Origins of the Two Horned Beast
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon” (Revelation 13:11).
It has been well stated that if one wants to understand prophecy he must first study history. That seems especially true when studying the book of Revelation. There we see historical entities portrayed as beasts and dragons. Without knowing history we could not decipher why certain images are conveyed or their time settings.
An excellent example of this is the 13th chapter of Revelation. There we see a leopard-like beast rising up out of the sea. Bible Students have seen an historical application to this beast. In the early 200s AD, the once great Roman Empire began to weaken under attack, particularly hordes of barbarians from the north. The once mighty and unified empire divided into Western and Eastern Rome. Western Rome then divided again and again.
The Roman Empire eventually fell in 476 AD, but the crumbling process had begun more than two centuries earlier. It was a time of unrest and instability among the people. So, out of the restless sea, the troubled masses of people, arose the Papacy. With it came promises of calm and stability to a distressed world.
As the 13th chapter narrative continues, we see a dragon giving its “power and seat and great authority” to the beast (verse 2). A dragon symbolizes Satan’s control through a dominant political power. In this case, the dragon was the Roman Empire under the Caesars. In 535 AD Emperor Justinian sent his army to Rome to drive the barbarian 0strogoths from the Western region. This led to the fall of the 0strogothic capital of Ravenna in 539 AD. This eventually solidified the Pope’s power in Europe.
Thus 539 AD is a significant marker as the date the beast received power and gained control of the remnants of the Western Roman Empire. The dragon, the civil power of the Eastern Roman Empire, gave to the leopard-like beast ecclesiastical power under the Popes. Thus we see a transformation from the civil Roman Empire to Ecclesiastical Rome.
The further verses of this account detail for us the historical record of the abuse of power. Great boasting words and blasphemies were prophesied of this beast (verse 5), and it would go on to persecute the saints and control the nations (verse 7).
A SECOND BEAST
Then we see a second beast enter the scene. “And I be- held another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, 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, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men” (Revelation 13:11-13).
Beast like a Leopard, with Bear paws, Lion mouth, and 10 horns
What does history tell us regarding another beast that would fit the above description? The church-state system of England has been identified as this second beast. The fulfillment of this prophecy is precise in its details. It began during the reign of Henry VIII who became king in 1509 at age eighteen. Henry was a firm Catholic, as was officially all of England at that time. In fact, Henry regarded Luther as a heretic and in 1518 wrote a book against heretics entitled, “The Seven Sacraments.” For that service the Pope bestowed upon Henry the title, “Defender of the Faith.” The monarchs of England still carry that title today.
Henry notoriously had six wives. His first, Catherine of Aragon, was a devout Catholic from Spain’s royal house. They were married the same year he became king. It was a time when kings greatly desired a male successor. Indeed, two sons, “an heir and a spare,” was the minimum expected of royal wives. Catherine bore him five children, four of whom died young. The sole survivor was a daughter named Mary, born in 1516. Around 1529 Henry asked Pope Clement VII to annul his marriage to Catherine so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, a lady of the court who had caught his eye. The Pope refused Henry’s rather audacious request, whereupon Henry decided to take matters into his own hands. He dismissed the Catholic Cardinal Wolsey and replaced him with Anne Boleyn’s family chaplain, Thomas Cranmer, who then became archbishop of Canterbury. In 1533 Henry secretly married Ann Boleyn who later that same year bore him a daughter, Elizabeth. Soon after that Archbishop Cranmer declared Henry’s first marriage to Catherine null and void so that he could be legally married to Anne Boleyn.
In 1534 Henry directed Parliament to pass a law titled “The Act of Supremacy.” It decreed that the king was the supreme head of the Church of England. In spite of this Henry still regarded himself a good Catholic. He was merely establishing his authority over the Catholic hierarchy in England. Soon would follow another law at Henry’s direction. “The Law of Treason and Heresy” stated that to hold any doctrines other than those of the Catholic Church was heresy, and to refuse to acknowledge the king as the head of the Church in England was treason. Then in a stroke of political genius, Henry confiscated the churches lands, and buildings. Taking personal ownership of these he presented them as gifts to his political friends – the dukes and nobles who supported his desire for power.
Henry was unwilling to give Anne a second chance to bear him a son. The marriage turned predictably sour. In 1536 Anne was beheaded on a trumped-up charge of unfaithfulness. Henry married his third wife, Jane Seymour that same year, and she at last gave Henry the long awaited heir, a son named Edward. Jane Seymour died shortly after giving birth.
AFTER HENRY
This family history is the key to understanding the origins of the Anglican Church-State of England, the two-horned beast. When Henry VIII died in 1547, England was still a Catholic country, although Luther’s Reformist teachings had gained some followers in London and southeastern England. When Henry died his nine year old son Edward became King Edward VI. His uncle, the Duke of Somerset, who favored the Reformation more as a political revolt against Rome than as a doctrinal struggle, effectively ran the country. Under Edward’s reign England separated itself from the Pope’s authority, and the Church of England, also called the Episcopal Church (in America), developed its own hierarchy, ceremonies, and in a few instances, doctrines. It remained however very much like the Roman Papacy, except it was ruled by the head of the state rather than by the head of the Church. But the rise of the two horned beast would soon be severely challenged.
Edward died of tuberculosis at age sixteen after a short reign of only seven years. He left no successor, and so the next ruler of England would be either Mary or Elizabeth, the first two daughters of Henry VIII. But which of them would rise to power as the next Queen of England? In a series of political machinations Mary won out and had Elizabeth imprisoned. Queen Mary I, the daughter of the spurned Catherine, a staunch Catholic, exacted her mother’s revenge, undoing all the laws passed under Henry VIII and his son Edward. Mary turned the clock backward, and England was once again Catholic. But Mary’s zeal did not stop there. She had some 300 of Edward’s supporters burned at the stake as heretics, including Archbishop Cranmer. For these atrocities she earned the nickname “Bloody Mary.”1
Mary died after only five years as queen and was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I. Elizabeth then undid everything Mary had done. She restored the separation from Rome, and the Church of England came back into prominence. It has survived as a separate entity to this day. Elizabeth ruled firmly but wisely for 45 years, guiding her country and her people through the difficult transition from Catholicism to Episcopalianism. She never married, realizing that if she married a Catholic man, it would alienate her Anglican subjects, and if she married an Anglican, it would alienate her Catholic subjects. Elizabeth died in 1603 and was succeeded by her cousin, King James I. James is well appreciated by many Bible Students for the King James translation of the Bible; although, like his predecessors, he murdered many Protestants.
Beast with Two Horns, out of the Earth, calling Fire from Heaven
As the Reformation took root in England it became the work of the government – of kings and queens and those vying for power. Political interests in England used the Reformation for their own ends. The Reformation there was less a peoples struggle for religious purity than it was in other countries. This is in fulfillment of Revelation 13:11 which tells us that this two-horned beast came up out of the earth. By contrast, the first beast, the leopard-like beast, came up out of the sea. The sea represents an unstable society, the lower classes. The earth represents the more stable wealthier classes. As history demonstrates, the Church of England rose up not from an outcry of the common people but from the desires and maneuverings of the king himself. His efforts were supported by his friends and nobles, who were well rewarded by King Henry.
TWO HORNS
The two horns of this beast indicate the fact that Henry VIII ruled both England and Ireland. Indeed, this new Church was called the Church of England and Ireland for 333 years, from 1538 to 1871. The horns were horns “like a lamb,” showing that England, at this time was not yet a dominating, imperious, warlike nation. It was at relative peace with its neighbors. We are also told (verse 11) that this two-horned beast “spake as a dragon.” As we saw earlier, a dragon refers to Satan as head of civil power. The voice of the Church of England was in reality the voice of the king of England, the civil ruler.
The prophecy also tells us (verse 12) that the two-horned beast exercised the power of the first beast, and caused the earth and the people to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. Martin Luther’s Reformation was a deadly wound upon the first beast. It was Henry VIII’s “Law of Treason and Heresy” which declared it to be heresy to hold any doctrine other than those of the Catholic Church. Thus did the Church of England, under Henry VIII, caused the people to worship the first leopard-like beast.
Verse 13 goes on to say that the two-horned beast did great wonders, making fire come down out of heaven in the sight of men. This was fulfilled when Queen Mary I called for the burning of those who supported a separation from Rome. In essence, she called down fire from the ecclesiastical heaven of her day in an attempt to undo the separation. With the ascension of Elizabeth the place of the two-horned beast in the pages of history and prophecy was eventually secured.
These were not good times for truth to flourish. Protestants were slain by all the early monarchs. When political intrigue and self interests lie at the origins of a church system it is not difficult to see why God would describe the Church of England as another beast. History then tells us facts which can be related to prophetic fulfillment. However, the deeper lesson comes in understanding the importance that God places on true and sincere worship. Politics and self interests must never have a part in the heart of a true Christian.
– Adapted from a diseourse by Bro. Joe Megaez,
based on a treatise by Bro. Chester Sundbom
(1) None of the kings and queens of Reformation England were benign. Bloody Mary slew Protestants and Anglicans at a higher rate; Elizabeth I slew more Protestants total, though at a slower rate, just because she reigned longer (as well as slaying many Catholics). King James I slew still more Protestants; both Protestants and Catholics were absolutely forbidden to have any part in the 1611 translation. (Editor comment.)