Revelation 13 Who Is The Beast? Greg Bahnsen {Part 47 of 63}

We finished up, for the most part, chapter 12 in the book of Revelation. And I'm going to be turning to chapter 13 here in a moment for our study. Of course, beginning with chapter 13, we get into the really wild and woolly section of the Book of Revelation in terms of the debates between the commentators and the various eschatological schools, because now comes the question of identifying the beast of Revelation and has a lot to do with one's outlook on world history and what to expect in the future. We're going to be looking at some interesting things over the next few weeks in Revelation 13:18, but I want to conclude my remarks on Revelation 12 by contrasting our method of interpretation in Revelation 12 with that of a well known, free millennial expositor of the Scriptures, Hal Lindsey. In Lindsay's commentary on the Book of Revelation entitled There's a New World Coming, he speaks of a particular section of chapter 12 in such, I think, stark and outstanding fashion that I really can't resist telling you what he thinks of this section of Scripture and then having you learn some lesson about how to use the Word of God from it. You'll recall that last week and the week before, I interpreted chapter 12 as deep dealing with Israel as the true people of God, how Israel gave birth to the Messiah and Satan had every intention of destroying the life of the Messiah, but was unable to do so. During the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, there was a great spiritual struggle going on between Michael and his angels and Satan and his angels, and Satan was deposed. He was cast down from heaven like lightning. His power was grounded out. And seeing that he wasn't successful in destroying the Messiah, the Bible tells that Satan turned his efforts against Israel, the true Israel of God. Those who were Jewish Christians, however, thinking that he was going to destroy the church and sending the Roman army against Jerusalem in AD 70, what happened in fact is that the church escaped to the wilderness. And the language of the Bible there is that God bore the church on the wings of eagles, the wings of an eagle, which comes directly out of Exodus, the 19th chapter, where God relates in the terms of the Egyptian exodus for Israel of old, that he had bore them on eagle's wings so that they might be carried out safely. So just as Israel of old was exodus from Egypt, now the new Israel, the true Israel after God's heart, those who are Jewish Christians have been exodus from Jerusalem again as on the wings of an eagle. And then finally the chapter in Satan turns his wrath toward the rest of the woman's seed, that is the rest of those who are children of the people of God, the Gentile Church. Now that wings of an eagle, the way I interpreted that was by looking for an Old Testament background to that kind of metaphor. Not that you will always find one, but I think that's the story safest procedure and that's to let scripture interpret scripture, to expect that John is using well known idioms of his own day and that the idioms of the Old Testament, because Christians would be familiar with that, with the scriptures of the Old Testament. Now, Hal Lindsay has a different approach to the wings of the eagle, and I think it's interesting to hear has two. Two wings of the great eagle are provided to fly this group of Jewish believers to a protective place in the wilderness. Many Bible scholars believe that this will be the natural fortress of Petra, the ancient city of rock in the Jordanian wilderness south of the Dead Sea. Some kind of a massive airlift will rapidly transport these fleeing Jews across the rugged terrain to their flights of protection. Since the eagle is the national symbol of the United States, it's possible the airlift will be made available by an aircraft from the US 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. I really think that for all the respect we must have for fellow believers, that that just cannot be accepted in the church of Jesus Christ as a respectable way to treat the Bible. And not only that, show a great deal of US chauvinism. I mean the idea that the United States would have to be symbolized here as the one who's going to save the true people of God. But I mean, notice that the idea of the eagle. How do you interpret the eagle? What does the eagle mean to you today? Well, the eagle is the sign of the United States. Consequently, the eagle must mean the US Air Fleet. And of course we know There is a U.S. air fleet stationed in the Mediterranean. And therefore that's what this means. And it's not only an example of newspaper exegesis, that is taking what you know about the modern world and reading it into the Bible. But even worse than that, I think it's an example of taking one's own culture and the symbols of one's own life and expecting that's what John must have been speaking of. Is it conceivable at all that John could have been thinking of the United States Air Fleet in the Mediterranean when he wrote this book, and that's why he used the symbol of the eagle? Well, of course, prior to 1776 and the inauguration of the new land symbolized by the eagle, nobody in history could have understood this passage on those grounds because nobody would have known that the eagle was the United States Air Fleet. Well, I don't hold this up so much for ridicule today as to show you that there are two vastly contrasting ways of interpreting the Bible, especially when it comes to the controversial area of prophecy in the Book of Revelation. One says scripture shall interpret Scripture, and we expect John to use the idioms of his own day. Especially Old Testament Allusions are to be expected in John to help us understand the Book of Revelation. The other says we can expect the idioms from our TV guide in modern day newspapers to interpret the Book of Revelation. Well, so much for chapter 12. Let's move on to chapter 13. I'd like to read the entire chapter as we begin this morning. I'm going to begin with a verse that in some of your Bibles will probably be considered the last verse of chapter 12. The textual evidence for how this is divided is quite diverse. I take it to be the first verse of chapter 13 when we read and he stood upon the sand of the sea, referring to the great red rags. And he stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his head names of blasphemy. 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 throne in great authority. And I saw one of his heads as though it had been smitten unto death, and his death stroke was healed, and the whole earth wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon, because he gave his authority unto the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast, and who is able to war with him? And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. And there was given to him authority to continue 40 in two months and he opened his mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, even them that dwell in the heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. And it was given to him authority over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation and all that dwell on the earth shall worship him. Every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life is the Lamb that hath been slain. If any man hath an ear, let him hear. If any man is for captivity. Into captivity he goeth. If any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword must he be killed. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. And he had two horns like unto a lamb. And he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight. And he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast whose death stroke was healed. And he doeth great signs that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them to dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and live. And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image of the beast. That the image of the beast should both speak and cause. That as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free, and the bond that there be given them a mark on their right hand and upon their forehead, that no man should be able to buy or sell, save he that hath the mark, even the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. We could probably take a month's worth of Sabbath lessons to just tell you the history of the interpretation of this book, Revelation, and what it has meant to literary movements, American literature, the number of the beast and the symbolism of the beast and all that. It is certainly a controversial and a very dramatic chapter. I'm not going to do justice to all the interpretations possible, but I'm going to try to give you what I think the Bible would have us to understand this to mean according to the Bible itself, and how I hope to have Scripture interpret Scripture here. We'll begin at verse one or the end of chapter 12 for some of you. And he stood upon the sand of the sea. Satan has been cast down from heaven. The great red dragon. This one who has seven heads, right? He's been cast down from heaven. And now John sees him standing on the seashore. The problem, I think, with many of us who read the book of Revelation is that we fail to keep the main outline of details in mind as we read on in the book. You really want to understand what John is setting up here. Verse 13 after chapter 13, verse 1. All of this is somewhat parenthetical, I believe, because he's telling us all about the beast and the second beast and what goes on. But in terms of the drama of the book, and remember, I'm interpreting the summit as a drama that is the development of a play, almost a stage play. John's introducing the first character. And I saw the beast. I saw the great red dragon on the seashore. And the beast comes out of the sea, the beast comes out of the earth. And then chapter 14 begins. And I saw and behold the Lamb standing on the Mount Zion. So he is painting a picture, you see, you must understand the Mediterranean world. The great red dragon is on the seashore and the lamb is on Mount Zion. Alright, so now there is going to be this struggle, this cosmic struggle between the lamb and its followers and the beast and its followers, the great red dragon and his followers. And what happens later, you see, is really the drama that John wants to get across. So all of chapter 13 is to help us understand the character of the beast. And I trust we'll be able to identify him this morning as well. The great red dragon stands on the seashore, waiting there to call forth his henchmen from the sea. And he stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his head names of blasphemy. Can you picture the beast? You've got to stop and have the idea in mind here. I mean, that will help you get rid of any idea that the book of Revelation is to be interpreted literally. If nothing else. This beast comes up out of the sea or from across the sea is another way to look at it. And this beast has seven heads, upon which heads are names of last name. And the beast has 10 horns, and on the horns of the beast are diadems. Why aren't the diadems on the head? Why seven heads and ten horns? Some heads obviously have two horns. Right? It is a very unusual picture. John doesn't want us to take it literally. I think he wants to point out first of all that the head shows forth the name of blasphemy. And that is in terms of the. Of the beast, in terms of its horns, that it rules, that the diadems rest on that. This is, I don't hesitate to say, this is an ancient picture of light makes right. I mean, it's in terms of the horns that this beast rules. It doesn't rule in terms of right. It doesn't rule in terms of God's word and its direction. It rules simply in terms of its power. Comes up from the troubled waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Up from the sea, we are told. Look at chapter 11, verse 7. When they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with them and overcome them. And look at chapter 17, verse 8. The beast that thou sawest was and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss to go into perdition. And so elsewhere in the book of Revelation, we learn that the beast comes up out of the abyss. Here we read, the beast comes up out of the sea. Is there a conflict there? Not in terms of Jewish thought. Jewish thought saw the sea as the abyss to the great troubled waters. You see, it was the realm of chaos from which all evil sprang. Remember when Jesus cast out the legion of demons that was in the demoniac, and he cast them into the shrine. What happened to the swine? And ran over the edge of the cliff into where? The abyss, into the sea. And so from the abyss, this beast comes up in the reservoir of chaos which is associated with evil. The mind of the Jew. Now this, I think this picture of the beast coming up out of the sea is obviously taken from Daniel's vision in the seventh chapter of Daniel's prophecy. So let's look at Daniel 7 here for a minute or two. I'd like to begin reading at verse three. Daniel says, and four great beast came up from the sea, diverse one from another, four beasts from the sea. Now notice what the beasts are. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings I beheld. So the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand upon two feet of the man. And a man's heart was given to it. And behold, another beast. The second, like to a bear, and it was raised up on one side, and three ribs, hand on the other, were in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus unto it, arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld. And lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon its back four wings of a bird. The beast had also four heads, and dominion was given to it. And after this I saw in the night visions. And behold a fourth beast, terrible and powerful and strong exceedingly. And it had great iron teeth that devoured and brake in pieces and stamped the residue with its feet. And it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it. And it had 10 horns, four beasts. A lion, a bear, a leopard, and a many headed, many horned beast that had iron teeth and crushed the residue with its feet. Now John sees coming up out of the Mediterranean Sea, one beast. But how does he describe the beast? Verse 2 of Revelation 13. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were the feet of a bear, and his mouth the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power and throne in great authority. And I saw one of his heads as though it had been smitten unto death. His deathstroke was healed. The earth wondered at him. So we have here the beast of Daniel, the four beasts of Daniel combined into one beast. We have the seven heads. You see, the fourth beast of Daniel had four heads. There were three other beasts. So there are seven heads all together. All right. And the fourth beast of Daniel had 10 horns. And the other beasts were the lion, the leopard, and the bear. So all of these features are being combined. And so if you understand the prophecy of Daniel, then you can understand the prophecy of John. What was Daniel first prophesying where he spoke of these four beasts, four world empires, four successive world empires, each getting worse than the next. And finally, the world empire with the four heads and the many horns and the iron teeth was the fiercest of all. And we see that the one who was called the Antichrist, the small horn of Daniel, rises in the midst of that fourth kingdom. Now John is telling us the epitome of the evil of all the world. Kingdoms from Daniel to Rome, is now going to come forth from the sea. We're going to see all of these features come up in the climax. And the apex of this evil manifestation, they rise out of the ten horns, notice here, rise out of the fourth kingdom that Daniel speaks of in his prophecy. Likewise, in Revelation 17:10, the ten horns of the beast of Revelation 13 are interpreted in the following fashion, Verse 16 of chapter 17 in the Ten Horns which they thou sawest, and the beast thee shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire. These 10 horns are 10 credential kings, 10 outlying kings. There's another verse too that deals with this. Thank you. That's right, 1712. And the ten horns that thou sawest are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. So, as Daniel said, the 10 provincial kings or the outlying kingdoms will receive authority arising out of the Fourth Empire. And when we come to chapter 17, I'll interpret this more specifically. But what that indicates is that the ten horn allegorically stand for those who are going to finally turn against Rome, originally allies with Rome, that will turn against Rome, help sack it, and will derive authority from the fallen empire. The beast of Revelation 13 has seven heads. We've said. In chapter 12 of Revelation, verse 3, we read that the great red dragon has seven heads. And there was seen another sign in heaven. Behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns. And upon his head seven diadems. Upon the dragon we find the diadems on the heads. On the beast, the diadems are on the horns. Nevertheless, there are seven heads to the great red dragon and seven heads to the beast, which has been a metaphorical indication that the beast is an expression of the dragon. The beast receives its power and its authority from the dragon, as chapter 13, verses 2 and 4 say at the end of 13:2. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and his great authority, verse 4. And they worshiped the dragon, because he gave his authority unto the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? Okay, so far we can understand this about the beast, that the beast is a world empire, some kingdom of the world, a mighty kingdom of the world, one that is to rule over all nations and people and tongues. That kind of expression is used to indicate its widespread rule. Moreover, it's the culmination of all the evil of the four kingdoms that Daniel had prophesied in the seventh chapter. This is a satanic kingdom. Satan, the red dragon had given the throne and the authority to this beast that now rules. Chapter 13, one says, and upon the heads were names of blasphemy, blasphemous names upon the heads. Well, what are the heads of the dragon? We'll turn to chapter 17 and cheat here for a minute. We'll get a God's interpretation of the passage that he offers later, but it will help us here to look at it, I think. 17:10. Speaking of the seven heads, the seven heads have a double symbolism. According to John, verse nine of chapter 17 says, the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth that meaning the city sat on seven hills. Obviously Rome, verse 10 says, and they are seven kings. But if you are to see the seven heads in another way, as seven kings, the five are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come. And when he cometh. He must continue a little while. So the seven heads are the seven emperors of Rome. They are the seven heads of the empire. That makes sense, doesn't it? The beast is this world empire, this kingdom. And the heads of the king. Beasts are those who are the heads of the empire. They are the kings or the emperors of Rome. In fact, chapter 17 tells us that these first are heads of the empire. The sixth one is now ruling. Five have fallen. The sixth is ruling. The seventh will come before a short time, and that will fit into the historical scheme that I'll be offering as we go through the passage. Well, back to chapter 131 then. The seven heads had names of blasphemy on them. That is to say, the seven emperors bear names of blasphemy. They bear blasphemous titles. And that fits into what we know well about the Roman Empire. Every one of the early rulers of Rome had been deified in some form and worshipped by the Roman people bearing the title of Sebastus. Excuse me. Which means one who is worshipped. The emperors had to be worshipped as part of one's allegiance to the Roman state. We know that Augustus was paid divine honors during his lifetime. And at his death, the Roman Senate gave him the title of divas, which is to say godlike or of God. Nero had stamped on his coins that were used throughout the empire. The title savior of the world. The Senate regularly called its deceased emperors divine, and Domitian later was addressed as Dominus et duis noster, that is our Lord and our God. And so John is abhorred at this. Remember how Jesus answered Satan in the wilderness, and Satan said, if you'll fall down and worship me, what will he do? I'll give you the kingdoms of the world. Jesus replied from the Old Testament that we are to worship the Lord God only. We're not to worship anything. Satan wishes to be worshiped and then offers in return the kingdoms of the world. The Roman emperors were worshipped as God, and they were given the kingdoms of this world in the sense that the Roman Empire spread through throughout. That's one of the largest empires that man has ever known. The known world at that time was virtually dominated by the Roman Empire, and they had names of blasphemy upon them. At this point, I don't think we can hesitate to identify the beast that John's talking about. It's the beast that comes from across the Mediterranean Sea, rises out of the sea. What is across the Mediterranean Sea from Israel? You look across the sea, what do you run into? Well, obviously there are some options, but what is one main thing you're going to run into at the other side of the sea? Rome. Right? And across the sea rises Rome, the seven headed monster of the empire. Names of blasphemy upon the heads. John says this, here's an interesting detail in verse three. And I saw one of his heads as though it had been smitten unto death. And the death stroke was healed. Later on in the passage, I'd forgotten the verse. He says that this is actually the death stroke of a sword. If you see the beast with the seven heads, you must see one of the heads as though it had been gashed terribly with a sword. You see a sword, it's stricken with a death stroke, one that you would expect the beast to die from. But then the head is healed, and so there's something of a terrible ugly scar on the head of one of these beasts. I mean, one of the heads of the beast. If you remember, there's only One beast with seven heads. Verse 4. And they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority into the beast. And they worshiped the beast who was like unto the beast who was able to war with him. Okay, so the mighty power of the Roman Empire, verse 5. There was given him a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies. And there was given to him authority to continue 40 and two months. And he opened his mouth for blasphemies against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, even them that dwell in the heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And it was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him. Every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of the life of the Lamb that has been slain. Well, the dragon. The Roman Empire is going to demand worship and it's going to speak great blasphemy against God and against his people. And all those who are in all these nations are going to worship him. They're going to submit to emperor worship. They're going to do what they're told, except for one group of people, interestingly described as those who have their names written in the Lamb's book of life from the foundation of the world. When all is said and done, tyranny will be opposed in the long only by those who belong to God. The reason for that is if one does not belong to God, if one does not Worship God above all, then there must be another sovereign that is worshipped by man and that will automatically be sovereign in creation. And getting past the primitive forms of the worship of the world and the worship of creation, we eventually come to the worship of the man himself. Man and the organized power of the state especially. And so there will be those who will worship the state and those who will give undying allegiance to the state, and those who will take their livelihood from the state and expect the state to take care of them. And there will be those who have their names written in the Lamb's book of life. It is the Christian church that is the final break to all earthly tyrannies. This is a pervasive principle of world history, but it's the principle that John teaches for his own day. What destroyed the world empire of Rome? Those who are not friends of the church are willing to admit it was the church of Jesus Christ that destroyed the Roman Empire. The preaching of the Gospel brought Rome down because there was another sovereign declared in the preaching of the Gospel, one who was not to be worshipped because he was simply a man, but one who was to be worshipped because he was the God man. Look at Acts, the 16th, 17th chapter. I'm going to read, beginning at verse one. And when they had passed through Amphibious and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, and there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul is his custom, was went into them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, opening and alleging that it behooved the Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead. And that this Jesus, whom saith he, I proclaim unto you, is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded and concerted with Paul and Silas. And of the devout Greeks, a great multitude, and of the chief women, not a few, but the Jews, being moved with jealousy, took unto them certain vile fellows of the rabble, and gathering a crowd, set the city on an uproar. And assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them forth to the people. And when they found them not, they dragged Jason and certain brethren before the rulers of the city. These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also whom Jason hath received. And these all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the multitude of the rulers of the city when they heard these things. And when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. We read on in the chapter that Jason runs back and the brethren protect Paul, and they get him out of Thessalonica safely. What is the offense of Paul here? He preaches another king, and that's contrary to the decrees of Caesar. He preaches that there's one king named Jesus the Christ, the anointed of God, the one who will rule over the world. Nation that wasn't well taken to in Thessalonica. It's interesting that in first Thessalonians Paul writes to the people and he expresses to them his desire to come to them in Thessalonica. He says, you know how oft I would come to you, but what do you remember the phrase he uses? But Satan hindered us. But Satan hindered us. Anybody who knows the history of Acts 17 knows very well that Satan doesn't enter in any visible way into this picture. Who hindered Paul from being with the Thessalonian Christians? The rulers of Thessalonica. The rulers who said, we won't have one here preaching contrary to the decrees of Caesar. Where you see, we have no king but Caesar. The very thing the Jews proclaimed before they crucified the Lord. Gloria, we have no king but Caesar. There's no one we'll worship and honor and give undying allegiance to but Caesar, not this Jesus. And so Paul writes back to Thessalonica and he says, I will come to you, but you know very well the rulers of the city won't let me. And he says, satan is hindering me. Satan is embodied in the rulers of Thessalonica as the rulers oppose the kingdom of God and keep to the decrees of Caesar. That fits into this lesson very well. No other name that saves me but that of the Caesars. And no other name rules over men but that of the Caesars. Well, obviously the preaching of the gospel is contrary to it. And that's why the church of Jesus Christ is always in history. The key to stopping tyranny. Men do not have the philosophical and moral reserves necessary to stop tyranny, unless they're Christians. So apart from worshipping Jesus Christ as the God man, then of course, logically, all allegiance does belong eventually to some men. Now, of course, that doesn't mean the organized power of the state. Some men worship the individual man instead. And there what you have is tyranny. I mean, not tyranny, but anarchy in the form of every man doing what's right in his own eyes. But that, you see, is just worshiping the individual. So you can worship the collective individual, the state, or you can worship the individual himself, and you have anarchy. And in our own day, while we don't have a Twitter written with large letters over every one of the players on the field. That's what's happening in terms of world history today, too. This is polarization between those who will worship the state, those who give their allegiance finally to the state, and those who give their allegiance only to themselves. They do what's right for themselves only. And so anarchy developing in many areas of the world, and statism, totalitarianism in other areas. And as always, it's the church of Jesus Christ that will deliver us from that impasse. But that takes the eyes of faith to see like this. Nevertheless, the beast says that he must be worshipped, and those who oppose him are those who have their names written in the Lamb's book of life. Now, in chapter 14, verse 12, you notice that those who fight against the beast are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. In chapter 12, verse 17, when the dragon went away to make war with the rest of her seed, the rest of the woman's seed are called those who keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus. So it's quite clear, it's bracketed for you very well, that the opposition is between those who will follow the Caesars and those who follow the Lamb. And that means following the law of God rather than the law of the Caesars. We can see that if you look at chapter 13, verses 16 and 17, the second beast has come forth from the earth, which I will later interpret to be the emperor cult. And verse 16 tells us he causes all the small and great, the rich and the poor, the free, and the bond that there be given them a mark on their right hand and upon their forehead. So on their hand and on their forehead there is to be this mark given. And the mark is such that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark. And the mark is the name of the beast, which is to say the number of the name. So we already know that the mark is going to be a number, a number standing for a name. Chapter 14. One I saw and behold the Lamb standing on the Mount Zion. And with him one hundred and forty and four thousand having his name and the name of his father written on their foreheads. Okay, so the opposite. I mean, John is just going to great lengths to tell you it's the Church versus Rome over and over again. It's the commandments of God versus the commandments of the Roman Empire. It's those who have Caesar's name on their forehead versus those who have the name of the Lamb on their forehead. And this indication, I mean the indication is given that the name or the mark of the beast is put on the forehead and on the hand. Because John is reminding us in the Old Testament that the law of God was to be put on the forehead and upon the hand. In Deuteronomy the 6:8, we read that. And thou shalt bind them for a second sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. The law of God, you see, was to govern what a man does with his hands. That is how he operates in the world. The law of God was to govern the way the man views the world, how he sees the world. The law of God here, if you want to use a modern idiom, is the spectacles through which a man sees the world. He views the world. You see the frontlets of his eyes through the law of God. So the law of God on the front forehead and on the hand is the mark of the godly person, the one who belongs to the Savior. Those who belong to the beast have his name written on the forehead, on the hand. They obey his law rather than God's law. Okay, let's finish identifying the. And then I want to make a couple of points in conclusion about interpretation and about the way we should be living in this world. In chapter 17, verse 10, you'll notice again that the beast is particularly identified with the head of the empire who is now ruling in John's Day, 17:10. And they are seven kings. The five are fallen, the one is the other side, yet cut. And when he cometh, he must continue a little while. And the beast that was and is not is himself also an ape, and is of the seven. And he goeth into perdition. So the particular head that is ruling right now is identified with the beast himself. Chapter 13:18 tells us who the beast is. We're going to take the plunge right into the midst of all the debate between the commentators. Now John says, here's wisdom. One reading, the commentators would wonder if wisdom had been found. But John says, here is wisdom. He that hath understanding. You want to know who the beast is. You want to be wise and discerning about this passage. You want to understand it. John has just told you it is the number of a name, this mark of the beast. And so we know it's going to be a name, and it's going to be given in terms of a number. Number. John says, here is understanding. Let him count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. Do you forget all the schemes that identify the beast then with some movement or some force or something like that? It is a particular individual. We don't hesitate to say that there is one man who claimed to be the beast. I mean, that John claimed to be the beast. It's the number of a man and his number is 666. Now, what's the problem with the 666? Well, those who are wise will understand how to interpret that. You see, in the ancient world, often numbers were given in terms of letters. See, we have an Arabic number system, of course, and all that. So we see our Alphabet, our Alphabet is named different from our numbers. But in the ancient world, often, especially in Hebrew, numbers were given in terms of letters of the Alphabet. They counted. I mean, as the actual figure, the orthographic figure used for a number was a letter of the Alphabet. So the first letter of the Alphabet, Aleph, was one and so forth. The man who has wisdom will understand this. This is the number of a name. The name is going to be given in terms of the numerical system spelling the ancient world. John is writing from Patmos in exile. The Roman Empire has already gotten on to John. He writes to the Church. And John is not so careless as to come right out and identify the name of the ruling emperor and to get the church in trouble. He says, well, look, the one who has wisdom will understand. You Hebrews will understand. Count it in terms of our Hebraic system of writing numbers instead of letters. And what do you get if you take the name as a number? You get 666. I don't think there's any doubt that that's what John is doing. John is veiling his reference to the ruling Roman emperor to spare the Church in case the letter should be intercepted. And he says, if you have wisdom, if you have understanding, you'll understand this. It's the number of a name. Okay, so take the name of the rule emperor and count up the numerical equivalent. And what do you get? Now that's where the controversy begins. And now, you see, all the commentators start saying, but any number of names will fit 666. The latest wild thing I saw was that Henry Kissinger fit 666. I think if you count his name right and leave out certain vowels. I don't know how they do it, but I mean, there's any number of wild schemes by doing this. And granted, there are plenty of people who have been, John wants to say, plenty of people who have taken the Fact that obviously any number of names can fit the number 666. That's not a unique way of designating a name. I mean, if you gave a first name, a middle name and a last name, you might have a fairly unique way of identifying a person. Not completely, because we even know people have, you know, all the same names in that way. But if you add up the numerical equivalence of any number of names, they're going to be the same. So there's plenty of room for argument that way, plenty of room for abuse, plenty of room for ridiculous suggestions as to what this means. And in terms of what John has taught us thus far, there's not a whole lot of room for what the options would be. It's one of the Roman emperors of his day. Now, up until the 20th century, one of the key figures that was set forth as being designated by John was Nero. Alright, And I won't say that's the only one. There were other emperors who people argued for the Nero was one of the major ones, I think maybe the major one that was offered in terms of the preterist interpretation of the book. However, a number of people in 20th century argued that Nero doesn't exactly fit 666. You have to do some alteration name. Specifically you have to spell his name Neron Kaiser in order to get 666 out of his name. Are those you who want the Hebrew consonants? It would be NRWN Neron and then Kaiser transliterated QSR. That would add up to 666. The problem is no ancient document testified to Nero's name ever being spelled in that way. Neuron Kaizen until the Aramaic document from Murabaat was uncovered a number of years ago. And strangely enough, this Aramaic document from the Murabaat find is dated in the second year of Emperor Nero. And the document goes on to definitively spell his name as it is also spelled in the Talmud, Neron Kaiser. And so that which history has supported, and that's what you would expect in John's own day from the dating of our book and all that is precisely what this document verifies. The 666, the number of the beast was the name of Nero. John says, here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast, the number of a man to the number of the ruling emperor Nero. Remember I said in chapter 17, 1710 that five emperors have lived in the past. The sixth is now ruling. The seventh that comes shall rule for a short time. Well, if you start counting the emperor as Julius Caesar, which I believe you have to. And I don't believe it's a telling criticism at all that Caesar was not called an emperor in that sense. That doesn't make a bit of a difference in terms of John's Jewish outlook. He was the king of the empire. If you start counting from Julius Caesar, you come down to the sixth ruler in Rome. Who is it? Nero. Who ruled after Nero Galba for how long? Three months. Precisely what John predicted. And the sixth is now ruling. And the seventh that shall come thereafter shall rule a short life. Only three months. I think there's another support for this interpretation. Remember I told you you that the dragon has a head that has this deadly scar in the head. Well, there was a myth that was circulating in John's own day. It was called the Nero Ledivus myth to end Nero's rule, so he would be a permanent man of evil in the empire. So that was the Nero Levitibus myth. But the fact is Nero was known to have recovered from a deadly wound and so John may have been indicating this as well. The time of the dragon authority to overcome the saints, that is the time of the dragon's authority to persecute the people of God is said to be 42 months. History tells us that the Neronic persecution of the church of Jesus Christ lasted exactly that length of time, precisely 42 months, from AD 64 to June of AD 68 at the death of Nero. Well, when all is said and done, if you use the Old Testament allusions and the wisdom that John commends to you and all the hints that are found in the chapter, I realize that there are a lot of options given to us, but in the long run, I think we must conclude that the beast is the Roman Empire of John's day and it's headed up in the head of the empire, the head of the beast, Nero. John wrote in the day of Nero. Okay, do Paul have the same ideas or do you identify the beast of history? Yes, I do. Yeah, we'll be coming to that again. Now, I want to conclude with a couple of points here. We'll be dealing with chapter 13 again two weeks from now. But the first has to do with how you interpret the Bible. I began a lesson today. A little note on that. I want to read now a more sane commentary on the book of Revelation. One recently put out in the new International Commentary series by Robert Mount from the Book of Revelation. And he says about this passage that we've been looking at, by the way, Mounce, is a Pre millennialist. A historic premillennialist, not a dispensationalist. He doesn't have all the weird things in the scheme that Hal Lindsey does, but he is a pre millennialist. However, he's also a good New Testament scholar and when he reads this chapter, I think he finds it very hard to escape what the chapter is saying. So this is what he says in his paragraph. But who is the beast of John's vision? From the verses which follow we will learn that he possessed the authority of Satan, blasphemed the name of God, warred victoriously against the saints and received the worship of the pagan world. There is little doubt that for John the Beast was the Roman Empire as persecutor of the Church. I'll read that again. This is straightforward categorical statement. There is little doubt that for John the Beast was the Roman Empire as persecutor of the Church. It was that spirit of imperial power which claimed a religious sanction for its gross injustices. Alright, so we close the book and say there. Even the premillennialists have to admit that our interpretation is right today. Only one problem yet. Yet he said says the beast is more than the Roman Empire. John's vision grew out of the details of his own historical situation. But its complete fulfillment awaits the final denouement of human history. The Beast has always been and will be in a final intensified manifestation, the deification of secular authority. Yet the Beast is more than the Roman Empire. That's where the paragraph ends, by the way, and that's where the argument ends. Mount's does not offer you textual evidence that the Beast is more than this. And the reason for that is because the text supports simply that it's the Roman Empire and Nero in John's day. What is it that makes Mouse say But that's just the beginning. What that is is that that's a little something sign of the big sign in the end, that is what we see here in John's day is but a shadow of what's to happen in the future. And the real fulfillment Is there going to be some Antichrist in the future? Why does Mounce have to say that? The Book of Revelation has traditionally been taken as supporting a premillennial eschatology. Justice to the text of the Book of Revelation will not support a free millennial eschatology. And so what one does is he says, granted it refers to John's own day, but only by way of anticipation of the final fulfillment at the end of world history. But where does the final fulfillment come in textually. It doesn't come in textually, it comes in dogmatically. If one begins with a pre millennial interpretation, one is forced to say this is but a shadow of the end times. Do you understand the significance of that criticism? What I'm saying is people will continue to say that the beast of John today is a future beast, but they'll do it contrary to the text and only because their eschatological scheme dogmatically requires it. And I think we should be satisfied with seeing one beast in one empire, one Roman Empire. Not a renewed one, not a future one, but one beast that lived in John's own day. J. Adams has correctly identified the hermeneutical mistake of those who read the Bible and and understand its current fulfillment in John's own day, but then refer it to the end times as well. He says that's the error of diploflia. Those of you who are wearing glasses want to tell me what diplophlia is. Double vision. If you look at something cross eyed, you'll see one thing is two. And that's what Adam says. He says you must come and look cross eyed at the book of Revelation to make the beast be a beast in John's day and a beast at the end of history. The fact is that the beast was the beast of John's own dead. I haven't answered every question, settled every doubt, I'm sure. But I believe I've given you some scriptural grounds for believing that John was writing about the Roman Empire and Nero in particular, the ruler of his day. The final, not the hermeneutical conclusion, but the final moral conclusion is remember then that there are those who are going to follow the decrees of Caesar. Above all there will be those who are always willing to let the mark of the beast be on their hand and on the forehead, lest they be put out of the marketplace or out of the school or out of whatever it may be. There will always be those who are willing to compromise with the state in the long run. John says the battle is between, as in his own day it will be in every day the battle between those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. In Romans 13, Paul teaches we are to submit to the state. In Revelation 13, John teaches that we are not to submit to the state. And I ask you if you know any other way but to resolve that controversy in saying that we are to obey the state except when it violates the commandments of God. And there we say with Peter we must obey God rather than man. And that way you can have Romans 13 and Revelation 13 together. But if you don't believe the law of God binds the state as Paul taught, there was another king over Caesar, a king that would require Caesar allegiance. If you don't believe that, then I don't know how you can bring the New Testament together in its various attitudes toward the state. One submission, the other antagonism and revolt. Second Thessalonians. Paul describes a man who is going to rule and be a terror. The one who is often called the Antichrist or the man of sin. This person sets up his own image in the temple of God and requires worship. Obviously, it's the beast of Revelation 13. Paul identifies this man very significantly then, as the man of lawlessness. And I interpret that to mean the man who will not submit to God's law. He requires that his law be enforced rather than the law of God written on the forehead, on the hand. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would steel us for the conflict of our own day, even as you prepared the Church of old in John's day. I ask, Father, that you would make us faithful to the testimony of Jesus and to your own commandments. I ask that you would make the Church a witness in this world of increasing anarchy and tyranny, that the church indeed might put the brakes to it. We ask you, Father, that you might increase our preaching of the Gospel and its success in our own community and throughout our nation, indeed throughout the world. I pray that you would bless our missionary efforts as the Church of Jesus Christ. That you would do this so that men might give their undying allegiance to the Savior who has died for them. That they might not be deceived by Satan and by all of his angelic host to follow after this men and to worship them. I ask you, Lord, that you would deliver the world from the darkness and superstition of the worship of men into the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We thank you that he indeed does rule over all as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We pray that you would honor this prayer and that you would bless our service to the end that the nations of this world would become the kingdom of our Lord and of his God. For it's in his name that we pray. Amen.