NOTE: All comments in brackets [ ] or in parentheses ( ) as well as highlighted text (bolded and/or in blue) are from the author of this study.
Bible quotations are in maroon.
I remember years ago hearing a minister of the Worldwide Church of God during the Feast of Tabernacles reading the following verses:
Rev 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.
This second beast looked like, had the external appearance of a lamb. A lamb is symbolic of Christ and of the one and only truth which He brought from God the Father for God’s Church; in other words, it symbolizes true religion. But this second beast spoke as a dragon i.e., the words coming from it were not the truth of God but lies which were spoken as being the truth of God.
Rev 13:12 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.
This second beast which is a great religious organization would dominate the first beast which is the civil government of a great and powerful empire which almost died out when it was fatally wounded but for its deadly wound being healed by the second beast out of the earth.
The Roman Empire suffered its deathly wound at the hands of the Vandals, the Herulis and the Ostrogoths and but for the ability of the papacy to cause the people to come together and under its leadership restore the power of the Roman Empire, it would have disappeared from history being absorbed by other more powerful nations. The papacy dominated the Roman Empire which then became known from that point on in history as the Holy Roman Empire.
Rev 13:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
This second beast did great wonders and will again do great wonders; wonders that are so great that he makes fire come down from the sky in the sight of men. And what was the result of these great wonders done by this great false religious organization.
Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
This great false religious power by the great wonders it did in the sight of men making fire come down from heaven gave it such great authority and prestige in men’s eyes that it was able to deceive them; they believed its false teachings in great number as being the very truth of God and was successful in passing itself off as God’s true Church
There is a great deal that needs to be explained about the beast and the “image” of the beast; the Holy Roman Empire and its prophesied 7 resurrections, the “great whore that sits upon many waters”; the beast power; etc. which is beyond the scope of this study. As a long term member of God’s Church you should already be familiar with these things and if not, you should personally have, or have access to, the documentation you need to refresh your memory.
Making Fire come down from Heaven
The Bible explains its own symbols and if we are to correctly understand the meaning of the expression “so that he maketh fire come down from heaven” we have to look into the Bible to determine if there are not other passages where the Bible speaks about making fire come down from heaven and which could help us to have the right understanding of the meaning of what it means in the New Testament to make fire come down from heaven.
After doing a bit of research we find ourselves at 1 Kings 18 where starting in verse 20 we read the beginning of the confrontation on mount Carmel between Elijah, God’s prophet and the priests of Baal. The story goes from 1 Kings 18:20 to 1 Kings 18:40.
Israel in the days of King Ahab had “forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim” (1 Kings 18:18). God, through Elijah, gave Israel a choice.
1Ki 18:21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
No one answered him as they were not ready to commit to either God or Baalim. So Elijah set up a test in the sight of the people; a contest between him and the 450 priests of Baalim whose goal was to demonstrate who it was that represented the true God which they should follow.
1Ki 18:23 Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under:
1Ki 18:24 And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.
1Ki 18:25 And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.
Whoever could make fire come down from heaven to consume their offering would be the one that represented the true God and those who could not would then be clearly shown to not be God’s true ministers or priests.
1Ki 18:26 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.
1Ki 18:27 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.
1Ki 18:28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.
1Ki 18:29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.
The Baalims despite their best and greatest efforts were not able to call fire down from heaven to consume their offering. Then Elijah set up his offering.
1Ki 18:30 And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.
1Ki 18:31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:
1Ki 18:32 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.
1Ki 18:33 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.
1Ki 18:34 And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.
1Ki 18:35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.
Elijah set up his offering in such as way that it would take a lot of fire to ignite it; he made it very hard for his offering to burn so the people would be sure if it did burn that it was God’s doing and no trick on his part; there could be no doubt as to who had done it.
1 Ki 18:36 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.
1Ki 18:37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.
1Ki 18:38 Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
1Ki 18:39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
The people having seen this great wonder done in their sight then believed that Elijah was God’s true representative; that he spoke the truth of God and that they should live their lives in accordance with it to be acceptable to God.
Meaning of Revelation 13:13
Revelation 13:13 is talking about a beast with two horns that looked like a lamb but spoke as a dragon. We know that a lamb is symbolic of Christ, God’s Spokesman through which God’s Church received the truth which God gave through Christ to the apostles while the dragon is symbolic of Satan the Devil (Rev 12:9).
The beast which the two horns that looked like a lamb but spoke as as dragon is a symbol for an organization which is both a civil and a religious power (the two horns); it is a religious power because it presents itself as a lamb but it is a false religious power because it speaks as a dragon (the devil). It is a civil government because it ruled over the first beast which was the Roman Empire which became the Holy Roman Empire under the great false religious power which ruled over it (Rev 17) and through which its fatal wound was healed. This same religious power will rule one last time (Rev 17:10) over the first beast at the time of the last or seventh resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire which precedes Christ’s Second Coming.
This great false religious organization would succeed in passing itself off as God’s one true Church; it would be able to convince millions of people across the nations of the world that they are God’s true representatives. This great false religion would symbolically make fire come down from heaven as Elijah had done physically. In both cases, they succeed in persuading the people that they were God’s true representatives.
The lamb that had two horns and spoke as a dragon is a prophesy of the coming into being of a great false church that would spread across all nations and be thought of as being God’s true church and their priests as being God’s true ministers doing God’s work.
Making fire come down from heaven means that the one capable of having God do this is God’s true representative and that he is to be believed. The second beast, the great false religion, succeeded in passing itself off as God’s true Church and in this way, it made fire come down from heaven figuratively speaking.
Making fire come down from heaven is a way of saying that this person or organization is the true representative of God and is to be followed. With respect to the great false religion, the lamb with the two horns and who spoke as a dragon, he succeeds in making fire come down from heaven symbolically speaking. The leaders of this great false religion throughout the many centuries of its existence succeed in fully deceiving a vast number of people and in getting them to believe that this great false religion is God’s true religion.
The wonders performed by lamb with the two horns is not being literally able to call down fire from heaven but to be able to deceive a great number of individuals into believing that it is the true Church in the same way that Elijah by making fire actually come down from the sky proved that he was the true prophet of God and that they should follow his teachings and cease from the priests of Baal.
For this great false religion to have been able to pass itself off as the true Church is the same thing as though it had been able to call fire down from heaven which in actuality it never did or will ever do as to be able to literally do so requires God’s power which it never had.
God's Spiritual Nation 