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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