The Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns, Part 2: Identifying the 7 Heads of the Beast

This is part 2 in the series about the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns. In this part, we’ll go over the specific identity of the 7 heads, according to the bible.

When this series is finished I intend on putting them all together into one main video, to hopefully make it easier to understand. Please let me know if you see any typo’s or other mistakes in this video, or future videos in the series, and I’ll correct them for the final version.

I mention typo’s because I rushed part one a bit and didn’t check it as well as I should have before uploading it. It ended up having at least 4 major typo’s which I’ll certainly need to correct in the final video.

Part one could have been edited better, as well, so I’m going to try and be a bit more methodical in part two, and subsequent videos. So, this video might get a little boring at times, but if it does just go grab yourself a cup of coffee and come back when you’re ready.

Before I begin, let’s do a quick one-minute summary of part one, just to make sure we’re all on the same page. If any of this doesn’t made sense, or if you skipped part one, please take a few minutes to go back and watch that now, and I’ll see you back here in a bit.

Welcome back! In part one I covered two different subjects: number one was the symbolism being used, and number two were the traits of the beast. Understanding those two basic things will help us get a firmer grasp on the prophecy as a whole.

Here’s the symbolism:

The Beast symbolizes Satan himself being thrown down to the earth.

The 7 heads symbolize 7 satanic kingdoms AND 7 kings.

Here are the 3 traits of the Beast:

1. the beast persecutes Israel
2. the beast blasphemes God
3. the beast is at war with the remnant of Israel’s seed
   and those who have the testimony of Jesus Christ

The beast represents Satan and has those 3 traits listed above. The 7 kingdoms and kings share the same 3 traits, since they are growing out of the beast. Those 3 traits are important to remember as we seek to identify the 7 kingdoms.

So, let’s move on now to part two, in which we’ll get into identifying what kingdoms are being referred to with the 7 heads.

PART TWO: Identifying the 7 Heads of the Beast

As we talked about in part one, the 7 heads of the Beast represent 7 kingdoms AND 7 kings. Since the kingdoms and kings are connected to each other, a reference to one of the kings is referring to that kingdom which he’s associated with.

In Revelation 17, verses 10 and 11, we read this: “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.”

The essential key to understanding the identities of these 7 kingdoms are three words in the middle of verse 10. Those three words are “and one is”, which refers to the 6^th kingdom. The reason that those three words are so important is because the present tense is being used.

That matters because it means that there is only one possible interpretation that is ALWAYS true, no matter when the verse is being read. For the 6^th kingdom to be described as existing in the present tense, it must be describing the kingdom in power at the time John received his vision. The prophecy MUST be from the perspective of John.

If the 6^th kingdom was to be in the future, the verse would not have referred to it in the present tense, but instead described it as “not yet come” or similar wording as used for the 7^th and 8^th kingdoms.

Thus, those 3 words rule out other interpretations that try and fit the 6^th kingdom into a time frame other than being contemporaneous with John. Because those three words must be accurate no matter what year we are reading this prophecy.

For example, there is a popular interpretation that the 7 kings represent 7 American presidents. However, the present tense of the words “and one is” disproves this idea as the words would only be accurate for those few short years that the 6th president is in power.

Reading verse 10 before or after the 6^th president’s term would make the present tense description inaccurate, and the prophecy erroneous. And the same goes for other interpretations for the 6^th kingdom that try and place it as existing sometime other than when John received his vision.

The only possible interpretation of the 6^th kingdom that “is”, is that it’s a direct reference to the kingdom that existed at the time John received his vision. And the good news is that once we identify this 6^th kingdom, the identity of 5 more kingdoms will quickly come into focus.

What was the kingdom that existed at the time of John’s writing?

The kingdom that existed at the time that John received his vision is quite easy to identify. All we have to do is simply check the historical record to find out which empire was ruling at the time of John’s vision.

Most bible scholars consider Revelation as being written late in the first century, around 96AD. And world history shows that the kingdom that was ruling at that time was the Roman Empire.

Now that we know the identity of the 6^th kingdom, the Roman Empire, we can actually work our way backwards to find the identities of the 5 kingdoms preceding it, which were described as having “fallen” in this prophecy.

The Identities of the 3rd, 4th and 5th kingdoms

Just as Revelation 17 helped us to understand that Rome is the 6th kingdom, the second verse of Revelation 13 is essential in our zeroing in on the identity of three more. That verse reads:

“And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.”

This verse is very important because the exact imagery of a leopard, a bear and a lion were used in an older prophecy in Daniel 7, and that beast was ALSO described as rising up from the sea:

Verse 3: “And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.”

Verse 4: “The first was like a lion …”

Verse 5: “And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear …”

Verse 6: “After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard …”

In the next verse, Daniel then describes a fourth dreadful and terrible beast.

Verse 7: “… 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 ten horns.”

We can see that the 4 beasts that Daniel described in his vision mirror the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns described by John in Revelation 13.

And in Daniel’s case, we can know the identity of these 4 beasts because Daniel had another similar vision of four kingdoms when he interpreted the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar.

As we read about in Daniel 2, King Nebuchadnezzar dreamt of a giant statue with a head of gold, chest and arms made of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet made up of both iron and clay.

Daniels interpretation of the dream, given to him by God, was that the statue represented successive kingdoms, each one slightly inferior to the one before. According to Daniel, the head of gold represented Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar’s own kingdom.

Looking at history, we see that Babylon fell to the Medes and the Persians. Following, we saw the rise of the Grecian-Macedonia Empire. Finally, Daniel’s description of the fourth empire can only refer to Rome, the 6^th head of the Beast in Revelation.

So, by matching up Daniel’s interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream along side Daniel’s dream of the four beasts, AND Revelation 17’s description of one kingdom existing at the time of John’s vision, we can now pinpoint the identity of 4 of the Kingdoms.

These four kingdoms equate to the 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th heads on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns. And each of those four kingdoms is symbolized by a specific king, forming the kingdom/king combination that we read about in Revelation.

Here is the breakdown for those 4 kingdoms:

• Babylon is the head of gold in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
  It is the Lion, the first beast in Daniel’s dream of four beasts.
  It is the 3^rd head on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns in Revelation
  Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar are the kingdom/king combination
• Medo-Persia is the chest and arms of silver in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream
  It is the Bear, the second beast in Daniel’s dream of four beasts
  It is the 4^th head on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns in Revelation
  Medo-Persia and King Cyrus are the kingdom/king combination
• Greece-Macedonia is the belly and thighs of brass in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream
  It is the Leopard, the third beast in Daniel’s dream of four beasts
  It is the 5^th head on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns in Revelation
  Greece-Macedonia and Alexander the Great are the kingdom/king combination
• Rome is the legs of iron and feet of iron and clay in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream
  It is called Dreadful and Terrible, and is the fourth beast in Daniel’s dream of four beasts
  It is the 6^th head on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns in Revelation
  Rome and Julius Caesar are the kingdom/king combination

What about the first two heads/kingdoms?

King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream started with his own kingdom, Babylon, being the head of gold, which corresponds to the 3^rd head on the Beast with 7 Heads and Ten Horns. The first two heads will obviously be two kingdoms that preceded Babylon. But what could they be?

If we remember, the bible gave us the characteristics or traits that these 7 kingdoms will possess: blaspheming God, persecuting Israel, and making war with the remnant of Israel’s seed and those who have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

So we simply need to use those traits or characteristics as a guideline, as we zero in on two kingdoms that preceded Babylon. And as a matter of fact, the bible does describe two such kingdoms.

Those two kingdoms are Egypt and Assyria, and they are the first two heads on the Beast with 7 Heads. And since we’re on the subject, let’s take a moment here to quickly look at how each of the 6 kingdoms match the traits of the Beast.

Egypt, the 1^st head of the Beast: The Egyptian Pharaohs forced Israel into hard labor as slaves for nearly four centuries.

Assyria, the 2^nd head of the Beast: Invaded and plundered the northern kingdom of Israel, which where comprised of ten of the twelve tribes

Babylon, the 3^rd head of the Beast: Destroyed the first temple; Killed many thousands of Jews and took thousands more into captivity.

Medo-Persia, the 4^th head of the Beast: According to the book of Esther, Haman the Agagite attempted to exterminate the Jewish people.

Greece-Macedonia, the 5^th head of the Beast: A type of Antichrist, Antiochus Epiphanes, defiled the temple and sought to destroy the Jewish religion.

Rome, the 6^th head of the Beast: Attempted to murder Jesus at birth; Crucified Jesus; Sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple in 70AD, killing about a quarter-million Jews; Waged war on Jews in 135 AD, killing over a half million people.

Summing things up: The identities of the first 6 heads of the Beast

Here are the identities of the first 6 heads on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns. Since the first two heads preceded Babylon, they are not referenced in Daniel’s dream of four beasts and his interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

• THE FIRST HEAD: EGYPT
  Egypt is the 1^st head on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns
  Egypt and Pharaoh Ramses are the kingdom/king combination
  
• THE SECOND HEAD: ASSYRIA
  Assyria is the 2^nd head on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns
  Assyria and King Sennacherib are the kingdom/king combination
  
• THE THIRD HEAD: BABYLON
  Babylon is the head of gold in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
  It is the Lion, the first beast in Daniel’s dream of four beasts.
  It is the 3^rd head on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns in Revelation
  Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar are the kingdom/king combination
  
• THE FOURTH HEAD: MEDO-PERSIA
  Medo-Persia is the chest and arms of silver in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream
  It is the Bear, the second beast in Daniel’s dream of four beasts
  It is the 4^th head on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns in Revelation
  Medo-Persia and King Cyrus are the kingdom/king combination
  
• THE FIFTH HEAD: GREECE-MACEDONIA
  Greece-Macedonia is the belly and thighs of brass in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream
  It is the Leopard, the third beast in Daniel’s dream of four beasts
  It is the 5^th head on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns in Revelation
  Greece-Macedonia and Alexander the Great are the kingdom/king combination
  
• THE SIXTH HEAD: ROME Rome is the legs of iron in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream
  It is called Dreadful and Terrible, the fourth beast in Daniel’s dream of four beasts
  It is the 6^th head on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns in Revelation
  Rome and Julius Caesar are the kingdom/king combination

At this point we should note that Daniel’s fourth beast, the one called Dreadful and Terrible, was the final beast in his dream. We identified it as Rome, the 6^th head. But, of course, there is one additional head or kingdom on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns.

That means that Daniel’s final fourth beast not only applies to the Roman Empire, the 6^th head of the Beast, but that the 7^th head or kingdom must also be connected in some way.

What kingdom is the 7^th head of the Beast?

There are five things that we must look for in order to identify the 7^th head of the Beast.

1. It will be a kingdom that arises after Rome
2. Like the other 6 kingdoms, it will also have the traits of the Beast: blaspheming God, persecuting Israel, and making war with the remnant of Israel’s seed and those who have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
3. It will have a connection to the Roman Empire, the final dreadful and terrible beast of Daniel’s dream
4. It will continue but a short space, meaning that it will have a very short duration
5. There will be a reason that it exists only for a short time

Those 5 attributes will point us directly at one kingdom, the 7^th kingdom represented by the 7^th head on the Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns. And the identity of that 7^th kingdom is a topic I’ll get into with the next video in the series.

Thank you for watching, and if you care to leave a comment, please do. As always, kindly be respectful in any comment you leave, especially toward those with who you disagree. I’ll talk to you guys soon. ♦

This article was based on my YouTube video, The Beast with 7 Heads and 10 Horns, Part 2