The False Prophet's Deception

Please stand, if you're able, for the reading of God's word from Revelation chapter 13,

Revelation 13:11–18

verses 11 to 18.

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth.

It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon.

It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence

and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast,

whose mortal wound was healed.

It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people.

And by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast,

it deceives those who dwell on earth,

telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast

so that the image of the beast might even speak

and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.

Also, it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave,

to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,

so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark,

that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

And this calls for wisdom.

Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast,

for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Please be seated.

Jesus warned us in Matthew 24,

if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there he is,

do not believe it.

Because he said, for false Christs and false prophets

will arise and perform great signs and wonders

so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

Jesus warned us of that,

that false Christs and false prophets will arise

and perform great signs.

Last week, in the first half of chapter 13,

we saw how the first beast is that false Christ.

Some call him the Antichrist,

but he is really a sum of all the Antichrists

that arise from the time of Jesus' first coming

and till the time of his second coming.

He is the counterfeit Christ.

He is the image of the dragon,

just as Jesus is the image of the Father.

And just as Jesus received authority from the Father,

this beast received authority from the dragon.

And then today, we meet the second beast,

who elsewhere in Revelation is called the false prophet.

And this false prophet bears witness to the first beast,

performs signs and wonders,

and seals and marks the worshipers of the beast

in the same way that the spirit of God,

the third person of the Trinity,

marks and seals the people of God,

the church of Christ,

and performs signs and wonders

to verify the proclamation of the gospel.

And so in this way,

the dragon, the beast,

and the false prophet form an unholy triad.

That's a mockery and an imitation

of the true triad God.

But this false prophet not only parodies the Holy Spirit,

he also imitates the people of God

who are the witnesses of Jesus Christ.

The false prophet facilitates the worship of the beast

in the same way the church of Christ

facilitates the worship of the Son.

And this second beast,

the false prophet,

dresses up the first beast,

makes him look more plausible,

makes him look more persuasive.

He applies economic pressure upon people

to get them to submit

to the lordship of this second beast.

But the main point of this passage

is that we must remain faithful to Jesus

and resist the spiritual deception

and the economic pressure of the false prophet.

And we're gonna first talk about the speech of the beast,

and then the signs of the beast,

and then finally the mark of the beast.

First, it says in verse 11,

then I saw another beast rising out of the earth.

It had two horns like a lamb,

and it spoke like a dragon.

Unlike the dragon who stood on the sand of the sea

in chapter 12, 17,

and then rising out of that,

the Leviathan's watery chaos

that Old Testament often speaks of

in order to wreak havoc upon the earth.

And unlike the first beast

that also rose out of the sea

in chapter 13, verse 1,

this second beast rises out of the earth.

Unlike the dragon and the beast

that come from the spiritual realm of evil and chaos,

this false prophet has his origin on earth.

He is the dragon and the beast's earthly representative.

And he is particularly associated

with those who dwell on the earth.

And I've said this to you many times,

that those who dwell on the earth

is the technical phrase that John uses

throughout Revelation

to refer to people who are unbelievers,

people who do not repent of their sins

and are still living in rebellion against God.

We can see this in verse 14,

which tells us that the false prophet

deceives those who dwell on earth.

And that's the connection there,

why he rises from the earth,

to deceive those who dwell on the earth.

And the false prophet deceives people

by looking like the lamb.

He says in verse 11,

that he had two horns like a lamb.

The only lamb that's been mentioned

in the book of Revelation so far

is the lamb of God,

the slain lamb of God that we saw earlier

in Revelation chapter 5.

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

And that lamb representing Jesus

also had horns representing his authority.

And this false prophet,

the second beast,

also has two horns like a lamb.

And number two,

I'm not numbering one, two here.

The number two has symbolic significance

in the book of Revelation,

like all the other numbers

that we see in the book of Revelation.

In Revelation chapter 11,

Revelation 11 · chapter mention

if you remember the church

that bears witness to Christ

was represented by two witnesses

and also by two lampstands

and also by two olive trees.

Two is a number that represents witnesses

because the Old Testament law

requires at least two witnesses

as a basis for establishing

a legal charge against somebody.

And that gets carried over

into the New Testament.

And that's why in Matthew 18,

Jesus says that if someone sins against you

and they don't listen to you,

you have to take two or three with you

as a testimony

because that's the only way

you can establish

in the presence of witnesses the charge.

And this is also why in Luke 10,

when Jesus sent out his disciples,

72 disciples,

he sent them out two by two

to bear witness with a testimony.

And so like the two witnesses

who proclaim Jesus and his gospel

to lead people to the worship of Jesus,

this second beast with two horns

makes the earth and its inhabitants

worship the first beast.

He is the witness.

The witnesses.

He represents the witnesses

of the first beast

who also was wounded by the sword

and yet lived in another way.

He's imitating Jesus,

the Lamb of God.

And in the same way

that the two witnesses

of chapter 11

were patterned after Elijah

and the most famous scene

or miracle from Elijah's life

is him calling down fire from heaven

to burn up the sacrifice

that were being offered

to demonstrate that Yahweh,

the Lord God,

is the true God

while Baal is a false God

and an idol.

And so he is here.

The second beast,

the false prophet,

imitates that

by making fire come down

from heaven to earth

in front of people

and in so doing

he deceives the people

who live on earth.

But despite the fact

that this second beast

looks like a lamb

and imitates the church,

we know that he is not of the lamb

and we know that he is not

the true witness of God

because even though

he looks like a lamb,

he speaks like a dragon.

He says in verse 11,

Jesus warned us

in Matthew 7, 15 to 18,

beware of false prophets

who come to you

in sheep's clothing

but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

You will recognize them

by their fruits.

Our grapes gather

from thorn bushes

or figs from thistles.

So every healthy tree

bears good fruit

but the diseased tree

bears bad fruit.

A healthy tree

cannot bear bad fruit

nor can a diseased tree

bear good fruit.

This is,

this false prophet

is the wolf

in sheep's clothing

or rather a dragon

in sheep's clothing.

And as Jesus taught us,

we can recognize him

by his fruit.

And the fruit

that we have to pay

special attention to

is his speech,

what he says.

Because Jesus also said

in Luke 6, 45,

out of the abundance

of the heart,

the mouth speaks.

What comes out of the mouth

comes up from the heart.

The heart is the tree

from which the words

of our mouth come,

are the fruit.

People who make lewd comments

with their mouths

have hearts

that are filled with lust.

people who gossip

and slander

with their mouths

have their hearts

filled with hatred

and envy.

People who seem to talk

nonstop

with their mouths

often have hearts

that are filled

with social anxiety

and insecurity.

People who are critical,

frequently critical

with their mouths

often have in their hearts

pride

and ingratitude.

The things

that we say

are never mere

slips of the tongue.

They represent

what's in our heart.

They reflect

what's in our heart.

And that's the case

also with this false prophet.

He looks like a lamb

but we know

what's in his heart

because he speaks

like a dragon.

Like the dragon,

this false prophet

denies that Jesus

is the Christ,

the son of God

who came in the flesh,

human flesh,

to save us.

Like the dragon,

the false prophet

utters blasphemies

against God

and his people,

slanders the church,

says that we are not

the people of God.

The false prophet

speaks the lies

of the dragon

rather than the truths

of God.

And that's how

he recognized

the false prophet.

And this is why

it's so important

for us as God's people

to read

and study

and meditate on

and memorize

the scriptures.

Psalm 119.11

teaches us

that this is how

we live

an obedient life

and avoid sin

by storing up

God's word

in our hearts.

The false prophet's

whole purpose

is to make the beast

look plausible

and persuasive

and we will not

be able to tell

Christ apart

from the counterfeit

Christ

unless we are

intimately familiar

with the character

of Christ

and the word

of Christ.

nowadays

it's scary

how

artificial intelligence

can create

these deep fake

videos

of real people

saying things

and doing things

that they never

actually did.

I don't know if you've

seen some of those

before.

The false prophet

is a living

deep fake.

deep fake

a living deep fake

of the people

of God.

He is an impersonator

and a deceiver

and how are we

going to expose him?

By testing his words

against the word

of God.

Do his words

glorify Christ?

Please Christ

according to scripture

or do his words

lead us astray

from scripture

and to the worship

of another?

When Russia's

war on Ukraine

began

on February 24th

or 2022

I can't believe

it's already been

two years

there was a Russian

orthodox pastor

named Yonin Burden

who was

fined

$273

which doesn't

sound like a lot

to us

but in their

currency

that's over

a month

of his salary

and then he was

threatened with jail

and then tried

in a sham court

and then he was

forced to resign

from his pastorate

in his church

because he spoke

out against the war.

This is what he said

Russian soldiers

are killing

their brothers

and sisters

in Christ.

We Christians

cannot stand

on the sidelines

while brother

kills brother.

Christian

kills Christian.

We cannot

bashfully

close our eyes.

We cannot

call black

white.

The blood

of Ukrainians

is not only

in the hands

of the leaders

of the Russian

Federation

and the soldiers

who carry out

their order.

Their blood

is on the hands

of each of us

who approve

this war

or stand silent.

In contrast

the patriarch

of the Russian

Orthodox Church

Kirill of Moscow

put his official

stamp

of approval

on the war

calling those

who don't support it

as internal

enemies of Russia

and calling

patriotism

the greatest

virtue.

In the past

he has called

Putin's reign

in Russia

as quote

a miracle

of God

and that the

Russian soldiers

who die

in their war

against Ukraine

have quote

undoubtedly

committed

an act

equivalent

to sacrifice.

They will have

sacrificed themselves

for others

and therefore

we believe

that this sacrifice

washes away

all the sins

that a person

has committed.

I don't find

that in the Bible.

He's promising

forgiveness of sin

and salvation

to Russian soldiers

who die in the war

regardless of whether

they have saving faith

in Jesus Christ

or not.

But scripture

teaches us

that it's Christ's

sacrifice

not our sacrifice

that atones us.

scripture teaches

that every empire

will fall

including Russia

and including

the United States

of America.

Only the kingdom

of God

will stand forever.

Scripture teaches

us that our

ultimate allegiance

is not to

country

but to God

because they're not

one and the same.

Patriarch Kirill

might be the

highest spiritual

authority in Russia

but he is not

getting the people

to worship Christ

by saying those things.

He's getting the people

to worship

the beast

the state powers.

So don't be deceived

by the sheep's clothing.

Pay attention

to how the false prophet

speaks like a dragon.

Even in our country

don't believe

the religious leaders

who try to sell you

these messianic

intentions.

That's the speech

of the beast.

Now let's look

about the signs

of the beast.

Verse 12 says

that the false prophet

exercises all the authority

of the first beast

in its presence

and makes the earth

and its inhabitants

worship the first beast.

Since the dragon

gave his authority

to the first beast

and now the first beast

gives all of his authority

to the false prophet

the false prophet

is ultimately

exercising

satanic authority.

The dragon's authority.

And it is with that authority

that this false prophet

as it says

in verses 13 and 14

performs great signs

even making fire

come down from heaven

to earth

in front of people.

And by the signs

that it is allowed

to work in the presence

of the beast

it deceives

those who dwell on earth

telling them

to make an image

for the beast

that was wounded

by the sword

and yet lived.

This is treachery.

in the same way

that Moses

similar to the way

that Moses

did miraculous signs

in Egypt

to demonstrate

that Yahweh

is the true God

not these Egyptian gods

or Pharaoh

in the same way

that Elijah

called on fire

from heaven

to prove that Yahweh

not Baal

is God

this counterfeit prophet

does similar signs

and miracles

but not to speak

the truth

not to proclaim

the true God

but to instead

to deceive people

who dwell on the earth

to worship the beast

as God.

So this false prophet

is not unlike

those sorcerers

in Pharaoh's court

who tried to imitate

or copied

Moses' miracles

and this is

a stark warning for us

to not run

after miraculous signs.

While the signs

and wonders

that Jesus did

and later his apostles

did serve

to verify

and to show

that they were

true messengers

of God

doing God's work

and proclaiming

God's word

Jesus also often

decried those

who came to him

looking for signs

instead of paying

attention to his words

what he taught.

He says in Matthew 12

39

an evil

and adulterous

generation

seeks for a sign.

As I said earlier

we can recognize

the dragon

the beast

and the false prophet

by their speech

by what they say

not by their signs.

Deuteronomy 13

1-4

is very clear.

It says

if a prophet

or a dreamer

dreamer of dreams

arises among you

and gives you a sign

or a wonder

and the sign

or wonder

that he tells you

comes to pass

and if he says

let us go after

other gods

which you have not known

and let us serve them

you shall not listen

to the words

of that prophet

or that dreamer

of dreams

for the Lord

your God

is testing you

to know

whether you love

the Lord

your God

with all your heart

and with all your soul

you shall walk

after the Lord

your God

and fear him

and keep his commandments

and obey his voice

and you shall serve him

and hold fast

to him

even if

the so-called

false prophet

so-called prophet

does signs

and wonders

if he tells you

to go worship

other gods

if he leads you

astray from Jesus

our Lord

and Savior

then we must

not follow him

I mean think about

how compelling

that would be

signs and wonders

wouldn't that be tempting

this is a warning

against our human

tendency to judge

according to

the appearance

of things

and not according

to the substance

of things

this is a warning

against our human

tendency

toward pragmatism

seeking

practical

working solutions

without considering

whether those

solutions are true

or good

how many Christians

have been led

into

unfaithful churches

because they were

attracted to

the most impressive

signs

and shows

rather than

to the faithful

preaching of the gospel

how many

Christians

have been led

to unfaithfulness

by the same

things

because we've been

asking

what works

what's popular

what's trending

rather than

asking ourselves

what's biblical

the social gospel

works

in mobilizing

people

in bringing

about some

social change

it works

the prosperity

gospel

works

it brings

thousands of

people

through the

doors of the

church

and fills

the church

coffers

but they don't

actually save

anyone

because these

are empty

signs

when we

ask

you know

what works

rather than

what's biblically

leads us to

man-centered

worship

rather than

God-centered

worship

when we ask

what works

rather than

what's biblical

we appoint

as ministers

of the gospel

people who are

gifted

but do not

meet the

scriptural

criteria

or have

the necessary

character

they might

look successful

at first

as gifted

people often

are

but eventually

abuses

and scandals

and heresies

follow

because they

don't have

the character

to weather

the rigors

and the pressures

and the temptations

of ministry

but wait

he performs

miracles

he must

be a true

prophet

not necessarily

the false

prophet

has

impressive

authority

he performs

signs

he is backed

by powerful

figures

he is very

plausible

and persuasive

but we must

not follow him

and they may

come with

consequences

it says in

verse 15

in the false

prophet

was allowed

to give

breath

to the image

of the beast

so that the image

of the beast

might even

speak

and might

cause those

who would not

worship the image

of the beast

to be slain

in the first

century

when revelation

was written

priests

of the imperial

cult

would make

literal idols

of emperors

and other gods

and demand

that people

bow down

before them

and worship

them

emperor

Caligula

even tried

to place

an idol

of himself

inside

the most

early place

of the

Jerusalem

temple

and emperor

Domitian

also set up

a colossal

statue

of himself

in Ephesus

and demanded

that people

worship him

and historians

note that

some of these

imperial cult

priests

employed

ventriloquism

and false

lightning

and other

similar signs

to persuade

people that

there is real

divinity

and deity

behind these

idols

not all of

these things

happened

during John's

day necessarily

but similar

events may

have happened

already afoot

by John's

time

and those

who refused

to join

in that

idolatry

were sometimes

slain

and often

faced dire

economic

consequences

as we see

in the following

verses

this setting

up of the

image of the

beast

is an

allusion

most likely

to Daniel

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3

where the

Babylonian

king

Nebuchadnezzar

sets up

a golden

image of

himself

and demands

that all

people

and nations

and language

bow down

before it

and worship

it

and you know

the story

Daniel's three

friends

Shadrach

Meshach

and Abednego

they refused

to worship

the image

and when

Nebuchadnezzar

threatens them

with the fiery

furnace

and they finally

says to them

who is the

God

who will

deliver you

out of my

hands

Shadrach

Meshach

and Abednego

reply

if this

be so

our

God

whom we

serve

is able

to deliver

us

from the

burning

fiery

furnace

and he

will

deliver

us

out of

your

hand

O

king

but if

not

be known

to you

O

king

that we

will not

serve

your

gods

or worship

the golden

image

that you

have set

up

they

believe

that God

can

deliver

them

and that he

will

deliver

them

from the

hand

of the

king

Nebuchadnezzar

but even

if he

doesn't

they said

we will

not bow

down

before

your

golden

image

we know

that early

church

that was

persecuted

took

inspiration

from the

story

because if

you go

to the

catacombs

of Priscilla

which is

an underground

cemetery

that the

Romans

used

you can

see a

fresco

painting

on the

wall

of the

three

friends

of Daniel

in the

fiery

furnace

accompanied

by Holy

Spirit

in the

form

of a

dove

and

not

harmed

by the

fire

Christians

because

they were

so frequently

persecuted

sometimes

took shelter

and used

the catacombs

the tombs

as a

sanctuary

and sometimes

they worship

there

which is

why we see

and this

is the

image

that they

had

to remind

us

that we

don't suffer

alone

there are

those who

have gone

before us

who have

borne

faithful

testimony

to Jesus

in order

to enforce

the worship

of the

beast

the false

prophet

will

mark

the earth

dwellers

with the

mark

of the

beast

it says

in verses

16 to

18

also it

causes

all

both

small

and

great

both

rich

and

poor

both

free

and

slave

to be

marked

on the

right

hand

or the

forehead

so that

no one

can buy

or sell

unless he

has the

mark

that is

the name

of the beast

or the number

of its name

this calls

for wisdom

let the one

who has

understanding

calculate the

number

of the beast

for it is

the number

of a man

and his

number

is

666

this

number

has

sparked

all

kinds

of

imaginative

speculation

and

controversy

throughout

church

history

I mentioned

to you

you might

remember

this

I mentioned

to you

my first

sermon

in our

revelation

series

a few

years

ago

no not

the sermon

wasn't a few

years ago

but a few

years ago

some people

were proclaiming

that the

COVID vaccine

is the

mark of

the beast

that's

unfortunate

because our

pastoral intern

was working

for the

company

that made

one of

them

and

they were

saying

that because

the word

corona

has six

letters

so that's

obviously

the first

six

of the

666

and then

you count

up the

numerical

value of

the letters

in the word

corona

c is the

third letter

in the alphabet

so it's

number three

and so on

and then you

add up the

numbers

you get

66

can that be

coincidence

666

that is

certainly not

the mark

of the beast

a few

decades ago

when Ronald

Regan

was elected

president

some people

noted that

the winning

lottery number

in Maryland

on election

day

November 4th

was

666

that of

course

got the

conspiracy

years going

and later

some people

noted that

Ronald

Wilson

Regan

the first

middle

last name

all have

six

letters

he's kind

of a

hapless

president

because

he didn't

help his

case

when

after his

retirement

he purchased

a house

in Belle

Air

Los Angeles

with the

address

666

St.

Cloud

Road

and his

wife was

wise to

promptly

change the

address

to 668

if you

think only

Republicans

can be the

antichrist

then think

again

because it

was rumored

that John

F.

Kennedy

received

precisely

666

votes

during the

1956

Democratic

Convention

which I

looked into

and it

turns out

that he

didn't

but

doesn't

stop

rumors

from

spreading

and

also

JFK

died

of a

head

wound

like

the

beast

that

dies

of a

mortal

wound

and

some

people

have

written

books

predicting

that JFK

will come

back

from the

dead

as the

antichrist

still others

have suggested

that the

beast

is

Mohammed

saying

that

a certain

Greek

spelling

of his

name

Maometis

adds up

to the

number

666

666

the only

problem

with this

theory

is that

his name

is never

rendered

Maometis

in all

extant

literature

and the

numbers do

not add up

to 666

many other

names have been

suggested throughout

church history

Caligula

Domitian

Caesar

God

the

Nicolaitans

Ioanthus

Taten

Saladin

King

Charles

I

King

George

III

of the

American

Revolution

Napoleon

Latinus

which means

Latin

speaking

man

which some

people claim

Pope

is the

antichrist

Phoebus

Balaam

Oliver

Cromwell

Kaiser

Wilhelm

Hitler

Mussolini

Anwar

Sadat

and

Saddam

Hussein

among

others

this should

caution us

against

numerological

speculations

theologian

George

Salmon

suggests

some

tongue

in cheek

rules

for how

to calculate

the number

of the

beast

he writes

this is

his first

rule

first

if the

proper

name

by itself

will not

yield

666

add a

title

secondly

if the

sum

cannot be

found in

Greek

try

Hebrew

or even

Latin

thirdly

do not

be too

particular

about the

spelling

it's

it's

really

funny

but

not

so

funny

because

it's

exactly

what's

happened

with

some

of

these

suggestions

Salmon

concludes

from this

quote

we cannot

infer much

from the

fact that

a key

fits the

lock

if it

is a

lock

in which

almost

any

key

will

fit

this

is a

wise

general

caution

against

mathematical

and

numerological

speculation

having

said

that

I'm

going to

kind of

break that

rule and

suggest to

you

that there

is

one

historical

name

however

that I

do

think

John

is

referencing

this

is not

definitive

and it

is a

bit

speculative

but because

John

alludes

to this

man

and the

legend

surrounding

him

repeatedly

throughout

the

book

I

think

the

identification

is likely

and that

man is

Nero

in many

ancient

languages

the

letters

of the

alphabet

were also

given

numerical

value

and

gematria

which is

the practice

of representing

names and

words with

numbers

was commonly

practiced by

Jews and

Greeks and

Romans

there are

many examples

literary

examples

that we

have of

names of

emperors

names

name of

Jesus

and even

name of

God

being represented

with

gematria

with using

these numbers

in other

literature

and normally

I don't think

you should use

gematria on

the number

that you see

numbers that you

see in the

Bible

but because

I think that

leads to this

kind of fruitless

speculation and

conspiracy theories

however I do

think that John

is pointing us

to that practice

here because

verse 15

says let

the one who

has understanding

calculate the

number of the

beast for it

is the number

of a man and

his number is

666

John uses many

symbolic and

figurative numbers

throughout his

book but never

not once does

he tell us in

those other places

to calculate the

number and

or tell us it's

the number of a

man but here he

tells us that to

calculate the

number for it is

the number of a

man and that

indicates that

number 666

represents a

man's name

somehow if you

transliterate the

Greek for

Nero Caesar into

Hebrew the

letters add up to

666 it isn't the

most common spelling

of Nero Caesar but

there was an

Aramaic papyrus

document that was

discovered dated to

stating the second

ear of Nero Caesar

and that's spelled

exactly that way

and that name

spelling yields

666

some people object

that John wouldn't

have used Hebrew

for Nero Caesar to

yield 666

by Gamatria if

he's writing to

Greek speakers which

he is here because

Revelation is written

in Greek that's a

fair point but

verses like

Revelation 9 11 and

16 16 where John

explicitly gives the

Hebrew name for

words like Abaddon

and Armageddon

suggest that John

did have in mind

that some of his

audience would know

Hebrew or be

familiar with Hebrew

words moreover there

are some ancient

manuscripts of this

passage in Revelation

that have variations

of this verse 18 and

that those variations

have instead of the

number 666 number

616 and if you use

Gamatria on the

Latin translation of

Nero Caesar you get

616 and I think

these variations

confirm that that's

what the original

audience and the

people had in mind

the Nero identification

is confirmed by the

fact that John as we

saw creatively uses

the Nero returned or

the Nero living again

legends that were

popular in his day

beasts to refer to

the beast who dies

who has a mortal

wound but recovers

is seen living again

for example the

Ascension of Isaiah

which is basically

fan fiction in the

style of scripture

from the first or

second century

writes of expectation

of Nero's return

saying all people in

the world will

sacrifice to him and

he will set up his

image before him in

every city the

Sibylline Oracle

which predicted the

return of Nero

called him the

great beast and that

appears to have been

a nickname that was

quite often used of

Nero because of

emperor Marcus Aurelius

also called Nero a

beast and a

Greco-Roman philosopher

Philostratus represents

Apollonius of Tiana as

describing Nero as a

beast more savage than

the wild beasts like

lions and panthers

because flattering him

makes him even more

ferocious and vicious

and he says and

Apollonius writes even

wild beasts do not

eat their own mothers

but Nero quote has

gorged himself on this

diet this is referring

to the fact that Nero

killed his own mother

so he is often referred

to as the beast John

could have simply used

the name Nero for

Gematria but he uses a

title Nero Caesar because

he has a literary and

theological reason for

why he wants the number

to add up to 666

first if you translate

the Greek word for

beast into Hebrew it

has the numerical value

of 666 by showing that

Nero Caesar has the same

numerical value as the

beast both in Hebrew

John is driving home the

point that Nero is in

fact the beast

I don't think he's saying

that Nero would literally

be resurrected and come

back to life at the end

times but because Nero