Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. -Revelation 12:3

In Daniel and Revelation there is a symbolic beast described as having 10 horns, or 7 heads and 10 horns, which may or may not be wearing crowns, no two descriptions being identical. Here are the verses:

Dan 7:7 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.

Rev 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

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.

Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

We are told what the 4 beasts in Daniel's vision are:

Dan 7:17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.

The first beast, the Lion, corresponds to the head of gold in Daniel 2, and is the empire of Babylon.

The second beast, the Bear, corresponds to the chest of silver in Daniel 2, and the Ram in Daniel 8, and is the empire of Medo-Persia.

The third beast, the Leopard, corresponds to the belly of brass in Daniel 2, and the He-Goat in Daniel 8, is the empire of Greece.

The fourth beast, terrible and strong, corresponds to the legs of iron in Daniel 2, the empire of pagan Rome. This fourth beast is described as having 10 horns, which corresponds to the ten toes in Daniel 2, and this symbol is defined for us:

Dan 7:24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:

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.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

Rev 12:8 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.

But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”

Rev 12:17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

Most students of prophecy are agreed that this beast represents the kingdom of Greece after it was divided into four parts following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. This agrees with the prophecy in Daniel 8 which also shows the four fold division of the Greek Empire in the form of 4 Horns on a goat, and specifically identifies Greece (vv. 21-22). In the case of chapter 7's 4-Headed leopard, then, the Heads are kingdoms.

The 4 Kingdoms of Daniel 7 have 7 Heads. They are Babylon, Persia and Greece-which includes 2 former empires, Egypt & Syria (Assyria), & 1 future empire, Turkey (Ottoman Empire)-& Rome.

It is generally accepted, with good reason, that the four beasts in both Daniel 2 and 7 represent the kingdoms of Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome, in that order, reflecting the order of their appearance. That accounts for four of the 7 Heads. The other 3 Heads are found on the Greek beast. Who are these 3 Head-Kingdoms? Here, fulfilled prophecy, or history, comes to our aid. After the death of Alexander the Great, as many as 13 sub-kingdoms and fiefdoms within his vast empire vied for power. But four dominant sub-kingdoms rose head and shoulders above the rest. These are the 4 Heads of Daniel 7's Grecian beast, and are also represented by the 4 Horns of Daniel 8. These kingdoms, using their geographic and political modern place-names, were,

1. Greece
2. Turkey
3. Syria
4. Egypt

Therefore, the 7 Heads of the Revelation beast, being essentially a mirror image of the 7 Heads of the Daniel 7 beasts, are to be identified as follows:

1. Babylon- the "lion"

2. Persia- the "bear"

3. Greece- the "4-Headed leopard"

4. Turkey

5. Syria (Assyria)

6. Egypt

7. Rome

Notice how John describes this Empire-Beast. He says that it has seven heads, ten horns, and ten crowns upon its horns. In order to fully appreciate this symbolism we need to turn back one chapter in the book of Revelation and read a brief passage describing a character called “the dragon”.

Revelation chapter twelve is a visionary description of the nation of Israel which symbolically presents its glorious history, including how it brought forth the Messiah (the child caught up to God’s throne). Within the symbolism that John uses, he introduces the dragon as being a “wonder in heaven…having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads” (Rev. 12:3 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] ). The dragon is obviously none other than Satan himself who has been present at every stage of God’s plan as the primary antagonist and evil influence in the world. However, in this passage Satan is curiously seen to have almost the same beast-like characteristics as the final form of the fourth world empire.

Why would the Lord present Satan with almost the same symbolic attributes as that of an empire?

The reason for this strange description can be found in the first two verses quoted from Revelation chapter thirteen above. The rise of the last world empire is said to have been accomplished because “the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority”. Satan is the true motivating force behind the rise of all the empires of history, especially the final one that will arise in the last days. Therefore, he is symbolically seen to have characteristics very similar to the empires themselves. Jesus even called Satan “the ruler of this world”, meaning that he’s the real leader and evil influence behind all the powers of this present age.

One question, however, does come to mind when considering this symbolism, namely, ‘Why is Satan described in terms which seem to associate him with the last empire more than any of the others before it?’ He is said to have seven heads and ten horns just like the final Empire-Beast, but with a single differing characteristic: Satan is presented as having crowns upon his seven heads while the empire has crowns upon its horns.

A crown is the universal symbol of power and authority. He who wears one immediately is thought of as being a king in charge of some kingdom. And herein lays the secret to the difference found between Daniel’s vision discussed earlier and John’s prophecy in the book of Revelation. The representation of the fourth empire as having ten horns in its final form once again implies that over the kingdom will reign ten kings (or leaders) who will be loosely associated in some kind of confederation. At the moment they arise, these ten individuals will hold leadership authority over the alliance, thus John’s description includes a crown upon each of the horns of the beast. Satan is also described as having ten horns, but unlike in the empire’s symbolic imagery, his crowns appear upon his seven heads.

For an explanation to this subtle, but significant change in the symbolism we need to again refer to Revelation chapter seventeen. In that chapter, John prophesies of a “great harlot” that is said to reign over the kingdoms of the world. She is also said to sit upon a beast that has seven heads and ten horns. Although we will discuss this woman in greater detail later, including who she is and what she represents, for now we need to only focus on several verses in this chapter which are key to understanding the final Empire-Beast. This is what an angel told John concerning these seven heads:

“And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

And they are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.” Rev. 17:9-10

Don’t lose me here, because this is one of the most important concepts to understand if we are to make sense of all of these prophesies. The Lord is now extending the use of the symbolic term “beast” to mean all the major empires which have ever affected his people. This now includes more than just the four beasts which Daniel saw. For one thing, the original four empires only represented those powers which would arise from his time up until the time of the end. However, before Daniel lived there were actually additional powers which had affected the history of Israel. If we add the two primary empires which came before Daniel’s time to the four he prophesied would come from his time forward, we then end up with a total of six historical powers.

The angel who had spoken these words also helps to identify which empires are meant by the symbolism. When the angel revealed these things to John it was approximately the year 95 A.D. He first said concerning these empires that “five have fallen”. In other words, five of the empires of Biblical history had already had their zenith before the time of the Apostle John. He also says that “one is”, meaning that one of the empires was then in existence even as he spoke.

The empires which had already come and gone by John’s day are relatively easy to identify.

According to the Bible, the kingdoms of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece all were major factors (mainly negative) affecting the nation of Israel. The two that Daniel did not mention in his vision (Egypt and Assyria) were not really oversights. They were not included simply because his prophecy was meant to be one describing the future, not the past. In addition, the power that was in existence at the time John lived was the empire of Rome; thus the angel uses the phrase, “and one is”. In this sense, it is clear that six out of the seven “heads” of John’s prophecy can be accounted for with relative ease.

The angel then goes on to tell John that there will be a seventh empire which “is not yet come”, and when it does arrive it will only “continue a short space”. What is this final world power? Remember, the “beast” of Revelation chapter seventeen is actually an image representing the epitome of all the Biblical world powers—not just the final one. Therefore, its peculiar attribute of having seven heads is the revealing detail which gives us information concerning what empires are indicated by the prophecy. With this in mind, there is only one empire remaining which can possibly be construed as having not yet arisen by the Apostle John’s day, and that is the empire of the Antichrist. In other words, in this “beastly” image, the final form of the empire is looked upon as being so different from the original Roman Empire that it is actually separated from it in the imagery and considered on its own. Where Daniel saw the Roman Empire as existing all the way up to the establishment of the kingdom of God, John says that the final form of it will be so unique that it should be considered a separate empire in its own right. Thus, the seven heads of Revelation seventeen are really the seven “mountains” of Satan’s world authority. Daniel saw only four of them in his prophecy of the future, but now the Lord gives us much greater detail in order to make the totality of world history more understandable.

When Satan, then, is seen to be a dragon having seven heads and ten horns with seven crowns upon his heads, it is to indicate who was (and still is) the true ruler of these seven historical kingdoms. Throughout history it has been primarily his evil influence working behind the scenes that has caused these powers to become the devouring “beasts” they are pictured as being. Satan’s symbolic similarity to the final world empire is not just a coincidence. In verse two of Revelation thirteen, John describes the last beast as being “like a leopard, and his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion”. These attributes are figuratively presented as various body parts which originally came from the previous three beasts of Daniel’s vision. The Lord is telling us that the kingdom of the Antichrist will be culmination of all the empires that have ever existed. It will be everything Satan has ever tried to build into each of the empires which came before, only in the end, the Antichrist’s kingdom will have all of these evil attributes rolled into one.

This is why the empire is said to have seven heads. The ruthlessness of all seven empires will manifest itself in one last kingdom which will rule the entire earth. In addition, the empire is further illustrated as having crowns upon it horns to indicate that at the beginning, ten literal kings will be the rulers within the confederation.

Thus, the Empire-Beast of the last days will be the most powerful, evil, and influential system Satan will ever possess. To bring about its rise to power is the one accomplishment he desires most. That’s why the Lord portrays Satan as having the same physical attributes as the empire—his goal and desire has figuratively made him appear to mirror the empire he creates at the end.
Attachments:

I took some red Dragon LSD back in the late 70s, Good stuff!!!