Plainly- Revelation
13 begins by telling us there is a kingdom/rulership/power that rose up among a
lot of people, and this power is revealed by the details of the vision and
previous verses throughout Revelation. Through
the study which goes into great detail we come to comprehend that this is the
Papal power we've already talked about.
Rev 13 verse 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.
The sea is a symbol
of "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Rev. 17:15
Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou
sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and
tongues.
A beast is the Bible
symbol of an unrighteous nation, or power, representing sometimes the civil
power alone, sometimes the ecclesiastical in connection with the civil.
Whenever a beast is seen to come up out of the sea, it denotes that the power
arises in a thickly populated territory; and if the winds are represented as
blowing upon the sea, as in Dan. 7:2, 3, political commotion, civil strife, and
revolution are indicated.
Dan 7:2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by
night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
Dan 7:3 And four great beasts came up from the sea,
diverse one from another.
Dan 7:17 These great beasts, which are four, are four
kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
Dan 7:18 But the saints of the most High shall take
the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. (Kings/Kingdoms- the RULING POWERS)
This beast rising up out of the sea in Rev.
13 is an unrighteous nation, possibly representing civil power, or civil and
religious power that arises from a very populated area.
Rev 13 verse 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.
This beast/power has seven heads and ten
horns, and on the horns ten crowns and on the heads is the name blasphemy.
By the dragon of the
previous chapter, and the beast first introduced in this, we have the Roman
power as a whole brought to view in its two phases, pagan and papal; hence
these two symbols have each the seven heads and ten horns.
(((From the last
chapter-
…having fixed the
chronology of the prophecy at the time when he (CHRIST)was born into this
world, it will be easy to find the power symbolized by the dragon; for the
dragon represents some power which did attempt to destroy him at his birth. Was
any such attempt made? and who made it? No formal answer to this question need
be given to anyone who has read how Herod, in a fiendish effort to destroy the
infant Jesus, sent forth and slew all the children in Bethlehem, from two years
old and under. But who was Herod? - A
Roman governor. From Rome Herod derived his power. Rome ruled at that time over all the world
(Luke 2:1), and was therefore the responsible party in this transaction.
Moreover, Rome was the only earthly government which at that time could be
symbolized in prophecy, for this very reason that its dominion was universal.
It is not, therefore, without the most
conclusive reason that the Roman empire is considered by Protestant
commentators generally to be the power indicated by the great red dragon.
And it may be a fact worth mentioning that during the second, third, fourth,
and fifth centuries of the Christian era, next to the eagle the dragon was the
principal standard of the Roman legions; and that dragon was painted red, as
though, in faithful response to the picture held up by the seer of Patmos, they
would exclaim to the world, We are the nation which that picture
represents.
As we have said, Rome,
in the person of Herod, attempted to destroy Jesus Christ, when he sent forth
and destroyed all the children of Bethlehem from two years old and under. The
child which was born to the expectant desires of a waiting and watching church,
was our adorable Redeemer, who is soon to rule the nations with a rod of iron.
Herod could not destroy him; the combined powers of earth and hell could not
overcome him; and though held for a time under the dominion of the grave, he
rent its cruel bands, opened a way of life for mankind, and was caught up to
God and his throne. He ascended to heaven in the sight of his disciples,
leaving to them and us the promise that he would come again.
And the
church fled into the wilderness at the time the papacy was established, in 538,
where it was nourished by the word of God and the ministration of angels during the long,
dark, and bloody rule of that power, 1260 years.
It may be proper to
notice that according to the testimony of this chapter, three powers are made
use of by the devil to carry out his work, and hence all are spoken of as the
dragon, he being the inspiring agent in them all. These are, (1) pagan
Rome; (2) papal Rome; (3) the two-horned beast, our
own government under the control of apostate Protestantism, which is the chief
agent, as will hereafter appear, in making war upon those who keep the
commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.
))))
Rev. 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.
The seven-headed and
ten-horned beast, or, more briefly, the leopard beast, here introduced,
symbolizes a power which exercises ecclesiastical as well as civil authority.
This point is of sufficient importance to justify the introduction of a few of
the conclusive arguments which go to prove it.
The line of prophecy
in which this symbol occurs commences with chapter 12. The symbols of earthly
governments embraced in the prophecy are, the dragon of chapter 12, and the
leopard beast and two-horned beast of chapter 13. The same line of prophecy evidently
continues into chapter 14, closing with verse 5 of that chapter. Commencing,
therefore, with verse 1 of chapter 12, and ending with verse 5 of chapter 14,
we have a line of prophecy distinct and complete in itself.
Each of the powers
here introduced is represented as fiercely persecuting the church of God. The
scene opens with the church, under the symbol of a woman, anxiously longing for
the promise to be fulfilled that the seed of the woman, the Lord of glory, should
appear among men. The dragon stood before the woman for the purpose of
devouring her child. His evil design is thwarted, and the child is caught up to
God and his throne. A period follows in which the church suffers severe
oppression from this dragon power. And though in this part of the scene the
prophet occasionally glances forward, once even down almost to the end, beckons
all the enemies of the church were to be actuated by the spirit of the dragon,
yet in verse 1 of chapter 13 we are carried back to the time when the leopard
beast, the successor of the dragon, commences his career. From this power, for
the long period of 1260 years, the church suffers war and persecution.
Following this period of oppression, the church has another conflict, brief,
but sharp and severe, with the two-horned beast. Then comes deliverance; and
the prophecy closes with the church brought safely through all her
persecutions, and standing victorious with the Lamb on Mount Zion. Thank God
for the sure promise of final victory!
The one character
which ever appears the same in all these scenes, and whose history is the
leading theme through all the prophecy, is the church of God. The other
characters are her persecutors, and are introduced simply because they are
such. And here, as an introductory inquiry, we raise the question, Who or what
is it that persecutes the true church? - It is a false or apostate church. What
is it that is ever warring against true religion? - It is a false and
counterfeit religion. Who ever heard of the civil power, merely, of any nation,
persecuting the people of God? Governments may war against other governments,
to avenge some wrong, real or imaginary, or to acquire territory and extend
their power, as nations have often warred against the Jews; but governments do
not persecute (mark the word - do not
persecute) people on account of their religion, unless under the control
of some opposite and hostile system of religion. But the powers introduced in
this prophecy, - the dragon, the leopard beast, and the two-horned beast, - are
all persecuting powers. They are actuated by rage and enmity against the people
and church of God. And this fact is of itself sufficiently conclusive evidence
that in each of these powers the ecclesiastical or religious element is the
controlling power.
Take the dragon:
what does it symbolize? - The Roman empire, is the undeniable answer. But this
is not enough. No one would be satisfied with this answer and no more. It must
be more definite. We then add, The Roman empire in its pagan form, to which all
must also agree. But just as soon as we say pagan, we introduce a religious
element; for paganism is one of the hugest systems of counterfeit religion that
Satan ever devised. The dragon, then, is so far an ecclesiastical power that
the very characteristic by which it is distinguished is a false system of
religion. And what made the dragon persecute the church of Christ? - It was
because Christianity was prevailing against paganism, sweeping away its
superstitions, overturning its idols, and dismantling its temples. The
religious element of that power was touched, and persecution was the result.
We now come to the
leopard beast of chapter 13. What does that symbolize? The answer still is, The
Roman empire. But the dragon symbolized the Roman empire, and why does not the
same symbol represent it still? - Ah! there has been a change in the religious
character of the empire; and this beast symbolizes Rome in its professedly
Christian form. And it is this change of religion, and this alone, which makes
a change in the symbol necessary. This beast differs from the dragon only in
that he presents a different religious aspect. Hence it would be altogether
wrong to affirm that it denotes simply the Roman civil power.
To this beast the
dragon gives his seat, his power, and great authority. By what power was pagan
Rome succeeded? We all know that it was
by papal Rome. It matters not to our present purpose when or by what
means this change was effected; the great fact is apparent, and is acknowledged
by all, that the next great phase of the Roman empire after its pagan form was
its papal. It would not be correct, therefore, to say that pagan Rome gave its
seat and power to a form of government merely civil, having no religious
element whatever. No stretch of the imagination can conceive of such a
transaction. But two phases of empire are here recognized; and in the prophecy,
Rome is pagan until Rome is papal.
The statement that the dragon gave to the leopard beast his seat and power, is
further evidence that the dragon of Rev. 12:3 is not a symbol of Satan
personally; for Satan has not abdicated in favor of any other malevolent being;
and he has not given up his seat to any earthly power.
But it may be said
that it takes the leopard beast and two-horned beast together to constitute the
papacy, and hence it is to these that the dragon gives his power, seat, and
great authority. But the prophecy does not say so. It is the leopard beast alone
with which the dragon has to do. It is to that beast alone that he gives his
power, seat, and great authority. It is that beast that has a head that is
wounded to death, which is afterward healed; that beast that the whole world
wonders after; that beast that receives a mouth speaking blasphemies, and that
wears out the saints for 1260 years; and all this before the succeeding power,
the two-horned beast, comes upon the stage of action at all. The leopard beast alone, therefore,
symbolizes the Roman empire in its papal form, the controlling influence being
ecclesiastical.
To show this more
fully, we have but to draw a parallel between the little horn of Dan. 7:8, 20,
24, 25, and this power. From this comparison it will appear that the little
horn referred to and the leopard beast symbolize the same power; but the little
horn is acknowledged on all hands to be a symbol of the papacy. There are six
points of identity, as follows: -
1. The little horn was a blasphemous power.
"He shall speak great words against the Most High." Dan. 7:25. The
leopard beast of Rev. 13:6 does the same. "He opened his mouth in
blasphemy against God."
2. The little horn made war with the saints,
and prevailed against them. Dan. 7:21. This beast also (Rev. 13:7) makes war
with the saints, and overcomes them.
3. The little horn had a month speaking
great things. Dan. 7: 8, 20. And of this beast we read, Rev. 13:5: "And
there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies."
4. The little horn arose on the cessation of
the pagan form of the Roman empire. The beast of Rev. 13:2 arises at the same
time; for the dragon, pagan Rome, gives him his power, his seat, and great
authority.
5. Power was given to the little horn to
continue for a time, times, and the dividing of time, or 1260 years. Dan. 7:25.
To this beast also power was given for forty-two months, or 1260 years. Rev.
13:5.
6. At the end of that specified period, the
dominion of the little horn was to be taken away. Dan. 7:26. At the end of the
same period, the leopard beast was himself to be "led into
captivity." Rev. 13:10. Both these specifications were fulfilled in the
captivity and exile of the pope, and the temporary overthrow of the papacy by
France in 1798.
Here are points that prove identity; for when
we have in prophecy two symbols, as in this instance, representing powers that
come upon the stage of action at the same time, occupy the same territory,
maintain the same character, do the same work, exist the same length of time,
and meet the same fate, those symbols represent the same identical power.
Now all the
particulars above specified do apply alike to the little horn, and the leopard
beast of chapter 13, showing that these two symbols represent the same power.
It is admitted on all hands that the little horn represents the papacy; and he
who claims that this leopard beast does not represent the same, must, to be
consistent, show that at the same time that the papacy arose, there arose
another great power exactly like it, occupying the same territory, bearing the
same character, doing the same work, continuing the same length of time, and
meeting the same fate, and yet a separate and distinct power; which would be as
absurd as it would be impossible.
The head that was wounded to death was the
papal head. We are held to this conclusion by the very obvious principle
that whatever is spoken in prophecy of the symbol of any government, applies to
that government only while it is represented by that symbol. Now Rome is
represented by two symbols, the dragon and the leopard beast, because it has
presented two phases, the pagan and the papal; and whatever is said of the
dragon applies to Rome only in its pagan form, and whatever is said of the
leopard beast applies to Rome only in its professedly Christian form. But Rome
was pagan in John's day, who lived under the sixth or imperial head. This shows
us at once that six of the heads, including the imperial, belong to the dragon;
and if it was any one of these heads which was wounded to death, then it was
one of the heads of the dragon, or one of the forms of government that belonged
to Rome in its pagan form, and not one of the heads of the beast; and John
should have said, I saw one of the heads of the dragon wounded to death. But he
says that it was one of the heads of the beast that was wounded to death. In
other words, this wound fell upon some form of government that existed in the
Roman empire after its change from paganism- to Christianity. But after this change, there was but one
head, and that was the papal. 1
Thus it is placed beyond controversy that it was none other than the
papal head that was wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed. This
wounding is the same as the going into captivity. Rev. 13:10. It was inflicted
when the pope was taken prisoner by Berthier, the French general, and the papal
government was for a time abolished, in 1798. Stripped of his power, both civil
and ecclesiastical, the captive pope, Pius Vl, died in exile at Valence in
France, Aug. 29, 1799. But the deadly wound was healed when the papacy was
re-established, though with a diminution of its former power, by the election
of a new pope, March 14, 1800. (See Bower's History of the Popes, pp. 404-428;
Croly on the Apocalypse, London edition, p. 251.)
This beast opens his
mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name. (See mention under Dan.
7:25 of the presumptuous titles assumed by the popes.)
He blasphemes the
tabernacle in heaven by turning the attention of his subjects to his own throne
and palace instead of to the tabernacle of God; by turning their attention away
from the city of God, Jerusalem above, and pointing them to Rome as the eternal
city; and he blasphemes them that dwell in heaven by assuming to exercise the
power of forgiving sins, and so turning away the minds of men from the
mediatorial work of Christ and his heavenly assistants in the sanctuary above.
By verse 10 we are
again referred to the events of 1798, when that power that had for 1260 years
led the saints of God into captivity, was led into captivity itself, as already
noticed.
1-- The symbol as here presented has but seven
heads, denoting seven forms of government, not contemporaneous but successive.
Of course only one head is ruling at any one time; but all are placed alike
upon the dragon and beast to identify both these symbols as denoting the Roman
power. Six heads belonged to the dragon; that is, six forms of government were
developed and passed away one after another,while the religion of Rome was
pagan; and only one remained to be developed after the change to Christianity,
and that was the papal; which as a spiritual power continues to the end (2
Thess. 2:8), and as a temporal power to the time when his dominion is taken
away just before the end. Dan. 7:26.
*******
Why is it important
for us to know this? Why must we be sure of this? Because we are told we are
blessed if we read and keep what is in this book of Revelation. We are told our
history, not only our parents or those living hundreds, thousands of years ago
but our history and we need to comprehend OUR history, our future! We must
WATCH and PRAY and know and KEEP by the grace and mercy of our LORD and SAVIOR
and to do that we have to comprehend it's important we know this truth! Please,
pray.
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