What is
the Beast from Revelation? (R4H)
And the dragon stood on the shore
of the sea.
And I saw a beast coming out of
the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on
each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet
like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast
his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast
seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The
whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon
because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast
and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
Revelation 13:1-4
The dragon and the Beast are two
different entities. The Dragon is
Satan. The Beast is a political
power. Here is what this passage says:
The Beast had ten horns, seven
heads, ten crowns. It can't be taken
literally. It's not some weird seven
headed dragon king. It was strong, quick, cunning, unstoppable force like a
leopard, bear, lion.
The beast derived its power from
Satan and his blasphemous practices. The whole world followed this beast.
What are
the seven heads?
This calls for a mind with
wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. Revelation 17:9
Later in Revelation it says the
seven heads stands for seven hills. Rome
stood on seven hills.
What are
the ten crowns?
Ten rulers most likely. During
the generation of John's writing, there were at least 10 emperors, depending on
when you date the book.
1.
Augustus 1/27 BC – 8/14 AD
2.
Tiberius 9/14 – 3/37
3.
Caligula 3/37 – 1/41
4.
Claudius 1/41 – 10/54
5.
Nero 10/54 – 6/68
6.
Galba 6/68 – 1/69
7.
Otho 1/69 – 4/69
8.
Vitellius 4/69 – 12/69
9.
Vespasian 7/69 – 6/79 (called for
the attack on Jerusalem)
10. Titus –
6/79 – 9/81 (led the attack on Jerusalem)
11. Domitian –
9/81 – 9/96
What are
the ten horns?
One possibility is The Decapolis,
ten cities that were not an official league or political unit, but they were
grouped together because of their language, culture, location, and political
status. John says later the ten horns
are ten kings, maybe of the Decapolis.
Those ten cities were:
1.
Gerasa (Jerash) in Jordan
2.
Scythopolis (Beit She'an) in
Israel, the only city west of the Jordan River
3.
Hippos (also Hippus or Sussita;
Al-Husn in Arabic) on the Golan Heights
4.
Gadara (Umm Qais) in Jordan
5.
Pella (west of Irbid) in Jordan
6.
Philadelphia, modern day Amman,
the capital of Jordan
7.
Capitolias, also Dion, probably
Beit Ras or Al Husn or Aydoun, all in Jordan
8.
Canatha (Qanawat) in Syria
9.
Raphana, usually identified with
Abila in Jordan
10. Damascus,
the capital of modern Syria
“The ten horns you saw are ten
kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive
authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give
their power and authority to the beast. They will make war against the Lamb,
but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of
kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”
Revelation 17:12-14
John says they were ten future
kings of the Beast and they will persecute the Lamb (Christians). Christians were persecuted by Roman Emperors
until Constantine (306-337 AD). Over 40 Emperors rose to power. Eleven of them after Titus are noteworthy in
terms of their persecution of Christians. Are the ten in these numbers?
1.
Domitian
2.
Trajan (98 – 117)
3.
Hadrian (117 – 138)
4.
Marcus Aurelius (161 – 180)
5.
Septimius Severus
6.
Maximinus the Thracian
7.
Decius
8.
Valerian
9.
Diocletian
10. Galerius
11. Julian the
Apostate
Daniel 7:1-8 describes other
beasts that look like a lion/eagle/man, bear, leopard/bird, ten horned
beast/teeth. In verse 15 Daniel begs to
know the identity of the fourth beast.
The angel tells him.
"He gave me this
explanation: 'The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth.
It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole
earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will
come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the
earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High
and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints
will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. Daniel 7:23-25
It’s the same beast from
Revelation. The beast is not a man, but
a kingdom. There have been many kingdoms
that have risen to power after John: Rome, Islam, England, Germany, Japan. For the people of the time and the purposes
of John’s audience, it would point to Rome.
Rome lasted over 400 years
Spread from Africa, all of Europe, Asia.
Highest population 56 Million
1.9 million square miles
Depending on the time Revelation
was written and whether some emperors were considered true emperors (Galba,
Otho, Vitellius), there were 10-11 emperors by the time John wrote this.
The Christians were persecuted
heavily under Roman rule. No idea of the
numbers since they were recorded.
Rome appeared unstoppable. It swallowed up other kingdoms and tried to
swallow up Christianity.