The Word Made Fresh
1Then I saw a beast with ten horns and seven heads rising out of the sea. Each horn had a crown, and its heads were covered with profane names. 2The beast was like a leopard, its feet like a bear’s and it’s mouth like a lion’s. The dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority. 3One of its heads appeared to have been given a fatal blow, but the wound had healed. The whole earth followed the beast in amazement. 4They worshiped the dragon because he had given the beast his authority. And they worshipped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who can fight against it?”
5The beast had been given a mouth to utter arrogant and perverted words, and was allowed to be in charge for forty-two months. 6Its mouth spoke blasphemous words against God, slandering his name and his dwelling place with those who abide in heaven. 7It was allowed to attack and conquer the saints and was put in charge of every tribe and people and language and nation. 8All who live on the earth will worship it – everyone whose name was not written at the beginning of the world in the book of life of the lamb that was slaughtered.
9Let everyone who can hear, listen:
10Whoever is to be captured will go into captivity;
Whoever kills with the sword will be killed by the sword.
This is a summons for the saints to faithfully endure.
11Then I saw another beast rise out of the ground. It had two horns like lambs’ horns, and it spoke like a dragon. 12It has all the authority of the first beast to use in its favor, and it forces the earth and all who dwell there to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13It can perform great signs – it can even make fire come down from heaven to earth for all to see. 14It uses these signs the beast allows it to perform to deceive those who inhabit the earth, demanding that they make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet survived. 15It was allowed to give the beast’s image breath, so that it could speak and order those who refused to worship its image to be killed. 16It also demanded that everyone, great and small, rich and poor, slave and free, be branded on the right hand or forehead, 17so that no one can buy or sell unless they have the brand – the beast’s name or the number of its name. 18This requires wisdom to understand; let those with understanding calculate the beast’s number, for it is the number of a man. His number is six hundred sixty-six.
Commentary
1-4: The number of characters in the book will continue to increase, but there are basically only four; two in the spiritual realm and two in the earthly realm. In each realm the characters will represent either those who are on God’s side or those who are against God. The woman and the dragon in the last chapter were opponents in the spiritual realm; she represents those on God’s side, and the dragon represents God’s chief opponent Satan. At the end of the chapter Satan, the dragon, was making war on the church (the woman’s children). We left the dragon on the seashore at the end of chapter 12; now as chapter 13 begins we are introduced to another antagonist, a “beast.” Make that “other beasts.” The first “beast” of Revelation appeared in chapter 11. That “beast” arose out of the bottomless pit and killed the two “witnesses.” The current “beasts” (the first is introduced in verse 1, the other in verse 11) arise out of the sea and out of the earth. They represent the primordial chaos out of which God brought creation. In Jewish mythology God fought against two great monsters, Leviathan in the sea (see Psalm 74:14) and Behemoth on land (see Job 40:15. See also 2 Esdras 6:49 [in the Apocrypha], which mentions both monsters). In John’s vision the beast from the sea is quite an extraordinary creature, having ten horns with diadems on seven heads. Most scholars see in this a reference to the Roman Empire. The heads and the horns represent successive rulers of Rome. The seven heads refer to the fabled seven hills of the city of Rome, while the ten crowned horns represent the emperors from the time of Augustus. Rome gets its power not from God but from Satan, the dragon of the last chapter. (I would say that the beast does not just represent Rome, but all those oppressive empires and powers on earth that claim God-like authority.) The blasphemous names on the heads of the beast likely are meant to represent the divine titles the Caesars gave themselves. The reference to leopard, bear and lion are from the book of Daniel (7:1-8), where these animals represent the successive empires that conquered Israel — Babylon, Persia, and Macedonia/Greece under Alexander the Great. Perhaps we are meant to understand that Rome is as bad as all the others put together. The head with the mortal wound has never gotten a satisfactory explanation; perhaps the best one I’ve come across has to do with a cult that believed Nero would come back to life over and over again. “The whole earth followed the beast” refers to the emperor worship that had become popular during the last decades of the 1st century.
5-8: The “beast” called Rome will kill the saints, John says, and people all over the world will worship the dragon (Satan) who gave the “beast” its power, and will also worship the “beast” — all, that is, except the followers of Christ.
9-10: To sum up his report of the appearance of the first “beast,” John issues a call to the saints (believers) for faith and endurance.
11-17: The second “beast” authorized by the “dragon” John sees arising out of the earth (see above comment on verses 1-4). It has only two horns, and it is distinguished by its speech: it speaks like a dragon even though its horns are like a lamb. This second “beast” is subservient to the first, that is, to Rome. One explanation is that this “beast” represents the two “horns” of Roman authority to force the people to worship the emperor: the legal and religious systems set up in the Roman Empire to insure that everyone obeyed the laws. During the worst persecutions of the church that meant forcing Christians to either declare that “Caesar is Lord” or die. In other words, Rome has set itself up to be like Christ the lamb, and through the two “horns” of legal and religious institutions tries to enforce such blasphemy. The reference to great signs in verse 13 cannot be identified with any certainty, but it is supposed that techniques were used to influence a superstitious population into believing miracles were occurring. The “image for the beast” refers to statues of the Caesars scattered all over the empire, some of which supposedly were rigged to make it sound as though a voice were emanating from them. The “mark” given to worshipers of the beast is obscure; either something like the brand used for slaves or the certificate to prove a citizen had worshipped the emperor is intended.
18: The “number” of the “beast” is either 666 or 616, depending on which ancient manuscript you want to consider most authoritative. Nero was the cruelest Caesar in terms of persecuting Christians, and in Greek the sum of the numerical value of the letters for the name “Neron” (the Greek form of Nero) is 666. If you drop the final ‘n,’ the sum would be 616. In Hebrew the term for “Nero Caesar” also produces 666. A popular pagan cult had arisen to worship the emperor Nero, and the myth on which the cult was based was that Nero would someday return to rule the world. It may be that John is predicting the return of that tyrant as the Antichrist. However, it has been demonstrated often enough that numerology (the belief that numbers possess some occult significance) is untrustworthy. Given that the number 7 symbolizes perfection and completeness it may simply be that 666 is John’s way of saying that the “beast” is emphatically less than perfect.
Takeaway
For two thousand years the followers of Christ have been denounced, made fun of, persecuted, mistreated, and even tortured and put to death. But fear not, friends. We are never alone in our attempts to make the world a better place to live in. Christ is with us. God is with us. The Holy Spirit is with us. The Church is with us. And eternal life awaits us.