Appendix

2. “All the world” wonders after the first Beast, Rev. 13:3. Compare 2 Thess. 2:11, 12—“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned” etc.

3. The first Beast is “worshipped”Rev. 13:4. Compare 2 Thess. 2:4—“he as God sitteth in the temple of God.”

4. The first Beast has a mouth “speaking great things” Rev. 13:5. Compare 2 Thess. 2:4—“who** exalteth himelf above all that is called God.”

5. The first Beast makes war upon the saints Rev. 13:7. Compare 2 Thess 2:4—“Who opposeth **all that is called God,” that is, he will seek to exterminate and obliterate everything on earth which bears God’s name.

From these five points of analogy it seems clear that the first Beast of Rev. 13 and the Man of Sin of 2 Thess. 2 are one and the same person.

In the fifth place, that the second “Beast” is not“the Man of Sin” appears from the fact that the second Beast causeth the earth to worship the first Beast (Rev. 13:12), whereas the Man of Sin “exalteth himself”(2 Thess. 2:4), and compare Dan. 11:36—“And he exalteth himself.”

Again,; it has been generally recognized by prophetic students that our Lord referred to the Anti-christ when He said, “I am come in My Father’s name, and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye wlll receive” (John 5:43). If the one here mentioned as coming “in his own name” is the Anti-christ then it is certain that the second Beast of Rev. 13 cannot be the Anti-christ for he does not come “in his own name.” On the contrary, the second Beast comes in the name of the first Beast as is clear from Rev. 13:12–15. Just as the Holy Spirit—the third person in the Holy Trinity—speaks “not of Himself” (John 16:13) but is here to glorify Christ, so the second Beast—the third person in the Evil Trinity—seeks to glorify the first Beast, the Anti-christ.

If it should be objected that the second Beast is represented as working miracles (Rev. 13:13, 14) and that as the Man of Sin is also said to come “after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thess. 2:9) therefore the second Beast must be the Anti-christ, the answer is, This by no means follows. The power to work miracles is common to each person in the Trinity of Evil. Just as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each perform miracles, so does the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet. Three things are said in connection with the second Beast which correspond closely with the work of the Holy Spirit. First, “he maketh fire come down from heaven” (Rev. 13:13), compare Acts 2:1–4. Second, “he had power to give life unto the image of the Beast” (Rev. 13:15), compare John 3:6—“born of the Spirit.” Third, “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” (Rev. 13:16), compare Eph. 4:30—“Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Finally; the second Beast is clearly subordinate to the first Beast. But would the Jews receive as their Messiah and King one who was himself the vassal of a Roman? Was not this the very reason why the Jews of old rejected the Lord Jesus, i.e., Because He was subject to Caesar and because He refused to deliver the Jews from the Romans!

In the sixth place, as we have seen, in Dan. 11:36 the Anti-christ is termed “the king” and if a king he must possess a kingdom, and can there be any doubt as to the identity of this kingdom? Will not Anti-christ’s kingdom be the very one which Satan offered in vain to Christ? namely, “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them” (Matt. 4:8). That the kingdom of the Anti-christ will be much wider than Palestine appears from Dan. 11:40–42—“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him (the Anti-christ) and the king of the north shall come against him (the Anti-christ) like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he (the Anti-christ) shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He (the Anti-christ) shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his (the Anti-christ’s) hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon (compare other Old Testament prophecies concerning these three powers). He (the Anti-christ) shall stretch forth his hand upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.” From this Scripture it is also clear that the Anti-christ will be at the head of a great army and therefore a political ruler as well as a religious chief.

In the seventh place, it is generally agreed among those students of prophecy who belong to the Futurist school that the rider upon the four horses of Rev. 6 is the Anti-christ. If this be the case then we have further proof that the Anti-christ and the Head of the revived Roman empire is one and the same person. This may be seen by comparing three Scriptures. In Rev. 6:8, of the rider on “the pale horse,” we read, “His name that sat on him was Death and Hell followed with him.” In Isaiah 28:18, those who will be in Jerusalem during the Tribulation period are addressed by Jehovah as follows: “And your covenant with Death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Hell shall not stand.” What “covenant” can this be except the one mentioned in Dan. 9:27 where we read of the Roman Prince (the Head of the revived Roman empire) confirming the covenant with the many for seven years. Now reverse the order of these three passages, and what do we learn? In Dan. 9:27 we learn that the head of the Roman empire makes a “covenant” with the Jews. In Isaiah 28:18 this “covenant” is said to have been made with “Death and Hell.” While in Rev. 6:8 the rider on the pale horse (which it is generally admitted is the Anti-christ) is named “Death and Hell.” Hence, from whatever angle we approach the subject it is seen that the Anti-christ is the Head of the fourth world-kingdom.

Finally, we wish to call attention to the employment of the definite article in connection with the two “Beasts” of Rev. 13. Wherever we read of the Beast, it is the Anti-christ who is in view. In 13:1 we read, “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy”—this is the empire itself with its seven mountains and ten kings (see 17:9, 12). But from 13:2–8 it is always “the Beast,” the Head of the empire, the Anti-christ. So in 19:20 and and 20:10. The Anti-christ is termed The Beast in contradistinction to Jesus Christ who is denominated “The Lamb.”