Herbert W Armstrong

   The Book of Revelation cannot be understood without having a pretty good understanding of the Book of Daniel, and the Book of Revelation seems to take off from where Daniel leaves off and then gives more information. Several years ago, several, quite a few years ago, probably 35 years or 40 years ago, I read two expositions on the books of Daniel and Revelation. One of them was written by an author named James Trier, and the other one by a Uriah Smith. From the concept of Smith's book, I would, I did assume and still think that he was somewhat involved with the Seventh Day Adventist. He seemed to follow that understanding pretty closely.

   But in reading those two books, I found that I learned later that neither of those men really understood the books of Daniel and Revelation. Oh, both of them had some pretty good understanding regarding those things which are now clear historical facts, those things that have already been fulfilled and even those only up to a certain point, about the time of Jesus Christ's coming, this is the first time coming in the flesh, and then beyond that time, both of them go off in different directions and both of them go astray. Because it seems that the symbolisms are mysteries to them, just as they are to most people, just as they are to most churches, because many churches even discourage the reading of the book of Revelation.

   They, they would suggest to people not to take the time and not to bother with it because it's impossible to be understood. I want to, I want you to notice in God's word in the book of Revelation itself, just what God has to say regarding even the reading of the book of Revelation. It says in chapter 1 and in verse 3 (Revelation 1:3) notice, "Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein because the time is at hand." So God pronounces a blessing on people if they will read, more so if they will hear the words being preached, and even more so if they will observe, keep the things that they learn.

   And yet people don't seem to get anything out of the book of Revelation. Why? Why is the Bible and the Book of Revelation particularly, but why is the Bible such an enigma to people? Why is it so difficult for people to have any understanding? Well, let's find out what the Bible itself gives as the answer, because the Bible agrees, agrees wholeheartedly that most people will not understand what it has to say.

   In Revelation, right here in chapter one, where we are, and in verse one (Revelation 1:1), it tells us specifically what it's going to take in order to understand the words of this book. It says "the revelation of Jesus Christ." So notice right off of that we learned the book of Revelation means exactly what it's called. It is a revealing, it is not a hiding. It is not a mystery being developed or divine. It is taking unknown truths and revealing them.

   But now, how is it people don't understand the revelation that Christ is giving? Here is a revelation of Jesus Christ. Why don't people grasp it? Why don't people see it? Because it goes on to say, "which God, the Father gave unto him, Jesus Christ, to show unto his servants." Get that because that's a very important point. If a person goes into the book of Revelation and then admits after going into it and reading it that he doesn't understand it, he is simply admitting that he is not one of the servants of God. Because the book of Revelation will remain a mystery to all except to those to whom it is being revealed, and it is being revealed unto his servants.

   Those things revealing to his servants, those things which must shortly come to pass, and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant, John. So John became the scribe who wrote the book of Revelation, but the title, "the revelation of Saint John the Divine" is absolutely wrong. First, John is not divine, and second, it's not his revelation, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ. The title is the first statement there in the first verse.

   But let's go on into other verses that also give us reasons why people don't understand the Bible, why the Bible is such an enigma. In Psalm 111, and in verse 10, Psalm 111:10 we read, "The fear of the Eternal is the beginning of wisdom, and a good understanding have all they that what?" That picked up the Bible and read it? No, those who do his commandments. "And his praise endures forever."

   So unless people are yielding themselves to God, unless they have that fear of God, which is that awesome, awesomeness about God, come before God in a certain trembling and awe because of the power of God and are yielded and obeying God and keeping his law, they're not going to be able to understand it. It says a good understanding, to they that do those things. And one reason why people don't understand is because they reject God's laws and then they expect to come to understand his words and it just doesn't happen.

   John chapter 16 and in verse 13 (John 16:13), we go one step further. Why is the Bible such an enigma to people? In John 16 and verse 13, it says, "How be it when he," and that should be translated "it," when it, the spirit of truth, it comes. Here we are referring to the Holy Spirit of God. And when the Holy Spirit comes, it will guide you into all truth because it will not speak of itself but whatsoever it shall hear that shall it speak and it will show you things to come.

   So another important aspect of understanding God's word is to have God's Holy Spirit. If you don't have God's Holy Spirit, then the truth of what God is writing will not be revealed. So all those who first of all, are not the servants of God, secondly, don't stand in awe of God nor keep His Commandments, and finally, who do not have God's Holy Spirit to reveal God's truth to them are in the category of Isaiah 28 and in verse 13.

   To them, this is what the Bible is like. Isaiah 28:13: "But the word of the Eternal was unto them, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little in order that they might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken." You see, God deliberately wrote the Bible in an enigmatic way. He deliberately put a little bit here and a little bit there, a precept here and another precept there, here a little there a little, so a person would have to be guided by the Holy Spirit that God would give them if they were yielded to him and obedient to him, and if they became his servants, then he would direct them in putting all these precepts and all these lines together in a proper way so that they would be able to have that understanding.

   Otherwise, Bruce Barton was right. The Bible is a book that nobody knows. It is a mystery. Now, how about the church down through the years? Because the church down through the years did not have the understanding that we have today, and yet that church was God's church. They were his servants. They had God's Holy Spirit. They were yielded to God keeping God's Commandments.

   Why is it that the church up until today has not had any real understanding of especially the books of Daniel and Revelation? Well, the answer is, first of all, right in the book of Daniel in chapter 12 and verse 4 (Daniel 12:4). All through the New Testament church, and before the book of Daniel was available, but also the New Testament Church after the 1st century, the Book of Revelation was available and those people were able to read what was in those two books, God's servants, and yet they didn't understand what those two books are.

   And here is one reason. Daniel chapter 12 and verse 4: "Says, but you, God speaking to Daniel now, but you O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased." So God said that the book of Daniel, when Daniel received these visions and when he completed it and wrote them down in this book, God told him to close the book and seal it. It was not to be understood, not until the time of the end when there would be more knowledge and more activity, and that time God would reveal the meaning of the book, and we are at the time of the end when this book is being revealed.

   In Revelation, we learned for which period or which time the book of Revelation was written for. Yes, it was written back there by John in the first century, but it wasn't for John's understanding and it wasn't for any of the church eras down through till today. Revelation 17 and verse 10 (Revelation 17:10), tells us at what period, at what time, elements, what sequence of activities must take place before the book of Revelation can be understood.

   It says the period of time of this book is at the time when there are seven kings, and out of those seven, five of them are fallen already, and the sixth one is reigning and another one is yet to come. Notice it: "There are seven kings, five are fallen and one is, and the other is not yet come, and when he comes, he must continue a short space." So it is during the reign of that sixth king that the book of Revelation has been written. That's the time when it is to be understood. That's the time that God brought John up into the future during the reign of the sixth king. And what he saw, he wrote from that point, and it is at that point that it can be and will be understood and has and is being understood.

   Revelation 22 and verse 10: We find out also that the book of Revelation is to be understood just prior to the return of Jesus Christ. Revelation 22 and verse 10 says (Revelation 22:10), "And he said unto me," God speaking or God giving him the message, "Seal not the sayings of the prophecies of this book, for the time is at hand." This book was to be opened at the time of the sixth king, that the book was written for, and he says in verse 12 (Revelation 22:12), "And behold, I come quickly," just prior to the return of Jesus Christ, "and my reward is with me to give every man according to his work shall be."

   And then in verse 20 (Revelation 22:20), it says, "He who testifies these things says, surely I come quickly," and then, "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." So at the time of the sixth king is a time very close to the return of Jesus Christ, and it could be said that he would come quickly and practically on his way, so to speak.

   Now, both the book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation describes some very strange and terrifying beasts and some very mysterious events that are to take place. Who are these beasts and what do they do? Well, actually, when we've been going through our Bible study in Ezekiel, we have already been encountering the work of these beasts. We haven't taken the time necessary to tie them into Revelation and the book of Daniel so that you'll have a better understanding. And so today, that's what I want to do.

   I want to identify the beasts of Daniel and Revelation so that you will have understanding of them and in so doing, even your study on Tuesday, on Wednesday nights in the book of Ezekiel will come more alive. We're going to begin in Daniel the 2nd chapter and somewhere very soon now I need to have some lights turned out. But we need, we're gonna be doing something different today. I'm going into the field of audio visual. And I hope I can see, I think I can.

   We're gonna be beginning in Daniel, the 2nd chapter. Because it, it is here that it all seems to begin. It starts to take root. The beasts and the visions, the mysteries all seem to begin with the second chapter of Daniel. And this is the time when Nebuchadnezzar was reigning over the Babylonian Empire. The year of the second chapter is something like 604 B.C. Maybe it's 603 B.C., but it's right about that time and Nebuchadnezzar has a dream.

   And when he talked about a vision that he saw in the dream, but when he woke up, he couldn't remember any of his dreams. And so he called all of the chief men of Babylon and told them that he wanted them to reveal to him his dream and then tell him what the dream means, to interpret it. Well, of course, none of them could do that. No one can reveal a dream to a man and know what it was he dreamed. And so he was going to have them all killed.

   And his order to kill all these men would automatically include those who were in training to serve at the court in Babylon at the king's court. So that included Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And so Daniel asked the man who came to take them to the execution if the king wouldn't give him a little time because he said there's a God in heaven who can reveal his dream and interpret it. So he had the time. He went in and prayed and God revealed that dream to him and the meaning of that dream.

   And so he brought him to king Nebuchadnezzar. Now, in verse 26 (Daniel 2:26), the king answered and said to Daniel, this is Nebuchadnezzar, now talking to Daniel, whose name was changed to Belteshazzar (Daniel's name was changed to Belteshazzar by the king): "Are you able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen and the interpretation thereof?"

   And then Daniel points out, yes, that God is able to do that in spite of the fact that none of his wise men and magicians and soothsayers and superstitious ones and all of those pagan leaders and so forth weren't able to do it, but he says in verse 28 (Daniel 2:28), "There is a God in heaven that reveals secrets and makes known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be." Notice: "What shall be in the latter days." The dream that Nebuchadnezzar had and the vision that he saw takes them right down through time to the end time, to the time of Christ's return, and God was giving this information to Nebuchadnezzar to reveal, not to hide, but to reveal what would take place in the latter days.

   And he says, "Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed are these." In verse 31 (Daniel 2:31-35), we come to the definition, the description of this vision or dream. He says, "Behold, O king." Pardon me, he said, "You, O king, saw and behold a great image." This great image should be up there. I trust you can all see it. This great image, he says, "Whose brightness was excellent stood before you, and the form thereof was terrible."

   Now we don't know that the image looks exactly like this, but it undoubtedly had some very similar features and maybe we didn't make it fierce enough, but it's supposed to represent at least a very powerful warrior, but it was most likely a picture of a man, a male, who was a fierce warrior. And then in verse 32, says "This image's head was of fine gold." Clearly you can see it from where you're sitting, but the head of the image is of fine gold.

   Then when you get down to the arms and breast, that part is in silver. When you get to the belly and the thighs, that was made of brass, and when you get down to the legs, the legs are of iron. The feet are part of iron and part of clay. He says you saw until that a stone was cut out without hands and smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay and broke them to pieces.

   Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. So the dream that he had and the vision that he had was of an image of this sort, and that image was of these various materials, metals, precious metals all the way out to iron and then mixed with clay.

   And then at the feet, where the feet were mixed with iron and clay, a stone was cut out of the mountain and came crashing down and smote the image, hit the image at the feet. Notice it wasn't the head, wasn't any other part of the image, but at the feet of the image. And as a result, the image collapsed, crumbled, fell apart, and hit the ground and was demolished and the wind came and blew away the particles of it until none of it was left. Then that stone that hit the image started to grow and fill the whole earth as a mountain.

   That is the description of the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had. Now the question is, what does it all mean? Well, Daniel goes on then to interpret this dream, this vision, God giving him the understanding.

   And so, in this part that we're going to read, up until we get into the latter end of this part, most people who read into Daniel understand because history has already established these truths. It says in verse 36 (Daniel 2:36-38), "This is the dream, and we will tell you the interpretation thereof before the king." So here comes the explanation.

   "You, O king, are a king of kings, for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory." So Nebuchadnezzar is told here that he represents the kingdom. He is the king of kings and he is represented by the first part of this image. He says, "You are king of kings. And God has given you a kingdom." The kingdom that existed at that time was the empire of the Babylonian Empire, and God had given him power and strength and glory.

   And so, the head of gold representing the Babylonian Empire starts means that this vision starts dating from the time of Nebuchadnezzar. From the very time that he saw the image, that's when this vision begins to date, the time that it comes into realization. And he said, "And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven, has he given into your hands and has made you ruler over them all. You are," he said, "the head of gold."

   So now we have a real big clue as to what this whole image means. That we start off with the head of gold and we find that that represents the Babylonian Empire and that Nebuchadnezzar as the king of that empire is the individual representative of that head of gold.

   Now verse 39 says (Daniel 2:39-41), "And after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you." Well, we're coming down to the breast and arms of silver. Silver is an inferior metal to gold. And so he says, after you will come another kingdom inferior to you. And then following that one, there will be a third kingdom made of brass, he says. So we're not guessing at that very much. The scripture there is telling us pretty plainly what this vision means.

   So the third kingdom of brass, when you come down to the thighs, you find that the thighs are of brass. Now we're getting down though in time. Babylonian Empire had to end. The second one had to start up and end. The third one had to come and end. And so as we come down the image, we are also progressing through the stream of time.

   And then it says that kingdom of brass shall bear rule over all the earth, and then will come a fourth kingdom. "The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron," and that's why the legs are of iron. "Forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things, and as iron that breaks all these shall it break in pieces and bruise."

   "And whereas you saw the feet and the toes," and we'll come to the feet and toes... Yes, that's working fine. "As you saw the feet and toes, now we've come down further in time from the legs. But notice it doesn't say there's another kingdom. We're still discussing the fourth kingdom, but coming down in time during the fourth kingdom, whereas he saw the feet and toes, part of potter's clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided," meaning that there shall be in it the strength of iron and being it the strength of iron because as you saw, the iron was mixed with miry clay.

   So when you have nations that are fierce and powerful together in an alliance with other nations that are like clay, that are weaker, that are not as fierce and you put them together into a kingdom, you have a divided kingdom or divided in strength, in fierceness and in strength. And verse 42 says (Daniel 2:42-43), "And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken."

   "And whereas you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." So when you come down to the toes of the image, you are at the furthest point down the stream of time as that dream or that image can take you. And at that time, it says there exists the 10 toes made of miry clay and iron mixed.

   Now notice verse 44 (Daniel 2:44): "In the days of these kings," that is the time of these 10 toes, and now we are told that those 10 toes represent kings, that they are 10 kings, some fierce and strong and others of clay. "And during the days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up his own kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and that kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."

   So you saw the stone coming out of the mountain. That's God's kingdom coming down to this earth, and it came at the time during the toes representing 10 kings who were reigning in an alliance mixed together as iron and clay, unable to stay together and cling together, but at least for the time being they were because iron doesn't mix with clay, and the stone smashed that image, hit that image at the toes.

   If it would have hit it in the head, then the kingdom of God would have had to come during the Babylonian Empire during those days. No, it didn't come during those days, nor the other days. It came at the end of time, at the end of the stream of time pictured by that image, and that stone destroyed the image at the feet. It destroyed all of the image, doing away with all kingdoms, man's government on this earth, and then that stone, the only kingdom on the earth left, begins to grow and covers the entire earth.

   Verse 45 (Daniel 2:45): "Forasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof is sure." So, Nebuchadnezzar got an insight into the future. What was going to happen from his day on.

   This image covers the time from Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian Empire until the return of Jesus Christ and the establishing of the kingdom of God on this earth, and it includes four successive ruling empires that will be in existence through that time when Jesus Christ returns and the fourth one will be ruling when Christ returns and smashes the image.

   But let's understand now who these four kingdoms are, the four world ruling empires. We know the first one already, go back to verse 38, at the end of verse 38, it says "you are this head of gold." So the first world ruling empire is the Babylonian Empire from 606 to 539 B.C., and that's a map showing the extent of the Babylonian Empire.

   The Babylonian Empire was made of gold. That is, it had the highest quality of any of the four, but it was also the softest metal of any of the four. All the others were more fierce, more powerful than the Babylonian Empire. We don't have to guess at which empires followed because the Bible gives us the next two.

   In Daniel chapter 5 and in verse 30 (Daniel 5:30), this is 539 B.C. now, and the king ruling over Babylon was named Belshazzar. He was one of the grandsons of Nebuchadnezzar. In verse 30, it says, "In that night," this is Daniel 5:30, Belshazzar was having a religious celebration, a pagan celebration which always became an orgy, a drunken orgy. But it says, "In that night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, Chaldeans or Babylonian Empire are the same. The king of the Chaldeans claimed, and Darius the Median took the kingdom being about threescore and two years old," 62 years old.

   I want you to quickly note chapter 6 and verse 8 (Daniel 6:8), where a decree was being signed and the account was to "sign the writing that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which changes not." So the Medes and Persians were the ones, were the empire, it was an empire combined with the Medes and the Persians and became one empire over the earth, and they, that empire was the one that succeeded the Babylonian Empire.

   And here you see a map of the Persian, the Medo-Persian Empire of Medes and Persians, 539 B.C. to 331 B.C. And this empire was of silver in the image which is less quality than gold, but stronger than gold. So they were a more fierce empire.

   Now, to come to the successor to the Medo-Persian Empire, let's go to Daniel the 8th chapter and take it from verse 3, Daniel 8:3: "Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold there stood before the river a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last."

   So let's jump ahead a little bit to get a definition or identification of this ram with the two horns. Let's go to verse 20 (Daniel 8:20). Says "The ram which you saw having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia." So the ram represents this empire headed by the kings of the Medes and the Persians, and that's why the two horns.

   And then going back to verse 4 (Daniel 8:4), it says, "I saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward," showing the expanse of the kingdom "so that no beast might stand before it," or no other nations might stand before it. "Neither was there any that could deliver out of his hands, but he did according to his will and became great." So the Medo-Persian Empire became a great empire and it filled basically the known earth at that time.

   And now verse 5 (Daniel 8:5): "As I was considering, behold, a he-goat," another animal "came from the west on the face of the whole earth and touched not the ground." He came so fast he was actually flying. And it says, "And the he-goat had a notable horn between his eyes." Now this notable horn was the first king of this particular empire, which happens to be Alexander the Great.

   Let's go to verse 21 (Daniel 8:21), and it says, "The rough goat or the he-goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king," which would be Alexander the Great B.C. And this was started or headed by Alexander the Great. And this kingdom was made of brass. It was less quality than either of the two before it, but it was stronger and more fierce than any of the two, either of the two before it.

   Now, the fourth kingdom is the only one that is not mentioned in scripture. Chances are it wasn't even known at that time, and the city that was named by it was probably just a little village and it didn't make sense to even name it. But the four kingdoms historically that followed the Greco-Macedonian kingdom was only one, and that is the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire, which is made of iron, which is more fierce than any of the others. That one that started in 146 B.C. and we'll talk about the other dates later.

   But the Roman Empire is the fourth kingdom. If you will remember, the image had the legs of iron, two legs. The Roman Empire was divided in two. It had its eastern capital in Constantinople, its western capital at Rome, and together it formed the entire Roman Empire as you see it there on the slide. It was the most powerful, the fiercest empire of the group, the cruelest of them. And at the end of that empire, at the end of its final reign, and we'll get to that before we're through, the 10 toes are on the scene, and that's when Jesus Christ smites that image while the Roman Empire is still reigning.

   That date has an ending date, but that's only a temporary end, as you will notice. But this empire ends when Jesus Christ returns.

   Now let's go to Daniel 7 because here we see another vision. This time it's a vision that Daniel himself has. And he finds, we're able to determine the meaning of this vision in chapter 7 of Daniel (Daniel 7:1). It says in the first year of Belshazzar, this is the same Belshazzar that was killed when the Babylonian Empire fell. So we're talking about Daniel's dream before that empire fell, about 10 years before.

   "In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream. The other dream was the one that Nebuchadnezzar had. But now Daniel has a dream and visions of his head upon his bed. Then he wrote the dream and he told the sum of the matter. Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night and behold the four winds of the heavens drove upon the great sea and four great beasts came up from the sea, different one from the other."

   And these came up in succession. They didn't all come out at one time, but Daniel was watching and the sea started to roil up, become tumultuous, and from it then strange looking beasts started to emerge. The first one in verse 4: "The first was like a lion," and that's what we have behind me now. "It was like a lion and had eagle's wings."

   Well, the lion represents the Babylonian Empire. We're going to see that we're going through again the same four kingdoms. Only now Daniel is seeing them as beasts rather than as part of one image. The lion is the king of the beasts, and it would be represented by the gold at the head of the image.

   We're gonna come back here, but I want to go to Jeremiah 4 and verse 13 regarding these wings of an eagle because in Jeremiah was prophesying to the house of Judah during the days of Nebuchadnezzar, and he warned the house of Judah of what was going to happen to them. And it turns out that Nebuchadnezzar brought his army against the house of Judah and Jeremiah is prophesying that event.

   And in chapter 4 and verse 13 of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 4:13), here's what he said: "Behold, he shall come." That is the Babylonian army, Nebuchadnezzar. "He shall come as clouds." Notice the wings on the lion, showing extra speed, more swiftness. "He shall come as clouds and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us, for we are spoiled."

   And so we have this picture of the lion with eagle's wings showing the swiftness of attack and the power of the lion. And it goes on to say, "I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth," that is translated the wings that caused it to be lifted up from the earth, those were plucked, "and he was made to stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to him."

   Well, Nebuchadnezzar fits that perfectly because in chapter 4 of Daniel, we won't have time to go through the accounts, but in verse 16 (Daniel 4:16), Nebuchadnezzar had the spirit of man removed from him, and for 7 years, he became an animal. He ate grass and was tied to a tree and so forth. Verse 16, chapter 4 of Daniel says "Let his heart be changed from man's and let a beast's heart be given unto him, and let seven times or seven years pass over him."

   And Nebuchadnezzar was in that state for 7 years. Then at the end of the 7 years, he was made to stand up as a man and a man's heart was given to him again. The spirit of man returned to him, and he reigned one more year after that before he died. So Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian Empire is this beast, is represented by this beast that is a lion.

   And there's a close up of the wings of the lion, I said turn it out a little sooner. And verse 5 (Daniel 7:5), "And behold another beast, a second one came up out of the water and it said it was like to a bear." And here we see the second one, the bears, huge ponderous animals. The Neo-Persians were a huge ponderous nation. Their successors today are the Russians, which have many people and who move like a bear. Russia is often described as a bear.

   When the Medo-Persians came against Alexander the Great, to try to defend their empire, they amassed over one million troops to come against Alexander the Great, who had, I think around 50,000 and still Alexander the Great got the victory. But here is the bear representing the Medo-Persian Empire. And it said it raised itself up on one side. The marginal rendering is a much better translation. It raised up one dominion.

   Remember, the Medes and Persians were two separate nations, and they came together and they made one empire out of the two. And then it says, "It had three ribs in its mouth." That means it had conquered three other peoples, nations. It conquered the Babylonian Empire, that's one of the ribs. It conquered the nation of Lydia and also the nation of Egypt and brought them all into the empire of the Medo-Persians and made one dominion out of all of these nations.

   And it was said to the bear, "Arise, and devour much flesh." And so the Medo-Persian Empire did. Now, in verse 6 (Daniel 7:6): "After this, I saw and lo another like a leopard which had upon its back four wings of a fowl." So there you see the leopard, and this represents again, the Greco-Macedonian Empire. It's swift, it's cruel. It stalks its prey. It is able to strike from ambush and bring down even larger prey, larger game.

   And so Alexander the Great, with his army, was able to bring down the big bear and all of its huge many troops and was able to gain victories over them. And the four wings that it had on its back shows it was even quicker than Babylon. It was able to move more rapidly, more quickly than Babylon. And then it says, "The beast had also four heads and dominion was given unto it."

   Well, dominion is rulership and here you see the four heads. The reason that the leopard has four heads is because when Alexander the Great died at a young age, his kingdom, his empire was divided up among his four generals, and each one became a head over parts of that kingdom. So the leopard has four heads.

   And then we come down to verse 7 (Daniel 7:7): "After this, I saw in the night vision" while he was sleeping or in bed, "and behold a forth beast dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly." Now this is the one that isn't named, but it is the Roman Empire. It's the most, it's the strongest one, the most powerful of them all, and the one that crushed its foes everywhere it went. Powerful military that was a threat and a fear every place it went.

   There was the old saying that everywhere Rome went, Rome built and that was true because everywhere Rome went, it destroyed everything and it had to rebuild before it could settle there or there would be nothing left to settle for. So Rome built because it was terribly destructive.

   And it says it had great iron teeth. And these of course symbolize the iron of the legs of the image, the iron teeth through those teeth it was able to devour and break in pieces and stamp the residue with the feet of it, and it was different from the beasts that were before it, and it had 10 horns.

   Now the horns don't show up in that picture quite as well, but there are 10 horns there, and those 10 horns - the thing you need to remember most about those horns right now is that they do not represent the same thing as the 10 toes. Whatever you do, don't confuse the 10 horns here in Daniel 7 with the 10 toes of Daniel 2 in that image. They represent two totally different things.

   In verse 17 (Daniel 7:17, 23), it says of these four beasts that "These great beasts which are four are four kings which shall rise out of the earth." And just quickly notice verse 23, it says, "Thus he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom." So the word king and kingdom are interchangeable - the king rules over a kingdom. So these four beasts are four kingdoms, the four empires that we just discussed, the four that we saw earlier going through the Babylonians.

   Four world-ruling empires, and here you see the four of them together. The four world-ruling empires pictured as beasts in Daniel's dream.

   Now we want to go to Revelation and we want to turn to Revelation 13 because now John, the apostle John, who was responsible for writing the book of Revelation, which was merely putting down what Jesus Christ gave him to write, what he saw describing what he saw. Here he sees a vision, and this vision ties in with Daniel 7 that we just left.

   Revelation 13:1: "And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise out of the sea," and here is the description of this beast: "The beast having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the names of blasphemy." So we find here a beast that is described by the same set of descriptions as those in Daniel 7.

   Daniel 7 showed four separate beasts. This one shows a conglomerate of all four having the very same attributes. You have the lion, you have the bear, you have the leopard, and you have this fierce beast. The four of them put together actually formed the fourth one, the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire that is the fiercest and most cruel, the strongest made of iron, has absorbed all the three and all the stratagem and all the military expertise of the three that went before, and it is pictured here as a single empire having all the attributes of the empires that went before it.

   And the seven heads are first the head of the lion, which was Babylon or Babylonian, then we have the head of the bear, which is - well, let's take that. We have the head of the lion, Babylonian. Then we have the head of the bear, which is the Medo-Persians. You know there's some writing on all the heads, that's the blasphemies, the names of blasphemy that are written on the heads, and then we had the four heads of the leopard, which are the four dominions of the Grecian Empire after Alexander, and then we have the head of the great fierce beast and notice the ten horns are on that head, not on any of the others.

   These are the same 10 horns that you saw on the head of the fourth beast in Daniel 7, and I said don't confuse them with the toes of Daniel 2. These horns are special, separate. They do something else. And notice here they've all got crowns on them. They didn't have crowns on them before because that was seen much earlier before these horns came into existence in the fulfillment of the prophecy. Now they are in the process of fulfilling the prophecy, so now they have crowns and are rulers.

   In fact in verse 2 (Revelation 13:2), it says, "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion and the dragon gave him power and his seat and great authority." The fourth one isn't mentioned here because the whole beast is the fourth one, and they have all the attributes of the three empires before them. The dragon is the symbol for Satan the devil, and Satan is behind the empire, giving it power, giving it authority, and giving it rulership.

   Remember, the earth is under the domain of Satan the devil. He is called the God of this world and he rules over all governments and over all parts of this earth except the Church of God, which is ruled over by Jesus Christ, and he can't get to that.

   In verse 3 now (Revelation 13:3-4), he says, and notice what happened. Here's a description of the Roman Empire. He says, "And I saw one of the heads." And that's the fourth one, the one that we just had up there. "I saw one of the heads as it were wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast."

   Well, if you remember the dates that were on the map of the Roman Empire, the Roman Empire went from 146 B.C. until 476 A.D. Then the Roman Empire fell, and that's the wound that it received. And after it fell, Rome and Italy were overrun by barbaric tribes and then later, Justinian, who was ruling of the eastern part of the Roman Empire from Constantinople, cleared Rome of the barbarians and restored the Roman Empire.

   It was called at that time the Imperial restoration that took place in 554 A.D. You may want to remember that date, we're gonna be referring to it, you may want to jot it down. 554 A.D., the wound was healed and Rome again became a powerful empire. And it says all the world wondered after that empire, after that beast, "And they worshiped the dragon," that is the devil, "which gave power unto the beast, and they worshiped the beast."

   They worshiped the Roman Empire. If you recall, the emperors had all considered themselves gods. They deified themselves and received worship from the people. Well, here it says the beast was worshiped by the people, saying "Who is like unto the beast? Who is like the gods, the Caesars, and who's able to make war with this beast?" - the most powerful armies ever put together in those days. And we're gonna see will be the most powerful armies ever put together at this same time.

   Verse 5 (Revelation 13:5): "And there was given unto him a mouth." Now the mouth means a spokesman. Added to the Roman Empire, added to this beast was something else that became the spokesman of the beast. And it says this mouth, this spokesman spoke great things and blasphemies. So here was a power that was the mouth that was the spokesman and who was speaking great blasphemy, which means against God and against Jesus Christ.

   And power was given unto the spokesman to continue for 42 months. Well, this spokesman, then - 42 months being 30 days to a month, 1260 days, but a day for a year in prophecy is 1260 years - this spokesman was going to be the spokesman of the beast for 1260 years starting after the healing of the wound took place. So that 1260 years goes from 554 A.D. to A.D. 1814. And we'll see what all that is about in a moment.

   Let's go on now to verse 11. In verse 11 (Revelation 13:11), we learn about a second beast that John sees after seeing the first one. Verse 11 says, "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon." So here we find a beast, but it looks like a lamb. So what is the lamb? The lamb pictures Jesus Christ. So here comes a beast like a lamb that pictures Jesus Christ, that pictures God, God's church, God's truth, God's religion, but it says it speaks as a dragon.

   Well, who's the dragon? Well, that's Satan. So this image of this beast rather is a church that pretends to be Jesus Christ and His church and actually is carrying out the will of the dragon or Satan. This is the spokesman that was added to the beast, the mouth that was added to the beast in verse 5. This spokesman, this beast is the papacy. The Catholic Church with its two horns, one that rules over the church and the other that rules over the states.

   And for 1260 years, the papacy ruled over the government, the beast, the Roman Empire, and over - we'll see the governments of that empire. We'll see that more in a minute.

   Verse 12 of chapter 13 (Revelation 13:12): "And he," this beast, this spokesman, "exercised all the power of the first beast, he actually took over the government of the first beast before him and caused the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, notice, whose deadly wound was healed." He didn't come into this power until after the deadly wound was healed.

   Back in Daniel 7, and in verse 23, we have a description of this papacy, the spokesman here too. That's in Daniel 7 and verse 23 (Daniel 7:13): "Thus he said, the fourth beast," this is the Roman Empire now, "shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be different from all kingdoms before it and shall devour the whole earth and shall tread it down and break it in pieces and the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings."

   So you see the picture again with the horns. This is not the way Daniel saw them. Daniel saw them without the crowns, but now we're talking about the time when they are reigning, so they have the crowns, and these ten horns, it says: "These ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise and another shall arise after them." An eleventh horn, but when it says after them, it doesn't mean after the ten are through, it means after their likeness. There's an eleventh one that comes up among them. None of these pictures went through the trouble to show that, but there's an 11th king that comes up among them and says, "And he shall be different from the first, and he shall subdue three kings."

   Well, the ten kings that are the ten horns are the ten kingdoms or the ten kings that ruled over the Roman Empire after the wound that was healed.

   And as I mentioned, when Rome fell in 476 A.D., it was overrun with barbarians. I can quickly give you that information. First of all, from 429 to 533 A.D., the Vandals ruled over the Roman Empire, a part of it. And in 455 A.D. they actually sacked the capital Rome. From 476 to 492 A.D., the Heruli ruled out of Rome and from 493 to 554, the Ostrogoths ruled Italy. Those were the first three horns of those ten. They were rulers over the beast from in the beast there in Italy and in Rome. They had to be uprooted before the beast could be healed and the restoration, the Roman restoration takes place.

   That took place, as I said, in 554 B.C [A.D.]. And as it says here, when this eleventh horn came into existence, it had to uproot three of those ten horns. That's these three rulers that we just talked about. From 554 on, the papacy under Pope Leo the First became a viable force and began ruling over the Roman Empire. Justinian yielded himself to Pope Leo when he became ruler over the entire empire, both east and west, and Pope Leo then crowned Justinian emperor of the Roman Empire.

   Now, there were seven heads left, Justinian being one of those seven, and the Catholic Church, the papacy was there over all seven. The eleventh horn was the papacy represented by the mouthpiece in Revelation and the beast that came up out of the water with the two horns, that is the papacy. And here are the next five horns that ruled in Rome that the papacy ruled over.

   The imperial restoration began in 554 B.C. [A.D.], as I said, by Emperor Justinian, who recognized the Pope, the supremacy of the Pope in the Western kingdom. Following him came the next horn, which is the Frankish kingdom. It began in 774 under Charlemagne. The Pope crowned Charlemagne in 800 A.D. Then came the Holy Roman Empire under the German head Otto the Great, and he was crowned by the Pope in 962. Then came the Habsburg dynasty, the Austrian head, Charles the Great, crowned by the Pope in 1520, and Napoleon followed that, the fifth kingdom followed that, and he was crowned by the Pope - actually took the crown out of the pope's hand and put it on himself - but in 1805 [1804].

   And then when Napoleon fell, that was the end also of the power of the papacy over the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire went into an abyss. It no longer had any real strength or any real power, but that takes care of five of the remaining seven horns. There are still two more horns, and we'll be talking about them in a moment. But each one of those horns pictures a resurrection of the Roman Empire. It was dead. It had a wound, and then it was healed because of a resurrection.

   Justinian came and resurrected it. Then came the next horn, and it was resurrected again. Then the third, the fourth, and the fifth - five resurrections of the Roman Empire, but there are still two more horns, still two more resurrections.

   Let's go now to Revelation 17. Because here John sees another vision tied in very closely to the visions that we've already seen.

   Revelation chapter 17 and in verse 1 (Revelation 17:1): "And there came one of the seven angels," and we will not go into an explanation of that, "who had the seven vials and talked with me, saying unto me, 'Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters.'"

   And the great whore is a symbol. It's in symbolism. Whenever a woman is used in symbolism, it usually pictures a church. The virgin woman is pictured by Jesus Christ as the church, his church, the true church of God. Revelation 12 and verses 1 on show a woman who is God's church, and in Ephesians 5 when it discusses the responsibilities of husband and wife, it talks about the church being a woman, the wife of Jesus Christ.

   So a woman pictures a church - a virgin pictures God's true church, a harlot, a whore who is committing fornications with other gods. So we're talking here about a great false church, and John is going to see what's going to happen - the judgment of this great whore, this great false church that sits upon many waters.

   Verse 15 (Revelation 17:15), if you want to jump ahead for a moment, it says, "He said unto me, the waters which you saw there where the whore sits are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues." So this church rules over many peoples of many different nations and languages. He sits upon many waters. "With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication," politics with this church. The church has ambassadors in all nations. Recently, an ambassador from that church came to this country and we have an ambassador there.

   It says, "With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication," with her doctrines, drunk in the sense that they cannot discern the true doctrines anymore.

   Now, in verse 3 (Revelation 17:3): "So he carried me in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns," and if you can make this one out, this is the most difficult to make out because of the color, but there are seven heads and ten horns, and the beast is the Roman Empire, but it shows it at a later date. The chapter 13 when we saw it was the Roman Empire from the beginning, but now we're seeing it towards the end.

   This beast that we see has seven heads and ten horns. The seven heads of this beast represents the last seven horns of the last beast. Remember, this woman is the papacy, the Catholic Church, sitting on this beast, ruling over this beast. She didn't begin to rule over this beast until the wound which destroyed it was healed and she came back to life at that first resurrection of the Roman Empire, the Imperial Restoration, and that was at the time of the remaining seven horns. Those seven horns are shown in this vision a

   Now, one of those heads, the last one of the seven, has ten horns on it. These ten horns are the same as the ten toes of Daniel 2, and we'll be able to show you that clearly. That's why I told you not to confuse those others of Daniel 7 with the ten toes. These ten horns in Revelation 17, which is on one of these heads, represents the same as the ten toes in Daniel 2. And those are the ones that will be in existence when Jesus Christ returns and destroys them.

   But let's go on. If I get too far ahead. Verse 3 (Revelation 17:3) explained that this woman was sitting on this beast that had seven heads. That means the seven resurrections of the Roman Empire, each one coming along, and we've already discussed the first five of these heads, but she is still reigning over the other two. However, the beast loses its power during the interim between the fifth one and the sixth one.

   And then verse 4 says (Revelation 17:4), "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls," and certainly the church is bedecked with jewels, this particular one. "Having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication," of her activities with paganism, with the teachings of false doctrines and gods and treaties with nations and things of that type.

   Verse 5 (Revelation 17:5): "And upon her forehead was a name written, 'MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH,'" and that's the title of that church.

   "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints." Yes, that church was responsible for a great deal of persecution upon God's people. The church that brought the Inquisition and the Reformation, who destroyed the Huguenots on Saint Bartholomew's Day, or tried to destroy them. And in the process of doing that, many of God's people were martyrs because their beliefs were contrary to the church. The church held great power over those 1,260 years, and God's people were always scattered and undercover in order to survive. And when they got caught, they were generally martyred.

   This church, "full drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." Oh yes, you know, when you see the church with all of its pomp and beauty and wealth, you have to almost admire her. Well, this is an indictment of that church.

   But now in verse 9 (Revelation 17:9): You go on here, "It says the mind that has wisdom." Now comes an expression or a definition of this particular beast and to identify it. "The seven heads are seven mountains." Well, literally Rome sits on seven mountains, but the seven mountains referred to here could in principle apply there, but they have to do with nations or kingdoms or empires. The seven mountains have to do with the seven resurrections of the Roman Empire, and it says, "The seven heads are the seven mountains" - resurrection of the Roman Empire - "on which the woman sits," reigns, controls, rules over all seven of them.

   But "here is the mind which has wisdom," pardon me, verse 10 (Revelation 17:10), "and there are seven kings," yes, a king kingdom, each one of the heads, "five are fallen." Now, the first five that I've already mentioned to you, starting with Justinian, ending with Napoleon at 1814, had already fallen when this book is to be read for understanding. So after 1814 and but during the time of the sixth head... And one is, the sixth head was existing. He was still riding that head. That sixth head was the Allied Union or the Axis union between Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. It's called World War I [II], and that was called by Hitler himself, the Holy Roman Empire.

   He felt he had a God-given responsibility to do what he was doing and the Pope was very closely allied to Mussolini and in that way to Hitler, but she didn't carry out the power. It was a weak rulership because she didn't have quite the power, she did not have Hitler under her control, although she did have Mussolini pretty much at her beck and call.

   But "one is not yet come, and when it comes, it must continue a short space." So that sixth head is gone too. That resurrection took place and is gone, and we are now in the interim waiting for the seventh head to come back, to come up and be the seventh resurrection. That's going to be called World War III. That head is the one with the ten horns. And that head consists of ten kings, ten nations coming together.

   Notice verse 12. Well, let me take verse 11, I think I've got a moment to mention that. (Revelation 17:11-12): "And the beast that was and is not," because now it's in the interim state, it's back into the abyss waiting to come out of that abyss. The beast that was and is not and yet is because it's still coming, it's still alive. And the other, pardon me, verse 11, "even he is the eighth," the eighth head "and is of the seventh and goes into perdition" that is ends up in the lake of fire.

   The kingdoms that we've already seen were Babylon, Medo-Persia, each having one head and then Greece with four heads making six, and then the Roman Empire making seven. Out of the Roman Empire is going to come - out of that seventh head is going to come that one with the ten horns, and it's going to be such a powerful conglomerate, it's going to put to shame all other powers before it. Because of course it will have nuclear weapons and it'll be the most destructive force this world has ever seen.

   It is so powerful that it's going to be called, even though it is of the seven heads, it's going to be an eighth head, a head all of its own because it's going to be a whole new power even though it's the seventh resurrection of the Roman Empire.

   And verse 12 says, "Those ten horns which you see," or the ten toes at the bottom of that image in Daniel 2, "those ten horns or toes which you see are ten kings, ten kings which haven't received their kingdom yet." No, not while the sixth horn or the sixth head was still ruling. These ten have not had - maybe some of them have a kingdom now, but they just haven't come together, iron mixed with clay to form this head, to form this resurrection.

   But it says these are "ten kings which have no kingdom yet, but they do receive power as kings one hour with the beast." For a short time, they're going to reign. They're going to rule and the Roman Empire, the beast is going to come back into power and it's going to be the seventh resurrection.

   "These have one mind," that is one purpose, "and they shall give their power and strength unto the beast. And these shall make war with the Lamb." Why are they going to make war with the Lamb? Because it's at that time that they are in power that Jesus Christ returns. And when Jesus Christ returns, they're going to make war with him. They're going to try to overthrow him. That's what's called the battle of Armageddon. It's actually the gathering at Armageddon. Then they go down to make battle against Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ destroys them.

   Notice: "These shall make war with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them for he is Lord of lords and King of kings," and he comes down and he smashes the image at the toes, at those ten horns, at this last powerful conglomerate that come together as the United States of Europe, a federation of European nations, or whatever it's going to be called.

   It is in the making right now. It is growing daily and getting stronger and working out its problems and developing a base on which to grow and suddenly it's going to come upon the scene and be on the scene for a short time, for one hour but not one hour specific time on the clock, for a short season and it's going to go and do all of the horrible things that we read about in Ezekiel and we discussed from time to time and time does not permit now to go through all that, but it's that seventh head that is going to come against this nation, against England, against other nations of that type, and it's going to bring great destruction and bombs are going to fall and World War III will take place.

   And it says, they will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them, "and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful." And verse 15, we already mentioned, this is the one who sits on all these waters, ruling over these nations and so forth.

   Well, that'll be the end then of man's rule on this earth. Then that stone will slowly cover the whole earth. Then the kingdom of God under Jesus Christ will cover this entire earth, and all nations will come under subjection to God's laws and God's way of life, and they will all have an opportunity to know God and to learn his way.

   So in summary: Daniel 2, the image that Nebuchadnezzar received, represents four empires. It names the first one, it says "you are the head of gold." It also pictures the ten toes showing that those are what will be extant at the time Jesus Christ comes and destroys that image, which the ten toes are the last resurrection of the Roman Empire.

   Daniel the 8th chapter defines the other, the next two empires: the Medo-Persian Empire which subdued the Babylonian Empire and replaced it, and then the Greco-Macedonian Empire which overcame the Medo-Persian Empire and replaced it.

   Daniel 7, the dream that Daniel had which showed the four beasts separately coming out of the water, described the same thing as the image of Daniel 2, but using animals or beasts instead of the image of a man. And it showed one of those beasts having ten horns. Those ten horns are not to be confused with the ten toes of the image. They are ten ruling powers over the Roman Empire after it falls in 476 A.D. until Jesus Christ returns.

   Ten ruling powers. Three of them, those ruled by the barbarian forces, were overthrown before the church, the papacy was able to take control over the Roman Empire and rule over the remaining seven. The last one of these ten horns is the same as the ten toes of Daniel 2. The last horn is the last resurrection of the Roman Empire, which is composed of the ten kings coming together, forming this great powerful warlike federation.

   Revelation 13 verses 1 through 10 (Revelation 13:1-10) is again the same as Daniel 7. The four beasts though are not shown separately. They are a conglomerate. They have all been absorbed by this fourth beast, which is the most vicious, cruelest, fiercest of all of them, pictures the Roman Empire in its full power and force.

   And then in Revelation 17, we have the same - the seven heads and the ten horns on the scarlet colored beast, which are the seven heads are the same as the last seven horns of Daniel's seven. The last head has ten horns on it, and those ten horns are the same as the ten toes of Daniel 2. The Roman Empire, after having its wound healed, was ruled over by the church, who was able to exercise her authority over the remaining horns or the seven heads of Revelation 17, and the last head will be the ten toes, which is the final resurrection, which is soon to come, and then this world will be plunged into World War III into nuclear holocaust.

   Well, brethren, we can all be thankful that God has given us an understanding of His word, that he has revealed to us His purpose. We're able to see as we go through the scriptures what God has for mankind in the very near future. This is privileged truth. It isn't something that everyone can know. We saw at the beginning. It's very restrictive. It's only those who have God's Holy Spirit and who are the very servants of God that God is able to reveal these truths to. We are and should be considered very blessed to have such a privilege, God revealing to us the future of this society.