Revelation: Four Beasts

Revelation: Justification by Faith

Four Beasts

Revelation 4:6
And before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and in back.

Daniel 7:2
Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea,
3. and four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other.
17. ‘Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth.’”

Daniel 2:31
"You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome.
32. This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,
33. its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
34. You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces."

Last time, we saw that there were four living creatures around the throne of God, which displayed His power and might.
Satan, however, has his own four beasts here on earth.
These are four kings or kingdoms that follow one another and have always been a persecuting force against God's people.
In Daniel 2, these kingdoms are portrayed as a statue, and in Daniel 7 we find a repetition of this in the image of beasts.
Here we will briefly go over these four beasts as preparation for later chapters and to put them in proper perspective—as Satan’s copy of heaven on earth.
The first beast is described as follows and corresponds with the golden head from Daniel 2:

Daniel 7:4
"The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it."

Daniel 2 itself, where Daniel speaks to the king of Babylon, tells us which this first king or kingdom is:

Daniel 2:37
"You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory;
38. and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold."

But after him another kingdom would arise:

Daniel 2:39
"But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth."

Daniel 7:5
"And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: 'Arise, devour much flesh!'"

The fact that this is about a kingdom that came after him shows us that it is not merely about kings, but about entire kingdoms. The king is only the representative of the kingdom, as Nebuchadnezzar was for Babylon.
Babylon was overtaken by the Persians. For to Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, it was said:

Daniel 5:28
“PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”

The Persians became stronger and more influential than the Medes, which explains the bear raising itself up on one side.
Then we see the next kingdom, of bronze:

Daniel 7:6
"After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it."

In Daniel 8, the same kingdom is described using other images:

Daniel 8:5
"And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.
6. Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power.
7. And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand.
8. Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven.
21. And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king.
22. As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power."

The Medes and Persians were therefore conquered by the Greeks, who under Alexander the Great were united, but would later be divided into four main regions or horns.
After the Greeks, we historically get the Romans:

Daniel 7:7
"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns."

This is the last beast before the kingdom of God.
The Roman Empire, therefore, had to be divided into ten, and eventually a small horn is described that remains until the end. We will save this small horn for later.
But if we limit ourselves to the four beasts, we already come to the conclusion that all these kingdoms have fallen.
And eventually the final phase of the Roman Empire in its division and the little horn will also fall and be destroyed.
Satan must yield to that Almighty Stone—the kingdom of God.
His own kingdom cannot stand, and we already see this in the vanity of all the previous kingdoms.
Babylon was extremely powerful for its time. The Medes and Persians as well.
Alexander the Great—whose name is so famous and who conquered with astonishing speed like a leopard—he is dead, and his great empire shattered.
The Roman Empire, which for so long withstood both internal and external conflicts like iron and acted with crushing force, is also broken.
Many of the kings and emperors of these empires were deified, but they now lie dead in the grave and forgotten.
But the kings and priests who have been saved by Jesus will never be forgotten. They will rise again, and their death will have only been a seal of their victory.
Satan's power cannot endure, but that of Christ will be eternal and not of this world.