Seven-Headed Monsters

THREE seven-headed monsters are described in the book of Revelation.

Many Christians have found these symbolic beasts incomprehensible. But God intended the book of Revelation to be understood.

Fortunately, the Bible is its own expositor. Let us examine the first seven-headed monster—the dragon beast. God does not leave us in the least doubt about who is represented by this beast.

Satan uses human instrumentalities to pursue his nefarious schemes. The following prophecy refers to God’s church as a pure woman and Christ as her child.

At the time of Christ’s birth, King Herod, a vassal of the Roman Empire, was ruler in Judea. In order to destroy the baby Jesus, whom Herod feared as a potential rival, he had all males under two years old slaughtered.

Christ’s life was saved only because God intervened by warning Joseph to flee with Him to Egypt. But Satan had done his utmost, using the human arm of the Roman Empire, to destroy Christ before His ministry commenced; thus the seven-headed monster of Revelation 12 illustrates the fact that all counterfeit religions, which inevitably oppose God’s truth, are motivated by Satan. In this sense, the dragon of Revelation 12 is a key to our understanding of all the beasts of prophecy.

Many have wondered why God uses beasts to symbolize nations; yet such persons do not question the use of like symbolism in the secular world today. A few years ago, when there was a major border dispute between China and the U.S.S.R., Asiaweek magazine printed a cover illustration depicting a fierce bear and an enraged panda fighting. Only a most ill-informed reader would have needed to be enlightened concerning which nations were represented here; likewise, countries represent their sporting teams in symbols of animals and birds. In Rugby League, the Australian team is called the Kangaroos and the New Zealand team, the Kiwis. In Rugby Union, the British team is referred to as the Lions; the South African team, the Springboks; and the Australian team, the Wallabies. Americans frequently use the eagle as the symbol of their nation. France uses the cockerel, and Thailand the elephant; thus God, in His wisdom, uses a form of symbolism well understood by mankind.

The second seven-headed monster has a more specific meaning, although still motivated by the demonic power of Satan. Notice that this beast was a combination of the features of a leopard, a bear, and a lion. These characteristics undoubtedly refer to the symbolic animals of the great prophecy of Daniel 7. In that prophetic outline, the lion symbolized Babylon; the bear Medo-Persia; and the leopard Greece. This second seven-headed monster evidently possesses the evil characteristics of the enemies of God’s truth and His people.

The second monster is identified by the description of its activities and the duration of its reign.

The period of papal dominance during the 1260 years is here reiterated. Each Jewish month consisted of 30 days; thus 42 months equals 1260 days. As previously shown, a prophetic day is symbolic of a literal year. Papal Rome dominated Europe and, later, much of the world for precisely 1260 years. Since the year a.d. 538 (when the Ostrogoths were driven out), the Roman emperor permitted the pope to implement Emperor Justinian’s edict of a.d. 533. This move made him the head of all the churches. Papal authority was maintained in Europe until the pope was made prisoner by Napoleon in 1798.

Let us note the other identifying characteristics cited, including the persecution of God’s people and blasphemy against God and His tabernacle. Daniel prophetically attributes these precise characteristics to the little-horn power which also represents the Papacy.

Note that the blasphemy against god and the persecution of His saints function together during a specific period of time—"time and times and the dividing of time." These time periods literally refer to one year, two years, and half a year—a total of three and a half years. The Jewish year consists of 12 months each of 30 days; thus a Jewish year was 360 days in length. Simple multiplication of 360 by three and a half provides the figure of 1260 prophetic days or literal years, precisely identical to the time specified in Revelation 13.

All three monsters possess ten horns. The book of Daniel once more assists us in unfolding the mystery of these symbols, for the fourth beast of Daniel 7 also possessed ten horns. Daniel represented the Roman Empire by the symbolic fourth beast.

Revelation 13:1 records that each of the ten horns possesses a crown. The Roman Empire fractured into the ten kingdoms of Western Europe—the Huns, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Suevi, Burgundians, Heruli, Lombards, and Anglo-Saxons. Today, these tribes largely constitute the European nations. The presence of the ten horns indicates both the location of the Papacy in Europe and the powerful support given it by the nations of that continent during the era of its supremacy.

The thirteenth chapter of Revelation, as we have seen, also depicts a lamblike beast with two horns which gave power to this second monster after it had received the deadly wound. (Revelation 13:11–17). We shall see more of this beast later.

The third seven-headed monster (of Revelation, chapter 17) is greatly significant to this present era. This beast also has ten horns, but they are uncrowned. And a whore sat upon the beast.

This woman can justifiably be seen riding upon each of the beasts which represent the great forces in opposition to God’s pure truth. This red-colored seven-headed monster is merely another aspect of the same satanic power. Its identification will be discovered in the following chapter.