Mark 1 · The beast from the sea
Power on Loan from the Dragon
The beast owns nothing. Its power, throne and authority are the dragon's, lent to it, and permitted by God for a measured time.
✓ Reviewed by Fr. John How this site is made
- Texts
- Revelation 13:2, 4
- Figure
- The beast from the sea
- Authority
- Scripture
What the text shows
The beast owns nothing. The dragon hands it his own power, his throne and great authority (Revelation 13:2). The world's response follows at once: people worship the dragon because he gave the beast its authority, and they worship the beast with him, asking who can compare with it or fight it (Revelation 13:4). The gift and the worship are one movement.
Who the dragon is
Revelation has just named him: the ancient serpent, the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9). The NABRE note on 13:2 reads the gift as Satan, the prince of this world (John 12:31), commissioning the beast to persecute the Church.
Permitted, and limited
In the verses that follow, everything the beast does is "given" to it: a mouth, authority for forty-two months, leave to make war (Revelation 13:5, 7). The giver behind those permissions is God, who sets the measure. The beast's power is real but borrowed twice over: lent by the dragon, permitted by God.
The offer refused in the desert
In the temptation the devil claims that the authority of the kingdoms has been handed over to him, and offers it in exchange for worship. Jesus answers that God alone is to be worshiped and served (Luke 4:5–8). Many commentators read Revelation 13 as the same offer accepted.
For John's first readers
The NABRE notes read the beast as the Roman Empire, with the worship of 13:4 alluding to the emperor cult enforced under Domitian. The Fathers also read the chapter of the one who is to come at the end (see Mark 2).
The Fathers Fathers in agreement
St. Irenaeus writes that the one to come will gather into himself all the power of the devil (Against Heresies V.25.1). St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. John Damascene and St. Thomas Aquinas agree that Satan works through him, by God's permission, while he remains a man acting freely; he is not Satan made flesh (Cyril, Catechetical Lecture 15.14; Damascene, Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith IV.26; Aquinas, Commentary on 2 Thessalonians, ch. 2, lect. 2). St. Paul says the same of the lawless one: his coming springs from the power of Satan (2 Thess 2:9).
The Church Church teaching
Satan is powerful, but only a creature; his action is permitted by divine providence and cannot stop the building up of God's reign (CCC 395). Christ's victory over the prince of this world was won once for all (CCC 2853).
Where interpreters differ Disputed
How does Satan act in him? The Fathers and later writers answer differently:
- He holds the devil's whole power: St. Irenaeus.
- He is Satan's instrument: St. Cyril of Jerusalem.
- The devil works through him, but does not become incarnate: St. John Damascene.
- He is inspired, not possessed, and acts freely: St. Thomas Aquinas.
- He is possessed from youth, yet still offered grace: Fr. Charles Arminjon, The End of the Present World (Sophia Institute Press, 2008), p. 43.
All agree he is a man. The Church has not decided between these readings.
This site does not ask who the beast is today, and it names no one. It sets out what has been revealed, so that every reader can keep watch.
The response asked of us
The answer Jesus gave in the desert: worship God alone (Luke 4:8). Whoever refuses the beast's borrowed throne does so by what Revelation calls "the faithful endurance of the holy ones" (Revelation 13:10).
Sources
- Revelation 13, New American Bible Revised Edition, with notes: bible.usccb.org
- St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies V.25: New Advent
- St. John Damascene, Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith IV.26 (NPNF II.9): text
- Catechism of the Catholic Church 395, 2853
- Fr. Charles Arminjon, The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life (Sophia Institute Press, 2008), p. 43