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The
Identification of the Second
Beast
There
are two beasts mentioned in the
13th chapter of Revelation, The
first is introduced in verse 1
with the second one coming on
the scene in verse 11. Having
established that Satan is the
dragon who is the enabler of the
first beast who is the Imperial
Roman Empire, there follows the
rise of a second beast who will
further set its destructive
sights on the Remnant of the
Radiant Woman's seed who are the
faithful and keep the
commandments of God and have the
testimony of Jesus Christ;
Christians.
The future
is indeed looking bleak for the
Christians. Imperial Rome wants
them gone. Their religion is in
direct conflict with the Romans
because they refuse to worship
the emperors. The Romans blame
every calamity on the Christians
thinking their own gods are
angry with them because of the
Christians. Just when it looks
like it can't get any worse, we
see the rise of yet another ally
of the dragon. When one
considers the plight of the
Christians, one cannot help but
consider the trials of Job.
Satan is indeed a formidable
enemy who is willing and able to
use whatever means at his
disposal to bring about the
destruction of Christians.
This knowledge should give any
thoughtful person pause to
consider just how wicked and
powerful our enemy really is.
And he is just as much our enemy
today and he was to the
Christians of the first
century. Nothing would give
Satan more pleasure than to see
all of mankind brought to a
point of suffering comparable or
worse than was handed out to the
early Christians.
We as
Christians today must never
forget that it was upon the
blood of the first century
martyrs that our faith today was
handed down. Christianity is a
faith passed on from generation
to generation and every time we
read of the trials and
persecutions endured by the
faithful, we need to be mindful
that were it not for their
steadfast faith, ours would have
never existed. It was their
dedication and sacrifice that
brought Christianity to all of
us today. May we be as brave as
they, if ever it is our lot to
do so, for the faith of others
many generations from us would
likewise depend on our
steadfastness to preserve the
faith alive for them. With
those thoughts in mind, let's
take a look at the second beast
of Revelation 13.
Revelation
13:11-18
11 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.
12 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.
13 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.
14 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 that dwell on the
earth, that they should make an
image to the beast who hath the
stroke of the sword and lived.
15 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.
16 And he causeth all, the small
and the great, and the rich and
the poor, and the free and the
bond, that there be given them a
mark on their right hand, or
upon their forehead;
17 and that no man should be
able to buy or to sell, save he
that hath the mark, (even) the
name of the beast or the number
of his name.
18 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 Six hundred and sixty
and six.
ASV
In verse
eleven we see the second beast
coming up out of the earth as
opposed to the first beast which
came out of the sea. The
imagery here could be that the
dragon had the first beast at
his right hand and the second
beast at his left, directing the
actions of both. The earth
beast has two horns like unto a lamb
and spoke like a dragon. The
horns are symbolic of power and
authority, so the earth beast
having only two horns like a
lamb, is obviously inferior to
the sea beast which has seven
horns befitting the awesome
power of a dragon. With the
horns of the sea beast
representing the emperors of
Rome, it would be consistent to
view the two horns of the earth
beast to be representing literal
figures. The usage of the word
"lamb" instantly paints the
imagery of the pure and holy.
So it would be entirely
possible, even likely that the
allusion to a lamb would be
representative of a religious
order in the minds of the
Christians. This earth beast
may have had horns like a lamb
but don't be deceived by
appearances; he spoke as a
dragon. It is exceedingly
important to pay heed to the
fact that the text described the
horns as being "like" unto a
lamb, and not "the" lamb.
The earth
beast exerciseth all the
authority of the first beast in
his sight. This malignant force
is operating under the direct
authority and has the total
approval of the first beast.
Whatever authority the sea beast
has, the earth beast has the
power to exercise or enforce it
in his presence. The earth
beast has the power to enforce
the worship of the sea beast
upon all mankind. The first
beast was the administrator and
the second beast was the
enforcer.
It was
given to the earth beast to do
great signs in the sight of men,
even to the point of making fire
come down out of heaven upon the
earth. The immediate question
that arises is; were these signs
actual miracles, or were they
deceptions? Miracles were
always given to confirm the word
of God. There have always been
imitators and false teachers.
Moses and Aaron faced the
imitators when Aaron threw his
staff to the ground and it
became a snake. The imitators
did likewise and the snake from
Aaron's staff overcame the fakes
and consumed them, (Exodus
7:10-12). The forces of evil
have often had the ability to
deceive, but the real always
overcame the deception. Verse
14 gives us the answer to the
question of whether these signs
were miracles or not. "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." They
were deceptions, albeit good
ones, but deceptions
nonetheless.
Revelation 13 is not the
only scripture that alludes to
deceiving signs and lying
wonders as being within the
abilities of the wicked, (2
Thessalonians 2:9,
2 Timothy 3:13).
The earth
beast mandated idols be built to
the sea beast whose head had
been severely injured but
survived. Domitian both paid
for the rebuilding of Rome after
the great fire in July of 64
AD, and also paid an annual
tribute for about 10 years to
Decebalus of Darcia after being
defeated in battle against him.
Domitian demanded he be
worshipped as Lord and God on
earth. We see now in verse 15
that the land beast could give
breath to the idols of Domitian
and cause them to speak. We
don't know if this language is
literal or figurative, however
either can be explained. In the
worship of Domitian, a priest
might stand behind a lectern and
using ventriloquism, speak as if
it were Domitian himself
speaking. Those who were
present, hearing this deception
could then believe it really was
Domitian and bow and worship him
all the more. On the figurative
end of the scale, it could be
explained that those in charge,
by speaking directly for
Domitian, were bringing life to
Caesar worship with all the
associated attributes. Either
way, because of the authority of
the land beast, the citizens had
two options before them. Either
worship Domitian and live, or
refuse and die.
Now we
come to the infamous mark of the
beast. If anyone refused this
mark, they were not allowed to
buy or sell goods. This means
clothing, food, essentials for
living. Under the rule of
Domitian, those who worshipped
the emperor were required to
request and receive a
certificate in order to buy and
sell, obtain licenses for
regulated activities such as
marriages and to participate in
certain programs within the
Roman empire as if they were
Roman citizens. This request
was worded thusly:
To
those who have been
appointed to preside over
the sacrifices, from *name
of the petitioner*, from
the village of *petitioner's
village or place of
residence*, together
with his children, *names
of all children and where
they reside*. We have
always sacrificed to the
gods and now in your
presence and according to
the regulations, we have
sacrificed and offered
libations, and tasted the
sacred things, and we ask
that you give us a
certification that states we
have done so. May you fare
well, *followed by the
name of the petitioner.*
The
certificate they received read:
"We, the representatives of
the emperor have seen you
sacrificing."
This
certificate was then
authenticated with the seal or
signature of the representative
of Domitian. Without this
certificate, no one could
receive the stamp of the
emperor. No one, without that
stamp, was allowed to buy food,
sell goods or participate in any
government programs whatsoever.
When we study the history that
is contemporary to Domitian, we
find an organization who acted
as the enforcer for Domitian's
religious policies. This was the
Commune' or better
known as the
Roman Concilia. The Concilia,
also known as the "Imperial
Cult" was
a so called religious
organization formed during the
early Principate of Augustus,
and was rapidly established
throughout the Empire and its
provinces. A principate
was a form of rule in the early
Roman Empire in which some
republican forms were retained
in the government.
The
Augustan principate transformed
the long-standing Republican
system of government to a
monarchy couched in the
traditional Roman practices and
forms. These monarchs were
originally called princeps but
later became known as emperors.
They were expected to represent
and balance the interests of the
Roman military, the senate and
the people. They were to
maintain peace, security and
prosperity throughout an
ethnically diverse empire.
The
imperial cult functioned by
officially acknowledging an
emperors' office and rule as
divinely approved and
constitutional. A
deceased Emperor held worthy of
the honour could be voted a
state divinity (divus, plural
divi) by the Senate thus
elevating the emperor to the
status of a God. This act
is referred to as 'apotheosis'.
The granting of apotheosis or
godhood was intended to impart
religious, political and moral
judgment on Imperial rulers in
the perception of the Roman
citizenry. It was an act
of treason to neglect the
policies of the imperial cult.
Christians properly regarded the
Imperial Cult of the Emperor as
a particularly offensive
instrument of "pagan" impiety
and persecution. The Cult
later became a focus of
theological and political
contention during the ascendancy
of Christianity under
Constantine I.
Christianity and the policies of
the Imperial Cult were severely
opposed to each other making it
impossible for the two to
co-exist without compromise and
neither side of the opposition
retained their original
structure. A deviant form
of Christianity was arising and
the policies and practices of
the Imperial Cult were on the
decline.
The
emperor Julian failed to reverse
the waning support for Rome's
official religious practices.
Theodosius I adopted
Christianity as Rome's State
religion which resulted in
Rome's traditional gods and
"Imperial cult" being officially
abandoned. However, many
of the rites, practices and
status distinctions that
characterized the cult to
emperors were perpetuated in the
theology and politics of the
Christianized Empire.
The
Roman Imperial cult, sometimes
referred to as the Concilia, or
the Commune was a state
organized and sanctioned entity
which served as an Imperial
propaganda machine with the
intention of elevating the
popularity of the emperors.
When the Imperial Cult was
officially abandoned, many of
its rituals, organizational and
ideological were transferred to
later religious institutions,
especially those of Western
monarchies, Roman Catholicism
and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
To a Christian,
worshipping the emperor as a God was
forbidden regardless of the
circumstances or hazard to
personal lives. Christians were
boycotted in the market places
for failure to bear the stamp of
the emperor. Marriages, wills,
real estate transactions were
all illegal without the stamp of
the Imperial Cult. Emperor
Domitian, eager to legitimize
his office used the Imperial
Cult to promote himself as a God
while he was still alive.
The Concilia was given
the legal authority to see that
anybody who refused to bow down
and worship Domitian would
receive no legal status for
conducting business in the
Imperial Roman Empire. Thus, the
Christians who refused to
worship the emperor were
declined the official stamp
thereby making any transaction
with them illegal. When the
Concilia spoke, they spoke as
priests in the name of Roman
state religion. The Concilia had
the authority to incarcerate
offenders and haul them before
the Roman officials. The act of refusing to worship
the Emperor as a God was
considered an act of treason
against the Roman Empire and the
penalty for such resulted in
severe persecution and often
times led to execution.
Several commentators and Bible
scholars believe that the land
beast was the apostate Christian
church of Rome in its infancy.
The apostate church of Rome in
any capacity never had or
assumed the authority to
persecute or execute anybody for
refusing to worship any emperor.
By the time the apostate church
of Rome rose to power, the
Concilia had been officially
discarded. The Roman Concilia had
the authority which fits
perfectly with verse 15, "and
cause that as many as should not
worship the image of the beast
should be killed."
It should be noted that several
well qualified Bible scholars
hold to the belief that the land
beast is the Roman church in its
infancy. Due to the fact
that the influences of the
Imperial Cult found their way
into the apostate church, this
belief is not entirely wrong.
This certainly explains the
similarity between the apostate
church and the land beast in
John's vision. It
should be noted here that both
entities used religious
practices to influence and
control the people and that the
declining Imperial Cult heavily
influenced the apostate church
as it rose to power.
Scholarship is divided over
whether the land beast is the
Imperial Cult or the apostate
Roman church.
It would make for a
well rounded study for everybody
to consider all viewpoints in an
effort to ascertain the truth.
That being said, it is my
conviction, given the evidence
from both Biblical and
historical texts, that the
Dragon in
Revelation 12 is Satan. The
sea beast is the Imperial Roman
Empire with Domitian as one of
the chief leaders, and
the land beast was the Roman Concilia,
or Imperial Cult, who acted as the
enforcer of state religious
policy for the Roman Empire and
later influenced the apostate
church of Rome.
Revelation
13:18
"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 Six hundred and sixty
and six".
The
infamous 666 is here mentioned.
Much religious error and
speculation surrounds this
apocalyptic number. Well
meaning scholars have gone to
extensive lengths to associate
this number with a man because
of the text "for it is the
number of a man". This
text has long been the subject
of much controversy in that many
people take the position that it
references a single individual.
This is not the case. When
inspiration says it is the
"number of a man", it simply
means the number represents
something that is "of man" as
opposed to being "of God".
The beast is in no way or under
any circumstances a product of
Divine authority. On the
contrary, the beast is entirely
a product of man following after
Satan's evil influence.
There are
three distinct characters
mentioned in this vision who
represent the evil forces which
are in opposition to the
Christians of the first century.
We have Satan who is represented
as the dragon. We have the
first beast which was
illustrated as rising from the
sea and then the land beast who
was subordinate to the sea
beast. There are three
evil characters and three sixes
in the imagery which portrays
them. The number seven
represented perfection to the
1st century Christians.
The number six falls short of
the number seven so therefore
represents something less than
perfection. Each character
in the evil forces gets their
own designation of evil.
With each of them receiving this
designation, all three of them
are thus represented as evil.
And the fact that the number is
said to be "of a man", is
symbolic in that man is the
active instrument in the
execution of the grand plan of
the Dragon.
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