Now we will back up and discuss the first half of the thirteenth chapter of The Revelation.
It describes a Beast with seven heads and ten horns (Revelation 13:1), which is a conglomerate of the same animals that Daniel had seen in one of his visions: the panther, bear, lion, and then the final Beast. (Daniel 7:4-7; Revelation 13:2) Notice that there is no reference to the eagle's wings in John's description, although the lion had eagle's wings in Daniel's prophecy. (We will have more to say on that later.)
Some say the beasts Daniel saw were succeeding world empires. Daniel had clearly said this about the statue in King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which represented Babylonia, followed by Persia, Greece, Rome, and then one final world empire. Although he said the four beasts were also kingdoms, he was not so definite about them each existing in different ages. (Daniel 7:17-18)
There may be some truth in the traditional interpretation, i.e. that the four beasts represented Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome; but why would this have been significant in John's day, when the Babylonian, Persian, and Greek Empires were already history?
We would like to suggest that the bear, lion, and panther might also be references to three world powers (i.e. a First, Second, and Third World) that would exist at the same time, and each become part of the final world empire.
John's "Beast" had seven heads. Little is said about six of them. It is likely that these six heads (which hardly rate a mention) are the part of the vision that represented past world empires. The Revelation could have been saying that all those past empires will be spiritually present in the final empire as well. The drawing below suggests that the six past empires were the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman Empires; with one world empire still to come.
Along with seven heads, the Beast John saw in Revelation 13:1-2 had ten horns. Each horn had a crown. Daniel's "fourth beast" or final world empire, was "dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong, and had great iron teeth. It devoured and broke in pieces and stamped the residue with its feet. It was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns." (Daniel 7:7)
This seventh head (with ten horns) must be the coming world empire. Daniel said "the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that will arise. Another will rise after them, and he will be diverse from the first. He will subdue three kings." (Daniel 7:24) In John's description, the ten horns are wearing ten crowns, suggesting that these are the same horns that Daniel saw, representing ten "kings" or world leaders. So the coming world empire has ten leaders, and the Antichrist "subdues" three kings in order to take control of it.
In Revelation 13:3, John says that he "saw one of his [the Beast's] heads as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the Beast." John described the Beast as having seven heads and ten horns. But each horn was, in essence, a head as well, because each horn was wearing a crown. Daniel described one horn in particular as having eyes and a mouth. (Daniel 7:8)
So is it a head or a horn that receives the "deadly wound"? Once again, the correct answer may be "both", since the horns are people/leaders too.
The Revelation says specifically that it is a "head" that receives the deadly wound (and is then revived); but then it goes on to describe the head doing things that Daniel said the horn would do. (cf. Revelation 13:3-10 and Daniel 7:8, 25) The head is wounded just before the Tribulation, when the Beast makes war against God's people. So we can say with relative certainty that it is the final world empire (head) and/or the final world dictator (horn) that receives the deadly wound.
Because this last world empire is unique from previous empires (i.e. because it is an alliance), the "head" must either be an organisation or an ideology which unites the ten kings. Let's say that the head is either the United Nations, world communism, or world capitalism. Then one of these must receive a "deadly wound" from which it will miraculously recover, and then take on its full role in the next world empire.
In 1990, I led a delegation of Australians on a tour of the United States, warning that country of impending doom. We distributed a quarter of a million pamphlets entitled, "The Fall of America".
The pamphlet said that the U.N. Security Council has ten Third World members and five superpower members. Three of the superpowers are pro-western (The U.S., United Kingdom, and France) and two are communist (Russia and China). I said that, if Russia could "subdue" the three Western powers, she could control the world.
The U.S. media gave our delegation excellent coverage, with over 200 reports of our visit. But we had barely left the country when, instead of America falling, communism collapsed. Our timing was perfect; but our declaration of who was going to fall could not have been more wrong! Or so it seemed.
Nevertheless the U.N. is definitely no longer a "paper tiger". It just happens that America is the one pulling the strings, and not Russia, as we had predicted (and as we still do predict).
We warned earlier against letting the media dictate your understanding of Bible prophecy. Communism in general, and Russia in particular, have suffered a deadly wound. That's all. The rest of the prophecy says the deadly wound will be healed, and all the world will "wonder after the Beast". (Revelation 13:3) So the collapse of communism does not necessarily rule it out as the unifying ideology for the final world empire.
The Bible specifically mentions that the Beast will be helped by a Dragon (Revelation 13:4), which is also described as having seven heads and ten horns. (Revelation 12:3) The Revelation itself states that the Dragon is the Devil (Revelation 12:9); but it is also interesting that the dragon is the symbol of the other great communist power in the world today (China).
We learned from Daniel that a "horn" would "pluck up by the roots" three other horns before taking control of the final Beast. The horn that is going to do that is the same one that is going to "devour and break in pieces". (Daniel 7:7-8)
In the same prophecy, Daniel saw a Bear with three ribs between its teeth, saying "Arise, devour much flesh." (Daniel 7:5) Daniel also saw a beast that was like a Lion with Eagle's wings. But he saw the wings of the eagle "plucked", and the Lion made to stand on its feet as a man. (Daniel 7:4) In other words, the Lion ceased to exist as a "beast", or world power, when it lost its Eagle wings. "Dominion" was given, instead, to the Panther. (Daniel 7:6) Remember the ten Third World members of the U.N. Security Council?
The symbols for Russia, England/America, and the Third World are a Bear, Lion/Eagle, and Panther. Remember, too, that when John saw all of these animals merged into one final Beast, he made no mention of the Eagle. If these animals are referring to political powers that exist in the world today, what could they be implying?
Are they saying (as our newspapers seem to be telling us) that the Eagle (America) is the nation that will take (or perhaps already has taken) control of the ten united nations? or are the prophecies saying that the Bear (Russia) is going to eventually recover from its deadly wound, "pluck" the eagle's feathers, and, in doing so, subdue three nations that are presently stopping it from taking control of the U.N. and "devouring" the earth? (Daniel 7:24) Obviously the second explanation is the one that conforms with what the prophecies are actually saying. True, it is embarrassing to predict that America will fall, and then to see Russia fall instead. But that too is predicted as part of the overall scenario: Russia/communism must suffer a deadly wound first.
If the final world power is to be a communist power, and if it is to be represented by a bear with three ribs (or horns?) in its teeth, and if the bear is to be assisted by a dragon, and if it is going to unite the Third World in ruling the world, it certainly is still going to have to "pluck" the Eagle's wings before it can hope to achieve such goals.
The Revelation (written nearly 2,000 years ago) names the same three animals that symbolise the two (former?) superpowers, plus the Third World. What these animals are described as doing (particularly with reference to gaining control of the U.N.) makes perfect sense in the light of what is happening in the world today.
More is said about the Beast in Revelation 17. We will deal with that after we have said a few things about the False Prophet.