Framework: Section 4C
- satan's beasts (part 2), Babylon
This section describes the histories and visual appearances of the dragon, his beasts (the abyss beast and earth beast) and Babylon (17:1-18). What happens when satan’s beasts appear on earth (13:1-18) is described earlier in Framework 3C – two beasts (part 1). The crossings of the physical-spiritual earth, biblical earth and below-the-earth boundaries in chapters 13 and 17 are ambiguous. Both the text and proposed macrostructure imply that the beast rises only once from the abyss/ sea, probably when the abyss opened and the fifth trumpet sounded (9:1-2; time-parallel 2, Framework 3). The dragon/ satan works through the abyss beast (13:2) and the abyss beast works through the false prophet/ earth beast (13:12-17, 19:20, see also 16:13, 20:10) after that beast rises (13:11, time-parallel 3). It is the earth beast who sets up the living image of the abyss beast and gives it animation and power, and who enforces the marking of the population and worship of that beast (13:12-17). The abyss beast kills the two witnesses (11:7, time-parallel 5, Framework 3) and this murder may be facilitated by the false prophet.
This spatio-temporal analysis overcomes the problem raised by a strictly linear chronological interpretation of these events – that the two witnesses are killed (11:7) before the beast rises from the abyss (13:1). The beast may orchestrate events from within below-the-earth but, in the proposed macrostructure, the beast rises onto the biblical earth (time-parallel 2), from where he arranges the murder of the witnesses on the physical-spiritual earth (time-parallel 5). The abyss beast becoming the ‘eighth king’ is considered shortly (17:8-11). Dual identities endorse the proposal in this study that the two earthly dimensions in the story (physical-spiritual and biblical) give different perceptions of the same events.
The dragon/ satan gives his throne, power and great authority to the abyss beast (13:2), and satan’s throne is located in Pergamum (or Pergamon), according to the letter to the congregation in Pergamum (2:13). In the material world, Pergamum was founded in the third century B.C. and the Great Altar, probably associated with a temple dedicated to Zeus and Athena in the second century B.C., still dominates the hillside overlooking the modern city of Bergama in Turkey. The living image of the abyss beast and the worship (9:20, 13:4-15, 14:9-11, 16:2, 19:20) is a reminder of the worship that was prevalent in the Roman Empire in John’s day (second half of the first century A.D.), in temples that were bedecked with statues and friezes.[1] In the proposed macrostructure, the beast’s throne and kingdom are located on the physical-spiritual earth and darkness covers them when the fifth bowl empties (16:10-11), which may mean darkness on Pergamum and other place(s) from where satan rules. In the proposed macrostructure, this is when the Lamb appears on Mt Zion (14:1-5, time-parallel 8b, Figure 4). Figure 4).[2] These events demonstrate the close association between events on the physical-spiritual and biblical earths, and how they may have relevance for the material world.
[1] Like a band of sculpted ornaments situated between the columns and the roof of a classic Greek or Roman temple.
[2] John is told that Christ will come at an unknown time ‘like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake’ (16:15a) so it is entirely possible, in the proposed macrostructure and in reality, that Christ will come after the bowls, but time-parallels 1-9 and 12-18 are otherwise unchanged in this scenario (see Framework 4A.d).
Figure 4 - the Lamb, imminent war and fall of Babylon (14:1-11, 16:10-19:6; time-parallells 8b to 11)
In the interpretation in this study, the beasts in chapter 13 are part of the biblical earth storyline but the explanation given to John by the bowl angel is part of the physical-spiritual time-line (17:1-18).[1] Further explanations and pleas by ‘another voice from heaven’ (18:4-24) are also part of the physical-spiritual time-line. This has implications for how the different spatially-related identities of the beasts and Babylon are interpreted.
The abyss beast came out of the abyss/ sea (13:1; time-parallel 2, Framework 3) and from then until Babylon falls (time-parallel 10, Figure 4), it is likely to be the hidden manipulator on the biblical earth who works through the earth beast/ false prophet on the physical-spiritual earth (13:12-17, 19:20, see also 16:13, 20:10). When the bowl angel explains to John why the corruption of Babylon results in her fall (17:1-18), he (John) is told that the beast ‘is about to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to destruction,’ (17:8). When the beast becomes the ‘eighth king’ (17:11), the hidden becomes overt.
What is meant by the abyss beast becoming an eighth king who ‘belongs to the seven’ (17:11) is undefined but the worship (9:20, 13:4-15, 14:9-11, 16:2, 19:20) and the throne (2:13, 13:2, 16:10) suggests the abyss beast may be hailed as a god, as were perhaps seven Roman emperors.[2] Time is short because five of the seven kings have already fallen, one is living and the seventh will only rule for a little while. The beast’s authority from the dragon is time-limited (‘forty-two months’, 13:5) so its role as eighth king is probably short lived (17:10-12). The eighth king is a contemporary of the ten kings, and he is their manipulator (17:12-13, 19:19). The ten kings and the beast will make war against the Lamb/ Christ and they will be defeated; they will hate Babylon and bring her to ruin. For ‘a little while (…) one hour’, i.e. a short time, these corrupted characters will orchestrate or be victims of events, until God’s words are fulfilled (17:12-17).
In Framework 1, it is suggested that the continuing interest and value of Revelation is aided by its description of events from Creation to the New Order. Its form and content as apocalyptic literature (i.e. revealing hidden mysteries), written over two thousand years ago, is era-specific but its scope is era-neutral. Recognition/ acceptance of control of humanity by ‘gods’ has become less obvious in the western world since the fall of the Roman Empire; modern counterparts exist but the significance of worship of Greco-Romano gods in a temple (13:14-15) was relevant to John’s era but it faded as time passed. The beast’s manifestation as the eighth king gives it common ground with the ten kings (17:11-12) in the eschaton, i.e. ‘last days’, so perhaps the image of the god/ beast is replaced by that of a king as the eschaton reaches its climax. The nature of the abyss beast does not change, but its followers and Revelation’s audiences have different preconceptions and expectations as time passes. The earth beast’s alter-ego as a false prophet is era-neutral.
[1] The physical-spiritual space is so called because John describes the two dimensions together on this earth, for example the four seal horsemen (spiritual) bring physical consequences (conquest, war, famine and death, 6:2-8). The biblical earth includes characters and events that are described or foretold in Scripture, like satan and his servants. Both the physical-spiritual and biblical earths are visionary versions of the earth within which John lived (the material earth) (see Framework 1B.d and 4A.b).
[2] 17:10-11, ‘five (kings) have fallen, one is living, and the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain for only a little while.(… The beast) is an eighth (king) but it belongs to the seven’.
4C.a) Satan's two beasts and angels
The opening of the abyss/ sea enables the abyss beast to enter the earthly realms (probably from below-the-earth, 13:1) but it is the angel of the abyss (called Destruction or Destroyer) who is king over the army of 200 million troops who appear and torture ‘un-sealed’ people (see 7:2-8) for five months when the fifth trumpet sounds (9:1-12, time-parallel 2, Framework 3). Daniel recognised the same symbolism for visions and dreams relevant to his era and/ or the eschaton. Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about a statue (Dan. 2:31-45) and Daniel himself had a dream and visions about four beasts rising from the sea/ abyss (the last beast has ten, then eleven, horns, Dan. 7:1-28) and a goat attacking a ram (Dan. 8:1-27). These beasts represent earthly empires/ protagonists. The statue or beasts are not recorded as part of angelic battles, such as the battle Daniel witnessed between the angelic, evil princes of Persia and then Greece, and the man dressed in linen and Michael, one of his chief princes (Dan. 10:1-11:1). The man dressed in linen is commonly thought of today as Christ/ the Messiah. Michael is protector of God’s people (Dan. 10:21, Dan. 12:1). The man dressed in linen and Michael appear again in the time of unprecedented trouble, at the resurrection of the dead, at the ‘end of days’ (Dan. 12:1-14).
John follows the same pattern: beasts are beings, foretold in Scripture, which manipulate or represent kings or kingdoms, but it is the angels who have roles as army commanders (the abyss angel, 9:11; Michael, 12:7). This suggests the abyss beast’s military role is as the inspiring hidden commander-in-chief (like his master, the dragon/ satan) rather than as commander on the battle field. In the proposed macrostructure, the roles of the dragon and the abyss beast are not directly fulfilled on earth. They are described or foretold in Scripture and are part of the biblical space – until the abyss beast becomes the eighth king (17:11, probably on the physical-spiritual earth) and the hidden becomes more overt. The earth beast on the biblical earth is most likely the false prophet on the physical-spiritual earth from his first appearance because he immediately works on behalf of the hidden abyss beast by setting up the image and ‘marking’ the population (13:11-18).
What this may mean for the material earth is complicated by the way in which John inter-mingles the visionary physical and spiritual within the same physical-spiritual space. In Daniel’s dreams and visions, the eschaton will be the climax of ongoing conflicts between the kings of the North and South and, in the end, a ‘contemptible person’ will use deceit to overcome his enemies (Dan. 11:20-45). This study proposes all the kings in Revelation are representative of corrupted leaders and the abyss beast is their hidden spiritual manipulator who, as the eighth king, may become the ‘contemptible person’.
Events reflect the two types of spiritual battle described in Revelation, before the Great Battle or Final War (Framework 5), namely: the battle between angels in heaven’s environs (12:7-12), which may have a counterpart in Dan. 10:1-11:1, and the ongoing battle on the biblical earth of evil against those who keep God’s commands and the followers of Jesus (12:17, Framework 1B.e). The ongoing battle is reflected on the (visionary) physical-spiritual earth and on the material earth as persecution of the faithful. The battle in this section is focused on the Lamb himself. War preparations are made, demons rise (16:12-13, time-parallel 9, Figure 4), armies gather (16:14-16, time-parallel 10) and the abyss beast inspires the ten kings to make war against the Lamb (17:12-14). The beast also hates the harlot and will bring her to ruin (17:16) and the uncertainty about who is the target for the evil forces gathering at Armageddon is considered in Framework 4B.a and 4D.f.
4C.b) Satan's two beasts and Babylon
After Babylon falls (16:17-21, time-parallel 10, Figure 4), John is taken to a new visionary vantage point in a wilderness by one of the bowl angels, so that he can see the reasons why Babylon has been condemned (17:1-3). He (John) is shown a be-jewelled woman, magnificently attired in purple and scarlet, whose name (Babylon) is written on her forehead. The angel explains the ‘mystery’ surrounding Babylon: she is an extravagantly dressed harlot, who holds a cup full of ‘abominations’ (the corruptions of her harlotry) and she is drunk on the blood of the faithful (17:4-6). Babylon sits on a scarlet beast (17:3) beside many waters (17:15). The scarlet beast has seven heads and ten horns, and when it appears from the abyss, everyone whose name is not written in the ‘book of life’, is amazed because ‘it was and is not and is to come’ (17:8). This suggests this beast is almost certainly the abyss beast, one of whose seven head’s had a mortal wound that healed (13:1-3), and its scarlet image now matches the extravagance of Babylon:
‘I (the bowl angel) will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. (…) The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; also, they are seven kings, of whom five have fallen, one is living, and the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain for only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. (…) They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them (…) The waters that you saw, where the whore/ harlot is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the whore/ harlot; they will make her desolate and naked (…) For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by agreeing to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.’ (17:7-18)
The angel explains the meaning of the images to John. The true natures of the characters are associated with appearance (the woman’s extravagant attire, the beast’s heads and horns, the water) and the explanations are given in terms of physical identity (great city, mountains and kings, humanity). The beasts have been creatures on the biblical earth as monstrous, allegorical forms since 13:1 (time-parallel 2, Framework 3) and their recognition as mountains and kings now appear in this section, probably on the physical-spiritual earth.
Babylon does not appear in the story until the announcement is made to the biblical earth about her fall (14:8) and the same announcement is made a second time, probably to below-the-earth (18:1-3). Every reference in the story to her character and appearance is part of the physical-spiritual earth; the implications of this are considered in Framework 4D.
4C.c) Satan's beasts' images
Bauckham links chapters 13 (historical traditions and the power of Rome) and 17 (the future downfall of Rome) and considers them as separate events in the history of the abyss beast and allusions to two legends of Nero’s return (Bauckham, 1993b: 423, 429-430, 449). He refers to chapter 16 as a ‘bridge’ between these chapters (Bauckham, 1993b, 423) and this is illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 of the Macrostructure Model. If aspects of chapter 13 are biblical allegories for the corrupting power of Rome, it might be supposed that earlier events (the flinging of the censer to earth and the sounding of the first four trumpets, 8:5-12) happen while the Roman Empire is still powerful.[1] That interpretation is not supported in this study because the proposed macrostructure indicates that only the seven seals equate to the time of Rome’s empire and the eschaton may begin when the censer is thrown to earth (Framework 2C); yet the literary evidence of association with Rome is compelling. This structural complication may be resolved by considering the images of the beasts.
The images of the dragon and the beasts (their heads, crowns and horns)[2] illustrate evil imitating good because they mimic those of the Lamb.[3] The abyss beast has a fatal wound that appears to be non-fatal (13:3), which mimics Christ’s death, resurrection, ascension and return to earth, and it copies God’s eternal presence by having an appearance (with all its heads and horns) that implies it is eternal. There is only one abyss beast that rises from below-the-earth, through the abyss, onto the earth (13:1). It is perhaps like a many headed, Hydra-like creature whose body is in one realm (the biblical earth) and who impacts the physical-spiritual world by manipulation and the intermediary actions of the false prophet (13:12-17, 19:20, see also 16:13, 20:10). This suggests the beast’s heads and horns do not become physical kings, they represent kings who are manipulated or influenced by the beast.
The beast has seven heads (that represent seven mountains or hills and seven kings) and ten crowned horns (future kings) whose common evil purpose with the beast is to defeat the Lamb and ruin Babylon (17:13-16). Babylon the harlot is the great city on the seven hills, ruled by the seven kings. John records that five of the seven kings /heads were in his past, one was alive and one was in his future (17:10) and the ten kings/ crowned horns will exist in the future because their purpose is to defeat the Lamb (17:12-14). From a modern perspective, it is likely the seven heads and the ten horns of the abyss beast represent two eras. All seven heads/ kings existed in our past (perhaps as seven Roman emperors) and the ten horns/ kings represent leaders in the second, eschatological phase.[4] The ten kings have satan and his beasts as their masters and they will wage war against the Lamb (17:12-14) and then be defeated (19:17-21, Framework 5). The ten kings may be the ‘kings from the East’ (16:12) or the ‘kings of the whole world’ (16:14). It is in the second phase that the beast hates the harlot Babylon (17:16). 13:1 also refers to both ‘ten horns and seven heads; and on its horns were ten diadems’ so the two phases, if they are historical, are not separated into chapters 13 and 17.
The ‘two horns like a lamb’ on the earth beast’s head (a single head, is implied, 13:11) is a poor imitation of Christ and of its own evil leaders. The earth beast is the false prophet on earth (13:12-17, 19:20, see also 16:13, 20:10) and it is possible the earth beast’s two horns may also represent two eras, perhaps one associated with the seven kings in John’s era and the second one associated with the ten kings in the eschaton.
The kings are characters whose actions are recorded in the physical-spiritual earth time-line (chapters 17-19) so they may be spiritually-corrupted leaders who do the bidding of satan and his beasts. When the abyss beast ascends from the abyss and goes to its destruction (17:8), it is an eighth king (17:11). It does not grow an eighth head so the beast itself becomes a king shortly before its destruction. The different descriptions of the characters according to their location on the biblical earth, as allegorical monsters with horns and heads, or physical-spiritual earth as kings and hills, suggest that their identities reflect the dimension within which they are located.
[1] The Preterist interpretation equates Babylon with Rome (Osborne, 2002: 19) but there is no hard evidence of this link before A.D. 70 (Michaels, 1992: 45).
[2] The dragon has ‘seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads’ (12:3); the abyss beasts (probably the scarlet beast, 17:3) has seven heads, inscribed with blasphemous names, and ten crowned horns (13:1) and the earth beast has ‘two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon’ (13:11).
[3] ‘A (slain) Lamb (…) having seven horns and seven eyes’ (5:6); the Lamb has one head.
[4] This is an eclectic (mixed) interpretation because the Cross has happened (preterist view) but Christ has not yet appeared on Mt Zion (futurist view).
4C.d) Two eras
This study proposes that the forms of the beasts are visual illustrations of the control satan (and the beasts in the eschaton) has over passing events and it is the beasts’ images, not their actions, that illustrate events in history. It is as if each beast, with its blasphemous names, heads and horns, illustrate past and future history; they are like statues or a frieze on a building. John would have been familiar with this form of representation. The Great Altar at Pergamum has at least two major friezes: the Gigantomachy, which illustrates the battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods, and the Telephus Frieze (now in the Pergamum museum in Berlin). Most Greco-Romano temple friezes represent a moment in history, like a battle, but the Telephus Frieze tells the story of the mythical foundation of the city, with hidden cultic or contemporary political references. John probably lived in Ephesus before his exile to Patmos and he may have visited Pergamum (21 km from Ephesus) and seen the Great Altar and its stories set in stone.
When John saw the abyss beast (sometime in the second half of the first century A.D.), he was describing a beast whose appearance reflected what was happening in his own era (the seven hills/ kings) but the beast itself will not exist until the eschaton, until it becomes the eighth king in the time of the ten horns/ kings (17:11-14). The earth beast’s two horns may represent a similar illustration of two eras, but the beast itself may not exist until it becomes the false prophet in the eschaton.
Babylon is a magnificently-dressed harlot and she sits upon the scarlet (abyss) beast, by ‘many waters’ (17:3) – upon the beast with seven heads (which are seven mountains and seven kings, 17:9) and ten horns (which are ten future kings, 17:12). This is traditionally accepted as a clear reference to the seven hills of Rome and seven Caesars/ kings of the Roman Empire because the waters she is seated by are ‘peoples and multitudes and nations and languages’ (17:15) and she is ‘the great city that rules over the kings of the earth’ (17:18). She is hated by the ten kings and the beast and they will ruin her (17:16). This suggests Babylon is present in both John’s era and the eschaton, until she and her satellite cities (16:19) are destroyed by storm and earthquake when the seventh bowl empties (16:17-21). Babylon is considered further in Framework 4D.
4C.e) The end of satan's two beasts
The beasts have only a short time on earth because the abyss beast’s authority from satan/ the dragon is time-limited (forty-two months, 13:5). Its role as eighth king is probably short lived (17:11-12) before both beasts are returned to the abyss when they are captured during the Great Battle and they are thrown into the lake-of-fire (19:20, Framework 5; see also Framework 3C.a). After the battle, their leader, the dragon/ satan, is seized by the angel who holds the key to the abyss and it is thrown into the abyss for a thousand years (20:1-3). After release from the abyss, and thwarted in its plans for a Final War (20:8-9), satan is condemned to the lake-of-fire forever and ever (20:10).
The Great Battle (19:17-21) is likely to be a delayed battle at Armageddon (16:12-16) (so Osborne, 2002: 688, for example) because only the fall of Babylon intervenes between the two gatherings. This is illustrated in Figure 4 and Figure 5 in the Macrostructure Model.
In summary, this interpretation suggests the beasts do not have a series of incarnations as kings or prophets on earth. Their true natures are associated with appearance (their heads and horns) and the explanation is given in terms of physical identity (mountains and kings or as a false prophet). The abyss beast has seven heads that represent seven mountains or hills and seven kings and these may represent the physical and social bedrock of Rome (Babylon). It also has ten crowned horns that are future kings, whose common evil purpose with the beast is to defeat the Lamb and ruin Babylon, in the eschaton (‘last days’; 17:13-16). The abyss beast’s heads and horns do not become physical kings, they represent kings who are manipulated or influenced by the beast through the intermediary actions of the false prophet/ earth beast (13:12-17, 19:20, see also 16:13, 20:10). This is until the abyss beast is seen as the eighth king, in the time of the ten kings (17:11). The nature of the beasts’ and kings’ presences on earth is uncertain because John describes the events within intertwined physical-spiritual and biblical dimensions. This interpretation is compatible with three proposals in this study that: the visionary physical and spiritual dimensions intermingle within one space in Revelation; biblically-based allegorical characters appear on the biblical earth; and characters in different locations have different identities and roles.
Revelation reveals hidden mysteries as an apocalyptic (revelatory)-prophetic letter (see Towards …1a), so if, how or when these symbolic events may be recognisable on the material, non-visionary world is unknown. It is not possible to identify the eighth king and false prophet now, but the evils they represent were present on earth during John’s era and will continue until the beasts’ demise. When the seven thunders are unsealed, we may know more (10:4).