Revelation 13 Study Notes
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13:1-3 The beast coming up out of the sea (the so-called sea of humanity), first mentioned in 11:7 (where his origin was the abyss), is described in similar terms to: (1) the beasts (esp. the fourth one) in the vision of Dn 7, (2) the dragon in Rv 12:3 (ten horns . . . seven heads . . . ten crowns), and (3) Satan, who gave the beast his power and great authority. Since the beast was embarrassed by the resurrection and ascension of the two witnesses (11:11-12), 13:3 appears to describe either an actual resurrection or a nearly fatal wound.
13:4 The masses worshiped the beast because they believed it to be invincible.
13:5-7 The Lord allows the beast to speak blasphemies against God as well as the authority to conduct its worldwide reign of terror against Gentile believers (the saints; see note at 12:17). This blasphemy takes place for the remaining three and one-half years (forty-two months) of the tribulation period, after the witnesses complete their ministry and are taken to heaven (11:3,7,11-12). This is the same forty-two months spoken of in 11:2. The use of the word dwelling equates “the saints” with the “vast multitude from every nation” in 7:9 (see note at 7:9-12), of whom it was said that God “will shelter them” (7:15). In the wording “vast multitude,” these “heaven dwellers” are seen later in the book praising God for his just judgment (19:1) and for the Lamb’s marriage to his bride (19:7), just before the second coming of Christ (19:11-16).
13:8 This verse explains why the “earth dwellers” (see notes at 3:10; 6:9-11; 8:13) worship the beast—the absence of their names from the book of life of the Lamb, which contains the names of all those who will be spared the lake of fire at the last judgment (20:12,15).
13:9-10 The phrase if anyone has ears functions as a call to endurance and the faithfulness from the saints (see notes at 13:5-7; 18:20,24), even unto death if necessary. Some will be taken captive, and some will be martyrs.
13:11 A second beast (another of the same kind, Gk allos) that arises is apparently a religious leader because it is called “the false prophet” in 16:13; 19:20; 20:10. Outwardly, it seems gentle like Christ (like a lamb), but its prophecies are the voice of Satan (like a dragon).
13:12-13 The second beast has full, delegated authority from the first beast to complete its mission—worldwide worship of the first beast. Causing fire to come down from heaven sounds like a mimicking of one of the miracles performed by the two witnesses (11:5).
13:14-15 The second beast shows its likeness to Satan as it deceives (12:9) the “earth dwellers” through the spectacular signs it can perform (see 2Th 2:9). It persuades the “earth dwellers” to erect an image of the first beast to worship. This sort of thing was common to John’s original readers, who had been exposed to images of the Greco-Roman gods and Roman emperors, but this image comes to life.
hexakosioi hexekonta hex
| Greek pronunciation | [heks uh KAH see oi heks AY kahn tah HEX] |
| CSB translation | 666 |
| Uses in Revelation | 1 |
| Uses in the NT | 1 |
| Focus passage | Revelation 13:18 |
No biblical number has received as much attention as 666. Much that is said about this mysterious number in popular literature is misleading, but reasonable explanations exist. One explanation applies Gematria. This practice of representing words by numerical equivalents was found in extra-biblical religious sources and was based upon the fact that Hebrew and Greek attached a numerical value to each alphabetical letter. Thus every word could be assigned a numerical value by summing the values of its letters. Thus the beast’s name could be deduced from his number (Rv 13:18; 15:2). Others believe 666 is one example of John’s normal figurative use of numbers (cp. Rv 5:11; 7:4,9; 9:15; 20:8), none of which were ever intended to be calculated. In this view, the number six indicates incompleteness and serves as a contrastive counterpart to the occurrences of seven (signifying completeness) in the book of Revelation. Triple repetition of six would indicate the absolute sinful imperfection of the beast.
13:16-18 The mark of the beast, apparently a sort of tattoo or brand of the beast’s name or its numerical equivalent, is required for anyone to conduct business in that day. The mark is clearly contrasted with the seal (7:3-4) and the name of the Lamb and the Father (14:1) on the foreheads of the 144,000. The number (666) reflects the fact that the number six is just short of the number of perfection, which is seven. See word study on this page.