Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

Were we to leave the comparison of these two parables when we had studied merely the similarities we would feel justified in being emphatic that these two parables are the one and the same. But it is when we look for further details, wherein the differences appear, that we know immediately that our earlier conclusion was based upon outward resemblances. The same way, a close analysis of the beast of Rev. 11 and the beast of Rev. 17 reveals that they represent two inherent powers both however coming out of the bottomless pit. 

In chapter 7 we have presented 7 positively identical characteristics of the beast of Rev. 13 and the beast of Rev. 17. Those identification marks are such as to make it impossible to come to any other conclusion that the Lord desires His people to see these resemblances and to know that the same power is thus represented. The outstanding addition in Rev. 17 to the picture presented in Rev. 13 is that of the woman sitting upon the beast. However, instead of this woman detracting from the fact that the same beast is referred to, her presence on that beast serves to emphasize the conclusion that the two beasts are the same, but  the Lord has seen it necessary to make a distinction between Church and State, which are combined in the beast of Rev. 13. We will leave further consideration of this fact until later when we deal with the woman more specifically. 

The beasts pictured in Rev. 12, Rev. 13 and Rev. 17 have characteristics so similar that it would seem impossible to misunderstand that in the Revelator's prophetic picture gallery these 3 beasts are designed to illustrate the continuity of Satan's efforts down the ages working through various governments to oppose the work of Christ upon earth. On these three beasts(are) the same 7 heads and 10 horns. In Rev. 12:3 the crowns are upon the heads the horns having no crowns; in Rev. 13:1 the crowns are upon the horns, and in Rev. 17:3 the beast has no crowns upon either heads or horns. The variation on the crowns is due apparently to the emphasis placed upon the time element introduced in the prophecies. The crowns being upon the heads of the dragon thus emphasize the fact that that beast represents the governments which Satan has employed against the Lord's 

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people down through the ages. In this chapter we are taken back to the war in heaven between Christ and Satan, and step by step we are brought down from that time through Satan's persecution of the church during the days of Papal supremacy until his final conflict with the remnant church. It will be observed that it is the same dragon that persecutes down through all the ages. It is the dragon that fought against Jesus in glory (vs. 7-9). It is the same dragon that sought to slay Christ when He was born into this world (v. 4). It is the same dragon that persecutes the church during the days of Papal supremacy (vs. 6, 13-16). It is the same dragon that persecutes the remnant church (v. 17). Irrespective of the government that existed at the various times when Satan's fury was particularly manifested, it was the same Dragon. Thus the crowns upon the heads indicated that the emphasis was upon the various governments down the ages that have lent their power to further the purposes of Satan in persecuting the church. 

In Rev. 13 the crowns are upon the horns because that prophecy, focuses upon the time of Papal supremacy in the dark ages when the nations of Europe obeyed the behest  of the beast and made war upon the saints (Rev. 13:5). However, this prophecy, after pointing us to the wounding of the Papacy at the ending of the 1260 years (vs. 3, 10, etc.), then presents a picture of how the final conflict will be precipitated through the work and influence of the lamblike beast–vs. 11-17. Protestant countries will forsake their principles of religious liberty, being deceived concerning the mark of the beast. In Rev. 17 no crowns are upon the heads or the horns because the emphasis is upon the final conflict and in that chapter the kings are said not to have received their power as kings to join with the beast in persecuting the people of God until a certain time, when, however, they would "receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast" (vs. 12, 13). To distinguish between the persecution of the saints during the 1260 days of Papal supremacy pictured in Rev. 13 and the final conflict over the mark of the beast specifically brought to view in Rev. the crowns which appear upon the horns in Rev. 13, are not brought to view in the vision of Rev. 17. 

It will help to simplify the significance of the three beasts of Rev. 12, Rev. 13, and Rev. 17, if it is remembered that the beast of Rev. 12 with the crowns upon the heads of the dragon represents the governments of earth down through all the ages that have been employed by Satan to persecute God's  people including the governments of earth in the last days; this is the interpretation given in the Spirit of prophecy (see TM. 39) This is the significance of the dragon being mentioned in Rev. 16:13 Then the beasts of Rev.  13 and Rev. 17 are designed to enlarge 

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upon the two period of time when professing Christian powers would employ the power of the States to persecute the saints, namely, in the Dark Ages, and in the closing scenes of earth's history. Two specific times of persecution are brought to view during the long life of the dragon of Rev. 12: (1) during the 1260 years (vs. 6, 14, 15), and (2) in the final conflict with the remnant church (v. 17). In between v. 15, where the dragon puts forth his greatest effort to destroy God's people, and v. 17, is the pronouncement that "the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth" (v. 16). In between these verses takes place the rise of the United States and the spread of Protestant principles of religious and civil liberty. 

Then by the fact that the dragon (the same dragon of governmental persecution) again makes war upon the saints in the persons of the remnant we know that this dragon does not represent any particular Government but rather the governments down the ages who have been employed by  Satan and those church people he uses at any time to force God's people into his ranks. In between the persecutions of the Dark Ages pictured in vs. 13-15 and the final conflict mentioned in v. 17, the earth helps the woman by giving her a period of comparative calm before the scene changes and she is afflicted again by the dragon. It is to enlarge upon these persecutions of (1) the Dark Ages that Rev. 13 was given with the crowns upon the horns signifying the nations assisting the Papacy in her persecution during the 1260 years of her supremacy, and (2) the final conflict over the Sabbath, that Rev. 17 was specifically given. The period of comparative calm brought to view briefly in Rev. 12:16 between the two persecutions is enlarged upon in Rev. 13 with the rise of the Lamb-like beast that brings about the spread of democratic principles among the governments of the earth, and the temporary peace afforded to the church, which is intimated in Rev. 12:16, is also again referred to in Rev. 17 where the persecuting beast is said to be in a state of inactivity, seemingly dead and buried. Thus we see that Rev. 13 and Rev. 17 are but enlargements of the two periods of persecution brought to view in Rev. 12; the former the persecution in the Dark Ages, the latter in the final conflict over the Sabbath. 

The dragon represents the persecuting Governments, the beast and the false prophets are resenting Papal and protestant divisions of professing Christians. These three make up the three parts of Babylon mentioned in Rev. 16:13, 19. These are the three always spoken of by the servant of the Lord when writing concerning the final conflict. 

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The beast of Rev. 17 is definitely linked all the way through with the beast of Rev. 12 and particularly the beast of Rev. 13, and not with the beast of Rev. 11. The beast of Rev. 11 represents the forces of atheism. It comes into the prophetic picture at about the time of the termination of the 1260 years of Papal persecution, see vs. 2, 3. In these verses the Lord has outlined the persecution of the saints during this period of Papal supremacy; a period which the Lord had declared would "be shortened" "for the elect's sake" (see Matt. 24:21, 22)) would the Lord shorten "those days"? By causing the earth to help the woman. People of this world, men who make no profession of religion and even oppose religion– "anti-clericals"–atheists, would rise to oppose Papal power. Thus by the Lord's mysterious providences He would cause two opposing elements to be at war with each other so that His church would find a period of comparative peace. In Dan. 11:40 the Lord had stated that the king of the south", Egypt, would wound the king of the north, Babylon. It was by the wounding of the king of the north, that the Lord brought about the cessation of persecution. 

That is the significance of the wounding of the king of the north by the king of the south in Dan. 11 (compare Dan. 11:40 and Dan. 12:7, etc.); the same significance is shown in the way the period of Papal persecution is mentioned in Rev. 11:2, 3 and the rise of a power to oppose the Papacy toward the close of her period of supremacy. 

That the same power is referred to in both Dan. 11:40 and in Rev. 11:7, 8 may also be seen in the fact that in Rev. 11 reference is made to "the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt". Thus the king of the south, or Egypt, that wounded the king of the north Babylon in Dan. 11 is again brought to view in this prophecy as also wounding the Papacy at the time its period of 1260 years of supremacy draws to its close. The inspired comments of the servant of the Lord are worthy of our special attention in this regard: "This is atheism; and the nation represented by Egypt would give voice to a similar denial of the claims of the living God and would manifest a like spirit of unbelief and defiance.... According to the words of the prophet, then, a little before the year 1798 some power of Satanic origin and character would rise to make war upon the Bible. This Prophecy has received a most exact and striking fulfillment in the history of France. During the Revolution of 1793 .. . " (GC 269) 

This power represented the forces of "atheism" which is a “power of Satanic origin and character". Because of this, it is represented as coming out of "the bottomless pit". For the' same reason that the Babylonian system is of "Satanic origin and 

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character" it is also represented as coming out of "the bottomless pit". Both atheism, and false religion masquerading as the true religion and employing the power of the State to persecute God's people, are of Satanic origin. False religion helps Satan turn many from Christianity to atheism. They are two channels through which Satan works. The Lord's servant says: "In many of the nations of Europe the powers that ruled in Church and State had for centuries been controlled Satan, through the medium of the Papacy. But here is  brought to view a new manifestation of Satanic power" (GC. 268). 

No, the beast from "the bottomless pit" mentioned in Rev. 11 is not the same as the beast from "the bottomless pit" mentioned in Rev. 17. Both are of Satanic origin–that is why they are both pictured as coming out of "the bottomless pit". Communism is largely an outgrowth of a revolt against the oppressions and tyranny of false religious teachings and practices. In countries today where Communism is strong people have witnessed false religion vaunting its power above the interests of the people until men have revolted against what they have been taught was Christianity. Both the false religious beliefs and system of Papalism and atheistic Communism are of Satanic origin–they both rise out of the bottomless it. This is the only similarity between the two beasts: that of Rev. 11 and that of Rev. 17. Apart from depicting the fact that they are of the same evil source, namely, Satan, these two beasts, represent forces that are today striving for world supremacy; a contest which such prophecies as Dan. 11:40-45; Rev. 13, an 17 plainly declare will at first be won by the Papal beast as it leads the whole world against the people of God. But at the very end, the very last few days of earthly history, the forces of anti-clericalism will rise to destroy the false leaders of religion. 

One of the outstanding objections to the interpretation that the beast from the bottomless pit refers to a recrudescence of the papal hierarchy, is the fact that this beast hates Babylon and burns her with fire (Rev. 17:16). It is thought that this creates an irreconcilable contradiction, for, it is said, how could a recrudescent papacy hate itself and burn itself with fire? That argument would be unanswerable if the prophecy did not depict a woman sitting upon the beast, thus separating the secular from the ecclesiastical. While the beast of Rev. 13 combines Church and State in thus symbolizing the Papacy, yet in order to point out how the States (which at one time had given their power and strength unto the woman to persecute the saints) which had ceased to assist the woman will be influenced to again do her bidding, Rev. 17 depicts the Church by the woman and the States by the beast upon which she sits. Thus the argument would need 

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to be applied to the woman hating and burning herself–which of course the prophecy does not say. The prophecy does not say that the beast, upon emerging from the bottomless pit, discovered the woman sitting upon him and immediately in his hate for her burned her with fire. The woman had sat upon that beast before, and the beast does not prevent her from mounting him again. The prophecy and its context indicate, as we have shown, that it is while the beast is satisfied to carry the woman; while the woman, the beast and the kings are getting along famously together, that something occur that causes the beast and the kings to hate the woman and to then 'burn her with fire’. That something is, as we have shown, the intervention of God on behalf of His people, which is intimated in Rev. 17:14, and which causes the drying up of the waters of the Euphrates mentioned in the next verse (15). The beast and the kings see the Babylonian whore in all her hideousness, and then, and not until then, they hate her and burn her. 

Then the beast from the bottomless pit in Rev. 17 becomes the same as the beast of Rev. 11. The people and powers represented by this beast turn loathingly upon the ecclesiastical frauds who have so basely used their powers for selfish gains. The beast of Rev. 11 represented the anti-clerical forces which then caused "the tenth part of the city [of Babylon]" to fall (Rev. 11:13). The same cause and effect will also occur in the last days. When the secular powers and the common people see the Babylonian whore, representing specifically the religious leaders, in her true colours, they will turn loathingly upon those spiritual frauds–thus the beast and the kings will hate the whore and burn her with fire.  

The beast that arises from the bottomless pit in Rev. 11 has no previous existence so far as being symbolized in the prophecy itself: it emerges there-from hating the religious deceivers and doing violence to them. But the beast of Rev. 17, has had a previous existence; it has previously obliged the woman by permitting her to ride and guide him. When the papacy lost its power to use the State as a tool with which to make war upon the saints, the States still continued to live, but in a powerless condition so far as persecuting the saints was concerned–and it is this aspect that is thus presented in the prophecy. The beast of Rev. 17 represent the States who have been influenced by the woman to reassert their powers of persecution upon the saints until the Lamb makes war upon them and causes the united condition of the forces of Babylon to be brought into a state of disunity by the drying up of the waters of the Euphrates. Then, and not until then, is there any similarity between the beast from the bottomless pit mentioned in Rev. 11 and the beast mentioned 

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in Rev. 17 as also coming from the abyss. But there can be no question that what the beast of Rev. 11 did–attacking the ecclesiastical leaders and causing "the tenth part of the city [of Babylon]" to fall– illustrates what will occur at the time of the 6th and 7th plagues when the time comes for God to expose the false spiritual leaders. Then the secular beast that had been previously willing to do the bidding of the Babylonian whore, becomes enraged at being deceived by her and, hating her and burning her with fire, causes the whole of the city of Babylon to fall.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN 

THE TWO BEASTS FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT:

IS  
"THE BEAST THAT ASCENDETH OUT OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT" OF REVELATION 11:7  THE SAME AS "THE BEAST THAT ... SHALL ASCEND OUT OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT" MENTIONED IN REVELATION 17:8? BECAUSE THE FORMER SYMBOLIZES THE RISE OF ORGANIZED ATHEISM

MUST THE LATTER REFER ALSO TO ORGANIZED ATHEISM? 

The thought has been expressed that because the beast of Rev. 11 and also the beast of Rev. 17 both come out of the bottomless pit that they must refer to the same power. However, it is unsatisfactory to base hasty conclusions upon one similarity that can be accounted for on other grounds–especially should such conclusions not be drawn from one similarity when there are a number of similar characteristics of the beast in Rev. 17 with the beast of Rev. 13, It is not the similarities alone which must be considered, for should there be dissimilarities, they will reveal definitely that the two symbols could not refer to the same thing. To illustrate this fact we will present, briefly, the salient features of two of the Lord's parables. First we will present the Similarities: 

Because of this number of similarities, some have concluded that they pertain to the same parable any slight difference being merely the way it was recorded by Matthew and Luke. However, the dissimilarities quickly reveal that these parables are not the same. Observe now the Dissimilarities: 

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