I saw a beast with ten horns and seven heads rising out of the blackness of the sea. On its horns hung ten crowns, and on its heads were inscribed blasphemous names. This beast was like a leopard, its feet were like the claws of a bear, and its mouth was like the jaws of a lion.[1]
The dragon bestowed it with his power and his throne and his great authority. One of the beast’s heads appeared to have suffered a fatal blow,[2] but its mortal wound had somehow been healed. Amazed at the miracle and its power, all the earth followed the beast.
People worshiped the dragon because he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast because of its power. The Earth-dwellers said, “Who can like unto the beast?[3] Who can fight against it? And the beast was given a mouth that bellowed arrogant boasts and uttered great blasphemies, and it was permitted to do what it willed for 42 months.[4]
Its mouth opened with a stream of insults against God, blaspheming His name, cursing His dwelling and those who live in heaven. Also it received permission to declare war against the saints and conquer them. Not a single nation, people, language, or ethnicity could escape its dominion.
The inhabitants of the earth will worship it, that is, all those whose names have not been recorded before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered. Let the person who is able to hear, listen carefully. “If someone is destined for captivity, a captive he will be. If someone is destined [to die] by the sword, by the sword he will die.”[5]
The beast from the sea:
Its body is an amalgamation of Daniel 7's beastly empires. It’s an “it”, a political/economic/religious power (1Jn 2:18, 22; 4:3).[6]
It brings of persecution, deception, and idolatry to the entire world. The blasphemous names remind us of the titles of the emperors (e.g., "Savior" and "Lord"), or of those at Smyrna who had spoken against the lawful messianic claims of Jesus.[7]
Its seven heads and ten horns (13:1) indicate the vastness of its totalitarian empire/culture with rulers and kings (17:9, 12).[8]
Eugene Boring writes:
[T]he beast is not merely “Rome” . . . It is the inhuman, anti-human arrogance of empire which has come to expression in Rome—but not only there . . . All who support the cultural religion, in or out of church, however Lamb-like they may appear, are agents of the beast. All propaganda that entices humanity to idolize human empire is an expression of this beastly power that wants to appear Lamb-like.”
The only sufficient conqueror of the beast and the dragon is the slain Lamb we met in chapters 4-5, together with his faithful saints (12:11; 19:19-21). The mortal wound of the beast[9] is the same thing that toppled the dragon: Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation (1:5; 5:9; 12:11; cf. Lk 10:17-24; 11:14-22; Jn 12:31-33; Col 2:15; also Ge 3:13ff.).
While the dragon was cast out of heaven (D Day), he still has time and ability to wage war against followers of Jesus until V Day. Similarly, the beastly empires have been dealt a fatal blow by the cross of Christ, but they still have time, ability and permission to wage war against the saints.
As I watched, I saw a second beast, this one rising up from the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it was speaking with the voice of a dragon. This earth-beast exercises all of the authority given to it by the first beast, and it forces the earth and all its inhabitants to bow down and worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed.
And the earth-beast performs fantastic miracles. Like Elijah on Mount Carmel, it even causes fire to blaze down from heaven to earth for all to see. Since it is allowed to perform these miracles in the presence of the first beast, the earth-beast deceives the inhabitants of the earth, commanding them to make an image of the first beast that had survived the mortal wound inflicted by the sword.[10]
And the earth-beast was granted permission to breathe into the image and to animate it so that it could even speak. It decreed that those who refuse to worship the image of the first beast must be killed, and the earth-beast mandates that all humans must carry a mark on their right hands or foreheads: both great and small, both rich and poor, both free and slave.
Those who do not carry this mark, that is, those who do not have the name of the first beast or the number representing its name inscribed on them, are not allowed to sell their wares or buy in the market. Here is divine wisdom: let anyone who understands these mysteries figure out the number of the beast because it is the number of a person. Its number is 666.
A second beast promotes worship of/allegiance to the beast. The empire appears amazing: it becomes a source of hope; the empire dictates priorities; the empire establishes what the good life is and how it ought to be lived. This second beast is the propaganda machine (media, entertainment, education, politicians, industry heads, civic organizations… anything that promotes the agenda of the Empire.)
It has a lamb-like appearance and the signs deceive people into false worship.[11] There’s at least a part of the false prophet/second beast that will look like home to Christians. It will be easy to compromise: “Yeah, but…look at those lamb-like horns!! I know, I know, it says dragony things, but…look at those little lamb horns!”
John’s concern is theological more than political,[12] even thought the two are deeply intertwined. The big question is what kind of worshipful allegiance “marks” you. [13] For 2,000 years, there has been a danger that religious or political leaders will blend the Empire and the Cross into a civil religion that confuses allegiance to the state with allegiance to the Cross.[14]
* * * * * * * * * *
THE BEAST/THE ANTICHRIST
A connection if often (though not always) made between the beast and other biblical references to the ‘anti-christ,’ though that term is not found in Revelation (it describes false teachers in 1 and 2 John).
The amalgamation of all the beastly images in Daniel identify an empire(s) that embodies the worst of all Israel’s enemies.
The 2nd beast, the false prophet, is all the structures and systems of cultural propaganda.
So far, this is about the evil in systems and worldviews. But Paul talked about a “Man of Lawlessness” (in 2 Thessalonians), and passages in Daniel talk about future kings, as if we ought to be watching out for a particular person or persons, an individual in whom this all comes together.
We have clearly seen the apocalyptic image of empires unfold throughout world history, though that certainly leaves room for a final empire that surpasses them all. Speculation swirls around the identity of a final global empire or global leader that will usher in the end of history.[15]
I want to offer some cautions about speculation.[16]
Have you seen pictures where things in the foreground are clear, while things in the background are blurry? Revelation intends to put Jesus in the foreground. Nothing else is intended to become a fixation. The point of Revelation is that even in the face of beasts and dragons, the outcome of the battle has already been decided because of the Lamb who was slain. That’s the idea. We don’t want to overly focus on things John leaves blurry or make blurry those things on which John wants us to keep our focus.
The second part of the caution comes from the track record of the church trying to decipher blurry things.
The identity of the Beast/Antichrist has often reflected current fears points of tension.[17]
To the early church, it was Roman rulers.[18]
Hippolytus and Irenaeus thought it would be a Jewish false messiah, as did Origen, Chrysostom, Jerome, and likely Augustine.[19]
Protestant Reformers picked the Popes or the Catholic church.[20]
American colonists chose King George III.
Northerners saw the Antichrist in the slave-holding South, and Southerners in the abolitionists.
It was Hitler in World War II, and Mussolini when facism rose.
Cold War Christians suspected the Soviet Union/leaders.
Post-9/11, the Muslim world has become a favorite source (or someone promoting “Chrislam,” a charge leveled against Rick Warren that put him on the anti-christ list.[21]
The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church recently warned the antichrist was whoever was behind the internet.[22]
The other party’s president has always been a popular one here in the U.S. Here’s how this works with our last 3 presidents.
IS BARACK OBAMA THE ANTICHRIST?[23]
6+6+6 Barack Hussein Obama (if you move the ‘n’ to join ‘Obama’, I guess); The day after he was elected, the winning Pick Three in his home zip code (60606) was 666. 6x6x6 = 216, and his birthday is the 216th day of the year; his birthplace, Honolulu, is at longitude 21.6.
Luke 10:18 says, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lighting.” Since the Hebrew for “lighting” sounds like ‘Barack’, and the heights from which he falls sounds like ‘Obama’ in Hebrew, that verse should read, “I saw Satan like Barack Obama.”
IS DONALD TRUMP THE ANTICHRIST?[24]
The Trumps purchased 666 Fifth Avenue; Trump Tower is 666 feet tall; Trump's name equates to 666 in Jewish gematria, Trump won in 2016: = 666+666+666+6+6+6.
The Antichrist will come from among 7 tall “hills” that each act as a “head.” (Revelation 13:1, Ch. 17) #7trumptowers
The Antichrist will give speeches where he speaks “great things” and then about things that are even “greater.” (Daniel 7:20) #maga
The Antichrist will feud with the southern border nation. (Dan. 11:25)
The Antichrist will survive a fatal wound (Revelation 13:3) #COVID-19 or impeachment
Followers will wear a sign of their allegiance to him on their foreheads. (Revelation 13) #baseball caps
IS JOE BIDEN THE ANTICHRIST?
Biden hasn't gotten as much press on this issue; there seems to be a general perception that an antichrist would have a much more commanding presence. Still, a very popular youtube presentation notes:
Joe Biden in Hebrew is “Alas, judgment.”
One kind of gematria comes up with 52, equal to Elijah (who announces the Messiah) and another kind with 24, making him comparable to David. The conclusion? Biden is going to play a role in the coming of the false Messiah. #notsurehowthosedotsgotconnected
This is not helpful or healthy. Fear-inducing speculation at times approaching slander is not what John intended to inspire with Revelation, which was intended to be “a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Neither the dragon nor the beast are the stars of the show. They shouldn’t be the focus of our obsessions.[25]
What would identifying them inspire us to do? Step up our spiritual game? Increase our fervor for those far from Christ? Increase our prayer life? Press us more deeply into the Word? Order our thoughts and steps more righteously? If all that should happen if we can identify the antichrist, why isn’t that happening now? John told us in his letters they were already in the church.
In the story of the Rich Man and Abraham[26], the rich man suffering in the afterlife begs Abraham to send a warning word to his relatives so they will change their ways. Abraham responds, “Moses and the Prophets warned them.” The Rich Man says that if someone returned from the dead and warned them, then they would listen. Moses’ response? “‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
I wonder if we have a desire to precisely identify the Beast/Antichrist because we believe that will focus us and get our house in order. Surely when the stakes are that high, we will live powerfully and righteously.
I think we may be fooling ourselves. The stakes are already high. If we refuse to let that move us now, I am not so sure it would move us then.
* * * * * * * * * *
THE MARK OF THE BEAST (AND OF THE LAMB)
God once put a Name on the Israelites: [27]
The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’ “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 26: 22-27)
It wasn’t literally inscribed; they were spiritually marked.[28] It represents ownership and loyalty.[29] You see the equivalent for followers of the Lamb in the verses immediately following Revelation 13:
Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads… They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.” (Rev. 14:1-4)
[30] Think of the “forehead” as the ideological commitment of the mind and the “hand” the practical outworking of that commitment.[31] The mark is a parody of the seal received by the 144,000.
666
Every theory about 666 has a weakness.
Gematria[32] identifies all kinds of people (usually Nero or Domitian), especially if you use variant spellings of their names. It can be used to identify just about anybody or anything if you work it right.
Writing less than one hundred years after John, Irenaeus had no idea to whom John was referring.[33] He didn’t even mention Nero as an option.[34] If anything, he was partial for the gematria favoring “titan,” semi-divine and kingly beings associated with Babylon that often represented power and oppression.[35]
666 is probably best understood as a parody of perfection, which would be 777.[36] It’s an unholy trinity of evil or the imitation or mockery of God rather than a cipher of a name.[37]
Like looking for the antichrist or predicting the end of the world, I’ve lived through a number of ideas already for the ‘mark’, none of which panned out: Social Security Numbers; Credit Cards; Bar Codes, Taxes[38]
The mark is about ultimate allegiance, about ownership of our heart. It will be the thing(s) that mark us as an anti-Christ ambassador in the world. Could it be physical, like the paper received from the burning of incense to the emperor in order to do business in the 1st century? Sure. But note when John wrote in his letters of the antichrists in the church, and when he wrote of the synagogue and throne of Satan in the churches in Revelation, he reference no mark. It was association, allegiance, worship.
When you compare those passages where the mark of the beast is discussed with passages like Rev. 7 and 14, it is plausible to think that the mark of the beast is most likely a sign that identifies you as something you already are… a person of the dragon.
I say this because when you read Rev. 7:1-8 and 14:1 (where the mark of the Lamb is discussed), you’ll notice it is a mark given to God’s people, God’s servants, in order to identify them as such and, of course, to protect them. They get the mark of the Lamb because they are already united with the Lamb.[39]
It’s about who you are united with heart, soul, mind and strength.
* * * * * * * * * *
Fortunately, Revelation has already told us how to live as people marked by The Lamb:
Hold fast to the testimony of Jesus (salvation/allegiance)
Keep the commandments of God (discipleship/obedience)
Follow the Lamb wherever He goes (endurance/faithfulness)
If you live this way, you need not need live in fear of any kind of mark or any kind of person or institution that is anti-Christ. This is how followers of the Lamb overcome all beasts and dragons.
This is the Path of the Sealed[40] that will lead us safely home.
_____________________________________________________________________________
[1] Daniel 7 references four beastly empires: Babylon, Medea, Persia, and Greece.
#1 was like a lion with eagle’s wings; #2 was like a bear with three tusks ; #3 was like a leopard with four wings and four heads; #4 was strong and had iron teeth for devouring and crushing its victims. This beast (Greece) has ten horns, symbols of rulers who governed for Alexander the Great after his death. John sees a single beast that combines the characteristics of Daniel’s beasts. #legoshakeup in Revelation 13. John’s readers would have recalled what Daniel had to say about beastly empires and their leaders.
[2] The death/resurrection of one of the heads parodies that of the Lamb (5:6) and the two witnesses (11:7–11). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament
[3] “Who is like the beast?” is an allusion to Michael the Archangel, whose name means “Who is like God?” (Orthodox Study Bible)
[4] The beast’s reign is forty-two months, the same period the Gentiles are given to trample the holy city (11:2). This time frame is used exclusively for the period in which God’s enemies persecute and oppress his people. The beast’s persecution is a trampling on God’s temple, which is to be identified as his people and represented by the two witnesses. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament
[5] The pronouncement of the unidentified speaker—“If anyone is to go into captivity .... If anyone is to be killed with the sword”—is drawn from a dirge in which God described the judgment of disobedient Judah at the hands of the Babylonians (Jer. 15:2; cf. 43:11). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament
[6] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament
[7] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament
[8] The heads and horns seem to have correlation with the world at that time. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament
[9] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament
[10] Even as the two witnesses brought forth fire in the spirit of Elijah (see comments on 11:5), the second beast likewise produces fire. This power encounter is reminiscent of Moses’ confrontation with the Egyptian magicians (Ex. 7:10–8:19). Trickery was commonly practiced by sorcerers in antiquity, and special-effects machines producing thunder and lightning were used in theatrical productions. In fact, the emperor Gaius had a device “by which he gave answering peals when it thundered and sent return flashes when it lightened.” Yet John seems to regard this supernatural activity as genuine, although its source is demonic and not divine. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament
[11] Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly
[12] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament
[13] In John's description of the beast, there are numerous parallels with Jesus that should alert us to the fact that John is seeking to establish, not a historical identification, but a theological characterization:
· Both wielded swords (2:12, 16; 13:10)
· both had followers on whose foreheads were inscribed their names (13:16-14:1)
· both were slain (5:12; 13:3, 8)
· both had arisen to new life and authority (1:18; 11:15-16; 13:3-4)
· and both were given (by different authorities) power over every nation, tribe, people, and tongue, and over the kings of the earth (1:5; 7:9; 13:7; 17:12). Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament
[14] This requires several myths to be treated as if they were true.
a. a “myth of righteousness” that sets values of the Empire on par with the values of the Kingdom (in which both are seen as part of the euangelion, the good news of God’s plan for the world).
b. a “myth of greatness” as defined by the standards of Babylon and Rome: financial, political, and/or military strength as the markers of success.
c. a “myth of innocence” that sees the power, prosperity, and peace of the (apparently) righteous and great Empire as achieved by and sustained by thoroughly righteous means and people.
d. a “myth of worthiness” that demands an appreciation of and allegiance to the state as a profoundly moral responsibility for Christians. (from Reading Revelation Responsibly)
[15] “Satan does not know when Jesus will return (Mark 13:30) and must always have an antichrist in waiting. Because neither we nor Satan know the time of the end, all such antichrists are experienced as antichrists, but what will finally indicate that we have witnessed the final Antichrist will be Jesus’ return to wipe him out.” https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/what-is-the-mark-of-the-beast
[16] “As always in the area of prophecy, there are a variety of views. The older historicist approach usually identified the beast (“out of the sea”) as the Roman emperor, while the second beast (“out of the land”) of Revelation 13, together with the false prophet of that chapter, were associated with the papacy. The man of sin was also the pope, for he sat in the temple (the church) and exalted himself. Modern futurism links the man of sin and the beast, and says that this is a man who will arise in the future just before Christ returns. He will be the false Christ, the antichrist, and will unite the world in a new tower of Babel against the remnant of the faithful. Preterists usually see 666 as a symbol for the name “Nero Caesar,” and thus they identify the beast as Nero, while the second beast and false prophet are identified with the Sanhedrin and Judaizers who sought to stamp out the early church. The man of sin is taken by some to be Nero, and by others identified as the high priest, who literally sat in the temple and opposed Christ. Modern futurism tends to have a very political understanding of this figure. Beast/antichrist/man of sin is a world leader, not an ecclesiastical opponent of the faithful. The older views (preterist and historicist) focus attention more on the church. The greatest enemies of the faith, they say, are in the church, as the serpent was in the Garden.” https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/who-is-the-antichrist
[17] “How The Antichrist Reflects An Era’s Anxiety.” https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2013-02/how-antichrist-reflects-eras-anxieties
[18] “Thomas Aquinas points out in his Summa Theologiae that the early Christians thought they were living in the “end times” and that the Antichrist was near, if not already there in the form of the Roman Emperors.[I]t is impossible to fix what amount of such calamities will immediately precede the judgment day or the coming of Antichrist, since even at the time of the Early Church persecutions were so bitter, and the corruptions of error were so numerous, that some looked forward to the coming of Antichrist as being near or imminent.” https://aleteia.org/2021/11/18/who-is-the-antichrist-in-catholic-church-teaching/
[19]https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092&context=pretrib_arch
[20] Martin Luther(1483-1546) was convinced that he was living in the last days. For him, the Pope fitted all the criteria for the Antichrist. The Pope, he declared, “is the true end times Antichrist who has raised himself over and set himself against Christ”. https://theconversation.com/five-things-to-know-about-the-antichrist-148172. “As John Foxe (author of the Book of Martyrs) pointed out, it was obvious that 666 added up to A MAN OF ROME.” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2013/apr/05/who-is-the-antichrist-obama-satan
[21] https://www.beliefnet.com/news/home-page-news-and-views/rick-warren-and-chrislam.aspx
[22] https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-46794556
[23] Got these sample from an online source I don’t want to honor by mentioning by name.
[24] To give you an idea of the kind of argument made, I’ll pull from another article that was pointing that prophecy can be manipulated to make it apply to just about anyone we want to if we are creative enough:
[25] https://academic.logos.com/covid-19-and-the-mark-of-the-beast/
[26] Luke 16
[27] Naked Bible Podcast Episode 383: Revelation 13
[28] In the OT God told Israel that the Torah was to be “as a sign on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead” in order to remind them continually of their commitment and loyalty to God (Exod. 13:9; so also Exod. 13:16; Deut. 6:8; 11:18). This was done with phylacteries (leather pouches) containing portions of the Torah. (Beale and McDonough) The mark of the beast is a perversion of this custom: most phylacteries were worn on the left hand; the mark is on the forehead, not over.
[29] “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” (Rev. 7:3) They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. (Rev. 9:4)
“Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion, stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.” (Rev. 14:1) “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” (Rev. 22:4)
[30] Two marks on the righteous and sinners are described in the Second Temple writing Psalms of Solomon (14:6, 9.)Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament
[31] Micheal Heisser notes this passage from Psalms of Solomon 15:9-11 (Second Temple Jewish literature): For they will flee from the holy ones like those pursued in battle, and they will pursue and capture sinners; and those who do lawlessness will not escape the judgment of the Lord; they will be captured as if by experienced warriors. For the sign of destruction is upon their forehead. And the inheritance of the sinners is destruction and darkness, and their lawless acts will pursue them to Hades below.”
[32] Examples of gematria have been found in graffiti at Pompeii (c. a.d. 79). One reads, “Amerimnus thought upon his lady Harmonia for good. The number of her honorable name is 45 (me),” while another states, “I love her whose number is 545 (phme).” After Nero murdered his mother in 59, a Greek verse circulated around Rome lampooning the emperor: “Nero, Orestes, Alcmeon their mothers slew/A calculation new. Nero his mother slew.” The name Nero is the numerical equivalent of 1005 in Greek, the same as the phrase “his mother slew.” Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament
[33] Orthodox Study Bible
[34] Irenaeus best guesses were “Teitan,” the mythological Titans who rebelled against the gods, or “Lateinos,” the Roman empire. Irenaeus records that a variant, 616, was already known in some versions. Could John’s audience have known the identity of the beast? Probably so, otherwise John would not have encouraged the Asian believers to calculate the beast’s number. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament
[35] Pop culture reference: Marvel’s The Eternals has some Titans in it (Gilgamesh).
[36] Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly
[37] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament
[38] The concern that the COVID vaccine is the mark will fall to the wayside like the others when COVID is past. Really excellent article here: “The Covid Vaccine has 666 Written All Over It…and Why that Doesn’t Matter According to Revelation.”
[39] https://academic.logos.com/covid-19-and-the-mark-of-the-beast/
[40] “Revelation allows for no divided allegiance: We must decide between God and the world and between what each side values. Yet we cannot read this passage’s warning properly without also grasping the rest of the book: Every Babylon of the past has fallen, and so will every empire that oppresses us (18:2; 19:2). The future belongs not to Babylon but to the faithful, whose home is the Jerusalem to come (21:2–8).” https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/what-is-the-mark-of-the-beast