, or who, the beast really is.

The Bible itself tells us what the symbols represent. In the 7th Chapter of Daniel, we find exactly these same symbols described. Here again are the beasts, the seven heads, the ten horns, and here also is the lion, the bear, and the leopard. And here the Bible tells us what these symbols represent.

Daniel 1:17 tells us that God had given Daniel understanding in all dreams and visions

Daniel 7 tells us that Daniel had a dream and a vision in which he saw four great beasts come up out of the sea. The first was like a lion (verse 4). The second was like a bear (verse 5). The third was like a leopard (verse 6) and the fourth was so dreadful and terrible it could not be compared to any wild beast known to inhabit the earth.(verse 7).

Now there was only one head described on the lion, one for the bear, one for the fourth beast, but the third beast, the leopard, had four heads - thus making seven heads in all! And out of this great and dreadful fourth beast grew 10 horns.

Now notice the latter part of verse 16, here comes the interpretation of these things! The question is: will we accept this Bible interpretation of the seven heads, the ten horns, the lion, the bear, and the leopard?

”These great beasts, which are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth” is the interpretation of Verse 17.

And the word “king” is synonymous with kingdom and used only in the sense that the king represents the kingdom over which he rules, for in Verse 23 we read, “The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth....”.Notice also the word, “kingdom” is used to explain the beasts in verses 18, 22, 24, and 27.

Now, what do the horns represent? Notice Verse 24, “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arrive....” Notice the ten horns or ten succeeding kingdoms or governments, come out of a kingdom, not out of a man, or a superman. This alone makes plain that the beast is not some mysterious personal superman yet to come. Also the beast is not a church, as some claim, for no 10 kingdoms ever did or will come out of a church. And since “King” in these prophesies only stands for the kingdom he represents, and since the words are used interchangeably, it follows that these 10 horns are 10 succeeding kingdoms growing out of the fourth kingdom, which was to rule the earth.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE KINGDOMS

These same four world-ruling kingdoms are described in the 2nd Chapter of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean Empire, who had taken the Jews captive, had a dream, the meaning of which God revealed to Daniel.

The dream is described in Daniel 2: 31-35. The King saw a great image. Its head was of gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron and its feet and toes were part iron and part clay. Finally, a stone, not in man’s hands, but supernaturally, smote the image upon his feet and toes. It was broken in pieces and was blown away like chaff. Then the stone that smashed it became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

“This”, Daniel says, beginning in verse 36, “is a dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the King.”

“…Thou art the head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of bronze, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth Kingdom shall be strong as iron; for as much as iron breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise (verses 38-40).

The interpretation of the stone smashing the image at its toes is found in the 44th verse; “And in the days of these Kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these Kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” The stone is Jesus Christ and His world ruling Kingdom.

And so we see that here are four universal world-ruling Gentile Kingdoms. They began with the Chaldean Empire, which took the Jews captive to Babylon.

God had promised ancient Israel that if they would keep His Commandments and be His obedient nation, they would grow into a multitude of nations or empires that would dominate the entire earth. But, for disobedience, they would have to be taken captive by Gentile nations. But as God revealed to Daniel in Chapter 2, it was God who had turned world dominion over to this succession of Gentile empires. They continue through four great universal Kingdoms, and out of the fourth grow to succeeding governments. These carry to the time of the second Coming of Christ and the setting up the Kingdom of God to fill the whole earth and last forever.

THE FOURTH BEAST

Plainly, here is Daniel 2 are described the same four universal world-ruling Gentile powers that are described in Daniels four beasts. And this dream-image identifies who they are. The first was Nebuchadnezzar’s Kingdom, the Chaldean Empire, called “Babylon” after the name of its capital city, from 625 to 539 BC.

The second Kingdom, which followed, then, we know from history, was the Persian Empire, 558 - 300 BC. Often called the Medo-Persian Empire, composed of Medes and Persians.

The third Kingdom was Greece, or Macedonia under Alexander the Great, who conquered the great Persian Empire, 333 - 330 BC. But, Alexander only lived a short year after his swift conquest, and his four generals divided his vast empire into four regions: Macedonia & Greece, Thrace & Western Asia, Syria & East of the Indus River, and Egypt. So, these were the four heads of the 3rd beast of Daniel 7. And the fourth Kingdom, which, developing from Rome, spread out and gradually absorbed one after another of these four divisions - “dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly was the Roman Empire (31 BC - AD 476).

It had absorbed all the others, occupied their territory, was greater and stronger than all. It included ancient Babylon, thus having the head, the strongest part of the lion. It had all the massiveness and numerically powerful army of the Persian Empire - symbolized by the bear’s legs, the most powerful part of the bear, It was the greatest war-making machine the world had ever seen, and it also possessed the swiftness, cunning, and cruelty of Alexander’s army, symbolized by the leopard.

And thus, this 4th beast was unlike any wild beast of the earth. It was stronger, greater, more terrible, than any.

And so John, in Revelation 13, sees, not four beasts, but one beast Not a leopard, but like a leopard, possessing all of its cunning, cruelty, and speed. But also possessed the dominant characteristics of the two other most powerful beasts - the feet of the bear, and the mouth of the lion. Daniel’s fourth beast, the Roman Empire, had absorbed and therefore included the three beasts before it. Thus it included all seven heads. And John’s beast also had seven heads. It was Daniel’s fourth beast ONLY which had 10 horns, and John’s beast also had 10 horns.

And so, if we are willing to be guided solely by the Bible description of this “beast” and to let the Bible interpret the symbols used to describe it, we come to the inevitable conclusion that the beast of Revelation 13 is the Roman Empire, of 31 BC to AD 476!

Nebuchadnezzar’s image, by the two legs, describes the two divisions of the Roman Empire, after AD 330: West - with the capital of Rome, and East - with the capital of Constantinople.

John also pictures this beast, not as a church or as an individual man, but as a powerful government having great army. For they worshipped the beast saying,”Who is able to make war with him?” (rev 13:4)

THE SYMBOL OF THE HORNS

Let us now notice the symbolism of the horns of the fourth beast of Daniel 7 and the beast of Revelation 13.

The 10 horns symbolize the same thing - the 10 stages of government continuing out of the Roman Empire after its fall in AD 476. The 10 horns “out of this kingdom (the fourth - the Roman Empire, 31 BC to AD 476) are ten kings that shall arise....And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven (not IN heaven), shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high....” Daniel 7:24, 27).

The 10 horns, then, are kingdoms to arise out of the fourth kingdom, the Roman Empire,. These kings also called kingdoms, continue from AD 476 until the time when the stone, Jesus Christ and His Kingdom smashes the image on its toes, and the kingdom is given to the saints. Therefore, since actual history there have never been ten contemporaneous (or all existing at the same time) kingdoms that have continued out of the Roman Empire, side by side, down to the present time - and since there have been nine successive kingdoms ruling that territory, from AD 476 to the present, therefore we know that the kingdoms represented by the horns are successive (one after the other), and not contemporaneous (or all existing at the same time).

THE DEADLY WOUND

Revelation 13:3–5“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. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”

The beast here symbolized is the one which included the royal splendor and kingly power symbolized by the mouth of the lion (Babylon); the tremendous strength symbolized by the feet of the bear (Medo-Persian); and the speed, cunning, and cruelty of the leopard (Greece). Since the interpretation of these symbols is found in Daniel 7, and since the fourth beast had 10 horns, the Bible interpretation of the beast of Revelation 13 is the fourth beast of Daniel 7 - the Roman Empire of 31 BC to AD 476. The beast described by John in Revelation 13 included seven heads, but the only head existing at the time John saw this beast (which included the most powerful characteristics of all the beasts symbolizing its predecessors) was that of the fourth beast of Daniel, containing the seventh head, and also the 10 horns. So the specific “one of its heads” that was wounded to death (Revelation 13:3) was the seventh head of the Roman Empire - the head out of which the 10 horns grew. The ten horns, as Daniel interprets, represent 10 successive governments out of the Roman Empire, which were to continue until the setting up of the Kingdom of God at the Second Coming of Christ.

The deadly wound, then, was the one administered to the Roman Empire, when, in its last decaying stages, the barbarians overran it, ending its government in AD 476.

Notice, the dragon gave his power to the beast. Who is the dragon?

The dragon is a symbol which means Satan, the devil. Notice Revelation 12:9 “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation 12:12–13 “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.” Revelation 20:2 “And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,”

But, when the dragon received its deadly wound in AD 476, was that the end? No, the prophecy says, “his deadly wound was healed....” and power was given unto him to continue forty two months” (verse 3,5). The 10 horns represent 10 successive kingdoms to follow out of this kingdom. So, through the 10 horns growing out of this head (the Roman Empire of 31 BC - AD 476), the beast (for the 10 horns are part of the beast) continues until the Second Coming of Christ.

The test says one of the heads was wounded to death. The beast included seven heads and the 10 horns. John sees the beast living in the days of its seventh head, the Roman Empire. And when that head of the beast was suffering from its deadly wound, his - the beast’s - deadly wound was healed. The horns now reign, one by one.

The roman Empire in Northern Africa was overrun by the Vandals, who sacked Rome in 455. Then in 476 Odacer set up his government in Rome, called the Heruli. But it did not heal the deadly wound, for this was a government IN Rome. It was not a Roman government, but one of foreign barbarians.

Then there was a kingdom of the Ostrogoths, 493-554, another outside foreign people who ruled in the territory. But they were driven out of Italy and disappeared.

These three kingdoms. sweeping into Roman territory, filled the period known in history as the “transition age”. That is, a TRANSITION between the wound and the healing. Now Daniel saw a “little horn” coming up among these 10 before whom the first three were “plucked up by the roots (Daniel 7:8)“I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” So, that leaves seven horns to come. And of the little horn, Daniel 7:20 “And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.” The papacy dominated completely all the horns to follow.

THE DEADLY WOUND HEALED

It was the fourth kingdom (symbolized by the fourth horn), succeeding the fall of the empire in 476, which really HEALED the deadly wound, and restored the empire. In AD 554, Justinian, emperor of the Easy, from Constantinople, set up his government and brought about what is known as the “Imperial Restoration” of the empire

Now, notice Revelation 13:5 “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.” You might remember that in the prophecies pertaining to the times of Israel’s punishment, each day represents a year in the actual fulfillment (Ezekiel 4:4-6) and (Numbers 14:34). Thus the healed beast is to continue 1,260 years.

Following the healing in AD 554, came the Frankish (French) kingdom, the Holy Roman Empire (German, then the Austrian Habsburgs) and then Napoleon;s kingdom, which was also french. But when Napoleon was crushed in 1814, the healed beast continued no longer. “So, closed a government that dated all the way back to the days of Augustus Caesar in 31 BC. It went into abyss!

And from 554 to 1814, the duration of the “healed beast”was exactly 1,260 years.

So, at that time eight of the horns having appeared and gone he beast itself went into the nonexistent condition symbolized in Revelation 17:8 “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.” But by the year 1870, Garibaldi had united many little divisions in the peninsula of Italy into one nation, and the kingdom thus established began the ninth horn, which eventually culminated in the fascist rule of Mussolini and his alliance with Adolf Hitler.

The ninth resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire was crushed at the end of WW II. However, many of those Nazi leaders planned their escape, when it became apparent that their defeat was imminent, near the end of WW II. The Vatican was very instrumental in hiding many of those Nazi war criminals and helping them to escape justice by fleeing to South America.

The Nazi movement went underground at that point with many of those brilliant engineers and military minds working for companies like Thyssen Krupp, VW, Siemens, and other famous German companies.

History shows us that Germany was largely responsible for starting both WW I and WW II. The United Nations and other worldwide peace keeping organizations agreed to never allow the nation of Germany to ever again possess military weapons and/or the ability to begin another war. However, today the German military is rebuilding their strength at an alarming rate. Bible prophecy warns us that the 10th and final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire will once again begin in Europe and will be lead by a strong leader, most likely from Germany or Austria.

Daniel 11 predicts the future regarding the King of the South (Iran) vs. The King of the North (Holy Roman Empire).