06. THE "GREAT COMBINE" AND ITS HEAD
earth. Among these predictions are a number of very clear statements of events that are to happen, and conditions that are to develop, at the period of the culmination of the present age and the beginning of that which is to follow.
Very conspicuous among these coming things, whereof the Spirit of God speaks in the Scriptures, are a **coming System or Organization**, and a **coming Man** who is to be the directing head of that system. In pursuing the object of the present study, it is needful to ascertain at the outset what has been written for our admonition about these coming things. But while we should give the most earnest heed to what the Spirit has revealed on these important subjects, lest we miss the very purpose for which they have been written, we should above all things remember that believers are not taught to look for a system to arise out of the earth, but to look for the Saviour to come out of heaven (Phil. iii. 20). The grace of God which brought salvation to them, *teaches them* (believers) how they should live while "looking for that blessed Hope" (Titus ii. 13). They have turned to God from idols, not to wait for "that man of sin the son of perdition" (2 Thess. ii. 3), but "to serve the living and true God, and to **wait for His Son from Heaven**, Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come" (1 Thess. i. 9, 10). The Son of God is to come to earth again; and the wrath of God is also to come. We look for the former, not for the latter; and if we see the storm-clouds of the wrath to come gathering on the horizon, it is not that we may be occupied with them, but that we may be the more intent in looking for HIM.
Furthermore, the teaching of the prophetic word appears to be that these last prodigies, in which all the restless energies of man are to have their consummation, will not occur until the Church, the body of Christ, shall have been caught away from the earth to meet the Lord in the air, in fulfilment of 1 Thess. iv. 15-17. Not until this great and now imminent event shall have taken place (at least, such is the writer's understanding of prophecy) will that "lawless one" come into public view, whose wonderful career is to be abruptly cut off by the coming of the Lord with His saints, whom He has previously taken out of the world. Then will He consume that lawless one, the son of perdition, with the breath of His mouth, and destroy him with the outshining ("epiphany") of His presence (2 Thess. ii. 8).
If, therefore, we are able, at the present moment, to see clear indications that the formation of the last great human System and the advent of the wonderful genius, the "superman" who is to be its masterful leader, are close at hand, this should have the effect of arousing us to a state of keen watchfulness for our Lord's coming; and of stimulating us to extraordinary diligence in redeeming the little time that remains for preaching the gospel of the grace of God. If we may
"ANOTHER SHALL COME"
see even now the approach of the wrath to come, then we may assuredly know thereby that the coming of the Lord draweth near. He must come first, since He is to deliver us from the wrath to come.
The subject about to be presented for our consideration may be fittingly introduced by reference to those Scriptures which speak of a coming man, who shall be the embodiment of all those qualities that capture human admiration, and who will attain to the very pinnacle of human greatness.
John v. 43: "If ANOTHER shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." This was spoken by the Lord Jesus to the Jews, who would not receive Him. "He came to His own, and His own (people) received Him not" (John i. 11). Having rejected their true Messiah, the Jews will accept in His stead an impostor. Hence the latter is given the designation, amongst others, of the "Antichrist," signifying one who is accepted as, or instead of, Christ. Obviously the man who can so impose upon the Jews must have abilities of a very remarkable and admirable sort.
1 John ii. 18: "Ye have heard that Antichrist shall come." There have been many antichrists, as this passage tells us; that is to say, many who have aimed at the religious and commercial ascendency over men which the Antichrist shall actually exercise. These, however, are but miniatures of that great
8 HUMAN ACTIVITIES OF PRESENT DAY personage who will be occupying the place of supremacy over human enterprise at the time of the Lord's visible return to the earth.
John xiv. 30: "The prince (ruler) of this world cometh." Whatever may be the immediate application of this statement of the Lord Jesus, we know that Satan, the prince of this existing world-system, is coming to it at the end of the age in a special sense; for he is to be "cast out into the earth," and woe is pronounced upon the earth-dwellers because the Devil is come down unto them having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time (Rev. xii. 9, 12). Furthermore, the coming of that Lawless One is to be "after the ENERGIZING OF SATAN, with all power and signs, and wonders of falsehood" (2 Thess. ii. 9). He will be endowed with supernatural power and intelligence.
Dan. ix. 27 (R.V.): "And upon the wing of abominations shall come ONE THAT MAKETH DESOLATE." The Lord Jesus refers to this personage in the prophecy recorded in Matt. xxiv., designating him (ver. 15) as "the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet." The culmination of idolatries or abominations, that is to say, of all forms of false worship, will occur in the worship of a man who is to occupy the sanctuary of the restored temple. We shall speak hereafter of the idolatries of the present day; for there never was a more idolatrous time than the present, and it is upon the wing of
"THE LAWLESS ONE"
these idolatries (called in Scripture "abominations") that the Desolator is to come.
The well-known passage 2 Thess. ii. 3-10, gives us an intensely vivid description of the supernatural manifestations which will attend the advent of this "Man of Sin," or "Lawless One," as he is there called. The sin of Man has its final outcome and fruition in the Man of sin. This is to be the sum and consummation of all the centuries of human development and culture; and his coming is to be marked and rendered illustrious by the working of Satan in all mighty work and wonders of falsehood, and in every deceit of unrighteousness in them that perish.
Such an appeal to the admiration of men, who are even now being well schooled in hero-worship, will be irresistible to all "whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of Life" (Rev. xiii. 8).
But the fullest description we have of the advent of this wonderful personage is found in Rev. xiii. 11-18, that being the passage which describes the second of the two wild beasts, the one which the apostle John saw coming up out of the earth. This portion of Scripture claims our very careful attention, and will amply repay it.
"I saw another wild-beast ascending OUT OF THE EARTH."
Unbelieving men are confidently looking for deliverance to come up "out of the earth"; that is to say, they expect it to arise out of the development of the present order of things; whereas believers are taught to look for their deliverance to come out of heaven.
THE SECOND WILD-BEAST OF REVELATION XIII.
Revelation xiii. contains the record of a vision of two wild-beasts which come successively into view, and it is needful to distinguish between them.
Chapter xii. tells how the Dragon, who is that old serpent, the Devil, enraged by the escape of the woman who gave birth to the manchild, goes to make war upon the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus. The Dragon then proceeds to call up out of the sea an agent to be used in the execution of his design; and accordingly he takes his stand upon the sand of the sea (Rev. xii. 17, xiii. 1, R.V.).¹ Then John sees arising out of the sea a ten-horned beast. This first of the two beasts is easily identified with the fourth beast which Daniel forsaw arising out of the sea (Dan. vii. 1-8), and of which the angel, in expounding the vision to Daniel, said, "The fourth beast shall be the fourth Kingdom upon the earth." This first beast, therefore, represents a great political power, or world-ruling empire, composed of a federation of ten Kingdoms;
it Satan shall give his power, and his throne, at authority.
the Dragon, not the Apostle, who "stood upon f the sea."
THE LAMB-LIKE POTENTATE
The dominion of this ungodly political power is to be universal, for there is to be given to it "power over all kindreds and tongues and nations" (ver. 7).
Then (Rev. xiii. 11) the apostle beheld another beast coming up, not out of the sea, but out of the earth or land, which is generally taken as signifying a settled and ordered condition of society, as distinguished from a confused and unsettled condition of the nations, as signified by the sea (Rev. xvii. 15).
This second beast is not a political or other system, but a man. Later on, he is given the title "The False Prophet," which is in evident contrast to Christ's title as the True Prophet. Rev. xix. 20 clearly identifies the false prophet with the second beast of chapter xiii. Moreover, what is said of him in chapter xiii. shows that the beast represents a man.
The description of this beast is striking, and should receive careful attention.
1. "He had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." In these words we have a summary statement of his external appearance and of his real internal character.
In appearance and manner, that is to say, in all that meets the eye, he is "like a lamb." His seeming guilelessness will invite and win confidence from all. His motives will be apparently pure, disinterested, and above suspicion. He will be a born leader of men, a great reformer, whose mission will be to elevate humanity, to remove injustices and inequalities, and to establish ideal social conditions.
This is, of course, Satan's counterfeit of the true Lamb seen by John in the next recorded vision (chap. xiv. 1).
So much for the external appearance of the coming man. But speech comes from within, and his true character is indicated by his speech, which is "as a dragon." Externally lamb-like, internally dragon-like, no more fearful combination could be imagined. It is a marvellous description, far beyond human ability to furnish, that is given to us in these few quiet words. Whether consciously to himself or not, this man will be but the tool of the great Dragon, serving his deep, cunning, and malignant purposes, and all the better because they are veiled behind an appearance and manner which inspire unquestioning confidence.
2. Then there is a reference to the great miracles which this superman is to perform. "He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had the power to do."
This corresponds closely with the words of the prophecy of the Lord Jesus, Who foretold that, at the period of the great tribulation, there should arise "false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matt. xxiv. 24). And He adds, "Behold, I have told you before."