Revelations on Revelation: Part 5

In my last blog post we saw how John wrote the Book of Revelation in a kind of code, which sought to reveal and conceal. He revealed a message of faith and endurance to his persecuted readers. But he concealed this message from the Romans, as he had very harsh things to say about them and his belief of their ultimate fate. So, our task is to try to break that code. 

Revelation chapter 13 has so many well-known images in it: a dragon, beasts, the mark of the beast, and the number 666. These have been subjected to the most speculative interpretations, often with outlandish results that would even have John scratching his head.  Because we’ve taken the time to better understand this style of writing and the setting in which John lived, we can feel pretty confident that we understand much of what he was trying to say.

In chapter 12, John uses the image of the great “dragon.” That’s code for evil or the Devil. We know this because John identifies the dragon as the Devil in verse 9 of chapter 12. At the end of that chapter, the dragon is standing on the seashore.

Beginning in chapter 13:1 John sees “a beast” or monster rising out of the sea. The implication is that the dragon, the Devil, standing on the seashore, calls into creation something evil, a beast, through whom to work.

If you stand on Patmos, where John was, and looked west over the Mediterranean Sea, what country would you see rising out of the ocean? Right—Italy or more specifically, Rome! John later even makes this more explicit in chapter 17:12 when he says the place of which he writes rests on “seven mountains…” What great city was built on seven hills or mountains? Right again—Rome.

John uses various images to speak of Rome. Sometimes he refers to it as “Babylon,” that wicked ancient city that treated the Jews so harshly in the past. He does this in chapter 17. But also there he refers to Rome as a woman. Rome or Roma was actually a goddess who had temples and statutes devoted to her. In other words, Rome itself was worshipped. But John is saying in chapter 17 that Rome is no goddess! Rome is a whore, drunk, not with wine, but with the blood of the saints!

Back to chapter 13… John speaks of Rome as a “beast,’ a monster. Much of the imagery John uses here has been used before. For example, these references to beasts and their descriptions come right out of Daniel 7. But John takes and uses those images in new ways for his own circumstances. In Daniel we read about a beast with four heads. Daniel was talking about four kingdoms or empires—Babylon, Media, Persia and Greek. John says that the beast of which he is referring has the following:

And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth (v. 2).

John is saying that the beast he is talking about is worse than all the four other kingdoms put together! It leaps on its prey like a leopard, crushing it like the feet of a bear, roars and tears it apart like a lion! John is referring to the awesome power of the Roman Empire. This mighty, seemingly glorious empire of Rome is a bloody beast, oppressing and destroying any who would oppose it or refuse to bow before it.

John describes this beast, Rome, as “having ten horns and seven heads; and on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names” (Revelation13:1b). A horn was a symbol of power or authority. John is speaking in code of the emperors of Rome. Since the time of Augustus, there had been seven “heads” or emperors:  Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. Those are the seven who actually became true emperors for an extensive period of time.

You will note that John mentions 10 horns. Nero died in A.D. 68. For about eighteen months, Rome was in chaos as three individuals sought the throne in this order—Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, but they only ruled for a very short time. That’s a total of 10!

What of the ten diadems on these horns? A diadem is a crown-like headband the emperors were known to have worn. Rome divided its empire into ten provinces, enforcing their power by appointing governors, over each one, e.g., Pontus Pilate for Palestine. Many scholars think this code of ten diadems is referring to these ten lesser rulers who were but shiny headbands on the emperors.

What about this description of the beast in verse 1:  “and on its heads were blasphemous names”? Just as Rome itself was made a goddess who was worshipped, the emperors also were thought of as gods, and worshipped as such. Some of them—like Caligula, who was truly insane—enforced it. He had the heads of all the statutes of the gods cut off and his own likeness replacing them. He went so far as to seek to set up such a statue in the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem and had an army ready to enforce that he be worshipped there. He was assassinated before that plan could be put into action.

The point here is that on statues and on coins titles were given to the emperors such as these:  divine, son of God, lord, and savior.  Nero, for example, called himself “the savior of the world.” For Christians and Jews, this was blasphemy. 

John sees the emperors as the very embodiment on earth of the Devil himself, carrying out his evil schemes. Note that in the last part of verse 3 John says this very thing:  “And the dragon gave it [the beast] his power and his throne and great authority.” For John the source of Rome’s power was satanic.

But there was one emperor who for John and his reader’s was the worst of all. His name was Nero, who ruled from A.D. 54 to 68. He was very possibly mad and most certainly drunk with power. He had persons executed on a whim. In A.D. 64 a significant fire broke out in Rome. Many thought Nero was behind this in order to make room for a new palace complex. In order to point the finger elsewhere, Nero blamed Christians for the fire. After all, rumor had it that they were teaching and preaching that the world would end in fire and likely were acting to help make that a reality. Nero had Christians in Rome crucified, some dressed in filthy rags and fed to dogs, while others were put on stakes, coated in tar and set on fire in Nero’s garden while he rode among them on his chariot. Tradition also says that the two greatest leaders in the early church, Peter and Paul, were martyred under Nero. We see why John and his fellow Christians would hate and fear Nero.

But they had another reason to hate and fear him. Near the end of his reign, Nero’s army in Gaul and Spain rebelled against him. Soon the Roman Senate and his own guards did the same. Nero saw the handwriting on the wall and either committed suicide or had a servant do it by having his throat cut.

You would think this would be a fit end to Nero, and that John or no one else would have to be concerned about him. But, in fact, Christians and many Romans themselves still worried about Nero. Why? Because there was a lot of mystery surrounding his death. There was a rumor for a long time that Nero hadn’t died—that he had fled to the east and was rebuilding his army and would march again on Rome and continue his persecution of Christians. Other rumors were that Nero had died but come back to life. Many took these rumors seriously.

Now what does this have to do with Revelation? Listen to Revelation 13:3 again:  “One of its heads seemed to have received a death-blow, but its mortal wound had been healed.” Recall that these “heads” represent the emperors. Here John says one of them had received a mortal wound but was thought to have died and come back to life. The thought of Nero alive and ruling again was the worst possible nightmare for Christians. John seems to be taking these rumors quite seriously. Or, more likely John even thought that the present ruler, Domitian, was actually Nero. For all practical purposes, Nero did come alive again when a new emperor continued his oppressive policies!

Verse 4 reads:  “They worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?’” It seemed the whole world was worshipping the beast, as Rome, so powerful, was imposing its rule on everyone, especially in the worship of the city itself, Roma, and of the emperor as a god. Indeed, in light of such power, who could stand? What was a Christian to do?

John gives words of hope and comfort in verses 5-10. First, he reminds them that their names are written in the “book of life of the Lamb.” Rulers in those days kept a registry of all the citizens in their kingdom. If your name was in the book, you enjoyed all the rights and privileges of being a citizen. John is saying that the true King of kings has a book of life with the names of the citizens of God’s kingdom written in it. As citizens they would enjoy all the rights of citizens, one especially was that of eternal life.

Second, note the part of verse 10 that speaks about those who take up the sword.  “If anyone slays by the sword, with the sword must he be slain.” This is most likely a reference to similar words of Jesus when Peter takes up a sword to protect Jesus when he’s being arrested in the Garden. I think in Revelation John is calling for rebellion against Rome, just not a physical or armed one, but a spiritual one, one of faith. You see, there were various responses to Rome’s rule. Some, like the Zealots among the Jews, sought to raise an army and overthrow the Romans. This reached such a point that Rome finally marched against Jerusalem in the Roman-Jewish War from A.D. 66-70, when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. This is an example of what happens to those who try to live by the sword. John advocates a different way to respond to Roman oppression, not with violence, which was the way of Rome itself and Rome was far better at it.

Note verse 10:  “Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.” John says it even more plainly in 14:12: “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus.” These two verses are the heart of John’s message. The response of Christians under such terrible oppression is one of endurance, of faith, of trust in God’s ultimate power to save and redeem them.

Jesus himself is the great example for them. He, too, suffered under the rule of Rome. He was tortured and crucified, yet remained faithful and true to God.  But that was Good Friday. The Romans controlled that day. But they could do nothing about Sunday—Easter! So, John’s readers, too, must endure, with the hope and faith that they, too, go through the agony of Good Friday to the glorious victory of Easter Sunday!

 Sometimes everyone seems to have a wild beast at their heels. Circumstances arise, forces come against us so overwhelming that we have little if any control over them. The beast could take the form of sickness or financial burdens or, depending on where one lives, even persecution under another blood thirsty Nero. I have seen such beasts arise many times. And we can fight against them or seek to flee, but some beasts, some circumstances, catch up with us anyway and would seemingly triumph over us.

But I have also often seen something else—brave people who somehow found something deep inside them that led them to stop running from or cowering to the beast and turning to face it instead with courage and faith, and in so doing overcoming it.