27 December | EVERYONE
“Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. [...] 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: 1,11
Two beasts suddenly appear in the panorama of time. The first comes out of the sea, and the second comes from the earth. “Beast” sounds pejorative and even insulting. But in prophecy, a beast—or animal—is a symbol of power. Here he describes two powers working together at the end of time to persecute and force human beings to disobey God.
If you carefully read the whole chapter 13, you will find the characteristics of both beasts. The first is a religious power (v. 8). In addition to being religious, it is political and global in scope (v. 7). At one point in history, it loses its power, but then it recovers it (v. 3). It blasphemes against God (v. 5). It persecutes God's people (v. 7). Its power lasts forty-two months, which in prophetic language is equivalent to 1,260 years (v. 5). If you want to find out who this power symbolizes, you need to identify an institution that has both religious and political authority, and that exhibits the above characteristics.
The second beast represents a power that looks like a lamb but ends up speaking like a dragon (v. 11). The lamb symbolizes Jesus. It means that this power was Christian at the beginning of its existence, but later deviated from its original faith. This power puts all its strength at the service of the first beast. It causes the Earth and its inhabitants to worship the first beast (v. 12). It is a power that dazzles human beings (v. 14) and gives strength to the first beast, demanding that an image or representation of it be worshipped (v. 16-17).
Search in the world for a country that originally had a clear Christian orientation, but today has abandoned the faith of their fathers. Identify the other characteristics in it, and I believe you will be able to discover who this second beast symbolizes. Think about it!
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Although embodied in specific powers, keep in mind that the spirit of the "beasts," as opposed to that of God and His love, can also characterize any so-called Christian. Therefore, before all else, remain united to Jesus.