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The prophet Daniel saw this same monster in vision, and describes it in Dan. 7:
Four beasts came up from the sea, the first like a lion, the second like a bear, the third like
a leopard having four heads, and a fourth beast not likened to anything, and this beast had
ten horns. Here again we have the seven heads and ten horns. The lion = one head;
the bear = one head; the leopard = four heads; and the fourth beast = one head. Total,
seven heads. Returning to Rev. 13: 2 we find Dan. 7: is immediately before us:--
"And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were the feet of a
bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion."
In Dan. 7: 14 we see the Ancient of Days sitting and the Son of man brought near
Him, and
"There was given Him dominion, and glory, and a Kingdom, that all peoples, nations,
and languages should serve Him."
In Rev. 13: 2-7 we read of this beast:--
"And the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority . . . . . and
power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations."
One thing seems clear amidst all the complicated imagery and wording, namely, that
the last kingdom which shall be upon earth before the coming of Christ shall be "diverse
from all Kingdoms" (Dan. 7:), for it shall be the kingdom of Satan on earth, the beast
being possessed of all Satan's authority and power, so that when men "wonder after the
beast" they "worship the dragon", just as there is yet to be a kingdom on the earth which
is also to be diverse from all kingdoms, namely, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of the
Lion-Lamb, and when the world wonders after that kingdom of blessedness and shall see
Him Who really died and rose again, they shall in their turn worship Him that sitteth
upon the throne and also the Lamb. The beast that supports Babylon is Satanic in its
fullest degree.
To this fearful end the Gentile world is moving. To this awful blasphemy apostate
Israel too will incline, and make their covenant with hell and with death. Antichrist will
be to the Jew what the beast will be to the Gentile, an outward manifestation of Satan's
final usurpation of the throne of God just before the end. What a blessed thing to be
saved out of all this wickedness and horror. Yet science, and politics and religion will
have so completely blinded the eyes of men that they will believe that the rising of the
seven-headed monster from the abyss will be the millennial dawn, whereas it will be the
setting down of the blackness of darkness for ever.