What does revelations say

Some are destined for captivity, and to captivity they will go. Others are destined to be killed by the sword, and so it will be cf. Hence, believers are called upon to persevere and remain faithful to their Lord. They must remain loyal despite the persecution and difficulties at hand.

The next paragraph —18 commences with John seeing another beast, coming up from the earth. If the first beast is the Roman Empire, the second beast is probably the imperial priesthood. The deceitfulness of the second beast is apparent—he has two horns like a Lamb, thus presenting himself as being in accord with the Lamb, but he actually speaks like the dragon, revealing his message to be demonic.

The second beast is the third member of the unholy trinity, functioning like an unholy Spirit. He exercises the authority of the first beast in his presence, compelling the inhabitants of the earth all unbelievers to worship the beast.

Unbelievers are happy to comply, for the beast appeared to have divine powers, recovering from a seemingly mortal wound. The beast, in other words, had its own version of the resurrection—just when totalitarian rule appeared to be squelched, it rose from the ashes to reign again.

The plausibility of the second beast is augmented by its miraculous power cf. In other words, false religion seems to be verified empirically. Just as Elijah could bring fire down from heaven 1 Kings , so false religion here is allegedly confirmed by signs and wonders. Both Jesus Matt. Such miracles test believers, ascertaining their devotion to the Lord Deut.

The signs deceive the earth dwellers unbelievers; cf. Hence, the inhabitants of the earth make an image of the beast. Images were crafted for the sake of worship, and John reminds us again that the beast is worshiped because it seemed to be dead but sprung to life again. Unbelievers worship the beast because of its resurrection power, because the empire seems dead but keeps springing back to life.

The beast, then, is a parody and counterfeit of Christ. We see again that the second beast functions like the Holy Spirit. Just as the Spirit came to glorify Jesus John and anoint him with power Luke —21 , so the second beast honors and empowers the first.

When John describes it granting life to the image of the beast, we should not envisage an image literally coming to life. The speech of the first beast seems supernatural, inspired, authoritative, compelling; he speaks in oracles. But this is not a matter merely of persuasion. Similarly, Pliny writes to the emperor Trajan AD 98— about what to do with Christians: he ought not punish them if they sacrifice to the gods Epistulae Such absolute allegiance was demanded also by Nebuchadnezzar Dan.

Those who bow before the beast reveal they do not belong to the one true God cf. We must be willing to suffer, to give our all for Christ, to persevere until the end in order to obtain the final reward. The second beast also enforces the power of the first through economic discrimination. No one, no matter his social class or influence, will be able to buy or sell unless he has a mark upon the forehead or hand to signify devotion to the beast. The number signifies the name of the beast cf.

Many interpreters take this literally, as if a literal mark will be imprinted in some fashion on foreheads and hands, but the language is likely symbolic. Just as the seal on the foreheads of the , is not literal, neither should this mark be understood literally. In any case, the two beasts conspire to exclude believers from the marketplace.

John closes this section with a statement that has fascinated and puzzled interpreters throughout history. He summons the readers to be wise so that they can calculate the number of the beast. We are told the number is the number of a man: Some manuscripts read , but the best reading is If the number refers to a particular individual, the best guess is Nero. The letters of a name were ascribed numerical value and added up to give a number.

Historians believe that Nero's persecution of Christians in Rome may have entered the consciousness of early Christians, making him a hate figure. However, evidence from ancient manuscripts indicates that may not have been the number of the Beast. In the late 19th century, British archaeologists working at the site of the Egyptian city Oxyrhynchus discovered a cache of papyri that were brought to Oxford, where academics have been working their way through them ever since. One of these papyrus fragments is of the Book of Revelation and gives the number of the Beast as Working on the same principle of numerology, academics work out to indicate the Emperor Caligula.

Caligula had had a statue of himself erected in the temple in Jerusalem, greatly offending Jews. If John indeed was a Jew from Palestine he would have known this. The image of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse is borrowed and updated from the Hebrew Prophet, Zachariah.

The red horse symbolises war and destruction; the black horse symbolises famine; the pale horse symbolises death; the white horse symbolises vengeance and salvation. By John's time many famous battles had been fought there and in the first century it was the site of the camp of the brutal Roman Ironsides. To John's mind this would have been the perfect place for the final battle between good and evil.

So it seems that the Book of Revelation is not prophesising the end of the world but is a polemic against the Roman Empire. John frames his attack in a way that parallels other religious writings of the time and which would have made sense to early Christians. John was telling first century Christians to galvanise themselves against compromising with Rome, and that their faithfulness would be rewarded.

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Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. Some vaccine resisters have been galvanized by the idea that the shot is the "mark of the beast. The "mark of the beast" in the New Testament's Book of Revelation signals an allegiance to Satan or those who reject God 's memorial of creatorship. The apocalyptic biblical term comes from Revelation Their evil reach — which can be interpreted as hidden manipulation — will require all people who engage in commerce to wear the mark of the beast.

The Apostle John did not identify what the mark looks like, although some theologians translate Scripture to associate the number "" with it. In kindness, I answered, 'no' and thought little more about it. Until the question came again. And again. The question then arises as to why this wide mistrust in medical treatment has come. Evans said that lack of trust in the government and medical field is a driving force behind the "mark of the beast" belief.