Revelation 13:11-18 - The Beast from the Earth
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Revelation 13:11–18 (ESV)
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.
Last week we saw the beast that came from the sea. We saw that it represented the secular powers of the world - the governments, the commerce, the money - all of which is ultimately under the rule of Satan.
And we saw that those of the world worshiped this beast, which means they ultimately worship the dragon, who is Satan. Many think of the earthly powers that be, as ultimate powers, so they give their allegiance to those powers, they serve those powers, and they look to those powers as their savior.
And we saw, the results of this is persecution for those who do not worship the beast. This is Satan’s goal in his reign over the beast. He wants to affect the church’s mission because he knows his time is short. So some of us are thrown into prison, and some of us are killed. This happens now and it may happen to us.
And at the end - right before Christ’s return - we saw that the beast will be allowed to prevail over us for a time. And we will all be persecuted like never before. And we saw that John ends with this:
Revelation 13:10 (ESV)
Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
Because all of that is happening, we need to persevere through faith so that Satan doesn’t win.
But Satan is not done. There is another way he makes war on the saints. There is another beast:
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.
Once again, we see that this beast is part of the kingdom of the world. Remember, the sea and the earth together are used to speak of the world as a whole. We had a beast from the sea that represented the secular powers of the world.
So what is this beast that John sees rising out of the earth?
Well, we need to note that in the ancient world, even into the first century, that people thought of the land, or the earth, and the sea, very different ways.
The sea represented chaos, whereas the land represented order.
The sea represented danger, whereas the land represented safety.
And what came from the sea would be thought of as foreign, whereas what came from the land would be thought of as native.
So here in Revelation 13, the sea beast is foreign to John and the first readers of the book. It is foreign to the church. It is secular power that is outside the church.
But the land beast would be native to John and the first readers of the book. The land beast comes from within the “church”. This beast represents religious power.
And make no mistake, there is great power in religion. Why?
The Bible is clear that all people have a knowledge of God in them, even if they suppress that truth.
Romans 1:18–23 (ESV)
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.
So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Everyone worships something. We can’t not worship.
This is why Thomas Edison called man “incurably religious”. Worship is part of who we are as humans. It’s how we’re created. We were made to worship. But because of sin, we don’t always have the right object of worship.
And so people worship false gods. Like worldly powers. Or like false religion. And false religion is more powerful than non-religious powers, because it fulfills man’s innate desire to worship something greater than himself.
And what this beast represents is false religion, and its power over people:
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.
But we need to realize, the best counterfeit is the fake that is the closest to the real thing. And we tend to think of false religion as things like Islam, or Hinduism, or any one of the various cults we have seen throughout history. And they are.
But the most dangerous false religion in the world, is false Christianity.
And it comes in many forms. And I am not talking about modern Christian heresies like Judaism, Mormonism, or Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I am talking about nominal Christianity. A religion that is called “Christian” but is really anything but. And this describes plenty of so-called Christianity in the 21st century.
And this is what is being described here.
Note that this beast, unlike the sea beast that had the features of all those other animals so we’d know it represents those world powers from the vision of Daniel in Daniel chapter 7, this beast has only one visible feature that John describes.
It has two horns like a lamb. The word here means sheep, lamb, or ram. We considered this word when we looked at Revelation 5:6:
And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
Here, the Lamb is Christ. And as we saw, the word used here for “lamb” is used only once outside the book of Revelation. And we decided that there was no special significance to John using this word to describe Christ, even though there were other words he could have chosen to describe a lamb.
And when we looked at Revelation 5:6, we looked forward to this verse:
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.
This is the only place in the book of Revelation that this word for “lamb” is used of anyone - or anything - outside of Christ. It is used 29 times in the book, and 28 references are to Christ.
So while there is no significance to John using this word to describe Christ, I think it is very significant that he uses the word to describe the horns of this beast. He is likening this beast to Christ.
The horns - and remember, horns represent power - so the power of this beast, is in it resemblance to Christ. It appears Christian. But it’s not.
Because there is another feature of this beast. It isn’t visible, John hears it. It spoke like a dragon.
And of course, the dragon in the book of Revelation represents Satan. So this beast resembles Christ, but speaks the words - the lies - of Satan.
This is false Christianity.
And while I am not going to call out any specific denominations or types of so-called “Christians”, false Christianity is any Christianity that points people anywhere but Christ, that holds anything other than Christ to be ultimate: be it to tradition, idols, or any one man - or political action, social justice, and the ways of the world.
False Christianity redefines sin and salvation. False Christianity preaches self-help and easy love - it teaches that people are ultimate.
It is a Christianity that is very much concerned with, and influenced by, the world. There are churches not far from here that would condemn you for believing in salvation through Christ alone, but would celebrate you if you took part in a pro-choice rally.
It looks like Christianity to many, but it teaches the lies of the devil.
This is what is being described here:
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.
Note, the land best exercises the authority of the first beast. And it is in its presence. It literally says it exercises all the authority of the first beast “before him”, or “in the sight of him” - or even “on its behalf”. In other words, there is no difference between being of the world and being this type of Christian.
And note, this beast makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast. This type of religion causes its adherents to worship the world and its ways, which as we have seen, means they worship Satan.
These “Christians” are no different from the world. They think of this world as ultimate, and worldly powers as ultimate. They are deceived by the religion they follow.
It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people,
So this beast performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven. What is this all about?
Think back to Moses and Pharaoh. God performed miracles through Moses, and Pharaoh’s magicians, through either their black arts or just sleight of hand, appeared to duplicate the first couple of miracles.
Because even way back then, emperors, especially Pharoah who was considered a god, would have court magicians who would be able to perform “miracles” so the emperor could claim to have the power of a god.
And in the first century and even into the second, the Romans employed magicians to do the same, in particular to try and convince people not to turn to Christianity. And the first readers of the book of Revelation would very likely understand the type of beast being described here. It performs “miracles” to convince you it’s of God.
But there’s more.
Let’s go back a little, to the last vision cycle. Before the seventh trumpet was blown, John saw a vision of two witnesses. And if you’ll remember, these witnesses would prophesy during the time right before Christ’s return:
Revelation 11:3–10 (ESV)
And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.
They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.
And if you’ll remember, that these prophets are described here as having the authority of God behind them, and they perform the works of Elijah and Moses. They represent the Word of God - the testimony of the church. It is this testimony that Satan seeks to end, and through the final anti-Christ, he will do just that for a time, but only after the Word of God has completed its purpose here on earth.
Note here that the “peoples and tribes and languages and nations” will be glad when this happens. And those “who dwell on the earth” will rejoice over the end of the church’s testimony.
Well, look who these beasts have power over in Revelation 13. Of the sea beast, we read last week:
Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
Then when we get to the land beast, we see:
It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people,
This beast is given authority like the two witnesses. Only here, it is the authority of Satan. And we see that this beast performs similar works - it makes fire come down from heaven to earth - one of Elijah’s miracles. And we are told that it does this “in front of people”.
And that “in front of people” is the same wording as the “in its presence”. The authority of the first beast, who has the authority of Satan, is given to the second beast who performs its work on behalf of or in sight of the first beast, and it performs the work of Elijah on behalf of or in the presence of the people who worship the first beast.
We see here a hierarchy of wickedness. Satan, the world powers, false Christianity, the unsaved. Or, we see the progression of deception: people are deceived by false religion, which works on behalf of the world, which works on behalf of Satan.
So what we are seeing here is parallel to the account of the two witnesses that are part of the sixth trumpet. We see here how, in those last days, Satan will convince the world that the message of the church has been overcome. He will do it from within. He will do it through lies.
He will convince people of truth other than that in the Word of God, but they will believe it to be the very words of God.
And the beast that rises from the bottomless pit in Revelation 11, as we saw, is the final anti-Christ who will be allowed to conquer the church. We saw part of this last week when the sea beast was allowed to conquer the church during those forty-two months.
And here, what is being described, is a false prophet. An Elijah-type that speaks lies - that speaks like a dragon, even though it resembles the Lamb.
In other words, while we struggle against the anti-Christ for that 3 1/2 - the period right before Christ’s return - we will not just be struggling against the world that will persecute us with great success. We will be struggling against false Christianity, whose message will be believed over the truth of the Gospel.
That’s why these two beasts together give us a full picture of the final anti-Christ. He is going to wield both worldly power, and religious power.
It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
Note that we again have that “in the presence” of the beast. John is using repetition of the same words to show the superlative nature of this unity between the world, false Christianity, and those who do and will adhere to that false religion.
And near Christ’s return, people will in large numbers be deceived into believing this false religion. This will be part of that great apostacy we have spoken about. Many from within the visible church will apostatize from the true church and follow this beast of false religion.
And the combination of worldly and religious power will be allowed to overcome the saints of God.
the Holy Bible—very specifically makes it clear that in the "last days" of this society a very powerful religion will come on the scene, deceptively calling itself "Christianity." It will claim to represent Jesus Christ and it will take over vast portions of this world… in which a nominal form of Christianity will hold power to a degree that today's ISIS militants can only envy! - Roderick C. Meredith
This is already in motion - it has been from the very beginning of Christianity.
This is what Paul warned Timothy about:
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
And:
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
This describe plenty of people in our day. It will describe all of those who apostatize from the church:
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
This is what Peter predicted:
This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
Along with Jude:
But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.
And what happens here is that, as we have already seen, those who follow this false religion worship not Christ, but the world. They are worldly people, as Jude says. And those who worship the world, worship Satan.
And they are scoffers - or mockers - as Peter said. They will mock the true faith by ignoring the words of Christ and turning to worship the world.
Again, John points out that people do not worship the second beast, they worship the first beast. The false religion points people to the world. And in the end, it will point people to the anti-Christ who is of the world - and ultimately of Satan.
But the anti-Christ will also wield religious power because those who worship it will come from within the visible church.
The anti-Christ will wield worldly and religious power, and everyone will worship him. Even those who bear the name “Christian.”
Right before Christ’s return, false Christianity will prevail, and the line between religion and the world - between Christianity so-called and the world - will disappear.
And the anti-Christ will be worshiped by all.
Let’s once again consider 2 Thessalonians 2, where Paul tells the church in Thessalonica that thy needn’t worry about missing Christ’s return, because all of this had to happen right before that:
2 Thessalonians 2:1–12 (ESV)
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way.
For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first [that is the apostacy], and the man of lawlessness is revealed [that is the anti-Christ], the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship [not just above Christ, but above every object of worship, which for most, is the world], so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God [this is what we see in the second beast - this is the false prophecy of that false Christianity - remember, BOTH beasts together represent the anti-Christ. This is the wielding of the power of false religion]. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work [as I said, this is already happening and already was in Paul’s day]. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way [This is God Who will allow the anti-Christ to prevail over us for a time]. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming [the victory of the anti-Christ will be short lived. Christ will come and put an end to it. That is Paul’s point - this is how we know His coming is near].
The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders [which we just saw in Revelation 13:13], and with all wicked deception [as we just saw in Revelation 13:14] for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved [as we just saw in all those New Testament passages] . Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
This is what we see here in Revelation 13:
Revelation 13:11–15 (ESV)
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people,
and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
And this image of the beast here is idol language. This is symbolic of idolatry.
The word here for image, is the same one Paul uses when he says of unbelievers that they:
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
And this is speaking of idolatry. But Paul is not saying that all unbelievers make physical idols of what they worship. He is saying that these objects of worship that are not God become their idol.
To understand this, we need to understand the very blurred line in the Bible between idols, as in, physical representations of false gods, and those gods themselves.
First, understand that when the Bible says things like:
1 Kings 8:23 (ESV)
O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart
This does not mean that there are no other gods. It means there are, but that none are like YHWH God.
And who are these gods? As we have seen, they are heavenly beings, what we would call fallen angels or demons. They are worshiped as gods.
In Moses’s final song, he admonishes Israel for the disobedience they have already perpetrated against God, and he says:
Deuteronomy 32:17 (ESV)
They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.
These demons aren’t gods, but they are worshiped as gods.
These are real persons. Not humans, but created beings. And in the Bible, these “gods” are equated at times with the idols - the images - that people made to worship their gods:
Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.
Here, these gods and the man-made idols are equated.
And understand, in the Ancient Near East, the idols were made so that gods could inhabit the carved or cast image so people would have a place to come and worship their god. They didn’t carve an image and think “look I made a god, I think I’ll worship it.” They wanted a physical place to come to in order to worship their god.
This is why YHWH came and dwelt in the Tabernacle and then the Temple, and then in Christ, and then in His church. To give finite, physical man a holy place to come to to worship God. That’s what people tried to do with their idols that they made.
And this type of idolatry is condemned in the Old Testament:
Isaiah 42:17 (ESV)
They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.”
See the blur between the idol and the god.
And we see it here:
Psalm 96:5 (ESV)
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
The idols are not the gods, and the gods are not the idols, but they are so associated with each other that the language of “idol” and “false god” became almost interchangeable.
Like we saw in Revelation chapter 9, again in the sixth trumpet, which parallels what we are seeing here in chapter 13:
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,
The demons - or false gods - and idols are different, but equated.
So when we get here:
and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
What this is talking about is the mass idolatry of the world who is worshiping their false god, who is the anti-Christ who himself, remember, is an image of Satan - remember, those who worship these beasts really worship Satan.
And the worship of the anti-Christ takes place through idols - through other objects that represent the false god.
And this is why so many rulers - even into the 20th century - would make idols - would make statues - would make images of themselves. It was an attempt to elicit worship from the people.
Think about Daniel chapter 3. Nebuchadnezzar makes the gigantic image of gold - it was 90 feet high. And this proclamation is made:
Daniel 3:4–7 (ESV)
And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.” Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Understand, the gigantic gold statue was not the god of these people. The idea is that Nebuchadnezzar wanted to be the god of his people. People weren’t worshiping the physical statue when they bowed to it - they were worshiping the king it represented!
And understand, the Roman Emperors would often make giant statues of themselves that were to be worshiped. Because the Roman emperor started to be thought of as a god, and many of them demanded the worship of a god.
This is what would be in the mind of a first century Christian reading this:
and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
But this is symbolic, remember. So this isn’t necessarily a giant statue of the anti-Christ. It certainly could include that, but the idol here is anything that is worshiped other than God - any other religious power and any worldly power. Because every idol that is worshiped in this case is really worship of the anti-Christ, which is ultimately worship of Satan.
And the second beast - false religion - gives breath to the image of the first beast - worldly power. False Christianity empowers the world powers. It does now, it will then.
But the giving breath to the image and the making it speak is also another reference to the “miracles” that people would perform in order to establish their power, or the power of their king.
Any power that was attributed to the gods - including YHWH God - these magicians would try to duplicate to show that they or their king had the power of the gods.
We see this in the New Testament. When the message of the Gospel spreads to Samaria, we read of a magician named Simon.
But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.
And if you know the story, this man offers the Apostles money if they will give him the power to give the Holy Spirit. He wants to do whatever God can do.
And we have this excerpt from Pseudo-Clement that describes, allegedly, some of the words of this same Simon:
"…I have flown through the air; I have been mixed with fire, and been made one body with it; I have made statues to move; I have animated lifeless things; I have made stones bread; I have flown from mountain to mountain…”
We see here that, even if these are not the words of the same Simon, which they most certainly aren’t - yet we see the kinds of miracles that these magicians were said to perform.
And the idea of the land beast breathing life into the image of the first beast:
And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
This is part of those great signs the land beast performs. And it is another false claim to true Christianity. Because it takes an image of the first beast, and gives breath to it.
This false religion - this false prophet - this religious power: is claiming to do what only God can do.
then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
God breathed life into Adam - into His own image - and Adam came to life. Here, the anti-Christ, represented by both beasts, remember, is being painted as a corrupted parallel to God Himself. He breaths life into his own image and it becomes like a living being.
And that the image then speaks points us to the lies of both beasts. An image speaks of what it represents. Even an image that can’t speak does this. Which is why we feel completely differently when we look at a swastika than we do when we look at a cross.
And just like we saw with Nebuchadnezzar, those who do not worship the image of the beast are to be slain.
This anti-Christ, as we saw in 2 Thessalonians, will demand to be worshiped as a god.
And those who are not with the program will be found out. But just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego trusted God even when facing the literal fiery trial, so will those who remain faithful to Christ have to trust Him.
Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
But there’s more:
Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
If you’ll remember last week, we saw this of the sea beast:
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.
And I said that what John was seeing in those names written on the heads of the beast was the mark of the beast. The beast in the vision is marked with blasphemous names.
Well, when we get here:
Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
This is the continuation of the previous thought. The idolaters worship the image of the beast, which is worshiping the beast, which is worshiping Satan.
The beast is made in the image of Satan, the image is made in the image of the beast, and now we see that the idolaters are made in the image of their idol - of the beast. Which means these idolaters are made in the image of Satan.
Because you become what you worship.
Palm 115 teaches of idolaters:
Psalm 115:4–8 (ESV)
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
This is why the New Testament uses image language to describe our sanctification - as we are made holy, we are made in Christ’s image:
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Please note the contrast between idolatry and the image of God.
And as Paul says to the Corinthian church:
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
So here:
Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
This mark represents those of the world - and ultimately of Satan - to resemble the ruler of this world, which is Satan. They image the beast who images Satan. That’s why the sea beast is described so similarly to the dragon, and why he has a mark and now those who worship him have a mark.
And the idea of the mark on the hand and the forehead should be familiar to you. Because it represents faith.
In Deuteronomy chapter 6, Moses is beginning to repeat the law to Israel, and he gives them the shema - which Jesus says is the greatest commandment. But look at what Moses says:
Deuteronomy 6:1–8 (ESV)
“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.
Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
This is talking about keeping our eyes on God through faith, and that faith working itself out in our actions - through our hands.
So here:
Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
This is faith places in false gods. This is faith placed in the anti-Christ - the world system, false religion that points to the world system.
This is not an literal mark. There is no chip in your skin, there is no injection, there is no tattoo. The mark is the image of Satan - its the image of the beast that rules in his authority.
And I know many Christians who have expressed concern over themselves or others because they don’t want to accidentally take the mark of the beast. You can’t do it accidentally.
Like I said in my sermon Sunday - it is our decision to be set apart for Christ. And I said that we shouldn’t expect sinless perfection, but that we should expect to be obviously different in the world. That we should show forth Christ. That is the image of Christ.
If we look just like everyone else when we are in the world, then we have the mark of the beast.
And this is why we have already been told that we bear the mark of Christ. In the second cycle, when we considered the seals, we saw this as part of the sixth seal:
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
And as we saw, that 144,000 represents the elect of all time.
Which is why Jesus said in His address to Philadelphia:
The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
And it is not an accident that right after John sees in his vision the beasts and that the world takes the mark of the beast, he returns to those with the other mark:
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.
So there are two marks: the mark of God, and the mark of the beast, or of Satan.
And the final anti-Christ will not allow those who do not have the mark of Satan - so, true Christians - to take part in the world. We will be jailed, or we will be killed. And the idea of “buying or selling” remember is the idea of commerce that the sea represents in the book of Revelation.
In other words, the anti-Christ will only allow those of the world to be in the world. Because remember what we saw when we looked at in Revelation chapter 11 and the two witnesses. The Word of God will have completed its purpose on the earth before the church is overcome by the anti-Christ.
As Christ said:
And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
This has happened - the Word of God will have been proclaimed in all the world, and the two witnesses that represent the Word of God will appear to die, and the church will be taken out of the world by the anit-Christ:
Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
And now the moment we’ve all been waiting for:
This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.
So the followers of the beast will be marked with his name - which as we saw, the beast had blasphemous names on its head.
Or, they will be marked with the number of its name.
And here, John calls the wise to calculate the number. He says it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.
Now before we go any further, I want to say two things:
I don’t know what the number means
It is not very important to know what the number means
Why do I say that? Because we already know what the mark is. No matter what this number, correctly calculated, means, it is what makes someone clearly of the world. Of Satan’s kingdom. These people are already clearly marked in my opinion.
Also note that there is some ambiguity in this verse, for a few reasons. First, some manuscripts don’t say 666, they say 616.
Second, we need to realize that the Greek language does not have an indefinite article. There is no “a” or “an” like we have in English. You have to get it from the context. If there is no definite article - no “the” - then you have to determine whether or not the indefinite article is implied.
And sometimes, that is not so easy to do. Here, it’s not so easy.
Is this number, which is the number of the beast - there’s a definite article there - is it also the number of a man, or of man, as in: mankind.
And you can see very clearly here how, as I always say, there is interpretation in translation.
So understanding all of that, what is the number of the beast?
I am going to give you some options here, and feel free to choose what makes the most sense to you.
Some say it is an amount of years. Some in the early church thought it would be 666 or 616 years between Christ’s ascension and the coming of the anti-Christ.
After that didn’t happen, some said it is the duration of the anti-Christ’s kingdom on earth. And that “kingdom” throughout the ages has been identified with certain Christian heresies, or Islam,
or even Roman Catholicism, among other things.
Some - maybe most - try to use what is called Gematria to figure this out. In Gematria, every letter has a numeric value, and adding all of those values together yields you a number for the word or words under consideration.
In both Greek and Hebrew, the first letter of the alphabet has a value of 1 and it counts up to ten, and the eleventh letter is 20, etc and the 19th letter is 100, etc.
And this has led, historically, to a debate over whether this number is calculating a Hebrew word, being the assumed author by most is the Apostle John and he was Jewish - or is it calculating a Greek word, which would be the language used by those in Asia minor to whom this letter was sent based on the seven churches from chapters 2-3.
I don’t think the Apostle John wrote this, and I believe that those churches are symbolic of the whole church, so neither of those work for me.
But it has for some. And here are the varying results of using Gematria:
The Greek spelling of the Latin word “Latinus”, which is what the Roman Empire was called, has a value of 666. This was a popular choice in the early church.
The name “Nero Caesar” in Greek adds up to 666. As do the Greek words for “Caesar of Rome” so we can apply this to any Roman Emperor. This was a very popular choice until Nero’s death.
Caligula yields you 616, so some say that is the original reading.
Titus gets to 616, and his son Domitian comes to 666, so some have said both numbers are valid, and it points to this father-son duo of emperors.
The first letters of the first names of the first 10 Roman emperors, add up to 666.
If you put Augustus’s name in the neuter and not the male, you get 666.
And it only gets more and more of a stretch from there.
And if you use the Latin alphabet, then you can get 666 from certain spellings of Mohammed, Luther, as in Martin Luther. From the Latin spelling of John Calvin. From king Louis the XIV. From Napoleon.
And on and on it goes.
In modern times, there has been a push to understand this using the Hebrew alphabet. Why? Because the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the letter “waw”, or in modern Hebrew “vav”. It is the Hebrew “w”. And if we understand that John was Jewish and was using Hebrew Gematria, then 666 is WWW and the internet is the anti-Christ. Search that online, you’ll find that one.
But here is my question, do any of these interpretations seem an answer John’s call to wisdom?
There is also interpretations of the number as symbolic. Makes sense, because we have seen that numbers have been used symbolically throughout the book. But what is it symbolizing?
Some say that 6 represents a falling short of perfection, which is represented by 7. And so the three sixes - with three representing perfection or completion - 666 is the mark of complete imperfection.
Others see 666 as falling short of 777, which was used of the Holy Trinity, so this represents the unholy trinity of Satan, sea beast of world power, and the land beast of false Christian prophecy.
Some see this and the reference to the number of man as meaning this is literally the number of man. Man is created on the 6th day. The 7th day, is of course, the day of God’s rest. So this is a complete falling short of man entering into God’s rest.
Or, 6 is half of 12, and 12 represents the New Testament church - there are 12 apostles, and they are half of the 24 elders. So the “perfect half” symbolizes the divided condition of the church at the end after the great apostacy.
Others look back into the Bible to find an Old Testament reference. And if you search your Bibles, you will find the number 666 appear in three other places.
The first two are really the same. You have the account of Solomon’s annual take of gold in both 1 Kings and Chronicles:
Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold,
And some have applied this to be the gold used to make the image John was just talking about. Or it could refer to the worldliness of those that worship the beast.
Then, we have in the book of Ezra the account of the returning exiles. In very Chronicle-like fashion, we get a count of each clan that returned, and in the middle of that we read:
The sons of Adonikam, 666.
And the name “Adonikam” comes from the word “Adonai” which means Lord but was the designation of God in the Old Testament for those who did not want to use the name YHWH. And the word “kam” comes from the verb “to arise” or to “stand up”.
And using Paul’s description from 2 Thessalonians, this represents the man of lawlessness who will “exalt himself against every so-called god.”
Now, if you want to know which of all these options I favor, I favor none of them. And while I am not gong to even draw my weapon on this hill, I will tell you what I believe. As we have seen in the book of Revelation, there are a lot of Old Testament references. So I agree we need to look in the Old Testament for some guidance.
There is also a lot of symbolic use of numbers, so I think that is also the correct way to look at this.
So lets take the three sixes. Three is the number of completion or perfection. Six is the number of man. As we have seen, there are meanings to each of the numbers of the creation days. We saw the 4 was the number of time, being God made the heavenly bodies on that day to mark off time, so it is the day time was created.
The 6th day, of course, is when God created man. And just like in Greek and English, where “man” can refer to a specific person “I am a man” - or all of mankind “the creation of man” - so in the Hebrew, the word for man can also mean mankind.
And in the Hebrew Bible, the word is used both ways.
The Hebrew word for man is אָדָם - which we transliterate as “Adam.” So where you see the name “Adam” in the Old Testament, it could be translated as “the man” - which sometimes it is.
Now consider all of the language being used in the immediate context of Revelation 13. There is a lot of imaging talk. Just like Adam was made in God’s image and God breathed life into him, we see the same of the image o the beast.
And here, we are told the the number of the beast, is the number of man, and it’s 666. And understanding what Adam did - that he chose Satan over God in the Garden of Eden - and understanding that those who are described as taking the mark of the beast have done exactly that - I think that we are being pointed back to Adam - to the man that represented mankind.
He sinned in the Garden, and he was excluded from the Garden - from God’s rest - usually represented by the number 7. And the image of God was distorted in Adam…
…the man in whose image all of mankind is made:
This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
And that we are in Adam’s image - a distorted image of God - is evident because, as we saw, the New Testament tells us those who are saved are being made back into God’s image through Christ.
And the number of the beast, the number of man, and the number 666 are all equated with each other.
So the number of the beast - the image of Satan - is the number of man - the image of the fallen Adam who failed by worshiping Satan - and the number of the beast and at the same time of fallen man is 666. It is the number of those who have completely fallen short, who are those who worship Satan, and who live exiled from God - who live of the world because they are not of God.
This is who is described in Revelation 13. I think the number is no more than a symbolic representation of fallen man who worships Satan. Unlike us who have been saved by God, and are marked by Him, and are being changed into His glorious image - they are marked by their god and are being made more and more into his image.
This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.
The anti-Christ (between the two beasts) is prophet, priest, and king!
