The Image to the Beast and His Mark
By M. C. W.
Enforcement of Religious Dogma by Civil Law This is the eighth and last article by Elder Wilcox on the sevenfold sign of the end, shown in the interesting prophecy concerning the United States government. In the first part of this article, he sums up what has appeared in preceding issues. Hence in that which follows, there is given a good survey of the entire subject. Editor. The prophecy is found in Rev. 13: 11-17, and reads as follows in the American Revised Version: “And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like unto a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight. And he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose death stroke was healed. And he doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him 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 who hath the stroke of the sword and lived. And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or upon their forehead; and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, even the name of the beast or the number of his name.” Let us recall what we have learned thus far in our study: 1. The two-horned beast symbolizes a nation that would be seen rising to power in 1793 to 1798, when the ten-horned beast antitype, papal Rome, went into captivity. The beast of the prophecy is not the same beast, or a different phase of the same beast; it is “another beast,” another world power. This symbol is met in the United States; for this nation was then rising to power. 2. The two-horned beast did not rise out of the sea, as did the Old World symbols (Dan. 7: 3; Rev. 17: 15), but out of the earth, among the solitudes of hitherto unknown, unexplored regions. This specification was also met by the United States, described as “coming forth from vacancy.” 3. This nation meets the prophecy in that it rose rapidly, peacefully, as a plant would spring up before our eyes. Townsend says of this country, “Like a silent seed we grew into empire.” 4. The two horns like a lamb are symbols of Christian characteristics (Rev. 5: 6),—equality of man, and freedom of choice in matters of religion,—found alone in Christianity of all religions, and alone in this nation of all nations. In both systems these principles are fundamental. The evidences are clear and copious that the symbol refers to the United States. One of the mightiest molding governments of earth is not neglected in the prophetic Word. 5. It spoke as a dragon. In other words, it would promulgate intolerant laws, and persecute the people of God. And mighty growing movements in this land show that the fulfillment of the prophecy is just before. 6. It would deceive the people of earth, under the dragon spirit, and lead them to make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and lived. In other words, turning from God, the nation becomes deceived, and is used by “the deceiver of the whole world” to deceive the people into forming a union of church and state, or religion and the state. The image is made by the people. The government, therefore, is a republic. The people rule. The vital step may be taken under the initiative or referendum. The education of the171people, with uncertain standards, is fitting them to be readily deceived. Let the people once come to believe that things would be greatly bettered, that Heaven would regard them more favorably, if they would honor God by joining organic religion and the state, the state supporting religious dogma, and ancient tradition be taken as the standard, and the work would be done. More than that, such a step once taken, the leaders would not delay to put it in operation, or give life to it by effective laws. Religion with the state may be expressed in constitutional law. To give it life, is to pass such statute laws as will make it effective. The worship of this image is to be enforced by law. That is, men must yield homage to it, regard it, obey its exactions on pain of death. In other words, when a government becomes so deceived as to place in operation a union of religion and the state, such union and such laws will in the very nature of the case be considered the most sacred of all laws, and their transgressor will be considered the greatest criminal. These laws will be considered divine, the laws of God, and the government God’s vicegerent to enforce them. He who flouts them, opposes them, or transgresses them, will be thought guilty of both blasphemy and treason, and worthy of death. Such has ever been the logic of religious legislation. When Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon’s greatest king, set up on the plains of Dura the great golden image, and commanded its worship, the penalty was death. That image was the apotheosis or deification of patriotism. We need not be surprised when, in this later Babylon, in which proud man exalts himself, we shall again have religious patriotism deified, and its worship enforced under pain of death. And our “national reform” friends will not shrink from this conclusion. The Jews, with the teachings of a millennium and a half, could become so deceived that they felt it necessary to crucify the Lord of life and glory; and He declared that there would come a time, even among His professed followers, when those who slew a true disciple of Christ would think they were doing God service. John 16: 1-3. A repetition of the principles in operation in this republic will bring the same result. As the result of the making of this image, a mark, the mark of the beast power, will be enforced. The beast is a symbol of Rome under the papacy. The mark is a sign of homage to that power. In the Revelation, it is set over against the seal of God. The people of God in the last generation bear His seal, His name, His mark and stamp of character. Rev. 7: 1-3; 14: 1. To put it in broader form, they “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14: 12. They worship God, and manifest that worship in its truest form—service. Compare Rev. 14: 7; Matt. 4: 10. Those who follow the great apostasy in the last generation, bear the seal of the beast, his name, his mark or stamp of character. They worship and serve him directly or through the image. They obey his commandments. The mark of the beast forms, therefore, a mark of distinction between the worshipers of the beast and the worshipers of God. It differentiates the two classes. Are you a servant of God?—You will bear His mark; you will be obedient to all His commandments. Are you a servant of the beast?—You will as truly bear his mark as though you were branded on the hand or in the forehead; you will keep his commandments. What is the seal of God’s law?—It is His Sabbath, the memorial of His creation power, the sign of His redeeming and sanctifying power. Ex. 20: 8-11; Deut. 5: 15; Eze. 20: 12. It ever calls to mind, if observed, the mighty Creator, mighty also to redeem and cleanse. Therefore is the gospel based in His power. Rom. 1: 16; Rev. 14: 6, 7. What is the mark of the great apostasy?—It is the change that the papacy has made, or sought to make, in the law of God—the substitution of Sunday for the Sabbath. For this change there is no Scriptural authority; therefore the papacy sets it forth as a mark of her power, as many authorities clearly show. We quote but one, “Abridgment of Christian Doctrine”: “Ques.—How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days? “Ans.—By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of, and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most of the other feasts commanded by the same church. “Ques.—How do you prove that? “Ans.—Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts and to command them under sin.” Testimony upon this point might be greatly enlarged. We have not space for more. That Sunday-sabbath does not become the mark of the beast till a union of the state with religion sets it up for human observance instead of the law of God; and man does not receive that mark till in the light of God’s word he yields to human law, choosing it instead of God’s eternal Sabbath. Over this will come the issue. The efforts for Sunday exaltation by statute law will succeed. Many honest, misguided men do not know for what they are working. Many devoted Sunday keepers believe the day to be holy. They are sincere Christians, and God accepts them despite their error. They are loyal at heart, and believe they are doing God’s will. But God’s great threefold message is going to the world, with its awfully solemn warning against the worship of the beast or his image and the reception of the mark of the beast. Rev. 14: 6-12. That message calls men back to God and His word, away from human traditions and error. It exalts God, and places the glory of man in the dust. On the other hand, apostasy exalts error and tradition in the place of truth, and sets as a mark of loyalty in the state, a day around which cluster all the evils of sun worship in past ages. It demands that that day shall be observed, on penalty of boycott and confiscation of property. No man shall buy or sell who has not yielded his God-bought freedom to the world apostasy. And persistent refusal will mark, in that régime, rebellion and treason, and at last the sentence or decree of death. And the two-horned beast power becomes the false prophet to deceive. Rev. 16: 13. The choice lies between error and truth; between the service of rebellious, dying man, and the service of the living God; between a humanly promised temporal deliverance, and the eternal victory and triumph under Christ. The end of all sin is destruction, and this is the doom of the worshipers deceived by the beast and the false prophet. Rev. 19: 19, 20. The fruit of all righteousness is eternal victory in our Lord Jesus Christ, over all the powers of evil. Rev. 14: 1-5; 15: 2, 3. The great sevenfold—manifold—sign of Christ’s coming is before this generation, this people, this nation. Its fulfilling is marked with constantly clearer and cumulative evidence, as the days rush by. It is the duty of every loyal Christian to align himself with God in this struggle, and to do all in his power to carry to every soul the great threefold warning message. In that is there triumph.