When it comes
to the book of Revelation there are ultimately two camps: Futurists (who
believe the book tells us something about future events that have not happened
yet) and Preterists (who believe the book told First Century Christians about
events that would “soon come to pass” in their lifetime).
I am not a
Futurist. As such, I read the book of Revelation as a prophecy about events
that have already taken place (from our perspective) and were fulfilled soon
after John wrote them during the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
Because of my
perspective, I do not believe that the “Mark of the Beast” has anything to do
with current or future events. So, when friends of mine post links to Facebook
about a new computer chip that allows people to store their medical records, or
purchase products by placing the chip under a scanner, I do not equate this
with the end of the world, the rise of the Anti-Christ, or the Mark of the
Beast.
Since people
seem to be very interested in this topic, I wanted to at least provide a
different perspective to help balance things out a bit.
The Mark of the Beast
When John
wrote the epistle of Revelation to the seven churches, he made it very clear –
on numerous occasions – that the prophecies contained in his letter were to
take place “soon”.
For example:
In verse 1, John says: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to
show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly take place....”
In verse 3 he
says: “.... and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”
John uses
specific words in the Greek throughout his epistle which mean: “Shortly”, “Without
delay”, “Soon”, “In a short time”, “Near”, “About to”, etc.
There can be
little doubt, therefore, that the First Century Christians who received and
read John’s letter understood at least one thing: They were reading about
events that were about to happen very, very soon.
Keeping this
in mind, let’s see if we can identify “The Beast” from Revelation. First, since
John is writing to First Century Christians about events that were about to
happen quickly, then we can be sure that “The Beast” was a contemporary of
John.
Secondly,
John describes this as either a person (Rev. 13:18), or as several people (Rev.
17:10), or as a government or kingdom (Rev. 17:9).
First Century
Christians would have been very familiar with Old Testament references in
Daniel to the Four Beasts (Dan. 7:17) which corresponded to Four Kingdoms or
Empires. Therefore those readers would have known that John’s references to “The
Beast” in his letters pointed to the Empire of their own day – The Roman
Empire.
But what
about the person who is referred to as “The Beast”?
Since the
Apostle John was writing this letter from captivity on the Island of Patmos, he
reverted to code which his readers (Jewish Christians) would understand easily
but his captors (The Romans) would not. Note also that, as a prisoner of Rome,
he wouldn’t want to come right out and write anything negative about the
Emperor or the Government that held him captive – for obvious reasons. This is
why, when he wants to let Christians know that “The Beast” is the Emperor Nero,
he would say:
“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 six hundred and sixty-six.” (Rev.
13:18)
The Hebrew
spelling of “Nero Caesar” was NRWN QSR. Since Hebrew letters doubled as numbers
it was a simple thing to take that name and add them together which adds up
exactly to 666. [Example: N = 50 R = 200 W = 6 N =50 Q = 100 S = 60 R = 200]
One
fascinating variant of this same passage notes that “Some manuscripts read: 616”
rather than 666. Why? Because when Revelation was later copied into Latin the
name Nero Caesar didn’t add up to 666, it added up to 616. So, to make it easier
for those later Latin-speaking (non Hebrew reading) Christians to arrive at the
same conclusion the number was changed to 616 in certain translations.
Want more
proof? Ok. In Revelation 17:9-10 John tells us:
“Here is the mind which has wisdom.
The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven
kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes,
he must remain a little while.”
You’ve
probably heard that the “seven mountains” correspond to the seven hills of
Rome. However, did you know that the seven kings also point to Nero as “The
Beast”? They do. Because John tells us that: “Five have fallen, one is, the
other has not yet come and when he comes, he must remain a little while.”
According to
Josephus, the Roman historian, Julius Caesar was the first king, followed by
August, Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius. The sixth king? That was Nero. So, he
is the “one (who) is”.
The seventh
king – the one who followed Nero – was Galba, and as John prophesied, he
reigned for a short time (about seven months).
Nero, as the
sixth king of Rome, was the first to persecute Christians in the First Century.
He started persecuting them in November of 64 AD and ended on June 8, 68 AD
when he killed himself. That was 42 months of persecution. Notice what John
says about “The Beast”:
“And there
was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies; and authority
to act for forty-two months was given him." (Rev. 13:5)
Coincidence?
I think not. Clearly John is going out of his way to let his readers know that “The
Beast” had a name that, in the Hebrew, added up to a number (666) and that he
was the sixth, and current king of Rome, and that his persecution would last
exactly 42 months. What could be more clear than this?
Extra-Biblical Proof
Nero was also
called “The Beast” by contemporary pagan writer Apollinius of Tyana, who said
of Nero:
“In my
travels…I have seen many wild beasts of Arabia and India; but this beast, that
is commonly called a Tyrant, I know not how many heads it has, nor if it be
crooked of claw, and armed with horrible fangs.... And of wild beasts you
cannot say that they were ever known to eat their own mother, but Nero gorged
himself on this diet."
Note that Nero murdered his own parents, and his brother,
and his pregnant wife, in addition to several other family members.
We also have
evidence from the Romans that Nero enjoyed dressing up as a wild beast and
raping male and female prisoners.
Still not
convinced? Consider that all of the earliest Church Fathers from Irenaeus in
the First Century, all the way through to St. Beatus in the 8th
century agreed that “The Beast” was Nero.
Buying and Selling?
Roman citizens were required to publicly
claim allegiance to Caesar by burning incense in his honor and proclaiming that
“Caesar is Lord”. Those who did this received a document that allowed them to
buy and sell in the marketplace. Without it, no one could purchase anything.
Therefore, the “Mark of the Beast” – or the document that showed your
allegiance to Nero as Lord – was required to buy and sell if you lived during
the time when John wrote his epistle to the seven churches.
None of those
Christians who read Revelation were confused about what John meant by this. It
was already happening to them.
In
Conclusion: The Mark of the Beast is not a microchip. It is not a bar code. It
is not your credit card. The Beast was Emperor Nero. The Mark of the Beast was “the
number of his name” which added up to 666. We're told that The Beast would reign in terror for 42 months and Nero's persecution of the Church lasted exactly 42 months.
Questions? Please let me know in the comments below.
Thanks,
