The Two Beasts, the Mark, and the Number

If anyone has an ear, let him hear: Revelation 13:9

Revelation 13:1–18 – The Book of Revelation: Worship. Obey. Endure.
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost  – October 9, 2022 (am)

This is surely among the darkest of passages, in this letter and in the NT. The ultimate opponent of God, His ways, and His people in all of human history arises here and begins to do its work. The bulk of this chapter does not speak a happy word to the church. However, if we look closely, I believe we will see a word of encouragement that, against the dark backdrop of this text, shines like a perfect diamond. The point of c.13 is that the dragon, Satan (12:9), operates on earth through two agents, the beast out of the sea and the beast out of the earth, forming an unholy trinity that intentionally seeks to displace the triune God of all creation. Let’s walk through this chapter in three steps.

The Beast out of the Sea – 1-10

1 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems, crowns, on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. The power of Satan expresses itself as antichrists in concrete, historical opposition to God’s people (Carson 1995). The sea represented chaos for the non-seafaring Jews, so a beast out of the sea would be uncontrollable, untamable. Some suggest the sea may refer to the Gentile world, or that the beast [arises] from the Mediterranean, like the emperor’s ships arriving from Rome, appearing over the horizon.

More helpful, though, with regard to OT background are the two beasts in Job 40-41 (Beale 1999 682), Leviathan, out of the sea (Job 41:1-34), and Behemoth, out of the earth (Job 40:15-24), two massively uncontrollable monsters that represent the handiwork of God—no threat whatsoever to Him, but untamable terrors to any mere human who encounters either one of them!

Clearly, though, this first beast here is modeled after the four beasts in Daniel’s vision. Dan.7:3 And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. 4 The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. Babylon 5 And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ Medo-Persia 6 After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. Greece 7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. Rome It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. This beast in Rev.13 is a virtual composite of these four—2 … [it] was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. … We hear elements of each of the four beasts from Dan.7 here. Even the seven heads (1), while surely the number of completeness in this beast’s opposition to God, the four beasts in Dan.7 had a total of seven heads (three with one and one with four).

The ten [crowns] picture ruling authority (cf. 2), but the beast’s power was derived from the dragon (2), Satan (12:9). And notice: 3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, clearly recalling Gen.3:15 where the serpent’s head would be [crushed] (BDB) by the woman’s offspring. Down in v.14 we learn that this wound was caused by a sword. But elsewhere in Revelation a “sword” often signifies Jesus’ judgment of his enemies in the present (1:16:2:12, 16) and future (19:15, 21) (Beale 1999 688). And then add in Isa.27:1 and we have the beginnings of a very interesting study: 1 In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. [B]ut here, its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.

C.17 also adds a bit of clarity to this picture. Not only does it seem like this beast first appeared in 11:7 where it [arose] from the bottomless pit (abyss [cf. 17:8] which could be an apocalyptic synonym with the sea [1]) to make war on [the two witnesses] and conquer them and kill them, but in 17:12 its ten horns are identified as 12 … ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. A very similar description is given of the ten horns in Dan.7:24.

We see that this beast was worshiped and [held in awe] (4) by the whole earth (3). It was considered invincible (4). 4 And they also worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast…. In John’s day, he was almost certainly thinking of Rome, just as in Daniel’s vision. And c.17 seems to confirm that: 17:9 … the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. Rome is famously known as the city of seven hills. But then in the very next verse 17:10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come as John was writing, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth [king] but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.

This is a complex picture regarding the beast, how it fits into this letter, and how it fits into the whole testimony of Scripture. But what we can know is that it represents evil ruling power that seeks to put itself in the place of God in the lives of His creatures—5 … the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words (matching the blasphemous names on its heads [1]; this is the beast’s truest identity), and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months (the period we’ve seen that evil is allowed by God to reign [Dan.7:25; 9:27; 12:7; Rev.11:2, 3; 12:4, 6, 14; 13:5; cf. Luk.4:25; Jam.5:17 [1Ki.17-18]; Rev.11:11]). 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven (accusing still). 7 Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them (that’s hard news, but Jesus told us it was coming [Joh.15:20 … If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. …; 16:2 … the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.]). And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation (the full range of humanity from which the redeemed will be ransomed [5:9]), 8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it…. Our God allows an amazingly long leash for those that war against Him! Surely: 10 … Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The Beast out of the Earth – 11-15

We’ll take a bit less time with this second beast, because even though it’s an additional character it seems to be almost an appendage of the first (12). Plus, the four beasts that originally were said to [come] up out of the sea (Dan.7:3) were later said to arise out of the earth (Dan.7:17). Similarly they were first described as kings (Dan.7:17), then later as kingdoms (Dan.7:23). Clearly, rigidity of interpretation is out of place here (Baldwin 160).

As for this second beast: 11 … It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. [It] is a parody of Christ—religion prostituted for evil ends (Ladd 183). And together with the dragon and the first beast, it forms an unholy triumvirate, a false trinity. That the second beast represents religion employed in support of the worship of the beast is seen from the fact that hereafter [it] is called the false prophet (16:13; 19:20; 20:10). The first beast represents civil power, satanically inspired; the second beast represents religious power employed to support civil power (Ladd 183).

Its actual activities are then described pretty vividly and clearly in the verses that follow. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, so it’s not competitor; it’s a cohort, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. 13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, flashy, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, there is its primary work, deception, aided by flamboyant displays of power, telling [the people] to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak, ‘proving’ it was worthy of worship, thus [causing] those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.

The Mark and the Number – 16-18

But this unholy trinity, and the false prophet (16:13; 19:20; 20:10) in particular, didn’t stop at parading false miracles and demanding idolatrous worship, it also imitated the sealing of the elect: 16 … it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. And, wow, have these two verses (and the one that follows) filled the church with debate ever since this letter was first delivered!

We surely don’t need a survey of the proposed meanings of the mark of the beast or the number of its name! That would, in fact, be quite impossible—you wouldn’t believe the range of options! But I do think there are a few things we can say about both that will cut through the fog and help us know how we can best understand them.

The mark comes first. And as we’ve already said, not just today, this is an imitation of the seal of the living God (7:2, 3-4; 9:4; cf. 3:12; 14:1). And I would suggest to you that almost certainly it is no more visible than that seal was. So, it’s unlikely to be a bar (or QR) code or some other marker (or chip). Slaves may have been branded in the ancient world to show ownership, or soldiers or religious zealots may have been marked by some form of tattoo to display faithful devotion (Beale 1999 715). But almost certainly the seal of the living God is the point of reference here. And as to the economic consequences for not bearing the mark ([17] making it seem like it must be visible), it was no problem during Israel’s exile in Babylon for Daniel and his three friends to be identified as not honoring the idolatrous demands of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan.3, 6) without being visibly marked. I think we should read this text with that in mind. Might worshiping the beast be the mark of the beast?

The number comes next—the number of [the beast’s] name (17). 18 This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. Greg Beale makes a helpful statement: John is not calling for an exercise of brilliant intellect but for a commitment on the part of his readers to discern evil spiritual realities in order to protect themselves from compromise (Beale 1999 723), to be a discerning reader. The question is, how is one marked by the beast, by its name, such that s/he is identified as belonging to it? Simplest answer: by worshiping the beast. I believe that is the mark, just as it is with the Lamb. And when we worship the one we earn the wrath of the other. Either we bear the mark of the Lamb and earn the wrath of the beast, or we bear the mark of the beast and earn the wrath of the Lamb (Carson 1995). Don’t worship anyone but the true and living God through His Son Jesus Christ, aided by His Holy Spirit and guided by His Word, and you will have nothing to fear! That’s the whole truth!

So, what does 666 mean? To what does it refer? Once again, the list of alternatives is endless, and growing even as we speak! Gematria is the word you’ll often hear in this conversation, assigning numbers to letters. In Greek, a is 1, b is 2, g is 3, and so on through the first nine letters, then the tenth letter, k, is 10, l is 20, m is 30, and so on. In this system, Nero Caesar is one of the most favorite options. But his identification is based on a misspelled Hebrew transliteration of the Greek form of his Latin name! (Carson 1995)

Triangular numbers are another approach: 666 is the triangular number of thirty-six (the total when you add up each number between 1 and 36); thirty-six is the triangular number of eight; and the beast is the eighth king (17:11).

These tell you how far many have gone to show their ‘understanding’ by ‘calculating’ the number of the beast! 

Personally, I like Greg Beale’s idea seeing that the very next verse (14:1) takes us right back to the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. This shows us that a contrast is intended between the beast’s name and the Lord’s name. If the latter symbolizes a purely spiritual reality, which it does, then so does the former. This is true also of the beast’s number, since it is synonymous with his name (Beale 1999 721). And as to how to understand 666, he continues: The number seven refers to completeness and is repeated throughout the book. We’re in another set of seven visions here in 12:1-15:4 that isn’t announced so we barely notice it (segments beginning then I saw or behold [Beale 1999 621-6:22]). But 666 appears only here. This suggests that the triple sixes are intended as a contrast with the divine sevens… and signify incompleteness and imperfection (Beale 1999 721-722). But if the number six is intended to be understood this way, why three sixes here? Beale says that the triple repetition of sixes connotes the intensification of incompleteness and failure that is summed up in the beast more than anywhere else among fallen humanity. In the Bible the number three also signifies completeness…. Therefore, six repeated three times indicates the completeness of sinful incompleteness found in the beast. The beast epitomizes imperfection, while appearing to achieve divine perfection (Beale 1999 722). This idea has merit to me. It’s broad, categorical, and clear. So, any leader in diametric and evangelistic opposition to God is antichrist ([cf. 1Jo.2:18]; e.g., Nero, Domitian, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, etc.). This seems like the most viable option to me, and surely the most in keeping with what we read in the text.

Conclusion

But where is our encouragement today? I said at the beginning that I believe we’ll see a word of encouragement here that, against the dark backdrop of this heavy chapter, will shine like a perfect diamond. I don’t believe we’ve heard that encouragement yet! You may have noticed that I skipped a verse as we moved through the text. I’d like to go back to it now.

Look at v.8. We’ll use v.7 as an onramp and read through v.9. 7 [The beast] was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, we covered all of that, now for the rest, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. Those who bear the seal of the living God (7:2-4; 9:4) simply do not need to worry about receiving the mark of the beast! (16-17) And they’re not just freed from it at the last second, like a shoestring catch! They’ve been set apart from eternity past by the sovereign election of God to be out of the reach of the beast! Jesus Himself referred to this in His teaching on the end times. He said that Mat.24:24 … false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. The clear implication, despite the ominous sound of Jesus’ words, is that it’s not possible for the elect to be led astray! And we gain that very same understanding here in Rev.13:8!

Surely there will be some among us who are destined for detention (10a) under the forty-two month reign of the beast, and others who are destined to be martyred (10b), but everyone whose name has been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain will not be drawn in by the beast, and therefore will surely be spared the coming wrath of the Lamb! (14:9-11)

That is our encouragement this morning, and that is our hope for all eternity: trusting in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ to absorb the wrath of God against our sin has placed us beyond the reach of the beast!

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Resources

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NEXT WEEK’S SERMON: The Hour of His Judgment Has Come, Revelation 14:1–20