Speaker: Vasko Belovski
00:00
Hello friends, and welcome to this prophetic update on the books of Daniel and Revelation. What we’re going to do in this presentation is just cover who the main players or the main powers or kingdoms are going to be in these last days based on what the Bible has presented specifically in Daniel chapter two, Daniel chapter seven, and eight, and also in Revelation 12:13, and 17.
00:22
Now, the purpose of this presentation is not to going into too much detail, but hopefully to just serve as a reminder as to what the Bible has given us. And what history as well has confirmed, because there are so many things that are happening around the world right now. But before we even go into what the Bible has prophesied that is going to take place upon this earth, in the last days of this Earth’s history, and most importantly, the image of the beast and the mark of the beast crisis, we need to make sure that we’re building upon a sure foundation. In other words, we’re not contradicting that which the Bible has revealed to us. And there are so many different movements being formed as we speak today, both in the world, and also in the Christian world at large as well. There are so many different interpretations of prophecy, and so many different ideas with respect to what we are expecting these last days. But hopefully, this presentation will, just as I mentioned, serve as a reminder of things that we should have known by now and should have properly understood by now, in order that we can continue moving forward and build upon all of this information. So many people are looking for answers. So many people want to know and understand Bible prophecy. The Lord has truly given us an opportunity in these times to reach the world through various different biblical teachings. And one of these areas that he’s opening the door is in the prophecy. So the things that we’re going to cover right now are just to help you and I to make sure that we are ready to give, whether it be a Bible lesson, or to help people understand as to why we’re seeing all of these things transpiring in this world today.
02:11
So with these thoughts in mind, let us go back to the Bible. Now. Let us begin with Daniel chapter two, examine the dream that is given the King Nebuchadnezzar, or what this dream signifies. And then compare that to Daniel chapter seven. And from there, move on into the book of Revelation and see how the book of Revelation adds on to what we have seen, being presented in the book of Daniel. It’s very important for us to remember the fact that in order for us to understand prophecy, we have to put the whole picture together. And this is why we’re starting with the book of Daniel, before we even get into the book of Revelation, before we even study and try to understand the different prophecies that are in the book of Revelation. Before we try to understand the mark of the beast, and the image of the beast, and so on and so forth. We need to make sure that we take everything the Bible has presented in the book of Daniel already, and build upon that. So this is the reason why we’re now going to go in Daniel chapter two, and quickly go over a few verses that give us the representation of the different kingdoms, or different powers that the Bible has said we’re going to rule from the time of Daniel, all the way until the second coming of Christ. And here we’re going to pick up in verse 31, and read from verse 31, to verse 33. And notice what the Bible says,
03:30
“Thou o king sawest and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was a fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.” The Bible here presents, the kingdoms that are going to come and rule upon this earth in these five different sections. And as you can notice, as soon as a new kingdom or a new power comes upon this earth, a new piece of metal is used in order to introduce the change from the previous power or the previous kingdom to the new kingdom. The same representation of these five different sections is yet again repeated in Daniel chapter seven.
04:19
Now in chapter seven, instead of using different materials, the Bible is now using various different beasts and we’re going to pick up verse three in Daniel chapter seven. And notice what the Bible says, “And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. 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.
05:19
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: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had 10 horns.” And as we continue reading in Daniel chapter seven, picking up of verse 23, we see even more details coming up with respect to these kingdoms or powers, and it says there: “Thus he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the 10 horns out of this kingdom are 10 kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
06:30
So what is the list of all these different kingdoms that the Bible presents to us here? Well, we begin with Daniel chapter two, where we see the head of gold, and the head of gold was represented in Daniel seven is the lion. And that references the Babylonian kingdom, which ruled from 605 to 539 BC. From there on, we move on to the breast and arms of silver, which was represented by the bear, and also later on, and we’re not going to go into that portion of Scripture, but is also represented as the ram with two unequal horns. And that is the middle Persian Empire, which ruled from 539 to 331 BC. Then we have the thighs of brass, which were represented by the leopard with four different heads, and later on, represented also by the he goat, having one horn, and then four horns coming out of it as well. This is in reference to Greece. And we know what happened to Greece, when Alexander the Great died, and the four generals took over that empire, Greece ruled from 331 to 268 BC. From there on, we move on to the legs of iron. And the legs of iron, also represented as the fierce beast, as we saw here in Daniel, chapter seven, are a symbol of Rome, the Roman Empire, which ruled from 168 BC, all the way to 476 AD. We know that when the Roman Empire came to it’s end, 10 horns or 10 different kingdoms or tribes came as a result of that. That took place around the year 476 AD, and from there on, the Bible tells us that 3 of those 10 horns, were going to be subdued by another horn, that was going to speak great words against the Most High, and that it was going to wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws. And we know that this power here represented is in reference to the papal power, or the switch from pagan Rome to papal Rome. And this is the reason why the iron was still left going into the feet of the image of Daniel chapter two.
08:44
We also know that the Bible calls this power the Antichrist power, and many different Protestants all throughout the past centuries have come to a complete understanding of this passage of Scripture. This should not be anything new for the majority of the Christian world, yet so many Christians have forgotten what the Bible clearly has presented here. This power is also called the man of sin. And the reason why this power is also called the man of sin is because of what we see here in Daniel 7:25. This power was going to think that change times and laws, you see when you change the definition of sin, and then more specifically, it replaced the observance of the seventh day Sabbath, with the first day of the week, Sunday without having any biblical authority to do so. This is the reason why the papacy is called by all these different names throughout the Bible. But let us now come back to the 10 horns. What is it that happened after the Roman Empire fell and who are these 10 horns that came on this world’s history? When we go back in time, we see 10 different tribes that were formed. They were the Anglo Saxons, the Suevi, the Franks, the Alamani, the Visigoths, Burgundians, Lombards, Vandals, Heruli and Ostrogoths.
10:01
Now the last three, as the Bible here pointed out in Daniel, chapter seven, were to be extinct. Why? Because that little horn, the paper power was going to come and subdue these three tribes. And this is what history testifies. The paper power ruled by the sword and destroyed these three Arian tribes which are no longer with us. But what are the different countries that symbolize these tribes that we see here presented in the Bible? Well, when we go into Europe, we see that the Anglo Saxons are modern day, England or Britain, the Suevi are Portugal, the Franks are France, the Alamani are Germany, Visigoths is Spain, the Burgundians, Switzerland and Lombards correspond to modern day Italy. What is very important for us to take from this portion of the Bible is the fact that these different tribes, were never going to completely mingle and become one united power. This is the reason why we have the representation of the clay and the iron not being able to mix together.
11:06
And the reason why this is so important for us to keep in mind is because there are different ideas and notions that in order for the mark of the beast crisis to take place in these last days, we are to wait for a one world government to take place upon this earth. Nevertheless, this is exactly the opposite of what the Bible says. The Bible tells us that the iron and the clay are not going to cleave one to another. And we see that very clearly in fact, represented by what has taken place over the past few decades, specifically, with the European Union. Switzerland has never been part of the EU. And the recent Brexit situation that we witnessed over the past few years, just continues to solidify the purity of Bible prophecy and what the Bible has predicted 1000s of years ago that is going to hold true all the way until the end of time.
11:48
When it comes to the book of Revelation, we see two main powers being presented and linked to the mark of the beast crisis. The first power is a beast that is set to come out of the earth. But this beast actually begins prior to that and we find this beast first presented in Revelation chapter 12. So let us turn to Revelation chapter 12. And there read the first three verses. And the Bible says: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, upon her head, a crown of 12 stars, and she being with child cried travailing, in birth, and pain to be delivered.”
11:52
The next thing that the prophecy presents to us here is the fact that a rock that was cut without hands, comes and hits the image at its feet, and destroys all these different kingdoms that are left in order for the kingdom of Jesus Christ to take over this world. And this is what we are to take from the book of Daniel. The major point here is the fact that beyond the division of the Roman Empire, we’re not to see a one world government. That’s the main point that I want us to take from the book of Daniel, as we now move forward into the book of Revelation, and examine what it is that we see presented there as well.
13:21
What the Bible here presents is the time when Jesus Christ was about to be born. And notice what we read. Now in verse three, it says: “And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads, and 10 horns and seven crowns upon his heads.” This is where we see this beast, and we’re going to see this beast come continually, over and over again, a beast that has seven heads, 10 horns, and in this case, the crowns were put upon the heads. But as we see later, the crowns move, or even at one time, the crowns are no longer there. And that is very significant to keep in mind.
13:59
So what is this red dragon a representation of? Well, in the Bible here, as we continue forward, and we get to the verse nine, we see that the dragon was represented as Satan. But at the same time, we know that he wasn’t Satan, physically, there beside Jesus as He was coming into this world trying to literally devour him. What is it that Satan used in order to accomplish this? He use the Roman power because the Jewish nation at that time was under the control of the Roman Empire. And we see a confirmation of this in the book Great Controversy on page 438, which alleviates any room for any different interpretation. The line of prophecy in which these symbols are found begins with Revelation 12. And this is exactly what we’re doing right now. We’re starting with Revelation 12 because there’s something very important for us to pick up from there as we move forward. She continues with the dragon that sought to destroy Christ at his birth, the dragon is said to be Satan. Revelation 12:9 He was that moved upon Herod to put the Savior to death. But the chief agent of Satan in making war upon Christ and His people during the first centuries of the Christian era, was the Roman Empire, in which paganism was the prevailing religion. Thus, while the dragon primarily represents Satan, it is in a secondary sense, a symbol of pagan Rome. So the Red Dragon with seven heads and 10 horns, here presented in Revelation 12, is pagan Rome.
15:33
And we see now as we move forward into Revelation 13, that this dragon, pagan Rome, gives its power and authority to another beast, which is not so much a different beast, but rather the same beast, presented in slightly different way than Revelation 13. One and two says: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea,” (And we know that seas represent multitudes and people and nations), “having seven heads and 10 horns, and upon his horns 10 crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 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.” We see that this same very beast continues on here, having the seven heads and the 10 horns. But this time, it is no longer represented by a dragon, but by a leopard. Why? Because there’s a slight change that takes place in Rome. Rome is no longer pagan, it now transforms to Christianity and becomes papal. And it is during this papal reign, that the papacy persecutes God’s people, for 1260 years as the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation here presents to us. So without a shadow of a doubt, we know that it is papal Rome that is being presented here by the beast that has seven heads, and 10 horns, and is likened unto a leopard.
17:08
But this, however, is not the only time when this very beast continues to come up in the book of Revelation. We’re going to move forward now into Revelation 17, and examine what it is that we find there as well. Now, Revelation 17, has been a chapter with many different interpretations. But when we allow the Bible to speak for itself, we’ll see that there’s nothing convoluting, nothing difficult to understand here. The Bible is clear as to who the beast in Revelation 17 is, and it is the same very beast that we have seen thus far in Revelation 12 and Revelation 13.
17:45
And how do we know that? Well, notice what Revelation 17:3 says: “So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having 7 heads and 10 horns.”e see that the exact same beast that was in Revelation 12, and Revelation 13 is presented here. It is the beast with 7 heads and 10 horns. We know that a beast in Bible prophecy represents a kingdom or power. So the beast itself here represents none else but the Roman power. However, what are these 7 heads and 10 horns a representation of? And this is where the confusion seems to come up. Usually when this chapter is being interpreted? Well, if the beast is wrong, then the seven heads need to be something that is associated with Rome. They’re presented here as seven mountains, which, biblically speaking, signifies the seven different forms of government that Rome has had over the years. And what are the seven different forms of government? Well, Rome was ruled by kings, by consules, by decemver’s, by dictators, triumvers, emperors, and lastly, by the Pope, or the papacy. And the 10 horns that we see on this beast are the same very horns that we saw in the book of Daniel: the 10 toes, the 10 horns that came as a result of the Roman Empire. And the Bible here in Revelation 17 gives us some additional information about the heads and the horns, that if not understood properly, and in light of what history has revealed, it might indeed, lead one to the wrong conclusions.
19:32
So let us quickly go over some of these verses starting at Revelation 17:9-11 where it says: “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” We see how the seven heads are also represented as kings. But instead of seven, there is an eighth King thrown into the mixture here. And what is the reason for that? We know that when John was writing the book of Revelation, he had found himself under the rule of the sixth head, which describes Imperial Rome. But after that head was no longer to be in control of the empire, history testifies of a Lord of a region, which had a very small or insignificant impact upon Rome, known as the Exarch of Ravina, which was present from 584 to 751 AD. However, because of the lack of impact this period and the Exarch had upon the Roman Empire, the Bible very accurately does not list it as one of the seven big heads of the beast, which ruled and impacted the Roman Empire in many different ways. And this is why we only see the seven heads. And this king, as the Bible introduces it is only mentioned in these passages here because of its insignificance.
21:15
Then in verse 11, we read: “And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” The beast that was, and even is the eighth, is in reference to the same Roman beast that persecuted the Christians. The Bible here in a sense, again, describes the change that took place between pagan and papal Rome. Pagan Rome, the beast that was persecuted God’s people. But then as the Empire transformed into its so called Christian form, that persecution ceased for a little bit. And thus, the beast came to the state of was not. Nevertheless, we know that the same persecuting beast return again for a period of 1260 years under it’s now changed papal form. And ultimately, as the Bible testifies in both the books of Daniel and Revelation, it goes into perdition.
22:18
From here on, we move to verses 12 and 13. And we learn a little bit more about the horns, the Bible says: “And the 10 horns which thou sawest are 10 Kings, which have received no Kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” So let us examine here these verses in the context or in the previous context that we just went through and build upon this relationship between the beast, the beast power that is persecuting or papal Rome, and these 10 kings that came as a result of the fall of the Roman Empire. The word hour here used is the Greek word horah, which also means a season, as it is in 2 Corinthians 7:8, for example, where it says: “I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.” In other words, we’re not given with a particular exact time of how long the kings who came about after the fall of the Roman Empire, were going to give their allegiance to the papacy. But we do know that they did. And history testifies exactly to that because during the during a large portion of the 1260 year reign, history demonstrates to us how the kings of Europe gave their allegiance for a season to the pope to the Catholic Church.
23:49
Lastly, the Bible also shows us in verse 16, of Revelation 17, how this allegiance was going to come to an end, because the kings were going to make her naked, or in other words, strip her of the power she had during the Dark Ages. And the papacy, in fact, did receive its deadly wound from one of these kings as well, in the year 1798. And the kings of Europe, ceased to give their allegiance to that power of the papacy from that point forward. And ultimately, in the outpouring of the wrath of God in the seven last plagues, we’ll see the final burning with fire, as it is described in Revelation 18:8. However, the most important aspect of what the Bible presents here in Revelation chapter 17, with respect to the papacy, that we need to keep in mind, is the fact that the woman or in other words, the church is in control of the civil power. And this is exactly in precisely what we see today. The Vatican, the papacy as a church and state power, it is the Pope, it is the woman, that is in control of the state. And that is very important for us to keep in mind because it is directly related to the image of the beast and the mark of the beast crisis that we see further presented in Revelation 13. So we have, again, established what the one of the two beasts in the book of Revelation is the major beast, as I mentioned. And when I say one of the two, I am speaking about the main players, there are other different kingdoms and powers that are part of the end time events. But our focus today, as I mentioned in the beginning of this presentation is just to do a quick recap, in order for us to be able in the future to continue building upon this foundation.
25:44
So let us now go back to Revelation 13 and examine the second beast that is to come out and do something similar to what we see throughout history; the first beast accomplishing or more precisely, what the first beast did during the 1260 year reign. And we begin here at verse 11, where it says: “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” When we look throughout history, and we put all the pieces together, we rightfully come to the conclusion that this piece could not be anybody else, but the United States of America. And what are the two horns, a symbol of here in this lamb light beast? They symbolize Republicanism and Protestantism, and this is upon what the United States of America was built. But as we see here in verse 11, though this beast is established as a lamb, it later on speaks as a dragon. And how did the dragon speak during the time of Christ, and later on, in the first centuries of the Christian era, it persecuted Christians in order to put them to death. And this is what is going to take place yet again upon this earth.
26:59
And the second most important thing that we want to take with us from this recap today, is the fact that the main events, with respect to the mark of the beast crisis, and with respect to the image of the beast, are going to take place upon American soil. So to that effect, what is really the image of the beast? Well, we’ve already established that the beast is the papacy. And as we saw in Revelation 17, we see something very peculiar about that beast. And that was the fact that the church was in control of the state. And this is exactly what the United States of America is going to make a copy of, because that is what the word image means, to make an image of something that means to make a copy of something. So the United States of America is going to copy the church and state unity that exists in the papal beast. This is solidified completely again, in the Great Controversy on page 443. And paragraph two, where it says: “When the early church became corrupted by departing from the simplicity of the gospel, and accepting hidden rites and customs, she lost the Spirit and power of God. And in order to control the consciousness of the people, she sought the support of the secular power. The result was the papacy, a church that controled the power of the state and employed it to further her own ends, especially for the punishment of heresy. In order for the United States to form an image of the beast, the religious power must sole control the civil government, that the authority of the state will also be employed by the church to accomplish her own ends.”
28:43
Friends, the most important thing for us to keep in mind here, based on what we have seen in the Bible, is the fact that the United States of America is going to mimic what the papal power has done in the past. In other words, the United States of America will form a church and state union, and it will form that church and state union in order to begin to speak as a dragon. And what is the church that is going to take control of the state? At times we talk so much about the papal power, that we forget the fact that in the United States of America, we don’t have the papacy taking control over the state power, but rather, we have the False Prophet, or in other words, we have apostate Protestantism. So the Christian agent that the Antichrist power is going to use in these last days here in the United States of America is not the Roman Catholic Church. It is apostate Protestantism.
29:49
And as we speak, there are so many different movements coming out. There’s so many different people coming together, putting their differences aside for the sake of unity and for the sake of the common good, but we need to make sure that we keep true to what the Bible has presented, and keep our eyes upon that which the Bible has revealed in order to ensure that we continue to walk and help others to see the big picture. So in conclusion, the purpose of this recap was to demonstrate to us that first and foremost, we’re not to wait for a one world government because the Bible does not say that that is going to take place. And secondly, remember that it is apostate Protestantism, that is going to take control of the civil power in the United States of America, in order to accomplish and bring in the mark of the beast crisis, which deals with the observance of the papal Sabbath, rather than the seventh day Sabbath that the Lord has instituted, all the way back into the garden of Eden.
30:57
My appeal to you is to dispose of anything that does not come in line with these two major points that were brought out in this short prophetic recap. There’s so many different things, as I mentioned earlier, taking place upon the world right now. But the Lord is looking for men and women who are ready to present what the Bible has already revealed, specifically, with respect to the image of the beast and the mark of the beast. May the Lord bless us all as we continue to share the sure word of prophecy with this perishing world. So we can grab the attention of the people and bring them to the foot of the cross and present to them the love of Christ which will take them into the heavenly kingdom.