Wednesday, February 19, 2014

United States in Bible Prophecy

Three Messages of Revelation 14

Two Horned Beast

by J.N.Andrews

CHAPTER VI

-The Two-Horned Beast cannot arise in the Ten Kingdoms of Papal Europe
-Time and Manner of his Rise
- Testimony of the Dublin Nation
- Symbol of the Two Horns
- An Age of Wonders
- The Spirits of Devils working Miracles
- The Hour of Temptation.

It is the Two-Horned beast that is to CAUSE the world to worship the first beast, and to form an image to that beast, which all must worship on pain of death.

We have shown that it is the two-horned beast which is to cause the fearful scene respecting which the third angel utters his voice of solemn warning. It is therefore evident that if we would understand this warning, we must carefully examine the prophecy respecting the two-horned beast.

THE TWO HORNED BEAST CANNOT RISE IN THE TEN KINGDOMS OF PAPAL EUROPE

What power, then, is symbolized by this beast with two horns like a lamb?

We have already seen that the fourth beast of Daniel, which in its papal form is the same as the beast that received the deadly wound, of which John speaks, does not give his place to another beast, but continues until the Judgment, when he is to be cast into the fiery flame.

Dan. 7:11; Rev. 19:20.

(((Dan 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.

Rev 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. ))))

 Hence it is certain that the location of the two-horned beast is NOT in the ten kingdoms of the fourth beast. We cannot take one of the horns of the fourth beast, and with it constitute another beast, or the horns of another.

The two-horned beast is "ANOTHER BEAST" besides the ten-horned beast.

It is not the first beast healed of his deadly wound; for the work of the two-horned beast is in the sight of that beast. Rev. 13:14. (((Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do IN THE SIGHT of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.))))

 It would indeed be a surprising change if the ten horns were to be plucked up, and in their stead two other horns should arise. Yet such is a necessary conclusion if the two-horned beast is but another form of the first beast. Hence we conclude that the two-horned beast is ANOTHER and A DISTINCT POWER.

It is, however, from the time of its rise a power contemporary with the beast whose deadly wound was healed. It acts in the sight of the first beast in performing its wonders.

TIME AND MANNER OF IT'S RISE

The manner of its rise is not to be overlooked.

The four beasts of Daniel, of which series John's first beast constituted the fourth, are all seen to rise out of the sea in consequence of the striving of the winds. Dan. 7:2, 3; Rev. 13:1.

They arose by overturning the powers that preceded them, by means of general war. Winds denote war or strife among men, and sea or waters denote people, nations, etc. Rev. 7:1-3; 17:15.

But this power rises in a peaceful or lamb-like manner from the earth.

It does NOT arise by the strife of the winds upon the sea, that is, by the overthrow of other nations and empires, but it arises where no other beast exists, and acts its part in the presence of its predecessors. This shows that it must arise from a new and previously unoccupied territory.

When was this power to arise?

NOT prior to the first beast, certainly.
NOT at the same time; for then there would be no propriety in designating either as the first beast.

It is said that it shall exercise all the power of the first beast before it. Then we may look for it to come on the stage of action about the close of the first beast's dominion, at the end of the 1260 years.

Again, it is to cause the world to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed, which shows that its period of action is this side of 1798. (((216 YEARS AGO NOW))))

J. Litch says:
"The two-horned beast is represented as a power existing and performing his part after the death and revival of the first beast. . . . If asked for my opinion as to what will constitute that beast with two horns, or the false prophet, I must frankly confess I do not know. I think it is a power yet to be developed or made manifest as an accomplice of the papacy in subjecting the world. It will be a power which will perform miracles, and deceive the world with them. See Rev. 19:20. "Restituation" pp 131,132

Mr. Wesley, in his notes on Rev. 13, says of the two-horned beast:
"He has not yet come, though he cannot be far off: for he is to appear at the end of the forty-two months of the first beast. "

One fact of interest may be noticed here: The course of empire, beginning with the first great empire near the garden of Eden, has been ever tending westward. Thus the seat of the Babylonian and Persian empires was in Asia. The seat of the Grecian and Roman empires was in Europe. The Roman Empire, in its divided state, as represented by the ten horns, occupies all the remaining territory west of the Atlantic Ocean. Hence, we still look westward for the rise of the power described in this prophecy.

Bishop Berkeley, in his celebrated poem on America, written before the American Revolution, foresaw the greatness of this power, and he forcibly describes its connection with its predecessors:-
" Westward the course of empire takes its way;
The first four acts already past,
A fifth shall end the drama with the day;
Time's noblest offspring is the last. "

By "the four acts" the bishop doubtless refers to the four great empires of the prophet Daniel. The fifth, with which the scene closes, is the power that has arisen this side of the Atlantic.

As the four powers of the Eastern Continent were not to be succeeded by a fifth, we understand that the power represented by the beast with two horns, which arises in the last days of the fourth beast, must be located in America.

This lamb-like power, the noblest and the last offspring of time, must also in its dragonic character prove itself the basest.

As we have said, the two-horned beast does not arise by overthrowing its predecessors. And it is worthy of notice that the ten kingdoms of the fourth empire were all complete long before the discovery of America. The war of the Revolution was not for the purpose of overthrowing one of the ten kingdoms of the fourth empire, but it was to maintain the just rights of the American people.

This power is evidently the last one with which the people of God are connected; for the Third Angel's Message, which immediately precedes the coming of Jesus on the white cloud pertains almost entirely to the action of the two-horned beast. Compare Rev. 14:9-11 with 13:11-18.

(((Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Rev 13:15  And he had power to give life unto 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 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. ))))

And it is a fact which ought not to be overlooked, that those powers with which the people of God are connected, are the only ones noted in prophecy.

It is also plain that the march of civilization and of Christianity, like the course of the natural sun, has ever been westward; and it is evident that the territory of this last power is to be the field of the angels' messages, the land where the crowning truths of the gospel, as it finishes its course, are to be brought out.

The rise of each of the great powers has been gradual. For a series of years they were preparing for the stations which they afterward assumed; but they begin to be represented in prophecy at the time when they are prepared to act their part. We are now to trace the rise of an empire which has come up in the sight of the first beast, - a power still further on toward the setting sun, with the history of which the great circuit of empire will be accomplished, for the boundary of the vast Pacific has been reached.

A short time before the Reformation in the days of Martin Luther, a new continent was discovered. The rise of the reformers brought out a large class who were determined to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience. They desired a greater measure or civil and religious freedom; hence they with many others fled to the wilds of America, and laid the foundation of a new empire.

They did not establish their power by overturning another power, but they planted themselves in an uncultivated waste, and laid the foundation of a new government. The preceding powers had arisen through the strife of the winds on the great sea; but this power arises out of the earth.

That is, the first powers arose through the action of wars in overturning and subverting other nations, to be in turn overthrown and subverted by their successors; but this power appears to arise from the earth in a peaceful manner.

It comes up in the sight of the first beast like the settlement and growth of a new country.

TESTIMONIES OF THE DUBLIN NATION

The Dublin Nation thus notices the progress and the power of this republic: "In the East, there is arising a colossal centaur called the Russian Empire. With a civilized head and front, it has the sinews of a huge barbaric body. There one man's brain moves 70, 000, 000. There all the traditions of the people are of aggression and conquest in the West. There but two ranks are distinguishable, serfs and soldiers. There the map of the future includes Constantinople and Vienna as outposts of St. Petersburg.

"In the West, an opposing and still more wonderful American Empire is EMERGING. We islanders have no conception of the extraordinary events which, amid the silence of the earth, are daily adding to the power and pride of this gigantic nation. Within three years, territories more extensive than these three kingdoms, France, and Italy put together, have been quietly, and in almost `matter of course' fashion, annexed to the Union.

"In seventy years, seventeen new sovereignties, the smallest of them larger that Great Britain, have peaceably united themselves to the federation. No standing army was raised, no national debt, sunk, no great exertion was made, but there they are. And the last mail brings news of the organization of three more great States about to be joined to the thirty, Minnesota in the north-west, Deseret in the south-west, and California on the shores of the Pacific. These three States will cover an area equal to one-half the European continent.

"Nor is this a mere addition on the map. It is not piling barren Pelion upon uncultivated Ossa. It is an actual conquest of new strength and resources. Already has Minnesota its capital, St. Paul, which has its journals, churches, schools, parties, interests, and speculations. . . . Instead of becoming a lawless horde of adventurers, the settlers in California are founding cities, electing delegates, magistrates, sheriffs, and congressmen as methodically and as intently as if they trod the beaten paths of life on the Atlantic shore of the continent.

"And with this increase of territory, there is a commensurate increase of industry in the older States. The census of 1850, about to be taken in the United States will show a growth of numbers, territory, and industry entirely unexampled in human history. Let the `gray powers of the Old World' look to it; let the statesmen of France, Germany, and Russia read the census carefully, though it should startle them. Let despotism count every man of these millions as a mortal enemy, and every acre of that vast commonwealth as an inheritance of mankind mortgaged to the cause of freedom. America is as grand a field for human enterprise as when the ships of Columbus first neared the shores of Guanahani. "

The progress of our country since its first settlement has indeed been wonderful. We trace its rise onward, from the time of its first settlement by those who fled from the oppression of the fourth empire till it assumes its station among the great powers of earth, a little previous to the end of the 1260 years. Its territory has increased more than three-fold since that period, by the addition of the vast territories of Louisiana, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and California, and the extension of an undisputed title to Oregon, thus extending its dominion to the vast Pacific.

*******

I'm going to pause here in this chapter because this is a lot of information to take in especially if you've never heard of this stuff before.  I would like to point out that J.N. Andrews wrote this in 1877, 137 years ago.  We all know how far America has come from its beginning. We know how it began and all it's been through. It's been very tumultuous. There have been World Wars and many sorts of wars since. I even heard someone say that we shouldn't be saying we aren't in a world war right now, it's just that the war is being fought in a much different manner than ever before. Is it true? I don't know, but I do know our technological advances are unbelievable. I also know that several countries (kingdoms/powers if you will) have the ability to destroy all people off the earth more than a few times overs. And still, more countries are striving for this power.  So far knowing the various countries hold this power generally keeps things in check because if one country releases their power to destroy another will and no one will be left.  Things are so incredibly different from how life was lived in 1877. The things that have taken place in our world since then probably had never been imagined at that time, how could they be?  The knowledge increase has been unparalleled in history. To go from horse and buggy for thousands of years to where we are now in a mere few hundred it's unbelievable.  Yet we knew knowledge would increase not only secularly but religiously knowledge has been opened up as never before since the early to mid 1800's.  This is all truth, no deception whatsoever. The deception would be impossible here. We all know how fast we are advancing in things and in such a relatively short time. This very computer I'm typing on was unheard of when I was growing up! This was the stuff of science fiction, not non-fiction.  The Bible predicted this and we are told to study and to learn from what we study. Only to the peril of our own lives do we dare ignore what we are told to study, to learn, to know.

When we read about the two horned beast and it begins to become very clear that it truly is talking about the United States, it has to astound you, it astounded me when I first learned this truth. The United States in Bible prophecy!  We must pray to our Savior, we must seek truth with a heart open to it!

Please, please pray for understanding, for wisdom, we need it so desperately! Time is growing shorter and shorter, every day is one day closer to our Savior's return and we CAN'T let ourselves forget this, we can't!

By the grace of God may we please see only His truth!

All through HIS amazing love!

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