REVELATION 13
There has never been a period of human history as dark as the one John describes in Revelation 13. Indeed, there may be a parallel here between Christ's suffering on the cross and the suffering of the saints at this time. The beast is allowed to wage war on them and to conquer them, they cannot buy or sell without the mark of the beast, and they face death if they refuse to worship the beast, yet they must refuse to do so.
Yet the only instruction for Christians here (in verse 10) is to be patient and faithful. How different this is from the appeal of other religions which want to conquer the world by the sword. No resistance is suggested here, only faith that God is still in charge, and he will shorten these days. Recall from the previous chapter that Christians are to overcome the world by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.
We are introduced to two beasts here. The first comes out of the sea and the second comes out of the earth, but I don't know whether or not there is any meaning for that distinction. Certainly there is no practical difference, since both beasts stem from the activity of Satan. The first beast here is apparently the fourth beast described in Daniel 7:7 and Daniel 7:23-25, and it is usually identified with the Roman empire. It is also the beast which murdered the two prophets in chapter 11, and it is allowed to make war on the saints here. Though the Romans certainly persecuted Christians during John's lifetime, it doesn't seem possible to me (given the mark of the beast, for example), that this vision could have been completely fulfilled in the first century. Indeed, the description of the first beast here seems to combine the descriptions of the first three beasts in Daniel 7, which are usually associated with Babylon, Persia and Greece.
I do not know what verse 1 means when it indicates there were blasphemous names on the beast's heads, nor do I know what boastful, blasphemous and slanderous things the beast speaks in verses 5 and 6. However, this chapter seems to make it clear that those who worship the beast are not only deceived, but they are willfully disobedient to God. Their idolatry and their persecution of God's people are so severe that Revelation 14:9-11 specifically tells us those who worship the beast will be tormented forever.
Many commentators cross-reference the mortal wound to one of the first beast's heads with Genesis 3:15, which describes the conflict between Christ and Satan where God says to the serpent, "He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel." Yet that doesn't adequately explain verses 3-4, which say that the beast's mortal wound was healed, and the world followed the beast with amazement and admiration. Certainly nothing in Genesis would encourage them to do so.
Curiously, the term antichrist is not found anywhere in Revelation, though Paul does speak of the antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9. When John speaks of the antichrist in his letters, he always refers to the spirit of antichrist as being present in anyone who denies Jesus Christ (fully God and fully man) has come in the flesh. There are basically two interpretations of what the two beasts here represent. One is that the first beast represents a political empire whose kings want to be worshiped, and the second beast represents a false prophet and the religious system which supports the first beast. This view is of an unholy church/state alliance.
The second view is that what we are dealing with here is a counterfeit Satanic trinity, in which the dragon gives his authority to the first beast, as God has given authority to Christ, and the purpose of the second beast is to perform deceptive and destructive miracles and to cause men to worship the first beast, as the Holy Spirit's purpose is to provide miraculous power on earth and to cause men to worship Christ. Furthermore, the wounding and subsequent healing of one of the heads of the first beast may be analogous to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. I like that as an analogy, and it even help explain why the murder of God's prophets in chapter 11 inspires the giving of anti-christmas presents, and it may even explain something about the significance of the number 666, which, among other things, combines imperfection with imperfection with imperfection and failure upon failure upon failure.
I have heard a great deal about what the two beasts represent. When I became a Christian in the 1970s, it was fashionable to believe that the ten horns of the first beast represented ten nations of the European common market, a notion Americans found comforting and convenient, because the beast would then be a European creation, not ours. But the common market has faded into history, replaced by a European union which has 25 nations in it. Clearly, we can now discard the common market theory, but I don't have a new one. It will become apparent in its time.
As for the second beast, Revelation 19 describes it as "the false prophet". Since it has two horns, it causes men to worship the first beast, and it clearly has a religious significance, some have speculated that it might represent, for example, a union between the Roman Catholic church and the World Council of Churches. But that's purely speculation, and it may turn out to be as inaccurate as the common market theory. However, I suspect the false prophet leads a union of two religions or two religious organizations.
In any event, for one mercifully brief period in human history, Satan will cause his will to be done on earth as never before, but we are told both beasts will be captured and thrown into the lake of fire in Revelation 19.
Yet the only instruction for Christians here (in verse 10) is to be patient and faithful. How different this is from the appeal of other religions which want to conquer the world by the sword. No resistance is suggested here, only faith that God is still in charge, and he will shorten these days. Recall from the previous chapter that Christians are to overcome the world by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.
We are introduced to two beasts here. The first comes out of the sea and the second comes out of the earth, but I don't know whether or not there is any meaning for that distinction. Certainly there is no practical difference, since both beasts stem from the activity of Satan. The first beast here is apparently the fourth beast described in Daniel 7:7 and Daniel 7:23-25, and it is usually identified with the Roman empire. It is also the beast which murdered the two prophets in chapter 11, and it is allowed to make war on the saints here. Though the Romans certainly persecuted Christians during John's lifetime, it doesn't seem possible to me (given the mark of the beast, for example), that this vision could have been completely fulfilled in the first century. Indeed, the description of the first beast here seems to combine the descriptions of the first three beasts in Daniel 7, which are usually associated with Babylon, Persia and Greece.
I do not know what verse 1 means when it indicates there were blasphemous names on the beast's heads, nor do I know what boastful, blasphemous and slanderous things the beast speaks in verses 5 and 6. However, this chapter seems to make it clear that those who worship the beast are not only deceived, but they are willfully disobedient to God. Their idolatry and their persecution of God's people are so severe that Revelation 14:9-11 specifically tells us those who worship the beast will be tormented forever.
Many commentators cross-reference the mortal wound to one of the first beast's heads with Genesis 3:15, which describes the conflict between Christ and Satan where God says to the serpent, "He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel." Yet that doesn't adequately explain verses 3-4, which say that the beast's mortal wound was healed, and the world followed the beast with amazement and admiration. Certainly nothing in Genesis would encourage them to do so.
Curiously, the term antichrist is not found anywhere in Revelation, though Paul does speak of the antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9. When John speaks of the antichrist in his letters, he always refers to the spirit of antichrist as being present in anyone who denies Jesus Christ (fully God and fully man) has come in the flesh. There are basically two interpretations of what the two beasts here represent. One is that the first beast represents a political empire whose kings want to be worshiped, and the second beast represents a false prophet and the religious system which supports the first beast. This view is of an unholy church/state alliance.
The second view is that what we are dealing with here is a counterfeit Satanic trinity, in which the dragon gives his authority to the first beast, as God has given authority to Christ, and the purpose of the second beast is to perform deceptive and destructive miracles and to cause men to worship the first beast, as the Holy Spirit's purpose is to provide miraculous power on earth and to cause men to worship Christ. Furthermore, the wounding and subsequent healing of one of the heads of the first beast may be analogous to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. I like that as an analogy, and it even help explain why the murder of God's prophets in chapter 11 inspires the giving of anti-christmas presents, and it may even explain something about the significance of the number 666, which, among other things, combines imperfection with imperfection with imperfection and failure upon failure upon failure.
I have heard a great deal about what the two beasts represent. When I became a Christian in the 1970s, it was fashionable to believe that the ten horns of the first beast represented ten nations of the European common market, a notion Americans found comforting and convenient, because the beast would then be a European creation, not ours. But the common market has faded into history, replaced by a European union which has 25 nations in it. Clearly, we can now discard the common market theory, but I don't have a new one. It will become apparent in its time.
As for the second beast, Revelation 19 describes it as "the false prophet". Since it has two horns, it causes men to worship the first beast, and it clearly has a religious significance, some have speculated that it might represent, for example, a union between the Roman Catholic church and the World Council of Churches. But that's purely speculation, and it may turn out to be as inaccurate as the common market theory. However, I suspect the false prophet leads a union of two religions or two religious organizations.
In any event, for one mercifully brief period in human history, Satan will cause his will to be done on earth as never before, but we are told both beasts will be captured and thrown into the lake of fire in Revelation 19.
posted by TAPIOCA at 11/24/2006 05:05:00 AM
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