sermonette: The Beast's Militarism

A Lover of War
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Given 22-May-04; Sermon #667s; 15 minutes

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I've recently been reading a biography of Napoleon by renowned British historian Paul Johnson. That's this book right here haven't quite gotten finished with it yet, but I've read enough to understand and I've read other things by Paul Johnston to understand that this particular biographer has a knack for getting at the central character as well as the prime motivations of the people he chooses to write about and Napoleon, a very colorful figure to read about. Made a big impact on history certainly in Europe for many years and some of the effects of what he did are still trickling down today but Paul Johnson in this book, not a real thick book, it's a it's almost a summary of his life rather than a full biography but Paul Johnson pretty much pegs Napoleon. Uh, his character, his motivation in the conclusion to a chapter that he titles the Master of the Battlefield, and I'll read just a small bit from page 72. He writes thus from 1799 to the end of 1809, Bonaparte seemed invincible and strode the land mass of Europe like a colossus. What is clear from the story of the seven coalitions, those were coalitions that were formed among other European nations to oppose him. Is that Bonaparte remained from start to finish a military man. As such, he enjoyed extraordinary success where he failed was as a politician and still more as an international statesman. His failure was so complete that it eventually involved his military ruin too, and quote. Lately, in my studies that led up to last week's sermon on the beast from the from the land. Uh, from the earth as well as other things that have been happening certainly my dad sermons on the sermons on the beast and Babylon the woman of, of Revelation 12, the, the beast has been in my mind for a while and I've been thinking about the signs, the, the clues that the Bible gives us about this coming person. Who will pretty much dominate the world scene at the end. I've been really interested in discovering as much as I can about the various men down through history who have been types of the end time beast. Uh, and I hope by reading their lives to get a little bit of a handle on the life of this coming anti-Christ because he will share a great many characteristics and motivations that the other ones did. So I want to be able to first of all recognize him when he rises for myself and then being in the position that I am I want to be able to point him out to others like you in the church and one of the keys that I'm finding out is paramount is that this man will be fundamentally militaristic. The beast will be a man of war, a formidable, almost invincible general and conqueror, very much like Napoleon, and we will see from scripture that this is a foremost characteristic of those of all those who have been types of the beast, and this will be, we will be able to see very easily from the various accounts in the Bible. Now getting back to Napoleon a little bit, uh. You know that Herbert Armstrong thought that Napoleon was the 5th head of the beast, and he's a great example of extreme militarism, just to give you an idea, this will give you a little bit about Napoleon's life. He was of the noble or I should say the minor nobility on Corsica, where he was born he was a Corsican he was not French. He was Corsican, but the man who was there as in charge of the island. Uh, sponsored him to attend a French Royal Military Academy. It's actually a preparatory school for the military academy in 1799. This means that at the time Napoleon was 10 years old. So remember this Napoleon was 10 when he first entered a military school. This was in 1799. After one year there, he entered the military college in Brienne. He stayed there for five years. Then after that, he spent 1 year at an officer's school in Paris, and from that point on, except for brief periods, Bonaparte was involved in warfare until his exile in 1815. In Saint Saint Helena, we had those figures up. Napoleon was involved in war of one sort or another, either training for it or actually going through it for 36 years, most of his life. He ended up dying there on Saint Helena about 5.5 or 6 years later. So all but 16 years of his life he spent engaged in war. This is the kind of man that is a type of the end time beast. In my reading of history, many of the other beast types had similar long and in depth intense, that's a better word, intense military careers. Think of Nebuchadnezzar. He's the head of gold. He's the one that everything else is patterned after. He spent his entire life at war basically, certainly up until and after he was, he was crowned king of the Babylonians. But he had spent all his formative years fighting wars under his father. In fact, he was in Egypt, I believe it was, when he found out his father died. He was conducting a military campaign there for his father, and he had to hurry back to Babylon to make sure that he had a throne. And then he continued his wars after that to secure that throne. Alexander the Great, everybody knows from still while still in his teens, he took hold of his father's kingdom after his father's death, and from that point on he charged across Asia Minor down into Egypt and. And over across to India and he was still conducting military campaigns when he died as a young man, he spent most of his life at war. Antiochus Epiphanes is one that comes out of Daniel specifically. But he spent a great deal of his time at war, and he in a way is, is the basis for some of the the types of the of the beast in Daniel. Julius Caesar is another one. Justinian, Charlemagne, Otto the Great, Charles the 5th. And the Italians Garibaldi and Mussolini and their partner Hitler or I should say the latter's partner Hitler, all were military men, all were fierce lawyers and strategists, and this is what the Bible says about the beast. Let's go to Daniel 11. Daniel 11 in verse 36, just read a few scriptures here just to get the gist of this. This is about the king of the north, which is a type of the beast. Daniel 11:36. Says then the king shall do according to his own will. He shall exalt and magnify himself above every God shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished, for what has been determined shall be done. Verse 37, he shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any God, for he shall magnify himself above them all. But in their place he shall honor a God of fortresses. And a God which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver with precious stones and pleasant things. Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses, fortresses with a foreign God which he shall acknowledge and advance its glory, and he shall cause them to rule over many and divide the land for gain. Obviously this is a man who places a great deal of stock in his military in war, in battle, and if we would go through the, the end of the chapter, we would see. Some of the things that he does, it's all about conquering, overthrowing nations, gaining power. OK, let's go to another place. I do not want to spend a great deal of time here, but just to show you the gist of these things back in Revelation 13, where we were a great deal last week in the sermon, Revelation 13 verses 4 through 7, this is the beast from the sea. John writes here, so they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast, who is able to make war with him? And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. He was given authority to continue for 42 months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven, and it was granted to him to make war with the saints. And to overcome them, and authority was given him over every tribe tongue. And nation, he's not just going to be given this authority carte blanche he's going to earn a great deal of it with his own abilities with the force of his personality as well as with the energies and whatnot that the dragon gives to him of course God makes all of this possible so that the end will come, everything will work out according to his plan. But this shorter passage here in Revelation 13 covers very similar ground to what we saw there in Daniel 11. The beast is so formidable in battle that the whole world is convinced that he's invincible, that he cannot be conquered. He's too strong to be overthrown. Who's able to make war with him? Then it says to kind of wrap things up, he ends up dominating every tribe, tongue, and nation. That's real power, and he'll hold that power by military means if we go on to chapter 17. We'll see this beast again. Verse 11. It's Revelation 17:11, and the beast that was and is not is himself also the eighth and is of the seven and is going to perdition. The 10 horns which you saw are 10 kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beasts. These will make war with the lamb, and the lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of Lords and king of kings. And if you will, go to chapter 19. Verse 19 and I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence by which he received by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the Lake of Fire burning with brimstone. This shows that the beast reigns a short time, but he gathers tremendous military power in that short time. Given to him or provided to him by those 10 horns or the 10 kings or rulers who use him as a frontman for their predatory purposes. And he uses this power to conquer everything in his path. He even thinks he's powerful enough to take on Jesus Christ when he returns. I mean, that's arrogance, and as it turns out, that's folly too. But this is the kind of mind that this man has who places all his bets on his own abilities as a military man. Let's conclude in Daniel 8. Daniel 8 verses 23 through 25. Daniel 8. 23 through 25. This comes at the end of Gabriel's invitation of Daniel's vision concerning Meto Persia and Greece. But the last part here goes back and forth between Antiochus Epiphanies, who comes at the latter part of the reign of the Greek emperors, the Greek kings, and the the end time beast. We know that ultimately is speaking of the beast because of something that it says there in verse 25, but let's just read that now. And in the latter time of their kingdom when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise, having fierce features who understand sinister schemes. His power shall be mighty but not by his own power. He shall destroy fearfully and shall prosper and thrive. He shall destroy the mighty and also the holy people. We've seen that in several of these passages, though through his cunning, he shall cause deceit to prosper under his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the prince of princes. But he shall be broken without human hand up until the end. This is a bitter fighter, or up to the bitter end, this is a real fighter, a dogged strategist, one who believes he can win on any battlefield. He's a man who believes in military victory and in imposing his will upon those he has conquered. So my guess is that we are not looking necessarily for a politician but a military man, an officer, a man who loves war. He will be one who many will think to be rash in his strategies, but he's victorious none the less. He will urge swiftness and decisiveness. Just like many of the types of the beast in the past, he will impose his own terms on those he vanquishes, vanquishes. These are the clues that we need to be looking for.