---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Revelation 13"
description: "CHAPTER 13   :-. VISION OF THE
BEAST THAT CAME
OUT OF THE SEA:
THE SECOND
BEAST, OUT
OF THE EARTH,
EXERCISING THE POWER
OF THE FIRST BEAST,
AND CAUSING TH"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/revelation/13"
---

CHAPTER 13

. VISION OF THE
BEAST THAT CAME
OUT OF THE SEA:
THE SECOND
BEAST, OUT
OF THE EARTH,
EXERCISING THE POWER
OF THE FIRST BEAST,
AND CAUSING THE
EARTH TO WORSHIP
HIM.

**1. I stood**—So B, *Aleph,*
and *Coptic* read. But A, C, *Vulgate,* and *Syriac,*
"*He* stood." Standing on the sand of the *sea,*
HE *gave* his power to the beast that rose out of the sea.
**upon the sand of the
sea**—where *the four winds* were to be seen *striving
upon the great sea* ([Daniel 7:2](../../../kjv/daniel/7/2)).
**beast**—*Greek,*
"wild beast." Man becomes "brutish" when he
severs himself from God, the archetype and true ideal, in whose image
he was first made, which ideal is realized by the man Christ Jesus.
Hence, the world powers seeking their own glory, and not God's, are
represented as *beasts;* and Nebuchadnezzar, when in
self-deification he forgot that "the Most High ruleth in the
kingdom of men," was driven among the beasts. In [Daniel 7:2](../../../kjv/daniel/7/2) there are *four* beasts: here the *one* beast
expresses the sum-total of the God-opposed world power viewed in its
universal development, not restricted to one manifestation alone, as
Rome. This first beast expresses the world power attacking the Church
more from without; the second, which is a revival of, and minister
to, the first, is the world power as *the false prophet*
corrupting and destroying the Church from within.
**out of the sea**— ([Daniel 7:2](../../../kjv/daniel/7/2); compare *Note,* see on [Daniel 7:2](../../../kjv/daniel/7/2)); out of the troubled waves of *peoples, multitudes,
nations, and tongues.* The *earth* ([Daniel 7:2](../../../kjv/daniel/7/2)), on the other hand, means the consolidated, ordered world
of nations, with its culture and learning.
**seven heads and ten horns**—A,
B, and C transpose, "ten horns and seven heads." The ten
horns are now put first (contrast the order, [Daniel 7:2](../../../kjv/daniel/7/2)) because they are crowned. They shall not be so till the
last stage of the fourth kingdom (the Roman), which shall continue
until the fifth kingdom, Christ's, shall supplant it and destroy it
utterly; this last stage is marked by the *ten toes* of the two
feet of the image in [Daniel 2:33](../../../kjv/daniel/2/33);
[Daniel 2:41](../../../kjv/daniel/2/41); [Daniel 2:42](../../../kjv/daniel/2/42).
The *seven* implies the world power setting up itself as God,
and caricaturing the *seven* Spirits of God; yet its true
character as God-opposed is detected by the number *ten*
accompanying the seven. Dragon and beast both wear crowns, but the
former on the heads, the latter on the horns ([Revelation 12:3](../../../kjv/revelation/12/3);
[Revelation 13:1](../../../kjv/revelation/13/1)). Therefore, both heads
and horns refer to kingdoms; compare [Revelation 17:7](../../../kjv/revelation/17/7);
[Revelation 17:10](../../../kjv/revelation/17/10); [Revelation 17:12](../../../kjv/revelation/17/12),
"kings" representing the kingdoms whose heads they are. The
*seven* kings, as peculiarly powerful—the great powers of the
world—are distinguished from the *ten,* represented by the
horns (simply called "kings," [Revelation 17:12](../../../kjv/revelation/17/12)). In Daniel, *the ten* mean the last phase of the
world power, the fourth kingdom divided into *ten parts.* They
are connected with the *seventh head* ([Revelation 17:12](../../../kjv/revelation/17/12)), and are as yet future [AUBERLEN].
The mistake of those who interpret the beast to be Rome exclusively,
and the *ten horns* to mean kingdoms which have taken the place
of Rome in Europe already, is, the fourth kingdom in the image has
TWO legs, representing the
eastern as well as the western empire; the ten toes are not upon the
one foot (the west), as these interpretations require, but on the two
(east and west) together, so that any theory which makes the ten
kingdoms belong to the west alone must err. If the ten kingdoms meant
were those which sprung up on the overthrow of Rome, the ten would be
accurately known, whereas twenty-eight different lists are given by
so many interpreters, making in all sixty-five kingdoms! [TYSO
in DE BURGH].
The seven heads are the seven world monarchies, Egypt, Assyria,
Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, the Germanic empire, under the last of
which we live [AUBERLEN],
and which devolved for a time on Napoleon, after Francis, emperor of
Germany and king of Rome, had resigned the title in 1806. FABER
explains *the healing of the deadly wound* to be the revival of
the Napoleonic dynasty after its overthrow at Waterloo. That secular
dynasty, in alliance with the ecclesiastical power, the Papacy ([Revelation 17:12](../../../kjv/revelation/17/12), c.), being "the eighth head," and yet "of
the seven" ([Revelation 17:11](../../../kjv/revelation/17/11)),
will temporarily triumph over the saints, until destroyed in
Armageddon ([Revelation 19:17-21](../../../kjv/revelation/19/17-21)).
A Napoleon, in this view, will be the Antichrist, restoring the Jews
to Palestine, and accepted as their Messiah at first, and afterwards
fearfully oppressing them. Antichrist, the summing up and
concentration of all the world evil that preceded, is the eighth, but
yet one of the seven ([Revelation 17:11](../../../kjv/revelation/17/11)).
**crowns**—*Greek,*
"diadems."
**name of blasphemy**—So C,
*Coptic,* and ANDREAS.
A, B, and *Vulgate* read, "names of blasphemy,"
namely, a name on each of the heads blasphemously arrogating
attributes belonging to God alone (compare *Note,* see on [Revelation 17:11](../../../kjv/revelation/17/11)). A characteristic of the *little horn* in [Daniel 7:8](../../../kjv/daniel/7/8);
[Daniel 7:20](../../../kjv/daniel/7/20); [Daniel 7:21](../../../kjv/daniel/7/21);
[2 Thessalonians 2:4](../../../kjv/2-thessalonians/2/4).

**2. leopard . . . bear . . .
lion**—This beast unites in itself the God-opposed
characteristics of the three preceding kingdoms, resembling
respectively the *leopard, bear,* and *lion.* It rises up
out *of the sea,* as Daniel's four beasts, and has *ten horns,*
as Daniel's fourth beast, *and seven heads,* as Daniel's four
beasts had in all, namely, one on the first, one on the second, four
on the third, and one on the fourth. Thus it represents
comprehensively in one figure *the world power* (which in Daniel
is represented by four) *of all times and places,* not merely of
one period and one locality, viewed as opposed to God; just as the
*woman* is the Church of all ages. This view is favored also by
the fact, that the beast is the vicarious representative of Satan,
who similarly has *seven heads* and *ten horns:* a general
description of his universal power in all ages and places of the
world. Satan appears as a serpent, as being the archetype of the
beast nature ([Revelation 12:9](../../../kjv/revelation/12/9)). "If
the seven heads meant merely seven Roman emperors, one cannot
understand why they alone should be mentioned in the original image
of Satan, whereas it is perfectly intelligible if we suppose them to
represent Satan's power on earth viewed collectively"
[AUBERLEN].

**3. One of**—literally, "from
among."
**wounded . . . healed**—twice
again repeated emphatically ([Revelation 13:12](../../../kjv/revelation/13/12);
[Revelation 13:14](../../../kjv/revelation/13/14)); compare [Revelation 17:8](../../../kjv/revelation/17/8);
[Revelation 17:11](../../../kjv/revelation/17/11), "the beast that
*was, and is not, and shall ascend* out of the bottomless pit"
(compare [Revelation 13:11](../../../kjv/revelation/13/11)); the
Germanic empire, the seventh head (revived in *the eighth*), as
yet future in John's time ([Revelation 13:11](../../../kjv/revelation/13/11)). Contrast the change whereby Nebuchadnezzar, being humbled
from his self-deifying pride, was converted from his *beast*-like
form and character to MAN'S
form and true position towards God; symbolized by his *eagle wings
being plucked,* and himself made to stand upon his feet as a *man*
([Daniel 7:4](../../../kjv/daniel/7/4)). Here, on the contrary,
the *beast's* head is not changed into a *human* head, but
receives a deadly wound, that is, the world kingdom which this head
represents does not truly turn to God, but for a time its God-opposed
character remains paralyzed ("as it were slain"; the very
words marking the beast's outward resemblance to the Lamb, "as
it were slain," see on [Revelation 5:6](../../../kjv/revelation/5/6).
Compare also the second beast's resemblance to the *Lamb,* [Revelation 5:6](../../../kjv/revelation/5/6)). Though seemingly *slain* (*Greek* for
"wounded"), it remains the beast still, to rise again in
another form ([Revelation 13:11](../../../kjv/revelation/13/11)). The
first six heads were heathenish, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia,
Greece, Rome; the new seventh world power (the pagan German hordes
pouring down on Christianized Rome), whereby Satan had hoped to
stifle Christianity ([Revelation 11:15](../../../kjv/revelation/11/15);
[Revelation 11:16](../../../kjv/revelation/11/16)), became itself
Christianized (answering to the beast's, *as it were, deadly wound:
it was slain,* and *it is not,* [Revelation 11:16](../../../kjv/revelation/11/16)). Its *ascent out of the bottomless pit answers* to
the *healing of its deadly wound* ([Revelation 11:16](../../../kjv/revelation/11/16)). No essential change is noticed in Daniel as effected by
Christianity upon the fourth kingdom; it remains essentially
God-opposed to the last. The beast, *healed* of its temporary
and external *wound,* now returns, not only from the sea, but
from the *bottomless pit,* whence it draws new Antichristian
strength of hell ([Revelation 13:3](../../../kjv/revelation/13/3);
[Revelation 13:11](../../../kjv/revelation/13/11); [Revelation 13:12](../../../kjv/revelation/13/12);
[Revelation 13:14](../../../kjv/revelation/13/14); [Revelation 11:7](../../../kjv/revelation/11/7);
[Revelation 17:8](../../../kjv/revelation/17/8)). Compare the *seven
evil spirits* taken into the temporarily dispossessed, and *the
last state worse than the first,* [Revelation 17:8](../../../kjv/revelation/17/8). A new and worse heathenism breaks in upon the
Christianized world, more devilish than the old one of the first
heads of the beast. The latter was an apostasy only from the general
revelation of God in nature and conscience; but this new one is from
God's revelation of love in His Son. It culminates in Antichrist, the
man of sin, the son of perdition (compare [Revelation 17:8](../../../kjv/revelation/17/8)); [2 Thessalonians 2:3](../../../kjv/2-thessalonians/2/3); compare [2 Thessalonians 2:3](../../../kjv/2-thessalonians/2/3), the very characteristics of old heathenism ([2 Thessalonians 2:3](../../../kjv/2-thessalonians/2/3)) [AUBERLEN].
More than one wound seems to me to be meant, for example, that under
Constantine (when the pagan worship of the emperor's image gave way
to Christianity), followed by the healing, when image worship and the
other papal errors were introduced into the Church; again, that at
the Reformation, followed by the lethargic *form of godliness
without the power,* and about to end in the last great apostasy,
which I identify with the second beast ([2 Thessalonians 2:3](../../../kjv/2-thessalonians/2/3)), Antichrist, the same seventh world power in another form.
**wondered after**—followed
with wondering gaze.

**4. which gave**—A, B, C,
*Vulgate, Syriac,* and ANDREAS
read, "*because* he gave."
**power**—*Greek,*
"*the authority*" which it had; *its* authority.
**Who is like unto the
beast?**—The very language appropriated to *God,* (whence, in the *Hebrew,* the Maccabees took their
name; the opponents of the Old Testament Antichrist, Antiochus);
[Psalms 35:10](../../../kjv/psalms/35/10); [Psalms 71:19](../../../kjv/psalms/71/19);
[Psalms 113:5](../../../kjv/psalms/113/5); [Micah 7:18](../../../kjv/micah/7/18);
*blasphemously* ([Revelation 13:1](../../../kjv/revelation/13/1);
[Revelation 13:5](../../../kjv/revelation/13/5)) assigned to the beast.
It is a parody of the name "Michael" (compare [Revelation 13:5](../../../kjv/revelation/13/5)), meaning, "Who is like unto God?"

**5. blasphemies**—So ANDREAS
reads. B reads "blasphemy." A, "blasphemous things"
(compare [Daniel 7:8](../../../kjv/daniel/7/8); [Daniel 11:25](../../../kjv/daniel/11/25)).
**power**—"authority";
*legitimate power* (*Greek,* "*exousia*").
**to continue**—*Greek,*
"*poiesai,*" "to act," or "work."
B reads, "to make *war*" (compare [Daniel 11:25](../../../kjv/daniel/11/25)). But A, C, *Vulgate, Syriac,* and ANDREAS
omit "war."
**forty . . . two month**—(See
on [Revelation 13:1](../../../kjv/revelation/13/1); [Revelation 13:1](../../../kjv/revelation/13/1)).

**6. opened . . . mouth**—The
usual formula in the case of a set speech, or series of speeches.
[Revelation 13:6](../../../kjv/revelation/13/6); [Revelation 13:7](../../../kjv/revelation/13/7)
expand [Revelation 13:5](../../../kjv/revelation/13/5).
**blasphemy**—So B and
ANDREAS. A and C read
"blasphemies."
**and them**—So *Vulgate,
Coptic,* ANDREAS, and
PRIMASIUS read. A and C
omit "and": "them that dwell (literally, 'tabernacle')
in heaven," mean not only angels and the departed souls of the
righteous, but believers on earth who have their citizenship in
heaven, and whose true life is hidden from the Antichristian
persecutor in *the secret of God's tabernacle.* See on [Revelation 13:5](../../../kjv/revelation/13/5); [Revelation 13:5](../../../kjv/revelation/13/5).

**7. power**—*Greek,*
"authority."
**all kindreds . . . tongues .
. . nations**—*Greek,* "every tribe . . . tongue . . .
nation." A, B, C, *Vulgate, Syriac,* ANDREAS,
and PRIMASIUS add "and
people," after "tribe" or "kindred."

**8. all that dwell upon the
earth**—being of earth earthy; in contrast to "them that
dwell in heaven."
**whose names are not
written**—A, B, C, *Syriac, Coptic,* and ANDREAS
read singular, "(every one) whose (*Greek,* '*hou*';
but B, Greek, '*hon,*' plural) *name* is not written."
**Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world**—The *Greek* order of words favors
this translation. He was *slain* in the Father's eternal
counsels: compare [1 Peter 1:19](../../../kjv/1-peter/1/19);
[1 Peter 1:20](../../../kjv/1-peter/1/20), virtually parallel. The
other way of connecting the words is, "Written from the
foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb slain."
So in [Revelation 17:8](../../../kjv/revelation/17/8). The elect. The
former is in the *Greek* more obvious and simple. "Whatsoever
virtue was in the sacrifices, did operate through Messiah's death
alone. As He was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world," so all atonements ever made were only effectual by His
blood" [BISHOP
PEARSON, *Exposition of
the Creed*].

**9.** A general exhortation.
Christ's own words of monition calling solemn attention.

**10. He that leadeth into
captivity**—A, B, C, and *Vulgate* read, "if any one
(be) for captivity."
**shall go into captivity**—*Greek*
present, "goeth into captivity." Compare , which is alluded to here. *Aleph,* B, and C read
simply, "he goeth away," and omit "into captivity."
But A and *Vulgate* support the words.
**he that killeth with the
sword, must be killed with the sword**—So B and C read. But A
reads, "if any (is for) being (literally, 'to be') killed with
the sword." As of old, so now, those to be persecuted by the
beast in various ways, have their trials severally appointed them by
God's fixed counsel. *English Version* is quite a different
sense, namely, a warning to the persecutors that they shall be
punished with retribution in kind.
**Here**—"Herein":
in bearing their appointed sufferings lies the *patient endurance .
. . of the saints.* This is to be the motto and watchword of the
elect during the period of the world kingdom. As the first beast is
to be met by *patience* and *faith* (), the second beast must be opposed by true *wisdom*
([Revelation 13:18](../../../kjv/revelation/13/18)).

**11. another beast**—"the
false prophet."
**out of the earth**—out of
society civilized, consolidated, and ordered, but still, with all its
culture, of earth earthy: as distinguished from "the sea,"
the troubled agitations of various peoples out of which the world
power and its several kingdoms have emerged. "*The sacerdotal
persecuting power, pagan and Christian;* the pagan priesthood
making an image of the emperors which they compelled Christians to
worship, and working wonders by magic and omens; the Romish
priesthood, the inheritors of pagan rites, images, and superstitions,
lamb-like in Christian professions, dragon-like in word and act"
[ALFORD, and so the
Spanish Jesuit, LACUNZA,
writing under the name BEN
EZRA]. As the first beast
was like the Lamb in being, *as it were, wounded to death,* so
the second is like the Lamb in having *two lamb-like horns* (its
essential difference from the Lamb is marked by its having TWO,
but the Lamb SEVEN horns,
[Revelation 5:6](../../../kjv/revelation/5/6)). The former paganism of
the world power, seeming to be wounded to death by Christianity,
revives. In its second beast-form it is Christianized heathendom
ministering to the former, and having earthly culture and learning to
recommend it. The second beast's, or false prophet's rise, coincides
in time with the healing of the beast's deadly wound and its revival
([Revelation 13:12-14](../../../kjv/revelation/13/12-14)). Its
*manifold* character is marked by the Lord ([Matthew 24:11](../../../kjv/matthew/24/11);
[Matthew 24:24](../../../kjv/matthew/24/24)), "*Many*
false prophets shall rise," where He is speaking of the last
days. As the former beast corresponds to the first four beasts of
Daniel, so the second beast, or the false prophet, to the little horn
starting up among the ten horns of the fourth beast. This
Antichristian horn has not only the mouth of blasphemy ([Matthew 24:24](../../../kjv/matthew/24/24)), but also "the eyes of man" ([Matthew 24:24](../../../kjv/matthew/24/24)): the former is also in the first beast ([Revelation 13:1](../../../kjv/revelation/13/1);
[Revelation 13:5](../../../kjv/revelation/13/5)), but the latter not so.
"The eyes of man" symbolize cunning and intellectual
culture, the very characteristic of "the false prophet"
([Revelation 13:13-15](../../../kjv/revelation/13/13-15); [Revelation 16:14](../../../kjv/revelation/16/14)).
The first beast is physical and political; the second a spiritual
power, the power of knowledge, ideas (the favorite term in the French
school of politics), and scientific cultivation. Both alike are
*beasts,* from below, not from above; faithful allies, worldly
Antichristian wisdom standing in the service of the worldly
Antichristian power: the dragon is both lion and serpent: might and
cunning are his armory. The dragon gives his external power to the
first beast ([Revelation 13:2](../../../kjv/revelation/13/2)), his
spirit to the second, so that it *speaks as a dragon* ([Revelation 13:2](../../../kjv/revelation/13/2)). The second, arising *out of the earth,* is in
[Revelation 11:7](../../../kjv/revelation/11/7); [Revelation 17:8](../../../kjv/revelation/17/8),
said to *ascend out of the bottomless pit:* its very culture and
world wisdom only intensify its infernal character, the pretense to
superior knowledge and rationalistic philosophy (as in the primeval
temptation, [Genesis 3:5](../../../kjv/genesis/3/5); [Genesis 3:7](../../../kjv/genesis/3/7),
"their EYES [as here]
were opened") veiling the deification of nature, self, and man.
Hence spring Idealism, Materialism, Deism, Pantheism, Atheism.
Antichrist shall be the culmination. The Papacy's claim to the double
power, secular and spiritual, is a sample and type of the twofold
beast, that *out of the sea,* and that *out of the earth,*
or *bottomless pit.* Antichrist will be the climax, and final
form. PRIMASIUS OF
ADRUMENTUM, in the sixth
century, says, "He feigns to be a lamb that he may assail the
Lamb—the body of Christ."

**12. power**—*Greek,*
"authority."
**before him**—"in his
presence"; as ministering to, and upholding him. "The
non-existence of the beast embraces the whole Germanic Christian
period. The healing of the wound and return of the beast is
represented [in regard to its *final* Antichristian
manifestation though including also, meanwhile, its healing and
return under Popery, which is baptized heathenism] in that principle
which, since 1789, has manifested itself in beast-like outbreaks"
[AUBERLEN].
**which dwell therein**—the
earthly-minded. The Church becomes the *harlot:* the world's
political power, the Antichristian *beast;* the world's wisdom
and civilization, *the false prophet.* Christ's three offices
are thus perverted: the first beast is the false *kingship;* the
harlot, the false *priesthood;* the second beast, the false
*prophet.* The beast is the *bodily,* the false prophet the
*intellectual,* the harlot the *spiritual* power of
Antichristianity [AUBERLEN].
The *Old-Testament Church* stood under the power of the beast,
the heathen world power: *the Middle-Ages Church* under that of
the harlot: *in modern times* the false prophet predominates.
But in the last days all these God-opposed powers which have
succeeded each other shall *co-operate,* and raise each other to
the most terrible and intense power of their nature: *the false
prophet causes men to worship the beast, and the beast carries the
harlot.* These three forms of apostasy are reducible to two: *the
apostate Church* and *the apostate world, pseudo-Christianity*
and *Antichristianity,* the harlot and the beast; for the false
prophet is also a beast; and the two beasts, as different
manifestations of the same beast-like principle, stand in
contradistinction to the harlot, and are finally judged together,
whereas separate judgment falls on the harlot [AUBERLEN].
**deadly wound**—*Greek,*
"wound of death."

**13. wonders**—*Greek,*
"signs."
**so that**—so *great*
that.
**maketh fire**—*Greek,*
"maketh even fire." This is the very miracle which the two
witnesses perform, and which Elijah long ago had performed; this the
beast from the bottomless pit, or the false prophet, mimics. Not
merely tricks, but miracles of a demoniacal kind, and by demon aid,
like those of the Egyptian magicians, shall be wrought, most
calculated to deceive; wrought "after the working (*Greek,*
'energy') of Satan."

**14. deceiveth them that dwell on the
earth**—the earthly-minded, but not *the elect.* Even a
miracle is not enough to warrant belief in a professed revelation
unless that revelation be in harmony with God's already revealed
will.
**by the means of those
miracles**—rather as *Greek,* "*on account of*
(because of; in consequence of) those miracles."
**which he had power to
do**—*Greek,* "which were given him to do."
**in the sight of the
beast**—"before him" ().
**which**—A, B, and C read,
"who"; marking, perhaps, a personal Antichrist.
**had**—So B and ANDREAS
read. But A, C, and *Vulgate* read, "hath."

**15. he had power**—*Greek,*
"it was given to him."
**to give life**—*Greek,*
"breath," or "spirit."
**image**—Nebuchadnezzar
set up in Dura a golden *image* to be worshipped, probably of
himself; for his dream had been interpreted, "Thou art this head
of gold"; the three Hebrews who refused to worship the *image*
were east into a burning furnace. All this typifies the last
apostasy. PLINY, in his
letter to Trajan, states that he consigned to punishment those
Christians who would not worship the emperor's image with incense and
wine. So JULIAN, the
apostate, set up his own image with the idols of the heathen gods in
the Forum, that the Christians in doing reverence to it, might seem
to worship the idols. So Charlemagne's image was set up for homage;
and the Pope *adored* the new emperor [DUPIN,
vol. 6, p. 126]. Napoleon, the successor of Charlemagne, designed
after he had first lowered the Pope by removing him to Fontainebleau,
then to "make an idol of him" [*Memorial de Sainte
Helene*]; keeping the Pope near him, he would, through the Pope's
influence, have directed the religious, as well as the political
world. The revived Napoleonic dynasty may, in some one
representative, realize the project, becoming the beast supported by
the false prophet (perhaps some openly infidel supplanter of the
papacy, under a spiritual guise, after the harlot, or apostate
Church, who is distinct from the second beast, has been stripped and
judged by the beast, [Revelation 17:16](../../../kjv/revelation/17/16));
he then might have an image set up in his honor as a test of secular
and spiritual allegiance.
**speak**—"False
doctrine will give a spiritual, philosophical appearance to the
foolish apotheosis of the creaturely personified by Antichrist"
[AUBERLEN]. JEROME,
on Daniel 7, says, Antichrist shall be "one of the human race in
whom the whole of Satan shall dwell bodily." Rome's *speaking*
images and winking pictures of the Virgin Mary and the saints are an
earnest of the future demoniacal miracles of the false prophet in
making the beast's or Antichrist's image to speak.

**16. to receive a mark**—literally,
"that they should give them a mark"; such a brand as
masters stamp on their slaves, and monarchs on their subjects.
Soldiers voluntarily punctured their arms with marks of the general
under whom they served. Votaries of idols branded themselves with the
idol's cipher or symbol. Thus Antiochus Epiphanes branded the Jews
with the ivy leaf, the symbol of Bacchus (2 Maccabees 6:7; 3
Maccabees 2:29). Contrast God's *seal* and *name in the
foreheads of His servants,* [Revelation 7:3](../../../kjv/revelation/7/3);
[Revelation 14:1](../../../kjv/revelation/14/1); [Revelation 22:4](../../../kjv/revelation/22/4);
and [Galatians 6:17](../../../kjv/galatians/6/17), "I bear in my
body the marks of the Lord Jesus," that is, I am His soldier and
servant. The mark in the right hand and forehead implies the
prostration of *bodily* and *intellectual* powers to the
beast's domination. "In *the forehead* by way of
profession; in the *hand* with respect to work and service"
[AUGUSTINE].

**17. And**—So A, B, and *Vulgate*
read. C, IRENÆUS, 316,
*Coptic,* and *Syriac* omit it.
**might buy**—*Greek,*
"may be able to buy."
**the mark, or the name**—*Greek,*
"the mark (namely), the name of the beast." The mark may
be, as in the case of the sealing of the saints in the forehead, not
a visible mark, but symbolical of allegiance. So the sign of the
cross in Popery. The Pope's interdict has often shut out the
excommunicate from social and commercial intercourse. Under the final
Antichrist this shall come to pass in its most violent form.
**number of his name**—implying
that the name has some numerical meaning.

**18. wisdom**—the armory against
the second beast, as *patience and faith* against the first.
Spiritual *wisdom* is needed to solve the *mystery* of
iniquity, so as not to be beguiled by it.
**count . . . for**—The
"for" implies the possibility of our calculating or
counting the beast's number.
**the number of a man**—that
is, counted as men generally count. So the phrase is used in . The number is the number of a *man,* not of *God;*
he shall extol himself above the power of the Godhead, as the MAN
*of sin* [AQUINAS].
Though it is an imitation of the divine name, it is only *human.*
**six hundred threescore and
six**—A and *Vulgate* write the numbers in full in the
*Greek.* But B writes merely the three *Greek* letters
standing for numbers, *Ch, X, St.* "C reads" 616, but
IRENÆUS, 328, opposes
this and maintains "666." IRENÆUS,
in the second century, disciple of POLYCARP,
John's disciple, explained this number as contained in the *Greek*
letters of *Lateinos* (L being thirty; A, one; T, three hundred;
E, five; I, ten; N, fifty; O, seventy; S, two hundred). The *Latin*
is peculiarly the language of the Church of Rome in all her official
acts; the forced unity of language in ritual being the counterfeit of
the true unity; the premature and spurious anticipation of the real
unity, only to be realized at Christ's coming, when all the earth
shall speak "one language" (). The last Antichrist may have a close connection with Rome,
and so the name *Lateinos* (666) may apply to him. The *Hebrew*
letters of *Balaam* amount to 666 [BUNSEN];
a type of the *false prophet,* whose characteristic, like
Balaam's, will be high spiritual knowledge perverted to Satanic ends.
The number *six* is the world number; in 666 it occurs in units,
tens, and hundreds. It is next neighbor to the sacred *seven,*
but is severed from it by an impassable gulf. It is *the number of
the world given over to judgment;* hence there is a pause between
the sixth and seventh seals, and the sixth and seventh trumpets. The
judgments on the world are complete in *six;* by the fulfilment
of *seven,* the kingdoms of the world become Christ's. As *twelve*
is the number of the Church, so six, its half, symbolizes the world
kingdom broken. The raising of the six to tens and hundreds (higher
powers) indicates that the beast, notwithstanding his progression to
higher powers, can only rise to greater ripeness for judgment. Thus
666, the judged world power, contrasts with the 144,000 sealed and
transfigured ones (the Church number, twelve, squared and multiplied
by one thousand, the number symbolizing the world pervaded by God;
ten, the world number, raised to the power of three the number of
God) [AUBERLEN]. The
"mark" (*Greek,* "*charagma*") and
"name" are one and the same. The first two radical letters
of *Christ* (*Greek,* "*Christos*"), *Ch*
and *R,* are the same as the first two of *charagma,* and
were the imperial monogram of Christian Rome. Antichrist, personating
Christ, adopts a symbol like, but not agreeing with, Christ's
monogram, *Ch, X, St;* whereas the radicals in "Christ"
are *Ch, R, St.* Papal Rome has similarly substituted the
standard of *the Keys* for the standard of *the Cross;* so
on the papal *coinage* (the image of power, ). The two first letters of "Christ," *Ch, R,*
represent *seven* hundred, the perfect number. The *Ch, X, St*
represent an imperfect number, a triple *falling away*
(apostasy) from *septenary* perfection [WORDSWORTH].

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