Contending With Two Ferocious Wild Beasts - The Two-Hornec Wild Beast

 But now another wild beast comes into the world scene.  John reports:  "And I saw another wild beast ascending out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, but it began  speaking as a dragon.  And it exercises all the authority of the first wild beast in its sight. And it makes the earth and those who dwell in it worship the first wild beast, who death-like stroke got healed. And it performs great signs, so that it should even make fire come daon out of heaven to the earth in the sight of mankind." (Revelation 13:1-13.  This wild beast has two horns, indicating a partnership of two political powers.  And it is describe as coming out of the earth, not out of the sea.  Thus, it comes out of Satan's alreadt earthly system of things.  It must be  a world power, already existing, that takes on a significant role during the Lord's day.

What can it be?  The Anglo-American World Power-the same as the seventh head of the first wild beast  but in a special role!  Isolating it in the vision as a separate wild beast helps us to see more clearly how it acts indipendenly on the world stage.  This figurative two-horned  wild beast is made up of two coexisting, independent, bur cooperative polical powers.  Its two horns  "like a lamb" suggest that it makes itself  out to be mild and inoffensive, wth an enlightened form of government to which all the world should turn.  But it speaks  "as a dragon"  in that it uses pressure and threats and even  outright violence wherever its version of rulership is not accepted.  It has not encouraged submission to God's Kiigndom under the rule of the Lamb of God, but, rather. to the interests of Satan the great dragon.  It has promoted nationalistic  divisions and hatreds that add up to worshipping the first wild beast.

This wild beast performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven.  (Compare Matthew 7:21-23.)  This latter sg=ign reminds  us of Elijah. the ancient prophet of God who engaged ina contest with the prophets of Baal.  When he successfully  called down fire from heaven in the name of Jehovah, it proved beyond doubt that he was true prophet.  (Revelation 13:14, 15; 19:20) Why, it claims to have vanquished the forces of evil  in two world wars and was victorious over so-called godless Communism!  Many indeed, view the modern counterpart  of the two-horned wild beast  as a guardian ov liberty and a font of material good things.

Next time: Contending With Two Ferocious Wild Beast - The Image of the Wild Beast

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