And I stood upon the sand of the sea; and I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon its horns ten diadems, and upon its heads names of blasphemy.
Chapter 12 has just shown Satan thrown down to the earth; now a monstrous power climbs out of the sea. Who is standing on that sand, what does the sea stand for, and why does God picture an empire as an animal?
The ESV above opens with the beast. Older translations begin the verse with someone standing on the sand, and the copies differ over who that is. Walter Scott sets out the choice and explains why he settles on John:
"And I stood upon the sand of the sea." Some read: "he stood." If we take the first reading, it refers to the Seer. If we take the second, the dragon is meant. Hengstenberg notes that outside evidence cannot settle the choice, and the authorities are divided. But a careful study of the context shows clearly that it is the Seer, not the dragon, who "stood upon the sand of the sea." The prophet always takes his stand at a point of observation that suits the subject in hand. So Heaven (Rev. 4:1), the sand of the sea (Rev. 13:1), the wilderness (Rev. 17:3), and a high mountain (Rev. 21:10) are the points of view from which he watches the visions pass before his eyes.
William Kelly reads the sea as a picture of people, and names what such a state throws up:
The sea sets forth the unformed mass of the people in a troubled state of the world — people in great agitation, like the restless waves of the deep. It represents a revolutionary condition among men. And it is out of that mass of anarchy and confusion that an imperial power rises.
The word "beast" is a verdict, not decoration. Kelly draws the line between a man and an animal:
What is meant by "the Beast"? The imperial system of Rome revived. All the empires refused to recognise God above. Of all beings on the earth, man alone was made to look up to One above, and he is responsible to do the will of God. A beast does not look up but down; it has no sense of an unseen superior, no conscience toward God... this is the more tremendous, because an empire ought to reflect the authority that God in His providence gave it. This Beast will go further than all before it in lawless contempt of God and in blasphemies.
W. W. Fereday notes that the nations have taken up the very badge God gave them:
God describes the Gentile powers of both past and future as wild beasts. That is, they have neither conscience nor heart. They rule by greed and brute force. Remarkably, the states of this in-between period, while the Roman Empire lies dormant, have taken up this character of their own accord. Every one of them has adopted either a wild beast or a bird of prey as its national symbol. So we get the British lion, the German eagle, and the rest.
Edward Dennett ties the iron and the ten toes of Daniel's vision to the empire John watches rise:
This last is the Roman empire. First it appears in its original energy and unstoppable strength, pictured by the emblem of iron. Then it appears in its final form of ten kingdoms, foreshadowed by the ten toes, welded together in one confederation under a supreme head. Rev. 13 describes the rise of that imperial power in its final form.
The dragon of chapter 12 wore his crowns on his heads; this beast wears them on his horns. F. B. Hole explains what the shift of the crowns tells us:
The heads stand for the varied forms the ruling power has taken through the years. Whatever they have been, the devil has claimed to wear the crown, and has in fact dominated the scene. When the Roman power reappears in the last days, it will be in a ten-kingdom form, and each king will claim a crown under the beast.
Kelly weighs why the horns are named before the heads:
Both clauses of the verse put the horns first. Perhaps this is because the beast here holds these powers in actual use, while Satan had them only in principle.
The last detail of the verse is the worst. Walter Scott shows how far that guilt spreads:
The Beast is described as "full of names of blasphemy." Blasphemy and the public denial of God and of Christ are acts the Beast commits. The names of blasphemy on its heads (Rev. 13:1) stamp the ruling authority with this awful guilt, but clearly it marks the whole state — leaders and people alike. The fear of God is gone. The empire in all its parts is wholly given up to this most horrible sin.
- Shore — John takes his stand on the sand, since every vision in this book has a fitting vantage point. Commentators differ over whether the text reads "I stood" or "he stood"; Scott reads the context in favour of the prophet.
- Sea — the water is humanity in upheaval; out of anarchy and confusion, not order, the imperial power climbs.
- Beast — God made man to look up; an animal looks down. An empire with no conscience toward God earns the name, and nations have chosen beast emblems for themselves.
- Crowns — Daniel's fourth empire returns in a ten-kingdom form. The crowns move from the dragon's heads to the beast's horns: power now held and used.
- Blasphemy — the last mark, on its heads, is open denial of God. It stamps the rulers, and the whole state with them.
And the beast which I saw was like to a leopardess, and its feet as of a bear, and its mouth as a lion's mouth; and the dragon gave to it his power, and his throne, and great authority;
John sees a beast built out of three animals: a leopard's body, a bear's feet, a lion's mouth. The images come from an earlier vision in the book of Daniel, and the verse answers a plain question: where does this world ruler get his throne?
In Daniel four beasts rose one after another. This one creature carries the features of three of them. Writers link each animal to an empire, and read a different kind of menace in each:
It looks like a leopard (the Greek Empire). Its feet are like a bear's (the Medo-Persian Empire). Its mouth is like a lion's (the Babylonian Empire). The leopard speaks of how fast it conquers. The bear's feet speak of how firmly it holds the land it has taken. The lion's mouth speaks of the strength and savagery with which it takes that land. Put together, they picture the horrible power of this fourth world-empire.
Commentators read the bear's feet in more than one way. One reference work points to how a bear kills:
In Revelation 13:2 the beast that stands for the still future Roman empire is like a leopard, with feet like a bear's. This shows how destructive it is. A bear destroys its prey by the strength of its feet, tearing it open.
The mixture is not new material. It is old material put back together, and one writer sees Satan's method in that:
Here we have, not the territories, but certain qualities that resemble all three of the first beasts of the prophet Daniel. Satan does not invent; he takes over whatever suits him from what has already been. So by this very strange mixture he tries to bring out the beast, or fourth empire, in its final form. No empire follows it. In this way it lays claim to everything known of old, and to evil without equal.
The verse names the dragon as the giver. One reference work gathers what the book says about him:
In the New Testament the dragon is a picture of Satan and of those he energises. In Revelation 12:3 the "great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns" stands for Satan's power in the form of the Roman empire. Through Herod, that power tried to destroy Christ when He was born. In Revelation 13:2, 4 it is Satan who gives the revived Roman empire in a future day its throne and great authority.
Three things change hands: power, throne and great authority. One writer says what each of them means, and notes that the same offer was once made to Christ and refused:
The beast combines the marks and characteristics of the empires before it, and their sovereignty too. So it is a fitting instrument through which the dragon can work… Satanic power out of the abyss, Satan's own throne in the middle of a scene that defies God, and unlimited authority on the earth: that is the awful picture here. Christ refused the sovereignty of the world from Satan (Luke 4:5, 8); here is one who accepts it. The dragon hands over his throne and authority at the time when the beast comes up out of the abyss (Revelation 17:8), after Satan has been thrown out of heaven.
In the book of Daniel, Babylon's king Nebuchadnezzar received his rule from God. Here that source is turned upside down:
This beast gathered into itself all the beast-like forms that had marked the three empires before it. More than that, it received its kingdom, in its final form, straight from the hands of Satan. Nebuchadnezzar had received his rule from God. The revived Roman empire at the end will take its power from Satan, and Satan will energise it. It is the complete falling away of human government from God. Among the ruling powers it will be seen in the dethroning of God and the lifting of Satan to His seat!
This satanic rule does not last. It has a fixed length and a fixed end:
The satanic character and history of the empire cover the most serious crisis in the world's future: the three and a half years before the Lord's coming in glory. At the end of that period… the beast and his partner in evil go "to destruction" — that is, into the lake of fire.
- Composite. Leopard, bear and lion put the speed, grip and ferocity of three past empires into one final world power.
- Borrowed. Satan invents nothing. He takes what suits him from empires already gone, and pushes it past anything known before.
- Given. The beast does not seize power, throne and authority. The dragon hands them over, so the beast's rule is Satan's rule.
- Refused. Satan once offered the world's kingdoms to Christ, and Christ said no. This ruler says yes.
- Ended. Rule that began as God's gift to Nebuchadnezzar ends up wholly satanic. It lasts three and a half years, and then comes destruction.
and one of his heads [was] as slain to death, and his wound of death had been healed and the whole earth wondered after the beast.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And they did homage to the dragon, because he gave the authority to the beast; and they did homage to the beast, saying, Who [is] like to the beast? and who can make war with it?
The world has just watched a fatal wound healed. Now it bows to the power behind the throne. Two figures receive worship here: the dragon who gave the authority, and the beast who uses it. The crowd's cry is not a creed. It is a boast about strength no one can challenge.
The first act of worship goes past the visible ruler to the invisible giver. Walter Scott explains how men get there:
Here God is set aside, and the dragon usurps His place. Not the Creator, but Satan becomes the object of universal worship. Mere profession is worthless in that awful day. Reality alone can stand in a scene wholly given up to Satan… In the eyes of men, the dragon has just done what people thought God alone could do. He has given supreme authority to the beast. For that reason men pay him divine honours.
This is not a new craving in Satan. It is the same bargain once offered in the wilderness, and once refused:
Remember also that Satan came to our Lord when He was tempted in the wilderness. Satan offered Him all the kingdoms of the world, if only He would worship him. The Lord's answer was, "Be gone, Satan." He utterly refused it. But the offer the Lord in His perfection refused will appeal to this man, called "the beast." He will bow to the devil and get the kingdom for a brief spell. For that same spell men will openly call Satan "god." He will seem to reach what he has wanted from the beginning. Isaiah 14:12-14 points to this: "I will ascend… I will make myself like the Most High." Yet the result is this: "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!" Reaching his dearest desire is the prelude to his fall.
(Older translations read "Lucifer, son of the morning" in Isaiah 14:12.)
Kelly points to the state of the world just before the beast rises:
What a fickle thing man is! No doubt, just before, there had been a state of anarchy and confusion. Out of it the beast arises. He becomes an object of wonder and worship to men who are tired of all their earlier turmoil, strife and insecurity… So instead of men running things themselves, some strong chief will take the rule. But it will not be merely the hand of man. It will be the dragon's power.
The same power that draws the applause also produces a false sense of security:
The beast is the dragon's chief political agent. He will be so powerful and impressive that men will worship him. They will treat his power as unstoppable. Men will feel that here at last is the superman and the super-kingdom. It can impose its will and put down all opposition. This, we judge, is what will lead men to say, "There is peace and security," as foretold in 1 Thessalonians 5:3. But that cry leads to "sudden destruction."
The verse's two questions praise a power, not a deity. Hamilton Smith says where that praise really lands:
This revival will be a wonder to all the world. It will call out the world's admiration for a power that no other power can match, and that no one will dare to fight. And yet to praise and applaud this empire will in reality be worship of the devil.
Scott weighs what the two questions themselves say:
"Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?" His power and skill in war are the dazzling qualities that win the world's admiration. The special point here is the homage owed to his high position, not worship itself. Yet we think more is implied. Men will pay divine honours to the personal head of the restored empire, and the second beast brings this about.
Worship here is shared. Kelly sets out the three figures involved:
It is clear that three persons are closely linked in this scene: the dragon, the world-power or first beast, and the political and religious second beast. Revelation 13:4 shows that men worship the dragon as well as the first beast… In fact, they are the anti-trinity, and the unseen power of Satan is what binds them.
The sweep is total, with one exception:
This power sways all who dwell on the earth. The only exceptions are those God chose before the foundation of the world. These do not worship the beast, the vessel of Satan's authority.
- Source. The dragon is worshipped for one stated reason — he gave the authority. Men pay divine honours to whoever appears to hand out supreme power.
- Ambition. What Satan offered Christ in the wilderness and was refused, the beast accepts. Satan gets the worship he has always wanted, briefly.
- Appeal. After anarchy comes a strong hand, and a weary world calls it unstoppable. Relief from fear, not conviction, builds this altar.
- Disguise. The cry is about might, not deity — yet applauding this empire is in reality worship of the devil. Idolatry can sound entirely political.
- Exception. Everyone on earth is swept along except those God chose before the foundation of the world. In that hour profession is worthless; only reality stands.
And there was given to it a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies; and there was given to it authority to pursue its career forty-two months.
This verse hands a ruler both a voice and a clock. He may boast and blaspheme, but only for a fixed span of forty-two months — and the fact that both are handed to him is where commentators find the verse's horror and its comfort.
The beast does not generate his own authority. Earlier verses in the chapter show where it comes from.
Notice the repeated phrase "given to him" (vv. 5, 7). Verses 2 and 4 explain it. They remind us that the beast's power is not only handed to him — it is handed to him by Satan.
The same wording also comforts. Satan is not the last link in the chain.
This dark account of satanic wickedness and human arrogance has a ray of comfort woven into its very fabric. God's beloved saints, then and now, find it in how often the words "given him" occur. Behind the Beast lies the hidden yet almighty power of Jehovah. Satan has no power in himself. All power is of God.
This verse describes speech, not action.
First the beast was given an extraordinary, overbearing sense of his own importance: "he spoke great things." It is not doing here but speaking in pride. It is his character, not his acts. Next come insulting words against others, flowing out of that pride — blasphemies.
That pride is aimed upward. Another writer notes that the boaster cannot escape the God he mocks.
He will be a boaster, puffed up, like his god Satan, with the sense of his own merits and excellencies... He cannot rid himself of God, of heaven, or of the heavenly saints, but in the helplessness of his rage, glorying in his earthly supremacy, he pours out his wicked heart in insolent blasphemies.
John's beast and the little horn of Daniel's vision match point for point.
The little horn "speaks great words against the Most High" (Dan. 7:25). The beast "opens his mouth in blasphemy against God" (Rev. 13:6). The little horn's power lasts "a time, and times, and the dividing of time" (Dan. 7:25). The beast's power continues "forty-two months" (Rev. 13:5), which is only another way of saying the same period.
These months land at one precise point in prophecy.
The forty-two months of Revelation 13:5, or three and a half years, show when the events foretold in this chapter will happen. They fall in the last half week of Daniel's seventy weeks — the period just before the appearing and reign of Christ.
The months measure a crisis, not the whole life of the empire.
Notice what our text states. It is not the existence of the Beast or the empire as such. It is that great crisis in its history when Satan takes possession of it — forty-two months, or three and a half years before its final destruction.
The limit itself is mercy. God does the measuring, not the persecutor.
He who sits on the throne will never let the enemy seize the reins of government. His controlling hand measures everything that must fall on His own people, and the enemy cannot go beyond that measure. So the sufferings of the elect during the great tribulation last 1260 days (Rev. 12:6). Satan could not make it 1261, however much he wanted to.
- Given — the beast owns nothing. Someone hands him his mouth and his time, and that word is the reader's comfort.
- Given by Satan — the immediate source of his power is the dragon of verses 2 and 4, not any merit of his own.
- Given under God — behind the giver stands the almighty power of God, who checks Satan's authority and its length at His pleasure.
- Given a mouth — speech marks him first: proud boasting that spills over into blasphemy, just as Daniel saw in the little horn.
- Given a clock — forty-two months, three and a half years, the last half of Daniel's seventieth week — and not one day more.
And it opened its mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and those who have their tabernacle in the heaven.
The beast's forty-two months of power begin with an open mouth, not a raised sword. He aims his words at three targets: God's name, His dwelling, and those who dwell in heaven. Why does a ruler with the whole earth at his feet waste his breath on a place he cannot touch?
(Note: where the ESV says "his dwelling," older translations say "his tabernacle." The quotes below use that older word.)
The verse before gives the beast a mouth "speaking great things and blasphemies." One writer shows how the second grows out of the first:
First the beast was given an extraordinary, overbearing claim for himself — "he spoke great things." This is not doing but speaking in pride. It is his character, not his acts. Next come injurious words against others, flowing from that pride — blasphemies... He blasphemed the "name" of God, instead of owning its authority in the place of power he held.
His power was handed to him, and that hand-over decides where loyalty ends:
We must acknowledge "the powers that be." But when Satan has given the beast his authority, that is another thing altogether: we owe no allegiance to Satan. In fact, Satan is the one who leads the beast on into all his own depths and heights of sin.
The dwelling he curses is not a building on earth:
As well as blaspheming God and His name, he adds the blasphemy of God's tabernacle and "those who dwell in heaven" (v. 6). It seems the tabernacle refers to God's heavenly dwelling, so this involves the Beast's bold defiance of all heavenly authority.
So who are these people in heaven? One writer names them:
This is violent and injurious speaking against God Himself and against His heavenly saints. Those that dwell in heaven are the glorified saints. They are caught up to be with the Lord forever when Christ comes for His own, before the beast comes to power.
Satan has just been thrown out of heaven. That explains the shape of verse 6:
The heavenly saints now have their dwelling-place in heaven. The devil has been cast down to the earth, so he is powerless to reach them. He can only open his mouth and include them in the blasphemies he utters against God.
One writer calls such cursing an honour, and offers believers the same safety now:
Satan can blaspheme the saints in heaven, but he cannot hurt them... Satan can never get back to heaven once he is cast out... He will make war with those on the earth, but he cannot touch those in heaven. We belong with Christ there. We can sit in calm and peace above the devil's blasphemy, because we are with God... It is a blessed thing to be so identified with God as to be the objects of Satan's blasphemies.
Blocked above, the beast looks down:
The beast may blaspheme the tabernacle above, and Satan may insult those who dwell there, but he can no longer even accuse them before God. So he turns to violent persecution on the earth. "And it was given him to make war with the saints" — and these saints are plainly not in heaven.
This hatred is not only for the future:
It displays its anger towards those who dwell in heaven. It is already like this in principle. If a Christian will walk as an inhabitant of heaven, the world cannot bear him. That will be still more dreadful then.
- Pride first. His great words about himself come before his blasphemies against God. Pride is the root; injurious speech is the fruit.
- Three targets. God's name, God's dwelling, and those who live there. The blasphemy reaches for God, for heaven, and for everyone at home in heaven.
- Out of reach. The saints in heaven are beyond his hand. All he can do is open his mouth, because Satan, once cast out, never returns to heaven.
- So earth suffers. Unable to touch heaven, he turns downward, and verse 7 gives him war with the saints still below.
- Already in principle. Anyone who walks now as a citizen of heaven meets the same hatred in smaller measure. They also share the same safety, seated with Christ above the noise.
And there was given to it to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and there was given to it authority over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation;
This verse says two things about the beast. God lets him fight His people and beat them, and God gives him authority over every nation on earth. That raises two hard questions: how can God allow His saints to lose, and who are these saints?
The phrase "it was given" repeats through this whole passage. One writer finds real comfort in that.
This dark account of satanic wickedness and human arrogance has a ray of comfort woven into its very fabric for God's beloved saints, both now and then. It lies in how often the words "given him" appear. Behind the Beast lies the hidden yet almighty power of Jehovah. Satan has no power in himself. All power is of God… A storm once lashed the Sea of Galilee into fury to sink the boat that carried the most precious cargo that ever sailed: Christ and His disciples. That power had its source in the divine Sleeper resting in the back of the ship. For the moment Satan was granted authority over the elements of nature. This was to show us that his power, and how long it lasts, is controlled and checked by God at His will and pleasure (Matthew 8:23-27).
One writer points out what is new here.
"Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them." Some are killed — for example, the two witnesses. This could never have happened before. God never allowed the saints to be overcome. All who dwell on the earth are swayed by this power except those chosen before the foundation of the world. These do not worship the beast, the vessel of Satan's authority.
To "conquer them" does not mean the beast kills every believer. God has a purpose in the defeat itself.
The saints the beast will wage war against are the ones named in the previous chapter (Revelation 12:17). In this, as in everything else, he is only Satan's instrument. God allows them to be overcome (compare Matthew 24:9-10). Not all of them, as we learn later, but many. He does it to test their faith and to purify His people in the furnace of affliction.
One writer marks off who they are, and who they are not.
This man will not make war with Israel, but "with the saints" — those in the Tribulation Period who will be awakened to take a stand for the living God (v. 7).
Another writer describes their witness.
The saints in these times are not like the seven thousand silent witnesses in the prophet's day. They are all Elijahs, bold and uncompromising in their testimony.
Commentators differ on how far this authority reaches. Some read it as worldwide:
The empire may cover any amount of territory in the future. Even so, the authority of the Beast seems unlimited in its range and reach, since it takes in "every tribe and people and language and nation" — the four divisions of the human race. Countries and peoples outside the Roman empire will yet be found under its powerful influence and authority.
Others read it more narrowly. Grant says the authority "speaks particularly of the Western nations which willingly submit to him." Russia and Assyria, the king of the north, will not join that coalition.
The next verses give the practical instruction. One writer explains why the saints needed it.
This warning is meant above all to guide the saints. From the wickedness of the beast and his alliance with the dragon, they might well conclude that they were free to resist him… Their place was not to take the sword in their own defence. If they did, what would the result be? Whatever their character, and whatever the beast's, God would still hold to His principles. They must expect what they tried to inflict.
Later in the book the same people appear again — and the scoreboard reads the opposite way.
These conquerors have "gotten the victory over the beast." What a change! Seen from man's side, the beast had made war with them "and overcome them." Seen from God's side, they have "gotten the victory over the beast." On earth the cry is, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" In heaven the song is, "Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name?" God is always victorious in the end, and so are those who trust Him.
- Given — God hands the beast every power he holds. Behind the visible tyrant stands the almighty God. That repeated word "given" is the comfort buried in the verse.
- Allowed — God permits His saints to be beaten. He had never allowed that before. He does it to test their faith and purify them.
- Awakened — these saints turn to God during that time. They take an open stand, bold as Elijah rather than silent.
- Restrained — their calling is not armed resistance. Those who take the sword must expect the sword; their place is patience and faith.
- Reversed — heaven reads the beast's conquest as the saints' victory. God wins in the end, and so do all who trust Him.
and all that dwell on the earth shall do it homage, [every one] whose name had not been written from [the] founding of [the] world in the book of life of the slain Lamb.
At the height of the beast's power the whole world bows to a man, and only one thing marks off those who do not. That mark is a name in the book of life, and it raises two questions: who are the people who "dwell on earth," and what does "the foundation of the world" describe?
The worship is not partial. One writer names the only exception, and an old Roman practice behind it:
Except for God's chosen ones, all men will also worship the beast — all who dwell on the earth. This expression now loses its special moral meaning and will include everyone within this sphere except God's people. It will only be the revival of the old Roman custom of paying homage, and offering incense, to images of the emperor.
Commentators differ here. The writer above reads the phrase as everyone left on earth. Another draws a sharper line, and sees the same drift already at work:
There is a fixed difference between the nations at large in the world and "those that dwell on the earth." The first is the broader term. The second means the narrower group, whose earthly character is more settled. They had heard and hated the heavenly testimony of Christ and the church. They might still keep the names and the forms, but hearts that had turned away deliberately preferred earth to heaven... Never since the gospel was first preached have men been more thoroughly settling down in the effort to make earth their paradise. One lack accounts for it all: Christ is not everything, and the heart is divided between the first man and the Second.
The ESV reads "before the foundation of the world" here; the translations these writers use read "from." The time phrase belongs to the writing of the name, not to the Lamb's death, and a parallel verse settles it:
Carefully keep in mind that "from the foundation of the world" belongs not to "slain," but to the writing of the name. The Lamb was not slain from the foundation of the world, though the eternal purpose was there. But the name was written from the foundation of the world, in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. Compare Revelation 17:8, where the omission of the slain Lamb makes the true connection plain and certain.
Another writer allows one sense in which the popular reading is harmless, while still refusing it as a translation:
There is no such thing in Scripture as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Revelation 13 says, "Whose names are not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb slain." If people only mean that the Lamb was slain before the world in the counsels of God, that is fine. But it is true in no other way.
The two words are not interchangeable. The difference marks off two groups of God's people:
"From" the world's founding does not mean the same as "before" it. Some saints are kept from yielding to the Beast at the close of the age. Their name was written from the foundation of the world in the slain Lamb's book of life. But the phrase used in Ephesians 1:4, as in 1 Peter 1:20, is pointedly different. As Christ was foreknown and loved by the Father "before" then, so God chose us who now believe. He chose us in Christ "before" the world's foundation, to be holy and blameless before Him in love.
The book carries the slain Lamb's name, and that ownership brings two guarantees:
The book of the Lamb slain means that only those whose sins have been washed away by the precious blood of Christ will have their names written in that book. Second, being written from the foundation of the world speaks of God's unchangeable eternal counsel. We know that counsel will stand forever.
Not every "book of life" in Revelation is the same book. That difference turns this verse into a comfort:
"The book of life" in Revelation 3:5 is not the same as the one in Revelation 13:8. In 3:5 it is profession, which may or may not be real... But in chapter 13:8 every name recorded was that of a true believer. The names were written from the foundation of the world, and so before the course of human responsibility began. God knows the end from the beginning, and so He wrote each name in letters that cannot be erased.
- Written, not slain. The time phrase governs the writing of the name, not the Lamb's death. Revelation 17:8 drops "of the slain Lamb" and proves it.
- Written when. "From" the world's founding is deliberate, and differs from the "before" of Ephesians 1:4 and 1 Peter 1:20.
- Written by whom. The book belongs to the slain Lamb, so only the blood-cleansed are in it. God's unchangeable purpose keeps it standing.
- Written, so unerasable. Revelation 3:5 is the register of profession, where names may be struck out. This book is the record of reality, where none is.
- Written, so unbowed. The whole world worships the beast. The only ones who refuse are those whose names were written.
If any one has an ear, let him hear.
The whole earth is worshipping the beast, and then one short sentence turns from the crowd to a single person. It is a call to hear that Jesus used often, but with something missing that used to go with it.
The wording here is not new. What is missing from it tells us where we are in the book's timeline.
The formula, "If anyone has an ear, let him hear," is one often used in the ministry of our Lord (Matthew 11:15; Matthew 13:9, 43; Luke 8:8, etc.). It is much the same as the call found in each of the messages to the seven churches (Revelation 2, 3), but shortened. The added clause, "what the Spirit says to the churches," can have no place here, since churches are no longer in existence while these judgments run their course. The call to hear assumes the use of spiritual understanding, as distinct from the natural hearing common to all people.
The call assumes a hearing that goes past the physical. The same summons runs from the Lord's teaching, through the letters to the seven churches, and lands here.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear" was said by the Lord to His hearers, and to each of the seven churches in Asia, and also said when the beast, representing the future Roman power, is worshipped, signifying that a spiritual discernment was needed to catch the meaning of what was uttered.
The next verse supplies the content. One writer reads it as a rule for everyone, but aimed above all at God's people.
That is a general rule, true of anyone; true even for the beast. If he has been leading others into captivity, he must go into captivity or worse himself... But it is meant above all to guide the saints. They might well conclude, from the wickedness of the beast and his alliance with the dragon, that they were free to resist him. That, I believe, is why this is said: so that the saint is not tempted to forget his place, or God's supremacy and sure judgment. Their place was not to take the sword in their own defence.
The same words also bring relief to people being hunted. But the comfort is unlike what a Christian would expect today, and one writer sets it beside Stephen, who prayed for the men persecuting him.
Anyone who can tell the difference between God's ways in government and God's ways in grace will see at once how such words fit the first and differ from the second. Stephen had to do with God's ways in grace. He was praying for the men persecuting him. What comfort would it have been to tell him that they would be stoned? Here, though, we are in a different period of God's dealings, tied to His ways in government. So the promise given to His saints is that their persecutor will soon be destroyed.
Force is not open to them. What remains is endurance, and it follows a pattern.
Human resistance by force was not the path of obedience. Here the patience and faith of the saints were shown. Whoever took the sword would perish by it. Taking the sword is never Christ's way; His way is patience that does not fight back. But the beast, who did take the sword, would perish.
Their situation looks like defeat. One writer names the rule behind it, and where it leaves them.
This lays down a principle that applies to the beast and to God's saints in every age — to enemies and friends alike... It is the certainty of retributive justice, or in the words of Scripture, "with the measure you use it will be measured to you" (Matthew 7:2). Whoever leads into captivity must go into captivity himself. Whoever kills must himself be killed... They would not worship the beast, but neither were they to resist him, so captivity and death would be their sad lot. Well, be it so; they had a life beyond the utmost power of the enemy. Their names were written in the Lamb's book of life. No power in hell or earth could erase that writing, or rob them of their eternal portion, which rests on the death of the Lamb of God.
The summons is open-ended. Anyone with an ear is included, which makes the choice between two settlements a present one.
Others are urged to hear if they have an ear to do so (v. 9). People should take to heart what a serious folly this is. They would rather settle down in a corrupted and corrupting world than take hold of the freeing grace of the Lord Jesus, with its eternal blessings in heaven.
- Hear — Jesus used this call often. Here it is cut short: no churches are on earth in that day, so the words about the Spirit and the churches drop away.
- Discern — The ear in view is spiritual understanding, not the natural hearing everyone has. It catches what is really being said while the earth worships the beast.
- Restrain — What the hearer catches first is a limit on himself. God's people are not to take up the sword against the beast, even in self-defence.
- Trust — The measure the persecutor uses will be measured back to him. That is God's government, and it holds the saints steady while they wait.
- Endure — What is left is patience that does not fight back, Christ's own way. Captivity or death may follow, but names written in the Lamb's book of life cannot be erased.
If any one [leads] into captivity, he goes into captivity. If any one shall kill with [the] sword, he must with [the] sword be killed. Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints.
Revelation 13 has just described a world-empire that blasphemes God and makes war on His people. Now the verse turns to the reader with two questions: what happens to the persecutor, and what should the persecuted do while he still rules?
(Older translations read the first half as "he that leads into captivity shall go into captivity," and end with "here is the patience and the faith of the saints." Several writers quoted below use that older wording; the ESV reads "if anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes.")
The call to listen echoes a phrase from the letters to the seven churches, but part of it is missing. One writer explains what was dropped and why.
The formula, "If any one has an ear, let him hear," is one our Lord often used in His ministry (Matthew 11:15; Matthew 13:9, 43; Luke 8:8, and others). It is much the same as the one found in each of the letters to the seven churches (Revelation 2, 3), only shorter. The added clause, "what the Spirit says to the churches," could not apply here. Churches are no longer in existence while these judgments run their course. The call to hear assumes spiritual understanding, not the natural hearing common to all people.
The first half of the verse states a rule that binds the persecutor as surely as it binds anyone else.
A great principle runs through all this working and character of the beast on earth: "he that leads into captivity shall go there." So it will be with him. But God will not depart from His principles. Whoever uses oppressing power will be oppressed. The Lord will judge it, wherever it is found: "he that kills with the sword shall be killed with the sword."
The measuring rule the persecutor uses is the one he will be measured by.
It is the certainty of retributive justice, or in the words of Scripture, "with the measure you use it will be measured to you" (Matthew 7:2). Whoever leads into captivity must himself go into it. Whoever kills must himself be killed.
The words state a general rule, but their sharp edge points at God's people. Facing a ruler allied with the dragon, they might well think they were free to fight back.
That is a general rule, true of anyone, true even of the beast... But it is meant above all to guide the saints. Seeing the wickedness of the beast and his league with the dragon, they might naturally conclude that they were free to resist him... Their place was not to take the sword in their own defence. If they did, what would be the result? Even then, whatever their character, whatever the beast's, God would hold to His principles. They must expect what they sought to inflict... If He lets him have his way for a season, what is our calling? "Here is the patience and the faith of the saints" — faith towards God, and patience towards the enemy.
The same rule that condemns the oppressor would condemn a believer who copies him.
What we read in verse 10 is a principle for Christians. The character of the patience and of the faith of the saints is not to resist at all. This is true at all times. If anyone will use the weapons of the flesh, he shall be made subject to them. Whoever draws the sword shall perish by the sword.
Telling a sufferer that his enemy will be destroyed is one kind of comfort. It was not the comfort given to Stephen while he prayed for his persecutors.
Anyone who can tell God's ways in government from God's ways in grace will see at once how these words fit the first and differ from the second. Stephen had to do with God's ways in grace. What comfort would it have been to him, while he prayed for his persecutors, to tell him that they would be stoned? Here, though, we are in a different period of God's dealings, tied to His ways in government. So the promise given to His saints is that their persecutor will soon be destroyed.
The verse ends by naming what the saints are to do. Their pattern is Christ Himself.
In the middle of this tribulation like no other, the saints must take the attitude of "unresisting patience." It was the attitude of our Lord Himself. When the hour of man and the power of darkness had come, He allowed Himself to be "brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opens not His mouth." The faith and patience of the saints would show in their confidence in God, and in their meek endurance of the fiery trial they would have to pass through.
Refusing to fight leaves them defenceless in one sense only.
They must not resist. Their weapons are not of the flesh, but spiritual... Only in this way can they triumph. Their victories are moral and spiritual, not physical. Helpless and hopeless, their resource is in God Himself. The Beast they would not worship, but on the other hand they must not resist, so captivity and death would be their sad lot. Well, be it so; they had a life beyond the utmost power of the enemy. Their names were written in the Lamb's book of life, and no power in hell or earth could erase the writing.
- Hear — the call to listen is the one from the letters to the churches, only shorter. Those churches are no longer in existence during these judgments.
- Measure — the oppressor is judged by his own rule. Whoever leads into captivity goes into captivity. Whoever kills is killed.
- Restrain — the same rule warns the saints. Take up the sword against the beast, and you invite the sword back on yourself.
- Endure — their calling is faith towards God and patience towards the enemy, the attitude of Christ Himself.
- Keep — their victories are moral, not physical. The enemy can take their lives, but he cannot erase their names from the Lamb's book of life.
And I saw another beast rising out of the earth; and it had two horns like to a lamb, and spake as a dragon;
A second beast now comes into view. He does not rise from the churning sea of the nations like the first; he comes up from solid ground. Everything about him is copied. He looks like the Lamb, but the moment he opens his mouth his real parentage comes out.
The two beasts come from different places, and the difference matters. The sea pictures nations in uproar. The earth pictures a world that has settled into order.
This beast does not rise up out of the sea like the first. The sea pictures society in trouble and unrest. He comes up out of the earth, a state of ordered and settled government. When we look at his character and his claims, we find something even more dreadful than the first beast.
The horns are the point of the picture. Commentators read them as the offices Christ Himself holds — and note which one is missing.
First, this beast had two horns like a lamb. He claims to be the expected Messiah, so he imitates the true Christ and takes on His appearance. He was like a lamb in the vision, and he also had two horns. Those horns are two of the forms of power that Christ as the Messiah will exercise. These are here the forms of prophetic and kingly power. Satan could not give the third form, that of the priest. He had lost his own place as accuser in heaven when God cast him down.
Earlier in Revelation the true Lamb has seven horns. Two horns are a copy scaled down.
From Revelation 13:11, we have the second beast with lamb-like horns. He counterfeits Christ (as in Revelation 5:6), but he has two horns instead of seven. His mouth betrays his Satanic origin.
The costume is convincing; the speech is not. John's Gospel shows two things about Jesus that this beast cannot copy — He is the Lamb of God, and He is the Shepherd whose sheep know His voice.
He impersonates a lamb, but his speech reveals his true character. Jesus came as THE LAMB of God, as John 1 shows. John 10 shows that He is the true Shepherd of the sheep, and His voice made Him known. Here the false "lamb" proves he is no true shepherd but a slave-driver. He speaks with the voice of the dragon.
Jesus warned that people would refuse Him and welcome a man who comes in his own name. Here that warning comes true, and it explains why crowds follow this beast.
Our Lord said, "I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him" (John 5:43). This prophecy now obtains a dreadful fulfilment. Of course Christ's sheep know His voice. They will not follow a stranger. They will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers (John 10:4-5)... They have rejected the true Shepherd. Now they swallow the claims of the "idol shepherd" whole. They have refused "the Lamb of God." Now they gladly take in the wolf in sheep's clothing. The god of this world has found them a Messiah suited to their taste. This one calls for no repentance. He flatters their vanity instead of rebuking their sin.
Later chapters name this beast again, and Satan gives him a different gift from the one he gave the first beast.
The second Beast, or Antichrist, is the same person as "the false prophet," who is named three times (Revelation 16:13; Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10). Two men head the rebellion against Christ in His royal and prophetic rights, and Satan controls and energises them both — a trinity of evil. "The dragon has given his external power to the first Beast; to the second he gives his spirit, so that having this spirit it speaks as a dragon."
His work runs in two directions at once.
He is the Man of sin, the lawless one of 2 Thessalonians 2. He plays into the hands of the Roman power in the West, causing everyone to worship his image on pain of death. In the East he comes out in his true character as the Antichrist. He opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God, and sets himself up as the object of worship in the rebuilt temple of God in Jerusalem.
- Ground — He comes up out of the earth, not the sea. He arrives when the nations have settled into order, not while they are in turmoil.
- Costume — His two horns copy the prophetic and royal power of Christ. The priest's office is missing, and the true Lamb has seven horns.
- Voice — The disguise is only skin deep. The dragon has given him his own spirit, so he speaks as a dragon, and that speech tells you whose he is.
- Welcome — The world receives him because he demands no repentance and flatters instead of rebuking. It refused the One who came in His Father's name.
- Safeguard — The sheep know the Shepherd's voice and will not follow a stranger. Discernment in that day is a matter of hearing, not of watching.
and it exercises all the authority of the first beast before it, and causes the earth and those that dwell in it to do homage to the first beast, whose wound of death was healed.
Revelation 13 introduces a second beast: not the world-ruler of the earlier verses, but his working partner. His whole task is to make the earth worship that ruler — which raises a hard question: how can a false messiah win worship for a rival?
The chapter shows two beasts, and they differ in what each supplies.
In Revelation 13 two beasts are seen in vision. The first is the Roman power and its blasphemous head under the direct control of Satan (Rev. 13:1-10). The second beast is the personal Antichrist (Rev. 13:11-17). The first is marked by brute force. It is the political power of the earth in those days, the one to whom Satan "gave his power and his throne and great authority" (Rev. 13:2). The second beast is clearly subordinate to the power of the first (Rev. 13:12). The ends he has in view are religious, not political. The might and strength of apostate Rome supports this religious pretension. So the two beasts act together under their great chief, Satan. All three receive worship together.
Much of the verse turns on the phrase "in its presence." Older translations read "before him." It rules out any rivalry between the two beasts.
This beast exercises all the authority of the first beast before him — that is, in his presence, with his full sanction. It is not a seizing of power. It is in no sense something done without him. It is done in his presence, as it says here. "And makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast" — there is an understanding between them — "whose mortal wound was healed." It is remarkable that in 2 Thessalonians 2 we do not hear of him causing the world to worship the first beast. There he claims worship and is himself worshipped as God.
This looks like a contradiction: a man who demands worship for himself, yet promotes another. Kelly answers that worship in this scene is never limited to one figure.
Three persons are clearly linked in this scene: the dragon, the world-power or first beast, and the second beast, which is both political and religious. Revelation 13:4 shows that men worship the dragon as well as the first beast. So the difficulty stays much the same, whether we take the first beast or the second to be the antichrist and man of sin. Either way, another shares the worship. In fact they are the anti-trinity, and find their bond in the unseen power of Satan.
Satan did not invent this arrangement of one person using another's authority. He copied it.
There is a fact here worth noticing — it is a kind of imitation of the ways of God. As the Father has given all power to the risen Son, and the Holy Spirit exercises all the power of Christ before Him, so Satan imitates the same thing in evil. The dragon will give his throne to the beast. Notice the character in which men will worship him: "One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed." When that wound is healed, there is a kind of resurrection — not of a person, but of the beast's power raised up again. Then all the world will wonder after the beast, and the second beast will exercise all the power of the first beast before him.
All the action in the verse belongs to the second beast. Some conclude the first is only a figurehead. Scott rejects that.
The second beast is a subordinate power, and its royal head is the active minister of the first beast. At first sight one might almost think the first beast is a mere passive machine. All the energy and force of character seem to sit in the second, since "he exercises all the authority of the first beast before him," that is, in his presence. But that is not so. The first beast is a powerful federation of ten kingdoms under an imperial leader — active, bold, persecuting, and blaspheming. The religious beast has no royal authority outside Palestine. So he uses the authority of the first beast, its force and prestige, to carry out his utterly evil design: to get Christendom to bow down in worship before the revived Roman empire.
"Those who dwell on the earth" is a set phrase in Revelation. It marks out one kind of person.
This is a strong expression in Revelation. It describes those who seek their portion on earth at the time when men refuse the Lord Jesus Christ His rights in it. A great trial awaits them (Rev. 3:10)... They will worship the first beast, and the miracles of Antichrist will deceive them. Yet the everlasting gospel will be preached to them, calling them to "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come." We do not read of their repentance.
- Counterfeit — the scene copies God's order. The Spirit exercises Christ's power in His presence; the second beast exercises the first beast's authority in his.
- Sanction — "before him" rules out rivalry. The first beast gives his authority with full consent, and the two have an understanding.
- Subordinate — the second beast serves as the active minister of the first. His aims are religious; the first supplies the force.
- Reach — outside his own land he has no royal authority, so he uses the first beast's force to bring Christendom to worship the revived empire.
- Victims — those who chose earth as their portion worship the beast, Antichrist's miracles deceive them, and Scripture never records their repentance.
And it works great signs, that it should cause even fire to come down from heaven to the earth before men.
Halfway through Revelation 13 a second beast appears, and it performs the sign that once settled who the true God is. The fire that fell for Elijah now falls for a deceiver. If heaven itself seems to back a lie, what keeps anyone from believing it?
The signs are not listed, but one is named — and it happens in public view.
He "performs great signs." These are not listed, but one outstanding sign is named: he makes "fire come down from heaven," and he does it in public, "in front of people." This is the kind of miracle by which Elijah proved the claims of Jehovah over those of Baal (1 Kings 18:38-39). In this way the second Beast supports the first beast's claim to the worship of the whole world.
One writer names this second beast the Antichrist. The parallel with Elijah runs further than the fire — both scenes end in killing, but opposite people die.
In his day, God gave Elijah power to call down fire from heaven. It bore witness to the true God and exposed the worship of an idol. What Elijah did by the power of God, Antichrist will copy by the power of the devil. He will use it to turn men away from the true God to worship an idol, the image of the beast. In Elijah's day the fire exposed the idolaters, and the prophets of Baal were killed. In the coming day the wonder of fire from heaven will deceive men into worshipping an idol, and those who refuse to worship the image will be killed (1 Kings 18:36-40).
The sign is not strange. It looks like the very evidence God Himself has used.
This second beast makes fire come down from heaven. It is very solemn testimony. In 2 Thessalonians 2:9 the Greek uses the same words for the works of the one whose coming is by the power of Satan as Acts 2:22 uses for the proofs of the Christ — power, signs and wonders. So the same things given to prove the Christ are given also to prove the antichrist!
Commentators differ on whether the fire actually falls. One reads the wonders as genuine events that God permits:
These are not merely pretended miracles. They are real wonders. God will send men a strong delusion, so that they believe a lie, and at that time He will allow this instrument of Satan to produce them. No one will be deceived by them except those who would not receive the love of the truth so that they might be saved.
Another calls it imitation — something that holds only in the way people see it:
So he imitates the great power of God — though of course it is not so; it holds only in the sight and understanding of men.
Either way, the crowd is convinced.
The deception is also a judgment on people who had already turned from God.
This is the time when God, in judgment, gives up the guilty scene of the Christian world, which had already given Him up. Their punishment begins here. God hands them over to an active delusion, so that they believe a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:11). The result is that Satan takes his seat in the professing house of God, and so completely sets God aside that devil-worship is the terrible result.
Scripture announced this miracle in advance. So it does not mean the same thing to everyone who sees it.
Elijah once did this very miracle to turn the hearts of a fallen-away Israel back to the true God. Here the deceiver is allowed to do it to turn men to a false one. Men are given up to be deceived… God's Word announced this beforehand, so of course it is the perfect safeguard of those who trust it. To God's chosen ones this very miracle would be a sign, not of Christ, but of Antichrist. But to the men who dwell on the earth… heaven itself would seem to seal the deceiver's claims.
Intelligence is no defence here. What holds is something simpler and much more available.
All the cunning and subtlety, the signs and lying wonders, all the resources of Satan, all the machinery of hell, are completely powerless against a heart that is governed by the love of the truth. A little child who knows and believes and loves the truth is wonderfully shielded, sheltered and kept safe by God from the blinding and deceiving power of the wicked one.
- Copy — The one named sign is Elijah's own miracle, borrowed to prove the opposite case. Fire once exposed an idol; now it recommends one.
- Credentials — Acts uses certain words to certify Jesus. 2 Thessalonians uses the same words for this deceiver's works. So a miracle by itself proves nothing about its source.
- Cause — God gives up a world that had already given Him up. He hands it over to a delusion, and the punishment starts here.
- Consequence — Elijah's fire ended with the prophets of Baal killed. This fire ends with everyone who refuses the image killed.
- Cure — The same miracle that seals the deceiver's claim for the world marks him out to anyone who trusted the Word beforehand. Love of the truth, not cleverness, keeps a person standing.
And it deceives those that dwell upon the earth by reason of the signs which it was given to it to work before the beast, saying to those that dwell upon the earth to make an image to the beast, which has the wound of the sword, and lived.
A second power deceives the world by working signs. It then tells people to build an image to a ruler who once took a deadly wound and lived. Two questions follow: are the signs real, and why does a wounded ruler win the world's worship?
The deceiver here is not the beast the world admires. It is a second beast, who works in the presence of the first. His signs hold up a throne that rests on nothing solid.
He leads astray and deceives the people of the earth by the signs he is allowed to work in front of the beast. The beast is glad to have such power holding up his throne. It lifts his authority high and makes it look grand in the eyes of men — authority that rested only on deceit, on deluded minds, or on persecution.
The verse says these signs are allowed. Writers insist they are not stage tricks.
These are not fake miracles. They are real wonders. There is coming a time when God will send men a strong delusion, so that they believe a lie, and then this instrument of Satan will be allowed to produce them. Only those who refused to receive the love of the truth that would have saved them will be deceived by them.
Commentators differ on how the signs work. Some give human cleverness a share in them:
These are not miracles of grace, like the ones the Lord did on earth. They are terrifying feats, such as making fire come down from heaven. 2 Thessalonians 2:9 calls them "false signs and wonders." So human cleverness will likely have some part in them, yet behind them stand both satanic power and satanic delusion.
The particular sign named — fire from heaven — is borrowed. It was once God's own proof against idols, and it is now bent to the opposite purpose.
In his day God gave Elijah power to call down fire from heaven. It bore witness to the true God and exposed the worship of an idol. What Elijah did by the power of God, the Antichrist will copy by the power of the devil. His aim is to turn people from the true God to worship an idol — the image of the beast. In Elijah's day the fire exposed the idol worshippers, and the prophets of Baal were killed. In the coming day fire from heaven will deceive people into worshipping an idol, and those who refuse to worship the image will be killed.
The verse names the victims: those who dwell on earth. The phrase marks out a kind of person, not an address.
These passages point to a group of people who are not simply on the earth. Their only interests are in it, and they are limited by it. In moral character they are "dwellers on the earth."
The delusion is also a judgment on Christendom — the world that carries the Christian name:
This is the time when God gives up the guilty world of Christendom in judgment, paying back what it deserves. It had already given Him up. Their punishment begins here.
This is not the first time people have been ordered to worship an image. The age of the Gentile empires opened the same way:
It is striking that when Gentile world rule began, men were forced on pain of death to worship an image standing for the greatness and majesty of the first empire (Dan. 3). Now, as that rule closes, it happens again. How stubborn human nature is! … An image is something that stands for another, though it need not look like it. We are sure that the "image to the Beast" will be a real, literal, huge figure set up in the centre of Christendom, and through it the Beast will be worshipped.
The difference is the ending. God once stopped Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Daniel 3:
Our chapter shows that the times of the Gentiles will end just as they began, and seemingly with greater success: those who refuse to worship the image of the beast will be killed. This time God will not step in to block the plans of these wicked men, as He once did with Nebuchadnezzar. Their judgment will fall in one crushing blow at the end.
The verse names the beast by his wound. That naming is deliberate.
This surprising fact is mentioned three times in this chapter. In Revelation 13:3 the whole earth wonders after him because his mortal wound was healed. In Revelation 13:12 he is again described as the first beast whose mortal wound was healed. That is not said just to identify him, since "first beast" alone would have been enough for that. Clearly it is for emphasis.
- Permitted — the signs are real, not tricks. They are allowed, so God is letting the delusion come; Satan is not overpowering Him.
- Borrowed — the one sign named, fire from heaven, was Elijah's proof of the true God. Here it drives people to an idol.
- Aimed — the targets are the dwellers on earth. Their whole interest is bounded by this world, and they refused the love of the truth.
- Repeated — Gentile rule began with a forced image in Daniel 3 and ends with one. This time no rescue comes.
- Wounded — the world worships the ruler who took a sword blow and lived. The healed wound, named three times in the chapter, is what wins its wonder.
And it was given to it to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should also speak, and should cause that as many as should not do homage to the image of the beast should be killed.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And it causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bondmen, that they should give them a mark upon their right hand or upon their forehead;
A mark now falls on every class of person on earth, demanded not by the first beast but by another who enforces submission to him. Commentators ask three questions: who demands the mark, what it means on the hand or the forehead, and why a person's eternal future hangs on taking it or refusing it.
The demand does not come from the first beast himself.
This wicked man will claim religious authority over everyone — small and great, rich and poor, free and slave. To enforce his authority he will demand public submission to the first beast, shown by a public mark on the right hand and on the forehead. Without that mark, humanly speaking, life will be impossible: no one will be able to buy or sell.
The three pairs of people named are not a random list. Together they close every loophole.
In those terrible days the Beast crushes out all individual thought and action. He demands the most complete submission to the worst tyranny ever seen, and nobody dares refuse. The classes named cover everyone within reach of his influence, and they come in pairs. No one escapes — neither the lowest in rank nor the highest. Neither riches nor poverty can buy or find exemption from his iron rule.
The two places on the body say two different things about the person marked.
The mysterious mark on the forehead, whatever it turns out to be, announces the person to everyone as a follower of the Beast. On the hand it points to active support — a willing worker for the Beast's interests.
God marks His own people before the beast marks his.
As the Seal, the Spirit marks us off as belonging wholly to God. We are God's possession, marked as such, just as a farmer who buys sheep puts a mark on them at once, so they can be known as his. In Revelation we read that the coming "beasts" will make everyone "receive a mark" (Rev. 13:16). Those who do receive that mark will have to face the fierce wrath of God, as the next chapter shows. And Revelation 7 tells us that God acts ahead of the beasts' wicked plan: He puts "the seal of the living God" on His own.
The next verse names the mark, the beast's name and his number. These are not three separate items.
The mark is the general term, and it consists of either the name or the number of the Beast. The name and the number are included in the mark and explain what it is. God has not told us the name of the Beast… We do not say it is impossible to know who and what the name and number mean. But God will surely give full light and understanding on these points to the saints who are there at the time, to whom such knowledge will be most useful and even necessary… Those who receive the mark of the Beast, in either its name or its number, are doomed to eternal misery.
Commentators differ on what physical form the mark will take. Scott leaves it open. Another writer points to present-day technology:
Experiments have already been reported in the United States that put a thin layer of liquid plastic under the skin, as a backing for an invisible number that only a laser scanner can read. When something like this is forced on the population, so that people are either subject to the Beast's authority or not allowed to buy or sell (v. 17), believers will have to refuse this identification with the Beast completely, as though they were his property.
Today a person can avoid taking sides. Under the beast, that option disappears.
In the days of "the beast" there will be no room for neutrality. There will be no room for men to be satisfied, as many are now, with making no profession at all. Men must be either for God or for Satan… Everyone who refuses to worship the beast will then be sentenced to death. Those who do worship him will receive a mark, so that those who refuse to bow to the beast can be picked out, and known as men that nobody should buy from or sell to.
Two marks, two masters, two destinies — and the decision cannot be reversed.
In these solemn times there will be followers of the beast with his mark on them (Rev. 13:15-18), and followers of the Lamb with His mark on their foreheads… As someone has said: "The choice must now be made between God and Satan, between Christ and Antichrist, between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Once made, that choice is final and cannot be reversed, and the results are eternal and unchangeable." To refuse the mark of the beast, to obey God, and to be true to Jesus will call for the endurance of the saints.
The principle behind the mark applies long before the beast appears.
We cannot carry two marks, if the one mark, that has been placed upon us, is God's mark. He is a jealous God. The mark that is upon us is exclusive… Take great care, O young Christian! for the world is ever seeking to put its unholy marks upon you, as though you belonged to it. You do not belong to it, you belong to God; so be careful not to wear the seals and badges it wishes to put upon you.
- Ownership claimed. The man who enforces the first beast's authority demands a public mark of submission to him, and without it no one can buy or sell.
- Ownership total. Three pairs of people are named, and together they cover everyone: no rank, wealth or poverty buys exemption.
- Ownership displayed. The forehead announces a person as the beast's follower; the hand marks him as an active worker for him.
- Ownership countered. God seals His own first, so the beast's mark is a copy of something older and better.
- Ownership decided. Neutrality ends. Every person carries either the Lamb's mark or the beast's, and the choice cannot be reversed. Refusing the beast calls for the endurance of the saints.
and that no one should be able to buy or sell save he that had the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of its name.
The previous verse lists who is marked: small and great, rich and poor, free and slave. One writer shows the ban leaves no exit.
In those terrible days individual thought and action are crushed out. He demands the most abject submission to the vilest tyranny ever seen, and none dare refuse. None, however low in station, none, however exalted, can escape. Neither riches nor poverty can buy or find exemption from the iron rule of the Beast. All, from the least to the highest, are equally his slaves. To resist his will means losing the right to live, for in effect he controls all commerce. It means inviting certain death.
The verse names a mark, a name, and a number. The same writer argues these are not three separate things, and says who will be given the name.
The "mark," the "name," and the "number" are not three separate, independent things. The mark is general, and consists of either the name or the number of the Beast. The last two are included in the first, and explain the mark. God has withheld the name of the Beast from us... No doubt God will give full light and understanding on these points to the saints who are then in the scene. Such knowledge will be most useful to them, and even necessary, so that they may know the true character of the Beast... Those who receive the mark of the Beast in either its name or its number are doomed to eternal misery.
Commentators differ here. Another writer takes the mark as the brand of a slave, and sees the name or the number on the man who rises to rule inside the system.
A person might be a ruler or leader in this system. Then, though not a slave himself, he would have the character of it stamped on him even more permanently and knowingly.
The mark is more than a permit to trade. Walter Scott explains what it declares about the one who wears it.
The mark on the "hand" would show that the person branded was an active slave of the Beast. Stamped on the "forehead," it would serve as a public acknowledgment of slavery... It was usual to brand slaves with the name or special mark of their owner.
Today a person can decline to take sides. In that day no one will have that choice.
In the days of "the beast" there will be no room for neutrality. Men will not be able to satisfy themselves, as many do now, by making no profession at all. Men must either be for God or for Satan. Then the words of Jesus, so glossed over now, will be fully proved — "Whoever is not with me is against me." It really is so now, only it is not visible. There will be the sentence of death then on all who will not worship the beast. Those who do worship will receive a mark. It will set apart those who do not bow down to the beast, and mark them out as men that none should buy or sell with.
One company stands outside this vast trading union. Its members carry no brand. A record written before the world began names them.
So he will form a vast organization. It will include all except those whose names were written from the foundation of the world in the slain Lamb's book of life. Outside of it, trade will not be lawful. Under the pretence of the welfare of the empire, this dreadful tyranny will fall on all. The penalty is the loss of the most ordinary liberty of the individual.
God is not caught off guard by this branding. Another writer points out that He seals His own first.
Those who do receive that mark will have to face the fierce wrath of God, as the next chapter shows. And Rev. 7 shows us that God anticipates the wicked action of the beasts by putting "the seal of the living God" on His own.
Writers noted that shutting a person out of trade to force his conscience was not an unfamiliar tactic even in their own day.
He uses one terrible power for evil, forcing all men, small and great, rich and poor, to receive the mark of the beast. Certainly this has not been fulfilled yet: Satan is trying it as a cruel power for evil at this moment, and it is a new thing in the earth, and it bears the name of a living man, one of its cruel victims. It is called Boycotting.
- Mark. One brand in two forms: the beast's name, or the number of his name. It marks a slave and names his owner.
- Market. The beast controls the mark, so he controls all trade. Food and work hang on one act of submission.
- Reach. Small and great, rich and poor, free and slave: no class, fortune, or rank buys exemption.
- Refusal. Neutrality ends. A person is either marked for the beast or shut out of buying and selling, and death follows refusal.
- Record. Those outside carry no brand. Their names stood in the slain Lamb's book of life before the world began, and God seals His own before the beast brands the rest.
Here is wisdom. He that has understanding let him count the number of the beast for it is a man's number; and its number [is] six hundred [and] sixty-six.
The chapter about the two beasts ends with a riddle — a number to count, and it belongs to a man. Two questions have followed it ever since — what does 666 mean, and who is meant to solve it?
The verse asks for wisdom. One writer says the key is spiritual, and the full answer belongs to one moment:
This symbolic number holds divine wisdom. It is the only place the number occurs. Only spiritual understanding can unlock the mystery in it. No doubt its full, exact and final answer will be clear to the wise or godly in the coming crisis. Then the Beast's power, under Satan's craft, will display the highest human development in pride and irreverence. It will oppose God and His Anointed in both religion and politics. That, in general, is the moral meaning of 666. The saints it concerns will see the meaning, and it will call them to reject the Beast and his claims at once.
People have long counted up the letters of a name, hoping to reach 666. The results have followed the quarrels of the moment:
I do not pretend to solve this question. It would be easy to repeat what others have thought. Some of the early Christians thought it was "the Latin man." Irenaeus, the devout Bishop of Lyons, was one of them. Others have found various names, in line with their own quarrels and prejudices. Roman Catholics found in it a riddle pointing to Luther; Protestants, the name of more than one Pope. People have imagined Mohammed in ancient times, and Napoleon in modern times. But are such notions better than riddles? It is not the way of the Spirit to occupy God's people with counting letters or numbers in this vague fashion.
If no one can crack the number in advance, that is not a flaw. It is timing. The instruction aims at people who will live through what is described:
Many have tried to unravel this mystery, but all have failed. Judging by how Scripture works elsewhere, we conclude that no one can discover the secret before the beast appears. When at last he comes on the scene, those who have the wisdom of God will identify him by the number given. God will have warned them in advance. So the direction given here is for those who will be in the circumstances described.
The verse itself says the number is a man's number. Commentators trace the digit six through Scripture:
Six hundred and sixty-six is man's number. The unit six was stamped on him at his creation and through his later history. Man was created on the sixth day. His appointed days of labour and toil are six. The Hebrew slave was to serve six years. For six years the land was to be sown. The number seven means what is perfect or complete. Six falls short of that, so it means human imperfection and toil.
Repeated three times, six pushes that character to its limit — man at his most impressive and most godless:
Six is the highest number short of seven; six sets out what is nearest to perfection. 666 is the strongest emphasis of this... "The Beast" rises out of the sea, and is seen in its final Head. Does it not mean that he will present to the world the Superman so much talked about? He will be the finest specimen of fallen human nature, but without one feature that is of God. No doubt such a person will have a perfect body, a brilliant mind and a powerful will. His statesmanship will be unmatched, and his military skill of the highest order. Now put all this in a man who has no regard for God and His word. Under God's control these fine qualities would be magnificent. In him they become frightful instruments for enslaving and ruining mankind.
The same six that measures the height of the boast also measures its ceiling. Six days are working days; the seventh is not his to take:
The 6 is repeated three times. It speaks of labour and not rest — of failed effort to reach the divine 7. It declares that evil at its highest is limited and in God's hand. This number is, after all, we are told, "the number of a man"; and what is man? He may multiply responsibility and judgment. But the Sabbath is God's rest, set apart to Him. Without God, he can have no Sabbath. This 6, 6, 6 is the number of a man who is only a beast, and doomed.
- Wisdom — the verse calls for spiritual understanding, not letter-counting. The real answer is moral before it is mathematical.
- Man — six is stamped on man from the start: the sixth day, six days of labour, six years of service. It is the number of toil that never reaches rest.
- Height — tripled, six pictures the finest specimen of fallen human nature, with no feature that is of God. Gifts that could have blessed the world ruin it instead.
- Timing — no one can name the man before he appears. When he does, those who need the warning will get it.
- Doom — six never becomes seven. The boast is limited, held in God's hand, and the man behind the number is a beast already doomed.