chapter seventeen

, the one constantly referred to as “the Beast” without any other qualification. This is the symbol of the universal world‐power, i. e. all the world‐kingdoms are considered as one and personified in this Beast in open hostility to the church;(469) national opposition to Christianity, exemplified by heathen Rome in John’s day which supplied the groundwork of the conception, but extending far beyond that and applying equally to all persecuting nations during the whole forty‐two months, or three and a half years, of world‐domination, which represents the duration of the church‐ historic period of trial (v. 5), a period that is broken and incomplete (see App’x E). The Beast is described as having ten horns and seven heads, the symbol of a twofold completeness, both that of parts (ten) and that of quality or kind (seven), the same number as the Dragon, though in inverse order, indicating that the Beast is the agent of the Dragon, i. e. of Satan, and is possessed of like dominion and power,—for “the Dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority”. The heads seem to symbolize the world‐power taking form, and the horns the exercise of that power. (For the further development of this symbolism, see ch. 17:9f.) And it should be noted that the ten horns and seven heads are common not only to the Dragon and the Beast, but are also the sum total of those belonging to the four beasts in Daniel’s vision, i. e. to all the world‐powers there designed, a symbolism which suggests that it properly applies to more than one nation, and which here seems intended to portray the persistent opposition of the Devil to the church of God, working through the power of the world in all time and in all nations. The ten crowns or diadems upon his horns denote the fulness of his sovereignty, and imply the extent of his earthly rule; the names of blasphemy upon his heads seem to refer to the divine titles and honors assumed by earthly kings, especially those of Rome, as Domitian who ordered that in official documents he should be styled “Our Lord and God”—a figure that is perhaps suggested here by the mitre of the high priest on which was written “Holiness to the Lord”, to which this was antipodal;(470) while the wounded head that is healed refers to the death stroke, given to the world‐power by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, from which there has been seeming recovery,(471) for this was a true deathblow to the world‐power, even though it failed of immediate realization and thereby disappointed Jewish‐ Christian hopes of early victory. The Beast blasphemes against God, “his name, and his tabernacle, even them that dwell in the heavens”, i. e. the inhabitants of the tabernacle. “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them: and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation”; but it is only as it is “given unto him” that he can exercise his power, i. e. he is subject to divine control. And every one, “whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain”, shall worship him. Thus is depicted not only the fierce antagonism of the Roman Empire to the church in that age, but the perpetual hostility and unceasing opposition of the universal world‐power in all ages and nations to the growth of the kingdom of God among men.

The symbol of the Beast, notwithstanding the difficulty of its interpretation, has certain distinguishing features that help to interpret its meaning. The close resemblance to Daniel’s vision gives a clue to the thought in mind, and serves to indicate the proper method of interpretation. That the world‐power in some form is symbolized in the vision, is clearly indicated; on this point all interpreters are agreed, though the majority of modern interpreters regard the Beast as the Roman Empire. That John had Rome primarily in mind can scarcely be doubted; but, in the view accepted by the symbolic interpreters, the Roman Empire served only to supply the groundwork for an idealized conception, in which the ordinary and limited view of sense has become transformed under the influence of prophetic insight into the wider vision of a world‐power belonging to all time and pervading all history that rises beastlike in strength and might to oppress the people of God. The Beast, according to this interpretation, is the persecuting world‐power in any and every age antagonizing the kingdom of God; the national and political forces of the world in their organized form arraying themselves against our Lord and his Christ; that phase of the world’s life which finds expression for its opposition to the children of the kingdom under the forms of law and government, the most sovereign and irresistible of all kinds of persecution. This symbol naturally found a ready and satisfactory interpretation by the early church in the prevailing surveillance of the Roman authority; but it is an interpretation none the less true of heathen nations everywhere and always, who constantly persecute the church of God. The interpretation thus given is the one accepted by the symbolist school as the most natural and satisfactory of all, having a world‐wide application and universal content; and it may be confidently adopted with an adequate degree of assurance that it conveys the meaning intended. The preterist interpreters, on the other hand, limit the meaning of the First Beast to the Roman Empire, using its power to oppose and oppress Christianity, and construe the wounded head as a reference to the death of Nero (see notes on