टीका वर्तमान में केवल अंग्रेज़ी में उपलब्ध है। हिन्दी अनुवाद प्रगति पर है।
Revelation 13 — Here Is Wisdom; Let Him That Hath Understanding Count the Number of the Beast
A beast rises from the sea — seven heads, ten horns, ten crowns. The dragon gives him his power. The world wonders after the beast — who is like unto the beast? He blasphemes God; makes war with the saints; all that dwell on the earth worship him whose names are not written in the Lamb's book. Another beast rises from the earth — two horns like a lamb, speaks as a dragon. He causes the world to worship the first; works wonders; causes all to receive a mark — that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark. The number is six hundred threescore and six.
“Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”
— Revelation 13:10
- v.1-10 The beast from the sea
- v.11-18 The beast from the earth; the mark
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The cross was not a Plan B. It was God's purpose before creation. Salvation history's climax was eternally fixed.
The book of life was written before time; the names there are kept through the beast's reign. The believer's security is not in his strength to resist but in his name on a list written before he existed.
A grim consolation. The persecutor will face proportionate justice. The saints are called not to retaliation but to patience.
Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. The mark of the people of God under the beast — patient endurance, not violent reprisal. Their weapons are the ones named in 12:11.
Verse 10 distinguishes Christian endurance from political resistance. The saints do not pick up the sword; they pick up patience and faith. When evil organizes itself politically, the Christian response is not insurrection. Here is the patience and faith of the saints. It looks weak; it is the strength of the Lamb.
The chapter's beast is a parody of Christ — the dragon's counterfeit. He has wounds healed, he claims worship, he conquers. But the verse beneath the chapter's horror is verse 8 — the Lamb slain from before the foundation, with the names kept in His book. The beast's power runs only as far as the throne permits, and the believer's security is in a Person, not in a circumstance.
It was given. Even the beast's authority is permitted. Nothing in Revelation operates outside the throne's permission.
To overcome them. In one sense — the saints suffer and die. In another sense (12:11) they overcome him. Two ledgers run side by side; the world counts visible defeat as victory; heaven counts the witness as the overcoming.