Who Takes the Blame?
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. He exercises all the authority of the first beast [a]in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who live on it worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of the sky to the earth in the presence of people. 14 And he deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform [b]in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.” – Rev 13:11-15 NASB
An interesting feature of this part of Revelation is that beasts keep turning up, one after the other. The beast from the sea (Rev 13:1-10) looks a lot like the dragon of chapter 12. The beast from the earth, on the other hand, looks very different. But all three beasts have something in common, they all behave badly. It is a serious indictment on the human race. It seems that we learn very little from one generation to the next.
A beautiful, 13-year-old Austrian girl got on a train and farewelled her parents. 50 years later without explanation, she ended up in a hospital with high blood pressure. She had no history of blood pressure problems so the doctors kept an eye on her.
She told the chaplain that she was a Holocaust survivor. “My parents were killed in Auschwitz. I was only 13. They sent me away on a train to Holland. From there I was sent to England. I never saw them again. I’ve always felt guilty that I left them there to die.”
“You feel guilty?” the chaplain said.
“Yes, I still do,” she said. “I never knew for sure if my parents were dead or alive until three years ago when they found the hidden files in East Germany. I was on a tour in Berlin when the news came to me about the date they were killed.”
She went on. “I have lived through things that are now part of the history books. I don’t understand why we (humans) don’t learn. It doesn’t stop though; the genocides keep occurring. Look at Cambodia and Vietnam. Look what Saddam Hussein did to the Kurds.” The night before she had watched a program on it. The chaplain informed the medical staff as to the probable cause of the high blood pressure.
The Book of Revelation places the blame for human misery squarely on satan, aided by human evil, or just plain stupidity. Generation after generation we make the same mistakes, thinking we are solving our problems when the only solution is to be found in the Lamb that was slain.
The first half of Revelation 13 describes the church-state power active during the prophetic period of 1,260 days/years. Between Daniel, Thessalonians, and Revelation there are 81 ways of identifying this beast-power. With the events of the French Revolution, this religio-political system received a ‘deadly wound’. However, the mortal wound will eventually be healed, restoring this system to life. The second half of the chapter describes how the healing of the sea beast’s deadly wound actually will happen!
John observes the emergence of another beast. Unlike the first beast, the second beast arises out of the earth. This second beast is a world power, with influence of the same calibre as the first beast. However, in contrast to the sea beast, which had a terrifying appearance, the earth beast appears harmless, at least at first. It has “two horns like a lamb.” This lamb is a symbol of Christ. Thus, this end-time power appears to be Christlike.
This power arises in territory that protected the woman, a symbol of God’s true church, from the dragon’s persecuting flood at the conclusion of the 1,260 days/years (Rev. 12:14–16). This earth beast is obviously a new player on the scene, having arisen as a world power after the sea beast received the deadly wound during the events of the French Revolution, which means the earth beast is exclusively an end-time player.
What nation of the New World was in 1798 rising into power, giving promise of strength and greatness, and attracting the attention of the world? The application of the symbol admits of no question. One nation, and only one, meets the specifications of this prophecy; it points unmistakably to the United States of America.
Revelation 13:11 shows, however, that America, largely Protestant, will eventually start speaking like the dragon, like the devil himself, with a worldwide influence similar to the Roman Empire. This end-time ‘great’ power will be instrumental in making the whole world worship the first beast, which received the deadly wound. In other words, the United States, which at one time had provided protection and a haven for the church, at some point will play a persecuting role in last-day events. TBC