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VI.
The Sure Word of
Prophecy
»
Chapter 60
:
A Great Persecuting Power
1. WHAT is the first
symbol of Revelation 13?
"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." Rev. 13:1.
NOTES.-As already
learned from studying the book of Daniel, a beast in
prophecy represents some great earthly power or
kingdom; a head, a governing power; horns, a number
of kingdoms; crowned heads or crowned horns,
political rulership; waters, "peoples, and
multitudes and nations, and tongues. Rev. 17:15."The
beasts of Daniel and John are empires. The
ten-horned beast is the Roman power. . . . The head
is the governing power of the body. The heads of
this beast represent successive governments,"-
"Romanism and the Reformation," by H. Grattan
Guinness, pages 144, 145.
2.
How is this beast further described?
"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." Verse 2, first
part.
NOTES.-These are the characteristics of the first
three symbols of Daniel 7,-the lion, bear,
and leopard there representing the kingdoms
of Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Grecia,-and
suggest this beast as representing or belonging to
the kingdom symbolized by the fourth beast of
Daniel 7, or Rome. Both have ten horns. Like
the dragon of Revelation 12, it also has seven
heads; but as the dragon symbolized Rome in its
entirety, particularly in its pagan phase, this,
like the "little horn" coming up among the ten horns
of the fourth beast of Daniel 7, represents Rome in
its later or papal form. Both it and the little horn
have "a mouth" speaking great things; both make war
upon the saints; both continue for the same length
of time.
Allowing a very broad meaning to the symbol, the
Douay or Catholic Bible, in a note on Rev. 13:1,
explains the seven heads of this beast as follows:
"The seven heads are seven kings, that is, seven
principal kingdoms or empires, which have exercised,
or shall exercise, tyrannical power over the people
of God: of these, five were then fallen, viz., the
Egyptian, Assyrian, Chaldean, Persian, and Grecian
monarchies; one was present, viz., the empire of
Rome; and the seventh and chiefest was to come,
viz., the great Antichrist and his empire." That the
seventh head represents Antichrist there can be
little doubt, See Chapter 59 of this book.
3.
What did the dragon give this beast?
"And the dragon gave him his power, and his
seat, and great authority." Verse 2, latter
part.
NOTE.-It is an undisputed fact of history that under
the later Roman emperors, beginning with
Constantine, the religion of the Roman government
was changed from pagan to papal; that when
Constantine removed the seat of his empire from Rome
to Constantinople in 330 A.D., the city of Rome was
given up to the bishop of Rome, who, from
Constantine and succeeding emperors, received rich
gifts and great authority; that after the fall of
Rome, in 476 A.D., the bishop of Rome became the
ruling power in Western Rome and by decree of
Justinian, March 15, 533, was declared "head of all
the holy churches," and in a letter of the same year
he was designated as "corrector of heretics." See
Chapter 51. of this book. Thus Rome pagan became
Rome papal; the seat of pagan Rome became the seat
of papal Rome; church and state were united; and the
persecuting power of the dragon was conferred upon
the professed head of the church of Christ, or papal
Rome. As Dr. H. Grattan Guinness, in his "Romanism
and the Reformation," page 152 says, "The power of
the Caesars lived again in the universal dominion of
the popes."
4.
How are the character, work, period of supremacy, and
great power of the beast described?
"And there was given into him a mouth speaking great
things and
blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue
forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in
blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His
tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 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." Verses 5-7.
NOTE.-All these specifications have been fully and
accurately met in the Papacy, and identify this
beast as representing the same power as that
represented by the little horn phase of the fourth
beast of Daniel 7, and the little horn of Daniel 8,
in its chief and essential features and work. See
Dan. 7:25; 8:11, 12, 24, 25. See readings in Chapter
51. and 52. of this book. For an explanation of the
time period mentioned, see readings in Chapter 51.
and 52. of this book.
5.
What was to be inflicted upon one of the heads of this
beast?
"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." Verse 3.
NOTE.-This wound was inflicted upon the papal head
of this beast when the French, in 1798, entered
Rome, and took the Pope prisoner, and for a time, it
seemed, abolished the Papacy. But in 1800 another
Pope was placed upon the papal throne, and the
deadly wound began to be healed. Temporal dominion
was taken away from the Papacy in 1870, but
nevertheless its power and influence among the
nations have been increasing since then. "In that
year," says Mr. Guinness in his work "Romanism and
the Reformation," page 156, "the Papacy assumed the
highest exaltation to which it could aspire, that of
infallibility." To such a position of influence over
the nations is the Papacy finally to attain that
just before her complete overthrow and destruction
she will say, "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and
shall see no sorrow." Rev. 18:7. See Isa. 47:7-15;
Rev. 17:18.
6. What is said concerning the
captivity and downfall of the Papacy?
"He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity:
he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the
sword." Verse 10. See Ps. 18:25,26; 109:17; Jer. 50:29;
Rev. 16:4-6.
7.
What questions asked by its worshipers indicate the
great station to which this beast-power was to attain?
"And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the
beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is
like unto the beast' who is able to make war with him?"
Rev. 13:4.
8. How universal is the worship of
this power to become?
"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." Verse 8.
9.
What did John say was to be the end of this beast?
"And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet
that wrought miracles before him. . . . These both
were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with
brimstone." Rev. 19:20. See Isa. 47:7-15; 2 Thess.
2:3-8; Rev. 17:16,17; 18:4-8.
10. In what similar language is the fate of the fourth
beast of Daniel 7 described?
"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." Dan. 7:11.
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