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Advent Lessons

Lesson 7 · February 15, 1896

The Beast.—What It Is

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Review Questions.—(a) What is the origin of the term Babylon? (b) What did it mean to the worldly wise? (c) By what means did the church become Babylon? (d) To what, then, did she seek for succor? (e) What did this act constitute? .

  1. 1.What relation does the third angel of bear to the angel of ?

Notes

Ans.—He "followed them," or went with them. That the word "follow" means to go with, see ; , and many others. The first message leads out, the others follow with, as the disciples followed Jesus. The first message is positive; the second and third, negative. Every positive truth is embraced in the first message.

  1. 2.Against what does the third angel warn us? .
  2. 3.What fearful penalty shows the importance of heeding this warning? .
  3. 4.Where is the beast, against which we are warned, brought to view? .
  4. 5.What prophetic symbol is parallel to this?

Notes

Ans.—The little horn of . They arise in the same territory, do the same work, possess the same character, and continue the same length of time. They are, therefore, identical.

  1. 6.What four kingdoms are symbolized in Daniel previous to the rise of the little horn? . See note 1.
  2. 7.How were these symbols represented in the beast of ? .
  3. 8.What eleven distinct specifications are given in the prophecy concerning the little horn?

Notes

Ans.—(1) It was to arise in a ten-divisioned kingdom. Verse 8.

(2) It was to be different in nature and character from the others. Verse 24.

(3) It would cause the overthrow of three kings. Verses 8, 20, 24.

(4) It would possess great shrewdness and foresight (eyes like those of man). .

(5) It would be strong and vigorous (stout). .

(6) It would be a blaspheming, assuming power. Verses 8, 11, 20, 25.

(7) It would be a persecuting power. Verses 21, 25.

(8) It would presume to change God's law. Verse 25, R. V.

(9) It would be a persecuting power for three and one-half prophetic years, or 1,260 literal years. Verse 25.

(10) It would then lose its persecuting power, and, shortly after, its own dominion. Verses 25, 26.

(11) Its power to persecute would be restored, for it would make war on the saints till the end. Verses 21, 22.

  1. 9.How many of these specifications do we find in connection with the beast of ? Ans. Specification 1 (ten horns), 6 (blasphemous), 7 (persecuting), 8 (causing false worship through a changed law), 9 (42 months), 10 (deadly wound), 11 (deadly wound healed).
  2. 10.In what power or system alone are all these specifications met? Ans. In that system known as the Papacy. See note 2.
  3. 11.What is represented by all these beast kingdoms? Ans. Church and state governments, or persecuting powers.
  4. 12.What constitutes a persecuting power?

Notes

Ans.—There must in some way be a union of church and state, or of religion with the state. A religious organization apart from civil power cannot persecute; and a civil power apart from religion will not persecute. The union of the two in active operation always results in injustice and oppression.

  1. 13.When did the Papacy secure the power to persecute? Ans. A. D. 538, when the last kingdom which opposed Rome's assumptions, was plucked up, and the bishop of Rome was made, by decree of Justinian, head of all the churches and true and only corrector of heretics. By this twofold means was it established. The emperor had decreed it in A. D. 533 (see "Croly on the Apocalypse," pp. 167-171); and when the last of the three opposers, the Ostrogoths, was overthrown, the Papacy began its career as a persecuting power.
  2. 14.Beginning in A. D. 538, when would the 1,260 days, or years, end? Ans. In 1798.
  3. 15.What event marked their close? Ans. Under General Berthier, an officer acting under the French directory, the Papacy was abolished in 1798, Rome was proclaimed a republic, and Pope Pius VI. was taken captive, dying at Valence, France, August 29, 1799.
  4. 16.What scripture was thus fulfilled? (first part), 10.
  5. 17.Did this act of France affect the ecclesiastical or religious organization of the Papacy? Ans. No; it removed the head for a while; but soon after the death of Pius VI., the cardinals met and elected, March 14, 1800, Barnabas Chiaromonti to the papal see, and, under the name of Pius VII., "within a few months of his election, he entered his capital as a sovereign prince." See "Murdock's Mosheim," sketch of nineteenth century, par. 1. But papal rule over other countries was broken. The blow took away his power to persecute. He was no longer acknowledged by the powers of Europe "head over all the churches and corrector of heretics."

Notes

1. The lion represents Babylon (); the bear, Babylon's successor, Medo-Persia (); the leopard, Grecia (), and the terrible nondescript beast, Rome, which succeeded Grecia (; ). The fourth beast had ten horns, indicating the ten divisions of the Roman Empire () between the years A. D. 351 and 476.

2. The papal power grew out of the working of the mystery of iniquity, the assumptions of the bishop of Rome particularly, and the union of the apostate church—Babylon—with the kings of earth. This work began in Constantine's time, but the Papacy as a distinct power was developed later. Note the fulfillment of the prophetic specifications. (1) It arose in Rome in her divided state, when just ten kingdoms existed. The last of the ten kingdoms arose in 476. (2) It was diverse in nature. The other powers were civil powers, but the Papacy was civil and religious combined, or an ecclesiastical power having civil authority. (3) Because of it three kingdoms were plucked up,—the Heruli, 493; Vandals, 534; and Ostrogoths, 538. (4) The nature of the ten kingdoms was that of a beast, blind to the future, represented by natural horns; but the "little horn" had not only eyes, but man's eyes in a beast's horn, showing great shrewdness and foresight. This has been preëminently true of the Papacy. It has plotted and planned for the centuries to come, while other nations have looked only to the present. (5) "More stout than his fellows." And this also is true of the Papacy. Other governments and kingdoms have fallen, but the Papacy remains. (6) And truly it has been a blasphemous power, assuming God's prerogatives, and perverting his word. (7) It has put to death millions of the people of God, those adjudged to be heretics. (8) "Think to change the times and the law." (R. V.) It has done this with respect to the fourth commandment, which will be considered more fully later. (9) "Time" is one year; "times," dual, two years; "half a time" (R. V.), half a year, or, as in Revelation 13:5, 42 months, at 30 days to the month, Bible reckoning, 1,260 days, or years (), beginning A. D. 538, and ending in 1798. (10) In 1798 it lost its power to persecute, and in 1870 its last vestige of territorial dominion, or civil authority, passed from under its control. All these have been fulfilled in the Papacy and in no other power. The last specification, the Lord declares, will be fulfilled, and the Papacy will be a persecutor to the end. See ; ; .

Bible texts in this lesson

Revelation 14:8 · Revelation 14:9 · Revelation 14:6 · Revelation 14:7 · Matthew 4:20 · Matthew 4:22 · Mark 2:14 · Revelation 14:10 · Revelation 14:11 · Revelation 13:1-10 · Daniel 7 · Daniel 7:1-7 · Revelation 13 · Revelation 13:2 · Revelation 14:20 · Revelation 13:3 · Jeremiah 4:7 · Jeremiah 4:13 · Daniel 8:20 · Daniel 8:21 · Deuteronomy 28:49-51 · Daniel 8:23-25 · Daniel 7:24 · Ezekiel 4:6 · Daniel 7:21 · Daniel 7:22 · 2 Thessalonians 2:8

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