Vol.11 No.2

The Beast in Bible Prophecy
Who is this Beast that forces the world to worship him and receive his Mark?

Identifying the Beast of Bible Prophecy doesn’t take a degree in theology or biblical languages. A King James Version of the Bible and some careful comparison of Bible passages will do.

The Bible clearly depicts the Beast as an enemy of God and His govern- ment. Through an understanding of prophetic symbols, we may identify him. Examining Revelation 13:1–10 we find that the Beast:

1. Rises from the sea.
2. Resembles a leopard, a bear, and a lion.
3. Has seven heads with ten crowned horns.
4. Receives a deadly wound in his head, which eventually heals.
5. Speaks blasphemous words.
6. Rules and oppresses for 42 prophetic months or 1260 years.
7. Receives authority and power from the dragon, identified in Revelation 12:9 as the devil.

This Beast sounds like a world-class monster! Who is he?

An important principle in understanding Bible prophecy is to allow the Bible to interpret itself. For instance, the Beast is seen rising from the sea, which in prophetic language means peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues (Revelation 17:15). By application, this power would arise from a densely populated area.

Next, we turn to the Old Testa-ment prophet, Daniel, for some help in understanding what the lion, the bear, and the leopard represent. In Daniel, chapters 2 and 7, we find a description of world superpowers in succession: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and an unnamed fourth power. In each chapter the same nations are represented, but with different symbols. In chapter 7 they are represented as a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a beast with ten horns.

By comparing Daniel’s vision with John’s, we find a ten-horned beast in both visions with a similar description. The successor of Greece was the Roman Empire. Is this the ten-horned Beast of Daniel, chapter 7 and Revelation, chapter 13 ? Partially.

THE EMPEROR’S CHILD

The old Roman Empire does not exist today, but an entity which evolved from it does—Constantine’s child, the Roman Catholic Church. Its popes still believe they hold spiritual authority over the entire world. The fourth beast is papal Rome. The remaining symbols will verify this.

Why does Revelation 13:1 use the descriptions of Babylon, Persia, and Greece to describe papal Rome? Daniel saw the lingering influence of the first three empires: “As con-cerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time” (Daniel 7:12).

How did papal Rome resemble Greece, Persia, and Babylon? Greek philosophy seeped into the teachings of the church. The Emperor Constantine practiced a Persian form of Sun worship known as Mithraism. When he made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire, he legislated the veneration of Sunday to unite his pagan and Christian subjects. The papacy wholeheartedly embraced the new “Lord’s day.” Eventually, a death decree was passed against those who would not comply, like the decree of Nebuchadnezzar on the Babylonian plains of Dura.

The seven horns were seven tribes who made up the Western Roman Empire and whose kings gave the papacy its political strength. There had been ten tribes, but three were destroyed and plundered by the papacy when they refused to obey its mandates (Daniel 7:8).

What were the Beast’s great words of blasphemy? Pope Leo XIII said of himself and his papal predecessors, “We hold upon the earth the place of God Almighty.”¹ The popes and the priests they ordain claim power to forgive sins. The Bible teaches that it is blasphemous for a mere man to claim this divine prerogative (Mark 2:7). Yet, the modern papacy, which is so readily admired by the world, still claims this power. John Paul II reprimanded Catholics for accepting the “widespread idea that one can obtain forgiveness directly from God,” and exhorted them to confess more often to their priests.²

The papacy boldly claims divine infallibility. During the ages of papal supremacy, countless millions of sincere Christians, who dared to question this claim, were eliminated. The iron rule of the papacy continued until she received her deadly wound in 1798 when Napoleon’s army captured and exiled the pope. This was exactly 1260 years (42 prophetic months) from the year 538 when Vigilius, Bishop of Rome, put the papacy into political power in Western Europe.

The Beast Makes a Comeback

“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast” (Revelation 13:3).

From its humbling blow 200 years ago, the papacy has made an astonishing comeback. Great nations of the world now send ambassadors to the Vatican, and their leaders seek audiences with the Pope. The re-emergence of the papacy in world politics is no human accomplishment. The Bible clearly states, “… and the dragon [the devil] gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority” (Revelation 13:2). No other explanation can be given for the charismatic return of the papacy to world prominence, nor the power it will hold when “all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life …” (Revelation 13:8).

Many world leaders believe the modern papacy bears no resemblance to the ancient papacy. The history of papal persecutions is considered a relic of the dark ages for which even John Paul II has apologized. Yet, the Bible predicts that the world will be forced—on pain of death—to acknowledge the Bishop of Rome’s unscriptural authority over every man’s conscience and over the Word of God. (Revelation 13:8, 11, 12).

There are many sincere Catholics who serve God to the best of their knowledge as taught by the Roman Catholic priesthood. Yet, today, God is seeking to enlighten all His children to the truths in the Bible, whatever faith they hold. No church, priest, or pastor can remove our obligation to follow God and His Word.

The Bible reveals that the papacy will not accomplish its return to religious supremacy without assistance. To aid in the papacy’s quest for worldwide dominance comes a second beast (Revelation 13:11). Described by John as lamblike, it manifests Christian principles and works deceptive miracles to “prove” that worshiping the Beast is wor-shiping God! (Revelation 13:11–14.) Then, as if her “proof” is not enough, she will force the world to accept the authority of the papacy.

The Beast with the Split Personality

Who is this lamblike beast who will speak and act like a dragon? How will this beast enforce the religious and political supremacy of the papacy?

We are given ample clues as to the identity of the second beast of Revelation, chapter 13.

1. In contrast to the first beast, it comes from the earth, or from an unpopulated region of the world.
2. Its horns, the symbols of its authority, are lamblike or gentle.
3. Although it begins like a lamb, it ends as a dragon.
4. It has the political power to force the inhabitants of the world to worship the first Beast and to receive his Mark.

Only one nation fits this description: The United States of America. What other nation has emerged from a previously unpopulated area and championed the Christian causes of freedom and representative government like the United States? And, what other nation has the political power to force its agendas, through economic boycott or sheer military strength, like the United States?

One hundred years ago, Protestantism was so strong in American politics that no one believed the Vatican and the United States would ever cooperate in world affairs. But recent history bears a far different story. Public outcries from Protestants about exchange visits between the U.S. and the Vatican are now strangely absent. Instead, conservative Catholics and Protestants are allied in a culture war against the advocates of abortion, same-sex marriage, and pornography. The administration under former President Ronald Reagan openly admits to secret agreements with the Vatican to bring down European Communism.³ For the United States—the most Protestant nation in the world—and the Vatican, no historical impediment remains for their cooperation in enforcing the Mark of the Beast.

What is the Mark of the Beast? See “A Time for Choosing,” this issue.

References:

1. Pope Leo XIII, “Encyclical Letter” of June 20, 1894.
2. Schanche, Don A. , “No Forgiveness ‘Directly From God,’ Pope says,” Los Angeles Times, December 12, 1984, p. 11.
3. Time, February 24, 1992.