Four Beasts in One
In the 13th chapter of Revelation, the single “Beast from the Sea” displays the same animal characteristics of the four creatures that Daniel saw ascending from the sea. John’s “beast” is from the same lineage, but it is also something more. It certainly is not identical to the “fourth beast” with the “little horn,” though it incorporates many of its attributes.
That Daniel’s vision of four “beasts”
is behind John’s image of the single “beast from the sea” is
indisputable. But the latter employs the language and imagery of the former to
build its own picture.
What was “sealed” in Daniel
is not sealed in Revelation, and it envisions
something beyond what Daniel saw. John’s single “beast” combines all
four of the “beasts” from the book of Daniel, and more - (Daniel
12:1-4, Revelation 22:9-10).
PARALLELS & DIFFERENCES
Both Daniel’s fourth “beast” and the
single “Beast” in Revelation ascend from the sea. Both have “ten
horns” and “wage war against the saints.” And in both visions, the “tens
horns” represent “ten kings” or kingdoms. But the differences outweigh
the similarities - (Daniel 7:21-24, Revelation 13:7, 17:12).
Daniel saw four individual beasts ascending
from the sea in succession, but John sees only one. In Daniel, the first
beast is compared to a lion, the second to a bear, and the third to a leopard,
but the fourth has no analog in the animal kingdom - it was a monstrosity with “ten
horns” and “seven heads.”
In Revelation, the animal features of
all four “beasts” are combined into one new entity, then the animal attributes
of Daniel’s four beasts are listed in reverse order - The beast with “ten
horns,” the leopard, the bear, and lastly, the lion.
Moreover, the composite nature of John’s single “Beast from the Sea” means that it is NOT identical to Daniel’s fourth “beast” – It includes the features of all four of the “beasts” seen by the prophet.
The “ten horns” of Daniel’s fourth
beast represent ten kings that will reign over the fourth kingdom. In contrast,
the “ten horns” of John’s “beast” have “received no kingdom yet,
but they will receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour” - (Revelation
17:12).
Daniel’s fourth beast has “ten horns,”
but another “little horn” ascends among the ten after three are removed,
and it “speaks great things.”
SEVENFOLD KINGDOM
In Revelation, the one “Beast”
has “seven heads” in addition to its “ten horns,” one of which is
“struck dead, and his death-stroke is healed.” And in Daniel, the
“little horn…speaks great things,” but in Revelation, the “Beast”
itself is “given a mouth speaking great things and slanders” - (Daniel
7:8, Revelation 13:3-5).
In Daniel, the four beasts represent
four successive kingdoms. The first, the winged lion, undoubtedly symbolizes
Babylon. The second, the bear with one side “raised higher than the other”
represents the Medo-Persian Empire that overthrew Babylon - (Daniel 2:38, 8:20, 11:1-2).
The third beast with four wings and four
heads represents the conquests of Alexander the Great, especially his defeat of
the Persian Empire. After his death, his kingdom is divided into four lesser
domains. The four heads of the leopard point to this fourfold division.
The identity of the “fourth beast”
is not made clear until the vision of the Ram and the Goat in the eighth
chapter of Daniel. The “little horn” is a malevolent king who
rules over one of the four successor kingdoms of the “goat,” that is, the
Macedonian empire founded by Alexander.
This king “of fierce countenance” wages
war against the “saints,” desecrates the Temple, erects the “transgression
that desolates,” and causes the cessation of the daily burnt offering in
the sanctuary - (Daniel 7:15-26, 8:21-26, 9:26-27, 11:30-36).
But the Book of Revelation does not employ the framework of four successive empires that features so prominently in the Book of Daniel. Instead, it employs a sevenfold succession of kingdoms.
The “seven heads” of the “Beast”
represent “seven mountains” on which the “Great Harlot” sits. In
turn, the “seven mountains” symbolize “seven kings” or kingdoms,
five of which “fell” before John’s time, one was “present” in
his day, and another is “yet to come” - (Daniel 7:17, 7:23,
Revelation 17:8-10).
The kingdom that “is” when John received
his vision could only be the Roman empire, the “Beast” that was persecuting
the “churches of Asia.” But there yet remains a future incarnation of
the “Beast.” And when it does appear, it will “continue a little
while,” and then “go into destruction.”
THE FINAL BEAST
Thus, the single “Beast from the Sea”
represents something far beyond what Daniel saw - it is a trans-historical
reality. It was present in the four historical empires represented by
Daniel’s “four beasts,” and it was alive again in the Roman Empire when
it strove to destroy the “saints.”
One day, the final and seventh incarnation
of this “Beast” will ascend to “make war with the Lamb,” and since
the “Dragon” has been expelled from the heavenly courtroom, Satan’s earthly
cohorts cannot attack him directly. Instead, they wage war on his “saints”
on the earth - (Revelation 5:5-12, 11:7, 12:17, 13:7-10, 20:7-10).
Thus, Revelation borrows imagery
from Daniel to build its portrait of the World Empire that has
threatened the existence of the Church throughout the present era. It
is not identical to any of the “four beasts” in Daniel, but it
certainly is of the same nature and character.
Daniel’s four malevolent entities are
forerunners, prototypes of the final version of the “Beast from the sea,”
and in John’s time, that creature was attacking the “churches of Asia”
through Rome and its vassals. But its ultimate form will appear only at the end
of the age when Satan launches his final attempt to annihilate the church –
(Revelation 20:7-10).