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: 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.
Daniel and Revelation-
Revelation Chapter 13- (by Uriah Smith
1897-1907)
12.
The Mark of the Beast. - The two-horned beast enforces upon its subjects
the mark of the first beast. We have now in the prophecy three agents
introduced, which we must carefully distinguish from one another to avoid
confusion.
(1) The papal beast. This power is designated as "the beast,"
"the first beast," "the beast which had the wound
by a sword, and did live," and "the beast whose deadly wound was healed."
These expressions all refer to the same power; and wherever they occur in this
prophecy, they have exclusive reference to the papacy.
(2) The two-horned beast. This power, after its
introduction in verse 11 of chapter 13, is represented through the remainder of
the prophecy by the pronoun he; and wherever this pronoun occurs, down to the
17th verse (with possibly the exception of the 16th verse, which perhaps may
refer to the image), it refers invariably to the two-horned beast.
(3) The image of the beast. This is, every time, with the
possible, but not probable, exception just stated, called the image; so that
there is no danger of confounding this with any other agent.
The acts ascribed to
the image are, speaking and enforcing the worship of itself under the penalty
of death; and this is the only enactment which the prophecy mentions as
enforced under the death penalty.
The mark of the
beast is enforced by the two-horned beast, either directly or through the
image. The penalty attached to a refusal to receive this mark is a forfeiture
of all social privileges, a deprivation of the right to buy and sell. The mark
is the mark of the papal beast. Against this worship of the beast and his
image, and the reception of his mark, the third angel's message of Rev. 14:9-12
is a most solemn and thrilling warning.
This, then, is the
issue, which, according to this prophecy, we are soon to be called upon to
meet; namely, human organizations, controlled and inspired by the spirit of the
dragon,
p 596 -- are to
command men to do those acts which are in reality the worshiping of an apostate
religious power and the receiving of his mark; and if they refuse to do this,
they lose the rights of citizenship, and become outlaws in the land; and they
must do that which constitutes the worship of the image of the beast, or
forfeit their lives.
On the other hand, God sends forth a message a
little before the fearful crisis is upon us, as we shall see under chapter
14:9-12, declaring that all who do any of these things "shall drink of the
wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of
his indignation." He who refuses to comply with these demands of earthly
powers exposes himself to the severest penalties which human beings can
inflict; and he who does comply, exposes himself to the most terrible
threatening's of divine wrath to be found in the word of God. The question
whether they will obey God or man is to be decided by the people of the present
age under the heaviest pressure, from either side, that has ever been brought
to bear upon any generation.
The worship of the
beast and his image, and the reception of his mark, must be something that
involves the greatest offense that can be committed against God, to call down
so severe a denunciation of wrath against it. This is a work, as has already
been shown, which takes place in the last days; and as God has given us in his
word most abundant evidence to show when we are in the last days, that no one
need be overtaken by the day of the Lord as by a thief, so, likewise, it must
be that he has given us the means whereby we may determine what the receiving
of the mark of the beast is, which he has so strongly condemned, that we may
avoid the fearful penalty so sure to follow the commission of this act. God
does not so trifle with human hopes and human destinies as to denounce a most
fearful doom against a certain sin, and then place it out of our power to
understand what that sin is, so that we have no means of guarding against it.
We therefore now
call attention to the very important inquiry, What constitutes the mark of the
beast? The figure of a mark is borrowed from an ancient custom. Bishop Newton
(Dissertations on the Prophecies, Vol. III, p. 241) says: -
p 597 -- "It
was customary among the ancients for servants to receive the mark of their
master, and soldiers of their general, and those who were devoted to any
particular deity, of the particular deity to whom they were devoted. These
marks were usually impressed on their right hand or on their forehead, and
consisted of some hieroglyphic character, or of the name expressed in vulgar
letters, or of the name disguised in numerical letters, according to the fancy
of the imposer."
Prideaux says that
Ptolemy Philopater ordered all the Jews who applied to be enrolled as citizens
of Alexandria to have the form of an ivy leaf (the badge of his god, Bacchus)
impressed upon them with a hot iron, under pain of death. (Prideaux's Connection,
Vol. II, p. 78.)
The word used for
mark in this prophecy is Caragma (charagma), and is defined to mean, "a
graving, sculpture; a mark cut in or stamped." It occurs nine times in the
New Testament, and with the single exception of Acts 17:29, refers every time to
the mark of the beast.
We are not, of
course, to understand in this symbolic prophecy that a literal mark is
intended; but the giving of the literal mark, as practiced in ancient times, is
used as a figure to illustrate certain acts that will be performed in the
fulfilment of this prophecy. And from the literal mark as formerly employed, we
learn something of its meaning as used in the prophecy; for between the symbol
and the thing symbolized there must be some resemblance.
The mark, as
literally used, signified that the person receiving it was the servant of,
acknowledged the authority of, or professed allegiance to, the person whose
mark he bore. So the mark of the beast, or of the papacy, must be some act or
profession by which the authority of that power is acknowledged. What is
it?
It would naturally
be looked for in some of the special characteristics of the papal power.
Daniel, describing
that power under the symbol of a little horn, speaks of it as waging a special
warfare against God, wearing out the saints of the Most High, and thinking to
change times and laws.
The prophet
expressly specifies on this point: "He shall think to change times and
laws." These laws must certainly be the
p 598 -- laws of the
Most High.
To apply it to human
laws, and make the prophecy read, "And he shall speak great words against
the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to
change human laws," would be doing evident violence to the language of the
prophet. But apply it to the laws of God, and let it read, "And he shall
speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the
Most High, and shall think to change the times and laws of the Most High,"
and all is consistent and forcible.
The Hebrew has the
word (dath), law, and the Septuagint reads, nomoV (nomos), in the singular,
"the law," which more directly suggests the law of God.
The papacy has been able to do more than
merely "think " to change human laws. It has changed them at
pleasure.
It has annulled the
decrees of kings and emperors, and absolved subjects from allegiance to their
rightful sovereigns. It has thrust its long arm into the affairs of nations,
and brought rulers to its feet in the most abject humility. But the prophet beholds
greater acts of presumption than these. He sees it endeavor to do what it was
not able to do, but could only think to do; he sees it attempt art act which no
man, nor any combination of men, can ever accomplish; and that is, to change
the law of the Most High. Bear this in mind while we look at the testimony of
another sacred writer on this very point.
The apostle Paul
speaks of the same power in 2 Thessalonians 2; and he describes it, in the
person of the pope, as "the man of sin," and as "sitting as God
in the temple of God" (that is, the church), and as exalting himself
"above all that is called God, or that is worshiped."
According to this,
the pope sets himself up as the one for all the church to look to for
authority, in the place of God.
And now we ask the
reader to ponder carefully the question how he can exalt himself above God.
Search through the
whole range of human devices, go to the extent of human effort; by what plan,
by what move, by what claim, could this usurper exalt himself above God? He
might institute any number of ceremonies, he might prescribe any form of
worship, he might exhibit any degree of power; but so long as God had
requirements which
p 599 -- the people
felt bound to regard in preference to his own, so long he would not be above
God.
He might enact a law, and teach the people
that they were under as great obligations to that as to the law of God; then he
would only make himself equal with God. But he is to do more than this; he is
to attempt to raise himself above him.
Then he must
promulgate a law which conflicts with the law of God, and demand obedience to
his own law in preference to God's law. There is no other possible way in which
he could place himself in the position assigned in the prophecy. But this is
simply to change the law of God; and if he can cause this change to be adopted
by the people in the place of the original enactment, then he, the law-changer,
is above God, the law-maker.
And this is the very work that Daniel said he
should think to do.
Such a work as this,
then, the papacy must accomplish according to the prophecy; and the prophecy
cannot fail. And when this is done, what do the people of the world have? -
They have two laws demanding obedience, - one, the law of God as originally
enacted by him, an embodiment of his will, and expressing his claims upon his
creatures; the other, a revised edition of that law, emanating from the pope of
Rome and expressing his will.
And how is it to be
determined which of these powers the people honor and worship? - It is
determined by the law which they keep.
If they keep the law
of God as given by him, they worship and obey God.
If they keep the law as changed by the papacy,
they worship that power.
But further: the
prophecy does not say, that the little horn, the papacy, should set aside the
law of God, and give one entirely different. This would not be to change the
law, but simply to give a new one. He was only to attempt a change, so that the
law that comes from God, and the law that comes from the papacy, are precisely
alike, excepting the change which the papacy has made in the former.
They have many
points in common. But none of the precepts which they contain in common can
distinguish a person as the worshiper of either power in preference to the
other. If God's law says, "Thou shalt not kill," and the law as given
by the papacy says the same, no one can tell by a person's observance of that
p 600 -- precept
whether he designs to obey God rather than the pope, or the pope rather than
God.
But when a precept
that has been changed is the subject of action, then whoever observes that
precept as originally given by God, is thereby distinguished as a worshiper of
God; and he who keeps it as changed is thereby marked as a follower of the
power that made the change.
In no other way can the two classes of
worshipers be distinguished. From this conclusion, no candid mind can dissent;
but in this conclusion we have a general answer to the question, "What
constitutes the mark of the beast?" and that answer is simply this:
The mark of the beast is the change which the beast has attempted to make
in the law of God.
*******
More on this very
important truth- tomorrow- by the will of God!
All through the
mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior, JESUS CHRIST! Now and forever! AMEN!
No comments:
Post a Comment