Single Beast
In Daniel and Revelation, the “Beast” is a single history-spanning entity that has existed since at least the dawn of human civilization, beginning with the first attempt at global domination when humanity founded Babel and “SET UP a high tower to make us a name, lest we be scattered upon the face of the earth.” That incident is alluded to in the Book of Daniel as the Babylonian crown prince subjugated Jerusalem and took the “vessels of the house of God into the land of Shinar to the house of his god.”
As in Genesis,
Nebuchadnezzar attempted to unite all nations under his rule by imposing the
Babylonian language on them, and he summoned all the peoples from his domain to
render homage before the “high image that i
SET UP” - (Genesis 11:1-9,
Daniel 1:1-21, 3:1-9).
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| [Photo by Tiraya Adam on Unsplash] |
However, God is the one who “removes kings and SETS UP kings.” Whatever world and national rulers may think, it is Yahweh who sets up political powers, and He is certainly able to remove any leader who displeases Him – (Daniel 2:21).
Nebuchadnezzar
experienced this when he was troubled by a dream in which he saw a massive
image in the shape of a man with
a golden head, a torso and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, its
legs of iron, and its feet a mixture of iron and clay.
The entire edifice was destroyed by a “stone that was
cut out without hands.” It struck the image’s feet, but the whole structure
“became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried
them away… and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and
filled the whole earth.”
Only Daniel was
able to interpret the King’s dream. The image’s golden head represents
Nebuchadnezzar. Its other three sections symbolized three additional kingdoms
that would appear later. The “stone cut without hands” symbolized the Kingdom
of God that one day would supplant the kingdoms of this age and fill the entire
Earth – (Daniel 2:31-45).
Although the image consisted of
four parts, it was ONE IMAGE, and the entire thing was destroyed in
one stroke when the “stone cut without hands” struck its feet.
We find the
same reality pictured in Chapter 7 of Daniel. The prophet saw four “Beasts
ascending from the Sea” representing four kingdoms, starting with Babylon.
The Fourth Beast was the most terrifying one, especially its “Little Horn that
was boasting of great things.” It attained political power and “waged war
against the saints.”
In the vision’s
interpretation, Daniel was told the “Four Beasts are four kings that will
arise out of the Earth,” but in the end, the “saints will receive the Kingdom,”
SINGULAR. This age-long conflict was and is about the dominion of the planet,
but also the destruction of God’s people – (Daniel 7:15-27).
The Fourth Beast
wreaked havoc on God’s people for a predetermined time, a “season, seasons,
and part of a season,” but its reign of terror eventually ceased (“They took away his
dominion to consume and destroy it unto the end.”
However, the first
three beasts continued to live on in the fourth kingdom until it was destroyed
(“as for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away. Yet their
lives were prolonged for a season and a time”). As before, the entire
structure was not vanquished until the very end.
IN REVELATION
This perspective
is also found in the Book of Revelation. In Chapter 13, John saw a SINGLE
BEAST ascending from the Sea that had all the monstrous characteristics of
Daniel’s four beasts, including the ten horns and the “mouth speaking great
things and blasphemies.”
Like the “Little
Horn” of Daniel’s Fourth Beast, this creature was authorized to operate only
for a limited period, “forty-two months.” Its goal was to “wage war
against the saints” - (Revelation 13:1-10).
When describing the rise of this ONE BEAST, John used a Greek participle in the present tense, signifying action in progress. It was in the process of “ascending,” and it still is to this day.
Moreover, John listed its
animal-like features in reverse order from the ascent of the Four Beasts from
the Sea in the Book of Daniel. Daniel saw the
lion, the bear, the leopard, and the monstrous creature with ten horns
ascending in that order. John saw ONE BEAST which had the features of
the Beast with ten horns, the leopard, the bear, and the lion, described in
that order, almost as if he was looking back in time over the history of former
great empires.
In Chapter 17, John saw Babylon “being carried by the
Beast with Ten Horns and Seven Heads.” This creature “was and is not and
is about to ascend out of the Abyss.” The description refers to Chapter 13 where one
of the Beast’s “Seven Heads” received a “death stroke but lived.”
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| [Photo by Anton Lammert on Unsplash] |
The “Seven Heads” represent “seven kings” and kingdoms. Of the seven, by John’s time, “five were fallen.” They had come and gone. One existed, which could only have been Rome, and the seventh was yet to come. When it did arrive, it would continue for a “little while,” a reference to the same period as the “forty-two months” in Chapter 13.
The final
kingdom was “an eighth and was of the seven.” It had the same nature as
its predecessors, but it was also something beyond them. It would continue
until it was cast into the “Lake of fire” by the “Rider on the White Horse”
– (Revelation 19:11-21).
Thus, this imperial
“Beast” is an ancient creature. It has been around since at least the Tower
of Babel incident, and the power behind it, the “Dragon,” goes back even
further, namely, to the Garden of Eden. It is no coincidence that in the
twelfth chapter of Revelation Satan is called the “Ancient Serpent” who persecuted the
“Woman and her Seed” – (Genesis 3:15, Revelation 12:1-5, 12:17).
The “Beast”
is a transhistorical reality that is focused on annihilating the people of God.
In Chapter 20 of Revelation, after being released from the “Abyss,”
the “Ancient Serpent” gathers the nations from the “four corners of
the Earth” for one final assault against the “camp of the saints.”
Thereafter, he is thrown into the “Lake of Fire.”
This “Beast”
remains alive to this day, still waiting for the next opportunity to pursue
global domination and the destruction of the “saints,” the latter being
its real purpose.
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