IN our Outlook department last week we considered the statement of the Saviour that the time would come when men would think that they were doing God service to kill the followers of Christ. This statement of the Master is found in the first four verses of the sixteenth chapter of John, and His prediction met a remarkable and literal fulfilment in the years that immediately followed the days of Christ on earth, and there was still a more remarkable fulfilment of the Lord's words in the bloody persecutions of the middle ages, when so many millions of martyrs were cruelly put to death. All of these facts are matters of common history that everybody knows about.
But it is generally considered that we have reached an enlightened age that is removing us farther and farther away from the possibility of persecutions for religious beliefs. It is thought that the great battles for the rights of conscience are all largely in the past, and that all the world will march right ahead in the highway of freedom and progress. But there is a prophecy in the Bible that points to a different conclusion; it shows that the exact opposite will be true, and that the bitterest persecution of all the ages will be inaugurated against the followers of Christ. This prophecy is in the following language:
"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." Rev. 13: 11-17.
First let us consider some of the things that the foregoing prophecy tells that this power that arises "out of the earth" will do; and then we will consider the evidence that shows conclusively that it applies in the very last of the last days.
1. "He maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose death-stroke was healed." This shows that not only the people, but the very earth itself will be called upon to yield homage to this power.
2. He doeth great signs, even to the making of fire come down from heaven in the sight of men. And he does these signs for the one purpose of deceiving them that dwell on the earth so that he may induce them to make an image to the beast that was healed of the death-stroke.
3. "Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast." Appeal is here made to the people. "Them that dwell on the earth" are asked to make this image to the beast. This shows that it will become a popular movement, so much so that it is evident that the sentiment will warrant asking the people to make the image to the beast. It also shows that the movement must originate in a republic!
4. Life is given to the image of the beast, and all are called upon to worship it; and those who refuse to render this worship are killed.
5. He causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the bond, to receive a mark in the right hand or in the forehead.
6. No one is allowed to either buy or sell save those who have this mark.
The foregoing enumeration gives some of the salient features of the things that this beast power that is seen coming up will do. It is a universally admitted principle of interpretation that the beasts of these symbolic prophecies represent governments. Horns upon the beasts represent power and government also. The horns upon this beast are lamblike as he is seen coming up, but when he speaks it is with the voice of the dragon. His dragon voice is heard in his arbitrary decrees, yet he makes his decrees popular by appealing to the people. And when the popular vote has given him what he asks, then he says to all that they must have a mark so that he may know that they have subscribed to the popular law. And there will be conscientious opposition to the demands of this beast, for he causeth all to be condemned to death who do not yield to receive the mark.
Lincoln Emancipation Statue.
Furthermore, this power establishes a universal boycott, for he sends forth a decree that no man may buy or sell unless he receive the mark of the beast. This is a point that should be noted particularly.
Now as to the question of how it may be shown that all this applies in the last days. Consider carefully the following scriptures and you will readily see:
"And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, If any man worshipeth the beast and his image, and receiveth a mark in his forehead, or upon his hand, he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of His anger." Rev. 14: 9, 10.
This message that is given with a "great voice" is God's protest against what this beast proposes to do. And in this message God says that He will pour out His "unmixed" wrath upon those who go to such persecuting extremes in boycotting and finally decreeing death upon those who refuse to yield to the popular demands. The judgments of God in the past have always been tempered with mercy. But here is a wrath "unmixed" to be poured out, showing that it is pure wrath and nothing else. There is no mercy in it. Hence this must be the last and the supreme punishment that God inflicts upon the last generation of men—a generation which all the Bible shows will be marked because of the depth of its intense iniquities.
Note another scripture that shows a further stage in this conflict with the beast and his image:
"And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God." Rev. 15: 2.
The text from the fourteenth chapter tells of God's message of protest against those who would yield to this beast power and to his image. This text just quoted tells of those who stand with God and so get the victory over them. And it will be observed that they are on the sea of glass, which shows that they are in the redeemed state and before the throne of God. The following texts will show what becomes of those who do not heed the warning message of God:
"And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshiped his image: they two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone." "And the devil that deceived11them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet." "And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 19:20; 20: 10, 14, 15.
The first part of the texts quoted above very clearly refers to the same power that was brought to view in the text from Rev. 13: 11-17. The prophet is here describing the beast and the "false prophet" that wrought the signs and that did the deceiving and that enforced his mark. And observe that they are both cast alive into the lake of fire, showing that they were living, active powers right up to the end of time. These powers do not decline into decay as the most of the other powers described in the prophecies do, but they live and work and act right up to the end of time, and are then cast "alive" into the lake of fire. Satan and death are cast into the lake of fire along with them. "The last enemy that shall be abolished is death." 1 Cor. 15:26.
Then there can be no avoiding the conclusion that when the beast and the "false prophet" and Satan and death are cast into the lake of fire, the end of time is reached for both are "alive" when they are cast into the lake, thus showing that they live right up to the end of time. And, furthermore, these powers are persecuting powers. They establish the first world-wide boycott, and put forth the first world-wide decree of death. This shows that the whole world will be federated before this can be accomplished.
The people that this journal represents have a well-defined faith in regard to just what powers are referred to by the beast and the false prophet of this prophecy; but it would not be within the limits of this article to consider that phase of the subject. It is the desire in this article to make it clear that the worst attempts at persecution that all history records will be made right at the close of time. Sin will not be destroyed till the great decisive battle is fought, and that battle is in the closing days of earth's career in sin. Those who think that the times for persecution are all in the past would do well to study this prophecy.
Having studied the prophecy and thus been assured that there are times of persecution ahead of us, regardless of the notions of so many men to the contrary, we should keep our eyes on the events in the world to note how they are shaping to the end of fulfilling the divine prediction. Have you seen anything that looks like the general education of the world for a universal boycott? Is not the boycott becoming a stronger and stronger weapon among this generation of men? And have we not reached a time when it would seem that nothing could stand before it? It has been used thus far in the labor and the commercial worlds; but all this training is, under the direction of Satan, preparing the minds of the people for that time when he shall turn the boycott sentiment and education into the religious field to compel men to subscribe to the mark of his authority. For it should pass without saying that the final conflict announced in the prophetic texts
quoted herein is to be a religious conflict, otherwise it would not call forth the great wrath of God.
And while we have the sentiment so general in favor of the boycott, we also have a sentiment that is rising higher and higher in favor of enforcing the observance of Sunday by civil law. Sunday is purely a religious institution. The observance of Sunday takes one-seventh of a man's time. And no power aside from God has the right to thus command a man to give up his time. Hence when Sunday laws are made, no matter what the excuse or the pretext for making them, they are religious laws, and they usurp a prerogative that belongs only and wholly to God.
Every one knows of the constant agitation in favor of securing and enforcing more stringent Sunday laws. We have from time to time pointed it out in these pages, and during recent weeks have frequently referred to it. The observance of Sunday will yet be universally demanded under the pains and penalties of civil law. Sunday is not a Bible institution. The Lord has nowhere commanded its observance, but, on the contrary, it has been brought into the world as a rival institution to the true Sabbath of the Lord—the Sabbath that God has commanded from the foundation of the world.
Men will soon be required to yield religious homage to powers of apostasy that will usurp the governments of this whole earth, unless they choose instead to stand unswervingly on just what God in His word has commanded. The issue is a mighty one. The contest is the culminating battle between the authority of God and the usurpation of Satan. We should not be deceived, but stand with the right.
T.
City Hall, and Court-House, New York. Where the order to close all places of amusement in the city on Sunday was modified.
