In the last broadcast we left off comparing Daniel’s great beast, which he refers to as a global kingdom, to John’s great beast, which is also a global kingdom. We were observing that John speaks of this as being one beast with seven heads and ten horns. Daniel spoke of it as being the fourth beast—meaning three others had preceded it—with ten horns. In that comparison we said there were discrepancies with which we were not exactly comfortable, namely: the difference between a fourth beast—meaning three others had preceded it—as opposed to one beast, and the addition of the seven heads to complement the ten horns. Whereas it is easy enough to see that there would be seven heads upon which ten horns would sit, if you can’t nail it down with specificity, you ought not to be persuaded by the fact that ten horns may sit on seven heads.
The absolute clue indicating that Daniel sees the same beast as John, and John as Daniel, is in the Revelation where the reference is made to the beast with seven heads and ten horns. John adds, in verse 2 of Revelation 13, “And the beast I saw resembled a lion, a bear and a leopard.” (Inserted – actual verse—“The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.” – Revelation 13:2) And that absolutely nails it down as being the same vision, separated by seven hundred years, that both John in the later time, and Daniel in antiquity, saw. Daniel saw the progression of evil kingdoms culminating in this global kingdom. John saw the progression of evil kingdoms—the bear, the leopard and the lion—culminating in this global kingdom. So when John adds the detail of seven heads we have a marvelous insight.
Now what then is this beast of Daniel and the Revelation? The insights lead us step by step to an inescapable conclusion. So let’s lay out the foundation. He says after, “The beast I saw,” verse 2, “resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.” John goes on to say, “The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.” Now let’s review. What do we absolutely know about this beast? Well from Daniel, the interpretation of the vision that included all four beasts has already identified this fourth beast and all the other three as kingdoms. Not nightmarish appearances of horrifying creatures but specifically identifying them as kingdoms. And this one—this seven head, ten-horned beast—is a global kingdom because its reach encompasses the whole earth.
What else do we know? We know ultimately a ruler will come, typified by one horn—an eleventh horn—that has eyes of a man and a mouth that speaks blasphemously. (Inserted – actual verse—“ ‘While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.’” – Daniel 7:8) So this kingdom has a representative who speaks for it and identifies the nature of this kingdom. This kingdom, we also know, will oppose and oppress the whole earth and at the same time it will wage war against the saints. (Inserted – actual verse—“He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.” – Daniel 7:25)
So from the standpoint of a believer in Jesus Christ, the advent of a global kingdom is not an eagerly anticipated, joyously looked-forward-to event. What can you do about it? What can you do to keep it from happening? Nothing. When God tells us these things He is not asking for our advice, and He is not requiring us to do anything. He is merely informing us. As you see the rise of a global kingdom, understand its implications for the church: it will oppress her and it will wage war against her. Now, John tells us, in additional facts, “The dragon gave the beast…” We know the beast now is the same beast as Daniel spoke of in the book of Daniel, so if it is the same beast, what is it? It is a kingdom. Everything we know about the beast that we’ve just rehearsed from Daniel we now know about this beast in the Revelation.
So this global kingdom, concerning it the following is said: The dragon gave this global kingdom, “his power and his throne and great authority.” Well who is the dragon? Because apparently it seems to be ruling at the behest of the dragon. Well here is the dragon: verse 9, of the preceding chapter of the book of Revelation. I’m taking you lockstep through this so that nothing is missed. Verse 9 says, “The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” (Inserted – Revelation 12:9)
Who then is the great dragon? His synonyms are: “that ancient serpent.” Where do we encounter him? In the garden. “Called the devil, or Satan,” this is Lucifer or HaSatan, the accuser of the brethren. So apparently he has been up to a lot. Since the days of his first encounter with the forces of God led by the great archangel Michael, he was thrown down to the second heavens. But apparently the war continues and he will be thrown down to the earth itself. Now I’ll come back to that. In preparation for his advent to the earth he has been busily preparing a last stand for himself. And for you not to see that is to fundamentally miss what Biblical prophecy is about. Satan is preparing the place and the method of his last stand. That is why he will oppose and oppress the saints and wage war against them on the earth. He is coming to the earth. He is not here now… he comes back and forth, but the seat of his government is not located here on this earth yet.
He is still the prince of the power of the air. He is still utilizing the spiritual forces of evil from his location in the heavenly realms—the second of the heavens… but I’ll come to that. But he is preparing his last stand and this last great beast—this global kingdom—is his last stand. He gives his power—Satan, the dragon, the ancient foe of man, the serpent, the devil—he is preparing his last stand. When the Scriptures say, “He gives his power, his throne and great authority,” to this global kingdom that has seven heads, ten horns and an eleventh horn that speaks his agenda and directs the forces of his consolidated power on the earth—that much you have as an iron-clad prophetic stance. (Inserted – Revelation 13:2) But we have been saying that this cyber reality, this virtual reality is the global configuration. It is not geographic; it is not the movement of armies and the placement of armies. It is making it impossible for you to trade without an identity… buy or sell without receiving the mark of the beast.
This incredible development—greater in comparison than Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and the world that it spawned, the world of communism and the fundamental changes in economic and social policy that the Theory of Evolution spawned and we’ve spoken to this in an earlier broadcast—this new cyber reality, this virtual reality—reality created out of bits and pieces to serve the interests of man in holding onto his individualism and to his identity—will become the deadly entrapment, the deadliest of all… partly because the people love it so. It is the promise of controlling information and retaining some sense of human dominance. This vanity of ours, as the human race, will cause us to fall headlong into an entrapment that we think we, ourselves, created when all along it was created for us with great help.
The whole Internet system itself is not “the evil thing”—it’s the use of it, by those who have control of it that makes it good or bad. And that’s the thing you ought to see. Christians tend to react every time they see something that is in the nature of a red flag, a danger sign… they tend to react. And I can hear some in the viewing audience saying, “Well, I always knew that the Internet was going to be trouble.” It’s not the Internet that’s trouble; it’s who controls it. The thing itself is benign; it is neither good nor bad. It is how the control of it is effectuated and then how that control changes and conditions human life—that’s the evil. But that exists apart from the Internet and computers. Computers are not evil; they are tools. The Internet isn’t evil; it’s a tool, but who uses it, who fills it with content, who controls its process—that decides whether the thing becomes evil or serves useful purposes.
What is this kingdom of Satan that uses the tool that we’ve been talking about? What is this kingdom of Satan? Well you see, it’s not a new creation, it’s been around a very long time. Satan has created a kingdom that the Bible refers to as: the world, and the Scriptures say, “Love not the world nor the things of the world. Whoever loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (Inserted – actual verse—“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”) This is from I John 2:15. Now we are told by the same John who wrote John 3:16, “For God so loved the world…”—we are told not to love the world nor the things of the world—by the same John. And the Greek is no help to us because the word used for “world” in that passage of I John, chapter 2, verse 15 and following is the same word used for “world” in John 3:16. It is the word “kosmos.” Well help me here. God so loved the world,”—the “kosmos”—“that He gave his only begotten son.” And, “Love not the “kosmos”—the world—nor the things of the world because if you love it, the love of the Father is not in you.” God so loved the world—if you love it the love of the Father is not in you… seems like a contradiction doesn’t it?
Well it seems like a contradiction but it isn’t one. Every time you come across this question: does the Bible contradict itself? Your answer is: no… even if you don’t know the answer. It is normal in any language for the same word to be used to depict very different things. Let me give you an example. If I were to say, “I frequently travel in the world.”—and I use the English word, “world.” Would you understand what I meant by that statement? Of course you would. I get on airplanes and I move around. If I were to say, on the other hand, “Young people live in their own world.” Would that be the same usage of the word “world” that I have just used when I said, “I travel about in the world.” No. I do not frequently travel in the world in which young people so often travel. But I’ve used the same word twice.
What allows you to understand what I mean by what I say? I do not have to invent another word, I can use the same word, “world” when I speak of both concepts, differing concepts—not necessarily contradictory concepts but very differing concepts. You understand from my context, because language is a shared experience, which takes on meaning that becomes settled over time. The Greek language was not dissimilar to that. Indeed, all language is like that. So when the Scriptures used the word, “kosmos,” and apparently very different things are meant, it simply means that according to the context you can tell that a different meaning is implied.
If you were to look up this word in any respectable Greek lexicon there would be at least six different meanings associated with the word, “world.” One reference is to geography, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” (Inserted – actual verse—“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;” – Psalm 24:1) Another reference is to humanity, “God so loves the world (people).” (Inserted – actual verse—“ ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’” – John 3:16) Yet another reference is to a creation dubbed, “The god of this world has blinded their minds.” Inserted –actual verse—“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” – II Corinthians 4:4)
“Love not the world.” And that is a creation of Satan, which rivals in its application, God’s ways of being and doing things. The “world,” of which Satan is the creator has never been geography; it’s always been concepts—things that appeal to the human soul, things that appeal to the human mind, invisible things yet very real. Now can you see why virtual reality would be such a powerful expression of Satan’s kingdom? Things that are real but are not tangible. One of the meanings of the word, “world,” is “an orderly arrangement of systems.” Another meaning is, “under the sway or rule of the “kosmokrator”—the god who created these systems. What are these systems that comprise the “kosmos”? Well let me give you an example. In adjudicating disputes between people, we need some system of law and some process of order. Humans have created such a system for the adjudication of disputes; it is called an “adversarial system.” Now this is not “rocket science.” If you engage in an adversarial system, what is this adversarial system likely to produce when it has worked its way through? It will produce “adversaries.” So people typically engaged in a law suit will find that at the end of the law suit, they have been permanently alienated from each other even if they began by being friends, relatives, business partners—even husband and wife.
Now is there a different way of adjudicating disputes that would make it a kingdom way? You see Satan’s counterfeit counterbalances the kingdom. The kingdom has these ways of doing things that are based in a different system of values, and so in the kingdom there is a way of adjudicating disputes just like there is a way of adjudicating disputes in the world. In the world it is called an adversarial system because the thing that is valuable is the thing over which there is a controversy. The system in the kingdom for the adjudication of disputes values the person, not the things over which there is a dispute. So if your brother sins against you in the kingdom, the Bible says, “Go and tell him his fault, just between the two of you. And if he repents you have gained your brother.” (Inserted – actual verse—“ ‘If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.’” – Matthew 18:15) So the thing to be gained in God’s system of adjudication is your brother. Why? Because your brother is valuable.
The thing to be gained in the world’s system is the thing over which you are fighting because your brother has no value to you. You see? When Satan’s point of view rules, temporary, transitory things take on value and humans have no value. Why? Because the enemy seeks to rob, steal, kill and destroy. But in the kingdom, reconciliation, repentance, forgiveness, restitution and restoration… these are the norms. If your value is in the “thing,” discarding the relationship becomes casual. If your value is in the “person,” saving the relationship and being reconciled becomes the thing of paramount importance.
So Satan’s systems reflect Satan’s nature. God’s systems reflect God’s nature. The kosmos—Satan’s system—has been around for a very long time. So when the Scriptures say, “The dragon gave his power, his throne and great authority to the beast,” it means that the systems that Satan had been developing since the fall of man in the Garden—to induce man to rely on himself as opposed to reliance on God—those systems have been rapidly developing and when his global kingdom comes about, Satan will simply hand over the rule of these systems to the ones to whom the rule is meant to be given. So they rule for the furtherance of Satan’s opportunities and his last stand. The kosmos has seven systems to it. At the moment the kosmos has many more systems than seven, but the order of the day is the integration of systems—making them more and more powerful—and the rulers who will arise over these systems will be global figures. For the first time in human history we are seeing a call for global rulers to produce peace, harmony and the well-being of nations, and global rulers who do not rule geography but rule systems that control human life. This great beast that will crush and devour the whole earth will do so through the control of the systems that control humanity and the rulers will be the kings of the earth. We’ll continue our discussion of this most important development. I’m Sam Soleyn. God bless you. Continue to discuss this with me.
Scripture References:
Revelation 13:2
Daniel 7:8
Daniel 7:25
Revelation 12:9
I John 2:15
John 3:16
Psalm 24:1
II Corinthians 4:4
Matthew 18:15
