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The beast of the sea (Antichrist) 1 And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. 2 And the beast, which I saw, was like to a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his own strength, and great power. 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were slain to death: and his death's wound was healed. And all the earth was in admiration after the beast. 4 And they adored the dragon, which gave power to the beast: and they adored the beast, saying: Who is like to the beast? and who shall be able to fight with him? 13:1 beast: that is, Antichrist. (St. Gregory the Great Mor Job 33.59) seven heads ten horns etc: hint at his union with the Devil; for these qualities were also explained above, see note for 12:3. (St. Andrew of Caesarea) Hugo and Alcasar regard it as signifying the world, according to Primasius, Bede, Richard of St. Victor, etc, the beast is said to signify " the body of the wicked." 13:2 Daniel in verses 7:7-8 saw a vision of four separate animals, not one beast composed of parts from three animals, which means that the Antichrist's rule will include all of the areas represented by these animals; Greece, Persia and Mesopotamia. the dragon gave him his own strength: Also St. Paul, in 2 Thess 2:9, shows that the Antichrist is one thing, and Satan, who works in him, is another. (Ishodad of Merv) And this implies that Satan will use him as an instrument, working in his own person through the Antichrist. (St. Cyril of Jerusalem) The Antichrist will do everything with the Devil. (Interlinear Gloss) Or leopard: The leopard, as being spotted, signifies heretics who are sprinkled over with the spots of error. Also those inordinate affections which are cruel toward the soul.(St. Ambrosius Autpertus) mouth: By mouth, says Anselm of Canterbury, is signified preaching; when "they mangle the Holy Scriptures and send forth their fetid opinions." Primasius says it means pride of tongue; St. Ambrose Autpertus, bold confidence in false preaching, or deceitful and insidious argument through the preaching of perverse dogmas. great power: says Anselm of Canterbury and Aquinas, "power of seducing." Tychonius says; "Just as we now behold heretics to be powerful in this world; who possess the power of the devil. 13:3 will be a king that appears to be dead but comes back to life, or near death and then healed. This may be done by some sort of sorcery in order to draw more people in. (John Litteral) The beast will torment saints 5 And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies: and power was given to him for forty two months. 6 And he opened his mouth to blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. And power was given him over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth adored him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, which was slain from the beginning of the world. 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10 He that shall lead into captivity, shall go into captivity: he that shall kill by the sword, must be killed by the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. 13:5 forty-two months: that is, three and a half years. 13:6 tabernacle: The wicked one usurps the dignity of the name of God, and he will presume to call the Church also his own. (St. Bede) or the tabernacle of God is the flesh of our Redeemer. For this is especially the tabernacle of God, the very house of God: it is itself that temple of God in which is found the fulness of the majesty of God. blaspheme...them that dwell in heaven: that is the saints and the elect of God, whether it be those who have gone before us in the first ages of Christianity, or those who have yet to come; and who seeking those things which are in heaven, when wafted upon the wings of contemplation they daily mingle themselves with angelic choirs, are rightly declared to dwell in heaven. (St. Ambrosius Aupertus) 13:7 war against the saints: Alcasar quotes the prophecy in Daniel 8:11, as referring to this passage; "It cast down truth to the ground, and it practised, and prospered;" Cornelius a Lapide on this passage, "The true faith of God, the law, worship, religion, shall be cast down." 13:8 This Lamb was slain from the beginning of the world not in himself, but in his members; such as in Abel and in many others; because as in his people he feeds, so in his people he is slain; whence also he said, ' Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?' (Haimo of Auxerre) 13:10 He who shall lead into captivity shall go into captivity: He will lead men captive in two ways; namely, first by separating them from the faith of Christ in their minds, then from the society of the faithful in eternity; and thus will those who obey him be consigned to the exile of a perpetual captivity. In like manner will he himself also be taken captive, first in his soul, when he will be given over to the possession of the devil: after which he will be condemned to a perpetual captivity in hell. he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword: He will slay men in their soul by the sword of evil persuasion. (Haimo of Auxerre) The beast of the earth (False Prophet) 11 And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns, like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. 12 And he executed all the power of the former beast in his sight; and he caused the earth, and them that dwell therein, to adore the first beast, whose wound to death was healed. 13 And he did great signs, so that he made also fire to come down from heaven onto the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he seduced them that dwell on the earth, for the signs, which were given him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make the image of the beast, which had the wound by the sword, and lived. 15 And it was given him to give life to the image of the beast, and that the image of the beast should speak; and should cause, that whosoever will not adore the image of the beast, should be slain. 13:11 beast coming out of the earth: According to the opinion of the Blessed Irenaeus this is to be understood, as the false prophet. (St. Andrew of Caesarea) According to Gregory the Great, the "beast out of the earth" signifies "the preachers of Antichrist;" the Glossa Ordinaria regards it as signifying "false apostles;" St. Anselm of Canterbury, "the apostles of Antichrist, who will pretend to innocence of life, and to the possession of true doctrine" ; St. Ambrosius Autpertus, "the multitude of the preachers of Antichrist;" Haimo likewise understands this beast as signifying more especially the preachers of Antichrist; And it has two horns like a lamb, The heresiarch attempts to defend his own doctrine by the writings of the Old and New Testament; but, inasmuch as he adduces it in a wrong sense, he is not said to have two horns of a lamb, but like to those of a lamb. (Haimo of Auxerre) Or because, through his pretended sanctity, he falsely asserts that that wisdom and conduct exist in him, which the Lord truly possessed in Himself in a special manner. But because under the appearance of a lamb he infuses into his reprobate hearers the poison of serpents. (St. Gregory the Great Mor Job 33.59) spoke as a dragon: that is, as the devil, persuading to evil, formerly spoke by the serpent to the woman by whom he deceived the man; so likewise these, by their corrupt doctrine, seduce as many as they are able, and separate them from the faith of Christ; and inasmuch as these dragons are most cruel, infusing the virus of their wickedness into their hearers, they feign themselves to be lambs, in order that they may deceive the lambs. They assume the appearance of a lamb, in order that they may do the works of the dragon. (Haimo of Auxerre) 13:12-13 The forerunner of the rebellious false Christ will perform all things, it says, through sorcery for the déception of people, to consider the Antichrist to be God, by the working of thèse marvels giving testimony and receiving indisputable glory in imitation of the Baptist, who brought believers to the Savior. (St. Andrew of Caesarea) Or we read in the Acts of the Apostles, that, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles in the likeness of fire; and that, when thus filled by the Spirit, they began with various tongues to speak the marvellous things of God. The apostles also (as we read that Peter did, and others) afterwards gave the Holy Spirit to those whom they baptized, that these also might in all languages speak them. Whence likewise Simon Magus, offering money, said; 'Give me this power, that on whomsoever I lay my hand, he may receive the Holy Ghost and be able to speak in all languages.' In this manner therefore did the apostles cause fire, that is, the Holy Ghost, to descend from heaven, that is, from themselves. Of whom the Lord said; 'I am come to send fire upon the earth,' upon those who before were earthly, but were then renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Hence likewise the Lord himself especially declared this to be a sign following believers; 'for these signs,' says he, 'shall follow them that believe: in my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues.' This beast therefore shall cause fire to descend from heaven, because, by a false imitation, the preachers of Antichrist will feign that by the imposition of hands they can give the Holy Spirit to their followers. (Haimo of Auxerre) 13:15 It has often been learned historically, both from Apollonius and others, that demons speak through wooden statues, animals, trees and water by means of sorcery. Therefore, there is nothing unreasonable for even the adjutant of the Antichrist, working through demons to make an image for the beast and show it speaking, and to prepare and to destroy those who do not worship it. (St. Andrew of Caesarea) Rabanus Maurus interprets image as signifying " heretical deceits." St. Thomas Aquinas says that image refers in general to the intellectual nature in man. To give life: says Haimo, "is here for false preachers to give the Holy Spirit; they will say that the fullness of the Holy Spirit rests in it; and will preach that it speaks;" that is, speaks the mind of the Spirit. Nicholas of Lyra says, it defends its own heresy; and John S. Menochius, that the image speaks in like manner as "many idols of old gave their responses to enquirers, the devil occultly speaking in them. Mark of the beast (666) 16 And he shall make all, both little and great, rich and poor, freemen and bondmen, to have a mark in their right hand, or on their foreheads. 17 And that no man might buy or sell, but he that has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. He that has understanding, let him count the number of the beast. For it is the number of a man: and the number of him is six hundred sixty-six. 13:16-18 The False Prophet will cause many people from every class and status to receive the mark of the beast, and without it no one can buy or sell anything. The infamous number 666 is the number of the name of the Antichrist. Most languages has a number value for every letter in their alphabet, and there are numerous ways to reckon the number six hundred and sixty-six, so much so that it would be very timely to cover all the possibilities. For anyone who is interested in a resource that covers a lot of the calculations, I recommend the book "The Contributions of British writers between 1516 and 1830 to the Interpretation of Revelation 13:16-18", especially chapter 8. Perhaps the reckoning of the number really depends on what language St. John had in mind, whether he meant to reckon it from the Greek language in which he probably originally wrote the book of Revelation in, or whether he had Aramaic or Hebrew in mind. And since Scripture is inspired by God, it could very well be possible that the number is to be reckoned in a language at the time of the Antichrist and not a language from the time St. John wrote the Revelation. Perhaps this number is meant to be fully revealed at the time when it will be more beneficial to Christians to know its meaning. As for me I favor the Greek word αρνουμε/ARNOUME, which means "I am denying." It is orthographically identical with ARNOUMAI. E and AI are pronounced the same way in this era. This word appears to have first been suggested by St. Hippolytus (170-236AD) in his treatise On the End of the World, and then later suggested by Primasius around 550AD. The word has the numerical value of six hundred and sixty-six and is calculated as such... A= 1 R= 100 N= 50 O= 70 U= 400 M= 40 E= 5 Total 666 Just as the sealing of the 144,000 on the forehead is not a literal mark, so the mark of the beast will not be a literal mark on the right hand or forehead, but the right hand is to be understood as the works of the hands and the forehead is to be understood as the confession of faith. I think the key to understanding this more fully is when St. John tells us in his epistle, "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already (1 Jn 4:2-3)." The mark of the beast is not meant to be understood as the proper name of the Antichrist, but it is concerning the "spirit of Antichrist", which means to deny/ARNOUME Christ. The mark of the beast is already in the world because people receive it by denying Christ. This mark has always been around, but in the Great Tribulation the denial of Christ will be required in order to buy or sell, which will be a test for Christians who will be faced with the dilemma of either denying Christ in order to the get bare necessities, or to confess Him and face serious financial times as well as heavy persecution. Here are some other calculations... In Greek: Teitan, which τ three hundred, ε five, ι ten, τ three hundred, α one, ν fifty,— which taken together become six hundred and sixty-six. (St. Victorinus) In Latin: DICLUX, which letters are reckoned in this manner: since D figures five hundred, I one, C a hundred, L fifty, V five, X ten,— which by the reckoning up of the letters makes similarly six hundred and sixty-six. (St. Victorinus) In Hebrew: Nero Caesar (or Caesar Nero) was NRWN QSR. St. Thomas Aquinas Sum Theo 3.63.3 said,"The 'character of the beast' may be understood by opposition, to mean either the obstinate malice for which some are assigned to eternal punishment, or the profession of an unlawful form of worship. Alternative Interpretation 13:17 ' That no man should buy or sell' this merchandize is to be spiritually understood.
For when the Lord commits to the faithful such weighty talents of
doctrine, he says, 'Occupy with them until I come. ' And rightly is preaching compared to merchandize.
(Haimo of Auxerre) Or the sellers are the preachers, the buyers are
they who hear and receive the Word. The former make the offer of life;
the latter expend in its purchase good works. The former exhibit to view
the word of salvation; the latter, to obtain it, part with all that
they have. In those days however it will not be lawful for them to do
so; because no one will dare either to preach or to hear any one
preaching without being punished or sentenced to death ;* that power
being then conceded to such as are under no suspicion, and who yet are
veritable servants of the beast, . and disciples of Antichrist. (Joachim
of Fiore)
Bible Cross Reference
10: Genesis 9:6.; Matthew 26:52.
Key Words 1 blasphemy 4 adored 6 God name tabernacle heaven 7 war saints 8 Lamb 11 faith 13 men 18 number |
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