Kingdom Building Part 4    The Multinational Kingdoms

Rev. 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."

Chapter 13 begins a section of Revelation that identifies many of the enemies of the Lord's people and what we have to confront in this life. These enemies include Satan, the secular world system, the false religious system also known as the false prophet, the false religion known as Mystery Babylon and the image of the beast also known as the antichrist or false Christs. Satan is described as a seven headed, ten-horned dragon. Now we see rising up out of the sea a beast with seven heads and ten horns. The fact that it has seven heads and ten horns teaches us that it is in the image of the dragon. Satan is an imitator and we will make note of some of his imitations as we go along in this study. God created man in his own image. Satan created the beast in his image (with seven heads and ten horns).
Christ, as God manifest in the flesh, is the image of God:

1. 2 Cor. 4:4 "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
2. Col. 1:15 "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature."
3. Heb. 1:3 "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."

In imitation of God, Satan has brought forth his own image in the form of the seven head, ten-horn beast.

The beast rose up out of the sea. The word, sea, indicates the "sea" of humanity:

1. Is. 60:5 "Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee."
2. Jer. 51:42 "The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof."
3. Ezek 26:16 "Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee."
4. Dan. 7:3 "And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another."
5. Zec. 14:8 "And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be."

Satan uses the mirror image to imitate God. The image in the mirror is the exact opposite of that which it reflects. For instance, if you look in the mirror your right hand will be your mirror images left hand, etc.

The church has one head. In contrast, the beast has seven heads, which is the exact opposite of the church.

Since the time of Nimrod, designing men under the spirit of Satan have been trying to establish domination over humanity. Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord. God told man after the flood to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, and subdue the earth. However, Nimrod in rebellion against God began to build a kingdom and led man to begin to build the tower of Babel, so that man would be under man's laws and man's government and man's religion. God confounded the language and they left off the building of Babel and were scattered abroad. Afterwards, Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam began to build a kingdom and had conquered nine nations, when five of the nations rebelled against him. When he went out to do battle against the five rebelling nations, God intervened to destroy his empire and sent Abram to rescue Lot with 318-trained servants and overcome the army of Chedorlaomer.

A few centuries later Syria under Benhadad reigned over 32 nations and had built a multinational empire. Syria was the first head of the seven head beast in Revelation. God destroyed the head by using an army of 7,000 Israelites to defeat the 32 nation's army twice. The nation of Syria was no longer the great multinational kingdom that it had been up to that time.

Next, Assyria arose to be a great multinational kingdom, carried away the ten tribes of Israel, defeated, and reigned over multitudes of other nations. Assyria remained a great nation until she went up against Hezekiah and Judah at Jerusalem. God himself sent an angel and destroyed 185,000 of the army of Assyria in one night and the sons of the king rebelled and killed the king of Assyria, which led to the downfall of Assyria as a multinational kingdom.

The third head to arise was Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar carried the children of Israel into captivity and Babylon reigned over the entire civilized world at that time.

Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream revealed the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth heads of the beast. These were Babylon, Medo-Persian empire, Greece, and Rome. This is consistent with what we read in Rev. 17:10 "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." At the time of the writing of the book of Revelation, the kingdoms of Syria, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persian empire, and Greece were all fallen. The kingdom of Rome was the existing multinational kingdom at that time.

"Upon his heads the name of blasphemy." This clearly teaches us that all the efforts at multinational or one world domination have been in direct opposition to God and are an open rebellion against God. Satan's purpose in raising these heads is spelled out for us in Rev. 12:17 "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Satan has ever sought to destroy the true worship of God and has moved men to seek world domination in an effort to destroy those who would worship God in Spirit and in truth.

Ten is the scriptural sign of law or commandment. The beast had ten horns. The substitute or imitation of God ruling men by his laws and commandments is that the laws and commandments of men rule man. This beast rules by the laws and commandments of men. In addition, the substitute or imitation of worshipping God in Spirit and in truth is to worship by the doctrines or commandments of men. The beast tries to enforce man made religion upon man.