3, 4. (a) How did the political State get started on earth, and why is there little left to argue against that fact? (b) How does John, in Revelation 13:1-8, picture the start of such state?

³ Nineteen centuries ago, a man who has gone down on the pages of history and whose writings have been read by hundreds of millions till now, used vivid symbols to show how worldwide worship of the human political system got started. It got started by someone whom this man, John the son of Zebedee, likened to a dragon, fiery red in color. John does not give to this dragon the meaning that the nation of China gives to its popular one-headed dragon. John uses the dragon as a symbol befitting a superhuman person, whom John identifies by the expression “the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan.” (Rev. 20:2; 12:3, 9) Is it sheer imagination, is it naïve to believe that the human system of politics originated with this one? When we consider how man-made political systems from times of old have governed and acted, there is little left to argue against the fact that the political system started with the dragonlike Satan the Devil. Let us note now how John pictures this:

⁴ Likening disturbed, discontented, self-seeking mankind in general to the restless sea, John proceeds to say: “And it [that is to say, the fiery-colored dragon] stood still upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a wild beast ascending out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, and upon its horns ten diadems, but upon its heads blasphemous names. Now the wild beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were as those of a bear, and its mouth was as a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave to the beast its power and its throne and great authority. And I saw one of its heads as though slaughtered to death, but its death-stroke got healed, and all the earth followed the wild beast with admiration. And they worshiped the dragon because it gave the authority to the wild beast, and they worshiped the wild beast with the words: ‘Who is like the wild beast, and who can do battle with it?’ . . . and authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all those who dwell on the earth will worship it.”​—Rev. 13:1-8.

5, 6. What does that oddly formed wild beast picture, in the light of Daniel’s dream of the wild beasts out of the sea?

⁵ People asked: “Who is like the wild beast?” So we ask: What does it picture? From John’s description of this symbolic wild beast and what happens to it, there can be no question about what it pictures.

⁶ The role that the wild beast plays in the book of Revelation shows what it pictures, the worldwide system of political rule over all mankind. The fact that the wild beast looked like a leopard but had bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth harmonizes well with the fact that the world system of politics has expressed itself through various forms of government at different times and places. Most likely John was led to think of what the ancient prophet Daniel saw in a prophetic dream: that first a lionlike beast came up out of the disturbed sea, and then a beast like a bear, and after it a beast like a leopard. Moreover, Daniel was plainly told that those beasts pictured political rulerships that would arise and control the earth like superpowers. (Dan. 7:1-18) So the oddly formed wild beast that John saw symbolized the worldwide political system that has expressed itself through a number of governmental kinds.

WORSHIP OF THE STATE AS A GOD

7, 8. (a) The worship of the symbolic wild beast was at the same time the worship of whom? (b) Why is worship of the State something for those people to think about who deny worshiping anything?

⁷ It is not necessary here to discuss all the details of what John saw in his inspired vision. The big thing upon which we here desire to focus our attention is that this “wild beast” out of the sea was worshiped by the whole world of people; it was treated as an unconquerable god. The worship of the political State as a god, which was thus pictured in John’s vision, was at the same time the worship of someone higher than the political State. Who was that? That one was the dragonlike Satan the Devil, for he is pictured as giving the authority, the power, the throne or seat of government to the political State.

⁸ It is no wonder, therefore, that the Master of whom John was a disciple spoke of Satan the Devil as “the ruler of this world.” (John 14:30; 16:11) And Paul, a fellow disciple of John, called Satan the Devil “the god of this system of things.” (2 Cor. 4:4) This is something for those many people to think about today who boast that they do not worship anything at all. Do they, like the atheistic Communists, worship the political State? They may deny doing so, but when a serious national issue arises, when international war breaks out or national sovereignty is threatened, what do they do then? Yes, what is it that they then worship as a god? Their course of action then discloses the truth and speaks so loud as to drown out what they say with their mouths.

9. What question on worship does each of us need to ask himself, and, at the time of decision, what defiant question might politicians ask?

⁹ Today nationalism is running rife throughout the earth. Regardless of whether a person professes to be religious or not, nobody can sidestep the personal question, Whom or what do I worship? The invisible power behind the worldwide political system of things, namely, the dragonlike Satan the Devil, wants, sneakily, to force every inhabitant of the earth to worship him through his protégé, the political State. However, it is not worth while worshiping him, for, some fine day soon, he himself will be debunked as a god. But it will be impossible to debunk the true God of the universe. Are we sincerely wanting to worship that One? The time for our decision on this cannot be delayed much longer. Especially the political elements of this world will have to make a final decision as to what they really want to do in this regard. It will be too bad for them if at that time, in a defiant manner, they raise the question, ‘Who is that One (the One mentioned to us by name), so that all, including us politicians, should worship Him?’

10, 11. When was a similar question raised by an ancient Pharaoh of Egypt, and why?

¹⁰ We have history to help us to make a right decision. The political rulers and their patriotic backers do well now to consider the historical case of the head of an ancient political state who raised just such a question. That individual was the royal Pharaoh of late in the sixteenth century before our Common Era. The occasion was when he was being confronted by two brothers, Moses and Aaron, and other elders of the enslaved people of Israel. The question of who the true God is was then being put to the test. Using Aaron as his spokesman, Moses said to Pharaoh: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘Send my people away that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.’” If the Pharaoh here addressed considered himself like other Pharaohs, a god, he was not disposed to renounce his own godship in obedience to the God of those people whom Pharaoh was then unjustly exploiting as slaves of Egypt. So, back came Pharaoh’s challenging question and his own answer thereto:

¹¹ “Who is Jehovah, so that I should obey his voice to send Israel away? I do not know Jehovah at all and, what is more, I am not going to send Israel away.”​—Ex. 5:1, 2; 3:18, 19.

12, 13. (a) Here there was a confrontation between whom, and who turned out to be the winner? (b) What command concerning worship did the Deliverer of Israel have the right to give at the beginning of the Ten Commandments?

¹² If anything, that situation meant a confrontation between the God of the enslaved people of Israel and the Egyptian Pharaoh, whose statue as of a god may have been placed among the statues of all the other many gods of Egypt, then the superpower of the inhabited earth.

Satan the Devil allows for idolatrous images to be made even of himself and of “gods” associated with him.

Like it or not, all his intelligent creatures will be required to render exclusive devotion to him if they want to live happily forever. For this reason, the holders of political power today may borrow from Pharaoh’s language and ask, “‘Who is Jehovah,’ so that all should worship him?”

MATERIALISM GIVEN WORSHIP AS A GOD

16, 17. (a) Besides the State, what other things are people worshiping today? (b) How do many make materialism a god to themselves?

¹⁶ Unaware of what it is really doing, the vast majority of mankind is worshiping the symbolic “wild beast,” the political State that, in one form or another, governs “every tribe and people and tongue and nation.” (Rev. 13:7)