The Third Angel's Message of Rev. XIV

BEFORE, however, we consider the final conflict between the beast and the people of God, it is necessary to study the prophecy concerning the two-horned beast or false prophet, for it is this power which makes an image to the papal beast, and which joins with that beast in the conflict which is before us. Inasmuch as the ten-horned beast as such, continues till the Judgment, the two-horned beast cannot be considered as the ten-horned beast in another form. And that they are two distinct powers is further shown by the fact that the one acts in the sight of the other. Rev. 13:12. In prophecy a beast, represents a government. Dan. 7:17, 23. The ten-horned beast represents the ten kingdoms of papal Europe, of which the pope is the real head. The government represented by the two-horned beast cannot, therefore, rise in that territory, nor can one of the ten kingdoms, as England or France, be intended by the two-horned beast.

The manner of its rise is not to be overlooked. The four beasts of Daniel rise out of the sea in consequence of the striving of the winds. Dan. 7:2, 3. The same thing is true with respect to John's first beast. Rev. 13:1. These beasts thus arising, represent great governments which have arisen by means of general wars. For winds denote wars among men, and waters or the sea, denote peoples or nations. Rev. 7:1-3; 17:15. The two-horned beast does not arise by the striving of the winds upon the sea, but it comes up out of the earth. This signifies that it does not arise by the conquest of other nations, but that it arises where no other nation exists. This shows that it must arise from a new and previously unoccupied territory.

When was this power to arise? Not prior to the first beast, certainly. Nor was it to arise at the same time with that beast; for then there would be no propriety in designating either as the first beast. It is said to act in the sight of the first beast, whose deadly wound was, healed. Now the time when the first beast receives his deadly wound is indicated by Rev. 13:10, where he is represented as being led into captivity and slain by the sword, which took place at the close of the 1260 years, and from which he has been healed and restored. The two-horned beast must therefore commence his career not far from 1798.

Where shall we look for this power? It is an interesting fact that the course of earthly empire has been ever tending westward. Thus the seat of the Babylonian empire was in Asia. So also with the Persian empire, which power, extended its conquests to the confines of Europe. The seat of the Grecian empire was in Eastern Europe. The Roman empire in its divided state, as represented by the ten kingdoms, occupies all the remaining territory west of the Atlantic ocean. Hence we still look westward for the government represented by the two-horned beast.

Bishop Berkeley, in his celebrated poem on America, written before the American Revolution, foresaw the greatness of this power, though it had not then an independent existence, and he forcibly expresses its relation to the great empires of antiquity:—

"Westward the course of empire takes its way;

The four first acts already past,

A fifth shall end the drama with the day;

Time's noblest offspring is the last."

"The four first acts already past" are the four great empires of Daniel. The fifth, with which the scene closes, is the great American Republic. As the four powers of the Eastern continent, which one after the other ruled the world, were not to be succeeded by a fifth, the two-horned beast, which arises in the last days of the ten-horned beast, must have its place on the west side of the Atlantic. This power in its lamb-like character is the "noblest offspring" of time; but in its dragonic character it will be one of the most cruel and oppressive powers which have appeared. It is certain that it acts its part as a persecutor in the last days of time, for the message of the third angel which immediately precedes the view of Jesus on the white cloud, relates expressly to the work of this power.

Each of the powers presented in prophecy has a period of preparation for the part which it is to act. But the prophecy takes no notice of such period of preparation, and only introduces the power when it is able to commence its work. Such is the case with the American Republic. This power may be called the child of the Protestant Reformation. A few years before that Reformation the continent of America was discovered. The Reformation opened the eyes of thoughtful men to the first principles of civil and religious liberty, and taught them the wickedness of kingly tyranny and of papal intolerance. Many of these persons, when they found it impossible to establish these principles in the territory of the ten kingdoms, banished themselves to the wilds of America that they might found a State without a king and a church without a pope. They founded a nation where none before existed, and the progress of the nation thus founded has been without a parallel in the history of mankind.

The symbol of the beast with two horns like a lamb fitly represents this new power. Observe the combination of the lamb and the dragon. Both these symbols had been previously seen by John. There is an evident reference to them in this description of the beast with two horns. He had seen a Lamb with seven horns, and a dragon with ten horns. Rev. 5:6; 12:3. The Lamb represents Jesus Christ in his office of King of kings. Rev. 17:14. The dragon represents the Roman power animated by Satan. Rev. 12. In fact, if we omit the heads and horns which represent that empire in its several forms, we shall find that the real dragon or serpent is Satan himself. Rev. 20:2, 3, 7. The kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of Satan are opposites in character. Christ's kingdom is one and indivisible; but the kingdom of Satan is full of confusion and division. For this reason the horns of the Lamb and the horns of the dragon, though alike symbolic, are by the Spirit of God interpreted very differently. The horns of the dragon are the same as the horns of the beast to whom the dragon gave his power. They are the ten kingdoms into which the kingdom of the dragon or beast has been divided. Rev. 17:12; Dan. 7:24. But the horns of the Lamb, who is King of kings, are the seven Spirits of God. Rev. 5:6. The seven horns must therefore represent the nature of Christ's dominion as King of kings and not the division of his kingdom; for his title, Kings of kings, indicates not one kingdom broken up into many, but rather many united in one; for the servants of Christ will be princes under him (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:30; Rev. 20; 4; 21:24); and he, as King over an undivided kingdom, will wear many crowns. Rev. 19:12.

In the symbol of the two-horned beast the character of the horns and not merely the number, is intended to be expressed by the words "two horns like a lamb;" for there is nothing peculiar to a lamb with respect to the number of its horns, but there is something peculiar in the character of those horns. It is important to notice this fact, for the interpretation of the horns of a lamb in John's vision is essentially different from that of the horns of the dragon or of the beast. Thus the horns of the beast represent the division of his kingdom, but the horns of the Lamb represent the nature of his power, and do not signify that his kingdom is to be divided. We therefore understand the two horns like those of a lamb upon the head of the second beast to represent the nature of the power symbolized, and not that it should be divided into two parts.

The Spirit of God in giving us the symbol of the ten-horned beast thought proper to place crowns upon each of those horns. But in giving us the symbol of the beast with two horns like those of a lamb, it places no crowns upon those horns. Now these two symbols are not only given in immediate connection, but they are joined together by the prophecy in the same work. Rev. 13:1, 11, 12, 14; 16:13; 19:20. It cannot, therefore, be without design that crowns are placed upon the horns of the first beast and omitted in the case of the second. We know that the horns with crowns represent kingly governments. Rev. 17:12. And we think it a necessary conclusion that these horns like those of a lamb, and without crowns, represent a government in which the people bear rule.