We are told that the leopard represents a nation. The description we are given of this nation is that it has four heads and four wings, and was given the authority to rule.
This leopard nation is the most difficult identity to determine. There is no nation on the earth that uses the leopard as their national symbol, as Russia does with the bear, Great Britain does with the lion, and the United States does with the eagle.
So, back we go to Sherlock Holmes.
The bible mentions the leopard only six times. The bible notices its: fierceness (Isa. 11:6,7: The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. [ there are comparisons being drawn here, between fierce, savage creatures and tame, weak ones. {wolf, leopard, lion, bear, cobra, and viper versus a lamb, goat, calf, cow, infant and child}]), its watching for its prey (Jer. 5:6: Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns
to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many. [it says that the lion will attack, the wolf will ravage, and the leopard will… what? WAIT and WATCH]), its swiftness (Hab. 1:8:Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk.), and the spots of its skin (Jer. 13:23: Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?).
Four qualities of the leopard: Fierceness, Watchful, Quick, and Spotted.
Is Germany all of these? Yep.
I don't have to do a study to prove Germany is fierce. Just look at WW1. Just look at WW2. The Germans have committed some of the worst atrocities this world has ever seen. Can you say Holocaust? - Fierce.
Watchful - Remember "Big Brother is Watching"?
Quick - Remember the Blitzkrieg? The dictionary calls blitzkrieg: A swift, sudden military offensive, usually by combined air and mobile land forces.
Grolier's Encyclopedia: Blitzkrieg (German: "lightning war") is a method of fast-moving, air-and-land warfare first used extensively during World War II.
The German Blitzkrieg were lightning-fast air strikes.
Spotted - Germany has been a unified nation only relatively recently; it was united in 1871 by Bismarck. When you consider that the United States is a relatively new country, and it was formed in 1776 (100 years before Germany), you can see just how new Germany really is.
Grolier's Encyclopedia: "When the Romans first attempted to conquer the German lands late in the 1st century BC, they found them inhabited by a variety of GERMANIC PEOPLES, comprising perhaps 4 million individuals. Exact knowledge of their origins is lacking, but it seems likely that these tribes migrated from Scandinavia and the territory between the Elbe and Oder rivers between 1000 and 100 BC, displacing the CELTS as they did so."
"For nearly 2,000 years, German history has been marked by two major features. First, important political, social, and religious differences have divided Germany. Even after the country's belated political unification in 1871, these divisions raised questions about whether Germany can be thought of as a single entity."
Germany has mostly been composed of a large number of Tribes. I would ask you to look at them as… spots. A nation composed of many different groups - and according to the encyclopedia, even now there are so many differences that it is still difficult to see Germany as a single entity.
The most distinguishing characteristic of a leopard is its spots. Could we see Germany as a "spotted" nation. Sure, not in just one way, but two others, as well.
When attempting to look up information on different nations during the course of this study, I have stumbled across references to Germany's Leopard Tanks, just about everywhere I go - even before I began researching Germany, I had seen this.
The Leopard tank was developed in Germany in the 1960s. The first production Leopard was built in 1965. Low maintenance was a major factor in its design. The tank is supported on seven sets of main road wheels per track, the idler is at the front and the drive-sprocket is at the rear. Suspension is by torsion-bars which pass across the hull. With preparation, the Leopard has deep-fording capabilities. It can be sealed for nuclear and biological warfare. There are four series of the basic battle tank, A1 to A4. The A4 gained a new turret with spaced armour.
Leopards have been sold to at least the following countries: Australia, where they replaced Centurions from 1978, Belgium, Canada, Greece, Italy, Netherlands and Norway.
Germany is very well-known for its Leopard Tank.
And the third link I have found connecting leopards to Germany is in the dictionary:
Leopard:
a. A large, ferocious cat (Panthera pardus) of Africa and southern Asia, having either tawny fur with dark rosettelike markings or black fur.
b. Any of several felines, such as the cheetah or the snow leopard.
c. The pelt or fur of this animal.
1. Heraldry. A lion in side view, having one forepaw raised and the head facing the observer.
Interesting, that a specific type of lion in heraldry, is called a leopard.
This description is depicted thus:
These are all called leopards.
They were used as symbols by the German SS:
"With the increasing number of foreign volunteers Himmler did not want those not racially qualified for full SS membership to wear the SS runes on their right collar patch. The need for another form of insignia arose. This gave rise to numerous new designs (many of which were never issued) and it was later allowed for German officers serving with foreign units their choice of wearing the new collar patch but to wear the SS runes in the form of a metal badge which was worn on the left breast pocket."
So I can link Germany to the Leopard three different ways. What about the other descriptions; the authority to rule that was given it, the 4 heads it had, and the wings?
Given the extent of the two World Wars, there can be no doubt that Germany has been given the authority to rule.
That leaves the 4 wings and 4 heads.
The four wings - why does this nation have four wings? What are wings for? Flying. And every bird on earth is quite capable with just two. So why does the leopard have four?
A complete creature would have one set of wings: two. So this looks like two different creatures here.
Does it make sense to represent Germany as two creatures? Sure it does. Until very recently, Germany was divided into two parts: East and West Germany, divided by the Iron Curtain.
Ok, what about the four heads? We've already seen that the use of heads in prophecy is used to represent either a nation or the rulers of that nation.
Can Germany be represented by saying that it has four rulers? Yep. Germany has been ruled by four nations: United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. Originally, these were four separate areas, but the USA, UK, and French territories were consolidated, creating West Germany - while the Soviet territory became East Germany.
The Leopard is as if it were 2 creatures, with four heads.
Germany was in two parts, with four rulers.
This is strong circumstantial evidence (thank you, Mr. Holmes) that the Leopard is Germany.
Ok, for those who are interested, let me explain the correlation between the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, and all the other descriptions we've seen of this World Government System that looks so much like Satan.
I said earlier, that all of these beasts are the same creature. They are. I said the statue is also the same as these beasts. It is.
Then you may ask, if the Statue represents Nebuchadnezzar, the Persian empire, Greece, and Rome, why don't the four beasts of Daniel (the lion, bear, and leopard) also represent these same nations?
We know the head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar, or Babylon, which is present day Iraq. The bible says so.
After Nebuchadnezzar died, the bible said another nation would rise up and take over Babylon. History tells us this was the Persian Empire, which is modern day Iran.
The bible says that a third nation would rule Babylon after the Silver Empire, and we know this was Alexander the Great and his Greek Empire, which is modern day Greece.
And the last empire to rule the Babylonian region was Rome, the iron-legged nation.
So, with the four beasts of Daniel (lion, bear, leopard), shouldn't the lion be Babylon, the bear be Persia, and the leopard be Greece?
I could not find any evidence that this is so. I was able to find a tenuous link for Babylon and the symbol of a lion: one of the Babylonian Goddesses used a lion as a symbol.
I could find absolutely no evidence linking Persia to a bear, or Greece to a leopard.
The more I tried, the more I saw that these were two different groups of nations.
But I had said the vision of the statue and the vision of the 4 beasts were one and the same. And it really appeared that they were! So what was the connection I was missing?
After the Roman empire, Christ (the rock made without hands [symbolizing that he was not born of a man, but of God]) was supposed to come and set up his kingdom.
Wait a minute… !
All of a sudden, it hit me.
The vision of the statue had a slightly different meaning than that of the four beasts.
The visions do represent two different groups of nations.
Look at the timeline of the statue:
Nebuchadnezzar begins his rule: 605 BC
Persia conquers Babylon: 539 BC
Greek empire comes to power: 331 BC
Rome conquers the region: 168 BC
It follows that if Jesus is going to come and set up his kingdom after the Roman Empire comes to power, that he would have done it shortly after 168 BC - Not 2,200 years in the future!
There were 66 years between Nebbie and Persia.
There were 208 years between Persia and Greece.
There were 137 years between Greece and Rome.
That is an average of 137 years between each change.
Each succession of government followed a logical pattern of years. It doesn't make sense that they would all occur within about 150 years of each other, but the final step (the rock that destroys these nations - Jesus coming to set up his kingdom) should not take place for such a very long period of time - over 2,200 years!
And it didn't take place 2,200 years later! It happened only about 164 years after the Roman Empire!
You say, "Jesus didn't come back to earth to set up his kingdom… that won't happen until our future. Jesus wasn't even born yet!".
Oh, but you're wrong! Jesus did come to earth and set up his kingdom!
He was… BORN!
He came!
He came to earth and set up his kingdom. Not an earthly kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom!
You see, the Jews of the time did not accept Jesus as the Messiah, because they believed that the Messiah would be one who would become the King of Israel, and remove the Romans through military might. They saw that Jesus was not a politician or a soldier, and so dismissed his claim to Messiah.
They got this from Isaiah 9:6,7: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."
They thought he would be an actual King. That is why King Herod sought to kill him as a baby - he did not want to be deposed from his position as King by Jesus.
When Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes, the people were so enamored of him, realizing him to be the Messiah (and wrongly thinking that the Messiah would be an earthly king who would rid them of the Romans), forcibly tried to take him then and there and swear him in as king.
John 6:14: After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
Even when Jesus entered Jerusalem for the Passover, shortly before he was to be crucified, the people still thought of him as a coming king:
Mark 11:9,10: Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" 10 "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!"
They thought their promised Kingdom of Peace was on its way. They didn't understand that Jesus had come to set up a spiritual kingdom, not an earthly one.
John 18:36, 37: Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." 37 "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
You see, Jesus confirms that he is a king, but that his kingdom is not of this world. He will not use his title of King until he returns for his church, in our future. He says now his kingdom is from another place. That means that at another time, his kingdom will be of this place, this earth.
So we see that Jesus did come and set up his kingdom - a spiritual kingdom, and that it lines right up with the timeline of Nebuchadnezzar's statue. That was a prophecy of Jesus' birth, and the forming of his kingdom.
That is why Daniel was given the vision twice - because it was going to happen two times!
It would happen once as a shadow, a foretaste, a pattern. Then it would happen for real. Just as many things in the Old Testament were shadows and patterns of things to come (Noah was saved by water: this was an example of baptism. The Israelites were saved by water, at the Red Sea: This was a shadow of the baptism to come.) so was this vision of the statue an example of something that was to come.
The statue spoke of nations in the era of Daniel and shortly thereafter, leading up to the birth of Jesus.
The next vision of the four beasts was not the shadow, or the pattern, but the real thing. Since the real thing (The return of Christ for his church) will happen in the future, God again gives Daniel a list of nations that will be around just prior to Christ's return - the setting up of that spiritual kingdom on earth.
You see, Jews and many others will be completely fooled by the AntiChrist when he appears, because the Jews are looking for a Messiah