Revelation 13:2 "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."
To identify the dragon, we must go to Revelation chapter 12, where God's end-time church is symbolised as a pure woman. In prophecy, a pure woman represents God's true people or church:
Jeremiah 6:2 "I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman."
In Revelation 12 the pure woman is portrayed as pregnant and about to deliver. The dragon crouches nearby, hoping to "devour" the baby at birth. However, when the baby is born He evades the dragon, fulfills His mission, and then ascends to heaven. Obviously the baby is Jesus, whom the Jewish king Herod tried to destroy by killing all the babies in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). So the dragon represents Satan (Revelation 12:7-9) working through an earthly power, in this case Pagan Rome, of which Herod was a client king. We see that Satan acts through various governments to accomplish his ugly work, in this case Pagan Rome, which eventually turned into Papal Rome.
We will quote just two supportive references from history, though there are many more:
"The Roman Church ... pushed itself into the place of the Roman World-Empire, of which it is the actual continuation; the empire has not perished, but has only undergone a transformation … That is no mere "clever remark," but the recognition of the true state of the matter historically, and the most appropriate and fruitful way of describing the character of this Church. It still governs the nations … It is a political creation, and as imposing as a World-Empire, because the continuation of the Roman Empire. The Pope, who calls himself "King" and "Pontifex Maximus", is Caesar's successor." Adolf Harnack, What Is Christianity? trans. by Thomas Bailey Saunders (2d ed., rev.; New York: Putnam, 1901), pp. 269, 270.
"The mighty Catholic Church was little more than the Roman Empire baptised. Rome was transformed as well as converted. The very capital of the old Empire became the capital of the Christian Empire. The office of Pontifex Maximus was continued in that of Pope." New York: Burt Franklin, 1959 pp 148, 149.
These points fit the Papacy perfectly. She received her capital city and power from Pagan Rome, she inherited the very seat of the Roman emperors.
Mark 6 - Will Speak Great Things And Blasphemies, Claiming To Be God
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