The Biblical Institute
09 REVELATION XII. AND XIII
THE last part of Revelation 13 brings to view the very agents against which warning is uttered in the third angel’s message. A beast with two horns like a lamb makes an image to a preceding beast, and enforces the worship and mark of that beast. This antecedent beast is described in Revelation 13:1-10. But this beast receives his seat and power and great authority from a symbol still preceding him - a great red dragon, described in Revelation 12:3, 4. With this chapter the vision opens. John beholds a woman (the gospel church), clothed with the sun (entering the light of the gospel dispensation),the moon (the typical dispensation) under her feet (just past), and upon her head a crown of 12 stars (the 12 apostles). To the expectant church appears a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and who was caught up to God and to his throne. This can be none other than Christ. The dragon endeavored to devour this child as soon as he was born. This Rome tried to do when Christ was born. The dragon therefore is here a symbol of Pagan Rome. TBI 96.1
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON LESSON NINE
1. What is brought to view in the last part of Revelation 13?
2. What does the beast with two horns do?
3. Where is this antecedent beast described?
4. From what does this beast receive his seat and great power?
5. Where is this dragon described?
6. With what does this line of prophecy begin?
7. What does the woman represent?
8. What is meant by her being clothed with the sun?
9. By having the moon under her feet?
10. By having upon her head a crown of twelve stars?
11. Who was the man child which then appeared?
12. What did the dragon endeavor to do to this man child?
13. What government endeavored to do this?
14. Of what then is the dragon here a symbol?
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The dragon gave his seat, power and great authority to some other power represented by the following beast like a leopard. Revelation 13:1-10. To what was the dragon’s seat, ancient Rome, given up? Answer. To the papacy. The seat of empire was moved to Constantinople, and the bishop of Rome soon ascended in the city of Rome, a higher throne than her pagan emperors had ever occupied. Great power was given to him; or, in other words, supremacy was conferred upon him, by the decree of Justinian, emperor of the East, carried out in 538. The parallel between this beast, Revelation 13:5-10, and the little horn of the fourth beast of Daniel 7:21, 25, 27, conclusively shows that it represents the papacy. This being so the time of his captivity, verse 10, was at the end of the 1260 years in 1798. TBI 97.1
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON LESSON NINE
15. What did the dragon do with the place he had occupied as his seat?
16. To what power was Rome, the dragon’s seat, given?
17. What took place in Rome, shortly after the seat of empire was moved to Constantinople?
18. How, when, and by whom, was great power given to the Roman bishop?
19. What is shown by the parallel between this beast and the little horn of the 4th beast of Daniel 7?
20. When was the time of his captivity?
21. What is introduced at this point of time?
22. Why was not this any part of the papal beast?
23. Why not some kingdom in Western Europe?
24. Why not some kingdom in Eastern Europe, Western Asia, or Northern Africa?
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1. At this time another power is introduced upon the scene. “I beheld another beast.” This was therefore no part of the papal beast. It was no Kingdom or nation in Western Europe; for had it been, it would have been one, or some part of one, of the ten horns of the first beast. It was no Kingdom of Eastern Europe, Western Asia, or Northern Africa; for these had all been appropriated to the symbols introduced in the 2nd, 7th and 8th of Daniel. And John does not say, I saw the lion, bear, leopard, the fourth beast, or any of his ten horns, coming up, but “another” beast. We are obliged to look to the western hemisphere for the territory of this power. And we must look to the leading power which has arisen here, which is our own government. TBI 97.2
2. The chronology is equally decisive in fixing the application to our own country. This power was seen coming up when the previous one went into captivity; which was in 1798. If we look the earth all over what new power do we find coming up in a manner to attract the attention of the world, at that time? None but our own government. TBI 98.1
3. It comes up out of the earth, in contrast with the sea out of which the preceding beast arose; that is, it arose in territory previously unknown and unoccupied by the peoples, nations and tongues of civilization. This is true of our own government, but of no other one equally prominent. TBI 98.2
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON LESSON NINE
25. To what part of the world are we therefore obliged to look for this power?
26. To what government?
27. What can be said of the chronology of this symbol?
28. When was this power seen coming up?
29. What new nation was then arising to the notice of the world?
30. With what is its coming up out of the earth contrasted, and what does this signify?
31. Of what government is this true?
32. Have the United States “come up” in a manner to meet the prophecy?
33. What was its population in 1775, and what is it now?
34. What was its territory in 1783, and what is it now?
35. What is its present gold-producing capacity?
36. How many miles of railroad has it?
37. How many cotton factories?
38. How many daily newspapers?
39. How many weeklies?
40. How many monthlies?
41. In the 50 years between 1817 and 1867 what was the territorial growth of this country?
42. How much more was this than that of any other nation during this time?
43. How much more than that of all other nations put together during the same time?
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4. John saw this two-horned beast coming up in 1798. Our own nation was just then “coming up,” and has continued to come up since that time, in a manner that finds no parallel in the history of any nation on the earth. Look at a few items of its progress in a hundred years. The population in 1775, was 2,803,000; now, over 40,000,000. Territory in 1783, at the time our independence was acknowledged, 815,615 square miles; now, 3,578,392 square miles. Agricultural interests 100 years ago were small and in the hands of uneducated men. First patent for cast iron plow in 1797. About 400 patents on this implement alone have since been granted. Then the seed was sown and crops harvested by hand. Drills, seed-sowers, cultivators, reapers, mowers and threshing machines, are inventions all within the memory of living men. Present product (1876), corn, 900,000,000 bushels; wheat, 270,000,000; rye, 22,000,000; oats, 300,000,000; potatoes, 165,000,000; hay, 28,000,000 tons; sugar, 120,000,000 lbs. Cotton crop in 1792, value, $30,000; now, $180,000,000. Fruit, then unknown; now valued at $40,000,000. Horned cattle, number, 30,000,000; horses, 10,000,000; sheep, 30,000,000; swine, 26,000,000. In 1848 gold was discovered in California. The product to this time is over $800,000,000, with a present capacity of $70,000,000 a year. Railroads 65,000 miles, enough to reach twice and a half around the globe. More than 1,000 cotton factories, 580 daily newspapers, 4,300 weeklies, and 625 monthly publications. Between the years 1817 and 1867 the growth of the territorial domain of this country was 1,968,008 square miles. This is over 1,400,000 square miles of territory more than was added by any other one nation during this time, and more than 800,000 square miles more than were added by all the other nations of the earth put together. Mitchel speaks of it as “the most striking instance of national growth to be found in the history of mankind.” Emile de Girardin calls it “unparalleled progress.” The Dublin Nation speaks of it as a most “wonderful American empire emerging.” Can any one doubt what nation has been “coming up” during this time? And the one that has been coming up must be the one symbolized by the two-horned beast of Revelation 13. TBI 98.3
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON LESSON NINE
44. How does Mitchel speak of this?
45. Emile de Girardin?
46. The Dublin Nation?
47. By what must the nation that has thus been coming up be symbolized?
48. In what manner has this been accomplished?
49. What does the word translated “coming up” mean?
50. What is the testimony of the Dublin Nation on this point?
51. How does Mr. G.A. Townsend speak of it.
52. What terms does Edward Everett use?
53. How do these expressions compare with the prophecy?
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5. And all this has been accomplished in a quiet and peaceful manner. The symbol arose out of the earth. This nation has not been established by the conquest and overthrow of other nations, as the nations of Europe have been, but simply by standing up in defense of its right against the mother country. The word translated “coming up” in Revelation 13:11, means to grow like a plant out of the earth. And respecting the rise of these United States, the Dublin Nation says: “No standing army was raised, no national debt sunk, no great exertion was made, but there they are.” G.A. Townsend, New World Compared with the Old, p.462, speaks of “the mystery of our coming forth from vacancy.” Again he says, p.635: “The history of the United States was separated by a beneficent providence far from this wild and cruel history of the rest of the continent, and like a silent seed we grew into empire.” Edward Everett spoke of the “peaceful conquest” through the banners of the cross have been borne over mighty regions. Mark how wonderfully this harmonizes with the language of the prophecy, which says this power was to come up like a plant out of the earth. TBI 100.1
6. This power had two horns like a lamb. This at once suggests two things: the youthfulness of the power, and an innocent or lamb-like profession embodied in two great principles. Just these features our own government exhibits, in the great principles of civil and religious liberty, which it guarantees to all its citizens. America is recognized as the youngest among the nations. The motto of the Egyptian exhibit at the Centennial was, “The oldest nation of the earth to the youngest sends greeting.” These two features, youth and a lamb-like exterior, are found in our own government but in no other. TBI 101.1
7. This beast has no crowns upon its horns, showing that it does not represent a kingly or monarchical form of government. Ours is the only notable government answering to this specification. TBI 101.2
8. It represents some government where the power is in the hands of the people; for when any acts are to be performed, it says to them that dwell on the earth that they should do it. Revelation 13:14. It is in other words, a republic; and this points unmistakably to our own government. TBI 101.3
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON LESSON NINE
54. What do the two horns of this symbol suggest?
55. What two great principles in this government answer to these?
56. What is shown by the fact that this beast has no crowns upon his horns?
57. Is our own government such a one?
58. What proves that the law making power is in the hands of the people?
59. What form of government must it therefore be?
60. Does this fix it to our own government?
61. What kind of a government is it shown to be in regard to its religion, and why?
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9. It is also a Protestant government, or at least a non-Catholic power; for it causes them which occupy its territory to worship the first beast, which denotes Catholicism. But if it was a Catholic country it would be the beast itself, and worshiping the beast would be worshiping itself. But the two-horned beast enforces the worship of a power distinct from itself; and that power being Catholicism, the beast itself symbolizes not a Catholic, but a Protestant country. TBI 101.4
10. He doeth great wonders, real miracles, makes fire come down from heaven and deceives them that dwell on the earth. In Revelation 19:20, the same works, wrought for the same purpose, are ascribed to the false prophet. The two-horned beast and the false prophet are therefore the same power. But Revelation 16:13, 14, shows that the agency by which the false prophet works his miracles is the spirits of devils that go forth for this purpose. A wonderful work, wrought by the spirits of devils, is therefore another feature of this power. And behold it has made its appearance in modern Spiritualism which has arisen in this country; and from this point has spread to all the nations of the earth. TBI 102.1
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON LESSON NINE
62. What remarkable acts does it perform?
63. To whom are the same works ascribed in Revelation 19:20?
64. What relation do the two-horned beast and false prophet therefore have to each other?
65. By what agency does the false prophet work the miracles? Reference.
66. What is therefore revealed to us as another feature of this two-horned beast?
67. In what has this made its appearance?
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Considering these facts, that the power represented by the two-horned beast must be located in this hemisphere, and be just coming into notoriety about the year 1798, and be a lamb-like power, republican in form of government and Protestant in religion, and the place where the wonder workings of Spiritualism should first spring forth, and one that should make such progress as has no parallel in the history of nations - can any one for a moment doubt that our government is the one represented? No reason can be given why any nation should be noticed in prophecy, which will not apply in a pre-eminent degree to our own nation. TBI 102.2
What remains to be fulfilled, is embodied principally in two propositions: This power is to cause an image to be made to the beast, and to enforce the reception of the mark of the beast. An image to the beast must be something resembling the beast. The beast, Catholicism, was a church clothed with civil power. An ecclesiastical organization clothed with civil power would bear some resemblance to it, or be an image of it. A State church in this land of multiplied sects, is probably an impossibility. How, then, can we have here such an image? There can be a union formed on such points as the different religious denominations hold in common. The principle of these are three: 1. The first day of the week as the Sabbath, adored from various standpoints and under different titles as the Lord’s Day, the Christian Sabbath, the American Sabbath, etc; 2. The Immortality of the Soul. 3. Water Baptism. The question of such a union among the churches, under the seductive title of a “Union in Christ” is now extensively agitated. Papers are published in the interest of the movement and earnest advocates are devoting to it their best powers. It finds a strong undercurrent of favor in all the churches. TBI 103.1
The movement in reference to the mark is equally advanced, and bears more openly upon its face its evident design. This will be apparent from a brief consideration of what the mark is, and the movement now on foot in reference to it. TBI 103.2
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON LESSON NINE
68. What remains to be fulfilled?
69. What must an image of the beast be?
70. What was the beast?
71. Can we look for a State church here?
72. In what way then can we have such an image?
73. Is the question of the union of the churches on common points of faith already agitated and urged?
74. What can be said of the movement in reference to the mark?
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What is the mark of the beast? It is not of course a literal mark. Prophecy would not couple together a symbolic beast, and a literal mark of that beast. Marks were sometimes used by generals and masters in ancient times to distinguish their followers and servants. The mark of the beast must be some institution of the beast which will distinguish its followers. But we show ourselves followers or servants of any power only by obeying its authority; and authority is always manifested through law. TBI 104.1
From what other company are the followers of the beast distinguished? From the followers of God; inasmuch as the warning which goes forth against the worship of the beast and the reception of his mark is designed to keep men loyal to the requirements of Heaven. “Here are they,” says the third message, “which keep the commandments of God.” But we can show ourselves followers of God only by keeping his law. Therefore the issue in reference to which the third message warns us is a conflict between the law of God and the law of this beast power, by our action toward which we are to show ourselves either the worshipers of the beast or the followers of God. TBI 104.2
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON LESSON NINE
75. Is the mark of the beast a literal mark?
76. How were marks sometimes used anciently?
77. What then must be the mark of the beast?
78. How is authority always manifested?
79. How is it shown that the mark distinguishes beast worshipers from the worshipers of God?
80. With what prophecies does this harmonize?
81. What does Daniel say of this power?
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This accords with the prophecies which reveal the leading characteristic of the Catholic power, in connection with which we must of course look for the mark of that power. Daniel, describing it under the symbol of the little horn of the fourth beast of his seventh chapter, says: “He shall think to change times and laws.” Daniel 7:25. The Septuagint, German and Danish translations read, “the law.” Here is meant unquestionably the law of God. Among the works of this power we shall therefore find this attempt to change the law of God. Paul states of him the same thing. He speaks of him in 2 Thessalonians 2, as the man of sin, son of perdition, etc.,and says that he would endeavor to exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped. How could he do this? He could do it in no other way but by promulgating a law which conflicts with the law of God. To do this independently of the law of God, would be to show himself professedly opposed to God, which this power is not to do; for Paul says that he would sit in the temple of God, and show himself that he is God, or set himself forth as God. He must therefore take hold of the law of God and change it, and demand obedience to the change, as if God was its author. And this is just what Daniel said he would think to do; that is, to change the law of God. TBI 104.3
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON LESSON NINE
82. What is the reading of the Septuagint, German and Danish translations?
83. What law is intended?
84. How does Paul speak of the same power?
85. What is the only way in which this power could exalt itself above God?
86. How does this answer to the words of Daniel?
87. What is therefore the mark of the beast?
88. What change has this power attempted to make in the law of God?
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The mark of the beast is therefore simply this change which he has attempted to make in the law of God. And what is this? We take testimony from its own mouth. See Catholic Catechisms. It is its change of the fourth commandment, wherein it has put the first day of the week in place of the seventh, which God has not ceased to enjoin. And this Catholic power has not contented itself with simply making this change, but it admits that God has never enjoined it and that the Scriptures do not sanction it; and further, it sets it forth as an evidence of its right to legislate in divine things. The following is a representative question on this point, found in the Catholic catechism called, Abridgment of Christian Doctrine.” TBI 105.1
“Ques. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days? TBI 106.1
“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 other feasts commanded by the same church.” TBI 106.2
“Ques. How prove you that? TBI 106.3
“Ans. Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts and command them under sin.” TBI 106.4
See also Andrews’ History of the Sabbath, and the following Catholic works: Treatise of Thirty Controversies, Cath. Catechism of Christian Religion, Catholic Christian Instructed, and Doctrinal Catechism. TBI 106.5
That the Catholic power is symbolized by the little horn of Daniel 7, is beyond question. The prophecy said that it should think to change the law of God; and it steps forth and acknowledges the act. What further evidence can be required? He who, therefore, with the light before him, and the issue pressed upon him between God and this wicked power, deliberately decides to keep the institution of the beast instead of the commandments of God, worships the beast and receives his mark. TBI 106.6
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON LESSON NINE
89. What questions and answers are found in the Abridgment of Christian Doctrine?
90. What works give testimony in proof of this position?
91. How then can a person worship the beast and receive his mark?
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We know the objection which will here immediately fly to the lips of an opponent. He will say, Then all Sunday-keepers, past or present, however eminent as servants of God, have had, or now have, the mark of the beast. And we as quickly answer, Not one. Why? Because they have not kept it, and are not keeping it, with the issue before them presented in the prophecy. They have supposed they were keeping the fourth commandment according to the will of God. But flashes of truth in these closing hours of time are to dispel all such darkness from every honest mind, and show this work in its true light. And this institution, although in itself the mark of the beast, does not become such in any individual case, till such individual adopts it under the pressure of human laws, well knowing it to be a human institution set forth in opposition to the law of God. TBI 106.7
Such is the issue against which the third message now warns us. And the message is not premature; for this issue is evidently soon to come. Already an Association including among its officers, State governors, senators, chief justices, presidents of colleges, and any number of doctors of divinity, has been formed to secure by legal enactments the observance of the first day of the week as the Sabbath. They call for a religious amendment to the constitution, of such a nature that “all Christian laws, institutions and usages shall be put upon an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the land.” TBI 107.1
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON LESSON NINE
92. What objection is urged at this point?
93. How is it answered?
94. What issue is soon to come?
95. What Association is already formed?
96. For what do they call?
97. When and where did this movement originate?
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This movement originated in Xenia, O., in Feb., 1863, in a convention composed of eleven different religious denominations. National conventions have been held in Allegheny, Pa., New York city, Pittsburg, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and other places. At the convention in Pittsburg, Feb.4,1874, there were 1,073 delegates present representing 18 States. TBI 107.2
TBI 108.1
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON LESSON NINE
98. On what ground will the Sunday law probably be enacted?
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With these acts in reference to the image and the mark, the career of this power closes. This is the last conflict into which the people of God are brought. They are next seen victorious on Mt. Zion with the lamb. And this two-horned beast, as the false prophet, in the company with the beast (Catholicism) before which he has wrought his miracles, goes as a living power into the lake of fire, at the great day. TBI 108.2
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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON LESSON NINE
99. Where are the people of God next seen?
100. What is the fate of this beast?
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CLASS QUESTIONS ON LESSON 1X WITH ANSWERS.
1. If the Romans crucified Christ, how can it be said that the Jews crucified him? TBI 109.1
Ans. The Romans reserved to themselves the power of inflicting capital punishment. The Jews could try and condemn, but the Romans must have the disposal of the sentence. The Jews showed what they would do by condemning Christ on the conflicting testimony of false witnesses, and clamoring vehemently for his crucifixion. The Romans showed their spirit by giving him up to death, at the same time acknowledging that they were sacrificing an innocent person; for Pilate admitted that there was no cause of death in him. The Jews clamored for his death, because his pure teaching, his unostentatious and holy life condemned their pride, hypocrisy and extortion. The Romans were perhaps the more ready for his death through fear, from a political standpoint, of his claims as King of the Jews. It is evident that great capital had been made out of this point against him; for even the ignorant and brutal soldiery as soon as he was delivered into their power, went through all the mock ceremonies of royalty. In almost all the representations of the crucifixion, will be seen the banner with the significant letters S.P.Q.R., Senatus Populusque Romanos, The Senate and People of Rome. This showed Rome’s presence, and its sanction of the crucifixion. The Jews might have prevented it; so might the Romans. But both joined in it, and so were both equally responsible, the one to condemn, the other to execute. TBI 109.2
2. Are our names written in the book of life at birth, or at conversion? TBI 110.1
Ans. Evidently at conversion; otherwise the names of all would at some time be there; but Revelation 17:8 speaks of some whose names are never found there. As this book is called “the Lamb’s book of life,” it seems more consistent to suppose that the names of those only are entered there who acquire some interest in the work of Christ as the Lamb of God, or the offering for the world; and that they are entered in the book when they thus make a profession of his name. TBI 110.2
3. Some who have heard and understood the Sabbath question, and kept the Sabbath for years, are now keeping Sunday. Have such received the mark of the beast? TBI 110.3
Ans. As already explained, the mark of the beast, in the light of the prophecy, can be received only when the issue comes between the claims of God’s law, and the institution of the beast, and a person deliberately chooses the latter knowing it to be in opposition to God’s requirements. That crisis has not yet come; and hence we do not say that any one now has the mark of the beast. That any one who has ever known the truth and kept the Sabbath, is now conscientiously keeping Sunday, we very much doubt. We venture to assert that it is a matter of policy merely. It does not seem possible to us that it could be otherwise. Still the strange workings of a mind that is enveloped in darkness, wholly deceived, is something we cannot comprehend nor explain. TBI 110.4
4. What is meant by receiving the mark in the forehead and in the hand? TBI 111.1
Ans. As the forehead represents the seat of the mind and judgment, receiving the mark there may be explained as giving the assent of the judgment to the institution of the beast and his requirements. Many no doubt will so far fall under the power of deception as to finally enthusiastically endorse the teaching of this anti-Christian power as the truth. The hand is the agent of outward action, and to receive the mark there may indicate compliance by some outward sign, as a matter of policy without compromising the judgement or the affections. The requirements of the truth are more strict. The Lord must have his mark or seal in the forehead and nowhere else. He must have the mind and heart; for nothing else is obedience such as he requires. The beast is not so particular; and if a person cannot sincerely endorse his work, and so receive the mark in the forehead, he will be satisfied if he will by yielding a formal compliance, receive it in the hand. TBI 111.2
5. Is a person’s destiny sealed when he has received the mark of the beast? TBI 111.3
Ans. Undoubtedly. When a person is so far gone either in deception, or a willingness to withstand the plain requirements of God, to save himself from persecution, that he will take such a step, he must be beyond recovery. And this is doubtless the turning point with him. The period of probation with the last generation in this country, runs to this issue and terminates. When the worshipers of the beast have received his mark, the servants of God are all sealed with God’s seal, Revelation 7:1-4;14:1, and then the plagues begin to fall, Revelation 16, beginning with the very ones, who, in worshiping the beast and receiving his mark, have committed the highest offense against Heaven. TBI 111.4
6. Would the Catholic, believing that his church has the right to command sacred days, have the mark of the beast, and the Protestant the mark of the image? TBI 112.1
Ans. TBI 112.2
The objection against this supposition is that we nowhere read that the image has any mark. All that seems to be done in reference to the image is to worship it. Two powers are involved in this conflict, God and this anti-Christian power symbolized by the beast. There are but two marks to distinguish their respective followers: the mark of the beast and the seal of God. On the one side are the beast, the two-horned beast, and the image; but one mark, the mark of the beast, is common to them all. TBI 112.3
7. Could those who are living outside of this government, and do not regard the first day of the week with any sacredness be said to have the mark? TBI 112.4
Ans. We think not. But the first plague which falls upon those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image, will take those in every country who worship the beast and receive his mark, and in this country such as receive the mark and worship the image. TBI 112.5
8. When are the beast and the false prophet cast into the lake of fire? at the beginning or the end of the thousand years? TBI 112.6
Ans. At the beginning. Revelation 19:20. The scene described in this chapter from the 11th verse is undoubtedly the second coming of Christ; and it is at this time that the beast and false prophet are taken and consigned to this doom. This is what Daniel describes, Daniel 7:11, when he says that the beast was destroyed and his body given to the burning flame; and Paul, when he says, 2 Thessalonians 2:8, that “that wicked,” the papacy, shall be consumed by the spirit of Christ’s mouth and destroyed by the brightness of his coming. The scene at the end of the thousand years, Revelation 20:10, 13-15, seems to be a repetition, on a larger scale, of that which occurred at the beginning. The devil, says John, “was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet” were cast, as we should read it according to the literal construction of the passage. They were cast there a thousand years before, at the coming of Christ. Thus the same term is used to describe what takes place at the beginning of the thousand years, and also at the close, the destruction of the wicked being largely due in both cases to the consuming glory of the presence and power of God; “for our God is a consuming fire” (to the wicked), Hebrews 12:29; accompanied more or less with the manifestation of literal fire, which at the end of the thousand years is so heightened and intensified that the elements melt with fervent heat, 2 Peter 3:10, and the heavens and the earth flee away from the presence of Him who sits upon the great white throne, resolved into their ultimate gases by the intensity of the last purifying fires. From the elements thus cleansed from the curse and sin, the new heavens and earth appear. 2 Peter 3:13. TBI 112.7
9. Job 14:12 says that man riseth not until the heavens be no more. Are we to understand by this that the heavens pass away at Christ’s second coming? TBI 113.1
Ans. The word used by the Septuagint in this passage does not convey the idea of cessation of existence, as in our English version, but that of breaking up and dashing together, like the onset of two armies in battle. The word is defined by Liddell and Scott, “to tear of break up, to dash to pieces.” “Passive and intransitive, to break or fall to pieces, to burst out, and crush together.” This agrees accurately with the commotion which New Testament writers declare will take place in the heavens when Christ appears. Matthew says, The powers of the heavens shall be shaken,” Matthew 24:29, and John declares that the heavens then depart as a scroll when it is rolled together. Revelation 6:14. What Job affirms is that the dead shall not awake out of their sleep till this breaking up of the heavens takes place; and other writers affirm that this takes place when Christ comes, which is the time for the resurrection of the dead. TBI 113.2