BOOK OF REVELATION IN PICTURES - LESSON THREE - BEASTS ON THE SCENE

Long ago... And far away.. King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream...

Of a mighty statue standing on the Sands of Time..

Daniel (the prophet) interpreted the dream. Its head was gold - 

"the head is you oh King, you are Babylon".

The chest and arms were silver, 

a mighty empire would follow Babylon,

the mighty Media-Persia.

The torso and thighs were bronze,

Mighty conquering Greece.

The two legs were iron,

That mighty iron of Rome.

And lastly, the feet,

right down to

the ten toes.

Part iron

and part

clay.

After some time. Daniel had a dream,

of four great and terrible beasts.

The first three creatures,

again, Babylon

Media-Persia

Greece.

Then a fourth creature "more terrible than the others".

And stronger.

It had great iron teeth..

(The 'iron' columns of Rome!)

And its claws were bronze.

"What the iron didn't break,

the bronze trampled and scattered."

And it had seven heads

and ten horns.

This is the beast which opens Revelation chapter 13.

It has iron/bronze roots, a metamorphosis,

with heads seven and horns ten.

The 'big' beast of the chapter.

(Verses 1 to 10.)

Then we are shown a 'little' beast, who brought

a new fire to earth in chapter 6 (lesson two).

Thought of as a man, but an office is more true.

~ One that will give breath/strength (authority) ~

to the 'big' beast, who at one time expired, its head not signing on after all.

But after the fire, brought to earth, in the sight of men (13:13)

man, with lofty goal, rebuilt the 'big' beast.

And gave it an image.

The two beasts (big and little) they will morph into one.

And release 666, before all is done.

~

A Riddle ~ "From the time the daily/perpetual sacrifice" (or current place of continual prayers?) "is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set  up ~ there will be 1,290 days.  Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches, the end of the 1,335 days." (45 days later)  ~~ Daniel 12:11, 12

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Bible Prophecy - Nebuchadnezzar's Dream Statue

The empires the statue represented, most historians agree, the gold, silver and bronze is Babylon, Media-PERSIA, and Greece.. The iron most believe is Rome, with towards the end, the ten toes (parallel in 'last' days to the ten kings of rev) are a blend of iron/western and clay/not western. (Daniel 2:24-44) [The Ottoman Empire, and the nations after it, being part of the clay. I believe all these others in latter days will be subdued by the iron type politics - senates, courts, architecture.. And that the Ottoman Empire was subdued/split into Saudi Arabia and Yemen by the modern iron/western organization of the League of Nations, forming much of the foundation of what is the Middle East today, and will be the Kings of the East (East of Jerusalem). And who will work closely with the 'last' days Roman/Greek world beast. (Rev 20:4b)]

The beast which Daniel later saw (7:7,19,20) is a cross-reference to the one at Rev 13:1 (ten horns). By this we find out that this beast has two of the metals of Nebuchadnezzar's dream statue, the iron and bronze. Rome and Greece (Graeco/Roman roots is how I learned it in school - the Roman/Greek as the foundations of western civilization; besides the Christian.)

Summary- Rev 13:1 - The big beast of Rev 13:1(-10) has "iron teeth" (iron columns) and "bronze claws" which it uses to "scatter/scrabble the residue" - the Greek based secularism of our day has changed and scattered/scrabbled western civilization (with its bronze claws).

This makes me think, there's a Roman/Greek foundation to the 'last' days world beast who will declare a treaty for a week, but the clay and the iron won't really mix.. it won't be real peace.. (won't endure, but wars and rumors of wars will flare up in the midst of, in challenging times until the last battle which takes place in the Middle East against Israel/Jerusalem.)