The First Beast
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LESSON 7: THE FIRST BEAST
It was a beautiful day.
King Nebuchadnezzar gave the signal,
the music started, and the curtain was removed,
revealing a giant statue of pure gold, 27 meters tall, sparkling beneath the sunlight.
And then according to the king’s command,
everyone present on the plain of Dura
was to bow down to the ground and worship the statue,
whosoever refused would be thrown into a blazing furnace.
Everyone bowed, except three young Hebrews, servants of a much greater KING.
Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with pride and satisfaction,
when it was reported to him that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
had refused to worship the golden statue.
So astonished that someone would even dare to defy the king’s order,
Nebuchadnezzar supposed perhaps the three young counselors
were just simply misunderstanding his command.
So, he gave them a final chance to bow down and worship,
but they outright refused.
Outraged, the king ordered the furnace
to be heated up seven times hotter.
Fuels were added to the infernal,
and the three young men were bound.
The fire was so hot that the very soldiers who threw them in were killed by it.
The king looked into the furnace, and his jaw dropped.
With a trembling voice, he asked:
“Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”
His counselors confirmed it to him.
And Nebuchadnezzar continued:
“Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire,
and they have no hurt;
and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God!” [27] Daniel 3:24-25.
The Son of God – whom Nebuchadnezzar so often overheard the exiled Jews talked of –
had rescued those young men in the fiery furnace
because they bravely stood in defense of His Father’s truth.
The prophecies tell us: in the coming days,
the people of God will have to face a similar challenge:
the final war described in [27] Revelation 13.
First, in this lesson,
we shall see whether the first beast in verses 1-8 and 15-18
is the Anti-Christ power described in [27] Daniel 7
that we have studied in the lesson “Who is the Anti-Christ”,
and what extra information does [27] Revelation 13 reveal.
Let us spend a few minutes reading through [27] Revelation 13:1-8 and 15-18 before we dive in.
1. In the symbolic language of the Bible, what does a “beast” represent?
[27] Daniel 7:17 These great beasts, which are four,
are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
[27] Daniel 7:23 The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth.
[27] Daniel 8:21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia.
The Lord uses beasts as the symbol for a king or kingdom (nation)
– a political power in general – in His Word,
pretty much like us nowadays:
bald eagle for USA, bear for Russia, kangaroo for Australia, v.v…
2. How was this first beast, or first nation, in [27] Revelation 13 described?
The first beast or nation was described with ten identifications:
1) Rose up out of “the sea” (verse 1).
2) Received from “the dragon” his power, and his seat, and great authority (verse 2).
3) Was like a leopard, a bear and a lion (verse 2).
4) Became a global superpower (verse 3, 7).
5) Guilty of blasphemy (verse 1, 5, 6).
6) It is a spiritual power that received worship (verse 4, 8).
7) Ruled in 42 months prophetic time (verse 5).
8) Wounded to death but then the deadly wound was healed (verse 3).
9) Persecuted the saints of the Lord (verse 7).
10) Has a man leader, whose name’s number is 666 (verse 18).
There is only one power, one sole nation on the face of the earth
that fits all these identifications.
All those who are just remotely knowledgeable of European history
can immediately recognize that this First Beast
is none other than Vatican, the Roman Catholic Church in Rome.
Let us go through each identification one by one,
unlocking the symbols the Bible used by its own interpretation,
starting from the next question.
3. This First Beast rose up out of the sea.
What does an area of water symbolize in Bible prophecy?
[27] Revelation 17:15 The waters which thou sawest…
are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
In the prophetic language of the Bible, an area of water
is the symbol of an area densely populated with peoples, nations and tongues.
Vatican arose from Western Europe,
and it is an actual nation, not just a church,
obviously fits the 1st description.
4. Who is the dragon, who gave the First Beast his power, his seat and great authority?
[27] Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent,
called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.
Very clearly, the dragon is Satan.
And according to [27] Revelation 12:3-5,
he is the one who sought to kill JESUS when He was still a baby
by manipulating Herod, a client king of Rome.
He sent his troops to Bethlehem where JESUS was born
and massacred all little children under two years old ([01] Matthew 2:16).
To whom did the Roman Empire later on give its power and seat?
History is crystal clear in this matter:
the Roman empire gave its power and capital to the Roman Catholic Church – the Vatican.
“The Roman Church … pushed itself into the place of the Roman World-Empire,
of which it is the actual continuation…
The Pope, who calls himself “king” and “Pontifex Maximus”, is Caesar’s successor.”(*)
So the 2nd description also fits the Vatican.
*Adolf Harnack, What is Christianity? (New York: Putnam, 2nd ed., rev., 1901), p. 270.
5. This beast has characteristics of a leopard, a bear, and a lion.
What does it mean?
[27] Daniel 7:3-6 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
The first was like a lion…
And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear…
and lo another, like a leopard…
That this vision mentioned leopard, bear and lion,
is a direct quote from [27] Daniel 7
that we studied in the lesson “Who is the Anti-Christ“,
in which the leopard was Greece,
the bear was Medo-Persia,
and the lion was Babyon.
They are the 3 empires that ruled over the people of God before Rome.
Every time a new empire devours an old one,
it usually acquires unto itself the cultural and religious characteristics of the old.
First Medo-Persia conquered Babylon,
then Greece conquered Medo-Persia,
then Rome conquered Greece.
Thus the cultural and religious characteristics of all these empires
were accumulated and heaped upon the Roman Catholic Church afterwards.
In fact, many gods of the Roman empire
were indeed originated from Greece, Persia and Babylon,
and then these very statues of false gods of the Roman empire
were relabeled with Christian names,
and became the objects of worship in the Catholic Church ever since.
For instance, the statue of Peter in the Vatican predated even Peter himself,
because it was the statue of Mecury renamed,
having still the sun disk on top of its head
as evidence of its pagan origin.
The 3rd description matches completely also.
6. Is the Vatican a global superpower?
[27] Revelation 13:7 and power was given him over all kindreds, and people, and tongues, and nations.
Even those who do not yet know the Lord recognize that the Vatican, in many respects,
has become by far the most influential power in the world.
With each trip of the Pope, his power and influence grow.
The US and Cuba had to reconcile under the dictate of the Pope.
The UN had to assemble to listen to what “Lord God the Pope” had to say.
Joe Biden is a Catholic Christian under the Pope.
The number of Catholic Christians nowadays has grown to over 1.2 billion.
Those who look up to the Vatican as the only hope for world peace and unity
are even more numerous, and they spread across the globe,
just as the Lord declared in this 4th point.
7. On what account is the Vatican guilty of blasphemy?
The Bible defines blasphemy, to be not just when someone insults God directly,
but also when someone who isn’t a God-being:
– Claims to be God or to be equal with God ([04] John 10:33).
– Claims the authority to forgive sins ([03] Luke 5:21; [19] Hebrews 5:9).
Does the Vatican claim the authority to forgive sins?
Take a look at the Catholic church’s own catechism:
“Does the Priest truly forgive the sins,
or does he only declare that they are remitted?
The Priest does really and truly forgive the sins
in virtue of the power given to him by Christ.”(1)
Vatican also claimed their Pope to be equal with God.
Pope Leo XIII said:
“We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.”(2)
Another statement made about the Pope:
“Thou art another God on earth.”(3)
The 5th identification matches also.
(1)Joseph Deharbe, S.J., A Complete Catechism of the Catholic Religion (New York: Schwartz, Kirwin & Fauss, 1924), p. 279.
(2)Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter “The Reunion of Christendom,” dated June 20, 1894, trans. in The Great Encyclical letters of Pope Leo XIII (New York: Benziger, 1903), p. 304.
(3)Christopher Marcellus, Oration in the Fifth Lateran Council, Session IV (1512), manuscript SC, Vol. 32, col. 761 (Latin).
8. How does the First Beast receive worship?
[04] John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Christians conduct their worship in spirit.
Not to mention that Vatican is an obvious spiritual and religious power,
just the fact that the Pope receives the exaltation as God on earth
is enough for him to be an object of worship
to anyone who gave him recognition.
Vatican and its Pope fulfill the 6th description perfectly.
9. How long will the First Beast continue?
[27] Revelation 13:5 Power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
This time period is mentioned again and again many times in Bible prophecy
as 3,5 years, 42 months, and 1.260 days
(according to the Jewish calendar, that has 30 days a month, and 12 months a year,
these three time periods are exactly the same).
In prophetic language, a day in visions is a year in real life ([26] Ezekiel 4:6; [04] Numbers 14:34).
Understanding this point thoroughly,
we can exchange the 1.260 days in this vision into 1.260 years in real life.
Contrast this with history: Vatican ascended to its throne in 538 AD,
after Justinian declared the supreme authority of the church of Rome,
and all efforts against it were crushed.
Eventually in 1798 AD, it received a deadly wound
when the Pope was captured alive by general Louis-Alexandre Berthier of Napoleon,
and exiled to France, where he died (*).
The period from 538 to 1798 AD, is exactly 1.260 years!
The 7th point matches so terrifyingly.
(*) Joseph Rickaby, “The Modern Papacy,” Lectures on the History of Religion, (London: Catholic Truth Society, 1910), Vol. 3, Lecture 24, p. 1.
10. What would happen to this First Beast after the 42 months?
[27] Revelation 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;
and his deadly wound was healed:
and all the world wondered after the beast.
After the event in 1798, the reign of Vatican was thought to have ended permanently,
but God has shown that its deadly would be healed,
and then the power and influence of Vatican would be restored
until all the world would follow it.
Lo and behold, in 1929,
Vatican signed the Lateran treaty with Mussolini the Italian Fascist
and since then, has gradually reclaimed its former power.
Malachi Martin in “the Keys of this blood” disclosed:
the Pope is the most well-known person in the 20th century (page 123),
had established personal relationships with leaders of 91 nations (page 490),
and was preparing for the unification of the world (page 143). (*)
And the latest Pope – Francis, the first Jesuit pope ever –
is even more remarkable than any other pope before him.
The Vatican matches the 8th description flawlessly.
(*) Malachi Martin, the Keys of this blood (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990).
11. What would this First Beast do to the saints?
[27] Revelation 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.
That the Vatican had persecuted and massacred multitudes of Christians is an obvious fact,
well-known across the world and is acknowledged even by the church itself.
Historians estimated over 100 MILLION people
have been murdered for their faith by this organization,
while the church misunderstood that it was destroying heretics for God.
Pope John Paul II later on had even raised his voice in apology
for the crimes the church committed,
and beg for forgiveness.
But by that time, the fact had already seared into history:
the Roman Catholic church had persecuted and martyred multitudes of saints.
The 9th point matches also.
12. What is the mysterious number of the beast?
[27] Revelation 13:18 Here is wisdom.
Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:
for it is the number of a man;
and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
The official title of the Pope in Latin – the official language of Vatican –
is “Vicarius Filii Dei”.
When the news calls him “Vicar of the Son of God”,
they are referring to this very title.
Below are the scans of two ancient documents of the Roman Catholic Church
proving that this is indeed his title.
1) 16th century “Donation of Constantine”:
a forgery created by the Catholic Church
to deceive people into believing that emperor Constantine of Rome
had given the authority of the entire Roman empire to the Roman church,
which at least 10 popes in history had quoted
as evidence for their supreme authority.
The name “Vicarius Filii Dei” appeared in the 7th scanned picture,
on the left page, at the end of the 5th line.
2) Distinctio 96: a document quoting “Donation of Constantine”.
The name “Vicarius Filii Dei” appeared in the line marked with the red arrow.
And the Bible tells us that this name of the Pope
would add up to 666 in numerical value.
Let us check to see whether this 10th final point matches.
Pay attention that in the Roman alphabet, there is no U,
but U is simply written as V, having the numerical value of 5.
The truth has thus been established beyond any doubt,
for all 10 identifications have matched.
Many people would expound the Bible
not according to its own interpretations for each symbol that it uses,
leading to false conclusions about the identity of the Anti-Christ,
that it is Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin, or the Islamic religion,
but all these speculations fail to match ALL identifications.
We can see that all the above 3 “candidates” are not independent countries,
and thus are eliminated from the very first round.
The very prefix “anti” in the name Anti-Christ
originally didn’t mean “against” Christ, but “replacing” Christ.
The apostle Paul said: “Now we beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and our gathering together unto him,
that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled,
neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us,
as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means:
for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first,
and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped;
so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God,
shewing himself that he is God.” [14] II Thessalonians 2:1-4.
The temple of God nowaday is the Christians,
having the Spirit of God abiding within.
Moreover, a “falling away” clearly indicates
that this man of sin must rose up from our very rank,
then apostatized and betrayed the teachings of our Lord,
sitting atop the Christians and proclaiming himself to be God!
13. In the coming future, what would this Anti-Christ Beast do?
[27] Revelation 13:16-17 And he causeth all,
both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond,
to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
and that no man might buy or sell,
save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
[27] Revelation 13:15 …and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Basically, the prophecy warned us
that the Vatican has a special “mark”
to be put on people’s foreheads (the symbol for the mind) or their hands (the symbol for the works).
Receiving this mark brings down upon the receivers
the most terrifying curse throghout the entire Bible ([27] Revelation 14:9-11),
and they will be lost.
Now please be mindful
that there are many godly, loving and sincere Catholic Christians
that God considered His children.
This lesson therefore is not to be understood and/or used as a tool of insult
to smear these sincere souls who have been faithfully following the Lord
according to the light they received.
This lesson, on the other hand, is a deliberate attack upon Satan,
who enticed churches away from Biblical truths.
Even so, we must remember that God has warned us
of a certain “mark” of this organization
– a mark that we must avoid.
We must know what that mark is to avoid receiving it accidentally.
So let us give thanks to God for the words He has given us
to expose Satan’s scheme to “deceive even the elect”.
The very fact that these lessons have found their way to you
is proof of His protection over His children,
showing how much He loves and cares about you personally.
In the next lessons, we will identify the “mark” of the Beast.
However before that, we must understand something else
that is in direct opposition to that mark:
the Seal of God.
