THE TWO
BEASTS IN REVELATION Part ll
Lesson 18
Page 2 OF
2
Satan’s first
objective for Babylon is simple:
gain enough control of the world
so that his coming will be
received as the arrival of God.
When Satan gets here, he uses his
miracle working powers to deceive
even the people into joining his
efforts to establish a new world
government. But some
refuse to accept his offer.
So, Satan leads his followers
into the bloodiest of “holy
wars.” War unites
people against a common enemy.
By rallying those who believe he
is God, Satan wars upon the world
in general and the saints in
particular. Satan takes by
force what he could not achieve
through deception! The last
resort of false religion is
force.
Submit or else
Revelation 13:8
say, “All the inhabitants of
the earth will worship the beast
– all whose names have not
been written in the book of
life.” The Greek word
in Revelation 13:8 for worship
means submission. In fact,
the meaning of the word is also
associated with the idea of
kissing. “To
kiss” is an act of
submission. Kissing as a
gesture of humility and
submission is seen in the eastern
cultures today. Political
leaders in the Middle East often
embrace one another with a kiss
to signify mutual respect.
In this light, the kiss of Judas
betraying Jesus in the garden can
be seen of the height (or depth)
of hypocrisy!
Notice that
Revelation 12:17 and 13:8 simply
puts everyone into one of two
camps: All the inhabitants of the
world will either submit to the
commands of Babylon or, to the
commandments of God.
The rise of
Babylon
The first six
trumpets provide a catalyst for
union of the religious systems of
the world. While people are
being lulled into a false sense
of global security with political
developments of peace and safety
on earth, Jesus seals the 144,000
and gathers “remnant 1”
together. Since the world
is busy with “more important
things”, this process is
hardly noticed. About the
time global peace looks possible,
the trumpets suddenly begin and
the world is literally shaken to
pieces. During the panic of
this time, the full gospel
message goes throughout the earth
announcing that Jesus is coming.
Salvation is still available
while Jesus is conducting his
work in the heavenly sanctuary.
Panic and fear
immediately displace feelings of
security. People in every
land turn from political optimism
to religious wonderment about
these trumpets. They rush
to clerics to understand the
meaning of the devastation of
trumpets. They will want to know
the meaning of these “acts
of God.”
“The cause is
simple,” religious leaders
exclaim. “We have
forgotten God, therefore these
judgments have come upon
us.” “The pursuit
of world peace is not enough.
We must turn God’s anger.
He is angry at our sinful lives.
The solution is to appease
God.”
Politicians are
among the first to agree! Clerics
advance the ideas that laws
requiring righteousness should be
enacted. “Let
punishment for wrongdoers be
sudden and swift, lest we all
perish.” American
clerics will quote the Bible
saying, “all this disaster
has come upon us, yet we have not
sought the favor of the Lord our
God by turning from our sins and
giving attention to (His)
truth.” Daniel 9:13
In various lands,
laws requiring immediate reform
will be imposed. Everyone
must submit or suffer immediate
punishment. What other
options are there? Clergy
from every religious body on
earth unite and form a global
organization so that God may be
appeased and the devastation
stopped.
Many people
disagree with the official plan
to appease God. Some will
argue that “righteous
legislation” does not make
saints! At first, these
people fall into two categories:
hardliners and saints. The
hardliners are people opposed to
any restrictions by anyone.
They aren’t saints, nor do
they understand the full gospel.
They simply refuse to go along
with the righteous legislated
movement on the basis of freedom.
On the other hand, the saints are
opposed to the legislated reforms
for two reasons. First God
will not accept
“forced” righteousness.
He is a God of love, and He only
accepts those who choose to serve
Him. The object of the
trumpets is not to force earth
into righteous behavior. Secondly,
the righteous legislation process
of Babylon clearly conflicts with
the law of Almighty God.
Because the entire
world is trying to appease God, a
global religious organization
develops and the Pope will be the
“chief executive” of
the group. Since the
judgments are global, and this is
a global problem, all religious
systems of earth will be
represented.
The Pope has
earned the right to be chief
executive. For more than 20
years he has traveled the globe
seeking unity. He will
lead the world confederation.
The Papacy is uniquely qualified
to conduct this work for it has
diplomatic ties with every major
religious and political power in
the world! The deadly
wound soon will be healed.
The term Babylon
means confusion. Since the
organization will be made up of
the seven religious systems of
the world, the student can see
that confusion is unavoidable.
For example, the Moslems will see
the solution to the trumpet
problem differently than
Protestants. The Moslem
concept of Jesus is quite
different than the Christian
concept of Jesus. But,
differences will have to be
overlooked. What will be
urgently needed at this time will
be solutions! Clerics and
politicians unite saying,
“We must implore God to stop
this judgments!”
Babylon
Who makes up
Babylon? What do the seven
heads and ten horns represent?
John saw the beast having seven
heads and ten horns three times
in Revelation. The first
time is recorded in chapter 12,
the second time in chapter 13,
and the last time in chapter 17.
Revelation
carefully maintains the identity
of Satan so that the remnant
might understand the work of
Satan. In these terms, God
gives the saints an explanation
of the enemy’s disguise and
war plans. Let’s study
the seven heads and discover whom
they represent. Notice the
following details about the heads
from chapter 13:
- Each head
has a blasphemous name
- One of the
heads had been wounded
and healed
- The beast
was given a mouth to
blaspheme God
From chapter 17 we
learn more about the heads:
- The seven
heads are seven hill {V9}
- The seven
heads are seven kings
{V9}
- Five are
fallen {V 10}
- One is
{V 10}
- One is yet
to come {V 10}
- The beast
that ascends out of the
Abyss will be the eighth
king and companion of the
seven heads {V 11}
Summary on the
heads
From chapter 13 we
see that each head has a
blasphemous name. This
indicates that each head is a
religious system or body, for
each head assumes the
prerogatives of God.
From chapter 17 we
notice that each head is a hill.
The symbolism of seven religious
bodies as seven hills should not
be hard to understand. Seven
represents a complete number, a
finished or full count. (There
are seven colors in the rainbow,
seven notes on the musical scale,
seven continents, seven days in a
week) Hills in John’s
day were reserved as places of
worship or the dwelling of deity.
Ancient temples or shrines were
placed in prominent places high
above the terrain, because these
holy places were believed to be
the dwelling place of God. Even
Israel is often referred to as
“Mt Zion”, or “My
holy hill.” See Daniel
9:16,20; Micah 4. In
America, we even refer to the
official building of the U.S.
Congress as “Capitol
Hill.”
These seven
religious bodies are also seven
kings, that is, they have
subjects. People obey and
follow their respective religious
system as a means of serving God.
For example, Americans have been
amazed at the religious zeal and
loyalty of Moslems. Many
Moslems have a commitment to
their God that most Protestants
cannot understand.
But the most
important issue connected with
the identification of the heads
is timing. John was told
that, “five are
fallen”, one is and the one
is yet to come.” We
ask when is this phrase true?
If we can locate a point in time
when five are fallen, we should
be able to determine the identity
of these seven heads with
reasonable certainty. John’s
attending angel said, “This
call for a mind with wisdom. Five
are fallen, one is, and the other
has not yet come, but when he
does come, he must remain for a
little while.” Revelation
17:10
To locate when the
five heads are fallen, we need to
determine when the conversation
takes place between John and the
angel. This writer believes
the conversation between John and
the angel occurred at the time of
the vision (about 95 A.D.).
According to Webster, the term
“fallen” does not mean
destroyed or collapsed, rather,
it means “brought down”
or proven “false.”
Convincing support
for A.D. also comes from the
historical nature of what the
angel meant when he said,
“five are fallen.”
Looking at the first century, we
find a harmonious explanation
regarding the time of the five
fallen heads. When the
Word of God became flesh and
dwelt among men, five religious
systems were “brought
down” or exposed as false.
The physical presence of Jesus
upon earth unmasked the vain and
foolish teachings of man. The
five religious systems that were
exposed as false were:
1.
Heathenism
2.
Atheism
3.
Judaism
4.
Eastern Mysticism
5.
Islam *
The term
“Islam” as used above
came into the existence during
the 6th century as a
result of Mohammed’s
influence and is used here as a
label describing the ancient
Arabic faith. Even though
some as the founder of the faith
credits Mohammed, it must be
emphasized that Mohammed did not
invent a new religion.
Rather, he united, or organized
the beliefs of the nomadic
Arabians. Even though he
is considered by the Moslems to
be the last and the greatest of
God’s messengers, and
consequently greater than Jesus,
the Arabs trace the origin of
their faith back to Ishmael, and
his twelve sons. Moslems
today regard Ishmael as father of
their faith and not Mohammed.
See Genesis 21:13
These five
religious systems are blasphemous
and were proven to be false by
the physical appearing of Jesus
at the first advent for the
following reasons:
1.
Heathenism is religion apart from
the knowledge of the true God of
Heaven. In this system, man
creates his own gods according to
fantasy or whim.
2.
Atheism denies the existence of
the God of Heaven.
3.
Judaism rejects the teachings of
Jesus and seeks salvation through
obedience and ceremonies.
4.
Eastern Mysticism teaches that
man can become God.
5.
Islam denies that Jesus is the
Son of God and as such, the
Savior of mankind.
There’s more
John was also told
that one head “is”, and
the one “is yet to
come.” The head or
religious system that existed in
John’s day was Christianity,
and is called Catholicism today.
John was a charter member of that
new religious system. We
have already studied how it rose
and fell as Satan gained control
of it. Centuries later, the
Reformation produced a new head
or religious system that would
exist for “a little
while.” This system is
known as Protestantism. Looking
back over the landscape of
history, Protestantism is a
“new comer” to the
religious world in terms of
existence. That Catholicism
is blasphemous is historically
inescapable. Protestantism
has quickly degenerated into a
fallen condition by replacing the
teachings of Jesus with corrupt
teachings contrived by man.
This brings us to
a very significant point. When
Babylon rises from the sea, the
head that had been wounded is
healed! The Papal power
will be alive again! Surely,
this event cannot be far from
now! So, in summary, the
seven heads represent”
1.
Heathenism
2.
Atheism
3.
Eastern Mysticism
4.
Judaism
5.
Islam
6.
Catholicism
7.
Protestantism
When Satan appears
on earth claiming to be God, he
will be the eighth king. He
will set himself up over the
seven heads. Many
won’t like what Satan will
do, but they will be powerless to
“make war with the
beast.” Notice what
Paul says, “Don’t let
anyone deceive you in any way,
for the day will not come until
the rebellion occurs and the man
of lawlessness is revealed, the
man doomed to destruction.
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