Revelation, chapter 13, comments: and the dragon gave him his power

13:1 ¶  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

Apollyon or Abaddon, the Destroyer, came out of Hell.

Revelation 9:11  And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

He is called the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, the bottomless pit shown previously to be Hell.

Revelation 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

A second beast rises out of the sea but Revelation 17:8 tells us that it is the same beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit.

Revelation 17:8  The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

Some commentators say that the sea represents the mass of humanity and it does appear that way as another beast comes out of the earth.

Revelation 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

Like the Philistine God, Dagon, half man and half fish, this beast arises out of the sea. The question is, you have to ask, is this a metaphorical statement and does this beast arise out of the mass of humanity or does he come literally from the sea when it is already said that he ascended out of the bottomless pit?

Think of the possibility of the sea representing the mass of people, the sea of humanity, and the earth representing religion. He is a man of the people. There are People’s Republics, usually just another name for government by oligarchy. Some early American political leaders referred to vox populi vox dei, the voice of the people is the voice of God.

Genesis 19:30 ¶  And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31  And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: 32  Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

The nature religions like Wicca and others are called earth religions. Modern paganism is one of those traditions. Could John be writing about a political character and a religious character, the first under Satan’s authority and the second as a religious figure who will demand worship of the first?

The metaphorical aspect of this creature is represented by him having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns as does Satan in the previous chapter as does the woman in chapter 17 where it is explained that the seven heads represent seven mountains and the ten horns, kings. This beast is characterized by blasphemy against God. He derives his power from Satan. Note the similarity with the world’s kingdoms in Daniel.

Daniel 7:1 ¶  In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. 2  Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. 3  And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. 4  The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. 5  And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. 6  After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. 7  After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 8  I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

If we could determine who these kingdoms are we might understand the nature of this beast’s earthly power, its foundational political strength. Typically, the first beast of Daniel is thought to be Babylon, the next Persia, then Alexander’s Greece, and finally, the Roman Empire.  This beast, though, has similarities to these kingdoms, inasmuch as his parts are likened to them, perhaps the absolute authority of the Babylonian emperor, the administrative power to unite diverse peoples like Persia with its 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia stated in the book of Esther, and the military power and ability of Alexander the Great. Rome isn’t mentioned because, I think, Rome still exists.

Rome went from city-state around 750BC to republic to empire, split in two with the Eastern half lasting until 1453AD. We must remember that the Easter Roman Empire simply called itself the Roman Empire and up through to the end referred to themselves as Romans. The myth that Rome fell in 476 is just another lie from your high school history textbook of which there are many. The Roman Catholic Church inherited the administrative functions and ability of western Rome lasting from the 300’s AD until the present.

So, Rome has been a political and spiritual empire playing a great part in the world’s affairs for the better part of nearly 3,000 years. That’s half of human history. Does this beast come in the form of a Pope with political power available to him again because of great suffering in the world and people looking to him for answers?

Whatever the case, Satan gives him his power and authority and his seat. As a side note, when a Pope speaks ex cathedra that means literally from the throne or seat, as in the Bible a teacher and authority seated was the standard for a genuine authority. See Jesus in Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount.

13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

This beast receives a head wound. Is this a reference to an assassination attempt? And does the following verse in Zechariah apply to this?

Zechariah 11:17  Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

The world marvels that this beast is still alive after such a blow.

13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

The world outright worships Satan as the power behind the beast. There is no mistake here. No deception. They are worshipping the enemy because the beast must claim that his healing is from Satan. Well, the Irish say the devil takes care of his own.

13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Again, here as in chapters 11 and 12 we are receiving an overview. First, the two witnesses preach for 3 and ½ years, the Jews are driven into the wilderness for 3 and ½ years, and the beast speaks blasphemies and great things for 3 and ½ years. This is the time of the Great Tribulation, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. Either the huge multitude of people in Revelation 7 are killed during the Great Tribulation or they represent those raptured out of it.

  Revelation 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 11  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, 12  Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

    13 ¶  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17  For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

These are the events of the 3 ½ years of great tribulation, which many modern conservative, Christians call The Great Tribulation. This beast has power for 3 and ½ years.

13:6  And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9  If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

The beast blasphemes God, His name, Heaven, and those that dwell there. Think of such things today as Richard Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion. Will the beast curse God directly or will he deny God’s existence like Dawkins? It appears that he will curse God as previous statements have shown that people know who is causing their problems.

Revelation 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Revelation 11:13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Daniel, in referring prophetically and literally to the great evil type of Antichrist, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, one of Judea’s Greek rulers who did so much horrific violence to them in between the years of the writing of the Old and the New Testament, referred to this character, not uncommon in history, as a type of this beast. The following is another example of a double description.

Daniel 11:36  And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. 37  Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. 38  But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.

We can imagine the crimes that will be committed by the Beast of Revelation in the activities of the type of the Beast in history; Antiochus IV Epiphanes. According to apocryphal books inserted in between the Testaments in some Bible traditions he outlawed the religious rites and observances of the Jews and insisted that Zeus be worshipped as God. He is known in Jewish tradition as a great persecutor of the Jews and given the epithet of “the wicked.”

An important point of Bible prophecy, as touched on before in discussing Satan in Ezekiel and Isaiah, is that when the Holy Spirit gave a writer specific wisdom about a person contemporary to or in the near future of the writer, a description is given that also gives us information about another person. We must be careful, though, in our declarations and assumptions because we shouldn’t take away the relevance of the immediate context to the writer.  When you read Daniel 11 in context from the beginning it is clearly talking about Alexander the Great and his four generals who inherit his conquests. Still, figures in history presage figures in prophecy and teach us about their character and designs.

Verse 7 makes it clear that there will be believers in the Great Tribulation who suffer under the Beast’s murders. Those people whose names are not in the Book of Life will worship this beast. Those who do not will be murdered, typically, perhaps some imprisoned.  If you can understand it, then listen up, those who are placed in bondage are placed in bondage and those who are to be killed will be killed. We may not be happy with the way God disposes of things but it is His right to do so or to permit it as He wishes. Do you have patience and faith, trusting God unto death itself?

Job 13:15a  Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him…

Daniel 3:17  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 18  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

The Beast makes war on the saints so there must be believers here on earth when he arrives on the scene. His is triumphant for a time in his slaughter of Christ’s people. He receives a head wound that should be fatal, it seems, but is not. However, it is his image, his likeness, perhaps a statue that is required to be worshipped, or a hologram like Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has used when he gave a speech via a hologram, his giant avatar wowing his audience as reported by The Atlantic in January 2014. (https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/01/giant-hologram-of-turkish-prime-minister-delivers-speech/283374/)

    13:11 ¶  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Another beast comes out of the earth. If this earth represents religion as the other sea represents the people, then we have a political beast followed by a beast of religion. He looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. He appears to be a spiritual leader of peace and the humility of Christ but his words are that of the Devil.

This beast has equal authority with the first beast and he performs great wonders. Jesus gave a warning.

Matthew 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

It’s at this point that the second beast has an image of the first beast that recovered miraculously from the head wound and causes all to worship it. He then requires a mark to be placed in the right hand or forehead of every person so that no one can do any business without this mark. Those who don’t worship the image of the first beast are killed. The number of the beast that is the mark that is placed in the right hand or forehead of the people is 666. The early church father, Irenaeus, commented on an error by some copyists that led it to be written as 616, so that nonsense can be safely dismissed when you hear an unbeliever or skeptic declare it, just like the fictitious Gospel of Judas, which Irenaeus also dealt with satisfactorily 1800 years ago.

This could mean that in chapter 11 when the Beast overcomes the two witnesses and they are taken to heaven that his reign tightens in his paranoia or in the other Beast’s desire to keep at least the image of the fallen first Beast at the head of government.