(4) The subordinate beast of the land--13:11-18. 1. 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”--13:11. The environment of these visions is not in accord and cannot be forced into harmony with the labored effort to identify the second beast with religious Rome, the papacy or the Latin church. The beast symbol in the apocalypses of the Old Testament, as well as in Revelation, has stood for organized political world-power. The development of the Roman papacy was too distant--too far away--to fit into a context of such immediate character. There was constant emphasis on nearness, immediacy and shortness of time. The attempt to make the announcement of Jesus in Mark 1:14-15 that “ the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” refer to a yet future time could be no more inconsistent than to make “ the time is at hand” in Revelation 1:3 encompass the “ dark ages” and the end of time. When Peter said to the dispersed members of the church “ the end of all things is at hand” (1 Peter 4:7) , he referred to the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the Jewish state as being near--it was impending. When Paul said to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:6) “ the time of my departure is at hand” he meant that his decease was near. It does not aid the argument to assert that the statement of John in Revelation means the beginning of these events for John did not say these things must begin--he said, must shortly come to pass--and the time for them to come to pass was at hand. Premillennialists in the church attempt the same evasion by admitting that the kingdom announced by John and Jesus was “ at hand” and that it began on Pentecost, but claiming that its ultimate growth would be in the millennial reign of Christ on the earth. For some who are opposed to the millennial contention to fall into the same method of argumentation is but to help the cause of millennial heresy. In neither case can the expression at hand be stretched beyond immediate points of the two declarations--the immediate events. John was no more entranced to write the history of the Latin church and the Dark Ages than he was inspired to prophesy the discovery of the North American continent, the organization of the United States, the formation of Southern Confederacy or the existence of the United Nations! The historical events of far distant future whether the papacy, the pope, Martin Luther or Alexander Campbell are all outside the scope of Revelation. And we need not go outside the provincial governments of Judea and the Palestinian representatives of the Roman emperor to identify the second beast--the beast of the land--and find the fulfillment of the visions concerning him. Verse eleven states that this second beast came up out of earth, or the land--from whence he received the designation the beast of the land. Because the events surrounded Jerusalem and the Jewish state; and the land in this vision meant the land of Palestine--especially Judea--and beast is the symbol of the Jewish persecutors in Palestine. That this second beast of the land was a satellite of the first beast of the sea is seen in the statements that he caused the earth--the people of Palestine--to worship the sea beast, and this second beast derived the only exercise of his authority from the first beast, and worshipped him. The first beast, of the sea, was the Roman empire, personified in the emperor; the second beast, of the land, was personified in the ruling persecutors of Palestine, who were the instruments of the Roman emperor to execute his authority and power. This is further symbolized in the fact that this second beast had horns like a lamb but spake as a dragon--deceiving them that that dwell on the earth to worship the image of the emperor. There is nothing in these descriptions to fit the much later emergence of the papacy and its popes. The beasts represent the world-power of Rome. The beast from the sea was the emperor; and the beast of the land was the subordinate rulers of Palestine, exercising delegated power, as the emperor’ s representatives. Verse 11: He was from the earth, or land, not from the sea--denoting the local persecutors of Palestine. He was a false prophet visualized as a lamb in appearance, but speaking as the dragon. The two horns of the lamb represented two notorious rulers which Josephus mentioned (in Antiquities, Book XX 11, 1; and Wars, Book II, Chapters 14-15) as being sent by Nero, the emperor, into Palestine as his representatives. This beast appeared as guileless as a lamb, but as a false prophet he possessed the infernal spirit of the sea-beast, and deceived the land--the people of Palestine--into the worship of the sea beast, the emperor.