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.
