Revelation 13:11-18

11Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth.

He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a

dragon. 12He exercised all the authority of the first

beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound

had been healed. 13And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. 14Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.

18This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let

him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's

number. His number is 666.



Dig Deeper

There are several men from America’s Revolutionary War that have gone down in history as great men. Men like Washington and Franklin are revered, remembered, and honored. Another man, Benedict Arnold, also became famous from his actions during those years, but not for any reasons of honor. Arnold was a capable General in the American cause that was responsible for some brilliant early American successes at places such as Ticonderoga. Had he been killed in battle in 1778 or 1779, he would have gone down as another of America’s great heroes. Yet, Arnold became disillusioned over being passed over for several promotions and was angry that America sought help from France. Because of his own pride and own agenda, he decided to switch sides in the middle of the war and actually plotted to turn Westpoint over to the British. Those plans were exposed and Arnold barely escaped into the hands of the British where he joined their army as a Brigadier General. No one would have expect the great General Arnold to actually join forces with the hated British, but the unthinkable had happened.


The religious leaders of Israel for hundreds of years had seen themselves as the representatives of God’s people. They were the ones who led in the fight against evil and the great adversary of Israel’s God, the Dragon. No one would have ever expected them to join forces with God’s enemies against the true people of God, but this is exactly what John tells us has happened. The people of Israel had rejected God by rejecting Christ, and now, rather than serving God in the fight against evil and being the people of light, they were unwittingly joining together with the Dragon to stamp out the light. Rather than being the people of the Lamb, they had become the Beast, doing the bidding of the Dragon.


13:11 - Just as the Beast from the sea was in the image of the Dragon, so is this second Beast which arises from the land (as it should be translated rather than earth). This Beast had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon. This Beast came up from the land, which means that it came from within Israel itself. This second Beast is closely associated with the False Prophet (Rev. 16:13; 19:20) and in some sense, they are synonymous. This correlates to the false prophets that Jesus warned of (Matthew 24:5, 11). They parallel the antichrists, but where the antichrists had apostatized into Judaism from within the Church, these false prophets were Jewish religious leaders who sought to effect Christians from the outside. The Jewish false prophets appeared like lambs, as Jesus had warned of those who would come in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15). In reality, however, they used deceptive, subtle speech like the Dragon.


13:12 - The Jewish leaders who had become false prophets because of their rejection of Christ, joined forces with the Beast of Rome. This Beast exercised all the authority of the first Beast, which means the second Beast is the agent and subordinate of the first Beast. Judaism had become completely subservient to the Roman Empire. They led all those on the land (rather than earth as it is translated in the NIV) to worship the first beast. The Jewish leaders had led Israel in worship of the Emperor, the first Beast, whose fatal wound had been healed (in a counterfeit resurrection of a counterfeit son). The resurrection of the Beast is given as one of the reasons for worship of the Beast, just as the Resurrection of the true Son of God is a reason for worship of Him.


13:13-14 - The second Beast performed great and miraculous signs, just as Jesus had said the false prophets would do (Matt. 24:24). The book of Acts records several instances of Jewish false prophets working miracles (Acts 8:9-24) and working under Roman officials (Acts 13:6-11). This is all just as Jesus had predicted (Matt. 7:22-23). The Church needed warning about this lest they think that these apostates were exercising God’s judgment against the Church. This Beast was clearly working, however, on the behalf of the first Beast rather than the Lamb. This second Beast ordered the people of the land, Israel, to set up an image in honor of the first Beast. The true act of Israel’s apostasy was the rejection of Jesus Christ and the obedience to Caesar. This rejection of Christ was tantamount to idolatry.


13:15-17 - The Beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first Beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. This is creation language. As God created man in His image and gave him the breath of life, so God did the same when He created Israel as His people and breathed life into them. Now, Israel was trying to re-create itself in the image of the Roman Beast rather than God. Those who fought against them could be killed, just as Christ had been. The charge against Christ, in fact, was that He was a rival to the authority of Caesar (John 19:12-15). The Beast forced six categories of people to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead. Without this mark, no one could buy or sell. Acts is full of incidents of organized Jewish religion serving the interests of Caesar by persecuting the Church (Acts 4:1-3, 15-18; 5:17-18, 27-33, 40; 6:8-15; 7:51-60; 9:23, 29; 13:45, 50; 14:2-5; 17:5-8, 13; 18:17; 20:3; 22:22-23; 23:12, 20-21; 24:27; 26:21; 28:17-29). The mark of the Beast is the Satanic counterfeit of the seal of God on the foreheads and hands of the righteous (Rev. 3:12; 7:2-4; 14:1; Deut. 6:6-8; Ezek. 9:4-6; Ex. 28:36). Israel has rejected Christ and is marked with the seal of Rome’s lordship.


13:18 - It was, no doubt, clear to John’s readers that the sea Beast was the Roman Empire. He now provides his readers with another form of identification, so there would be no mistake as to who the Beast is. Six is the number of man in the Bible, while seven is the number of God, completeness and wholeness. It was common in Greek and Hebrew to add up names to get a number of a person or thing. Jesus’ number in Greek was 888. The complete number of God then was 777. So, it made sense the number of the Beast, was the fullness of the number of man, 666. 666 was also explicitly mentioned in 1 Ki. 10:14 and 2 Chron. 9:13. That number marks the high point of Solomon’s reign and the beginning of his downfall into idolatry. From that point on, one-by-one, he broke the three laws of godly kingship recorded in Deut. 17:16-17. For Jews, the number 666 symbolized apostasy; the mark of a king and a kingdom in the Dragon’s image. John says that 666 is man’s number which it is. He says, though, that anyone who has insight will be able to calculate the number. What took wisdom was that, although the Revelation was written in Greek, the number had to be calculated in Hebrew. Although the Beast was the Roman Empire and its number was the number of man, it is also true that it is the number for the Hebrew form of the name, Nero Caesar. Caesar was not specifically the Beast, but was the human personification of the fullness of the Beast.



Devotional Thought

Sometimes we are hesitant to live openly Christian lives because we fear what others may think of us. This "persecution" often stops us from doing what we should, yet it pales in comparison to the real persecution that the First-century church endured. Thank God that you don’t have to endure that type of persecution right now. Look at the risks you face in being a Christian compared to the risks of the first-century Christians and think about how good we have it right now. Go out and be a bold Christian.