 |  |
A | 1-. And I saw.
B | -1. A beast rise up out of the sea.
C | -1-2-. Like unto a leopard, etc.
D | -2. His authority. Satanic.
E | 3. The deadly wound healed.
F | 7. War with the saints.
G | 9, 10. a | "Let him hear."
b | "Here is patience."
A | 11-. And I saw.
B | -11-. Another beast arise up out of the earth.
C | -11. Like a lamp.
D | 12-. His authority. The first beast.
E | -12-15-. The deadly wound healed; the image worshipped.
F | -15-17. Death for those who worship not.
G | 18.
b | "Here is wisdom."
a | "Let him count."
Those who have read Dr. Bullinger's Apocalypse will have no difficulty in tracing the
origin of this structure. We have altered it in a few minor details only. It will help us to
observe these several features more closely. The first beast rises out of the sea, called up
by the devil who stood upon the sand of the sea. The sea out of which the beast ascends
is evidently the same as seen by Daniel in the vision recorded in chapter 7: of his
book:--
"I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds strove upon the great sea;
and four beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from the other."
In Rev. 12: one beast arises out from the sea. When the interpretation of this vision
is given to Daniel we read:--
"These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the EARTH."
The "great sea" of the vision can be interpreted of the "earth". This is strange if the
literal Mediterranean is intended, but if peoples and nations are symbolized here as in
other places, the difficulty vanishes. Daniel next describes these beasts: the first was like
a lion and had eagle's wings; the second was like a bear; the third was like unto leopard
with four wings and four heads; the fourth was indescribable, it was dreadful and terrible
and strong exceedingly, it devoured and broke in pieces the other three beasts, it was
diverse from the others and it had ten horns. John in Rev. 13: sees only one beast, but
immediately we begin to read its description we realize that he saw the nondescript beast
which devoured the other three, and is here found with all their characteristics merged
into one huge combination of Satanic power:--
"And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard (third beast) and his feet were as
the feet of a bear (second beast) and his mouth as the mouth of a lion (first beast)."
Both are said to have ten horns. Attention is drawn to the leopard having four heads,
while the nondescript beast of Rev. 13: has seven. This difference is accounted for
simply by seeing that the other two are added to his own and the leopard's four. These