A Study of Revelation 20 and other related passages
The mark will signify that the person bearing it is a worshiper and loyal follower of the Antichrist. In much the same way, the Roman emperors required their subjects to prove their loyalty by offering sacrifices to Caesar. Those who refused, like those who refuse to take the Antichrist’s mark, were subject to execution.
John MacArthur
And so, the historical record, not from the Christian community, but the contemporaries of Nero and Roman culture itself, describes consistently the bestial character of this madman of antiquity.
R. C. Sproul
I do not know who the 666 is in Revelation but I know the world is sick, sick, sick and the best way to speed the Lord’s return is to win more souls for Him.
Vance Havner
Revelation 20:4 is a beast* of a verse. We have looked at what I think is the plainest and most viable interpretation of the verse given its context, recognizing that it is but one stone near the conclusion of a hermeneutical avalanche. Many thousands of interpretations (ostensibly harmonious) have been made by the Bible-reader before arriving at Revelation 20:4. In the previous post we reflected on some of those in Revelation 4-6 which seem to have a direct connection to our verse.
We must look now at Revelation 13-14 and 21 to provide even more correlating context for our reading. These are also pivotal chapters in this last book of the Bible and so will prove to be major “side” studies. They are not a distraction, however. The understanding of the mark of the beast and the nature of God’s people has, I think you would agree, a major influence on how Revelation 20 is understood. Revelation 13:1-14:20 is situated in an interlude between the seven trumpets and the seven bowls. Both chapters talk about the mark of the beast and the condition of God’s elect under tribulation. How these passages are interpreted constrains how we read Revelation 20:4, as we seek consistency in thinking God’s thoughts after Him.
And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Revelation 20:4
The martyrs John saw were those who had lost their lives in the same tribulation under which John suffered (Revelation 1:9; 2:9-10). The beast and his image which they refused were present day threats in the world in which John lived (Revelation 17:10).** The intensification of violent opposition to the saints lay on the near prophetic horizon (Revelation 13:5-7). What John had to say to his readers directly pertained to their sufferings and offered them hope in their near future (Revelation 1:1, 3; 22:6, 7, 12, 20). The reader’s expectations are thus carefully managed from the beginning to the end of the book. John’s first-century readers are to expect the major themes of this book to be accomplished quickly, soon, shortly. Jesus gave a timeframe of a single generation before the destruction of the temple (and Jerusalem) and the end of the Old Covenant, the end of the age (Matthew 23:36; 24:34; Mark 13:30; Luke 21:32). His apostles all wrote their epistles with this timeframe in mind (Acts 2:16-17; 1 Corinthians 10:11; 2 Timothy 3:1; Hebrews 1:2; James 5:3; 2 Peter 3:3; 1 John 2:18). Thus, when we read of beasts and the mark of the beast in Revelation 13:1-14:20, we are not to think to ourselves, “this is far off from John’s time, and may very well be in our day, many centuries after John’s readers died.” This doctrine would be most strange.***
Now we should turn our attention to Revelation 13:1-14:20. This will be a bit of a departure from Revelation 20:1-15, but I think the relevance of this additional study will be evident.
Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”
Revelation 13:1-4
Revelation 12:1-17 serves as a beautiful, if strange, mural of redemptive history. The final frame depicts the dragon at war with Christ and His saints. This theme serves to introduce Revelation 13:1-14:20. The opening verses depict this dragon’s war against the saints in prophetic-historical context.
Notice where John is standing. Why is he there? Certainly, the shoreline will give him the best position to see both the sea beast and the land beast. We would do well to remember at the last trumpet (Revelation 10:8-11), John had been given a little book to eat by the Angel (Christ) whose feet stood upon sea and land. Whatever beast comes from sea or land, Christ’s heel will ultimately crush them.
Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.” So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth. ”Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”
Revelation 10:8-11
John is told that he will continue to prophesy about many people, nations, tongues and kings. Significantly, following this, we find John “bouncing” all over the place doing exactly that. Chapter 11 has him measuring the temple, following the two witnesses and staring into the true temple in Heaven. Chapter 12 has him witnessing signs in heaven which pertain to the Advent and Ascension of Christ within the context of the devilish Roman opposition. So also here in chapter 13, having eaten the book, he is still prophesying about peoples, nations, tongues and kings.
Notice what John sees, “I saw a beast rising up out of the sea.” Reading further we find that this beast is likened unto several land animals. We would expect a sea beast to evidence some Nessie-like features: fins, spines, long neck, etc.. Serpents are often water-dwellers, but the beast on display in the description clearly is a land walking, land dwelling abomination. What does this revelation signify? The sea beast is a chimera of many land animals. John sees leopard, bear and lion parts all mangled into a greater monstrosity, empowered by the dragon. This chimera comes from Daniel 7:1-8. Particularly, verses 2-6 should catch our attention:
Daniel spoke, saying, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. “And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’ “After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
Daniel 7:2-6
Next time we will consider these beasts, their sea, the four winds and why John sees them signified in Revelation 13. The devil’s mastery of the nations for the purpose of defeating Christ and His saints proves unsuccessful. Even the martyrs who lose their heads rather than be marked by the beast, even they are perfectly preserved in the victorious reign of Christ, and as participants in the first resurrection wait in confident hope for the second.
*Pun intended.
**Revelation 17:1-18 is a critical furthering of the apocalyptic metaphors in Revelation 13:1-18. The book becomes nonsensical if each consecutive chapter is necessarily read as a chronological development. While timeframes are developed throughout the book, the sequential passages are more about theological and pastoral development. Certain themes and events are revisited numerous times for more light and more glory, as the slow rotation of a multifaceted diamond catches and reflects the light.
***Equally as strange and far more dangerous is the idea that there are no prophecies to be fulfilled after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Revelation 20:1-15 clearly speaks of the condition of the saints during the millennial reign of Christ (between His resurrection and their resurrection), and anticipates the resolution of the problem of evil in a final day of judgment. Many strange and twisted interpretations have been forced upon Scripture to deny this hope to Christians in a passionate attempt to secure a “pure” hermeneutic.
