CONNECTING THE DOTS: About Beasts, Kings and Worship

Dear Reader,

I think it’s time we had a discussion about the connection between governments and beasts.  In this case, I mean to compare human governments — especially collectivist governments — to prophetic beasts, as in ‘The Beasts of Revelation.’  If you will give me a few minutes of your time, I am confident I can help you see the connection.  If I’m lucky, I might even help you better understand the Bible.

Before we start, we need to understand something that lies beneath the surface of this discussion: worship.  I wrote about this in an older post titled, Worship.  If you have time, you should read this post now.  Otherwise, please be sure to go back and read it as soon as you can.  It’s important.  Anyway, the key point of this older post is this:

In Scripture, the Hebrew thought behind the word we usually translate as ‘worship,’ is the act of bowing down to, or admitting you are under the authority of another person or god.

OK, now that this is out of the way, let’s go to the book of Daniel and look at how Scripture defines a ‘beast.’

In the book of Daniel, we will find the word, ‘beast,’ some eleven times.  Most people have been taught that a beast represents a person, usually a man known as the Antichrist.  Even many non-believers have some knowledge of this association.  This understanding most likely originates from the following passage:Daniel 7:17‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.

Clearly, this passage defines a beast as a king, which is a man — right?  Well, not quite.  You see, there is a problem here.  The problem is found in this passage:Daniel 7:23“This is what he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth which will be different from all the other kingdoms, and will devour the whole earth and trample it down and crush it.

In this passage, Daniel is clearly told that the fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom.  So, which is it?  Is a ‘beast’ a man or a kingdom?  The problem in understanding this is found in the mindset of those who read the passage.  The majority of those who read this post have grown up in a Western culture, which inherited a Greek mindset/world-view.  Therefore, we read these passages and understand them as separate things: king and kingdoms.  However, for those who were raised up in a Middle eastern society, especially an Ancient Near Eastern society (ANE), such as the Hebrew culture, they would understand that a king and his kingdom are often thought of as the same thing.  We naturally understand that a kingdom can exist from before the rise and after the fall of any given king.  So, is a king his kingdom, or is this just a connection we make in our minds.  It would be like Caesar saying “I am Rome.”  He isn’t literally the Roman Empire, he just thinks he is because there were no limits on his power.  The same applies here.  Scripture is just connecting kings with their specific kingdoms.

We can be assured this is the correct interpretation by reading the whole section of Daniel in context.  When we do, we will find that the many ‘beasts’ described in Daniel are spoken of in ways that only make sense if they represent kingdoms.  Therefore, in the prophetic language of Scripture, a ‘beast’ is a kingdom, and is often associated with, but is not equal to its current ruler.  In modern terms, this would translate to nations and their governments, and those who lead them at any given time.

Now, let’s connect the dots.

In feudal times, we had ‘divine right’ kings.  These were kings who claimed to be the earthly representative of the Creator.  They used this claim to demand they be treated as only the creator deserves to be created.  Before these ‘divine right’ kings, men just declared themselves to be gods.  This has not changed: man is still trying to make himself out to be a god, and demanding to be worshiped as a result.  As we mentioned when we started out, the Scriptural idea of worship means to be under the authority of, or to bow down to a person or god.  This is what rulers have always wanted: to rule over others — even over the whole world, if possible. 

In the past, kings did this with brute force.  However, in this day and age, the open use of force to subjugate others tends to cause the rest of the world to turn against you.  The history of the 20th Century pretty much demonstrates this fact of modern politics.  But the desire to rule over others still remains.  So, what have these people done now that brute force is no longer effective?  They have moved to making people dependent upon them.  This is especially true with any and all forms of collectivist government.  If they can make you dependent upon them for the very sustenance of your survival, then you will submit to them, which is the same thing as bowing down to them, which is — according to Scripture — worship. 

This is the driving force behind all forms of welfare and social justice: to make as many as possible dependent upon government for their survival.  Those who resist are then squashed by brute force.  Only, this use of force is not only safe to use, it is most often sanctioned by those who have bowed to the government — or rather, to those controlling the government.  We see this happening right now with COVID and the attack on those who resist getting the injections.  We’ve also seen it with BLM and ANTIFA and the attack on those they label as ‘white supremacists.’  Before this, we saw the same pattern with ‘social justice’ and its attacks on ‘the rich.’  In all these cases, the people doing the attacking are dependent upon the people in control of government for their existence.  And in all these cases, the dependent do the dirty work for the people in control of the government. 

Incidentally, this is also why all collectivist governments are anti-free market.  They claim to be anti-Capitalist, but this is just a ruse.  They actually oppose the free market because it allows people to escape dependency on the government.  So, wherever there is any semblance of free exchange of goods and services, there also will be an ever increasing system of licensing, taxation and regulation.  The goal is to choke out the independent merchant so he is made dependent on government. 

This goal is also behind the push for face masks and lock-downs.  Face masks have always been a symbol of subservience.  If you are subservient, then you have bowed down to your master.  You worship him.  Lock-downs destroy small businesses, not the government’s corporate partners.  The more small businesses collapse, the more dependency the government creates, and the more dependency the government creates, the more worshipers it gains.  This is the process, the pattern and the cycle in play in the world today.

I believe this is also why Scripture describes government (or a kingdom) as a beast: because it destroys and devours everything — especially the souls of those it conquers.  This has ever been the pattern with man, and a casual look at the world around us today confirms that nothing has changed: it is still the pattern of history.  Once again, we will find confirmation of this understanding in the book of Daniel.  This time, in the story about Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue.  When the People heard the music, they were all supposed to turn toward the statue and bow down to worship it.  The statue represented the king, Nebuchadnezzar.  But three men refused.  Instead of kneeling, they stood tall.  This is because they knew the One True God is YHWH, and never any mere man.  True, they were thrown into the fire as a result of their defiance of that man, but the One True God saw them safely through that fire — because they trusted Him and not in things, other men or even themselves.

The key for you now, dear reader, is what you will do with this information…