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The Beast You Thought You Knew

A Challenge to the Traditional View of the Beast of Revelation

 

            The traditional view of the Beast of Revelation, as I understand it, is that the Beast is the personification of the antichrist.  The seven heads, as I understand, are synonymous with seven of the horns after three of the ten have been plucked up or subdued.

            Here is the common grace interpretation of the beast of Revelation as has been taught to me by many grace preachers:

Revelation 13:11-12, “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”

 

  • Here we have the unholy trinity. 
  • The dragon gives the beast with seven heads and ten horns his power, his seat and his autority.
    • The dragon is Satan and is the “Father” of this unholy trinity.
  • The beast with seven heads and ten horns has one of his heads wounded as it were unto death and his deadly wound is healed.
    • This beast is a resurrected human and is the “Son” of this holy trinity
  • The beast with two horns and speaks like the dragon causes all to worship the first beast – the “Son” of the unholy trinity
    • The two horned beast is the “Holy Spirit” of this unholy trinity.

 

So who or what is this beast?

Grace explanation of the beast that I’ve heard from many grace preachers

 

    • Beast has seven heads and ten horns
    • The ten horns represent ten kings with ten kingdoms
  • The man of sin, one of these horns, comes along, taking power through peaceable means
    • Daniel 11:24, “He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.”
    • Revelation 6:2, “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”
      • The teaching is that he has a bow (as in rainbow) but no arrows.
  • The man of sin organizes a ten kingdom confederation – representing the ten horns
  • The man of sin is wounded to death, and is resurrected as the son of perdition.
    • Revelation 13:3, “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”
  • The son of perdition absorbs three of the ten kingdoms into his own kingdom
    • Daniel 7:8, “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.”
  • The ten kings, which are now only seven, have become the heads of the beast.

 

The explanation for the beast, then, is that ten kings (ten horns) become seven kings (seven heads) when the three horns are plucked up.  This confederacy makes a covenant with Israel for one week.  In the middle of that week, the man of sin is assassinated but revives from death as the son of perdition.  It is at this time that the covenant with Israel is broken and the abomination of desolation is set up.

Part of this I agree with, but the part about the ten horns and seven heads cannot be true, as you will soon see.

            This paper is meant to introduce a different, and I believe more consistent understanding of what and who the beast is.  It is also a call to find errors in my thinking and point them out to me.  I understand that it is possible to go down rabbit holes of error when one studies alone, so I would ask that any glaring mistakes in my thinking be brought to my attention.

            I will take this in the order in which it came to me, so that certain ideas are brought forth in the beginning and further illuminated as we go along.

 

 Daniel 7:23-24, “Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.”

            My first mild objection is that these ten kings arise out of the same kingdom.  It can be explained in the traditional view, but I believe it does some damage to that view.  If the kings rise out of “this kingdom” which is singular and is what the verse says, how can there be a confederation of ten kingdoms?  I understand that this can be explained away as the kings are in confederation and therefore can be construed as one kingdom, but that is just the first problem I have found.

            Daniel 7:7-8, “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.”

            Daniel 7:20-21, “And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;”

            The common view is that the man of sin, or later Antichrist, overtakes three kings to make the beast ten kingdoms with seven heads or kings.  If that were to be true we now have a math problem.  There are 10 kings, to which another one is added (the little horn) who speaks great words against the most High.  That’s eleven kings.  11-3=8. That’s too many heads. We now have eight kings for ten kingdoms.

            Of course the argument would be that the eleventh horn isn’t really the eleventh, it’s the tenth horn that died and was resurrected, so there’s really only ten horns.  That almost sounds convincing except that’s not what the verses say.  Antichrist is the eleventh horn and the seventh head.  But this is how the Word reads when explaining about the head when it receives it’s deadly wound: 

Revelation 17:9-11, “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.”

The difference in the explanations is the proof that the eleventh horn is separate from the ten horns.  Nowhere does the scripture state that the eleventh horn is of the ten. The eleventh horn plucks up three horns and there will be eight, not seven, left.  If I haven’t convinced you of this yet, keep reading.

            Revelation 17:12-13, “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.”

            These kings have no kingdom.  We saw in Daniel 7:23-24 that they come out of one kingdom.  In this verse we see the kingdom they come out of is the kingdom of the beast, and they have that power for one hour.  How can kings with no kingdom who receive that power  for one hour also be kings of kingdoms that make a confederation with Israel?  Do they do that in an hour? And, as we will see, it would have to be done in the second half of Daniel’s week – but the week begins with the signing of the covenant.  Something is very wrong here.

“but receive power as kings one hour with the beast”      

Well, of course that one hour isn’t literal, right? It’s a euphemism, such as hour of need, right?  The verse gives no indication in any way of one hour not meaning one hour.  So why do these kings receive power for only one hour?  If we carefully read what happens next it all becomes clear.

Revelation 17:12, “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.”

Revelation 17:16, “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.“

            These 10 kings (minus the “little horn”) hate the whore.  Their mission is to destroy the whore.  They receive power for one hour to accomplish this task.

Revelation 18:9-10, “And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.”

Revelation 18:17-19, “For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,  And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!  And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.”

            This does damage to the traditional interpretation in several ways.  The kings receive power from the Dragon for the specific purpose of destroying the whore. This can only occur after the man of sin becomes the antichrist. So these kingdomless kings could not sign a covenant until after the covenant needs to be signed.

  • Revelation 13:2-5, “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”
  • The dragon doesn’t give power to the beast, and his deadly wound isn’t healed until the time limit of forty two months in which they are given this power by God. This means the dragon, the beast and the false prophet have no power in the first half of Daniel’s 70th week, and the kings – if they are human- have no kingdoms.

 

Having no power to draw from means that the three horns cannot have been subdued until the second half of the 70th week (which we see in the above verses.), which destroys the idea that these are the kingdoms that are confederated against Israel.  The horns are not kingdoms, they are kings who have no kingdoms.  They don’t receive kingdoms, they receive power to destroy the whore.

            And what about these kings after their power hour?

            Revelation 17:16-17, “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.”

            They return their kingdom (singular – they are only granted one kingdom for one hour) to the beast and become subservient to him.  Notice that all ten kings participate in the destruction of the whore.  Even as late as this point, three of the kings have not been plucked up. It is not until later that three of the kings are plucked up or subdued.  As this event doesn’t occur well into the second half of Daniel’s 70th week, how could these kings – with no kingdoms – be confederate against Israel before the middle of the week?  And if the three kings are not plucked up until the second half of the week, how could they make seven heads (even though we saw that there would by necessity be eight heads).  Furthermore, kings without a kingdom cannot form a confederacy of nations, because they have no nations.

And what about this confederacy that Israel signs a covenant with?

Daniel 9:27, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

  • Daniel 9,26b “…and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”
    • There is no confederacy here – just the people of the prince

 

 

Isaiah 28:15-18, “Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.”

  • Here is that covenant that is signed, but no confederacy

 

Isaiah 33:8-10, “The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man. The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits. Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.”

  • Again, only one man is mentioned with this covenant.

 

Isaiah 57:7-9, “Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice. Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it. And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.”

  • Although there seems to be more than one here that Israel makes a covenant with, it is with a high and lofty mountain – one kingdom. They also go to the king with ointment – one king. The covenant with them is with the king of the kingdom – the kingdom is the them. There is no confederacy.

 

Psalms 55:19-23, “God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.”

  • Again “…he hath broken his covenant…” One man made the covenant and the same man broke the covenant.

 

I don’t know, but I could find no mention of a confederacy against Israel that was specific to bringing about the 70th week of Daniel.

 

Personally I believe Daniel 11:21-45 has been fulfilled with the terror that Antiochus Epiphanes perpetrated against the Jews, but I also believe it will be fulfilled again by the Antichrist. 

 

  • Daniel 11:22, “And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.”
  • Daniel 11:30-32, “For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”
    • First we see that there is a prince of the covenant: “also the prince of the covenant…” There is no mention of a confederation of the covenant.
    • “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries…” The covenant here has a double meaning – it is wickedness against the covenant God made with Israel, but also wickedness done against the covenant the man of sin made with Israel. This is obvious because of the preceding passage: “and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate…”
    • And such as do wickedly against the covenant – this is those Jews who forsake the covenant with God.
    • “shall he corrupt with flatteries….” Are the same folks that he will deceive after he has broken the covenant with Israel.
    • Again here it is one man who has to do with this covenant.

 

It is possible that I’m missing something, but it seems to me that the idea of a confederacy has always been dependent on the seven heads and 10 horns, which we have shown cannot be a confederacy.

  • There are a few passages that speak of a confederacy against Israel such as Psalms 83 then list 10 nations, and many passages that list 10 nations that will do Israel harm, but seldom are they all the same nations.  And these are always nations that would require a leader – or king.  But the ten horns have no kingdom except for one hour with the beast.

 

So the idea of a ten kingdom confederacy that signs a covenant with Israel seems to come from a traditional understanding that was in error.  The Bible indicates no such thing.  The covenant always seems to be made with one man.

 

The ten kings, if they represent a confederacy, that confederacy is against the whore.  Who or what they are is unknown at this time.  It is possible that they are even beings that ascend out of the bottomless pit with the beast.

 

The seven heads are obviously kings also.  It is possible that the heads are a procession of historical kings that did damage to Israel.

 

Revelation 17:10-11, “And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.”

  • “Five are fallen”: Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Media-Persia and Ptolemy and the Seleucids (the Greeks) ??????? 
  • “One is” – depending on the time period John was referring to, that could be either Rome or a future kingdom that was doing damage to Israel.
  • “and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” This obviously refers to the man of sin who continues a short space, is assassinated and returns as the son of perdition.  He is the same man, so even though the son of perdition is the eight, he is of the seven.

 

If this interpretation is correct, the seven heads would be the foundation on which the eight head stands.  They are not concurrent with the beast, but they were all types of the beast.

 

No matter what the seven heads and ten horns are, there can be no doubt that they are NOT a confederation against Israel.  They also cannot be the entity that confirms a covenant with Israel.  The traditional view is in error and we must study to show ourselves approved before we can know the truth of the seven heads and ten horns.