This is the first of four articles by Elder Porter on the general theme of the seal of God and the mark of the beast. In this article, he shows what the beast of Rev. 14:9-12 symbolizes. In his article next week, he will show what is the seal of God as contrasted with the mark of the beast. The next article following will show what the mark of the beast is, and his last article of the four will present God's last appeal to a lost world. God appeals to men to stand loyal to Him and to the truth, regardless of all danger and opposition, for the reward that comes at the great climax of the coming of Christ is well worth the struggle. EDITOR.
“AND the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:9-12.
Since this message follows the first and the second angel's proclamation of verses 6-9, it must apply after the hour of God's Judgment is come, or during the time the Judgment is in session. From verse 14 we learn that it is the last call of the gospel before the coming of the Son of man upon the white cloud to reap the harvest of the earth. “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.” Christ says, “The harvest is the end of the world.” Matt. 13:39.
This message must therefore be proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, during the time of the Investigative Judgment, which began in 1844, and its work will close with the second coming of Christ to gather the harvest and establish His everlasting kingdom.
NO SUCH JUDGMENTS BEFORE
Such awful judgments as are here declared were never pronounced for the rejection of any other message. The unmingled wine of the wrath of God, poured out without mixture, will follow its rejection. On the other hand, those who accept this message are to be prepared to meet their returning Lord in peace, and to step over into the kingdom of glory without tasting death. From experiences of persecution, they pass under the reign of the Prince of peace. O, happy transition! O, the joy and delight of knowing that persecution, strife, hatred, on account of loyalty to God and faithfulness in the observance of His law, are gone forever!
Such are the vital issues that hang in the balance, as we study and decide upon our acceptance or rejection of this final warning message, which is now due to a world thoughtless of the impending calamity hanging over it, but stayed by the infinite hand of God — until the last warning is given, as in the days of Noah and Lot.
CAREFUL HEED SHOULD BE GIVEN
With such serious considerations involved in our personal decisions with reference to this announcement of the angel, we should come to the study of this subject with subdued hearts, and a humble prayer for personal guidance, lest, through a desire for the favor of the world, commercial gain, or worldly pleasure, we decide the wrong way, and at last find ourselves with that company who fall under the seven last plagues, calling upon the rocks and the mountains to fall on them, to hide them from the presence of the Lamb of God, when the great day of His wrath is come.
The message rightly received will place us where with the greatest delight we shall meet the Judgment of that day, and looking up into the face of Christ with a confidence born of a faithful adherence to His word, we shall say, “This is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. . . . We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
The message begins thus: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.” The questions, therefore, that demand our study are: What is the beast? What is his image? What is his mark, that is to be received either in the forehead or the hand, on account of which the judgments threatened befall the world? Can these questions be answered with certainty? — They can. Otherwise, how could there be any warning given to the world concerning them? The time is now ripe for that warning, and we may look with confidence for light at this time, by which the world may be warned, and those saved who will accept it.
WHAT IS THE BEAST?
Since the warning refers to the worship of God as opposed to the worship of the beast, it implies the application of force to compel man's worship of the beast instead of God. The beast is mentioned in the following texts: Revelation 13 and 17; Dan. 7:8, 20, 24, 25. In Rev. 13:6 it is said, “He opened His mouth in blasphemy against God.” Notice the following comparative table on this point:
1. “He shall speak great words against the Most High.” Verse 25. He had “a mouth speaking great things.” Verses 8, 11.
2. He shall “wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law.” Verse 25, R. V.
3. He was to hold power and rule “until a time [a year] and times [two years] and the dividing of time [half a year]”—three and one half years, forty-two months, or 1,260 prophetic days, or years. Verse 25.
1. “He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God.” Verse 6. “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies.” Verse 5.
2. “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. . . . And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [or serve according to his perversion of law].” Verses 7, 8.
3. “And power was given unto him to continue forty and two months,” which, counting thirty days to the month, is 1,260 prophetic days, or years. Verse 5. In prophetic time a day is counted for a year. Eze. 4:6; Num. 14:34.
All agree that this beast represents the papacy. Every detail of the prophecy is borne out in the work of the papacy. It has arrogated to itself infallibility, and blasphemously assumed the titles “Lord God the pope,” and “vicegerent of the Son of God,” or “vicar of Christ.” It has been “drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” It has worn out the saints of the Most High, and492has continued “a time and times and the dividing of time” (Dan. 7:25), “forty and two months” (Rev. 13:5), “a thousand two hundred and threescore days [years]” (Rev. 12:6).
TWELVE HUNDRED SIXTY YEARS OF SUPREMACY
Beginning with her supremacy in A. D. 538 by the overthrow of the Heruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths, the three powers that opposed her plans, and which the prophet Daniel said would be plucked up by the roots at the time of her rise, she continued 1,260 years, when she was overthrown, and her supremacy over the nations was broken, in 1798. The French army under General Berthier entered the city of Rome in February of that year, captured Pope Pius VI, carried him a prisoner into France, and declared the city of Rome a republic.
A further description says that she shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change His times and laws. In doing this, the papacy exalted itself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, and directed the worship of all to itself. Paul says: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” Thess. 2:3, 4.
A power which stands before the world with the character here described, is not difficult to identify. The great Matthew Hale, who is no mean judge of evidence, says: “If the apostolic description were inserted in the public Hue and Cry, any constable in the realm would be warranted in seizing wherever he found him, the bishop of Rome, as the head of that ‘mystery of iniquity.’”—“Two Babylons,” page 4.
No power on earth save the papacy has presented to the world all the details of character described in the foregoing prophecies. The papacy fulfills them all. History declares that upwards of fifty million of martyrs, lying cold and silent in death, witness to the horrible persecutions by which the papacy, while seeking to change the law of the Most High, wore out the saints.
The beast and the Son of God are engaged in direct conflict during the time of the giving of this message of the third angel. They both claim man's worship. Christ was the Lawgiver and man's Creator. He therefore claims man's worship. The papacy claims to have changed the law of the divine Lawgiver, and this is its pretext for claiming obedience. Let us study the law of God as related to the seal of God and the mark of the beast.
