I’ve touched on this statue a few times on my social media accounts but eventually decided to do a post on the topic as it’s become a hot topic of discussion amongst those of us who keep up with current events related to bible prophecy. Many were quick to connect it to Revelation 13 as well as Daniel 7.
Although I see where people are coming from, I believe the conclusion we arrive at needs to be done carefully. Some sources went as far as to say the statue looks “exactly” like what we see in Revelation 13. Below are example headlines that highlighted this topic.
- Sculpture in front of visitors plaza of the UN Headquarters fits the description of what John saw in the Book of Revelation – End Time Headlines
- UN HEADQUARTERS: STATUE OF LION WITH WINGS AS DESCRIBED IN DANIEL’S DREAM ERECTED – Israel365News
- UN Sculpture Looks a Lot Like the End Times Beast Referred to in Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 – CBN News
Note the language used to compare the statue to what we read in scripture: “fits the description”, “as described in Daniel’s dream”, “looks a lot like”. In the End Time Headlines’ article, they stated that the statue “…eerily fits the description of exactly what John the Revelator describes in Revelation Chapter 13,” (End Time Headlines).
Before I continue, I think it’s important to clarify that I don’t have anything against these 3 sources. I’m simply using the headlines as examples to make my case. My purpose isn’t to attack them, I just personally disagree with their conclusions.
So the question that needs to be asked then is does this statue “exactly” fit what John details to us in Revelation 13? The statue itself is a fusion between a jaguar and an eagle. In Revelation 13:2 (which is often the only verse from Revelation 13 that’s referenced) we see that the beast from the sea is like a leopard.
Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. (Revelation 13:2)
When I first started talking about this statue, I originally counted the jaguar part of the statue as matching what was said of the beast being like a “leopard”, but even that isn’t a match. These are distinct animals. Some may say that I’m being nitpicky in my analysis here, but if the bible is clear about the specific details it’s given us are we simply going to be content with saying, “close enough”?
When we continue reading we see the beast from the sea also has feet like a bear and a mouth like a lion. Notice that there’s also no mention of this beast having eagle’s wings in Revelation 13. So as we read through Revelation 13:2, we actually discover that there’s 0 points of similarity, but this isn’t where it ends. I’ve noticed that some don’t include Revelation 13:1 despite it being a part of the context.
It’s important to note that when John starts verse 2 with “Now the beast which I saw…” he’s continuing off of verse 1 where he’s first introduced to this beast and that verse gives more characteristics.
Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. (Revelation 13:1)
When we read verse 1 we see 4 more physical characteristics of this beast bringing the total to 7 characteristics listed to us! And remember, thus far out of all 7 of these we’ve seen 0 points of actual similarity.
- 7 heads
- 10 horns
- 10 crowns on the 10 horns
- Blasphemous name on his heads
- Like a leopard
- Feet like the feet of a bear
- Mouth like the mouth of a lion
Some also reference the beasts in Daniel 7, but I see several problems with that reference as well. The first being the descriptions given to us concerning these beasts – they don’t match either. The first beast has wings like an eagle’s but the actual animal itself is a lion (Daniel 7:4). Likewise, the third beast is a leopard and also has wings but these are regarded as the wings of a bird and doesn’t specify the wings as eagle’s wings. This third beast also has 4 heads and 4 wings (Daniel 7:6).
The second problem I see is that even if you wanted to set aside the differences and go to Daniel 7 to make the case that the statue is what’s being described and therefore, ultimately points to the Antichrist kingdom, you’d have to ignore the fact that the two beasts (in context) represent Babylon (first beast) and Greece (third beast) respectively. And we can cross reference this with Nebuchadnezzar’s statue in Daniel 2.
I go over this in-depth in my article, The Coming one World Government. So it’d be strange to me why one would reference either of those beasts. What you’d actually want to focus on would be the fourth beast which is what actually relates to the last day’s Antichrist kingdom. Revelation 13 later just builds upon this beast/last day’s kingdom continuing the imagery of the 10 horns and adding onto the details.
But again, even the characteristics of the fourth beast don’t match what we see from the statue. We’re just told it has 10 horns and huge iron teeth. Nothing here about a jaguar or eagle’s wings.
With all that being said, is the statue very strange? For sure. Is the UN an organization that we need to keep our eyes on? I believe so. But does this statue correlate to what is actually written in Revelation 13 and Daniel 7? Based on everything we just looked at, hardly. My purpose in writing this article was to mainly focus on the statement that the statue “exactly” fits or looks very much like what scripture is talking about. We saw that that wasn’t the case, at all.
Whether you agree or disagree with my analysis here I think we can all agree that we should do our due diligence to make sure we correctly interpret scripture. We clearly see that we are in the last’s days due to the convergence of signs around us, but as we watch and wait with excitement I encourage you to not let the events occurring around us cause us to misapply scripture.
Sources
- UN Sculpture Looks a Lot Like the End Times Beast Referred to in Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 (December 10th, 2021) – CBN News
- UN HEADQUARTERS: STATUE OF LION WITH WINGS AS DESCRIBED IN DANIEL’S DREAM ERECTED (December 9th, 2021) – Israel365News
- Sculpture in front of visitors plaza of the UN Headquarters fits the description of what John saw in the Book of Revelation (December 8th, 2021) – End Time Headlines
Why are you ignoring Daniel 7:4
The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
At first I was confused by your comment but realized what you meant. I did reference Daniel 7:4 through this sentence “The first beast has wings like an eagle’s but the actual animal itself is a bear” but realized I meant to write “lion” not bear. That was my mistake. I’ll make that change, thanks for pointing that out. As you continue in the article too, you’ll notice that I was still referencing that first beast in Daniel 7:4 as I later said, “…you’d have to ignore the fact that the two beasts (in context) represent Babylon (first beast) and Greece (third beast) respectively.” Hope this clarifies things. I can include the verse references to make things clearer for future readers. Thanks again!
Looking at the wider context of the Lion like beast – the connection to Bible Prophecy is unmistakable – even though the artists and sponsors of them pretend to be oblivious. Keep in mind that the UN is located at 666 United Nations Plaza, where there is another permanent statue of Biblical significance gifted to the UN by Russia – Michael the Archangel (Jesus Christ per the Bible) slaying the Dragon (that old serpent the Devil and Satan). The UN as an institution is (in the view of many) the feet and toes of Daniel 2. The 4 Kingdoms of Danile 2 correlate to the 4 beasts of Daniel 7 – of which this winged lion-like beast is one. https://revelationtimelinedecoded.com/the-beast-kingdoms-of-daniel-2-and-daniel-7/ And for course, the beast in Daniel corollate perfectly with beasts in Revelation. This is nothing new at all. See Commentaries by Sir Issac Newton on Daniel and Revelation. Also, there is a newish building called the Spire which is very similar to the typical images of the Tower of Bable, and the hanging gardens of Babylon. The greenery that spirals the building is/was planned to extent all the way across town to the UN. And then there are the evil statue of Baphomet and the satanic golden medusa. And these are only a few of the prominent exhibits of Evil on Manhattan. All of which are about something else – of course. But through the lens of the Bible, it could not be clearer that they all contribute to a greater context than is apparent to most people.