Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Jan. 30, 1998
Update	: Jul. 14, 2025
Parts	: 05

Synopsis:



Within eschatological circles, there exists a wide range of interpretations concerning the identity of the political and military leader in the Book of Revelation who is known as the Beast; the false religious system which embraces the politics of the Beast which is symbolized by Babylon the Great; and the deceptive religious leader who heads that false religion, and who is known as the False Prophet. As I amply explain in other BBB articles, after many years, and considerable Biblical study and online historical research -- which included reading the works of such historians as Flavius Josephus, Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Suetonius and a few others, I finally arrived at the conclusion that the government of the Beast was in fact the Roman Empire, with its various leaders, including Nero, Vespasian and Titus.

In similar fashion, after much Biblical research, I came to also realize that the false religion that is symbolized by Babylon the Great was none other than Judaism, which found its very heart in Jerusalem, and more specifically, in the temple which 2,000 years ago stood on the Temple Mount in what is now known as East Jerusalem. According to the Book of Revelation, the religious whore rode upon the political Beast and committed spiritual fornication with it. This is exactly what we see, even in the Gospels, where the Jewish religious leaders were in a rather delicate relationship with Rome.

In fact, as you may possibly already know, each of the seven kings in the Herod dynasty was chosen by Rome. That actually began with Herod the Great himself, who was appointed by the Roman Senate. Furthermore, Herod would then appoint the high priest in the temple. Thus, as you can see, Babylon was in fact riding the political Beast of Rome. That is, until Rome turned on her, hated her, and burned her with fire, during the First Jewish-Roman War of 66 AD to 73 AD. You will find this subject amply discussed in my 25-part series entitled "Vespasian, Titus and the Fall of Jerusalem". For now, take a look at the following verses which describe Babylon the Great's destruction by the hand of the Beast and his allies:

"And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast . . . And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."


The only individual of whom I am not certain at this current time is the actual identity of the False Prophet. While I do have a few ideas regarding who it may possibly have been, I will refrain from saying anything concrete until such time when I am more certain about this. Perhaps with time, I will eventually acquire more clarity, Lord willing. At any rate, regarding Babylon the Great riding the Beast, consider the following group of Bible verses:

"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."


Thus we see God's once-faithful bride prostituting herself with the merchants and the political leaders of the Roman world, until she is finally destroyed by the same. Turning to the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John describes the political Beast in the following manner:

"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. 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. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast."


In the very same chapter, the religious False Prophet who works in conjunction with the political Beast -- that is to say, Rome -- is symbolized by a second beast which rises up out of the Earth. In a sense, we might say that this False Prophet acted as the Beast's spokesman and propaganda agent, being as he even ordered that a great image be made of the Beast, and that the image be worshipped, with the threat of death to those people who refused to do so. Whether or not this was an actual physical image -- such as the one that Emperor Caligula tried to have place in the temple in Jerusalem -- I am not sure. It seems very literal in the following group of Bible verses:

"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."


In the previous chapter of the Book of Revelation, we also discover that the "dragon" which gives this great power to the Beast and to the False Prophet is none other than Satan himself, as we can determine by the following verse:

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."


As I mentioned earlier, and as I more amply explain in my 12-part series entitled "Who is Babylon the Great?", I am convinced that First Century Jerusalem was the mysterious Babylon the Great which was destroyed by the Roman Beast and the ten leaders who were in league with the Beast. In other words, the Ten Horns. In fact, if you read my long series "Vespasian, Titus and the Fall of Jerusalem", you will discover that Vespasian and his son, Titus, organized an army of 60,000+ fighting men in Ptolemais, in the Roman province of Phoenicia, before they began their invasion of northern Israel, eventually arriving at Jerusalem in 70 AD.

To reiterate what I explain in "Who is Babylon the Great?", one of my strongest arguments for believing that Jerusalem was Babylon the Great is based upon the following verses which describe the identical sins of Jerusalem and Babylon:

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."


In the previous verses, Jesus was clearly stating that the blood of the Prophets was found in the streets of Jerusalem. This satanic attack against God's children culminated in the death of our Savior. However, the blood on the hands of the religious leadership of Jerusalem did not end there. As you may know, the Book of Acts clearly testifies that the wicked Sanhedrin continued to persecute and kill the followers of the young new Church. Such was clearly the case with dear martyr Stephen. We find his story in Acts chapter seven. In the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John describes the guilt of mysterious Babylon the Great in the exact same manner as that of Jerusalem's leadership. Consider the following verse as proof of this point:

"And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth."


Please understand that the Prophets who are mentioned in the previous verses are the Jewish Prophets of the Old Testament period who were mocked, persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and slain for daring to preach the Word of the Lord against the corrupt, religious and political leadership of their day. It was at their Jewish descendants that the Lord firmly pointed His accusatory finger when He boldly accused them of being "the children of them which killed the prophets". Therefore, considering Jesus' own words, which were later repeated by John, it makes a lot more sense to me that Jerusalem was the mysterious Babylon the Great, and NOT Rome as some people erroneously claim.

To be clear, we know that Rome was indeed responsible for the martyrdom of literally thousands of the Lord's children during the First Century. This began with the crazy Emperor Nero, and continued on and off until Emperor Domitian. In fact, to this day, beneath the streets of modern Rome can be found rows upon rows of the sepulchres of the Saints. While this is indeed compelling evidence, the fact still remains that both Jesus and John were referring to the Old Testament Prophets who were murdered by their Jewish brethren. At the time these Prophets were slain, Rome had not even become a dominant power yet. It would be preceded by the empires of Assyria, Babylonia, Medo-Persia and Greece.

While some Christians are quick to recognize the blatant sins and shortcomings of the Roman Catholic church -- indeed, they are many -- and so point to the RCC as being Babylon, in my view, they fail on several points. First of all, contrary to modern Futurist doctrine, I am rather convinced that the Book of Revelation is in many regards fulfilled prophecy, and that it pertains to events of the distant past. Second, I believe that said Christians fail to recognize that Judaism is even more of a false religion than the RCC. Why so? Because while the Jews have rejected the Savior for the most part, yet they still have the audacity to claim to be the chosen people of God. This, in my view, is an even greater deception than Roman Catholicism.

In a sense, even though it will obviously offend some people, we might say that Judaism is a half-baked religion. Why do I say this? Well, because while the Jews accept the promises of a coming Messiah in the Old Testament, most of them fully rejected the fulfillment of those very same promises in the New Testament. They wanted a political and military messiah who would liberate them from Roman occupation. Instead, they got a Messiah who wanted to free them from sin and death and save their souls. Thus, to this very day, the Orthodox Jews still wait for their Mashiach ben David, as I explain in the series "Who is Mashiach ben David?". At any rate, Because of this and other factors I have already explained, I maintain that Jerusalem still best fits the description of Babylon the Great in the Book of Revelation.

Now, for those people who suggest that the ancient metropolis of Babylon may have been the Babylon the Great being referred to by the Apostle John, let me point out that this thought is also inaccurate, simply due to the fact that the Babylonians did not kill the Prophets of old. In fact, as is verified by the example of Jeremiah, the Prophets were treated with honor and favor by the Babylonians, due to the fact that not only did they not resist the occupation, but they also encouraged the Jewish leadership and people to humbly surrender to the overwhelming forces of King Nebuchadnezzar, and to accept it as a divine chastisement from the Lord. As I point out in a few other articles, it was because of this unpopular message that Jeremiah was thrown in prison on more than one occasion by his own Jewish brethren after being accused of being a traitor and a spy. Consider the following verses as evidence of this point:

"Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison . . . Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison."


"Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire."


As can be seen by the previous group of verses, even though King Zedekiah freed Jeremiah after his first imprisonment, in the very next chapter, he allowed the Prophet's enemies to cast him into prison a second time. But the reason why cowardly King Zedekiah did this, is because he feared his own people, similar to how many political leaders today will likewise man-please the public in order to remain in office. In this case, it appears that Zedekiah was afraid that the Jews would turn him over to the Babylonians. Consider the following verses:

"Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you . . . And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me."


Thanks to Jeremiah's friend Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, King Zedekiah again consented to permitting God's Prophet to be pulled out of the miry dungeon. However, Jeremiah still had to remain in the court of the prison, as we see by the following group of Bible verses:

"Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin; Ebedmelech went forth out of the king's house, and spake to the king, saying, My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city. Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die. So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison . . . So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken."


Once the Babylonian's siege against Jerusalem had finally been completed, Jeremiah was liberated from prison. However, I want you to notice that it was not done by his own Jewish brethren. Rather, it was done by the Babylonians themselves under direct orders of King Nebuchadnezzar. Furthermore, not only was Jeremiah freed, but he was given a financial reward and permitted to go wherever he chose, as we can determine by the following group of Bible verses:

"Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee. So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushasban, Rabsaris, and Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon's princes; Even they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and committed him unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he dwelt among the people."


"And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee: whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go. Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people: or go wheresoever it seemeth convenient unto thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go."


So as you can see, Jeremiah the Prophet wasn't treated badly by the Babylonians. It was his own people who were cruel to him. There are other Old Testament examples where we see the same thing occurring with God's Prophets. For example, in the case of the Prophet Daniel, he served in the court of a number of Babylonian and Medo-Persian kings, as I mention in the series entitled "Seventy Weeks Prophecy: What It Means". So again, it was Jerusalem herself, and the self-righteous religious leaders there who persecuted and killed the Lord's Prophets. Thus indeed, the blood of the Prophets was on their hands, as was the blood of Jesus as well. As we read in the Book of Proverbs and in other Books as well, God hates those who shed the blood of the innocent:

"When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children."


"These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,"


"Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood."


"For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. . . . Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths."


"Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place . . . But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it."


"Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land."


Returning to the subject of endeavoring to identity some of figures who are mentioned in Bible prophecy, as can be seen, trying to properly interpret Bible prophecy is not such an easy task. Even though we have the same Scriptures available to us, and a wide variety of historical sources to refer to, eschatologists have still found it difficult to arrive at a common interpretation of the ancient prophecies. The best thing that we can all do is to remain open to the Lord's Spirit. As the Lord reveals more to us, we should be willing to update our beliefs so that they reflect any new points in our understanding. The Lord may reveal new things to us through additional study of the Scriptures, through more historical research, and possibly by comparing notes with other mature Christians.

In short, as I point out in articles such as the following, we need to remain humble in our attitude, and we also need to exercise a certain level of flexibility and openness as well. We cannot become overly rigid, dogmatic or legalistic as we seek to discover the truth of God's Word. We need to remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading:

Are You Flexible?

Humility in Our Understanding of God's Word

My Evolving Theology

Understanding the Bible in Context

In trying to pinpoint the identities of these figures, such as the beasts we find mentioned in the Books of Revelation and Daniel, for example, it is imperative that we invest time in delving into ancient history. As I have mentioned a number of times before, unless we do this, we will never understand Bible prophecy correctly or completely, because prophecy is directly tied to ancient history. In fact, I have learned through my own personal experience that Bible prophecy and ancient history fit together like a hand in a glove. I have long believed that God wants us to know and understand what the prophecies are about. As such, I believe that He has in fact left us historical hints in certain places, so that we can properly decipher His Word.

So by identifying these hints or historical markers, we can in fact learn more about these beasts, and hopefully discover the early roots of their rise to power. However, as I already said, this is not as easy as you may think. Another reason why this is so is because in the Scriptures, the different rulers of the ancient world were symbolically described in a variety of ways. God may refer to them as beasts, dragons, trees, different kinds of animals, horns, toes, mountains and heads. Furthermore, these different descriptive words are applied to many different leaders of the ancient world. In other words, there is more than one toe, more than one beast, more than one horn, etc. So you need to keep this point in mind as we continue our study so that you do not become confused.

Without a doubt, one of the best places to begin our search is in the prophetic Book of Daniel. In the verses below, we learn that Daniel was numbered amongst the Jewish children who were carried off to Babylon when King Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem in the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah. This occurred about twenty years before the final fall of Jerusalem in about 587 BC. In other words Daniel was taken to Babylon around 606 BC. This appears to agree with the historical record regarding the ancient kings and empires:

"In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes; Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego."


Soon after being appointed to the court of the Babylonian king, the young child Daniel proved himself to be a gifted interpreter of dreams and visions. In the second year of his reign, King Nebuchadnezzar was troubled by a dream which he was unable to remember, as we see by the following verses which are found in Daniel chapter two:

"And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation. The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof."


Oh wow! It is one thing to interpret a dream; but doing it without even knowing what the dream was, who can possibly do that? It looks like those Chaldeans were in some very major trouble with Nebuchadnezzar. However, as we Christians know, this was God's setup, and He already had a plan in the works. Thus, when all seemed lost, God provided Daniel with not only the forgotten dream, but also with the interpretation of the same. And so, Daniel was given a great opportunity to glorify God before Nebuchadnezzar for the wonderful gift he has been given. Consider the following two Bible verses:

"Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;"


After making sure that Nebuchadnezzar understands that this miracle of interpretation is a gift of God and not something which he himself has produced, Daniel then carefully proceeds to interpret the night vision for the king. In part he says:

"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay . . . Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold."


Please go to part two for the continuation of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

---

---

Please avail yourself of other areas of the Bill's Bible Basics website. There are many treasures for you to discover.