266 pp., paperback

A popularly written antidote to dispensational sensationalism and newspaper exegesis. Convincing biblical and historical evidence showing that the Beast was the Roman Emperor Nero Caesar, the first civil persecutor of the Christianity. Analyzes the number of the Beast (666) showing that it is based on the name Nero Caesar (Rev. 13:18), explains his being the sixth king in a line of seven (Nero was the sixth emperor of Rome, Rev. 17:9-10) who is also an eighth (Rev. 17:11), and much more

The second half of the book shows Revelation's date of writing, proving its composition as prior to the Fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This is a crucial issue for understanding Revelation as a prophetic warning of the temple’s approaching destruction, which is mentioned under various images in Revelation, but especially in Rev. 11:1-2. This portion of the book is a summary of the larger argument presented in the book Before Jerusalem Fell (Gentry’s doctoral dissertation).

A thought-provoking treatment of a fascinating and confusing topic.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface to Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition

PART 1: WHO IS THE BEAST?
Introduction
1. The Identity of the Beast
2. The Relevance of the Beast
3. The Number of the Beast
4. The Character of the Beast
5. The War of the Beast
6. The Worship of the Beast
7. The Revival of the Beast

PART 2: WHEN WAS REVELATION WRITTEN?
8. The Interpretive Importance
9. The Thematic Evidence
10. The Political Evidence
11. The Architectural Evidence
12. The Ecclesiastical Evidence
13. The Patristic Evidence
14. The Patristic Objection
15. The Theoretical Problems

Conclusion
Scripture Index
General Index

Comments

Keith Mathison [Off The Shelf: 6/20/2022]:

"Gentry is a careful scholar (not sensationalist) who has spent his lifetime writing on the topic of Christian eschatology (=study of the “end times”). I understand that in the near future he will be releasing his magnum opus—a massive two-volume commentary on the book of Revelation. But while we look forward to that, it would be good to revisit this very crisp and straightforward 1989 book, The Beast of Revelation, in which he explains the identity of the Beast in extremely elegant and convincing fashion."