God warned that four great world-dominating, destructive kingdoms would arise consecutively. He pictured these four kingdoms by a huge four-sectioned image. To make it even clearer, God also pictured these same kingdoms by four ferocious-looking and destructive beasts.
1.What did the image, with its four contiguous sections, look like? Daniel 2:28, 31-33, 36-40. What four kingdoms were they to be?
Here are symbolically described the four consecutive world-ruling empires. The first kingdom, or empire, was Nebuchadnezzar’s then-existent kingdom. History records that Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom—the Chaldean Empire, called “Babylon” after the name of its capital city—existed from 625-539 b.c.
We also know from history that the second kingdom was to be the Persian Empire (558-330 b.c.), often called Medo-Persian because it was composed of the Medes and Persians.
The third world-ruling kingdom was to be Greece, which began in 333 b.c., under Alexander the Great, who conquered the Persian Empire.
And the fourth kingdom was to be the Roman Empire (31 b.c.-a.d. 476).
2.What was the description of the four “beasts” God showed Daniel in vision? Daniel 7:3-7.
Note that the first beast was like a “lion” (verse 4), the second was like a “bear” (verse 5), the third like a “leopard” (verse 6), and the fourth beast was so dreadful and terrible-looking (verse 7) that it could not be compared to any wild beast that inhabited the Earth!
3.Did these four beasts clearly represent the four world-ruling kingdoms that were to arise consecutively? Verses 17, 23.
The word “king” is synonymous with kingdom, as clearly shown in verses 17 and 23. Therefore, Daniel 7 reveals that these “beasts” symbolize consecutive world empires.
4.What was the description of the composite beast God showed John in vision approximately 650 years after Daniel’s vision? Revelation 13:1-2.
God showed John a symbolic beast which looked as though it had swallowed three different animals—a lion, a leopard and a bear—which in turn manifested parts of themselves so as to make up the total body of the beast. Therefore, John’s beast (verse 2) is a fourth beast composed of the most powerful parts—is a composite—of each of the other three beasts of Daniel 7.
5.Then do both John’s composite beast and Daniel’s fourth beast each symbolically represent the Roman Empire? Daniel 7:7. Each does!
By the time of John’s vision of a composite beast, John was living in the days of the fourth kingdom, which was the Roman Empire. The preceding three great empires had already risen to power and fallen. By that time, the Roman Empire had overspread—swallowed up and absorbed—all vestiges of the preceding three kingdoms. Therefore, it had all the royal splendor and power of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom of Babylon—it had the head, the strongest part, of the “lion.” Also, it had the massiveness and numerically powerful army of the Persian Empire—symbolized by the legs, the most powerful part of the “bear.”
And the Roman Empire was the greatest war-making machine the world had ever seen, for it possessed the swiftness, the cunning and the cruelty of Alexander’s army, symbolized by the body of the “leopard.”
Now we can see why God showed John a beast which was composed of the first three animals Daniel saw; for John’s composite beast—the Roman Empire—embodied all the dominant characteristics of the other three kingdoms.
Beast Wounded, Then Healed
1.But did the beast John saw receive a deadly wound? Revelation 13:3. Was it the head that was “wounded to death”? Same verse.
The first six of the seven heads of the beast John saw stood for the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire and the Grecian Empire with its four divisions (Daniel 7:6). The only “head” existing at the time John saw this beast in vision was the Roman Empire; and so, the Roman Empire is the one that was wounded to death in the vision!
According to history, the deadly wound was administered to the Roman Empire by the barbarians who overran it in its last decaying stages, thus ending its government in a.d. 476.
2.After the seventh head—the Roman Empire—received its deadly wound in a.d. 476, was it later “healed”? Revelation 13:3.
Notice that the text does not say the whole beast died—it says only one of its heads was wounded to death. The one head died. But the beast itself continued, for its “deadly wound was healed.”
3.Do the 10 horns of the fourth beast of Daniel 7:7 and the 10 horns of the beast of Revelation 13:1-2 represent the successive kingdoms, or governments, which were to rule in the territory of the Roman Empire after its fall? Daniel 7:23-24. Was the last horn, or government, to be in existence at the time of Christ’s Second Coming and be given to Him? Verse 27.
These 10 horns are 10 succeeding governments—kingdoms—which were to rule the Roman Empire after its fall in a.d. 476 until the time when Christ comes to establish His Kingdom.
4.Which three kingdoms comprise the first three “horns”?
By a.d. 476, the Roman Empire was overrun by the Vandals (represented by the first horn), of Northern Africa, who sacked Rome in a.d. 455 and ruled it for a brief space of time.
Then Odoacer set up his government at Rome, which was called the Heruli (the second horn). It ruled in and over Rome (a.d. 476-493), but it did not heal the deadly wound because it was only a barbarian—not a Roman—government.
Finally, there was the kingdom of the Ostrogoths, a.d. 493-554 (the third horn), another outside foreign people who ruled in the territory. But they were shortly driven out of Italy and disappeared.
Though essentially independent, these three nations did profess to carry on the Roman Empire by continuing the principle of Roman government and Roman law. These three kingdoms (“horns”), or governments sweeping into the Roman territory, filled the period known in history as the “transition age”—that is, the transition between the “deadly wound” and its “healing.”
5.When and by whom was the beast’s wound “healed” and Roman government restored?
In a.d. 554, Justinian, from Constantinople, and emperor of the eastern division of the empire, set up his government at Rome, bringing about what is known in history as the “Imperial Restoration” of the Roman Empire in the west, thus “healing” the wound. This was the fourth horn of Daniel 7:7.
6.Did Daniel’s prophetic vision include a separate “little horn” that came up among the other 10? Daniel 7:8. What was the description of this “little horn,” and what did it do to the first three horns? Same verse, and verses 20, 24.
The papacy, which this “little horn” represents, was responsible for uprooting the first three “horns”—the Vandals, the Heruli and the Ostrogoths.
The Papacy Prophesied
1.Did God, in vision, show John another beast? Revelation 13:11.
Do not confuse this beast with the first beast of Revelation 13, which is the civil Roman Empire.
2.Does this second beast appear “like a lamb”? Verse 11. What does the word “lamb” symbolize in the Bible? John 1:29 and Revelation 17:14. But what is this beast’s true character? Revelation 13:11 and 12:9.
This two-horned “beast” appears as a lamb, falsely impersonating Christ, but it actually speaks as a dragon!
3.Do the two “horns” of the second beast of Revelation 13:11 symbolize two types of government? Daniel 7:24.
A “horn” represents a king or government. There are two horns—two governments on this beast.
There is only one entity that purports to represent Christ that is organized as a dual, two-fold government. It embodies church government, and a state, or civil government. The Vatican is a separate, independent, sovereign state. Most nations send ambassadors to it, just as they do to other countries. So this second beast was—and still is—a church-state government!
4.Was this second beast to utilize all of the power of the first beast—that is, use all the civil government’s might? Revelation 13:12. How and when did it begin to exercise the first beast’s power? Verse 3.
It was when the first beast’s deadly “wound” was “healed” in a.d. 554 by Justinian’s restoration of the Roman government that this religious government completely took over all the power of the Roman civil government and exercised it to rule the Roman Empire!
Here is how it was accomplished. Prior to a.d. 554, Justinian, emperor of the eastern division of the Roman Empire, had written a letter to the pope acknowledging his supremacy. He, as civil governor, was willing to be ruled by the ecclesiastical head.
When he ascended the throne in a.d. 554, he was accepted by the pope, whose authority the emperor acknowledged. Church and state were now united. Here, for the first time in history, the church was ruling the state, instead of the state controlling the church!
Beast Continues Into Our Time!
1.How long was the now church-ruled beast to continue after its wound was healed? Revelation 13:5. Does God clearly show exactly how long this symbolic time period is? Ezekiel 4:4-6 and Numbers 14:34.
This is the day-for-a-year principle that the Bible gives us in understanding many prophetic lengths of time. So “forty and two months” equals 1,260 days (42 times 30—the equivalent of 1,260 years in Bible prophecy—the length of time the church-dominated “healed” beast was to continue.
2.What governments reigned in the territorial Roman Empire after the “Imperial Restoration” of the Roman government?
Following the “healing” in a.d. 554 by Justinian’s government (the fourth “horn”), came the fifth horn, the Frankish Kingdom (French); then the “Holy Roman Empire” (German) was the sixth horn; the seventh horn was the Habsburg dynasty (Austrian); and Napoleon’s kingdom (French) was the eighth horn.
But, when Napoleon was crushed in 1814, the healed beast’s existence was suspended. And from a.d. 554 to 1814 was 1,260 years—exactly what the duration of the church-ruled “healed” beast was prophesied to be!
3.What was to be the condition of the beast after the 1,260 years were fulfilled? Was its existence to be only temporarily suspended until its ninth and 10th “horns,” or governments, would reign? Revelation 17:8. (Remember that this great beast is to be in existence at the return of Christ.)
Eight of the 10 “horns” having arisen and fallen, the beast then temporarily went into the nonexistent condition symbolized in Revelation 17:8 as the “bottomless pit.”
But in 1870, Garibaldi united the many little divisions of the peninsula of Italy into one nation, and the kingdom thus established began the ninth “horn,” which culminated in the Fascist-Nazi Axis rule of Mussolini and Hitler.
One last government—the 10th and final “horn”—must once more arise out of the symbolic “bottomless pit”!
Revival of Final Beast Imminent!
Prophecy reveals that the last, or 10th, horn of the church-dominated “Holy” Roman Empire is now forming in Europe!
1.What does the symbol of a “woman” mean? 2 Corinthians 11:2.
In 2 Corinthians 11:2, Paul is comparing God’s Church to a virtuous woman.
2.Does the “beast” of Revelation 17 plainly picture the “Holy” Roman Empire—the church-ruled “healed” beast of Revelation 13? Revelation 17:3. Notice the “woman” riding the “beast.”
In Revelation 17:1-7, God pictures a fallen woman—an apostate church—as a great church called “the great whore” and ruling over many nations!
3.What are the “seven heads” of this beast called? Verse 9.
4.Is “mountain” another Bible symbol which pictures a nation or kingdom? Isaiah 2:2-3.
5.What does the text clearly state these “seven heads” represent? Revelation 17:10. (Remember that the word “king” stands for the kingdom he rules.) Does this same verse also prove that these revivals were to be successive kingdoms that ruled the Roman Empire after the fall of the old original Roman Empire? Note the words “five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not vet come.”
The “beast” of Revelation 17 is identified as the “healed” beast of Revelation 13, for the “seven heads” of the chapter 17 beast are the last seven of the 10 “horns,” or kingdoms, of the chapter 13 church-ruled “healed” beast! Here’s why this is true:
The “woman” in Revelation 17, the great false church, is shown as sitting on—ruling over—all seven of these kingdoms. Furthermore, they are successive, because at the time to which John was carried forward in this vision, “five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come.” The five “heads” are the five successive revivals of the empire which were ruled for 1,260 years by the papacy (the fourth through eighth horns).
After a temporary suspension in a “bottomless pit” (Revelation 17:8), the sixth revived head, or ninth horn, began with Garibaldi and culminated in the rule of the Mussolini/Hitler Axis. In 1935, Mussolini entered into a concordant with the papacy—signed the Latin accord acknowledging papal supremacy—and officially proclaimed it a resurrection of the Roman Empire!
Very plainly, these “seven heads” are seven successive restorations—resurrections—of the so-called “Holy” Roman Empire under the influence of the papacy.
When these prophecies were first revealed to Herbert W. Armstrong, he was on the scene during the time of the sixth restoration, hence the “one is” (Revelation 17:10) existed at that time!
6.Is one more “head” of the bestial “Holy” Roman Empire to rise up? Is a final seventh revival or resurrection of this church-state system to take place shortly? Revelation 17:10. Notice the words “the other [the seventh] is not yet come.”
A Union of 10 Nations
1.Do the 10 “horns” on the seventh head—the only remaining head of the Revelation 17 beast—represent 10 kingdoms, that is, 10 nations? Revelation 17:12.
2.Will these 10 “horns”—10 kings, 10 nations—together comprise the seventh, or last, resurrection of the “Holy” Roman Empire? Same verse.
Notice that each will receive power as a king to rule “one hour”—a short time. These 10 “horns” obviously are contemporaneous—existing at the same time!
3.Are the 10 nations to come under the rule and authority of a supreme civil-political and military leader called the “beast”? Verse 13.
Notice that the “ten horns” pictured on the seventh “head” of the beast of Revelation 17 “are ten kings” who have no kingdom as yet. Therefore they are political and military rulers who will receive ruling power “one hour [a very short time] with the beast.”
They will all be of one mind, one purpose—for the 10 rulers will give their combined armies, air forces, navies, and all military power over to the control of this supreme dictator.
4.Is this seventh revival of the “Holy” Roman Empire plainly to occur in our time just before the Second Coming of Christ? Verse 14.
These 10 nations, or groups of nations, comprising the modern revived beast, are to fight Christ at His coming. This shows the time for the fulfillment of this prophecy. This points out that these remarkable scriptures are to be fulfilled in our time in the immediate future!
5.Does the Bible also picture these same 10 kingdoms as 10 toes? Daniel 2:41-42. Are these 10 kingdoms to unite? Verse 43. Notice the words “mingle themselves.”
King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream-image, as we already know, represented the four great world-ruling kingdoms—the fourth being the Roman Empire. And the image’s feet, of course, had 10 toes!
The 10 toes (nations) “mingle”—unite—themselves, but only for a short time. They can’t stay together very long since iron and clay do not stick together!
6.When is the approximate time for the fulfillment of this union of 10 nations? Daniel 2:28. Will Christ destroy these 10 nations at His Second Coming? Verses 34 and 44.
Notice the vision was concerned with things to occur in the “latter days;” for the stone, clearly representing Christ (Acts 4:10-11), is to strike the image on the feet—on the 10 toes!
It is precisely during the time these 10 nations are enjoying their brief union together that Jesus Christ is to return to this Earth to “break in pieces” and consume all these kingdoms! Finally, God’s government will then be established forevermore!
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