Revelation 13:5 - Exposition

And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. So the horn which sprang from the fourth beast of Daniel 7:8 had given to it "a mouth speaking great things." The power of the beast is, after all, only held by the consent of God, who for his own good purpose permits him to exercise it for a time. The "great things" are the promises of superior power and good, with which the devil seeks to allure men, as he did Adam and Eve at the first. All attempts to decry God's omnipotence and the power of Christ are blasphemies. And power was given unto him to continue forty and two months; or, to work forty and two months. Again note the power is given to him; that is, he holds it only subject to the will of God. The "forty and two months," or three years and a half, signify the period of the world's existence. (For a full discussion of the subject, see on Revelation 11:2 .) It is the "little time" of Revelation 6:10 , Revelation 6:11 , during which will be fulfilled the number of the saints. It is the "little season" of Revelation 20:3 , during which Satan is "loosed," that is, during which he has this power to work given to him (cf. Revelation 11:2 , Revelation 11:3 ; Revelation 12:14 ). The different readings in this passage, though resting on insufficient authority, serve to amplify the meaning. א reads πουιῆσαι ὅ θέλει , "to do what he willeth." ποιῆσαι with πόλεμον , "to wage war," is found in 13 and others, and is the marginal reading of the Authorized Version, but is rightly omitted in the Revised Version.