According to the Scriptures the Biblical Symbol of the Antichrist is a Wild Beast

This is chapter 6 of The Effect of the Jesuit Eschatologies on America Today – by Dr. Ronald Cooke

Dr. Harry Ironside himself said that it is important to take note of the symbolic nature of the Apocalypse (Book of Revelation). He noted that,

This book is a book of symbols. But the careful student of the Word need not exercise his own ingenuity in order to think out the meaning of the symbols. It may be laid down as a principle of first importance that every symbol used in Revelation is EXPLAINED or ALLUDED TO somewhere else in the Bible. ¹ (emphasis added)

This observation of Dr. Ironside’s is an excellent one, although not followed either by himself, or many other commentators, in the case of the symbol used to describe the Antichrist in Revelation 13. One of the plain teachings of Scripture laid down in the book of Daniel is that the word BEAST (CHAYAH in CHALDEAN- THERION in GREEK) is used as a symbol of a kingdom or world empire, not as the symbol of an individual man. In fact, EVERY commentator I have ever read on the book of Daniel has so interpreted the word BEAST. Even those who do not apply the same meaning to the symbol in Revelation 13. Even Dr, Ironside taught that the great BEASTS of Daniel stood for symbols of great WORLD WIDE KINGDOMS. He wrote,

In Daniel’s 7th chapter…the man of God…saw…the four GREAT EMPIRES (which) were represented as four ravenous BEASTS so dreadful that nothing on earth fully answers to the descriptions of the wild creatures here depicted. ² (emphasis added)

Dr. Ironside, like so many others here, while correctly identifying the four BEASTS of Daniel with FOUR WORLD WIDE KINGDOMS, does NOT APPLY the SAME meaning to the symbol when it is used in Revelation 13. If he had done so, he would have been more consistent in following what he called his principle of FIRST IMPORTANCE, that the symbols of the book of Revelation are explained in other places in the Bible.

Dave Hunt, said so dogmatically and so blatantly, about the Reformers, “Scripture does not support their claim.” Surely the Scripture does indeed support their claim far more than those who completely IGNORE what Daniel says about the BEAST-KINGDOMS!

Since the earliest of times men have identified the BEASTS of Daniel as WORLD-WIDE KINGDOMS. Cyril of Jerusalem noted that,

We teach these things not of our own invention, but having learned them out of the divine Scriptures, and especially out of the prophecy of Daniel… even as Gabriel the Archangel interpreted saying thus: the fourth BEAST shall be the fourth KINGDOM upon earth, which shall exceed all KINGDOMS: but that this is the Romans, ecclesiastical writers have delivered. ³

Jerome, Theodoret, and Austin, all see the Beast of Daniel as KINGDOMS and not individuals. The early theological writers in the church ALL interpreted the WILD BEASTS as great WORLD-WIDE EMPIRES.

Martin Luther declared that,

Here then are the two BEASTS; the one is the (ROMAN) EMPIRE, the other with the two horns, the papacy, which has now become a temporal KINGDOM. ⁴

John Calvin, said of the BEASTS of DANIEL,

“It is clear that the four MONARCHIES are here depicted.” ⁵

Later he says concerning Daniel:

He says a FOURTH BEAST APPEARED. He gives it no fixed name, because nothing ever existed like it in the world. The Prophet, by adding no similitude, signifies how horrible this monster was, for he formerly compared the Chaldean Empire to a lion, the Persian to a bear, and the Macedonian to a leopard. ⁶ (emphasis his)

Here Calvin clearly show that he regards the BEASTS as monarchies or empires.

Newton in his dissertation notes that,

The fourth Beast shall be the fourth KINGDOM upon earth, which shall be diverse from all KINGDOMS, and shall devour the whole earth. This fourth KINGDOM can be none other than the Roman Empire. ⁷

Matthew Henry mentions the various views that commentators give concerning the identity of the fourth BEAST but in each case the BEAST is said to REPRESENT a KINGDOM or EMPIRE, not a man. He writes,

The learned are not agreed concerning this anonymous (fourth) BEAST; some make it to be the Roman EMPIRE, which was then in its glory…others make this fourth BEAST to be the KINGDOM of Syria..which was very cruel and oppressive to the people of the Jews… Herein that EMPIRE was diverse from those that went before. ⁸ (emphasis added)

Albert Barnes also describes the BEASTS of Daniel and Revelation as representing great EMPIRES.

In this description, it is observable that John has combined in one ANIMAL or MONSTER, all those which Daniel brought successively on the scene of action as representing different EMPIRES. Thus in Daniel the LION is introduced as the symbol of the Babylonian power; the bear as the symbol of the Medo-Persian; the Leopard as the symbol of the Macedonian; and a nondescript animal-BEAST-fierce, cruel, and mighty, with two horns as the symbol of the Roman. In John there is one ANIMAL representing Roman POWER, as if it was made up of all these (others)… There was an obvious propriety in this, in speaking of the ROMAN POWER, for it was, in fact, made up of EMPIRES represented by the other beasts in Daniel. ⁹

Peter Lange, who wrote in the middle of the 19th century observed that,

The wild beast (of Rev. 13) is a compound of the four Danielic Beasts..Be it observed however, in this connection, that the fourth Beast of Daniel, as the REAL ESCHATOLOGICAL BEAST, embraces, together with the vision of the Roman kingdom, the entire series of World-Powers as coinciding, in perspective with that KINGDOM. ¹⁰ (emphasis added)

Elliott noted that Daniel “Is NOT describing the aspect of a man, but rather that of a ‘spiritual kingdom.'” ¹¹ (emphasis added) This point seems to be overlooked when men come to the BEAST of the Apocalypse.

In his commentary on the Apocalypse, Adam Clarke is a good example of a man who recognized and followed the principle which Ironside proclaimed was one of very great importance. Clarke does NOT say with William R. Newell, (and a thousand others like him) that proper interpretation of Revelation 13 MUST regard these two Beasts as two men, but must regard these two Beasts in the same way the angelic interpreter in Daniel did, as TWO Kingdoms.

Clarke wrote,

Before we can proceed in the interpretation of this chapter (Rev. 13) it will be necessary to ascertain the meaning of the prophetic symbol-BEAST. For the lack of a proper understanding of this term has been one reason why so many discordant hypotheses have been published to the world. ¹² (And they have certainly multiplied a thousand fold since Clarke wrote.)

He then rightly shows that in this investigation it is IMPOSSIBLE to resort to a higher authority than the Scriptures, for the Holy Spirit is His own Interpreter. What then is meant by the term BEAST in Scripture? He proceeds to show that if in one prophetic vision a symbol is explained, that explanation must govern the symbol when it is used in another place in the Bible.¹²

Having laid this foundation, the angel’s interpretation of the last of the four BEASTS of Daniel must be examined. Daniel, was very desirous to “know the truth of the fourth BEAST, which was diverse from all others, exceeding dreadful, and the ten horns that were on his head.” The angel thus interprets the vision. “The fourth BEAST shall be the fourth KINGDOM upon earth which shall be diverse from all KINGDOMS, and shall devour the WHOLE EARTH.” Clarke then shows the significance of the Angel’s interpretation of the BEAST. “In this Scripture it is plainly declared that the fourth BEAST should be the fourth KINGDOM upon earth; consequently the four BEASTS seen by Daniel are four KINGDOMS: hence the term BEAST is the prophetic symbol for a KINGDOM.” ¹⁴ (emphasis his)

Clarke continues his explanation,

As to the nature of the KINGDOM which is represented by the term BEAST, we shall obtain no inconsiderable light in examining the original word CHAYAH. This Old Testament word is translated in the Septuagint by the Greek Word THERION, and both words signify what we term a WILD BEAST. THERION is the word used by John in the Apocalypse, in chapter 13. ¹⁵

So if we take up the Greek word THERION in this sense of a WILD BEAST then the POWER or KINGDOM represented must partake of the nature of a WILD BEAST. Hence an earthly BELLIGERENT POWER is evidently designed. And the comparison is very appropriate; for as several wild beasts carry on perpetual warfare in the animal world, so most governments in the political world.¹⁶

This BEAST is said to rise up out of the sea, in which it corresponds with the four BEASTS of Daniel; the sea is a great multitude of nations… and the meaning is, that every mighty EMPIRE is raised upon the ruins of a great number of nations… It therefore follows that the KINGDOM or EMPIRE represented by the BEAST, is that which sprang up out of the ruins of the western ROMAN EMPIRE. ¹⁷

Clarke clearly shows that the Old Testament word CHAYAH, (probably Chaldean, or what is now termed Aramaic, and which is the root of CHEYVA-WILD ANIMAL) was translated by the Septuagint scholars with the Greek word THERION-WILD BEAST, and which in each case used in Daniel stands for a world wide KINGDOM or EMPIRE, never for an individual man.

Fairbairn corroborates what Clarke has said. He consistently connects the Beasts of Daniel with the Beasts of Revelation 13.

We notice first the representation that is given in the Apocalypse of the WORLDLY POWER. In Daniel this appeared as a succession of BEASTS, each symbolizing a new and somewhat different form of the GREAT MONARCHIES OF THE WORLD. But now it appears simply as a BEAST, a BEAST however, that had the same origin with those of Daniel, like them arising out of the sea, and a composite creature, UNITING together the several forms of the three first in Daniel (the lion, the bear, and the leopard), and possessing also the ten horns, which were seen in the fourth… The BEAST of the Apocalypse, accordingly, is the WORLDLY POWER, not in its several parts or successive forms of manifestation, but in its totality.¹⁸

The Wild Beast of the Apocalypse is a great world-wide empire. It represents all the evil powers of Daniel’s Beasts, and more. For it is an empire which is not only SIMILAR to the other beasts, but it is also unlike them, in that it is held together by an evil spiritual power. Nothing has ever been seen like it among ordinary political dictatorships; it holds sway over the minds and hearts of men by a pretended holiness, by lying miracles, and by the most outlandish dogmas and irrational claims.

Dean Alford wrote,

By the woman SITTING on the wild-beast, is signified that superintending and guiding power which the rider possesses over his beast; than which nothing could be chosen more apt to represent the superiority claimed and exercised by the See of Rome over the secular kingdoms of Christendom, full of the Names of Blasphemy… The names of blasphemy, which were found before on the heads of the beast only, have now spread over its whole surface. As ridden and guided by the harlot, it is tenfold more blasphemous in its titles and assumptions than before.

The heathen world had but its Divi in the Caesars, as in other deified men of note: but Christendom has its “most Christian” and “most faithful” kings, such as Louis XIV, and Philip II; its, “defenders of the faith,” such as Charles II, and James II; its society of unprincipled intriguers called after the sacred name of our Lord, and working Satan’s work “ad majorem Dei gloriam;”* its “holy Office” of the Inquisition, with its dens of darkest cruelty; finally its Patrimony of St. Peter,” and its “holy Roman Empire:” all of them, and many more, new names of blasphemy, with which the woman has invested the beast. Go where you will and look where you will in Papal Christendom, names of blasphemy meet us. The taverns, the shops, the titles of men and of places are full of them. ¹⁹

* For the greater glory of God.

As I was reading my Greek New Testament, “I saw that the Beast-THERION-wild-beast of the Apocalypse, arose out of the sea of nations, and upon his heads the NAME OF BLASPHEMY.” Surely no other system in the known history of mankind has had a greater claim to the NAME OF BLASPHEMY than the Roman Catholic papacy. Here you see a dynasty of men unmatched for veniality, lechery, murder, massacre, and every evil Known to men, claiming to be called the Vicar of Christ and the Supreme Lord of the Universe. Can the depths of such blasphemy be sounded and can any other dynasty of men achieve such depths of blasphemy? Or can any one man match the combined blasphemy of this Wild Beast of the Apocalypse?

This beast stands for a kingdom as Daniel shows, though very few today pay any attention to Daniel. So the name of blasphemy describes the whole. For the blasphemy of Rome extends beyond the papacy to the Mass and to all the other blasphemies which seek to rob Christ of his unique role as the ONLY mediator between God and men, and which blasphemously push Mary and the saints as additional mediators. The rejection of Christ’s unique ability to save the lost, by conjuring up that most wicked blasphemy of Purgatory, surely cannot be surpassed,

Theological truths are the most important and when these are twisted and mangled and replaced by human fables, there is no greater blasphemy that evil man can do. The battle of the ages is THEOLOGICAL; the casualties in this war are THEOLOGICAL casualties. The blasphemies in this conflict are spiritual and theological. Blasphemy is railing against God. Pretending to be God. Seeking to replace Christ. Teaching blasphemous fables in place of Divine truth. The Name of Blasphemy has to do primarily and absolutely with theological truths and concepts.

The Name of Blasphemy has been a long and enduring one connected to all the evils that the Popes of Rome have spoken and done. No other organization can match the length or extent of such blasphemies. The NAME of Blasphemy fits the WILD BEAST-THERION-of the Apocalypse, for THERION refers to a kingdom, a dynasty of men, not a single individual as Daniel the prophet clearly reveals.

The Septuagint says,

TAUTA TA THERIA TA TESSARA TESSARES BASILEIAI ANASTESONTAI EPI TES GES. Daniel 7:17.

These four beasts are four kingdoms that shall rise up on the earth,

William R. Newell shows that he does not take the SCRIPTURAL identification of the word BEAST when he writes that the BEASTS of Revelation 13, MUST BE interpreted as SINGLE MEN. That is; MUST BE, from his particular prophetic predilection, certainly NOT from the SCRIPTURES! Taking the ANGELIC interpretation of the word BEAST as given in the prophetic scriptures in Daniel, the word BEAST MUST BE interpreted as A KINGDOM OR EMPIRE!

Here it is William R. Newell, and thousands of others just like him, who SPIRITUALIZE the interpretation which the Scripture gives of the word BEAST. He changes the meaning of the symbol and makes it into an individual man. The Bible very clearly in four separate places sets forth the meaning of the symbol. But the Jesuits and the modern Protestants who now follow them reject what the Bible declares.

I have not been able to find ONE writer who does not identify the Beasts of Daniel with world-wide kingdoms. Nor can I find ONE writer who identifies the Beasts of Daniel with individual men. Dr. Harry Ironside, with countless others, all identify the Beasts of Daniel with monarchies or kingdoms. They do NOT identify them with individual men. Yet all these writers do NOT then transfer that meaning to the Beasts of Revelation. Why? Why do they not follow the Splendid rule that Dr. Ironside puts forward that the symbols used in Revelation are explained or alluded to somewhere else in the Bible?

Patrick Fairbairn pointed out that the biblical symbols are always to be brought forward from the Old Testament to the New. “It was not the image of the future which threw itself back into the past, but rather the image of the past which threw itself forward into the future.”²⁰ He also wisely noted that “in foreshadowing things that are yet to be, it (the Prophet’s mind) must avail itself of those which have already been.” ²¹

In other words, the KNOWN MEANING of the symbol given in the past, has already established the precedent for future interpretation of that same symbol. The great WORLD-EMPIRES of Daniel were portrayed by WILD BEASTS. The singular form for WILD BEAST in the Septuagint was THERION. Therefore when THERION is used in the New Testament, the meaning already established by angelic interpretation in Daniel, must apply to the Apocalypse. If it is a WORLD-WIDE EMPIRE in Daniel; it must be A WORLD-WIDE Empire in the book of Revelation.

The reason, of course, why the Jesuits did not want to see what is plainly revealed in the Scriptures concerning the nature of the WILD BEAST, was because, as Larkin noted, the papal dominion corresponded so closely with the eschatological kingdom of the Beast of Revelation. The Jesuits went to work to disassociate the Papal dominion from the dominion of the BEAST-the Antichrist. Obviously, there were two ways open to the Jesuits and they used them. They made the Antichrist to be only a man who appeared early in church history, or a man who would not appear in church history until the very end of it. In this way they could then assert to anybody who would listen, (and the majority of Protestants HAVE listened) that the Papal dominion could not be the Beast, since the Beast was only a man who either has already appeared and gone, or a man who has not yet appeared.

The fact that the Jesuits promoted and defended BOTH of their views is surely an important issue. For it did not seem to matter to them, that BOTH views were mutually exclusive. If you believe that Antichrist arose and fell in the first century, then you cannot at the same time assert that he is yet to come. But the Jesuits did just that. On the one hand some Jesuits asserted that the Antichrist had already appeared and gone, and other Jesuits claimed that the Antichrist had not yet appeared. So it seems that they were primarily concerned about trying to refute the position of the Reformers and the Puritans even if it meant CONTRADICTING each other. They also managed to get the Protestants FIGHTING each other. For the Reconstructionists all follow Alcasar the Jesuit while most Futurists follow Ribera the Jesuit, so you have the strange anomaly of Bible-believing Protestants fighting each other over Jesuit teachings. I have read some of the scorching rhetoric of the Reconstructionists blasting the futurist position without them apparently realizing that they are contending for a Jesuit doctrine, not a Reformed Protestant one. However, as, I read more about Reconstructionism and the Jesuits, I see more and more that the Reconstructionists follow the Jesuits very closely in their view of the community, the idea of the cultural war and the promoting of a co-belligerency with Roman Catholics and their church to fight secular humanism.

The Reconstructionist eschatology certainly affects their ecclesiology. Antichrist could not be a co-belligerent with all those Reformed Reconstructionists. So they had to rid Rome of that stigma so that she could become a co- belligerent of the Reformed.

As Sir Robert Anderson noted, * it was the power of the truth that enabled men to stand against Rome. This was the secret of the triumph of the martyrs of Jesus.

* Sir Robert Anderson, Harry Ironside, and Dave Hunt, with many others, blast the Roman Catholic System, while at the same time promoting the Jesuit position on the Man of Sin. A strange anomaly to say the least.

With hearts awed by the fear of God, garrisoned by the peace of God, and exulting in the love of God, shed abroad there by the Divine Spirit, they stood for the truth against priests and princes combined, and daring to be called heretics they were faithful to their Lord in life and in death.

Heaven was as silent then as it is now. No sights were seen, no voice was heard to make their persecutors pause. No signs were witnessed to give proof that God was with them as they lay upon the rack or gave up their life-breath at the stake. But with their spiritual vision focused upon Christ, the unseen realities of heaven filled their hearts, as they passed from a world that was not worthy of them to the home that God has prepared for them that love Him. ²²

The martyrs of Jesus show the evidence of the great conspiracy in history, out to silence the truth of the glorious gospel of redeeming grace. For in the bowels of that great apostate conspiracy are found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth (Rev. 18:24).