Revelation 13:12

Revelation 13:12. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast before him. The words ‘before him' are to be connected with ‘exerciseth;' and they are again a travesty of that ‘before God' which we find predicated of the Son, of the Spirit, and of the saints (chaps, Revelation 3:5; Revelation 1:4; Revelation 7:15, etc.). This second beast is ‘before' the first, in his presence, sustained by him, ministering to him, doing his pleasure (comp. chap. Revelation 8:2, where the seven angels are described as standing ‘before God').

And he maketh the earth... whose death-stroke was healed. The word ‘worship' leads us directly to the thought of religious service, and therefore to that of the religious persuasion by which it is secured. The description of the first beast given in these words is highly important ‘whose death-stroke,' or ‘the stroke of whose death,' was healed. We have here an unmistakeable description of the first beast, not as he appeared in the earlier stages of his manifestation under the first five heads, but as he appeared under the sixth, after he had been slain and had risen to life. Let us allow that St. John gave credit to the rumour that Nero would return, could he have supposed that he had returned?