Slain Slaying

One of the heads of the sea beast is “slain” (Revelation 13) and then healed. It is an obvious parody of death and resurrection. Everyone in Revelation follows a slain-and-healed beast; it’s just a choice of which one.

The Lamb is the one slain (5:6, 9, 12), slain long before the beast appeared, slain before the foundation of the world. And the saints share in that slaying (cf. 6:9; 18:24). The lamb is not slain to deliver the saints from being slain, but to give them a share in the Lamb’s slaying.

And the saints are slain, like the Lamb, by the beast whose head is slain and healed. The parodically slain beast slays the saints and gives them a share in the slaying of the Lamb.