THE MONSTER FROM THE LAND

Whereas the first monster represented the Roman proconsul, appointed annually from Rome, the second monster represented a local council of civic and religious authorities administering each community of the empire. One of the council’s responsibilities was to foster the worship of the emperor by erecting a statue of the emperor then in power. This is the context of the time ca. 95 CE when Domitian reigned and John composed his cryptic visions.

The image of the emperor John so vividly condemned “had two horns like a lamb’s but spoke like a dragon.” Its lamb-like appearance heightens the parody of Christ that John envisioned. In other words, it represented a false Messiah, even to the point of working miracles and deceiving the general populace in many other ways.

One of the most popular superstitions of the time held that Emperor Nero (54-68 CE), who had committed suicide, had not really died but would return from the east. In 88 CE a pretender in Asia had actually claimed to be Nero. Another popular philosophy of this era used magic, mysticism and mathematics to further impress the common people. These informed the symbolism John used to warn his Christian community of the dangers they faced.

Specifically the mark of the monster and the number of its name (vss. 16-18) referred directly these popular beliefs. Every Roman commercial document and coin bore the mark or the image of the reigning Caesar. The number 666 was a cryptogram that must have appealed to John for some symbolic meaning. Although many have tried to decipher it, no one has yet done so. Traditionally, the number is thought to refer to the legend about Nero’s return.