59—DRAGON, BEAST, AND FALSE PROPHET
What are the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet of Rev. 16: 13? P. D. L. The dragon of Revelation is designated in chapter 12: 9 as the great dragon, the old serpent, that is called the devil, and Satan. There would be included with him all those who are identified with him, particularly his angels, perhaps the heathen powers of earth. The beast is presented to us in chapter 13 of Revelation as that great system of church and state government which has cursed the world from Babylon to the present time, the union of church and state which persecutes the people of God. One phase of the beast—one of its heads—is papal. The false prophet is the two-horned beast of Rev. 13: 11-17, which works miracles, and turns the world back to the worship of the first beast in its restored papal phase.