The beast of Revelation 11 most directly corresponds to the Roman Empire. John will later elaborate on the nature of the beast. In fact, he will describe two beasts: one which arises from the sea (the Roman imperial power) and one from the land (the cult of emperor worship). John’s prophetic vision was thoroughly vindicated by the subsequent course of history. Under emperors like Decius (249-251) and Diocletian (284-305), thousands of early Christians were persecuted, tortured and martyred.
But this raises the question: Is the narrative of the two witnesses (and their death at the hands of the beast) solely a matter of the past? After all, the Roman Empire is long gone.
Historians generally cite 476 as the year which marks the end of the Roman Empire in the West. This was when the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus (“Little Augustus”), was deposed and replaced by the Germanic commander Odovacar. However, by the time of Odovacar’s coup, the empire retained only a glimmer of its previous glory. A series of barbarian invasions had greatly eroded Roman power and prestige.
In 410, the Visigoth tribe and their leader Alaric swept into Italy and besieged Rome. Someone apparently opened the gates, allowing the invaders to surge into the city and plunder for three days. Fortunately, the Visigoths (being Arian Christians themselves) respected the lives of Roman citizens; church treasures were also spared. Nonetheless, the sack of Rome shocked the ancient world. Jerome mused, “the city that took the whole world captive is itself taken.”
The infamous Attila and his terrifying army of Huns crossed the Alps in the summer of 452 and staged a major incursion into Italy. Attila was known to the Romans as “the Scourge of God.” Wherever they went, Attila’s soldiers left a trail of destruction and death. He totally razed a number of towns and villages, including the wealthy city of Aquileia. The Huns advanced to the Po River in Northern Italy, where they met a peace delegation led by Leo, the bishop of Rome. We don’t know what transpired between the two, but Attila soon broke off his campaign and withdrew from Italy. His decision was most likely the result of famine and disease among his army, but perhaps Leo’s pleas for mercy played a role.
Not long after the threat posed by Attila had been averted, Rome faced another adversary. In 455 AD, the wandering Vandal tribe (then based in North Africa) launched an armada which landed just outside the city. The Vandals faced virtually no resistance. Once more Leo was forced to beg for mercy from Geiseric, the Vandal King. Once more Rome was looted. Prisoners were taken and held for ransom. Thankfully there was no massacre, nor was the city burned down.
Thus, the fifth century was marked by repeated barbarian invasions which brought about the demise of the Roman Empire in the West. (The Byzantine, or Eastern Roman Empire, endured much longer; it did not end until 1453, when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks.)
However, from another perspective, perhaps the most important event was the conversion of Constantine I (306-337), the first Christian Roman Emperor. In 312, Constantine defeated his rival Maxentius in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, just outside of Rome. On the eve of battle, it was said that Constantine experienced a vision of a Christian symbol in the sky, with the words “in this sign conquer.” Not long after his victory over Maxentius, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan (313), granting religious toleration to Christians.
Constantine, however, went far beyond mere tolerance. He openly favored Christianity. During his reign, the emperor funded the construction of magnificent new churches. He exempted Christian clergy from taxes, prohibited crucifixion and commanded that Sunday be observed as a holy day. A generation later, in 380, the Emperor Theodosius I proclaimed that Christianity would henceforth be the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Knowing this bit of history, what can say about the beast of Revelation? It’s clear that in the time of John, the beast appears in the form of the Roman Empire. But this hardly exhausts the larger meaning of this symbol. It’s a reality which transcends one particular time and place. Remember that for the prophet Daniel, the beast corresponded to the great pagan empires of his day. Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian armies were one such example. They destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple and carried many Israelites into exile.
At the most fundamental level, the beast symbolizes rebellious humanity, standing in opposition to God and his good purposes for creation. It’s the result of human beings turning away from the one true God and instead worshiped idols. And the failure to worship the creator God inevitably leads to corruption. Rather than reflecting the divine image, people instead fall into immorality, injustice, deceit, cruelty, depravity and violence. In other words, they descend to the level of wild animals.
Remember too our previous discussion about the apocalyptic time period (3 1/2 years, 42 months, 1,260 days). This is the period of conflict between God’s people and the beast. God has called his church to bear witness to the nations, warning them of impending judgment, but also conveying the gracious message that God is willing to forgive those who repent. Meanwhile, the beast will do everything in his power to oppose the people of God and ruin the creation. The church must therefore be prepared for persecution, and possibly even death, on account of their loyalty to Jesus.
John wrote the book of Revelation to Christians living in Asia Minor in the late 1st century. He solemnly warned his readers that this time of tribulation would soon begin. And indeed, many early Christians suffered and died.
Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna is but one example among many. Polycarp had been a disciple of the Apostle John. In about 155, he was captured and brought into the local arena before the Roman proconsul (governor) and a pagan crowd seething with hostility. The proconsul urged Polycarp to renounce his faith, revile Christ and declare Caesar as Lord. If he did do so, he would be set free. Polycarp responded, “86 years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?”
The proconsul warned the aged bishop that if he refused to recant, he would face death at the stake. Polycarp replied, “You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour and then is extinguished, but you know nothing of the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly.” As he was placed on the pyre, Polycarp prayed that his death would be an acceptable sacrifice. He then perished in the flames.
John expected that the beast would not be completely destroyed until the final coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Revelation 19, John sees “heaven standing open.” Mounted on a white horse, Jesus the Messiah rides forth to consummate his kingdom and destroy everything which opposes his rule and reign. The beast gathers his allies to fight against God’s anointed, but the beast and his false prophet are captured and “thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”
We must therefore expect that the beast will be with us until the very end. He will be granted great authority and will “utter proud words and blasphemies” against God. The beast will deceive the world and demand the worship which is due to God alone. And he will constantly “wage war against God’s holy people.”
Given this description, we can see how the beast has reappeared in many different guises throughout history. It would be easy to list some of the most wicked and despotic regimes which have plagued the world.
Adolf Hitler and the Nazis are near the top of any such list. Hitler worshiped the gods of blood, soil and military might. He was obsessed with German racial superiority. He despised the Jews and Slavic peoples, whom he regarded as subhuman species worthy only of extermination. He was convinced that German superiority gave him the right to conquer weaker races and seize their land. Hitler’s war machine conquered most of Europe and triggered the catastrophe of World War II. He was also the perpetrator of the Holocaust which extinguished the lives of 6 million Jews.
Among many other atrocities, Joseph Stalin was responsible for the Holodomor, the horrendous communist-induced famine which resulted in the starvation of 3 to 4 million Ukrainians in 1932-33. Altogether, Stalin’s godless, murderous regime was responsible for as many as 20 million deaths.
But the beast is not always so obvious as a totalitarian state. There are powerful movements afoot in today’s “free” Western world which deceive and destroy people. To wit, many bow down before the gods of sexual preference or identity. This may involve heterosexual promiscuity but increasingly appears in the form of homosexuality or transgenderism. You see, the beast cares not precisely how humans can be ruined, only that the job gets done.
