SktheChoG | February 1, 2025
The Bible mentions a leopard several times, but most famously in Daniel 7 and Revelation 13. Daniel 7 is a prophecy that parallels a similar and well-known prophecy found in Daniel 2. The purpose of this article is not to provide a full exploration of the meaning of these two chapters, but for context here is a brief summary.
Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 give us two prophetic dreams had by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. The Jewish people, repeatedly unfaithful to the Covenant they entered into at Mount Sinai under Moses, have been conquered and removed from their land, the land that God had given them.
The surviving remnant are now living in Babylon, including Daniel, who is a member of King Nebuchadnezzar's Court. Daniel has been gifted by God to interpret dreams and he is asked to interpret Nebuchadnezzar's disturbing visions. Many scholars agree that both dreams are describing the same thing, just from differing perspectives. Here is a quick summary:
Daniel 2, Head of Gold; Daniel 7, Lion - both represent Babylon
Daniel 2, Chest and Arms of Silver; Daniel 7, Bear - both represent Medo-Persia
Daniel 2, Middle and Thighs of Bronze; Daniel 7, Leopard - both represent the Grecian Empire
Daniel 2, Legs of Iron; Daniel 7, non-descript Beast
Daniel 2, Feet of Iron and Clay; Daniel 7, non-descript Beast - the legs and feet together represent the Roman Empire, with the feet representing a second or 'revived' phase that will occur in the last days
It is this last days revived Roman Empire that is our focus right now. Again, I'm not going to get into the weeds of identifying this final Roman Empire, also known as Mystery Babylon. In terms of those who hold to a still-future fulfillment of this empire there are five or six major views, depending on how you look at it:
Mystery Babylon is literally in Babylon (Modern Day Iraq / Syria)
Revived Roman Empire - Western Europe
Revived Roman Empire - Eastern Leg Model, corresponding to an Islamic Empire
Revived Roman Empire - Eastern and Western Legs together
The Globe is Divided into 10 United Kingdoms to form a One World Government
We can save this debate for another time, right now we are looking specifically at the leopard. Revelation 13:2, describing this final prophetic empire, states:
And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth.
I have always taken this to mean that the final empire has characteristics of Babylon, Persia and Greece in terms of government, culture, spirituality, military, commerce, etc. This could denote geography as well - Syria, Iraq, Iran, Greece, Macedonia and Turkey.
But let's take a look at the other mentions of leopard in Scripture:
Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down;
a wolf from the desert shall devastate them.
A leopard is watching their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
their apostasies are great. - Jeremiah 5:6
Also Hosea 13:7:
So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
We have a leopard watching and lurking. The Hebrew word for lurk is sur, meaning to see, behold, observe, or regard (Strong's H7789). It can also be translated to lie in wait. Thus we have two texts associating the leopard with watching or looking. To lie in wait implies a hidden purpose or agenda. Could the leopard then, be an allusion to the fact that the final revived Roman Empire, whatever form it takes, will have the characteristics of a surveillance state? Interesting.
Continuing, Jeremiah 13:23 says:
Can the Ethiopian change his skin
or the leopard his spots?
The Prophet Jeremiah is asking a rhetorical question. The answer is clearly no, a leopard cannot change his spots. But what is a spot? A spot is basically a marking. Or a mark. So I looked up this Hebrew word and it derives from the root word chabair (Strong's H2266):
to unite, join, bind together, be joined, be coupled, be in league, heap up, have fellowship with, be compact, be a charmer
This is intriguing because when one accepts the Mark of the Beast they are joining and uniting with the Beast's political-economic-religious system. It is an act of loyalty to the Antichrist and his Kingdom. What is more, the root word chabair even carries with it the connotation of magick - it is translated as charming in Psalm 58:7:
Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
The Whore of Babylon, a final apostate religion that comes to power riding the political Beast, will seduce and deceive the world through her sorcery. The deceived earth dwellers, who love not the truth, will accept (and love) the great lie culminating in receiving the Mark of the Beast.
Conservative Bible Scholars agree that once one takes the Mark it is irrevocable. Once you opt in there is no going back. The Beast Collective will become a false Body of Christ at that point and will be completely reprobate - meaning they will no longer be able to repent and trust upon Christ for salvation. They will have ample opportunity before this but will reject the Lord over and over and over again.
The Mark of the Beast will likely contain a source code that will change human DNA to the point that recipients are no longer fully human. The result will be that such people are no longer eligible for salvation via Jesus' substitutionary sacrifice and atonement on the cross.
Just as a leopard cannot change his spots those who take the mark cannot change their eternal status.
With regard to the leopard, I would stop short of being dogmatic about this line of interpretation but there does seem to be enough here to go beyond coincidence.