‘And he opened his mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, even those who tabernacle in Heaven (those who meet with Him there). And it was given to him to make war with God's people and to overcome them, and authority was given to him over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb.'
‘And he --.' The wild beast, whichever ‘head' was in power.
‘His tabernacle.' The place where God dwells and is met with, in this case probably the heavenly equivalent of the tabernacle.
‘Even those who tabernacle in heaven.' This probably includes the heavenly beings (note how the cherubim were also represented in the earthly Tabernacle) and also possibly the people of God. Compare Luke 16:9 which speaks of ‘the eternal tabernacles' or dwelling places where the righteous dead dwell.
The horror of Imperial claims comes through here. Imperial worship blasphemes God's name and his tabernacle, and even those who dwell in Heaven.
It is possible that the threat to the earthly Temple by Caligula could be in mind here, (it was probably still used by Jewish Christians as a place to meet and worship in as they did in Acts), but the Temple is never actually called the Tabernacle in the New Testament and had lost its significance for the majority of Christians, so that it seems unlikely.
Thus if the tabernacle referred to is to be seen as earthly at all it more probably represents Christians (Acts 15:16; 2Co 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:4; 2 Peter 1:13-14). However, it is almost certainly the heavenly Tabernacle that is in mind (Hebrews 8:2 and often; Revelation 15:5; Revelation 21:3)). It is God Himself, the heavenly Tabernacle and the spiritual beings in it, who are blasphemed by these Imperial claims.
But it is not just the one head but the whole wild beast with its blasphemous claims which is now in mind, and after Caligula's death the claims and the persecutions go on even when not positively sought by the Emperors, reaching a high point of intensity in Rome with Nero, and later in short bursts with Domitian, and even later in wholesale and widespread persecution. Caligula's importance lay not in the intensity of his persecutions nor in the effectiveness of his actions, but in the new positive enforcement of divinity which he symbolised.
This description parallels Paul's in 2 Thessalonians 2:4. The day of the Lord will not be ‘except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called divine or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the sanctuary as God (or ‘as a god' or ‘of God') setting himself forth as the supreme deity.'
We translate the first ‘theon' as divine as that is clearly its meaning here. ‘All that is called God' refers to anything that is called divine. He is thus claiming to be the supreme deity. Worship of Rome and the Emperor superseded all other religions which were only tolerated as ‘superstitions' as long as Rome was given its due worship.
We consider ‘the sanctuary as God (or ‘a god')' to be the better reading as it is the harder reading in later ears and therefore more likely to be correct (later Christians would not like comparing the emperor to God), but either way the message is the same. Here is one who claims divinity, and sets up his image in divine temples, possibly to be seen as declaring them to be ‘the sanctuary of God', exalting himself above all that is called divine. This is what certain emperors actually enforced themselves, at other times it was done by others as flattery. But to Rome the worship of Roma and the Emperor had always to be central.
Even if we read as ‘the sanctuary of God' we must remember that Paul considers that the Jerusalem Temple has been replaced by the new Temple of God, His people (2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21). John's thinking does not centre on the Jerusalem Temple, which he sees as replaced by the people of God, and he is thus unlikely to be speaking of that particular temple. He nowhere elsewhere speaks of it or points to it, and he knows that Jesus has predicted its destruction within a generation. In his eyes it has become irrelevant to the Christian church. So ‘the sanctuary of God' here would refer to the claim made by the Emperors that their temples were ‘the sanctuary of God'.
‘It was given to him to make war with God's people (the saints) and to overcome them' The Imperial claims necessarily bring them into conflict with God's people in different parts of the Empire and persecution results. Christians are dragged before tribunals and must either submit to the worship of Rome or face terrible punishment. For a large part of the time persecution will depend on local officials and the attitudes of local people, but the wild beast will not relax his grip.
We note here a parallel to chapter 12 where the woman is persecuted for forty two months followed by war on the remainder of her children. In Revelation 11:7 the war on the saints also follows a three and a half year period, although in that case only brief. Three and a half years is clearly looked on as a symbolic period of persecution, which results in further persecution. Once again the overcomers are seemingly overcome.
‘Every tribe and people and tongue and nation'. These words are taken from Daniel 3:29 where they denote disparate peoples in a large empire, but it is not necessarily universal. The Roman Empire was composed of such people.
‘All that dwell on earth shall worship him'. This was what Rome officially demanded, having the Roman world in mind (Acts 11:28; Acts 19:27; Acts 24:5; Romans 1:8). And on the whole they would receive what they demanded. These demands necessarily brought the authorities into conflict with Christians. ‘Those who dwell on earth' contrasts with those whose citizenship is in Heaven who are strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Philippians 3:20; 1 Peter 2:11).
‘Everyone who name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb'. See on Revelation 3:5. Those who are Christians have their names written in the Lamb's book of life, where they have been written from before time began (see Revelation 17:8). Both book and Lamb are eternal, for He wrote in the book before the foundation of the world. This is intended to strengthen living Christians against the persecutions ahead as well as to assure them of the safety of those who have previously been martyred. They can be content because their names are written in Heaven from the foundation of the world, written there by the slain Lamb, Who is also therefore there before the foundation of the world. They have true immortality.