Revelation 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
[The Great Controversy pp 439>440] This period, as stated in preceding chapters, began with the establishment of the papacy, A. D. 538, and terminated in 1798. At that time, when the papacy was abolished and the pope made captive by the French army, the papal power received its deadly wound, and the prediction was fulfilled, “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity.” At this point another symbol is introduced.
Says the prophet, “I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb.” [Revelation 13:11.] Both the appearance of this beast and the manner of its rise indicate that the nation which it represents is unlike those presented under the preceding symbols. The great kingdoms that have ruled the world were presented to the prophet Daniel as beasts of prey, rising when the “four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.” [Daniel 7:2.]
In Revelation 17, an angel explained that waters represent “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” [Revelation 17:15.] Winds are a symbol of strife. The four winds of heaven striving upon the great sea, represent the terrible scenes of conquest and revolution by which kingdoms have attained to power. But the beast with lamb-like horns was seen “coming up out of the earth.”
Revelation 13:11 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. 12 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.
May The Lord add His blessing to the study of His word. God bless!