Thursday, March 29, 2012

Revelation Riddle - Big Beast

The Book of Revelation is full of riddles! But once the mystery of them is unlocked, they fit together like the pieces to a puzzle forming a complete picture. There a lot of ruminating over who (or what) "the beast" of Revelation/Apocalypse chapter 13 is. One of the most important things to notice, and surprisingly, some don't, is that there are two beasts in that chapter! There is the many headed, many horned and many crowned beast of verse 1 through 10, and then there is the (smaller) two horned (two office) beast of verses 11 through 18.
- Of course a big clue to Bible prophecy riddles is cross-references, those other Bible verses which are closely linked, having words or similarities in common. Such a reference to the description of the larger beast of Revelation/Apocalypse chapter 13, verses 1 through 10, is found in Daniel chapter 7, verses 7 and 19.
- Here are the two references - Young's Literal Translation (YLT):

Revelation 13

 1And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and I saw out of the sea a beast coming up, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon its horns ten diadems, and upon its heads a name of evil speaking..

Daniel 7

 7After this I was seeing in the visions of the night, and lo, a fourth beast, terrible and fearful, and exceedingly strong; and it hath iron teeth very great, it hath consumed, yea, it doth break small, and the remnant with its feet it hath trampled; and it [is] diverse from all the beasts that [are] before it; and it hath ten horns.
 19Then I wished for certainty concerning the fourth beast, that was diverse from them all, fearful exceedingly; its teeth of iron, and its nails of brass, it hath devoured, it doth break small, and the remnant with its feet it hath trampled..

To make the riddle more certain, is the phrase "its teeth of iron, and its nails of brass" which brings us to yet another important cross-reference, one not well noticed, or at least I have never come across any reference to it by any other Bible prophecy buffs.


An Ancient Dream of a Huge Statue - Of Ancient World Empires (with impact upon Israel) and a last World Empire:

Daniel 2

 32This image! its head [is] of pure gold, its breasts and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass;
33its legs of iron, its feet, part of them of iron, and part of them of clay.. (ten toes)..
( 34Thou wast looking till that a stone hath been cut out without hands, and it hath smitten the image on its feet, that [are] of iron and of clay, and it hath broken them small..)

Bible scholars agree, the brass represented Greece, and the iron represented Rome ("iron teeth", ancient iron columns of Rome!) To find the identity of the many headed, many horned (seated) and many crowned (rulers, modern) we need to look for its Graeco/Roman roots (of philosophy, arts, architecture, politics, etc). Preceeded by the golden head, being Babylon, and the Silver, being (Media)-Persia.

Daniel 7:19 - Amplified Bible (AMP)

19Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast--which was different from all the others, exceedingly terrible and shocking, whose teeth were of iron and its nails of bronze, (or brass) which devoured, broke and crushed, and trampled what was left with its feet-- [What the iron doesn't devour, the Greek (secular humanism / nowadays "humans are the higher power" philosophy) will break up and trample underfoot..]

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