View of All Beasts of Revelation 13
General Interpretation Principles - Miller Principle, Characteristics Principle - For more information see the Prophetic Rules of interpretation in the Main Menu.
Click on beasts for more information on each beast
Note: Time moves forward left to right
Earthbeast - explained in Revelation 13
Talking Horn and 7 Remaining Horns on Head of Dreadful
Beast
of Daniel 7 Continue Until Second Coming of Jesus
Time of the body
538 AD to 1798 AD
Time of the heads
from 1798 through the 7th king
Time of the 10 horns or kings during the time
of the 8th king
Image Beast - explained in Rev 13
Body of sea beast explained in Revelation 13 - but, virtually
no explanation of the heads and horns. You
will find the detailed explanation of the heads
and horns only in Revelation 17 to complete the
story.
The sea beast of Revelation 13, which has the feet of a bear,
the mouth of a lion, and the body of a leopard
with 7 heads and 10 horns, is here shown quite
out of proportion, but it is done this way to illustrate
that the body of this beast represents the time
period from 538 AD to 1798 AD, the heads represent
the time from 1798 AD to the end of the time of
the heads, and then the time for the 10 horns or
10 kings is to occur after that. The fact
that this is so is made clear by 3 things, which
are
(1) the interpretation
of who this beast represents,
(2) the facts of
history, and
(3) the Miller Principle which says that
the body represents one time period for the power
symbolized, the heads represent the next time period,
and finally the horns represent the final time
period for this power.
The talking horn of Daniel 7 is here symbolized by the leopard
beast (also called the sea beast). They both
represent exactly the same thing. It can
be identified as being the same power because
(1) it matches the
time period it would have power (1260 days which
are symbolic of 1260 years),
(2) it arises out
of the same power (Rome),
(3) it commits blasphemy
against God (which is defined as taking the place
of or power of God - see Mark 2:1-12), and
(4) it persecuted
those who attempted to worship God the way God
says we are to worship him.
The rules of interpretation laid down in Daniel 7 and 8 clearly
play a large part in creating a proper understanding
of the sea beast an the scarlet beast of Revelation
17. Many interpreters seem to think that
these beasts are to be interpreted separately from
those of Daniel, but this is a misconception. God
designed the visions given to both Daniel and John
and it is logical that he would create one set
of rules of interpretation to be used in both books
wherever common symbols occur in both books (that
is, beasts with heads and horns to represent powers). Since
God gives us the example of how to interpret these
beasts through Daniel and the experience of history,
we should use the same rules for interpreting these
same types of beasts in Revelation. To do
otherwise is to void the planning that God obviously
put into these visions.
Another reason the same rules must apply is that the talking
horn of Daniel 7 and the leopard beast of Revelation
13 are the same identical power. The rules apply to the dreadful beast (4th beast) of Daniel
7, so if one simply expands on the talking horn
as is done in Revelation 13 with the leopard beast,
the same rules should still apply because the leopard
beast is the same power as the talking horn. Because
the rules apply to the talking horn and the talking
horn and the leopard beast are synonymous, the
same rules must apply to the leopard beast. Hence, the rules
are NOT different in Revelation for the prophetic
beasts than they are in Daniel.
Notice that the earth beast with 2 horns like a lamb (here
the bison is used to represent this beast) occurs
during the "is not" phase of the sea beast (see 3 phases
of the beast) and continues
into the time of the horns. This beast in
turn creates the image beast which occurs during
the 3rd or "yet is" phase of the sea beast (which
here we call the time of the horns). It is
during the time of the horns that the 8th king
occurs. Also, during the time of the horns,
the end of the world occurs when Jesus comes again
to claim those who have served him instead of Satan. After
this, there is no more earth history for a thousand
years because all life but that of the wild animals
and the evil angels will remain alive on this world.
Something that has been commonly missed about the story of
the sea beast in Revelation13 is that the story
is incomplete. In Daniel 7, you get an explanation
of the horns on the dreadful beast. You also
get an explanation of the 4 heads of the leopard
through the explanation of the 4 horns of the goat
in Daniel 8. In Revelation 13, you get an
explanation of the body of the sea beast but no
real explanation of the heads and horns. So,
you cannot use Revelation 13 to identify the heads
and horns of the leopard or sea beast of Revelation
13. The only complete explanation of heads
and horns is in Revelation 17, so it is logical
that Revelation
17 MUST complete the story for the heads and horns
of Revelation 13. Working
backwards using the Miller Principle, one can know
that the body of each of these beasts (sea beast
of Revelation 13 and scarlet beast of Revelation
17) represents the same power. If you doubt
that, consider that the heads and horns are always
a splitup of the prior kingdom. If the heads
and horns are identical, then the bodies must also
be identical because they are a product of a splitup
of a prior kingdom, unless an exception is stated
(which does occur for the dragon of Revelation
12, but that is a more complicated issue, so see the section on Revelation 17 for more information and are the heads and horns of the dragon the same as those of
the leopard and scarlet beasts?) Since
no exception is stated for the scarlet beast of
Revelation 17, the bodies of the two beasts must
represent the same powers.
Another way to restate the previous paragraph is this: While
the appearance of the scarlet beast is different
than the leopard (sea beast) of Revelation 13,
it is nonetheless true that the two beasts share
common characteristics that identify them as representing
the same power (see the
section on the scarlet beast of Revelation 17 for
more information on this). Now,
if the body of each of these beasts represents
the same power, then by application of the Miller
Principle, the heads and
horns of both beasts must represent the same power. Therefore,
for this and several other reasons, the sea beast
of Revelation 13 and the scarlet beast of Revelation
17 are one and the same, but look different in
order to point out different characteristics of
the same power.
In the last few verses of Revelation 13 is the information
about the mark of the beast. While we cannot
say exactly what form this mark will take because
we are not told, it is clear that it is some sort
of identifier to indicate who is loyal to the beast
and who is not. Given today's technology,
it seems unlikely to be an actual physical mark
and is more likely done through some sort of technical
means, though it is possible it involves biometrics,
which is use of physical characteristics such as
an iris scan or fingerprints. The mark on
the forehead might suggest that this is an agreeable
thing to those who receive it there because thinking
takes place in the brain, which is certainly behind
the forehead. The mark on the hand would
suggest that for these individuals it is not agreeable
and they are forced to comply. Please note
that NOBODY in this world has yet received the mark of
the beast as this is still in the future, but someday
it will be a mark to avoid because of the serious
consequences for receiving it (warning against
this is given in Revelation chapter 14). The
last verse in chapter 13 then gives the number
666 as an indicator of who the beast is. Please
go to the Main Menu at the top of this page and
click on 666 Number History for information on
the history of the number 666.
8th king makes war against God's people
"Yet is" time of beast - Rev 17:8
Beast makes war on God's people
"Was" time of beast - Rev 17:8
No War against God's people
"Is not" time of beast - Rev 17:8
Click either arrow to go to Revelation 17 beast
1260 Years