4. The blasphemy of the beast
a. “There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies.” Should it be 'him' or 'it'?
* αὐτῷ is dative case and both masculine and neuter gender. Since the antecedent of αὐτῷ is the beast representing not a person but a nation it would seem to be more appropriately rendered in the neuter rather than the masculine. In fact, it is so rendered in a number of English translations; Thus, “There was given to it....” Since however, the 'head' is referring to a specific ruling person, for the seven heads are kings, it would certainly seem appropriate to use 'he'.
* The source of this arrogance and blasphemy is the dragon. He is the one who empowered the beast in verse two. Satan is the one who influences the minds of the emperors.
* The arrogant words and blasphemies – In 2Thessalonians 2:3-4 Paul writes, "...that son of perdition an adversary who exalts himself above every so-called god proposed for worship, he who seats himself in God's temple and even declares himself to be God." This is blaspheming the name of God. It would seem that this is directed at this particular persecutor.
b. “And authority to act for forty-two months was given to him (it).” The authority is to execute destruction against Jerusalem.
c. “And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.” How does he blaspheme the name of God? He assigns it to himself.
* The church is here intended as the co-recipient of Nero's blasphemies. He blasphemes God “and his tabernacle, those who dwell in heaven.” The tabernacle or house of God is “those who....” The Church is the tabernacle of God whose dwelling place and place of origin is heaven. We will see this more clearly when we get to chapter twenty-one. ”Those who dwell in heaven” stand in contrast to the beast that rises out of the sea – Rome, and the best in verse eleven that came “out of the earth” (the place of the nations) is Jerusalem. Those who dwell in heaven represent the saints.
* The blasphemies are associated with persecution. The persecution of the saints is an affront to God himself.
5. “It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.” Nero persecuted Christians irrespective of nationality. Jerusalem is no longer Nero's only object of assault. Late in 64 AD Nero began his persecution of Christians. This persecution was not limited to Jewish Christians but encompassed Christians of every ethnic group – those of “every tribe and people and tongue and nation.”
6. “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.”
a. This is directed toward those who were the subjects of the three woes – those in Jerusalem because it speaks of those destined for captivity and those killed by the sword. When Titus besieged the city in 66AD it was on the Sabbath day during the Passover. This means the city would have been crowded with people. Josephus estimated the population of Jerusalem to be about 2,500,000 at the time the siege. When the city eventually fell, the accounts of the dead were estimated to be between 600,000 to over 1,000,000, thousands of which were crucified. Josephus placed the number 1,100,000 but the conqueror Titus believed it to be around 600,000. 95,000 captives were taken as prisoners and sold into slavery or killed in gladiatorial games. The rest died of starvation and disease. Ac
b. These are those whose names are not written in the book of life. These are said to worship the beast – Rome. Jerusalem despised Roman rule and fought against Roman domination yet, they are said to worship the beast. This seems paradoxical but the fact is that prior to the Roman Jewish war, Jerusalem was in league with Rome. Palestine was one of the tributary provinces and was ruled by king Agrippa II who's allegiance was to Rome. If you do not worship the Lamb, you worship the beast. There are no other options.
II. Who is the Beast from the Earth, 11-18?
A. “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth (Palestine); And he had two horns like a lamb...”
1. The first beast is depicted as a composite predator while the second beast is depicted as a lamb, an animal of prey.
2. “And he spoke as a dragon.” Speaks like the dragon rather than the Lamb; This makes him a false prophet as he is called in 19:20. Jesus had warned of false prophets during this time in Matthew 24:11. The fact that he “spoke as a dragon” represents an agreement of mind between Rome and Palestine who was nothing more than an instrument of Rome through which Rome exercised its power over the Jews. This is portrayed in the comparison of horns which represent power. Rome has ten and Palestine (the subordinate power) has two. The lesser served the greater.
B. “He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.” The object of this power was the Jews. The only power Palestine possessed came from Rome and the Jews were required to give their allegiance to Rome. “If you give it to the Lamb we will kill you.”
C. “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. “And he deceives those who dwell on the earth (Jews, specifically the province of Palestine) because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” These “signs” do not suggest miracles or even pseudo miracles. These signs were demonstrations of power and authority exercised on the citizenry. Fire is a judgment figure used here as it is in many places to represent the power, in this case the power of the Jewish persecutors against those who refuse to worship the Beast or bow to his image. This is very suggestive of 2Thessalonians 2:9-12, “Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all(unrepentant Israel) maybe judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” This judgment was executed in the three woes.
D. “And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast (god, Caesar???) or the number of his name.” The mark of the beast is nothing more than one's willingness to offer its worship the first beast. In other words, if you did not acknowledge Caesar as god you were not allowed to buy and sell in the marketplace. If you were a fisherman, a shepherd, a farmer, a craftsman, a herdsman, or any other type of merchant you were not permitted to conduct business or ply your trade if you were a Christian. Being a Christian was economically disastrous.
1. The symbolism of the forehead can be used to indicate the stubborn mind, Ezekiel 3:8-9. This stubbornness can be either for or against God.
2. This symbolism as it was introduced to us in Exodus 13:9 was one's consecration of the heart and mind to God. Here, this symbolism is used of those who have consecrated themselves to the beast.
E. “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.” Nero was the sixth emperor. Six is the number for man and the three-fold use of the number six simply exaggerates the fact that he was a man and not God. Those who worship him worship man.
