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The Beasts of Revelation
Exposed
What do They Represent?
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Composite
Beast Summary
In closing this section,
I would like to make four points:
1.
If a person obeys the composite beast, he or she
is really obeying the devil. (Revelation 13:4)
2.
The composite beast will be empowered for 42
months. (Revelation 13:5)
3.
The composite beast will be completely victorious
and the saints will be completely conquered.
(Revelation 13:7)
4.
Some Bible students claim the composite beast is
the papacy. Others argue this beast is the devil
himself. Others argue this beast is a neo-Roman
nation that is yet to appear. The problem with
all these answers is that they are partially
true, but none of these meets the specifications
that identify the composite beast. Yes, the
composite beast includes the papacy, the
empowerment of the devil and the political
acquiescence of all nations! This beast has
no equal or parallel from times past. Humankind
has never seen such a powerful and horrible
monster. When it is established, it will crush
and destroy anyone and everything that stands in
its way, because the dragon is the power within
it. Resistors will cry out for help saying,
“Who can fight against this and hope to
win?” (Revelation 13:4)
For these and other
reasons beyond the scope of this study, I call
this beast “the Dragon-like beast.” I
cannot find a better way to describe the next
world government. To say that this empire will be
confused, internally contradictory, and do evil
and violet things, is an understatement. It will
be worse than Hitler’s Third Reich. In fact,
God will use the formation of this beast to prove
beyond question that there is a sharp and
distinct line between truth and error. Those who
have spiritual eyes and ears will clearly
understand. Those people who are self-serving
will not.
The
Lamb-like Beast
We have discussed the
Lamb, the dragon and the Dragon-like beast. Now,
we come to the fourth and final beast called the
Lamb-like beast. I have been scolded more than
once for calling the two-horned beast in
Revelation 13 “the Lamb-like” beast.
Some people claim this “label”
immediately favors my claim that he is the great
antagonist of the Lamb. I encourage any Bible
student to decide for himself or herself if the
designation “Lamb-like beast” is
correct even though it is not found in Revelation
13 (and neither is my designation
“Dragon-like beast” found in
Scripture). However, I insist on calling this
beast “the Lamb-like beast” because it
can be quickly determined that he is the star
attraction of last-day events. He has no equal.
The world will be delighted, entertained, led
astray and into war against Jesus by this
incredible creature. This beast will prove to be
nothing less than the great Antichrist himself
– Lucifer in the flesh.
Revelation 13:11 Then I
saw another beast, coming out of the
Earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but
he spoke like a dragon.
Comments: First,
notice the origin of the beast. He comes up out
of the Earth – this stands in sharp contrast
to the composite beast that rises from the sea.
According to Revelation 17: 15, water represent
peoples, multitudes, nations, languages, etc.
Therefore, we can assume that the composite beast
rises out of nations, multitudes and languages.
In contrast, the Lamb-like beast does not rise
from nations, multitudes, languages or peoples
and this is a critical difference. Unlike the
composite beast, the Lamb-like beast does not
depend on the presence of people to exist! This
beast just appear “out of nowhere”
– rising from the Earth. In fact, this
phrase is very descriptive, since his origin
turns out to be the bottomless pit! The origin of
the Lamb-like beast is a very crucial point. This
is why: The Lamb-like beast rising up out of the
Earth in Revelation 13:11 describes the same
event as “the beast rising up out of the
bottomless pit” in Revelation 17:8. If this
is not the case, then Revelation becomes
internally inconsistent. If the beast from the
bottomless pit (or abyss) is not the Lamb-like
beast, then the beast from the bottomless pit
cannot be identified since the beast from the
bottomless pit has specific identifiable
characteristics that also belong to the Lamb-like
beast. Therefore, only four beasts exist in
Revelation. Notice that John provides the origin
of each beast:
1.
The Lamb is seen in Heaven. (Revelation 5)
2.
The Dragon is also seen in Heaven, but cast into
the Earth. (Revelation 12)
3. The
composite beast rises from the sea. (Revelation
13:1)
4.
The Lamb-like beast rises from the Earth.
(Revelation 13:11)
See
if this flow of data makes sense to you:
1.
The beast that rises out of the Earth is the
angel-king of the bottomless pit. (Revelation 17:
8; 9:11)
2.
The angel-king from the bottomless pit is the
dragon who was cast into the Earth. (Revelation
12:7)
3.
The dragon has to be released from the Earth at
some point in time because he will be put back
into the bottomless pit right after the Second
Coming. (Revelation 20)
Before we
examine a sequence of texts in Revelation,
reconsider this point: The release of the
angel-king from the bottomless pit in Revelation
9 is the same event as the release of the
Lamb-like beast from the Earth in Revelation
13:11. Two descriptions of the same thing –
an example of repetition and enlargement.
Consider
the sequence of scenes shown to John:
a.
In Revelation 12:7, John saw a war in Heaven
between Michael and Lucifer (notice the
contestants).
b.
In Revelation, 12:9 John saw the dragon and his
angels cast into the Earth. (KJV)
c.
In Revelation 13:11 John saw a two-horned beast
rising from the Earth that will deceive
the whole world by means of the miracles,
signs and wonders that it has power to do. This
beast even calls fire down from the sky at will
(to convince the inhabitants of Earth of his
assumed divinity).
d.
In Revelation 9: 1-11 John saw “the angel
king of the bottomless pit” released
at the fifth trumpet to hurt man for an appointed
amount of time.
e.
In Revelation 17: 8 a messenger from God informs
John by saying, “the beast you saw
once was [visible], now is not [visible], yet
will come up out of the bottomless pit and go to
his destruction. The wicked living on Earth at
that time will be astonished when they see
the beast because he once was [visible], not is
not [visible], but yet he will come up out of the
bottomless pit and go to his destruction.”
(Paraphrase mine) The beast referred to here is
the great red dragon that had been cast into the
Earth.
f.
In Revelation 17:11 the messenger continues,
“the beast who once was [visible], now is
not [visible] will be the eighth king who
is going to his destruction.”
So, how
does all of this information fit together? Simply
said, John saw Lucifer physically and visibly
cast out of Heaven. Lucifer and his angel
followers were thrown into a dungeon within the
Earth. In John’s day, the world was believed
to be flat and a bottomless pit was a hole that
went all the way through the surface of the
Earth. In ancient times, it was believed that the
devil and his demons lived in a dungeon beneath
the surface of the Earth and could only escape
through caves, or a bottomless pit. God used the
knowledge of John’s day to make a profound
point: John saw Lucifer as a visible dragon at
war in Heaven, but after he was cast into the
Earth, Lucifer was no longer visible.
Nevertheless, the devil has been hard at work
– operating from his spiritual
“dungeon.” However, at an appointed
future time during the fifth trumpet, the devil
will be allowed to escape his spiritual domain
and appear in the flesh. When he does appear, the
wicked billions on Earth will be astonished at
his glory and power! The reason the righteous
will not be impressed is because they know
exactly who he is. One more point. When Jesus
appears at the Second Coming, the physical body
that Lucifer uses will be destroyed by fire. The
destruction of this body is not to be confused
with the destruction of Lucifer. When the devil
personates Christ, his physical body will only be
an apparition. (We have already noticed in this
study that angels can pass through closed
windows, doors and walls and still appear as
physical beings.) Therefore, after Lucifer’s
apparition is destroyed, an angel descends from
Heaven and lays hold of the devil and puts him
back into the dungeon (abyss) for 1,000 years.
(Revelation 20)
Executive
Summary on the Origin of the Beast
This
review of all the data shows a simple harmony
throughout Revelation if we take the Bible
literally as it reads. The origin of the
two-horned beast, rising out of the Earth in
Revelation 13:11 is the same concept as
the angel king and his demons (as many as
locusts) being released from the bottomless pit
in Revelation 9:1, which is the same concept
as the beast that once was [visible] rising from
the abyss! (Revelation 17:8) By restating this same
concept in three different ways, a solid and
truthful interpretation can be reached. This is
good, for the more comprehensive the picture, the
clearer the meaning. The Bible often follows the
practice of repetition and enlargement. For
example, the image’s chest of silver in
Daniel 2 is the same thing as the bear in Daniel
7, which is the same thing as the ram in Daniel
8; namely, the Medo-Persian empire!
Like a
Lamb
Revelation
13:11 (Continued) ‘Then I saw another beast,
coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a
lamb, but he spoke like a dragon.” Did you
notice that nothing was said about the physical
appearance of this beast except he had two horns
like the lamb and speaks like the dragon. Notice
my bold print on the words, “the.” I
did this to direct your attention to this point:
the Bible says “like a lamb” instead of
“like the lamb” and the same is true
concerning the dragon. I am sure Bible
translators do their best to give us a true and
faithful interpretation of each verse. However,
it is possible for a translation detail to be
overlooked that needs some explanation. In this
case, the anarthrous nouns “lamb” and
“dragon” need a bit of explanation.
Using
anarthrous nouns is customary in the Greek
language. An anarthrous noun is a noun without a
article, such as “a” or
“the.” An anarthrous noun points back
to a character that has already been introduced
into a story. In the Greek, a literal translation
of this sentence would read: “and it had
horns, two like lamb, and spoke like
dragon.” Notice that the nouns
“lamb” and dragon” do not have
articles – they are anarthrous. English
translators added the article “a” to
make the sentence read correctly in English.
However, they should have used the article
“the” because the lamb
and the dragon were previously introduced
in the story of Revelation. In other words, this
beast had two horns like the lamb that had seven
horns and this beast also spoke like the dragon
because it is the dragon in sheep’s
clothing!
What do
the two horns represent? The devil will be two
kings in one! He will be King over the ten horns
(political kings) and Lord over the seven heads
(religions). The obvious parallel here is the
devil’s mockery directed as Jesus alone who
has been granted the title “King of kings
and Lord of lords” by the Father. Jesus was
found worthy to lay claim to this title.
(Revelation 5) He is humankind’s High Priest
by virtue of that appointment by the Father. He
is also humankind’s Sovereign King by
appointment of the Father. The irony here is that
the Lamb-like beast steals this unique title
belonging to Jesus before Jesus appears in the
clouds. This shows how exceedingly dark and
grossly ignorant the minds of sinners are,
actually to believe the devil is God! Since the
wicked do not recognize the value of character,
God allows the devil to awe them with signs and
miracles and lead them into complete rebellion.
On the other hand, the religious understand
something about the purity and holiness of God,
so God allows them to see the signs, miracles and
wonders are worthless if righteousness and love
is not the basis of character. God is in the
character business and this is why Jesus had to
be found worthy before the Father would grant Him
everything that Heaven has to offer. Wouldn’t
it be wonderful if governmental leaders were
found to be “character-worthy” of their
high office?
Revelation
13:12 He exercised all the authority of the first
beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its
inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal
wound had been healed.
Comments:
This verse confuses many people at first. They
ask, “If this beast is the devil personating
Christ as you say, then (a) why does the
Lamb-like beast have and exercise the same
authority as the first beast, and (b) if he is
personating God, why does he make the people
worship the composite beast instead of worshiping
himself?” These are good questions and
deserve good answers.
When the
devil is allowed physically to appear as the
Lamb-like beast, he knows that God has
predetermined that his time is very short –
just five months to establish his total dominion
before the sixth trumpet begins. (Revelation
9: 5,10,15) Therefore, to get immediate attention
and as many followers as possible, he will do two
things: First, appear before billions of
suffering people performing counterfeit signs,
miracles and wonders. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)
This will awe the people everywhere and convince
many that indeed, God is among men. Many will
exclaim, “Hope has come at last with healing
in its wings!” (Malachi 4:2) Second, the
devil will, in the assumed voice of God, command
the people to obey their religious leaders. This
will, of course, highly flatter the religious
leaders to have “God on their side” and
sound reasonable to those who have refused to
love the truth. However, this is an important
point in Revelation 13:12: The devil will have
and exercise the same high-level authority as the
“crisis government.” In other words,
the Lamb-like beast does not derive authority
from the “crisis government” or any
nation. This is consistent with the nature of his
origin – this beast just rises from the
Earth having two horns. The devil “just
appears” out of nowhere having authority
equal to the “crisis government.” This
is a profound point. The devil has carefully
calculated every move necessary to win the favor
of the world’s “crisis government”
(the composite beast). After gaining a majority,
he will begin to oppose and change small issues
that the “crisis government” has made
law and eventually, he will rise above the seven
heads in authority as the eighth and greatest
king. His use of opposition will demonstrate his
superiority. Notice the words of Paul: “He
[the man of sin] will oppose and will
exalt himself over everything that is called God
or is worshiped…” (2 Thessalonians 2:4
– emphasis mine) He will exercise as much
authority as the first beast for his own benefit.
After all, what would you expect of God?
Why not
Worship the Devil?
Now the
question, “Why does the devil make the
people worship the composite beast – instead
of himself?” Answer: If the devil initially
required one group of people to worship him as
God, this would separate and alienate him from
the other religions of the world. In other words,
if the devil required the Moslems to worship his
person as Allah, then Catholics, Protestants and
Jews would regard this being as a Moslem God. The
devil knows two things: (a) by forcing people to
worship the composite beast, they are actually
worshiping him (Revelation 13:4) since he is the
author of false religion, and (b) by compelling
diverse bodies of people to obey their respective
religious leaders, he will initially fulfill the
expectations of people who already think they
worshiping God. Therefore, the devil will insist
that everyone living in Moslem countries worship
according to the laws of the “crisis
government” for that nation. People living
in Catholic countries will be commanded by the
devil to worship according to the authorities for
that country, etc. This is a temporary
move by the devil to lead a diverse world toward
the establishment of his one world
church/government. In the end, however, people
end up worshiping the Lamb-like beast. The
establishment of the mark of the
“beast” proves this point.
When the
devil physically appears (during the fifth
trumpet), Moslems, Jews, Catholics, Protestants,
etc. will be worshiping according to the laws
established in their respective countries. By
commanding the nations to obey their religious
leaders, the religious leaders from all nations
will be pleased that “God” is
supporting them and in turn, the devil will later
extract their support for his cunning “one
world-church” plan. Ultimately, when the
devil has gained enough control to establish his
“one world-church,” the options he
gives to every world inhabitant are not good
– obey and live, disobey and die.
(Revelation 13:15) But to reach this point in his
plan, religious leaders of all faiths must first
“join themselves” and support the devil
before he will unfold his plan for a new world
church. After all, with God on Earth, there will
be no reason to continue plurality of religion.
To make this idea as palatable as possible, the
devil will take certain elements from each
religion to create the new one; thus, the new
religion is called “an image” or clone
of the composite beast. By using a clone,
everyone will find something in the new religion
that was borrowed from their old system. This new
religion or church is also the whore that rides
on the seven heads described in Revelation 17.
For a short time, the new one-world religion will
rule over the people of Earth.
There
will be many distinguishing differences between
the people of God and the followers of the devil.
However, two character traits will fully separate
the righteous from the wicked. First, the
righteous will “obey God’s commandments
and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” (Revelation
12:17) The Ten Commandments are beyond
impeachment. They stand forever because the One
who established them lives forever! The fourth
commandment, requiring man to honor and keep the
seventh day holy will stand in direct contrast to
the day of worship that Satan declares holy.
Perhaps the devil will direct his one-world
church to worship on Sunday, since Catholic and
Protestant populations represent a very large
segment of people in terms of numbers. (In other
words, Sunday observance could be one of those
tenants of doctrine carried over into the
devil’s new church.) No one can biblically
verify just what day the devil will set forth as
holy, but we can be sure it will not be the
seventh day. Remember, the devil is empowered by
God to lead the world astray and the sharper the
contrast, the clearer the issues are between
truth and falsehood. (Revelation 13:14) Second,
the people of God will be holding to the
testimony of Jesus. The testimony of Jesus is
described as the spirit of prophecy that He will
give the 144,000. (Revelation 19:10; 10:7) The
wicked, on the other hand, will be following the
testimony of their “false prophet,” the
devil. The Lamb-like beast is also called,
‘the false prophet,” because he lies to
the people in the face of the clearest evidences
of truth. (John 8:44) The devil will be the chief
spokesman for his new world order and as such,
earns the title, “false prophet.”
One last
point. The Bible says the devil will make the
people “…worship the first beast, whose
fatal wound had been healed.” (Revelation
13:12) Why is the first beast identified as the
one whose fatal wound had been healed? This
question comes up often and the simple answer is
– to avoid any confusion. John refers to a
distinguishing feature associated with the first
beast, so there is no mistaking the identity of
the beast. This keeps the actions of these two
beasts separate and distinct. For example, if
five men were standing in a line-up and you
wished clearly to indicate which man you were
pointing to, you might say, “The man without
any hair on his head.” That would eliminate
any doubt if the other men had hair!
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