Don't believe the lie that the US is not in Bible prophecy.
Of course it is!
Revelation 13
The U.S. in Bible Prophecy
While Revelation 13 could be intensely studied verse by verse to great profit, it will be the purpose of this chapter to home in on the portions that show how the chapter reveals the place of the United States in Bible prophecy. There are two beasts described in Revelation 13. The first is described in verses 1-10.
It is certainly Heaven's intention that Bible students unpack the symbolism of lion, leopard, and bear in this first beast. This vision was given by God to Gabriel to John to us (Revelation 1:1-2) and it is meant to be understood. These beasts appear in Daniel chapter 7 as distinct animals, but here in Revelation 13 they are intertwined into one amalgamated beast. This fact is an argument in favor of finding modern equivalents to these symbols. Most interpreters of Daniel 7 say that the lion, leopard and bear represent Babylon, Greece and Medo-Persia. Since the animals seem to be presented sequentially and chronologically in that chapter[i] this is a rational conclusion. But in Revelation 13 the three animals form one corporate beast. This would seem to indicate that the nations represented by these animals are operating in confederacy and simultaneously.
The lion is the Papacy, and the lands where the legions of the papal faithful dwell, especially Europe and Latin America. The entire world listens to the words of the chief primate who is the voice of this powerful organization. The power of the papacy in secular affairs is evidenced by the critical role it played in the fall of communism.
The leopard, an animal native to India, Asia, and Africa, represents the Third World, the bulk of the world's population. The bear represents the communist countries. These three powers, as a glance at the drawing of the world pictured here shows, cover all of the globe except for the United States. Thus Revelation 13 is giving us a picture of the world's power structure at the end of time.
It is to the second beast that we now turn our attention. Whereas the first beast was represented as coming up "out of the sea" (Rev. 13:1), the second beast is represented as "coming up out of the earth." (Rev. 13:11) Details like this are not added in prophetic passages just to fill up space like an auctioneer's chatter. Since "waters" can represent "peoples" according to Rev. 17:15, then "earth" would likely represent "absence of people." The lion-leopard-bear nations of modern times have their origins in populated regions. But America arose quickly in an area that was largely unpopulated. The scattered nomadic Indian tribes, with their respect for the natural order, kept this land in a near-virgin condition. Thus America fits the description of the second beast as "coming up out of the earth." Is there any other nation which could fulfill the prophecy this way? There are none.
The next part of the description of the second beast is that "he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon." (Rev. 13:11) For anyone who does not take the Bible seriously, this would seem like a silly, at best poetic meandering. And, except to the eyes of faith, that is all it is. Giving prophets visions of mythical beasts is one of the methods used in the Bible to communicate meaning about the future. This beast vision has not been placed in the Bible for no reason. What nation is symbolized by this beast which speaks as a dragon with horns like a lamb?
A "lamb" is a biblical symbol of Christ. John the Baptist said of Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." Plainly the lamb is a symbol of Christ and thus this second beast being "like a lamb" would symbolize a country professing Christianity. Christians should try to be like their Savior. They should be lamb-like. The description "like a lamb" would fit few countries in the history of this world. The U.S. has been the strongest professing Christian country in history. We talk about "manifest destiny" here, the strong Christianity of the Founders, the influence of Christianity on our laws and values. We have historically sent out more missionaries than any other country. Plainly the U.S. has been a "Christian country."
But the prophecy also says that this nation would "speak as a dragon." The dragon is a scriptural symbol of Satan. (See Rev. 12:9) A nation "speaks" through its actions. The lamblike horns and dragon voice of this symbolic beast point to a striking contradiction between its professions and practice. In contrast to America's record of helping the oppressed is an often shameful record of abuse, for example the enslavement of blacks and hypocritical persecution and treaty-breaking with the native Indians. But the prophecy is meant especially for our time. The aggressive action of the U.S. in its invasion of Iraq was the first time in the modern history of our country where we took the part of the instigator and aggressor in relation to another nation.
Jesus said to turn the other cheek. Those who follow His teachings will not be led down a course of physical aggression. We are seeing before our eyes an increasingly satanic policy development clothed in lamb’s wool. When did Jesus ever teach that we should give the first punch? Did He say we should pray for our enemies or to get them before they get us?
There is always a danger that religious fundamentalism in American policy could follow the pattern of all other fundamentalist church-state regimes in history, whether Cromwellian, American Puritan, Catholic, or Islamic. These regimes develop a spirit of intolerance and persecution, which, it should be pointed out, is Satan’s way of operating, not God’s. God’s way is rooted in freedom and love, not coercion and self-righteous anger.
Furthermore, intolerant fundamentalism would be directly contrary to the principles of American government, the genius of its free institutions and the grand protections of the U.S. Constitution. Yet we are finding out that our current government, with the Christian confession of President Bush and other neo-cons (“like a lamb”), have used torture in the questioning of those perceived to be terrorists. For the record, torture is not in any of the recorded teachings of Jesus, nor part of any Christian confession of faith. This is “speaking as a dragon.”
To show the fate of America--the purpose of this short chapter--a verse by verse commentary on the last half of Revelation 13 follows:
12 And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
When we are told that this beast, representing the U.S., “exercises all the power of the first beast” we could ask, “What is the power of the first beast?” The power of the Papacy is undoubtedly religious and moral influence. The power of communist countries is their force of arms, the dedication of their national resources to building armies and weapons of destruction. It is plain that these are also the sources of America’s power; these are the traits which make up its lamb/dragon dichotomy. America has moral influence, and it also has an arsenal of weapons which could blow the world up many times over.
The U.S. will use the power of moral influence and the force of arms to somehow “cause” the rest of the world to "worship" this beast whose guiding voice is that of the Papacy. The word “worship” need not be interpreted as religious worship. The Greek word comes from a word which means “to kiss,” and could thus just be a reference to worship in the sense of dedication. Nations are dedicated to their allies. When people kiss family members and close friends it is a form of honorary homage. The U.S. will turn the nations of the world to follow this massive coalition whose chief primate is the voice of a Pope. This implies that the United States will be in a weakened status from its current world position, because the U.S. would never otherwise point nations to a power center other than itself. We are the world’s most powerful nation and we want other countries to respect and follow us, not some other conglomerate of power.
In his 1990 book, The Keys of This Blood, Malachi Martin, a Vatican insider, made it plain that it was the design of the Papacy to gain to itself the leadership of the whole world. Martin said the two major obstacles to the attainment of this goal were the force of communism, and the power of the United States. The Papacy worked for the collapse of communist hegemony and was successful in its efforts to break up the Soviet Union and do what no one had predicted; bring down its power. There is now only one power in the way of the Papal quest for world supremacy, the United States.
It seems that for verse 12 to reach its fulfillment, the U.S. will have suffered some kind of collapse itself, or it would never otherwise “cause” the world’s nations to honor the first beast of Revelation 13, the papal-communist-3rd world beast that covers the whole world outside the U.S.
The Scripture says that this conglomerate beast suffered a deadly wound, but was healed. It is interesting that Pope John Paul II received a near-deadly wound from a shooting attack, but lived. It is also a fact that the institution of the Papacy was near death, suffering the loss of power and prestige, during the time of the French Revolution. Some historians were writing it off as a force in the modern world. It is now plainly healed. The Pope is the world's leading moral figure according to American, Communist and Third World leaders.
13 And he does great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
The U.S. dropped fire out of the sky on Hiroshima and Nagasaki over sixty years ago, and a new era of war and diplomacy was begun. The "fire" power of atomic weaponry was exhibited "in the sight of men" all around the earth. Anyone who has read an account of the detonation of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki knows that indeed, fire literally fell from heaven. An atomic bomb is detonated in the air, and it rains fire and intense heat on the earth. It is very possible that the U.S. will unveil modern laser weapons in its coming warfare with Iran or in potential fights with other terrorist centers including Syria and North Korea. The power of modern laser weapons, as yet unveiled, could indeed be the type of activity referred to in verse 13 as "great wonders." When the atomic bombs were first dropped, Americans read in their newspapers about this strange and powerful new weapon. These bombs were a “great wonder” at that time. Modern laser weapons, once their powers of devastation have been demonstrated to the world, will again cause “great wonder.”
14 And deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
It is a deception to think that because someone has more power than you--in this case the United States with its atomic and laser arsenal--that you should follow them. Who can explain the fascination the rest of the world has with American movies and American culture? People instinctively follow those they believe are successful. This verse reveals to us that America will lead the way in erecting a governmental structure that will practically, in its ultimate effect, bring homage to the conglomerate government spearheaded by the Papacy, the beast wounded and healed. The Scripture says that this will be done through “miracles.” It could be that actual miracles in the physical realm will fulfill this verse. Perhaps some famous people will be healed, and the publicity of the miracles will someway have a hand in moving nations to set up an image to the beast. But the use of the term “miracles” here may simply mean the kind of profound diplomacy that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. That was a result no one was predicting. It was brokered by the Pope and by President Reagan and was a “miracle” of sorts. But whether this scripture points to physical healing or marvelous diplomacy, it is certain that something “miraculous” will be involved. The Bible says so.
In the context of the narrative here, the phrase “image to the beast” would have a rather specific meaning. To understand what an “image” of the beast is, one must first understand the “beast.” The beast being referred to includes a system of nations, including the Vatican (which is both a nation and the headquarters of a large world religion), which follows the lead, to a large degree, of the Pope. The Pope says communism should come down, communism comes down. That is the beast system.
So what would an “image” of that system be? An image is what you see in a mirror. An image is something that looks like the real thing, but is not the real thing: it is a reflection of the real thing. The image you see when you look in the mirror is not you; it is an image of you. So an image to the beast would be a construction that looks like the beast. Therefore, it would be a system of nations that looks to one powerful religious figure, or one central religious body, to get direction. This kind of image may already be forming in the current Christendom of America. It is a development worth monitoring.
Perhaps we are seeing the first steps of America's departure from its long history as a Protestant power, formed to be free of the ecclesiastical evils characterizing the Papacy's intrusions into European history, in the recent talks about union between the religious right and leading Catholics.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
The U.S. will have the power to help the "image of the beast," this governmental apparatus which in some as yet unidentified way gives homage to the Papal-directed conglomeration of nations, to have what political scientists call “legitimacy." It will "speak" and be followed, respected and obeyed, and it will provide that all who do not honor it will be killed. Killing is the ultimate coercion, the final solution in the hands of a scared and ultimately endangered autocratic power. Killing political opponents is ultimately the work of Satan.
The ultimate satanic message is "Do things my way or die." Every false religion engages in some species of this dictum. For hundreds of years during the Inquisition, “heretics” were tortured until they would confess the “correct” doctrine. If you disagree with the doctrines of some denominations, you are practically ousted, shunned, ostracized. Evangelicals are not immune to this dynamic. It seems hard for humans to combine the desire for a true understanding of doctrine with the sentiment of being merciful.
In contrast, Jesus says, “Come.” The Holy Spirit woos, not coerces. God draws and convicts, He does not pressure and push. He caresses, He does not rape. This second beast in Revelation 13 has “horns like a lamb but speaks as a dragon.” What would lead a lamb-like nation, a “Christian” nation like America, to start acting like a “dragon?”
I would suggest that the reason that the United States is here pictured as unduly pressuring people to worship a government other than itself (probably the U.N. or a body that might replace the U.N.) is because it has at this point, after its "fire" power has been displayed as related in the last verse, been economically humbled as related in the last chapter on Daniel 8.
While the United States will still be existing as a nation at this point, it will be operating on a momentum developed in a former era. Every great world power develops the prideful mindset that it will always be on top. Yet every great power has eventually decayed. It was once said that the sun never set on the British Empire. That is not said anymore but it took England awhile to admit it, and walk in the reality of it. Great Britain still exists, but is hardly “great” on a world scale. Similarly, when the United States suffers massive economic downturn, it will take a while for the power vacuum that will be created to be filled. The fulfillment of the verses above is much more likely in a scenario where America has lost world dominance. As of this writing, America unquestionably enjoys world dominance. But if it lost that dominance, submission to a world government on its part would be much more psychologically likely.
And it is very possible that a very strong-willed conservative form of “Christianity” could gain power in a collapsed America. And what would be the fruit of such a “Christian” government? Here is what James Madison wrote as a student of hundreds of years of Christian establishments:
“During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial; What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both,… bigotry and persecution.”
This is not a flattering assessment from Madison, but it is the ideological core of the United State Constitution’s First Amendment which grants all Americans free exercise of their religion and promises them protection from the establishment of religion. For Madison this meant America would enjoy more humble pastors, have more enlightened church members, and that all Americans who would hold religious beliefs of any kind would suffer less religious persecution.
There is a strong conservative Christian voice in America that is continually telling us that there was a Christian core in our nation’s past, that all the Founders held fundamental confessions of faith, and that America, for most of its early history, was almost Heaven itself. While it is certainly true that Christian values formed a much greater part of the general American consensus in previous centuries than the Twenty-First, there is no need to paint the American past with wishful fantasy.
Holding humans as slaves after other civilized nations had banned the horrible institution, lying to almost all the various Indian tribes and breaking treaties with them, moving them off of rich land to barren land, killing them, at times as if they slaughtering the buffalo herds that were senselessly killed almost to extinction, misusing human labor, and fostering racial, ethnic and religious prejudice: are these the fruits of a Christian nation?
16 And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Here the antecedent for the "he" is presumably still the United States or it could refer to the image of the beast which the last verse says will be set up. It will be responsible for bringing in the government that will demand a mark to be placed on all inhabitants of planet earth. The Greek word from which our English word "mark" is derived means "sharpened to a point." This is interesting since the latest technology designed to help governments monitor their citizens is a silicon-based computer chip which can be injected under the skin with a hypodermic needle – a very sharp point! The choice of Greek words by John, who wrote the Revelation 2000 years ago, seems to make a linkage between the fabled “mark of the beast” and this needle-injected chip. The chip can store volumes of information and can be programmed, unlike the former laser-tatoo technology which some commentators thought would fulfill this Scripture about the “mark of the beast.”
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is a solemn warning for any serious Bible student. The day will come when remaining true to God will mean going underground from the buying and selling of the world's superstructure. But that is getting ahead of the message of this little book. We are trying to keep our focus on the immediate fate of the United States.
In the last chapter where we looked at Daniel 8, we saw America pinpointed as the goat which destroyed the Islamic ram. That goat found its great horn broken soon after crushing the ram. This is a biblical prophecy of the collapse of the United States.
In the current chapter we have seen that Revelation 13 points to a time when the United States will still be on the world stage but without the power it now enjoys. In the next chapter, which looks at Revelation 17, we will see America prophesied in yet another set of cartoon pictures. There the greatest nation in earth’s history is hidden as one nation amidst a succession of world empires which rose and fell as they fulfilled their place in history. As the apostle Paul wrote:
And [God]hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation… (Act 17:26)
Let us proceed to these prophecies, which are history pre-written.
