The Bible Explains It
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There are many theories about the “two-horned beast.” Some have thought it is a grouping of Protestant churches, and others think that it is the papacy linked to the United States. Most, however, claim not to know what it is, and speak little of it. Therefore, we must let the Bible explain its true meaning.
Now let’s examine the passage that describes this other Revelation 13:1-18 Beast: “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he does great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceives 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…and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” (Rev 13:11-15).
Some important points emerge.
This two-horned beast gives “power” to the first Beast of Rev 13:1-5. Daniel 7:17, 23 revealed that “beast” is a term for a civil government or kingdom, or the leader of the kingdom. Therefore, our first important conclusion is that this beast must be a government or kingdom. Second is that it gives power to the Roman Empire system.
It also appears like a “lamb,” but speaks like a “dragon.” This is critical to understand. Here is why. Christ is depicted in the Bible, in several places, as a lamb (John 1:29; Rev. 17:14). We have seen that the dragon is Satan. So this beast, then, appears to be Christian, but is really of the devil. In other words, this is a satanic kingdom that appears on the surface to be the kingdom of God, and of Christ. Many scriptures reveal that Christ did not establish His kingdom at His first Coming. He carefully explained this to His disciples in Acts 1:6, John 14:1-3 and Luke 19:11-27.
We have already seen verses in Daniel 7:1-28 describing when Christ and the saints smash the fourth beast as they are given rulership over Earth.
When Revelation 13:12 states that “he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed,” it was the Roman Empire to whom he was giving power. This occurred from the time of the Beast’s healing in AD 554.
For the full 1,260 years that the wound was healed, Roman emperors acknowledged the supreme authority of religion throughout the empire. This is one way it portrays itself as the kingdom of God on Earth. Many encyclopaedias state that the Holy Roman Empire was declared to be the “kingdom of God on Earth.” In fact, in 554, many felt that the kingdom of God had officially arrived.
The second Revelation 13:1-18 beast, however, has two horns. This is because it represents a two-fold combination of church and government. But since it is an actual kingdom, it does, in fact, have to be its own independent, sovereign state. Remember also, this two-horned beast possesses such awesome power that it inspires the world to worship the Beast, whose deadly wound was healed. The power to bring fire down from heaven and to perform miracles will win vast numbers of people as worshippers of the Beast.
Rev 13:14 explains this: “And deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast,” with Rev 13:13 stating, “he does great wonders.”
Recognize these facts: The second beast is able to perform miracles. He does this “in the sight of” the first Beast—the Holy Roman Empire. These miracles are so extraordinary—so mesmerizing—that they allow him to deceive the whole earth! And the Beast is worshipped as a result.
This future religious leader will lead the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire alongside a great civil leader.
In II Thessalonians 2:3, this same religious leader is called the “man of sin.” Revelation 19:20 refers to him as a “false prophet.” This False Prophet embodies all that counterfeit Christianity has represented through the centuries. In the near future, when the modern-day descendants of Israel are taken into captivity, many will see the bitter reality of its killing machine firsthand.
This has been typical of this Babylonish church throughout the course of history. Millions have been put to death for not worshipping according to its false beliefs and practices.
Plainly, the “two-horned beast” is the headquarters of the great false church that controls the first Beast. The description we have just read is an unmistakable parallel with the “little horn” of Daniel 7:8, 20-21, 24-25.
We must know what is coming and be able to recognize it when it emerges in full power.
The Revelation 17:1-18 Beast and Woman Riding It
We saw Revelation 12:1-17 describes a “woman,” which is to marry Christ (Rev. 19:7; Matt. 25:1-10; Eph. 5:23) at His Return. These verses, and others, show that the word “woman” is a symbol for a church. The entire chapter 12 is devoted to God’s Church and how she has been persecuted by a false “Christian” church system throughout most of her 2,000 years. Many earmarks of this woman of chapter 12 demonstrate and prove that she is God’s Church—the true Church.
Revelation 17:1-18 introduces a seven-headed Beast, different from any mentioned previously, but it also described a very different woman riding it. Let’s examine this woman and the Beast she rides. It is vital to understand her critical connection to seven revivals (resurrections) of the Roman system. She never rode the first three heads of the Roman system. Rather, she only rode it after the Beast was “healed” in AD 554. The now healed Beast is the Beast of Revelation 17:1-18.
Recall chapters 17 and 18 are an inset to the book of Revelation, and describe the great Roman system that is destroyed at the end of chapter 16. These chapters give a somewhat more detailed picture of the great, false universal church. The picture includes the woman’s “harlot” daughters(Rev 17:5), which have helped her to deceive all nations (Rev 17:1-2; 18:3).
The Revelation 17 woman is “arrayed in purple and scarlet” and rides a seven-headed, 10-horned Beast.
We have discussed the seven revivals of the Holy Roman Empire. Six have come and gone—and the last 10-horn revival, consisting of 10 kings (of 10 governments), is now forming! The 17th chapter of Revelation describes the final revival of this religious-political system. This revival (or resurrection) will last at least three and a half years, coinciding with first the Tribulation (Matt. 24:21-22) and then the time of God’s wrath. It is prophesied to come “out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition” (Rev. 17:8). The Holy Roman Empire has been in the abyss of history, or the bottomless pit, since Napoleon’s 1814 abdication prior to Waterloo.
Rev 17:10, speaking of the heads, states, “five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come.” The five “fallen” heads are those the woman rode during the 1,260 years from 554 to 1814. The “one is” head was the sixth head, now past, which began with Garibaldi and culminated in Mussolini. The “is” has become “was.”
Now understand. This verse is written from the time perspective of when God revealed the meaning of this prophecy, and many others, to the leader of His Church, in the late 1930s. This is the only time that this present tense representation of the sixth head could be accurate. (We would today say “six have fallen.”) It also reveals when God wanted Daniel’s closed and sealed prophecy opened and taken to the world as a warning!
Understand another important connection to these resurrections of the Roman system. Revelation 17:1-18 describes each as having “a woman sit[ting] upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns” (Rev 17:3). The seven heads are seven separate revivals, with a 10-horn (composed of 10 kings) final revival. It is this woman who spreads the “mystery of iniquity” spoken of by Paul in II Thessalonians 2:7.
Of this woman, Revelation 17:5-6 state, “And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”
Rev 17:1 calls her a “great whore that sits upon many waters.”
Let’s pause and ask: What are the “many waters”?
This is a classic example of allowing the Bible to interpret the Bible. Fourteen verses later, the term is explained: “And he said unto me, The waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Rev 17:15). This shows that the influence of the whore and her harlot daughters encompasses the earth. This reflects truly enormous power!
In this case, the term “many waters” was not immediately explained, but simply continuing to read revealed what it means. The Bible interpreted itself!
Rev 17:5-6 are a graphic description of an immense Gentile church that is a modern-day descendant of Babylon. She is a “mother” of many “harlot” daughters, who came out of her in protest because they disagreed with a few of her abominations. This is not a small church, but rather a “great” church (“great whore”) ruling many peoples. Rev 17:2 speaks of her “fornication” with the “kings of the earth.” And Rev 17:18 speaks of the woman as “that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.” So then, this is a very large church that has sought to influence kings, nations and world events. Only one city and one church fit this description.
Once again, this is seen to be a very different woman than that of Revelation 12:1-17.
This large Gentile false church has long persecuted God’s true Church (Rev 17:6). God will destroy this whore and her harlot daughters by turning the Beast she rides against her (Rev 17:16). But first she must “ride” the final revival of the Holy Roman Empire—with her Babylonian system!
Daniel 7:19-20 sheds light on what happens when the saints return with Christ. Their first job is to replace the “fourth beast” (the final world-ruling empire), which rules with the assistance of the “little horn” whose “look was more stout than his fellows.” This little horn is a religious kingdom, and is the same as the woman who rides the Beast of Revelation 17:1-18. Again, this religious “woman” kingdom has ruled over all of the previous resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire.
The saints will have endured tremendous persecution at the hands of this “little horn”—“woman” church. But eventually the faithful saints will be rewarded in an incredible way. Now more from Daniel: “I beheld, and the same horn [the Babylonish system of Revelation 17:5-6] made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” (Rev 17:21-22).
A final explanation should be made. The beginning of Revelation 17:8 described this different Beast as “the beast that was, and is not,” with Rev 17:11 similarly beginning with, “And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the seven, and goes into perdition.” This healed Beast, now the Holy Roman Empire (the resurrections ridden by the “woman” since AD 554), is both different—like an “eighth” system—and yet is “of the seven” heads of the Revelation 13:1-18 Beast and the Daniel 7:1-28 fourth beast, last seven of 10 horns of each.
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