REVELATION: Will the Real Beast Please Stand Up?

If we had any question about the dragon and its connection to the Roman Empire, we should clear that up in this chapter. To that end, we need to do a little bit of contextual work. We mentioned before that we would return to Ephesus to further our study, and now that time has come. Ephesus is the place I believe John penned the letter of Revelation. We’ve alluded before to the largest gymnasium in the Roman world being constructed by Emperor Domitian. Not only was the size of the structure nearly unbelievable, but the speed at which it was raised is staggering.

The massive ruins of Domitian's gymnasium (from the view from the southern wall)

Of the twenty-two advents Domitian directed for his imperial worship (yes, you read that correctly — twenty-two), one of the largest was in Ephesus and centered around the grand opening of his monstrous gymnasium. The building project, which typically would have taken over a century to complete, was finished in just four years. One of the most famous finds at the site is the bust to a 30-foot statue of Domitian, which many assume once stood in the apse. Historians don’t spend any time making Domitian look good and often referred to him as “the Beast.”

If one would have looked toward the harbor of Ephesus from city center, they would have seen the construction of Domitian’s gymnasium. It was going up so fast that some referred to it as “the Beast rising out of the sea.” In fact, Pliny said Domitian was “the Beast of the Sea, whose teeth drip with the blood of good Romans.”

Having made mistakes in the past, the people of Ephesus were not going to miss the opportunity to support the new emperor and make their own voluntary gesture of worship. To this end, they raised funds and began construction of the Flavian temple to Domitian, which sits just west of the upper agora (toward the other end of the city). They were also trying to complete the construction of this much smaller temple, and it was going up rather quickly. Built on a vaulted platform supported by twenty-four pillars, each depicting one of the legal Roman gods, the image was clear: The Roman gods hold up Domitian, not the other way around.

The vaulted ruins of the Flavian Temple (view from southern wall)

Remaining pillars that held up the platform for the Flavian Temple

Many historians have suggested this is where the people of Revelation received what was often referred to as “the mark of the Beast.” We know from history that during the Domitian reign, citizens were required to swear their allegiance and worship to the divine emperor. After offering incense (possibly at a location like the Flavian temple), you were given a stamp or mark that allowed you to engage in local commerce. Without the mark, you could not buy or sell in either of the Ephesian agoras.

There’s much more that could be unpacked, but for now let’s turn to the Text of Revelation 13:

And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its 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 filled with wonder and followed the beast. People 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 wage war against it?”

As we’ve seen in ancient Jewish apocalyptic literature, beasts with horns on their heads are almost always used to denote kingdoms and their many rulers. Not only does the beast match a description that is full of images for the Empire of Rome, but it even gives the description of one particular head that “seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.” One of the most famous aspects of Emperor Vespasian (an earlier Roman emperor) was his fatal head wound that had been miraculously healed. This reference is obvious and deliberate on John’s part. There is no mistake: The beast is a representation of Rome.

The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.

Whoever has ears, let them hear.

“If anyone is to go into captivity,
    into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
    with the sword they will be killed.”

This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.

Again, the purpose for John writing this letter is stark and clear in context. He pulls no punches and cuts right to the heart of the matter. He knows what life is like under the rule of emperor Domitian; he is not naive to the fact that people all throughout his great city are giving their lives to follow God, and he encourages them to stand firm and hold fast. He continues to say that perseverance is the answer for their struggles.

Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

And again, the context of Revelation and Ephesus helps us hear John’s references with cultural clarity. John writes to them about the temptation to give in and worship the beast. You may remember John’s letter to Ephesus in Revelation where he spoke to them about how they hated the teaching of the Nicolaitans. The believers there were apparently committed and resolute in their ability to resist the demands of imperial worship. John tells them they will have to remain strong in their commitment.

About the number of the beast, it should be noted that we’ve seen this number before. It has been used all throughout the Hebrew Scriptures to denote evil and the adversary. One might remember the reference showing up in the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, as well as David and Goliath. On a very basic level, the number 666 is simply the most fitting number for the beast. But many historians have also pointed out (correctly, I believe) that early writers and theologians would play with numerical values of names. In the Hebrew world, this is called gammatria. If you take the names of multiple Roman emperors and “calculate” the value of their names, you can often create the value of 666. This is not as striking of an accomplishment as it sounds, as you can do it with many, many names (including Santa Claus, but I digress). At any rate, it may have been a common conversation John is playing off of for his own purposes.

In the end, we can invite ourselves to examine our lives and worship patterns. I think it’s helpful to see what the early believers were willing to do in order to stand against idolatry. The danger in a culture like ours is that the temptation is much more subtle, because it’s not accompanied by the threat of death or imprisonment. But I often wonder what my world demands I sell out to. What marks do I carry? May we stand on the shoulders of those early recipients of Revelation and exude the patient endurance and faithfulness John called them to.

REVELATION: Ephesus and Their First Love

The first “letter” written within the book of Revelation is the letter to the church in Ephesus. Many scholars have pointed out that the order of the seven churches comes in the order the postal delivery route traveled in the first century. The letter begins in Ephesus, for that is where the letter is most likely penned. This is where the apostle John ended up being stationed as the “Pastor to Asia,” and Church tradition holds that he lived here with Mary (the mother of Jesus).

Ephesus was written about by some as “the head of the snake” in reference to the Christian movement. While many people speak of Antioch being the headquarters of Christianity, this was only a reality for a small period of time. As this early movement exploded throughout the world of biblical Asia and Asia Minor, Ephesus (the second largest city in the Roman empire) was centrally located and became the likely port city for the movement to call its home. Because of this, one of the battles Ephesus constantly had to fight was that of false apostles, false teaching, and all kinds of bad orthopraxy.

This appears to be something they handled quite well, at least if the letter to Ephesus is any indication. Let’s look at that now.

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

You can see John mentions more than once their faithfulness and endurance in the realm of not tolerating wicked people, of testing things for the act of discernment. John also references the Nicolaitans. From what we know in history, our best understanding of the Nicolaitans is that they were a group of people who proposed full engagement with the pagan Roman culture. Probably influenced by the same Gnostic heresies the New Testament writers are often battling, these false believers had proposed that one could engage the pagan practices in the flesh, while keeping their spirit pure and totally devoted to God.

In a sense, it would be like somebody crossing their fingers behind their back while they offer incense to pagan gods. The explanation goes something like this: “I’m not truly worshipping those gods. God knows what’s in my heart.” And what is so damning for many of us is how much we find that thinking prevalent in our own lives and hearts — if we are willing to look closely.

There are many other details in the letter to Ephesus we simply don’t have clear ideas on from history. It is the wrong church letter to teach the greater principles about the methodology of John in Revelation, so we’ll keep moving in order to see those principles more clearly. However, rest assured that we won’t be leaving the overall discussion about Ephesus, but only the letter in chapter two. Since Ephesus was the place where the letter was penned, we will find its culture and imagery come up over and over again as we study.

Don’t fret. We’ll return to Ephesus in good time.