1) "And I stood on 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 that 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 (throne) and great authority. 3) And I saw one of his heads as it were (slain) wounded to death,(εσφαγμενην), and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast."
Quick Summary: John is instructed to document or record events which he had seen, and things that are, and the things which shall be hereafter. (Revelation 1:19). After the seven letters to the seven churches, John is shown a door in heaven and is taken in the spirit. The majority of Revelation consists of futuristic events, events that extended far beyond John's 95 A.D. world vision. These events will transpire during the tribulation moving the reader forward into the Great tribulation period.
And the dragon was wroth with the woman (Israel) and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Rev 12:17 (See also Genesis 3:15)
After Satan declares war on the Christians and the Jews. John is shown the rise of a beast kingdom which he documents as previously instructed. John is standing on the sands of the sea 13:1, witnessing the rise of a beast with seven heads and ten horns in the end of days. Several translations such as Darby document the dragon aka: Satan standing on the sands of the sea orchestrating the rise of the beast kingdom as John bears witness.
And I (John) stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast (kingdom) rise up out of the sea, having seven heads (four beast kingdoms and three non-beast kingdoms) and ten horns (kings), and upon his horns ten crowns (authority, power), and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
(This is an in-depth study for those who have a basic or intermediate understanding of Daniel 7. This is based upon scripture and the writings of the prophets.)
We can interconnect Johns passage to Daniel, who saw four beasts rise from the sea in Daniel 7:3: And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
And the beast (kingdom) which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat (throne) and great authority. Rev 13:2
The beast with the seven heads is like a leopard, (Daniel 7:6, ancient four-headed Grecian empire); it also has feet like those of a bear (Daniel 7:5, Medo-Persian) and the mouth like the mouth of a lion (Daniel 7:4, Babylonian empire), three previous middle eastern 'beast' kingdoms from Daniels night vision. The beast (kingdom) also has the seven heads of the red dragon (Rev 13:2) and the ten horns of Daniel's fourth beast kingdom. The ten horns are adorned with ten crowns showing power and authority has been transferred from the heads of dragon to the horns of the beast. On its heads were blasphemous names.
John notices and documents that one of seven heads was wounded to death but the deadly wound was healed. This caused those on earth who were not written in the book of life, to wonder in amazement (Rev 13:3b, 17:8b) and they worshipped the dragon who had revived this wounded head (beast kingdom) and restored it to life, raising it from the bottomless pit aka: abyss (Rev 17:8). The seventh head becomes the eighth world kingdom.
The totality of the final beast kingdom will be so large and hostile that no one on earth could make war against the kingdom and its king who rules over this monstrosity. Revelation 13:4 transitions the focus from the rising beast kingdom 13:1-4a onto the king, the little horn, aka: antichrist 13:4b - 10. There is also an additional king that rises from the earth, this is the sorcerer, false prophet, the false Messiah. Rev 13:11-16. The majority of ancient Mesopotamian kingdoms had a slew of magicians, wise men, sorcerers, necromancer's, conjurers and star gazers that worked in the kings court. This is what the false prophet represents, a magician that works on behalf of the 'king'.
Daniel 7:17 helped to define the difference between king and kingdom. The four beasts (kingdoms) rose from the sea, kings rise from the earth, (clay, land, dust, human).
The beast kingdoms rise from the sea, kings rise from the earth. Kingdoms are ruled by kings, and Kings rule over kingdoms.
Daniel 7:17 These great beasts (kingdoms), which are four, are four kings which shall arise out of the earth.
Four kingdoms: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, beast with ten horns.
Four kings: Nebuchadnezzar II, Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great, the little horn
The previous post (July 24th) used several scriptural references, specifically those in Daniel 7 that identified the beasts from the sea as kingdoms.
Daniel 7:23 -Thus he (the angel) said, The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on earth....
The seven heads represent seven world kingdoms. Four of the heads are the four individual beast kingdoms from Daniel's prophecy: lion, bear, leopard, and the beast with ten horns. There are three additional kingdoms which were not beast kingdoms: Egypt, Assyria and Rome, for a total of seven world empires. These are attached to the beast as 'heads' similar to the beast kingdom 'like a leopard' that had four heads- Daniel 7:6. The beast from the sea in Revelation 13 is 'like a leopard' which had four kingdoms represented as four heads. Instead of four heads or four kingdoms, this beast has a total of seven heads or, seven kingdoms.
The heads are kingdoms which is further explained in Rev 17:9. The angel used an old testament symbolic reference to the seven heads as seven 'mountains. John records this in the Greek as ὄρος, óros: mountain. He is told to carefully consider the meaning behind the use of 'mountain' and to use wisdom when deciphering the meaning. (He was not told to use code words, an angel wouldn't use 'code words' but, an angel would use old testament symbolism) Many prophets used a metaphor of a mountain as a symbolic reference for a kingdom. These references can be found throughout scripture: Daniel 9:16; 2:35b, Isaiah 2:2; 66:20; 48:1, Jeremiah 51:25, Joel 3:17 and Revelation 21:10. These heads or, kingdoms belong to the red dragon, representing authority and his seat of ruling power. (Rev 12:3)
The red dragon has claimed authority over six historic kingdoms recorded in the Bible that had negatively impacted Israel, causing great pain and suffering. He wears these kingdoms as heads, like trophies of achievement. One kingdom has not yet come but is prophesized as a future seventh world kingdom that will rise to dominate the earth in the latter days. This kingdom will complete the number of heads upon the red dragon.
There are seven kings (kings rule kingdoms): 1) Egypt-fallen, 2) Assyria-fallen, 3) Babylon-fallen beast, slain, 4) Medo-Persia -fallen beast, 5) Grecian-fallen beast, 6) Rome -the one that is, and finally, the future kingdom that has not yet come: 7) the beast with the ten horns. (Rev 17:10) These kingdoms correlate with the number of heads upon the red dragon and the beast kingdom of antichrist who received the dragons power, his seat (throne) and great authority. (Rev 13:2b)
One of the heads was slain, wounded to death: Greek, εσφαγμενην (Rev 13:3) suggesting a fallen beast or, kingdom that was slain and left to rot and decay, but the deadly head wound was healed, and the beasts' life was restored. This caused those on earth who were not written in the book of life, to wonder in amazement (Rev 13:3b, 17:8b) and they worshipped the dragon who had revived this wounded head (beast kingdom) and restored it to life, raising it from the bottomless pit aka: abyss (Rev 17:8).
The Greek word John used: εσφαγμενην translates to English as: slain, wounded to death, having been butchered. The Greek further suggests this was done in a ritual sense as an act of God in a balance of power, to take power away. The slain or wounded beast or kingdom will be restored or revived according to the scripture in Rev 13:3, 17:8 and 11. The revived kingdom, healed from its deadly head wound will rise up from the abyss and the world will be amazed by the kingdom that was, and is not, yet is or, shall be.
One of the seven heads will be a future beast kingdom that had a deadly head wound which will be healed and the kingdom restored. The seventh head is Daniels fourth beast from the sea. The seventh head or kingdom is a combination of three ancient middle eastern mortally wounded, beast kingdoms (lion, bear and leopard) that will have ten horns sprouting from its head (Dan 7:7b). This is the kingdom that has not yet come; the one that rises after Rome. Rome is documented as the one that is in Revelation 17:10, which gives us the order of the kingdoms. The head of the ten horns is the head the little horn or antichrist rises from. As he rises, he uproots three horns or kings, seizing the power of the beast kingdom reviving it from death.
Revelation 17:12 places the ten kings that arise from this kingdom into the tribulation period. The antichrist or little horn rises to ultimate power during the tribulation period, (specifically mid-tribulation), and it is this kingdom that he rises from.
Daniels fourth beast with the ten horns is the kingdom that rises just prior to the rise of the little horn, setting everything up for his reign. It is the kingdom that is forming now, right before our eyes, but the world is blinded to the fact, intently focused on the sixth head.
This is how close the world is to the start of tribulation and the end of the church age. In the order of events documented in Rev 17 concerning the mystery of the beast with seven heads and ten horns (Rev 17:7b), the little horn transitions the kingdom of the ten horns into the beast kingdom (the eighth). If the beast kingdom becomes the eighth (Rev 17:11) then there must be a seventh, after Rome. The number of heads upon the beast represent a succession of earthly kingdoms.
The beast kingdom of the ten horns represents the seventh head as the one that has not yet come in John's documentation of events. When it does, it will rise swiftly, and will exist a short time so the ten kings can lay the foundation, preparing everything the little horn or antichrist will need for his earthly reign. (Rev 17:10b)
How long is a short time? Considering that Hammurabi only ruled a Babylon kingdom for a mere 42 years until it fell into the hands of the Assyrians or that the Chaldean dynasty lasted 66 years until it fell to the Mede-Persians, one would think that less than a century would be considered a 'short time' as compared to the average life span of a kingdom.
After the antichrist rises, he transitions the beast kingdom with the ten horns into his kingdom, the eighth. There is no eighth head so this transition represents the totality of the beast as the eighth beast kingdom. This is documented in Revelation 17:11 which places the beast with the ten horns as the seventh head. This is the kingdom that rises after the sixth head or kingdom, which was Rome. The only mention of antichrist in Revelation 17 is verse 11 which is an indirect mention as the focus is on the rising beast kingdom that carries the woman.
The antichrist's entire kingdom is full of blasphemous anti-God, anti-Israel, anti-Christian people that are just as vile and hateful as he is. This is the cohesion that unites the kingdoms and keeps the woman of Revelation 17 firmly in place, carried upon the heads of the beast kingdom aka: the kingdoms of the world.
To understand the rise of the beast we need to understand the genetic makeup of the beast kingdom: the beast, the heads and the horns. This also helps to clarify the identity of the harlot woman by biblical standards who is intimately connected to the rise of the beast kingdom.
This was a fascinating study which I broke down the verses here: The Genetic Makeup of the Beast Kingdom. This was done using only scripture. The study eliminated mythology, fictional characters and mythical figures when interpretating scripture that is commonly taught within the church using the fables of Alexander Hislop.
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