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The Image of the Beast as a Parody of the Two Witnesses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2022

David Ray Johnson Open the ORCID record for David Ray Johnson [Opens in a new window]
David Ray Johnson*
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Regents Theological College, West Malvern Road, West Malvern, Worcestershire, WR14 4AY, UK Email: david.johnson@regents-tc.ac.uk
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Abstract

This article will examine the parodic characterisation of the image of the beast (Rev 13.15) who mimics the two witnesses (11.3–12) from a literary perspective. There is evidence of this mimicry based on the appearance of the textual markers, εἰκών and πνεῦμα. This study will examine parody in relation to other parodic characterisations that appear in the Apocalypse.

Keywords

Apocalypseimage of the beasttwo witnessesmimicryparodyliterary

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New Testament Studies , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , July 2022 , pp. 344 - 350
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Introduction

The Apocalypse is a remarkable literary composition with numerous carefully crafted characters. Parody is one literary device that has received attention in the character study of the Apocalypse, where evil characters mimic protagonists in the narrative. This article will examine one parodic characterisation that has not received any attention: the manner in which the image of the beast (Rev 13.15) mimics the two witnesses (11.3–12) from a literary perspective. There is evidence of this mimicry based on the appearance of the textual markers, εἰκών and πνεῦμα, and the relationships of the two characters with the beast from the earth and the Spirit. Parody is the art of satirical imitation where the absurdity functions as a critique of certain systems.Footnote 1 Satire and irony are similar literary devices that have appeared in other biblical texts.Footnote 2 Before engaging these literary features, the current article will consider the appearance of other parodic characters in the Apocalypse, particularly the dragon and the beast from the sea who mimic the activities of the one on the throne and the Lamb. The article will then offer an examination of how the image of the beast mimics the two witnesses, which will be intertwined with the parodic presentation of the beast from the earth and the Spirit.

1. Parody in the Apocalypse

It is widely established that the dragon and the beast from the sea mimic the activities of the one on the throne and the Lamb. There are clear textual indicators of this mimicry, which include both characters being slaughtered (ἐσφαγμένον, Rev 5.6; ὡς ἐσφαγμένην, 13.3) and raised to life from death (ὃς ἐγένετο νεκρὸς καὶ ἔζησεν, 2.8; ἐθεραπεύθη, 13.3, 12; cf. ἔζησεν, 13.14).Footnote 3 The passive verb, ἐθεραπεύθη, might serve to indicate that the dragon is the agent of the beast's resurrection, albeit from a perspective that mimics the life-giving authority of the one on the throne.Footnote 4 From this ‘pseudo-divine passive’ and fraudulent resurrection, the beast and dragon seek universal worship, worship that belongs to the one on the throne and the Lamb alone (13.4, 8; cf. 5.13).Footnote 5 The beast from the sea shares in the throne and authority of the dragon, which recalls how the one on the throne shares in the heavenly throne with the Lamb (5.6; 12.10; 13.2).Footnote 6 The beast parodies the universal reign of the Lamb, ruling over every tribe, nation, people and language (13.7; cf. 5.9). The imitation of authority extends to the detail that the beast and the Lamb wear many diadems (13.1; 19.12).

The mimicry of these characters is a depraved imitation, and there are several notable differences between them. The throne of the dragon is located in Pergamum, a poor imitation of the heavenly throne (cf. Rev 2.26; 4–5; 6.8; 9.3, 10, 19; 11.6; 12.10). This location suggests that the dragon's authority is ultimately a charade.Footnote 7 The rider on the white horse is described both as having a name ‘that no one knows’ and as one whose name ‘is called the Word of God’ (19.12–13),Footnote 8 while the beast has a blasphemous name (13.1; cf. 17.3). The beast marks the heads and hands of its followers with a number mimicking the Lamb, whose name, not number, is sealed on the heads of 144,000 (13.16; cf. 14.1).Footnote 9

2. The Image of the Beast as a Parody of the Two Witnesses

There is wide consensus regarding the parody of the dragon and beast who impersonate the one on the throne and the Lamb. The discussion concerning the parodic presentation of the two witnesses and the image of the beast cannot be easily distinguished from that of the characterisation of the beast from the earth and the Spirit. While it is possible that the beast from the earth,Footnote 10 who is also identified as the false prophet (16.13; 19.20; 20.10), parodies the activities of the LambFootnote 11 or the two witnesses,Footnote 12 there is evidence that the beast from the earth mimics the activities of the Spirit.Footnote 13 The current article will examine these characters together.Footnote 14

The beast from the earth overtly impersonates the Spirit when it imparts πνεῦμα to an εἰκών and raises it to life in Rev 13.15. By way of contrast, the πνεῦμα ζωῆς enters the two witnesses and raises them from death to life (11.11).Footnote 15 The two witnesses and the image of the beast are both passive characters in the reception of πνεῦμα. The πνεῦμα ζωῆς raises the two witnesses after their sacrificial death in order that the city will fear and worship the God of heaven, directing them to right worship.Footnote 16 Conversely, the image of the beast receives πνεῦμα to promote false worship through violence and economic exploitation.Footnote 17 The reception of πνεῦμα offers evidence that the image of the beast parodies the two witnesses (11.11; 13.15).Footnote 18

The appearance of another divine passive in 13.15, ἐδόθη αὐτῷ δοῦναι, to describe the reception of the power of the earth beast to give πνεῦμα might function as a ghoulish parody of divine activity by the dragon. The description of how the dragon imparts this power corresponds to 13.3, where a ‘pseudo-divine passive’ occurs to describe the healing of the wounded beast (ἐθεραπεύθη). From this ‘pseudo-divine passive’, the dragon bestows power upon the beast from the earth to impart πνεῦμα to the image of the beast. A similar progression emerges in Revelation 11 from the detail that the πνεῦμα ζωῆς is ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ. Such a relationship aligns with Rev 22.6: ὁ κύριος, ὁ θεὸς τῶν πνευμάτων τῶν προφητῶν. While the dragon gives authority to the beast from the earth to raise the εἰκών to life, there is a similar, but not identical, progression whereby the πνεῦμα ζωῆς, who originates from the throne of God (cf. 5.6), raises the two witnesses to life. Such a progression conveys another way in which the dragon, the beast from the earth and the image of the beast mimic the one on the throne, the Spirit and the two witnesses.

The appearance of the term εἰκών alongside πνεῦμα in Rev 13.15 offers further evidence that the beast from the earth is mimicking divine activities. The εἰκών is created by the inhabitants of the earth in the likeness of the beast from the sea (13.14) and receives πνεῦμα from the beast from the earth. God is the Creator (4.11). In the creation narrative, God creates humanity in ‘our’ εἰκών and imparts πνεῦμα into the creation (Gen 1.26–27; 2.7). Εἰκών alongside πνεῦμα in Rev 13.14–15 evokes the creation narrative and exposes the beast as replicating God's creative act.Footnote 19 The beast from the earth mimics the Creator to form its own creation. This parody is further evidence that the beast's creation, the image of the beast, mimics the two witnesses, God's creation.

The occurrence of εἰκών to describe the image of the beast discloses a relationship between the image and the beast from the sea. The perverse creation is moulded in the appearance of the beast from the sea by the inhabitants of the earth. Being created in its image, the εἰκών follows the pattern of activities of the beast from the sea. The image acts violently (13.15 cf. 11.11; 13.7) and encourages false worship (13.15; cf. 13.4, 8). Such a parodic presentation might also disclose something, albeit parodically, of the relationship between the two witnesses and the Lamb. This parodic presentation recalls how the two witnesses mirror the ministry, life, death and resurrection of Jesus in their own ministry as described in Revelation 11.Footnote 20 The two witnesses are slain in the same place where their Lord was crucified (11.8). They are raised to life after three and a half days (11.11), which loosely resembles the time when Jesus was in the grave,Footnote 21 and might even follow in his ascension (11.12).Footnote 22 These actions of the two witnesses and the parodic presentation of the image of the beast indicate that the two witnesses are created in the image of the Lamb, made in the likeness of Jesus. Such an interpretation aligns with other New Testament texts that suggest that humanity is created in the image of Jesus (Rom 1.23; 8.29; 1 Cor 11.7; 15.49; 2 Cor 3.18; Col. 3.10).Footnote 23 It is not by happenstance that εἰκών is used to describe this parody. The parody exposes the image of the beast as a perverse caricature of creation that acts violently, promotes false worship, controls economic interests and is deceitful. The image of the beast represents a profane creation that follows its actions. The two witnesses are created in the image of God. They look like the Lamb, imitate the self-sacrificial actions of the Lamb and direct worship towards the God of heaven, the true Creator. The way in which the image acts like the beast mimics the two witnesses who act like the Lamb.

Additionally, the detail that the beast from the earth has two horns raises several interpretative options. At the very least, the two horns of the beast convey continuity with the dragon and the beast from the sea, who both have ten horns (12.3; 13.1).Footnote 24 This detail also functions to contrast the beast against the Spirit and the Lamb, whose seven horns are identified as the seven Spirits (5.6). Another consideration concerning the horns involves the beast having two horns. While it is possible to identify the two horns of the beast as a parody of the two witnesses based on the correspondence of the number two, it is also possible to deem the two horns of the beast as a claim to the truthfulness or validity of its words, signs and wonders. Whereas the two witnesses represent the truthfulness of their prophetic words, the two horns of the beast represent a deceitful sign that its works and words are valid (cf. Deut 19.15; John 8.17).Footnote 25 This observation aligns closely with the deceitful characterisation of the beast from the earth, who speaks like a dragon – the deceiver of the whole world (12.9; 13.11).

The way in which the Spirit and the beast from the earth speak offers additional evidence that the beast from the earth mimics the Spirit. The beast from the earth speaks with the voice of the dragon, while the Spirit speaks coterminously with Jesus/the Lamb in the seven prophetic messages (Revelation 2–3).Footnote 26 Within the wider Johannine literature, the Spirit of Truth will not speak (λαλήσει) of herself but will speak whatever she hears and teaches the things that Jesus said (John 14.14–26; 16.13–15). By contrast, the beast speaks (ἐλάλει) like a dragon.Footnote 27 The parallel between the Spirit of Prophecy and the beast from the earth (the false prophet), mainly that they speak beyond themselves, offers additional evidence that the beast from the earth mimics the Spirit.

Furthermore, another mimicry that emerges between the beast from the earth and the Spirit includes signs and wonders and is interwoven with the parody of the image of the beast and the two witnesses. The beast from the earth has the ability to call fire from heaven. Fire is in clear contrast with the seven Spirits, who are identified as the seven torches of fire burning before the throne (4.5). It is possible that the beast mimics the two witnesses, who perform miraculous signs as well, particularly, fire coming from their mouth (11.5–6); however, their prophetic works are clearly dependent on the seven Spirits. The fire from their mouth seems to represent their Spirit-inspired prophetic words. This is confirmed by the appearance of the image of the lampstand (11.3) that intertextually converges with the seven torches of fire (4.5) and alludes to Zechariah 4. ‘The seven flames which burn before the throne also inhabit the church(es), lighting up the lampstand(s).’Footnote 28 In other words, it is not by might nor by power, but it is by the Spirit (Zech 4.6) that the two lampstands prophesy, conveying the words of the Spirit; the flames of the seven torches come from the mouth of the two witnesses.Footnote 29 When fire appears to describe one of the signs of the beast from the earth, it seems to parody the seven Spirits, the seven torches of fire, even though the close relationship between the two witnesses and the Spirit makes a definite distinction challenging.

The passive nature of the two witnesses and the image in the reception of πνεῦμα reveal that their activities are dependent on the false prophet and the Spirit of Prophecy. Whenever the two witnesses prophesy, they speak the words of God by the Spirit. Similarly, the beast from the earth inspires the actions of the image of the beast. The image of the beast speaks words that are inspired by the beast from the earth, which mimics further the relationship between the two witnesses and the Spirit.Footnote 30 Neither the words of the image nor the two witnesses are recorded in the Apocalypse. The image of the beast, who follows the pattern of the beast from the earth, seeks to lead the inhabitants of the earth to idolatry under threat of violence and economic exploitation. Conversely, the two witnesses, inspired by the Spirit, prophesy the words of God to the inhabitants of the earth.Footnote 31 As the image of the beast is a facsimile of the beast from the sea in actions, the ministry of the two witnesses is inspired by the divine Spirit, and they follow the paradigmatic ministry of the Lamb in self-sacrifice. The relationship of the image with the beasts mimics, in the most sinister manner, the relationship between the Spirit, Jesus and the two witnesses.

Finally, whereas the two witnesses function as a kind of parable of the ideal prophetic community,Footnote 32 the image of the beast is an extension of that parable, which exposes a ‘bestial prophetic community’ through their mimicry. The Apocalypse suggests that the ‘trinity of evil’ has its own incarnation of a ‘prophetic community’. This ‘prophetic community’ looks like the beast from the sea, it is brought to life by the beast from the earth with the authority of the dragon to ‘minister’ in a beast-like pattern. This dreadful ‘prophetic community’ works in deceit, violence and economic exploitation, seeking worship for themselves and the beast. The image of the beast functions as a literary parody of the two witnesses, who mirror the ministry of the Lamb, who are created in the image of the Lamb and who are empowered by the Spirit from God, who direct worship towards the God of heaven. The two witnesses, created in the image of God, imitate Jesus. Created in the image of the Lamb, the two witnesses act like the Lamb. Conversely, the image of the beast uses violence, economic exploitation, false signs and false words – words that possibly sound like those of the dragon – to inspire false worship. The false ‘prophetic community’, whose inspiration is the false prophet, directs the inhabitants of the earth towards false worship under the threat of violence and economic distress.Footnote 33 The image of the beast acts like the beast. Signs and wonders are performed by the faithful and evil alike. Evil's imitation of good ‘raises awareness of counterfeit’.Footnote 34

The parody cautions the readers concerning their own prophetic witness. They are warned against acting violently. They are warned against exploitation. They are warned against seeking worship for themselves.Footnote 35 ‘Idolatry represents a life that is completely submerged in the economic and cultural life of the present so that it cannot see that it is forfeiting its own soul.’Footnote 36 The Spirit of prophecy inspires the prophetic church to direct the inhabitants of the earth to worship God. The Spirit inspires the prophetic church to prophetic witness and self-sacrifice. The parody functions as a sort of self-reflection for the readers. If the prophetic community promote false worship or become objects of worship, if they use violence or deceit, then their likeness moves away from the slaughtered Lamb to the image and the likeness of the beast.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this article advocates another parody in the Apocalypse that has not received any attention previously. It demonstrated that there is considerable evidence that the image of the beast functions as a literary parody of the two witnesses. Both the image and the two witnesses passively receive πνεῦμα in the Apocalypse. The appearance of εἰκών and πνεῦμα to describe the creation of the image of the beast contrasts the two witnesses as created beings who also receive πνεῦμα. The image of the beast, who is formed in the likeness of the beast from the sea, imitates the two witnesses, who are created in the likeness of the Lamb. This parody is extended to the relationships between the image, the beasts and the dragon, who mimic the relationship between the two witnesses, the Spirit, the Lamb and the one on the throne. When read parabolically, two ‘prophetic communities’ emerge. One ‘prophetic community’ is faithful, inspired by the Spirit, looks like and follows the Lamb. The other ‘prophetic community’, who look and act like the beast, are evil, deceptive, violent and exploitative.

If it is accepted that the image of the beast mimics the two witnesses, then the interpretative option that the beast from the earth parodies the Spirit is strengthened. The beast from the earth clearly mimics divine activities as the giver of life and Creator. The giving of πνεῦμα mimics the πνεῦμα ζωῆς who raises the two witnesses in Revelation 11. The manipulation of fire parodies the seven torches of fire, the seven Spirits. The false prophet impersonates the Spirit of Prophecy.

Competing interests

The author declares none.

References

1 For the most extensive study of ‘parody’ in the Apocalypse, see Campbell, G., ‘Un procédé de composition négligé de l'Apocalypse de Jean. Repérage, caractéristiques et cas témoin d'une approche parodique’, Études théologiques et religieuses 77.4 (2002) 491–516Google Scholar. See also Roloff, J., The Revelation of John (trans. Alsup, E.; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993; original German edition 1984) 155CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Laws, S., In the Light of the Lamb: Imagery, Parody, and Theology in the Apocalypse of John (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1988)Google Scholar; Carey, G., Elusive Apocalypse (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1999) 150–4Google Scholar; Resseguie, J., The Revelation of John: A Narrative Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009) 183Google Scholar.

2 See Koester, C. R., Revelation (ABYC 38A; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014) 578–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Koester has also explored similar literary devices in the Fourth Gospel: Koester, C. R., ‘Comedy, Humor, and the Gospel of John’, Word, Theology, and Community in John (ed. Painter, J., Culpepper, R. A. and Segovia, F. F.; St. Louis, MO: Chalice, 2002) 123–41Google Scholar. See also Miles, J. A., ‘Laughing at the Bible: Jonah as Parody’, The Jewish Quarterly Review 65 (1975) 168–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Jemielity, T., Satire and the Hebrew Prophets (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1992)Google Scholar; Marcus, D., From Balaam to Jonah: Anti-Prophetic Satire in the Hebrew Bible (BJS; Atlanta: Scholars, 1995)Google Scholar; Weisman, Z., Political Satire in the Bible (Atlanta: Scholars, 1998)Google Scholar. Cf. Quintilian, Inst. 10.1.93–4.

3 For an extended section on the ‘Christological Parody’, see R. Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy (New York: T. & T. Clark, 1993) 431–41. See also J. Resseguie, Revelation Unsealed: A Narrative Critical Approach to John's Apocalypse (Leiden: Brill, 1998) 123–4. Laws, In the Light of the Lamb, 41–42, adds that the present and future aspects, as well as the physical (animalistic) characteristics shared between the Lamb and the beast, also function as a parody. See too W. Foerster, ‘θηρίον’, TDNT (1965) iii.134–5; E. Schüssler Fiorenza, Revelation: Vision of a Just World (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991) 83; F. J. Murphy, Fallen Is Babylon: The Revelation to John (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity, 1998) 303.

4 Contra Koester, Revelation, 572. This is not the only ‘divine passive’ that appears in the depiction of the beast from the sea: the sea beast was given a mouth, authority and the ability to make war and to overcome in 13.5, 7. While it is possible that these divine passives indicate that those actions of the beast are permitted by God because God is sovereign over the world, it is also possible that, since the dragon attempts to mimic the actions of the one on the throne, these ‘pseudo-divine passives’ appear to reveal the ways in which the dragon parodies the activities of God. So J. C. Thomas and F. D. Macchia, Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016) 407 add, ‘In the light of this sovereign God's exclusive claim to creation, the dragon's attempt to mimic divine authority, divine ability to grant life, and divine right to receive glory in chapter 13 is nothing short of an effort to usurp the place of the Creator.’

5 E. Allo, L'Apocalypse (Paris: Lecoffre, 1921) 185; J. C. Thomas, The Apocalypse: A Literary and Theological Commentary (Cleveland, TN: CPT, 2012) 385; M. Archer, ‘I Was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day’: A Pentecostal Engagement with Worship in the Apocalypse (Cleveland, TN: CPT, 2015) 228–9.

6 Schüssler Fiorenza, Vision of a Just World, 83; R. Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of Revelation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993) 34; Laws, In the Light of the Lamb, 41–2; Resseguie, The Revelation of John, 183; Thomas, The Apocalypse, 384–5.

7 Allo, L'Apocalypse, 185.

8 G. B. Caird, The Revelation of Saint John (BNTC; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1966) 242.

9 Laws, In the Light of the Lamb, 42; O. Böcher, Kirche in Zeit und Endzeit: Aufsätze zur Offenbarung des Johannes (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1983) 96.

10 For studies that explore the historical context of the beast from the earth, see especially P. Duff, Who Rides the Beast? Prophetic Rivalry and the Rhetoric of Crisis in the Churches of the Apocalypse (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001) 114; S. Friesen, ‘The Beast from the Land: Revelation 13:11–18 and Social Setting’, Reading the Book of Revelation: A Resource for Students (ed. D. Barr; Atlanta: SBL, 2003) 49–64.

11 Caird, Revelation, 172; G. E. Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1972) 183; G. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999) 707; C. S. Keener, Revelation (NIVAC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000) 350–1; M. Reddish, Revelation (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2001) 257; G. Osborne, Revelation (BECNT; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002) 511; I. Boxall, The Revelation of St. John (BNTC; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2006) 193; J. Mangina, Revelation (BTC; Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2010) 164.

12 M. Kiddle, The Revelation of St. John (MNTC; New York: Harper and Brothers, 1940) 252–6; Bauckham, Climax, 434–5; Resseguie, Revelation Unsealed, 127–9; J. L. Trafton, Reading Revelation: A Literary and Theological Commentary (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, 2005) 131–2; Koester, Revelation, 600. Roloff, Revelation, 161 suggests that the parody contrasts witnesses and messengers who proclaim Christ. See S. S. Smalley, The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Apocalypse (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2005) 345, who is unconvinced of this interpretation.

13 Contra P. Prigent, L'Apocalypse de Saint Jean (Geneva: Labor & Fides, 2000) 321 n. 2. So J. Sweet, Revelation (TPINTC; Philadelphia, PA: Trinity Press International, 1979) 214–16; G. R. Beasley-Murray, Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981) 207; M. Rissi, Time and History: A Study on the Revelation (Richmond, VA: John Knox, 1966) 66–8; R. H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, [1977] 19972) 258 n. 20; R. Wall, Revelation (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991) 171–2; P. Richard, Apocalypse: A People's Commentary on the Book of Revelation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, [1995] 19982) 111; Thomas, The Apocalypse, 398; I. Paul, Revelation (TNTC; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2018) 236–7. See also Foerster, ‘θηρίον’, TDNT iii.134, 216. O. O'Donovan, ‘The Political Thought of the Book of Revelation’, TynB 37 (1986) 81; M. E. Boring, Revelation (Interpretation; Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2011) 156, comments: ‘It is the Satanic counterpart to and parody of the Holy Spirit at work in the churches, thought of especially as the Spirit that inspires prophecy.’

14 Campbell, ‘Un procédé de composition négligé de l'Apocalypse de Jean’, 510 considers the interpretative possibility that the two witnesses include parodic elements of the two beasts on the basis of the evidence of their resurrections from death (11.11, 12; 13.3, 14), the contrasting time periods of their activities (42 months and 1,260 days, 11.2, 3; 13.5), the universal involvement of humanity (11.5; 13.5) and the signs performed by the two witnesses and the beast from the earth (11.5, 6; 13.13).

15 Sweet, Revelation, 216; Paul, Revelation, 237. See D. Aune, Revelation 6–16 (WBC; Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1998) 762–3, regarding the practice of magic to bring an image to life in the ancient world.

16 Campbell, ‘Un procédé de composition négligé de l'Apocalypse de Jean’, 511.

17 Cf. John 16.14. Smalley, Revelation, 344.

18 Smalley, Revelation, 348.

19 The text in Rev 13 does not offer evidence that the signs and wonders performed by the beast from the earth are achieved via trickery, see Murphy, Fallen is Babylon, 310. See Boring, Revelation, 161, who writes, ‘John never denies the reality of the impressive miracles worked by this beast, knowing in accord with biblical theology in general that the truth of faith is not proven or disproven by displays of miraculous power or the lack of it’.

20 Bauckham, Climax, 171.

21 Aune, Revelation 6–16, 609.

22 Caird, Revelation, 138; Wall, Revelation, 146; C. H. Giblin, ‘Revelation 11.1–13: Its Form, Function and Contextual Integration’, NTS 30 (1984) 433–59, at 444; Koester, Revelation, 510–11.

23 H. Kuhli, ‘εἰκών’, EDNT (1994) i.389, records that ten of the twenty-three appearances of εἰκών in the New Testament appear in the Apocalypse.

24 Aune, Revelation 6–16, 757 suggests that the two horns of the beast from the earth represent its subordination to the beast from the sea and the dragon; fewer horns equals less power. This interpretative option is not persuasive because the Lamb, who has seven horns, is not subordinate to the beast or dragon, who both have ten horns. The beast from the earth similarly shares in the authority of the dragon as does the beast from the sea (see 13.2, 12, 15).

25 So Sweet, Revelation, 215, who comments: ‘Its two horns are a parody of true witness (11:13). It looks like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon’ (emphasis original).

26 Boring, Revelation, 157.

27 Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 207; Wall, Revelation, 171; Campbell, ‘Un procédé de composition négligé de l'Apocalypse de Jean’, 511. See also Bauckham, Climax, 3 n. 9, who observes: ‘We should also notice that on all four occasions the phrase ἐν πνεύματι is in close proximity to the verb λαλέω (1:12; 4:1; 17:1; 21:9, 15). This seemingly ordinary word is reserved by John for special use with reference to revelatory speech (also used in 10:3, 4 [twice], 8; and for the satanic parody revelation in 13:5, 11, 15), just as he reserves the verb δείκνυμι for visionary revelation (1:1; 4:1; 17:1; 21:9, 10; 22:1, 6, 8)’ (emphasis original).

28 R. C. Waddell, The Spirit of the Book of Revelation (JPTSup 30; Dorset: Deo Publishing, 2006) 177. See also M. Jauhiainen, The Use of Zechariah in Revelation (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005) 90.

29 Cf. Zech 4.6. Bauckham, Climax, 163; Waddell, The Spirit of the Book of Revelation, 177–90.

30 Thomas, The Apocalypse, 404.

31 On the prophetic ministry of the two witnesses and the Spirit, see especially Waddell, The Spirit of the Book of Revelation, 177–83.

32 See Bauckham, Climax, 273, regarding Revelation 11 as a kind of parable.

33 Archer, ‘I Was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day’, 232, writes: ‘In marking his followers, the actions of the beast parody God's actions, and the community must engage in pneumatic discernment.’

34 D. deSilva, Seeing Things John's Way: The Rhetoric of the Book of Revelation (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2009) 201.

35 Smalley, Revelation, 348.

36 C. Rowland, Revelation (London: Epworth, 1993) 119.