XXX. The Beast-System and Its Meaning
We are dealing with symbolic prophecy. The symbols of chapter 12 were abundantly explained by the Word of God. The woman represents the church, the daughter of Zion. The Man Child symbolizes our Lord Jesus Christ, and the dragon is emphatically declared to be the old serpent, the devil and Satan, the deceiver, the accuser, the adversary from the beginning; and the twelfth chapter shows that all enmity against Christ and the church is instigated by him, the prince of the powers of evil. He is the manager behind the scenes; people and institutions of earth are his visible agencies of evil; and to the visible agent or to God the evil is generally all charged, while the chief mover, the actuating originator, is wholly lost sight of. This is a part of Satan's work of deception. He began his war of evil in heaven, and was cast out into the earth. (Rev. 12:3, 8, 9.) The opening of the thirteenth chapter still shows his agency. "And he [the dragon] stood upon the sand of the sea." Thus reads the Revised Version, Rotherham's Emphatic Translation, Murdock's Syriac, Emphatic Diaglot, and others. Comparison of the Visions of Daniel and John
The ever-restless, surging sea is a symbol of multitudes, nations, tongues, and kings. Rev. 17:15. As the result of winds upon the sea, or strife among the nations, Daniel saw four great beasts, or world empires, arise. Dan. 7:1-3, 17. The first verse of Revelation 13, in connection with the prophecy referred to in Daniel, clearly indicates that the stirrer-up of all this strife and commotion is "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." Eph. 2:2. Daniel saw these four great world empires symbolically and successively arise at the very beginning of their career, at the end of which the saints of the Most High take the kingdom and possess it forever (Dan. 7:17, 18); John saw them when their career was partly finished, symbolized in the beast of the fourth verse. Daniel saw the kingdoms of earth as successive temporal powers leading on to, and to be succeeded by, the eternal kingdom of God. His view of the kingdoms in chapter 7 was given with ESPECIAL RELATION TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. John's view is with especial relation to the WORK AND PEOPLE OF GOD HERE ON EARTH, bringing out more fully the unity of their cruel persecuting spirit, and the power behind the throne — the devil. The symbols presented before Daniel were as follows: (1) a lion, representing Babylon, the beginning of world empires (see Gen. 10:10; Jer. 4:7-13); (2) a bear, cruel and tenacious, representing the successor of Babylon; namely, Medo-Persia; (3) a leopard, representing Grecia; (4) and a ten-horned, nondescript beast, representing Rome. In the last beast a change takes place among the horns, but the general character of the beast continues the same — a many-horned beast, cruel, voracious, a persecutor and blasphemer, in increasing degree — to the end. During a great part of its career, it is dominated by one of its horns, diverse in character from the others. The same powers are presented to the prophet John in relation to the people and work of God in the following symbol: And he stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority. Rev. 13:1, 2, A.R.V.
In this one symbol are included all the symbols of Daniel 7. The beast has the mouth of the lion, the symbol of Babylon; the feet of a bear, the symbol of Medo-Persia; the body of a leopard, the symbol of Grecia; and ten horns, a distinctive characteristic of Daniel's fourth beast, Rome. The prophet of Babylon saw them as FOUR SEPARATE empires; the prophet of Patmos saw them as ONE CONTINUOUS SYSTEM, represented by one body, dominated by one power (the dragon, Satan), yet in different forms, symbolized by the different heads, the number seven indicating the various forms of perverted government through which Satan has wrought against the people of God. The beast does not represent normal earthly government, or legitimate earthly rule; that is, a rule beneficial to earth and to man, in harmony with God's plan of government among sinful men. This is shown in the fact that the special power and dominion and authority exercised by the beast, AS PRESENTED IN THE PROPHECY, are not from God, but from Satan; for "the dragon gave to him his own power and his throne and great authority."—Syriac. Boothroyd similar. "And the dragon did give to it [the beast] his [the dragon's] power, and his throne, and great authority."—Young. So also Hinds's Interlinear Greek-English Testament, and others. The beast in his various forms is Satan's vicegerent among men, occupying his seat, or throne (Rev. 2:13), clothed with diabolical power from him to do his bidding. This does not mean that Satan gave up his throne and all his power and authority over his demon-angels to the beast, but that among men, in the sphere of men, Satan's work centered in this inhuman, infernal system. The character of the thing symbolized by the beast is further shown by the names of blasphemy on the heads. These are the heads of the dragon, the varied forms of the unholy system through which he works. What Does the Beast Symbolize?
Primarily a union of Church and State, or a system of legalized religion. This is evident from the fact that it is an object which is worshiped, which itself compels worship, which blasphemes, and which persecutes those who are servants of God. (Verses 4-8.) It is therefore a religious power, for it is opposed to God and His saints; and it also has civil power, or power to enforce its decrees, for it makes war and puts to death the saints of God. Essentials of a Persecuting Power
Every persecuting power or system known must embrace these two essential characteristics — LEGALIZED RELIGION AND CIVIL POWER. A purely civil government, or power, such as God has ordained for the protection of men, WILL NOT PERSECUTE for religion's sake. The government will know in its laws, statutes, and courts, nothing whatever of religion. Its object will be to protect all men alike, irrespective of creed or religious bias. The Federal Government of the United States for the first century of its existence is a good example of a purely civil government apart from religion. This, however, can not be said of the individual States in general, for in some of them union of Church and State has existed from colonial times. A purely ecclesiastical organization or system CAN NOT PERSECUTE. It may anathematize, excommunicate, expel from its membership, but it can not fine, imprison, or take property or life, however much it desires so to do; and if its members attempted these things, they would be subject to prosecution. But if these two are united by law; if religion, even the not of an ecclesiastical organization, be legalized in any of its tenets, dogmas, or institutions, the beast-system exists in that very thing. The effect of such a system is blasphemy to God, the unholy exaltation of man, the putting of man in the place of God, and the persecution of the most zealous, courageous, and sincere. Such a system puts itself in the7place of God as lord over conscience, and sets itself forth as man's savior and judge, in so far as it assumes to direct his belief and worship. It has always thus resulted; it always will thus result. Neither do sincere men as rulers make it better, but rather the worse; for the more sincere is the belief in such a system, the more devotion to such a system, the more zeal will be manifest in making the system intensely practical. It is because of this that some of the best and most conscientious emperors of pagan Rome became the worst persecutors of Christians, not merely because they were Christians, but because they were transgressors of the beast-system under which Rome existed. The gods and their worship were so interwoven with the laws of the State, that it was impossible for a Christian not to be a transgressor, a "rebel," a "traitor," an enemy to the State, because not friendly to the gods. The origin of this beast-system may be traced back to the very beginning of organized government, under Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, the beginning of whose kingdom was Babylon. (Gen. 10:10, margin.) The germ of the system is set forth in the following scripture: And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. Gen 11:4.
It was an utter ignoring and rejection of God's plan of saving men and preserving the race. This is shown by the name which they gave their city and tower, which, says Lenormant in his "Manual of Ancient History," was "Bab-ilu" "the Gate of the God Ilu," or as others render, "the Gate of Heaven." It was the perversion of God's way, the salvation of man by man, the putting of man in the place of God; it was the beginning of that system of government among men which Satan has used to oppose God's work in the earth from that time forward. And the root of it all began in the departure from God, and the setting up by man of the gate of heaven. But what man then thought would prove the salvation of the race, God saw would, if allowed to be carried out to its fulness, prove its destruction; and so in mercy to mankind He confounded the language, and Bab-ilu, "the Gate of Heaven," became Babylon, "Confusion" (see Gen. 11:9); in order that men might flee from confusion to the only God, able to save to the uttermost. Every scheme of human salvation, every system which puts religion into the control of man or a set of men to force it upon others, every plan by which the conscience of the individual is to be controlled by his fellows, which puts man in the place of God, which ignores Christ, Christ's truth, Christ's teaching, or Christ's way,—every scheme of that kind, God has forever stamped as BABYLON, CONFUSION, albeit its devotees call it the gate of God, or gate of heaven. It seems almost a marvelous fact that the name given of God was perpetuated, while the principles of the apostasy have seemed to be increasingly dominant among the nations of earth. It is a fact that the ancient monuments and bricks dug up from the old Assyrian and Babylonian ruins confirm the origin of the name of Babylon as given in Gen. 11:6-9. Says Lenormant: Babylon is often designated in the cuneiform text by a symbolical name ideographically written, meaning "the tower of the root of languages." —Manual of Ancient History, volume 1, page 24.
Of Borsippa, a suburb of Babylon, he says: Borsippa meant in that [Semitic] idiom "the tower of tongues." By another meaning, "the tower of the dispersion of tribes." —Id., pages 24, 482, 483. The principles of that apostasy and system have been perpetuated through unconverted men by Lucifer, or Satan, "the primeval king of Babylon," the very one in whom the principles originated, and who thus expressed them: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Isa. 14:13, 14.
The builders of Babylon said:
Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven ["the gate of heaven"]; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad. Gen. 11:4. And ancient Babylon said:
I shall be a lady forever. . . . I am, and there is none else beside me. Isa. 47:7, 8, R.V. And ancient Babylon's King, imbued by the same unholy ambition, said:
Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? Dan. 4:30. It is self-exaltation, self-salvation, self-honor all the way through, from Lucifer the originator to the smallest system of earth bearing his trade-mark; and the beginning of all these systems, the corruption of all governments, in the earth, is Babylon. It is with this in view that the prophet declares: "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made ALL THE EARTH DRUNKEN: THE NATIONS HAVE DRUNKEN OF HER WINE." Jer. 51:7. "All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication" (Rev. 18:3; 19:2), the unlawful union of Church and State. [A further study of this beast-system must be deferred till our next.]