D. Scott Meadows

Interpreting the book of Revelation, and chapter 13 in particular, is like “shooting the rapids” in a raft—exhilarating, challenging, and dangerous. Ironically, novices are sometimes drawn to it like mosquitoes to a bug zapper, and the most experienced teachers only approach it, if at all, with fear and trembling. A fair comparison would be the caution with which a nuclear scientist handles enriched Plutonium. Probably the greatest Bible expositor of all time, John Calvin, has left us commentaries on most of the books of the Bible, but he left Revelation alone.

Two Interpretive Blunders

Right up front I want to tell you about two common interpretive approaches that I consider to be colossal blunders. They have been called the “historicist” and the “futurist” interpretations.

The Puritans typically adopted a “historicist” interpretation, where they took most of the book of Revelation as predicting what would happen after the first century, throughout the church’s history, up to their time. In their day I am sure that seemed plausible, for they thought Christ’s return was just around the corner. But they went terribly wrong when they viewed the book as progressing chronologically and tried to correlate parts of John’s visions with specific events that had already happened in the world. For example, it was standard fare to say that the smoke John saw belching from of a bottomless pit (Rev 9.2) signified the rise of Islam from the seventh century. Matthew Poole mentions that he and other “judicious” interpreters held this view. Later, Jonathan Edwards (a postmillennialist) would represent them in comments like these:

Though Mahometanism [Islam] has been so vastly propagated in the world, and is upheld by such a great empire—this smoke, which has ascended out of the bottomless pit, shall be utterly scattered before the light of that glorious day, and the Mahometan empire shall fall at the sound of the great trumpet which shall then be blown (A History of the Work of Redemption, XIII.III.VII, “The Success of Redemption from the Present Time to the Fall of Antichrist”).

There are two basic problems with this interpretive approach. First, if it were correct, it would have been impossible for the early Christians to know the true interpretation of Revelation, and yet it was intended by God as an encouragement to them by revealing, that is, unveiling, His redemptive work in a hostile world. Second, various interpreters of the historicist persuasion offer many incompatible interpretations, largely depending upon when they lived in church history. The book of Revelation becomes a wax nose to be molded creatively by each interpreter, progressively stretched longer and longer like Pinocchio’s nose to reach the interpreter’s own time, as century after century passes without Christ’s return from heaven. Surely it is a big mistake to attempt a one-to-one correspondence between the various details of John’s vision and specific events in the history of the world.

The other colossal blunder I have in mind—and this is much more popular today—is the futurist interpretation. It shares with historicism the mistaken notion that Revelation progresses chronologically, but it is even worse because it typically puts off everything from chapter four onward to be fulfilled only after Christ returns, so that most of Revelation has nothing to do with Christians in the world here and now, from the first century until the twenty-first! With this misguided approach, the events of church history are totally irrelevant to the interpretation of Revelation, and speculation is allowed to run wild. All of today’s Dispensationalists, as far as I know, veer into futurist byways, missing a sound interpretation of Revelation by a country mile!

And so when they come to Revelation 13, they teach that “the beast” is a symbol for the final, personal Antichrist and his infernal kingdom after the so-called “Rapture” and during the seven-year tribulation period, which none of us who are real Christians, according to them, will ever see. And so the number 666 is perhaps a mark of identification related to this future Antichrist’s name. An influential Dispensationalist represents this view when he wrote,

The term [“beast”] represents both a person (Antichrist) and his system (the world). The final satanic world empire will be inseparable from the demon-possessed man who leads it. . . . forty-two months [13.5, is] the final 3½ years—1,260 days—of . . . the Great Tribulation. . . . When Antichrist is finally revealed, there will be some way to identify him with this basic number of a man, or his name may have the numerical equivalent of 666. (In many languages, including Heb., Gr., and Lat., letters have numerical equivalents.) (The MacArthur Study Bible, in loc.).

This elaborate calendar-related interpretation known as Dispensationalism was unknown in the Church until the nineteenth century when it was manufactured by J. N. Darby (1800-1882) and his associates, and it was popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible (1909). Now it seems to be the dominant view among conservative Christians.

Of course some parts of Revelation do pertain to Christ’s second coming and events associated with it, like the bodily resurrection of all who have died, Judgment Day, the new creation, and the eternal state. But all of it must mean the same thing to us as it did to the first-century Christians, and most of it has to do, in very general terms, with the great cosmic warfare experienced by the Church Militant on earth before Jesus returns for us. In this way the book encourages all Christians everywhere in every century, because it gives us prophetic eyes to understand what is happening to us from God’s perspective, and it holds out Christ’s return as our great hope of comprehensive and final deliverance!

We know this for many reasons, not the least of which is the nature of John’s testimony. It is almost completely a record of symbolic visions God gave him to be relayed to the seven churches of Asia Minor—and by inference, to all the churches of all time throughout the whole world. Apocalyptic vision is a biblical genre of literature well-suited for a symbolic and general interpretation. The vast disagreement among historicists and the near-total irrelevance to us of the interpretation offered by Dispensational futurists are evidence that they have all missed the boat. If you will avoid these two blunders, you will be much steadier as you proceed to read and interpret the book of Revelation.

Now please don’t get me wrong. I have criticized historicism and futurism represented by good and great teachers God has raised up for His Church. I have learned a great deal from them, and I continue to read them with profit and pleasure. My advice to you is just this. Don’t depend on historicists or futurists for a sound interpretation of the book of Revelation.

As I have told you before, I only intend a modest interpretation in this series of sermons. What I offer to you is more of a survey than a detailed study, and I do not trust myself to go very far beyond the text itself in my explanations. I am one of those who would treat this text like enriched Plutonium! The more I handle it, the more likely I would make my own blunders. I would have put off preaching Revelation forever if my conscience did not constrain me to the task at this time in my life and ministry.

My interpretive approach is closest to what has been called idealist and is consistent with Amillennialism. Most helpful to me has been Greg Beale and his massive commentary on Revelation (NIGTC), and many other Reformed Bible teachers have basically the same perspective.

Overview of Revelation 13

Let me tell you about the overall content of Revelation 13. In it you will hear about another part of the Apostle John’s vision from God. The two main characters are called “beasts,” the first rising out of the sea (vv. 1–10), and the second from the earth (vv. 11–18). In both parts of the vision, John describes their appearance and the power they wielded over others. The description of the first beast ends with a word of hope for those who are harmless and believe the prophecy. The part about the second beast ends with the famous verse containing the number 666. This preview should help us to hear the chapter with more understanding.

Please stand for the reading of God’s Word.

1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

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

Amen.

The Big Picture

I want you to see the forest first before examining any of the trees. Revelation 13 is very integrally related to the chapters immediately before and after it. Revelation 12 introduced us to a dragon (12.3) identified as “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan” (12.9), which first opposed Christ who was taken up to heaven, and then Christ’s church characterized as a woman in the wilderness.

Now Revelation 13 sets forth two great instruments of the dragon, the first and second beasts. Although Satan is a powerful, spiritual being, he is not omnipresent, and so he is pleased to make use of means in his long campaign against the kingdom of Christ in the world. Satan and his demons work through human beings, not only individuals but human institutions. The first beast of Revelation 13 surely represents opposition to Christ’s church that is not necessarily religious, especially civil governments. The second beast includes all the religious organizations and activity in the world besides biblical Christianity, and which actually stand opposed to it. I agree with Sam Storms:

The beast would be a symbol for the system of Satanically inspired evil, and thus opposition to the kingdom of God, that throughout history has manifested itself in a variety of forms, whether political, economic, military, social, philosophical, or religious (Kingdom Come, 2013; Kindle location 8282).

The beast, then, is a trans-cultural, trans-temporal symbol for all individual and collective, Satanically-inspired opposition to Jesus and his people. It is anything and everything (whether a principle, a person, or a power) utilized by the enemy to deceive and destroy the influence and advance of the kingdom of God.

Storms proceeds to list many examples of antichristian ideas and institutions throughout history from the early church until today that have stood against biblical Christianity, and then he says,

Each of these is, individually and on its own, the beast. All of these are, collectively and in unity, the beast (in loc., Kindle location 8300).

Thus Revelation 12 and 13 present an unholy trinity of evil forces—the invisible Satanic realm, antichristian earthly kingdoms or governments, and religions either overtly opposing Christianity or counterfeiting it. Here we have a conspiracy of evil spirits, evil governments, and evil religions. In contrast and by human observance, the Church seems no match at all. Nevertheless, the apostle assures us, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 Jn 4.4).

Revelation 14 follows with a vision of victory over all our enemies. The Lamb (our Lord Jesus Christ) with His 144,000 is standing upon Mount Zion to the praise and glory of God who causes us to triumph. The doom of all evil sounds forth, and the Last Day is graphically portrayed as a great harvest, where the wicked world is a vine to be cut down and thrown into the winepress of God’s wrath—a portentous image of death and destruction by the direct action of the Almighty Judge and King. The Puritan commentator Matthew Poole summarizes this middle part of Revelation this way,

The rise, power, and prevalence of this adversary, is described in [Revelation 13]; the opposition made to him by Christ and his followers, chap. 14; his fall, chap. 15–18; for which praise is given to God, chap. 19 (his initial remarks on Rev 13).

Now with this introduction, let us forge ahead verse by verse, observing and interpreting the more obvious and important things from John’s vision. We consider, first of all,

THE BEAST FROM THE SEA (13.1–10)

Its Appearance (vv. 1–2)

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

John vividly describes a “beast” appearing as a dangerous, freakish seven-headed monster (BDAG, θηρίον, #2), and it is

1) From the sea. In this vision, John stands on the seashore and watches, probably in horror, as the beast rises “up out of the sea” (v. 1a). Remember John was exiled on the tiny island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, so gazing upon a vast body of water was a familiar experience. But never had he seen a beast like this! In biblical literature, the sea has connotations of evil. With sensitivity to this, Beale appropriately writes of “hellish waters.” He notes that “people in Asia Minor thought of whatever came ‘from the sea’ as foreign and whatever came from the land as native” (in loc.). Right away we gather this beast is not good.

2) This first beast also has “seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the names of blasphemy” (v. 1b). Seven and ten are symbolic numbers of completeness and fullness. Horns are doubtless biblical symbols of power, crowns of rule, and the mention of “blasphemy” is another way to reveal that this beast is audaciously anti-God and anti-Christ.

3) This beast also has traits resembling a leopard, a bear, and a lion—all dangerous to humans. John’s vision is unmistakably similar to the one God gave Daniel centuries earlier, recorded in chapter 7 of the Old Testament book with his name.

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

Similarities with John’s vision include the use of the term “beast,” a coming out of the “sea,” the mention of a lion, a bear, and a leopard, and “ten horns.” But there are differences, too. Instead of seeing four beasts, John sees one with the traits of all four in Daniel’s vision. John’s beast seems to be all four wrapped into one. And in Daniel, the four beasts are expressly called “kingdoms” (Dan 7.23) that will perish and be succeeded by the kingdom of the Ancient of days, which is the inheritance of saints. Listen to several more verses from that chapter:

9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. . . . 13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. . . . 17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. 18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.

While the fourth beast in Daniel probably represents the Roman Empire, the combination of all four into one most probably represents “the temporal transcendence of the oppressive beast portrayed here” (Beale) in Revelation 13.1–2. This first beast can be described as “the state as the devil’s agent to persecute the church and deceive the ungodly” (Beale).

In the OT the sea beast represents not merely oppressing nations but the system of spiritual evil standing behind the nations and manifesting itself in successive world empires . . . Satanic evil expressed itself through the kingdoms of Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Sodom, and Rome. This system of evil will continue so to manifest itself in yet future kingdoms of the world, and has ability to manifest itself as well in economic, social, and religious structures on earth (Beale, in loc.).

And that is to say that the church of Jesus Christ today continues to be oppressed by the beast from the sea.

4) Finally, note that this beast from the sea receives its “power, seat [throne], and great authority” from “the dragon” (v. 2), which unquestionably is Satan in the vision. We must conclude, therefore, that earthly kingdoms, with their economic, social, and religious structures on earth are empowered by the Devil himself, and this accounts for why the world hates Christians everywhere and throughout the centuries. The church of Jesus Christ today continues to be oppressed by the beast from the sea which is under a controlling influence of Satan.

All rights reserved.