Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #4 of Revelation, chapter 13, and we are going to look at Revelation 13:2:

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

We had been looking in our last study at the “beast” that was said to have “seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns,” and he rose up out of the sea.  We saw that this is language to describe Satan’s ascension out of the bottomless pit at the beginning of the Great Tribulation period.  Upon his heads was the “name of blasphemy,” which meant that he would “speak evil” against the kingdom of God and against the Word of God, the doctrines of God and the people of God.

The crown was said to be upon his horns indicating Satan’s rule during the Great Tribulation period, but now our verse describes Satan differently in Revelation 13:2:

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

Now God is giving the imagery of dangerous animals – animals that are ferocious and that can destroy, like a lion or a bear or a leopard.  God is drawing these images from what we read in the Old Testament in the Book of Daniel.  It says in Daniel 7:1-3:

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.

I will stop here for a second.  Notice that these four great beasts come up from the sea.  In Revelation 13:1, the beast came out of the sea and this is not a coincidence; it is speaking of the same beast.  But now God is not using the picture of “seven heads and ten horns,” although we can read of “ten horns” later in Daniel 7 (but we are not going to get into that in this study).  Without any question, this is looking at the same “beast” at the same point of time, at the end of Satan’s binding for that thousand year period.  It is the timing of his loosing at the end of the church age and the beginning of the judgment on the churches during the Great Tribulation. 

Then it goes on to say in Daniel 7:4-6:

The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.

We have the very same three animals mentioned in Daniel 7 that are mentioned in Revelation 13:2.  They are a lion, a bear and a leopard.  These are all very vicious animals that devour their prey, so they are all types and pictures of Satan and his emissaries at the time of the end, the time when is utilizing Satan as an instrument of destruction to destroy the apostate New Testament churches.

First of all, it says in Daniel 7:4: “The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings.”  God is also typified as a “lion” and an “eagle.”  Remember the “woman” that fled into wilderness, in Revelation 12:14:

And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place…

Satan attempts to look like Christ.  He is an imposter.   Christ is also called “the lion of the tribe of Judah,” so Satan, therefore, is giving the appearance of a lion that had eagle’s wings; he is attempting to be like Christ and, yet, it says at the end of Daniel 7:4: “a man's heart was given to it.”  This is because Satan uses men as his emissaries to accomplish his purpose of destruction within the churches.  Because Satan is a spirit being, he needs to use men to work out certain things he wants to have done.  So that is the first image we see and we know that Satan is typified as a “lion” in 1Peter 5:8:

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

The second animal mentioned is a bear, in Daniel 7:5:

And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.

The bear had three ribs in his mouth and the number “three” points to purpose.  What about the ribs?  Remember that back in the beginning of this world, God placed Adam in a deep sleep and he took a “rib” out of his side to make the woman Eve, the mother of all living.  So the “ribs” point to mankind and Satan has in his mouth mankind, whom he seeks to devour, as a lion seeks “whom he may devour.”  So the bear, too, is devouring men.  It is only by the grace and mercy of God that any are delivered out of the mouth of the bear.

Let us look at a couple of verses where we can see Satan typified as a “bear.”  One is in Proverbs 28:15:

As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.

Satan is that wicked ruler.  He is also typified here as both a lion and a bear.  This idea is also picked up in 1Samuel, chapter 17.  Remember when David was trying to convince King Saul (who was favorable to David at that time) that he should be allowed to go fight against the giant Goliath.  Why should he be allowed to go?  It says in 1Samuel 17:33-36:

And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

Here, David is just a youth and he is going to fight the giant Goliath and the men of Israel’s army were frightened and dared not go to fight against the giant and, yet, this lad was going to go against him with just a “sling and a stone.”  By God’s amazing help, he does defeat the giant.  David is a type of Christ and Goliath is a picture of Satan.  In order to prove to Saul that he could do battle against the giant, David told Saul of a time when a lion and a bear came after a lamb of his flock and he slew both the lion and the bear.  It seems hard to believe and we might think it is a tall tale, but it is in the Bible, so we know it is true.  David proved it was true by killing Goliath, so he is a glorious picture of Christ defeating Satan.  Also, David was a shepherd, which typifies the “Good Shepherd” who protects His sheep.  That is what the Lord Jesus has done.  He slew the lion and He slew the bear; Christ defeated Satan at the cross and He protected the flock of God and He took the lamb out of the mouth of the lion.  He delivered the lamb.  Remember the bear had three ribs in his mouth and Christ has not spared all mankind, but He has spared His own people from being devoured by the lion and the bear.

So, the bear is the second animal and we can see how both the lion and the bear typify Satan.  The third animal mentioned is the leopard.  It says in Daniel 7:6:

After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.

The leopard is another figure of Satan and his forces.  I will read a few verses in Jeremiah and I will start with the first verse to set the context, where Jerusalem represents the corporate body, the New Testament churches.  It says in Jeremiah 5:1:

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

Here, God is saying, “Go through all the churches in the world in all the denominations (the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians, the Lutherans, the Catholics, the independent churches) and see if you can find a man that executes judgment and seeks the truth and I will pardon it.”  He is saying that if you can do this, He will not execute judgment on the churches.  He will not begin judgment on the house of God if you are able to find a “man.”  Now someone might say, “Oh, come on!  That cannot be difficult.  There are plenty of faithful men, at least more than one.  A single man could be found.”  Then they think of a pastor, or an elder, or some other good man in the congregation and they miss what God means by this: the “man” is Christ Jesus, who was in the midst of the church during the 1,955 years of the church age, from 33 AD until 1988.  Christ was in the midst during that time and He made it a “faithful city,” so you could find that “man” that executed judgment and sought truth – it was Christ.  Once the time came that God gave up the churches and the Holy Spirit came out of the midst, the “man” Christ Jesus departed and then you could not find a “man.”  It does not matter if you could have found an earthly man, like professed Christians or even the true believers.  Even a true believer cannot ward off the judgment of God.  A true believer cannot hold back the wrath of God.  All of our righteousnesses are as “filthy rags.”  We are not the “man” that God was looking for; it was Christ, but He has gone.  Therefore, God could not pardon the churches and according to the timeline of God’s schedule, judgment did begin at the house of God because there was “no man.”  That establishes that Jeremiah, chapter 5, is focused on the judgment on the churches.

Then it goes on to say in Jeremiah 5:4:

Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of JEHOVAH, nor the judgment of their God.

God says this several times in the Book of Jeremiah.  He also says it in Jeremiah 8:7:

Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of JEHOVAH.

This applies to Israel of old, Judah of old and to the New Testament churches.  The professed Christians know not the judgment of JEHOVAH.  They do not realize and they do not understand because they are not able to discern “time and judgment.”  They do not know that God’s wrath is on the congregations.  They were told, as God opened up these things at the time of the end and His people proclaimed it.  Yet, it seemed like “idle tales” to them.  They did not comprehend it.  They did not believe it, so they denied it and dismissed the judgment upon them and they continue on to this day as if all is well, but they are completely in ignorance concerning the fact that God has abandoned them.  They have been destroyed already. 

Then it says in Jeremiah 5:5-6:

I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of JEHOVAH, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

Now, here, it is a lion, a wolf and a leopard, but it is basically the same spiritual picture.  God is referring to His people that are under His judgment and this is also the case in Revelation 13 and in Daniel 7.  These animals destroy their prey; they pursue their prey; they hunt their prey.  The leopard will tear its prey in pieces and it is referring to those in the congregations as the prey and Satan is behind all this.  Concerning the leopard, we also read in Habakkuk 1:6-8:

For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

Here, the Babylonians (the Chaldeans) are likened to “evening wolves,” and notice that they “fly as the eagle.”  Remember, God uses that kind of language where the lion has eagle’s wings.  In Daniel 7:6, the leopard had “upon the back of it four wings of a fowl.”  God is tying the four beasts in Daniel, chapter 7, to Satan and his emissaries that will destroy the people of God.  This is what is being pictured in Revelation 13:2:

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion…

The “mouth” of Satan destroys because it is deceitful and full of lies.  And lies do not save; lies do not heal or help.  Lies destroy, especially when it comes to spiritual matters and this is what Revelation 13 focuses on regarding Satan, at the time of the end, when his lies will destroy the churches and the congregations.

Then it says at the end of Revelation 13:2:

… and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

The dragon gave the beast “power, and his seat, and great authority.”  That statement seems to give too much credit or ability to the dragon.  Was the dragon able to loose himself after being bound a thousand years?  Was it the dragon that had the key that opened the bottomless pit to let himself out so that all these terrible things could happen at the time of the end?   No – it was God’s doing.

When we get together in our next study, we will consider this.  Behind all of this is the hand of God.