Turn to Rev. 13 and we shall read of a wild beast which the prophet sees rising from the sea. It partook of the characteristics of the three foregoing beasts of Dan. 7, but it has another added, which was that the dragon, Satan, gave him his power, and seat, and great authority. This it did not have before. It had seven heads and ten horns—seven forms of government, and ten divisions in its administrative power.
John saw one of its heads wounded as it seemed unto death, and the deadly wound was healed. There is no doubt but that this head was its imperial form, which has long ceased to exist: some think forever—the wound was unto death. But the apparently deadly wound was healed and all the world wonders. They worship him, and through Satan they say, "Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" Satan had given him his power and seat and great authority.
This is clearly the little horn of Dan. 7, for the same doings are attributed to him. But we have in Revelation this added—that he was the full expression and instrument of Satan when revived. We read that there was given him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given to him to make war for forty-two months (three-and-a-half years). He blasphemes God and His tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven, "the saints of the heavenlies." He makes war with the saints on earth, and overcomes them (as we know from Dan. 7), until the Ancient of days comes.
Turning to Rev. 17, in the explanation of the vision to the prophet, we find the same beast which "was, and is not." It had existed in its one vast empire, the fourth kingdom of Dan. 7; it now had ceased to exist, and "shall ascend out of the bottomless pit." It would again appear, but when it does it would be the full expression of Satan: "the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority." Rev. 13:22And 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. (Revelation 13:2).
But we must proceed with his description under his last form. There are seven kings, seven forms of government of the Latin empire. Five are fallen, having disappeared when the prophet wrote, and one is, it existed then. Another form, not yet come, was to arise and continue for a brief space. Then the beast, or last head of the Latin empire that was and had ceased to exist would be an eighth form, yet of the seven. (Rev. 17:10, 1110And there 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. 11And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. (Revelation 17:10‑11).)
There is now a feature to be explained as to the ten horns, not belonging to his former state of existence. The ten horns are ten kings who had received no kingdom then; they did not belong to his antecedents as one vast empire. But they would appear and receive power at the same time as the beast when he would re-exist in his final form. They would have one mind, and they give their power and strength to the beast. They would have each his separate existence, and yet would own the beast as their chief-the expression of the entire. These make war with the Lamb, and He overcomes them. Their end we find in chapter 19.
The rider upon the white horse with the armies of heaven, comes forth at the last. In daring and blasphemous defiance of His authority, the beast and these kings are gathered to make war against Him that sat upon the horse and His armies. The beast is taken and is "cast alive into a lake burning with fire and brimstone." His armies, too, are judicially slain.
We have one point to mention, to account for the presence of Satan on the earth at this closing scene. He gives his power to the last form of the Latin empire, three-and-a-half years before the execution of the judgment which introduces the kingdom of the Son of man. We turn for this to Rev. 12. There we find the man-child caught up to God and to His throne. This is immediately followed by war in heaven.
The man-child is Christ and the Church, His body. This is apparent if we examine the Scriptures. In the second Psalm, Christ will get the heathen and uttermost parts of the earth for His inheritance, and break them with a rod of iron and so inherit them by judgment. He gives this to the saints in Rev. 2:26, 2726And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. (Revelation 2:26‑27). The man-child, embracing both Christ and the Church, is said to be the one who was to "rule [all nations] with a rod of iron," in Rev. 19:1515And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. (Revelation 19:15). Besides this, John, in Revelation speaks as the prophets of the Old Testament, linking together the time previous to the ascension of Christ with God's dealing with the earth at His return. He passes over the present interval of the calling of the Church which is never counted in prophecy.
Then Satan is cast out to the earth; rejoicing in heaven follows; woe is pronounced upon the inhabitants of the earth, "for the devil is come down unto you, in great wrath, having but a short time." This casting out of Satan from the heavenlies is important. Satan and wicked spirits are spoken of as being in the heavenlies at this present time. He is termed the "prince of the power of the air," and the Church of God is said in Eph. 6 to "wrestle not against flesh and blood," but wicked spirits "in the heavenlies" (JND).
He then turns his malice against the Jewish saints below, who are the objects of the attention of God. He gives his power and authority to the beast for the 1260 days (forty-two months, or "time, times, and the dividing of a time") before the end of the beast's existence, the closing time of the times of the Gentiles.
F.G. Patterson