Revelation 13:1-8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And I stood upon the sand, &c.— Here the beast is described at large, who was only mentioned before, ch. Revelation 11:7. And a beast in the prophetic style, is a tyrannical, idolatrous person or empire. The kingdom of Christ is never represented under the image of a beast. As the prophet, Daniel 7:2-3 beheld four great beasts, representing the four great empires, come up from a stormy sea (that is, from the commotions of the world); so St. John, Revelation 13:1 saw this beast, in like manner, rise up out of the sea. He was said, chap. Revelation 11:7 to ascend out of the abyss, or bottomless pit; and it is said, ch. Revelation 17:8 that he shall ascend out of the abyss, or Bottomless pit; but here he is said to ascend out of the sea; so that the sea, and abyss, or bottomless pit, are in these passages the same. No doubt is to be made that this beast was designed to represent the Roman empire; for thus far both ancients and moderns, Protestants and Papists, are agreed: the only controversy is, whether it was Rome pagan or Christian, imperial or papal. St. John saw this beast rising out of the sea, but the Roman empire was risen and established long before St. John's time; and therefore this must be the Roman empire, not in its then present, but in some future shape and form; and it arose in another shape and form, after it was broken to pieces by the incursions of the northern nations. The beast had seven heads and ten horns; which are well known marks of the Roman empire; the seven heads alluding to the seven mountains whereon Rome was seated, and to the seven forms of government which successively prevailed there; and the ten horns signifying the ten kingdoms, into which the Roman empire was divided. It is remarkable, that the dragon had seven croons upon his heads, ch. Revelation 12:3 but the beast has upon his horns ten crowns; so that there has been in the mean while a revolution of power, from the heads of the dragon to the horns of the beast; and the sovereignty, which before was exercised by Rome alone, was now transferred and divided among ten kingdoms: but the Roman empire was not divided into ten kingdoms till after it was become Christian. Althoughthe heads had lost their crowns, yet they still retained the names of blasphemy. In all its heads, in all its forms of government, Rome was still guilty of idolatry and blasphemy. Imperial Rome was called, and delighted to be called, the eternal or heavenly city, the goddess, and the goddess of the earth; and she had her temples and altars with incense and sacrifice offered up to her: and how papal Rome likewise has arrogated to herself divine titles and honours, will be shewn in the following part of this description. As the fourth beast, Daniel 7:7 was without a name, and devoured and brake in pieces the three former; so this beast is also without a name, (Revelation 13:2.) and partakes of the nature and qualities of the three former; having the body of a leopard, which was the third beast, or Grecian empire; and the feet of a bear, which was the second beast, or Persian empire; and the mouth of a lion, which was the first beast, or Babylonian empire; and consequently this must be the same as Daniel's fourth beast, or the Roman empire. But still it is not the same beast, the same empire entirely, but with some variation. And the dragon gave him his power,—or his armies; and his seat,—or, his imperial throne, and great authority, or jurisdiction over all the parts of his empire. The beast, therefore, is the successor and substitute of the dragon, or of the idolatrous heathen Roman empire: and what other idolatrous power has succeeded to the heathen emperors in Rome, all the world is ajudge and a witness. The dragon, having failed in his purpose of restoring the old heathen idolatry, delegates his power to the beast; and thereby introduces a new species of idolatry, nominally different, but essentially the same;—the worship of angels and saints, instead of the gods and demi-gods of antiquity. Another mark whereby the beast was peculiarly distinguished, was, one of his heads, as it were wounded, &c. Revelation 13:3. It will appear hereafter that this head was the sixth head; for five were fallen, ch. Revelation 17:10 before St. John's time: and the sixth head was that of the Caesars or emperors; there having been before, kings, and consuls, and dictators, and decemvirs, and military tribunes with consular authority. This sixth head was as it were wounded unto death, when the Roman empire was overturned by the northern nations, and an end was put to the very name of emperor in Momyllus Augustulus; or rather, as the government of the Gothic kings was the same as that of the emperors, with only a change of the name, this head was more effectually wounded to death, when Rome was reduced to a poor dukedom, and made tributary to the exarchate of Ravenna. But, not only one of his heads was wounded to death, but his deadly wound was healed. If it was the sixth head which was wounded, that wound could not be healed by the rising of the seventh head; the same head which was wounded must be healed; and this was effected by the pope and people of Rome revolting from the exarchate of Ravenna, and proclaiming Charles the Great, Augustus and emperor of the Romans. Then the wounded imperial head was healed again, and has subsisted ever since. At this time, partly through the pope, and partly through the emperor, supporting and strengthening each other, the Roman name again became formidable: and all the world wondered after the heart, and they worshipped the dragon which gave power to the beast, &c. Revelation 13:4. No kingdom or empire was like that of the beast; it had not a parallel upon earth, and it was in vain for any to resist or oppose it; it prevailed and triumphed over all; and all the world, in submitting thus to the religion of the beast, did in effect submit again to the religion of the dragon; it being the old idolatry with only new names: for the worshipping of demons andidols is in effect the worshipping of devils. Wonderful as the beast was, his words and actions are no less wonderful, Revelation 13:5-8. He perfectly resembles the little horn, Daniel 7:8; Daniel 7:21; Daniel 7:25. On comparing the passage in the prophet with this before us, we find, that not only the same images, but also the same words, are employed; and the portraits being so perfectly alike, it might fairly be presumed, if there were no other argument, that they were both drawn for the same person: it is the Roman beast, in his last state, or under his seventh head. And he hath a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies: and what can be greater things and blasphemies than the claims of being "Universal bishop," "Infallible judge of all controversies,""Sovereign of kings," "Vicegerent of Christ," and "God upon earth?" He hath also power to continue, or rather, to practise, to prevail, and prosper forty and two months. It does not follow, that the beast is to continue, or to exist for no longer a term; but he is to practise, to prosper, and prevail forty and two months, as the holy city, ch. Revelation 11:2 is to be trodden down of the Gentiles forty and two months, which are the one thousand two hundred and sixty days, or years, of the reign of antichrist. But if by the beast be understood the heathen Roman empire, that empire, instead of subsisting one thousand two hundred and sixty, did not subsist four hundred years after the date of this prophesy. After this account of the blasphemies of the beast, there follows a specification of particulars. He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God; (Revelation 13:6.) blasphemy against God may not only consist in speaking dishonourably of the Supreme Being; but likewise in attributing to the creature what belongs to the Creator; which is often the sense of the word in scripture; as in Isaiah 65:7. He blasphemes the name of God, by assuming the divine titles and honours to himself, as it is expressed in Wis 14:21. He blasphemes the tabernacle of God, his temple, and his church, by calling true Christians, who are the houseof God, schismatics and heretics, and anathematizing them accordingly.He blasphemes them that dwell in heaven, angels and glorified saints, by idolatrous worship and impious adoration; and disgraces their acts, and vilifies their memories, by fabulous legends and lying wonders. It was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, Revelation 13:7. And who can make any computation, or even frame any conception, of the number of pious Christians who have fallen a sacrifice to the bigotry and cruelty of Rome? In the war of the Albigenses and Waldenses, there perished of these poor people, in France alone, a million! From the first institution of the Jesuits to the year 1480, that is, in little more than thirty years, nine hundred thousand Christians were slain. In the Netherlands alone, the Duke of Alva boasted, that within a few years he had dispatched to the amount of thirty-six thousand souls by the hand ofthe common executioner. In the space of scarcely thirty years, the inquisition destroyed, by various kinds of tortures, one hundred and fifty thousand Christians! No wonder that the beast should, by these means, obtain an universal authority over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations, and establish his dominion in all the countries of the western Roman empire; and that they should submit to his decrees, and adore his person, except the faithful few, whose names, as citizens of heaven, are enrolled in the registers of life. Let the Roman catholics boast, therefore, that theirs is the Catholic church, and universal empire; this is so far from being any evidence of the truth, that it is the very brand infixed by the spirit of prophesy.