The caesars and Rome are definitely in the book of Revelation, and few would bother to deny that. Still, we must realize that Revelation describes what is going on with the early church, and what is going on at the end of this present age. Many an interpretation of Revelation has made a good case for one end of this spectrum or the other, but not both ends of this story.

The caesars did allow themselves to be
set up as “gods.”

The political argument was that Rome needed an empire wide religion, that would give needed political and philosophical unity. The caesars at first accepted such treatment with reluctance, and at times no little embarrassment. Most knew they were not really gods. This was just politics. Domitian was an obnoxious exception in taking all of this very seriously.

Even so, once in place it had to be either enforced or abandoned entirely. So there was persecution of those who refused to appear before the magistrates and offer a pinch of incense on the altar fires, and say “Caesar is Lord.” So far this seems to fit Revelation’s declaration of “things which must happen soon,” Rev 1:1 WEB. However, Jesus also says, “Yes, I come quickly.” Rev 22:20 WEB, and that also is undoubtably true in an eternal perspective.

The liberals treat all of this as very simple.

They say all of this applies to a few of the early caesars, and they give names and dates … However, even the best of these accounts break down upon close examination. Then you are faced with either: discounting their interpretation … OR discounting Revelation as being the Word of the Lord.

Actually there many things missing.

1. There NEVER WAS any world-wide acknowledgement of the caesars as god, as is clearly pictured of the beast in Rev 13:8. The Romans clearly knew they did NOT rule the entire earth, and they had debates among themselves as to how far it made sense to expand the empire.
2. They NEVER WAS a “mark” (Rev 13:16) that EVERYONE had to have in order to buy or sell things. Such was imminently expected with so much else going on, but … it NEVER happened. Yet!
3. The Roman empire did NOT conquer “the saints” as clearly forecast in Rev 13:7. Instead the saints conquered the Roman Empire as clearly forecast in Dan 2:44 and other passages, and this was NOT complete by the end of the first century AD!
4. Whoever you think was the ultimate beast/caesar was NOT alive to be destroyed by Jesus second coming, as is clearly forecast in 2Thes 2:8 and Rev 19:20.

This is just a short list. Other issues are discussed in Revealing the Christian Age.

So either Revelation is a false prophecy,
a failure in the first century,
OR
The caesars and Rome are merely
types and shadows of
what is yet to come.

The mystery of lawlessness (2Thes 2:7) and Mystery Babylon are Christian Age long entities. All through our age we have had to guard against new attempts at a world-wide antichrist hegemony.

And it hasn’t even discussed two of the main types of the beast: Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and the original “abomination of desolation,” both of which are discussed in detail in the books.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901