Framework:
Section 3C - satan's two beasts (part 1)

John is probably on a vantage point near to Jerusalem when he sees all the events in chapters 12-14 unfold (see Framework 3B.c), and he watches the beasts arise (from below-the-earth is implied).  John refers to three exits from below-the-earth onto earth: the abyss/ sea; the earth itself and the mouths of the dragon and his beasts.  The abyss opened when the fifth trumpet sounded and the four angels were released at the Euphrates when the sixth trumpet sounded (9:1-21) and these probably facilitate the appearance of the abyss and earth beasts (time-parallels 2 and 3, Figure 3).  One beast rises from the abyss/ sea (13:1) in the west, relative to Jerusalem, and the other one rises through the earth, probably in the wilderness to the east (13:11).  This suggests all of humanity and the whole earth is included in the events that follow.[1]  Later, when the sixth bowl is emptied, demonic spirits rise up through the mouths of the dragon and his beasts (16:13-14).

Below-the-earth (sheol, the netherworld or underworld) is always represented by its boundary events in Revelation.  There is no reference to what happens within below-the-earth by John because the evil creatures are seen after they rise up onto earth.  Even the expulsion of evil characters into the lake-of-fire (19:20, 20:10, 20:14-15, 21:8, Framework 5) are boundary events because volcano calderas (lakes of fire) were thought to be openings into the underworld in John’s era.    The fate of satan (his binding in the abyss for 1000 years, 20:1-3, and then permanent incarceration in the lake-of-fire, 20:10) indicates that below-the-earth has two parts: the abyss (full of evil creatures) and the lake-of-fire.  There is another evil participant in the story (Hades), which is associated with the pale green horse of the fourth seal (whose rider was named Death); and Hades followed with him (6:8).  Christ has the keys of ‘Death and Hades’ (1:18) and Death, Hades and the sea will give up the people that are within them at the Final Judgement (20:13).  In Greek mythology, Hades is the god of the dead and king of the underworld.

In Framework 1B.b, it is suggested that below-the-earth was created when satan and his angels were expelled from heaven to a mythic, pre-history earth because of the blood of the Lamb (12:9) i.e. the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.  By the time of the fifth trumpet (9:1), the abyss is the dwelling place for evil angels, beasts and their creatures.  When a star falls from heaven and opens the abyss with a key, smoke and creatures rise up and harm un-sealed people on earth for five months (9:2-6).  These locust-like, horse-like creatures are lead by an angel called Destruction or Destroyer (9:11).  Later, demonic spirits rise up through the mouths of the dragon and his beasts when the sixth bowl is emptied (16:13-14) and Babylon is haunted by foul demons and creatures at the time of her fall at the seventh bowl (18:2, Framework 4).

The end of the beasts is clear.  They are returned to the abyss when they are captured during the Great Battle and then thrown into the lake-of-fire (19:20, Framework 5).  Their leader, the dragon/ satan, is seized by the angel who holds the key to the abyss.  This angel has the authority to bind the dragon with a chain and throw him into the abyss for a thousand years (20:1-3).  After release from the abyss and thwarted plans for a final battle (20:7-9), satan is condemned to the lake-of-fire for ever and ever (20:10).  What ‘for ever and ever’ may mean is uncertain.  Whether below-the-earth ceases to exist or if it continues outside the New Order (21:1) is not clarified in the text or proposed macrostructure.  If spacetime, as humanity knows it, ends with the Old Order, then the duration of the fiery lake (‘for ever and ever’, 20:10) may also end.  This is a matter for interpretation and the proposed model raises this below-the-earth question, but it does not give an answer to it.

The third of the ‘three angels’ warns of the fate of beasts’ followers (the ‘marked’) after the Lamb appears on Mt Zion; they will be tormented with fire and sulphur ‘for ever and ever’ (14:9-11).  There is no evidence in the text that the marked (the faithless ‘vile’) are consigned to below-the-earth until those whose names were not written in the Book of Life are thrown into the lake-of-fire after the Final Judgement; this is the Second Death (20:11-15, 21:8).  What ‘for ever and ever’ may mean is uncertain, but it seems unlikely that below-the-earth will continue after heaven and the earth and the sea are replaced by the new creation (21:1).  John’s cosmology followed the Jewish model but ‘heaven and earth’ was a common phrase indicating the whole universe in John’s time (Wright, 2000: 53).  Stephen Friesen described John’s cosmology as ‘weak’ but the ‘weakness’ indicates that John’s interpretation of the universe was tailored to his message (Friesen, 2001: 179).  Revelation is an apocalyptic (i.e. revealing hidden mysteries), prophetic letter and all its characters and events are symbolic, so even the most tangible descriptions must be understood with this in mind.

[1] Multiple interpretations are possible, for example, Prinsloo suggests east-west was a spatial and temporal axis in some ancient Near East cosmologies; east is ‘in front’ or the past, west is ‘behind’ or the future (Prinsloo, 2013: 9).  Rising from the abyss may also illustrate the beast as a symbol of Roman imperial power rising from the primeval chaos (sea) as a parody of Christ descending from heaven (19:11, Bauckham, 1993b: 436).  Analysis in this study suggests it is likely the beasts’ origins represent power over the whole world (land/ sea) because past/ future is described as a series of events in Revelation.