Leopard, Bear and Lion

[bdh]

REV 13:2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.

What do these symbolize? Do they refer to people or nations or something completely different?

[DrRoi]

The thing about symbology is that there is always more than one layer of meaning. The popular view of this scripture is that these are nations, and that may well be true. There is a picture there; I just don’t know what it is yet because I have yet to research it. “Mouth like a lion” has a two fold meaning that I can see off hand. 1. Jesus is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” so this beast is pretending to be The Messiah. 2. “Satan goes around like a lion seeing what he can devour.” A lion is symbolic of a king. The Bible asks, “Can a leopard change its spots?” which seems to me that this “beast” can’t change his nature even if he wanted to. The best way to find out what the symbolic meanings of things are is to do a search of the words in question, see how they are used elsewhere, and in what context.

[bdh]

Based on Daniel 7, a number of people seem to think the following:

The Lion = Great Britain
The Bear = Russia
The Eagle = The United States
The Leopard = Germany (some say France)
Ten horned beast = 10 end time nations the antichrist will usurp

Some links that may help:
http://www.fastboot.com/united_states_bible.html
http://www.thekingiscoming.com/Tbs/2...ible_says.html
http://www.worthynews.com/news-featu...-prophecy.html

[Jan]

Have you noticed that the "animals" mentioned in Revelation are opposite of those mentioned in Daniel? Know why? <><

[bdh]

No, do you?

[Jan]

Originally posted by bdh
No, do you?

Ok...since my OP , I have been reading...oh oh! LOL

Daniel' beast are represented as a lion, a bear, a leopard and the 4th beast with 10 horns.

John's beasts are presented in reverse, that is, the sea-beast with 10 horns, the leopard, the bear and the lion.

They are seen in reverse order because John was looking back in time, while Daniel was looking forward in time. Note that John saw all of these in reverse except the ten-horned kingdom, which was yet in his furture <><

[bdh]

That is very interesting Jan. Must admit, Ihad not noticed but then again, I don't claim to be a scholar on Biblical prophecy

My guess is that they will have more than one meaning as DrRoi pointed out. Possibly meant different things at different times in history. What I'm interested in is what they symbolize in our time. Are they nations? Are they people?

[Jan]

Ah, soooo, we're gonna get technical??? LOL...j/k.....I'll be right back ya <><

[adventwatch]

[quote]Originally posted by bdh
Based on Daniel 7, a number of people seem to think the following:

The Lion = Great Britain
The Bear = Russia
The Eagle = The United States
The Leopard = Germany (some say France)
Ten horned beast = 10 end time nations the antichrist will usurp

Read the whole book of Daniel...
The Lion= the kindom of Babylon
The Bear=Medo-Persia
The Leopard= Grecia
The terrible beast with 10 horns= the Roman empire(which was broken up into 10 kingdoms).
The little horn that came up out of the remnants of the Roman empire= the papacy... Joseph(adventwatch@hotmail.com)

[MAC]

It takes allot of discipline to study, I my self don't no yet but I tend to look for a spiritual meaning with the church and with man

[recoveringpunker]

Here is a position I have read.

It is a believed to be a government. This view looks more at the characteristics of the government.

Leopard- Sneaky. Will attack its prey by suprose. Such as dropping out of tree onto its prey at night.

Lion- Will chase down its prey in daylight.

Feet of a Bear- Bears have non-retractable claws. It walks with its feet flat on the ground. A leopard walks on its toes. This is a possible symbol of a democratic government. Since a bear walks like people. Feet flat on the ground.
The part about bears not having retractable claws like a leopard or lion, is that this means the government will always have its "claws" out. Not ever playing nicely with people who do not obey thier laws or rules.

Also this beast starts in Verse 1. And it {the dragon} stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up from the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads were blaphemous names.

Now having ten horns and crowns, but only seven heads. I think that could be a colective government, such as the U.N. That means there has to be at least 3 heads with 3 horns and crowns. That could mean 3 bigger countries with more power or authority.

Now the dragon gives the beast power. The world worships the beast because they dragon gave it power. So we will see the "Dragon" give the "beast" authority. Also one head will have a head wound. Which later heals. So this is a head wound, not someting that looks like a head wound. Now a second beast comes, and is represented by a lamb that speaks like a dragon. This would be the anti-christ. Looks like Jesus, but acts like satan. So this first beast comes into play before the anti-christ. The first beast is the one that wages war on the saints. So we have a fight comming before the anti-christ.

Also, this beast has no mention of an eagle. That does or does not mean the US is or isn't involved.

[VISHNU]

Have ye not read Daniel? One thing I must put to rest now. The eagle is not the United States. The eagle stands for the old Pagan Roman Empire. Like us they used an eagle.

Sincerely,

[DrRoi]

The “beasts” in Daniel are born out in history as the Babylonian Empire, the Media Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, and the Roman Empire. Thank you Vishnu! The Eagle is NOT the U.S. The United States can not be proven in Scripture as it is not part of the Biblical world. Many have tried to put the U.S. into Biblical prophecy, The 7th Day Adventist for instance believed that the U.S. was the “Spiritual Israel” This of course was proven wrong in 1948. Beasts are a symbol for mankind in general, and nations as a whole. Our physical being is the Beast, as our Spiritual being is the Christ. Our minds are the symbolic Armageddon where the battle between the beast, and the Spirit do battle for dominion. Those who reject the Christ (the image of God) within are antichrist. The problem with trying to create scenarios from Biblical prophecy is that they are inevitably wrong.

[bdh]

Not trying to throw a spanner in the works here but if the Bible is prophetic then surely it can and does refer to the US (or any other nation for that matter) in the sense that it speaks of events which are still to take place? If an event is still to occur, can one say with any degree of certainty that this nation or that nation is not going to be involved?

Stated differently, whether America is the eagle or not, is it not a significant fact in itself that America is the only real super power in the world today? Throughout history God has used the super power of the day for some specific task. E.g. the Egyptians, Medes, Persians, Roman Empire etc. If you believe God is consistent, does it not follow that America will be [is] as significant player in the end times scenario?

[DrRoi]

I understand your point BDH, and if that is the case then the U.S. as well as Europe , or the West in general is the remnant of the Roman Empire.

There is also the other possibility that the U.S. will not be around as a super power when these things happen. We can not assume that America plays a part in the Last Days. I hope it does, but there is no true evidence to support the claim. There are many countries that have the eagle as their national emblem. Iraq for instance, Germany, Rome etc. Sometimes in the Bible the Eagle is mistranslated and the word Vulture should be used. This is all guessing on our part, and we won’t know until it happens as in all prophecy. The Eagle symbolically speaking is a picture of God, and it is possible that it is referring to a country predestined by God to play this role. Could it be America? Yes it could, but it is not necessarily inevitable