Beast Powers Change From One Era To Another By Decrees
Introduction
There have been many attempts to understand the beasts of Daniel 7 and 8 and Revelation 12, 13, and 17. Most of the history reflected in the predictions made in those chapters of Daniel and Revelation have been worked out using methods expressed in the rules of interpretation on this site (for details see the Prophetic Rules of Interpretation in the Main Menu at the top of this page). What has not been commonly understood is that changes from one era to another of any beast with multiple heads or horns are always accompanied by a decree which marks the point of change. This current web page attempts to very briefly explore the history of these changes to explain that God goes by decrees to mark the change from the body to the heads or horns of any given beast. With this introduction, let us begin exploring this history.
The Leopard Beast of Daniel 7 and the Goat of Daniel 8
The leopard body (but not the four heads) represented the kingdom of Alexander the Great, who ruled Greece and Macedonia after his father Philip died. Alexander went on to create a large empire in just a few years, expanding eastward all the way into India, where he stopped only because his soldiers refused to go any further.
Alexander went to Babylon where he set up his palace from which to rule his new empire. But after just a short time, he died suddenly and his empire was turned over to his unborn son through a regent who ruled for him and also to Alexander's half brother, who was of diminished mental capacity, so was not able to rule effectively. After about 20 years or so of this, the generals of Alexander's army, who were governors of the various provinces, decided that they had had enough of this and declared independence. Soon there were five such independent kings and the rulers on Alexander's throne were totally irrelevant. But, things soon changed.
As it happens, four of the leaders of the new kingdoms did not like the king of the fifth kingdom, so they got together in 301 B.C. and joined their armies and fought against the fifth king, who was defeated, killed, and his kingdom taken by the four other kings. After the battle was over, the four of them got together and wrote a decree dividing the kingdom formally among them, a situation that lasted for about 20 years, after which the kingdom of Lysimachus (what is now roughly the area of Turkey) was swallowed by the kingdom of Seleucus (headquartered in Babylon). Thereafter, there were only 3 kingdoms left. Eventually the Romans took over the three remaining kingdoms, with the last of them taken in 31-30 B.C.
The significant points are these: (1) there was a decree formally separating the empire among the four legitimate rulers of the newly divided empire, and (2), there were four heads shown on the leopard of Daniel 7 and the goat of Daniel 8, (3) there were not five heads shown on the leopard even though the kingdom was initially divided five ways. Thus, the match between history and prophecy is made complete at the point where the decree between the four kings was created and signed. Because there was no decree before the four kings formally split the kingdom, the leopard is not shown with five heads on it. Had there been a decree among the five kings instead of the four kings, then five heads would have been shown on the leopard. Does this make sense to you?
The goat represented almost exactly the same thing, except that the body of the goat represented the kingdom of Greece formed by Alexander's father, which was simply the combination of Macedonia with Greece as a unified kingdom. The great horn on the goat represented the empire of Alexander and also represented Alexander himself as the first king of that empire. The great horn represented time after the kingdom of Greece formed by Alexander's father. The great horn broke off, symbolizing that Alexander suddenly died, and was replaced by four horns. The four horns represented the four kingdoms that were formed by the four generals of Alexander's after the battle to take the fifth king's kingdom. Again, the four horns arose because of a decree and were the same four kingdoms represented by the four heads of the leopard beast. So, here too there is a match between history and prophecy based on the writing of a decree to legally divide the kingdom four ways.
The Fourth, Dreadful Great Beast of Daniel 7
Daniel, writing in chapter 7 of his book, described the fourth beast that came up out of the sea as having ten horns on its head and being very dreadful looking. The body and head of that beast represented Pagan Rome. The ten horns represented the ten main divisions of the Western Roman Empire which began in 476 A.D. when the Western Roman Empire was dissolved. A little while later, another horn came up among the ten and removed three of the ten, leaving only seven of them. But what about the ten horns? Was there a decree forming them or at least one dissolving the kingdom of Rome? And, was there a decree bringing about the talking horn that came up after the ten horns?
The author has not been able to determine if there were legal decrees forming each of the ten kingdoms, but there was a decree in 476 A.D. that effectively dissolved Pagan Rome. With Rome dissolved, any kingdoms that formed after that were legal because they no longer were under the authority of Rome.
Rome had been under attack by various Barbarian tribes for quite some time when, in 476 A.D., soldiers who were mercenaries for Rome and were members of several different Germanic tribes, rebelled against the ruler of Rome and placed their leader, Odoacer (some spell it Odovacer), on the throne.
Prior to this, the emperor of Rome, Nepos, was driven into exile at the end of one of the Roman rebellions against the emperor in the year 475 A.D. Orestes, the successful rebel, then placed his son on the throne and named him Romulus Augustulus. Orestes was the real ruler because his son was only about 14 or 15 and certainly not qualified to rule an empire of that size. Less than a year after his ascension to the throne, the mercenaries in the Roman army demanded that they be given a third of Italy, a request which Romulus Augustulus refused. So, they rebelled against him, defeated Orestes and his brother and killed both of them. Romulus Augustulus was allowed to live but was sent into exile and given a yearly stipend on which to live. Before Romulus Augustulus left, he was required to write a decree abdicating the throne and assigning it to Odoacer. This decree effectively marked the end of the Roman Empire, for from then on, the ruler in Rome only ruled Italy and none of them were Romans. All rulers from then on were members of the Barbarian tribes.
Odoacer sent a message to Constantinople stating that Rome did not need two emperors and he would be content to be ruler of Italy only. The Eastern Roman Emperor demanded that the rightful emperor be reinstated, but actually did nothing about it and accepted the new order of things as they were. The Eastern Roman Emperor probably was really powerless to do anything about it anyway and that is why he accepted things as they were. So, Rome was no longer the center of an empire. The other parts of the Western Roman Empire simply went out on their own and became independent nations very quickly.
A simple decree from the Emperor's throne is what marked the end of an empire that had stood since 168 B.C. and marked the change from the body of the dreadful beast of Daniel 7 to the ten horns.
To learn more about Odoacer, see: ODOACER at LoveToKnow.
There was a decree that marked the coming of the talking horn, which is the reason it is marked as coming up AFTER the ten horns. The Catholic Church had existed long before the demise of the Roman Empire, so the talking horn should have been noted to have existed before the end of the Roman Empire. Therefore, the logical question is this: why is the talking horn shown as arising AFTER the ten horns? The only logical answer to this is that there was a decree that marked its coming at a specific point in time, which would explain its arrival AFTEN the ten horns arise. And it turns out that is exactly the case.
In the year 533 A.D., the Eastern Roman Emperor had legal workers preparing a new copy of Roman law that was organized better than had even been done before. This particular work was so well done that it became the basis of most of the laws of Western Europe, the British Commonwealth, and the United States today. The Emperor inserted into that law a decree giving the pope in Rome two legal powers that marked the coming of the talking horn. The decree gave the pope two powers, which were:
- The pope was declared to be head bishop over all other bishops in Christian lands
- The pope was given legal power to prosecute heresy in any form
It was the combination of the two powers that gave the pope the power over the people of God. The power over the bishops gave the pope control over what was taught to people and the leaders of the nations, which effectively gave him control over the nations. In addition, the power to prosecute heresy gave the pope power over the nations so that he could demand that they follow his orders in prosecuting heretics. Since they believed that the pope was God, they naturally obeyed. This decree could not be enforced by the Eastern Roman Emperor in 533 A.D. because he didn't rule Rome at that time in any form but in name only. In name only is not effective rulership for the purpose of enforcement of laws. He had to send in an army to drive out the Ostrogoths in order for this decree to become effective, an event which was completed in March of 538 A.D., the date which marks the coming of the talking horn. If you would like to see an English translation of this decree, click here.
So, again, it is a decree which marks a change from the ten horns to the talking horn. Decrees always mark such changes!
The Sea Beast of Revelation 13 and the Scarlet Beast of Revelation 17
Both of these beasts represent the same power, so will be considered together.
Both of these beasts have seven heads and ten horns, so there are two changes in this power from start to finish and three eras of its power. Plus, as shown above, there is a decree that starts this power because it is the same as the talking horn on the dreadful beast of Daniel 7.
The Papacy began to have legally recognized power over the people of God in the year 538 A.D. The prophecy said it would last 1260 years, which turns out to be right, for in the year 1798, the troops of the French Army marched into and took over Rome on Feb. 10, 1798. Five days later, on Feb. 15, 1798, General Berthier, who was then in command of the French troops in Rome, wrote a decree in which he declared that the Papal government was at an end. A republic was created and the Papal government was effectively dismantled. Since General Belisarius was the legal authority in charge at that time, this decree marked the end of the power the church had over the people of God because it separated the nations from the church. Five days later, February 20, 1798, to prevent an insurrection that the French authorities feared might be instigated by the pope (Pius VI), the French authorities took the pope captive and eventually sent him to France, where he died in prison during the month of August, 1799. For more historical details of this, click here.
So, again, a decree marked the change from the body of this beast to the seven heads. The body represented the era of the church and nations combination which had legal power over the people of God for the purpose of persecuting them, and the seven heads represented the time that followed the decree of February 15, 1798. The head wound occurred on February 20, 1798, five days after the beast was alread gone, when the pope was taken captive. This removed a pope from his throne, a move which was reversed when Napoleon allowed the Papacy to elect a new pope in the spring of 1800 and they placed another Pius on the throne. This had to be because the line of Popes Pius was the head that was wounded, so a Pius had to be placed on the throne to heal that wound.
As of the writing of this page (May, 2005), the change from the seven heads to the ten horns has not yet happened, but based on past patterns we can believe that there will be a decree marking the change from the seven heads to the ten horns. Revelation 17:12-13 indicates that the beast and the ten horns receive power together. Later on the ten horns hand their power and authority to the beast. If this were not the case, then the ten horns would not be said to receive power for one hour with the beast but rather it would be said that the power would be given only to the beast or only to the ten horns. As it is, the power the ten horns receive must come at the same time as the beast receives power because it says they receive power ... with the beast (for one hour, or a short time). So, the power the beast receives and the power that the ten horns receive is not handed to them at different times, but at the same time. .
We can conclude that the beast will receive power by some type of decree and the ten horns will also receive power by some type of decree, and it is evident that this will happen simultaneously or very nealy so. Of course, based on the prophecies of Revelation 17, it is now clear that Pope Benedict XVI will change names when the beast power is handed back to him.
Conclusion
This should make it clear that God does mark transitions from one era of a power to another era by decrees. By this we may know that the same will happen soon with the transition from the seven heads to the ten horns of the scarlet beast of Revelation 17.