Apocalisse 13:8 Commento

We have, in this chapter, a further discovery and description of the church's enemies: not other enemies than are mentioned before, but described after another manner, that the methods of their enmity may more fully appear. They are represented as two beasts; the first you have an account of (Rev 13:1-10) the second (Rev 13:11, etc.). By the first some understand Rome pagan, and by the second Rome papal; but others understand Rome papal to be represented by both these beasts, by the first in its secular power, by the second in its ecclesiastical.

INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION 13 This chapter contains a description of the Romish antichrist, under the figure of two beasts, the one representing him in his civil power, the other in his ecclesiastical power. The first beast is described by its origin, the sea, and by the monstrous shape its several parts; its heads seven, in which were the name of blasphemy; its horns ten, on which were crowns; its skin like a leopard, its feet as a bear, and its mouth as a lion; and by its state and condition, having power, a throne, and great authority; and having one of its heads wounded, and healed; and by the great regard had unto him, being wondered at, and worshipped by all the world, and declared to be more powerful than any, and none to be like them, Rev 13:1. Next an account is given of what he was suffered to have, a blaspheming mouth, and power to continue forty two months, Rev 13:5; and of what he said or uttered, his blasphemy against God, his name, tabernacle, and the inhabitants of heaven, Rev 13:6; and of what he did by permission, made war with the saints, overcame them, and had power over all people, Rev 13:7; and of the worship given him by the reprobate part of the world, Rev 13:8; and the whole is concluded with an exhortation exciting attention to what had been said, with a threatening to the beast, and a word of comfort to the saints, Rev 13:9. And then follows the description of the second beast, by its original the earth; by its likeness to a lamb, and a dragon; to the former for its two horns, and to the latter for its speech, Rev 13:11; and by the actions ascribed to it, which are many; as exercising all the power of the first beast; causing all the inhabitants of the earth to worship that; doing miracles, of which one is mentioned, thereby deceiving the men of the world; ordering them to make an image to the wounded beast; giving life to it, so that it could speak; putting to death all that refused to worship it; obliging men of all ranks and degrees to have a mark in their right hands or foreheads, and forbidding such that had not to buy or sell, Rev 13:12. And the chapter is concluded with an epiphonema, exciting men of understanding to search out, and count the number of the beast's name, since it is possible to be done, being the number of a man, and easy to be done, consisting of three Greek letters, , which are numerically 666, Rev 13:18.

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,.... The inhabitants of the Roman empire, the idolatrous part of it, the men of the world, earthly minded men; who are as they came into the world, and are of the earth, earthly, and seek only after earthly honours, pleasures, and profits; these are the admirers and adorers of the beast: whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; by which book is meant God's predestination of men to eternal life, or his decree of election; why this is called the "book of life"; see Gill on Rev 3:5; and their "names being written therein from the foundation of the world", Rev 17:8, for such a construction the words will bear, denotes that election is eternal, and is not an act of time, nor dependent upon anything done in time; and that it is of particular persons, and not of bodies of men, of nations and churches, and still less of propositions, or of persons so and so qualified, or under such conditions and circumstances; and that it is perfectly well known to God, and is sure and certain in its effects, and is unchangeable and irrevocable; for what is written in it, is written, and will always stand, not upon the foot of works, but of the sovereign grace of God; and this is called the Lamb's book; that is, Christ, who is compared to a Lamb for its harmlessness, meekness, and patience, and was typified by the lambs in the legal sacrifices; and this book is called his, because he was present at the making of it, and was concerned in putting down the names in it, Joh 13:18, and he himself stands first in it as the elect of God, and the head of all the elect, who, as members, were chosen in him: the act of election was made in him, and stands sure in him; and he is the author and giver of that life, which men are chosen unto both here and hereafter: and he may be said to be "slain from the foundation of the world"; in the decree and purpose of God, by which he was set forth, or foreappointed to be the propitiation for sin, and was foreordained, before the foundation of the world, to redeem his people by his blood, and in the promise of God immediately after the fall of man, that the seed of the woman should have his heel bruised, and he himself should bruise the serpent's head, which made it as sure as if it was then done; and in the sacrifices, which were immediately upon this offered up, and were types of the death and sacrifice of Christ; and in the faith of the saints, which brings distant things near, and considers them as if present; and also in his members, in Abel, and others, in whom he suffered, as he still does in his people; to which may be added, that such is the efficacy of the bloodshed and death of Christ, that it reached to all the saints from the beginning of the world, for the justification of their persons, the atonement of their sins, and cleansing from them; for the remission of sins, that are past, and for the redemption of transgressions under the first testament; for Old Testament saints from the beginning are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus, as New Testament ones are. Something like this the Jews say (e) of the Messiah upon Gen 49:11, "he washed , "from the day that the world was created"; who is he? this is the King Messiah.--It is written Gen 1:2; "and the Spirit of God", &c. This is the Spirit of the King Messiah; and from the day that the world was created; he washed his garments in wine;'' which the Jewish writers (f) understand of blood, which for its redness is like to wine; though they interpret it of the blood of the slain, with which the garments of the Messiah will be stained. Now such whose names are not written in this book of the Lamb, who have no interest in electing grace, nor in redemption by Christ, the slain Lamb of God, nor any right unto eternal life, who are reprobate persons, vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, who are foreordained to condemnation, and are given up to believe a lie, that they might be damned, these are the followers and worshippers of antichrist. (e) Zohar in Gen. fol. 128. 2, 3. (f) Targum Jon. & Jerus. & Aben Ezra in Gen. xlix. 11.

Of whom it says whose names are not written in the book of life of heaven of the sealed from the foundation of the world; the vision very securely predetermined this; for since it has been said that all the inhabitants of the inhabited world have worshiped the apostate Devil, there were nevertheless a few who were pure from this worship, both from the Gentiles and from Israel, such as Job, his four friends, Melchizedek, and the holy prophets of Israel, and those who are testified to in the Old Testament for godliness. He says all have worshipped him, except these who, because of their godliness, and the precision and purity of their citizenship, are written in heaven, and are guarded by God; for this is signified by the sealing of the book. Concerning this book the Lord says to his holy disciples according to the divinely inspired Luke: "nevertheless in this do not rejoice, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names were written in heaven." (Luke 10:20)

By saying that he opened his mouth, it shows that he spoke with that damnable bravado that while before he blasphemed secretly, he will at that time do so publicly. For he will have dared to attribute to himself that honor that especially belongs to [Christ]. And he speaks his inquities arrogantly, for he is hostile to Christ and wishes to be accepted instead of Christ, either by the use of force or by supplanting him with fraudulent means. For a time he will attain power, which he will use in an evil way to harm the body of Christ, so that as Christ suffers, the persecutors praise [the beast] all the more since [Christ] is crucified more cruelly with his [saints]. Of this power the Lord said, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above.” If, therefore, at the time of his passion Christ had temporarily given power to his persecutors, although the prince of this world could find in him nothing worthy of death, why is it surprising that in his church he allows evil persons to attack, so that one might say that [the beast] has defeated them? Even we must understand the part from the whole, namely, that part which he is able to conquer.

And all who dwell on the earth will worship him. He said all, but he meant those who dwell on the earth. For those who depart from you, he says, will be written in the earth (Jeremiah XVII).

Whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb. It is just that those who serve the author of death should not be written in the book of life, and those who are deceived by the simulated death of the beast should lack the fellowship of the Lamb who took away the sins of the world. He says,

The Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world. The Lamb, as Peter says, without blemish, foreordained indeed before the foundation of the world, but manifest in these last times (1 Peter I). Another edition translates it as the Lamb marked from the foundation of the world. It can also be understood through hyperbaton that the names of the saints have been written in the book of life from the beginning.

The beast rising out of the sea with seven heads, ten horns, and ten crowns, Rev 13:1. His description, power, blasphemy, cruelty, etc., Rev 13:2-10. The beast coming out of the earth with two horns, deceiving the world by is false miracles, and causing every one to receive his mark in their right hand, Rev 13:11-17. His number, 666, Rev 13:18.

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb - The earth here is the Latin world, as has been observed before in similar cases. The meaning therefore is, that all the corrupt part of mankind who are inhabitants of the Latin world shall submit to the religion of the empire, except, as Bishop Newton expresses it, "those faithful few whose names, as citizens of heaven, were enrolled in the registers of life." Slain from the foundation of the world - That is, of the Christian world; for this has been shown to be the meaning of all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. The year of the crucifixion is properly the commencement of Christianity, as the apostles then first began to promulgate the religion of Christ with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. But as Jesus Christ was in the Divine purpose appointed from the foundation of the world to redeem man by his blood, he therefore is, in a very eminent sense, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, i.e., from the creation.

VISION OF THE BEAST THAT CAME OUT OF THE SEA: THE SECOND BEAST, OUT OF THE EARTH, EXERCISING THE POWER OF THE FIRST BEAST, AND CAUSING THE EARTH TO WORSHIP HIM. (Rev. 13:1-18) I stood--So B, Aleph, and Coptic read. But A, C, Vulgate, and Syriac, "He stood." Standing on the sand of the sea, HE gave his power to the beast that rose out of the sea. upon the sand of the sea--where the four winds were to be seen striving upon the great sea (Dan 7:2). beast--Greek, "wild beast." Man becomes "brutish" when he severs himself from God, the archetype and true ideal, in whose image he was first made, which ideal is realized by the man Christ Jesus. Hence, the world powers seeking their own glory, and not God's, are represented as beasts; and Nebuchadnezzar, when in self-deification he forgot that "the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men," was driven among the beasts. In Dan 7:4-7 there are four beasts: here the one beast expresses the sum-total of the God-opposed world power viewed in its universal development, not restricted to one manifestation alone, as Rome. This first beast expresses the world power attacking the Church more from without; the second, which is a revival of, and minister to, the first, is the world power as the false prophet corrupting and destroying the Church from within. out of the sea-- (Dan 7:3; compare Note, see on Rev 8:8); out of the troubled waves of peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. The earth (Rev 13:11), on the other hand, means the consolidated, ordered world of nations, with its culture and learning. seven heads and ten horns--A, B, and C transpose, "ten horns and seven heads." The ten horns are now put first (contrast the order, Rev 12:3) because they are crowned. They shall not be so till the last stage of the fourth kingdom (the Roman), which shall continue until the fifth kingdom, Christ's, shall supplant it and destroy it utterly; this last stage is marked by the ten toes of the two feet of the image in Dan 2:33, Dan 2:41-42. The seven implies the world power setting up itself as God, and caricaturing the seven Spirits of God; yet its true character as God-opposed is detected by the number ten accompanying the seven. Dragon and beast both wear crowns, but the former on the heads, the latter on the horns (Rev 12:3; Rev 13:1). Therefore, both heads and horns refer to kingdoms; compare Rev 17:7, Rev 17:10, Rev 17:12, "kings" representing the kingdoms whose heads they are. The seven kings, as peculiarly powerful--the great powers of the world--are distinguished from the ten, represented by the horns (simply called "kings," Rev 17:12). In Daniel, the ten mean the last phase of the world power, the fourth kingdom divided into ten parts. They are connected with the seventh head (Rev 17:12), and are as yet future [AUBERLEN]. The mistake of those who interpret the beast to be Rome exclusively, and the ten horns to mean kingdoms which have taken the place of Rome in Europe already, is, the fourth kingdom in the image has TWO legs, representing the eastern as well as the western empire; the ten toes are not upon the one foot (the west), as these interpretations require, but on the two (east and west) together, so that any theory which makes the ten kingdoms belong to the west alone must err. If the ten kingdoms meant were those which sprung up on the overthrow of Rome, the ten would be accurately known, whereas twenty-eight different lists are given by so many interpreters, making in all sixty-five kingdoms! [TYSO in DE BURGH]. The seven heads are the seven world monarchies, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, the Germanic empire, under the last of which we live [AUBERLEN], and which devolved for a time on Napoleon, after Francis, emperor of Germany and king of Rome, had resigned the title in 1806. FABER explains the healing of the deadly wound to be the revival of the Napoleonic dynasty after its overthrow at Waterloo. That secular dynasty, in alliance with the ecclesiastical power, the Papacy (Rev 13:11, &c.), being "the eighth head," and yet "of the seven" (Rev 17:11), will temporarily triumph over the saints, until destroyed in Armageddon (Rev 19:17-21). A Napoleon, in this view, will be the Antichrist, restoring the Jews to Palestine, and accepted as their Messiah at first, and afterwards fearfully oppressing them. Antichrist, the summing up and concentration of all the world evil that preceded, is the eighth, but yet one of the seven (Rev 17:11). crowns--Greek, "diadems." name of blasphemy--So C, Coptic, and ANDREAS. A, B, and Vulgate read, "names of blasphemy," namely, a name on each of the heads; blasphemously arrogating attributes belonging to God alone (compare Note, see on Rev 17:3). A characteristic of the little horn in Dan 7:8, Dan 7:20-21; Th2 2:4.

all that dwell upon the earth--being of earth earthy; in contrast to "them that dwell in heaven." whose names are not written--A, B, C, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS read singular, "(every one) whose (Greek, 'hou'; but B, Greek, 'hon,' plural) name is not written." Lamb slain from the foundation of the world--The Greek order of words favors this translation. He was slain in the Father's eternal counsels: compare Pe1 1:19-20, virtually parallel. The other way of connecting the words is, "Written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb slain." So in Rev 17:8. The elect. The former is in the Greek more obvious and simple. "Whatsoever virtue was in the sacrifices, did operate through Messiah's death alone. As He was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," so all atonements ever made were only effectual by His blood" [BISHOP PEARSON, Exposition of the Creed].