6.14 A Great Persecuting Power                                          

 

1. What is the first symbol of Revelation 13?
Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Note: as is evident from the study of the book of Daniel, a beast in prophecy represents some great earthly power or kingdom. A head represents a ruling power. Horns represent a number of kingdoms. Crowned heads or horns represent political dominions. Waters represent peoples, multitudes, and nations. (Revelation 17:15)

 

2. How is this beast further described?
Revelation 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Note: This beast had the characteristics of the three beasts of Daniel 7, the lion, the bear, and the leopard, which represented Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece, respectively. The fourth beast of Daniel 7 had ten horns and represented the Roman Empire.

 

3. What did the dragon give this beast?
Revelation 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Note: It is an undisputed historical fact that the religion of the Roman government under the later Roman emperors, beginning with Constantine, was changed from pagan to papal. When Constantine moved the seat of his empire from Rome to Constantinople in 330 AD, the city of Rome was handed over to the Bishop of Rome, who received rich gifts and great authority from Constantine and the successive emperors. After the fall of Rome in 476 AD, the Bishop of Rome became the ruling power in the West. On March 15, 533, a decree was issued by Justinian declaring the Bishop of Rome the head of all the holy churches, and in a letter dated the same year, he was called the “corrector of the heretics.” In this way, pagan Rome became Papal Rome; the seat of pagan Rome became Papal Rome. Church and state were united, and the persecuting power of the dragon was given to the confessing head of the “Church of Christ” or Papal Rome. The power of the Caesars lived again in the general rule of the popes.

 

4. How are the character, the work and the period of supremacy and great power of the beast described?
Revelation 13:5-7
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Note: All these specifications have been fully satisfied by the papacy, and they show that this beast represents the same power as that which is represented by the little horn of the fourth beast of Daniel 7 and the little horn of Daniel 8, in its principal characteristics and work. See Daniel 7:25; 8:11, 12, 24, 25 and previous study on The Kingdom and the Activity of the Antichrist and The Vicar of Christ.

 

5. What would be inflicted upon one of the heads of this beast?
Revelation 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Note: The wound was inflicted upon the Papal head when the French entered Rome in 1798 and imprisoned the Pope and abolished the papacy for a time. But in 1800 another Pope was placed on the papal throne and the deadly wound began to heal. Temporal authority was taken away from the Pope in 1870, but his power and influence among the peoples have increased since then. In that year, says Mr. Guinness in his work “Romanism and the Reformation”, page 156, “the Papacy assumed the highest position it could strive for, that of infallibility.” The Papacy will finally take a place where it will have such influence over the nations that it will say: “I sit as a queen and am not a widow and will not see a cow,” and this will be just before its complete downfall and annihilation. Revelation 18:7; 17:18 and Isaiah 47:7-15

 

6. What is said concerning the captivity and downfall of the Papacy?
Revelation 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Revelation 16:4-6
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because Thou hast judged thus.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
Psalms 18:25-26
25 With the merciful Thou wilt shew Thyself merciful; with an upright man Thou wilt shew Thyself upright;
26 With the pure Thou wilt shew Thyself pure; and with the froward Thou wilt shew Thyself froward.
Jeremiah 50:29 Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.
Psalms 109:17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.

 

7. What question, asked by his worshippers, indicates the high position which this beast power would reach?
Revelation 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

 

8. How universal will the worship of this power become?
Revelation 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

 

9. What did John say that the end of this beast would be?
Revelation 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Isaiah 47:7-15
7 And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.
8 Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
9 But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.
11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
12 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-8
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:
Revelation 17:16-17
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Revelation 18:4-8
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

 

10. In what similar language is the fate of the fourth beast of Daniel 7 described?
Daniel 7:11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.