Revelation 16 Series-1

The History of the Mystery

Welcome to our series on Revelation 16. We’re going to look at the prophetic fulfillment of end time actions of the beast, the dragon, and the false prophet and their history as it relates to prophecy. This study is a follow-up to the book, ‘Final Rise and Fall of the King of the North’, and best understood in relation to that study.

"In the Revelation all the books of the Bible meet and end. Here is the complement of the book of Daniel. One is a prophecy; the other a revelation. The book that was sealed is not the Revelation, but that portion of the prophecy of Daniel relating to the last days. The angel commanded, ‘But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end.’ Daniel 12:4." Acts of the Apostles, 585

Revelation is a ‘complement’ of the book of Daniel.

Complement: Fullness; completion; whence, perfection. American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828.

The books of Daniel and Revelation go together. Sister White says they are one book and bring each other to perfection—they ‘complement’ one another. The same lines of prophecy taken up by the prophet Daniel are also addressed in the book of Revelation. So this study of Revelation 16 is a further establishment of the prophetic presentation made in Daniel 11:40-45.

Daniel 11:40-45 identifies three powers—the United States, the Soviet Union and the Papacy that were struggling against each other through history. In verse 40 of Daniel 11, an alliance formed between the United States and the Vatican swept away this third power—the Soviet Union. In the book, ‘the Keys of This Blood’ by Malachi Martin, he says that these three powers were in a three-way struggle to dominate the world. Of course this book was written before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Malachi Martin, a Vatican insider, a Jesuit, believed that the ultimate victor in this race to dominate a one world government would be the Vatican. In world history today we see only two powers left in his prediction—the United States and the Vatican. This is in agreement with the information in Daniel 11:40-45.

Below the surface of the King of the South and the King of the North in that passage, there is a spiritual struggle that begins in verse 40 of Daniel 11 and continues until the King of the North comes to his end with none to help in verse 45. This spiritual battle is between the philosophy of the King of the South—Atheism and Catholicism, the King of the North. The time comes that there is an alliance formed to sweep away the philosophy of Atheism, and a new philosophy joins this scenario represented by the United States—‘Apostate Protestantism’.

Revelation 16 tells us that there are three powers that lead the world to ‘Armageddon’—the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. These three powers are the same that Malachi Martin speaks of. They are the same three powers that are woven into the story of verses 40–45 of Daniel 11. The bottom line of our study ‘The Final Rise and Fall of the King of the North,’ is that there is a Sunday Law imminent in the United States and that brings the beginning of the Close of Probation for all living mankind. It begins first with Seventh-day Adventists, as they have the knowledge of the issues connected with Sabbath and Sunday. They will be the first confronted with that test and put in a position to receive the Mark of the Beast or the Seal of God.

Not only is a Sunday Law imminent in the United States but the Sunday Law is identified in the Spirit of Prophecy where Seventh-day Adventists will either choose for the Mark of the Beast or the Seal of God. There is a day when a person receives the Mark of the Beast or the Seal of God and his destiny is fixed forever.

"But there is a day that God hath appointed for the close of this world’s history. ‘This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world far a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.’ Prophecy is fast fulfilling. More, much more, should be said about these tremendously important subjects. The day is at hand when the destiny of every soul will be fixed forever.

This day of the Lord hastens on apace. The false watchmen are raising the cry, ‘All is well’; but the day of God is rapidly approaching. Its footsteps are so muffled that it does not arouse the world from the deathlike slumber into which it has fallen. While the watchmen cry, ‘Peace and safety’ sudden destruction cometh upon them: ‘and they shall not escape’; ‘for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.’ It overtakes the pleasure-lover and the sinful man as a thief in the night. When all is apparently secure, and men retire to contented rest, then the prowling, stealthy, midnight thief steals upon his prey. When it is too late to prevent the evil, it is discovered that some door or window was not secured. ‘Be ye also ready: for in an such hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.’ People are now settling to rest, imagining themselves secure under the popular churches; but let all beware, lest there is a place left open for the enemy to gain an entrance.

Great pains should be taken to keep this subject before the people. The solemn fact is to be kept not only before the people of the world, but before our own churches also, that the day of the Lord will come suddenly, unexpectedly. The fearful warning of the prophecy is addressed to every soul. Let no one feel that he is secure from the danger of being surprised. Let no one’s interpretation of prophecy rob you of the conviction of the knowledge of events which show that this great event is near at hand." Fundamentals of Christian Education, 335-336.

This study of Revelation 16 is designed not only to identify the issues and sequences in Revelation 16 but as the books of Daniel and Revelation go together as one—they bring each other to perfection—we will see that Revelation 16 strengthens the presentation of Daniel 11:40-45 by identifying the same philosophical powers that are struggling. Daniel 11:40-45, ends with the King of the North between the seas and the Holy Mountain coming to his end which can be understood in the geography of the Bible as the valley of Megiddo or Armageddon; in Revelation 16 we see these same three powers portrayed as leading the world to Armageddon.

"All are to hear the last message of warning. The prophecies in the book of Revelation, chapters 12 to 18. are being fulfilled. In the eighteenth chapter is recorded the very last call to the churches. This call is now to be given. In the nineteenth chapter, the time is pictured when the beast and the false prophet are taken, and cast into a lake of fire. The dragon, who was the instigator of the great rebellion against heaven, is bound and cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years. Then follows the resurrection of the wicked and the final destruction of Satan and all the wicked, and the final triumph and reign of Christ in this earth." The Upward Look. 277

Sister White here identifies what portion of the book of Revelation is Present Truth in connection with those chapters; she mentions the Dragon, the Beast and the False Prophet. Let me read this sentence again, "The prophecies in the book of Revelation, chapters 12 to 18 are being fulfilled."

In Adventism today, many people are spending their prophetic studies looking at the seals and the trumpets that come prior to Revelation 12, 13,14,15,16,17, and 18. Sister White is lifting up the information that begins in chapter 12—the overview of the Great Controversy; chapter 13—the healing of the deadly wound of the beast of Catholicism through the power of the United States; 14—the message of warning about receiving the Mark of the Beast; 16—the three powers that lead the world to Armageddon; 17—the relationship between the ten-king confederacy, the one world government raised up at the end of the world which rules for one hour with Catholicism and ultimately is destined to destroy Catholicism. Chapter 18 she includes because part of the story is the final destruction of the enemy of God, modern Babylon.

This is Present Truth and if we would spend more time bringing the events of world history into relationship with these chapters in Revelation, I think our studies would be much more fruitful, than trying to reapply prophecies that the pioneers and Sister White understood had previously been fulfilled in the earlier chapters of Revelation.

What we’re looking at is modern Babylon as it’s portrayed in Revelation 16, and we want to go back to the very beginning of the story. When you are looking at a theme in the Bible you want to go to where that theme was first brought up and look at the characteristics associated with it and study them all the way through, to understand the final revelation of that theme.

We’re going to begin first in Genesis chapter 11:1-9 where the initial characteristics of Babel are mentioned. The Bible builds on that story from there. There are a couple characteristics that we want to identify here right from the outset.

"And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

"And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said. Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

"And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said. Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

"So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." Genesis 11:1-9.

Here are some of the characteristics that are very early identified with Babel or Babylon. They were building the tower out of brick and slime—this symbolizes man’s works. There was no cutting to be done on the altars that God’s people built, simply stones that the Lord had provided. This was bricks—made by man—this was an effort of man’s own works. They were building a tower, to not only save themselves from another flood, but also to reach unto heaven, to reach unto God. Here is illustrated symbolically a people who are attempting to save themselves through their own works and by doing so end up in heaven.

Notice, they were going to make themselves a name, and build themselves a city and a tower. Revelation 13:16-18 says this: "And he causes all both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead and that no man might buy of sell save he that had the Mark or the Name of the Beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom, let him that understandeth count the number of the Beast for it is the number of a man and his number is six hundred three score and six."

The name in Bible prophecy symbolizes the character. Babel wanted to get a name, they wanted to have a certain character. In the story of Babel they were attempting to save themselves through their own efforts. This is the character in all the religions spawned out of the religion of Babel. Many religions have as the fundamental premise that man has within him the ability to save himself. This ‘name’ that comes right down to the time when the Mark of the Beast is applied, is nothing more than this same character that will be developed by those who come into the fold of Babylon at the very end.

We want to look more closely at the tower and the city that they were going to build. Desire of Ages 596 says, "The tower was a symbol of the temple." Acts of the Apostles 58, says, "Upon the foundation that Christ Himself had laid, the apostles built the church of God. In the Scriptures the figure of the erection of a temple is frequently used to illustrate the building of the church."

So a tower symbolizes a temple or a church. Right in the very beginning of the story of Babylon, it’s a religion. The tower is identifying symbolically that there’s a religion connected with this work to save themselves. But they were also building a city and in Bible prophecy a city represents a kingdom.

Revelation 14:8: "And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." Babylon that’s here being identified as fallen is the kingdom of Babylon at the end of the world.

"And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." Revelation 17:5. "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Revelation 17:18.

The woman being the church of Babylon, is the kingdom that reigns over the kings of the earth. There’s other places where you can see the term ‘the Great City’ representing a kingdom in Bible Prophecy.

Two of the characteristics being built at Babel that continued down to the very end of the world, is that Babylon has a political and a religious aspect. The Tower symbolized the religion that was being built—its religious aspect, and the city or great city,—represented a geo-political kingdom. This is what Malachi Martin said the Papacy is destined to become when it once again rules the world. The story that you find in Revelation 13, 17 and Daniel 11:40-45 is nothing more than the healing of the deadly wound of the Papacy.

In Daniel 11:40-45 we see this story told from the perspective of the King of the North, the Papacy. In Revelation we see the healing of the deadly wound of the Papacy from the perspective of the United States—the role that it plays in forcing the world to bow to the first beast of Revelation 13—the Papacy. In Revelation 17 we see the healing of the deadly wound from the perspective of the Ten King confederacy and the role it plays as the Papacy’s deadly wound is healed.

You must understand what the healing of the deadly wound is, to bring this all together. Babylon has two aspects, a political and a religious aspect. In 1798 when Napoleon sent his general to deliver the deadly wound, the Papacy did not cease to be a church, it simply ceased to be the geo-political power that it had previously been when it ruled the world. In Bible symbols, in 1798 the Papacy did not cease to be an unclean woman of Bible prophecy but she did cease to be a beast of Bible prophecy, she ceased to be a great city of Bible prophecy, she ceased to be that geo-political kingdom. The story of Daniel 11, Revelation 13, and Revelation 17, the healing of the deadly wound, is the story of when the Papacy’s deadly wound is healed and it again becomes a geopolitical kingdom, ruling the world.

One of the things that we want to understand about Babylon is that as a power it has two sides, a religious and a political. Here in the first part we go through the history leading up to modern Babylon. Then, we’re going to look individually at the Beast and at the Dragon and at the False Prophet found in Revelation 16 and the spirits that come out of their mouth and lead the world to Armageddon.

These spirits are active today; their work to lead the world to Armageddon is in progress—it is beyond progress—it’s almost complete. It is alarming that many in Adventism do not seem to be aware that the spiritual guidance is happening. When we look at these three powers and the spirits that come out of their mouths to lead the world to Armageddon, we suggest what’s being symbolically identified there is not the political aspect of these three powers but the spiritual aspect.

This religious and political aspect as defined right in the beginning of the Bible with Babel the tower and the great city, is something we need to differentiate as we look at Bible prophecy. In Manuscript Release, 17 pg. 18, we’re told this:

"God has warned His people of the perils before them. John beholds the things which will be in the last days, and he sees a people working counter to God. Read Revelation 12:17; 14:10-13, and chapters 17 and 13. John sees the company who have been deceived. He says, ‘I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.’"

Sister White here is emphasizing chapters 12, 14, 17 and 13 to us as Present Truth. This is where the message is, it’s not back in the trumpets and the seals. She sees a people working against God and as she describes these people, she describes the Beast the Dragon and the False Prophet. At the end of the world, modern Babylon is the mature aspect of the story of Babylon in the Bible. This full maturity of Babylon, modern Babylon, is made up of three entities, the Dragon, the Beast and False Prophet. These three entities are the people that are working against God and His people.

Review and Herald December 27, 1898: "This is the day of the Lord’s preparation. He says: ‘Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.’ The great work from which the mind should not be diverted, is the consideration of our safety in the sight of God. The storm is coming, relentless in its fury. Are we prepared to meet it? Are our feet on the Rock of Ages? Are we one with Christ, as he is one with the Father?"

This isn’t the only place where Sister White quotes from this passage in Revelation 16. What she quotes here is out of the very passage where the Beast, Dragon and False Prophet are portrayed leading the world to Armageddon. They’re portrayed in Revelation 16, between the 6^th and the 7^th plague. some people tell you the Beast, Dragon and False Prophet are located between the 6^th and 7^th plagues, so evidently the work that they do to lead the world to Armageddon begins after the plagues are falling.

When Sister White refers to that passage in Revelation 16, and quotes specifically this phrase, "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments", she always places that warning before probation closes. John identifies the six plagues and then he brings in the testimony of these three powers leading the world to Armageddon, to give a warning to us that before our probation closes, we need to recognize that the plagues are coming, recognize who the spiritual influences are that are being used by Satan to lead the whole world to Armageddon, and make sure that when these things are going on we’re wearing the righteousness of Christ in our Christian experience. Even though this warning is located in the midst of the plagues, it’s a warning of an event, a movement that begins before the close of probation. These spirits are already well under way in the world today and of course human probation hasn’t closed yet.

When John sees these three unclean spirits like frogs, many people say that the frog’s number one characteristic is its tongue, it catches its prey with its tongue and so refers to the charismatic, ‘speaking in tongues’ movement. This is a very good illustration of what it may symbolize in a secondary sense. However, there are two places where Sister White refers to what the frogs symbolize. They are almost identical and in The Publishing Ministry, pg 380, she is going to give us a clue about what these frogs represent symbolically:

"With the immense tide of printed matter constantly pouring from the press, old and young form the habit of reading hastily and superficially, and the mind loses its power of connected and vigorous thought. Furthermore, a large share of the periodicals and books that, like the frogs of Egypt, are overspreading the land are not merely commonplace, idle, and enervating, but unclean and degrading. Their effect is not merely to intoxicate and ruin the mind, but to corrupt and destroy the soul."

Now disregarding the counsels about what we should be reading and what’s coming from the presses, what she says in connection with the books and periodicals is they are flooding the world. They’re overspreading the land and in order to describe this she says ‘like the frogs of Egypt’. So when we take this one illustration about what these frogs illustrate and we take it back into Revelation 16, and we see that John sees three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the Beast the Dragon and the False Prophet, whatever these spirits are that come out of the mouths of these three entities, they are destined to overspread the whole world.

As we look at these three spirits more closely you’ll see that this is taking place. We suggest to you that in Revelation 16 these three powers are illustrated in their religious aspect, not their political aspect. Their political aspect is represented in other places in prophecy. Revelation 16 is saying that it is the religious influence of these three powers that leads the world to Armageddon. This religious influence, associated with the dragon power is what we would call today in modern terminology, the ‘New Age Movement’.

The religious influence of the Beast, Catholicism, which is overspreading the land and leading the beast of Catholicism, is the Marion Movement; The apparitions of Mary and all those miracles occurring in connection with those apparitions and the apparition sites.

The religious influence leading the ‘False Prophet’ of Protestant America, and Protestants worldwide, is the charismatic movement in its various forms. We should expect to see these influences be like frogs, they are going to encircle the world and this is happening as we speak. When we see these things happening, we can trust in the prophetic word that the world is on the way to Armageddon.

These three powers are spoken about in the Spirit of Prophecy many times and symbolized in different ways. "By the decree enforcing the institution of the Papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with Spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near." Testimonies, vol. 5, 451.

In this passage the three powers are described as Protestantism, the Roman power, and Spiritualism. John in Revelation 16 describes these same three powers but he symbolizes them differently. Protestantism he calls the False Prophet; the Roman power he calls the Beast; Spiritualism he calls the Dragon. Different prophets employ different symbols for the same thing and sometimes the same prophet will describe the same thing in a variety of symbols.

The focus of our study is Revelation 16. I’d like to begin in verse 19: "And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath." Revelation 16:19.

This of course is at the end of the world, during the plague time and here we see Babylon identified as this kingdom, the great city. A city in Bible prophecy is a kingdom, but it’s divided into three parts, illustrated in verses 13-16 as the Dragon the Beast and the False Prophet.

The three-fold makeup of modern Babylon consists of the Dragon the Beast and the False Prophet. Part of the story of Bible prophecy is the history of how these powers have resisted God and His people through time. The logo of the European Common Market is their rendition of a new Tower of Babel that’s being built and the cliché with this logo says, "Europe, many tongues, one voice", which is also a direct correlation of what took place in Babylon. This illustrates the resistance to God and His people that began in the time of Nimrod.

The religion that came out of that historical event is Spiritualism all the way down through history. It has many other names because when God came down and confounded the languages, they took the same religion to different parts of the world. But suddenly, that religion was described in many different languages. So we find the same gods with different names around the globe. Paganism or Spiritualism beginning here at the Tower of Babel is the power that resisted God and his truth throughout Bible history. Then there came a time, and prophecy is very clear about this transition, where Paganism gave way to Papalism. There’s a direct relationship that goes on between Paganism and Papalism as Papalism was rising and beginning its time period to rule the world in 538.

Prophetic history tells us in Revelation 13, that the Dragon gave its seat, authority and great power to this Beast of Papalism. So there’s a direct relationship between these two powers. Prior to the rise of the Papacy, one power was in the world opposing God and His people—the Dragon Power of Spiritualism, Heathenism, Paganism—any of the ‘isms’ that ultimately are nothing more than the worship of Nimrod and his wife. This was the main and only opposer to God and His truth. But there came a time in history when Papalism rose to power and Paganism took a secondary seat to the role that Papalism would play in resisting God and His truth.

Papalism took the ascendancy but Paganism did not die and up until 1798, there were two powers opposing God and His truth. In 1798, when the deadly wound was given, we see another power coming on the scene of history and Bible Prophecy. This third power is the United States of America. We can mark its beginning at 1776, and prophecy states that there will come a point where the United States speaks as a Dragon at the passage of the Sunday Law in the United States. During that same time period the United States will use its power to force the whole world to worship the Beast of Catholicism.

But in that chapter where it says the United States will force the whole world to worship the Beast of Catholicism it also says that the whole world will worship the Dragon. When the United States begins to ascend to its role of this third power that’s going to resist God and His people, suddenly we have a three-fold makeup of modern Babylon, the power that will ultimately stand at the end of the world to oppose God and His people.

It began as one, increased to two powers and in our day it is three powers. United States begins as a Lamb but it ends up speaking like a Dragon. In the early part of the history of the United States, we could correctly call it Protestant America but there comes a time when prophetically it becomes known as the False Prophet.

In our previous study ‘The Final Rise and Fall of the King of the North’; in verse 40 of Daniel 11 we demonstrate that an alliance was formed between the Vatican and the United States in the early 1980s initiated by Ronald Reagan. We have a certain amount of evidence that United States is no longer Protestant America but has become the False Prophet of Bible Prophecy politically. One good starting point would be the early 1980s when Ronald Reagan sent an ambassador to Rome and worked up this secret alliance with the Pope in order to attack a common enemy; the Soviet Union.

Protestant is a word in Christian terminology and it means to protest Rome and when the United States formed this secret alliance with the Vatican, it ceased to be a Protestant nation. It is impossible to protest Rome when you’ve formed an alliance with her. You can at least partially identify that in the early 1980s the United States began to be symbolized in history as the False Prophet—the third entity of this three-fold power destined to oppose God and His people here at the end of the World. Through their own peculiar spiritual influences they are destined to lead the world to Armageddon.

General Conference Bulletin, March 4. 1895: "The Spiritual Powers are in Controversy—In these times of special interest, the guardians of the flock of God should teach the people that the spiritual powers are in controversy." It is not human beings that are creating such intensity of feeling as now exists in the religious world. A power from Satan’s spiritual synagogue is infusing the religious elements of the world, arousing men to decided action to press the advantages Satan has gained by leading the religious world in determined warfare against those who make the word of God their guide and the sole foundation of doctrine. Satan’s masterly efforts are now put forth to gather in every principle and every power that he can employ to controvert the binding claims of the law of Jehovah, especially the fourth commandment, that defines who is the Creator of the heavens and the earth."

These three powers, the Dragon the Beast and the False Prophet are striving against one another. They’re just as Malachi Martin says in his book, "Keys of this Blood’. They can appear in Bible prophecy as if they are united, all three of them in Revelation 16, leading the world to Armageddon.

When Paganism gave way and actually helped place Papalism on the throne of the world in 538, and Papalism then ruled the world for a 1260 year time period, even though Paganism had a specific role to play in helping Papalism get set up, there was always an antagonism between the both of them. They’ve always been striving against one another. As we look at the history that followed the beginning of the Papal rule in 538, as it ultimately came to its end in 1798, we see that it was from a philosophy and from money and from guidance that took place in France, that ultimately brought the Papacy its deadly wound. This money and philosophy and guidance centered in France was coming from powers directly associated with Paganism.

So we see Paganism striving initially with Papalism to help it sit on the throne of the world and then when the time period for the Papacy to come to its end arrives, Paganism brings her down. The philosophy associated with Paganism during that time period was atheism which ultimately matured into the philosophy we know today as Communism. As you trace the history of Catholicism and atheism from the French Revolution time period to the present day you’ll see that they’ve been striving against one another ever since that time period and that’s why it’s so easy to demonstrate the role that the Vatican had in bringing the Soviet Union down.

Now you bring the third power of Revelation 16 into this mixture and you see that certainly Protestantism has been striving against Catholicism, that’s where the term ‘Protestantism’ comes from, the Protestant reformation. And of course Protestantism is opposed to ‘New Age’ when correctly applied. So as we look at these symbols in Bible prophecy and how they are used to lead the world to Armageddon and to oppose God and His people, though sometimes they appear to be a united front against God and His people, they are ultimately striving against one another. In Revelation 16 you see this ten-fold confederacy which is nothing more than the final manifestation of Paganism that began back in the days of Nimrod, and it is the power that ultimately will burn Papalism with fire and devour her flesh.

This story of how these three powers come and go in history and strive with one another is the theme that runs through Bible prophecy. It’s a theme that we must look at closely if we’re going to understand the relationships that they have with one another and correctly apply the symbols here at the end. Notice how Sister White describes this change from Paganism, to Papalism to the United States. These three powers end up aligned at the end of the world, but first it’s Paganism, then Papalism and Paganism, then the United States, Papalism and Paganism.

Signs of the Times. November 1, 1899 "Under the symbols of a great red dragon, a leopard-like beast, and a beast with lamblike horns, the earthly governments which would especially engage in trampling upon God’s law and persecuting His people, were presented to John."

Here she used different symbols to describe these three powers than she used before and different than John uses in Revelation 16, but here she specifies them as earthly governments—she’s emphasizing their political aspect not their religious aspect.

"Under the symbols of a great red dragon, a leopard-like beast, and a beast with lamblike horns, the earthly governments which would especially engage in trampling upon God’s law and persecuting His people, were presented to John. The war is carried on till the close of time. The people of God, symbolized by a holy woman and her children, were represented as greatly in the minority. In the last days only a remnant still existed. Of these John speaks as they ‘which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.’

"Through paganism, and then through the Papacy, Satan exerted his power for many centuries in an effort to blot from the earth God’s faithful witnesses. (Pagans and papists were actuated by the same dragon spirit, They differed only in that the Papacy, making a pretense of serving God, was the more dangerous and cruel foe. Through the agency of Romanism, Satan took the world captive. The professed church of God was swept into the ranks of this delusion. and for more than a thousand years the people of God suffered under the dragon’s ire.) And when the Papacy, robbed of its strength, was forced to desist from persecution, John beheld a new power coming up to echo the dragon’s voice, and carry forward the same cruel and blasphemous work. This power, the last that is to wage war against the church and the law of God, was symbolized by a beast with lamblike horns."

"But the stern tracing of the prophetic pencil reveals a change in this peaceful scene. The beast with lamblike horns speaks with the voice of a dragon, and ‘exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him.’ Prophecy declares that he will say to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast, and that ‘he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; 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.’ Thus Protestantism follows in the steps of the Papacy."

So the Spirit of Prophecy clearly identifies and upholds this truth that these three powers all are here at the end of the world playing their part in leading the world to Armageddon, but part of their story is how they have related to one another and how they came into history.

we have a responsibility to trace history and prophecy and that’s going to be the focus of this study as we continue, Mind, Character, and Personality Volume 1,Pg. 346.

"The Bible is its own expositor. Scripture is to be compared with scripture. The student should learn to view the Word as a whole and to see the relation of its parts. He should gain a knowledge of its grand central theme, of God’s original purpose for the world, of the rise of the great controversy, and of the work of redemption. He should understand the nature of the two principles that are contending for supremacy and should learn to trace their working through the records of history and prophecy, to the great consummation. He should see how this controversy enters into every phase of human experience; how in every act of life he himself reveals the one or the other of the two antagonistic motives; and how, whether he will or not, he is even now deciding upon which side of the controversy he will be found.—Ed 190 (1903).

The main theme of this passage is we need to understand the issues connected with the Great Controversy. Are we developing the character of the Lamb or the character of the Beast of Revelation 13. We should understand that these two powers, the Lamb and the Beast are in controversy with one another. We should learn to trace the working of these powers through the records of history and prophecy. We should look at the records of history and compare them directly with Bible prophecy. We are counseled to do that because in doing so there is a reward for us as we get to the end of the world. The Lord doesn’t assign any busy work.

We’re going to read a passage from Review and Herald; February 6, 1900. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the different types of metal, the head, and the shoulders represent the political side of the different kingdoms. Sister White here points out that it also represented religion. These powers all have a religious and political aspect.

"The image shown to Nebuchadnezzar in the visions of the night represents the kingdoms of the world. ... "While representing the kingdoms of this earth, the image that was revealed to Nebuchadnezzar also fitly represented deterioration of religion. (We grow weak morally and spiritually, just in proportion as we forget God… "With God’s word before us, with the lesson of instruction we may there learn, there is no need for us to be deceived. We are living in a momentous period of this earth’s history. The great conflict is just before us.

"We see the world corrupted under the inhabitants thereof. The man of sin has worked with a marvelous perseverance to exalt the spurious sabbath, and the disloyal Protestant world has wondered after the beast, and has called obedience to the Sabbath instituted by Jehovah disloyalty to the laws of the nations.) Kingdoms have confederated to sustain a false Sabbath institution, which has not a word of authority in the oracles of God.

("In the record of the vision given to John we read, ‘The dragon was wroth with the woman (the church), and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.’ Satanic agencies have made the earth a stage for horrors, which no language can describe.) War and bloodshed are carried on by nations claiming to be Christian. A disregard for the law of God has brought its sure result."

This sequence of metals in Nebuchadnezzar’s image represent kingdoms geo-political empires, but they also represent religion and as we look at the Dragon, the Beast and the False Prophet we’ll notice that all three of them have a religious and political aspect to them. The Dragon’s religious aspect we call Spiritualism but its political aspect we would call socialism today.

If we look at the Beast of Catholicism, we know that its religious aspect is Catholicism, its political aspect is not Socialism, it’s structured as a monarchy, a kingly power. The Pope of Rome is the classic kingly power; a Monarchy is different than socialism.

The third power in history is the United States, and the religious aspect is Protestantism. Even at the end when it becomes the False Prophet, it’s still apostate Protestantism, it doesn’t become spiritualism or become Catholicism, it becomes apostate Protestantism. So the religious aspect of the United States is Protestantism and the political aspect is Republicanism, what we call a democracy. Still whether Republicanism ideally or now democracy, its political aspect is different than a Monarchy and different than Socialism.

These two aspects to these three powers are worthy of our note because sometimes in Bile prophecy it’s the political aspect being portrayed, sometimes both, and sometimes simply the religious. In Revelation 16, it is primarily the religious aspects that come out of the mouth of these entities and lead the world to Armageddon. But as we go through history we want to be able to differentiate between those two aspects and know that all three of them have different philosophical viewpoints on how politically they would run the kingdom, and different religious philosophies, because this is some of the antagonism that allows them to strive against one another as they mutually lead the world to Armageddon.

Next: The Mystery Unfolds