The Beast Behind War

"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. 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. 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" (Daniel 7:5-7a).

This breaking of everything into pieces indicates warring and division, everyone crushing one another which is the goal of the dragon, the devil. These beasts are governments of the world and the devil is within them. "It had great iron teeth" - tools for devouring, for warring. "Dreadful and terrible" - when the devil gets a hold of governments, they are dreadful and terrible. Every government that exists today got its power and position by overcoming and crushing the previous government or people who existed on that land. They are all beastly.

In studying Daniel, most theologians teach that these were four different powers that each ruled for a time and then fell. These were the Babylonian empire, the Media-Persian empire, the Greek empire under Alexander the Great, and the Roman empire. I have no problem with that as many times in Scripture there is a literal application as well as a spiritual one. In fact, the writing of this book is to show the spiritual application to the mark of the beast, while not discarding the fact we can face a literal mark also. But long before we face the literal mark, many may already be marked spiritually. So deceived, they will be unable to refuse the literal mark.

Now let’s consider these beasts from a spiritual perspective. A leopard, an extremely fast animal, represents speed of conquest. He takes his prey quickly. We’re living in an hour when men can take their prey quickly through high tech weapons and nuclear warfare. The powerful bear has a crushing force. A bear can easily crush the life out of a man. This bear symbolises governmental systems that can easily crush people through military force.

The lion symbolises pride, ruling with pompous power. He looks majestic in his rule, but he’s not, for he also eats his prey. So it is with world governments ruling in pride and pomp, yet within they’re full of evil and devouring. They devour their own. The dragon, of course, represents Satan. He’s behind every one of these beastly powers.