THE PAPACY IN PROPHECY by Abdiel

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Nov 7, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 43.

THE PAPACY IN PROPHECY

By Abdiel

By ABDIEL.

THE DRAGON OF REVELATION XII.

A COMPREHENSIVE study of the Papacy must carry us out of the book of Daniel into its complement—more, the complement of Scripture prophecy—the book of the Revelation; for only in the Revelation can we find the fulness, the completion, very often, the divine key, of the visions of Zechariah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Daniel.

Turn we then in our studies to the very heart of that book designated by Inspiration as the Revelation, the disclosure of Jesus Christ to His children. The first four verses of the thirteenth chapter read as follows:

“And I [“he,” Am. Rev. Ver.] stood upon the sand of the sea, and [“I,” Am. Rev. Ver.] saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name [“names,” A. R. V.] 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 seat [“throne,” Greek], and great authority.

“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death [“As tho it had been smitten unto death,” A. R. V.]; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast.

“And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”

There are two great powers here named which are antagonistic to the work of God; namely, “the beast” and the one which gives power to the beast, “the dragon.” Let us inquire, then, first of all,

What or Who Is the Dragon?

The dragon is revealed quite fully in the twelfth chapter, especially as regards his work and character. As regards his character, he is shown to be an enemy against the woman, the church, against her Son, Jesus Christ, against all the hosts of God from angels even down to the last little remnant, who “keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

In the work of the dragon and his agents he is symbolized by a horrid dragon, or serpent, having seven heads and ten horns.

Who the dragon is is plainly declared in verse 9, “the great dragon,” “the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.” Upon this point there can be no question. Elsewhere by our Lord and His apostles, Satan is called “the prince of this world,” and “the god of this world.” John 12:31; 14:30; 2 Cor. 4:4. When our first Father Adam, who was prince of this world, yielded himself to the old serpent, he yielded all that was under him (Gen. 1:28; Luke 4:5-7), and the devil became the ruler of this world so far as God will permit him, and the children of men yield to his power. He is still “the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Eph. 2:2.

His Great Agencies.

He is not permitted to use his superhuman power in controlling men; man must first willingly yield to his working. So God does not use His divine power to force men; they must be willing to receive Him and be willing witnesses to His power. But as God uses men to advance His kingdom, so Satan is permitted to use the same agencies in his warfare against God and truth and light.

First, as an angel with his angels the dragon opposed the Son of God, Michael the Archangel, and His hosts, and fell. Man was created. Satan opposed him, and won, and sin became incarnated. Knowing, according to the prophecy, that the Deliverer must be of the seed of the woman, during all the centuries prior to the first advent of the Son of God, the devil sought to destroy the predicted seed through which the second Adam was to come, including all the seed of Abraham, but especially the tribe of Judah and the family of David. By deception, by idolatry, by error, by persecution, he sought to destroy the channels through which God had predicted the seed should come—through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Jesse, David, Solomon, down to the virgin Mary. But despite all the dark devices of the devil, all the mad, malevolent agencies of men moved by the lust of murder and spoil, God preserved the seed, so that when Jesus was born, earthly lineage could be traced back literally and legally through all the line of promise, back to David, back to Judah, back to Jacob, back to Abraham. Matthew 1; Luke 3.

Satan’s efforts have been twofold, to deceive and lead astray into sin of every form, to intermarriages with idolatrous nations, to merited utter destruction by the wrath of God; and, failing this, to oppress and scatter in all countries the few of the people through whom came the promise.

Efforts to Destroy the Nation.

When God called His people out of Egypt, He made them a distinct and separated people, in order that all might see and know the fulfilment of His promises. But even anticipating this, Satan began his work of moving the nations to destroy. So the dragon took his chiefest empire of earth to destroy the promised people in Egypt, and hold them forever a nation of slaves or destroy them. No sooner were they out of Egypt than he moved other nations to destroy. How they throng to do his bidding! The Amalekites, the Canaanites, the Mesopotamians, the Amorites, the Moabites, the Midianites, the Philistines, the Ammorites, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, over and over again, Syria, till Babylon, the religious teacher and corruptor of all nations, takes Judah captive and utterly subverts the kingdom and scatters the people of Judah. All were agents of the great dragon, were young dragons, so to speak. But none were more than temporarily successful till we reach Babylon.

In Captivity to Babylon.

Then Zion mourned because there was no king in her. Micah 4:9, 10. To Babylon she went, and into great Babylon should she remain not alone till her King was brought forth (Micah 5:2), but till great Babylon should be destroyed (Revelation 18). For after Judah and Jerusalem was overthrown by Nebuchadnezzar there were to be three other great overthrows, which would last till Christ should come. Eze. 21:25-27. Babylon overthrew God’s kingdom on earth and carried the daughter of Zion captive for the first time. After that came Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome in her varied phases.

Beast-Worship.

These empires became, in the light of the prophecy, “beasts,” symbols of governments against God, of governments which in their very nature are cruel, of governments which stand for definite forms of worship enforced by law upon consciences which to be true to God must choose some other teaching. These Satan, or the dragon, has used to destroy the people of God.

Babylon was his first effective agent in this field. Merodach, Bel, Nebo, were among his chief gods whose worship was supported by law. By law-enforced worship Satan sought to destroy the ancestry of Jesus, the Saviour. He failed. Babylon was the first of the seven beasts of the dragon.

Following Babylon came Medo-Persia, the second head; came Grecia, the third; came Pagan Rome, the fourth. Under pagan Roman rulers Satan sought to destroy the infant Jesus, and, at last, under the same regime, crucified the Man, locked Him in a rock tomb, and sealed the sepulcher with the Roman seal. Righteousness could not remain entombed. God’s power broke the seal, in that vital conflict the Prince of Light conquered

even in death, and the dragon was cast down. Then came that joyful song in heaven:

“Now is come the salvation, and the power, And the kingdom of our God, And the authority of His Christ; For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, Who accuseth them before our God day and night. And they overcame him Because of the blood of the Lamb, And because of the word of their testimony; And they loved not their life even unto death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, And ye that dwell in them. Wo for the earth and for the sea; Because the devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath, Knowing that he hath but a short time.” Rev. 12: 10-12.

From that time on—from the time that the Prince of Life conquered—Satan's wrath has been thrown against the church of God. There have been times when God has stayed his hand, but he is still working and will again be a persecutor in the remnant church. Rev. 12: 17.

The twelfth chapter presents in wonderfully graphic epitome the great controversy between Christ and Satan, between the great spiritual powers of good and evil. The symbol of the woman and her children, representing the church on the one hand, and the heads and horns, representing earthly powers on the other hand, are the visible human forces in this mighty, fierce, and vital conflict.

One of these great visible agencies we will consider under the symbol of the beast of Revelation 13, in our next article.