The dragon with seven heads and ten horns is the same beast as the fourth beast mentioned in Daniel's vision in Daniel 7:7-8.
“After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth
beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large
iron teeth. It devoured, crushed, and trampled down the remainder with
its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before
it, and it had ten horns. While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were
pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed
eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.”
Daniel does not mention the seven heads but focuses rather on the ten horns which were ten kings.
a. Seven heads
“Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven
mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have
fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must
remain a little while,” 17:9-10.
Thus, the seven heads are the seven hills of Rome which had become the symbol of the imperial city. The woman is Jerusalem.
b. The ten horns
“The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a
kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one
hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority
to the beast,” 17:12-13.
These ten horns are Roman kings who derive their authority from the beast.
The time of their power is limited as they receive authority “for one hour.” In other words, for a short period of time.
These kings serve Rome for they “give their power and authority to the beast,”
2.
“And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them
to the earth.”
Their power has been taken away. This suggests the power of the Roman empire over the nations.
3.
“And the dragon stood before the woman (Israel) who was about to give
birth, so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child.”
Satan attempted to kill Jesus at his birth. This was a prophesied event. “Thus, says the Lord, "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.” Jeremiah 32:15.
Matthew records in Matthew 2:16-18 that Jeremiah's words were fulfilled in the attempt to kill Jesus after his birth.
“Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became
very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in
Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under,
according to the time which he had determined from the magi. Then what
had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: A voice
was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her
children and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more.”
In Daniel 7:24 we are also told that these ten horns are ten kings of the sea beast.
“As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and
another will arise after them, and he will be different from the
previous ones and will subdue three kings.”
In chapter 13, we see this scene.
1.
“Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and
seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were
blasphemous names.”
a. The then horns are still the ten kings of Rome; this is why they are wearing crowns.
b. The seven heads are still the seven hills of Rome which had become the symbol of the imperial city;
“Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven
mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have
fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must
remain a little while,” 17:9-10.
- The appearance of the beast is presented as that of a composite predator.
“Like a leopard, his feet were like those of a bear, his mouth like
the mouth of a lion;” This beast is a devourer of nations. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great
authority.”
Satan is the power behind the throne and his prey would be the Christian and Jewish communities.
- The wounding of the beast,
“I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound
(no hope for survival) was healed.”
a. Which head was wounded?
The wound is seen on only one of the heads of the beast, not one of the horns. Since, according to chapter seventeen the seven heads were the first seven emperors, this wound was received during the reign of one of these seven rulers. Since five of them had already come and gone, and one had not yet come, this only leaves the one who was reigning at the time – the sixth who was Galba. This means that the Empire of Rome suffered a fatal wound during the time of its sixth emperor, and had God not healed the wound, Rome would have destroyed itself. From the time of Galba to Vespasian the empire was in a state of political chaos with three consecutive emperors within the space of eighteen months. During this time, Rome was also plagued with civil war and bankruptcy. It was not until Vespasian came to power in AD 69 that Rome began to recover from the brink of collapse. From this sprang a resurgence of emperor worship that was enforced under penalty of death.
b. What was the 'fatal' wound?
As verse fourteen tells us, the wound was the result of warfare “the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.” The fact that he came to life simply means that the Empire regained its stability and position of world dominance and power under Vespasian.
The wound was “healed.”
This has to be the result of divine intervention. The head did not simply recover from the wound over time. Action was taken in response to the wound. The fact that it was healed speaks of divide intervention on the part of God. Without an act of God, the wound would have been fatal. Rome still had a role to play in its global spread of the gospel. The Roman persecution was largely responsible for the spread of Christianity.
The seeming indestructible nature of Rome drew a response from the nations.
“And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they
worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and
they worshiped the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast, and who is
able to wage war with him?'”
They praise the strength and power of the beast rather than God who healed the beast.
- The blasphemy of the beast
a.
“There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and
blasphemies.”
Should it be ‘him’ or ‘it’?
This is dative case and both masculine and neuter gender. Since the antecedent is the beast representing not a person but a nation, it would seem to be more appropriately rendered in the neuter rather than the masculine. In fact, it is so rendered in a number of English translations. Thus, “There was given to it....” Since however, the “head” is referring to a specific ruling person, for “the seven heads are kings,” it would certainly seem appropriate to use “he.”
The source of this arrogance and blasphemy is the dragon. He is the one who empowered the beast in verse two. Satan is the one who influences the minds of the emperors.
The arrogant words and blasphemies
In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 Paul writes,
“...that son of perdition an adversary who exalts himself above every
so-called god proposed for worship, he who seats himself in God's
temple and even declares himself to be God.”
This is blaspheming the name of God. It would seem that this is directed at this particular persecutor.
b.
“And authority to act for forty-two months was given to him (it).”
The authority is to execute destruction against Jerusalem.
c.
“And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His
name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.”
How does he blaspheme the name of God? He assigns the title of God to himself.
The church is here intended as the co-recipient of this king's blasphemies. He blasphemes God “and his tabernacle, those who dwell in heaven.” The tabernacle or house of God is “those who....” The Church is the tabernacle of God whose dwelling place and place of origin is heaven. We will see this more clearly when we get to chapter twenty-one. “Those who dwell in heaven” stands in contrast to the beast that rises out of the sea – Rome, and the best in verse eleven that came “out of the earth” (the place of the nations) is Jerusalem. Those who dwell in heaven represent the saints.
The blasphemies are associated with persecution. The persecution of the saints is an affront to God himself.
5.
“It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome
them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation
was given to him.”
Nero persecuted Christians irrespective of nationality. Jerusalem is no longer Nero's only object of assault. Late in AD 64, Nero began his persecution of Christians. This persecution was not limited to Jewish Christians but encompassed Christians of every ethnic group – those of “every tribe and people and tongue and nation.”
6.
“All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has
not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life
of the Lamb who has been slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If
anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone
kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the
perseverance and the faith of the saints.”
a. This is directed toward those who were the subjects of the three woes – those in Jerusalem, because it speaks of those destined for captivity and those killed by the sword. When Titus sieged the city in AD 66 it was on the Sabbath day during the Passover. This means the city would have been crowded with people. Josephus estimated the population of Jerusalem to be about 2,500,000 at the time the siege. When the city eventually fell, the accounts of the dead were estimated to be between 600,000 to over 1,000,000, thousands of which were crucified. Josephus placed the number 1,100,000 but the conqueror Titus believed it to be around 600,000. 95,000 captives were taken as prisoners and sold into slavery or killed in gladiatorial games. The rest died of starvation and disease.
b. These are those whose names are not written in the book of life. These are said to worship the beast – Rome.
Jerusalem despised Roman rule and fought against Roman domination yet, they are said to worship the beast. This seems paradoxical, but the fact is, that prior to the Roman Jewish war, Jerusalem was in league with Rome. Palestine was one of the tributary provinces and was ruled by king Herod Agrippa who who's allegiance was to Rome. If you do not worship the Lamb, you worship the beast. There are no other options.
