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Revelation Episode 12: The Satanic Trinity of the Dragon, Beast and False Prophet
Today I’m talking about the Beast—the Lawless One, often called “the Antichrist”—and the False Prophet, who are both spoken of in Revelation 13. We see that, just as God is a Trinity, so too will the last-days manifestation of Satan be in triune form. The Beast and the False Prophet are empowered by the Dragon, Satan, whom we spoke about in the last session as the one who tried to destroy the Woman and the Man Child (Revelation 12:3, 9).
Satan cannot create anything but can only copy, and the appearance of the Beast (or Antichrist) will be a counterfeit of the ministry of Jesus, even to the three-and-a-half-year length of his “ministry” on earth. The False Prophet will be a counterfeit of the Holy Spirit and will speak for the Beast (Revelation 13:11–18).
This episode will deal with the work of the Satanic Trinity in its spiritual conflict with the Kingdom of God for control of the geopolitical realm of the world. This is distinct from the spiritual conflict in the last episode, where we saw the existential struggle involving the Woman as the Church of Revelation chapter 12, how the Prince Power of Darkness had been put under our feet through Jesus as Head of the Church, and how the Church was given divine protection.
We see in this episode that the Dragon, Satan, who is a counterfeit of the Father, has always worked through world powers and will do so until the end.
Matthew 4:8: “The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’”
Ephesians 2:2: “We once walked according to the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”
We also saw that the Dragon had seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his head. The seven heads here were seen as last-days heads of nation-states, but horns in the Bible speak of power. The ten horns therefore speak of last-days strategic corporate entities of power that influence nation-states and ultimately give rise to the Beast’s rule over the earth during the three and a half years. I mentioned in the last session that we might perhaps expect to witness surprising structural and influential changes in national leadership, even over the next few years, because of the current political instability.
THE BEAST
The Beast comes in the image of his father, the Dragon (see also Revelation 17:3, 10–12).
Revelation 13:1: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and I 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. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The Dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marvelled and followed the Beast. So they worshipped the Dragon who gave authority to the Beast; and they worshipped the Beast, saying, ‘Who is like the Beast? Who is able to make war with him?’”
Here we see that the Beast comes in the image of the Dragon (Revelation 12:3), except that there are ten crowns on the horns rather than seven crowns on the heads. Horns speak of power, and crowns speak of authority. This speaks of the Antichrist giving authority to the ten heads of the ten powerful nations that will rule the world kingdom at the time of the end.
John describes a single “Composite Beast” because this represents the gathering of all previous imperial, tyrannical, and dominating traits of history into one final, unified global entity. John describes a Beast that is “like a leopard,” with “feet like those of a bear” and a “mouth like that of a lion.”
This vision of John’s is based upon a vision of the prophet Daniel, which gives us the code that unlocks the identities and characteristics of all those imperial nations and rulers of biblical history. What we will seek to decipher and explain today are the historical and ongoing prophetic lines from the Book of Daniel concerning the geopolitical struggle of the kingdom of darkness against the Kingdom of God.
The following prophetic Scriptures from Daniel form very strong lines of historical and biblical continuity across the six hundred years from Daniel to when John wrote Revelation. In fact, we will draw just as strongly from Daniel in further episodes of Revelation concerning the latter parts of the three-and-a-half-year Tribulation and the return of Christ.
Daniel 7:3: “And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’”
“After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The Beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it” (4 = global dominion).
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth Beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.”
TRADITIONAL IDENTIFICATIONS IN DANIEL 7
SYMBOL — TRADITIONAL IDENTIFICATION — CORE CHARACTERISTIC
- Lion (with eagle’s wings) — Babylon — Sovereignty: Represents imperial majesty and dominion (parallel to the “Gold Head” of Daniel 2).
- Bear (raised on one side) — Medo-Persia — Crushing Power: Characterised by the command to “Arise, devour much flesh … and it ate three ribs,” emphasising its massive appetite for conquest.
- Leopard (with four wings/heads) — Greece — Speed: Four wings—leopard’s natural speed, Alexander the Great’s rapid expansion, and the four successor kingdoms. A leopard is pale yellow with black spots.
- Fourth Beast (iron teeth/10 horns) — Rome — Imperial Destruction: Described as “terrible and extremely strong,” using its “iron teeth” to crush and devour all opposition.
These established ancient identities are not merely historical footnotes; they serve as the necessary archetypes for understanding how power is projected throughout history.
Note the progression of Lion, Bear, and Leopard, because John reverses this sequence in Revelation 13:2, where we see the leopard, bear, and lion qualities of the Beast first.
This is because John is looking back into history, from Rome to Babylon. But what we must remember is that John is also looking forward prophetically into history from two thousand years ago.
It will be useful, amongst the bewildering range of symbolic descriptions of the “Beast Nations” of history, to remember the sequence of three recurring symbolic nations of history—the Lion, the Bear, and the Leopard. These have been the prelude to a sequence of dreadful “composite beasts” throughout history and will feature significantly in the last days, when they become the ultimate ogre of the “Composite Beast” at the Second Coming of Christ to the earth. Remember the sequence: Lion, Bear, Leopard.
One of the greatest counterfeits that will be perpetrated by the Beast, the Lawless One, will be a counterfeit resurrection in verse 3, which will delude many.
Remember, in 2 Thessalonians 2, that God would send strong delusion for people to believe a lie.
His mouth will speak great things. He will be a great leader and statesman who will sway the multitudes. He will receive power from the Dragon, Satan, to overcome those saints who endure the Tribulation. But their martyrdom will be to the glory of God. These saints are encouraged by the angel of Revelation 14:7. Daniel 7:8 speaks of one powerful, persuasive person as a horn of power who will arise at the end: “And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.”
So we have strong lines of scriptural formation from Daniel to John, but in the two thousand years from John until now, we have reached beyond the time of John, when Rome was the “Composite Beast,” into the description of a much more awesome and devastating Composite Beast that Rome represented. John’s final Beast here has seven heads as well as ten horns.
And I have to say this—but wait, there’s more.
In Revelation 12:3, in the last episode, we saw John describing the Dragon, representing Satan: “Behold, a great red dragon … having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads” (diadems are jewelled headbands).
So the sequence is:
- Revelation 12:3—Dragon: 7 heads crowned + 10 horns
- Revelation 13:1—Beast: 7 heads + 10 horns crowned
- Revelation 17:3, 12—Beast: 7 heads + 10 horns; then ten kings receive authority
This is not a repeated description—John changes the locations of the diadems.
That fits prophetically and purposefully with the progression from Satanic authority being delegated to a Beastly political authority, and then to a final ten-kingdom coalition.
Chapter 13 portrays the Beast receiving and exercising the authority previously associated with the Dragon. It is like the Father giving Jesus His authority.
We will cover the progression of power when we come to those chapters later in Revelation.
To this point, with John’s veiled vision of what he was observing in the geopolitical power plays of his day, we have strong and true lines of scriptural continuity through which to understand the nature of the Lion, Bear, and Leopard powers of his time.
If we seek to understand the prophetic imagery that he lays ahead into the future, at least up until now, we can only interpret the identities and conflicts of his visions by insight and eyesight as to the current geopolitical landscape. In other words, who are the Lion, the Bear, and the Leopard today? I can’t go further yet into what the grotesque, final Composite Beast vision that comes up out of the sea is, but I will in further episodes, where we see the intricate dance of crowns swapping with horns and diadems, chapter after chapter. The sea, by the way, speaks of the nations—the global ocean of humanity.
So anything I say about the Lion, the Bear, and the Leopard that John left us with will be by exercising eyesight, with some insights into the strategic power of current geopolitics. But I do not have a strong line of scriptural alignment as John did. He left prophecy to unfold itself within a continuous blend of the historical national traits of dominance, hegemony, cruelty, lies, and destruction. My thoughts are speculation, and I do not claim to have divine revelation about them. I will take the Lion, the Bear, and the Leopard in their original order. As we are not looking back as John was, I am mapping their original history.
MODERN GEOPOLITICAL ANALOGIES (FUTURIST)
SYMBOL — TRADITIONAL BIBLICAL IDENTITY — MODERN GEOPOLITICAL ANALOGY
- Lion — Babylon — Britain, the “Anglosphere” (USA/Europe). The Lion took eagle’s wings, flew away, and landed with a human heart and the wings plucked (Daniel 7). USA becomes a Democratic Republic. Has a mouth speaking pompous things.
- Bear — Medo-Persia — Russia (culturally the bear). Daniel 7: “Arise, devour much flesh … lay on one side—ate three ribs.” Recent conquests: Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine?
- Leopard — Greece — Afro-Asia: the rapid spread of geopolitical/civilisational/trading significance. The Leopard is pale yellow with black markings. First colonised by Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal. Greece split into four national regions after Alexander: Egypt, Greece/Macedonia, Persia to India, and Turkey (Anatolia).
THE FALSE PROPHET
Revelation 13:11: “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon.”
The False Prophet—the counterfeit of the Holy Spirit—speaks for the Beast (Revelation 13:11–18).
This person is described as a lamb, speaking of a meek and docile appearance, yet inwardly a ravenous wolf. He is seen to have two horns, speaking of the two thrusts of his power. These will be religion and commerce. In verses 15 and 16, he causes all the world to worship the image of the Antichrist, thus establishing a new world religion. He also causes everyone to receive a mark on their foreheads or right hands as a condition of being able to purchase or sell any goods or commodities. The mark is 666, speaking of satanic power over man’s spirit, soul, and body. Compare the image of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3:1.
He counterfeits the great prophet Elijah by causing fire to come down from heaven onto the earth in the sight of man (verse 13). It would seem that he has power over the elements as well as over people, according to verse 12.
CONCLUSION — THE FOUR GARDENS
We could picture the Garden of Eden as a biological, botanical, and zoological garden, where God walked with His earthly family of Adam and Eve, giving Adam authority to name the animals. There was nothing but blessing in the earth that God had dominion over and shared with His family.
We would then see a tangled garden of chaos as sin and death enter the world, ending up with the botanical, zoological, and biological garden of Daniel’s time, which had beasts, conflict, destruction, and spiritual interference from angels of darkness under the headship of Satan.
We then come to the continuation and progressive chaos and corruption of Daniel’s time, leading to the greater malice and destruction of the garden of the time of the Apostle John.
We are now, two thousand years later, inhabiting the most grotesque jungle of a garden and awaiting the return of the King of Kings in His appointed time.
That will usher in the most beautiful and majestic garden on the earth, which will last for one thousand years. In this millennial Garden, the wolf will lie down with the lamb, there will be no more thorns and thistles, and the groaning of this current earthly creation will have been heard and healed from the curse of human sin.
Romans 8:21: “The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
This earth will be ruled by the King of kings, who will be crowned with many crowns, topple all other kingdoms that stand in His way, and invite us to once again rule and reign with Him upon an entire blessed earth that far supersedes the Garden of Eden. He also has a crown laid up for us if we follow on to know the Lord.
