The beast out of the sea (Rev 13:1)
Artwork by Duncan Long
Contents:
- Scripture (Rev 13:1-10)
- Introduction
- Verse by verse commentary
13:1 And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. 4 Men worshipped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshipped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. 6 He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.
9 He who has an ear, let him hear. 10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed.
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.
Earlier in Rev 12:7 we saw that the dragon was 'enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring--those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea'. Now we see how he wages war against the saints through the beast that comes out of the sea as the devil looks on. This beast was earlier revealed in Rev 11:7 as the beast out of the Abyss who makes war against the two witnesses and kills them when they have finished their testimony. We now find out more about this beast. He is introduced here as the Devil's henchman, he even resembles the devil with ten horns and seven heads, the devil delegates his power to the beast, his throne and authority. He is the incarnation of the Devil on earth through whom the devil makes war on the saints and overcomes them, the weapons used are imprisonment and death. All who pledge allegiance to the beast are giving their allegiance to the devil. He is the consummation of the four beasts that Daniel saw and therefore he represents an ungodly, bestial, world political empire. Later on in Revelation he rides the whore and represents an emperor, so empire and emperor are interchangeable. He has authority for the same time that the Gentiles trample on the outer court, the same time as the two witnesses prophecy and the same time that the church is cared for in the desert. The beasts exerts authority over all the world and represents political power, the second beast represents religious and economic power. Hendriksen comments that the first beast is Satan's hand and the second beast is Satan's mind. 'The first represents the persecuting power of Satan operating in and through the nations of this world and their governments. The second symbolises the false religions and philosophies of this world'. He sums up the beast, false prophet and Babylon as the three agents of Satan's attack upon the earth namely 'antichristian persecution, antichristian religion, and antichristian seduction'.
The beast can be interpreted as the Roman empire of John's time and subsequent ungodly empires since then culminating supremely in the empire of the antichrist. The message of this section is that the beast was given power to conquer the saints who are the only people who will not worship the beast, this calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints. In view of the fact that he kills the two witnesses at the end of their testimony, that is he silences the witness of the church (11:7) and in view of the fact that in 17:11 the 'beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king', the beast is primarily the antichrist at the end of the age. However the beast also belongs to the seven kings which indicates that he belongs to a succession of tyrannical regimes which persecute the saints. As 1 John 2:18 says 'as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.' Five of the seven kings have fallen, one is, the other is yet to come, but when he does come he must remain for a little while. While the man of lawlessness has not been revealed yet, the secret power of lawlessness is already at work in the world, 2 Thess 2:3-6.
The main NT references to human authorities are given by Jesus in Mat 22:17-21 (cf. Mark 12:14, Luke 20:22), Paul in Rom 13:1-7, and Peter in 1 Pet 2:13-17 ff. It should be noted that Jesus reply to the question of paying taxes to Caesar is repeated in each of the synoptic gospels, Mat 22:17 etc. He propounded the principle that one should 'Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's'. Jesus attitude to violence is illustrated when Peter cut the ear off a servant of the high priest and he said "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword..." (Mat 26:52). Paul points out that the governing authorities have received their authority from God and are instituted by God; and that by rebelling against them one is rebelling against God. They are God's representatives to punish those who do wrong, and the Christian must submit to their authority. Paul tells his readers to: 'Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour', Paul no doubt had the Roman authorities in mind. Peter also urges his readers to submit themselves, for the Lord's sake, to every authority instituted among men; whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. He also urges them to show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honour the king. He then goes on to argue that one should bear up under the pain of unjust suffering without retaliating, just as Jesus did.
Jesus, Paul and Peter are mainly talking about human institutions that maintain law and order. When Paul was treated unjustly by the Jews he appealed to Caesar for justice. These institutions are required because of man's fallen nature, without the maintenance of law and order there would be anarchy; but what of those authorities that take to themselves what belongs to God, the worship that only belongs to God. It is to this that chapter 13 of Revelation refers. Even here the bible does not argue for civil uprising under tyrannical regimes, but rather to continue to obey and fear God rather than man, even if this means death. One can see an example of this in the apostles continuing to teach against the wishes of the high priest and the Sadducees, they said 'we must obey God rather than men' (Acts 5), when one says this one must be prepared to take the consequences. One must notice that the authorities had over-stepped their God given authority. If the emperor demands the worship belonging only to God then one must obey God rather than the emperor even if this means dying, the emperors authority to demand such a thing clearly does not come from God (OT examples of those who oppose such a command are: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Dan 3). Patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints is required rather than retaliation, vengeance belongs to God. Finally, in the sermon on the mount, Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who are persecuted because of righteousness and because of Him (Mat 5:10-11); righteousness and Jesus both preclude violent behaviour against the state. Jesus states our attitude in its most radical and positive form in Mat 5:44 when he says 'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you'; Paul in Rom 12:14 states 'Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse'.
v1 - And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea - This a continuation of Rev 12:17 in which the dragon went off to make war against the rest of her offspring, i.e. the Church. In 12:12 woe is declared to the earth and sea because the devil has gone down to you, so it is not unnatural that here we see the dragon standing on the seashore (the boundary between land and sea) as the first beast comes out of the sea, later a second beast comes out of the earth. What is described now is how the dragon makes war against her using his allies the beast out of the sea and beast out of the earth. The word used for beast means that it is a wild, untamed, unrestrained animal, examples are given in verse 2, i.e. a leopard, a bear and a lion. The same word for beasts is used in the fourth seal, 'They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth', 6:8. This is the same beast that the woman (harlot) rides, Rev 17:3. The beast comes out of the sea, the sea indicates peoples, multitudes, nations and languages, Rev 17:15 and Isa 17:12, i.e. the people's groups in the world; Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo Persia, Greece, Rome. God describes these empires as bestial. This is the same beast that came out of the abyss; abyss can also mean the great deep, mentioned as far back as Rev 11:7 when he kills the two witnesses. The imagery for the beast out of the sea comes from Dan 7:2 ff. Jack Deere in his book 'Surprised at the voice of God' (Kingsway 1996) comments on the dreams in Daniel: Another benefit of the symbolism in dreams is that it often reveals the perspective of God. For example, when the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about world empires, he saw the successive empires in terms of a beautiful statue. However, when Daniel dreamed about these same empires, he saw them in terms of beasts. Nebuchadnezzar's dream represents the world's view of human empires, while Daniel's represents the divine perspective.
v1 - He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name - The description of the beast is similar to that of the dragon (Rev 12:3 - an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his head), the beast resembles the dragon, in the same way Christ is the image of the Father. Ten horns signifying great power, seven heads, i.e. a multiplicity meaning hard to kill, it may also stand for its various incarnations as kings or kingdoms, the crowns (diademata) stand for its royal authority. The ten horns are also like Daniel's forth beast which also had ten horns which are ten kings, Dan 7:24. The ten crowns on his horns are royal crowns (diadema) which both the dragon (12:3) and Christ wear (19:12), these ten horns are ten kings, Rev 17:12. The number ten and seven should be taken symbolically as meaning complete. The beast is also mentioned in Rev 17:3 and explained in detail in Rev 17:7 ff. The ten horns are explained as ten kings in Rev 17:12. The seven heads are seven hills, referring to the Rome of John's time, and they are also seven kings, Rev 17:9. The beast should be contrasted with the Lamb. The beast is the incarnation of the Devil. Because he is to be contrasted with the Lamb he should be viewed as a person, but a person with a kingdom and people who do his bidding.
v1 - and on each head a blasphemous name - The blasphemous names on its head indicate its character, i.e. proud, arrogant, God hating, human government independent and defiant of God. It builds itself up at any cost to increase its power and wealth. Compare its blasphemous name with the name of the harlot BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH (17:5), Contrast this to the Saints who have the name of the Lamb and the Father written on their foreheads (14:1). Some of the Roman emperors demanded that they be worshipped, this is clearly blasphemy. The Roman emperors took the title divus or sebastos, which means divine. Frequently the very name God or Son of God was given to the emperors; and Nero on his coins called himself The Saviour of the World. For any man to call himself divine was a blasphemous insult to God. Further, the later emperors took as their title the Latin word dominus, or it's Greek equivalent kurious, both of which mean lord and in the old Testament are the special title of God and in the New Testament the special title of Jesus Christ (Barclay). In Daniel the horn spoke boastfully Dan 7:8, 7:11, 7:20, 7:25. Whenever Caesar demands what belongs only to God he becomes a beast, Mat 22:21.
v2 - The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. - The beast is hideous in contrast to the lamb. The beast reminds us of the first three beasts of Daniel 7. Daniel sees four beasts: lion, bear, leopard with four heads, a forth beast with iron teeth and ten horns. These are combined into one beast in this vision. Daniel asked for the interpretation of the beasts, they are kingdoms that arise from the earth, they are political powers (Dan 7:16-18). Daniel's four beasts (in Dan 7) represent the empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome (Gleason). They parallel the statue of Dan 2 in which the gold head represents Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire, the silver chest and arms was to be Medo-Persia beginning with Cyrus the Great, the bronze belly and thigh was the Greco-Macedonian empire established by Alexander the Great, the fourth empire is symbolised by legs of iron which is the Roman Empire. The feet and ten toes are made up of iron and clay, the weakness of the clay indicating that it cannot be a durable world power. The rock that struck and smashed the statue is the kingdom of God which will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end but will itself endure forever, Dan 2:44 cf. the iron sceptre of Rev 2:27, 12:5, 19:15 (Gleason). Consider this remarkable description of Pharaoh king of Egypt from Ezek 32:2, 'You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas...'.
Out of the peoples, multitudes, nations and languages came political super powers, e.g. Rome, Russia, China ruthless and arrogant. These beasts have the same characteristics as the nations described. The leopard, swift to pounce; the bear which mauls; the lion that has strength to destroy its prey. For example Russia has been called the great bear. In Rev 17:11 the beast is described as an eighth king, so the king and his kingdom are interchangeable. If we think of great dictatorships, such as Stalin's, Mao's, Hitler's this should not surprise us. Alternatively we can think of the beast as an Empire or an emperor. John definitely sees the beast as the Roman Emperor later in Rev 17, but again both empire and emperor are interchangeable. Finally in the last generation he is the antichrist, the little horn of the fourth beast (Dan 7:8), who leads the nations of the earth against Christ and his army, 19:19, and is destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire (Dan 7:11). Dan 7:13 contains a clear reference to the second coming of Christ. Note that the little horn is (a type of) the antichrist the fourth beast is his kingdom. Caird points out that for his sin of idolatry Nebuchadnezzar had been turned into a beast, he was driven away from people, ate grass like cattle, his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird (Dan 4:33), he was restored as a man only when he acknowledged the sovereignty of God. In contrast to the beast is the lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb, the true ruler of the kings of the earth.
v2 - The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. - We see here that the beast is the instrument of Satan from whom he derives his power, throne and authority. The dragon gave the beast his power (dunamis) to exercise his authority (exousia) effectively. In verse 7 he exercises his power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. This power is also delegated to the beast out of the earth to perform miraculous signs to deceive the inhabitants of the earth and give breath to the image of the first beast (13:13-15). The Greek word for throne used here is the same word used for God's throne (thronos) and is the same word used of Satan's throne in 2:13 which the KJV translates as Satan's seat (see also the beast's throne in 16:10). In verse 4 we find that men worshipped the dragon because he had given his authority to the beast; in verse 5 we find that the beast exercises his authority for forty-two months; in verse 7 we find that he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation i.e. all the peoples of the world, that is Satan's kingdom. In verse 12 we find that the beast out of the earth exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf.
Three times in John's gospel Satan is called the prince of this world, John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11 and in Mat 4:8-9 he clearly owned the kingdoms of the world which he offered to Jesus if he bowed down to worship him. In 1 John 5:19 we are told that the whole world is under the control of the evil one; in this section we see how Satan controls the world through the beast. Daniel's third beast was given power to rule, Dan 7:6. The devil uses people and political powers to fulfil his purposes here on earth, in the same way that God uses the church, which is his body, to fulfil His purpose here on earth, the two of them are diametrically opposed. While the beast may do the actual persecuting it is the devil who is behind it all as (2:10) makes clear, 'the devil will put some of you in prison to test you'. The beast accepts the satanic offer which Jesus refused, Mat 4:8, (Pawson). The dragon went off to make war against the saints and stood by the sea shore to watch the beast come out of the sea through whom he would make war against the saints (12:17).
v3 - One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed - The fatal wound that had been healed is a parody of the 'Lamb, looking as if it had been slain' see Rev 5:6. In verse 14 we find that the wound was caused by the sword. This wound speaks of death and resurrection, i.e. a civilisation falls and in its place another arises. It could also refer to the judgement of Satan on the cross, the fulfilment of Gen 3:15 in which 'he (Jesus) will crush your head', Satan was dealt a death blow at the cross, (John 12:31, 16:11, Col 2:15) the coup de grâce will be finally dealt when Christ comes again, see Rev 20:10. The beast has a similar appearance to Satan, compare 12:3 with 13:1. Remember that Satan had already been thrown out of heaven and hurled to the earth (12:7-9) presumably as a result of Christ's victory at the cross. There is no need to apply the healed fatal wound to the Nero redivivus (resurrected) myth, although this may well have applied in John's day. This myth is an example of the fatal wound that had been healed: Nero died by suicide but Domitian rose later sharing similar characteristics to Nero. Nero was so evil that many could not believe that death was the end of him. The expectation arose that he would reappear in a resurrected form (Morris). It can also refer to the rise and fall of tyrannical dictators, as one falls another one rises to take its place.
v3 - The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. - In 17:8 we find that the cause of their astonishment when they see the beast is because he once was, now is not, and yet will come. In 17:6 John was also astonished when he saw the woman riding the beast. These who follow the beast (i.e. his followers) should be contrasted with the 144,000 who have the name of Lamb and his Father's name upon their foreheads and who follow the Lamb wherever he goes (14:1-4). In following the beast they do his bidding, just as those who follow Jesus do his will. The whole world refers to the unregenerate, i.e. all those who are not saints.
v4 - Men worshipped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshipped the beast - This political power has exceeded it legitimate authority from God in that it allows itself to be worshipped, worship that belongs only to God, and thus break the first and second commandments (Ex 20:3-5). This worship may not be explicit, it could be its refusal to allow God's people to worship God as he should be worshipped, whenever the state does this it exceeds its legitimate power, see Rom 13:1-7. Note that John equates worship of the beast as worship of the dragon, therefore emperor worship is equated to Satan worship. This would be the case with the Roman empire which allowed emperor worship, especially during the reign of Nero and Domitian. Note: that in worshipping Satan men are doing what Jesus himself refused to do when tempted by the devil in the desert (Mat 4:8-10) Jesus quoted Deu 6:13 to the devil 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' Who we worship is one of the key themes of Revelation see 4:10, 5:14, 7:11, 9:20, 14:7, 14:9, 19:10, 22:9. The men who worship the beast are all the inhabitants of the world whose names have not been written in the Lambs book of life, verse 8. Preston and Hanson quoted by Mounce note that man is made to worship some absolute power and in the last analysis will give his allegiance either to the beast (whose power is that of inflicting suffering) or to the Lamb (whose power lies in accepting suffering).
In Luke 20:25 Jesus says we are to 'give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's'. It is right to pay taxes to Caesar and to honour Caesar but only God should be worshipped. The moment that Caesar demands to be worshipped he becomes a beast. Hailey notes that in rendering homage to the emperor the world was worshipping him who had given his authority to the Roman power. This worship is the counterpart to the worship of God, for in worshipping Christ to whom God gave His authority, the Christian worships God who sent the Christ and provided all blessings through Him. So in worshipping the beast they are worshipping Satan who gave his authority to the beast. The beast in accepting the worship belonging to Christ denies that Jesus is the Christ and becomes the antichrist in the sense of 'instead of' Christ (John 4:1-3).
We should also see that worship involves obeying the beast, see Paul's definition of spiritual worship in Rom 12:1, in which we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God, it goes on to say that we are to be renewed in our minds. In 13:16 we find that those who receive the mark of the beast receive it on their right hand (indicative of their actions) or their forehead (indicative of their mind), thus those who worship or follow the beast do so in their actions and thinking.
v4 - "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?" - This is a parody of the OT verse in Psalm 35:10, 'Who is like you, O Lord?'; Psalm 71:19, 'Who, O God, is like you?' and Exo 15:11, 'who among the gods is like you, O Lord?'. The praise of the beast is a parody of the praise of God. The power of the beast is very real, 'who can make war against him'? This question is answered later in Rev 19:19-20 when the beast and the kings of the earth make war on the rider on the white horse who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, but the beast is captured and thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulphur. Mounce notes that the motivation for worship is not his moral greatness but the awesome power of his might. Compare the 'Who can make war against the beast? with the 'who can stand?' against the wrath of the Lamb of 6:17 the answer is given in 19:19 ff. only Christ can war against the beast, not the church.
v5 - The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. - The proud words and blasphemies is reminiscent of Daniel's little horn which had eyes like eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully (Dan 7:8, 20, 25 see also Rev 11:36). The phrase 'was given' and forty two months indicates a divine limitation. The forty two months is the period until Christ comes, see discussion on Rev 11:2. This is the same period that the Gentiles trample the holy city (Rev 11:2) and the same time that the church witnesses, 1260 days (Rev 11:3) and the same time that the woman is looked after in the desert (Rev 12:6, 14), that is, it is the gospel age which is the period of the churches witness on the earth, Acts 1:8. Thus the beast exercises his authority throughout the gospel age. Some commentators see the forty two months as a literal three and a half year period corresponding to the last half of Daniel's week, Dan 9:27.
v6 - He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. - In verse 1 he had seven heads,..... and on each head a blasphemous name, we find him again in 17:3 covered in blasphemous names, He is anti God, godless and devilish. Such is the attitude of the world and is ultimately expressed by the antichrist who proclaims himself to be God, 2 Thess 2:4. He follows his master, the Devil (diabolos), who slanders God's people, cf. 2:9, the devil (diabolos) is mentioned four times in Revelation. He is similar to Daniel's king of the North, Dan 11:36, who will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods and also Daniel's little horn that spoke boastfully (Dan 7:20). This blasphemy results when rulers have absolute power and authority. Those who live in heaven can be viewed as the church who ideally lives in heaven (Phil 3:20, Eph 2:6). Herod is a type of the antichrist, Acts 12:21, as is Nebuchadnezzar who did not glorify God and turned into a beast (Dan 4:32). Compare the blasphemy here with God's servants 'those who reverence God's name', 11:18.
v7 - 'He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. - In Dan 7:21 it is the little horn of the fourth beast that wages war against the saints and defeats them. Daniel's third beast was given authority to rule (Dan 7:6). We have already had three warnings about persecution: in Rev 2:10 the church in Smyrna is warned that the devil will put some of them in prison and some might even have to die; in Rev 6:9 in the fifth seal John sees the souls of those had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus; in 11:7 when the two witnesses, that is the church, have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. The passage here contains an explicit warning to the Saints, that 'the beast was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them', and in verse 10 this calls for 'patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints'. Notice the words 'He was given power to...' part of the message of the book is that even though the beast succeeds in killing the saints God is still on the throne and in control. The beast will appear to have conquered the saints, but just in the same way that the world seems to have conquered Christ on the cross, it actually gives the saints victory over the beast and his image, the victors are found singing the song of Moses and of the Lamb in 15:2-4, see also 12:11, note that the two witnesses come back to life again, 11:11.
Just as the world shouted 'Crucify him' so the world will hate and persecute the saints, if they persecuted Jesus they will persecute the saints (John 15:20). Just as some of the Jews gave their allegiance to Caesar when they crucified Jesus ('We have no king but Caesar', John 19:15), the world will give their allegiance to the beast and persecute the saints. Behind the beast, of course, is the dragon who is making war against the saints, 12:17. Notice the four-fold description (tribe, people, language and nation) of those the beast has authority over indicating that they come from the four corners of the earth, the kingdom of the beast is a world-wide kingdom. The beast works closely with the whore (Rome or Babylon) who sits on the beast and who is drunk with the blood of the saints, 17:6. But the beast will make war against the Lamb and will be conquered, 17:14, 19:19-20. Here and in the preceding verses concerning his blasphemy the beast is the antichrist in the sense of 'against' Christ.
Here we are forewarned that the beast, i.e. ungodly tyrannical nations, will succeed in conquering the saints, putting them in prison as well as killing the saints. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Therefore the Saints should not be surprised when their persecutors win, e.g. Russia, China etc. their attitude should be that of patient endurance. Daniel (Dan 7:21) and Revelation indicate that they win in the end. Just as man succeeded in crucifying Jesus, so man will succeed in persecuting the saints. A servant is not greater than his master, if they persecuted Jesus they will persecute the Church (John 15:20). At this point we must ask ourselves the question, why does God permit His people to suffer like this? The answer given by Caird is to allow evil to run its destructive course and burn itself out and to give mankind the greatest possible chance to repent. Martyrdom, like the cross, is the cost of divine patience (2 Pet 3:9).
v8 - All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. - Just as the beast has political authority over every tribe, people, language and nation, he also has religious authority, all those who do not know God will worship the beast. 'All inhabitants of the earth' is all inclusive because everyone apart from the saints, whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, will worship the beast (see also 17:8). This persuasion is so great that everyone worships the beast, they are of course deceived. In 2 Thess 2:9-12 we find that although they are deceived by the man of lawlessness and his Satanic counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, it is also God who sends them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie. He does this because they refused to love the truth and so be saved, even after his warnings of the trumpets (9:20-21). Only the names of God's people are in the Lamb's book of life, Rev 21:27. For the 'book of life' see also, Psa 69:28, Phil 4:3. The Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world because it was decided in eternity past, just as God chose those in the book of life before the creation of the earth, 1 Pet 1:20, 1 Eph 1:4.
The worship of the beast out of the sea is orchestrated by the beast out of the earth, see verses 12-15, who uses signs and wonders and the threat of death to make the people of the earth worship the first beast. It should be noted that in 1 Pet 2:17 we are told to fear God and honour the king, we are not told to worship the king, that belongs only to God. Those people who know their God will not break the first and second commandment and worship the beast, Exo 20:3-6. It is commendable for a man to bear up against the pain of unjust suffering just as Christ himself did, 1 Pet 2:19-24.
v9 - He who has an ear, let him hear. - A solemn word to the saints to listen to the next verse, this is the only repetition of the formula used for the seven churches, see 2:7. The previous verse implies that the saints, whose names are written in the book of life, will not worship the beast, but this has consequences and we should pay careful attention to the next verse.
v10 - If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. - This verse indicates the consequences associated with not worshipping the beast, namely imprisonment and death. This is taken from the Lord's words to Jerusalem which he was to destroy because its peoples sin, Jer 15:2-3. This stresses the inevitability of persecution. Notice that prison and death are the two forms of persecution that the church in Smyrna was warned about (2:10). It is pointless and unchristian to resist by the sword. Jesus warned in Mat 26:53 that all who draw the sword will die by the sword. This indicates the inevitability of imprisonment or death caused by the beast, it will happen, let the saints be warned. Death by persecution is part of the saint's lot, in 12:11 the saints overcome Satan 'by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death'. Paul tells us to overcome evil with good and to submit to the governing authorities, Rom 12:21-13:1-7. As does Peter, 1 Peter 2:13 and in verse 19 he says that 'it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God'. He gives Christ as the supreme example of one who suffered unjust suffering, he committed no sin and he did not retaliate and made no threats but he entrusted himself God, 1 Pet 2:21-23.
v10 - This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints. - This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints because they must submit without resistance to the conquering attack of the beast (Caird) just as John submitted to his exile on Patmos (1:9). One cannot remedy one wrong with another wrong, 1 Pet 3:9. Jesus did not retaliate against his accusers, 1 Pet 2:23. Remember Jesus warning about persecution in Luke 12:4, we should not fear those who can only kill the body and do no more but we should fear God who has the power over the second death. Patient endurance and faithfulness in the face of suffering is one of the themes of the book and is required of the saints, it is also found in Rev 1:9, in 14:12 it warns that patient endurance and faithfulness is called for because those who worship the beast and his image will suffer eternal torment. Patient endurance in the face of suffering is found elsewhere in scripture: 'patient in affliction' Rom 12:12; see also 2 Cor 1:6, Col 1:11, James 5:7-11. In 6:9 and 20:4 we find the souls of the martyrs who had been faithful to death, they were killed because of their obedience to the word of God and the testimony to Jesus which they had maintained until death. See also Mat 5:11-12 (blessed are you when people insult you...), Mat 5:38-39 (do not resist and evil person...), Mat 5:43-48 (Love your enemies). Jesus absorbed the wrong and injustice done against him even to the extent of allowing evil people to crucify him to death and he expects his followers to follow his example (1 Pet 2:21-23). We should not fight evil with evil but with good (Rom 12:17-21). See 'The cross of Jesus', Ch 7, Leon Morris, The Paternoster Press, 1994.
- The Beast out of the earth (Rev 13:11-18)
- The Mark of the Beast and 666 (Rev 13:16-18)