A lot of human speculation has gone into trying to understand the image, mark, number, and name of the beast of Revelation 13. This booklet is not like that. It is a penetrating look into this mystery with the magnifying glass of the gospel.
The image, mark, number, and name of the last apostate union of man will be but the repetition on a larger scale, of the apostasies that have gone on through all time, starting with the offering of Cain, the Image of Nebuchadnezzar, the Pharisees in Jesus’ time, the Papacy, and on down to the time of the end. 15p
Ecclesiastes 1
9 The thing that has been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it has been already of old time, which was before us.
The image of the beast is Apostate Protestantism when she shall stretch forth her hand to embrace the Roman power or the church of Rome. When the leading churches of the United States shall unite together. Revelation 14:8, the second angel’s message is: “Babylon is fallen! is fallen!” This message applied to the churches of Protestantism who were once pure but have apostatized. The wine of the wrath of her fornication is the false doctrines or teachings which she the MOTHER MYSTERY BABYLON who is the PAPACY has been making nations drunk with.
Peter, it is true that apostate Protestantism, especially in America, will be the vessel used to make “an image to the beast,” or, a repetition of the church-state union that the Papacy instituted about 1700 years ago. The book of Revelation clearly foretells the rise of a false theocratical system which will dictate to the nations of the world the “supposed” plans of God for the recovery of their earthly blessings.
But that is just the vessel. What is it that makes it what it is? What is its nature? At its core, it is a system of self-exaltation. This is what the booklet above explores. If we have within us that same spirit of self-exaltation, or of putting our plans or ways in the place of the Lord’s plans and ways, we will be overcome, just as the bulk of the Jewish church were overcome, when they joined with the Roman power, in their opposition to Christ.