One of the signs that Moses used to prophesy the defeat of Pharaoh was to turn his rod into a nachash. When Moses picks it up, it is just a dead stick. (Ex 4:2-4) When Moses throws the serpent down before Pharaoh and his court, it becomes a tanin (Ex 7:10). These are equivalent expressions. Land/sea.
The world powers are offshoots of the dragon typified by Pharaoh. Understanding the relationship of the beasts to the dragon in Revelation depends upon knowing how this monster mash works.
Ezekiel’s preoccupation with Egypt during the impending Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem points to Egypt as the “father” of the succeeding world kingdoms, each of which sought to become Divine, a never-ending power. It links the sea-dragon to the image of the beast in Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, and his successive world kingdoms.
The kingdom of Egypt is not represented in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream because his image is that of the “beast,” but not what gave it “power,” the dragon of Pharaoh/Egypt. Abaddon. Death. The power of the serpent is to make something that is dead appear to be alive. “You will not surely die...” Likewise, the beast will appear to be healed of a fatal wound in Revelation. He is full of blasphemies, attributing resurrection power to himself instead of only Him to Whom resurrection belongs, YHVH.
"And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea…" (Re 13:1)
The “sand of the seashore” refers to the descendants of Abraham. The dragon is the tanin, or Pharaoh, a father-monster to the beast-kingdoms that succeed him. He is king of Egypt, avdah, which is like Abaddon, death. His power and authority is given to beast-kingdoms to establish their thrones, mimicking Yeshua’s power and authority to distribute thrones:
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He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father… (Re 2:26-27)
As an example of how the beast symbolizes people, Nebuchadnezzar, because of his pride, was driven mad and his mind changed into a beast of the field. This is how the dragon spawns his proud beast-kingdoms:
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Yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground, but with a band of iron and bronze around it in the new grass of the field; and let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him share with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let a beast’s mind be given to him, and let seven periods of time pass over him... (Da 4:15-16)
Although “drenched with the dew of heaven,” which symbolically is the Word of resurrection (Is 26:19) and the opening words of the Song of Moses, the king’s mind is changed to a beast’s. His pride anchors him in the here and now kingdom. In spite of his belief in the resurrection, he believes his will and kingdom are immortal, which is his inheritance from his dragon-father. Like Pharaoh’s magicians, he deceives people into thinking he’s been resurrected from the dead. If they don’t understand the prophetic deception of the nachash/tanin of Pharaoh because they don’t believe Moses, they will fall prey to the deception. They believe their proud, dead choices will live forever.
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And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” (Re 13:2-4)
Yeshua assures those who keep his deeds and testimony: “...I will give him the morning star.” It was the proud beast, the King of Babylon, who proclaimed himself the morning star who would ascend above the stars, the children of Abraham (Is 14:12-14). Only true offspring of Abraham have the testimony of Yeshua and the commandments of Adonai, and their truth threatens to destroy the beast’s deceptions and thrones. They testify to the authentic Son of David, the Morning Star (2 Pe 1:19; Re 2:28; 22:16). They do not fear the second resurrection, which is to judgment.
King Nebuchadnezzar II’s dream was of Four Kingdoms:
Golden Head - Babylon
Silver arms – Persia/Medea
Bronze abdomen – Greece
Iron legs – Rome
Rome is thought to be Edom, “The Red One.” Its kingdom extends into the clay and iron feet and toes. “Mingled” but not “married” iron and clay feet and toes are the final two systems derived from The Red One’s two iron legs. (Daniel 2) Those systems may be traced from the Roman Empire to the Holy Roman Empire, which has spawned and slithered its way into tens of thousands, probably more, of religious, governmental, military, political, educational, health, and media systems. Any system that can attract large numbers of people to stick to its liar fathers’ scales is susceptible. Often those systems will try to destroy or swallow up even one another, a very beast-like behavior driven by the animal urge to be the dominant ruler. The dragon is the father of them all:
"Nothing on earth is like him [Leviathan], one made without fear. He looks on everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride.” (Job 41:33–34)
The serpent was a liar from the beginning. The enmity between the “seed” of the serpent and the seed of the woman is understood by seeing the dragon as a “baby-snatcher.” He waits for the children of the woman to be born, then devours them within his kingdoms: governmental, political, military, health, religious, educational...all interconnected so that they “deceive the whole world.” The children whose names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life navigate the waters of these systems, but not without tribulation. They spend their lives learning to be in the world, but not “of” the dragon’s world of beasts. They spend their lives breaking away from the serpent’s scales, learning to see the dragon and the beast as dead things giving the illusion of life. They learn to come out from among mad King Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian image of the beast and its many successors that swarm, slither, and swim through the world.
The red dragon takes the place of the midwives, waiting to kill the male child, the prophesied Moshiah (savior), which tradition says that even Pharaoh’s sorcerers knew would be born. In our Torah portion it was Moshe. In the Gospels, it was Yeshua.
Having failed with the righteous midwives in Egypt, and having failed in Bethlehem, the dragon of the Nile decides to make war on virtuous Israel’s offspring, the children who have the commandments of God through Moses and the testimony of Yeshua.
While Jacob adopted Ephraim and Menashe, the serpent “adopts” his own children, becoming their father. He gives them thrones, and each new kingdom is just another like the one before to imprison the children of the virtuous woman. Ultimately, like Pharaoh, he tries to devour even his Egyptian (worldwide) children by throwing them into the flood. The earth in Revelation helps the virtuous woman by swallowing the flood. Her children with the testimony of Yeshua and the commandments of God have to do battle. And the testimony is drenched with the dew of Heaven, the resurrection song of Moses:
- Let my teaching drop as the rain,
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My speech distill as the dew,
- As the droplets on the fresh grass
- And as the showers on the herb. (Dt 32:2)
The Midrash says that in the Messianic kingdom, the Mashiach will cause the giant sea-monster created on the 5th Day (Leviathan) and the behemah (a beast, giant ox) created on the 6th Day, to destroy one another [Leviticus Rabbah 13:3]. Adonai will make a sukkah to shelter the righteous with Leviathan’s skin [Bava Batra 75a], and the remainder of the skin will stretch over Zion as a canopy. Under these canopies, the righteous will eat the meat of Leviathan and the behemah with great joy.
How do we interpret this midrashic teaching tool? In the end, Messiah Yeshua will defeat both of them, perhaps by causing them to turn on one another and devour one another. We can see this even today. Strange alliances are made and destroyed quickly. The Red One, the beast, is trying to devour righteousness, but at the same time, he’s also destroying his own who are stuck to the scales of the red dragon.
Keep the testimony of Yeshua and the commandments of God. Now more than ever.
Join us tomorrow at APPROXIMATELY 1:00 pm Eastern on the YouTube livestream for a more detailed discussion of the Red Monster Mash. We'd like to say that it will be available later as a recording, but we are not confident that YouTube will leave it up. This will be part of our congregational service, so this is an estimate of the time the teaching will begin.
