Tag: Revelation 13

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Which of the beast’s seven heads has the fatal wound?

Summary

One head was fatally wounded.

John saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had “ten horns and seven heads” (Rev 13:1). John also “saw one of his heads as if it had been slain,” for it had a “fatal wound” (Rev 13:3).

A “fatal wound” is a wound that kills. In other words, the beast was dead. Therefore, when the wound was healed, it is said that the beast “has come to life” (Rev 13:12, 14; cf. Rev 2:8; 20:4).

But the entire beast did not die; only “one of his heads” was “slain” (Rev 13:3). Since the seven heads exist one after the other (Rev 17:9-10), the seven heads symbolize the seven phases of the beast’s existence. So, the death of one of its heads is the death of the whole beast but only for a time.

The Fatal Wound in Revelation 17

Revelation 17 also describes the fatal wound. In that chapter, the beast:

      • “Is not” (Rev 17:8), implying that it does not exist,
      • Is in “a wilderness” (Rev 17:3), symbolizing difficult circumstances (cf. Rev 12:6, 14),
      • Is in the “abyss” (Rev 17:8), symbolizing incapacity (Rev 20:3), and
      • Has no diadems (ruler crowns) (Rev 17:3; cf. Rev 12:3; 13:1;), implying that it is unable to rule.

So, in Revelation 17, the beast is suffering, weakened, and unable to rule. In some sense, it “is not.”

Since two different chapters of Revelation describe the beast in a weakened state, these likely describe the same weak period. Furthermore, both the fatal wound in Revelation 13 and the abyss in Revelation 17 symbolize incapacity (Rev 20:3):

For the beast to be alive means to blaspheme God and to persecute God’s people (e.g., Dan 7:25; Rev 13:5-7). Therefore, for the beast to be dead (have a fatal wound) means to be unable to persecute God’s people for it has been incapacitated.

That is also the meaning of being in the abyss. For example, Satan is bound in the abyss “so that he would not deceive the nations any longer” (Rev 20:3). And, after the beast comes up from the abyss, it immediately proceeds to persecute God’s witnesses (Rev 11:7, 3).

For these reasons, Revelation 17 describes the same fatal wound as 13:3.

The wound healed in Revelation 17

This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that Revelation 17 describes the same recovery as Revelation 13. To see this, compare the following two verses:

“His fatal wound was healed.
And the whole earth was amazed
and followed after the beast” (Rev 13:3).

“The beast that you saw …
is about to come up out of the abyss …
And those who dwell on the earth …
will wonder when they see the beast” (Rev 17:8).

Note the similarities:

      1. In both, the whole world adores the beast.
      2. “Amazed” (13:3) is similar to “wonder” (17:8).
      3. In both chapters, the beast is exalted after its recovery (Rev 13:3-4; 17:8).
      4. In both chapters, the beast’s followers are described as:

“Everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life” (Rev 13:8; 17:8).

These similarities indicate that the beast’s fatal wound in Revelation 13 is equivalent to the beast being in the abyss in Revelation 17.

The Fatal Wound is the Sixth Head.

Revelation 17 explains the beast and its heads by referring to the past, the present, and the future:

The Beast (Rev 17:8) Heads (Rev 17:10)
Past Was “Five have fallen.”
Present Is not and is in the abyss “One is.” This would be the sixth head.
Future Will “come up out of the abyss.” “The other” (the seventh) will “come.”

Therefore, the period when the beast is in the abyss, which is equivalent to the head with the fatal wound, is the sixth head. After the fatal wound has been healed, the entire world will follow after the beast (Rev 13:4). This will be the seventh and final head of the beast.

Identity of the Sixth Head

This article does not identify the sixth head in terms of a specific period in history. To identify the sixth in that way, one needs to identify all seven heads. This is done in other articles on this website. See:

– END OF SUMMARY –

Revelation 13:3-4

3. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain,
and his fatal wound was healed.
And the whole earth was amazed
and followed after the beast

4. They worshiped the dragon
because he gave his authority to the beast;
and they worshiped the beast, saying,

“Who is like the beast,
and who is able to wage war with him?”

The purpose of the current article is to explain what this fatal wound is, including which head was dead.

What does a head with a fatal wound look like? John is describing what he saw in vision but much of that was not visual images but concepts that the Holy Spirit gave him to understand.

Verse 1 described the heads of the beast. Verse 2 explains the body. Verse 3 returns to the heads.

Identity of the Beast

Great Red DragonBased on Revelation 13:1-2, the previous article identified the dragon and the beast as follows:

1. In the context of Revelation 13:2, the dragon is the same as the fourth animal in Daniel 7 and symbolizes the Roman Empire.

2. Revelation’s beast is the same as the evil 11th horn in Daniel 7 and symbolizes a world power that:

        • Came into existence when the Roman Empire fell and divided into many kingdoms in the fifth or later centuries,
        • Became the most powerful of the kingdoms ruling in the territory of the previous Roman Empire (Dan 7:20), and
        • Had the authority of the Roman Empire (cf. Rev 13:2).

This wound is fatal.

This is not simply a serious wound but a “fatal wound” (Rev 13:3). In other words, the beast was dead. For that reason, when the wound was healed, the beast “has come to life” (Rev 13:12, 14). That same expression is used for Christ’s resurrection (Rev 2:8) and the resurrection of God’s people at the beginning of the thousand years (Rev 20:4).

Only for a Time

But the entire beast did not die; only “one of his heads” was “slain” with this fatal wound (Rev 13:3). Revelation 17:9-10 shows that the seven heads exist one after the other:

The “seven heads … are seven kings;
five have fallen,
one is,
the other has not yet come” (NASB).

Therefore, the seven heads symbolize the seven phases of the beast’s existence. The beast is simply the sum of the seven phases. Apart from the seven heads, there is no beast. So, the death of one of its heads is the death of the whole beast but only for a time.

Worshiped the Beast

“The whole earth … worshiped the beast” (Rev 13:3-4). The English word “worship” usually means that the object of worship is a god; either the true God or a false god (Cambridge, Merriam-Webster). In contrast, the Greek word translated as “worship” (proskuneó), as defined by the NAS Exhaustive Concordance, is “to do reverence to.” In Greek, it usually means to do reverence to a king or some other person in an exalted position. In the current verse, people proskuneó the beast not as a god or as God but in the normal Greek sense of the word, namely, as a mighty king, for they say:

“Who is like the beast, and who is able
to wage war with him?” (Rev 13:4)

In other words, they show respect to the beast because it is powerful.

Furthermore, “they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast” (Rev 13:4). In the context of Revelation 13:1-4, the dragon symbolizes the Roman Empire. That empire no longer existed when the beast receives its fatal wound or when the wound was healed. But, by worshiping (showing respect to) the beast, which is the descendant of the Roman Empire, the people indirectly show respect to the Roman Empire.

Revelation 17 describes the Fatal Wound.

This section shows that Revelation 17 also describes the beast’s fatal wound and its recovery from that wound. It explains what that fatal wound is and which of the seven heads is dead.

The Same Fatal Wound

As the following indicates, at the point in history described by Revelation 17, the beast is dead:

Is not – The beast “is not” (Rev 17:8). In other words, in some sense, at this time, the beast does not exist.

Wilderness –In Revelation 12, the pure woman was described as in the wilderness (Rev 12:6, 14), symbolizing difficult circumstances. But, in Revelation 17, the beast is in the “wilderness” (Rev 17:3). It is unusual for the beast to be in the wilderness. It was not in the wilderness when the pure woman was in that place. Neither was the beast in the “wilderness” in John’s time when the Roman Empire brutally persecuted Christians.

Abyss – Revelation 17 describes a specific point in history with a past, a present, and a future. In the present, the beast is in the “abyss” (Rev 17:8), which symbolizes incapacity (Rev 20:3).

Diadems – In contrast to the dragon and the beast from the sea, the beast in Revelation 17 has no diadems (ruler crowns) (Rev 12:3; 13:1; 17:3), implying that it is unable to rule.

So, in Revelation 17, the beast is suffering, weakened, and unable to rule. In some sense, it “is not.” For the following reasons, this is the same as the fatal wound of Revelation 13:

Firstly, since two different chapters of Revelation describe the beast in a weakened state, these likely describe the same weak period. The purpose of Revelation 17 is to explain the seventh plague, where the harlot Babylon has to drink the cup of the wine of God’s fierce wrath (Rev 16:19; 17:1). For that reason, Revelation 17 goes over the same ground covered by previous prophecies, to explain where Babylon fits into the picture.

Secondly, both the fatal wound and the abyss symbolize incapacity (Rev 20:3):

For the beast to be alive means to blaspheme God and to persecute God’s people (e.g., Dan 7:25; Rev 13:5-7). Therefore, for the beast to be dead (have a fatal wound) means to be unable to persecute God’s people; it has been incapacitated.

That is also the meaning of being in the abyss. For example, Satan is bound in the abyss “so that he would not deceive the nations any longer” (Rev 20:3). Similarly, after the beast comes up from the abyss, it immediately proceeds to persecute God’s witnesses (Rev 11:7, 3).

The Same Recovery

Further evidence that Revelation 17 describes the fatal wound of 13:3 is that it describes the same recovery as in Revelation 13.

In Revelation 17, the beast is predicted to come up out of the abyss (Rev 17:8). To confirm that these describe the same recovery, compare the following two verses:

“His fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast” (Rev 13:3).

“The beast that you saw … is about to come up out of the abyss … And those who dwell on the earth … will wonder when they see the beast” (Rev 17:8).

Note the similarities:

1. In both, the whole world adores the beast.

2. “Amazed” (13:3) and “wonder” (17:8) are similar concepts.

3. In both chapters, this exaltation of the beast follows after its recovery:

        • In Revelation 13 – after the beast has recovered from the fatal wound.
        • In Revelation 17 – after it came out of “the abyss” (Rev 17:8).

4. In both chapters, the beast’s followers are described as “everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life” (Rev 13:8; 17:8).

Conclusions

These similarities indicate that:

1. The two chapters describe the same period of incapacity. In other words, the beast’s fatal wound in Revelation 13 is equivalent to the beast being in the abyss in Revelation 17.

2. The subsequent worship in the two chapters describes the same event. 

The Fatal Wound is the Sixth Head.

Revelation 17 explains the beast and its heads by referring to the past, the present, and the future:

The Beast (Rev 17:8) Heads (Rev 17:10)
Past Was “Five have fallen.”
Present Is not and is in the abyss “One is.” This would be the sixth head.
Future Will “come up out of the abyss.” The whole world will “wonder when they see the beast.” “The other” (the seventh) “has not yet come.”

From this, we can conclude as follows:

1. In the present time of Revelation 17, the beast “is not” because it is in the abyss. It will “come up out of the abyss.” In other words, in the ‘present’, it exists but it is incapacitated.

2. The present time is the sixth head. The period in the abyss, therefore, is the sixth head. And since the fatal wound is equal to the abyss, the fatal wound is the sixth head.

3. Since both the seventh head and the adoration of the beast by the whole world are in the future, this adoration is the seventh head. In other words:

        • The entire sixth head is dead.
        • The fifth head or phase comes to an end when the beast-power is killed.
        • That “his fatal wound was healed” (Rev 13:3, 12) means that the sixth phase has come to an end and the seventh head (phase) has begun.

This conclusion may be supported as follows: We nowhere read that the head with the mortal wound comes to life. But we do read that “the beast who had the wound … has come to life” (Rev 13:14).

Identity of the Sixth Head

So far, the sixth head has not yet been identified. To identify the sixth, one needs to identify all seven heads. This is done in other articles on this website. See:

John’s time?

Many commentators assume, arguing that John had to understand what he is being told, that the ‘present time’ in Revelation 17 must refer to John’s own time. But that would mean that the beast was dead in John’s time, which most certainly was not the case. At that time, the authorities were most very able to persecute Christians.

My view is that, when the angel “carried” John “into a wilderness” (Rev 17:3), he took John not to a specific place but to a specific time in history which was not necessarily John’s time.

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Who or what is the beast from the sea? (Revelation 13:1-2)

Overview

Great Red Dragon

Revelation 13 begins with the dragon standing on the sand of the seashore (Rev 13:1). Then, John saw “a beast coming up out of the sea.” The main purpose of this article is to identify this beast based on its description in Revelation 13:1-2.

This article first shows the many allusions in these two verses to the beasts in Daniel 7. For example, the beast “was like a leopard,” had “feet … like those of a bear,” and a “mouth like … a lion” (Rev 13:2). These are explicitly three of the four animals in Daniel 7:4-7. Based on this and other allusions, this article concludes that Revelation’s beast is part of the series of animals and horns in Daniel 7.

Next, this article focuses on the dragon from which the beast receives its authority (Rev 13:2). By comparing the dragon to the animals of Daniel 7, this article concludes that the dragon is the same as the fourth animal in Daniel 7.

This article then notes that another article identifies Daniel’s fourth beast as the Roman Empire. Consequently, Revelation’s beast receives “his power and his throne and great authority” (Rev 13:2) from the Roman Empire. 

Next, the article identifies the beast as one of the horns that grow out of Daniel’s fourth beast. These horns symbolize the several kingdoms that came into existence after the fall of the Roman Empire. Indications that the beast is one of those horns include the following:

      • It receives its authority from the fourth beast.
      • It has crowns on its horns, implying that it exists during the time of the horns.
      • It receives something from each of the four animals in Daniel 7, meaning that it comes to into existence AFTER those animals.

The final conclusion of this article is that the beast in the book of Revelation and the 11th horn of the fourth beast in Daniel 7 are two symbols for the same world power. While that 11th horn is the Antichrist in the book of Daniel, the beast is the Antichrist in the book of Revelation. 

Introduction

Purpose

The main purpose of this article is to identify the beast in Revelation based on its description in Revelation 13:1-2. It will also identify the dragon and make a few brief observations about the seven heads of the dragon.

Revelation 13:1-2

1. And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.
Then I (John) saw a beast coming up out of the sea,
having ten horns and seven heads,
and on his horns were ten diadems,
and on his heads were blasphemous names.

2. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard,
and his feet were like those of a bear,
and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.
And the dragon gave him
his power and his throne and great authority.

John first describes the horns and heads and then the beast’s body. Perhaps, as the beast rose from the sea, John first saw the horns, then the heads, and then the body.

“Diadems” is an untranslated Greek word, meaning crowns of rulers, in contrast to the victory crowns of the Olympics [stephanoi] as in, for example, “the crown of life” (Rev 2:10).

“Power … throne … authority” are related terms and perhaps describe one single concept.

The beast does not have its own authority or power. It received its “power … throne and great authority” from the dragon (Rev 13:2).

Who stood on the sand?

According to some older translations, such as the King James Version, John himself stood on the sand of the seashore (13:1). However, the earliest manuscripts of Revelation read “he,” which would refer to the dragon mentioned in the previous verse (Rev 12:17). Therefore, in modern translations, the dragon stood on the sand. Such a translation also fits the story-line better:

In Revelation 13, the dragon, the sea beast, and the land beast work together (e.g., Rev 13:4; 13:11-12). If it is the dragon who stood on the sand of the seashore, then it tells us how the three came together:

In Revelation 12, after the earth protected the woman against the dragon, the dragon “went off to make war with the rest of her children” (Rev 12:17).

It goes to the shore of the sea to secure reinforcements. From the vantage point of the “seashore,” it is then first joined by the beast from the sea (Rev 13:1) and later by a beast from the earth (Rev 13:11).

1. The Beast is part of the animals of Daniel 7.

The animals of Daniel 7

In Daniel 7, “four great beasts were coming up from the sea” (Dan 7:3). These were a lion, a bear, a leopard, and “a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong” (Dan 7:4-7). These four animals are explained as “four kings who will arise from the earth” (Dan 7:17). Since “the fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom” (Dan 7:23), a “king” represents a “kingdom.” In other words, these four animals symbolize four kingdoms.

The fourth animal “had ten horns” (Dan 7:7). This is explained as that, “out of this kingdom ten kings will arise” (Dan 7:24). Consequently, while each of the first three kingdoms will be replaced by one single kingdom, the fourth will be replaced by “ten kings.” “Kings” may also here be understood to mean kingdoms. The number “ten” probably is a symbol (e.g., Dan 1:20); meaning “many.”

For purpose of clarity, this article reserves the term beast for Revelation’s beast and refers to the creatures in Daniel 7 as animals.

Allusions to Daniel 7

In the description of the beast (Rev 13:1-2), there are several strong allusions to the animals of Daniel 7, including:

1) Both the beast and the animals in Daniel 7 come up out of the sea (Dan 7:3).

2) Four animals are mentioned in the description of the beast (Rev 13:2) and there are also four animals in Daniel 7.

3) The beast has characteristics of three animals (a lion, a bear, and a leopard) (Rev 13:2) and these are explicitly the first three animals in Daniel 7 (Dan 7:4-6).

4) The beast has the same number of heads and horns as that the four animals of Daniel 7 have in total, namely, seven heads and ten horns:

Seven heads – While the other three animals have one head each, the leopard has four heads (Dan 7:5), giving seven in total.

Ten horns – The fourth animal has ten horns (Dan 7:7), while the other three have none.

(Heads also symbolize kingdoms. For example, the four horns of the male goat in Daniel 8:8 are interpreted as the four kingdoms into which the empire of Alexander the Great was divided after his death, but these same four kingdoms are symbolized in Daniel 7 as the four heads of the leopard (Dan 7:6).)

Conclusions

These allusions in the description of the beast in Revelation 13:1-2 to the animals of Daniel 7 are perhaps the strongest allusions to the Old Testament one would find anywhere in the book of Revelation. They are not a coincidence but have the following implications:

1) Part of the series

The series of beasts and horns in Daniel 7 covers the time from ancient Babylon (cf. Dan 2:37-39) until Christ’s return (Dan 7:26-27). The strong allusions listed above imply that the beast is part of that series of animals and horns.

2) A Human Organization

The beast comes out of the sea (Rev 13:1). In Daniel 7, the sea is equivalent to “the earth” (Dan 7:2, 17), symbolizing the people of the world. In other words, the animals in Daniel are organizations of the people of the world. By implication, the sea in Revelation 13:1 also represents the peoples of the world and the beast is another organization of the people of the world.

2. The dragon is the fourth animal.

A further allusion to Daniel 7 is that the dragon, which gave the beast “his power and his throne and great authority” (Rev 13:2), is the same as the fourth animal in Daniel 7. This statement is argued as follows:

1. Since the dragon also has seven heads and ten horns (Rev 12:3; 13:1) – equal to the total number of heads and horns in Daniel 7 – it is, similar to the beast, part of the series of animals and horns in Daniel 7. Their seven heads and ten horns identify the dragon and the beast as two instances of the same species, and that species is defined in Daniel 7. Both of them are facets of the sequence of kingdoms in Daniel 7.

2. In Revelation, the beast receives something from each of four animals (Rev 13:2). There are also four animals in Daniel 7. Since three of the animals from which the beast receives something (the lion, bear, and leopard) are explicitly three of the animals in Daniel 7, it is implied that the fourth animal from which the beast receives something (the dragon) is the fourth animal in Daniel 7.

3. Daniel 7 does not say what kind of animal the fourth is but describes it as “dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth” (Dan 7:7). “Dragon” is a good name for such an animal.

Why the dragon is identified as Satan

The dragon, therefore, is the same as the fourth animal in Daniel 7. The dragon is also identified as Satan (Rev 12:9), but that is in a different context. Revelation 12 uses “dragon” as a symbol for Satan’s forces during a series of wars, for example:

      • Against the woman, before the time of Christ (Rev 12:1-4);
      • Against Christ, after He was born (Rev 12:5);
      • Against Michael, in the war in heaven, after Christ ascended to God (Rev 12:7-13).
      • Against the woman again, after the dragon was thrown out of heaven (Rev 12:14-16), and lastly,
      • Against “the rest of her children” (Rev 12:17).

The identification of the dragon as Satan in 12:9 is appropriate for that specific context, for that verse describes the war in heaven. But, in other wars, “the dragon” also symbolizes the authorities on earth through which Satan works, for the dragon has seven heads and ten horns, and both the heads and horns represent kings (or kingdoms) (Rev 17:9-10, 12). Revelation 13 elaborates on chapter 12 and shows the different entities involved in the end-time war.

3. The fourth animal is the Roman Empire

In Daniel 7, four animals come up from the sea; one after the other. They symbolize four successive empires that would rule the world; at least the world as experienced by God’s people. Another article compares the animals of Daniel 7 and 8 and concludes as follows:

First animal – a lion (Dan 7:4) Babylonian Empire
Second animal – a bear (Dan 7:5) Medo-Persian Empire
Third animal – a four-headed leopard (Dan 7:6) Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great
Fourth “dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong” animal (Dan 7:7) Roman Empire

This is also the traditional and conservative interpretation of the four animals of Daniel 7. Since it has been shown above that (1) the dragon is the fourth animal of Daniel 7 and (2) that that fourth animal is the Roman Empire, it follows that the dragon symbolizes the Roman Empire. Consequently, the beast receives “his power and his throne and great authority” (Rev 13:2) from the Roman Empire. (For a further discussion, see – The Seven-headed Beasts of Revelation.)

4. The Beast is one of the ten horns.

So far, we have concluded as follows:

      1. The strong allusions to Daniel 7 imply that the sea beast is part of the series of beasts of Daniel 7.
      2. The dragon is the fourth beast in Daniel 7.
      3. That fourth beast is the Roman Empire.

Consequently, the many horns that will grow out of the fourth animal (Dan 7:7, 24) symbolize the many kingdoms into which the Roman Empire fragmented in the fifth and later centuries. This section continues the identification of the beast by showing that the beast is one of those fragments.

Firstly, the following shows that the beast arises during the time of the horns of Daniel 7:

(a) The Beast’s Authority

Since the beast receives its “power … throne and great authority” (Rev 13:2) from the dragon (Rev 13:2), and since the dragon is the fourth animal in Daniel 7, the beast receives its authority from that fourth animal. This implies that the beast exists in time after the fourth animal.

(b) The Beast’s Crowns

While the dragon has diadems (ruler crowns) on its heads, the sea beast has diadems on its horns (Rev 12:3; 13:1). The allusions to Daniel 7, as listed above, require us to interpret these crowns in terms of Daniel 7. In that chapter, there first are four animals with seven heads in total. After the last animal follows ten horns. Therefore:

The crowns on the heads of the dragon imply that it exists during the time of the heads in Daniel 7. Since the seven heads are subdivisions of the four animal-kingdoms, this means that the dragon exists during the time of the four animal-kingdoms. As already stated, the dragon is equivalent to the fourth beast.

The crowns on the horns of the beast mean that it exists during the time of the horns of Daniel 7.

(c) The Beast’s Appearance

The sea beast receives (Rev 13:2):

          • A body like the leopard;
          • Feet like the bear;
          • A mouth like the lion; and
          • “Power … and great authority” from the dragon.

Since the beast receives something from each of these four animals, it arises in the time after them. Since the dragon is the fourth animal of Daniel 7, the beast arises during the time of the horns.

Conclusions

Since the beast arises during the time of the horns, and since the beast must be interpreted as part of the series of animals and horns in Daniel 7, the beast is one of the horns of Daniel’s fourth animal. In other words, it is one of the kingdoms into which the Roman Empire fragmented after the fall of Rome (Dan 7:24). It receives its authority from the Roman Empire and, therefore, is the continuation of Roman authority.

The description of the beast coming up out of the sea refers to the beginning of its existence. Since it is one of the kingdoms into which the Roman Empire fragmented, it came into existence after that empire began to fragment in the fifth century AD.

5. The beast is evil 11th horn.

We are able to identify the beast even more specifically. In Daniel 7, after ten horns have grown out of the fourth animal, an eleventh little horn comes up that grows to become larger than all the other horns. This website sometimes refers to it as the evil horn because it blasphemes the Most High, persecutes His people, and is only destroyed when Christ returns (Dan 7:8, 24-27).

This 11th horn is the main character and purpose of Daniel 7. An analysis of that chapter will show that the only reason that Daniel 7 mentions the preceding four animals and ten horns is so that the reader would be able to identify that 11th horn.

Above, it was argued that the beast is one of the horns of the fourth animal. For the following reasons, the beast is specifically the evil 11th horn:

(a) Antichrist

If we use the term Antichrist to refer to the main opponent of God on earth, both the 11th horn and the beast are described as the Antichrist. For example:

        • Both are described as the main power that opposes God.
        • Both blaspheme God and persecute His people (e.g., Dan 7:21, 25; Rev 13:6-7).
        • Both are only destroyed when Christ returns (Dan 7:26-27; Rev 19:11, 20).

(b) Time, times, and half a time

Revelation’s beast was given “authority to act for forty-two months” (Rev 13:5). In Daniel, “the saints of the Highest One… will be given into his (the evil horn’s) hand for a time, times, and half a time” (Dan 7:25). As discussed elsewhere, the 42 months refer to the same period as the “time, times and a half.”

For these reasons, it is concluded that the beast (Rev 13:1) and the evil 11th horn of Daniel 7 are symbols of the same world power. The book of Revelation is built on the prophecies of Daniel. The same applies to this antichrist-horn. Revelation incorporates it into its visions but provides additional information about it.

This is only a preliminary identification of the beast based on the first two verses of Revelation 13. The beast is identified more specifically in one of the further articles in this series.

What are the Seven Heads?

Above, we identified the dragon and the beast. But we have not yet explained the seven heads or the ten horns.

A common mistake of commentators is to assume that the seven heads and ten horns in Revelation are the same as the seven heads and ten horns in Daniel. They are not the same. For example:

1. In Daniel 7, the ten horns are followed by an eleventh horn which is described as the Antichrist and which uproots three of the ten horns as it came up (Dan 7:8). Therefore, there are not really 10 horns in Daniel 7. And, while the 11th horn is the main character in Daniel 7, there is no mention of an 11th horn in Revelation.

2. In Revelation, the sixth head exists after five “have fallen” (Rev 17:10). That sixth head cannot be the sixth head in Daniel 7 because, in that chapter, the sixth head is the fourth head of the leopard. The four heads of the leopard symbolize the four empires into which Alexander’s Greek Empire was divided, and they existed simultaneously. The last one does not exist after the others have fallen.

3. While the ten horns in Daniel 7 symbolize the fragments into which the Roman Empire has been divided, the ten horns in Revelation are limited to the end-time. For example, they “will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked” (Rev 17:16).

4. The ten horns in Revelation are described in Revelation 17:12-17 and there simply is no similarity with the ten horns in Daniel 7.

Revelation takes things from the Old Testament but gives them new meanings. For example, in the Old Testament, the ancient city of Babylon was built on the river Euphrates. In Revelation, Babylon becomes the name for the harlot and the Euphrates becomes “the waters which you saw where the harlot sits,” symbolizing “peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues” (Rev 17:15). In the same way, the heads and horns in Daniel receive different meanings in the book of Revelation.

The seven heads and ten horns are not discussed in the current article. They are discussed in the series of articles on Revelation 17.

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