Reverse Engineering: “disassemble or analyze in detail in order to discover concepts involved in manufacture.” – The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
First things first, when I say “the Beast” here I mean the Kingdom/government that will soon form and make then break peace with Israel. We know this from the detailed descriptions of it in the book of Revelation chapters 13 and 17. Let’s cut to the chase and state for the record this Beast is NOT a revived Roman Empire as so many have erroneously believed. Joel Richardson’s seminal work “Mideast Beast” is a Scriptural smackdown on the Roman theory and simply points out what has been in the Bible all along. The Beast to come is a thoroughly Middle Eastern kingdom and not only that, but one that has been there before and is on the rise from the abyss as we speak: the Islamic Caliphate.
So the premise is this: if the Beast is a Middle Eastern Kingdom (specifically an Islamic Caliphate), how can we use that information to interpret (or reinterpret) the vision of the book of Daniel chapter 7? Why Daniel 7? Because we are driven headlong into it by the description of the Beast itself. Why in the world are we told the Beast is made up of a Lion, a Bear and a Leopard? Needless to say, it is apparently critical information to understand if we are to recognize what God is going to allow before His Son returns to judge and make war. And maybe, just maybe, we can be shown – and then show others – the Beast BEFORE it fully rises to help prepare the Church and win new souls to the Kingdom for the final battle.
So we have the full picture of the Middle Eastern Islamic Caliphate Beast in Revelation, let’s “reverse engineer” it: disassemble it into its component parts and analyze them to see what happens. Daniel 7 does just that. (Mark Davidson has done this at length in his work “Daniel Revisited”, I recommend further reading there). Here is the short version:
The prophet Daniel is shown a vision during the reign of Babylonian king Belshazzar – the son of famous Nebuchadnezzar. This is an important detail as we will soon discover.
*Note that ALL of the visions in Daniel keep mentioning these 3 Kingdoms: Babylon, Persia and Javan (translated Greece in your Bible, Turkey in reality).
He sees the Great Sea (the Mediterranean, Numbers 34:6 etc) whipped up by the “four winds of heaven” and four great beasts come out from it. This parallels the language of Rev. 13:1 and adds in a detail from Rev. 7:1 – in other words, it’s both a geographic marker (the Middle East) and an “End Time” one (the Tribulation can’t begin until these 4 rise).
The first beast that rises is the Lion. This is the geographic location of Babylon. However we must understand it is NOT a retelling of Daniel 2 and the Babylon of King Nebuchadnezzar (“O king, you are this head of gold”) – for he had already died when this vision is given. What I believe is a huge clue as we reverse-engineer is this fact: the Lion is an END TIME entity only. And since it’s the first of the four to rise, all the other beasts must be end time kingdoms as well. This completely comports with Rev. 13. Now here’s the thing: if the Beast is a middle eastern Islamic Caliphate that is made up of these smaller component parts, doesn’t it stand to reason that all of the parts are part of the Islamic Caliphate? Or even…since they rise in sequence…a SERIES of Islamic Caliphates that culminate in the final united Beast? If you have followed Wings Of The Eagle’s teachings on this Lion, you know we believe it is ISIS – the resurrected Caliphate in the lands of Babylon – that has fulfilled the Lion Kingdom of this prophecy. The 2 wings being plucked could well be their dual capitals of Raqqa and Mosul being taken away. Look at a a map and Iraq and Syria even appear as 2 wings (at least to me). *What the Lion is NOT: America
The second beast that rises is the Bear. This is the geographic location of Persia. Persia quite simply is Iran. It doesn’t take a theologian to see that there is a burgeoning Caliphate in Iran (they could call it an “Imamate”) just waiting for the right time to invade its neighbors. Maybe they are waiting to declare the 12th Imam has returned or that the ISIS or Kurdish situation must be addressed, but they are coming next – and soon! *What the Bear is NOT: Russia
The third beast that rises is the Leopard. This the geographic location of Javan. Your english Bible says “Greece” but that’s just not accurate. Anyone who has paid attention the past few years to the Middle East has seen the emergence of an Islamist nation with an angry dictator at the helm itching to recapture old Caliphate glory. That nation is Turkey, that leader is Erdogan and that Caliphate was the Ottoman Empire. Once the Bear stakes its claim, the Leopard will move in and control the entire region. *What the Leopard is NOT: Germany/other crazy non-scriptural concoctions
So can we now see more clearly why the Beast is made up of body of the Leopard (Turkish Caliphate), with the mouth of the Lion (Iraq/Syria) and feet of the Bear (Iran)? It is quite simply a pan-Islamic Caliphate that unites after a series of wars between them for legitimacy. For all of these reasons, I don’t see how Daniel 7 can be anything BUT an End Time vision; one that the Church needs to understand and teach ASAP…
~ Christopher
**Note on Daniel 8: I did not address it in this post, but the similar features of of the Bear and chapter 8’s Ram as well as the Leopard and chapter 8’s Goat are not coincidental. It’s a close up view of the coming Iran-Turkey war. And the same order of events is presented: Iran, then Turkey, then split of Middle East into 4, then little horn rises out of the north, then 10 kings unite.
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