This is such a controversial topic that some pastors steer clear of it at all costs. There are so many theories out there that it's hard to determine which one is which. To some, the anti-Christ is nothing more than a spirit. To others, the anti-Christ has risen and fallen already. To others, the mark of the beast is a computer chip that gets inserted in your hand. With all this information and theological ideology where does one begin? The answer to that question is simple, the Bible.
In the latter part of this series (The origin of Demons) we discussed where demons come from according to the Bible. Then we talked about the fact that the anti-Christ appears to be labeled as having faces in Daniel 8:23. In revelation 13:3 we see a similar verse that also states that the beast has multiple heads. "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast."
One could speculate that the 'head" that was mortally wounded was one of the servants of the beast However, each time the word for head is used in Revelation, John the revelator is speaking of something or someone's actual physical head. Similarly, when the Hebrew word Panim, which is commonly translated as Presence in english, is used it means faces. Every time is used in hebrew it means in the face of, the surface (which translates as the face of), or the faces. Even in the cases where it is translated in english as the front of, it still is the word meaning face. Today we would still the front part of something the front facing, or face of something.
The dreams and visions in the book of Daniel are of particular interest to me. You can correlate them with other books that speak of the end of days and get a very distinct idea of what will be going on at the end of days and they tie right into the book of revelation.
In Daniel Chapter 7 we see Daniel get a deeper revelation about the end of days than what was revealed to Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 2 through the king’s dream. This is just my own conjecture, but I would be willing to speculate that Daniel probably was intrigued by the king’s dream and asked God to show him a deeper revelation of the dream and the events that will take place in the time of the last kingdom. I mean, I have asked God for the same thing and the nature of men hasn’t changed very much throughout human history.
As I was reading Daniel 7:23 in Hebrew, I noticed that there were several words that were omitted from our English translations. One such is the word that we translate as 4, rebiayatah, rebiaya, and rebia’ah. You may be thinking, “Those are the same word, big deal.” I must point out that there is a subtle difference between the words. They both imply four, but in the context in which they are used, they imply the fourth of four.
Here’s how we read the verse in English, “He gave me this explanation: 'The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.”
Now, let’s look at how it reads in Hebrew, “Thus He said, the fourth beast kingdom is the fourth of four which shall be on the earth which shall be different from all other kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth and trample it and break it into pieces.”
In Daniel 2 we saw the fourth kingdom mentioned as well. “And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.” This verse reads similarly to the 7. It says, “And the fourth kingdom of four, it shall be mighty as Iron, shall all be, and like Iron that crushes, all these will be crushed.” In Hebrew, it gives us the idea that all the people of this kingdom will be strong or mighty as Iron.
We see a similar description of the four rising kingdoms that come from the breaking and separation of the first beast kingdom that grew strong and mighty in the world. 'Thus the goat became very great, but at the height of his power, his large horn was broken off, and four prominent horns came up in its place, pointing toward the four winds of heaven.From one of these horns a little horn emerged and grew extensively toward the south and the east and toward the Beautiful Land."
Surely by now, you’re thinking, “No, that can’t be right, can it?” That’s what I thought and then the Holy Spirit told me to read Daniel 7:24. “The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings.”
You probably guessed by now that I’m going to show what it says in Hebrew, right? Well, you’re correct. “And the ten horns; and from this Kingdom, these ten kings shall arise, and from them another king who shall be different from the previous ones and three kings he will humble (subdue).”
Take note that at no point does God reveal to Daniel that the four beasts are human. It says they rise up from the earth. You may be thinking, “Well, Man is made of earth. Therefore, it’s saying rise up from man.” You would be partly correct. The word used for earth in Daniel 7:23 is Ara. In every instance where this variant of the word is used in the Bible, it means Earth, as in it will rise up on the earth. Each Time Daniel has this vision he describes what he saw as beasts, and when the revelation is being given to him the one delivering the revelation describes them as beasts.
In verse 25 we see the correlation of this beast and the beast in later chapters of Daniel, as well as the beasts in Revelation. Even in the book of Revelation, these beasts are never referred to as men. Let’s take a look at Daniel 7:25. “He will speak out against the Most High and oppress the saints of the Most High, intending to change the appointed times and laws; and the saints will be given into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time.” Daniel 7:25
Here’s the Hebrew, “He will decree against the highest of the Most High. He shall speak and persecute of the Holy Ones of the Most High and he shall bear in mind to change the times and to change the law and they shall be given into his hands for a time, two times, and a half a time (Three and a half years).”
Anyone can read Daniel Chapter 7 and get an idea that the four beasts mentioned in Daniel’s vision correlate to the beasts that are mentioned in Revelation 13. Daniel 7: 3-6 tells us that the four beasts come up individually. He describes that as being like a lion, a bear, and a leopard.
We see the same description coming from John, except he says that he saw one beast coming from the seas. John specifically used the word Tes for the. In most Latin-based language, you know that the word for you, or they or anything indicating plurality is typically transformed from te, or tu to tes or les. In French, they don’t say God bless you at the end of a sneeze. They say, ‘a tes souhaits.’ or ‘a tes amis, or they say 'a tes amours.’ This means to your wishes, to your loved ones, and to your loves. It indicates a blessing upon your loved ones and receiving a blessing in your life.
In ancient Greek, the same principle applies. If something is plural, meaning more than one, rather than saying y’all as we do down south, it is this. Tes is the Latin/Greek equivalent of y’all in the south.
Another key aspect that is lost in translation is that the word used to describe the beast is actually plural as well. The word used is Therion. This word is significant on more levels than just that it was an animal in nature and that it was plural. The word beast means an unclean beast or animal that is not ever used for sacrifice.
This ties in significantly with the clay that is mentioned in the Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2. The type of clay described as mixing with ceramic clay is tina. The word derives from the root word tit (pronounced teet) which means mud, mire, or clay. This type of mud is like a type of dirt that is to be swept away by a broom. This word is typically used to convey a type of utter defeat wherein the enemy of God is stomped into the mud as we see in 2 Samuel 22;43, “Then I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I trod them like dirt in the streets, spreading them out.”
If you are familiar with working with clay, then you are most likely aware that any impurity or imperfection in clay will cause the integrity of the clay to be compromised and the creation of the potter is no longer fit for use. Typically, if you have even so much as an air bubble in a piece of clay when you fire it in the kiln, it will cause the pottery to shatter or break apart in the intense heat.
This is also significant in how it pertains to the end of days being like the days of Noah in the fact that Noah was declared to be perfect in his generations. As stated previously in this book, that word for perfect was Tamim which means without spot or imperfection, pure, perfect, blameless. This was an indication that his flesh was not corrupted by angelic DNA. So, we see again that there will be another mixing of some sort that occurs at the end of days. Knowing this will help you to see how Nebuchadnezzar's dream ties into Daniel's dream of the four beasts.
We see that the four beasts are not just one beast as was thought to be the case upon first reading Revelation 13. They are four distinct beasts that we are told rise up from the seas as a result of the original beast Kingdom rising up and then separating into four different kingdoms that are not as powerful as the first.
As I stated previously, Daniel 7:23 gives us an indication that the four kingdoms that are mentioned are beast kingdoms. The words used to describe these Kingdoms are always beast. It’s important to take note that these types of beasts are not the living creatures we see in Revelation, but they are beasts. The word used to describe the beasts is always pertaining to something that is unclean and cannot be used at the altar as a sacrifice.
We see in Roams 1:12, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship.” Our bodies, our lives even, are meant to be offered to God as a sacrifice. That means that we are acceptable to be burned at the altar. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t condone human sacrifice, what I am saying is that the Holy Spirit is the fire, “For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29.
The implication that is given to us by Daniel and John the revelator as that these beats are not of God or for God. Since the beasts are not fit for sacrifice then that means they are not accepted by God. They are not human, we are not descended from them, they are not our saviors, and prophecy about Messiah Jesus is not about these beast kingdoms. Their bodies and their lives are not fit for sacrifice. This also indicates to us that the lifestyle of these beasts and beast kingdoms is not a holy lifestyle.
As we see in the book of Daniel and the book of revelation, the beasts are said to rise out from the sea. I believe that these four beast kingdoms are descendants of Satan. I believe that they are his biological children. I know this sounds crazy to you, and when God first showed me, I thought it was crazy too.
In order to explain to you how this is possible I need to take you all the way back to the days of the flood with Noah. “The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. So, He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.” Genesis 7:20-23.
You might have missed it here. In verse 21 it says all that moved on the earth were destroyed. Then in the next verse, it says that all that had the breath of life in their nostrils, all that was on dry land, died. This doesn’t say that God killed all the fish or the creatures in the sea.
I asked God how this was possible and he showed me some dinosaurs. Not all of the dinosaurs were land-bound. Some creatures were sea bound as well. God didn’t destroy all of the creatures in the waters. How do I know he didn’t? God didn’t tell Noah to collect all the fish in the sea and put them on his boat.
Extra biblically, the dead sea scrolls that were discovered contained the book of Enoch and a book referred to as the Book of Giants. In these books, you see that the Rephaim were called bastard spirits and that there were giants as well as giant beasts. These texts describe the beasts as having the ability to speak.
In the bible, there are creatures that are described in the Bible as being sea creatures. In Job 41:1 you see God describe a sea monster or creature in the sea as a leviathan. Many would assume that this is referring to a giant squid, a shark, an alligator or something that they can fathom in the natural. It’s perfectly natural for a person to want to do that because it means you have to take the bible as being literal. If the Bible isn’t literal then it’s just stories designed to guide us and therefore has no bearing on our lives.
Leviathan is also described in Psalms 74:13-15 as well. “You divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters.
You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. You broke open the fountain and the flood;
You dried up mighty rivers.”
We see in verses 13 and 14 that the heads of the serpents and the heads of the leviathan are described as two separate entities. The word used to describe the sea serpents is tannim. This derives from the word tan meaning serpent, or sea serpent, although today in many translations it is translated as jackals (which is again another attempt to understand the supernatural by reducing it to something fathomable to a natural mind). Not one time is the word used to describe a jackal or a crocodile.
When you think about it, why would the Pharoah be afraid of a staff like the one Aaron had in Exodus 7 that turned into a snake? I’m sure that the Egyptians were quite accustomed to dealing with snakes in their time. Janes and Jambres could do the same thing.
I can see how someone could deduce that the staff was turned into a crocodile, that’s intimidating, but still, as a king, you would just have your guards kill it. Even today people wrestle and overtake crocodiles by their own strength and skill. God very clearly describes the Leviathan to Job in Job 41 that is shoots fire from its mouth, it is huge and strong, it has armor for skin and so much more. Last time I checked; crocodiles didn’t have the ability to breathe fire or have flashes of light come from it. If God was just exaggerating the leviathan, then he would be a liar. However, God cannot lie. So, when he describes leviathan, he is describing a real thing. There is no deceit in Him.