What are some opinions about the difference between the four living beasts and the beast in bottomless pit?

Answer 1

Don't get them confused because they are not the same. ( The word translated as 'beasts' in the King James should actually be ' creatures' instead: see other translations]

The bottomless pit is the abyss [' abusso' ]:-

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Revelation 9

1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

Revelation 11

7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

Revelation 17

8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

Revelation 20

1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

The identity of the beast in the bottomless pit is straight forward: that is Satan.

However, the identity of the four beasts is not. They are referred to in both Revelation and Ezekiel:-

Revelation 4

6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

Ezekiel 1

5 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures.......10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

However, Revelation and Ezekiel list the 4 beasts differently.

Revelation:-

1st beast = Lion

2nd beast = Calf

3rd beast = Man

4th beast = Eagle

Ezekiel:-

1st beast = Man

2nd beast = Lion

3rd beast = Ox

4th beast = Eagle

There are different opinions of what these different creatures refer to.

Some say it refers to the tribes of Israel:-

Lion = Judah

Eagle = Dan

Ox = Ephraim

Man = Reuben

Some say they refer to the Gospels:-

Lion = Matthew

Eagle = John

Ox = Mark

Man = Luke

Some say it refers to the ensigns of the tribal blocs around the Tabernacle:-

Lion = East

Eagle = North

Ox = West

Man = South

Read the entire 1st chapter of Ezekiel and make up your own mind: Ezekiel had no idea, and your opinion is as good as anyone else's!

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