The Beasts of
Revelation Exposed
What do They
Represent?
________________________
page l 1 l 2 l 3 l 4 l 5 l 6 l 7 l 8 l
-6-
Revelation 13:7 He was
given power to make war against
the saints and to conquer them.
And he was given authority over
every tribe, people, language and
nation.
Revelation 13:8 All
inhabitants of the earth will
worship the beast – all
whose names have not been written in
the book of life belonging to the
Lamb that was slain for the creation
of the world.
Revelation 13:9 He who
has an ear, let him hear.
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)
page l 1 l 2 l 3 l 4 l 5 l 6 l 7 l 8 l
-6-
