The Beast of Revelation
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
A popularly written antidote to dispensational sensationalism and newspaper exegesis. Convincing biblical and historical evidence showing that the beast was the Roman Emperor Nero Caesar, the first civil persecutor of the church. The second half of the book shows Revelation’s date of writing, proving its composition as prior to the Fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. A thought-provoking treatment of a fascinating and confusing topic.
Top Highlights
“In this chapter I will consider the prophecy that the Beast strives to ‘make war with the saints and to overcome them’ (Rev. 13:7). According to John, such blasphemous warfare will last for a specific period of time: forty-two months (13:5). If the Beast is Nero it will be necessary to show that: (1) he did, in fact, make war with (or persecute) Christians, (2) he persecuted them as Christians (‘saints’), and (3) this state of persecutional threat hung over them for a period of forty-two months.” (Page 61)
“But John conspicuously (in the Greek) drops the definite article when he mentions the eighth head/king in Revelation 17:11: ‘And the beast which was and is not, even he an eighth is.’33 The definite article that clearly and repetitively defined the chronological series of head/kings (‘the five,’ ‘the one,’ ‘the one to come’) vanishes before the eighth is mentioned. Thus, this eighth king is ‘an eighth,’ i.e. it refers not to any one particular individual, but to the revival of the Empire itself under one who is outside of the originally specified seven kings. The Roman Empire is arising from ruin.” (Page 97)
“The Beast has already intruded upon the scene of history in our distant past.” (Page 7)
“Despite the obvious symbolism, however, the symbols must be founded upon some historical designation—in that the ‘twelve tribes’ are historically significant in forming ‘the basic constituent units of Israel’ in history32 and in Scripture (cf. Gen. 49:28).33 In light of this, it would seem that two possible interpretations readily lend themselves to consideration: Either this body of 144,000 people represents the totality of the Christian Church as the fulfillment of the Jewish hope. Or it represents Christians of Jewish lineage. In either case the appearance of those 144,000 suggest the early date of Revelation. This is evidently due to Christianity in John’s era being at a stage in which the Church at large was called by Jewish names and the bulk of Christians were Jewish.” (Page 181)