Revelation 13 16. Revelation of John

OPEN 13

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Bible. New Testament. Revelation of John the Theologian. Chapter 13

1 And I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast come out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns: on his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads were names of blasphemy. 1 And I walked upon the fox, and I saw a beast come out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on its roses a ten crown, and on its heads the names of blasphemy.

2 The beast that I saw was like a leopard; His legs are like those of a bear, and his mouth is like the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his strength and his throne and great authority. 2 The beast that I saw was like a lynx, and his nose was like a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion: and the serpent gave him his power and his throne and a great region.

3 And I saw that one of his heads was, as it were, mortally wounded, but the mortal wound was healed. And all the earth marveled, watching the beast, and they worshiped the dragon, who gave power to the beast, 3 And they saw one of its heads slain to death, and the wound of its death was healed. And the whole earth marveled after the beast, and bowed down to the serpent, who had given the domain to the beast,

4 And they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like this beast? and who can fight him? 4 And he bowed down to the beast, saying, Who is like the beast, and who can make war with him?

5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given to him to continue for forty-two months. 5 And a mouth was given unto him, speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given a region to do forty-two months.

6 And he opened his mouth to blaspheme God, to blaspheme his name, and his habitation, and them that dwell in heaven. 6 And he opened his mouth to blaspheme God, to blaspheme his name and his habitation and those who dwell in heaven.

7 And it was given to him to make war with the saints and overcome them; and authority was given to him over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. 7 And it was given to him to make war against the saints and to overcome: and he was given a domain over every tribe (of people), and among the nations and nations.

8 And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names were not written in the book of life of the Lamb, which was slain from the foundation of the world. 8 And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, to whom were not written the names of the beasts of the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world.

9 He who has an ear, let him hear. 9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.

10 He who leads into captivity will himself go into captivity; whoever kills with the sword must himself be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints. 10 If anyone leads into captivity, he will go into captivity: if anyone kills with a weapon, it is fitting for him to be killed with a weapon. Here is the patience and faith of the saints.

11 And I saw another beast coming out of the earth; he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 11 And I saw another beast rising out of the earth, and it had two horns, like a lamb, and spoke like a serpent.

12 He acts before him with all the power of the first beast, and causes the whole earth and those who dwell on it to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed; 12 And the power of the first beast was done all before him: and having created the earth and all that dwell therein, worship the first beast, by whom the mortal plague was healed:

13 And he performs great signs, so that he brings down fire from heaven to earth before men. 13 And do great wonders, and let fire come down from heaven to earth before men.

14 And by the miracles which it was given him to do before the beast, he deceives them that dwell on the earth, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image of the beast, which had the wound of the sword, and liveth. 14 And he flattereth them that dwell on the earth, because of the signs which were given him to do before the beast, saying unto them that dwell on the earth, make an image unto the beast, which had the plague of weapons, and lived.

15 And it was given to him to put spirit into the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would speak and act in such a way that everyone who would not worship the image of the beast would be killed. 15 And it was given to him to give spirit to the image of the beast, so that the icon of the beast would speak and do, and if they did not worship the image of the beast, they would be killed.

16 And he will cause all, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 16 And he will do everything small and great, rich and poor, free and working, yes He will give them a mark on their gums or on their foreheads,

17 And that no one may buy or sell except he who has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 17 Let no one be able to buy or sell, except one who has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. He who has intelligence, count the number of the beast, for it is a human number; its number is six hundred and sixty-six. 18 Here is wisdom. Let those who have intelligence respect the number of animals: the number is human, and its number is six hundred and sixty-six.

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

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Article thirty-seven

About the false prophet

. And I saw another beast coming out of the earth; he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.

According to some, this beast is the Antichrist, and according to others, it is Satan, and its two horns are the Antichrist and the false prophet. If we believe that the false prophet will appear in his own person, then it will not be inappropriate to take the serpent for Satan, the beast emerging from the sea for the Antichrist, and this beast, according to Blessed Irenaeus, for the false prophet. He comes out of an earthly life full of filth and has two horns, like a lamb, in order to hide the murderousness of the wolf with sheep's clothing and because first he will take on the image of piety. Blessed Irenaeus says about this: “About the armor-bearer, who is also called a false prophet, it must be said that he spoke like a serpent. He was given the power to perform signs and wonders, so that, walking before the Antichrist, he could prepare the way for his destruction. We consider the healing of the plague of the beast either as a temporary, apparent unification of the divided kingdom, or as the restoration for a short time by the Antichrist of the dominion of Satan, destroyed by the Cross of the Lord, or, finally, the imaginary resurrection of some deceased person close to him. He will speak like a serpent, for he will do and say things characteristic of the leader of evil – the devil.”

. He acts before him with all the power of the first beast and forces the whole earth and those living on it to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed;

. and performs great signs, so that fire comes down from heaven to earth before people.

By magic and deception, the forerunner of the apostate false Christ will do everything to deceive people, so that they consider the Antichrist to be God, as a glorious miracle worker and worthy of such glorification, like the Baptist, who led believers to the Savior, for to deceive people, lies try to imitate the truth. Therefore, it is not surprising if the deluded see with their eyes fire descending from heaven, since we also know from the story of Job that, by God’s permission, fire came down from heaven through the action of Satan and burned his flocks ().

. And with the miracles that it was given to him to perform before the beast, he deceives those who live on the earth,

He deceives those whose hearts are constantly fixed on earthly things, but he cannot deceive those who have acquired residence in heaven, for they are completely confirmed by the prediction of his coming.

telling them that dwell on the earth to make an image of the beast, which has the wound of the sword and lives.

. And it was given to him to put spirit into the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would speak and act in such a way that anyone who would not worship the image of the beast would be killed.

. And he will cause everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,

. and that no one will be able to buy or sell except he who has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

They say that demons often spoke by magic through images, statues, trees, waters and other things; perhaps even through the bodies of the dead, as Simon the Magus demonstrated this to the Romans in the presence of the Apostle Peter, who exposed his deception by showing the rise of the dead, whom he himself raised. Therefore, there is nothing strange in the fact that the forerunner and squire of the Antichrist, with the help of demons, having made an image of the beast, will falsely show him speaking, order to beat everyone who does not worship him and will try to put the mark of the disastrous name of the apostate and seducer on everyone’s right hands in order to take away the power for doing good deeds, as well as on the forehead, to make those who are deceived bold in deception and darkness. But those whose faces are imprinted with Divine light will not accept it. And he will distribute the seal of the beast everywhere, both for purchase and for sale, so that those who do not accept it will die violently from the lack of things necessary to maintain life.

Article thirty-eight

About the bad name of the Antichrist

. Here is wisdom. He who has intelligence, count the number of the beast, for it is a human number; its number is six hundred and sixty-six.

A diligent study of the number of the seal and everything else written about it will reveal the time of temptation to those who are watchful and sober. If there had been a need to know his name, then, as some teachers say, the seer would have revealed it, but the grace of God did not deign that this destructive name should be written in the Divine Book. If you examine the words, then, according to Hippolytus and others, you can find many names, both proper and common nouns, corresponding to this number. Proper, for example: Lampetis (“lampetio”), Titan (“titan”), Latinnik (“latinos”), also Venedikt (“venediktos”), which means blessed, perhaps in imitation of the one blessed Christ; common nouns: bad leader (“what odigos”), ancient envious (“palevaskanos”), truly harmful (“aliphos vlaveros”), unrighteous lamb (“amnos adikos”). These names will be used by those who rejected the deception of the one for whom shameful things serve as glory.

Comments on Chapter 13

INTRODUCTION TO THE REVELATION OF JOHN

A BOOK THAT STANDS ALONE

When a person studies the New Testament and begins Revelation, he feels transported to another world. This book is not at all like the other books of the New Testament. Revelation is not only different from other New Testament books, it is also extremely difficult for modern people to understand, and therefore it has often been either ignored as incomprehensible scripture, or religious madmen have turned it into a battlefield, using it to compile heavenly chronological tables and graphs of what will happen when.

But, on the other hand, there have always been those who loved this book. Philip Carrington, for example, said: "The author of Revelation is a greater master and artist than Stevenson, Coleridge or Bach. John the Evangelist has a better sense of words than Stevenson; he has a better sense of unearthly, supernatural beauty than Coleridge; he has a richer sense melody, rhythm and composition than Bach... It is the only masterpiece of pure art in the New Testament... Its fullness, richness and harmonic variety place it above Greek tragedy."

We will undoubtedly find that this is a difficult and shocking book; but, at the same time, it is highly advisable to study it until it gives us its blessing and reveals its riches.

APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE

When studying Revelation, we must remember that, for all its uniqueness in the New Testament, it is nevertheless representative of the most widespread literary genre in the era between the Old and New Testaments. Revelation is usually called Apocalypse(from the Greek word apocalypse, meaning revelation). In the era between the Old and New Testaments, a huge mass of so-called apocalyptic literature, the product of an irresistible Jewish hope.

The Jews could not forget that they were the chosen people of God. This gave them confidence that they would one day achieve world domination. In their history, they were waiting for the arrival of a king from the line of David, who would unite the people and lead them to greatness. "A branch will arise from the root of Jesse" (Isa. 11:1.10). God will restore to David the righteous Branch (Jer. 23.5). One day the people “will serve the Lord their God and David their king.” (Jer. 30:9). David will be their shepherd and their king (Ezek.34:23; 37:24). The Tabernacle of David will be rebuilt (Amos 9:11). From Bethlehem will come a Ruler in Israel, whose origin is from the beginning, from the days of eternity, who will be great to the ends of the earth (Mic. 5:2-4).

But the entire history of Israel has not fulfilled these hopes. After the death of King Solomon, the kingdom, already small in itself, split in two under Rehoboam and Jeroboam and lost its unity. The northern kingdom, with its capital in Samaria, fell in the last quarter of the eighth century BC under the blows of Assyria, disappeared forever from the pages of history, and is known today under the name of the ten lost tribes. The southern kingdom, with its capital Jerusalem, was enslaved and taken away by the Babylonians at the beginning of the sixth century BC. Later it was dependent on the Persians, Greeks and Romans. The history of Israel was a record of defeats, from which it became clear that no mortal could deliver or save her.

TWO CENTURIES

The Jewish worldview stubbornly clung to the idea of the chosenness of the Jews, but gradually the Jews had to adapt to the facts of history. To do this, they developed their own history scheme. They divided all history into two centuries: present century, completely vicious, hopelessly lost. Only complete destruction awaits him. And so the Jews waited for his end. Moreover, they expected the coming century, which was, in their minds, to be excellent, the Golden Age of God, in which there would be peace, prosperity and righteousness, and God's chosen people would be rewarded and take their rightful place.

How should this present age become the age to come? The Jews believed that this change could not be accomplished by human forces and therefore they expected the direct intervention of God. He will burst upon the stage of history in great force to completely destroy and destroy this world and introduce His golden time. They called the day of God's coming Lord's Day and it was to be a terrible time of horror, destruction and judgment, and at the same time it was to be the painful beginning of a new age.

All apocalyptic literature covered these events: the sin of the present age, the horrors of the transitional time and the bliss in the future. All apocalyptic literature was inevitably mysterious. She invariably tries to describe the indescribable, express the inexpressible, depict the indescribable.

And all this is complicated by another fact: these apocalyptic visions flashed even brighter in the minds of people living under tyranny and oppression. The more the alien force suppressed them, the more they dreamed of the destruction and destruction of this force and of their justification. But if the oppressors realized the existence of this dream, things would get even worse. These writings would seem to them to be the work of rebellious revolutionaries, and therefore they were often written in code, deliberately presented in a language incomprehensible to outsiders, and many remained incomprehensible because there was no key to decipher them. But the more we know about the historical background of these writings, the better we can discover their intent.

REVELATION

Revelation is the Christian apocalypse, the only one in the New Testament, although there were many others that were not included in the New Testament. It is written on the Jewish model and preserves the basic Jewish concept of the two periods. The only difference is that the Day of the Lord is replaced by the coming of Jesus Christ in power and glory. Not only the outline of the book itself is identical, but also the details. Jewish apocalypses are characterized by a standard set of events that were supposed to happen in the last times; all of them were reflected in Revelation.

Before moving on to consider these events, we need to understand one more problem. AND apocalypses And prophecies relate to future events. What is the difference between them?

APOCALYPSE AND PROPHECY

1. The Prophet thought in terms of this world. His message often contained protest against social, economic and political injustice and always called for obedience and service to God in this world. The Prophet sought to transform this world and believed that the Kingdom of God would come in it. They said that the prophet believed in history. He believed that in history and in the events of history the ultimate purposes of God are realized. In a sense, the prophet was an optimist, for, no matter how severely he condemned the actual state of things, he believed that everything could be corrected if people would do the will of God. In the minds of the author of apocalyptic books, this world was already incorrigible. He believed not in the transformation, but in the destruction of this world, and expected the creation of a new world after this one had been shaken to its foundations by the vengeance of God. And therefore the author of apocalyptic books was, in a sense, a pessimist, because he did not believe in the possibility of correcting the existing state of affairs. True, he believed in the advent of the Golden Age, but only after this world was destroyed.

2. The prophet proclaimed his message orally; The message of the author of apocalyptic books was always expressed in written form, and it constitutes a literary work. If it were expressed orally, people simply would not understand it. It is difficult to understand, confusing, often incomprehensible, it needs to be delved into, it needs to be carefully disassembled in order to understand.

MANDATORY ELEMENTS OF APOCALYPSE

Apocalyptic literature is created according to a certain pattern: it seeks to describe what will happen in the last times and beyond bliss; and these pictures appear in apocalypses again and again. She dealt with the same issues over and over again, so to speak, and they all found their way into our Book of Revelation.

1. In apocalyptic literature, the Messiah is Divine, Redeemer, strong and glorious, waiting for His hour to descend into the world and begin his all-conquering activity. He was in heaven before the creation of the world, sun and stars, and is in the presence of the Almighty (En. 48.3.6; 62.7; 4 Esdras. 13.25.26). He will come to throw down the mighty from their places, the kings of the earth from their thrones, and to judge sinners (En. 42.2-6; 48.2-9; 62.5-9; 69.26-29). In the apocalyptic books there was nothing human and soft in the image of the Messiah; He was a Divine figure of vengeful power and glory, before whom the earth trembled in terror.

2. The coming of the Messiah was to occur after the return of Elijah, who would prepare the way for Him (Mal. 4,5.6). Elijah will appear on the hills of Israel, the rabbis asserted, and with a loud voice, heard from one end to the other, will announce the coming of the Messiah.

3. The terrible end times were known as the “birth pangs of the Messiah.” The coming of the Messiah should be like birth pangs. In the Gospels, Jesus predicts a sign of the last days and the following words are put into His mouth: “Yet this is the beginning of diseases.” (Matt. 24:8; Mark 13:8). In Greek illness - one what does it literally mean birth pains.

4. The end times will be a time of horror. Then even the bravest will cry out bitterly (Zeph. 1:14); all the inhabitants of the earth will tremble (Joel 2:1); people will be gripped by fear, will look for a place to hide and will not find it (En. 102,1.3).

5. The end times will be a time when the world will be shaken, a time of cosmic upheaval, when the universe as men know it will be destroyed; the stars will be destroyed, the sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood (Isa. 13:10; Joel. 2:30.31; 3:15); the vault of heaven will be destroyed; there will be a furious rain of fire and all creation will turn into a molten mass (Siv. 3:83-89). The order of the seasons will be disrupted, there will be neither night nor dawn (Siv. 3,796-800).

6. In the last times, human relations will be disrupted, hatred and enmity will rule the world, and everyone’s hand will rise against the hand of his neighbor (Zech. 14:13). Brothers will kill brothers, parents will kill their children, from dawn to sunset they will kill each other (En. 100,1.2). Honor will be turned into shame, strength into humiliation, beauty into ugliness. The humble will become envious and passion will take possession of the man who was once peaceful ((2 Var. 48.31-37).

7. The end times will be the days of judgment. God will come like a purifying fire and who will stand when He appears? (Mal. 3.1-3)? The Lord will bring judgment on all flesh with fire and sword (Isa. 66:15.16).

8. In all these visions, the pagans are also given a certain, but not always the same place.

a) Sometimes they see the pagans completely destroyed. Babylon will come to such desolation that there, among the ruins, there will be no place for a wandering Arab to pitch a tent, or for a shepherd to graze his sheep; it will be a desert inhabited by wild beasts (Isa. 13:19-22). God trampled the pagans in His wrath (Isa. 63.6); they will come in chains to Israel (Isa. 45:14).

b) Sometimes they see how the pagans gather for the last time against Israel against Jerusalem and for the last battle, in which they will be destroyed (Ezek. 38:14-39,16; Zech. 14:1-11). The kings of nations will attack Jerusalem, they will try to destroy the shrines of God, they will place their thrones around the city and with them their unbelieving peoples, but all this is only for their final destruction (Siv. 3,663-672).

c) Sometimes they paint a picture of the conversion of the Gentiles by Israel. God made Israel the light of the nations so that God's salvation would reach to the ends of the earth (Isa. 49:6). The islands will trust in God (Isa. 51.5); the survivors of the nations will be called to come to God and be saved (Isa. 45:20-22). The Son of Man will be a light to the Gentiles (En. 48.4.5). Nations will come from the ends of the earth to Jerusalem to see the glory of God.

9. The Jews scattered throughout the world will in the last times be gathered again in the Holy City; they will come from Assyria and Egypt and worship God on the holy mountain (Isa. 27:12.13). Even those who died as exiles in a foreign land will be brought back.

10. In the last times, the New Jerusalem that existed there from the beginning will come down to earth from heaven. (4 Esdras 10:44-59; 2 Var 4:2-6) and will dwell among men. It will be a beautiful city: its foundations will be of sapphires, its towers will be of agates and its gates will be of pearls, and its fence will be of precious stones. (Isa. 54:12.13; Tov. 13:16.17). The glory of the last temple will be greater than the former (Hagg. 2.7-9).

11. An important part of the end-time apocalyptic picture was the resurrection of the dead. "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awaken, some to everlasting life, others to everlasting contempt and disgrace. (Dan. 12:2.3). Sheol and the graves will return those who were entrusted to them (En. 51.1). The number of those resurrected varies: sometimes it applied only to the righteous of Israel, sometimes to all of Israel, and sometimes to all people in general. Whatever form it took, it is fair to say that here the hope that there would be life beyond the grave first arose.

12. In Revelation, the view is expressed that the Kingdom of the Saints will last a thousand years, after which there will be a final battle with the forces of evil, and then the Golden Age of God.

BLESSES OF THE COMING AGE

1. The divided kingdom will be united again. The house of Judah will come again to the house of Israel (Jer. 3:18; Isa. 11:13; Hos. 1:11). The old divisions will be eliminated and God's people will be united.

2. The fields in this world will be unusually fertile. The desert will become a garden (Isa. 32:15), it will become like heaven (Isa. 51.3);"The desert and the dry land will rejoice, ... and blossom like a daffodil" (Isa. 35:1).

3. In all visions of the new age, a constant element was the end of all wars. Swords will be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks (Isa. 2:4). There will be no sword, no war trumpet. There will be one law for all people and great peace on earth, and kings will be friends (Siv. 3,751-760).

4. One of the most beautiful ideas expressed in connection with the new century is that there will be no enmity between animals or between man and animals. “Then the wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the lamb, and the young lion and the ox will be together, and a little child will lead them.” (Isa. 11:6-9; 65:25). A new alliance will be made between man and the beasts of the field (Hos. 2:18).“And the child will play in the nest of the asp (snake), and the child will stretch out his hand into the nest of the snake.” (Isa. 11:6-9; 2 Var. 73:6). Friendship will reign throughout nature, where no one will want to harm another.

5. The coming age will put an end to fatigue, sadness and suffering. People will no longer languish (Jer. 31:12), and eternal joy will be over their heads (Isa. 35:10). Then there will be no premature death (Isa. 65:20-22) and not one of the inhabitants will say: “I am sick” (Isa. 33:24)."Death will be swallowed up forever, and the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces..." (Isa. 25:8). Diseases, anxieties and lamentations will disappear, there will be no pain during childbirth, reapers will not get tired, builders will not be exhausted by work (2 Var. 73.2-74.4).

6. The age to come will be an age of righteousness. People will be completely holy. Humanity will be a good generation living in the fear of God V days of mercy (Psalms of Solomon 17:28-49; 18:9.10).

Revelation is the representative of all these apocalyptic books in the New Testament, telling of the horrors that will happen before the end of time, and of the blessings of the age to come; Revelation uses all these familiar visions. They will often present difficulties for us and will even be unintelligible, but, for the most part, pictures and ideas were used that were well known and understandable to those who read him.

AUTHOR OF REVELATION

1. Revelation was written by a man named John. From the very beginning he says that the vision he is about to recount was sent by God to His servant John (1,1). He begins the main part of the message with the words: John, to the seven churches in Asia (1:4). He speaks of himself as John, brother and partner in sorrow of those to whom he writes (1,9). “I am John,” he says, “I saw and heard this.” (22,8). 2. John was a Christian who lived in the same area in which the Christians of the seven churches lived. He calls himself the brother of those to whom he writes, and says that he shares with them the sorrows that have befallen them (1:9).

3. Most likely, he was a Palestinian Jew who came to Asia Minor in old age. This conclusion can be drawn if we take into account his Greek language - lively, strong and imaginative, but, from the point of view of grammar, the worst in the New Testament. It is quite obvious that Greek is not his native language; it is often clear that he writes in Greek but thinks in Hebrew. He immersed himself in the Old Testament. He quotes it or alludes to relevant passages 245 times; quotations are taken from almost twenty books of the Old Testament, but his favorite books are the Books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Psalms, Exodus, Jeremiah and Zechariah. But he not only knows the Old Testament very well, he is also familiar with the apocalyptic literature that arose in the era between the Old and New Testaments.

4. He considers himself a prophet, and on this he bases his right to speak. The Risen Christ commanded him to prophesy (10,11); It is through the spirit of prophecy that Jesus gives His prophecies to the Church (19,10). The Lord God is the God of the holy prophets and He sends His angels to show His servants what is about to happen in the world (22,9). His book is a typical book of the prophets, containing prophetic words (22,7.10.18.19).

John bases his authority on this. He does not call himself an apostle, as Paul does, wanting to emphasize his right to speak. John has no “official” or administrative position in the Church; he is a prophet. He writes what he sees, and because everything he sees comes from God, his word is truthful and true (1,11.19).

At the time when John wrote - somewhere around 90 - prophets occupied a special place in the Church. At that time there were two types of shepherds in the Church. Firstly, there was a local pastorate - it lived settled in one community: presbyters (elders), deacons and teachers. Secondly, there was an itinerant ministry, the scope of which was not limited to any particular community; this included the apostles, whose messages were spread throughout the Church, and the prophets, who were itinerant preachers. Prophets were greatly respected; to question the words of a true prophet was to sin against the Holy Spirit, says the Didache,"The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles" (11:7). IN Didache the accepted order for administering the Lord's Supper is given, and at the end the sentence is added: “Let the prophets give thanks as much as they want” ( 10,7 ). Prophets were looked upon solely as men of God, and John was a prophet.

5. It is unlikely that he was an apostle, otherwise he would hardly have emphasized that he was a prophet. John looks back to the apostles as the great foundations of the Church. He speaks of the twelve foundations of the wall of the Holy City, and further: “and on them are the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.” (21,14). He would hardly have spoken about the apostles like that if he had been one of them.

Such considerations are further confirmed by the title of the book. Most translations of the book's title read: Revelation of Saint John the Theologian. But in some recent English translations the title reads: Revelation of Saint John, A Theologian omitted because it is absent from most of the oldest Greek lists, although it generally goes back to ancient times. In Greek it is theologos and used here in the meaning theologian, not in meaning saint. This very addition should have distinguished John, the author of Revelation, from John the Apostle.

Already in 250, Dionysius, a major theologian and leader of the Christian school in Alexandria, understood that it was extremely unlikely that the same person wrote both the fourth Gospel and Revelation, if only because their Greek languages were so different. The Greek of the Fourth Gospel is simple and correct, the Greek of Revelation is rough and bright, but very irregular. Further, the author of the fourth Gospel avoids mentioning his name, but John, the author of Revelation, mentions him repeatedly. In addition, the ideas of both books are completely different. The great ideas of the fourth gospel - light, life, truth and grace - do not occupy the main place in Revelation. However, at the same time, in both books there are enough similar passages both in thoughts and in language, which clearly shows that they come from the same center and from the same world of ideas.

Elisabeth Schüsler-Fiorenza, an expert on Revelation, recently found that, “from the last quarter of the second century until the beginning of modern critical theology, it was widely believed that both books (the Gospel of John and Revelation) were written by an apostle” (“The Book of Revelation” . Justice and punishment of God", 1985, p. 86). Such external, objective evidence was required by theologians because the internal evidence lying in the books themselves (style, words, statements of the author about his rights) did not seem to speak in favor of the fact that their author was the Apostle John. Theologians who defend the authorship of the Apostle John explain the differences between the Gospel of John and Revelation in the following ways:

a) They indicate the difference in the spheres of these books. One talks about the earthly life of Jesus, while the other talks about the revelation of the Risen Lord.

b) They believe that there is a large interval of time between their writing.

c) They claim that the theology of one complements the theology of the other and together they constitute a complete theology.

d) They suggest that the language and linguistic differences are explained by the fact that the recording and revision of the texts was carried out by different secretaries. Adolf Pohl states that sometime around 170, a small group in the Church deliberately introduced a false author (Cerinthus) because they did not like the theology of Revelation and found it easier to criticize a less authoritative author than the Apostle John.

TIME OF WRITING REVELATION

There are two sources for establishing the time of its writing.

1. On the one hand - church traditions. They point out that during the era of the Roman emperor Domitian, John was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he had a vision; after the death of Emperor Domitian, he was released and returned to Ephesus, where he enrolled. Victorinus wrote sometime at the end of the third century in a commentary on Revelation: "When John saw all this, he was on the island of Patmos, condemned by the emperor Domitian to work in the mines. There he saw the revelation... When he was subsequently released from work in the mines, he wrote down this revelation he received from God." Jerome of Dalmatia dwells on this in more detail: “In the fourteenth year after the persecution of Nero, John was exiled to the island of Patmos and wrote the Revelation there... After the death of Domitian and the repeal of his decrees by the Senate, due to their extreme cruelty, he returned to Ephesus, when the emperor was Nerva." The Church historian Eusebius wrote: “The apostle and evangelist John related these things to the church when he returned from exile on the island after the death of Domitian.” According to legend, it is clear that John had visions during his exile on the island of Patmos; one thing is not completely established - and it does not really matter - whether he wrote them down during his exile, or upon his return to Ephesus. With this in mind, it would not be wrong to say that Revelation was written around the year 95.

2. The second evidence is the material of the book itself. In it we find a completely new attitude towards Rome and the Roman Empire.

As follows from the Acts of the Holy Apostles, Roman courts were often the most reliable protection for Christian missionaries from the hatred of Jews and angry crowds of people. Paul was proud to be a Roman citizen and repeatedly demanded for himself the rights that were guaranteed to every Roman citizen. In Philippi, Paul frightened the administration by declaring that he was a Roman citizen (Acts 16:36-40). In Corinth, the consul Gallio treated Paul fairly, according to Roman law. (Acts 18:1-17). In Ephesus, the Roman authorities ensured his safety against the rioting crowd. (Acts 19:13-41). In Jerusalem, the captain saved Paul, one might say, from lynching (Acts 21:30-40). When the commander heard that an attempt was being made on Paul's life during the transition to Caesarea, he took all measures to ensure his safety (Acts 23,12-31).

Desperate to achieve justice in Palestine, Paul exercised his right as a Roman citizen and complained directly to the emperor (Acts 25:10.11). In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul urges his readers to be submissive to the authorities, for authorities are from God, and they are terrible not for good, but for evil. (Rom. 13.1-7). Peter gives the same advice to be submissive to authorities, kings, and rulers because they are doing the will of God. Christians should fear God and honor the king (1 Pet. 2:12-17). It is believed that in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul points to the power of Rome as the only force capable of containing the chaos that threatens the world (2 Thess. 2:7).

In Revelation, only one irreconcilable hatred of Rome is visible. Rome is Babylon, mother of harlots, intoxicated with the blood of saints and martyrs (Rev. 17:5.6). John expects only his final destruction.

The explanation for this change lies in the widespread worship of the Roman emperors, which, combined with the accompanying persecution of Christians, is the background against which Revelation is written.

At the time of Revelation, the cult of Caesar was the only universal religion of the Roman Empire, and Christians were persecuted and executed precisely for their refusal to comply with its demands. According to this religion, the Roman emperor, who embodied the spirit of Rome, was divine. Every person had to appear before the local administration once a year and burn a pinch of incense to the divine emperor and proclaim: “Caesar is Lord.” Having done this, a person could go and worship any other god or goddess, as long as such worship did not violate the rules of decency and order; but he had to perform this ceremony of worshiping the emperor.

The reason was simple. Rome was now a diverse empire, stretching from one end of the known world to the other, with many languages, races and traditions. Rome was faced with the task of uniting this heterogeneous mass into a unity that had some kind of common consciousness. The strongest unifying force is a common religion, but none of the then popular religions could become universal, but the veneration of the deified Roman emperor could. It was the only cult that could unite the empire. To refuse to burn a pinch of incense and to say, “Caesar is Lord,” was not an act of unbelief, but an act of disloyalty; that is why the Romans treated so cruelly a person who refused to say: “Caesar is Lord,” and not a single Christian could say Lord anyone other than Jesus, because that was the essence of his creed.

Let's see how this worship of Caesar developed and why it reached its apogee in the era of the writing of Revelation.

One very important fact should be noted. The veneration of Caesar was not imposed on people from above. It arose among the people, one might even say, despite all the attempts of the first emperors to stop, or at least limit it. It should also be noted that of all the peoples inhabiting the empire, only the Jews were exempt from this cult.

The worship of Caesar began as a spontaneous outburst of gratitude to Rome. The peoples in the provinces knew well what they owed to him. Imperial Roman law and legal proceedings replaced arbitrary and tyrannical arbitrariness. Security has replaced dangerous situations. The great Roman roads connected different parts of the world; the roads and seas were free from robbers and pirates. The Roman world was the greatest achievement of the ancient world. As the great Roman poet Virgil put it, Rome saw its purpose as “spare the fallen and overthrow the proud.” Life has found a new order. Goodspeed wrote about it this way: "This was package of the novel. The provincials could, under Roman rule, conduct their affairs, provide for their families, send letters, and travel in safety thanks to the strong hand of Rome."

The cult of Caesar did not begin with the deification of the emperor. It began with the deification of Rome. The spirit of the empire was deified in a goddess called Roma. Roma symbolized the powerful and benevolent force of the empire. The first temple to Rome was erected in Smyrna back in 195 BC. It was not difficult to imagine the spirit of Rome embodied in one person - the emperor. Worship of the emperor began with Julius Caesar after his death. In 29 BC, Emperor Augustus granted the provinces of Asia and Bithynia the right to erect temples in Ephesus and Nicaea for the general worship of the goddess Roma and the already deified Julius Caesar. Roman citizens were encouraged and even exhorted to worship at these sanctuaries. Then the next step was taken: Emperor Augustus gave the inhabitants of the provinces, Not who had Roman citizenship, the right to erect temples in Pergamum in Asia and Nicomedia in Bithynia for the worship of the goddess Roma and to myself. At first, worship of the reigning emperor was considered acceptable for residents of the province who did not have Roman citizenship, but not for those who had citizenship.

This had inevitable consequences. It is human nature to worship a god who can be seen, rather than a spirit, and gradually people began to worship the emperor himself more, instead of the goddess Roma. At that time, special permission from the Senate was still needed to build a temple in honor of the reigning emperor, but by the middle of the first century this permission was increasingly granted. The cult of the emperor became the universal religion of the Roman Empire. A caste of priests arose and worship was organized in presbyteries, the representatives of which were accorded the highest honor.

This cult did not at all seek to completely replace other religions. Rome was generally very tolerant in this regard. Man could honor Caesar And their god, but over time, the veneration of Caesar increasingly became a test of trustworthiness; it became, as someone put it, a recognition of the dominion of Caesar over the life and soul of man. Let us trace the development of this cult before the writing of Revelation and immediately after that.

1. Emperor Augustus, who died in 14, allowed the worship of Julius Caesar, his great predecessor. He allowed the inhabitants of the provinces, who did not have Roman citizenship, to worship themselves, but forbade this to his Roman citizens. Note that he did not show any violent measures in this.

2. Emperor Tiberius (14-37) could not stop the cult of Caesar; but he forbade the building of temples and the appointment of priests to establish his cult, and in a letter to the city of Giton in Laconia he decisively refused all divine honors for himself. He not only did not encourage the cult of Caesar, but also discouraged it.

3. The next emperor Caligula (37-41) - an epileptic and a madman with delusions of grandeur, insisted on divine honors for himself, tried to impose the cult of Caesar even on the Jews, who had always been and remained an exception in this regard. He intended to place his image in the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple, which would certainly lead to outrage and rebellion. Fortunately, he died before he could carry out his intentions. But during his reign, worship of Caesar became a requirement throughout the empire.

4. Caligula was replaced by Emperor Claudius (41-54), who completely changed the perverted policy of his predecessor. He wrote to the ruler of Egypt - about a million Jews lived in Alexandria - fully approving of the Jews' refusal to call the emperor a god and giving them complete freedom in the conduct of their worship. Having ascended the throne, Claudius wrote to Alexandria: “I forbid the appointment of me as a high priest and the erection of temples, because I do not want to act against my contemporaries, and I believe that sacred temples and all that in all ages have been attributes of the immortal gods, as well as the special accord given to them honor".

5. Emperor Nero (54-68) did not take his divinity seriously and did nothing to consolidate the cult of Caesar. He, however, persecuted Christians, but not because they did not respect him as a god, but because he needed scapegoats for the great fire of Rome.

6. After the death of Nero, three emperors were replaced in eighteen months: Galba, Otto and Vitelius; With such confusion, the question of the cult of Caesar did not arise at all.

7. The next two emperors - Vespasian (69-79) and Titus (79-81) were wise rulers who did not insist on the cult of Caesar.

8. Everything changed radically with the coming to power of Emperor Domitian (81-96). It was like he was the devil. He was the worst of all - a cold-blooded persecutor. With the exception of Caligula, he was the only emperor who took his divinity seriously and demanding observance of the cult of Caesar. The difference was that Caligula was a mad Satan, and Domitian was mentally healthy, which is much more terrible. He erected a monument to “the divine Titus, son of the divine Vespasian,” and began a campaign of severe persecution of everyone who did not worship the ancient gods - he called them atheists. He especially hated Jews and Christians. When he appeared with his wife at the theater, the crowd must have shouted: “Everyone salutes our master and our lady!” Domitian proclaimed himself a god, informed all provincial rulers that all government messages and announcements should begin with the words: “Our Lord and God Domitian commands...” Any appeal to him - written or oral - had to begin with the words: “Lord and God".

This is the background of Revelation. Throughout the empire, men and women had to call Domitian a god, or die. The cult of Caesar was a deliberately implemented policy. Everyone was supposed to say: “The Emperor is Lord.” There was no other way out.

What could Christians do? What could they hope for? There were not many wise and powerful among them. They had neither influence nor prestige. The power of Rome rose up against them, which no people could resist. Christians were faced with a choice: Caesar or Christ. Revelation was written to inspire people in such difficult times. John did not close his eyes to the horrors; he saw terrible things, he saw even more terrible things ahead, but above all this he saw the glory that awaits the one who refuses Caesar for the love of Christ.

Revelation appeared during one of the most heroic eras in the entire history of the Christian Church. Domitian's successor, Emperor Nerva (96-98), however, abolished the wild laws, but they had already caused irreparable damage: Christians found themselves outside the law, and Revelation turned out to be the trumpet call that called for remaining faithful to Christ until death in order to receive the crown of life .

A BOOK WORTH STUDYING

We cannot close our eyes to the difficulties of Revelation: it is the most difficult book of the Bible, but its study is extremely useful because it contains the burning faith of the Christian Church in an era when life was pure agony, and people were waiting for the end of the heaven and earth they knew, but still They believed that behind the horrors and human rage is the glory and power of God.

POWER OF THE BEAST (Rev. 13)

It is better to review this chapter in its entirety first before studying it in detail. This is all the more important because this chapter is central to the entire book.

The general meaning of the chapter is this. Cast out of heaven, Satan knows his time is short and tries to cause as much harm as possible. To do this, he transferred his power and strength to two animals, who are the central figures of this chapter.

The beast emerging from the sea symbolizes the Roman Empire, the embodiment of evil in John's mind. This beast is described in expressions going back to the Book of the Prophet Daniel. IN Dan. 7.3-7 there is a vision of four beasts coming out of the sea; they symbolize the four empires that ruled the world before and at the time of the writing of the Book of Vice of Daniel. A beast like a lion with eagle wings symbolizes Babylon; bear-like - Mussel; leopard-like, with four wings - Persia; and the fourth - the empire of Alexander the Great. In Daniel's mind, these powers were so savage and inhuman that they could only be compared to beasts. It was only natural for a Jew like John to turn to this picture of brutal empires when he wanted to create a picture of yet another satanic empire threatening the people of God in his day.

In his picture in Revelation, John combines the features of all four in one beast: he is like a leopard; His legs are like those of a bear, and his mouth is like that of a lion. In other words, in John's eyes, the Roman Empire was so satanic that it contained all the horrors of the terrible empires that preceded it.

The beast had seven heads and ten horns. They symbolize Roman rulers and emperors. Since the time of Octavian Augustus, the first Roman emperor, Rome has had seven emperors: Tiberius (14-37); Caligula (37-41); Claudius (41-54); Nero (55-68); Vespasian (69-79); Titus (79-81); Domitian (81-96). These seven emperors are the seven heads of the beast. But, in addition, the beast still ten horns This is explained by this. After the death of Emperor Nero, almost complete chaos reigned in Rome for some time. For eighteen months, the imperial throne was occupied by three people: Galba, Otho and Vitellius. They are not included in John's list of the seven heads, but they are included in the list of the ten horns.

On the heads of the beast, says John, were names are blasphemous. This refers to the titles that emperors assigned to themselves. Every emperor had a title divus or sebastos, What means divine. Often the emperor was even given a name God or God's Son, and on the coins of Emperor Nero was the title he assigned to himself savior of the world. But if a person called himself divine, then this is a blasphemous insult to God. Further, later Roman emperors gave themselves another title dominus, or Greek equivalent kurios, which both matter lord and in the Old Testament are a special title of God, and in the New Testament a special title of Jesus Christ.

The second beast that appears in this chapter, emerging from the earth, symbolizes the entire totality of provincial power and priesthood, which was entrusted with the task of introducing (if necessary by force) the cult of Caesar, which forced Christians to choose: either to say that Caesar is God, or die.

Thus our picture falls apart; these two wild beasts - the Roman power and the organization that enforces the cult of Caesar, began their joint attack on Christians; but not a single people had been able to resist the power of Rome until then. What could Christians hope for - poor, defenseless, outcasts.

THE HEAD THAT WAS WOUNDED AND HEALED

This is another recurring theme in this chapter. Of the seven heads of the beast, one was mortally wounded, but healed (13,3); this head should be worshiped the most (13,12.14); she is evil in the extreme, the primary enemy of Christ.

We have already seen that the seven heads symbolize the seven Roman emperors, and therefore the head, wounded and then healed, symbolizes the emperor who died and then came to life again. This head symbolizes Nero redivivus or the resurrected Nero. This legend merged in the minds of Christians with the idea of the Antichrist.

Only when we understand who Nero was can we imagine how his return could be combined with the coming of the Antichrist.

It is hardly possible to find another person with such bad heredity as Emperor Nero. His father, Kneius Domitius Ahenobarbus, enjoyed the reputation of a most vile person. He once killed his freedman simply because he did not want to drink anymore; on the Appian Way he deliberately ran over a boy with his chariot; during a quarrel at the Forum in Rome, he knocked out the eye of one horseman, and finally died of dropsy, which was a consequence of a dissolute life.

His mother, Agrippina, was one of the most terrible women in history. When Domitius Ahenobarbus learned that he had a son from Agrippina, he cynically declared that nothing could be born between him and Agrippina except horror and grief for humanity. When Nero was three years old, his mother Agrippina was exiled under the Emperor Caligula, and Nero himself was given into the care of his aunt Lepida, who entrusted his upbringing to two vile slaves, one of whom was a hairdresser and the other a dancer.

Under Emperor Claudius, Agrippina was returned from exile. She had only one aspiration: to make her son emperor. Fortune tellers and astrologers warned her that if Nero became emperor, it would end in her death. She replied: “Let him kill me, as long as he reigns.”

Agrippina began to implement her plan with all the passion and machinations of her stormy nature. Claudius already had two children, Octavia and Britannicus, but Agrippina tormented him with her requests to adopt Nero when he was eleven years old and convinced Claudius to marry her, although he was her uncle. Agrippina then demanded that Nero's mentors be the famous philosopher Seneca and the famous military leader Afranius Burrus. Gradually, Britannicus, the heir to the throne, was pushed into the background, and Nero was placed in the spotlight.

Claudius's marriage to Agrippina lasted five years, and then Agrippina arranged for Claudius to be poisoned with porcini mushrooms, and when he lay unconscious, she hastened his death by fanning his neck with a poisoned feather. As soon as Claudius died, Nero was presented as emperor, with the army being bribed to support him.

A strange situation has arisen. The first five years of Nero's reign were the best in the history of imperial Rome. Nero was engaged in painting, sculpture, music, theater; he was a complete amateur, and meanwhile the wise Seneca and the honest Burr ruled the empire.

But then Nero ceased to be a cultural amateur and a series of terrible crimes began. He walked at night in the company of golden youth through the streets of Rome, attacking everyone he met. But the worst was yet to come. He killed Britannicus as a possible rival.

Neither boys nor women were immune from his lust. He was a terrible homosexual; he officially married the boy Spora, having celebrated the wedding with all the rituals, and went with him on a honeymoon to Greece. Then he “married” the freedman Doryphoros; He made her his mistress and then married Poppaea Sabina, the wife of his closest friend Otho, and killed her with a kick when she was pregnant.

He had a passion for wild extravagance and made money out of everything. The imperial palace was a den of murder, immorality and crime.

One of Nero's passions was construction. In 64 the great fire of Rome occurred; the city burned for a whole week. There is not the slightest doubt that Nero arranged it, or at least prevented any attempts to extinguish it, in order to later gain the glory of the man who rebuilt the city again. The people knew well who was responsible for the fire, but Nero shifted the blame to the Christians, and the most exquisitely sadistic of all persecutions began. By his order, Christians were sewn into the skins of wild animals and ferocious hunting dogs were set on them; they were sewn into bags of stones and thrown into the Tiber River; they were coated with resin and lit like living torches to illuminate the palace gardens.

The madness of evil grew stronger and stronger. Seneca was forced to commit suicide; Burrus was killed by a poisoned medicine that Nero sent him to cure a sore throat; They killed anyone who caused the slightest displeasure of Nero.

Agrippina tried to control him and Nero eventually rebelled against her. He made several attempts to kill her with poison; built a piece ceiling over her bed to bring it down on her as she slept; sent her to sea on a special ship, which was supposed to crumble into the sea. Finally, he sent the freedman Anicetus to her to stab her. Agrippina, seeing the dagger, exposed her body: “Strike the womb,” she said, “because it gave birth to Nero.”

It couldn't go on like this. First, Julius Vindex raised an uprising in Galia, then Galba in Spain. Finally, the Senate took the liberty of declaring Nero an enemy of society. He eventually committed suicide at the freedman Phaon's estate.

This is the head that was mortally wounded and healed. The Antichrist, whose coming John was waiting for, was the resurrected Nero.

Now let's look at the chapter in detail, piece by piece. It may be necessary to repeat some things, but in such an important and difficult chapter, repetition can only serve to provide greater clarity.

THE DEVIL AND THE BEAST (Rev. 13:1-5)

Let's start by summarizing what was said in the introduction to this chapter. The beast is the Roman Empire, seven heads - seven emperors, during whose reign the cult of Caesar was mandatory - Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. The ten horns are the seven emperors and three other rulers who were in power together for only eighteen months following the death of Nero - Galba, Otho and Vitellius. The head, mortally wounded and healed, symbolizes the idea Nero redieivus. In this painting, the Roman Empire is symbolized by an animal like a leopard, with legs like a bear and a mouth like a lion.

This indicates a completely changed attitude towards Rome. Paul received only help from the Roman government. The intervention of the Roman authorities and Paul's Roman citizenship repeatedly saved him from the rage and hatred of the Jews; it was like that in Philippi (Acts 16) in Corinth (Acts 18) in Ephesus (Acts 19) and in Jerusalem (Acts 21.22). Paul believed that all authority is from God and all Christians should be subject to it (Rom. 13:1-6). In the letters of Peter, Christians are commanded to be submissive to all authorities and to be good citizens (1 Pet. 2:13-17). In 2 Thess. 2,6.7, Most likely, it should be understood that the Roman Empire is the force that holds the world together, which protects the world from decay and chaos, and man from sin.

In Revelation, everything changed. The cult of Caesar arose. Emperors assign themselves blasphemous titles: divine, son of God, savior, lord. The power of Rome is aimed at crushing the Christian faith; and Rome became an instrument of the devil.

In the description of the beast, the English theologian Sweet sees a symbol of the power of Rome. The empire has the vigilance, strength and ferocity of a leopard, always ready to spring upon its prey; she has the crushing strength of a bear; and the empire is like a lion whose roar frightens the flock.

"Who is like this beast?" This is a dark parody of the great question: “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods?” (Ex. 15:11). Sweet points out that the beast's claim to superiority is not based on moral greatness, but only on brute force. Any empire based on brute force rather than on moral greatness is the enemy of God. Glory of the beast that speaks proudly and blasphemously (13,5), go back to the description in Dan. 7.8.20) small horn.

There is a great truth revealed to us in this passage. Man and nation can choose in this world whether to be an instrument of Satan or an instrument of God.

blasphemy (Rev. 13:6-9)

Verse 6 difficult It says here that the beast opened his mouth to speak blasphemy against God and against His habitation and against all who dwell in heaven.

1. This can be understood as a generalized statement. This may mean that the power of the empire and the cult of Caesar represent a blasphemy of God, heaven and angels. If we take a closer look at this expression, we will see that the word used in the original Greek skins, translated in the Bible as dwelling place of God, means a little more because it matters tent, pavilion, temple, tabernacle, habitat, dwelling. This word skin it has always been associated in the mind of the Jew with the Hebrew word shekinah glory of God, although in general it has nothing to do with him. So it may well be that John was trying to say that the entire way of life of the Roman Empire, and especially the cult of Caesar, was an affront to the glory of God.

2. But this passage may also have a more specific meaning. The beast is the Roman Empire. It is quite possible that John means All ways and cases when Rome - not only in the era of John - offended God and His habitation. Most Roman emperors were shocked by the cult of Caesar, but not Emperor Caligula (37-41) - an epileptic and a madman. He took his divinity very seriously and insisted that he be worshiped by everyone, everywhere.

The Jews had already always been exempted from the worship of Caesar, because the Romans were well aware of their unwavering devotion to the worship of one God. This is closely related to the fact that of all the peoples of the empire, only the Jews were exempted from military service due to their strict observance of the food and Sabbath laws. But Caligula insisted that his image be placed in the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem Temple. The Jews would have preferred to perish all of them rather than endure such a desecration of the Holy One, and Caligula did raise an army to impose his demands by force (Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews 18), but fortunately he died without accomplishing this.

If there was ever a blasphemy against the dwelling of God, then it was undoubtedly the actions of the Emperor Caligula, and it is quite possible that, speaking of the blasphemy of the beast against the dwelling of God, John is thinking about precisely this remarkable incident.

EARTHLY DANGERS AND SAFETY IN HEAVEN (Rev. 13:6-9 continued)

And it was given to the beast to overcome all those whose names are not written in the book of life. The Book of Life is often mentioned in Rev. 3.5; 13.8; 17.8; 20.12.15; 21.27. In the ancient world, kings and rulers kept lists of citizens of their states. If a person died or lost the right of citizenship, his name was crossed out from there. The Book of Life is a list of those who belong to God.

Due to 13,8 The problem of correct translation arises. The Greek text can be translated as: “those whose names were written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain,” and as: “those whose names were written in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” from the creation of the world."

1. The first option is undoubtedly a translation of the parallel passage into 17,8; another close parallel is in Eph. 1.4, where Paul says that God chose us in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. The meaning of the phrase is then that God chose us in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, and nothing in life or death, in time or eternity, nothing that the devil or the Roman Empire can do can snatch them from His hands. This option is accepted in the newest translations of the Bible.

2. The second version of the translation speaks of Jesus Christ as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. A close parallel to this is 1 Pet. 1.19.20, where Peter speaks of Jesus and His sacrifice before the foundation of the world. The Jews believed that the archangel Michael was created before the foundation of the world to act as a mediator between God and Israel, and therefore there was nothing special in the Jewish mind in the phrase that Jesus was chosen before the foundation of the world to be the Redeemer of mankind.

These two translations contain two equally precious truths, but if we have to choose, we will choose the first, because 17,8 John no doubt uses the phrase in this sense.

THE ONLY WEAPON OF CHRISTIANS (Rev. 13:10)

At first glance, this is a difficult passage: “He who leads into captivity must himself go into captivity [in Barclay: he who must go into captivity, let him go into captivity]; he who kills with the sword must himself be killed with the sword. Here is patience and faith saints."

This verse is made up of two quotes. It begins with a quote from Jer. 15.2, where Jeremiah must convey to his people that he who is doomed to death must go to death; those who are doomed to go under the sword must go under the sword; those who are doomed to hunger must starve; and whoever must go into captivity must go into captivity. The point is that God's judgment cannot be avoided. This is followed by a quotation from the words of Jesus in Mat.26.52. When the crowd came to arrest Him in the Garden of Gethsemane and Peter drew his sword to protect Him, Jesus said, “Return your sword to its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

There are three points to note here.

1. If the Christian faith foretells imprisonment, the Christian must accept it unconditionally. A Christian must accept whatever may befall him for following Christ.

2. Christianity cannot be defended by force; He who picks up a sword will die by the sword. When the Roman government began to persecute Christians, there were about one hundred thousand of them, but it never occurred to them to use force and resist. To defend the gospel of God's love using human violence to do so is an incredible contradiction.

3. The weapons that a Christian can use in this struggle are patience and faith. Patience- Greek Hupomone. This does not mean passively enduring everything, but courageously accepting the worst that life can bring and turning it into glory. Faith - in Greek pistis, and this means unwavering devotion to the Lord.

POWER AND AUTHORITY OF THE SECOND BEAST (Rev. 13:11-17)

This passage speaks of the power and strength of the second beast - the officials and administrations created to instill the cult of Caesar throughout the empire. Something is also said about his strength.

1. He does great signs and wonders. So, for example, he brings down fire from heaven to earth, and he made the image of the beast speak. There were statues of the emperor everywhere, before which the official act of worship was performed. In all ancient religions, priests knew how to perform signs and wonders, how to create the impression of a talking statue. Pharaoh had his sorcerers in the time of Moses; the imperial priests were also experts in tricks and ventriloquism.

IN 13,11 interesting phrase. The beast from the earth has two horns, like the horns of a lamb, that is, he is a dark likeness of the Lamb in the Christian sense of the word, which spoke like a dragon. It is very possible that this last phrase should sound like this: said like a serpent. Then this would be an indication of the serpent who seduced Eve in the Garden of Eden. The priests of the imperial cult could also utter seductive phrases: “Look what Rome has done for you. Look what peace and prosperity it has given you; have you ever seen a greater benefactor than our emperor? Of course, out of pure gratitude you can commit this formal act of worshiping him." An excellent case can always be made for the Church's need to compromise with the world; but the fact is that by doing this, she once again betrays Christ.

2. The passage shows that anyone who does not worship the beast will be killed. And so it stood in the law. A Christian who refused to perform an act of worship to Caesar was to be killed. The death penalty, however, was not always carried out; but a Christian who did not have the mark of the beast could neither buy nor sell. That is, anyone who refused to worship the emperor, even if his life was spared, was economically destroyed. The world knows well how to put pressure on those who do not accept its norms. And today a person often must choose between material success and loyalty to Jesus Christ.

THE MARK OF THE BEAST (Rev. 13:11-17 continued)

All who rendered the obeisance required of them to the emperor received mark of the beast on the right hand or on the forehead. This marking is another of the dark parodies in this chapter; this is a parody of a sacred Jewish custom. When a Jew prayed, he had on his left hand and forehead phylacteries, small leather cases with small rolls of parchment on which texts were written Ref. 13.1-10; 13.11-16; Deut. 6.4-9; 11.13-21.

Inscription, in Greek haragma, may go back to several ancient customs.

1. Sometimes domestic slaves were branded with the mark (sign) of the owner. But usually only slaves who had run away or committed a serious crime were branded. Such a mark or sign was called stigma - this word is still used in English. If style associated with this sign or mark, then John wanted to say that the one who worships the beast is his property.

2. Sometimes warriors branded themselves with the name of their commander, to whom they were very loyal. This corresponds to some extent to the modern custom of tattooing the name of a particularly dear person on one's body. If John meant this mark, then he meant that whoever worships the beast is his devoted follower.

3. On each purchase and sale agreement there was a haragma, seal, and on the seal is the name of the emperor and the date. If John had this mark in mind, then he wanted to say that whoever worships the beast recognizes its power.

4. All the coins had the head and name of the emperor stamped on them, indicating that they belonged to him. If John had this writing in mind, he again wanted to say that anyone who has such a mark is the property of the beast.

5. A person who burned his stick of incense in honor of Caesar received a certificate stating that he had done so. The mark of the beast may be this certificate of fulfillment of the ceremony of worship of Caesar, which a Christian could only obtain at the cost of renouncing his faith.

NUMBER OF THE BEAST (Rev. 13:18)

This verse says that the number of the beast is six hundred and sixty-six; and it must be confessed that more ingenuity has been expended on this verse than on any other verse of Scripture. Who is this satanic beast represented here by such a symbolic number? We must remember that in antiquity there were no numbers, and the function of numbers was also performed by the letters of the alphabet. So, in Cyrillic (Russian alphabet) A meant 1; B-2; AT 3; G-4, etc. Thus, every word, and therefore every name, can also be a number. One sweet and romantic example of this use is given by Gustav Deisman. On the walls of Pompeii, one lover wrote: “I love the one whose number is 545,” and thereby named the name of his beloved and at the same time hid it!

Countless speculations have been made regarding the number 666. Due to the fact that this is the name of the beast, it was distorted in any way possible to fit their sworn enemy; and therefore 666 also meant the Pope, Napoleon, the leader of German Protestantism Martin Luther, the founder of the Scottish Presbyterian Church John Knox and many others. So, during the Second World War they managed to create a system according to which it turned out that 666 was Hitler!

At the very beginning we said that Revelation is written in coded language; therefore, it is quite obvious that here, where the name of the sworn enemy of the Church was concerned, the most reliable code was chosen. Oddly enough, the key to the code was apparently lost very early on, because even such a great theologian as Irenaeus of Lyons, who lived in the second century, did not know what stood behind this symbolic number.

We present here four of the earliest assumptions.

Irenaeus of Lyon suggested that it could symbolize Euanfas. In Greek: E - 5; U - 400; A - 1; N - 50; F - 9; A - 1; C - 200; and the amount is 666. But what Euanfas is - Irenaeus knew nothing about this; that is, he replaced one riddle with another.

It has been suggested that this word Lateinos. L - 30; A - 1; T - 300; E - 5; I - 10; N - 50; O - 70; C - 200; the amount is 666. Under lateinos could be understood as Latin and therefore could symbolize the Roman Empire.

The third assumption was that the word is Teitan. T - 300; E - 5; I - 10; T - 300; A - 1; H -50; and the sum is 666. From teitanos two values could be obtained. In ancient Greek mythology, the Titans rebelled against God. Secondly, the emperors Vespasian, Titus and Domitian were from the Titus family, and perhaps they could be called titans.

The fourth suggested that this word Arnoume. A - 1; R - 100; N - 50; O - 70; U -400; M - 40; E - 5; and the amount is 666. There is a possibility that Arnoume - this is a form of the Greek word arnoumay, -"I deny." In this case, the number symbolizes the denial of the name of Christ.

None of these assumptions seem convincing. The chapter itself offers us the best clue to the mystery. Again and again there is mention of a mortally wounded head, which was then healed. As we have already seen, this head symbolizes the legend of Emperor Nero Nero redivivus, and, therefore, we may well make the assumption that the number has something to do with Nero. In many ancient lists, the number is given as 616. If we write the name Nero in Latin letters and give them numerical values, we get: N - 50; E -6; R - 500; O - 60; N - 50, and the sum - 666; if you write the name Nero without the last N, the sum will be 616. And if the words Caesar Nero transcribed with Hebrew consonants, their sum will also be equal to 666.

There is no doubt that the number of the beast symbolizes the Emperor Nero, and that John predicts the coming of the Antichrist in the form of Nero, the embodiment of evil, who has returned to this earth.

Commentary (introduction) to the entire book of Revelation

Comments on Chapter 13

As we read the words of this Prophecy, our hearts should be filled with praise to our Lord for the grace that has saved us from all that is to come in this age. Another blessing for us is the assurance of final victory and glory. Arnaud S. Gabelin

Introduction

I. SPECIAL POSITION IN THE CANON

The uniqueness of the last book of the Bible is obvious from the very first word - "Revelation", or, in the original, "Apocalypse". This is the word that means "secrets revealed"- equivalent of our word "Apocalypse", a type of writing that we find in the OT in Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, but only here in the NT. It refers to prophetic visions of the future and uses symbols, imagery, and other literary devices.

Revelation not only sees the fulfillment of all that was foretold and the final triumph of God and the Lamb in future, it also connects the disjointed endings of the first 65 books of the Bible. In fact, this book can only be understood by knowing the entire Bible. Images, symbols, events, numbers, colors, etc. - almost We have encountered all this previously in the Word of God. Someone rightly called this book the "great main station" of the Bible, because all the "trains" arrive at it.

What kind of trains? Trains of thinking that originate in the book of Genesis and trace the idea of atonement, ideas about the people of Israel, the pagans, the Church, Satan - the enemy of God's people, the Antichrist and much more, running through all subsequent books as a red thread.

The Apocalypse (since the fourth century so often erroneously called the "Revelation of St. John" and so rarely the "Revelation of Jesus Christ," 1:1) is the necessary climax of the Bible. He tells us how everything will happen.

Even a cursory reading of it should serve as a stern warning to unbelievers to repent, and as encouragement to God's people to persevere in the faith!

The book itself tells us that its author is John (1.1.4.9; 22.8), writing at the command of his Lord Jesus Christ. Long-standing compelling and widespread external evidence support the view that the John in question is the Apostle John, son of Zebedee, who spent many years working in Ephesus (Asia Minor, where all the seven churches addressed in chapters 2 and 3 were located). He was exiled by Domitian to Patmos, where he described the visions that our Lord vouchsafed him to see. Later he returned to Ephesus, where he died in a good old age, full of days. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria and Origen all attribute this book to John. More recently, a book called the Apocrypha of John (circa 150 AD) was found in Egypt, which quite definitely attributes the Revelation to John, the brother of James.

The first opponent of the authorship of the apostle was Dionysius of Alexandria, but he did not want to recognize John as the author of Revelation for the reason that he was against the teaching of the Millennial Kingdom (Rev. 20). His vague, unsubstantiated references first to John Mark and then to “John the Presbyter” as the possible authors of Revelation could not withstand such convincing evidence, although many modern more liberal theologians also reject the authorship of the Apostle John. There is no evidence in church history confirming the existence of such a person as John the presbyter (elder), except the author of the 2nd and 3rd epistles of John. But these two epistles are written in the same style as 1 John, and are also very similar in simplicity and vocabulary to Heb. from John.

If the external evidence given above is quite strong, then internal evidence are not so certain. The vocabulary, rather of a crude "Semitic" Greek style (there are even a few expressions that philologists would call solecisms, stylistic errors), as well as the word order convince many that the man who wrote the Apocalypse could not have written the Gospel.

However, these differences are understandable, and there are also many similarities between these books.

For example, some believe that Revelation was written much earlier, in the 50s or 60s (the reign of Claudius or Nero), and Gospel John wrote much later, in the 90s, when he had improved his knowledge of the Greek language. However, this explanation is difficult to prove.

It is quite possible that when John wrote the Gospel, he had a scribe, and during his exile to Patmos he was completely alone. (This in no way violates the doctrine of inspiration, since God uses the personal style of the author, and not the general style of all the books of the Bible.) In both the Gospel of John and Revelation we find common themes such as light and darkness. The words “Lamb,” “overcome,” “word,” “faithful,” “living waters,” and others also unite these two works. In addition, both John (19:37) and Revelation (1:7) quote Zechariah (12:10), while in the meaning of “pierced” they use not the same word that we find in the Septuagint, but a completely different word with the same meaning. (In the Gospel and Revelation the verb is used ekkentesan; in the Septuagint in Zechariah its form katorchesanto.)

Another reason for the differences in vocabulary and style between the Gospel and Revelation is the very different literary genres. In addition, much of the Hebrew phraseology in Revelation is borrowed from descriptions that are widespread throughout the OT.

So, the traditional opinion that the Apostle John, son of Zebedee and brother of James, really wrote Revelation, has a historically solid basis, and all the problems that arise can be resolved without denying his authorship.

III. WRITING TIME

The earliest date for the writing of Revelation is believed by some to be the 50s or late 60s. As noted, this partly explains the less elaborate artistic style of Revelation.

Some believe that the number 666 (13.18) was a prediction about the Emperor Nero, who was supposedly supposed to be resurrected.

(In Hebrew and Greek, letters also have a numerical value. For example, aleph and alpha - 1, beth and beta - 2, etc. Thus, any name can be represented using numbers. Interestingly enough, the Greek name Jesus ( Iesous) denoted by 888. The number eight is the number of a new beginning and resurrection. It is believed that the numerical designation of the letters of the name of the beast is 666. Using this system and slightly changing the pronunciation, “Caesar Nero” can be represented by the number 666. Other names can be represented by this number, but we need to avoid such rash assumptions.)

This suggests an early date. The fact that this event did not happen does not affect the perception of the book. (Perhaps he proves that Revelation was written much later than the reign of Nero.) The Church Fathers quite specifically point to the end of the reign of Domitian (about 96) as the time when John was on Patmos, where he received the Revelation. Since this opinion is earlier, well-founded, and widely held among orthodox Christians, there is every reason to accept it.

IV. PURPOSE OF WRITING AND TOPIC

The key to understanding the book of Revelation is simple - to imagine that it is divided into three parts. Chapter 1 describes John's vision of Christ in the robe of a Judge standing in the midst of seven churches. Chapters 2 and 3 cover the Church age in which we live. The remaining 19 chapters deal with future events following the end of the Church Age. The book can be divided as follows:

1. What John saw that is, the vision of Christ as Judge of the churches.

2. What is: a survey of the Church age from the death of the apostles to the time when Christ takes His saints into heaven (chapters 2 and 3).

3. What will happen after this: description of future events after the rapture of the saints into the Eternal Kingdom (chap. 4 - 22).

The contents of this section of the book can be easily remembered by making the following outline: 1) chapters 4-19 describe the great tribulation, a period spanning at least seven years when God will judge unbelieving Israel and the unbelieving Gentiles; this judgment is described using the following figurative objects: a) seven seals; b) seven pipes; c) seven bowls; 2) Chapters 20-22 cover the second coming of Christ, His reign on earth, the Great White Throne Judgment, and the Eternal Kingdom. During the Great Tribulation period, the seventh seal contains seven trumpets. And the seventh trumpet is also the seven bowls of wrath. Therefore, the great tribulation can be depicted in the following diagram:

SEAL *1-2-3- 4-5-6-7*
	PIPES *1-2-3-4-5-6-7*
	BOWLS *1-2-3-4-5-6-7*

Inserted episodes in the book

The above diagram shows the main plot of the entire book of Revelation. However, there are frequent digressions throughout the narrative, the purpose of which is to introduce the reader to various important personalities and events of the great tribulation. Some writers call them interludes, or inserted episodes. Here are the main interludes:

1. 144,000 sealed Jewish saints (7:1-8).

2. Believing pagans during this period (7.9 -17).

3. Strong Angel with a book (chapter 10).

4. Two witnesses (11.3-12).

5. Israel and the dragon (chapter 12).

6. Two beasts (chapter 13).

7. 144,000 with Christ on Mount Zion (14:1-5).

8. Angel with the candlelight Gospel (14.6-7).

9. Preliminary announcement of the fall of Babylon (14.8).

10. Warning to those who worship the beast (14:9-12).

11. Harvest and grape gathering (14:14-20).

12. Destruction of Babylon (17.1 - 19.3).

Symbolism in the book

The language of Revelation is mostly symbolic. Numbers, colors, minerals, precious stones, animals, stars and lamps all symbolize people, things or various truths.

Luckily, some of these symbols are explained in the book itself. For example, seven stars are the Angels of the seven churches (1.20); the big dragon is the devil, or Satan (12.9). Clues to understanding some other symbols are found in other parts of the Bible. The four living creatures (4:6) are almost the same as the four living creatures in Ezekiel (1:5-14). And Ezekiel (10:20) says that these are cherubim. The leopard, bear and lion (13.2) remind us of Daniel (7), where these wild animals represent the world empires: Greece, Persia and Babylon, respectively. Other symbols are not clearly explained in the Bible, so one must be very careful in interpreting them.

The purpose of writing the book

As we study the book of Revelation, and indeed the entire Bible, we must remember that there is a difference between the Church and Israel. The Church is a people belonging to heaven, their blessings are spiritual, their calling is to share the glory of Christ as His Bride. Israel is God's ancient people living on earth, to whom God promised the land of Israel and a literal Kingdom on earth under the leadership of the Messiah. The true Church is mentioned in the first three chapters, and then we do not see it until the wedding feast of the Lamb (19:6-10).

The period of great tribulation (4.1 - 19.5) in its nature is predominantly the period of the Jews.

In conclusion, it remains to add that not all Christians interpret Revelation as stated above. Some believe that the prophecies of this book were fully fulfilled during the history of the early Church. Others teach that Revelation presents a continuing picture of the Church of all times, from John to the very end.

This book teaches all of God's children that living for the sake of what is transitory is meaningless. It encourages us to be a witness to the lost and encourages us to wait patiently for the return of our Lord. For non-believers, this is an important warning that a terrible destruction awaits all who reject the Savior.

Plan

I. WHAT JOHN SAW (Ch. 1)

A. Theme of the book and greeting (1.1-8)

B. Vision of Christ in a judge's robe (1:9-20)

II. WHAT IS: MESSAGES FROM OUR LORD (Ch. 2 - 3)

A. Epistle to the Church of Ephesus (2:1-7)

B. Epistle to the Church of Smyrna (2:8-11)

B. Epistle to the Church of Pergamum (2:12-17)

D. Epistle to the Church of Thyatira (2:18-29)

E. Epistle to the Sardinian Church (3:1-6) E. Epistle to the Philadelphia Church (3:7-13)

G. Epistle to the Laodicean Church (3:14-22)

III. WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER THIS (Ch. 4 - 22)

A. Vision of God's Throne (Chapter 4)

B. The Lamb and the Book Sealed with Seven Seals (Ch. 5)

B. Opening of the seven seals (Chapter 6)

D. Saved During the Great Tribulation (Ch. 7)

D. The Seventh Seal. Seven trumpets begin to sound (Ch. 8 - 9)

E. Strong Angel with a book (Ch. 10)

G. Two Witnesses (11.1-14) H. Seventh Trumpet (11.15-19)

I. The main characters in the great tribulation (Ch. 12 - 15)

J. The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath (Ch. 16)

L. The Fall of the Great Babylon (Ch. 17 - 18)

M. The Coming of Christ and His Millennial Kingdom (19.1 - 20.9).

N. Judgment of Satan and all unbelievers (20:10-15)

O. New heaven and new earth (21.1 - 22.5)

P. Final Warnings, Consolations, Invitations and Blessings (22:6-21)

13,1 Chapter 13 introduces us to two big beasts: one beast coming out of the sea, and another coming out of the land or country, that is, from Israel. There is no doubt that these beasts symbolize people who will play prominent roles during the Great Tribulation. They combine the features of the four beasts from Daniel 7:3-7.

The first beast is the head of the restored Roman Empire, which will exist in the form of ten states.

He's coming out from the sea, prototype of the pagan peoples. He has ten horns.

Daniel predicted that the Roman Empire would be restored to ten states (Dan. 7:24). He has seven goals. In 17:9-10 they are said to be seven kings, a likely reference to seven different rulers or seven different stages of the empire. He has ten tiara on their horns. They talk about the power to rule given to him by the dragon, Satan. On his heads are blasphemous names, and he declares himself that he is not just a man, but God.

13,2 Beast look like leopard, his legs are like at the bear, and mouth, like a lion.

Daniel's (7) leopard is a prototype of Greece; the bear is a prototype of Medo-Persia; A a lion represents Babylon.

Thus, the restored Roman Empire is similar to its predecessors in that it wins quickly, like a leopard; as strong as bear; And insatiable How a lion. In short, it combines all the sinful features of previous world empires. This empire and its ruler receive supernatural power from Satan.

13,3 This beast has a deadly mark on one of its heads. wound. Scofield explains: "The fragments of the ancient Roman Empire never ceased to exist as separate states. The imperial form of government ceased to exist - one head, wounded to death." ( The Scofield Reference Bible, p. 1342.) The mortal wound is healed. In other words, the empire was restored, led by an emperor called beast.

13,4 People bowed to the beast. They not only marvel at him, they actually worship him as God. They also worship dragon.

13,5-6 The beast proudly boasts and utters unspeakable blasphemy.

He is allowed act, or wage war forty two months. He shows gross disrespect towards name God His the tabernacle and to those who dwell on sky.

13,7 He leads war with the people of God and overcomes many. They prefer to die rather than submit to him. His power extends over the entire world - the last world empire before the Kingdom of Christ.

13,8 Those who were not true believers readily bowed beast because they never believed in Christ, their names were never written in the Lamb's book of life. And since their names were not found among the redeemed, they were given over to their error. They refused to believe the truth, and now they believed a lie.

13,9 This should be a warning to everyone to embrace the light of God's Word while you still can.

The result of refusing the light is a retreat from the light.

13,10 True believers can be sure that their persecutors are themselves will be captured And will be killed with the sword.

This gives saints the strength to wait with by faith And patience.

13,11 Second beast- another main character in the great tribulation. He works closely with the first beast, even organizing an international campaign of worship of the first beast and a huge idol representing the Roman emperor. Second beast comes out of the ground or country. If the country of Israel is meant, then this ruler is, in all likelihood, a Jew. He is a false prophet (see 16:13; 19:20; 20:10). He has two horns, horn-like lamb, giving him a noble and innocent appearance, and also suggesting that he personifies the Lamb of God. He says, like a dragon showing thereby that his power and inspiration come directly from Satan.

13,12-14 He operates with all the authority of the first beast; this means that the Roman Emperor will give him unlimited power to act in his place. He has supernatural power, so he can even bring down fire from the sky. Of course, the purpose of these miracles is to deceive people into worshiping man as God.

13,15 He puts his spirit into this big one image, the hideous abomination of desolation, so that he can actually speak. Retribution for refusal bow- death.

13,16 The second beast insists that the people prove their loyalty to the Roman emperor by accepting sign - outline beast on the right hand or forehead.

13,17 In addition to this sign, the beast has Name and mysterious number. If a person does not accept style, name or number of the beast he won't be able to neither buy nor sell. This is an attempt by economic methods to force people to change Christ for the sake of idolatry. This is a cruel test, but true believers will prefer death to denying their Savior.

13,18 The number of the beast is 666. Six is a human number. The fact that it is one less than seven may suggest that man has fallen from the glory of God or God's perfection. Three sixes are a sinful trinity.

One of the most important questions that arises from chapter 13 is who the Antichrist really is. first beast or second. Essentially, the argument that the Antichrist is the first beast is that he is the one who insists on being worshiped as God. Those who hold the opinion that the Antichrist is the second beast argue that no Jew would ever accept a pagan as the Messiah, and since the second beast is a Jew, he must be the false messiah.

The chapter describes the exploration of the land where the Israelites were heading and where milk and honey flowed.
Only two of the twelve had confidence in God and that He would easily bring His people into any land, even if it was inhabited by strong human warriors. Later, God appreciated this trust in Him on the part of the descendants of Ephraim and Judah (Ephraim received the “blessing of the firstborn” of Joseph, although he was second after Manasseh, Gen. 48:17-19, Judah will become the ancestor of Christ, Gen. 49:10).

13:1-16 After this the people moved from Ashiroth and stopped in the wilderness of Paran.
2 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
3 Send men from among you to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel. Send one man at a time from the tribe of their fathers, the chief of them.
4 And Moses sent them out of the wilderness of Paran, according to the commandment of the Lord, and they were all chief men of the children of Israel.
5 These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Sammuah, the son of Zakhur,
6 Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Horite,
7 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh,
8 Of the tribe of Issachar, Yigal the son of Joseph,
9 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun,
10 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Phalti the son of Rafu,
11 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi,
12 Of the tribe of Joseph from Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Sushi,
13 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli,
14 Of the tribe of Asher, Sephur the son of Michael,
15 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Bothsi,
16 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi
Once the community of Israel was camped in the wilderness of Paran, God prompted Moses to scout out the quality of the land of Canaan and send one man from each tribe on this mission. Each of the spies (chief in the ancestral tribe of the children of Israel) is named here indicating the tribe to which he belonged (verses 4-16).
Of particular interest to us in light of further developments are Caleb, the representative of Judah (verse 7), and Hoshea, the chosen one of Ephraim (verse 9).

13:17 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua
Moses calls the name of Hoshea, the son of Nun, Joshua. Hosea means “salvation,” Jesus means “Jehovah is salvation.” Perhaps this is what we are talking about in Numbers 11:28, when Joshua became jealous of Moses. And it is he who God will subsequently choose as the successor of Moses, under whose leadership God gave Israel the opportunity to conquer the Promised Land.

13:18-2 1 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go to this southern country and go up to the mountain,
19 And consider the land, what kind of thing it is, and the people who live in it, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many?
20 And what is the land where he lives, is it good or bad? and what are the cities in which he lives, whether he lives in tents or in fortifications?
21 And what is the earth like, is it fat or lean? is there a tree on [it] or not? be bold and take from the fruits of the earth. It was around the time the grapes ripened.
Before entering the territory of the promised land, Moses ordered to reconnoiter the path and find out who they would have to deal with. The path that the scouts followed led to a mountainous country.

The reconnaissance mission was clearly defined: to examine what this land is like in itself, and to find out whether the tribes living on it are strong or weak. Although Israel was under the supervision of God, nevertheless, they would have to conquer the land themselves, as well as plan strategic and tactical actions to advance to the promised places.

13:22,23 They went and spied out the land from the wilderness of Sin even to Rehob, near Hamath;
23 And they went into the southern country, and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Seshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, dwelt: and Hebron was built seven years before Zoan, [the city of] Egypt;
The route followed by the reconnaissance party began in the desert of Sin and extended north to Hamath, a major Aramean city in the large central valley. Hamath was located at the bottom of this valley, which began immediately north of the Sea of Galilee.

On their way back, the twelve leaders passed through Hebron. Hebron is specially mentioned for several reasons: 1) it played an important role in the life of the patriarchs (Gen. 12:14-18; 14:13; 23:2; 25:9; 35:27-29; 50:13); 2) was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt 3) very fertile lands lay around it 4) Hebron became the property of Caleb (Joshua 14:13-15). 5) it later became the capital of King David when he ruled Judea (2 Sam. 2:1-4; 5:5).
In the days of Moses, Hebron was the city of the sons of Anak, a tribe of tall people (Num. 13:33; Deut. 9:2), who were later to become the implacable enemies of Israel (Joshua 15:13-14).

After Joshua conquered Canaan, Hebron became one of the most important cities in Israel.

13:24-26 and they came to the valley of Eschol, and there they cut a vine branch with one bunch of berries, and two carried it on a pole; [they also took] pomegranates and figs;
25 This place was called the valley of Eschol, because of the bunch of grapes that the children of Israel cut there.
26 And having spied the land, they returned after forty days
The Valley of Eshkhol (“brush of grapes”) was located near Hebron. There the reconnaissance cut such a huge and heavy branch with one bunch of berries that it took two men to carry it. Grapes, pomegranates and figs grew in this valley; after 40 days of inspecting nearby lands, the entire group of scouts returned to the Israeli camp with a report.

13:27-30 And they went and came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought an answer to them and to the whole congregation, and showed them the fruits of the land;
28 And they told him and said, “We went into the land to which you sent us; it truly flows with milk and honey, and these are its fruits;
29 But the people that dwell in that land are strong, and the fortified cities are very large, and we saw the sons of Anak there;
30 Amalek lives in the southern part of the earth, the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live on the mountain, and the Canaanites live by the sea and on the banks of the Jordan.

The Israelis returning from reconnaissance showed everyone their trophies and assured the community that Canaan was indeed a land flowing with milk and honey. However, shortcomings were also discovered there: the surveyed territory was inhabited by the sons of Anak - the descendants of Anak, the ancestor of a tribe of tall and strong people (Deut. 1:28; Joshua 11:21,22; 14:12,15; Judges 1:20 ). The scouts were horrified by the presence of these huge warriors.
In addition, they saw very large and fortified cities there and came to the conclusion that the peoples living there were strong, including the Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites (Canaanites who settled on the coastal plain of the Mediterranean Sea and in the Jordan Valley)

Reference from a study by Dallas Seminary scientists :
The Canaanites were the original inhabitants of Canaan, a descendant of Ham. The Amorites came there from northeastern Aram (Syria), somewhere at the very end of the third millennium BC; they drove the Canaanites out of the mountainous part of the country and settled there. The Hittites originated from central Anatolia (modern Türkiye); they have been known since about 1800 BC; They slowly spread to the south and southeast and probably merged with the Amorites in Canaan.

Nothing is known about the Jebusites, except that the bulk of them lived in Jerusalem; they are considered one of the Amorite groups (Joshua 10:5). They held Jerusalem for another four hundred years after Moses, but were then driven out by King David, who took the city and made it his capital in 1004 BC. (2 Samuel 5:6-10).

13:31,32 But Caleb calmed the people before Moses, saying: Let us go and take possession of her, for we can overcome her.
32 And those who went with him said, “We cannot go against this people, for they are stronger than us.”
Narrating about the cities and inhabitants of the surveyed territory, the squad of scouts was divided in opinion. Caleb encouraged Moses to go ahead and take possession of the land without delay. He was completely confident that they would be able to take possession of this land. Joshua agreed with Caleb; this is indirectly mentioned later (see 14:6-9)

The remaining 10 people were pessimistic, they say, the forces are unequal, there is no need to go there. Naturally, the opinion of the majority had more weight, all this dampened the people, especially since these ten not only reported negatively, but also began to spread bad rumors among the people about the land that God offered them:

13:33,34 And they spread a bad report about the land that they were exploring among the children of Israel, saying: The land that we passed through to explore is a land that devours those who live in it, and all the people that we saw in its midst were tall people;
34 There we also saw giants, the sons of Anak, from the giant family; and we were in our sight [before them] like locusts, and so were we in their sight.
The evil rumor about the consuming land (where wars do not stop) spread through the efforts and efforts of ten - to the entire people. We’ll find out what this will lead to in the next chapter.
Here the sons of Anak are also called “giants”; compare Deut. 9:2. The word "giant" is also used in Gen. 6:4 to describe the strong and tall people (nephilim) who lived on the earth before the flood and did much evil.
Their presence before the flood led to the condemnation of the antediluvian world, and their presence in Canaan also predicted the imminence of God's judgment on this land.

Vision of a beast with seven heads and ten horns.

1 . And I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast coming out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns: on its horns were ten crowns, and on its heads were blasphemous names. Dan. 7:7, Rev. 12:3, Rev. 17:3

2 . The beast that I saw was like a leopard; His legs are like those of a bear, and his mouth is like the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his strength and his throne and great authority.

3 . And I saw that one of his heads seemed to be mortally wounded, but this mortal wound was healed. And all the earth marveled as they watched the beast, and they worshiped the dragon, who had given power to the beast,

4 . And they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like this beast? and who can fight him?

5 . And a mouth was given to him speaking proudly and blasphemously, and authority was given to him to continue for forty-two months. Dan. 7:8, Dan. 11:36

6 . And he opened his mouth to blaspheme God, to blaspheme His name, and His habitation, and them that dwell in heaven.

7 . And it was given to him to make war with the saints and defeat them; and authority was given to him over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. Dan. 7:21, Rev. 11:7

8 . And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names were not written in the book of life of the Lamb, who was slain from the foundation of the world. Dan. 12:1, Phil. 4:3, Rev. 17:8, Rev. 21:27

9 . He who has an ear, let him hear.

10 . He who leads into captivity will himself go into captivity; whoever kills with the sword must himself be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints. Life 9:6, Isa. 33:1, Matt. 26:52, Rev. 14:12

Vision of a beast with two horns, whose number is 666.

11 . And I saw another beast coming out of the earth; he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.

12 . He acts before him with all the power of the first beast and forces the whole earth and those living on it to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed;

13 . And he performs great signs, so much so that he brings down fire from heaven to earth before people. Deut. 13:2, Matt. 24:24, Rev. 16:14

14 . And with the miracles that it was given to him to perform before the beast, he deceives those who live on the earth, telling those who live on the earth to make an image of the beast, which has the wound of the sword and is alive.

15 . And it was given to him to put spirit into the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would speak and act in such a way that anyone who would not worship the image of the beast would be killed.

16 . And he will cause everyone - small and great, rich and poor, free and slave - to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, Rev. 14:11

17 . And that no one will be able to buy or sell except the one who has this mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 . Here is wisdom. He who has intelligence, count the number of the beast, for it is a human number; its number is six hundred and sixty-six. Rev. 17:9