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An Image Of The Beast

Empowered By The Two-horned Beast

Welcome to Q&A study about An Image Of The Beast of Revelation 13

The two-horned beast of Revelation 13:11-18 exercises all the power of the first beast before him - the leopard-like beast of Revelation 13:1-10.

Moreover, the two-horned beast uses this power to compel the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

Furthermore:

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.
Giving 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.

Apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image to the beast. It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of the civil government.

This prepared the way for the development of the papacy - the beast of Revelation 13:1-10.

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.

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 1 Timothy 4:1.

Then shall that Wicked be revealed...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, that they might be saved. 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10.

Question: When a backslidden and divided church unites with the state, what always results?

Answer: Revelation 14:8.

And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Question: What warning does God in love still send to His people?

Answer: Revelation 14:9-12.

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation;

and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Question: Against what three things does this message warn?

Answer: Revelation 14:9.

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand;

Question: What have we found the beast to be?

Answer: The Papacy. Note that the beast is not the Roman Catholic Church as such, nor the Papacy as meaning the church. It is the union of that church with the state.

Question: What occurred in 1798?

Answer: Revelation 13:3, 11.

I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;

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.

Question: Was this to be the end of the first beast power?

Answer: Revelation 13:3, last part.

All the world wondered after the beast.

Question: What scriptures show that it will be an active, oppressor of God's people in the last great conflict?

Answer: Revelation 13:14, 15

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.

Revelation 15:2; 16:10, 11

I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,

And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

Revelation 19:19, 20

I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.

These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Question: What power did the prophet see arising when the papal beast went into captivity (A. D. 1798)?

Answer: Revelation 13:11

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.

Question: What prominent characteristics did the beast possess?

Answer: Revelation 13:11, last part.

He had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

Question: Of what are a lamb and a dragon symbols?

Answer: Revelation 5:6; 12:9

I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Question: What would the two horns symbolize?

Answer: I Samuel 2:1, 10

And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them:

the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

Horn is a symbol of exaltation, power, and honor.

They would here indicate the two leading features in the government represented by the beast, which are Christian in origin, and which give the government its prominence and power.

Question: What would be represented by speaking like a dragon?

Answer: Beast represents a kingdom and its government. A government speaks through its laws. Speaking like a dragon would therefore be to issue persecuting laws - Revelation 12:13 - against the people of God.

And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

Question: To what, then, in the character of a government must the symbol of the two-horned beast apply?

Answer: To a government just rising to power and prominence in 1798, which held professedly to two prominent Christian features that gave it prominence, and which, notwithstanding this, shall become a persecutor.

Question: What two characteristics of Christianity apart from its spiritual power give it prominence in the world?

Answer:

Equality of humankind - Acts 17:26 - And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
Religious liberty - freedom to believe or not believe without coercion - John 12:47 - And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

Question: In what government alone can and do these specifications find fulfillment?

Answer: In the United States of America.

Question: How great power does the two-horned beast exercise, and for what purpose is it used?

Answer: Revelation 13:12.

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.

Question: What was to be manifest on the earth?

Answer: Revelation 13:13, 14.

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.

Question: What would these deceptions lead the people to do?

Answer: Revelation 13:14, last part.

That they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Question: What did the first beast represent, and what elements constituted it?

Answer: A union of church and state in that system known as the Papacy.

Question: In what, then, would an image to the beast consist?

Answer: In a union of church and state, or the church using the state for the furtherance of her own cause.

Question: What law was to follow the making of the image?

Answer: Revelation 13:15.

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.

Question: What would be fulfilled in this?

Answer: Revelation 13:11, last clause.

He spake as a dragon.

Overview

A backslidden body - one that has turned from God's Word to men and from God's power to the state - was never reformed in itself.

The prophecy unfolds a government rising to prominence in 1798. This is met in the United States and no other.

It rises out of the earth and not of the sea. Sea and waters represent people - Daniel 7:3, Revelation 13:1, Revelation 17:15.

Earth, therefore, would indicate territory outside of the civilized nations of the earth. This is met in America.

The two principles of equality and religious liberty are expressed in the Declaration of Independence and in the first amendment to the Constitution.

All other governments of note have had a state religion or the feature of caste, or both. Therefore, the symbol applies clearly to the United States.

References:

Lessons on the Great Three-Fold Message 1896
GC88 578 - The Ellen G. White Estate
The Bible, King James version (KJV)