Revelation Chapter 13

VERSE 4 “So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”

(As taken from New Albany Notes on Revelation)

AND THEY WORSHIPED THE DRAGON: It must be remembered that the allegiance of peoples to their governments is as strong as their allegiance to the churches affiliated with those governments. The Holy Roman Empire thus continued with the adoration of its subjects, and a Roman Catholic part of Europe was insured.

BECAUSE HE GAVE HIS AUTHORITY TO THE BEAST: The co-dependency of church and state is inescapable. If the empire says “The Papacy is our spiritual head; it gives us God’s right to rule,” the people say — Amen to government and Pope forming one grand beast!

THEY WORSHIPED THE BEAST:

NOT the church, remember, but the church-state arrangement, the church-dominated arrangement. We must await Chapter 17 before we can clearly separate the woman (the church) from the beast (the church-state arrangement).

WHO IS LIKE THE BEAST?: Catholic Holy Roman Empire was great and extensive. Even after Protestantism had taken its toll on former parts of the Empire, the question was still valid — “Is there any empire like THIS one?”

WHO IS ABLE TO WAGE WAR WITH HIM? Who can successfully oppose the Papal -Roman Empire? The question was getting a little hollow after the Reformation, but the answer was still “NO ONE YET!” Napoleon would give it a try later; in a sense, however, he would not destroy it — merely alter it once more, give it a new head. He WOULD destroy the Holy Roman Empire, but he would NOT destroy the beast — the church-state system.

(As it is explained in The Keys of Revelation)

The Sinaitic manuscript renders the forepart of this passage: “And they worshiped the dragon [the civil power] BECAUSE he gave THE authority to the beast.” During Papacy’s 1,260-year period of power, the Catholic-oriented populace highly esteemed, first, the imperial government ruling from Constantinople and then, in later centuries, from the Charlemagne era to the French Revolution, the Franks because these gave firm support to their religion through various vicissitudes.

Written in the year 1880 A.D., the following aptly describes the existing conditions of prior papal ruler-ship.

“The people respected the civil power all the more because it had so honored ecclesiastical authority. The various kingdoms (horns) soon learned that their hold over the people was strengthened rather than weakened by allegiance to Papacy, for Papacy in turn recognized them, and commanded the people to recognize those despots as of divine appointment. Thus, it is, that to this day, the rulers of Europe claim to rule by Divine right and appointment, and their children after them, no matter how incompetent. For the same reason the Protestant churches of Europe, to gain national favor, protection and assistance, became State churches, and they, as Papacy did, recognize the reigning families as possessed of Divine title to the office and ruler-ship of the people.

God’s Word, on the contrary, denounces all the governments of earth as beastly, selfish, oppressive, and recognizes only one Kingdom as being of God’s appointment, viz., the Kingdom soon to be established in all the earth—Christ and His saints in glory. (Dan. 7:27; Rev. 11:15; 2 Tim. 2:12.) It is in that Kingdom only that the saints have their citizenship, it alone they recognize, and for it pray ‘Thy Kingdom come.’”30

The bravado and sheer audacity of Papacy awed even the enemy and also gave rise to much of its success. “. . . when, in A.D. 455, the city of Rome was invaded and plundered by the Vandals, and all around was distress and desolation, Leo, the bishop of Rome, improved the opportunity for impressing upon all, both barbarians and Romans, his claim of spiritual power. To the rude and superstitious barbarians, already greatly impressed by what they saw about them, of Rome’s greatness and wealth, Leo, whom God has given the keys of the kingdom of heaven and against whose church the gates of hell cannot prevail; I am the living representative of divine power on the earth; I am Caesar, a Christian Caesar, ruling in love, to whom all Christians owe allegiance; I hold in my hands the curses of hell and the benedictions of heaven; I absolve all subjects from allegiance to kings; I give and take away, by divine right, all thrones and principalities of Christendom. Beware how you desecrate the patrimony given me by your invisible king; yea, bow down your necks to me and pray that the anger of God may be averted.’”31

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30. The Finished Mystery, Studies in the Scriptures (Brooklyn, N.Y.: International Bible Students Association,1918), Ser. 7, p. 196.

31. The Time Is at Hand, Studies in the Scriptures, p. 295.

We move on to Verse 5 in our next post.