Who Was the Beast of Revelation? Rev 20:10, 666, and History Explained
7/2/20255 min read
You’ve Been Lied To About the Beast of Revelation. Here’s What the Bible and History Really Say.
What if everything you’ve heard about the Beast of Revelation is wrong? Forget the movies, prophecy books, and viral YouTube “experts.” The truth about the Beast, especially in Revelation 20:10, is stranger, edgier, and way more important than you’ve ever been told.
Who Is the Beast of Revelation?
Let’s stop guessing.
The Beast of Revelation isn’t some future world dictator or a microchipped Antichrist. The Bible identifies the Beast, and the facts are hiding in plain sight.
Revelation 13, 17, and 20 describe a Beast:
Rising from the sea, with seven heads and ten horns
Blaspheming God
Waging war on the saints for 42 months
Its number is 666
Thrown into the lake of fire in Revelation 20:10
John doesn’t invent this out of nowhere. He’s using language straight from Daniel 7, where the fourth beast is a symbol of a kingdom, the Roman Empire, crushing everything in its path.
Revelation 17 says the Beast’s “seven heads are seven mountains.”
To any ancient reader: that’s Rome. The city on seven hills, the superpower of the ancient Middle East.
Was Nero the Beast? (What Does 666 Mean?)
Here’s where history and Bible slam together:
666 = Nero Caesar.
Revelation 13:18 says, “Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: 666.”
Take “Nero Caesar” in Hebrew letters—נרון קסר (Neron QSR)—and add up the values. You get 666. Even early copies with “616” fit, since it’s “Nero Caesar” in Latin spelling. Scholars, ancient and modern, have said this for centuries.
Nero was a living nightmare:
He claimed divinity, demanded worship, murdered Christians in Rome by the thousands, and set the stage for the most savage persecution the early church ever saw (see Tacitus, Annals 15.44).
But Nero didn’t just act like a beast from his throne. He became one in the flesh.
Imagine being dragged into a Roman arena, bound and helpless, as Nero himself, draped in wild animal skins, lunges at you like a mad beast, tearing and humiliating his victims by attacking your genitals for the howling crowds. (Suetonius, Nero 29)
Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a chariot... it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed.” (Tacitus, Annals 15.44)
This is not just Christian history—it’s Roman history, written by an enemy of the faith.
His death nearly destroyed the empire: the “fatal wound” in Revelation 13:3 that was healed.
What Did Early Christians Believe About the Beast?
Forget Left Behind. The first Christians knew exactly who the Beast was:
Clement of Rome (c. 95 AD) wrote about Nero’s savage slaughter of Peter, Paul, and “a vast multitude” of believers.
Irenaeus (c. 180 AD) confirmed the number 666 was the key and pointed straight at the Roman Empire, calling it “Lateinos,” or Latin power.
Hippolytus (c. 200 AD) said Daniel’s fourth beast was Rome, and the coming Antichrist would be a Nero-type figure from the line of Roman emperors.
Legends about Nero’s return (“Nero Redivivus”) filled the Roman world, fueling the idea that Nero was the Antichrist, the Beast.
They weren’t speculating about the U.N., a microchip, or some politician in the U.S., they were talking about Nero and Rome.
How Distance from the Events Changed Everything
Let’s get real:
The closer you were to the events of Nero and Rome, the clearer the Beast’s identity was, everyone in the first and second centuries knew who John was talking about.
But as the decades rolled on, and the eyewitnesses died out, later church writers started guessing and theorizing. Some, like Irenaeus and Hippolytus, began looking to the future for another “Nero-like” figure, especially as new persecutions arose under later emperors. The further the church got from the fires of AD 70, the easier it became for people to lose the original context and project their own fears onto the prophecy.
This is how the Beast turned from “Nero Caesar and Rome” into a mysterious end-times villain.
When history became distant, imagination took over and that’s how we ended up with the prophecy confusion we see today.
Is the Beast About Rome or the End of the World?
Revelation was written to real people living under the shadow of Rome.
The book opens with “the time is near” (Rev 1:3), not “someday in the far future.”
The Beast’s reign (42 months) matches the exact length of the Jewish-Roman War that led to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
Revelation 17:18: “The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” In the first century, that could only be Rome.
Jesus himself warned, “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matt 24:34). That’s first-century Jerusalem, not a prophecy conference in Dallas.
The earliest Christians read Revelation and saw their world on fire. The persecution, the martyrs, the burning of Jerusalem, they lived through the nightmare the book describes.
Debunking the Myths (and Why It Matters Today)
Myth: The Beast is a future one-world ruler.
Fact: The Bible and history point to Nero and the Roman Empire.
Myth: 666 is a microchip or global currency.
Fact: It’s a code for Nero Caesar, the original persecutor.
Myth: “Babylon” is a future city.
Fact: For John’s readers, it was Rome (and also apostate Jerusalem).
This isn’t just about ancient trivia.
It’s about not being fooled by scare tactics and clickbait prophecy. The real fulfillment of Revelation’s Beast gives confidence that God’s Word actually came true in history, not in hype.
The Final Verdict (Revelation 20:10 Meaning)
Revelation 20:10 pictures the Devil, the Beast, and the False Prophet thrown into the lake of fire.
Nero (the Beast) and Rome (the empire) were judged—just as God said.
The martyrs were vindicated. Christianity survived. The Beast is history.
Test Everything
Stop taking someone else’s word for it.
Read the Bible. Read Josephus, Tacitus, Eusebius, Clement, Irenaeus. Check the facts.
Ask yourself:
If the prophecies were already fulfilled, why keep living in fear? Why let confusion rob you of faith?
Jesus already won. The Beast is defeated. Now it’s your move.
Ready to Test Everything?
Don’t just take my word for it. See the evidence for yourself:
- Resurrection and Judgment Fulfilled by AD 70
Ready to dig deeper? Click a link and decide for yourself.