Bible Readings — Bible Questions Answered

Making an Image to the Beast

Another Beast Appears

When was the papal head of the first beast of Revelation 13 wounded? BR-ASI9 192.9

In 1798, when the Papacy was temporarily overthrown by the French, under General Berthier. (See preceding reading.) BR-ASI9 192.10

What did the prophet see coming up at this time? BR-ASI9 193.1

“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” Revelation 13:11. BR-ASI9 193.2

Note.—John Wesley, in his note on Revelation 13:11, written in 1754, says of the two-horned beast: “He is not yet come: tho’ he cannot be far off. For he is to appear at the End of the forty-two Months of the first Beast.”—Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament (1791 ed.), vol. 3, p. 299. BR-ASI9 193.3

The previous beast came up out of the “sea,” which indicates its rise among the peoples and nations of the world then in existence (Revelation 17:15); whereas this latter power comes up out of the “earth,” where there had not before been “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” In 1798, when the papal power received its deadly wound, the United States, located in the western continent, was the only great world power then coming into prominence in territory not previously occupied by peoples, multitudes, and nations. Only nine years preceding this (in 1789), the United States adopted its national Constitution. It is within the territory of the United States, therefore, that we may look for a fulfillment of this prophecy. BR-ASI9 193.4

The eminent American preacher De Witt Talmage based a sermon, “America for God,” on the text of Revelation 13:11, interpreting the beast with two horns like a lamb as referring to the United States. See his 500 Selected Sermons, vol. 2 (1900), p. 9. BR-ASI9 193.5

What is the character of this new power? BR-ASI9 193.6

“He had two horns like a lamb.” Revelation 13:11. BR-ASI9 193.7

Note.—How fittingly is the United States characterized in these words! The nations of the past, pictured in the Bible as beasts of prey, were filled with intolerance, persecution, and oppression. In sharp contrast, the United States was founded on the principles of liberty, equality, and tolerance. The men who had fled the tribulations of the Old World were determined that those trials should not be repeated in the New. BR-ASI9 193.8

The principles of civil and religious liberty which have made the United States great were incorporated into the fundamental law of the nation at its very founding. BR-ASI9 193.9

For these principles men have fought and died. For them statesmen have valiantly contended throughout the nation’s history. For these liberties, millions today are ready to sacrifice even life itself. BR-ASI9 193.10