Revelation 13:18, commentary and pictures

Here is wisdom for those with understanding to count the number of the beast, which is the number of a man, six hundred threescore and six. The beast whose number is given is the papal power, the apostate power against God's law that blasphemes God, makes war with the saints, and carries that war through church and state to the close of time. The chapter sets before every person a choice between worshiping God by keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, His creation memorial, and worshiping the beast by observing a humanly instituted false sabbath in allegiance to papal authority. Those who worship the beast receive his mark in forehead, denoting mind, or in hand, denoting power, in direct opposition to the seal of God, and that false worship is enforced by decree and stringent Sunday laws, with oppression and threat of death against those who keep God's commandments. The faithful remnant, though greatly in the minority, keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus and finally gain the victory over the beast and his image and his mark and the number of his name.

Prophetic Setting and Powers

The verse stands in a connected chain of past, present, and future events that runs on through Revelation 14:5 and ends with the complete redemption of the 144,000, who gain the victory over the beast and its image. It belongs to the description of the closing strife with the image beast, when believers will pass through fear and distress like that of Jacob. That last oppressing power is identified by its number 666, and its deception, wonders, miracles, and oppression will be manifested in its final struggle during the seven last plagues, shortly before it comes to its end and God's people are delivered.

The verse belongs to the prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 that are being fulfilled now and that carry the last message of warning and mercy to be heard by all. Those chapters give solemn instruction for those living in the last days, bringing into view the closing scenes of this earth's history. They are God's warning of the perils before His people, showing what was beheld of the last days, a deceived company working counter to God.

The first beast of the prophecy is the papacy, through which opposition to God was continued after pagan Rome, with a later persecuting power acting afterward with the same force. As a symbol the beast existed in different forms through the ages, and under its dominant head in the period covered by Revelation 13:1-10 it exercised persecuting power for 1260 years and then went into captivity. That persecuting power arose from the union of church and state.

The beast with two horns coming up out of the earth is the United States, arising in a locality outside the dominion of the world as known to the ancients, not by conquest of nations and peoples but growing like a plant out of the earth. Its two horns are the civil and the ecclesiastical, and it appears in two phases, gentle as a lamb and fierce as the dragon. It has already shown this character in sending forth the doctrine of the equality of all men in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness while upholding American slavery by law, and in professing liberty to worship God according to conscience while persecuting Baptists and Quakers, to be shown more fully in the future when laws concerning religion are made. Its image is apostate Protestantism seeking civil power to enforce religious teachings, while the beast whose image is made is the papacy.

The verse closes the definite explanation of the apostate power against the law of God, shown to John through angels free from human wisdom and tradition. That power deceives the inhabitants of the earth and causes them to believe fatal lies presented as truth, opens its mouth in blasphemy against God, and makes war with the saints to overcome them. With the great red dragon and the leopard-like beast it carries its war forward to the close of time through church and state, trampling upon God's law and persecuting His people. Upon that power judgment is appointed to be executed in the great day.

Number Calling for Wisdom

Here is wisdom is a call for understanding to count the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man. It belongs to the warning about a power to become prominent in the last days and about the conflict between Satan and those loyal to God. It belongs also to the prophecy of the beast and its image, whose worship and mark are tied to a final test of loyalty in which Sunday observance is presented as a spurious Sabbath in place of the seventh-day Sabbath.

The number is six hundred threescore and six. It is the number of the image beast and is said to be made up. It is also called the number of his name and belongs to the persecuting power of the last period of earth's history. That is identified as the last power that oppresses and casts down the true church, whose deception, wonders, miracles, and oppression will be manifested in its final struggle during the seven last plagues, shortly before that power comes to its end and God's people are delivered. Churches and the world are united in trampling upon God's commandments, and all who obey His precepts they threaten with death, yet God's people get the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name.

The beast whose number is given is the papal power. This is set in the prophecy of Revelation 13 and 14 showing that all classes except the little flock will unite to exalt Sunday and enforce it upon all by stringent laws. The beast that changed the Sabbath is identified with the pope, while the image beast follows it and keeps the pope's Sabbath instead of God's. Receiving the mark of the beast and its image means giving up God's Sabbath and keeping the pope's Sabbath.

The meaning and calculation of the number are not explained further. The mark also still remains to be defined. The mark received by the beast's worshipers may be in the forehead, representing the mind, or in the hand, representing power, and it is opposed to God's Sabbath sign and identified with a counterfeit Sabbath on Sunday. The conflict behind the prophecy is allegiance shown through obedience, with keeping God's commandments distinguishing God's worshipers while accepting the papal change to God's law signifies allegiance to papal authority, where the beast whose image is made represents the papacy and its image represents apostate Protestantism seeking civil power to enforce religious teachings. The visions were shown to John through angels free from human wisdom and tradition, and the chapter's warning is connected with the effort to lead people to change the Sabbath to the first day of the week and to treat God's commandments as less binding than human tradition. The beast is a symbol of a power that existed in different forms through the ages, and under its dominant head in the period covered by Revelation 13:1-10 it represents the papacy, which exercised persecuting power for 1260 years arising from the union of church and state before going into captivity, while the later beast is another persecuting power acting with the same force in succession to the first beast representing the papacy through which opposition to God continued after pagan Rome.

Worship Test and Victory

Revelation 13 concerns every person and sets before all a choice between worshiping God, whose creation memorial is the seventh-day Sabbath, and worshiping the beast by observing a humanly instituted false sabbath. A persecuting power will compel this false worship and oppress and punish those who keep God's commandments and remain loyal to Him. In exalting itself against God, that power claims divine authority.

The verse calls for wisdom and understanding to count the number of the beast, and states that it is the number of a man. It belongs to the prophecy of the beast and its image, whose worship and mark are tied to a final test of loyalty in which Sunday observance is presented as a spurious Sabbath in place of the seventh-day Sabbath. That prophecy reaches its final fulfillment in the last days when Satan appears as an angel of light with great power and heavenly glory and claims to be Lord of the whole earth. As lord of the first day he declares that the Sabbath has been changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, and presents this spurious sabbath as a test of loyalty to him, so that enforced Sunday observance set against loyalty to God fulfills the prophecy of the beast, his worship, his image, his mark, and his number. This warning is connected with the effort to lead people to change the Sabbath to the first day and to treat God's commandments as less binding than human tradition.

The worshipers of the beast receive his mark in their foreheads or in their hands, with the forehead denoting the intellect or mind and the hand denoting power. That mark stands in direct opposition to the sign or seal of God, which is His Sabbath, and is a counterfeit Sabbath on the day of the sun, identified with Sunday. God's servants are sealed only in their foreheads because compulsory worship is not acceptable to God, while compulsory worship is acceptable to wicked powers.

Revelation 13 lays out in clear lines the position of the people of God for this time in regard to Sunday laws. It brings to view a worship of the beast and his image that the beast and his image enforce by decree, with churches and the world united in trampling upon God's commandments. All classes except the little flock, the faithful minority and remnant, will unite to exalt Sunday and enforce it upon all by stringent laws, compelling false worship. All who obey God's precepts they oppress and threaten with death, and the beast's worship is enforced on pain of death. Worshiping the beast and his image and receiving his mark in forehead or hand brings drinking of the wine of the wrath of God poured out without mixture and torment with fire and brimstone, in contrast to keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Receiving the mark of the beast and its image means giving up God's Sabbath and keeping the pope's Sabbath. The beast that changed the Sabbath is identified with the pope, while the image beast follows it and keeps the pope's Sabbath instead of God's, with its number 666 identified as the number of the image beast and said to be made up. The underlying conflict is allegiance shown through obedience: keeping God's commandments distinguishes God's worshipers, while accepting the papal change to God's law signifies allegiance to papal authority. The beast whose image is made represents the papacy, and its image represents apostate Protestantism seeking civil power to enforce religious teachings, with the mark still remaining to be defined. The chapter belongs to solemn instruction for those living in the last days, bringing into view the closing scenes of earth's history and the great and last warfare between those who keep the commandments of God and those who make void His law.

The faithful finally overcome the beast, its image, its mark, and the number of its name, though greatly in the minority as a remnant keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. The verse belongs to a connected chain of past, present, and future events that continues through Revelation 14:5 and ends with the complete redemption of the 144,000, who gain victory over the beast and its image. It closes the definite explanation of the apostate power against the law of God, which deceives earth's inhabitants with fatal lies presented as truth, opens its mouth in blasphemy against God, makes war with the saints to overcome them, and has judgment appointed to be executed upon it in the great day. The chapter is light from the Word of God by which the loyal rise when open and universal contempt is placed upon His law to proclaim the third angel's message, combining the first and second angels' messages with the third and lifting up the standard of truth in the last message of mercy. It is to be read to the close carefully and prayerfully in order to be understood.