The Feast Of Nero

The Feast Of Nero
The Evidence Pointing Specifically To Nero
Now that we’ve determined that The Beast Of Revelation was something or someone in the first century, I will now show how the historical evidence points to Nero Caesar specifically as being this first-century beast.
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Abstract: The beast mentioned in the book of Revelation has garnered much attention from Christians. Speculation abounds regarding the identity of this evil creature who makes war against God and His saints. Most Christians just assume that whoever The Beast is, he’s some future person or entity that will reign on Earth for 7 years prior to the return of Christ, and he will put the number 666 on their foreheads and hands and will prevent anyone who doesn’t have that 666 from buying or selling. It is also assumed that “The Anti-Christ” and The Beast are two titles for the same entity. Throughout church history, a number of candidates have been proposed for who might be The Beast/The Anti-Christ from Adolf Hitler 1 , The Pope 2 , Ronald Reagan 3 , and even Barack Obama 4 !
But what if the presupposition behind all of this speculation is false? What if The Beast isn’t a future yet-to-come figure at all? What if he was a first-century beast who already came and went? In this paper, I will propose that The Beast described in the book of Revelation was the first-century emperor Nero Caesar. I will first show what The Bible says about The Beast, then I will explain three interpretive keys that lead me to think that Revelation is describing a first-century figure in the first place, then I will give the evidence that points to Nero Ceasar specifically as fitting the description of The Beast.
“The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, ‘Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?’ The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. ……. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.” – Revelation 13:1-8, 16-18
“One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.’ Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The name written on her forehead was a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. Then the angel said to me: ‘Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come. ‘This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. ‘The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers. ” – Revelation 17:1-14
Interpretive Key #1: “Things That Will SOON Take Place”

The first piece of evidence pointing to a first-century figure as being The Beast of Revelation is found in the very first verse of the book of Revelation. The book opens with these words; “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,” (Revelation 1:1, emphasis mine). John said that Jesus revealed to him things that must SOON take place. The New Living Translation renders it as “This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the events that must soon take place. He sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant John,” (emphasis mine). The English Standard Version likewise renders it “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,” Other translations say things like Jesus revealed to John things that must “shortly come to pass” (KJV), “quickly take place” (HSCB), “must happen very soon” (CEV).
As Keith Mathison of Ligonier Ministries wrote “…the book itself indicates when at least most of its prophecies are to be fulfilled. In both the first and last chapters, John tells his first century readers that the things revealed in the book “must soon take place” (1:1; 22:6) and that “the time is near” (1:3; 22:10). These statements are generalizations, so they do not require that every event prophesied in the book must be fulfilled in the first century, but the generalizations do provide us with a “general” idea of how we should understand the book.xviii The bulk of John’s prophecy concerns something that was impending in his own day.” 5

It is beyond implausible to think that John imagined that the vast majority of his book prophesied events that wouldn’t occur for thousands of years, yet he tells his readers that they are to take place “soon”, “quickly”, “shortly”. In what sense could anyone imagine that 2000+ years is, in any sense, “soon”? A plain reading of the text suggests that John expected the things he prophesied to take place within a small amount of time. In verse 3, John goes on to repeat the nearness of the events by saying “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near .” (emphasis mine)
This is even more probable when you look at a statement the apostle made in one of his epistles; “Dear children, this is the last hour ; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming , even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18, emphasis mine) John said that he and his readers were living in “the last hour”. That his readers had heard that “the antichrist is coming” and he says that even now many anti-Christs have come and that’s how they know that it is the last hour. The language “the last hour” indicates that John thought the end was near, not thousands of years into the future. 6 Additionally, if one believes “The Anti-Christ” and The Beast Of Revelation are the same, then this language of nearness connected to John’s statement of the coming of The Anti-Christ would lend further credence to a first-century figure of Revelation’s Beast.
When John said “we are in the last hour”, “Jesus revealed things to me that must soon take place”, and “the time is near” that his prophesies would go unfulfilled for thousands of years? I find this highly implausible.
Interpretive Key #2: “Calculate The Number”.

Additionally, we have the fact that John tells his readers to calculate the number of the beast. He says “calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.” (Revelation 13:18). As Hank Hanegraaff put it in his book The Apocalypse Code; “Obviously no amount of wisdom and insight would have enabled a first-century audience to calculate the number of a twenty-first-century beast. It would have been cruel and dangerously misleading for John to suggest to first-century Christians that they could identify the beast if, in fact, the beast was a twenty-first-century individual or institution.” 7 Moreover, what does John even mean by “calculate the number of the beast”? What does calculating the number even look like?
In Hanegraaff’s The Apocalypse Code , he went on to say “ Furthermore, unlike today, transforming names into numbers (gematria) was common in antiquity. For example, in the Lives of the Twelve Caesars Roman historian Suetonius identifies Nero by a numerical designation equal to a nefarious deed. This numerical equality (isopsephism) is encapsulated in the phrase: “Count the numerical values of the letters in Nero’s name, and in ‘murdered his own mother’ and you will find their sum is the same.” In Greek, the numerical value of the letters in Nero’s name (Greek: Nevrwn, English transliteration: Neron) totaled 1,005, as did the numbers in the phrase murdered his own mother. This ancient numerical cryptogram reflected the widespread knowledge that Nero had killed his own mother. “ 8
It is far more plausible to suggest that the apostle was admonishing his readers to apply Gematria to the Beast’s number in order to come up with his name. Since Gematria is rarely practiced in the world today, it would seem unlikely that John had a 21st or 22nd-century audience. Of course, the citation above seems to raise an objection against Nero being the Beast since, as Hanegraaff said, his name comes out to 1,005. I’ll come to back to this later.
Interpretive Key #3: “Don’t Seal Up The Words Of This Prophecy!”
In Daniel 12, after receiving prophecies, an angel said to him “But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.” (verse 4). By contrast in Revelation 22:10, the angel told John “Then he told me, ‘Do not seal up the words of prophecy in this book, because the time is near.'”

So we have a contrast here. In the former, the angel said to seal up the words of the scroll. In the latter, the angel said not to seal up the words of the scroll. Why? In his book End Times Bible Prophesy: It’s Not What They Told You, Brian Godawa said “….when a prophecy was not to occur for thousands of years, the angel said to ‘seal up the book’ (Dan 12:4); but when a prophecy was about to occur near the lifetime of the prophet, he said, ‘Do not seal up the book’ (Rev 22:10). If John’s Revelation was to occur thousands of years later in our modern time period, the angel would have said to seal up the book; but he did not.” 9
*The Seven Heads of the Beast
Most of the theologians I have read regarding the Revelation Beast, regardless of their eschatological position, agree that The Beast represents more than one thing. On some occasions, it represents a dude, other times it represents a kingdom.
At some places the one Beast has seven heads, which are seven kings collectively considered. In Revelation 13:1 John notes that he “saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads” . Revelation 17:10 specifically notes that the seven heads represent “seven kings.” Thus, the Beast is generically portrayed as a kingdom.
But in the very same contexts, the Beast is spoken of as an individual, as one of the heads, as a particular part of the entire monster. John urges his readers to “calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man ” (Revelation. 13:18). In Revelation 17:11 the angel tells John “the beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is one of the seven.” This feature is recognized by most commentators of various schools of interpretation, including even dispensationalists.
Revelation 17 gives the vision of the seven–headed Beast. Verses 9 and 10 tell us this about this beast: “Here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.” (KJV)
What’s important to note about these 2 verses is the reference to the 7 mountains. Most New Testament scholars agree that the reference to seven mountains is a reference to Rome. Why? Well, because in antiquity, Rome was famous for being “The city on seven hills”. 10 Sort of similar to how we refer today to New York as “the city that never sleeps”. Dr. Kenneth L Gentry wrote “The original recipients of Revelation lived under the rule of Rome, which was universally distinguished by its seven hills. How could the recipients, living in the seven historical churches of Asia Minor and under Roman imperial rule, understand John’s vision as anything other than this geographical feature?” 11
*The Sixth King
“This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.” – Revelation 17:9–10
Here, John says the seven heads not only represent seven mountains on which the woman sits (i.e Rome), but the seven heads of The Beast also represent seven kings. John says that five have fallen (i.e died), one is still around, and there’s still another one coming. And John says that this king who hasn’t come yet isn’t going to reign for a very long time. Now, who are these kings?
Immediately some futurists object to these being Roman Emperors because an emperor and a king aren’t the same thing, just as a president and a prime minister aren’t the same thing. The problem with this objection is that it fails to understand the ancient Jewish mindset. Yes, in the most technical sense, an emperor is not a king. Nevertheless, that’s what the Jewish people called their emperors. Remember in John’s gospel where Pilate has Jesus before the crowd and has them choose whether to have Jesus released to them or Barabbas (John 19)? Pilate asks essentially “Don’t you want me to release your king to you?” and what does the crowd say in response? “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15). They considered the Caesar reigning at the time to be their king. In fact, “king” was just a generic term they used of anyone who ruled over them. Ergo, it isn’t farfetched to suppose that John would use this term of Roman Emperors.
Suetonius has written that Nero was the sixth king of Rome. The previous five were Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius, and Claudius. And in yet another clear fulfillment of John’s words in his own day, the Caesar after Nero was Galba, who reigned a mere seven months. In other words, “only a little while,” just as John said he would. 12

Kenneth Gentry wrote “It is surely no accident that Nero was the sixth emperor of Rome. Flavius Josephus, the Jewish contemporary of John, clearly points out that Julius Caesar was the first emperor of Rome and that he was followed in succession by Augustus, Tiberius, Caius, Claudius, and, sixthly, Nero (Antiquities, books 18 and 19). The matter is confirmed just a little later in the writings of Roman historians: Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars and Dio Cassius, Roman History.” 13
*666: The Number Of His Name
Remember earlier in this paper that I said that gematria was a common practice in antiquity. People assigned a numerical value to letters of the alphabet. One of the objections to Nero being the emperor is that when you apply gematria to his name, it comes out to 1,005, not 666. So if Nero’s name is calculated to be 1005, how could he be the beast Revelation talks about?
The answer is that while John was writing in Greek, he was thinking in Hebrew. Yes, Nero’s name comes out to 1005 in Greek! But not if you calculate the Hebrew transliteration of his name, which is Nrwn Qsr. If you apply gematria to the Hebrew transliteration of his name, it comes out to exactly 666! Coincidence? You tell me.
But what about the mark? Surely Nero didn’t have a legion of Roman soldiers going around with Sharpies putting 666’s on peoples hands and foreheads, right? No ancient historian records Nero doing this. Ah, but you’re taking the mark of the beast too literally. I believe the mark of the beast is metaphorical. I say this not without precedence. The Anti-Christ has a mark, but what is often overlooked is that Jesus Christ has a mark of his own that he places on his people. Revelation 14:1 says “Then I looked, and here was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were one hundred and forty-four thousand, who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads .” (emphasis mine). Now, no one that I know of thinks that when we all go to Heaven we will literally have Jesus standing at the pearly gates writing his name and the name of The Father in gematria on our hands and foreheads. God’s not going to give everyone a tattoo or a computer chip upon entry into His kingdom. So then, why think that the mark of the beast is any more literal than the mark of the Lamb?
As Brian Godawa pointed out in his book End Times Bible Prophesy: It’s Not What They Told You, the concept of sealing is a spiritual metaphor of ownership. For example, Paul talks
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The Feast Of Nero

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