Revelation 13

Studies in Revelation
by Dr. John H. Roller

Chapter 13



Revelation 13:1
THEN I STOOD ON THE SAND OF THE SEA (never forget that John, the author of the book of Revelation, was reporting a series of visions that he had; in those visions, he was himself one of the “characters” in that he saw the visions from a specific perspective – in this case, from the perspective of one standing on a beach, looking out toward the ocean). I SAW A BEAST COMING UP OUT OF THE SEA, HAVING TEN HORNS AND SEVEN HEADS (though “seven heads” are not mentioned there, the only other “ten-horned” beast that I know of is the one that is described in Daniel 7:7, which represented the Roman Empire). ON HIS HORNS WERE TEN CROWNS (in my comments on Daniel 7:17 – see my “Studies in Daniel” – I showed that the “ten horns” on the beast that is described in Daniel 7:7 represented the ten smaller kingdoms into which the Roman Empire was divided, by the invading Germans, after it fell to them in AD 476), AND ON HIS HEADS, BLASPHEMOUS NAMES (representing attempts, on the part of a human government, inspired – ultimately, if not directly – by Satan, to take over the true role of Christ, which is to be the king of the world). Any human institution that attempts to rule the whole world is (whether it knows it or not) blaspheming against God, because establishing a world ruler is God’s prerogative, and He has chosen to give the authority to rule the world to His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and in earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18, NIV); so He is to be the rightful king of the world, and anybody else who tries to be the king of the world does so in opposition to, and in defiance of, Him. Notice that this “beast” looks very similar to the “dragon” that was described in Revelation 12:3, but it is not quite identical to it. The “ten horns” and the “seven heads” are mentioned in the opposite order, and (more importantly) there are “ten crowns” on the “ten horns” rather than there being “seven crowns” on “seven heads” as in Revelation 12:3. The “beast” in Revelation 13:1 represents a corrupt, anti-God government (just as the “dragon” in Revelation 12:3 did) – and a very similar one at that – but the “beast” and the “dragon” are not just different representations of the same entity. The “dragon” represented the Devil, as specifically personified in the Roman Empire. I believe that the “seven heads” on this “beast” represent the six most successful attempts to rule the world that spanned the many centuries of ancient history – Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome – plus the strange “reincarnation” of the Roman Empire that attempted to rule the world during the many centuries of medieval history (the Papacy). John describes the “name” of each of these empires as “blasphemous” because any attempt to rule the whole world is an attempt to contradict the plan of God, which is that His Son, Jesus Christ, is destined to rule the world.

Revelation 13:2
THE BEAST WHICH I SAW WAS LIKE A LEOPARD (which is the animal that represented the Greek Empire in Daniel 7:17), AND HIS FEET WERE LIKE THOSE OF A BEAR (which is the animal that represented the Medo-Persian Empire in Daniel 7:17), AND HIS MOUTH LIKE THE MOUTH OF A LION (which is the animal that represented the Babylonian Empire in Daniel 7:17). THE DRAGON (which represented the Roman Empire in Revelation 12:3, just as the unnamed “fourth animal” had done in Daniel 7:17) GAVE HIM (the beast, who is now seen to be a sort of “composite” of all of Satan’s attempts to rule the world) HIS (the dragon’s) POWER (the military force that was required), HIS THRONE (which was, literally, located in the city of Rome), AND GREAT AUTHORITY. In one of his attempts to tempt Jesus to sin, Satan had taken Him up into an exceedingly high mountain, and shown Him all of the kingdoms of the world, and had said to Him, “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:9). Jesus, of course, had refused to worship Satan, and Satan had left Him for a while. Now, we see Satan making that same offer to the “beast,” and the “beast” accepting it.

Revelation 13:3
ONE OF HIS (the beast’s) HEADS (I believe that it was the sixth one – the one that represented the Roman Empire) LOOKED LIKE IT HAD BEEN WOUNDED FATALLY (it seemed as if the idea of ruling the world had suffered a mortal blow when the Roman Empire fell in AD 476). HIS (the beast’s) FATAL WOUND WAS HEALED (the blow turned out not to be fatal to the idea of ruling the world after all, as the seventh head came into position), AND THE WHOLE EARTH MARVELED AT THE BEAST (accepted the leadership of the seventh “head” because it seemed so miraculous that the idea of a “one world government” could be “revived” after the great Roman Empire had fallen and been replaced, for a while, by the ten smaller kingdoms into which the invading Germans had divided its territory). The seventh head, clearly, represents the Papacy, which (as we saw in our “Studies in Daniel”) took power in Rome in AD 610 and held it for 1,260 years, until AD 1870.

Revelation 13:4
THEY (the “whole earth” – that is, the people who had previously lived under the authority of the Roman Empire) WORSHIPED (gave their respect to) THE DRAGON (which represented Satan’s attempt to rule the world, especially as manifested through the Roman Empire), BECAUSE HE (the dragon, which represented Satan’s attempt to rule the world, especially as manifested through the Roman Empire) GAVE HIS (the dragon’s) AUTHORITY (the authority to rule over all of the people that lived in what had been the Roman Empire) TO THE BEAST (which represented, at this point, the final “phase” of Satan’s attempt to rule the world – namely, the Papacy), AND THEY WORSHIPED (acknowledged the authority of) THE BEAST (again, the Papacy) SAYING, “WHO IS LIKE THE BEAST? (No one! As a political/religious world-ruling system, the medieval Papacy was completely unique in the history of the world.) WHO IS ABLE TO MAKE WAR WITH HIM?” (No one! In AD 754, the Papacy literally sent armies to conquer three of the ten kingdoms into which the invading Germans had divided the territory of the old Roman Empire, and those armies conquered all three of those kingdoms. That territory became known as “the Papal States” for most of the rest of the medieval era.)

Revelation 13:5
A MOUTH SPEAKING GREAT THINGS AND BLASPHEMY (making the claim to be the king of the world) WAS GIVEN TO HIM (the beast, which represented, at this point, the final “phase” of Satan’s attempt to rule the world – namely, the Papacy). AUTHORITY TO MAKE WAR FOR FORTY-TWO MONTHS (42 months, at 30 days per month, is 1,260 days; a day being, in Revelation, a symbol for a year, the 1,260 days represented 1,260 years – exactly the time during which the Papacy literally had “authority to make war” – from AD 610 to AD 1870) WAS GIVEN TO HIM (again, the Papacy).

Revelation 13:6
HE (the beast, which represented, at this point, the final “phase” of Satan’s attempt to rule the world – namely, the Papacy) OPENED HIS MOUTH FOR BLASPHEMY AGAINST GOD, TO BLASPHEME HIS (God’s) NAME, AND HIS (God’s) DWELLING, AND THOSE (God’s angels) WHO DWELL IN HEAVEN (by making the claim to be the king of the world, although it was Satan, not God, who had given that “authority” to him).

Revelation 13:7
IT (the power) WAS GIVEN (by Satan) TO HIM (the beast, which represented, at this point, the final “phase” of Satan’s attempt to rule the world – namely, the Papacy) TO MAKE WAR WITH THE SAINTS (the true Church, which consists of all those people who have truly received salvation, by the grace of God, through their faith in Jesus Christ), AND TO OVERCOME THEM (during the years between AD 610 and AD 1870, over 50,000,000 true Christians were killed under the authority of the Papacy – the Spanish Inquisition was the most famous single “phase” of that process, but there were many other “phases” that are not as well-known). AUTHORITY (to rule) OVER EVERY TRIBE, PEOPLE, LANGUAGE (group), AND NATION (within the territory that the beast controlled) WAS GIVEN (by Satan) TO HIM (again, the Papacy).

Revelation 13:8
ALL WHO DWELL ON THE EARTH (within the territory that the “beast” controlled) WILL WORSHIP (acknowledge the authority that had been given to) HIM (the “beast” – that is, the Papacy), EVERYONE (that is) WHOSE NAME HAS NOT BEEN WRITTEN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD IN THE BOOK OF LIFE OF THE LAMB (Jesus) WHO HAS BEEN KILLED (everyone except the true Christians – of whom there were always some, and they were the ones that the Papacy worked the hardest to exterminate).

Revelation 13:9
IF ANYONE HAS AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR (see Matthew 11:15, 13:9 and 13:43; Mark 4:9; Luke 8:8 and 14:35; and, of course, the ending of each of the seven “letters to the churches” in Revelation 2 and 3 – this was a “favorite” expression of Jesus’). Not everybody will receive and understand this message; but the message is intended to be received and understood by anyone who is willing to receive and understand it – and, especially, to apply the important, practical implications of it (such as are mentioned in the next verse) to his own life.

Revelation 13:10
IF ANYONE HAS CAPTIVITY (in his destiny), HE WILL GO (into captivity). IF ANYONE IS (destined to be killed) WITH THE SWORD, HE MUST BE KILLED (with the sword). HERE IS THE ENDURANCE AND THE FAITH OF THE SAINTS (the true Christians). This is intended to be a word of encouragement to the true Christians who would be living during the 1,260-year reign of the anti-Christian Papacy: “Bad things will happen to you, but you need to hold on to your faith.” It “works” equally well today, although we are living in a seemingly more peaceful age. Today, Christianity is at least tolerated by many of the governmental authorities in the world, and most Christians don’t face captivity and martyrdom on a daily basis. We still face a lot of opposition, and there is still a need for endurance and faith.

Revelation 13:11
I SAW ANOTHER BEAST COMING UP OUT OF THE EARTH (which symbolized the land of Palestine and therefore represented that portion of humanity which comprised God’s chosen people). In New Testament terminology, a beast coming up out of the earth represents a corrupt, man-made “governmental” system that arises from within the organized church of God. The first beast represented human government – attempts to rule the world from a political point of view. The second beast represented human religion – attempts to rule the world from a priestly point of view. HE (the second beast) HAD TWO HORNS LIKE A LAMB (it was “disguised” to look like a lamb – that is, it was disguised to look like the Lamb that was described in Revelation 4 – namely, Jesus; it represented a religious system that tried to control the world while looking as much as possible like Christianity), AND HE (the second beast) SPOKE (teachings) LIKE (those of) A DRAGON (Satan). I believe that the religious system that this verse described was known historically as the Roman Catholic Church as it was manifested in the time period from AD 610 to AD 1870. And, in a sense, I might go so far as to say that it’s only by historical “accident” (so to speak) that there is still an organization in the world today called the Roman Catholic Church – but it bears little resemblance to its predecessor on the stage of history, the Roman Catholic Church of the past. Great changes have been made within that church, so that it no longer is the way it was, and yet it is technically the same organization. We know that churches can change. They can get better, and they can get worse. The Roman Catholic Church started out to be the universal, worldwide Christian church. That was great. It “went bad” in becoming the Roman Catholic Church of the Middle Ages, but since then it has “gone good” again, as more and more it is becoming similar to the kind of organization that we would call a “Protestant” or “evangelical” church. It’s headed in the right direction. Another example of how churches can change like that is the People’s Temple. In 1978, the world was shocked by the news of the mass murder/suicide of over 900 people in Jonestown, Guyana. But this cult was just a Disciples of Christ church that had “gone bad” under the leadership of a bad man, Jim Jones. So the fact that the Roman Catholic Church of today is the same “corporation” as the Roman Catholic Church of the past doesn’t mean that it has the same characteristics. It’s a church that has changed more than once throughout its long history. This prophecy is not intended to describe, and does not describe, the Roman Catholic Church of the twenty-first century. It is intended to describe, and it accurately describes, the Roman Catholic Church of the seventh through the nineteenth centuries – especially in regard to that church’s working relationship with its titular head, the Papacy, in the way that the latter institution was manifested during that same time period.

Revelation 13:12
HE (the second beast, which I have identified as the medieval Roman Catholic Church) EXERCISES ALL THE AUTHORITY OF THE FIRST BEAST (which I have identified as the Papacy) IN HIS PRESENCE (as long as the Roman Catholic Church submitted itself to the authority of the Papacy, it was the “vehicle” through which the Papacy actually exercised its ruling powers). HE (the second beast) MAKES THE EARTH (God’s people) AND THOSE WHO DWELL IN IT (everybody who lived in the countries controlled by the Papacy) TO WORSHIP (acknowledge the authority of) THE FIRST BEAST, WHOSE FATAL WOUND WAS HEALED (the Papacy).

Revelation 13:13
HE (the second beast, which I have identified as the medieval Roman Catholic Church) PERFORMS GREAT SIGNS, EVEN MAKING FIRE COME DOWN OUT OF THE SKY TO THE EARTH IN THE SIGHT OF PEOPLE (like the Prophet Elijah did, as recorded in 1 Kings 18:36-39). I don’t know what specific historical event(s) might be prophesied by this statement; but, in general, the medieval Roman Catholic Church placed a great emphasis on miracles. The “biographies” of its “saints” mostly consisted of long catalogues of the miracles that they allegedly performed. The “rule” was that unless an individual performed at least three “certifiable” miracles, he (or she) could not be listed as a “saint.”

Revelation 13:14
HE (the second beast, which I have identified as the medieval Roman Catholic Church) DECEIVES MY (God’s) OWN PEOPLE WHO DWELL ON THE EARTH (in the countries controlled by the Papacy) BECAUSE OF THE SIGNS HE (the second beast, which I have identified as the medieval Roman Catholic Church) WAS GRANTED TO DO IN FRONT OF THE (first) BEAST (the Papacy); (what was “deceptive” about the miracles was that the Church was using them as a “platform” for) SAYING TO THOSE WHO DWELL ON THE EARTH (the people living in the countries controlled by the Papacy), THAT THEY SHOULD MAKE AN IMAGE TO THE (first) BEAST (the Papacy) WHO HAD THE SWORD WOUND AND LIVED. I believe that this “image” of the Papacy represented the Roman Catholic religious hierarchy at all its levels – from the Papacy itself, through the college of cardinals, to the archbishops, the bishops and the priests. This hierarchy could aptly be described as an “image” of the Papacy, since, at every level, the clergy at that level functioned as “little popes” in the territories that were assigned to them. This was a “top-down” system of church government, quite the opposite of the “congregational” type of church government that most evangelical Protestants are accustomed to.

Revelation 13:15
IT WAS GIVEN TO HIM (the second beast, which I have identified as the medieval Roman Catholic Church) TO GIVE BREATH (life) TO IT (the image), TO THE IMAGE OF THE (first) BEAST (the Papacy), THAT THE IMAGE OF THE (first) BEAST (the Papacy) SHOULD BOTH SPEAK (it was the clergy who did all the preaching in the medieval Roman Catholic Church), AND CAUSE AS MANY AS WOULDN’T WORSHIP (acknowledge the authority of) THE IMAGE OF THE (first) BEAST (the Papacy) TO BE KILLED (hence, the “inquisitions” and persecutions that I mentioned earlier). Now, you didn’t find parish priests in the Middle Ages running around with swords in their hands, killing people who disagreed with their authority. What you had was parish priests, bishops, archbishops, etc., who could speak the word that such-and-such a person deserved to die because of their heresy, and the so-called “governments” of those countries would listen to the priests and the bishops and arrange to have the person executed. So, the Church was able to say, “Our hands are clean. We haven’t killed anybody. We just spoke the truth of God from our pulpits, and it’s very wonderful that the governments of the countries in which our churches function responded to that preaching and exercised their authority by executing the heretics.” But you can see who was really “pulling the strings.” I think that it was very clear to everybody who was living at the time, and maybe has only become muddled to those of us who live centuries later and can’t understand how in the world a church was able to control the government, since that isn’t done nowadays – at least, not in our countries.

Revelation 13:16
HE (the second beast, which I have identified as the medieval Roman Catholic Church) CAUSES ALL, THE SMALL AND THE GREAT, THE RICH AND THE POOR, AND THE FREE AND THE SLAVE (the last three phrases are just a way of “spelling out” the comprehensiveness of the preceding word, “all”), TO BE GIVEN MARKS ON THEIR RIGHT HANDS, OR ON THEIR FOREHEADS; Remember that we’re reading a prophetic book of symbolism and imagery! John saw a vision; in the vision there was a beast that represented a religious system and another beast that represented a political system. Now he sees marks in hands and foreheads. We need to ask what they represent rather than what they “looked like” in the vision. I don’t believe that anybody was ever “tattooed” with literal marks on their hands or foreheads. Nobody was ever “branded” the way cattle are branded. The “hand” refers to the instrument of economic activity (we work “with our hands”). The “forehead” refers to the instrument of intellectual (or mental) activity (we think with our brains). The “mark,” then, is an attitude that is expressed in the workplace and in the intellectual life. It was an attempt to control every phase of people’s lives.

Revelation 13:17
AND THAT NO ONE WOULD BE ABLE TO BUY OR SELL (participate in the economies of that time), UNLESS HE HAS THAT MARK (unless he conformed to the system that everybody was supposed to believe in and work for), (the “mark” is) THE NAME OF THE BEAST OR THE NUMBER OF HIS NAME. In those days, people didn’t use numerals (such as 0, 1, 2, 3, etc.) to represent numbers. Instead, they used letters of the alphabet for that purpose. Maybe you’re familiar with the Roman numeral system, in which the letter “I” represents the number “1”; “V” represents “5”; “X” represents “10”; “L” represents “50”; and so on. Similar numeral systems existed in Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew and all of the other languages. When you’re using a numeral system like that, it’s an easy “jump” to the idea (called “numerology”) in which any word (a name, for example) can be given a numerical “value” which is obtained by adding up the numerical values of those letters within the word that are used to represent numbers (ignoring any letters that are not used for that purpose). So, for example, the name “Claudius Lysias” (see Acts 23:26) would be “calculated” as C+L+A+V+D+I+V+S+L+Y+S+I+A+S, which would be 100+50+0+5+500+1+5+0+50+0+0+1+0+0 =712. (The Latin alphabet did not contain the letter “U”; where we would write a “U,” the Romans used the letter “V” – you’ve probably seen this in Latin inscriptions on public buildings.) So, “the number of” the name “Claudius Lysias” would be 712. This sort of number could even be used in a manner similar to the way in which we use the last four digits of a Social Security number (as a means of identification). Now we come to what might be the most sought-after bit of information in the whole book of Revelation – perhaps in the whole Bible! What is “the name” of the “beast” and what is “the number of” that name?

Revelation 13:18
HERE IS WISDOM (an intelligent person can figure this out). HE WHO HAS UNDERSTANDING (anyone who knows the Roman numeral system), LET HIM CALCULATE THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST, FOR IT IS THE NUMBER OF A MAN (it is “the number of” a human “name”). HIS NUMBER IS SIX HUNDRED SIXTY-SIX. First of all, the symbolism in that number, itself, is obvious to anybody familiar with the way that the biblical writers used numbers. “7” is “the perfect number” – the number of God. “6” (one less than seven) is the number of man, who stands “a little lower” than God. So, “666” would be a “trinity” of man. It would be the perfect numerical representation of humanness as opposed to divinity. So it is a logical number with which to symbolize the Antichrist – a man-made system that sought to take the place of God in people’s lives. But we shouldn’t look at this number as “a 6 followed by a 6 followed by a 6” because that isn’t the way that it would have been written in Greek. The actual number is spelled out in Revelation 13:18 as “six hundred and threescore (a “score” is 20, so “threescore” is another way of saying “60”) and six.” So, we want to look for a name, in which the sum of the values of the letters (those letters that have values) is 666.
Furthermore, it seems to me, to be done right, this calculation must meet the following three requirements:
1) The word(s) must be an actual name (or title) really used by the individual (or organization) that is being represented. You can’t just make up a name for somebody that happens to total up to the number that you want to use to represent him, and then claim that that is his name, and that therefore that number is the number of his name.
2) The word(s) must be spelled correctly, and they must be in the language that is spoken by the individual (or organization) that is being represented. If you spell a word incorrectly, or translate it into another language, you can change its numerical value, and if you try hard enough, you might be able to make it come out to any number that you want it to.
3) The word(s) must be in a language that actually used letters to represent numbers, and you must use those letters as they were used by the people who spoke that language. You can’t just make up a “code” and claim that you have produced the number of an individual’s (or organization’s) name in a language that doesn’t use that system.
Interestingly, as far as I know, these three requirements (which seem perfectly logical to me) eliminate every single attempt that I have ever heard of to identify the “beast” whose number is 666, except this one: V+I+C+A+R+I+V+S+F+I+L+I+I+D+E+I (50+1+100+0+0+1+5+0+0+1+5-+1+1+500+0+1) = 666. You can “do the math” as easily as I can: the words “Vicarius Filii Dei” add up to 666. These are the exact words that were written on the front side of the “triple crown” that the medieval popes wore. Furthermore, they translate into the expression “the one who stands in the place of the Son of God” – which is exactly what the word “Antichrist” also means (literally, “the one who stands in the place of Christ”). I don’t know how any prophetic symbol can possibly be more obvious or more certain: the “name” of the “beast” is “Antichrist” and the “number of” its name is the total of the numerical values of the letters in the title worn on the crown of every Pope between AD 610 and AD 1870.