What does the image of the beast mean?

Answer 1

Let's see... in Revelation chapter 13 it says he has seven heads and ten horns... he's like a leopard, with the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. I'm not sure it is literal though. I think it just represents "earthly kingdoms controlled by Satan," as it says in my chapter heading. Revelation describes at least three beasts. See the related question below.

Answer 2

The whole point of the book is that the beast which the boys fear is not a real creature at all. The beast is simply part of themselves. The beast is the inner darkness within which is capable of perpetrating acts of pure evil when the opportunity arises.

Answer 3

Simon believes that "the Beastie" is the evil inside of everyone. Alternative answer: To quote directly from the book... "However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick."

Answer 4

Answer:

The "image of the Beast" will be "an idol" for the nations under the coming one-world government to worship. The system will be a combined "church/state" not unlike the one King Nebuchadnezzar had in Daniel 3... and will be type of second replay of it.

The Beast will be an extension of the Babylonian system, and the resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire... after which much of modern professing Christianity is structured... as well as our modern governments.

Revelation 13:14 - "...image to the beast..."

"...The Roman church as a whole preserves in the spiritual sphere the spirit and much of the organization of the Roman Empire, so the administration of the curia carries on the tradition of the Roman government." (-Encyclopaedia Britannica - 11th Ed. art. "Roman Catholic Church)

This prophecy of modern idol worship seems incredible in today's society... but millions of sincere people within the Catholic church (and other religions) literally worship idols daily, and casually think it to be other than what it is.

The final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire is symbolized by "ten-toes" (kingdoms) loosely held together with a "clay-like" bonding agent:

"... and as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom (Beast) shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven SET UP A KINGDOM, which shall never be destroyed..." (Dan.2:42-44).

As the world is desperately thrust into a one-government system... panicky nations and people will turn to religion for a stab at "global unity." And when the Beast and the False Prophet (as God and his Christ) begin to win wars and "work miracles"... the nations will "believe" in them and come to see their resurrected government as "the kingdom of god on earth" - and worship them.

"...all the world wondered after the Beast. And they (the world) worshipped the Dragon (Satan - Rev.12:9) WHICH GAVE POWER UNTO THE BEAST: and they worshipped the Beast, saying, Who is like the Beast? Who is able to make war with him?" (Rev.13:3-4)

State worship - RELIGION - will be the "miry clay" that loosely and temporarily binds the Beast's "10-kingdom" government together, as state sovereignty disappears and ten royal European descendants assay to reestablish their authoritarian heritage in the restructuring of the "holy" empire.

The "image of the Beast" will be a focal point of unity for the nations to adore and worship the "invincible" Beast... as well as a continuous test of loyalty to the government just like Daniel 3:

"...To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time ye hear... all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image... and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace." (Dan.3:4-6)

The modern "image of the Beast," however will have both the advantage of the power of Satan... as well as the advances of modern technology to make it come alive:

"...he (the False Prophet) had power to give life into 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." (Rev.13:15)

People around the world flock after "bleeding and sweating" idols today. How might the world react when they see and hear the "image of the Beast" speaking and commanding?