System of the Beast

In Revelation 13 it states, “And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. (vs. 5-7) This is same type of language used for the little horn in Daniel and is referring to the same system. But the “he” used in verse 5 refers to the beast. This means the beast is a kingdom or system and a person representing that system (Caesar). Remember is says the beast or little horn spoke pompous words against the Most High. In Revelation 13 it tells us the beast uses blasphemous words against God and had “blasphemous names on its heads”. Is this just talking about Nero? No, it refers to all the Caesars who did this. After Julius Caesar died (29 B.C.), a temple honoring him as divus (god) was built in Ephesus. Octavian (Augustus) and subsequent Caesars did not wait for death to be proclaimed gods. The titles of divinity were seen in temples and on Roman coins. Augustus was called the Son of God, the divine-human mediator between heaven and earth. He was proclaimed as the Savior of the world and inscriptions on his coins were nothing less than messianic. According to Ethelbert Stauffer in his book, Christ and the Caesars, the coin inscriptions read, “salvation is to be found in none other save Augustus, and there is no other name given to men in which they can be saved.” Caesar was Lord, God, and Savior. So in Revelation it is not just talking about Nero, it is the entire system of Caesars who set themselves up against God Almighty, claiming they, the Roman Caesars, were God instead of the true Most High God. Why am I going to such lengths to point this out? Because it matters a great deal in understanding the language of Daniel and Revelation. In Daniel 7 it says the beast was slain, his dominion is removed. I believe in a very specific sense this is talking about Nero. He died in 68 AD and thereafter Rome was thrown into civil war and the end result was an Italy left in ruins. However, we know that Rome did not vanish from history at this point. After “the year of four emperors” (68-69 AD), finally Vespasian brought things back to “normal” and started the Flavian Dynasty. What all this means is that the judgment of God went forth immediately in 68 AD and destroyed the beast (Nero), and while the destruction was final, the system was not yet destroyed until several hundred years later. In a sense, the new kingdom that crushed the beast had to work out its dominion. It was a transition to the new kingdom. In Revelation 13, referring to the beast out of the sea, the text says that one of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but that this mortal wound was healed and the whole earth followed the beast with wonder. (vs. 3) The next verse quotes, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” This sounds very much like Rome and what happened. The Julio-Claudian Dynasty (Nero) was destroyed and many probably thought during this period thatRoman dominance would fall as well. Rome came to the brink of imploding, yet it didn’t. It was “healed” and continued into the Flavian Dynasty. And while all this is true, you can never lean to heavily on Nero because we all know the Christian persecution continued under many Caesars. In fact there are 10 main persecutions under the Roman Caesars starting with Nero. In Revelation 13 (vs. 1) it tells us that the beast had 10 horns, but this time the horns had crowns or diadems. This is different language than Daniel. In Revelation 17, it explicitly states that the 7 heads of the beast are seven mountains but are also seven kings (vs. 9-10). This is very important! If the heads have multiple meanings, then it stands to reason the horns do also. In Daniel the language is couched in a way that make it clear the horns refer to imperial provinces. But in Revelation it uses the same type of language, but adds to it changing the meaning. In verse 12 of Revelation 17 it states the 10 horns are ten kings who have not received a kingdom yet. Considering this language coupled with the “crowned horns” at the beginning of the chapter, it is very unlikely this refers to imperial provinces. The text goes on to say these kings will give their authority to the beast and will make war with the Lamb. Isn’t this what the 10 Caesars did when they persecuted the Christians? Yes, and this is why we must look at the beast and Antichrist as a system that is destroyed by the kingdom of Jesus.