The Third Angel's Message of Rev. XIV

IN some form two kinds of power everywhere exist. These are the civil power as seen in the State, and the spiritual power as seen in the church. In almost every country these powers are blended together in one, and both are in the hands of the government, and not in those of the people. But the American Republic presents the first instance in the history of the world in which these two powers are separated and both are reserved by the people in their own hands. It is a government by the people and for the people, and it acknowledges them as the fountain of all authority. Here we have a State without a king, and a church without a pope, and church and State are separate. The civil power recognizes the equality of all men before the law; and the spiritual power acknowledges the right of every man to worship God according to his own convictions of what God requires. Here are the two horns like those of a lamb.

But the power represented by this symbol must represent extraordinary contradictions between its principles and its actions. The form of government is indicated by the two uncrowned horns like those of a lamb, and the real character is indicated by the voice of the dragon; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Matt. 12:31. He has the appearance of the lamb, and the heart of the dragon. Lamb-like principles will not be carried out by dragonic men. The kingdom of Christ can neither be set up nor maintained by unconverted men.

Next, we have predictions of serious troubles which are to be caused by this lamb-dragon. He is to be a cruel persecutor of the people of God, and he is also to be a dangerous deceiver of mankind by means of wonderful miracles which he is to perform. If we read this prophecy with little care, our first impressions will be that the persecution precedes the deception. But a more attentive examination will show that the power which he exercises in the work of persecution, is derived from the influence which his miracles give him. For it is by his miracles that he induces men to form the image to the first beast, and to unite in the attempt to slay those who will not worship that image. Here we have the key to his power to persecute. He could not do it were it not that he is able to work miracles that deceive men. He is in appearance a lamb; he is at heart a dragon. The imitation of the lamb is first in order in the history of this power; afterward the character of the dragon must show itself. This order cannot be reversed. Even the dragon is a deceiver as well as a destroyer, and the work of deception always precedes that of destruction. Rev. 12:9; 20:3.

But is not all this persecution from the two-horned beast already past? Did it not meet its fulfillment in the persecutions by which the worship of the beast was maintained during the dark ages? A careful study of the prophecy concerning the two beasts of Rev. 13 will show that the persecution which proceeds from the second beast cannot be in the past. The persecutions during the 1260 years are the work of the first beast, or papal power. He was able to do this work by the aid of the ten kings, who, during this period, or the greater part of it, united to give their power to him. Rev. 17:12, 17. Then it is said of this power that has slain so many by the sword, that he must himself be thus slain, that is to say, his government must be subverted by the sword. This took place at the close of the 1260 years, when the ten kings ceased to give their power to the beast, and one of them (France) subverted his government by the power of the sword. It is after the restoration of the first beast from this deadly wound that the two-horned beast performs his work of persecution. But this work is rendered possible by the great miracles which precede it. Now we have a decisive proof that these miracles are not in the past. One of them given as a specimen. The beast is to cause fire to come down from heaven upon the earth in the sight of men. This is a most astonishing miracle, and it is to be wrought in the most public manner, so that it will be known to all men. And the language plainly implies that other miracles of equal magnitude are also to be wrought. But the history of the world records no such miracle from the days of John even to the present time. Therefore these miracles and the work of persecution which follow them as a consequence of their deceptive power, are yet before us in the future. The test concerning the worship of the beast and his image and the reception of his mark, comes in consequence of these miracles. And the third angel gives us warning in advance of the miracles, that we may be prepared to resist their seductive power.

It is an important fact that this lamb-dragon is brought to view again by the Spirit of God under the name of the false prophet. Thus we learn from Rev. 13:14-17, that this beast deceives the world by the miracles which he works in the sight of the first beast and that he thus causes men to worship the image of that beast, and to receive his mark. But in Rev. 19:20 all this is ascribed to the false prophet. And it is worthy of notice that the origin and work of the two-horned beast are given, but nothing under that name is said concerning his destiny. On the other hand, the origin of the false prophet is not given under that name, but his work, which is identical with that of the two-horned beast, and his destiny are recorded with distinctness. So in joining the two parts of this prophetic history, we are able to trace this lamb-dragon from his rise till he ends his career as false prophet in the lake of fire.

WORK OF THE TWO-HORNED BEAST.

Having established the fact that the two-horned beast and the false prophet are the same, we have obtained a key to the miracles predicted in Rev. 13:13, 14; for in Rev. 16:13, 14 we learn that there are three unclean spirits like frogs which go forth out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, and that they are the spirits of devils working miracles, which go forth to gather the kings of the earth and the nations to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. It is therefore certain that these unclean spirits are the agents by which the miracles of the two-horned beast are wrought. It is also very worthy of notice that the work of modern Spiritualism commenced in the United States in 1848, and that by its wonders it has already extended itself over the whole globe, and that it now numbers its adherents by millions in each hemisphere. It has not yet reached the point when it shall go out in the name of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, to accomplish its final work. Nor has it yet brought down fire from heaven in the sight of men, for the restraining hand of God is upon it to hinder its full manifestation till the warning of the third angel has gained the ear of the public. It may be said that the warning should not be given till the trouble is already upon us; but the trouble is preceded by the full display of Satan's power to work miracles, and if this was manifested before the warning was given, none could stand its deceptive power.

The two-horned beast is to work many miracles, and we know that they will be of an extraordinary character, from the one which is named as an example. And certainly there is something very significant in the particular example selected. In the days of Elijah this very miracle was the sign by which the true prophet was distinguished from the false. 1 Kings 18. Without doubt these miracles are wrought by the two-horned beast in his character of false prophet. He gives men this very sign in proof that he is a true prophet, which Elijah gave for the same purpose with respect to himself. He also gives many others of equal importance. The design of all this is to show that the God of Heaven approves of the formation of the image and of the worship of the beast and his image, and the reception of his mark. And this false prophet, having wrought this great miracle to show that the worship of the image and the reception of the mark is approved of God, will justify the decree for the slaughter of those who refuse to worship the beast, by the example of Elijah who slew the prophets of Baal after he had proved his mission by this act of bringing down fire from heaven. So, when the decree goes forth against those who will not worship the beast or his image or receive his mark, men will not think they are seeking the death of the people of God, but rather that they are putting to death those who deny the great power of God.

The term false prophet is fitly applied to this lamb-dragon. He promises the world a long period of prosperity, during which the power of the kings shall cease and the people shall bear rule, and there shall be no more wars and no more oppression. And the church is infinitely more guilty in this matter than are the politicians; for she prophesies to the same effect out of her own heart, and in direct contradiction of the Bible, that there shall be no day of Judgment till after she has established universal dominion and held it during long ages of earthly prosperity. There will be indeed the kingdom of the Lamb, who is King of kings, but it will be introduced by the day of Judgment. But this prediction of ages of earthly prosperity before that day, which lulls the whole world in fatal slumber, is the most dangerous of all false prophecies.

That the beast and false prophet, or two-horned beast, are to act in union in the great conflict before us notwithstanding their previous difference in religion, is no mystery, when we see that the unclean spirits are to have absolute control of both. Rev. 16:13, 14; 19:19, 20. The two-horned beast, or false prophet, under the controlling influence of the spirits of devils, is to cause the people to form an image to the first beast. This must represent union of church and State in some form, or the act of establishing certain religious tests after the example of the first beast, and enforcing them by the penalty of death. It is the miracles wrought by the false prophet through the power of the unclean spirits which make all this possible. Should it be objected that the world is too much enlightened to submit to such deception, or to unite in such a work of persecution, we answer that the word of God gives us this prophecy in plain language; and it is with reference to this scene of danger that the third angel utters his solemn warning. Look at the Jewish Church, and mark how soon after it rejected the Messiah at his first coming they put him to a cruel death, and slew also many of his saints. They said, indeed (Matt. 23), that had they lived in the days of their fathers, they would not have been partakes with them in the blood of the prophets. But when their "hour and the power of darkness" came upon them, how completely did it show them under the power of Satan! Luke 22:53; John 7:30.