The Beasts of Daniel and Revelation & Mystery Babylon
by Mikkel S. Kragh
In the Book of Revelation chap. 13 we read about two beasts. The first beast coming out of the sea is dreadful. The second beast coming out of the earth looks innocent like a lamb, but talks like a dragon, and makes everyone on earth who is not faithful to God to take the infamous “Mark of the Beast”, without which no-one will be able to buy or sell.
In this study we will show that the first dreadful Beast coming out of the sea is the Western nations, or more specifically the governments of the Western nations. This is in contrast to the common people of the Western nations, who are not the Beast, but include the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel.
The second Beast which looks like a lamb but talks like a dragon is the future One World Government, which will be destroyed by the Lord Jesus Christ at His 2nd Coming.
In Revelation chap. 17 and 18 we read about the Great Harlot Mystery Babylon the Great, which rides upon a Beast, which throws the Harlot off its back and destroys her. We will show that Mystery Babylon is all false religions past and present.
Finally we will show that there indeed will be a person at the head of the future One World Government who will demand to be worshipped. This is the one whom Christians call the Antichrist.
What are the Beasts?
The Beasts are EMPIRES, not persons. An empire does have a person at its head of state, but when the Bible talks about the beasts in the books of Daniel and Revelation, it primarily refers to the EMPIRES, and only secondarily to their heads of state.
In the book of Daniel chap. 7 we read about 4 beasts. It is generally agreed that they are 4 specific empires: Babylon, Media-Persia, Alexander's Hellenistic Empire and Rome. These 4 empires are also generally agreed to be the same as the 4 metal parts in the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel chap. 2.
In the book of Daniel, the “Beasts” are therefore empires. Revelation is “Daniel of the New Testament”, and Daniel is “Revelation of the Old Testament”. When the 4 beasts in Daniel are beasts, it is therefore logical to assume that the 2 beasts of Revelation are empires as well. It would defy logic if the first 4 beasts are empires but the last 2 beasts are persons. The Bible should interpret the Bible! Since the first 4 beasts are empires, the last 2 beasts are empires as well.
What is the purpose of the Beasts?
Why do the Beasts exist at all? Is it because Satan is almost as powerful as God? Of course not! Is it because Satan has outsmarted God? Of course not!
The purpose of the beast empires is the same as the pagan nations which lived next to Israel in the time of the Judges. When Israel in the time of the Judges sinned and worshipped other gods, God let the neighboring pagan nations trouble Israel and have dominion over Israel:
“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves. Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years.” (Judges 3:7-8)
“And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.” (Judges 13:1)
God's purpose with the beast empires is the same: To chastise His people Israel for their sins so they would return to serving the God of Israel.
Characteristic #1: The Beast empires rule over God's people
One characteristic all the 4 Beast empires of Daniel share is that they all ruled over virtually all of God's people.
At the time when the first of Daniel's 4 beasts empires conquered the Kingdom of Judah, Judah (the Jews) made up all of God's covenant people.
God had originally made the Mosaic Covenant with all the 12 tribes of Israel at Mount Sinai, but the northern Kingdom of Israel – which consisted of the northern 10 tribes – had continued to worship pagan gods. Therefore God “divorced” the northern 10 tribes of Israel (Hosea chap. 1), which meant that they were no longer in a covenant relationship with God. After that, God let the Assyrian Empire invade the northern Kingdom of Israel and let the Assyrians deport the northern 10 tribes of Israel out of the land of Israel in 721 BC. These “Lost 10 tribes of Israel” eventually migrated to Europe, where they became the nucleus of the nations of north-western Europe.
When the Babylonian Empire conquered the Kingdom of Judah, the Jews (Judah) were therefore all of God's covenant people, because the 10 tribes of Israel were no longer in a covenant relationship with God. The Babylonian Empire therefore ruled over all of God's covenant people, which at that time was the Jews.
When the Medo-Persian Empire conquered Babylon, almost all Jews got to live in the Medo-Persian Empire. After Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, almost all Jews got to live in Alexander's Empire and its Hellenistic successor-states. When the Roman Empire conquered the remains of the Hellenistic empires, the majority of Jews got to live in the Roman Empire.
This characteristic is important to remember when we are going to identify the 2 beasts in Revelation chap. 13. They must have rule over virtually all of God's people.
Characteristic #2: The Beast empires succeed each other
Another characteristic of Daniel's 4 Beast empires is that they succeeded each other. The new Beast Empire conquered, destroyed and displaced the former Beast Empire. No two beasts empires co-existed for long.
They are like a relay race, where one runner passes the baton to the next runner, who runs and passes the baton to the third runner, etc. They are like a king, who rules until he dies, and then the crown prince becomes king, who rules until he dies, and then his son becomes king, etc.
This characteristic is also important to remember when we are going to identify the 2 beasts of Revelation chap. 13. They must be the empires which conquered and succeeded the former beast empire.
Characteristic #3: The Beast is a military power second to none
Another characteristic of the 4 beast empires of Babylon, Media-Persia, Alexander's Hellenistic states and Rome was that each of them was the military power of their time which was second to none. What Revelation says about the Beast out of Sea could just as well have been said about these 4 empires during their heyday:
“Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (Rev. 13:4)
When we identify the 2 beasts in Revelation chap. 13, we must therefore look for the premier military power in the world.
Daniel's beast empires: 4 or 5?
Before starting to identify the 2 Beasts of Revelation chap. 13, we must correctly and precisely identify the last of the beast empires in the book of Daniel. The last of Daniel's 4 beast empires is generally agreed to be the Roman Empire. But there is a twist.
The statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel chap. 2 consisted of 4 different metals, which represented the 4 different beast empires: The head of gold is Babylon. The breast and arms of silver is Media-Persia. The belly and thigh of brass is Greece. And the legs of iron is Rome. But the feet and toes are of iron mixed with clay:
“The image's head was of fine gold and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.” (Dan 2:32-33)
Since the legs of iron is Rome, the feet and toes of iron and clay must therefore be the empire which conquered, succeeded and displaced the Roman Empire.
Daniel's 5th Beast Empire: Divided and yet one
“And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as thou sawest the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.” (Dan 2:41-42)
When it is said that Daniel's “5th Beast Empire” is the feet and toes of the statue, it means that this empire is divided into many political entities, like there are 2 feet and 10 toes. And yet it is one and the same Beast Empire, like the toes and feet are part of one and the same statue.
Some may think that when the statue had 10 toes, it means that the Beast is divided into exactly 10 political entities. But this is not the case. We can conclude that by looking at the belly and thighs of brass of the statue, which represented Alexander's Hellenistic Empire and successor-states. There is one belly and two thighs. Alexander's Empire did start as one empire as long as Alexander was alive. But after Alexander's death, his empire was divided into 4 kingdoms led by 4 of his generals. And yet there are only 2 thighs on the statue. Therefore the dividing of the statue into 2 thighs does not mean that Alexander's Empire was divided into 2 kingdoms, but simply that it was “divided”.
Likewise when the 2 feet become 10 toes, it does not mean that the Beast was divided into 10 parts, but simply that the it was “divided into many parts”.
The Beast is the empire, not the common people
Here it is important to stress that when we talk about a Beast Empire, we refer to the political apparatus of that empire, not the inhabitants of the empire. The book of Daniel calls the Babylonian Empire and the Roman Empire beasts, and that obviously refers to the governments of those empires. It does not imply that the Jews, Christians and other common people living in those empires were part of the beast. The same is true of the “Western Beast”. The Beast is the governments of the Western nations, not the common people.
Daniel's 5th Beast: The Western European nations and their daughter nations
Daniel's 5th Beast Empire therefore has the following characteristics:
It rules over virtually all of God's covenant people Israel.
It conquered, succeeded and displaced the Roman Empire.
It is a military power second to none.
It is divided into many political entities.
It is different than the former beasts and is made of metal and clay, and not metal only.
Daniel's 5th Beast is the Western European nations and their daughter nations around the world, including: Italy, the Vatican/Roman-Catholic Church, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Wales and the European Union. As well as their daughter nations around the world, including the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the State of Israel. They fulfill the above mentioned characteristics:
The governments of the Western nations have ruled, and still rule, over almost all the descendants of the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel, which primarily live in north-western Europe and in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The Lost 10 Tribes of Israel are the only part of the 12 tribes of Israel which are in a covenant relationship with God, because the Jews (Judah) as a people still reject Jesus as the Messiah. Daniel's first 4 beasts ruled over the only part of the 12 tribes which was in a covenant relationship with God, and the same is true of the 5th “Western Beast”. Except that it is now the 10 tribes of Israel, not the 2 tribes of Judah.
The Western European nations trace their descent to the nations that were formed during the migration of Germanic tribes into the West Roman Empire in the 4th to 6th centuries. The West Roman Empire ceased to exist in AD 476 when the Roman-Germanic officer Odoacer deposed the last West Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus and made himself King of Italy. Several Germanic tribes took over the rest of the West Roman Empire, such as the Franks and Burgundians (France, Germany and the Netherlands), Visigoths and Suebi (Spain and Portugal), and Angles, Saxons and Jutes (England). These Roman-Germanic kingdoms evolved into the modern nations of Western Europe.
In the centuries following the fall of the West Roman Empire in AD 476, the Catholic nations of Western Europe were one of the big military powers in Europe and Western Asia, alongside the East Roman Empire, the Arab states, the Mongols and the Ottoman Empire. But starting in the 15th century, the nations of Western Europe eclipsed everyone else and has been the strongest military power in the world ever since. (This happened to be shortly after the Fall of the East Roman Empire, the eastern half of the former Beast Empire, in 1453.)
The Western nations are divided into numerous political entities (20+), and yet they usually work as if they were one empire. Religious, cultural and political trends usually affect all the Western nations, and they also usually stop spreading in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Examples are the Great Falling Away from the Christian faith and the spread of Freemasonry, atheism, occultism and the LGBT ideology. These trends affect Protestant Northern Europe, as well as Catholic Southern Europe, as well as North America. But they do not spread in Russia, the Middle East and North Africa. (Not even among Middle Eastern Christians, who view Liberal Christian Westerners as crazy.)
The “Western Beast” is different than the former beasts, because it is not a pagan empire, but rather an empire based partly upon worldly values, paganism, occultism and atheism and partly upon Christianity. This is the fulfilment of the feet and toes of the statue in Nebachadnezzar's dream, which were partly of iron and partly of clay. The iron represents worldly values, paganism, occultism and atheism, and the clay represents the Kingdom of God, because Isaiah says: “O LORD, thou art our father, we are the clay, and thou our potter” (Isa 64:8).
This is a good place to describe what the Kingdom of God is: The Kingdom of God is where God is King!
Christ said: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). And: “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21) And: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matt 18:20) The Kingdom of God is where true Christians are gathered together, because Christ is their King. When true Christians are gathered with unbelievers it is not the Kingdom of God, because they do not all consider Christ their King.
(Since the 1st Coming of Christ, the Kingdom of God has been spiritual. At the 2nd Coming of Christ, the Kingdom of God will become a temporal political kingdom as well.)
The Western nations have often called themselves Christian kingdoms, but that does not mean that they were. Many people in the Western ruling class have called themselves Christians, even though they believed in Occultism, or didn't believe in anything and just called themselves Christians to advance their careers and social standing. Others have believed they were Christians, but have been hypocrites and acted like infidels. Many others have been true Christians, both in faith and action.
The Beast out of the Sea in Rev. 13
We have now established that Daniel's 5th and final beast is the Western nations. Fast forward to the Book of Revelation, where we again read about 2 beasts. The first beast in Revelation is the Beast out of the Sea:
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 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 his power, and his seat, and great authority.” (Rev 13:1-2)
The characteristics of this Beast out of the Sea are strikingly similar to the combined 4 beast in Daniel chap. 7. The 4 beasts of Daniel chap. 7 are generally agreed to be the same empires as the 4 metal parts of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel chap. 2: Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece and Rome.
The 4 beasts of Daniel chap. 7 have a total of 7 heads and 10 horns, and the Beast out of the Sea also has 7 heads and 10 horns.
The Beast out of the Sea has “ten horns”, like the 4th beast in Daniel chap. 7: Rome: “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue of it with the feet of it: and it was divers from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.” (Dan 7:7)
The Beast out of the Sea is also described as “like unto a leopard”. The 3rd beast of Daniel chap. 7 – Alexander's Greece - is also described as as a leopard: ”After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard” (Dan 7:6)
The Beast out of the Sea is again described as having “ the feet of a bear”. The 2nd beast of Daniel chap. 7 – Media-Persia – is also described as a bear: “And I beheld another beast, a second, like to a bear” (Dan 7:5)
Of the Beast out of the Sea it is finally said that his mouth was like “the mouth of a lion”. This is again how the 1st beast of Daniel chap. 7 – Babylon – is described: “The first was like a lion” (Dan 7:4)
The Beast out of the Sea is described with characteristics of all the 4 beasts of Daniel. God is therefore telling the reader that the Beast out of the Sea is the same as Daniel's 4 beasts. Or rather a continuation of Daniel's 4 beasts, because the similarities start with the last beast of Daniel 7 and ends with the first. Since Daniel also has a 5th beast – the feet and toes of iron and clay – the best explanation is that the Beast out of the Sea is identical to Daniel's 5th Beast: The Western nations.
The little blasphemous horn on the Beast: The Papacy
The 4th beast of Daniel chap. 7 had 10 horns, and the 10 horns are described as kingdoms which will come out of the 4th beast. This means that the 10 horns are the same as the feet and toes of iron and clay of Nebuchadnezzar's statue in Daniel chap. 2: the Western nations.
But one of the horns is smaller than the others and speaks blasphemies:
“I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots; and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” (Dan 7:8)
“The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, 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 that shall arise: and another shall arise after them: and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” (Dan 7:23-25)
The little blasphemous horn which dominates the other horns of the Beast is also found in the Beast out of the Sea:
“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev 13:5-8)
This little blasphemous horn which dominates the other horns of the beast is the Papacy. The Roman-Catholic Church has been much smaller in size and numbers than the other horns of the “Western Beast”, and yet it has dominated the Beast by being its dominant religion.
Freemasons and other Occult groups and Mystery Religions have taken over the West
The Roman-Catholic Church has been the dominant religious institution in Western Europe since the Fall of the West Roman Empire. In the 16th century the Protestants succeeded in leaving the Catholic Church to form real Christian churches. But since the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century, a new religious movement has been growing in the West. It has eclipsed both the Roman-Catholic Church and the Protestant churches and is by now the dominant religious force in the West.
This religious force is the Occult groups and Mystery Religions, such as the Freemasons, Rosicrucians and the Illuminati. According to themselves, they trace their origins back to Antiquity, and in particular ancient Egypt. Their ultimate goal is a One World Government, which in their own view will be the rebuilding of the Tower of Babel (Gen 11).
Socialists and super-rich work towards a World Government
At the same time various political and financial groups and networks have worked towards the ultimate goal of a World Government. Many, or maybe most of them, were started and led by people from these Occult societies. On the Left-wing of the political spectrum, Socialists and Communists have fought for a united mankind.
Networks and groups also exist among the political, financial and social elites of the West, whose goal also is a One World Government. These are unknown to many common people, but they have wielded massive influence on course of the Western nations. The most well-known of these is the Council on Foreign Relations, an American organization founded in 1921 which works to influence America's foreign policies and to erode American independence, so the US can eventually be merged into a World Government. Since then the US government has been filled with CFR members, and US foreign policy almost always follows the policies previously set forth in CFR's magazine Foreign Affairs.
The Bilderberg Club was founded in 1954. It consists of some of the most influencial Europeans, Americans and Canadians and meet once a year. William Shannon, the US ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, described the Bilderberg Group thus: “The Bilderbergs are searching for the age of post-nationalism: when we won't have countries, but rather regions of the Earth sorrounded by Universal values. That is to say, a global economy, one World government (selected rather than elected) and a universal religion.” (Daniel Estulin: The True Story of the Bilderberg Club, p. 41)
The Trilateral Commission originally had 300 members from North America, Western Europe and Japan. It works, according to themselves, to bring these three regions closer together. The TLC was founded in 1973 by the super-rich banker David Rockefeller and the Columbia University professor Zbigniew Brzezinski, after Rockefeller was thrilled and inspired by reading Brzezinski's 1969 book Between Two Ages: America's Role in the Technetronic Era. In his book, Brzezinski wrote that humanity is moving into the “Technetronic [sic] Era”, where democracy will be abolished and mankind is going to be ruled by a Technocratic Elite in a World Government.
Zbigniew Brzezinski was both co-founder of the Trilateral Commission, as well as member of the CFR and the Bilderberg Club. At former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's October 1995 State of the World Forum, Brzezinski said: “We cannot leap into world government in one quick step... The precondition for genuine globalization is progressive regionalization.” (James Perloff: Truth is a Lonely Warrior, p. 74)
The World Economic Forum was founded by Klaus Schwab in 1971. They meet every January in Davos, Switzerland. Some of the controversial things the WEF works for is “Smart Cities”, which is another name for total surveillance cities with no privacy. Another of their goals for the future is that “You will own nothing and be happy about it.” The WEF literally say out in public that they want common people to own nothing! This is almost identical to Communism, which could seem strange, because the WEF consists of super-rich. But, of course, the WEF only wants Communism for the common people, not for themselves and the elites.
China, Russia and the BRICS+ Group
A One World Government will, of course, mean a relative decline of the US and its Western allies, because they will no longer be the World's hegemon. China, Russia, India and the Muslim world will, on the other hand, become relatively stronger.
Today in 2023 two blocks are forming in the World. On the one hand the West, consisting of the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and the State of Israel. On the other hand a new block is emerging led by China and Russia, organized in the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Many other large nations are seeking to join the BRICS group, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Argentina, Mexico, Nigeria and Algeria. China, Russia and BRICS are trying to make the World multi-polar, partly by undermining the status of the US dollar as the reserve currency of the World.
So the elites of the West are working towards a World Government, and they are opposed by most of the rest of the World led by China and Russia which are working towards a “multi-polar” World. The difference is not that big. After they clash and the dust settles, it is not hard to imagine that some kind of One World Government is going to emerge as a solution to create peace on Earth.
The Beast which looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon: the future One World Government
That One World Government will be the second beast from Revelation chap. 13, the Beast out of the Earth which looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon.
Contrary to all the former Beast empires, the coming World Government will rule over all the World, not just a part of the World.
The former beasts are compared to predators and monsters, but this last beast is said to look like a lamb. The former beasts used their military might to invade numerous other nations. That is why they are described as ferocious predators and monsters. But this last beast will not invade other nations, for the simple reason that it will be the only government on the planet. There are no other nations it can invade. That is why it is described as looking like a lamb.
We pointed out earlier in this study that all the former Beast empires ruled over virtually all of God's people. The only reason that the first 4 Beast empires did not rule over the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel was because the Lost 10 Tribes at that time had been “divorced” from God, meaning they were cut off from God's covenant, and had migrated to northern Europe. Only the Jews (the House of Judah) were God's people at that time.
But since the institution of the New Christian Covenant, individuals of all nations and races can get into a covenant relationship with God by believing in Christ. Today the vast majority of Christians are of non-Israelite ancestry and outside the West (the present Beast Empire). It would therefore make sense that all Christians, including the non-Israelite ones in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania, also will come to live under a Beast Empire. And that is exactly what is going to happen. The coming One World Government will rule over all Christians across the entire planet, just like the former Beast empires ruled over those who in their time and age were God's people.
What is the Great Harlot Mystery Babylon?
In Revelation chap. 17 and 18 we read about a woman sitting upon a beast:
“So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus:” (Rev 17:3-6)
The great Reformers identified Mystery Babylon as the Roman-Catholic Church. But we must disagree with them.
Mystery Babylon is all false religions in their totality, every single religion which does not confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. That is why the Great Harlot is called “the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth”. All false religions have gone out of her. They are her “daughters”.
After the Flood, mankind's rebellion against God started in Babylon, or Babel, as it was called. Noah's descendants, which were all mankind, still lived in a small area around Babel, and started to build the Tower of Babel, which must have been a temple of a false religion. But God stopped them by confusing their languages, after which mankind was scattered all across the earth:
“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach up to heaven; and let us make a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” (Gen 11:1-9)
God did stop mankind in building the Tower of Babel, but they did succeed in taking their false religion with them to wherever the migrated. That is why all false religions descend from Babel/Babylon, and in their totality are called Mystery Babylon the Great Harlot.
The Beast the Harlot rides on is a conglomerate of all the beasts
We read about the Beast which the Harlot rides on:
“The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” (Rev 17:8-11)
The 7 mountains, or kings, of the Beast are the totality of the successive beast empires. The 5 which were fallen (when John wrote Revelation) are:
Egypt, which was the first empire to rule over God's people Israel.
Assyria, which conquered Egypt 673-663 BC, and had invaded the Kingdom of Israel and deported the northern 10 tribes of Israel app. 721 BC.
Babylon, which conquered Assyria app. 614-612 BC, and deported the House of Judah.
Media-Persia, which conquered Babylon in 539 BC and ruled over the Jews.
Alexander the Great's Greece, which conquered Persia app. 334-331 BC and whose successor kingdoms ruled over most Jews.
The kingdom or empire which existed at John's time is, of course:
Rome, BUT ALSO the Western nations which succeeded Rome. (Seleucid Syria and Ptolemaic Egypt were conquered by Rome in 63 BC and 30 BC, respectively.)
The kingdom or empire which (at the time of John) is yet to come and will continue a short space is:
The One World Government
The empire which existed at John's time would last until shortly before the 2nd Coming of Christ, when it would be replaced by the final 7th beast empire, which will last only a short time. Therefore we live under the same Beast empire as John did app. 1900 years ago, according to the count in this vision.
The Roman Empire itself ceased to exist in AD 476 (West) and 1453 (East). But the Western nations which took over from Rome still exist. The reason that Rome and the Western nations are counted as one is because in Nebuchadnezzar's dream Rome is symbolized by iron and the Western nations as iron and clay. Because both Rome and its Western successor beast-empire are symbolized by iron, they are counted as one.
Finally: “the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” (Rev 17:11) This beast, which is a part of all the other 7, and yet is separate, is Satan the Devil. Satan is the ruler behind the scenes of each of the 7 beast empires which have ruled over God's people, because it is written concerning one of the beasts: ”and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” (Rev 13:2)
The Beast which the Harlot rides on has 7 heads and 10 horns. In Revelation 12:3 Satan is described as a dragon also with 7 heads and 10 horns. Satan and the Beast are one, and yet different. Satan gives power to the beast empires, so in one sense they are Satan's empires. But still, Satan is a separate entity, because he is a fallen angel, not a temporal empire.
When the text states that the beast is not only of the 7, but also is the 8th, it must mean that Satan is the 8th Beast. We know that the Antichrist will be the ruler when Christ returns, so it must mean that the Antichrist is Satan. More specifically it could mean that the Antichrist is Satan's literal fleshly son conceived through a Satanic ritual with an earthly woman. Before the Flood, the fallen angels incarnated and took earthly women for wives and begat children, who had supernatural powers:
“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” (Gen 6:1-4)
When the fallen angels could have children with ordinary women, so can Satan himself.
The Beast throws the Harlot off its back
The beast empires have all been Satan's empires, and naturally Satan has made all kind of false religions prosper in his empires. But when the One World Government is formed, the Antichrist will become its leader.
When Satan finally has his own son - whether this is in the spiritual sense only or the fleshly sense as well – as the head of all humanity, he does not need other false religions. Now he wants all people to worship his own son, the Antichrist. Therefore he will get rid of all other false religions. He will get the world leaders who are supporting the Antichrist to do it:
“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. … And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.” (Rev 17:12, 16)
This will follow the pattern from the Old Testament. When a nation or an empire had punished God's people Israel, God did not step down personally and punish that nation or empire. Rather, He made another nation or empire execute the punishment. For example, Assyria invaded the Kingdom of Israel and deported the 10 tribes of Israel. Later God punished Assyria by getting Babylon to conquer Assyria. Babylon in turn invaded the Kingdom of Judah and deported the 2 tribes of Judah. Later God punished Babylon by getting the Medo-Persian Empire to conquer Babylon, etc.
Likewise God will not personally step down and punish false religions in general. Rather, He will let the Antichrist do that job. After that, Christ will return, and it will be the Son of God against the son of Satan.
The Antichrist: the man of sin, the son of perdition
After the One World Government is formed, the person known as the Antichrist will appear and become the leader of the One World Government. As we have shown, the Beasts in Daniel and Revelation are not individuals, but empires. But an empire has, of course, a person as its head of state. When Daniel was going to explain Nebuchadnezzar's dream about the statue, he said to Nebuchadnezzar that he was the head of gold: “Thou art this head of gold.” (Dan 2:38) It is generally agreed that the head of gold represents the Babylonian Empire, just as the other metal parts represents the following empires. And yet the text states that it is King Nebuchadnezzar who is the head of gold. The explanation is, of course, that when one mentions the head of state, one just as often refers to the entire nation. You even hear that in the mass media today, when they say that “President Biden did this and that”, and “President Putin did this and that”. When they say that, they obviously do not mean that the president did it on his own and no-one else did it, but that the president made the entire nation do it.
The Antichrist will eventually proclaim himself to be God, and will demand to be worshipped as such. He will also have the authority to coerce everyone on the planet to do so, even though not everyone will follow him.
St Paul writes about the Antichrist:
“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.” (2 Thes 2:3-4)
Daniel writes about him:
“And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods” (Dan 11:36)
The Mark of the Beast
How will the Antichrist enforce the people of the World to worship him? He will punish those who will not worship him by making them unable to buy or sell.
Right now in May 2023 most of the governments of the World, including the US and most of Europe, are working on so-called CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies) or already have them working. Communist China has had their CBDC working for several years, and the US will launch theirs, called FedNow, in July 2023. A CBCD simply means that you have dollars, euros, yuan, etc. on you phone instead of paper notes in you wallet. A CBCD is different than when you pay with a credit or debit card, because in the latter there is a third party involved (such as Visa or Mastercard). With a CBCD you get your money directly from your nation's central bank. At the same time the central bank can see every transaction you make. They can also take away some or all of your money, if you have done something they do not like. Such as eating too much red meat, flying too much, or if you will not worship the head of the World Government.
Those who do not take the Mark of the Beast will be in that position. They will not be able to buy or sell:
“And he had power to give life unto the image of beast, and that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 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. 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.” (Rev 13:15-18)
There is much confusion about what the Mark of the Beast will be. Some believe it will be a microchip, a bar code or a tattoo. This is what the Mark of the Beast really means:
To have to mark in your forehead means that you believe in the Beast with your head, consciousness, heart and soul.
To have the mark in your right hand means that you do the will of the Beast with your actions, whether you believe in the Beast or not.
When the Antichrist will demand to be worshipped as God, many will probably believe that he is the real deal, because he will do it with great miracles. But probably many more will not believe in him, but will still worship him, because they are afraid that they and their family will have no food and no place to live if they do not take the mark.
When the Israelites left ancient Egypt in the First Exodus, it is recorded that they had the “sign of God” in their foreheads and in their hand when they commemorated the Passover:
“And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD's law may be in thy mouth” (Ex 13:9)
When the Israelites left ancient Egypt, they did not have a tattoo or something like that with the name of the God of Israel in their forehead or in their hand. It was obviously symbolic!
Another reference to the mark of God in the foreheads is found in Ezekiel:
“And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. … Slay old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark” (Eze 9:4, 6)
The 144,000 Israelites who are sealed, before God brings judgement upon the World, are also sealed in their foreheads:
“And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, not the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” (Rev 7:3-5)
Just like the 144,000 Israelites will not have a visible mark like a tattoo in their foreheads, neither will those who have the Mark of the Beast have a visible mark. The mark, seal or sign of God is a reference to the First Exodus, where those Israelites who were sealed by the blood of the lamb escaped the Angel of Death. The Mark of the Beast is a reference to the Egyptians who followed Pharaoh and had their firstborn killed.
Those who take the Mark of the Beast will burn in Hell with the Devil and be eternally separated from God. It would therefore not make sense or be fair if it is something complicated which is hard to figure out for simple and uneducated Christians. No, it should be something that should be obvious to every Christian that it is a sin. It should be a “no-brainer”! If it simply is paying with a digital currency, it would not make sense. Where in the Bible is that prohibited? But if the Mark of the Beast involves worshipping another god, it would make sense. The First Commandment, after all, is:
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Ex 20:3)
Also, when Israel and Judah were punished by God in the Old Testament, it was not just because they broke the Sabbath or coveted their neighbor's wives or stole from their neighbors. Those sins were bad enough. The serious judgement from God came when they worshipped other gods.
It would therefore make sense that the Mark of the Beast is actually worshipping the Antichrist, whether you believe in him (forehead) or not (hand).
Mikkel S. Kragh
May 2023
Bibliography:
Daniel Estulin: The True Story of the Bilderberg Group (TrineDay LLC, Walterville, OR, USA: 2009)
James Perloff: Truth is a Lonely Warrior (Refuge Book, Burlington, MA, USA: 2013)