The Fourth Reich
Revelation 13 John stand on the shore and sees a hellish, nightmarish vision of a dragon and two beasts. The first beast comes out of the sea and receives power from the dragon, or Satan. This beast is a true monstrosity: "It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion" (Revelation 13:1-2). Daniel's vision of the beast is similar in many ways to John's (Daniel 7:7-8, 19-27). The seven heads and ten horns indicate that the beast will be a coalition of nations that rises to power to subdue the earth under Satan's control. Later references to "the beast" in Revelation picture an individual-the man who is the political leader and head of the beastly empire.
The beast will receive a deadly wound and be healed of it (Revelation 13:3). He will exert authority over the whole world and demand worship (verses 7-8). He will wage war against God's people, and he will prevail against them for a time (Revelation 13:7; Daniel 7:21). However, the beast's time is short: according to Revelation 13:5 and Daniel 7:25, he will only be permitted absolute authority for forty-two months (three-and-a-half years).
We believe that the beast in Revelation is the Antichrist, the one who will "oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God" (2 Thessalonians 2:4). He is also called "the man of lawlessness" and "the man doomed to destruction" (2 Thessalonians 2:3). In Daniel's vision, the Antichrist is the "little horn" that rises from the head of the terrifying beast (Daniel 7:8).
It is interesting to compare the differing biblical visions of the kingdoms of the world. In Daniel 2, King Nebuchadnezzar dreams of the kingdoms of the world as "a large statue-an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance" (Daniel 2:31).
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