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Amazing Facts

The Beast

Joe Crews

The Beast Part 1

A terrifying beast with a deadly wound is going to be responsible for the destruction of millions of people.

This strange creature looks like a leopard, has the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion.

I'll be back in a moment with the amazing facts about this fearful beast.

Hello this is Joe Cruz and the amazing facts broadcast, Facts Which Affect You.

You know, friends, in all the pages of the Bible there is no more terrible promise of punishment than that found in Revelation 14, 9 and 10.

Listen to these words, And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.

And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.

Yes indeed, this is such a serious matter, that the judgment of God will be unmingled with mercy.

Now this will be the first time this has ever happened.

Our souls shrink from the awful nature of the doom which will overtake those who follow the beast and receive his mark.

It's a matter of life and death for every 1 of us, friends.

1 who refuses to heed the warning is surely committing suicide.

And God faces us with the issue and language that cannot be mistaken.

Yet what does the average Christian know about the beast and the mark of the beast?

He has probably never even heard of it, and never heard it mentioned in a sermon even.

I have heard preachers and theologians try to comfort the fears of men and women over this text, because they themselves refuse to accept the plain teaching of the Bible about the beast.

I tell you there is a fearful account to be given by those watchmen who do not warn the flock when danger approaches.

And here is a danger unparalleled in the pages of God's Word, yet the leaders are heard to say, well, don't worry about the beast and the mark of the beast.

The book of Revelation is a mysterious book of symbols.

Just love the Lord and everything will be all right.

Is God going to tell us how deadly this beast is, that we'll be cast in the lake of fire if we have its mark, and then turn around and tell us that it's impossible to know what it is?

We can know, and we'll be spending some time on our broadcast now in the next few days investigating this tremendous prophecy.

But now let's look at Revelation 13, 1-3, where we find the actual description of this prophetic beast.

Revelation 13 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having 7 heads and 10 horns, and upon his horns 10 crowns, and upon his heads a name of blasphemy.

And the beast, which I saw, was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion.

And the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

And I saw 1 of his heads as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast." So there it is, friends, and what a strange creature is pictured in these verses.

Now many people have guessed at the identity of this mysterious symbol.

In fact, during World War I some evangelists called it the Kaiser, and during World War II it was applied to Hitler, and then more recently it was applied to Stalin, and then we have come on down to actually they have said that it was Henry Kissinger, they have said it was actually Ronald Reagan.

Well, listen, today we are not going to guess about it.

We can know from the Scriptures exactly who is symbolized by this beast of Revelation 13.

2 Peter 1.20 tells us that no prophecy of the Bible is of any private interpretation, and that means that we must allow the scripture itself to be its own divine commentary, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Now remember this 1 thing about the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation.

The objects pictured usually stand for something else, but the scriptures also give the key by which we can interpret those symbols.

In Revelation 13 the beast has 7 heads and 10 horns, and it is a composite animal made up of parts of other animals.

Later we will find this beast has a name, a number, and a mark, and those who receive that mark will be cast into hell fire.

So you see, we must be certain of getting all the parts of the animal described and interpreted.

Now God has not left us in darkness concerning this great issue.

Of course, that is the first thing we need to understand about it.

Now let's see if we can find the key to open up the meaning of this strange prophecy.

Why does it arise out of the sea, for example?

Yes it is, and the key is found in Revelation 17, 15.

The waters which thou sawest are people, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

Now isn't that clear and simple, friends?

The beast then is something that would arise among an established civilization and nations.

But Why is this beast like a lion, a leopard, and a bear?

To get the answer to this question, we must go back to the book of Daniel in the Old Testament which actually is a companion book to Revelation.

In Daniel 7, 2 we read these words of the prophet, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the 4 winds of the heavens strove upon the great seas, and 4 great beasts came up from the sea, diverse 1 from another.

Now notice something interesting, friends.

Daniel, the Old Testament prophet, sees the same sea that John did in Revelation.

But instead of just seeing 1 animal come up, he saw 4 animals coming up out of that sea.

He also made mention of the winds blowing on the sea.

Now wind in Bible prophecy represents warfare.

And water, of course, we read a moment ago is symbolic of people, and the wind blowing on the water represents warfare or strife or unrest among those nations or peoples.

Now, what about the beast which arose among those troubled peoples, friends?

Look at verse 17 for God's interpretation.

These great beasts which are 4 are for kings which shall arise out of the earth.

God uses animals to represent nations or powers.

In the same way, of course, today we have the Russian bear, the American eagle, and similar representations of modern nations.

But which are the 4 nations symbolized by these animals of Daniel 7.

The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth." Now if the fourth beast shall be the fourth world kingdom, then the first 3 beasts must represent the first 3 kingdoms.

The fact is that there have only been 4 world empires in all of history and these beasts symbolize those 4, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.

Now the first beast is described as a lion with eagle's wings.

Here is the first world empire of Babylon, fittingly symbolized by the king of beasts, the lion.

In Daniel 2 the same power is represented by a head of fine gold.

And Babylon was indeed the wealthiest, grandest nation that ever existed.

The wings of the eagle represent the speed by which Babylon rose to power.

Now you will find that key in Jeremiah 50, verse 44.

But after ruling from 606 to 538 B.C., a change was to take place with Babylon.

Daniel saw the second beast, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on 1 side.

And here we have the rise of the second empire of history, Medo-Persia, in 538 B.C.

The bear is raised up on 1 side because the Persians were stronger than the Medes, and notice all these details are noted in the prophecy itself.

The third beast arose, and the scriptures say that dominion was given to it.

And it was like a leopard, which had upon the back of it 4 wings of a fowl, and the beast had also 4 heads.

Now friends, this is the third kingdom of history.

So Greece, led by Alexander the Great, conquered the world in a very short time, and those 4 wings, by the way, denote the exceeding swiftness with which Alexander subdued the nations.

He conquered the world in just 8 years, But he couldn't conquer himself.

He died as a young man at the age of 33 according to tradition.

And the 4 heads of that beast symbolize the division of his kingdom among his 4 leading generals, Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy.

They are the ones who took over the territory of that kingdom when Alexander died.

And this brings us to the year 168 B.C., and every detail of the prophecy has been fulfilled at this point.

The Beast Part 2

Several countries have disappeared completely from the pages of history as a result of communist aggression.

Many years ago, another tyrant power uprooted 3 small governments and the result is still seen today.

I'll be back in a moment with the amazing facts about the dictator who was different.

Hello this is Joe Cruz and the Amazing Facts Broadcast, facts which affect you.

In our last broadcast, we introduced 1 of the most interesting and urgent prophecies in the Bible revolving around the activities of the beast of Revelation 13.

The most terrible punishment of all time is pronounced against anybody who follows that beast's power.

Listen once more to those solemn words of warning in Revelation 14, 9, and 10, If any man worship the beast, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.

And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb." So there it is, friends, and language so clear that nobody can fail to see its vital importance.

Now let's read the Bible description of that beast in Revelation 13, verses 1-3.

"...And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having 7 heads, and 10 horns, and upon his horns 10 crowns, and upon his heads a name of blasphemy.

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority." Now you will immediately recognize, friends, that this is not a literal animal at all, but a symbolic prophetic representation.

But the Scriptures provide the key of interpreting the different symbols here in the Bible.

For instance, this animal comes up out of the water and Revelation 17, 15 tells us, "...the waters which thou sawest are multitudes, and nations, and tongues, and people." Now this helps, but What about the other strange parts of the beast?

It has the body of a leopard, and the mouth of a lion, and the feet of a bear.

All right, going back to Daniel 7 verse 2, we read that a very similar vision was seen by the prophet Daniel in the Old Testament.

He saw the same water, for example, which symbolizes people.

But notice what came up out of the water.

And 4 great beasts came up from the sea, diverse 1 from another.

So you see Daniel saw 4 animals instead of just 1 as John did in Revelation.

And the angel explains another key to Daniel about animals and prophecy.

Notice verse 17 in chapter 7, "...these great beasts which are 4, are 4 kings which shall arise out of the earth." And then verse 23 says, "...the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth." So friends, here are the only 4 world empires of history represented by animals.

Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome rising up 1 after another from 606 B.C.

The lion, bear, leopard, and terrible nondescript beasts symbolized those great pagan kingdoms which ruled the earth during those years.

The last kingdom of Rome was to be divided into 10 parts.

Listen, it had 10 horns and it was described like this, "...and the 10 horns out of this kingdom are 10 kings that shall arise." That is Daniel 7.24.

And sure enough history records that when the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 A.D., that territory was divided into exactly 10 parts.

These 10 parts were those northern tribes who came sweeping down over the Roman Empire to divide it up, the Anglo-Saxons, the Alamanni, Heruli, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Suevi, Lombards, Burgundians, and Franks.

And by the way, 7 of them survive until this very day in the form of modern nations.

Now we are prepared to read verse 8 of this prophecy, I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were 3 of the first horns plucked up by the roots.

And, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." Now here we must be very careful indeed.

We must not make a mistake about the identity of this little horn because it will prove later on to be the great Antichrist power of history.

So in order to avoid all mistakes of identity, I will read 9 identifying characteristics right out of the Bible.

Now these marks of identity, friends, will apply to only 1 power so we can be certain of the interpretation later on.

First of all, the little horn came up among the 10, we are told here very plainly.

Now this places it geographically in Western Europe.

Second, it came up after the 10 arose because it came up among the 10, and since the 10 came up in 476 A.D., the little horn would have to arise sometime after 476 A.D.

Third point, it would uproot 3 of the 10 when it would come forth.

Now verse 8 says that before the little horn there were 3 of the first horns plucked up of the roots, and sure enough 3 of them were plucked up and disappeared completely, the vandals, the heruli, and the ostragoths.

Next point, point number 4, it says that this little horn would have eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things, verse 8.

So this means then that a man would be at the head of that power.

Fifth point, He shall be diverse from the first horns.

This means that the little horn would be a different kind of power from those political powers that preceded it.

Now let's go on to the sixth characteristic in the first part of verse 25, And he shall speak great words against the Most High.

Now another text says, Great words and blasphemies.

Now at this point we ought to define from the Bible the meaning of blasphemy.

In John 10, 30-33, Jesus was about to be stoned for claiming to be 1 with the Father.

The Jews who were about to kill Him said, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou being a man makest thyself God.

Now friends, according to this text, it is blasphemy for a man to be accorded the place of God.

Of course we know Jesus was God, and it was no blasphemy for Him.

But now let's read Mark 2, 7 and get another definition of this word blasphemy.

Jesus had just forgiven a man his sins and the scribe said, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies?

So Friends, clearly Jesus was not a blasphemer because He was God, but for a man to make these claims would constitute blasphemy.

And so we see then how these identifying marks were so clearly given in the Bible.

This little horn power would take the place of God and he would claim to forgive sins.

But now let's move on to the seventh point of identity.

In verse 25 it says, And he shall wear out the saints of the Most High.

This tells us that the little horn is a persecuting power.

Let's remember that as we begin to seek for the identity.

All right, eighth mark of identity is also given in verse 25, "...

He shall think to change times and laws." Now let me say this, friends, God's law cannot be changed, but this power will try to do it.

And now the ninth, we read in verse 25 just how long this little horn would exercise power in the earth.

And they shall be given into his hand until the time, and times, and the dividing of time." Now let's ask this question, how long is that?

It is a strange prophetic way of speaking.

The answer is found By comparing Revelation 12, 6 with Revelation 12, 14, these 2 verses speak of the same event but they use different descriptions of the time period involved.

Verse 14 says, And to the woman were given 2 wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time." Now you will notice that this is exactly the same period as Daniel tells us that the little horn would rule the earth, a time, times, and a half a time.

But verse 6 says, "...the woman fled into the wilderness a thousand 200 and threescore days.

In other words, friends, a time times and a half a time is equal to 1260 days.

This means that a time is a year, times plural is 2 years, and a half a time is a half a year, and that adds up to 3 and a half years.

That's equal to 1260 days exactly, giving the Bible year of 360 days to the year.

Now we must apply the prophetic rule of a day for a year.

Please take notice that always in prophetic reckoning a day represents a year.

Now this is not true in history or narrative.

It is only true in the prophetic parts of the Bible.

In Ezekiel 4, 6 we read that rule, and it says, I have appointed thee each day for a year.

Now God spoke those words to the prophet.

Further support is found in Numbers 14, 34.

And this method of reckoning time must always be applied in the study of Bible prophecy.

This means that the little horn power would rule, instead of just 1260 days, would rule literally 1260 years.

All right, now we have completed the 9 points of identity.

If you mark them down, you have an impressive list with the Bible's own word, the description of God concerning the identification of this power.

Now you may be wondering what this has to do with the beast of Revelation 13, and we are now ready to identify that strange composite symbol.

Let's read the description of that beast again with the body of the leopard, the feet of the bear, and the mouth of the lion in Revelation 13, verse 5.

And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies." All right, you will notice that this beast of Revelation 13 does exactly the same thing as a little horn of Daniel 7.

And then Revelation 13, 5 continues, And power was given unto him to continue 40 and 2 months.

And friends, that's exactly 1260 days, the same as the little horn of Daniel.

And then in verse 7 it says, And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.

The beast is a persecuting power, and we read in Daniel 7 the little horn would be a persecuting power as well.

They both do the same things and they rule for the same period.

They are both symbolic in fact of the same power.

Now notice 1 further thing in closing today, friends.

The Beast Part 3

Usually the stories about dragons are centered in medieval days of knights and ancient castles, but 1 dragon story from long, long ago is not fiction, fancy, or fairy tale.

I'll be back in a moment with the amazing facts about the beast, the dragon, and the woman.

Hello this is Joe Cruz in the Amazing Facts broadcast, facts which affect you.

I am sure you will pardon me if we spend the first few minutes of our broadcast today reviewing the subject.

After extensive Bible study we were able to establish in our last broadcast, the fact that the beast of Revelation 13 and the little horn of Daniel 7 were identically the same.

Now briefly let's review and then begin our subject for today.

We found that the mysterious beast of Revelation was made up of parts of 4 other beasts which Daniel saw in vision many years before.

Daniel's beast arose from the sea, and the Bible says plainly that water represents peoples and nations, Revelation 17, 15.

The angel told Daniel that the 4 beasts are 4 kings which shall arise in the earth.

And the fourth beast, of course, is the fourth kingdom upon the earth.

So since the fourth beast symbolized the fourth world empire, we know that the first 3 beasts were the first 3 world kingdoms.

The lion with the wings, you remember, represented the rise of great Babylon in 606 B.C.

Next, a bear raised up on 1 side came forth out of the water, and this symbolized Medo-Persia, the second world empire.

It was raised up on 1 side because the Persians were stronger than the Medes.

The third kingdom came forth and it was represented in the vision by a leopard with 4 wings and 4 heads.

Alexander the Great, with mighty speed, conquered the world in just 8 years, but he died himself at the age of thirty-three.

His kingdom then was divided among his 4 generals, Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy, and These generals were represented by the 4 heads of that leopard beast.

The fourth beast, representing the iron monarchy of Rome, was a strong, nondescript creature with great iron teeth.

It had 10 heads, which the angel described as 10 kings which would arise.

Thus the Roman Empire rose and was divided into exactly 10 parts in 476 A.D.

Now something happened to 3 of those divisions, but 7 of them developed into nations of modern Europe and remain to this very day.

Now while the prophet considered the 10 horns, he saw a little horn come up among them.

We studied 9 characteristics of this little horn in our last broadcast.

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