Revelation 13 - mark of the beast in history 666 number of the beast

Revelation 13 Commentary

And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns, ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Crowns represent authority and power. Notice the crowns which were formerly on the heads in Revelation 12 are now on the ten horns in Revelation 13. This shows a transfer of power to the ten horns. It also shows that in the timeline, the seven heads are now over, past and history. Now it’s the era of the ten horns. This ten crowned horn time was that era of the formation of the Holy Roman Empire reigning over Christendom, and as we’re about to see, a church/state united corruption of blasphemy.

2And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear and his mouth as the mouth of a lion.; and the dragon gave him his seat and great authority.

Since in Daniel chapter 7, it describes the first 3 beasts with the same descriptions as in this verse, like a leopard, bear and lion, then these would be the first 3 heads of the beast. Almost every bible prophecy teacher agrees that those four beasts of Dan 7 were Babylon, MedoPersia, Greece and Rome. So the first three heads of this beast would Babylon, MedoPersia and Greece. That is self evident, but what is not self evident is that Revelation gets more specific in history with the other heads than Daniel does. Daniel 7 was a more generalized description than in Revelation. In Revelation 17:10, it says 5 of the heads or kings are fallen, meaning that at the time Revelation was given in the first century, 5 of the 7 heads were fallen or were history, with the “one is” at that time, the Roman Empire ruling as the 6^th head of the beast. History tells us there were only two other foreign powers ruling over the Jews between Greece the third head and Rome the sixth head. Those fourth and fifth heads of the beast were Ptolemaic Egypt and the Syrian Seleucids. That makes the 5 are fallen in Revelation 17:10. Then the Jews were fed up with the Syrians and lead what we know as the Maccabee Revolt and began to self govern for a time, till King Herod, sent by the Romans came and overthrew the rightful Hasmonean dynasty of the Jews. That began the reign of Rome over the region as the 6^th head.

Then there was a transition of which few if any Bible prophecy teachers have discerned. That transition was the gospel. In the heads of the beast, no longer would God limit prophesy to only Judea, but to where his saints and his holy word was. His holy word and saints were no longer focused in Judea like in the old testament, since the Romans scattered the Jews in AD 66-74. Now his word and saints would move throughout the Roman Empire with the spread of the gospel. So now, God’s focus in prophecy shifts, to where his saints and word became mobile throughout the Empire. With this understanding, what overthrew the 6^th head of the beast, would become the 7^th head. We are told in Revelation 17:10 that this 7^th head of the beast would only “continue for a short time.” So who overthrew the 6^th head that would only continue for a short time? It was the Germanic tribes of the north and out of that came the Ostrogoths who ruled Rome and a third of the empire for close to 45 years. In prophecy a kingdom ruling for just 45 years would be a match to “continue for a short time.”

They are the only possibilities which matches in history. So now that the crowns are off the 7 heads and on the ten horns, this is the ten horn Monarchs who reigned throughout Europe during the dark age Europe we sometimes call the Medieval age.

3And I saw one of its heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast.

There are two possibilities here. The first is that history shows this was the 6^th head of the beast, the Roman Empire that suffered the fatal wound but healed. During the 3^rd century the Roman Empire went through civil war, famine, invasions and economic collapse that wore it down and almost killed it, but it revived and thrived another one hundred years. Some prophecy students are thinking this is yet to come as a revived Roman Empire, but history shows this was already fulfilled.

There is some flexibility in this as well with the second possibility, that the seventh head era could also be considered a part of the wounding because the Ostrogoths, though in power for a short time, then wounded the empire, but Justinian came in and re-established the Latins with Papacy rule, with the Ostrogoths grafted in as part of the empire, which then re-established the now Holy Roman Empire. So a wounding of the Roman Empire into the Holy Roman Empire healed could also be considered the wound that healed.

Futurists misinterpret this to be a future global power because of “all the world wondered after the beast” and back then, in a literal sense, all the world did not wonder after the beast. Their literalist/Futurist view is blinding them to what is all throughout the scriptures called Hebrew hyperbole. A Hebrew hyperbole is an exaggeration or something more said than the reality of it. We use hyperboles all the time. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. It’s raining cats and dogs. My feat are killing me. Hyperbole can lend a vulnerability to misinterpretation if you’re unaware of discerning it. Think of this all the world wondered after the beast, as jurisdictional and not global. All under that ten horn beast wondered after it; i.e. all in the known world and not all in the literal world on every continent.

4And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast and they worshiped the beast saying who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?

The dragon represents Satan and his demons, which is giving power to the this beast. And for a time, this beast had no one to dare to war against it.

Revelation 13:3 says all the world wondered after the beast. However, the word "earth" or "world" in verse 3 is more often translated "land", contrary to the one world government idea. The greek word "earth" there, is #1093 in the greek lexicon, and means earth, land, region, country or inhabitants of a region. By this, we should not think, it's a global one world government in Revelation 13, but just regional, as defined in the greek lexicon.

This misunderstanding of pinning Revelation 13 as a global one world government has made almost all prophecy teachers stumble in trying to discover the Revelation timeline.

Consider this factor. In the same era of the first Revelation 13 beast, a second beast with 2 horns arises. If it's already a global one world government, then why the need for the second 2 horned beast, or another 8th head version of the beast mentioned in Revelation 17 with ten horns? And who would destroy the Babylon of Revelation 18, if all entities are already merged into a one world government? It would only be the one world government verses the lamb at his coming, but Revelation shows different entities in power, not a single one world government entity. Revelation 17 shows "the woman" verses

5And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue 42 months.

This speaks of 42 prophetic months. As you can see in the timelines below, a day equals a year in prophecy, as shown in this meme.

That 42 months is 30 days a month x 42 months = 1260 years. These same numbers are in Revelation 11 and 12, showing all three chapter are speaking of that long dark age history of the persecuted church and is further confirmed through the other timelines below, matching history, especially in the first number given, the ten day/year time of the famed Diocletian Persecution, of which both the Preterists and Futurists have absolutely no answer to because they are not agreeing with the day for year principal.

6And he open his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them; and power was given unto him over all kindreds tongues and nations.

This European ten horn beast of the dark ages would persecute the saints and kill many in the name of God, due to the next beast which dwells with it at that same time in history. And as we discussed above, the Hebrew hyperbole of all kindreds, tongues and nations is not a literal all, but jurisdictional all under its authority and jurisdiction.

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundations of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity; he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience of the saints.

This is a warning of judgment that would come upon those who would kill God’s saints, that they also in the same way, would be killed, as was fulfilled in Revelation 16. When God says he will judge, he really means it. Most Christians believe that God is very active in the earth bringing mercy and saving people, but they don’t believe he’s very active in also bringing judgment where warranted.

11And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and he spake as a dragon.

Unlike the first beast which arose out of the sea, this beast arises out of the earth. The sea represents unstable ground, waves and a troubling or arising out of troubled times. This was the time of the Roman Empire upheaval by the Germanic tribes of the north, however, this second beast arises out of the more stable ground of the earth and that’s what occurred as this religious beast arose to power.

It had two horns like a lamb. This is the two religious horns of the empire that are apostate, but coming in the name of Jesus, “like a lamb”, which were the Western Latin Kingdom lead by the Papacy and the Eastern Orthodox Kingdom lead by the Byzantines. They both were Empire “Christian” but were intermingled with idolatry and other sin.

12And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

Here we have the religious powers of this beast operating in sync with first in his presence. The words “in his presence” show both beasts were operating together in the same era of time. This was a revived Roman Empire, but now, the Holy Roman Empire coming together. What was formerly the title of Caesar, the Papacy now took on that title called Pontifex Maximus. The Empire was reborn with now the East and West in control, with the ten horns, now all ruling mostly in unity in the same era of time. Instead of having a Caesar as Pontifex Maximus, they now had the Popes as Pontifex Maximus.

13And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from Heaven on the earth in the sight of men.

Many students of prophecy are looking for these great wonders from some entity in the future, but its already fulfilled. All one has to do is google miracles in Catholic history to see the satanic lying signs the demons were performing to back the harlot church.

14And deceiveth them that dwell on earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them who dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who had the wound by the sword and did live.

“In the sight of the beast”, once again proves both of these beasts were reigning together in the same era of time. I say this because the large deceived SDA church is saying the first ten horn beast was the Latin Kingdom of the Papacy, but the second two horn beast is the USA, which does not at all agree with history. The USA and the Latin kingdom of Europe were ruling in separate eras.

An image, as in the image of the beast, is a likeness to the beast who had the wound by the sword and did live. The likeness is a likeness to the Roman Empire. They formed a likeness or image of the Roman Empire, now the Holy Roman Empire. The image of the beast IS the Holy Roman Empire.

15And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many who would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

Following the dictates of the Image of the Beast, the Holy Roman Empire killed those who would speak out against it’s apostasy and had many saints martyred. This included large groups of Christians trying to break free from the unholy Latin empire. Such groups as the Lollards, the Hussites, the Huguenots, the Bohemians, the Albigenses and the Waldenses were slaughtered en mass. Foxes Book of Martyrs is a good record of this historical fulfillment.

16 And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in the right hand or in their foreheads;17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

The mark here, like most of revelation, is metaphor and not literal. The mark is in the hand with actions or works and in the head with allegiance to the beast, and is mostly confined to that age of the power of that beast who was killing in the name of God.

The forbidding of buying and selling is on public record from the 1179 Lateran Council as shown below.

"Roger Hoveden relates of William the Conqueror. that he was so dutiful to the Pope, that he would not permit anyone in his power to buy or sell anything whom he found disobedient to the apostolic see."

Adam Clark, 1825, Commentary on the Bible

"We are told that Pope Martin V in his bull, added to the Council of Constance, prohibits Roman Catholics from suffering any heretics to dwell in their countries, or to make any bargains, use any trades, or bare any civil offices, which is a very clear interpretation of this prophecy."

Matthew Henry, 1706, Commentary on the Whole Bible

Our examples above are quoted from three different sources using three different times in history when the Latin Kingdom of the beast forbade buying and selling. As one can now see, the forbidding of buying and selling , in history, has fulfilled Revelation 13:17, and not just one incident, but by several Popish Bulls throughout the centuries.

17Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred and three score and six.

Rev 14:11 tells of the “number of his name”. This is telling of gematria, which to us in the west is strange, but to those of the Latin, Hebrew and Greek languages, is a far more obvious clue here, pointing to gematria. You see, Gematria is taking letters and converting them to numbers. In our English language, numbers and letters have their own separate symbols, but in the Latin, Hebrew and Greek, they use the same symbols for number and letters. So when they would read “the number of his name” those of the Greek and Hebrew languages would know exactly what it is, gematria. Imagine if you were born Hebrew and the letters of your name were also numbers. You would simply add up the numbers of your name and that would be your number. It was very common in the Greek and Hebrew and to some extent, in the Latin, so gematria is what this is talking about.

More than any other entity that would fit into the description of the beast, or the number of a man, as 666, it is the Pope and his Latin Kingdom by leaps and bounds more than any other, matching the 666, shown here in ten 666 signs.

Preterists teach Nero as this entity, but Nero only has a measly little one 666 sign to his name. The Papacy or Latin Kingdom of the Papacy has a whopping ten 666 signs to it, including the very signature of the Pope, Dux Cleri, which means Captain of the Clergy.

Once you go to the original Latin, when the letter U was a V, adding up Dux Cleri equals 666 >D=500 U=V=5 X=I0 C=100 L= 50 E R I = 1 ... total = 666

Irenaeus, one of the most quoted and earliest church “fathers” was not for certain at his time, but is quoted as telling of the Latins to be the 666 of Revelation he was on watch for fulfilling as the 666 man. Though he had doubts, he was the first to identify the Latins as 666.

“Then also Lateinos has the number 666 and it is a very probable solution, this being the name of the last kingdom <of the four seen by Daniel.> For the Latins are they who at present bear rule.”

Against Heresies , Book V, ch 30, 3

Our 666 Gematria shows it crossing into 4 languages. With so much in perfect alignment throughout Revelation, is there much room to doubt? Only for those who are pre conditioned to be holding onto cognitive dissonance for various self justifying reasons, because the huge amount of evidence in history is definitely not lacking.