When Satan is cast down, the spirit of Caesar Nero will be released from the abyss and enter into the body of the slain seventh Caesar to resuscitate his corpse and to make him the eighth Caesar. This eighth Caesar will have the body of the seventh Caesar and the spirit of the fifth. This resuscitation will be a counterfeit of Christ’s resurrection. Anyone who does not have the faith of Christ will certainly be attracted by this miraculous occurrence. During the first half of the last seven years, the seventh Caesar will appear. After he has been slain and resuscitated, which will take place near the middle of these seven years, he will become the eighth Caesar. Hence, during the first three and a half years, he will be the seventh Caesar, and during the last three and a half years, he, as the resuscitated Antichrist, will be the eighth Caesar. The seventh Caesar will confirm a covenant with the Jews for seven years, and the eighth Caesar will persecute the Jews and exalt himself to be God. Thus the death and resuscitation of Antichrist will mark a great turn. In principle, it will almost be the same as with the death and resurrection of Christ. Before His death and resurrection, Christ was limited in His flesh, but after His death and resurrection, He was given all authority and power (Matt. 28:18). Satan will attempt to counterfeit this in order to prove to the world that his Antichrist is the same as Christ. Therefore, Antichrist will be two persons. During the time of his being the seventh Caesar, he will not be that marvelous, charming, and deceiving. But after his assassination and resuscitation, he will become a marvelous character. He will be charming, deceiving, alluring, and captivating. Only the saints who have the faith of Christ will be able to withstand his charm and deceitfulness. After his resuscitation, being indwelt by the spirit of Caesar Nero, he will become all the more capable, intelligent, and powerful.
We have seen that the slain and resuscitated Antichrist will have the name Caesar Nero. The false prophet will cause “all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead” (13:16), and no one will be able to buy or sell unless he has “the mark, the name of the beast or the number of his name” (13:17). Revelation 13:18 says, “Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.” The false prophet will induce people to worship Antichrist. At the same time, he will devise a way to mark them either with the name of Antichrist or with the number of his name. This mark will be placed either on the forehead or on the right hand. Some students of the Bible have suggested that probably the men will be marked on their forehead and the women will be marked on their right hand. This mark will be the indication that the people bearing it belong to Caesar Nero. The number of the beast is “the number of a man,” Caesar Nero, the coming Antichrist. (See note 182 of Revelation 13, Recovery Version.) Because the book of Revelation was written during the time of the Roman Empire, John did not mention the name of Nero, but indicated it with a number. Therefore, there is the need of wisdom to understand it. With the wisdom given by God we can determine that the number six hundred sixty-six denotes Caesar Nero. No other name gives us the exact number of six hundred sixty-six.
While the unbelievers will bear the name of Nero on their forehead or on their hand, testifying that they belong to him, all the overcomers will have on their forehead the name of the Lamb and of the Father (14:1). There will be no neutrality. Either you will bear the name of God or the name of Caesar Nero, the embodiment of Satan. To bear the name of Caesar Nero means to belong to Satan, and to bear the name of God means to belong to God.
Anyone without the mark of the beast upon him will not be able to buy or sell. This will make it impossible to live. Conditions in some Communist countries today are heading in this direction. You must have a permit to buy things because the economy is under strict governmental control. During the kingdom of the eighth Caesar, everyone must bear the name of Antichrist as the permit to buy and sell. In today’s world situation the way is being prepared more and more for Antichrist. Five hundred years ago, the students of the Bible could not understand these things as easily as we can today. But recent world events have made it easier to understand what the prophecies are talking about.