13:4 worshipped the dragon. By this time, the ungodly men and women still living on the earth will have become fully aware of the cosmic dimensions of the imminent conflict and will have deliberately chosen to cast their lot with Satan and the beast rather than with God. They will all become Satanists, worshipping Satan (or Lucifer, as they may prefer to call him) as god. The current meteoric rise in occultism and even Satanism, as well as the great increase in bitter opposition to Christianity, is an ominous prelude to what is coming. It may well be that the amazing mania for dinosaurs, especially among young people, is an indicator of an innate tendency to dragon-worship.

13:5 forty and two months. This is the same 3½ year period as in Revelation 12:6,14, and in Daniel 7:25; 12:7, the last half of the tribulation period. The thousand two hundred and threescore days of Revelation 11:3, however, is the first half of the tribulation. The two together comprise Daniel’s seventieth week of seven years, (Daniel 9:27), the first half marking the rapid ascendancy of the beast to world power, the second half to his global reign, with all seven years simultaneously being “the great day of [God’s] wrath” (Revelation 6:17) on the ungodly world.

13:8 book of life. See notes on Revelation 3:5; 20:15. Also see Revelation 21:27; 22:19.

13:8 foundation of the world. On the pre-creation plan of God, see Ephesians 1:4; Acts 15:18; Titus 1:2; I Corinthians 2:7; II Timothy 1:9; I Peter 1:20; and John 17:5,24.