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6. THE BEAST OUT OF THE SEA .
The Incarnation Of “The Dragon,” “The Anti-God.”
In “The Beast”Or “Anti-Christ.”
Revelation 13:1-10.
“And I (He, the Dragon, R. V.) stood upon the sand of the sea and (I) 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. And the ’BEAST’ which I saw was like 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 (Throne), and GREAT AUTHORITY. 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.’ 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? 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. 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. 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. If any man have an ear, let him hear. 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.”
John next saw the “Dragon” standing on the seashore, and as he stood, a “Beast” rose 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, and the body of the “Beast” was like 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 (Throne), and GREAT AUTHORITY. This does not necessarily mean that the “Dragon” gave him his own throne, but he gave him power, and a throne, and great authority. As John was back on the Isle of Patmos, the “sea” from which he saw the “Beast” arise was probably the Mediterranean, though the “sea” in prophecy signifies the nations.
What does this “COMPOSITE BEAST” signify? This is not the first time we have read in the Scriptures of a “Beast” coming up out of the sea, so we must go back to the Book of Daniel for an explanation. While Daniel was a Statesman and did not hold the “Prophetic Office,” he had the “Prophetic Gift,” and was not only an interpreter of dreams, but a Prophet, and to him was revealed the whole course of the “Times of the Gentiles,” and the character of its last “Great Leader” the “ANTICHRIST.” His prophecy is mainly concerned with the things that shall befall his people, the Jews, in the “LATTER DAYS” (Daniel 10:14), and as we are now dealing with the things that shall come to pass in the “Last” or “Seventieth Week,” of Daniel’s “Seventy Weeks,” we necessarily must turn back to the Book of Daniel for an explanation of this symbol of the “BEAST.” But before we take .that up it is important to note that both the Old and New Testaments speak of a
“MYSTERIOUS AND TERRIBLE PERSONAGE”
who shall be revealed in the “Last Times.” He is called by various names.
In The Old Testament
“The Assyrian.”--Isaiah 10:5-6; Isaiah 30:27-33.
“King of Babylon.”--Isaiah 14:4.
“Lucifer.”--Isaiah 14:12.
“The Little Horn.”--Daniel 7:8; Daniel 8:9-12.
“A King Of Fierce Countenance.”--Daniel 8:23.
“The Prince That Shall Come.”--Daniel 9:26.
“The Wilful King.”--Daniel 11:36.
In The New Testament
“The Man Of Sin.”--2. Thess. 2:3-8.
“Son Of Perdition.”--2. Thess. 2:3-8.
“That Wicked.”--2. Thess. 2:3-8.
“Antichrist.”--1. John 2:18.
“The Beast.”--Revelation 13:1-2.
Jesus also made a prophetic reference to him. “I am come in my Father’s Name, and ye receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” John 5:43.
I. ISAIAH ’S FOREVIEW .
The Prophet Isaiah sees the Antichrist as the “ASSYRIAN.” Isaiah 10:5; Isaiah 10:12; Isaiah 10:24; Isaiah 30:27-33. In Isaiah 11:4, a chapter which is evidently Messianic, we read that among other things which the Messiah will do--“He shall smite the earth with the ’rod of His mouth,’ and with the ’breath of His lips’ shall He slay ’THE WICKED’.” The word translated “THE WICKED,” is in the singular number, and cannot refer to wicked persons in general, but to some one person who is conspicuously wicked. The expression is strikingly like that of Paul’s in 2. Thess. 2:8. “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’.” It is evident that Isaiah and Paul refer to the same individual, who can be no other than the Antichrist.
In Isaiah 14:4-17 there is a description of a “King of Babylon” who shall smite the people in his wrath, and rule the nations in anger. He is called “LUCIFER, Son of the Morning,” and his fall is described. He is cast down to Hell (Sheol, the Underworld), where his coming creates a great stir among the kings of the earth that have preceded him, and who exclaim when they see him--“Art thou .also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? . . . Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?” There has never as yet been such a King of Babylon as is here described. It must therefore refer to some future King of Babylon, when Babylon shall be rebuilt, as we shall see it is to be. Verses 12 to 14 evidently refer to Satan, and are descriptive of him before his fall, but as he is to incarnate himself in the Antichrist, who is to be a future King of Babylon, it explains the source of the pride and presumption of Antichrist, which will lead to his downfall, as it did to Satan’s.
II . DANIEL ’S FOREVIEW .
1. The Colossus.
We now turn to Daniel. The Book of Daniel may be divided into two parts. The first six chapters are Historical, the last six are Prophetical. The Book contains one “Dream” by Nebuchadnezzar, and four “Visions” by Daniel, all relating to the “Times of the Gentiles.” Nebuchadnezzar in his “Dream” saw a “Great Image” or “COLOSSUS.” The Head of the “Image” was of fine gold, its Breast and Arms of silver, its Belly (Abdomen) and Thighs (Hips) of brass, its Legs of iron, and its Feet of iron and clay. This Image was destroyed by a “Stone” cut out of a mountain supernaturally. The “Stone” in turn became a great mountain and filled the WHOLE EARTH. Daniel 2:31-35. The four metals of which the “COLOSSUS” was composed represented Four Worldwide Empires which were to arise in succession. Daniel 2:37-40. Four great Empires, and only four, were to succeed each other in the government of the world, from Nebuchadnezzar (B. C. 606) to the “Second Coming” of Christ--the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman. These Empires are not only made known as to number, but their names, in the order of their succession, are given. The First--“BABYLONIAN” is indicated by Daniel while interpreting the vision to Nebuchadnezzar. “THOU art this Head of Gold.” Daniel 2:38. The Second--the “MEDO-PERSIAN,” Daniel points out in
Antichrist and the ’Times of the Gentiles’
his account of “Belshazzar’s Feast,” by the emphatic words--“In that night was Belshazzar the King of the Chaldeans slain, and Darius the MEDIAN took the Kingdom.” Daniel 5:30-31. The Third--the “GRECIAN,” is mentioned in Daniel 8:20-21, “the Ram which thou sawest having ’two horns’ are the kings of Media and Persia, and the ’Rough Goat’ is the King of Grecia (Greece).” The Fourth--the “ROMAN,” is referred to in Daniel 9:26 as--“the PEOPLE of the ’Prince’ that should destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the Sanctuary,” and we know that it was the ROMANS under Titus, that destroyed Jerusalem in A. D. 70. While these Four Great Empires were to follow each other in the order named, they were not to follow without a break. The Babylonian lasted from B. C. 606 to B. C. 538. The Medo-Persian from B. C. 538 to B. C. 330. The Grecian from B. C. 330 to B. C. 323. Then the Grecian was broken up into four parts, Thrace, Macedonia, Syria, and Egypt, and the last of these was conquered by the Romans in B. C. 30, and the Roman Empire lasted from B. C. 30 to A. D. 364, when it was divided into its Eastern and Western Divisions. Since then there has been no leading world Empire, and cannot be according to this prophecy until Christ sets up His “STONE” or “Millennial Kingdom,” as represented by the “Stone” that smites the “COLOSSUS” on its feet, for this “STONE KINGDOM” is to fill the whole earth, and thus be universal. This “STONE” cannot be Christianity, for it does not fill the earth by degrees, and thus crowd out the “COLOSSUS,” but it at One Blow DEMOLISHES IT. The action of the “STONE” is that of JUDGMENT not Grace, and is SUDDEN and CALAMITOUS. Again the TIME of the destruction is not until after the formation of the Toes, and we know that the “TWO LIMBS” did not appear until A. D. 364, and the “TEN TOES” have not yet developed. The TIME when the “STONE” falls on the “FEET” we are told is “in the days of THOSE KINGS” (Daniel 2:44), that is the Kings represented by the “Ten Toes,” which as we shall see corresponds with the “Ten Horns” of Daniel’s “Fourth Wild Beast,” Daniel 7:7-8, and with the “Ten Kings” of John’s “Beast.” Revelation 17:12. The first Four Kingdoms were literal Kingdoms, and so must the “Stone Kingdom” be, for it is to take the place of those Kingdoms and fill the whole earth. It represents therefore the “Millennial Kingdom” of Christ, for He is the “STONE” of the Scriptures. Matthew 21:44.
From what has been said we see that the “COLOSSUS” of “Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream” symbolized the “World Kingdoms” in their Unity and Historical Succession. Gentile dominion is represented by a huge “METALLIC MAN.” The degeneration of the “World Kingdoms” is seen in the diminishing value of the metals used. Silver is worth less than gold, brass than silver, iron than brass, and clay than iron. The weight of the “COLOSSUS” also declines; the specific gravity of gold is 19.5, of silver 10.47, of brass 8, of cast-iron 5, and of clay 1.93. The “Colossus” is TOP HEAVY. The character of the governing power also deteriorates from an “Absolute Monarchy” under Nebuchadnezzar, to an “Autocratic Democracy” symbolized by the mixture of the iron and clay of the Feet. In other words the governing power passes from the Head, the organ that ought to direct the members of the body, to the Feet, which are only made to carry the body whither the Head directs. We have dwelt thus at length on the “Colossus,” for it is only as we understand it, that we can understand the meaning of the “Wild Beasts” that Daniel saw come up out of the sea.
2. The Vision of the “FOUR BEASTS .”
Forty-eight years after Nebuchadnezzar had his “Dream,” B. C. 555, Daniel in vision stood upon the shore of the “Great Sea” (the Mediterranean), and saw four “Great Beasts” come up out of the sea in succession.
FIRST BEAST.
The “First Beast” was like a LION and had Eagle’s Wings, and as the Prophet watched it, he saw it lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon its feet as a Man, and a Man’s Heart was given to it. Daniel 7:4. We have only to visit the British Museum, London, and examine the Colossal Stone Lions with the “wings of an eagle” and the “head of a man,” disinterred from the ruins of Babylon and Assyria by Sir Henry Layard between the years 1840 and 1850 A. D., to see that this “FIRST BEAST” stands for Babylon and its King--Nebuchadnezzar. The peculiarity of this “FIRST BEAST” was that it had “Eagle’s Wings.” This combination of the LION, the “King of Beasts,” and the EAGLE, the “King of Birds,” corresponded to the Royalty of the “Head of Gold” of the “COLOSSUS,” and typified the “Eagle-like” swiftness of the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. The “Plucking of the Wings” doubtless referred to the “Beastly Insanity” of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:20-27), and the “lifting up,” and causing to stand upon its feet “as a MAN,” to his restoration to sanity.
SECOND BEAST.
The “Second Beast” was “like to a BEAR, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had “Three Ribs” in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it Arise, devour much flesh.” Daniel 7:5. The bear is the strongest beast after the lion and is distinguished for its voracity, but it has none of the. agility and majesty of the lion, is awkward in its movements, and effects its purpose with comparative slowness, and by brute force and sheer strength. These were the characteristics of the Medo-Persian Empire. It was ponderous in its movements. It did not gain its victories by bravery or skill, but overwhelmed its enemies by hurling vast masses of troops upon them. Xerxes’ expedition against Greece was undertaken with 2,500,000 fighting men, who with the camp followers made up an army of 5,000,000. Other Persian generals had armies running up into the 100,000’s of men. It is easy to be seen that the movements of such enormous bodies of men would “devour much flesh,” not only in the destruction of their enemies, but thousands would die of disease and exposure and the countries through which they passed would become famine-stricken by the loss of food seized to feed such armies. The side of the “BEAR” which raised up to attack signifies Persia, in which lay the greatest military strength, and corresponded to the “right shoulder and arm” of the “Colossus.” The “Three Ribs” stood for the three Kingdoms of Lydia, Babylon and Egypt, which formed a “Triple Alliance” to check the Medo-Persian power, but were all destroyed by it.
THIRD BEAST.
The “Third Beast” was “like a LEOPARD, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the ’BEAST’ had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.” Daniel 7:6. The Leopard is the most agile and graceful of creatures; but its speed is here still further assisted by “wings.” Slight in its frame, but strong, swift and fierce, its characteristics render it a fitting symbol of the rapid conquests of the Greeks under Alexander the Great, who, followed by small but well-equipped and splendidly brave armies, moved with great celerity and in about 10 years overthrew the unwieldy forces of Persia, and subdued the whole civilized world. The “four wings of a Fowl” indicate, that, as a “fowl” does not fly high, the armies of Alexander were fitted mainly for lowland fighting. There is an incongruity between the number of “wings” and the number of “heads” of the Leopard. “Four heads” call for “four pair of wings.” Why only “four” wings we do not know, unless they denote the four quarters of the earth into which Alexander sought to extend his Kingdom.
The “Four Heads” of the LEOPARD represent the “Four Kingdoms” into which the Empire of Alexander was divided by his generals, namely Thrace, Macedonia, Syria and Egypt. The “Third Beast” corresponds to the “Abdomen” and “Hips” of the “COLOSSUS.”
FOURTH BEAST.
The “Fourth Beast” was unlike any Beast that Daniel had ever seen or heard about. It was “dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, and it had great IRON TEETH. It devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue (the other Beasts) with the feet of it; and it was diverse from all the ’BEASTS’ that were before it, and it had ’TEN HORNS’.” Daniel 7:7. The fact that the “Fourth Beast” had “Iron Teeth,” and that there were “Ten Horns” on its Head, the “iron” corresponding to the “Iron Limbs,” and the “Ten Horns” to the “Ten Toes” of the “COLOSSUS,” would cause Daniel to see that the “Fourth Beast” stood for the Fourth World Empire, the ROMAN.
But as Daniel “considered” the “Ten Horns,” he was amazed to see another “Horn,” a LITTLE one, come up among them, and before whom there were “three” of the “First Horns” plucked up by the roots, that is destroyed. And as he examined the “LITTLE HORN” more closely he noticed that it had Eyes like the eyes of a Man, and the Mouth of a Man speaking great things. Daniel 7:8. This mystified and troubled Daniel. He had seen nothing corresponding to it on the “Ten Toes” of the “COLOSSUS.” It must mean some new and additional revelation that God had not seen fit to impart to the Gentile King Nebuchadnezzar, and that was reserved for Daniel and his people (the Jews), for we must not forget that Daniel’s own visions, in the last six chapters’ of the Book, have to do with God’s dealings with the Jewish People in the “LATTER DAYS.” Daniel 10:14. So Daniel approached one of the “Heavenly Messengers” that stood by and asked him the meaning of what he had seen. He was told that the “Four Beasts” stood for “FOUR KINGS” or “KINGDOMS” (vs. 23), that should arise out of the earth. Then Daniel wanted to know the “truth” about the “FOURTH Beast,” which was so diverse from the other three, and particularly about the “LITTLE HORN” that came up among the “Ten Horns” on its head. In explanation Daniel was told that the “Ten Horns” on the “Fourth Beast” represented “TEN KINGS” that shall arise, and that the “Little Horn” was a “King” that should rise among them and subdue three of them, and that he would be a “PERSON” of remarkable intelligence and great oratorical powers, having a mouth speaking great things. That he would be audacious, arrogant, imperious, and persecuting, and change “times and laws,” and that the “Saints of the Most High” (Daniel’s People) would be given into his hands for a “Time, and Times, and the Dividing of Time,” or 3½ years.
In this Vision of the “Four Beasts” we see “Degeneration” just as we saw it in the metals of the “COLOSSUS.” The descent is from the LION, the “King of Beasts,” to a nondescript “MONSTER” that defies description. The reason why these “Four Kingdoms” are rep-resented first as a “Golden Headed Metallic Image,” and then as a succession of “Wild Beasts,” is to show the difference between Man’s view and GOD’S view of the World Kingdoms. Man sees in them the concentration of wealth, majesty and power; GOD sees them as a succession of rapacious Wild Beasts devouring one another.
3. The Vision Of The “RAM” And The “HE - GOAT .”
The explanation as to the meaning of the “LITTLE HORN” perplexed Daniel, and he voiced it by saying “My ’cogitations’ much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me (he had a sad look); but I kept the matter in my heart.” Daniel 7:28. To comfort His Servant, God, two years later, transported Daniel in vision to Shushan, the Capital of Persia, and as he stood on the bank of the river Ulai, he saw a RAM which had “Two Horns,” one higher than the other, and the higher came up last. He saw the RAM push “Westward,” and “Northward,” and “Southward,” and nothing could stand before it, and it did according to its will. Daniel 8:4. While Daniel was “considering” what the Vision of the RAM meant, he saw a HE-GOAT come from the West unmolested, and he noticed it had a “NOTABLE HORN” between its eyes, and when it reached the RAM it was moved with “choler” or anger against it, and smote it with “fury,” and broke its. “Two Horns,” and knocked it down and stamped upon it. Then the HE-GOAT waxed great, but when it became strong its “GREAT HORN” was broken off, and “Four Notable Horns” came up in its place, and out of one of them sprang a “LITTLE HORN” which waxed exceedingly great toward the “South,” and toward the “East,” and toward the “Pleasant Land” (Palestine), Daniel 8; Daniel 5-9.
When Daniel sought for the meaning of this Vision he heard a voice say--“Gabriel, make this man to understand the Vision.” Then Gabriel said to Daniel the Vision belongs to the “Time of the End” (the End of the Times of the Gentiles), and is to make thee know what shall come to pass in the “Last End of the Indignation” (the Great Tribulation). Daniel 8:15-19. Gabriel then informed Daniel that the “RAM” stood for the “Medo-Persian Empire,” with its two Kings, Darius and his nephew Cyrus, that the “HE-GOAT” stood for the “Grecian Empire,” the “GREAT HORN” between its eyes for its first King (Alexander the Great), and that the “FOUR HORNS” that took the place of the “GREAT HORN,” stood for “Four Kingdoms” into which the “Grecian Empire” should be divided.
This explanation cleared up things considerably for Daniel. It revealed to him that the “TWO HORNS” of the RAM, one higher than the other, and the “TWO SHOULDERS” of the BEAR, one higher than the other, and the “TWO ARMS” of the COLOSSUS, stood for the same thing, the double Empire of Medo-Persia. He also saw that the “FOUR HORNS” that came up in the place of the “GREAT HORN” corresponded to the “FOUR HEADS” of the LEOPARD, and therefore must correspond with the “ABDOMEN” and “HIPS” of the COLOSSUS, and stand for the Grecian Empire, and its “Fourfold Division” among the Generals of Alexander the Great.
But Daniel was still troubled as to the meaning of the “LITTLE HORN” that he saw come out of one of the “Four Horns” of the HE-GOAT, and Gabriel told him that it stood for a King of “Fierce Countenance” who should stand up in the “LATTER TIME” of the Kingdom, and who should stand up against the “PRINCE OF PRINCES” (Christ). Daniel 8:23-25. The description of this “LITTLE HORN” so clearly corresponded to the description of the “LITTLE HORN” that Daniel saw arise amid the “Ten Horns” of the “Fourth Wild Beast,” that he saw they described and stood for the same Person. The revelation so overcame Daniel that he “fainted,” and was sick certain days. Daniel 8:27
4. The Vision Of The “KINGS OF THE NORTH AND SOUTH .”
While Daniel had revealed to him that the “LITTLE HORN” should come out of one of the “Four Kingdoms” into which the Empire of Alexander the Great was divided, he was not at that time told which one, but 20 years later, in B. C. 533, the information was imparted to him in a Fourth Vision. He saw in vision two Kings warring against each other. One was called the “King of the North,” the other the “King of the South.” This chapter (Daniel 11:1-45) is one of the most wonderfully minute as to prophetic details of any chapter in the Bible. It corresponds exactly with the profane history of the kings of Egypt and Syria for over 350 years. From verse 5 to verse 31 we have an account of what is called the “wars” of the “Kings of the North” (Syria) and of the “Kings of the South” (Egypt). These end with the close of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, B. C. 164. Verses 32-35 cover the whole period from B. C. 164 down to the “Time of the End,” that is, until the “Seventieth Week” of Daniel’s “Seventy Weeks.” At verse 36 the “WILFUL KING” appears, and from that verse down until the end of the Book of Daniel we have an account of what is to befall Daniel’s People in the “Latter Days.” As the description of the “WILFUL KING” corresponded with the description of the “LITTLE HORN” of the “Fourth Wild Beast” and the “LITTLE HORN” of the “He-Goat,” and they were all to appear at the same time--the “Time of the End.” Daniel understood that they referred to one and the same Person, and as the “WILFUL KING” would be the “King of the NORTH,” that is, of Syria, Daniel saw that the “LITTLE HORN” was to rise on the “SYRIAN HORN” of the “He-Goat,” in other words that the “LITTLE HORN,” or “Antichrist,” shall come out of SYRIA, and as Syria included Assyria that the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel is the same as the “Assyrian” of Isaiah. “When the Lord hath performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem (which will not be until Christ comes back), I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the KING OF ASSYRIA (Antichrist) and the glory of his high looks.” Isaiah 10:12. I will break the ASSYRIAN (Antichrist) in My Land (Palestine), and upon My mountains tread him under foot; then shall his yoke depart from off them (Israel), and his burden from off their shoulders.” Isaiah 14:25. The context shows that this prophecy is connected with the restoration of Israel to their own land, not after the Babylonian Captivity, but a restoration that is still future, for the Assyrian Empire had been swallowed up by the Babylonian when the Prophet wrote and the ASSYRIAN King here mentioned must be some future Assyrian King, for he is to be brought to Palestine and destroyed there.
We must not allow ourselves to be confused by the different names given the Antichrist, as the “King of Tyrus,” the “King of Babylon,” and the “King of Assyria,” for that section of the world will comprise one territory in the days of the Antichrist and he will be known by all of these titles.
From what we have thus far learned of the Antichrist, the probability is that he will be a SYRIAN JEW, for it is not likely that the Jews will accept as their Messiah one who is not a Jew, unless the claimant by false pretense makes them believe he is one. This, however, does not prevent the Antichrist being a Roman citizen, and the political head of the revived Roman Empire, for Saul of Tarsus was both a Jew and a Roman citizen.
Those who claim that the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel 7, and the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel 8, are not the same, because the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel 7 arises amid the “Ten Horns” of the “Fourth Wild Beast,” which represents the Roman Empire, and the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel 8, arises on one of the Horns of the “He-Goat” which represents the Grecian Empire, and corresponds to the “Third Wild Beast,” forget that the Vision that the Apostle John had of the revived Roman Empire (Revelation 13:1-2), the Roman Empire in its last stage, reveals the fact that the “last stage” of the Roman Empire will include all the characteristics of the whole Four Empires, Babylonian,
Medo-Persian, Grecian and old Roman. This is seen in the character of the “BEAST” John saw come up out of the sea. It was like unto a LEOPARD (Greece), with the feet of a BEAR (Medo-Persia), and the mouth of a LION (Babylon). The fact that the BODY of the “BEAST” was like a LEOPARD (Greece), reveals the fact that the preponderating feature of the revived Roman Empire will be GRECIAN, and that therefore the “Ten Federated Kingdoms,” represented by the “Ten Horns” of the “Beast,” will include the FOUR KINGDOMS into which the GRECIAN Empire was divided, viz., Egypt, Macedon, Thrace and SYRIA. It follows therefore that the “LITTLE HORN” of the “He-Goat” (Greece), will be the LITTLE HORN that rises among the “Ten Horns” of the “Fourth Wild Beast” (Rome), for Syria, one of the four divisions of the Grecian Empire, will be one of the component parts of the Revived Roman Empire.
Again those who claim that Antiochus Epiphanes (B. C. 175-165), a king of Syria, was the LITTLE HORN” of the “He-Goat,” overlook the fact, that, while Antiochus Epiphanes devastated Palestine and caused an “idol altar” to be erected on the Brazen Altar of the Temple, on which he offered swine-flesh, which was an abomination to the Jews, he does not fulfil the description of the “LITTLE HORN” of the “He-Goat” (Daniel 8:9-12; Daniel 8:23-25), for Antiochus Epiphanes, nor any other ruler of the past, ever stood up against JESUS, the “Prince of Princes.” Neither was Antiochus Epiphanes “broken without hand.” He died a natural death at Tabae in B. C. 165. But the “LITTLE HORN” of the “He-Goat” is to be “broken without hand.” His Kingdom is to be destroyed by a “stone cut out of the mountain WITHOUT HANDS,” and he himself shall be “paralyzed” by the “brightness of the Lord’s Coming” (1. Thess. 2:8), and he shall be cast ALIVE into the “Lake of Fire.” Revelation 19:20. There is no intimation in Scripture that Antiochus Epiphanes is even to be regarded as a “type” of Antichrist. They are distinct historical personages, and though they resemble each other in some respects, yet they must not be confounded with each other. After this prolonged exposition of Daniel’s “Foreview” of the Antichrist, which has seemed necessary to a proper understanding of the meaning of the “Beast” which John saw come up out of the sea, we now turn to--
III . PAUL ’S FOREVIEW .
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for ’that Day’ (the Day of the Lord) shall not come except there come a ’falling away first,’ and that ’MAN OF SIN’ be revealed. The
’SON OF PERDITION,’
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 (the rebuilt Temple at Jerusalem), showing himself that he is God . . . For the
’MYSTERY OF INIQUITY’
doth already work (in Paul’s day); only He (the Holy Spirit) who now letteth (restraineth R. V.) will let (restrain), until He be taken out of the way. And then shall
’THAT WICKED’
be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit (breath) of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness (manifestation R. V.) of His Coming. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth (Christ) that they might be saved.” 2. Thess. 2:3-10.
In the American Standard Edition of the Bible the Antichrist is called the “MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS” or the “LAWLESS ONE.” As such he is not the cause of Lawlessness, he is the result or fruit of it, for he will arise out of the seething cauldron of Lawlessness that is now becoming more pronounced and manifest in the world.
The name that the Apostle Paul gives the Antichrist--the “SON OF PERDITION,” is not without significance. The name is used but twice in the Scriptures. It is first used by Christ of Judas (John 17:12), and then here of Antichrist. The Apostle also calls the Antichrist in this passage the “MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.” What does that mean? In 1. Tim. 3:16 Christ is spoken of as the “MYSTERY OF GODLINESS,” that is, that He was God MANIFEST IN THE FLESH. How did He become “manifest in the flesh”? By being born of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. Thus it was that Jesus became the SON OF GOD. Luke 1:35. Now as iniquity is the opposite of godliness, then the “MYSTERY OF INIQUITY” must be the opposite of the “MYSTERY OF GODLINESS.” That is, if Christ is the “MYSTERY OF GODLINESS,” Antichrist must be the “MYSTERY OF INIQUITY,” and as Christ was the “Son of God,” then Antichrist must be the “SON OF PERDITION,” that is, of SATAN. And as Christ was born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit, so Antichrist will be born of a woman (not necessarily a virgin) by Satan. This is no new view for it has been held by many of God’s spiritually minded children since the days of the Apostle John, and there is some warrant for it in the Scriptures. In Genesis 3:15, God said to the Serpent (Satan), “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between ’THY SEED’ and ’HER SEED’.” Now the Woman’s SEED was CHRIST, then the Serpent’s SEED must be ANTICHRIST. In John 8:44 Jesus said to the Jews--“Ye are of your father THE DEVIL . . When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of IT.” In the Greek there is the definite article before “lie,” and it should read “THE LIE,” so when the Devil speaks of “THE LIE,” he is speaking of his own (child), for he is a liar, and the FATHER OF “IT”--“THE LIE.” And it is worthy of note that in the verse (vs. 11) that follows the passage we are considering that the Apostle says--“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie.” Here again the definite article is found in the Greek, and it should read “The LIE,” the “SON OF PERDITION,” the ANTICHRIST.
But why was Judas called the “SON OF PERDITION”? Was he a child of Satan by some woman, or was he simply indwelt by Satan? Here we must let the Scriptures speak for themselves. In John 6:70-71 we read that Jesus said “Have not I chosen you Twelve, and one of you is a DEVIL? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon; for he it was that should betray Him, being one of the Twelve.” In no other passage than this is the word “Devil” applied to anyone but to Satan himself. Here the word is “diabolus,” the definite article is employed, and it should read--“and one of you is THE DEVIL.” This would make Judas the Devil incarnate, or the “MYSTERY OF INIQUITY,” and explains why Jesus in John 17:12, calls him the “SON OF PERDITION.”
This is the only place in the Scriptures where the word “diabolus” is applied to a human being, and it implies an incarnation.
While “Perdition” is a PLACE (Revelation 17:8; Revelation 17:11), it is also a “condition” into which men may fall (1. Tim. 6:9; Hebrews 10:39), and while men who have committed the “Unpardonable Sin” are “sons of perdition,” because they are destined to the place of the irrevocably lost, yet Judas and Antichrist are the “SONS OF PERDITION” in a special sense, for they are the SONS of the author of “Perdition”--THE DEVIL. That is they are not merely “obsessed” or controlled by the Devil, the Devil has incarnated himself in them, and for the time being, to all practical purposes, they are the very Devil himself.
The next question that arises is, “If Judas and the Antichrist are both called the ’SON OF PERDITION,’ are they one and the same, or are there two ’Sons of Perdition’?” Here we must anticipate. Turning to Revelation 11:7, we read that the “Beast” that slays the “Two Witnesses” ascends out of the “Bottomless Pit” (ABYSS), and that “Beast” is the ANTICHRIST. Now how did he get into the “ABYSS”? Well, if there is only one “SON OF PERDITION,” and Judas and Antichrist are one and the same, then he got in the ABYSS when Judas went to his “Own Place” (the ABYSS). Acts 1:25. Of no other person is it said anywhere in the Scriptures that he went “to his own place.” Again in Revelation 17:8 it is said--“The ’Beast’ that thou sawest was, and is not: and shall ascend out of the ’Bottomless Pit’ (Abyss), and go into PERDITION.” As this “Beast” is the same that slays the “Two Witnesses” he is the ANTI-CHRIST. Now there are four things said of him. First, he “WAS.” Second, he “IS NOT.” Third, he shall “ASCEND OUT OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT.” Fourth, he shall “GO INTO PERDITION.” From this we learn that in John’s day the “Beast” “Was Not,” but that he had been before on the earth, and was to come again, that he was to ASCEND FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT. This is positive proof that the ANTICHRIST has been on the earth before, and that when he comes in the future he will come from the “ABYSS.”
The question then arises, when was “Antichrist” on the earth before? If Judas and Antichrist are one and the same the enigma is solved. When Judas was on the earth, he WAS; when Judas went to his “Own Place” he “WAS NOT”; when Judas comes back from the “Abyss” he will be--THE ANTICHRIST. The Author does not insist on this view of Judas and Antichrist being correct, but with open mind he accepts it, because it seems to be the only logical solution of both Judas and Antichrist being called the “SON OF PERDITION.”
IV . JOHN ’S FOREVIEW .
“John 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. And the ’BEAST’ which I saw was like 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 (Throne), and GREAT AUTHORITY. 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.’ 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? 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.”
When we compare these “Foreviews,” and note the similarity of conduct of Daniel’s “LITTLE HORN,” Paul’s “MAN OF SIN,” and John’s “BEAST,” and that Daniel’s “LITTLE HORN” and John’s “BEAST” are to continue for the same length of time--“Forty and Two Months,” or 3½ years, and that Daniel’s “LITTLE HORN,” Paul’s “MAN OF SIN,” and John’s “BEAST,” are all to be destroyed in the same manner at Christ’s “Second Coming,” we see that they all prefigure the same “Evil Power,” which is after the “Working of Satan,” and which John in 1. John 2:18, calls THE ANTICHRIST. In other words when we find in prophecy “Three Symbolic Personages” that come upon the stage of action at the same time, occupy the same territory, exhibit the same character, do the same work, exist the same length of time, and meet the same fate, they must symbolize the SAME THING.
Before we examine in detail John’s “BEAST,” it would be well for us to compare it with Daniel’s “FOURTH WILD BEAST.”
In comparing these two “BEASTS” we find that they both come up out of the sea (the nations), and that they are utterly unlike
any beast we have ever heard of. Daniel’s “Beast” was dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth, and nails of brass; while John’s “Beast” was like a LEOPARD, with the feet of a BEAR, and the mouth of a LION. As Daniel’s “Beast” represented the “FOURTH KINGDOM” upon the earth, the Roman Empire, it is evident that its characteristics describe the old Roman Empire, while the characteristics of John’s Beast represent the revived Roman Empire. We know that the Old Roman Empire was “strong exceedingly” and its grip and power were like a beast with “great iron teeth” and “nails of brass,” and from the description of John’s “Beast” we learn that the revived Roman Empire shall embody all the characteristics of the Four World Empires, as seen in its LEOPARD like body, its feet of a BEAR, and its mouth of a LION. That both “Beasts” have TEN HORNS reveals the fact that they will be in existence at the time indicated by the TEN TOES of the Colossus, with which they correspond, which will be just before the setting up of the “Stone” or Millennial Kingdom of Christ. We are told that the “TEN HORNS” of Daniel’s “Beast” stand for “TEN KINGS,” and the “TEN HORNS” of John’s “Beast” stand for the same. Revelation 17:12. From this we see that both Daniel and John foresaw that the Roman Empire was to be eventually divided into “Ten Separate but Federated Kingdoms.”
While both “Beasts” have TEN HORNS, they differ in that John’s had “SEVEN HEADS” while Daniel’s had but ONE, and among the “TEN HORNS” on Daniel’s “Beast” there came up a “LITTLE HORN,” which is not seen amid the “TEN HORNS” of John’s Beast. These, as we shall see, are features that refer to the last stage of the “Beast” and show that we cannot ’understand the last stage of the “Beast” without carefully comparing Daniel’s and John’s “Beasts,” for the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel’s “Beast” plucks up THREE of the “TEN HORNS” and destroys them, or takes their kingdom away, a thing that John omits to tell us. Again the Antichristian character of Daniel’s “Beast” is seen in its “LITTLE HORN” whose conduct corresponds with not a part, but the whole of John’s “Beast,” and that for the same length of time, “TIME” and “TIMES” and the “DIVIDING OF TIME” which equals “FORTY AND TWO MONTHS.”
It now remains to analyze the “Beast” that John saw come up out of the sea, and try to discover the meaning of its various members.
We have two descriptions of this “Beast.”
Daniel’s “Fourth Wild Beast” as we have seen, represents the Roman Empire as it existed from B. C. 30, until as a nation it shall cease to exist. While it was divided in A. D. 364, as the result of an ecclesiastical schism, into its Eastern and Western Divisions, and lost its national life as a world power, yet it has never lost its religious existence or influence as seen in the continuance of the Greek and Roman Churches, and Roman Law is still a controlling power in our laws. In this sense the Roman Empire in its influence has never ceased to exist. We are now to consider it in its last stage as out-lined in John’s “Beast.”
In the two descriptions of John’s Beast as given above it is very important to see that the “Beast” has a “Dual” meaning. It represents both the revived Roman Empire, and its Imperial Head the
JOHN’S TWO VISIONS
OF THE BEAST
Antichrist. As the revived Roman Empire it is seen coming up out of the sea of the nations, as the Antichrist it comes up out of the ABYSS. For instance it cannot be said of the Roman Empire of John’s day, that it WAS, and IS NOT, for it was at the height of its power in John’s day. Neither can it be said of it that it shall ascend out of the pit and go into PERDITION, that could only be said of a person. Again we must distinguish between the body of the “Beast” and its heads and horns. The body being that of a LEOPARD, with the feet of a BEAR, and the mouth of a LION is to show that the revived Roman Empire in its last stage will include the characteristics of the first “Three Wild Beasts” of Daniel, that is, of the LION (Babylon), the BEAR (Medo-Persia), and the LEOPARD (Greece), and as the largest part of the “Beast,” the body, is represented by the LEOPARD, the prevailing characteristic of the revived Roman Empire will be GRECIAN.
The “Beast” that comes up out of the sea (Chap. 13), has SEVEN HEADS and TEN HORNS, and the “Horns” are CROWNED. This represents the “Beast,” or Empire, at the height of its power, when it will have all its “Heads,” and when the TEN KINGS, the heads of the TEN KINGDOMS into which the Empire shall be divided, will have been crowned. The “Beast” that comes up out of the ABYSS also has SEVEN HEADS and TEN HORNS, but they are not crowned, for the TEN KINGS represented by the TEN HORNS, have not as yet received their kingdom. (Revelation 17:12.) This implies that the “Beast” of Revelation 17, represents the Antichrist at the beginning of the “Week.” As confirmation of this view the “WOMAN” is seen at this stage riding the “Beast.” For while the “Scarlet Clothed Woman” is not seen until chapter 17, it is clear that she rides the “Beast” from the beginning of the “Week,” for she represents the “PAPAL CHURCH” that comes into power after the true Church has been caught out. During the wars preceding the rise of Antichrist the nations that will then be found in the geographical limits of the Old Roman Empire will form an “Alliance” for mutual protection. Those nations will be ten in number, represented by the “TEN HORNS” of the Beast. No doubt the “Papal Church” will play a prominent part in those proceedings. She will be rewarded by restoration to political power, and this union of Church and State, in which the Church will have control, is shown by the WOMAN riding the Beast, thus dominating it. But when the “Ten Kings” shall receive their Kingdoms and be CROWNED, they “shall hate the WHORE, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.” (Vs. 16.)
While we are told in Revelation 17:9 that the “SEVEN HEADS” of the “Beast” represent “SEVEN MOUNTAINS” (this is to identify it with the Roman Empire), we are told in the next verse (R. V.) that they (the “Seven Heads”) also represent “SEVEN KINGS” of whom “Five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh he must continue a short space.” That is, in John’s day “Five” of these Kings had fallen, one was the then ruling Emperor, and the “Seventh” was yet to come. Who are meant by the first “Five Kings” that had fallen we do not know. The King that was on the throne in John’s day was Domitian, who had banished John to the Isle of Patmos. The last or “SEVENTH KING” who is yet to come is undoubtedly the ANTICHRIST. We are told in Revelation 13:3, that one of the “SEVEN HEADS,” or “KINGS,” received a deadly wound. Which one is not stated. The inference is that it is the last, for the Beast has all of his “HEADS” before one of them is wounded. In Revelation 17:11 he is called the Beast that WAS, and IS NOT, even he is the “EIGHTH,” and is of the “SEVENTH,” and goeth into PERDITION. The only clear explanation of this passage is that the “SEVENTH HEAD”--THE ANTICHRIST, is the one who receives the “deadly wound,” probably at the hand of an
THE ANTICHRIST
assassin, and as his body is lying in state prepared for burial, he rises from the dead (Vs. 14), and thus becomes the “EIGHTH,” though he is of the “SEVENTH.” By this resurrection of the Antichrist, Satan imitates the Resurrection of Christ and makes the world “wonder after the Beast” (Revelation 13:3), and this adds to his prestige and power. If this happens at the “Middle of the Week,” at the time the Dragon is cast out of Heaven, it will account for the great change that takes place in the Antichrist, for before receiving his “deadly wound” he will be sweet and lovable, but after his resurrection or recovery he will become Devilish, the result of the Dragon incarnating himself in him. It is at this time that he breaks the Covenant with the Jews and desecrates the Temple by setting up the “Abomination of Desolation” which is an “Idol Image” of himself--the “DESOLATOR.” As the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel’s “Fourth Wild Beast” he will destroy three of the “Ten Kings” and firmly establish himself in the place of power, and as he, as the “LITTLE HORN,” does not appear until after the “TEN HORNS,” or “Ten Federated Kingdoms,” come into existence, it is clear that the Antichrist does not form the Federation, but is the outgrowth of it.
He will be a “composite” man. One who embraces in his character the abilities and powers of Nebuchadnezzar, Xerxes, Alexander the Great and Caesar Augustus. He will have the marvelous gift of attracting unregenerate men, and the irresistible fascination of his personality, his versatile attainments, superhuman wisdom, great administrative and executive ability, along with his powers as a consummate flatterer, a brilliant diplomatist, a superb strategist, will make him the most conspicuous and prominent of men. All these gifts will be conferred on him by Satan, whose tool he will be, and who will thus make him the--
SUPERMAN.
He will pose as a great humanitarian, the friend of men, and the especial friend of the Jewish race, whom he will persuade that he has come to usher in the “Golden Age” as pictured by the prophets, and who will receive him as their Messiah.
He will intoxicate men with a strong delusion and his never varying success. And when he shall be slain and rise again he will have lost none of these powers, but will be in addition the embodiment of all kinds of wickedness and blasphemy.
“He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws.” Daniel 7:25.
“He shall also stand up against the ’Prince of Princes’“ (Jesus). Daniel 8:25.
“He shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of Gods.” Daniel 11:36.
“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 (at Jerusalem) showing himself that he IS GOD. . . . whose coming is after the Working of Satan with all Power and Signs and Lying Wonders.” 2. Thess. 2:3-9.
There has never as yet appeared on this earth a person who answers the description given in the above Scriptures. Such a character is almost inconceivable. No writer would have invented such a character.
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7. THE BEAST OUT OF THE EARTH .
The “Beast” Or “Anti-Spirit.”
Revelation 13:11-18.
“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. 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. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 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. 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. 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; 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.’ Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the ’NUMBER OF THE BEAST’: for it is the ’NUMBER OF MAN’: and his number is SIX HUNDRED THREESCORE AND SIX.”
After the Apostle John had seen and described the “Beast” that came up out of the SEA, he saw another “Beast” come up out of the EARTH. This “Second Beast,” while John does not say it was a lamb, had “Two Horns” “like a lamb,” that is, it was LAMB-LIKE. Because of this resemblance many claim that the “Second Beast” is the Antichrist, for Antichrist is supposed to imitate Christ. While the LAMB (Christ) is mentioned in the Book of Revelation 22 times, the description given of Him in chapter 5:6, is that of a lamb having “SEVEN HORNS” and not “TWO.” This differentiates Him from the “lamb-like Beast” that comes up out of the earth, who, though he is “lamb-like in appearance SPEAKS AS A DRAGON.”
The “Second Beast” has a name. He is called the “FALSE PROPHET” three times. First in chapter 16:13, then in chapter 19:20, and again in chapter 20:10. Twice he is associated with the “First Beast” (Antichrist) and once with the “Dragon” (Satan) and the “First Beast,” and as they are PERSONS so must he be. The fact that he is called the “False Prophet” is proof that he is not the “Antichrist.” Jesus had a foreview of him when He said--“There shall arise ’FALSE CHRISTS’ and ’FALSE PROPHETS,’ and shall show GREAT SIGNS AND WONDERS: insomuch that, if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect.” Matthew 24:24. Here Jesus differentiates between “FALSE CHRISTS” and “FALSE PROPHETS,” therefore the “ANTICHRIST” and the “FALSE PROPHET” cannot be the same.
That the “Second Beast” comes up out of the EARTH may signify that he will be a resurrected person. If, as was hinted at, “Antichrist” was Judas resurrected, why should not the “False Prophet” also be a resurrected person? There will be two persons, as we have seen, who shall come back from Heaven as the “Two Witnesses,” Moses and Elijah, why not two persons come up from “The Underworld,” brought up by Satan to counteract the work of the “Two Witnesses”? The fact that the “First Beast” (Antichrist), and the “Second Beast” (False Prophet) are cast ALIVE into the “Lake of Fire” (Revelation 19:20) is further proof that they are more than ordinary mortals, and that the “First Beast” is more than the last ruling Emperor of the revived Roman Empire. He is the Antichrist, Satan’s SUPERMAN.
In the “Dragon,” the “Beast,” and the “False Prophet,” we have the “SATANIC TRINITY,” Satan’s imitation of the “Divine Trinity.” In the unseen and invisible “Dragon” we have the FATHER (the ANTI-GOD). In the “Beast” we have the “SON OF PERDITION” (the ANTI-CHRIST), begotten of the Dragon, who appears on the earth, dies, and is resurrected, and to whom is given a throne by his Father the Dragon. In the “False Prophet” we have the “ANTI-SPIRIT,” who proceeds from the “Dragon Father” and “Dragon Son,” and whose speech is like the Dragon’s. The “Dragon” then will be the “ANTI-GOD,” the “Beast” the “ANTI-CHRIST,” and the “False Prophet” the “ANTI-SPIRIT,” and the fact that all three are cast ALIVE into the “Lake of Fire” (Revelation 20:10) is proof that they together form a “Triumvirate” which we may well call--“THE SATANIC TRINITY.”
Again the “Antichrist” is to be a KING and rule over a KINGDOM. He will accept the “Kingdoms of this world” that Satan offered Christ, and that Christ refused. Matthew 4:8-10. He will also EXALT himself, and claim to be God. 2. Thess. 2:4. But the “False Prophet” is not a King, He does not exalt himself, he exalts the “First Beast” (Antichrist). His relation to the “First Beast” is the same as the Holy Spirit’s relation to Christ. He causeth the earth
and them which dwell therein to worship the “First Beast.” He also has power to give life, and in this he imitates the Holy Spirit. And as the followers of Christ are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the “Day of Redemption” (Ephesians 4:30); so, the followers of Antichrist shall be sealed by the False Prophet until the “Day of Perdition.” Revelation 13:16-17.
The False Prophet will be a “Miracle Worker.” While Jesus was a “miracle worker,” He did all His mighty works in the “power” of the Holy Spirit. Acts 10:38. Among the miracles that the False Prophet will perform he will bring down FIRE FROM HEAVEN. As we have seen under the work of the “Two Witnesses,” chapter 11:1-14, there will probably be a “FIRE-TEST” between Elijah and the False Prophet, and the test as to who is God of Mt. Carmel will be repeated. That Satan, who will then energize the False Prophet, can do this is clear from Job 1:16, where Satan, having secured per-mission from God to touch all that Job had, brought down “fire from heaven” and burned up Job’s sheep and servants.
The False Prophet then commands the people to make an
“IMAGE OF THE BEAST.”
This is further proof that the “First Beast” is the Antichrist. It is a strange weakness of mankind that they must have some VISIBLE God to worship, and when the Children of Israel, who had been delivered from Egypt under Moses’ leadership, thought he had forsaken them because he did not come down from the Mount, they called Aaron to make them gods which should go before them, and Aaron made for them the “GOLDEN CALF.” Exodus 32:1-6. So the False Prophet will have the people make for the purpose of worship an “IMAGE OF THE BEAST.” But the wonderful thing about the “IMAGE” is that the False Prophet will have power to give LIFE to it, and cause it to SPEAK, and to demand that all who will not worship it shall be put to death. In other words the “IMAGE” will be a living, speaking, AUTOMATON.
This “Image” reminds us of the “GOLDEN IMAGE” that Nebuchadnezzar commanded to be made and set up in the “Plain of Dura,” in the Province of Babylon (Daniel 3:1-30), before which, at the sounding of musical instruments, the people were commanded to bow down and worship under penalty, for those who disobeyed, of being cast into a “BURNING FIERY FURNACE.” Doubtless there will be many in the “Day of Antichrist” who will refuse to bow down and worship the “Image of the Beast,” and who will not escape as did the “Three Hebrew Children,” though God may inter-pose in a miraculous way to deliver some. And as if this was not enough the False Prophet shall cause--“ALL, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a ’MARK’ in their RIGHT HAND, or in their FOREHEAD; and that no man might BUY or SELL, save he that has the ’MARK’ or the ’NAME OF THE BEAST,’ or the ’NUMBER OF HIS NAME’.” This “MARK” will be known as the
“BRAND OF HELL.”
This is what the world is fast coming to. The time is not far distant when the various “Trusts” and “Combinations of Capital” will be merged into a “FEDERATION OF TRUSTS,” at the head of which shall be a “NAPOLEON OF CAPITAL.” Ultimately this “Federation of Trusts” will extend to the whole world, at the head of which shall be THE ANTICHRIST, and the producer and consumer will be powerless in the tentacles of this OCTOPUS, and no man shall be able to BUY or SELL who has not the “MARK OF THE BEAST” either upon his “right hand” or on his “forehead.” This “Mark” will be BRANDED or burnt on. It will probably be the “NUMBER OF THE BEAST” or “666.” The number “666” is the “NUMBER OF MAN,” and stops short of the perfect number SEVEN. Man was created on the SIXTH day. Goliath, the opposer of God’s people, a type of Satan, was 6 cubits in height, he had 6 pieces of armor, and his spearhead weighed 600 shekels. 1. Sam. 17:4-7. Nebuchadnezzar’s Image, a type of the “Image of the Beast,” was 60 cubits in height, 6 cubits wide, and 6 instruments of music summoned the worshippers. Daniel 3:1-7.
In that day men will doubtless prefer to have the “MARK” on the back of their right hand so it can be readily seen in the act of signing checks, drafts, and receipts. There will doubtless be public officials in all public places of business to see that no one buys or sells who has not the “MARK.” This will apply to women as well as men. No one can shop, or even buy from the huckster at the door, without the “MARK,” under penalty of DEATH. Those will be awful times for those who will not WORSHIP THE BEAST. If they can neither buy or sell without the “MARK,” they must beg, or starve or be killed. The instrument of death will be the guillotine (Revelation 20:4), and the daily papers will contain a list of the names of those who were beheaded the day before so as to frighten the people into obedience to the law. The doom of the “Satanic Trinity” will be, that at the close of that awful time of Tribulation the Lord Jesus Christ will return, and the “Dragon,” the “Anti-God,” will be cast into the “BOTTOMLESS PIT” for a 1000 years (Revelation 20:1-3), and the “Beast,” the “Anti-Christ,” and the “False Prophet,” the “Anti-Spirit,” will be cast ALIVE into the “LAKE OF FIRE.” Revelation 19:20.
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6. THE BEAST OUT OF THE SEA .
The Incarnation Of “The Dragon,” “The Anti-God.”
In “The Beast”Or “Anti-Christ.”
Revelation 13:1-10.
“And I (He, the Dragon, R. V.) stood upon the sand of the sea and (I) 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. And the ’BEAST’ which I saw was like 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 (Throne), and GREAT AUTHORITY. 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.’ 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? 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. 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. 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. If any man have an ear, let him hear. 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.”
John next saw the “Dragon” standing on the seashore, and as he stood, a “Beast” rose 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, and the body of the “Beast” was like 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 (Throne), and GREAT AUTHORITY. This does not necessarily mean that the “Dragon” gave him his own throne, but he gave him power, and a throne, and great authority. As John was back on the Isle of Patmos, the “sea” from which he saw the “Beast” arise was probably the Mediterranean, though the “sea” in prophecy signifies the nations.
What does this “COMPOSITE BEAST” signify? This is not the first time we have read in the Scriptures of a “Beast” coming up out of the sea, so we must go back to the Book of Daniel for an explanation. While Daniel was a Statesman and did not hold the “Prophetic Office,” he had the “Prophetic Gift,” and was not only an interpreter of dreams, but a Prophet, and to him was revealed the whole course of the “Times of the Gentiles,” and the character of its last “Great Leader” the “ANTICHRIST.” His prophecy is mainly concerned with the things that shall befall his people, the Jews, in the “LATTER DAYS” (Daniel 10:14), and as we are now dealing with the things that shall come to pass in the “Last” or “Seventieth Week,” of Daniel’s “Seventy Weeks,” we necessarily must turn back to the Book of Daniel for an explanation of this symbol of the “BEAST.” But before we take .that up it is important to note that both the Old and New Testaments speak of a
“MYSTERIOUS AND TERRIBLE PERSONAGE”
who shall be revealed in the “Last Times.” He is called by various names.
In The Old Testament
“The Assyrian.”--Isaiah 10:5-6; Isaiah 30:27-33.
“King of Babylon.”--Isaiah 14:4.
“Lucifer.”--Isaiah 14:12.
“The Little Horn.”--Daniel 7:8; Daniel 8:9-12.
“A King Of Fierce Countenance.”--Daniel 8:23.
“The Prince That Shall Come.”--Daniel 9:26.
“The Wilful King.”--Daniel 11:36.
In The New Testament
“The Man Of Sin.”--2. Thess. 2:3-8.
“Son Of Perdition.”--2. Thess. 2:3-8.
“That Wicked.”--2. Thess. 2:3-8.
“Antichrist.”--1. John 2:18.
“The Beast.”--Revelation 13:1-2.
Jesus also made a prophetic reference to him. “I am come in my Father’s Name, and ye receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” John 5:43.
I. ISAIAH ’S FOREVIEW .
The Prophet Isaiah sees the Antichrist as the “ASSYRIAN.” Isaiah 10:5; Isaiah 10:12; Isaiah 10:24; Isaiah 30:27-33. In Isaiah 11:4, a chapter which is evidently Messianic, we read that among other things which the Messiah will do--“He shall smite the earth with the ’rod of His mouth,’ and with the ’breath of His lips’ shall He slay ’THE WICKED’.” The word translated “THE WICKED,” is in the singular number, and cannot refer to wicked persons in general, but to some one person who is conspicuously wicked. The expression is strikingly like that of Paul’s in 2. Thess. 2:8. “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’.” It is evident that Isaiah and Paul refer to the same individual, who can be no other than the Antichrist.
In Isaiah 14:4-17 there is a description of a “King of Babylon” who shall smite the people in his wrath, and rule the nations in anger. He is called “LUCIFER, Son of the Morning,” and his fall is described. He is cast down to Hell (Sheol, the Underworld), where his coming creates a great stir among the kings of the earth that have preceded him, and who exclaim when they see him--“Art thou .also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? . . . Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?” There has never as yet been such a King of Babylon as is here described. It must therefore refer to some future King of Babylon, when Babylon shall be rebuilt, as we shall see it is to be. Verses 12 to 14 evidently refer to Satan, and are descriptive of him before his fall, but as he is to incarnate himself in the Antichrist, who is to be a future King of Babylon, it explains the source of the pride and presumption of Antichrist, which will lead to his downfall, as it did to Satan’s.
II . DANIEL ’S FOREVIEW .
1. The Colossus.
We now turn to Daniel. The Book of Daniel may be divided into two parts. The first six chapters are Historical, the last six are Prophetical. The Book contains one “Dream” by Nebuchadnezzar, and four “Visions” by Daniel, all relating to the “Times of the Gentiles.” Nebuchadnezzar in his “Dream” saw a “Great Image” or “COLOSSUS.” The Head of the “Image” was of fine gold, its Breast and Arms of silver, its Belly (Abdomen) and Thighs (Hips) of brass, its Legs of iron, and its Feet of iron and clay. This Image was destroyed by a “Stone” cut out of a mountain supernaturally. The “Stone” in turn became a great mountain and filled the WHOLE EARTH. Daniel 2:31-35. The four metals of which the “COLOSSUS” was composed represented Four Worldwide Empires which were to arise in succession. Daniel 2:37-40. Four great Empires, and only four, were to succeed each other in the government of the world, from Nebuchadnezzar (B. C. 606) to the “Second Coming” of Christ--the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman. These Empires are not only made known as to number, but their names, in the order of their succession, are given. The First--“BABYLONIAN” is indicated by Daniel while interpreting the vision to Nebuchadnezzar. “THOU art this Head of Gold.” Daniel 2:38. The Second--the “MEDO-PERSIAN,” Daniel points out in
Antichrist and the ’Times of the Gentiles’
his account of “Belshazzar’s Feast,” by the emphatic words--“In that night was Belshazzar the King of the Chaldeans slain, and Darius the MEDIAN took the Kingdom.” Daniel 5:30-31. The Third--the “GRECIAN,” is mentioned in Daniel 8:20-21, “the Ram which thou sawest having ’two horns’ are the kings of Media and Persia, and the ’Rough Goat’ is the King of Grecia (Greece).” The Fourth--the “ROMAN,” is referred to in Daniel 9:26 as--“the PEOPLE of the ’Prince’ that should destroy the city (Jerusalem) and the Sanctuary,” and we know that it was the ROMANS under Titus, that destroyed Jerusalem in A. D. 70. While these Four Great Empires were to follow each other in the order named, they were not to follow without a break. The Babylonian lasted from B. C. 606 to B. C. 538. The Medo-Persian from B. C. 538 to B. C. 330. The Grecian from B. C. 330 to B. C. 323. Then the Grecian was broken up into four parts, Thrace, Macedonia, Syria, and Egypt, and the last of these was conquered by the Romans in B. C. 30, and the Roman Empire lasted from B. C. 30 to A. D. 364, when it was divided into its Eastern and Western Divisions. Since then there has been no leading world Empire, and cannot be according to this prophecy until Christ sets up His “STONE” or “Millennial Kingdom,” as represented by the “Stone” that smites the “COLOSSUS” on its feet, for this “STONE KINGDOM” is to fill the whole earth, and thus be universal. This “STONE” cannot be Christianity, for it does not fill the earth by degrees, and thus crowd out the “COLOSSUS,” but it at One Blow DEMOLISHES IT. The action of the “STONE” is that of JUDGMENT not Grace, and is SUDDEN and CALAMITOUS. Again the TIME of the destruction is not until after the formation of the Toes, and we know that the “TWO LIMBS” did not appear until A. D. 364, and the “TEN TOES” have not yet developed. The TIME when the “STONE” falls on the “FEET” we are told is “in the days of THOSE KINGS” (Daniel 2:44), that is the Kings represented by the “Ten Toes,” which as we shall see corresponds with the “Ten Horns” of Daniel’s “Fourth Wild Beast,” Daniel 7:7-8, and with the “Ten Kings” of John’s “Beast.” Revelation 17:12. The first Four Kingdoms were literal Kingdoms, and so must the “Stone Kingdom” be, for it is to take the place of those Kingdoms and fill the whole earth. It represents therefore the “Millennial Kingdom” of Christ, for He is the “STONE” of the Scriptures. Matthew 21:44.
From what has been said we see that the “COLOSSUS” of “Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream” symbolized the “World Kingdoms” in their Unity and Historical Succession. Gentile dominion is represented by a huge “METALLIC MAN.” The degeneration of the “World Kingdoms” is seen in the diminishing value of the metals used. Silver is worth less than gold, brass than silver, iron than brass, and clay than iron. The weight of the “COLOSSUS” also declines; the specific gravity of gold is 19.5, of silver 10.47, of brass 8, of cast-iron 5, and of clay 1.93. The “Colossus” is TOP HEAVY. The character of the governing power also deteriorates from an “Absolute Monarchy” under Nebuchadnezzar, to an “Autocratic Democracy” symbolized by the mixture of the iron and clay of the Feet. In other words the governing power passes from the Head, the organ that ought to direct the members of the body, to the Feet, which are only made to carry the body whither the Head directs. We have dwelt thus at length on the “Colossus,” for it is only as we understand it, that we can understand the meaning of the “Wild Beasts” that Daniel saw come up out of the sea.
2. The Vision of the “FOUR BEASTS .”
Forty-eight years after Nebuchadnezzar had his “Dream,” B. C. 555, Daniel in vision stood upon the shore of the “Great Sea” (the Mediterranean), and saw four “Great Beasts” come up out of the sea in succession.
FIRST BEAST.
The “First Beast” was like a LION and had Eagle’s Wings, and as the Prophet watched it, he saw it lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon its feet as a Man, and a Man’s Heart was given to it. Daniel 7:4. We have only to visit the British Museum, London, and examine the Colossal Stone Lions with the “wings of an eagle” and the “head of a man,” disinterred from the ruins of Babylon and Assyria by Sir Henry Layard between the years 1840 and 1850 A. D., to see that this “FIRST BEAST” stands for Babylon and its King--Nebuchadnezzar. The peculiarity of this “FIRST BEAST” was that it had “Eagle’s Wings.” This combination of the LION, the “King of Beasts,” and the EAGLE, the “King of Birds,” corresponded to the Royalty of the “Head of Gold” of the “COLOSSUS,” and typified the “Eagle-like” swiftness of the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. The “Plucking of the Wings” doubtless referred to the “Beastly Insanity” of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:20-27), and the “lifting up,” and causing to stand upon its feet “as a MAN,” to his restoration to sanity.
SECOND BEAST.
The “Second Beast” was “like to a BEAR, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had “Three Ribs” in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it Arise, devour much flesh.” Daniel 7:5. The bear is the strongest beast after the lion and is distinguished for its voracity, but it has none of the. agility and majesty of the lion, is awkward in its movements, and effects its purpose with comparative slowness, and by brute force and sheer strength. These were the characteristics of the Medo-Persian Empire. It was ponderous in its movements. It did not gain its victories by bravery or skill, but overwhelmed its enemies by hurling vast masses of troops upon them. Xerxes’ expedition against Greece was undertaken with 2,500,000 fighting men, who with the camp followers made up an army of 5,000,000. Other Persian generals had armies running up into the 100,000’s of men. It is easy to be seen that the movements of such enormous bodies of men would “devour much flesh,” not only in the destruction of their enemies, but thousands would die of disease and exposure and the countries through which they passed would become famine-stricken by the loss of food seized to feed such armies. The side of the “BEAR” which raised up to attack signifies Persia, in which lay the greatest military strength, and corresponded to the “right shoulder and arm” of the “Colossus.” The “Three Ribs” stood for the three Kingdoms of Lydia, Babylon and Egypt, which formed a “Triple Alliance” to check the Medo-Persian power, but were all destroyed by it.
THIRD BEAST.
The “Third Beast” was “like a LEOPARD, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the ’BEAST’ had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.” Daniel 7:6. The Leopard is the most agile and graceful of creatures; but its speed is here still further assisted by “wings.” Slight in its frame, but strong, swift and fierce, its characteristics render it a fitting symbol of the rapid conquests of the Greeks under Alexander the Great, who, followed by small but well-equipped and splendidly brave armies, moved with great celerity and in about 10 years overthrew the unwieldy forces of Persia, and subdued the whole civilized world. The “four wings of a Fowl” indicate, that, as a “fowl” does not fly high, the armies of Alexander were fitted mainly for lowland fighting. There is an incongruity between the number of “wings” and the number of “heads” of the Leopard. “Four heads” call for “four pair of wings.” Why only “four” wings we do not know, unless they denote the four quarters of the earth into which Alexander sought to extend his Kingdom.
The “Four Heads” of the LEOPARD represent the “Four Kingdoms” into which the Empire of Alexander was divided by his generals, namely Thrace, Macedonia, Syria and Egypt. The “Third Beast” corresponds to the “Abdomen” and “Hips” of the “COLOSSUS.”
FOURTH BEAST.
The “Fourth Beast” was unlike any Beast that Daniel had ever seen or heard about. It was “dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, and it had great IRON TEETH. It devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue (the other Beasts) with the feet of it; and it was diverse from all the ’BEASTS’ that were before it, and it had ’TEN HORNS’.” Daniel 7:7. The fact that the “Fourth Beast” had “Iron Teeth,” and that there were “Ten Horns” on its Head, the “iron” corresponding to the “Iron Limbs,” and the “Ten Horns” to the “Ten Toes” of the “COLOSSUS,” would cause Daniel to see that the “Fourth Beast” stood for the Fourth World Empire, the ROMAN.
But as Daniel “considered” the “Ten Horns,” he was amazed to see another “Horn,” a LITTLE one, come up among them, and before whom there were “three” of the “First Horns” plucked up by the roots, that is destroyed. And as he examined the “LITTLE HORN” more closely he noticed that it had Eyes like the eyes of a Man, and the Mouth of a Man speaking great things. Daniel 7:8. This mystified and troubled Daniel. He had seen nothing corresponding to it on the “Ten Toes” of the “COLOSSUS.” It must mean some new and additional revelation that God had not seen fit to impart to the Gentile King Nebuchadnezzar, and that was reserved for Daniel and his people (the Jews), for we must not forget that Daniel’s own visions, in the last six chapters’ of the Book, have to do with God’s dealings with the Jewish People in the “LATTER DAYS.” Daniel 10:14. So Daniel approached one of the “Heavenly Messengers” that stood by and asked him the meaning of what he had seen. He was told that the “Four Beasts” stood for “FOUR KINGS” or “KINGDOMS” (vs. 23), that should arise out of the earth. Then Daniel wanted to know the “truth” about the “FOURTH Beast,” which was so diverse from the other three, and particularly about the “LITTLE HORN” that came up among the “Ten Horns” on its head. In explanation Daniel was told that the “Ten Horns” on the “Fourth Beast” represented “TEN KINGS” that shall arise, and that the “Little Horn” was a “King” that should rise among them and subdue three of them, and that he would be a “PERSON” of remarkable intelligence and great oratorical powers, having a mouth speaking great things. That he would be audacious, arrogant, imperious, and persecuting, and change “times and laws,” and that the “Saints of the Most High” (Daniel’s People) would be given into his hands for a “Time, and Times, and the Dividing of Time,” or 3½ years.
In this Vision of the “Four Beasts” we see “Degeneration” just as we saw it in the metals of the “COLOSSUS.” The descent is from the LION, the “King of Beasts,” to a nondescript “MONSTER” that defies description. The reason why these “Four Kingdoms” are rep-resented first as a “Golden Headed Metallic Image,” and then as a succession of “Wild Beasts,” is to show the difference between Man’s view and GOD’S view of the World Kingdoms. Man sees in them the concentration of wealth, majesty and power; GOD sees them as a succession of rapacious Wild Beasts devouring one another.
3. The Vision Of The “RAM” And The “HE - GOAT .”
The explanation as to the meaning of the “LITTLE HORN” perplexed Daniel, and he voiced it by saying “My ’cogitations’ much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me (he had a sad look); but I kept the matter in my heart.” Daniel 7:28. To comfort His Servant, God, two years later, transported Daniel in vision to Shushan, the Capital of Persia, and as he stood on the bank of the river Ulai, he saw a RAM which had “Two Horns,” one higher than the other, and the higher came up last. He saw the RAM push “Westward,” and “Northward,” and “Southward,” and nothing could stand before it, and it did according to its will. Daniel 8:4. While Daniel was “considering” what the Vision of the RAM meant, he saw a HE-GOAT come from the West unmolested, and he noticed it had a “NOTABLE HORN” between its eyes, and when it reached the RAM it was moved with “choler” or anger against it, and smote it with “fury,” and broke its. “Two Horns,” and knocked it down and stamped upon it. Then the HE-GOAT waxed great, but when it became strong its “GREAT HORN” was broken off, and “Four Notable Horns” came up in its place, and out of one of them sprang a “LITTLE HORN” which waxed exceedingly great toward the “South,” and toward the “East,” and toward the “Pleasant Land” (Palestine), Daniel 8; Daniel 5-9.
When Daniel sought for the meaning of this Vision he heard a voice say--“Gabriel, make this man to understand the Vision.” Then Gabriel said to Daniel the Vision belongs to the “Time of the End” (the End of the Times of the Gentiles), and is to make thee know what shall come to pass in the “Last End of the Indignation” (the Great Tribulation). Daniel 8:15-19. Gabriel then informed Daniel that the “RAM” stood for the “Medo-Persian Empire,” with its two Kings, Darius and his nephew Cyrus, that the “HE-GOAT” stood for the “Grecian Empire,” the “GREAT HORN” between its eyes for its first King (Alexander the Great), and that the “FOUR HORNS” that took the place of the “GREAT HORN,” stood for “Four Kingdoms” into which the “Grecian Empire” should be divided.
This explanation cleared up things considerably for Daniel. It revealed to him that the “TWO HORNS” of the RAM, one higher than the other, and the “TWO SHOULDERS” of the BEAR, one higher than the other, and the “TWO ARMS” of the COLOSSUS, stood for the same thing, the double Empire of Medo-Persia. He also saw that the “FOUR HORNS” that came up in the place of the “GREAT HORN” corresponded to the “FOUR HEADS” of the LEOPARD, and therefore must correspond with the “ABDOMEN” and “HIPS” of the COLOSSUS, and stand for the Grecian Empire, and its “Fourfold Division” among the Generals of Alexander the Great.
But Daniel was still troubled as to the meaning of the “LITTLE HORN” that he saw come out of one of the “Four Horns” of the HE-GOAT, and Gabriel told him that it stood for a King of “Fierce Countenance” who should stand up in the “LATTER TIME” of the Kingdom, and who should stand up against the “PRINCE OF PRINCES” (Christ). Daniel 8:23-25. The description of this “LITTLE HORN” so clearly corresponded to the description of the “LITTLE HORN” that Daniel saw arise amid the “Ten Horns” of the “Fourth Wild Beast,” that he saw they described and stood for the same Person. The revelation so overcame Daniel that he “fainted,” and was sick certain days. Daniel 8:27
4. The Vision Of The “KINGS OF THE NORTH AND SOUTH .”
While Daniel had revealed to him that the “LITTLE HORN” should come out of one of the “Four Kingdoms” into which the Empire of Alexander the Great was divided, he was not at that time told which one, but 20 years later, in B. C. 533, the information was imparted to him in a Fourth Vision. He saw in vision two Kings warring against each other. One was called the “King of the North,” the other the “King of the South.” This chapter (Daniel 11:1-45) is one of the most wonderfully minute as to prophetic details of any chapter in the Bible. It corresponds exactly with the profane history of the kings of Egypt and Syria for over 350 years. From verse 5 to verse 31 we have an account of what is called the “wars” of the “Kings of the North” (Syria) and of the “Kings of the South” (Egypt). These end with the close of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, B. C. 164. Verses 32-35 cover the whole period from B. C. 164 down to the “Time of the End,” that is, until the “Seventieth Week” of Daniel’s “Seventy Weeks.” At verse 36 the “WILFUL KING” appears, and from that verse down until the end of the Book of Daniel we have an account of what is to befall Daniel’s People in the “Latter Days.” As the description of the “WILFUL KING” corresponded with the description of the “LITTLE HORN” of the “Fourth Wild Beast” and the “LITTLE HORN” of the “He-Goat,” and they were all to appear at the same time--the “Time of the End.” Daniel understood that they referred to one and the same Person, and as the “WILFUL KING” would be the “King of the NORTH,” that is, of Syria, Daniel saw that the “LITTLE HORN” was to rise on the “SYRIAN HORN” of the “He-Goat,” in other words that the “LITTLE HORN,” or “Antichrist,” shall come out of SYRIA, and as Syria included Assyria that the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel is the same as the “Assyrian” of Isaiah. “When the Lord hath performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem (which will not be until Christ comes back), I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the KING OF ASSYRIA (Antichrist) and the glory of his high looks.” Isaiah 10:12. I will break the ASSYRIAN (Antichrist) in My Land (Palestine), and upon My mountains tread him under foot; then shall his yoke depart from off them (Israel), and his burden from off their shoulders.” Isaiah 14:25. The context shows that this prophecy is connected with the restoration of Israel to their own land, not after the Babylonian Captivity, but a restoration that is still future, for the Assyrian Empire had been swallowed up by the Babylonian when the Prophet wrote and the ASSYRIAN King here mentioned must be some future Assyrian King, for he is to be brought to Palestine and destroyed there.
We must not allow ourselves to be confused by the different names given the Antichrist, as the “King of Tyrus,” the “King of Babylon,” and the “King of Assyria,” for that section of the world will comprise one territory in the days of the Antichrist and he will be known by all of these titles.
From what we have thus far learned of the Antichrist, the probability is that he will be a SYRIAN JEW, for it is not likely that the Jews will accept as their Messiah one who is not a Jew, unless the claimant by false pretense makes them believe he is one. This, however, does not prevent the Antichrist being a Roman citizen, and the political head of the revived Roman Empire, for Saul of Tarsus was both a Jew and a Roman citizen.
Those who claim that the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel 7, and the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel 8, are not the same, because the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel 7 arises amid the “Ten Horns” of the “Fourth Wild Beast,” which represents the Roman Empire, and the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel 8, arises on one of the Horns of the “He-Goat” which represents the Grecian Empire, and corresponds to the “Third Wild Beast,” forget that the Vision that the Apostle John had of the revived Roman Empire (Revelation 13:1-2), the Roman Empire in its last stage, reveals the fact that the “last stage” of the Roman Empire will include all the characteristics of the whole Four Empires, Babylonian,
Medo-Persian, Grecian and old Roman. This is seen in the character of the “BEAST” John saw come up out of the sea. It was like unto a LEOPARD (Greece), with the feet of a BEAR (Medo-Persia), and the mouth of a LION (Babylon). The fact that the BODY of the “BEAST” was like a LEOPARD (Greece), reveals the fact that the preponderating feature of the revived Roman Empire will be GRECIAN, and that therefore the “Ten Federated Kingdoms,” represented by the “Ten Horns” of the “Beast,” will include the FOUR KINGDOMS into which the GRECIAN Empire was divided, viz., Egypt, Macedon, Thrace and SYRIA. It follows therefore that the “LITTLE HORN” of the “He-Goat” (Greece), will be the LITTLE HORN that rises among the “Ten Horns” of the “Fourth Wild Beast” (Rome), for Syria, one of the four divisions of the Grecian Empire, will be one of the component parts of the Revived Roman Empire.
Again those who claim that Antiochus Epiphanes (B. C. 175-165), a king of Syria, was the LITTLE HORN” of the “He-Goat,” overlook the fact, that, while Antiochus Epiphanes devastated Palestine and caused an “idol altar” to be erected on the Brazen Altar of the Temple, on which he offered swine-flesh, which was an abomination to the Jews, he does not fulfil the description of the “LITTLE HORN” of the “He-Goat” (Daniel 8:9-12; Daniel 8:23-25), for Antiochus Epiphanes, nor any other ruler of the past, ever stood up against JESUS, the “Prince of Princes.” Neither was Antiochus Epiphanes “broken without hand.” He died a natural death at Tabae in B. C. 165. But the “LITTLE HORN” of the “He-Goat” is to be “broken without hand.” His Kingdom is to be destroyed by a “stone cut out of the mountain WITHOUT HANDS,” and he himself shall be “paralyzed” by the “brightness of the Lord’s Coming” (1. Thess. 2:8), and he shall be cast ALIVE into the “Lake of Fire.” Revelation 19:20. There is no intimation in Scripture that Antiochus Epiphanes is even to be regarded as a “type” of Antichrist. They are distinct historical personages, and though they resemble each other in some respects, yet they must not be confounded with each other. After this prolonged exposition of Daniel’s “Foreview” of the Antichrist, which has seemed necessary to a proper understanding of the meaning of the “Beast” which John saw come up out of the sea, we now turn to--
III . PAUL ’S FOREVIEW .
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for ’that Day’ (the Day of the Lord) shall not come except there come a ’falling away first,’ and that ’MAN OF SIN’ be revealed. The
’SON OF PERDITION,’
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 (the rebuilt Temple at Jerusalem), showing himself that he is God . . . For the
’MYSTERY OF INIQUITY’
doth already work (in Paul’s day); only He (the Holy Spirit) who now letteth (restraineth R. V.) will let (restrain), until He be taken out of the way. And then shall
’THAT WICKED’
be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit (breath) of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness (manifestation R. V.) of His Coming. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth (Christ) that they might be saved.” 2. Thess. 2:3-10.
In the American Standard Edition of the Bible the Antichrist is called the “MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS” or the “LAWLESS ONE.” As such he is not the cause of Lawlessness, he is the result or fruit of it, for he will arise out of the seething cauldron of Lawlessness that is now becoming more pronounced and manifest in the world.
The name that the Apostle Paul gives the Antichrist--the “SON OF PERDITION,” is not without significance. The name is used but twice in the Scriptures. It is first used by Christ of Judas (John 17:12), and then here of Antichrist. The Apostle also calls the Antichrist in this passage the “MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.” What does that mean? In 1. Tim. 3:16 Christ is spoken of as the “MYSTERY OF GODLINESS,” that is, that He was God MANIFEST IN THE FLESH. How did He become “manifest in the flesh”? By being born of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. Thus it was that Jesus became the SON OF GOD. Luke 1:35. Now as iniquity is the opposite of godliness, then the “MYSTERY OF INIQUITY” must be the opposite of the “MYSTERY OF GODLINESS.” That is, if Christ is the “MYSTERY OF GODLINESS,” Antichrist must be the “MYSTERY OF INIQUITY,” and as Christ was the “Son of God,” then Antichrist must be the “SON OF PERDITION,” that is, of SATAN. And as Christ was born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit, so Antichrist will be born of a woman (not necessarily a virgin) by Satan. This is no new view for it has been held by many of God’s spiritually minded children since the days of the Apostle John, and there is some warrant for it in the Scriptures. In Genesis 3:15, God said to the Serpent (Satan), “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between ’THY SEED’ and ’HER SEED’.” Now the Woman’s SEED was CHRIST, then the Serpent’s SEED must be ANTICHRIST. In John 8:44 Jesus said to the Jews--“Ye are of your father THE DEVIL . . When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of IT.” In the Greek there is the definite article before “lie,” and it should read “THE LIE,” so when the Devil speaks of “THE LIE,” he is speaking of his own (child), for he is a liar, and the FATHER OF “IT”--“THE LIE.” And it is worthy of note that in the verse (vs. 11) that follows the passage we are considering that the Apostle says--“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie.” Here again the definite article is found in the Greek, and it should read “The LIE,” the “SON OF PERDITION,” the ANTICHRIST.
But why was Judas called the “SON OF PERDITION”? Was he a child of Satan by some woman, or was he simply indwelt by Satan? Here we must let the Scriptures speak for themselves. In John 6:70-71 we read that Jesus said “Have not I chosen you Twelve, and one of you is a DEVIL? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon; for he it was that should betray Him, being one of the Twelve.” In no other passage than this is the word “Devil” applied to anyone but to Satan himself. Here the word is “diabolus,” the definite article is employed, and it should read--“and one of you is THE DEVIL.” This would make Judas the Devil incarnate, or the “MYSTERY OF INIQUITY,” and explains why Jesus in John 17:12, calls him the “SON OF PERDITION.”
This is the only place in the Scriptures where the word “diabolus” is applied to a human being, and it implies an incarnation.
While “Perdition” is a PLACE (Revelation 17:8; Revelation 17:11), it is also a “condition” into which men may fall (1. Tim. 6:9; Hebrews 10:39), and while men who have committed the “Unpardonable Sin” are “sons of perdition,” because they are destined to the place of the irrevocably lost, yet Judas and Antichrist are the “SONS OF PERDITION” in a special sense, for they are the SONS of the author of “Perdition”--THE DEVIL. That is they are not merely “obsessed” or controlled by the Devil, the Devil has incarnated himself in them, and for the time being, to all practical purposes, they are the very Devil himself.
The next question that arises is, “If Judas and the Antichrist are both called the ’SON OF PERDITION,’ are they one and the same, or are there two ’Sons of Perdition’?” Here we must anticipate. Turning to Revelation 11:7, we read that the “Beast” that slays the “Two Witnesses” ascends out of the “Bottomless Pit” (ABYSS), and that “Beast” is the ANTICHRIST. Now how did he get into the “ABYSS”? Well, if there is only one “SON OF PERDITION,” and Judas and Antichrist are one and the same, then he got in the ABYSS when Judas went to his “Own Place” (the ABYSS). Acts 1:25. Of no other person is it said anywhere in the Scriptures that he went “to his own place.” Again in Revelation 17:8 it is said--“The ’Beast’ that thou sawest was, and is not: and shall ascend out of the ’Bottomless Pit’ (Abyss), and go into PERDITION.” As this “Beast” is the same that slays the “Two Witnesses” he is the ANTI-CHRIST. Now there are four things said of him. First, he “WAS.” Second, he “IS NOT.” Third, he shall “ASCEND OUT OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT.” Fourth, he shall “GO INTO PERDITION.” From this we learn that in John’s day the “Beast” “Was Not,” but that he had been before on the earth, and was to come again, that he was to ASCEND FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT. This is positive proof that the ANTICHRIST has been on the earth before, and that when he comes in the future he will come from the “ABYSS.”
The question then arises, when was “Antichrist” on the earth before? If Judas and Antichrist are one and the same the enigma is solved. When Judas was on the earth, he WAS; when Judas went to his “Own Place” he “WAS NOT”; when Judas comes back from the “Abyss” he will be--THE ANTICHRIST. The Author does not insist on this view of Judas and Antichrist being correct, but with open mind he accepts it, because it seems to be the only logical solution of both Judas and Antichrist being called the “SON OF PERDITION.”
IV . JOHN ’S FOREVIEW .
“John 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. And the ’BEAST’ which I saw was like 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 (Throne), and GREAT AUTHORITY. 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.’ 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? 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.”
When we compare these “Foreviews,” and note the similarity of conduct of Daniel’s “LITTLE HORN,” Paul’s “MAN OF SIN,” and John’s “BEAST,” and that Daniel’s “LITTLE HORN” and John’s “BEAST” are to continue for the same length of time--“Forty and Two Months,” or 3½ years, and that Daniel’s “LITTLE HORN,” Paul’s “MAN OF SIN,” and John’s “BEAST,” are all to be destroyed in the same manner at Christ’s “Second Coming,” we see that they all prefigure the same “Evil Power,” which is after the “Working of Satan,” and which John in 1. John 2:18, calls THE ANTICHRIST. In other words when we find in prophecy “Three Symbolic Personages” that come upon the stage of action at the same time, occupy the same territory, exhibit the same character, do the same work, exist the same length of time, and meet the same fate, they must symbolize the SAME THING.
Before we examine in detail John’s “BEAST,” it would be well for us to compare it with Daniel’s “FOURTH WILD BEAST.”
In comparing these two “BEASTS” we find that they both come up out of the sea (the nations), and that they are utterly unlike
any beast we have ever heard of. Daniel’s “Beast” was dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth, and nails of brass; while John’s “Beast” was like a LEOPARD, with the feet of a BEAR, and the mouth of a LION. As Daniel’s “Beast” represented the “FOURTH KINGDOM” upon the earth, the Roman Empire, it is evident that its characteristics describe the old Roman Empire, while the characteristics of John’s Beast represent the revived Roman Empire. We know that the Old Roman Empire was “strong exceedingly” and its grip and power were like a beast with “great iron teeth” and “nails of brass,” and from the description of John’s “Beast” we learn that the revived Roman Empire shall embody all the characteristics of the Four World Empires, as seen in its LEOPARD like body, its feet of a BEAR, and its mouth of a LION. That both “Beasts” have TEN HORNS reveals the fact that they will be in existence at the time indicated by the TEN TOES of the Colossus, with which they correspond, which will be just before the setting up of the “Stone” or Millennial Kingdom of Christ. We are told that the “TEN HORNS” of Daniel’s “Beast” stand for “TEN KINGS,” and the “TEN HORNS” of John’s “Beast” stand for the same. Revelation 17:12. From this we see that both Daniel and John foresaw that the Roman Empire was to be eventually divided into “Ten Separate but Federated Kingdoms.”
While both “Beasts” have TEN HORNS, they differ in that John’s had “SEVEN HEADS” while Daniel’s had but ONE, and among the “TEN HORNS” on Daniel’s “Beast” there came up a “LITTLE HORN,” which is not seen amid the “TEN HORNS” of John’s Beast. These, as we shall see, are features that refer to the last stage of the “Beast” and show that we cannot ’understand the last stage of the “Beast” without carefully comparing Daniel’s and John’s “Beasts,” for the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel’s “Beast” plucks up THREE of the “TEN HORNS” and destroys them, or takes their kingdom away, a thing that John omits to tell us. Again the Antichristian character of Daniel’s “Beast” is seen in its “LITTLE HORN” whose conduct corresponds with not a part, but the whole of John’s “Beast,” and that for the same length of time, “TIME” and “TIMES” and the “DIVIDING OF TIME” which equals “FORTY AND TWO MONTHS.”
It now remains to analyze the “Beast” that John saw come up out of the sea, and try to discover the meaning of its various members.
We have two descriptions of this “Beast.”
Daniel’s “Fourth Wild Beast” as we have seen, represents the Roman Empire as it existed from B. C. 30, until as a nation it shall cease to exist. While it was divided in A. D. 364, as the result of an ecclesiastical schism, into its Eastern and Western Divisions, and lost its national life as a world power, yet it has never lost its religious existence or influence as seen in the continuance of the Greek and Roman Churches, and Roman Law is still a controlling power in our laws. In this sense the Roman Empire in its influence has never ceased to exist. We are now to consider it in its last stage as out-lined in John’s “Beast.”
In the two descriptions of John’s Beast as given above it is very important to see that the “Beast” has a “Dual” meaning. It represents both the revived Roman Empire, and its Imperial Head the
JOHN’S TWO VISIONS
OF THE BEAST
Antichrist. As the revived Roman Empire it is seen coming up out of the sea of the nations, as the Antichrist it comes up out of the ABYSS. For instance it cannot be said of the Roman Empire of John’s day, that it WAS, and IS NOT, for it was at the height of its power in John’s day. Neither can it be said of it that it shall ascend out of the pit and go into PERDITION, that could only be said of a person. Again we must distinguish between the body of the “Beast” and its heads and horns. The body being that of a LEOPARD, with the feet of a BEAR, and the mouth of a LION is to show that the revived Roman Empire in its last stage will include the characteristics of the first “Three Wild Beasts” of Daniel, that is, of the LION (Babylon), the BEAR (Medo-Persia), and the LEOPARD (Greece), and as the largest part of the “Beast,” the body, is represented by the LEOPARD, the prevailing characteristic of the revived Roman Empire will be GRECIAN.
The “Beast” that comes up out of the sea (Chap. 13), has SEVEN HEADS and TEN HORNS, and the “Horns” are CROWNED. This represents the “Beast,” or Empire, at the height of its power, when it will have all its “Heads,” and when the TEN KINGS, the heads of the TEN KINGDOMS into which the Empire shall be divided, will have been crowned. The “Beast” that comes up out of the ABYSS also has SEVEN HEADS and TEN HORNS, but they are not crowned, for the TEN KINGS represented by the TEN HORNS, have not as yet received their kingdom. (Revelation 17:12.) This implies that the “Beast” of Revelation 17, represents the Antichrist at the beginning of the “Week.” As confirmation of this view the “WOMAN” is seen at this stage riding the “Beast.” For while the “Scarlet Clothed Woman” is not seen until chapter 17, it is clear that she rides the “Beast” from the beginning of the “Week,” for she represents the “PAPAL CHURCH” that comes into power after the true Church has been caught out. During the wars preceding the rise of Antichrist the nations that will then be found in the geographical limits of the Old Roman Empire will form an “Alliance” for mutual protection. Those nations will be ten in number, represented by the “TEN HORNS” of the Beast. No doubt the “Papal Church” will play a prominent part in those proceedings. She will be rewarded by restoration to political power, and this union of Church and State, in which the Church will have control, is shown by the WOMAN riding the Beast, thus dominating it. But when the “Ten Kings” shall receive their Kingdoms and be CROWNED, they “shall hate the WHORE, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.” (Vs. 16.)
While we are told in Revelation 17:9 that the “SEVEN HEADS” of the “Beast” represent “SEVEN MOUNTAINS” (this is to identify it with the Roman Empire), we are told in the next verse (R. V.) that they (the “Seven Heads”) also represent “SEVEN KINGS” of whom “Five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh he must continue a short space.” That is, in John’s day “Five” of these Kings had fallen, one was the then ruling Emperor, and the “Seventh” was yet to come. Who are meant by the first “Five Kings” that had fallen we do not know. The King that was on the throne in John’s day was Domitian, who had banished John to the Isle of Patmos. The last or “SEVENTH KING” who is yet to come is undoubtedly the ANTICHRIST. We are told in Revelation 13:3, that one of the “SEVEN HEADS,” or “KINGS,” received a deadly wound. Which one is not stated. The inference is that it is the last, for the Beast has all of his “HEADS” before one of them is wounded. In Revelation 17:11 he is called the Beast that WAS, and IS NOT, even he is the “EIGHTH,” and is of the “SEVENTH,” and goeth into PERDITION. The only clear explanation of this passage is that the “SEVENTH HEAD”--THE ANTICHRIST, is the one who receives the “deadly wound,” probably at the hand of an
THE ANTICHRIST
assassin, and as his body is lying in state prepared for burial, he rises from the dead (Vs. 14), and thus becomes the “EIGHTH,” though he is of the “SEVENTH.” By this resurrection of the Antichrist, Satan imitates the Resurrection of Christ and makes the world “wonder after the Beast” (Revelation 13:3), and this adds to his prestige and power. If this happens at the “Middle of the Week,” at the time the Dragon is cast out of Heaven, it will account for the great change that takes place in the Antichrist, for before receiving his “deadly wound” he will be sweet and lovable, but after his resurrection or recovery he will become Devilish, the result of the Dragon incarnating himself in him. It is at this time that he breaks the Covenant with the Jews and desecrates the Temple by setting up the “Abomination of Desolation” which is an “Idol Image” of himself--the “DESOLATOR.” As the “LITTLE HORN” of Daniel’s “Fourth Wild Beast” he will destroy three of the “Ten Kings” and firmly establish himself in the place of power, and as he, as the “LITTLE HORN,” does not appear until after the “TEN HORNS,” or “Ten Federated Kingdoms,” come into existence, it is clear that the Antichrist does not form the Federation, but is the outgrowth of it.
He will be a “composite” man. One who embraces in his character the abilities and powers of Nebuchadnezzar, Xerxes, Alexander the Great and Caesar Augustus. He will have the marvelous gift of attracting unregenerate men, and the irresistible fascination of his personality, his versatile attainments, superhuman wisdom, great administrative and executive ability, along with his powers as a consummate flatterer, a brilliant diplomatist, a superb strategist, will make him the most conspicuous and prominent of men. All these gifts will be conferred on him by Satan, whose tool he will be, and who will thus make him the--
SUPERMAN.
He will pose as a great humanitarian, the friend of men, and the especial friend of the Jewish race, whom he will persuade that he has come to usher in the “Golden Age” as pictured by the prophets, and who will receive him as their Messiah.
He will intoxicate men with a strong delusion and his never varying success. And when he shall be slain and rise again he will have lost none of these powers, but will be in addition the embodiment of all kinds of wickedness and blasphemy.
“He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws.” Daniel 7:25.
“He shall also stand up against the ’Prince of Princes’“ (Jesus). Daniel 8:25.
“He shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of Gods.” Daniel 11:36.
“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 (at Jerusalem) showing himself that he IS GOD. . . . whose coming is after the Working of Satan with all Power and Signs and Lying Wonders.” 2. Thess. 2:3-9.
There has never as yet appeared on this earth a person who answers the description given in the above Scriptures. Such a character is almost inconceivable. No writer would have invented such a character.
8
7. THE BEAST OUT OF THE EARTH .
The “Beast” Or “Anti-Spirit.”
Revelation 13:11-18.
“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. 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. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 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. 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. 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; 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.’ Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the ’NUMBER OF THE BEAST’: for it is the ’NUMBER OF MAN’: and his number is SIX HUNDRED THREESCORE AND SIX.”
After the Apostle John had seen and described the “Beast” that came up out of the SEA, he saw another “Beast” come up out of the EARTH. This “Second Beast,” while John does not say it was a lamb, had “Two Horns” “like a lamb,” that is, it was LAMB-LIKE. Because of this resemblance many claim that the “Second Beast” is the Antichrist, for Antichrist is supposed to imitate Christ. While the LAMB (Christ) is mentioned in the Book of Revelation 22 times, the description given of Him in chapter 5:6, is that of a lamb having “SEVEN HORNS” and not “TWO.” This differentiates Him from the “lamb-like Beast” that comes up out of the earth, who, though he is “lamb-like in appearance SPEAKS AS A DRAGON.”
The “Second Beast” has a name. He is called the “FALSE PROPHET” three times. First in chapter 16:13, then in chapter 19:20, and again in chapter 20:10. Twice he is associated with the “First Beast” (Antichrist) and once with the “Dragon” (Satan) and the “First Beast,” and as they are PERSONS so must he be. The fact that he is called the “False Prophet” is proof that he is not the “Antichrist.” Jesus had a foreview of him when He said--“There shall arise ’FALSE CHRISTS’ and ’FALSE PROPHETS,’ and shall show GREAT SIGNS AND WONDERS: insomuch that, if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect.” Matthew 24:24. Here Jesus differentiates between “FALSE CHRISTS” and “FALSE PROPHETS,” therefore the “ANTICHRIST” and the “FALSE PROPHET” cannot be the same.
That the “Second Beast” comes up out of the EARTH may signify that he will be a resurrected person. If, as was hinted at, “Antichrist” was Judas resurrected, why should not the “False Prophet” also be a resurrected person? There will be two persons, as we have seen, who shall come back from Heaven as the “Two Witnesses,” Moses and Elijah, why not two persons come up from “The Underworld,” brought up by Satan to counteract the work of the “Two Witnesses”? The fact that the “First Beast” (Antichrist), and the “Second Beast” (False Prophet) are cast ALIVE into the “Lake of Fire” (Revelation 19:20) is further proof that they are more than ordinary mortals, and that the “First Beast” is more than the last ruling Emperor of the revived Roman Empire. He is the Antichrist, Satan’s SUPERMAN.
In the “Dragon,” the “Beast,” and the “False Prophet,” we have the “SATANIC TRINITY,” Satan’s imitation of the “Divine Trinity.” In the unseen and invisible “Dragon” we have the FATHER (the ANTI-GOD). In the “Beast” we have the “SON OF PERDITION” (the ANTI-CHRIST), begotten of the Dragon, who appears on the earth, dies, and is resurrected, and to whom is given a throne by his Father the Dragon. In the “False Prophet” we have the “ANTI-SPIRIT,” who proceeds from the “Dragon Father” and “Dragon Son,” and whose speech is like the Dragon’s. The “Dragon” then will be the “ANTI-GOD,” the “Beast” the “ANTI-CHRIST,” and the “False Prophet” the “ANTI-SPIRIT,” and the fact that all three are cast ALIVE into the “Lake of Fire” (Revelation 20:10) is proof that they together form a “Triumvirate” which we may well call--“THE SATANIC TRINITY.”
Again the “Antichrist” is to be a KING and rule over a KINGDOM. He will accept the “Kingdoms of this world” that Satan offered Christ, and that Christ refused. Matthew 4:8-10. He will also EXALT himself, and claim to be God. 2. Thess. 2:4. But the “False Prophet” is not a King, He does not exalt himself, he exalts the “First Beast” (Antichrist). His relation to the “First Beast” is the same as the Holy Spirit’s relation to Christ. He causeth the earth
and them which dwell therein to worship the “First Beast.” He also has power to give life, and in this he imitates the Holy Spirit. And as the followers of Christ are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the “Day of Redemption” (Ephesians 4:30); so, the followers of Antichrist shall be sealed by the False Prophet until the “Day of Perdition.” Revelation 13:16-17.
The False Prophet will be a “Miracle Worker.” While Jesus was a “miracle worker,” He did all His mighty works in the “power” of the Holy Spirit. Acts 10:38. Among the miracles that the False Prophet will perform he will bring down FIRE FROM HEAVEN. As we have seen under the work of the “Two Witnesses,” chapter 11:1-14, there will probably be a “FIRE-TEST” between Elijah and the False Prophet, and the test as to who is God of Mt. Carmel will be repeated. That Satan, who will then energize the False Prophet, can do this is clear from Job 1:16, where Satan, having secured per-mission from God to touch all that Job had, brought down “fire from heaven” and burned up Job’s sheep and servants.
The False Prophet then commands the people to make an
“IMAGE OF THE BEAST.”
This is further proof that the “First Beast” is the Antichrist. It is a strange weakness of mankind that they must have some VISIBLE God to worship, and when the Children of Israel, who had been delivered from Egypt under Moses’ leadership, thought he had forsaken them because he did not come down from the Mount, they called Aaron to make them gods which should go before them, and Aaron made for them the “GOLDEN CALF.” Exodus 32:1-6. So the False Prophet will have the people make for the purpose of worship an “IMAGE OF THE BEAST.” But the wonderful thing about the “IMAGE” is that the False Prophet will have power to give LIFE to it, and cause it to SPEAK, and to demand that all who will not worship it shall be put to death. In other words the “IMAGE” will be a living, speaking, AUTOMATON.
This “Image” reminds us of the “GOLDEN IMAGE” that Nebuchadnezzar commanded to be made and set up in the “Plain of Dura,” in the Province of Babylon (Daniel 3:1-30), before which, at the sounding of musical instruments, the people were commanded to bow down and worship under penalty, for those who disobeyed, of being cast into a “BURNING FIERY FURNACE.” Doubtless there will be many in the “Day of Antichrist” who will refuse to bow down and worship the “Image of the Beast,” and who will not escape as did the “Three Hebrew Children,” though God may inter-pose in a miraculous way to deliver some. And as if this was not enough the False Prophet shall cause--“ALL, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a ’MARK’ in their RIGHT HAND, or in their FOREHEAD; and that no man might BUY or SELL, save he that has the ’MARK’ or the ’NAME OF THE BEAST,’ or the ’NUMBER OF HIS NAME’.” This “MARK” will be known as the
“BRAND OF HELL.”
This is what the world is fast coming to. The time is not far distant when the various “Trusts” and “Combinations of Capital” will be merged into a “FEDERATION OF TRUSTS,” at the head of which shall be a “NAPOLEON OF CAPITAL.” Ultimately this “Federation of Trusts” will extend to the whole world, at the head of which shall be THE ANTICHRIST, and the producer and consumer will be powerless in the tentacles of this OCTOPUS, and no man shall be able to BUY or SELL who has not the “MARK OF THE BEAST” either upon his “right hand” or on his “forehead.” This “Mark” will be BRANDED or burnt on. It will probably be the “NUMBER OF THE BEAST” or “666.” The number “666” is the “NUMBER OF MAN,” and stops short of the perfect number SEVEN. Man was created on the SIXTH day. Goliath, the opposer of God’s people, a type of Satan, was 6 cubits in height, he had 6 pieces of armor, and his spearhead weighed 600 shekels. 1. Sam. 17:4-7. Nebuchadnezzar’s Image, a type of the “Image of the Beast,” was 60 cubits in height, 6 cubits wide, and 6 instruments of music summoned the worshippers. Daniel 3:1-7.
In that day men will doubtless prefer to have the “MARK” on the back of their right hand so it can be readily seen in the act of signing checks, drafts, and receipts. There will doubtless be public officials in all public places of business to see that no one buys or sells who has not the “MARK.” This will apply to women as well as men. No one can shop, or even buy from the huckster at the door, without the “MARK,” under penalty of DEATH. Those will be awful times for those who will not WORSHIP THE BEAST. If they can neither buy or sell without the “MARK,” they must beg, or starve or be killed. The instrument of death will be the guillotine (Revelation 20:4), and the daily papers will contain a list of the names of those who were beheaded the day before so as to frighten the people into obedience to the law. The doom of the “Satanic Trinity” will be, that at the close of that awful time of Tribulation the Lord Jesus Christ will return, and the “Dragon,” the “Anti-God,” will be cast into the “BOTTOMLESS PIT” for a 1000 years (Revelation 20:1-3), and the “Beast,” the “Anti-Christ,” and the “False Prophet,” the “Anti-Spirit,” will be cast ALIVE into the “LAKE OF FIRE.” Revelation 19:20.