chapter seventeen

).

(1) An Admonition to Patience, Ch. 13:9‐10

John adds a word of warning concerning the need of patience and perseverance for the saints. If any one is ordained to captivity, into captivity let him go as the lot appointed him; resist not, for he that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword; this is the test of “the patience and the faith of the saints”. When we compare this message contained in the tenth verse, which is an exhortation to patience under persecution, with that in the eighteenth verse of this same chapter, where the exhortation is to wisdom against deception, we get a glimpse of the different kind of danger that is to be apprehended from each of the two beasts, the first persecuting men, the second deceiving them.

2 The Second Beast,—the Beast from the Land, Ch. 13:11‐18.

Another wild Beast, also an ideal and composite creature, like unto yet different from the first, is seen coming up out of the earth,(472) i. e. out of established and well‐ordered society; the Two‐horned Beast in whom the exercise of personal power or force is less prominent than in the First Beast with ten horns to whom he is subordinate, for the power he exerciseth is “all the power of the First Beast”. This Beast is the symbol of the universal world‐religion, i. e. all the world‐religions are considered as one and personified in the Second Beast, in disguised hostility to the church of Christ;(473) the False Prophet of chs. 16:13 and 19:20, assuming to be what he is not, and using his authority for evil ends, who “deceiveth them that dwell on the earth”.(474) His two horns like a lamb, but voice like a dragon, indicate that he has the external characteristics of a lamb, but the inner nature of a dragon, and are evidently intended to signify that he appears to be like Christ, while he is like Satan; he represents the forms of religion that assume to save men, but in fact only bind them to evil. “He doeth great signs that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men”, i. e. not a literal bringing down of fire, but a power counterfeiting the power of God as shown of old in fire from heaven, a great sign to Israel (Num. 16:35; I K. 18:38), and sembling that of the two witnesses (ch. 11:5). And he required of “them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the Beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived”, i. e. the false religions of the world, which the Second Beast represents, operate to make the people subservient to the world‐power, the First Beast which had the stroke of the sword and lived, with which these religions always stand connected whether in Rome or in other nations;(475) and the people render worship as they are directed. “And it was given _unto him_ to give breath to the image of the Beast that it should speak and cause as many as should not worship the image to be killed”, i. e. the heathen religions give life and authority to national worship, give vitality to the world‐power that it should command and compel men to join in its idolatrous forms or lose their lives by refusal. Thus the whole figure seems to indicate the spirit of the world operating against the church through the forms of religion, especially as seizing upon the natural and ethnic religions, permeating them with deceit, and subverting them to worldly ends (v. 14), the element of religion being a prominent feature throughout. Actuated by worldly wisdom, which is “earthly, sensual, and devilish” (Jas. 3:15), this Beast, we are told, bids all men worship the image of the First (v. 12 and 14), i. e. worship the deification of the world‐power, thereby insidiously rehabilitating the world‐power in another form, a figure likely drawn from the worship of the Emperor’s image, a cult prevailing at the time, and showing how false religions rest upon and are upheld by heathen governments. John doubtless had primarily in mind the heathen priesthood of that period, especially the priesthood of Caesar‐worship, which afforded the best example of the then existing world‐religions, but this only formed the groundwork of the larger thought of the vision. Preterist interpreters, as a rule, would limit the meaning of the Second Beast to the heathen priesthood of that time, but this is too restricted a view. Any religion anywhere rejecting the Christ and crowning the world‐power is represented by the Second Beast. It has also been suggested that the Second Beast represents the Asiarch, or chief priest of Asia, the director and instigator of Emperor‐ worship.(476) This may possibly have been the source of John’s idea; but however formed we should regard it as a universal and poetic conception of one continuous phase of the world’s opposition to Christ and his kingdom, and not limit it to any particular historic manifestation of that opposition. Others, without sufficient grounds, have referred the title to the papacy, interpreting the First and Second Beasts as Rome pagan and papal. Another interpretation is that the First Beast is the secular persecuting power, pagan or Christian, and the Second Beast is the sacerdotal persecuting power, pagan and Christian; while still another and better interpretation is that world‐force is the first, and world‐worship, i. e. world‐religion and superstition, the second.(477) Symbolist interpreters always prefer the wider to a narrower symbolism in accordance with their general view of the book. According to this view, which is the one accepted in the present volume, all the world‐religions which profess to be holy but are controlled by the same spirit, belong to the Second Beast and contribute to his power. The aspect of heathenism which here presented itself to John’s mind is the most general and obvious of all its many characteristics; and although we now recognize more fully the elements of truth in the ethnic religions, and their relative value in the moral education of mankind when without the gospel, yet John’s view still holds good, and is confirmed by the world‐wide testimony of the mission field. The world‐spirit which lies at the door of the world‐religions is and always has been evil, and will always be degrading to the soul, that spirit which subordinates the moral and spiritual to purely selfish and worldly ends. The forms of the Two‐horned Beast today are just as deceiving and defiling to men, and as much opposed to the kingdom of God, as they ever were of old. And not only are all the world‐religions the abiding manifestation of the Second Beast, but even the Christian church also, whether Catholic or Protestant, may become subservient thereto, whenever or wherever it, or any part of it, may be dominated by the spirit of the world‐religions, and thereby yields its God‐given prestige to this Beast. The forms of human learning, too, as philosophy, science, literature, and art, when they trench upon the sphere of religion and become atheistic, agnostic, materialistic, or God‐defying, exhibit the spirit of the world‐religions in opposition to Christ, and are manifestations of the same Beast. This power is world‐wide and age‐long, and the vision seems to look through and beyond the forces then at work to their wider manifestation in history. For the Second Beast is the incarnation of the permanent and universal world‐religion in each and all of its forms, and while presenting one aspect of the world‐religions of John’s time, yet goes far beyond that and portrays the principle of opposition to the church of Christ which underlies them all, and which would develop new forms in the period when Christianity had nominally triumphed, continuing the conflict upon different lines from the violent persecutions of the earlier ages; a period when the world’s opposition to God would be expressed “by affiliation with the religion of Jesus, and by penetrating its life with false ideals”, producing a faithlessness within the church even more deadly in its results than the fatal furor of persecution, for the world within the church is one of the forms of the Second Beast, and there is nothing so dangerous to the life of the soul as irreligious religion.(478)

(1.) An Admonition to Wisdom, Ch. 13:18

“Here is wisdom”, John says: “He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the Beast; for it is the number of a man”,—or rather, “the number of man”, for there is no article in the Greek, implying that the reference is not to any particular man—(479) i. e. it is a human number. The mark of the Beast, like that of an ancient devotee to his idol, is put upon both the hand and brain (v. 16)(480) of all the people who accept his authority, without any distinction of rank, rich and poor, bond and free, small and great, all alike, showing that their powers are uniformly devoted to the service of this world. John exhorts the church to wisdom in discerning this Beast, indicating the subtleness of his hidden power. The number of his name, i. e. designation, is six hundred and sixty‐six (some manuscripts read six hundred and sixteen, but this is almost certainly an error of transcription), the symbol of a threefold, composite power of evil which includes the Dragon, the First Beast, and the Second, and which culminates in the last, viz:—600, a hundredfold of six, a numerical designation of the Dragon, plus 60, tenfold of six, a similar designation of the First Beast, plus 6, onefold of six, a like designation of the Second Beast, if considered alone, which together, equal 666, the numerical designation of the full power which the Second Beast represents. The key to the mystical designation 666, according to this interpretation,(481) is found in the number six, the number of evil, one short of seven or perfection, Satan’s number, whether multiplied by ten or not, here thrice repeated, _six_, _six_, _six_, each repetition multiplying the previous number tenfold, or six a hundredfold added to six tenfold added to six a single fold, producing a triple symbol of the full power of evil. In this symbolism we seem to have the thought of a trinity of evil striving in antagonism to the divine trinity; and though we cannot be sure that John had this in mind, yet it seems quite in accord with the apocalyptic method of depicting truth. If the reading 616 is preferred, the First Beast is then designated by 10, the symbol of earthly completeness, instead of 60 as above, a much less likely symbolism, but not affecting the general meaning.

The mark of the Beast is one of the most disputed points in the whole book, and some commentators, while suggesting a probable interpretation, prefer to leave the meaning unsolved. Certainly all interpretations finding in the number a cryptic name, such as _Neron Caesar_, or _Lateinos_, notwithstanding their wide acceptance by modern interpreters, should be discarded as fanciful.(482) The number was evidently intended as a designation rather than a name; it is a symbol like every other number in the Revelation, and any attempt to solve it by reference to the Jewish _gematria_, or numerical indication of names, is foreign to the method of the book, and only involves it in greater obscurity, as the different answers obtained in that way will show.(483) While that interpretation has been the generally accepted view with preterists, a revolt against its arbitrariness is manifest in late writers, and cannot but be felt by the attentive student.(484) That six hundred and sixty‐six is a triple symbol of the full power of evil, has found acceptance with a multitude of readers, and is the most satisfactory interpretation to those who hold the symbolic view.

In conclusion it should be said that the identification of this Beast, or of the former one, with the Antichrist of John’s Epistles is of more than doubtful value in arriving at the meaning intended; for the Apocalyptist studiously avoided the use of that term though quite familiar with it (I Jn. 2:18; 2:22; 4:3; and II Jn. 1:7), and we surely cannot do better than to follow his example. Indeed the entire interpretation of the Apocalypse will be permanently advanced when all direct reference to a _personal_ Anti‐christ is finally eliminated as foreign to the purpose, if not the thought of the book. In the broad sense of the term the Anti‐christ is the Against‐Christ in any and every form. John tells us (I Jn. 2:18) there are “Many antichrists” (ἀντίχριστοι πολλοὶ), a term peculiar to John in the New Testament; our Lord said (Mat. 24:24) “There shall arise false christs” (ψευδόχριστοι), a different term in the Greek, and evidently referring to more than one; and it may well be doubted whether the prediction is anywhere intended to refer to a single person. The term may be understood in a general way to include the Two Beasts, the Harlot, and all other forms of anti‐christianity, but no more definite identification can with any probability be made.

D. The Lamb on Mount Zion, Ch. 14:1‐20

The closing part of this fourfold vision, revealing the final outcome of the preceding conflict in the glorious triumph of the Lamb and his followers, is now given for the comfort of the church, and to relieve the sombre shadows of the earlier parts of the vision by a foregleam of victory.

1. The Redeemed with the Lamb, Ch. 14:1‐5

We see here a vast and virgin multitude, a hundred and forty‐four thousand, a large and perfect number, the former symbol of the complete first‐fruits from Israel (ch. 7:4), now used by synecdoche to represent all the redeemed who have been chosen from among men, the best of their race, who are called “the first‐fruits unto God and unto the Lamb”,(485) and who stand with the Lamb upon Mount Zion, in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, having his name and the name of his Father written upon their foreheads, signifying to whom they belong and marking them as antipodal to those who have received the mark of the Beast (ch. 13:16), and who sing a new song, the song of victory (the Incommunicable Chorus), known only to the redeemed. Of this blessed company it is said that “they are without blemish”, i. e. they are sinless before God, which is apparently an explanation of the symbolism used in saying that they are “virgins”, and “not defiled with women”,—or “among women”. Roman Catholic commentators, however, usually interpret literally, and apply the passage to those women who have never entered into wedlock for the kingdom of heaven’s sake—a construction that it scarcely seems to bear.(486) Futurists generally maintain that the vision refers to the earthly Zion, and connect the incident with the second advent, making the hundred and forty‐four thousand to consist of Jews alone.

2. The Three Angel Messages, Ch. 14:6‐11

These are distinct notes of divine warning, prelusive of the End, which are given by the mouth of three different angels, showing their separate and individual importance; they are three in number, the symbol of the spiritual, indicating the nature of their contents; and they are introduced as preparatory to the scenes of anticipated judgment in verses fourteen to twenty, and are premonitory of the End. The End is an ever‐ recurrent note that always finds place in the deeper strains of Apocalyptic literature. The End that victory may come, was the natural cry of a spirit that despaired of the present world, and believed that God could only be vindicated by the consummation of all things. This was a fundamental weakness of the Apocalyptic point of view, which found the proper design of the world in its speedy ending and not in its longer continuance, a mistake that unfortunately has been perpetuated in Christian thought as though it were fundamental to it, whereas the victory and the End may well be as far apart as the creation from the victory. The Apocalypse sounds the note of the End without hesitancy or discussion. The difficulties that embarrass us did not enter into the thought of that time.

(1) The Message of the Eternal Gospel, Ch. 14:6‐7

“Another angel” and the first of the three which follow, flying in mid‐ heaven proclaims the (or _an_) eternal gospel to every nation and tribe and tongue and people before the time of judgment, the symbol of the fulfilment of the words of our Lord: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come” (Mat. 24:14). The angel exhorts men to “fear God and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come”, i. e. is now at hand.

(2) The Message of Babylon’s Fall, Ch. 14:8

A second angel proclaims the fall of Babylon, the city of the world, the dwelling‐place and symbol of the world of sinful men, and the antithesis of Jerusalem, which is the city of God, the dwelling‐place and symbol of the holy. The destruction of Babylon is a necessary prelude to the End, for the sinful worldly life which finds its fitting type in this great city must be broken down before Christ can triumph.

(3) The Message of Doom for the Beast and his Followers, Ch. 14:9‐11

The third angel proclaims the doom of divine wrath upon the worshippers of the Beast and his image, i. e. upon those who glorify the blasphemous world‐power, or share in the deceit of the world‐religion; and the terms of the message are full of terror and foreboding. Thus in a concise and triple message is foreshadowed the universal proclamation of the gospel, the overthrow of the world’s social and communal life adverse to God, and the final destruction of those forces in national and religious thought that withstand the full and final triumph of the Christ.

3. The Blessedness of the Holy Dead, Ch. 14:12‐13

The author at this point expresses his sympathy with the church, setting forth the need of patience in the conflict (v. 12); and then he records a voice heard from heaven (v. 13), declaring that the dead who die in the Lord are blessed “henceforth”, i. e. after death, for they have both rest and reward,(487) and possibly including, also, the additional thought that they have thereby escaped from the great tribulation even though by martyrdom. Thus once more the redeemed are placed in opposition to the unredeemed, the saved are set over against the lost, as those who have secured the better part.

4. The Harvest of the Elect, Ch. 14:14‐16

One like unto the Son of Man (or _a_ son of man), i. e. one sharing our humanity—a designation of the Messiah after the time of Daniel(488)—is seen sitting upon a white cloud, the traditional covering of the divine majesty and a symbol of the divine presence, having on his head a golden crown, the token of glory and of victory, and in his hand a sharp sickle, the instrument for reaping. And on the announcement of another angel(489) from out the temple that the hour was come, he cast his sickle upon the earth and gathered all the faithful into his kingdom as a harvest that was ripe, a symbol of the ingathering of all the redeemed preceding the punishment of the wicked (cf. Mat. 25:31‐46). The action set forth in this part of the vision is preparatory to and anticipates the judgment, yet the process of judgment is not described. The vision is occupied rather with pointing out how the path of history inevitably leads to the judgment bar. The incident serves to introduce the seventh and last of the mystic figures of this wonderful vision of conflict, the Son of Man on the Cloud, who represents Christ as the theanthropic Redeemer and Judge, a quite different aspect of his character from the Man‐Child where he is set forth subject to the conditions of his mysterious incarnation, and therefore requiring an entirely different symbol.

5. The Vintage of Wrath, Ch. 14:17‐20

Still another angel came out from the shrine or sanctuary of the temple in heaven, at the summons of the angel who had power over fire, i. e. the fire of the altar, which is here the symbol of judgment, and gathered all the ungodly as vintage from the earth, and cast them into the winepress, the great winepress, of the wrath of God, a figure of the ingathering and fearful punishment of the wicked at the end of the world. According to this view the two gatherings described in verses fourteen to twenty, are regarded as depicting the opposite fate in store for the faithful and the wicked, instead of a twofold account of the same event repeated in different form for the purpose of emphasis. This interpretation agrees best with the general tenor of the chapter and the common method of contrast throughout the book; others, however, regard the passage as a double figure of the judgment.(490) The scene is laid outside the city, i. e. Jerusalem, most likely the New Jerusalem, the home of God’s people, without the gates of which are the wicked who perish (ch. 22:15). The figure may have been drawn from the scenes of terror and bloodshed which attended the fall of the earthly city under Titus, a view quite possible if the later date of authorship be accepted, though possibly there may have been no definite city in mind. Some connect this passage with the struggle in