The First Beast of Revelation 13

Read it here: Revelation 13 NIV - The Beast out of the Sea - The dragon - Bible Gateway

Let me start by saying that what follows should in no way suggest that individuals and groups within England were not truly doing God’s Will.  Many of the greatest thinkers, artists and musicians, and activists for God’s Kingdom have been British: William Wilberforce, John Newton, Georg Handel, William Temple, CS Lewis, and on and on, as well as many quiet, humble followers of Jesus whose names are properly obscure to history.

That said, here are the main reasons I believe England is the first Beast in Revelation 13: it is an island nation; from William I to today there have been seven dynasties and three “sub-dynasties”, interrupted by Charles I losing his head and Charles II returning to the throne; from Henry VIII to World War II (420 years), its empire grew to cover the globe; it is ostensibly a Christian nation whose church began so its king could get a divorce and make himself head of the church; and it gave birth to the second Beast, another empire that spans the globe.  

Two problems with this interpretation: first, many scholars believe these beasts are individuals, not empires.  Second: it is difficult to define why England would be called out for “(opening) its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven” much less waging war on God’s holy people.  And surely this does not mean that rebelling against the Catholic Church implies that entity, responsible for the Crusades, the Inquisition and the sexual abuse of hundreds of thousands (among many other evils), is a bastion of faithfulness! 

 “Blasphemy” I define as using God’s authority to hurt others.  war-of-independence.com states that “Christianity played a central role in British colonization, shaping interactions with indigenous populations and leaving a complex legacy”.  However, while some missionaries actively promoted the exploitive system, many advocated for the rights of the colonized peoples.  But it is the government using religion as its excuse for exploiting, enslaving and even eradicating peoples around the world that God would likely find blasphemous.  

Revelation 13 specifies that many will be taken into captivity and many others will be killed outright and calls for patient endurance of God’s people.  England was one of the first nations to outlaw slavery, but according to statista.com, only Portugal was more active in the trans-Atlantic slave trade between 1514 and 1866.  And independent.co.uk states that the Empire used “famine, concentration camps and massacres” to control its colonies.  Most egregiously, in 1943, Prime Minister Churchill diverted millions of tons of wheat from India, which was experiencing a famine, to its troops fighting in WWII.  Between 12 and 29 million died as a result of the famine. Churchill reportedly said, “I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion. The famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits.”

While all that may explain blasphemy, captivity and the sword, it does not explain “waging war on God’s holy people.”  I would interpret that as warring on other Christians, which I do not see much of from England after Henry VIII.  While the Church of England did try to suppress Catholicism and other forms of Protestantism, this seems a stretch to me, as this is far from unique to England.  In all though, I think there is a strong case for England as the First Beast.