BEHELD another beast coming up out of the earth, ' said John, "and he had two horns like a lamb" (Rev. 13:11). This transitional scene, standing between two eras of religious presumption and persecution, is like the breathless calm in the midst of the tornado's funnel.
Coming in the heart of a prophetic outline that spans the centuries of struggle for religious freedom, this refreshing sequence flashes upon the prophetic screen an identifying revelation of threefold significance:
First, the time of its appearance. It arises as a new power at the close of the eighteenth century as the first beast is going down at the close of his declining vigor.
Second, the nature of its origin. John saw it "coming up out of the earth." The verb used here is the same one used by Jesus in Matthew 13:7, in the parable of the Sower, "the thorns sprung up." As though the time-lapse cameras had caught the scene, John saw this power arise gradually and peacefully, sprouting and springing forth as a plant out of fertile soil. Not with the clash of arms, the shout of war, and the tumult of battle did he appear; not through the overthrow of other nations did he establish himself; but naturally and singularly drawing nourishment from virgin soil, he grows to power.
Third, the location of its origin. The prophet said that it sprang forth "out of the earth." This is a striking contrast with the first beast. Of it John said, I "saw a beast rise up out of the sea" (Rev. 13:1). Explaining the meaning of the sea, John says, "The waters . . . are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" (Rev. 17:15). But this second beast rises up out of the earth.
Not in the old world does he arise, among the crowded and struggling nationalities—that turbulent sea of "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues," but in the new. Not in the depleted soils of Europe but in the new undeveloped and uninhabited lands of the Western Hemisphere.
One nation and only one meets the specifications of this prophecy. The symbol points unmistakably to the United States.
Arising steadily into power at the close of the eighteenth century, giving promise of strength and greatness, she soon attracted the attention of the whole world. The orator and the historian, in describing the rise and growth of this nation, have again and again unconsciously employed the thought of the sacred writer, almost the exact words, "Coming up out of the earth."
G. A. Townsend, describing the rise of the United States, speaks of "the mystery of her coming forth from vacancy," and says: "Like a silent reed we grew into empire."—The New World Compared With the Old, p. 462. A European newspaper, The Dublin Nation, in 1850 spoke of the United States as a wonderful empire, which was "emerging," and "amid the silence of the earth daily adding to its power and pride."
"Did they look," said the orator, Edward Everett, of the Pilgrim founders of this nation, "for a retired spot, inoffensive for its obscurity, and safe in its remoteness, where the little church of Leyden might enjoy freedom of conscience? Behold the mighty regions over which, in peaceful conquest . . . they have borne the banners of the cross!"—Speech delivered at Plymouth, Massachusetts, December 22, 1824, p. 11.
"He had two horns like a lamb." The horns of a beast represent its defensive and offensive power. Since, as has already been pointed out, the Lamb is a symbol of Jesus, we have here a nation that in its youthful innocence reveals a kindred power to Christ. Jesus came to bring resistance and authority into submission to Himself but the means which He chose to overcome great evil was the wisdom and power of love.
One of the characteristic marks of Jesus' ministry was his respect for the freedom of the will. His every message was a call to and a safeguard of the conscience. "Follow me," He invited; "Come unto me," He pleaded, but never was there a threat to the liberty of the conscience or a coercion of the will. Though the Lord gave earnest warnings of the results of a course of evil, He never interfered with man's freedom of choice. Tears were in His voice even when He uttered His scathing rebukes and drove the moneychangers out of the Temple.
This spirit of coercion of the will is of the dragon. Jesus made this clear, when in His rebuke to James and John for their revengeful request to punish the inhabitants of Samaria, He said, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of" (Luke 9:55).
What a fitting representation of the establishment of this government is the lamb with two horns. In the words of Lincoln, "Our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." The first amendment made clear that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
What power there was in those two lamblike horns—horns of freedom! What an asylum this nation, founded upon principles of Republicanism and Protestantism, has proved to be to the oppressed of earth. As Jesus the Lamb spread forth His welcoming arms beckoning all, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11: 28), so has this nation opened her arms to downtrodden humanity.
As immigrants have made their way from the Old World to the fair shores of this land of opportunity and freedom, as with stirring emotions they have entered that great and famous port of entry, New York, thousands have wept as they beheld that lady, with torch aloft and lawbook under her arm, the Statue of Liberty. How fitting that on that famous symbol is fastened a bronze plaque with these words of invitation inscribed:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me."
Again, I say, what a striking fulfillment of the details of the prophetic symbol; "I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb."
My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain-side Let freedom ringl
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song.
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break—
The sound proclaim.
Our father's God, to Thee,
Author of Liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!
My dear friends, I wish I could close the book here. I wish that here on this glorious note the prophecy ended. I wish I could read that America will always be what she always has been, the land of the free. But the prophecy does not end there. We have come to the end of the contrasts between the two beasts of Revelation 13, but not to the end of the prophecy.
From this point on, the second beast more and more takes on the characteristics of the first until he finally forms an exact image of the former. "And he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first 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" (Rev. 13:11-14).
