The Single Beast

The “Beast” is a single history-spanning entity that has existed since the dawn of human civilization, beginning when Babel “SET UP a high tower to make us a name, lest we be scattered upon the face of the earth.” That incident is alluded to by Daniel when describing how Nebuchadnezzar subjugated Jerusalem and took the “vessels of the house of God into the land of Shinar to the house of his god.”

As in the Tower of Babel incident, Nebuchadnezzar attempted to unite all nations under his rule by imposing the Babylonian language on his subjects, and he summoned all the peoples of his domain to venerate the “high image that he SET UP” in the Plain of Dura - (Genesis 11:1-9, Daniel 1:1-21, 3:1-9).

[Photo by MOHAMMED TASEEN on Unsplash]

However, God is the one who “removes kings and SETS UP kings.” Regardless of the presumptions of kings and emperors, Yahweh is the one who establishes and destroys political power – (Daniel 2:21).

Nebuchadnezzar experienced this reality when he was troubled by a dream in which he saw a massive image in the shape of a man with a golden head, a torso and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and its feet a mix of iron and clay. Yet the entire edifice was destroyed by a “stone that was cut out without hands” that struck the image’s feet, causing the whole structure to “become like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors. And the wind carried them away… and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”

Only Daniel was able to interpret the dream. The golden head represented Nebuchadnezzar, and its other sections symbolized three additional kingdoms that would follow his. The “stone cut without hands” portrayed the Kingdom of God that would supplant the kingdoms of this age and fill the Earth. Although the image consisted of four parts, it was ONE IMAGE, and it was destroyed in its entirety in one stroke when the “stone” struck its feet – (Daniel 2:31-45).

The same reality is found in Chapter 7 of Daniel. The four “Beasts from the Sea” represented four kingdoms, starting with Babylon. The Fourth Beast was the most terrifying of them all, especially its “Little Horn that was boasting of great things.” It attained political power and “waged war against the saints.”

In the interpretation, the “Four Beasts represent four kings that will arise out of the Earth,” but in the end, the “saints will receive the Kingdom,” singular. The fourth kingdom persecuted the people of God as part of the Beast’s age-long war to destroy the saints. It wreaked havoc on them for the predetermined time, the “season, seasons, and part of a season,” but its reign of terror eventually ceased (“They took away his dominion to consume and destroy it unto the end.” – (Daniel 7:15-27).

The first three Beasts lived on in the fourth kingdom until it was destroyed (“as for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away. Yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time”). As before, the entire structure was not vanquished until the very end.

IN REVELATION

This perspective is presented in the Book of Revelation. In Chapter 13, John saw a SINGLE BEAST ascending from the Sea that had all the characteristics of Daniel’s four beasts, including the Ten Horns and the “mouth speaking great things and blasphemies.” Like the “Little Horn” of Daniel, it was authorized to operate only for a limited period, “forty-two months,” waging “war against the saints” - (Revelation 13:1-10).

When describing the rise of this Beast, John used a Greek participle in the present tense, signifying action in progress. It was in the process of “ascending” from the Sea, and it still rising to this day. Moreover, John listed its animal-like features in reverse order from the Four Beasts listed in Daniel.

Daniel saw the lion, the bear, the leopard, and the monstrous creature with Ten Horns ascending in that order. John saw ONE BEAST which had the features of the monstrous Beast with Ten Horns, the leopard, the bear, and the lion, as if he was looking back in time over the history of former world empires.

In Chapter 17, John saw Babylon “being carried by the Beast with Ten Horns and Seven Heads.” It “was and is not and is about to ascend out of the Abyss.” The description refers to Chapter 13 where one of the Beast’s “Seven Heads” received a “death stroke but lived.”

The “Seven Heads” represent “Seven Kings” and kingdoms. Of the seven, by John’s time, “five were fallen.” They had come and gone. One existed, which could only have been Rome, and the seventh was yet to come. When it did arrive, it would continue for a “little while,” a reference to the same period as the “forty-two months” in Chapter 13.

The final kingdom was “an eighth and of the seven.” It had the same nature as its predecessors, but it was also something beyond them, something even worse. It would continue until it was cast into the “Lake of fire” by the “Rider on the White Horse” – (Revelation 19:11-21).

[Photo by LINLI XU on Unsplash]

The imperial “Beast” is an ancient creature. It has been around since the Tower of Babel incident, and the power behind it, the “Dragon,” goes back even further to the Garden of Eden. It is no coincidence that in the twelfth chapter of Revelation Satan is called the “Ancient Serpent” who persecuted the “Woman and her Seed” – (Genesis 3:15, Revelation 12:1-5, 12:17).

Hence, the “Beast” is a transhistorical reality that exists to annihilate the people of God. In Chapter 20 of Revelation, after being released from the “Abyss,” the “Ancient Serpent” gathers the nations from the “four corners of the Earth” for one final assault against the “camp of the saints.” Thereafter, he and his allies are thrown into the “Lake of Fire.”

This “Beast” remains alive to this day, still waiting for the next opportunity to pursue global domination and the destruction of the “saints,” the latter being its real purpose regardless of its claims otherwise.

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RELATED POSTS:

• Babel Lives! - (In the Bible, Babylon becomes a symbol of the recurring rise of empires and self-appointed world leaders)

• Empires Rise and Fall - (Imperial hubris is the legacy of the Tower of Babel, humanity’s first but certainly not attempt to establish the World Empire)

• God Grants Sovereignty - (God gave the kingdom of Judah into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, but He also equipped Daniel and his companions for service in the court of Babylon)