END TIMES?

Chapter 1

General information we can glean from Revelation:

Of all my recent studies, my latest fascination has been with the first beast in Revelation 13. That interesting description of this entity that is a combination of a leopard, a bear and a lion, with 7 heads and 10 horns, crowns etc. This beast which is described also in Revelation 17, wherewith "5 kings are fallen, one now is and one is yet to come". (This I believe is a time reference to the writing of the book of Revelation.) Also though, the same chapter talks about 10 kings who have not received their kingdoms as of yet, but in the end make the whore of Babylon desolate.

We know from chapter 17 and the "five kings who've fallen" that this beast is in existence at the point the book of Revelation has been written. Interestingly though, we can also conclude from the "10 kings who have no kingdom yet" who destroy the whore, followed by the final resurrection; that this beast had a particular beginning some point prior to the completion of Scripture and will continue to exist until the end of time. We know the beast continues to the end of time because this beast, the dragon and the false prophet are all thrown into the lake of fire in the end of Revelation. (19:20)

So since we know this beast is in existence at the writing of Revelation and continues until the end of time, we can see from the past 2000 plus years, that apparently it's a pretty long lived beast. So taking that into consideration, this narrows down our possibilities as to what this beast is.

Now, taking our cue from the Bible, which tells us that it interprets itself; we know one explanation of this beast is a conglomerate of 4 other beasts described in the book of Daniel. (A leopard, a bear and a lion; along with another beast with the 7 heads, 10 horns and crowns) The book of Daniel tells us these beasts are kingdoms (Daniel 7:17) and compares them to a statue of a man which is also explained by the text itself as kingdoms.

Nebuchadnezzar's Dream: (Daniel 2)

Head = Babylonian

Upper body = Med-Persian

Lower Body = Grecian

Feet = Roman Empire

Although the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream pretty clearly describes political empires, the last beast of Daniel's 4 beasts (as well as this Revelation 13 beast), describes this beast as "unlike any of the others"; and (besides the time clue about the five kings and the lake of fire) this is one reason why I would not say these beasts are the Roman Empire (or any reconstituted version of the Roman Empire, the European Union, the UN or any other such organization).

First off, the Roman Empire was a self contained political entity, which ruled a large geographical area and had a distinct beginning and a distinct end. The Roman Empire, just like it's predecessors, as well as empires that came after it (The British, The Byzantine, The Ottoman, The Austria-Hungry, The 3rd Reich and even the Holy Roman (Catholic Church) empire) all had independent agendas based on the culture and religion of the particular group of people who originated that empire. Also all these empires waxed and wained in power and in a certain particular way "come to an end".

This fourth beast in both Daniel and Revelation though, is described as having a global reach. It "rises up" out of the sea. (The Greek here also can be translated "to grow".) This beast "grows" over time and no where until we get to judgement day, do we see this beast is "shrunk" or destroyed. The only clue we have about this beast's "death" is that one of it's heads receives a death blow, yet is restored. Beside that though, the beast itself is not injured. This beast is not like the statue of Nebuchadnezzar's dream that is toppled by a mountain from heaven.

Side note on Nebuchadnezzar's statue:

The "mountain" that topples the statue, was Christ's first appearance on earth, wherewith he completes the salvation plan in human time and sets up the "second phase" of the workings out of God's kingdom in earthly history. God's salvation plan supersedes all other kingdoms and this is why the statue topples when the mountain hits it's feet. It's feet are partially clay.

Clay is a state of the human condition. Remember Adam (and Eve through Adam) was literally "made out of the dust of the earth". Salvation personally changes vast swaths of humanity to specifically change the course of the history of entire nations, empires and ultimately planet Earth. This is part of what we see with the fall of the Roman Empire. In a very real way, Christianity brought down Rome.

Now follow Christianity's influence through western civilization into the modern world today. (One of the major empires used by God to spread Christian ideas was Britain.) The recognition of truths like "absolute moral authority" is what sprung up humanitarian movements throughout the past 2000 years and caused millions to lay down their lives to end ancient institutions like slavery and genocide. Christian ideas on social justice equalized humanity, instead of dividing people based race, gender and nationality. (We historically don't see the idea of a race being "genetically inferior" until we get to Darwin. Prior to this, the reason for "inferior cultures" was seen as a lack of knowledge and understanding coupled with sin, not as people with a lack of capacity.) The Bible is literally the foundation of why we have human rights today.)

So, getting back to this beast in Revelation. Part of the answer about what it actually is, has just been inadvertently illustrated by my little sidetrack about Christianity's influence on human history. Yes, this beast is an "empire" but it is not what we traditionally have seen in history as empires. It doesn't "fall" as we have seen (still see today) traditional empires / nations "fall". This is why this beast has kings and crowns and kingdoms that are a part of its make up. This beast continues to grow in influence and power, even though the political kingdoms it exercises authority over (or as the text says, these kingdoms give it their authority) come and go through the course of the centuries.

So what is our best modern descriptor of what "empire" this beast is, if it's not a specific geo-political empire?

Is it a "global conglomerate empire"?

Is it an "economic empire"?

That whole thing about the mark of the beast in the forehead or hand - is it a "technological empire"?

Is it some combination of all three?

The answer I would give to those questions is "yes" and "no". From what I'm gathering of its Scriptural description; this beast isn't specifically a geo-political empire, the economy, or technology. Yes "the beast" uses all these things to it's own wicked ends, (and needs them to "grow") but these individual elements are not "the beast".

The base core of the beast is a pervasive malevolent spiritual undertone that infiltrates all these other areas to "grow" it's power to world domination. (It's power untimely coming from Satan.) People are more familiar today with the term "deep state", "the illuminati", "Builder Burger group" etc. If we go back in time a little bit, we find "the Masons", "Knights Templar" and other various "secret" organizations that no one really knows what the extent of "the secret" was, because once these groups are discovered, the power mongers (like little cockroaches) go underground and pop up as something else. These power mongers of these secret organizations are what I would call "the blood that flows through this beast". I would not say that any of these aforementioned secret organizations are "the beast" either. They are but only stepping stones in it's evolution to maturity.

So there is what I believe is Scripturally the "workings of the beast"; and those steeped in this deception, (who've willingly deceived both themselves and others) in their quest for "secret wisdom" to obtain their power and wealth, are the one's who've "received the mark of the beast in the forehead" (I'll talk a bit about the possibilities of "hand" later.) Their "secret wisdom" may have been sought through a variety of venues; from strait out Satanism to pseudo-Christian gospels (also including, but not limited to: Judaism, Islam, Eastern religions, New Age religion, Darwinian religion, Atheism, Communism, etc).

Obviously I don't think the beast or Satan is the driving force behind every rich man, or world leader who's ascended the world stage in the past 2000 years. Nor do I believe everyone who's come into a place of any sort of power, wealth or success has "received the mark of the beast"; only those who seek these things by malevolent means in pointedly opposing God and denying Christ are those who, as Christ said "are of their father the Devil" and "do the works of their father" which, as this passage points out, entails worshiping the beast.


From here, we will now look at some details about the beast.