Description of the Beast

The little horn of Daniel 7 and the composite beast of Revelation 13:1-10 are two symbols of the same power. Through Bible prophecy God has given a more detailed description of this entity than of any other apocalyptic figure. Daniel 7 portrays its rise to power; Revelation 13 provides additional details of its work. A third depiction is found in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12.

There is only one geopolitical power that fits these three descriptions—the Roman Catholic papacy. Holding much more than ecclesiastical authority, the pope for hundreds of years enjoyed practically complete control over princes and rulers.

“In all ages of the Church, from the days of Gregory the Great down to the present, men have pointed to the Papacy as the fulfillment of the prophecy. That interpretation is set forth in the Homilies of the Church of England and by all the Reformed Churches. The interpretation, however, has been ignored or rejected by critics, for reasons which need not be specified. It can, however, stand all the tests of criticism.” —Dr. Charles H. H. Wright, Daniel and His Prophecies, p. 168. London: 1906.

Let us examine each of the identifying marks supplied in the prophecy, to confirm that the union of religious and civil power embodied in the papal office is indeed the very entity predicted in these scripture passages.

1. Its Geographic Location

“Among them” Daniel 7:8

Rising among the other ten horns, this power would need to arise among the kingdoms that invaded and took over the Western Roman Empire. The papacy did indeed arise in the very city of Rome itself.

2. The Time of its Rise to Power

“After them” Daniel 7:24

The last Roman emperor in the West was deposed in AD 476. By that date the Western empire had succumbed to the invading kingdoms. So we must look for the little horn to rise to power sometime after that date. It did, as we will see later.

3. The Circumstances of its Rise

“He shall subdue three kings” Daniel 7:8, 20, 24

At the dawn of the sixth century, the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Vandals controlled the greater part of what had been the Roman Empire in the West. But in less than forty years all three kingdoms would be subdued, allowing the papacy to gain supremacy.

4. Its Comparison with the Other Kingdoms

“Diverse from the first” Daniel 7:24

We must look for something other than a regular kingdom. This would be more than a political king with national sovereignty. The pope claimed religious authority over all kings and kingdoms.

5. Its Inherited Characteristics

“Like unto a leopard, . . . a bear, and . . . a lion” Daniel 7:12; Revelation 13:2

Characteristics of the first three beasts of Daniel 7 would be retained in the little horn/beast power. Vital aspects of the kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece are preserved in the papacy. The priesthood and sacramental ritual of Catholicism existed earlier in the Babylonian cults. Also from ancient Babylon came the worship of a virgin mother-goddess. The Persian sun-worship religion, Mithraism, has been preserved in the holidays and religious customs of the Catholic people. Doctrines and philosophies from Greece, taught by the church fathers and adopted by early Catholic councils, are still alive today.

Cardinal Newman gives an extended list of things “of pagan origin” that the papacy brought into the church “in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen”: “The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense … candles … holy water … holydays … processions … sacerdotal vestments … the ring in marriage … images … the ecclesiastical chant …” —J. H. Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, 1920 ed., p. 373.

6. Its Inherited Authority

“The dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority” Revelation 13:2

The dragon is, first of all, Satan. Revelation 12:9. As a religious influence, the term dragon may indicate Satan’s original counterfeit religion: paganism. And when used in reference to an earthly government through whom Satan works, the dragon in prophecy is identified with Rome, as manifested in the fourth beast of Daniel 7 and in the power behind Herod who in Revelation 12:4 tried to kill the baby Jesus. Understood collectively, the dragon here was predicted to supply the beast with its power, its seat, and its great authority. The papacy arose on the vacated seat of the Roman Empire. Said one historian, “The Pope … is Caesar’s successor.” (Adolf Harnack, What is Christianity? p. 270.) The official seat of the bishop of Rome is in the St. John Lateran Cathedral, given to the papacy by the Roman emperor Constantine.

7. Its Blasphemy

“A mouth speaking great things and blasphemies” Daniel 7:8, 11, 20, 25; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:1, 5, 6

The Bible explains blasphemy in John 10:33 (when a man makes himself God), and in Luke 5:20, 21 (claiming the power which belongs only to God to forgive sins). The papacy makes both of these claims:

“We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.” —Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter “The Reunion of Christendom.”

“Thou art another God on earth.” —Christopher Marcellus’ Oration in the Fifth Lateran Council, 4th session.

“All names which in the Scriptures are applied to Christ … all the same names are applied to the Pope.” —Robert Bellarmine, Disputationes de Controversiis, Tom. 2.

“Hence the pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions.” —Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, “Papa”, art. 2.

The very title, pope, means “papa,” or “father.” It is a title that in religious usage belongs only to God. “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” Matthew 23:9.

“They have assumed infallibility, which belongs only to God. They profess to forgive sins, which belongs only to God. They profess to open and shut heaven, which belongs only to God. They profess to be higher than all the kings of the earth, which belongs only to God. And they go beyond God in pretending to loose whole nations from their oath of allegiance to their kings, when such kings do not please them. And they go against God, when they give indulgences for sin. This is the worst of all blasphemies.” —Adam Clarke, Commentary, on Daniel 7:25.

8. Its Persecuting Activity

“Shall wear out the saints of the most High” Daniel 7:21, 25; Revelation 13:7

Here we see religious intolerance and war against God’s faithful people.

“For professing faith contrary to the teachings of the Church of Rome, history records the martyrdom of more than one hundred million people. A million Waldenses and Albigenses perished during a crusade proclaimed by Pope Innocent III in 1208; beginning from the establishment of the Jesuits in 1540 to 1580, nine hundred thousand were destroyed; one hundred and fifty thousand perished by the Inquisition against Protestants, fifty thousand persons were hanged, beheaded, or burned alive for heresy; eighteen thousand more perished during the administration of the Duke of Alva in five and a half years.” Brief Bible Readings for Busy People, No. 8. 

“That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of history…. It is impossible to form a complete conception of the multitude of her victims, and it is quite certain that no powers of imagination can adequately realise their sufferings.” —W. E. H. Lecky, History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe (1955 ed.), vol. 2, p. 40.

9. Its Duration

“A time, and times, and half a time” Daniel 7:25; 12:7; Revelation 12:14
“Forty and two months” Revelation 11:2; 13:5
“A thousand two hundred and threescore days” Revelation 11:3; 12:6

These three expressions all define the length of the supremacy of the little horn/beast power.

“A time and times and the dividing of time.” 

A “time” represents a year (Daniel 4:16; 11:13, margin). One prophetic year is 360 prophetic days. So let’s add it up:

Time = 360 prophetic days
Times = 720 prophetic days
Half a Time = 180 prophetic days
Total = 1260 prophetic days

“Forty and two months”

A prophetic month consists of 30 prophetic days. So let’s multiply it:

30 days per month
x 42 months
Total = 1260 prophetic days

With seven references in Scripture to this time period, one thing is clear. The little horn/beast was to hold supremacy for 1260 prophetic days. In Faith Point 17 we learned that the scale for interpreting prophetic time periods is “each day for a year.” In Daniel 9:24-27 this scale was used to predict the year of Jesus’ crucifixion. The same scale applies to the prophecy at hand:

1 prophetic day = 1 literal year
1260 prophetic days = 1260 literal years

This tells us that the little horn of Daniel 7 and the beast of Revelation 13:1-10, being the same power, would dominate western civilization for 1260 years following the breakup of the Roman Empire in the West.

History confirms the fact that the papacy held supremacy for exactly 1260 years. In AD 533, the emperor Justinian issued a decree recognizing the bishop of Rome as the “head of all the holy churches.” But full sovereignty could not be realized as long as the Ostrogoths held power in Rome. The Ostrogoths were the last of the three kingdoms that blocked the exercise of papal authority throughout the West. In 538 the Ostrogoths were overwhelmingly defeated. The bishop of Rome, with unchallenged ecclesiastical authority, was now the most powerful man in the West. That year, 538, marks the beginning of the 1260 years of papal supremacy. Now let’s do some addition.

AD 538
+ 1260 years
Brings us to AD 1798

On February 10, 1798, the French general Berthier entered Rome. On February 15 the papal government was supplanted by a new republic, and on February 20 the pope was taken captive. That series of events in 1798 marks the end of the 1260 years of papal supremacy.

10. Its Apparent Death

“As it were wounded to death” Revelation 13:3

At the end of the 1260 years, the beast power would be struck down in such a way that it would appear to have lost its life.

We have just described the death blow that the papacy received exactly 1260 years after it had gained its supremacy. Two factors reveal the significance of this event:

1. Unlike any previous schism, this act was inflicted by an outside authority with the intent of destroying the power of the papacy.

2. By 1798 the world had changed its attitude toward the papacy. When this action was taken, the nations of the world considered the papacy as dead.

11. Its Healing

“His deadly wound was healed” Revelation 13:3

Bible prophecy here predicts a resurgence of the beast’s former power.

In 1870 the Italian government took over the city of Rome. But in 1929 Cardinal Gasparri met Premier Mussolini in the Lateran Palace to sign the Treaty of the Vatican, returning political power to the papacy.

The Catholic Advocate in Australia (April 18, 1929, p. 16) said that the treaty’s effect was to “heal a wound of 59 years.” The front page of the San Francisco Chronicle of February 12, 1929 carried the headline, “Heal Wound of Many Years.” The Associated Press dispatch of the event said, “In affixing the autographs to the memorable document, healing the wound which has festered since 1870, extreme cordiality was displayed on both sides.” Thus in 1929 Vatican City was recognized as an independent state, the pope its king. Religious and civil power were once again united in the papal office.

12. Its Worldwide Popularity

“All the world wondered after the beast” Revelation 13:3

Once its power is restored, the beast receives global publicity.

Since 1929 the papacy has risen to become one of the world’s most powerful institutions. As head of the largest organized religious body in the world, the pope is honored more extensively than any other single man.

13. Its Number

“Six hundred threescore and six” Revelation 13:18

This is a cultic number with origins in the ancient Babylonian mysteries. The prophecy’s application of this number to the beast suggests that the beast in some fundamental way represents that great counterfeit religious system. Let us notice four facts about this mystical number:

1. It is “the number of the beast” (verse 18).
2. It is “the number of a man” (verse 18).
3. It is “the number of his name” (verse 17).
4. If a person “hath understanding” he can “count the number” (verse 18).

So it is the number of the name of the man who is the beast. Does the pope have a name bearing the numerical value of 666? The Catholic weekly, Our Sunday Visitor, April 18, 1915, says,

“The letters inscribed in the Pope’s miter are these: VICARIUS FILLII DEI, which is the Latin for ‘VICAR OF THE SON OF GOD.’”

The sum of the Roman numerical value of the Latin letters in this title is 666.

14. Its Attempt to Tamper with God’s Law

“He shall . . . think to change times and laws” Daniel 7:25

Daniel 7 gives considerable attention to the little horn and its activities. The abuses listed in verse 25 highlight an unmistakable opposition to God. Among them is this intention to alter times and laws. In context, these are the times and laws of God. The little horn would actually think to change God’s law.

Consider the following statement made in Pope Nicholas’ time:

“The pope has authority and has often exercised it, to dispense with the commands of Christ…. He can dispense above the law, and of wrong make right, by correcting and changing laws.”

Again:

“The pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine laws…. The pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts in the place of God upon earth, with the fullest power of binding and loosing his sheep.” —Lucius Ferraris, “Papa,” art. 2, in Prompta Bibliotheca.

The Ten Commandments are the only part of the Bible that God both spoke with His own voice and wrote with His own finger. They are found in Exodus 20:3-17. Here is an example of how the papacy has thought to change God’s law:

God’s second commandment says in Exodus 20:4-6, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” But because it speaks against the use of graven images, which are a vital part of Catholic worship, the papacy has completely removed God’s second commandment from its teachings. Then, in order to come up with ten, they divide the tenth into two separate commandments. You will find these changes in any Catholic catechism.

Daniel 7:25 says that he shall “think to change times and laws.” The only law of God that has to do with time is the fourth commandment, which sets apart the seventh-day of the week as an acknowledgment of the Creator’s authority. This law would be changed by the little horn power. The current widespread profaning of God’s holy Sabbath day, and the observance of Sunday in its place, is traceable to the bold actions of the papacy.