The Seven Mystic Figures — Part 5: Land Beast

We now come face-to-face with an evil triad. The Seven Mystic¹ Figures vision² has already revealed the Dragon (Rev. 12:3–17) and the Sea Beast (Rev. 13:1–10). Now John introduces us to the Land Beast (Rev. 13:11–18). “This second beast completes the triumvirate of evil—the dragon, the sea beast, and the land beast.”³

This evil alliance opposes the threefold revelation of Christ who is the Man-Child (Rev. 12:5), the Lamb on Mount Zion (Rev. 14:1), and the Son of Man on a cloud (Rev. 14:14). The fate of the seventh figure—the Woman—hangs in the balance.

The Woman, as she represents Israel destined for the Messianic Age,⁴ found protection in the wilderness (Rev. 12:6). She withstood the Dragon’s (i.e., Satan’s) assault with the help of the land.

The Dragon looked for help from the Sea Beast (i.e., the Roman Empire) as he made “war with the remnant of [the Woman’s] seed” (Rev. 12:17). This represents Satan’s opposition to Jesus Christ and his church in the Roman Empire outside the land of Israel.

The book of Acts documents this expansion. Its first half gives the history of Israel after the Spirit (i.e., the church) as she exists in and around Jerusalem. In Acts 13, the Gentile mission begins. Officials in the Roman Empire then help the Dragon persecute the Israel of God in other provinces (e.g., Acts 13:50). This shift occurs in the mid-AD 40s⁵ at the death of Herod (Agrippa I)⁶ and during the reign of Claudius, the fifth Roman Emperor. This persecution will intensify and culminate in a 3-1/2 year bloodbath (AD 64–68) under the next emperor, Nero.

But what of Israel after the flesh (i.e., Israel as defined during the Mosaic Age)? She is still in the land. Satan, under God’s sovereign rule, has a plan for her, too. Therefore, John sees the third member of the evil trinity arise—the Land Beast (Rev. 13:11–18).

The Identity of the Land Beast

John saw another beast coming up out of the [land⁷] (Rev. 13:11). “The land beast is subservient to the beast from the sea and seems utterly dedicated to promoting not himself but the wounded beast from the sea.”⁸

We have shown that beasts represent kingdoms or empires.⁹ This Land Beast exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the [land] and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed (Rev. 13:12). It represents the Sea Beast (the Roman Empire) in the Land of Israel.¹⁰

Rome’s governing structure in the holy land comprised three main elements: the Roman administration, the House of Herod, and the Sanhedrin.¹¹ Pontius Pilate is an example of the Roman administration. He served as the Roman Procurator from AD 26-36¹² and condemned Jesus to death (Matt. 27:2, 13, et al.).

The Herodian Dynasty began when Antipater (an Idumean) helped Julius Caesar win a battle in Egypt in 47 BC. “As a reward, Caesar conferred hereditary Roman citizenship on him and appointed him procurator over the territory of the Jews.”¹³ Herod the Great,¹⁴ Antipater’s son, remodeled and expanded the Temple (John 2:20), and killed the children of Bethlehem when Christ was born (Matt. 2:16–18). The New Testament mentions several of his descendants.

The Herods depended on Rome and executed the will of the Emperor in the land of Israel. “Herod I acquired the Jewish kingship with Roman help and by the decision of the Roman Senate; he continued to exercise his royal power by their grace and favour.”¹⁵

The Sanhedrin council—Israel’s spiritual leaders—also supported Rome’s authority in the land. When they could free Jesus from Roman chains: “they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15).

This Land Beast had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon (Rev. 13:11). Horns on a beast represent kings of a kingdom (Dan. 7:24). Of the three branches of Roman governance, only the Herods bore the title of “king” (e.g., Matt. 2:1, 3, et al.).

According to our interpretation above, the Sea Beast and Land Beast appear during the reign of King Herod Agrippa I. Only one other Herod followed: Agrippa II¹⁶ was ruling when the Temple fell. After his demise, the Herodian dynasty ended. We suggest these may be the two horns of the Land Beast. They were weaker than the heads (i.e., kings) of the Sea Beast and were, therefore, like a lamb. Both still spake as a dragon and were under the influence of Satan.

The Deceptions of the Land Beast

We now come to a passage that challenges our prophetic model. Could the things recorded here have happened in John’s generation? He saw the Land Beast do

great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 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 beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. (Rev. 13:13–15)

We contend that these sorts of things happened and in ways that reinforce inmillennialism.

The word is “deceiveth” (Gk. planaō) in Rev. 13:14. The Land Beast’s wonders were deceptions. G. K. Beale makes several keen observations:

A part of the majority text tradition interpretatively expands this notion by rendering [Rev. 13:13a] as, “he does great signs in order that in deception [en planē] he should make fire descend from heaven.” This is part of what Christ prophesied in Matt. 24:24: “false messiahs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect” (so likewise Matt. 7:15; 24:5, 11; 2 Thess. 2:9; 2 Pet. 2:1–3. . .).¹⁷

The second beast’s ability to “perform great signs” in [Rev. 13:14] and now its ability to give “breath” and power to speak to the first beast’s image recall various pseudo-magical tricks, including ventriloquism, false lightning, and other such phenomena, that were effectively used in temples of John’s time and even at the courts of Roman emperors and governors.¹⁸

The New Testament provides evidence of such deceptions. Simon used sorcery to bewitch the people of Samaria (Acts 8:9). The extra-biblical records of what this man did are astounding. While defending the Christians before the Romans, the church father Justin Martyr says,

After Christ’s ascension into heaven the devils put forward certain men who said that they themselves were gods; and they were not only not persecuted by you, but even deemed worthy of honours. There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto, who in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, and in your royal city of Rome, did mighty acts of magic, by virtue of the art of the devils operating in him. He was considered a god, and as a god was honoured by you with a statue, which statue was erected on the river Tiber, between the two bridges, and bore this inscription, in the language of Rome:—“Simoni Deo Sancto,” “To Simon the holy God.”¹⁹

Simon’s deceptions may have been beyond the reach of our modern imaginations.

Other New Testament deceivers include “a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus” (Acts 13:6), “a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination . . . which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying” (Acts 16:16), “certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists” (Acts 19:13–14), and many who “used curious arts” (Acts 19:19).

Beale gives an impressive list of sources that document the ability of such magicians to create fire from heaven and make images move and speak.²⁰ For example, Sir William Ramsay says “the State cultus in Asia, the most civilised and educated part of the Empire, recommended itself by tricks and pseudo-miracles, such as bringing down fire from heaven or making the Imperial image speak.”²¹ Gerhard Kittel says “The presumed life of the image which enables it to speak (Rev. 13:15) reminds us of many priestly devices to make images move. Thus in the Mithras mystery the statue of the god with a lion’s head was made to spit out fire by means of a concealed pipe ending in the mouth”²²

Ramsay mentions one magician of special interest to us. We remember that Vespasian was the Roman general who started the Jewish War and the “great tribulation” of AD 66–70. He left Jerusalem to became Emperor in AD 69. He left his son, Titus, in charge of the Roman armies. The Temple fell in AD 70 under Titus’s command. These Romans had a friend, Apollonius of Tyana, whom Ramsay says

would suit well the allusions in the Apocalypse. . . . Apollonius enjoyed widely the reputation of a magician. He had been well received in Rome, and was the friend of Vespasian, Titus and Nerva. His biographer Philostratus defends him from the charge of magic, but represents him as a worker of signs and wonders and it must be remembered that St. John does not regard the prophet as an impostor, but as one to whom it was given to perform marvels. . . . There is every reason to think that a man like Apollonius would use all his influence in favour of Vespasian and Titus.²³

The Land Beast as we have defined it had an almost unbelievable power to enforce the authority of the Sea Beast (Rome) in the land of Israel.

The Mark of the Beast

The Land Beast also exercised economic power. John says he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. “The mark is clearly figurative of the ways in which the state keeps check on whether people submit to compulsory idol worship.”²⁴

Speaking of post-AD 70 persecutions, Ramsay says, “official certificates of loyalty were issued to those who had complied with the law and taken part in the ritual of the Imperial religion. These certificates form an apt parallel to the ‘mark of the Beast,’ and prove that that phrase refers to some real feature of the Flavian persecution in Asia.”²⁵

Conclusion

John’s vision would come to pass in his immediate future (Rev. 1:1, 3, et al.).²⁶ He ends his description of the Land Beast by referring, once more, to his master—the Sea Beast. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six (Rev. 13:18). The Emperor personified the Roman Empire. According to inmillennialism, John wrote Revelation during the reign of Nero Caesar. When this name is written in Hebrew, the sum of the number-letters is 666.

The Land Beast will deceive Israel after the flesh (i.e., Mosaic-Age Israel). At the end of this vision, we will learn her destiny.

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1. Meaning “mysterious,” not “occult.”
2. For our outline of Revelation, see Mapping God’s Highway in Revelation. For the figures in our current vision, see The Seven Mystic Fingers — Part 1: Identities.
3. Alan F. Johnson, “Revelation,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews Through Revelation, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 12, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1981), 529.
4. For our discussion of Israel as defined during the two ages—Mosaic and Messianic—see here and here.
5. D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo, and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992), 231.
6. Cf. Acts 12:20–25.
7. Per YLT and so throughout this passage. Gk gē.
8. Johnson, “Revelation.”, 529.
9. Here: The Seven Mystic Figures — Part 4: Sea Beast.
10. For a discussion of how the “deadly wound was healed,” see our last post here.
11. G.M.M. Pelser, “Governing Authorities in Jewish National Life in Palestine in New Testament Times,” in The New Testament Milieu, ed. A.B. du Toit, vol. 2, Guide to the New Testament (Halfway House: Orion Publishers, 1998), 11.1–4 (817–74).
12. Pelser, “Governing Authorities.”, 11.1 (818).
13. Pelser, “Governing Authorities.”, 11.2.1 (825).
14. To gain favor with the Jews, Herod the Great married Mariamne of the Hasmonaean royal house. This family had ruled a free Israel between c. 140 and c. 116 BC. See Pelser, “Governing Authorities.”, 11.2.1 (828).
15. Pelser, “Governing Authorities.”, 11.2.1 (828).
16. This is the Agrippa before whom Paul spoke in the above painting (Acts 25:13). See Richard N. Longenecker, “The Acts of the Apostles,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 9, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981), 547. The digital file for the painting (here) is in the public domain in the United States (PD-1923).
17. G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans, 1999), 709.
18. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, 711.
19. Justin Martyr, “The First Apology of Justin,” in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, vol. 1, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 171.
20. Other than those sources we quote here, Beale documents “miracles” of this type by repeatedly referring to Steven J. Scherrer, “Signs and Wonders in the Imperial Cult: A New Look At a Roman Religious Institution in the Light of Rev 13:13-15,” Journal of Biblical Literature 103, no. 4 (Dec., 1984). He also lists pseudo-Clement, Recognitions 3.47; Homilies 2.32; Justin, Apology I 26; Irenaeus, Contra Haereses 1.23; Lucian, Alexander 24–33; De Syria Dea 10; Eusebius H.E. 2.13.1–4; Theophilus, Ad Autolycum 1.8; cf. the tradition about Simon Magus, who purportedly gave life to statues. —See Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, 711.
21. W. M. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia and Their Place in the Plan of the Apocalypse, (Minneapolis: James Family Publishing, 1978), 99.
22. Gerhard Kittel, “Images of Gods and Men in Judaism and Christianity,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey W. Bromiley, vol. 2, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 388. Emphasis his.
23. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, 102.
24. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, 715.
25. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, 110.
26. See our post The Bookends of Revelation.