Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 13:11

"And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like unto lamb, and he spake as a dragon." — Revelation 13:11 (ASV)

John sees another beast, rising from the earth. This second beast completes the triumvirate of evil—the dragon, the sea beast, and the land beast. This beast is subservient to the beast from the sea and seems utterly dedicated to promoting not himself but the wounded beast from the sea. Elsewhere the land beast is called the “false prophet” (16:13; 19:20; 20:10). As with the first beast, identification is a problem. That this beast comes from the land rather than the sea may simply indicate his diversity from the first, while other references stress their collusion. A survey of the history of interpretation reveals in general, as with the first beast, two main lines: either the beast represents a power or a movement, or it describes a human being allied with the Antichrist at the close of the age. Early Christian interpreters, who identify the first beast not with Rome but with a personal Antichrist, find in the second beast the “armor-bearer” of the first, who employs the demonic forces to work magic and deceive the inhabitants of the earth. Many of the Reformers, drawing on earlier traditions, were led to identify this beast with the papacy or specific popes. In other words, they saw the beast as a present threat and not some entity awaiting a yet future manifestation. Most modern commentators, following the Nero redivivus view of the first beast, identify this beast as the priesthood of the imperial cultus. Others would extend the symbolism to all ages and see in the second beast persecuting power, pagan or Christian, and would call special attention to the Roman papacy, though by no means limiting it to this priesthood. While recognizing that no view is without problems, the following discussion takes the position that the land beast is John’s way of describing the false prophets of the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:24; Mark 13:22). This identification is consistent with the previously stated view of the sea beast as describing not just a specific political reality but the worldwide anti-God system of Satan and its manifestation in periodic, historical human antichrists. The land beast is the antithesis to the true prophets of Christ symbolized by the two witnesses in ch. 11. If the thought of a nonpersonal antichrist and false prophet seems to contradict the verse that describes them as being cast alive into the lake of fire (19:20), consider that “death” and “Hades” (nonpersons) are also thrown into the lake of fire (20:14).

The “two horns like a lamb” seems to highlight the beast’s imitative role relative to the true Lamb in the rest of the book (e.g., 5:6ff.; 13:8; 14:1). Could the two horns be in contrast to the two witnesses in ch. 11? Since one of the primary characteristics of this second beast is his deceptive activities (v.14; 19:20), his appearance as a lamb would contribute to the confusion over the beast’s true identity. If the land beast represents satanic false teaching and false prophets, their evil is intensified because of its deceptive similarity to the truth. Even though the beast is like the Lamb, in reality he is evil because “he [speaks] like a dragon,” i.e., he teaches heresy. Jesus gave such a twofold description of false prophets in the Sermon on the Mount: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15). On the other hand, the lamblikeness may simply be a reference to the beast’s gentle outward manner in contrast to his true identity as a fierce dragon.