V.        Narrative Analysis

A.        Implied Author and Implied Reader

1.         Implied Author

a.         John, the servant and witness of Jesus Christ, who is also the narrator.

b.         A seer who has received visions from Jesus Christ.

c.         A worshipper of Christ who finds the worship of the beast horrendous.

2.         Implied Reader

a.         Christians in Asia Minor who are either suffering or are about to suffer persecution for their faith in Jesus Christ.

b.         They are possibly being forced to worship a ruler or an image of a ruler and possibly being forced to receive some kind of mark that symbolizes ownership by or loyalty to that ruler.

c.         They need wisdom and understanding.

d.         The implied reader is nearly identical to the narratee since the narrator is very reliable. (Lee, 160)

3.         Narrator (Lee, 152-153, points out four characteristics of the narrator in Revelation):

a.         He is not omniscient but only a witness and thus has no control over the story.

b.         He in not omnipresent. Though he is physically limited to Patmos, he has visions and freely moves between heaven and earth.

c.         He is very reliable, though he does leave some visions unexplained.

d.         He is dramatized as a character in the story and thus has little control over the story. He is not the protagonist, and like all the other characters, he is “flat.”

B.        Point of View

1.         The vision is being told from the first person point of view of John.

2.         Ideologically, the use of the word πλανᾷ implies that the narrator views negatively what this second beast is doing.

3.         Temporally, the use of the present tense (18x) gives the vision a sense of immediacy.

C.        Plot and Narrative Time vs. Story Time

1.         Plot

a.         Beast comes out of the land, makes people worship the first beast, performs signs to deceive them, sets up an image, breathes into it so it speaks, those who refuse to worship it are killed, all are forced to take the mark of the beast, those who don’t can’t buy or sell.

b.         The conflict builds from worship to signs to the image to the mark; forcing everyone to receive the mark of the beast is the climax of this scene.

c.         This scene is the third of seven visions following the seven trumpets. The dragon has pursued the pregnant woman into the desert and the first beast has risen out of the sea. After this scene the 144,000 stand with the Lamb because they have not taken the mark of the beast but have the name of the Father written on their foreheads. Shortly after this a warning is given that all who take the mark of the beast and worship him will be judged by God and thrown into the Lake of Fire.

2.         Narrative Time vs. Story Time

a.         Actual time of events: beast rises out of the land, the sea beast is wounded and healed, signs, image, breathe, mark, and worship.

b.         Worship is moved to the beginning as a summary of what the land beast does, making what follows a description of how he makes that happen.

D.        Setting

1.         Geographical: Asia Minor and the whole earth.

2.         Temporal: the first century AD (or the future?).

3.         Social: all social, economic, and political classes are involved.

E.         Implicit Commentary

1.         Narrative Asides: the narrator calls the readers to have wisdom and understanding in order to calculate the number of the beast.

2.         Irony, Parody, Symbolism, and Repetition

a.         The land beast calls down fire from heaven to deceive the earth-dwellers, but fire from heaven is also involved in several of God’s judgments on the wicked, the way in which the great harlot is destroyed, the means by which God’s enemies are destroyed in the last battle, and the Lake of Fire is the final destiny of the beasts and their followers.

b.         There is irony in the fact that the land beast looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon.

c.         There is irony in the fact that the land beast has to be given (ἐδόθη) the authority to do his deceptive deeds, implying he is an agent of God’s judgment like those given authority to do harm to the earth before him.

d.         The land beast parodies Christ who is the true lamb and the sea beast parodies Christ who died and came back to life.

e.         The fire from heaven parodies the fire that comes from the mouth of the two witnesses.

f.          The mark of the beast parodies the mark of God on his servants.

g.         Symbolism fills the whole scene and has been dealt with above.

h.         Repetitions: the wound that was healed (2x), signs (2x), worship (2x), on behalf of (2x), and do/make (8x).

F.         Characterization (no dialogue)

1.         God (off stage): God allows (ἐδόθη) the land beast to deceive men.

2.         John: a visionary who worships God and Christ and finds the beasts detestable.

3.         Dragon (off stage): it is implied that he inspires the land beast’s deception.

4.         Sea Beast: fatally wounded with a sword and brought back to life, gives his authority to the land beast, is worshipped by all people, and has a name which is a number that is turned into a mark. (He is proleptically introduced in chapter 11.)

5.         Land Beast: appears as harmless as a lamb outwardly but speaks deceptively and maliciously like a dragon, performs great signs to deceive the people of the earth, subordinate to and derives his authority from the first beast, and works to make the whole earth worship the sea beast and his image and take his mark. Later he is called the false prophet.

6.         Earth-dwellers: naïve and gullible, fearful and compliant, composed of all social, economic and political classes.

7.         God-worshippers: courageous, refuse to worship the beast and his image and take his mark so they are killed or barred from buying and selling.