Revelation 12:7-14:5

The Four Beasts of Revelation
#1. The Great Red Dragon
(Continued)

__________________________________

page l 1 l 2 l 3 l 4 l 5 l 6 l

-5-

Let’s review a few things: The first four trumpet judgments described in Revelation 8:2-13 will produce death and destruction on a Biblical scale that exceeds human measurement and calculation!

 

These judgments will occur during the first 30 to 60 days of the Great Tribulation. Because these judgments will be global, most survivors will seriously question whether survival on planet Earth will even continue. 

 

Thousands of cities will be destroyed by the first four trumpet judgments. Earth’s infrastructures will be in ruin and twenty-five percent of Earth’s seven billion people will die as a result of these judgments. [1.75 billion]

 

During these four calamitous events the inhabitants of Earth will be traumatized by two painful observation: First, we will tremble at the reality of Almighty God, the power and scope of His wrath. Second, we will observe that God’s judgments fell on cities and places that were well known for their wickedness.

 

Since very few people understand the book of Revelation, most of the survivors will logically think that more judgments from God are imminently forthcoming.

 

This anticipation will induce panic and this panic will move the leaders of the world to rapidly and radically transform their governments. Desperate situations require desperate solutions. During the forth trumpet, darkness will cover the middle third of our planet and during this darkness a crisis government will form. This crisis government will be the composite beast.

 

The compelling need for a new government will be simple. Everyone will have an overwhelming fear of Almighty God and who will argue against the need to do something to appease God or is it assumed that everyone will die? [In other words, no one will be able to reasonably argue against the formation of this crisis government or its mission to appease Almighty God.]

 

The religious and political justification for the formation of this crisis government will be simple: “Mankind must immediately appease God through repentance and worship or mankind will perish.”

 

God is going to turn the world upside down with His first four trumpet judgments and in the process, the religious leaders of the world will come out on top!

 

Religious leaders will be given positions of higher authority than held by political leaders because religious leaders claim (and billions of people believe) they know the will and ways of Almighty God!   

 

This “fruit basket upset” will enable religious leaders to insist on the creation of a crisis government to deal with God and His wrath and bewildered politicians will have no option but to go along.

 

Remember this panic statement: We must quickly appease God through repentance and worship or everyone will perish.”

 

As political leaders survey the global death and destruction caused by the first four trumpets, when they realize that God targeted places well known for wickedness, they will be willing to do whatever religious leaders think best.

 

Once empowered, and claiming to speak for God, religious leaders will attempt to appease God through the formation of a crisis government. This crisis government will resemble the former Taliban government of Afghanistan.

 

Sins of all kinds will be outlawed, morality will be legislated, and offenders will be severely punished, all of this to avert more of God’s wrath. The creation and imposition of sin-less laws will be the hallmark of the composite beast. So, the rise of the composite beast in Revelation 13:1-4 should be understood within the context of the first four trumpets.

 

The composite beast will be a composite government. 

 

The composite beast will not arise from an existing nation.

 

The composite beast will arise from “a sea of peoples, multitudes and nations.” (Revelation 13:1-8; 17:15)

 

This composite beast will have seven heads and ten horns – 17 entities.

 

This beast does not yet exist.

 

This beast rises after “the Earth helps the woman” and we know this beast rises after the French Revolution because when this beast rises from the sea, one of the seven heads of the beast “had been healed.” (Revelation 13:3)

 

The seven heads are seven religious systems, and the head that was wounded is the Roman Catholic Church.

 

The Roman Catholic Church was seriously wounded during the French Revolution (1798-1799) and only in recent years (largely due to the popularity of Pope John Paul II) has the church regained much of the influence and respect that it once enjoyed.

The point here is that the deadly wound is not healed until the papacy once again has authority over nationsas it did prior to its injury in February, 1798.

 

Like the Taliban government, the composite beast will be a ruthless monster driven by misguided religious zeal and false theology. The composite beast will persecute the saints of God for 42 months. (Revelation 13:5) During this time, it will have authority over all nations (Revelation 13:7) and it will be destroyed by Jesus at the Second Coming. (Revelation 19:20,21)

 

This beast is called Babylon (Revelation 14:8, 17:5) because it will mirror ancient Babylon both in arrogance and ignorance. Ironically, the composite beast will claim to speak for God, but it only blasphemes God and misrepresents God.

 

Babylon has not yet formed, even though all of the players are present.

 

When fear of God’s wrath is global and hundreds of millions of people are dead, the political leaders of Earth will turn to their religious leaders for instruction and direction. Political leaders will ask their religious leaders, “What does God want us to do?” and religious leaders will say, “We must immediately appease God through repentance and worship or everyone will perish.”

 

In this vacuum of fear and uncertainty the Roman Catholic Church will step forward with leadership and an elegant solution. The pope will invite religious and political leaders from all over the world to a worldwide council. At a minimum, three amazing decisions will come from this council that would otherwise be unthinkable.

 

(1) Given the religious diversity of mankind and given the fact that there is one angry God, this council will unanimously agree that all nations must unite as one man to appease God. This union will be possible because everyone will agree that certain principles of righteousness should be imposed upon the whole world. Amazingly, there are two principles upon which the diverse religions of the world agree: Repentance and worship of God! These two principles will be adopted by this council as the basis for world unity and appeasement of God.

 

(2) Because everyone observed that God’s anger was directed at places that were well known for wickedness, every nation will agree to begin legislating “sin-less” laws so that the wrath of the Almighty might be appeased and His judgments cease. Further, all nations will recognize that they cannot disregard this unified effort to appease God or God’s wrath will likely break out against the whole world once again. Therefore the political leaders of every nation on Earth will agree to abide by the directives of this new crisis government that will be established for the single purpose of managing the current crisis between God and man.

 

(3) The leaders of the world know that every government requires leadership. This council will therefore create an executive congress of religious leaders from all of the religions of the world. (This supreme council will be something like the United Nations, except it will be religious in nature and far more effective.)

 

 

__________________________________

page l 1 l 2 l 3 l 4 l 5 l 6 l

-5-