Sermon Leftovers - The Beast & Nero

Yesterday, in our sermon series on the book of Revelation we were in chapter 13 which brings up the notorious beasts, their mark, and the number of the beast (six-hundred and sixty-six). You can click here to watch yesterday's sermon on Youtube. 

Who are the beasts of Revelation 13? 

We saw during the sermon that the key reference point for the two beasts of Revelation 13 was the vision of Daniel and the four beasts he saw in chapter 7. Today we will focus on the first beast of Revelation 13. In the future, if requested I'll comment on the second beast. In Daniel's vision the beasts are interpreted as kingdoms: 

15 “I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. 16 I approached one of those standing there and asked him the meaning of all this. “So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: 17 ‘The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth. 18 But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.’ (Daniel 7:15-18)

So we can firmly say as scripture does (In Daniel) that the beasts were associated with political rulers. Not only are the beasts symbolic of rulers (kings), but they are also symbolic of kingdoms as Daniel 7:23-25 says:

23 “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. 24 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. 25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time. (Daniel 7:23-25)

 As we compare Daniel 7 with Revelation 13 the overlap is very high. 

• The fourth beast will have 10 horns which are 10 kings (Daniel 7:24) - The first beast of Revelation 13:1 has 10 horns with 10 crowns (representative of kingship). 
• The fourth beast speaks against the Most High (Daniel 7:25) - the first beast of Revelation 13:1 has blasphemous names on his crowns and later has a mouth that speaks against God while waging war against God's people (see Revelation 13:1, 5-7). 
• The fourth beast devours the earth, a symbolic way of speaking of becoming a world superpower (Daniel 7:23) - Revelation 13:2, 7, 8, all indicate the beast possesses great authority, power, and rule. 
• The holy people were to be delivered into the hands of the beast for a period (Daniel 7:25) - The first beast of Revelation 13 wages war against the holy people (Revelation 13:7).

Based on all the above we know that the first beast of Revelation 13 is also the fourth beast of Daniel 7. This beast of Revelation 13 must be a kingdom and related king. 

Following the sequence of the drama in chapters 12 and 13, the beast rises after the dragon has already been hurled from heaven. The dragon was cast down after failing to destroy the woman and child of the woman from chapter 12 (See Revelation 12:13-17). The child in chapter 12 is Jesus, meaning that the beast's activity greatly increases to "wage war" against the offspring of the woman after the ascension of Jesus (see Revelation 12:5). 

As we observe the sequence of John's vision we note that the beast in Revelation 13:1 is a kingdom and related king with tremendous authority, power, and rule in place after the ascension of Jesus. The unquestioned global superpower at the time of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus was imperial Rome. If Rome is the kingdom, which Roman ruler would be the king referenced in this prophecy? Caesar Nero fits all the evidence. 

Revelation's comment about the mark and number of the beast in 13:16-18 helps clarify:

16 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, 17 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. 18 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. 

When we read this passage (as we do any passage of the Bible) we must remember to first consider what the original intended meaning of the passage was to its first audience. What did Jesus intend for this part of the vision to his servant John on the isle of Patmos? What would the first-century audience, people living in western turkey (in the seven cities that received this letter see Rev 1:4 and 1:11) have understood these descriptions of beasts and marks and numbers to mean? I'll quote Steve Gregg in the section of his book "Revelation: Four Views" to help us consider the original first-century audience and context:

One of the major evidences for identifying the beast with Nero is this information about the number of his name (v. 17). John obviously did not expect his readers who had understanding (v. 18) to have any difficulty in identifying the beast, since they could simply calculate the meaning of this cryptogram. Here using English characters, the Hebrew form of “Caesar Nero” is Nrwn Qsr (pronounced “Neron Kaiser”). The value of the seven Hebrew letters is 50, 200, 6, 50, 100, 60, and 200, respectively. The total is thus 666. This is the solution advocated by David S. Clark, Jay Adams, Kenneth Gentry, David Chilton, and most others.

Most likely, the code utilized the Hebrew form rather than the Greek or Latin form of the name to avoid detection from Roman authorities, who would know both Latin and Greek, but not Hebrew. The readers of the book, however, knew considerable Hebrew, judging from the many symbols taken from the Old Testament and also John’s use of Hebrew words like Armageddon, amen, hallelujah, Satan (a Hebrew name, used in addition to the Greek word for devil), and Abaddon (in addition to its Greek counterpart Apollyon). The Hebrew language has exerted so great an influence over the writing of Revelation, in fact, that some scholars have even speculated that John originally wrote it in Aramaic (his native tongue and a cognate of Hebrew).

As for the impossibility of buying or selling by those lacking the mark (v. 17), David Clark writes:

  This was to boycott or ostracize the Christians, and deprive them of the common rights of citizens, or the common rights of humanity. The pressure of economic distress was to be laid on them to compel them to conform.

Chilton notes:

  Similarly [the Jewish leaders] organized economic boycotts against those who refused to submit to Caesar as Lord, the leaders of the synagogues “forbidding all dealings with the excommunicated,” and going so far as to put them to death.

Steve Gregg, Revelation, Four Views: A Parallel Commentary (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers, 1997), 302–304.

Extra-biblical 1st and 2nd-century historians comment on the persecution of Rome and specifically Nero towards Christians. 

Here is what the Roman historian Tacitus (55 -117 A.D.) had to say regarding Nero’s persecution of the Christians:

Yet no human effort, no princely largess nor offerings to the gods could make that infamous rumor disappear that Nero had somehow ordered the fire. Therefore, in order to abolish that rumor, Nero falsely accused and executed with the most exquisite punishments those people called Christians, who were infamous for their abominations. The originator of the name, Christ, was executed as a criminal by the procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius; and though repressed, this destructive superstition erupted again, not only through Judea, which was the origin of this evil, but also through the city of Rome, to which all that is horrible and shameful floods together and is celebrated. Therefore, first those were seized who admitted their faith, and then, using the information they provided, a vast multitude were convicted, not so much for the crime of burning the city, but for hatred of the human race. And perishing they were additionally made into sports: they were killed by dogs by having the hides of beasts attached to them, or they were nailed to crosses or set aflame, and, when the daylight passed away, they were used as nighttime lamps. Nero gave his own gardens for this spectacle and performed a Circus game, in the habit of a charioteer mixing with the plebs or driving about the race-course. Even though they were clearly guilty and merited being made the most recent example of the consequences of crime, people began to pity these sufferers, because they were consumed not for the public good but on account of the fierceness of one man. (click here to read the further source)

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (69-122 A.D.) was another Roman historian who wrote on the persecution of Christians. 

"Because the Jews at Rome caused constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus [Christ], he [Claudius] expelled them from the city [Rome]." Suetonius' Life of the Emperor Claudius, chapter 25 (Click here for source)

Suetonius also wrote about the life of Nero and included comments 

"During his reign many abuses were severely punished and put down, and no fewer new laws were made: a limit was set to expenditures; the public banquets were confined to a distribution of food, the sale of any kind of cooked viands in the taverns was forbidden, with the exception of pulse and vegetables, whereas before every sort of dainty was exposed for sale. Punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition. He put an end to the diversions of the chariot drivers, who from immunity of long standing claimed the right of ranging at large and amusing themselves by cheating and robbing the people. The pantomimic actors and their partisans were banished from the city." Suetonius' Life of the Emperor Nero, chapter 16 (Click here for source)

We see from Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 that the first beast mentioned in Revelation 13 is the Roman empire, with Nero on the throne as one of the heads of the beast. We also can note why Revelation used a calculation (verse 18) to name the beast. 

We do not need to be caught up in superstition or pop-culture horror-sci-fi myths about who the beast of Revelation is, or what the significance is of the beasts' number. Instead, we can find encouragement that the beast was overthrown, the dragon's purposes are continually thwarted, and it is the Lamb, not the beasts, who reigns, rules, and has dominion. What a source of tremendous encouragement, joy, and prolific wonder! That out of such a time of persecution, the kingdom of God grew and grew, and it continues to grow even to this day! Rome and it's emperors are long dead. But Jesus lives and reigns on high!