Revelation Chapter 13
VERSE 14 continued “And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.”
(As explained in The Keys of Revelation)
A prominent characteristic of the beast, copied by the image, is the honoring of a special class, the clergy, with undue homage and titles. They are known as Reverends, Divines, etc., whereas Jesus, the Son of God, said, “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am” (John 13:13). “Be not ye called Rabbi [Teacher]: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren” (Matt. 23:8). These titles are assumptions fashioned after those of Papacy.
When the various denominations began their existence, they were more filled with the spirit of Christ, and their clergy claimed no such high-sounding titles. The Reformers were not known as Reverend or D.D., but as John Knox, Martin Luther, and so forth; unpretentious, like Jesus and the Apostles, they were intent upon serving God and therefore became the servants (ministers) of the Church. These had marks of God’s approval, and as a result, their ministries were wonderfully blessed. Now, however, the clergy are far from being servants; they are lords. They have itching ears, loving the approval of men. As pride and worldliness have come in, vital godliness and power have gradually departed. 46
At this juncture several important points need clarification. The image, formed in 1846, WAS NOT another “beast.” To be a beast in the sense of this symbol, it would have to become an ecclesiastical power united to and as a part of the civil government. The image was never even contemplated as such by the Alliance, nor has anything happened historically thus far to indicate that it has developed into a beast-government. It has remained just as that term in its simplest sense signifies, an image—a thing that takes on outward form and outline and thus appears as a beast, but is not actually an ecclesiastical government allied with civil government.
For this reason, and for other reasons, the Evangelical Alliance of 1846, though an image of the beast in its past form, does not fit the specific reference to the image in Revelation 13:14.
In that verse the two-horned beast addresses those “that dwell on the earth” (independent groups of Christians, as well as Christians in the Evangelical Alliance and other federated churches that have arisen since 1846), saying “that they [including, also, the two-horned beast] both (or “also”) [kai—Sinaitic MS] 47 should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”
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46. The seven preceding paragraphs are excerpted and/or paraphrased from “The Beast and His Image,” Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, p. 8.
47. With unanimity translators either intentionally or unintentionally omit the extra Greek word kai found in the Sinaitic text, some perhaps because of its seeming redundancy or its apparent disharmony with the contextual flow of the passage or its seeming disruption of the proper intent of the passage. Such reasoning could be largely due to the unwarranted assumption that, of necessity, the two-horned beast is directing attention to what others should do, rather than to what the two horned beast itself will do in cooperation with others.
There are three optional interpretations with the inclusion of this extra word in the text:
1. “That they even should make an image”
2. “That they also should make an image”
3. “That they both should make an image”
The last option is preferred and in part seems to be historically verified. It is interesting that this very word kai is translated as “both” in Verse 15. See also 1 Cor 6:13.
Continued with next post.
