Notes On The Apocalypse by David Steele

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The origin of this beast is threefold,--"out of the sea," (v. 1,) "out
of the bottomless pit," (ch. xi. 7; xvii. 8,) and "out of the earth."
(Dan. vii. 17.) Out of the sea of the commotions arising from the
incursions of the northern barbarians, by whom the Roman empire was
dismembered. "The ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall
arise." (Dan. vii. 24.) This is the result of revolution,--"the sea."
The Roman empire, especially as nominally Christian, is thus
characterized as being "earthly, sensual, devilish," a suitable agent of
the dragon.

The fact of the ten horns of the beast, _now wearing crowns_, proves
that the time to which the prophecy refers, is that which followed the
division of the empire into ten kingdoms. The seven heads of the beast
have a double significance,--seven different forms of government, and
seven mountains, afterwards to be more fully explained, (ch. xvii. 9,
10.) The "name of blasphemy" may indicate "eternal city, mistress of the
world."--Of this characteristic of the beast, other examples will be
discovered hereafter.

Daniel was solicitous to "know the truth (interpretation) of the fourth
beast, which was diverse from all the others," (ch. vii. 19.) Although
"diverse from all the others" in geographical extent and destructive
power, this fourth beast combined in one all the ravenous propensities
of the three predecessors, but in _reverse order_. The "leopard, bear
and lion of Daniel," by which Grecian, Persian and Chaldean dynasties
were symbolized, are all comprised in John's beast of the sea,--the
antichristian Roman empire. Since this beast of the sea embodies all the
voracious properties of the three persecuting powers which went before
it; this may be a suitable place briefly to review the sufferings
inflicted by them upon the saints, that we may know what the witnesses
were taught to expect at the hands of this monstrous enemy.--"Israel is
a scattered sheep, the lions have driven him away: first, the king of
Assyria hath devoured him, and last, this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
hath broken his bones.--The violence done to me and to my flesh, be upon
Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood upon the
inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say." (Jer. 1. 17; li.
35.)--"Haman, the son Hammedatha, the Agagite, the Jews' enemy,--thought
scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone."--"If it please the king, let it
be written that they (the whole people) may be destroyed; and I will pay
ten thousand talents of silver,--to bring it into the king's
treasuries."--"Behold also the gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman
had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the
house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon." (Esth. iii. 1, 9;
vii. 9.) Such were the crimes and such the punishments of the enemies of
God's people in Babylon and Persia, as already matter of inspired
history: and had we equally full and authentic records of the
punishments as we have of the cruelties of Antiochus and other
successors of Alexander the Great, the king of Greece, we would see, as
in the other cases, "the just reward of the wicked." Of all these
idolatrous, tyrannical and persecuting powers, which the Divine Spirit
represented by beasts of prey, it was foretold that they were to be
removed in succession and with violence. This fourth beast, "dreadful
and terrible and strong exceedingly, was to devour and break in pieces,
and stamp the residue with the feet of it." (Dan. vii. 7.) Moreover,
while it is predicted of them that "they had their dominion taken away,"
it is also added,--"yet their lives were prolonged for a season and
time," (v. 12.) That is, though their distinct and successive
_dominions_ were severally swept from the earth, yet their _lives_,--the
diabolical principles by which they had been actuated survived; and
these passed, by a kind of transmigration, into the body of the fourth
beast. This transition of animating principles or imperial policy of
inveterate hostility to the kingdom of God, we think, is plainly
indicated by the three features of this beast of the sea, the "leopard,
bear and lion." If these three "slew their thousands," this monster has
"slain his ten thousands" of the saints; and the remnant of the woman's
seed are yet to be "slain as they were," (ch. vi. 11.)

"The dragon gave him his power,"--physical force, "his seat" or
_throne_,--his right to reign, "and great authority"--dominion--by the
voice of the people. Thus, it is obvious that the seven-headed,
ten-horned beast is the first, and the oldest, among the combined
enemies of the Christian church; all of whose origin is from the dragon,
the abyss or bottomless pit. The writers of the church of Rome, while
forced to acknowledge that this beast is emblematical of the Roman
empire, still insist that _pagan_ Rome is intended. It is sufficient in
opposition to this false interpretation to observe, that the beast
appears to John with crowns, not upon his _heads_, but upon his _horns_,
denoting the actual division of the empire into ten kingdoms: an event
which did not transpire till after the empire had become nominally
Christian under the reign of Constantine the Great. The reign of this
emperor and his successors, by their largesses fostered the luxurious
propensities of the Christian ministry, and so contributed to prepare
the way for the rise of the next enemy in this antichristian confederacy
against the witnesses.--The "head wounded unto death is the _sixth_.
John says expressly, elsewhere, "five are fallen, and one is, and the
other is not yet come," (ch. xvii. 10.) The "five fallen" were, kings,
consuls, dictators, decemvirs, and military tribunes. All these forms of
civil government had passed before the time of the apostle. The one
existing in his time, was the sixth head,--the emperors; by one of whom
the apostle was now subjected to banishment in the desert isle of
Patmos. This wound is supposed by some to be the change from paganism to
Christianity in the empire. No; this view is many ways erroneous: but it
is enough to remark that the Roman empire, according to both prophets,
Daniel and John, is to continue _bestial_ under all changes, during the
whole period of 1260 years. The deadly wound was inflicted by the
northern invaders who overturned the empire, and, for the time,
extinguished the very name of emperor in the person of Augustulus. After
the division of the western member of the empire had been subdivided
among the victorious leaders of the invaders from the north, and the
people of that section supposed the beast slain, the throne of
Constantinople continued to be occupied by the representative of the
empire. In the popular apprehension the imperial head of the beast
seemed to be utterly cut off by the sword of Odoacer,--"wounded by a
sword:" but the several kingdoms into which the empire was divided, in
process of time became united in the bonds of an apostate faith. The
imperial name and dignity were revived in the person of the emperor of
Germany, Charlemagne, in 800; and by the wars among the horns of the
beast, the title of emperor has been claimed alternately by Germany,
Austria and France, down to our own time. These dissensions and
rivalries among the sovereigns of Europe,--the mystic horns of the
beast, were foreshadowed in the Babylonish monarch's dream:--"the
kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken,--they shall not cleave
one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay," (Dan. ii. 42, 43.)
And doubtless these internal commotions among the common enemies of the
saints of God, have tended, in divine mercy, to divert their attention
occasionally from the witnesses. While they have been made the
instruments of mutual punishment, the Lord's people have been "hid in
the day of his fierce anger." (Zeph. ii. 3.)

At what time the sixth head of the beast disappeared and the seventh
became developed, is not clearly marked in the Apocalypse, and it is of
comparatively little importance, since the latter is to "continue a
short space" (ch. xvii. 10.) The _central fact_ is the continuance of
the beast a definite time under _all the heads_,--1260 years. Under all
the forms of government through which the empire passed, it continued
bestial and was the object of popular admiration. "All the world
wondered after the beast." The populace made court to, fawned upon,
followed in the train, or formed the retinue of the beast. We are to
limit the phrase,--"all the world," for not all the inhabitants are to
be understood, but such only as professed allegiance to the existing
imperial dominion; and among those within the beast's territorial
jurisdiction, the witnesses still stood to their protest against his
impious claims.--But from admiration and loyalty, the servile multitude
break forth into adoration, addressing the dragon and the beast in such
language as is proper to God only. (Ps. lxxxix. 6.) The shouts of the
rabble on Herod's birth-day may illustrate the conduct of these votaries
of the beast and dragon. (Acts xii. 22.) The poor ignorant and deluded
subject, in rendering homage to the beast, did homage to the devil, from
whom the power was derived. Such is the degradation to which man is
reduced by blind obedience to despotic power, whether civil or
ecclesiastical. He glories in the chains which bind him!--And this is
the actual and voluntary condition of the great majority of the
population of Christendom at the present hour. There has been, indeed,
within the current century, an effort by the masses of the people to
assert their natural and civil rights, to regain the exercise of the
elective franchise; but in selecting candidates to bear rule over them,
they generally prefer such as are, like the majority of
themselves,--"aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from
the covenants of promise." Hence, "vile men are exalted, the wicked bear
rule, and the people mourn." (Ps. xii. 8; Prov. xxix. 2.)--The
"blasphemies" uttered by this beast are all those _royal prerogatives_
claimed by the several crowned horns or civil sovereigns who have
established idolatry and superstition within their respective dominions.
The "blasphemous headship" over the church of Christ, as viewed and
designated by his persecuted disciples in the British empire, may tend
to illustrate this part of the beast's history. King Henry VIII. of
England, upon renouncing the civil and ecclesiastical headship of the
Pope, proceeded to usurp an ecclesiastical headship within his own
dominions; and all his royal successors till the present day have
asserted a similar dominion over the faith of the Lord's people. As an
"inherent right of the crown," the sovereign of Britain, male or female,
is declared to be "supreme judge in all causes, as well ecclesiastical
as civil!" The rest of the horns are no less blasphemous in their
haughty pretensions. History attests that the martyrs of Jesus denounced
these encroachments on the prerogatives of Christ, and the intrinsic
power of his church, as "Erastian supremacies,--blasphemous
supremacies." Most expositors tell us that the blasphemies are
chargeable to the Pope or to the Romish church. But this interpretation
confounds this beast of the sea with the apostate church of Rome; and
indeed this confounding of symbols and consequent mistaking of objects
in actual history, are the primary errors of expositors in nearly all
their attempts at expounding the Apocalypse. This first beast of John,
and fourth of Daniel, however, is _wholly secular or civil_; and clearly
distinguished by both inspired prophets, from the other agents of the
dragon, as we shall find in the subsequent part of this chapter. This
beast "blasphemes the name of God" by compelling men to worship idols
and images, enacting penal statutes and issuing bloody edicts to force
their consciences. He "blasphemes his tabernacle," when stigmatizing the
assemblies of God's worshipping people as "traitorous conspiracies,
rendevouses of rebellion"--"and them that dwell in heaven," he
blasphemes by calling them "incendiaries, fanatics, enthusiasts, rebels
and traitors;" for all these terms of reproach are well authenticated in
history, as heaped upon the faithful and heroic servants of Christ.
Those who suppose that the phrase "them that dwell in heaven," means
saints departed and angels as worshipped by papists in obedience to the
Romish church, make two mistakes,--the one, that _ecclesiastical_ power
is here intended, whereas we have already shown that the power is
_civil_; the other, that the word "heaven" is to be taken in a literal
sense, contrary to the symbolic structure of the whole context. All
history, so far as authentic, teaches that the civil powers throughout
Christendom, attempt to coerce by penal inflictions the consciences of
all who refuse obedience to their commands, no less than the church of
Rome. Even _constitutional guarantees of liberty_ of _conscience_ have
never secured the witnesses from the savage rage of the beast or any of
his infuriated horns. Witness the history of the bloody house of the
Stuarts of Britain. In vain did the victims of papal and prelatic
cruelty plead, in their just defence in the seventeenth century, the
constitution and laws of their native land! Those who have done violence
to the law of God, will always disregard human enactments which stand in
the way of their ambitious schemes. Their own laws will be treated as
ropes of sand, as Samson's withs, and the blood of saints as water. Such
is persecution.--The seventh verse, expressing the beast's victory over
the saints and the extent of his power, is explanatory of ch. xi. 7, 9;
and the time of his continuance, (v. 5,) is the same as the treading
under foot of the city; (ch. xi. 2:) so that we are assured of the
agreement in time between the events here and those of the first part of
the eleventh chapter. Also, the parties here presented are the same as
in the two preceding chapters, only they are exhibited in different
aspects by appropriate symbols.--The worshippers of the beast include
all under his dominion except those "whose names were written in the
book of life."--This book is different both from the sealed book, (ch.
5;) and also from the open book, (ch. 10.) It is the register, as it
were, of the names of all whom the Father gave to the Son, to be by him
brought to glory. (John xvii. 2; Heb. ii. 10; Rev. xx. 12, 15.) During
the whole reign of the beast, these are preserved, having been "sealed
unto the day of redemption." In the seventh chapter we had the angels
employed in holding the four winds of the earth, till these servants of
God were sealed in their foreheads, before the first alarm should be
given by the trumpets. The book of life contained their names from the
foundation,--before the foundation of the world. (Eph. i. 4.) They were
in time "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise," so that it was
impossible to deceive them, either by lying wonders or the serpent's
sophistry. (Eph. i. 13; Matt. xxiv. 24.)--The Lamb may be said to be
"slain from the foundation of the world" in the purpose of God, (2 Tim.
i. 9;) in sacrifice, (Gen. iv. 4;) in the ceremonial law and prophecy.
(Matt. xi. 13;) and in the efficacy of his satisfaction rendered to
divine justice, for which the Father gave him credit from the fall of
man. (Rom. iii. 25.)--So many erroneous views have been taken, and false
interpretations given of this chapter in particular, as of the
Apocalypse in general, that the Divine Spirit calls special attention
here to the rise, reign and ruin of the beast of the sea. The prophetic
description of this beast in an especial manner is of such importance to
instruct, and thereby sustain and comfort, the suffering disciples of
Christ, that he causes his servant John to pause, as it were, and allow
the reader to reflect. Indeed, wherever a note of attention is thus
given, we may be sure that something "hid from the wise and prudent" is
intended. Accordingly, it were endless to follow the vagaries of even
learned men dealing out their "private interpretations" of this chapter.
Yet the understanding of its general outlines was at the bottom of the
Reformation by Luther, his colleagues and successors. Elsewhere,
however, we may take occasion to notice how vague, and inadequate, and
bold, were some of their conceptions; all going to show the
seasonableness of the solemn admonition,--"If any man have an ear, let
him hear."--The beast is to be treated as he dealt with the victims of
his cruelty. He is justly doomed to captivity and death. "The beast was
taken and--cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone," (ch.
xix. 20.) "Tophet is ordained of old." It was used by the prophets as a
figure of hell. (Is. xxx. 33.) To this place, whence there is no
redemption, this monstrous beast was to be consigned, as predicted by
the prophet Daniel, (vii. 11,)--"The beast was slain, and his body
destroyed, and given to the burning flame."--In the protracted contest
of 1260 years with this imperial power, "the patience and the faith of
the saints" were exemplified. Faith and patience would be more severely
tried in this case than in any other; as the period of persecution was
to be of much longer continuance than any that had preceded since the
beginning of the world. (Heb. vi. 12.)

11. 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.

V. 11.--John "beheld another beast,"--therefore not the _same_, as many
expositors strangely suppose. No one can have an intelligent
understanding of this chapter unless he views the beast of the sea and
the beast of the earth as _perfectly distinct_. As the former arose out
of a revolutionary state of society, and was consequently more clearly
marked in history, so the latter grew "up out of the earth" more quietly
and gradually, like a spear of grass,--we "know not how." As this second
beast of the Apocalypse is to act a prominent part in the scenery
afterwards presented in vision to the apostle, and a correspondent part
in actual history, and as it is called by different names and appears
under different aspects, it is necessary that its character be closely
inspected, so that its identity may be clearly ascertained. The
description here given is very minute. One thing is very obvious,--that
this beast of the earth is the confederate, the ally, and the accomplice
of the beast of the sea. They act in concert. They had been thus
represented in vision to Daniel. In the seventh chapter of that prophecy
we have the beast of the sea, as here, with his "ten horns," (v. 7.)
While the prophet narrowly "considered the horns, behold, there came up
among them another little horn," (v. 8.) It has been already shown that
these horns represent the kingdoms into which the Roman empire was
divided, (v. 24.) Among these horns, kings, (v. 24,) or kingdoms,
"another shall rise after them,"--"among them," yet in the order of
time,--"after them." Thus it appears that Daniel's fourth beast had
_eleven_ horns; but the eleventh is called "another which came up," to
distinguish it from the ten, (v. 20.) "He shall be diverse from the
first," (v. 24.) It is thus evident that the last horn,--the eleventh,
is as really a horn of the beast, as the other ten; and of course this
horn,--"little" at its rise, but in time becoming "more stout than his
fellows," is the willing accomplice in crime of that beast whose horn it
is. "The same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against
them," (v. 21.)--"He had two horns like a lamb." He professed to be
gentle and innocent as a lamb,--to be the vicegerent of the "Lamb of
God." He claimed only a _spiritual_ jurisdiction. As it is natural that
a lamb should have only two horns, so the symbol is agreeable to nature.
But this lamb "spake as a dragon;" and that was contrary to nature. No
two animals in creation are in their respective natures more diverse or
opposite than a lamb and a beast of prey. These two antagonistic natures
combined, indicate the crafty and cruel policy of this beast of the
earth. Daniel mentions the "little horn" of the civil beast; but says
nothing of the "two-horned beast." On the other hand, John speaks
plainly of this beast of the earth, but omits any mention of the "little
horn." But the "beast of the earth" and the "little horn" sustain the
same relation to the first beast, the "beast of the sea"--the Roman
empire; therefore the "two-horned beast of the earth" and the "little
horn" are identical; and this identity is confirmed by the additional
name "false prophet," given to the beast of the earth in ch. xix, 20.
His alliance and co-operation with the civil beast is precisely the same
as in this chapter. He "wrought miracles before him," that is,--in his
interest. Some interpreters have mistaken this "false prophet" as a
symbol of Mahometanism. The facts of history demonstrate the fallacy of
this interpretation; for the delusions of Mahomet never had, and they
have not now, any affinity with the idolatries of the Latin Roman
empire. But these two beasts of the sea and of the earth are obviously
in the closest sympathy, having a common interest.

12. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and
causeth the earth and them which dwell therein, to worship the first
beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

V. 12.--The second beast "exerciseth all the power of the first beast
before him,"--in his presence, under his sanction and powerful
protection. Thus the state, or empire, lays the church under obligation,
and of course expects a reciprocity of kind offices. This is effected by
the beast of the earth "causing the earth--to worship the first beast."
By force and craft this is accomplished. By his "two horns" of power,
the _regular_ and _secular_ orders of the hierarchy, as from the mouth
of a "dragon," he enjoins "submission to the (civil) powers that be."
But besides the horns of power, that is, ecclesiastical authority, this
beast of the earth, in order more effectually to enforce his commands to
worship the first or civil beast, resorts to "great wonders,--miracles,"
(vs. 13,14,)--"lying wonders;" (2 Thess. ii. 9:) for Paul and John agree
in their description of the same diabolical agency. "As Jannes and
Jambres withstood Moses,--magicians doing so with their
_enchantments_,"--"beguiling unstable souls," so this second beast
"maketh fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of
(credulous) men." (2 Tim. iii. 8; Exod. vii. 22; Acts viii. 9-11.) The
venal ministry of the heathenized church, (ch. xi. 2,) inculcate passive
obedience to the beast of the sea, as to the "ordinance of God;"--to
"resist" which, subjects the recusant to "damnation." (Rom. xiii. 2.)
Here, then, we behold the _counterfeits_ of the two great ordinances of
church and state, against which it is the special duty and arduous work
of the two witnesses to contend for 1260 years. This "false prophet,"
who "spake as a dragon, and made fire to come down from heaven," to
authenticate his divine mission, may represent the bulls, anathemas,
interdicts, encyclical letters, which emanate from Rome, together with
the less terrifying mandates of her coadjutors,--"daughters."

13. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from
heaven on the earth, in the sight of men,

14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of those
miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saving to
them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the
beast which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

15. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the
image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would
not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16. And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and
bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the
name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Vs. 13-17.--This lamb-like beast of the earth devises another agency, by
which to subserve his own diabolical interest, as well as that of the
"first beast." He causes to be made "an image" _to_ or _of_ the beast of
the sea. Of images in general, as objects of idolatrous worship, we are
warranted to say,--they are _dead_ and _dumb_ idols; (ch. ix. 20; Jer.
x. 14:) but this one is altogether different. And it is surprising to
find learned expositors fixing upon the superstitious use of the cross
by the papists, as exemplifying this symbol. The Holy Spirit, as if to
guard all readers against such misapprehension, declares explicitly,
that this image has "life, speaks," and _acts_. The only point in which
this image resembles others is, that it is to be _worshipped_: but of
all others we are assured that they "cannot do evil," (Jer. x. 5.) This
image has such "life," (breath,) and power as to cause the death of such
as refuse to worship _itself_. Three agents are to be noticed and
clearly distinguished here,--the ten-horned beast of the _sea_, the
two-horned _beast_ of the _earth_, and the _image_ of the beast. At the
instance of the second beast, an image is made; not _to_ or of himself,
but _to_, and also _of_, the first beast. Now, as the beasts put forth
their power by their horns, so this ecclesiastical beast of the earth
makes the image by his horns. In short, history explains the symbols.
The Roman clergy,--the horns, the cardinals, create the Pope; and, in
their own ceremonial and language,--_quem creant, adorant_, "whom they
create, they adore;" like all other idolaters. Thus, the Pope becomes
the "man of sin, sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he
is God," (2 Thess. ii. 4.) The Pope is the most perfect image of the
Roman emperor; claiming the same universal dominion, the same titles and
prerogatives, in the same city: but the Pope and the emperor never
identify. They are always distinct. Two authoritative measures are to be
specially noticed in this connexion; one by the beast of the earth, the
other by the image of the beast of the sea. The image demands worship
under pain of death. All _heretics_ are judged worthy of death. All are
required by the second beast to receive the mark of the first or civil
beast. The penalty in this case is privation of civil and political
privileges,--to "buy or sell." It is to be noticed here that the "mark"
is imposed by the authority of the _ecclesiastical_ power, the
two-horned beast. As there is liability to mistake as to which of the
two beasts the "mark" refers, and as this mistake is in fact generally
made by expositors, the apostle John has been directed, as in the case
of the image, to be peculiarly explicit, that all may know it to be the
mark of the _first_ beast. (See chs. xv. 2; xix. 20; xx. 4.) But it will
be asked,--What are we to understand by the "mark?" This question is
easily answered from history. The heathen idolater gloried in his
devotion to his imaginary god; as the ivy leaf was the token of the
worshippers of Bacchus: soldiers bore the initials of the names of their
commanders; and slaves, of their masters. These _characters_ were
impressed on the foreheads or other part of the persons of individuals.
The general idea suggested by the "mark" was subjection or _property_.
In short, the mark of the beast signifies open and avowed allegiance to
antichristian or immoral _civil_ power, when in the "forehead;" and
active co-operation with the same, when in the "hand." It is at once a
pitiable and culpable error, to suppose, as many preposterously do, that
this "mark of the beast" is _popery_! And as the "mark" is the
recognised badge of loyalty to civil rule, of course the prohibition to
"buy or sell," must signify civil disabilities,--_disfranchisement_. Men
who suffer, necessarily feel. Christ's witnesses, as they only have the
_scriptural_ conception of the rights of man, have long been familiar
with the deprivation of their rights, both civil and ecclesiastical. The
moral evils incorporated in the constitutions of church and state,
throughout all the streets of mystic Babylon, have effectually excluded
the two witnesses, and left them in the "wilderness." Here is their
destined "place," and here they are to be "nourished from the face of
the serpent" for 1260 years. Christ's promise,--"I will not leave you
comfortless," (orphans,) is all along verified in their soul-satisfying
experience.--This will appear in the next chapter.

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