Appendix on the Mark of the Beast and Meaning of 666 in Revelation 13

i Appendix on the mark of the beast and meaning of 666 in Revelation 13. Brief Introduction to the Books of Daniel and Revelation. A growing view since 1854 that the “image” and “mark of the beast” is Mariolatry. Brief Overview: Factors indicating that the “mark of the beast” will be Mariolatry . Ecumenical Marian Developments with special reference to ARCIC. Some Interfaith Developments. The “mark of the beast” - World-wide Marian worship’s coming. Counting the number of the beast’s image, “666” (Satur). What exactly is “the mark” in “the mark of the beast”? Counting the number of the beast’s name, “666” (Lateinos , Romiith, and Vicarius Filii Dei ). Brief Introduction to the Books of Daniel and Revelation. I stand firmly on the principle that in propounding the Books of Daniel and Revelation, one should recognize a fundamental distinction between a basic inner core of fine-brush or detailed descriptions of the Antichrist in these books, and an outer body of broad-brush descriptions of the Roman Papacy as the Antichrist, which clearly require interpretation due to their lack of specific detail. On the one hand, I think this inner core of fine-brush descriptions will fit the Roman Papacy and none other, so that the historical school of prophetic interpretation is thereby clearly and powerfully established. On the other hand, I think this outer body of broad-brush prophecies constitutes an area where orthodox Protestants may agree to disagree, and remain in godly fellowship together. For example, applying these principles with reference to the matters of Revelation 13 discussed in this appendix, I would hold on the broad historicist principles discussed below, that the first beast must represent the Roman Papacy. It is clearly described as under the power of Satan (Rev. 13:2, cf. 12:9); “wondered after” by “all the world” (Rev. 13:3); blasphemous (Rev. 13:1,5,6); idolatrous (Rev. 13:14,15); a persecutor and murderer of God’s saints (Rev. 13:7,15-17); ruling for a special period of “forty and two months” (Rev. 13:5), which on the well established day-year prophetic principles of historicism must be 1260 years (Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:4-6; Dan. 9:24-27); and capable of performing miracles by Satanic power (Rev. 13:13,15). In its imperial form, the Roman Empire literally was Roman i.e., a city state ran an empire. The Biblical focus for the fourth kingdom identified by the prophet Daniel (following Daniel’s Babylonian, Medo-Persian, and Grecian kingdoms,) is thus on Rome (Matt. 24:15), and so when the Imperial Roman Empire split into the Eastern Roman Empire (under Constantinople) and Western Roman Empire (under Rome) following the death of the Emperor, Theodosius the Great in 395, the Biblical focus on the fourth kingdom shifts to the Western Roman Empire in order to maintain the historicist’s Biblical focus on Rome (Rev. 17:9). With the fall of Rome in 476, this Western Roman Empire is then continued as a spiritual empire of Roman Catholicism under the Bishop of Rome, and later temporal holdings are included (756-1870, from 1929). He was gradually “revealed” (II Thess. 2:8), first as a semi-formal temporary universal titular primate under Justinian (533-65), then as a formal universal governing primate (607 A.D.), then in 642 the Pope assumed the title, ii “Patriarch of the West,” and in 756 the first Papal state was established in Western Europe. These descriptors would mean all historicists would identify the first beast of Rev. 13 as the Roman Papacy, and agree on some matters 1. Applying these broad principles, e.g., most historicists would agree that the 1260 years must be commenced somewhere between the Fall of Rome in 476 A.D., and the rise of the first Papal states in 756 A.D.; and in practice, most have used the dates 533, or 607, and a lesser number have used 756. My own view is that a lesser prophetic type is found, on inclusive reckoning, from 533 to 1792 (the French Revolution and judgement of the Protestant persecuting Ancien Regime ); and the greater actual fulfilment from 607 to 1866 (“the judgment shall sit,” Dan. 7:26, with the loss of the Papal states, 1860-70, and this Divine sentence issued in 1866 taking a further four years to be fully implemented. I think this Divine judgment of 1866 also types the final judgement at the Second Coming. The martyrdom of Protestants at Barletta, Italy in 1866, types the martyrdom of Protestants at the end of time who refuse to get the mark of the beast.) Thus the 1860-1870 judgment of the Papal States at the terminus of the 1260 day-years, and lack of religious freedom to Protestants in these Papal States, was judged by God through the creation of Italy 1860-1870; and so the Barletta martyrs of 1866 at the precise terminus of 1260 days is a pointer to remind us that judgement was connected with fact that Rome did “wear out the saints of the most High” (Dan. 7:25,26). All historicists would agree that Papal blasphemy includes the denial of justification by faith. Hence the propriety of the angel’s message in Revelation 14:6, where St. John the Divine sees an “angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,” i.e., “The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17). All historicists would agree that Papal blasphemy includes the denial of Christ’s completed atonement on the cross, denied in the Romish “sacrifice of the mass.” All historicists would agree that the usage of “Holy” in the “Holy Roman Empire” was a blasphemy. All historicists would agree that Papal idolatry and blasphemy includes the Roman Mass, invocation of saints, and setting aside of the Second Commandment with its adoration of statues and relics. This thus stands in contrast to the saints who “keep the commandments of God” (Rev. 12:17). The fact that like the NT, Lateinos is written in Greek, the antiquity of the recognition that Lateinos tallies “666” (Irenaeus, 2nd century), and the clear appropriateness of referring to the Pope as “the Latin man,” helps explain the fact that overwhelmingly, historicists have found “the number of the beast” (Rev. 13:18) in the Greek Lateinos (“the Latin man”). Historicists thereafter generally divide between those who use only Lateinos , and those who see Lateinos as one of a select number of fulfilments. Of those in the latter group, the fact that like the OT, Romiith is written in Hebrew, and the fact that the Roman Church has the name “Babylon” “upon her forehead,” to identify her as Rome (Rev. 17:5,9), helps explain the fact that a further fulfilment has often been found in the Hebrew Romiith (meaning “Romans” i.e., “the Roman Kingdom”). In the NT an important “title” might be a trilingual, “written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin” (John 20:20); and since the 1790s, there has been an increasing recognition among a group of historicists, that a fulfilment is also found in the Latin Papal title, Vicarius Filii Dei (“Vicar of the Son of God”). 1 In saying “all historicists” here and in the immediately following paragraphs, I do not mean that all historicists have necessarily itemized all the matters I here mention, but rather that many have, and that they are harmonious with the general writings of all orthodox Protestant historicists. iii All historicists would agree that while deceit and fraud have accompanied some Papist “miracles” said to be performed in front of a Romish idol, e.g., of a Saint, nevertheless, there are instances of genuine miracles of this kind in Romanism, that must therefore be attributed to the power of Satan. All historicists would agree that the persecution and murder of God’s saints (Rev. 13:7; 17:6), includes the martyrs Huss of Bohemia or Jerome of Prague, killed by the Council of Constance ; or the Marian martyrs, killed for their faithfulness to Protestantism under the English Roman Catholic Queen, Bloody Mary. But diversity of opinion between orthodox Protestant historicists may well develop, to a greater or greater degree, on the precise fulfilments of much of the detail of Rev. 13. When studying this commentary, the orthodox Protestant reader should be aware of such distinctions, and carefully and prayerfully make up his own mind on the more detailed interpretations that I here bring to Revelation 13, distinguishing them in his mind from the broad principles of historicism which are rock solid and will withstand any attack. I endorse the Historical School of Prophetic Interpretation for the Book of Daniel, written by Daniel in the 6th century B.C. (Ezek. 14:14,20; 28:3), and the Book of Revelation written near the end of the first century A.D. around 96 A.D. The fact that Daniel’s prophecies first cover long periods spanning hundreds of years with the Empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome (Matt. 24:15), acts to create a stylistic context in which a long Roman Empire, lasting contextually till the Second Advent (Dan. 2:40-44; 7:7-14; Rev. 18), is the natural and expected focus. This methodology ultimately leads us to cover the subsequent rise of the Roman Papacy and the Roman Church. That is because following the death of Emperor Theodosius the Great in 395, the Roman Empire was divided into the Eastern and Western Empires. But the Imperial Roman Empire was just that, Roman .

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