Season 4 Podcast 72 “Pt II, The Second Beast.”
Season 4 Podcast 72 “Pt II, The Second Beast.”
In Chapter 13 of Revelation, John mentions two beasts. Many have attempted to identify the beasts. It is not my purpose to determine what John saw or what he specifically referred to.
My purpose is to use my literary license to employ the beasts metaphorically, as I would any other literary allusion regardless of the source, to illustrate what is happening to our world today. In Podcast 69 we discussed the First Beast. In this podcast we shall discuss the Second Beast.
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.
The first beast came up out of the sea suggesting it had power over the seas. When the First beast stepped on the land it appeared as a man. The prophet Daniel saw the same beast 600 years before.
DANIEL 7
The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
The second beast envisioned by John came up out if the earth, suggesting he had power over the land. The first beast had seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. The Second beast had “two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” The first beast was compared to a leopard, a bear, and a lion both by John and by Daniel. The first beast is a predator. The lion, the bear, and the leopard rule the jungle. They prey. They are not preyed upon. The second beast, however, appears as a lamb, with only two horns. He appears harmless, vulnerable, the least of the animals. They are not sly like a fox or swift as a dear. Lambs are helpless, yet the second beast is more cunning than the first beast. He has the power of the first beast, meaning they do what he tells them to do. It suggests that three very powerful nations are under his single command. The lamb-like image is a false image. People are naturally on guard if stalked by a lion, a bear, or a leopard. No one is afraid of a lamb. It is a Christ-like image, meaning the second beast is a false Christ. The lamb’s alliance with the leopard and bear and lion is kept a secret. The image of the lamb is doubly deceitful because some sheep have horns and can fight, but a lamb has no defense. One is reminded of the words of the Savior.
Matthew 7: 15
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Christ went to great lengths to teach us how to identify a false prophet,
Matthew 7
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
The cunning of the second beast has no boundaries. Notice how the second beast actually has power over the first beast. The image appears very strange that a lion, a leopard, and a bear would take orders from a lamb until it begins to unravel before our eyes.
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