The Beast With Ten Horns

John “saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns.” Revelation 13:1. The fact that it had “ten horns,” the same as the fourth beast of Daniel 7:7, 23, 24, identifies it as a Roman power (see pages 34, 35). The next question to settle will be whether this is Rome in its pagan or its papal state. The ten horns represent the ten European kingdoms into which the Roman Empire was divided between A. D. 351 and 476. On this beast the horns are crowned (Revelation 13:1), showing that the empire had been divided, and the rulers of those ten kingdoms were already crowned. (Compare Revelation 12:3.) But the Roman Empire became Christianized (Catholic) long before it was divided. The beast of Revelation 13:1-10 therefore represents papal Rome.FAFA 217.2

The dragon with ten horns (Revelation 12:3), which represents pagan Rome, gave to the beast “his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Revelation 13:2. The “seat” of the Roman Empire was the city of Rome. How was this given to the Papacy? Francis P. C. Hays (Roman Catholic) says:FAFA 217.3

“When the Roman Empire became Christian, and the peace of the Church was guaranteed, the Emperor left Rome to the Pope, to be the seat of the authority of the Vicar of Christ, who should reign there independent of all human authority, to the consummation of ages, to the end of time.” — “Papal Rights and Privileges,” pp. 13, 14. London: R. Washbourne, 1889.FAFA 218.1

Alexander C. Flick, Ph. D., Litt. D., says:FAFA 218.2

“The removal of the capital of the empire from Rome to Constantinople in 330, left the Western Church practically free from imperial power, to develop its own form of organization. The Bishop of Rome, in the seat of the Caesars, was now the greatest man in the West, and was soon forced to become the political as well as the spiritual head.” — “The Rise of the Medieval Church,” p. 168.

“And meekly stepping to the throne of Caesar, the vicar of Christ took up the sceptre to which the emperors and kings of Europe were to bow in reverence through so many ages.” Rev. James P. Conroy, in “American Catholic Quarterly Review,” April, 1911.FAFA 218.3

But let us consider the other marks used by the Holy Spirit to point out this power. It cannot be a local government, confined to a certain country, for “all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him.” Revelation 13:8. And it must be a religious, rather than a civil, power; for it concerns itself with the “worship” of the people. v. 4, 8. “There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things,” and he was “to make war with the saints, and to overcome them” (Revelation 13:5, 7), just as the “little horn” of Daniel 7:8, 21, 25. (See pp. 34-48.) All this could apply to no other power than the Papacy.FAFA 218.4