Caesar's Devotees

The ‘Inhabitants of the Earth’ represent men rejected by Jesus because they gave their allegiance to the Beast from the Sea. The group labeled the “Inhabitants of the Earth” by the Book of Revelation is unrelenting in its hostility to the “Lamb” and his saints. Its members even celebrate the violent deaths of his “Two Witnesses.” Unlike the “Nations” and the “Kings of the Earth,” they are beyond redemption, and their names are excluded from the “Lamb’s Book of Life.”

The “Inhabitants of the Earth” are devoted wholly to Caesar and his Empire, to the “Beast from the Sea,” and they venerate its “image.” They thus repudiate the sovereignty of the “Lamb” and reject his pleas to repent while time remains.

[Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash]

The term, “Inhabitants of the Earth,” is derived from a passage in the Book of Daniel. After his downfall and restoration to the Babylonian throne, Nebuchadnezzar declared to the residents of his kingdom:

• (Daniel 4:34-35) – “And I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation; and all the Inhabitants of the Earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the hosts of Heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What are you doing?”

In Chapter 6 of Revelation, the “Lamb” opened the “Fifth Seal,” and John saw the “souls of them who had been slain for the testimony they held” underneath the “altar.” The image is based on the altar of burnt offerings in the Book of Leviticus. The blood of sacrificial victims was poured out at its base. In Revelation, the slain “souls” at the base of the “altar” pleaded for vindication against their persecutors, the  “Inhabitants of the Earth” – (Revelation 6:9-11).

After the first four trumpets sounded in Revelation, John saw an “eagle” pronouncing a warning - “Woe, woe, woe, for the Inhabitants of the Earth, because of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels who are yet to sound!” – (Revelation 8:13).

The first four trumpets unleashed “plagues” against the economy of the Empire – its seaborne commerce, fresh water sources, and the like. The last three harmed the “Inhabitants of the Earth” themselves. “By these three plagues was the third part of men killed.” Nevertheless, they “repented not of their murders, nor their sorceries, nor their fornication, nor their thefts.” Their devotion to Ceasar was absolute.

THE BEAST

When the “Beast from the Abyss” killed the “Two Witnesses,” the “Inhabitants of the Earth rejoiced over them and made merry… for these two prophets tormented the Inhabitants of the Earth.” While the “Beast from the Abyss” carried out these atrocities, the “Inhabitants of the Earth” derived pleasure from them.

In Chapter 12, after the “Son” was “snatched” to the “Throne,” Satan was expelled from Heaven and “cast down to the Earth.” While Heaven “rejoiced,” the “great voice in Heaven” warned the “Inhabitants of the Earth”:

“Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you that tabernacle in them. Woe for the Inhabitants of the Earth and the Sea because the Devil is gone down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time.” – (Revelation 12:12).

Two groups are contrasted. This is indicated by the verbs, “tabernacle” and “inhabit.” “Tabernacle” or “tent” means something temporary, such as a “tent” pitched during a journey. “Inhabit” or “dwell” points to a more permanent residence. And note the expansion of the expression to the “Inhabitants of the Earth and the Sea.”

The references are not geographical. Elsewhere in the Book, the “Sea” is associated with the Abyss. It is a source of great evil, and it must be defeated.

For the men “tabernacling in Heaven,” the expulsion of the Devil meant rejoicing. For the “Inhabitants of the Earth,” it signified something ominous. The identity of those who “Tabernacle in Heaven” is provided by the context - the “brethren” who “overcame the Dragon by the blood of the Lamb.”

Precisely why the downfall of the “Dragon” meant “woe” to the “Inhabitants of the Earth” is not immediately stated. More relevant is the reaction of the “Dragon” to the knowledge that he had only a “short time.” He vented his wrath, but not against the “Inhabitants of the Earth.” Rather, he began his war with “those who have the Testimony of Jesus,” linking this group with the martyrs “under the altar” who were slain on account of “their Testimony.”

The same two groups are found in Chapter 13, those “Tabernacling in Heaven” and the “Inhabitants of the Earth” - (Revelation 13:4-10).

The rhetorical question concerning the “Beast from the Sea,” - “Who is like him, and who can make war with him” - is reminiscent of Nebuchadnezzar’s declaration - “He does according to his will in the host of heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, What are you doing?” The literary source of the two contrasting groups, those who “Tabernacle in Heaven [Host of Heaven]” and the “Inhabitants of the Earth,” is the same passage in the Book of Daniel - (Daniel 4:34-35).

The “slander” of the “Mouth given to the Beast” is directed against “those who Tabernacle in Heaven.” The reference is not spatial. The terms differentiate between two groups based on their allegiance to the “Lamb” or the “Beast.” The followers of the “Lamb” have not taken up permanent residence in the present age, on the Earth, or in the sky, therefore, they are described as those who “Tabernacle.”

The term “slander” refers to accusations brought against the saints by the “Accuser of the Brethren,” presumably, in the earthly courts of the Empire. A parallel is found in the letter to the Church of Smyrna where the congregation was “slandered” before local authorities by Jews from the “Synagogue of Satan.”

What identifies a person as a member of the “Inhabitants of the Earth” is not physical location, but whether his name is excluded from “the Lamb’s Book of Life.” In other words, all those who give allegiance to the “Beast.”

THE FALSE PROPHET

The second “Beast from the Earth,” the “False Prophet,” was seen ascending from the “Earth” to deceive the “Earth and its Inhabitants.” This demonstrates that “Earth” means something beyond the physical planet.

Just as the “Sea” and the “Abyss” were sources of evil, so is the “Earth.” This explains why the expulsion of Satan from Heaven meant “woe” to those “Inhabiting the Earth and the Sea.” Satan’s unleashing to persecute the saints will culminate in the final judgment on all whose names are not “written in the Book of Life.”

The “False Prophet” had two horns “like a lamb,” and performed the same “signs” done previously by the “Two Witnesses.” He imitated the “Lamb” and his “witnesses.” Similarly, the “first Beast from the Sea” received the “stroke of death” but lived, a parody of Christ’s Death and Resurrection.

The deceptions of Satan’s earthly agents counterfeit the true faith. In response to the “signs” performed by the “False Prophet,” the “Inhabitants of the Earth” take the “Mark of the Beast,” sealing their fate in the “Lake of Fire.”

In Chapter 14, the angel “flying in mid-heaven” proclaimed the everlasting gospel to the “Inhabitants of the Earth,” and to “every nation and tribe and tongue and people.” This means the “Nations” and the “Inhabitants of the Earth” are not identical.

The angel summoned his audience to “fear God and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come.” Rather than to the “Beast,” they must “render homage to him that made the Heaven and the Earth and the Sea and the fountains of waters.” Two more angels followed with pronouncements against “Babylon.” God provided the “Inhabitants of the Earth” with ample opportunities to repent - (Revelation 14:6-13).

“Babylon, the Great Harlot” is described in Chapter 17. She was the one with whom the “Kings of the Earth” and the “Inhabitants of the Earth” committed “fornication.” As with the “Nations,” the “Kings of the Earth” are distinguished from the “Inhabitants of the Earth,” though both groups are corrupted by “Babylon.”

“Babylon” was carried by the “Beast” with “Seven Heads and Ten Horns.” It “was and is not, and is going to ascend from the Abyss,” references to the previous slaying and revivification of the “Beast from the Sea,” and to the ascent of the “Beast from the Abyss” that destroyed the “Two Witnesses.”

The consistent factor in the several visions is the total hostility of the “Inhabitants of the Earth” to the “Lamb” and his servants, and their choice of the “Beast from the Sea,” his “name,” and his “mark”:

• “And the Inhabitants of the Earth shall wonder, whose name has not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world when they behold the Beast, how that he was, and is not, and shall come” – (Revelation 17:1-8).

Their unrelenting refusal to give homage to the “Lamb” explains why their “names are not written in the Book of Life.” At the final judgment, “Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire, the Second Death. And if anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire” – (Revelation 20:11-15).

This group’s unbending hostility explains why the “Inhabitants of the Earth” are never seen in the “City of New Jerusalem” in chapters 21 and 22. In contrast, though at times the “Nations” and the “Kings of the Earth” resist the “Lamb,” both groups are found at the end of the Book in the holy city. They are not without hope -(Revelation 21:23-24).

As a group, the “Inhabitants of the Earth” are beyond redemption, not because God is powerless to save them, but because they refuse His every offer. No matter how many plagues He sends, they refuse to repent, they only further harden their hearts.

Rather than follow the “Lamb,” the “Inhabitants of the Earth… render homage to the Beast” and welcome its “mark.” They prefer the counterfeit faith offered by Satan’s agents; therefore, their names are excluded from the “Book of Life.” God’s condemnation of the unrepentant to the “Lake of Fire” is fully justified.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Great Denouement - (Revelation moves from Christ’s Death and Resurrection to the final day when God judges the wicked and vindicates the righteous)

• The Choice - (In Revelation, every man either “Tabernacles in Heaven” or is one of the “Inhabitants of the Earth”)

• City on a Hill - (Contrary to the claims of politicians and many church leaders, Jesus is the only light on a hill that will illuminate this dark world)