Rev 13,1: 

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 

 

Why out of the sea?  In Rev 17.15 it is quoted: "Sea" means "Sea of nations".

 

The beast, which is a combination of various animals, then is a combination of various nations. 

So it has a mouth like a lion, feet like a bear, a body like a leopard - a Monster. 

 

Now we read Dan 7, 1-7:

 

1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.

 

2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.

 

3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.

 

4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.

 

5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.

 

6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.

 

7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten Horns. 

 

So there are 4 animals: A lion, a bear, a leopard, and a 4th animal, not to compare with any known animal.   

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If we compare the "beast from the sea" with these animals, then there is a great conformity between the dream of Daniel and the "beast from the sea" of the Revelation. 

 

We just have to "add": Then we receive this curious beast with the seven heads and ten horns.

 

Each animal comes from the "sea":  So they are all nations. 

 

But the difference is: Daniel speaks of single animals, the Revelation speaks of the sum of these animals, of a manifold, of a wholeness.

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Daniel's dream of those 4 animals in chapter 7 and the "animal from the sea" are to compare now as icons: 

         a) iconographical: that means, we are looking for the meaning of the elements. 

         b) iconological: that means, we are looking for the relationship of the elements.  

 

Now we want to know, which are those nations and what do heads and horns mean.

 

4 animals are 4 nations:   

          1. The lion represents the Chaldean people, Babylon.

          2. The bear represents the Persians.

          3. The leopard represents Greek.

          4. The "monster" represents the Roman Empire. 

 

Since the Babylonian Confusion there are nations, as we know them. Before there was a mankind, which were under the guidance of Satan. They built the Tower of Babel, reaching "up to the sky". 

 

"Nothing would be impossible" to mankind, (1. Moses 11,6).   Therefore God established the nations to prevent mankind from disaster. He separated the central power of Satan on various angels, who now were alert, to protect the borders of their territory.

 

Each nation has a demonic angel ( inclusive its entourage ), who will be honored by his people.  

 

           --> Those deities are the heads of the animals.  

           --> As we see later horns are the human ruler of a people.  

 

However: At the 3rd animal, the leopard, this definition is not valid. The leopard has 4 heads!  

How is this to understand?  Let's turn to the iconological aspect of the image viewing. Now we are interested in the relationship of the elements.  

 

The 4 heads of the leopard, the 4 divinities, form a fourfold. A fourfold is a specific type of addition. Let's look at an example: A colored printing is the result of a red picture, a blue picture, a yellow picture and a black picture.  

Those four pictures -combined - are the colored picture.  

 

While the dominions of the Chaldean, the Persian and the Romans are under the leadership of a single angel, the Greek nation is guided by a spiritual fourfold.  

 

The Greek had a description for this. They said: "The whole is more than the sum of its parts."  

 

For a colored picture there is the red picture, the blue picture, the yellow picture and the black picture. To look at one layer of paint gives us a certain impression of the picture - however this is not comparable with looking at the colored picture.  The "whole" is more.  

 

So: The 4 heads of the leopard form a fourfold. The Greek are guided by this spiritual capacity - while the other nations are guided by one angel only.  

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Daniel tells us about the meaning of the horns. Daniel, chap. 8: The vision of the ram and the

he goat.  

 

4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.

 

5 And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.  

 

6 And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.  

 

7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.  

 

8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.  

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Now we read the interpretation of the vision:  

 

15 And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.  

 

16 And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.  

 

17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision. 

 

18 Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright.  

 

19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.  

 

20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. 

 

21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.  

 

22 Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.  

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The ram and the he goat represent the nations of Media and Persia - and Greek, respectively. The big horn of the he goat represents the first "king".  Then in verse 22 we read about 4 kings gaining the leadership after the end of the ancient Greek.  

 

Now we remember Alexander the Great. He conquered Persia and the countries up to India and in the south Egypt. When he died the empire divided into the 4 Diadochi dominions: Greek, Thrace, Syria and Egypt.  

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The horns are the human rulers. The great horn of the he goat was Alexander the Great. The 4 others are: Angtigonos, Lysimachos, Seleukos and Ptolemaios.  

 

But only Syria and Egypt have a relationship with Israel. These are the "King of the South" and the "King of the North" in Dan 11.  

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Now we are ready to turn to the 7 heads of the "Beast of the Sea". When John wrote the Revelation the 6th head was on duty:  The angel of Rome, Jupiter.  

 

The reconstruction of the world dominions then leads to this result:

 

              1. head: the Chaldean.  

              2. head: the Media and Persian.  

              3. head: the Greek until Alexander. ( The fourfold.)  

              4. head: Egypt. ( The King of the South. Dan 11.)  

              5. head: Syria. ( The King of the North. Dan 11.)  

              6. head: Rome.  

 

The 7th head then is "our" head.  After the Romans comes the leadership of the 7th head.  This is the year 1453, when Constantinople has been conquered by the Moslems.

 

From the 7th head it is said, that it gets a deadly wound, but then - at the time of the Apocalypse - it will return as a 8th head, so to say. 

 

But now the 7th head has the leadership.

 

In the text above we could read, that Gabriel should explain Daniel its meaning.  And this meaning points at a certain time of the end of history.

 

The certain time of the end is declared in Dan 9, 24-27. It points at the year 44 after Chr. 

 

So when we read about the picture of the beast in the Revelation then this picture points at "our time".  

 

In "our picture" the 4 animals, these special nations, are "added" to a wholeness.  Also the angels are "added" to a wholeness.  This is the 7th head.  But the angels don't form a sevenfold,

but a 4in4 manifold.  

 

This means for our time an inspiration like the ancient Greek in addition the ability to transform the ideas in our practical world.