AN 7:16-27{But there is also another beast in Rev. 13 (which is not the Roman empire) which exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him (enopion autou).
Rev. 13:1111And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. (Revelation 13:11) to 14. "And I beheld.... and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth." Here is something which has the semblance of Christ's power, and which later, in the midst of the Jews, will wear the form of Christianity; but, as understood by the apostle, it is Satan's.
It is, then, the second beast who will seduce the inhabitants of the earth, and who will cause them to follow the first, namely, the civil power of the Roman empire.
" And I saw one of the heads, as it were wounded to death." This has already happened to the imperial form of the Roman empire; but the wound is to be entirely healed. Thus the beast loses its imperial character for a time, and its wound is afterward healed. When this takes place in all the astonished earth, men go after it.
The imperial beast will therefore again be seen on earth, and in all the earth they will wonder after it. But we have also read that the second beast, by the great wonders which he doeth, seduces the inhabitants of the earth. This second beast will appear at the end under the character, not of a beast, but of a false prophet; all his secular power will be lost. He will no longer be a beast ravishing, devouring; this feature will be entirely effaced. And he will be seen as the false prophet, who will be recognized as the second beast already spoken of, by the perfect resemblance of his character, as the person, in short, who has done the things which the second beast has done, but who appears at the close under this new form. (Comp. Rev. 13:1414And 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. (Revelation 13:14), with 19:20.)
If we take the moral side of the events already accomplished, we know who has exercised all the power in the presence of the civil authority; but there will be one also who will do great wonders and seduce the inhabitants of the earth.
Farther on we shall have to look into the Consequences of all this; in the meanwhile, let us gather up what we have been saying. Chapter 12, shows us the dragon in heaven, as the origin, the first cause of all this rebellion. Chapter 13, gives us the Roman empire under its imperial form, as the providential visible agent. This beast is wounded to death, hut his mortal wound is healed. There is also in its presence another power who seduces the inhabitants of the earth; and it is when the mortal wound of the first beast is healed, " that all the world wondered after the beast." Add to this the circumstance of chapter 19., namely, that the second beast ceases to be one, and appears at the end as a false prophet.
In chapter 17., there is a description of the first beast, which gives us other particulars. Verses 7, 8: " And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou rawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and-is not, and yet is."
It ascends out of the bottomless pit, i. e., becomes positively the power of Satan towards the end; and this is what will happen when Satan, being cast out of heaven (which event will occur when the church has been caught up into heaven), will come down to the earth in great wrath. Then, under his influence the beast (the Roman empire) " that was, and is not, and yet is," resumes his strength and form; that is, the civil power, instead of being in submission to God, takes the character of Satan, and signalizes itself, at his instigation, by an open revolt against the power of God.
To find all the marks for recognizing this last form of the beast, we must wait until the imperial head of the Roman empire, the eighth king, "shall appear in the world. This must take place before its ruin.
When the Roman empire existed under its pagan form, it had not ten kings; but when this beast reappears (let us keep in mind that it is the Roman empire), ten kings will give their power to it, instead of ten kings replacing it. More than this, it is after having been destroyed that it will come again into existence. In a word, it is not the pagan beast, nor the history of the middle ages, nor of ten barbarian kings (if indeed ten could be pronounced upon with any certainty), who have taken the place of the empire, but " and yet is;" that is, the mortal wound will be healed, and the imperial beast will reappear.
(*It is well known and sure that the genuine reading is kai parestai "and shall be present" (not kaiper estin " and yet is ") This evidently confirms the case, besides removing a sort of enigma or paradox, in the vulgar text.)
The ten kings " shall give their strength and power unto the beast;" there will be an imperial head an emperor, and ten kings, who will give him their power: the kingdoms will continue in existence, but it will' be a confederation of them. As an illustration, we may refer to the kingdoms of Spain, Holland, Westphalia, etc., under Napoleon. There has been the beast; there have been, it may be, ten kings; but never yet ten kings giving their power to the beast was not, and who came anew into existence.
"The seven heads are seven mountains.' (We are still occupied with the Roman empire.) " And there are seven kings; five are fallen, and one is "—namely, the imperial one which existed in the time of John,—" and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth (because the seven have passed), and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition." That is, there will be an eighth head, one of a pecular character, who will re-unite all the power of the beast, who will be the beast himself, and who, whilst a head apart, is still one of the seven. It is the imperial head under a new form; for there are to be ten kings, who will give their power to this eighth head; and it is in this form that it will go down to destruction. It is exactly here that the coming of Christ, and of the church, connects itself with the subject of which we are treating. (Rev. 19; 2 Thess. 2)
We must yet quote from Dan. 11:36-45: " And the king shall do according to his. will." (Compare this with 2 Thess. 2:3, 43Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4Who 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, showing himself that he is God. (2 Thessalonians 2:3‑4),. and following verses.) We may observe, that in Dan. 11, the question is not one of ecclesiastical supremacy, but rather of wars between civil powers in the East. With verse 36 begins the history of Antichrist, of " the king who shall do according to his own will," just like the little horn in chapter vii., and who at last, after dealing in an idolatrous and apostate way in Jerusalem,. finds his end with that first beast. It is a king like any other, a king of the earth, but exercising his power in the holy land at the close. Christianity, as such, is not brought before us, nor the mystery of lawlessness in it: that had proceeded the appearance of the lawless one according to 2 Thessalonians. Again, I say, it is no question of ecclesiastical matters, but a king of this earth, who becomes an object of attack to the kings of the North and of the South.
One remark on 2 Thess. 2, for our consolation in the midst of this sad concourse of events. "Now we beseech you, brethren," says the apostle, "by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind," etc. Those who love the truth will entirely escape this deceivableness of unrighteousness, to which, on the contrary, all those will be delivered by the judgment of God, who have " not received the love of the truth; " but " have pleasure in unrighteousness." This is the evil which is coming, and the world ought to be warned of it; because some may be solitarily frightened at the thought and led to consider, the word of God. And why is all this announced to the children of God? It is in order that they may draw out of it the fullest comfort, and may separate themselves from all that which drags men on to destruction. I say not that we Christians shall be involved in the catastrophe; but that, by being told before hand of the judgments which will take place at this dreadful crisis, we are led to detach ourselves, even at this present time, from the causes which, by their nature, and by the justice of God, bring it on.
The apostle, it would seem, had spoken a good deal of these things to the church of the Thessalonians, and had taught them to expect the coming of the Lord. Now, what had Satan done? He had tried to terrify them, in telling them that the day of the Lord was there (enesteken, 2 Thess. 2:22That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. (2 Thessalonians 2:2)), No, says the apostle, I beseech you, by the coming [' presence' see Greek] of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to him [which will precede that day], that ye be not soon shaken in mind, etc. (as if we were already in it). This day will come upon the lawless one, and not upon you; you will already have been caught up to Him, and you will accompany Him personally in that great day when He will appear.
The day is present, said the seducers; the day is come! No, says the apostle, the day will not come until you, the Lord's faithful ones, have been caught up into the air, and until the lawless one shall be revealed apostasy. The two things are closely allied, because we read that the second beast exercises all the These consolations are again confirmed (vs. 9, 10): " Even him whose coming.... is with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth."
It is only needful to add, that in this chapter it is the description of the moral character, and of the unbridled iniquity of the lawless one, and of the power of Satan; whilst, in Dan. 11, it is the picture of his outward character.
It is to be feared, dear friends, that the exposition of prophecy this evening has not been the view which you have been hitherto led to take of it. I have been endeavoring to open out the distinction, and at the same time the connection, which there is between the civil and ecclesiastical power; as well as the distinction, and at the same time the connection, between the ecclesiastical apostasy and the civil apostasy. The two things are closely allied, because we read that the second beast exercises all the power of the first beast before him; and that the false prophet, which is the second beast, is thrown into the lake of fire with the first.
We have also noticed that this fact connects itself with the presence of the Jews at Jerusalem, in whose vicinity the beast will come to his end-an event which will close this present dispensation, in bringing out the power of Christ upon the earth, which will lead to the union of Christ with the remnant of the Jews; and in consequence of that, to the bringing of all nations under His scepter. I have only spoken of the fourth beast.
There are two points worthy of remark in connection with the history of Israel: first, as to those nations who were in league against Israel, when this people were owned of God; and, secondly, as to the nations who carried them into captivity. As yet we have only been discussing the times of the Gentiles, that period during which the kingdom was transferred from the Jews to them; that is, the time of the four beasts-the times of the Gentiles. Daniel speaks of the four beasts only; Ezekiel speaks of the nations before the four beasts, and after; but never of " the times of the Gentiles," so called.
It is during the period comprised in the history of these four beasts that Christianity comes in, and that the moral rebellion takes place. But we have seen that the ecclesiastical power, which has been the instrument of leading to such a result, by assuming the place of God—taking away faith, and, at the same time, disgusting reason; putting aside natural religion, and, under the pretext of the rights of revelation, corrupting and perverting this revelation itself, so that men should have no other objects than themselves—this power, I say, having played a part in the drama of iniquity, which the enemy of our souls, and of the Lord, has brought to pass, will itself fall a victim to the violence of the human will-that will which itself has withdrawn from subjection to God; and as incapable, by its pretensions to religion, openly to serve Satan, as it is of serving God with sincerity-in one word, incapable of truth, it becomes the cowardly counselor and abettor of that iniquity of which it cannot constitute itself the actor. It provokes crimes which it dare not consummate, and of which the civil power is to be the active chief and executor. Dear friends, when the natural conscience is more upright than that resulting from religious forms, it is all over with the church-it is near its end; and the, candlestick will be removed where it serves only as the instrument of wickedness, such as the world can hardly imagine. As men say, the corruption of that which is most excellent is the worst of corruptions. As to the Antichrist properly speaking, he will deny that Jesus is the Christ; he will " deny the Father and the Son" (1 John 2:2222Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. (1 John 2:22)); he will not confess Jesus Christ coming in the flesh (2 John 77For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. (2 John 7)); he will deny everything sacred-the Father, the Son, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus come as man. We have seen his character, his acts, his form, and the source of his power. Satan will work directly by him. It will be a sort of Satanic imitation of what God has done. The Father has given the throne to the Son, and the Spirit acts according to the power of the Son in the church before Him: similarly the dragon (Satan) will confer the throne on the beast, and great authority; and the second beast (spiritual power, real Antichrist, and false prophet) exercises all the power of this last beast (civil power) before hint (Rev. 13:1212And 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. (Revelation 13:12).)
The judgment will decide in such a state of things. May God make us attentive to the character and to the end of the pride of man! The energy of his will is able to employ, and put to use, all the means which God has delegated to him-and they are great; and the results, so long as God has patience with him, will be great also. But man will be the center of all this, the feeling of his responsibility before God goes for nothing. God is, in reality, dishonored and degraded. The end of all man's most noble, most worthy aims—God—is wanting in it all. In fine, it is the same principle and the same source—sin—from the beginning to the end. Man, acting of his own will to satisfy his lusts, ambitious for knowledge for selfish ends, exalting himself to a level with God, disobedient, and, as a consequence, acting under the influence and energy of Satan:—such is the character of Antichrist; such is the history of Adam in his first fall—his first sin. It is the commencement and consummation of the same wickedness, whose evidence and contrast appeared in the death of our beloved and perfect Savior, who made its expiation for us. May His name of grace and glory be eternally blessed; and may He engrave these things upon our hearts! Certainly He will preserve His church from all these evils which menace the world, for His church is united to Him.
(Continued from page 180.)
(To be Continued, D. V.)