INTRODUCTION: The Bible is an accurate record of the history of the world covering both national and church history. The history from the Babylonian captivity to the end of the world is primarily found in the prophecies of the books of Daniel and Revelation. The book of Daniel especially pertains to national history, and Revelation especially pertains to church history. 1. What symbol is introduced in Revelation 13? Revelation 13:1 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ 2. From whom did this beast derive its power, its seat and its authority? Revelation 13:2 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ 3. Who is the dragon? Revelation 12:7-9 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ 4. What did the dragon design to do to the child about to be born to the woman? Revelation 12:4 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ 5. What became of the child? Revelation 12:5 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ NOTE: Christ the Lord is the only one to whom the prophecy can apply. See Hebrews 12:2. 6. Who sought to slay the child as soon as He was born? Matthew 2:16 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ NOTE: Herod was a Roman governor. The dragon, then, represents the work of Satan through the pagan power of Rome.)   7. Through what process was papal Rome formed? Acts 20:29, 30; 2 Thessalonians 2:3 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ NOTE: Papal Rome was the result of apostasy within the newly formed Christian church. Though essentially ecclesiastical, the Papacy exercised power with the political realm. Before the fall of pagan Rome, all dominating world powers were religio-political in nature. The head of state was also the head of the religion, and was generally worshipped as a god. By the removal of the seat of the Roman empire to Constantinople in A.D. 330 by Constantine, the city of Rome was given to the Bishop of Rome. In 538 A.D. he became the head of all the churches and the corrector of heretics by the work of Justinian, the ruling emperor of Rome. Thus, Rome became the seat of the Papacy, and the authority of the pope was derived from the decree of the dragon power – pagan Rome. 8. How would this system of apostasy exalt itself? 2Thessalonians 2:4 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ 9. What characteristic shows this beast to represent the same power as the little horn of Daniel 7:8, 24-25? Revelation 13:1, 5-6 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ 10. The beast was a composite of what three other beasts? Revelation 13:2 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ NOTE: In Daniel, the world powers were depicted as various beasts. Each succeeding power absorbed part of the culture and religion of its predecessor, mixing the old culture with elements of its own. In the papacy is to be found a mixture of Christianity with some of all of the pagan religions that were a part of the preceding empires. Hence it is symbolized by a composite of all those world powers, as depicted in Revelation 13:1-2. Daniel 7:4-6. 11. In what way did this religious power also exercise civil power? Revelation 13:7 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ NOTE: It has been the preeminent characteristic of the Papacy to dominate civil power to further its own ends. Beginning with Constantine, the church sough to influence civil government, though its ability to do so was somewhat restricted while the emperors of Rome retained their power. 12. For how long a period of time was the papal power to exercise authority over the kings of the earth? Revelation 13:5 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ NOTE: This 1260 years is the same period of time that is brought to view in Daniel 7:25 as the length of time that the little horn would rule. (Jewish months were 30 days long, as is confirmed in Revelation 11:2, 3, where 42 months is equated with 1260 days.) Therefore, the time for this beast power to reign began with the overthrow of the last Aryan powers by Justinian in AD 538 and continued until 1798 A.D. 13. What was the beast made to suffer? Revelation 13:3a THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ NOTE: The beasts seen in prophecy represent political powers that rule on the earth. Each political power has had various strengths and attributes, and these are represented symbolically by the physical characteristics of the beasts in prophecy. Thus, the physical wound – a deadly one – of the beast in Revelation 13 represents the complete destruction of the political power of the papacy. And according to the timeline represented in the foregoing note, this deadly wound occurred in 1798 when the French army, under General Berthier, took the pope captive in Rome and declared the papacy abolished, proclaimed a republic there, and carried the Pope Pius VI from place to place until he died at Valence, France on August 28, 1799. 14. Though apparently deadly, what happened to the wound? Revelation 13:3b THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ 15. How complete was the recovery to be? Revelation 13:3c, 7-8 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ NOTE: The religio-political power of the past centuries is currently being revived, and when we see an alliance of civil power with religious, then we know that the deadly wound has been healed. 16. In submitting to this power, whom in fact is one worshipping? Revelation 13:4 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ NOTE: To render worship means to accept the authority of this religio-political power in matters of conscience (those matters involving the worship an individual owes to his Creator.   17. What warning does God give against worshipping the beast? Revelation 14:9-10 THE BIBLE SAYS: ______________________________________________ Peter answered the powers that existed in his day when they tried to force him not to teach or preach in the name of Jesus, saying that, “We ought to obey God rather than man.” Acts 5:29 Are you ready to make that same statement, that no matter what may be happening around us or what our circumstances may be, that you will make that stand and worship God and Him alone? What is your decision today? MY RESPONSE TO CHRIST IS: □ YES □ UNDECIDED Email us at: admin@thebiblesays.net