Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

13:11-12
he had two horns like a Lamb, and he spoke as a Dragon.
12 And he exercises all the authority of the First Beast in his
presence. And he makes the Land and those who dwell in
it to worship the First Beast, whose fatal wound was
healed.
13 And he performs great signs, so that he even makes fire
come down out of heaven to the Land in the presence of
men.
14 And he deceives those who dwell in the Land because of
the signs which it was given him to perform in the
presence of the Beast, telling those who dwell in the Land
to make an Image to the Beast who has the wound of the
sword and has come to life.
15 And there was given to him to give breath to the Image
of the Beast, that the Image of the Beast might even
speak and cause as many as do not worship the Image of
the Beast to be killed.
16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich
and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given
a mark on their right hand, or on their forehead,
17 and that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except
the one who has the mark, either the name of the Beast
or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate
the number of the Beast, for the number is that of a man;
and his number is 666.
11 Just as the Beast from the sea was in the Image of the
Dragon, so we see another creature who is in the Image
of the Beast. St. John saw this one coming up from the
Land, arising from within Israel itself. In 16:13 and
19:20, we are told the identity of this Land Beast. He is
the False Prophet, representing what Jesus had foretold
would take place in Israel’s last days: “Many will come
in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead
many. . . . Many false prophets will arise, and will
mislead many” (Matt. 24:5, 11). The rise of the false
prophets paralleled that of the antichrists; but whereas
the antichrists had apostatized into Judaism from
within the Church, the false prophets were Jewish
religious leaders who sought to seduce Christians from
the outside. As Cornelis Vanderwaal has noted, “In
Scripture, false prophecy appears only within the
covenant context”; 14 it is the imitation of true
prophecy, and operates in relation to the Covenant
people. Moses had warned that false prophets would
arise from among the Covenant people, performing
signs and wonders (Deut. 13:1-5).
It is important to remember that Judaism is not Old
Testament religion at all; rather, it is a rejection of the
Biblical faith altogether in favor of the Pharisaical,
Talmudic heresy. Like Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses,
the Unification Church, and other cults, it claims to be
based on the Bible; but its actual authority comes from
the traditions of men. Jesus was quite clear: Judaism
denies Christ precisely because it denies Moses (John
5:45-47). Orthodox Christianity alone is the true
continuation and fulfillment of Old Testament religion
(see Matt. 5:17-20; 15:1-9; Mark 7:1-13; Luke 16:29-
31; John 8:42-47).
The Jewish false prophets had the appearance of a
Lamb, as Jesus had warned: “Beware of the false
prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but
inwardly are ravening wolves” (Matt. 7:15). This is a
reference not only to the false prophet’s disguise as a
member of God’s flock, but to his specifically messianic
pretensions. In reality, he was a wolf, a Beast, who
spoke as a Dragon. How does the Dragon speak? He
uses deceptive, subtle, seductive speech to draw God’s
people away from the faith and into a trap (Gen. 3:1-6,
13; 2 Cor. 11:3; Rev. 12:9); furthermore, he is a liar, a
slanderer, and a blasphemer (John 8:44; Rev. 12:10).
The Book of Acts records numerous examples of
Draconian false witness by the Jews against Christians,
a major problem for the early Church (Acts 6:9-15;
13:10; 14:2-5; 17:5-8; 18:6, 12-13; 19:9; 21:27-36; 24:1-
9; 25:2-3, 7).
12 The Jewish leaders, symbolized by this Beast from
the Land, joined forces with the Beast of Rome in an
attempt to destroy the Church (Acts 4:24-28; 12:1-3;
13:8; 14:5; 17:5-8; 18:12-13; 21:11; 24:1-9; 25:2-3, 9,
24). Thus the Land Beast exercises all the authority of
the First Beast: “As the first beast is the agent of the
dragon, so the second beast is the agent of the first
beast. ‘All the authority’ makes the second beast the
complete agent of the first.” l5
Apostate Judaism became completely subservient to
the Roman State. This is emphasized by St. John’s
statement (repeated in v. 14) that the False Prophet
exercised the Beast’s authority in his presence. This is
in direct contrast to the function of the true prophet,
who stood “before [the face of] the Lord,” in God’s
presence, under His authority and blessing (1 Sam.
1:22; 2:18; 1 Kings 17:1; cf. Num. 6:24-26; Hos. 6:2;
Jonah 1:3, 10), just as the seven Trumpet-angels are
said to “stand before God” (8:2). The prophet was
privileged to enter God’s throneroom in the Glory-
Cloud as a member of the heavenly council, where the
divine policy was formulated (cf. Ex. 33:8-11; 1 Kings
22:19-23; Jer. 23 :18; Ezek. 1, 10; Amos 3 :7; this is also
indicated in the fact that prophets are called angels: 2
Chron. 36:15-16; Hag. 1:13; Mal. 3:1). 16 “The true
prophet lives in the presence of God, taking his orders
from Him and doing His pleasure; the False Prophet
stands before the Beast, whose interpreter and servant
he is.” 17 That such a thing could ever be said of the
religious leadership of Israel, the people of the Covenant,
shows how far they had fallen from the faith of
their fathers. They led Israel in worship of the Emperor,
making the Land and those who dwell in it to worship
the First Beast, whose fatal wound was healed
(a counterfeit Resurrection of a counterfeit Son).
Interestingly, it is the resurrection of the Beast that is
given (here and in verse 14) as the reason for worship
– just as Christian worship is ultimately founded on the
Resurrection of Christ as the proof of His Messianic
14. Cornelis Vanderwaal, Search the Scriptures, Vol. 10: Hebrews-Revelation (St.
Catherine, Ontario: Paideia Press, 1979), P. 89; cf. p. 100.
15. R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Revelation (Minneapolis:
Augsburg Publishing House, 1943, 1963), p. 404.
16. The most detailed exposition of this is in Meredith G. Kline, Images of the
Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980), PP. 57-96.
17. Henry Barclay Swete, Commentary on Revelation (Grand Rapids: Kregel
Publications, third ed. [1911] 1977), p. 169.
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