Very well. Here is chapter 13.
By oldhermit
I. Who is the Sea Beast, 1-10?
There is no break in the closing thought of chapter twelve and the opening verse of chapter thirteen. These two chapters must be read as if the chapter break does not exist. In keeping with the theme of the dragon waging war with those “who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus,” the beast rises up out of the sea.
A. Is it the Dragon on the seashore or John? This is a matter of a textual variant.
“And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.”
This textual variant is really of little consequence. In most English translations, chapter thirteen opens with “And I sawstood on the sand of the seashore,” rather than “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.” The NIV and the NASB prefer the latter rendering while translations such as the ASV, the Douay-Rheims Bible, the ERV, and the Weymouth New Testament translate it as “he stood upon the sand of the sea.” The antecedent of “he” would of course be the dragon of 12:17. The reason for the variant translation rests upon the omission of a single letter. Should it be ἐστάθη – 'I stood', or should it be ἐστάθην – 'He stood'? If the use of ἐστάθην is correct, this would suggest that the dragon stood as the one who seemed to summon the beast out of the sea. If ἐστάθη is correct then John is simply acknowledging himself as the on-the-scene witness of this rising of the beast out of the sea. The opinion among scholars is fairly split on this issue but from the continuing context of the chapter it would seem to me to be in favor of John over the dragon.
B. Who is the beast rising up out of the sea?
1. “Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.” We have already established from chapter twelve that the Sea Beast is the Roman Empire.
a. The then horns are still the tributary king of Rome; this is why they are wearing crowns. King Herod was one of these tributary kings.
b. The seven heads are still the seven hills of Rome which had become the symbol of the imperial city; “Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits,and are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while,” 17:9-10.
2. The appearance of the beast is presented as that of a composite predator.
a. “Like a leopard, his feet were like those of a bear, his mouth like the mouth of a lion;” This beast is a devourer of nations.
b. “And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.” Satan is the power behind the throne and his prey would be the Christian and Jewish communities.
3. The wounding of the beast, “I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound (no perceived hope for survival) was healed.”
a. Which head was wounded? The wound is seen on only one of the heads of the beast, not one of the horns (provinces). Since, according to chapter seventeen the seven heads were the first seven emperors, this wound was received during the reign of one of these seven rulers. Since five of them had already come and gone and one had not yet come, this only leaves the one who was reigning at the time which was Nero. This means that the Empire of Rome suffered a fatal wound during the time of its sixth emperor, and had God not healed the wound, Rome would have destroyed itself. From the time of Galba who succeeded Nero to Vespasian the empire was in a state of political chaos with three consecutive emperors within the space of eighteen months. During this time Rome was also plagued with civil war and bankruptcy. It was not until Vespasian came to power in 69AD that Rome began to recover from the brink of collapse. From this also sprang up a resurgence of emperor worship that was enforced under penalty of death.
b. What was the 'fatal' wound?
* As verse fourteen tells us, the wound was the result of warfare “the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.” The fact that he came to life simply means that the Empire regained its stability and position of world dominance and power under Vespasian.
* The fatal wound was 'healed'. This has to be the result of divine intervention. The head did not simply recover from the wound over time. Action was taken in response to the wound. The fact that it was healed speaks of divide intervention on the part of God. Without an act of God the wound would have been fatal. Rome still had a role to play in its global spread of the gospel. The Roman persecution was largely responsible for the spread of Christianity.
* The seeming indestructible nature of Rome drew a response from the tributary nations. “And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” They praise the strength and power of the beast rather than God who healed the beast.
