September 30: THE SECOND ALLY INTRODUCED (part 2)
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. Revelation 13:11
The back-to-back timing of events in John’s vision provides several contrasts between the two allies of Satan revealed in chapter 13. Notice the dramatic switch to the arrival of the second beast, the one out of the earth just as we reach the apparent demise of the first one, described as a monstrous predator. This second beast, like a lamb, is young with little to no history when it arrives on the world stage; whereas the first beast, characterized as a roaring lion, a brutal bear, and a fierce leopard combined, has a long history of dungeons and torture, murder and silencing (all in the name of God, supposedly). And here comes the second. With Christlike tenets voiced in the establishment of a government of duly elected officials—as opposed to monarchies—and the freedom to worship God according to the dictates of individual conscience, rather than punishing dissidents, North American Protestantism was an escape from the evils of the Middle Ages. In a world where most citizens were taxed to support a state-endorsed religion, the USA stood in unique contrast.
Yet, some vestiges of the old ways maintained a stubborn attachment to the fleeing Protestants. The break from Rome was incomplete. Jesus addressed this problem in His letter to Sardis: “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of My God.” (3:2 NIV*) Gallant Reformers had been instruments in God’s hand to guide the people back toward the Bible, which had been largely hidden from the masses during medieval times. Many Reformers lost their lives for challenging the church’s false doctrines. Of them Jesus said, “You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.” (v.4) The Protestant vow to live according to the Bible alone, accompanied by increased access to it, was a providential opportunity to clear away all—not just some—erroneous teachings. The refusal to let go of various errors is the cause of fractures among Protestants. Is it any wonder that the Lord Jesus cites incompleteness as a deadly problem? We are now several generations into this glorious opportunity. On a grand scale it has been squandered, yet Jesus is still at work on our behalf. He is our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, and His Holy Spirit is His representative upon the earth, guiding all who seek the Lord in His word. Every day, individuals are being saved.
The appearance on the world stage of the second ally had a very positive beginning, suggesting a positive history of this power with a Christlike overtone. Yet the language used in the description of the second ally shows that the character of the earth beast, with his two horns like a lamb, is the opposite of what he appears, for he spoke like a dragon - a national case of dissociative identity disorder, including historical amnesia! This text asserts that the second beast doesn’t appear like any lamb or any dragon, but the Lamb and the Dragon. Later in Revelation, this second ally is referred to as the false prophet (16:13; 19:20; 20:10), for though the whole counsel of God had been made available, they clung to vestiges of sin and error. Here what Jesus says about the faithful of the past who clung to truth even as they hungered for more.
“But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Matthew 13:17
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Hebrews 11:13
*Note: unless otherwise stated, Biblical quotes are from the New King James Version.