October 13, 2014 Revelation Chapter 13

Revelation Chapter 13

Originally posted Friday December 26, 2008

Revelation, Chapter 13 The Two Beasts

General Comment: The Red Dragon - Satan, and his forces have been defeated in the heavenly conflict with the Archangel Michael. They have been cast down upon the earth where they will now carry their battle directly to the children of the woman - in this case the faithful Christians of John's churches. But Satan has allies. John's vision includes two symbolic beasts who will be the agents of Satan in his earthly assault on the Church. Taken together they represent what some writers call a counterfeit or evil trinity as if John had envisioned a direct comparison with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. At best a way to understand the comparison - in the symbolism of vision, is as an intentional mockery of God, God's saving act through Christ and God's prophetic word through the Spirit.

The two agents of Satan - one from the sea and the other from the earth (later called the false prophet), are representative of the two primordial monsters of Jewish myth: Leviathan (sea monster) and Behemoth (land monster). These two monster/beasts are significant figures of evil in the major Jewish apocalyptic writings of Enoch, Esdras and Baruch, known to and adapted by John. As in Daniel, John uses the beasts as symbols of empire. For Daniel the beast represented the Greek/Seleucid Empire of Antiochus Epiphanies IV and those that preceded it. In John the two beasts represent the Roman Empire: its Imperial cult established around the Emperors (lords) - as a mockery of Christ (Lord), and its local/provincial officials - as a mockery of the Spirit, who support,  promote and maintain the cult of the Emperor.

The Beast from the Sea 13:1-10

The Beast that rises from the sea is John's composite symbol of the Roman Empire that crosses the sea to invade and subjugate other lands (in John's case, Asia Minor). John's reference to the physical characteristics of the Beast in terms of three wild animals is from Dan. 7:3-7. In Daniel there are four wild animals corresponding to the Empires which had subjugated Israel: Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian and Greek which in later Judaism was changed to Rome). The seven heads of the Beast are both the Seven Hills of Rome and the seven Emperors beginning with Nero (17:9-10). The Beast receives the power and authority of the Dragon (12:3, 13:2b) represented by the equivalent number of ten horns with diadems (crowns of power and authority Dan. 7:1-8). The names on the seven heads are blasphemous. They are not the names of the seven Emperors. Rather they are Imperial titles that mock titles given to Christ - Lord, divine Son of God and savior of the world. These titles were applied by and to the Emperors and appeared on their coins and monument inscriptions. John makes this reference clear to the churches with the specific and well known circumstances associated with the Emperor Nero. He was the first Emperor to persecute the church, executing many including Peter and Paul. Nero is the "One [head] that seemed to have received a mortal wound" (a parody on the slaughtered Lamb). Nero committed suicide by plunging a knife into his throat. John's reference to the healing of the wound reflects a well known folk tradition that Nero did not die and would return to continue his murderous persecution of Christians (hence, Nero Residivous). Note the mockery - Nero/beast and Christ both have mortal wounds and both are alive. In John's vision "the whole earth" is amazed by the healing of the mortal wound and they followed the beast, worshipping it as well as the Dragon. They asked the question, "Who can fight against it?" The "whole earth" chose sides against God and picked what they thought was a winner.

Such a widely known allusion to Nero demonstrates how transparent much of John's political symbolism is. There is no mistaking John's intent to draw the sharpest distinction between the false divinity and lordship of the Roman Emperors and the true divinity and exclusive Lordship of Christ. John treads a dangerous path by proclaiming the true kingdom of God and the true Son of God over against the Roman Empire and its Imperial power - the enemies of God. For John, Nero residivous is represented by the presumed divine Emperor Domitian. That his readers understood the dangers and yet remained faithful in the face of death is a noble testament to their courage, hope and faith.

The Beast from the sea "was allowed" by divine Providence, authority for forty months (the time of tribulation). John wants to be very clear that Satan - the Dragon, is the source of the Beast's - the Emperor's, authority and power. But God has to allow that authority to be exercised by the Beast. God does so because, in John's view, this is all part of the tribulation preceding judgment. The Beast utters blasphemies against God's name and against those dwelling in heaven (vs. 6b). It is "allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them" with the sword. John's use of "conquer" in this context makes evident his differentiation of a Christian who conquers through non-resistant godliness and martyrdom and the Beast (Roman Imperial power) who conquers by violence. The Beast's authority is so all-encompassing that all the inhabitants of earth except those whose faith has persevered will worship it (all those whose name has not been written in the book of life Dan. 12:1). Vs. 10 is derived and loosely adapted from Isa. 14:2c. It speaks to the churches of the inevitable possibility of imprisonment and martyrdom of those who endure in their faith and do not give in to the pressure of paganism - particularly as it is expressed in Emperor worship of Domitian.

The Beast from the Land 13:11-18

If the Beast from the sea represents the divine Imperial power of Rome then the Beast from the land represents the official structure of the Imperial cult in charge of maintaining and encouraging the worship of the Emperor as a god. These were the provincial functionaries and civic leaders as well as the wealthy who promoted the building and maintenance of Temples to the divine Emperors. They also were the officiating priests of these Temples, the "false prophets" who encouraged public worship of and sacrifices to the Emperors This Beast derives its power from the first Beast (Emperor), speaking and acting on its behalf. John makes this arrangement clear in vs. 12 in that this beast makes humanity (encourages through false teaching) worship the Beast from the sea - the Emperor represented by Nero residivous. We should keep in mind - as John has, the Apollo connection between Nero and Domitian, both having fashioned their divine self-understanding after this god of light. This Beast from the land is allowed to use heavenly signs and wonders as a means of deception by which others are enticed to construct an image of the Beast from the sea, specified again as Nero residivous. This image was given breath (spirit) and speech with which to threaten the death of those who would not worship it.

The Beast from the land is also empowered to have every one of all stations of the social structure who worship the Beast marked on the right hand or forehead with the mark of the first beast (compare with 14:1). This mark controls economic and social commerce, creating difficulties for any who are not marked. A person's worship of the Beast becomes public with a form of identification which defines the person as belonging to the Beast set against those who have the name of the Lamb and God on their foreheads. Christians are cut off from typical sources of food. Much of the distribution and selling of food was done through the Temples. Some Temples were equipped with places for vendors as well as what we would call restaurants. The Christian would not purchase food under those circumstances and had to make do as they could, finding other sources without being detected.

John adds a detail that has interested every generation of Christians since the end of the first century. John refers to the mark of the Beast as the "name of the Beast or the number of its name."  In Judaism every letter is assigned a number. The use of such a system, called Gematria, in mystical, interpretive and prophetic studies of the Old Testament has been applied since the century before Jesus' birth. However, Its use is centuries older - as far back as the 8th century BCE. The book The Bible Code, written in 1997 by Michael Drosnin and its sequel The Bible Code II, stirred up considerable interest in this ancient method alleging there were hidden messages in the Hebrew Bible, specifically the Torah. With this system Drosnin predicted the Parousia would happen in 2006. Others - after that date, used it to predict a date 0f 2012. John is not interested in predictions of the future or verifications of past events. His concern is to identify the Beast from the sea. by the number of its name. Using the application of letters for numbers John derives the number 666 as the mark of the beast on the right hand or forehead of all who belong to the Beast. Taking the three numbers, the numerical equivalent in Hebrew is Nero. If we apply the same method with Greek letters the result is 616, which gives the name Neron, the Greek word for Nero. We need only note the consistent evidence of the first Beast being related to the head of one with a mortal wound and see John's understanding that this is Nero.