Revelation 13

Revelation 13:1-18

We have in this chapter a further discovery and description of the church’s process, not other persons than are mentioned before, and described after another moment, that the methods of their coming, may have fully奏出; they are interpreted in our behalf; the first year here on account of, viz: 1—17. the second, viz: 11.

1. AND I flood upon the land of the sea, and saw a beall rise up out of the sea, having seven heads; and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2. And the beall which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his feet, and great authority. 3. And I saw one of his heads, as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wounded after the beall. 4. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beall: and they worshipped the beall, saying, Who is like unto the beall? who is able to make war with him? 5. And there was given unto him a mouth, speaking great things, and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb’s skin from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10. He that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity! He that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

2. 1—10. Another vision relative to the same events as the foregoing here appears.

3. A beall rises out of the sea, with seven heads, ten horns, and crowns upon his horns, and names of blasphemy thereon, like a leopard, with the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion, denoting the heathen, cruelty, and strength of the antichristian, idolatrous, and blasphemous flare which should arise out of the communions which had shaken the empire. To this beall, that is, to the pope and his adherents, the devil would delegate his power and authority, enabling the man of sin to work his lying miracles, and establish his hat and capital at Rome, where, during the reign of paganism, Satan especially devils.

4. A deadly wound was given to the beall; which some refer to the lacking of the city at Rome by the Goths, and the removal of the supreme authority from thence during the exercise of Ravenna; and others, to the blow the church of Rome received at the reformation; and this wound was heard; either Rome itself, under the papal government, rose to unexpected greatness, and was held in veneration by the wondering world; or this may refer to the recovery of the papal inter alia since the reformation, and which it is supposed will flourish more than ever before the final downfall of popery.

5. The people, who wondered after the beall, worshipped the dragon, the idolatrous worship of the church of Rome being, in fact, the adoration of Satan himself; and they worshipped the beall, his delegate, ascribing divine honours and titles to the pope, exalting him above all princes and potentates, and ascribing to him a kind of omnipotence upon earth: which he, by horrid blasphemies, assuming the very prerogatives of the most high God, pretended, by the plenitude of his power, to forgive him, to alter God’s revealed will, to have dominion over men’s consciences, and to enlist canons equally, or more obligatory than the laws of God himself; blaspheming his name, and his tabernacle the church, and them that dwell in heaven, the citizens of the New Jerusalem, the faithful whom he and the others, or the saints and angels whose names he uses in his idolatrous worship. During the period of 1200 years his dominion will endure, and by Divine Providence he will be permitted to make war with the saints who reside to Christ to his triumphant sake, and to overcome them, obliging all, whose names are not written in the book of life, to worship him and submit to his idolatrous decrees. Next, And all the most real delusions and prevalence of iniquity, God’s chosen sons shall be featured.

6. For

7. For the comfort of God’s people, a solemn note of attention is added, and they are called to hear. This antichristian power, that enslaves and destroys others, shall as surely be subdued and destroyed in its turn; and God’s saints, now with patience enduring their persecutions, must with faith confidently expect that this will be the issue. Now, it requires much faith and patience, in suffering times, to hold fast the promises of God and wait their fulfilment.

8. And I beheld another beall coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. 12. And he exercised all the power of the first beall before him, and cauleth the earth, and them which dwell therein, to worship the first beall, whose deadly wound was healed. 13. And he doth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men. 14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beall, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beall which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15. And he had power to give the unto the image of the beall, that the image of the beall should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beall, should be killed. 16. And he cauleth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beall, or the number of his name. 18. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beall: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threefores and six.

Another beall, or the same power under another form, appears like a lamb with two horns, the symbol of his dominion temporal and spiritual, who with all pretended men, tells and humility, hath all the pride and rage of the old dragon, exercising all the power of the first beall, and causing all the earth to worship him, and own his universal, temporal as well as spiritual jurisdiction, with lying miracles supporting his idolatrous worship, deceiving the inhabitants of the earth, and leading them to erect the image of the first beall whose deadly wound was healed, and pay their adoration to the idol, blissly and implicitly submitting to the authority of the pope, and the constitutions of paganism revived in the church of Rome; giving life to the image of the beall, enforcing all the canons and laws of his idolatrous worship, by excommunications, fire, and sword; making it death to refuse obedience to the papal power; setting a mark upon all the votaries of the beall, and excluding those who would not submit to make profession of this system of error and blasphemy, from all intercourse with the worshippers of the beall, as unworthy of every blessing of society. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beall: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred three fores and six, concerning which number there have been many learned conjectures. I incline to concur with those who refer it to the time when poppy should rise to her strength about the year 756, which, if we add 666 to the time in which John wrote, will bring it nearly to that very period from whence the 12th years of the antichristian tyranny are to be reckoned. But however dark and mysterious these prophetic hints may be, one thing we are sure of, that is plain and obvious, that God will always maintain his own church in the world, in defiance of negotiation, and that all her foes shall finally become her footstool.