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The Beasts of Revelation and Daniel

To interprete Bible symbols, the Bible itself must be used as a basis for these definitions.  Please refer to the first two definitions of the sea, or waters, and the earth.  Bible used without reference is DRC.
 

Definition of the sea

From the scriptures, the sea refers to wicked mankind. The waters may refer to all nations and peoples. 

Isaiah 57:20,21, But the wicked are like the raging sea, which cannot rest, and the waves thereof cast up dirt and mire. 21There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord God.

Rev 17:15, And he said to me: The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and nations, and tongues.
Definition of the earth

The earth then refers to stable parts of mankind, and their governments. 
Rev 12:16, And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the river, which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

Rev 13:11,12, And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns, like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. 12And he executed all the power of the former beast in his sight; and he caused the earth, and them that dwell therein, to adore the first beast, whose wound to death was healed.
It may seem strange that Revelation chapter seventeen is chosen as the starting point for this page below.  However, the main purpose with the page is to define what the symbolism of the beasts refers to.  Though Daniel is straightforward in his definitions and his inspired message, some people seem to apply a different value to the symbols of Revelation – thus the starting point.

Let the examination begin:
Rev 17:1-3, . . .Come, I will shew thee the condemnation of the great harlot, who sitteth upon many waters, 2With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication; and they who inhabit the earth, have been made drunk with the whine of her whoredom. 3And he took me away in spirit into the desert. And I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
The waters are the people of all the nations, as previously stated.  The woman sits upon a beast that has seven heads and ten horns.

How do the subsequent verses define these horns and heads?
9 And here is the understanding that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, upon which the woman sitteth, and they are seven kings . . . 12 And the ten horns which thou sawest, are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but shall receive power as kings one hour after the beast.
From this auto-definition, there can be little doubt about the interpretation of the iconic symbols.  The heads mean kings as do the horns; mountains mean governments or kings.  From the usage of the symbolism, the reference to a king, head, or a mountain - seems to refer more to a nation, to a government, than to a specific individual unless named as Cyrus was.  This does not mean that these prophecies cannot be connected to a specific historical person.

In verse eleven, this is found.
11And the beast which was, and is not: the same also is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into destruction
Here we see that a beast may represent a union of kings, and as such becomes a 'king' itself, a government.  In this manner, it becomes a superpower that acts with one purpose and may have global consequences.  The number of its horns or heads indicates how many nations and governments its union consists of.  However the number ten and also seven are special numbers.

In Rev 13:1-8, a wild beast comes out of the sea.  The sea usually should indicate more volatile mankind, but in this case because of it having the full complement of seven heads and ten horns, it most likely represents all political entities on earth at this specific time.  Ten and seven are numbers denoting fullness or completeness in both the physical and the spiritual sense.  This is why the interpretation is seen to be all encompassing.

In Rev 13:11, another wild beast emerges from the earth.  In that symbolism, it is clear that this wild beast represents a political power that issues from stable mankind, less volatile mankind.  Its two horns refer to this wild beast being a superpower that represents two nations or governments acting as one.

Daniel

The same beastly symbolism is seen clearly in Daniel's book.  There is a slight difference in the way the beast icon is used between the two books.  Daniel's beasts generally refer to a timeline of a single nation whose image may be a bear or a leopard, etc, so that the horns that grow or change number indicate historical events unfolding for that nation throughout its existence.
Daniel 7:2-4,  I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. 3And four great beasts, different one from another, came up out of the sea. 4The first was like a lioness, and had the wings of an eagle:

Daniel 7:17, These four great beasts are four kingdoms, which shall arise out of the earth.
Perhaps this page is overly brief?  Its only purpose is to define what the beasts, the heads, and the horns are.  The rest several others have already written about in fine historical detail all the way up to our modern time.

At the moment, I do not see the need for a more comprehensive study of this.  Still, I welcome any queries and comments.
 
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