The Kingdoms of Man

The Kingdom of Man

Revelation 13

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.

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.

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.

13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave

power unto the beast: and they worshipped the

beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast?

who is able to make war with him?

13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth

speaking great things and blasphemies; and power

was given unto him to continue forty and two

months.

13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against

G-d, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle,

and them that dwell in heaven.

13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with

the saints, and to overcome them: and power was

given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and

nations.

13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall

worship him, whose names are not written in the

book of life of the Lamb slain from the

foundation of the world.

13:9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.


In the book of the Revelation, John records his

vision of the fourth beast from the book of

Daniel, chapter seven. The commentary by Henry

Morris says that '...The beast, of course, is a

man...'p. 238 But I have a hard time seeing it

that way. From what we went over yesterday in

the book of Daniel, a beast symbolically

represents a political system. A 'horn' or in

this passage from Revelation, a 'head' represents

a person. I just can't interpret it any other

way.


Take a look at the hebrew text.

http://cf.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H02423&t=kjv

This link shows the word used for 'beast' in

Daniel chapter seven. It is also translated

'animal'. We use the same metaphor to describe

things today. Something that is unmanageble or

unpredictable or totally out of control is often

refered to as a 'beast' or an 'animal', usually

with a negative connotation.


From the greek:

http://cf.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2342&t=kjv

The word is translated the same as the hebrew and

the meaning is identical. There's no doubt about

the metaphor being used here. The 'beast' is

just another in a long line of kingdoms, ruled by

men (horns/heads) who seem to have a singular

lust for power, at any cost. Think Adolph Hitler

and his third reich, in modern times, but he is

only one of a long dark lineage of wannabe world

dictators.


Morris* hones in on this metaphor as a

description of 'The Kingdom of Man'. And that's

exactly what Daniel records from his visions -- a

series of kingdoms (political entities) ruled by

men, until the time of the end, when the Ancient

of Days puts it all behind us. Morris writes,

'The idealists of the western world have also

dreamed of world government. Tennyson, with his

poetic "parliament of man", Woodrow Wilson and

his League of Nations, the modern-day United

Nations organization, all tried and failed... G-d

will never allow it... Not until the very end of

the age, that is.'p.242


For the most part, I have to agree with Morris.

The point where I differ here, is a quibble over

the idea and definition of 'world government'.

There's no question that there have been world

rulers who have dominated almost every population

center in the world, or a significant percentage

of the world's population. I'm willing to

consider that a 'world government'. I'm also of

the opinion that this final system may not arise

in the form of a military conquest, but rather as

a commercial system. One reason for that is

because in these prophesies, what we find are

what appear to be random military activities

directed against any and all opposition. From my

perspective, it's hard to make sense of most war

related activity, and the politics that motivate

them. In the kingdom of man, it's just a fact of

life. In some instances, there is a fairly clear

cut distinction between the forces of good and

evil, but that does not seem to discourage

skirmishes between closely aligned entities

either. There's always plenty of infighting to

keep busy with. There are demigods at every

level. Whether or not these kingdoms of man are

'world governments' or some other creature, as

Morris points out, they always end in failure.

People can't stop fighting one another. As I

understand it, that's Morris' emphasis here, and

I don't see any reason to disagree with it.


In this passage, the beast is personified, and

refered to as 'him'. But in verse one, the

vision shows that the 'beast' has seven heads and

ten horns. So, I'm compelled to lean toward the

idea that the 'beast' both in the book of Daniel

and in the book of the Revelation, is a political

or commercial organization. I think is was

President Eisenhower who first made mention of a

military-industrial complex. In a generic sense,

a beast if there ever was one. As a dominant

world power for so many years, I have to imagine

that the U.S. is represented somewhere in

Daniel's vision of the kingdoms of man. And

that's how I prefer to interpret the meaning of

the beasts mentioned in both of these prophetic

visions. The third reich was personified in

Hitler, and the fourth, and final beast will be

personified by another megalomaniacal dictator.

There is no shortage of viable candidates for

that position as far as I can tell.


Another aspect of this interpretation hinges on

historic context. Right now, popular cultural

mythology proposes a context within the framework

of evolutionary theory. They propose that men

are a random accident, a freak of 'nature', and

the organization and activities of men are all

compelled by some vague reproductive survival

instinct. On the other hand, scripture provides

another very different historic context for the

descent of man. Man is a being, created in the

image of G-d, not a random arrangement of

molecules. Man's organization and activities

stem from the direction of G-d's preordained will

rather than an evolutionary instinct. The

kingdom of man appeared recently, and will

disappear shortly. All according to Divine will.

In Daniel's and John's visions we are given a

glimpse of just how things will go for the

kingdom of man, and by contrast, how things will

go for the kingdom of G-d. The kingdom of man

has always been characterized by strife and

unrest (the metaphor of the 'sea'). The kingdom

of G-d is characterized by peace and rest (the

metaphor of the lion lying down with the lamb).

Nothing in these visions makes much sense when

they are viewed in the wrong historic context. Within

scriptural context is the ongoing conflict

between the Ancient of Days and the kingdoms of

man (ruled by Satan, metaphorically represented

by the serpent or perhaps the dragon).

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* The Revelation Record by Henry M. Morris,

Tyndale House Publishers, 1983.