And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
6. and them that dwell ] “And” should apparently be omitted, so that “them that tabernacle in Heaven” is in apposition with the “tabernacle” of God itself.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name – By his own arrogant claims; by his assumed authority in matters of conscience; by setting aside the divine authority; and by impious declarations in derogation of the divine claims. See the notes on Rev 13:1.
And his tabernacle – Literally, his tent – skenen. This is the word which is commonly applied to the sacred tent or tabernacle among the Hebrews, in which the ark was kept, and which was the seat of the Jewish worship before the building of the temple. It is thus used to denote a place of worship, considered as the dwelling-place of God, and is in this sense applied to heaven, Heb 8:2; Heb 9:11; Rev 15:5. It seems to be used here in a general sense to denote the place where God was worshipped; and the meaning is, that there would be a course of conduct in regard to the true church – the dwelling-place of God on the earth – which could properly be regarded as blasphemy. Let anyone remember the anathemas and excommunications uttered against the Waldenses and Albigenses, and those of kindred spirit that appeared in the long period of the papal rule, and he will find no difficulty in perceiving a complete fulfillment of all that is here said.
And them that dwell in heaven – The true worshippers; the members of the true church, represented as dwelling in this holy tabernacle. No one acquainted with the reproaches cast on the devoted and sincere followers of the Saviour during the dark periods of the papal rule can fail to see that there was in that a complete fulfillment of all that is here predicted.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name] The Latin empire is here represented as a blasphemous power in three respects. First, he blasphemes the name of God. This has been most notoriously the case with the different popish princes, who continually blaspheme the sacred names of God by using them in their idolatrous worship. The mouth of blasphemy against God cannot be more evident than in the following impious words which form a part of the Golden Bull published by Charles IV. in January, 1356: “But thou, envy, how often hast thou attempted to ruin by division the Christian empire, which God hath founded upon the three cardinal virtues, faith, hope, and charity, as upon a holy and indivisible Trinity, vomiting the old venom of discord among the seven electors, who are the pillars and seven principal members of the holy empire; by the brightness of whom the holy empire ought to be illuminated as by seven torches, the light of which is reinforced by the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit!”
And his tabernacle] Tabernacle is any kind of dwelling place, and in an eminent sense among the Jews was a kind of tent to take up and down as occasion required, which was as it were the palace of the Most High, the dwelling of the God of Israel. It was divided into two partitions, one called the holy place, and the other the most holy place, in the latter of which, before the building of the temple, the ark of the covenant was kept, which was a symbol of God’s gracious presence with the Jewish Church. All this the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in the eighth and ninth chapters, explains to prefigure the human nature of Christ. The beast’s blasphemy of the tabernacle of God is, therefore, as Dr. More and others properly observe, his impious doctrine of transubstantiation, in which it is most blasphemously asserted that the substance of the bread and wine in the sacrament is literally converted by the consecration of the priest, into the very body and blood of Jesus Christ! This doctrine was first advanced among the Latins in the tenth century; and in 1215, fully received as an article of the Roman Catholic faith. It is for the pages of ecclesiastical history to record the incredible numbers which have been martyred by the papists for their non-reception of this most unscriptural and antichristian doctrine.
And them that dwell in heaven.] By heaven is here meant the throne of God, and not the throne of the beast, because it is against God the beast blasphemes. This must therefore allude to his impious adoration of the saints and angels, whose residence is in heaven. He blasphemes against God by paying that adoration to the celestial inhabitants which belongs to God alone. That this sort of worship has been and still is kept up among the Roman Catholics, their mass book is a sufficient evidence.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That is, antichrist opened his mouth to blaspheme God. Mr. Mede noteth well, that antichrists time must not be counted from his beginning to persecute, but from his beginning to blaspheme, either by maintaining pernicious doctrine, or setting up idolatrous worship; for till the year 1206, when the Inquisition was set up, (the doctrine of transubstantiation having been about that time decreed by Innocent the Third, and confirmed by the council of Lateran), the persecution was not great. It is also the observation of the same learned author, that the threefold idolatry of the Church of Rome is here described to us; their blaspheming the Lords name, by giving Divine adoration to images; their blaspheming the human nature of Christ, (which he thinks is here to be understood by the Lords tabernacle, ) by their doctrine of transubstantiation, giving every mass-priest power to make it of a piece of bread; and their putting the glorified saints in the place of the pagan demons, by their invocation of saints. The observation is very ingenious, but whether the sense of this text I doubt; for we are now about the period when antichrist began to reign, which we suppose to be soon after the year 600. The blasphemies here mentioned, were his first-fruits: but the doctrine of transubstantiation, though it might be broached one hundred years before, yet was made no doctrine of their church of six hundred years after the first beginning of the papacy; and therefore cannot well be reckoned amongst antichrists first blasphemies. But whoso is acquainted with the history of the church after the year 606, will find enough to justify this text, though we do not restrain their blasphemy to these three things.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. opened . . . mouthTheusual formula in the case of a set speech, or series of speeches.Rev 13:6; Rev 13:7expand Re 13:5.
blasphemySo B andANDREAS. A and C read”blasphemies.”
and themSo Vulgate,Coptic, ANDREAS, andPRIMASIUS read. A and Comit “and”: “them that dwell (literally, ‘tabernacle’)in heaven,” mean not only angels and the departed souls of therighteous, but believers on earth who have their citizenship inheaven, and whose true life is hidden from the Antichristianpersecutor in the secret of God’s tabernacle. See on Re12:12; Joh 3:7.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,…. By sitting as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God; by suffering himself to be called by the name of God, God on earth, Lord God the pope, and to be worshipped as God; and by assuming infallibility, giving out that he cannot err, which only belongs to the God of truth; and by his idolatrous practices commanded by him, as the worshipping of idols of gold, silver, wood, and stone, which is in Scripture called blaspheming God, Isa 65:7; see
Da 11:36.
To blaspheme his name; his authority, by arrogating to himself all power in heaven, earth, and hell; by taking upon him to bind and loose the consciences of men, and to dispense with the laws of God, and make them void by his own traditions; and to dispose of the kingdoms of this world, by removing kings, and setting up kings at pleasure, which is the prerogative of the King of kings; and by pretending; to forgive sin, which none but God can do; and by granting indulgences, pardons, c. Moreover, by the name of God may be meant the Scriptures, which are the means by which God reveals and makes known himself and these the man of sin blasphemes, by making them a nose of wax, by imposing on them what senses he pleases; by assuming a right of being the sole interpreter of them, and the judge of all controversies; and by setting up his own unwritten traditions upon an equal foot with them, and above them, and by denying the common people the use of them, in their own language; and particularly the Gospel, which is sometimes called the name of the Lord, Ac 9:15, may be intended, which is sadly blasphemed, and evil spoken of by antichrist; as the doctrines of justification by Christ’s righteousness, of peace and pardon by his blood, and atonement by his sacrifice, through the antichristian notions of merit, works of supererogation, pardons, penance, purgatory, and the like:
and his tabernacle; meaning either the human nature of Christ, which God pitched, and not man, the temple of his body, in which the Godhead dwells bodily, and where the eternal Word dwelt, or tabernacled among men; this is blasphemed by pretending to transubstantiate, the bread and wine in the supper of the Lord into the very body and blood of Christ, and to offer him up again in the sacrifice of the Mass, every time that blasphemous piece of service is performed: or else the church of God, which is the temple of the living God, where he chooses, desires, and delights to dwell; this is blasphemed by antichrist, by sitting in it as if he was God; asserting himself to be the head of the church which solely belongs to Christ; taking upon him to coin new doctrines, and make new laws and orders, and impose them on it, and to change and alter the ordinances and discipline of it as he pleases; and by persecuting and destroying all such who will not submit to his decrees and prescripts: or else heaven itself, the habitation of God, and where his throne is, may be designed, which the pope blasphemously affirms to have the keys of; and that he can open and shut it, let persons into it, or exclude front it, at pleasure; and that he can dispose of it, and sell it for money, and make and canonize new saints in it, as often as he thinks fit.
And them that dwell in heaven; either saints below, members of a Gospel church, who are born from above, are partakers of the heavenly calling, and whose conversation is in heaven, who are by antichrist stigmatized and persecuted as schismatics and heretics; or rather angels and saints departed, who are in heaven, and dwell there, and who are worshipped and prayed to as Mediators and intercessors, whose names are used in a very ridiculous and blasphemous manner, to their great dishonour and reproach, as well as to the injury of Christ, the only Mediator between God and men.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
For blasphemies ( ). “For the purpose of blasphemies.”
Against God ( ). “Face to face with God” in sheer defiance, like Milton’s picture of Satan in Paradise Lost. See Dan 7:25; Dan 8:10. The aorist is probably constative, for he repeated the blasphemies, though the phrase ( to stoma, to open the mouth) is normally ingressive of the beginning of an utterance (Matt 5:2; Acts 8:35). This verse explains verse 5. The Roman emperors blasphemously assumed divine names in public documents. They directed their blasphemy against heaven itself (“his tabernacle,” , Rev 7:15; Rev 12:12; Rev 21:3) and against “them that dwell in the heaven” ( ), the same phrase of 12:12 (either angels or the redeemed or both).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
In blasphemy [ ] . Read blasfhmiav blasphemies. Rev., giving the force of eijv more correctly, “for blasphemies.” And them that dwell in heaven [ ] . The best texts omit kai and, making the following words in apposition with onoma and skhnhn name and tabernacle. Thus the literal sense would be to blaspheme the name and tabernacle which dwell in heaven. “The meaning is to enhance the enormity of the blasphemy by bringing out the lofty nature of God ‘s holy name and dwelling – place” (Alford). The word dwell is, literally, tabernacle. See on ch. Rev 12:12.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy,” (kai enoiksen to stomata autou eis blasphemias) “And the beast opened his mouth in blasphemies,” in pouring forth profanity, blasphemies, derisions against heaven and the Holy God, Mar 3:28.
2) “Against God, to blaspheme his name,” (pros ton theon blasphemesai to onoma autou) “Toward and directed against God to blaspheme his name continually,” to speak against the living God, Dan 8:10-11; and to incite others to blaspheme, Rev 16:9; Rev 16:11; Rev 16:21.
3) “And his tabernacle,” (kai ten skenen autou), “And the tabernacle (worship place) belonging to him, known as his,” the place where Israel had restored her worship with morning and evening oblation, Dan 9:26-27; 2Th 2:4-12.
4) “And them that dwell in heaven,” (tous en to ourans skenountas) “And even those who continually were yet dwelling in heaven,” from which the Devil, who gave him his authority, had been cast (tossed) out, Rev 12:7-14. How appropriate it is to observe our Lord’s statement. “He that is not with me is against me,” Mat 12:30.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(6) And he opened his mouth . . .Translate, And he opened his mouth unto blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that tabernacle in the heaven. Much of the beauty of the thought is lost by the translation them that dwell; the word is tabernacle. The saints, to whom the name of the Lord is a strong tower, and who have a tabernacle of witness in this wilderness world, can yet tabernacle their spirits where their treasure is, in the heaven, according to that word: our citizenship is even now in heaven (Php. 3:20). Against these the world-power blasphemes: who has not taken the Lord for his strength, God is not his might; his might is his god. (Comp. Hab. 1:11 : He passes over and is guilty, he whose might is his god.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Blasphemy against God By assuming the divine attribute of infallibility; by appropriating the title of God; and by the worship of Mary and the wafer.
The idolatrous aspect of popery is remarkably visible in the inauguration of the pope, that of Pius IX. included. He is first arrayed in his pontifical apparel, five articles of which are scarlet; with a single vestment covered with pearls; and with his mitre adorned with gold and precious stones. He is led to the altar, before which he kneels and prays, as before the seat of God. He then rises, wearing his mitre, and is lifted up by the cardinals and seated on the very same altar. A bishop, kneeling, commences the Te Deum. The cardinals meantime kiss his feet and hands. This ceremony is regularly styled, both in conversation and authoritative writings, “the Adoration of the Pope.” “At Rome,” says Heideggar, (quoted by Wordsworth,) “this phrase, to adore the pope, is in daily use.” Says a French “History of the Clergy,” dedicated to Pope Clement XI., Amst., 1716, “When the election is finished the pope is conducted to the chapel, where he receives the adoration of the cardinals. Then he is carried, seated in the pontifical seat, to the Church of St. Peter, and placed upon the altar where he receives again, publicly, the adoration.” “Various books,” says Wordsworth, “have been written by Romish divines, such as Mazaroni, Stevanus, and Diana, concerning the adoration of the pope.”
A specimen of this adoration, performed by Cardinal Colonna on his knees to Pope Innocent X., A.D. 1644, is authentically given by Wordsworth in the following words: “Most holy and blessed father, head of the Church, ruler of the world to whom are committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven, whom angels in heaven revere, whom the gates of hell fear, and all the world adores, thee we solely venerate, worship, and adore, and we submit all things that are ours to thy paternal and more than divine disposition and care.”
His tabernacle By creating a pantheon of saints to be adored.
Continue Rather, to practice or perform, referring not to duration of existence but of successful action. This seems to cover the period of something more than a thousand years of nearly undisputed papal supremacy.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he opened his mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, even those who tabernacle in Heaven (those who meet with Him there). And it was given to him to make war with God’s people and to overcome them, and authority was given to him over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb.’
‘And he — .’ The wild beast, whichever ‘head’ was in power.
‘His tabernacle.’ The place where God dwells and is met with, in this case probably the heavenly equivalent of the tabernacle.
‘Even those who tabernacle in heaven.’ This probably includes the heavenly beings (note how the cherubim were also represented in the earthly Tabernacle) and also possibly the people of God. Compare Luk 16:9 which speaks of ‘the eternal tabernacles’ or dwelling places where the righteous dead dwell.
The horror of Imperial claims comes through here. Imperial worship blasphemes God’s name and his tabernacle, and even those who dwell in Heaven.
It is possible that the threat to the earthly Temple by Caligula could be in mind here, (it was probably still used by Jewish Christians as a place to meet and worship in as they did in Acts), but the Temple is never actually called the Tabernacle in the New Testament and had lost its significance for the majority of Christians, so that it seems unlikely.
Thus if the tabernacle referred to is to be seen as earthly at all it more probably represents Christians (Act 15:16; 2Co 5:1 ; 2Co 5:4; 2Pe 1:13-14). However, it is almost certainly the heavenly Tabernacle that is in mind (Heb 8:2 and often; Rev 15:5; Rev 21:3)). It is God Himself, the heavenly Tabernacle and the spiritual beings in it, who are blasphemed by these Imperial claims.
But it is not just the one head but the whole wild beast with its blasphemous claims which is now in mind, and after Caligula’s death the claims and the persecutions go on even when not positively sought by the Emperors, reaching a high point of intensity in Rome with Nero, and later in short bursts with Domitian, and even later in wholesale and widespread persecution. Caligula’s importance lay not in the intensity of his persecutions nor in the effectiveness of his actions, but in the new positive enforcement of divinity which he symbolised.
This description parallels Paul’s in 2Th 2:4. The day of the Lord will not be ‘except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called divine or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the sanctuary as God (or ‘as a god’ or ‘of God’) setting himself forth as the supreme deity.’
We translate the first ‘theon’ as divine as that is clearly its meaning here. ‘All that is called God’ refers to anything that is called divine. He is thus claiming to be the supreme deity. Worship of Rome and the Emperor superseded all other religions which were only tolerated as ‘superstitions’ as long as Rome was given its due worship.
We consider ‘the sanctuary as God (or ‘a god’)’ to be the better reading as it is the harder reading in later ears and therefore more likely to be correct (later Christians would not like comparing the emperor to God), but either way the message is the same. Here is one who claims divinity, and sets up his image in divine temples, possibly to be seen as declaring them to be ‘the sanctuary of God’, exalting himself above all that is called divine. This is what certain emperors actually enforced themselves, at other times it was done by others as flattery. But to Rome the worship of Roma and the Emperor had always to be central.
Even if we read as ‘the sanctuary of God’ we must remember that Paul considers that the Jerusalem Temple has been replaced by the new Temple of God, His people (2Co 6:16; Eph 2:21). John’s thinking does not centre on the Jerusalem Temple, which he sees as replaced by the people of God, and he is thus unlikely to be speaking of that particular temple. He nowhere elsewhere speaks of it or points to it, and he knows that Jesus has predicted its destruction within a generation. In his eyes it has become irrelevant to the Christian church. So ‘the sanctuary of God’ here would refer to the claim made by the Emperors that their temples were ‘the sanctuary of God’.
‘It was given to him to make war with God’s people (the saints) and to overcome them’ The Imperial claims necessarily bring them into conflict with God’s people in different parts of the Empire and persecution results. Christians are dragged before tribunals and must either submit to the worship of Rome or face terrible punishment. For a large part of the time persecution will depend on local officials and the attitudes of local people, but the wild beast will not relax his grip.
We note here a parallel to chapter 12 where the woman is persecuted for forty two months followed by war on the remainder of her children. In Rev 11:7 the war on the saints also follows a three and a half year period, although in that case only brief. Three and a half years is clearly looked on as a symbolic period of persecution, which results in further persecution. Once again the overcomers are seemingly overcome.
‘Every tribe and people and tongue and nation’. These words are taken from Dan 3:29 where they denote disparate peoples in a large empire, but it is not necessarily universal. The Roman Empire was composed of such people.
‘All that dwell on earth shall worship him’. This was what Rome officially demanded, having the Roman world in mind (Act 11:28; Act 19:27; Act 24:5; Rom 1:8). And on the whole they would receive what they demanded. These demands necessarily brought the authorities into conflict with Christians. ‘Those who dwell on earth’ contrasts with those whose citizenship is in Heaven who are strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Php 3:20; 1Pe 2:11).
‘Everyone who name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb’. See on Rev 3:5. Those who are Christians have their names written in the Lamb’s book of life, where they have been written from before time began (see Rev 17:8). Both book and Lamb are eternal, for He wrote in the book before the foundation of the world. This is intended to strengthen living Christians against the persecutions ahead as well as to assure them of the safety of those who have previously been martyred. They can be content because their names are written in Heaven from the foundation of the world, written there by the slain Lamb, Who is also therefore there before the foundation of the world. They have true immortality.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
Ver. 6. In blasphemy against God ] As when Pope Leo I and (after him) Nicholas III affirmed, that Peter their predecessor was taken into fellowship with the blessed Trinity, as one with them. SeeRev 13:5Rev 13:5 .
And his tabernacle ] Christ’s humanity, Joh 1:14 ; Joh 2:19 this he blasphemeth, by transubstantiating a crust into Christ. Or, the Church of Christ, which he counteth and calleth the synagogue of Satan.
And them that dwelt in heaven ] The glorified saints, whom either he despiteth with obtruded honours, such as they acknowledge not; or else barks and rails at incessantly as arch-devils, detestable heretics, common pests, &c., as Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, whose very name he hath commanded to be razed out of all books, wheresoever any man meets with it, Ubicunque invenitur nomen Calvini, deleatur. (Ind. Expur.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rev 13:6 . The days of Antiochus (Dan 8:10-12 ) have returned. On the claims of the emperor, see Introd. 6, and Sib. Or. ver 33, 34 (Nero ), Asc. Isa. iv. 6 8, x. 13, etc. , an exegetic gloss defining ( cf. Rev 12:7 ; Rev 12:12 ). The temple in Jerusalem is no longer the scene and object of the beast’s blasphemy.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
blasphemy. The texts read “blasphemies”.
His name = His Name, i.e. the Christ of God. See Act 2:21 and compare Exo 23:21.
tabernacle. Greek. skene. In Rev. here; Rev 15:5; Rev 21:3.
and. Omit, and supply ellipsis with “that is”.
them = those.
that dwell. Literally tabernacling.
heaven. See Rev 3:12.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rev 13:6. ) Without a connecting particle, as Job 42:9.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
he opened: Job 3:1, Mat 12:34, Mat 15:19, Rom 3:13
and his: Rev 21:3, Joh 1:14,*Gr. Col 1:19, Col 2:9, Heb 9:2, Heb 9:11, Heb 9:12, Heb 9:24
and them: Rev 4:1, Rev 4:4, Rev 5:13, Rev 7:9, Rev 11:12, Rev 12:12, Rev 18:20, Rev 19:1-6, Heb 12:22, Heb 12:23
Reciprocal: 2Ki 19:6 – the servants 2Ch 32:17 – to rail Psa 17:10 – with Psa 73:9 – set Psa 74:4 – Thine Psa 78:19 – Yea Psa 94:4 – boast Psa 139:20 – for they speak Isa 36:14 – General Jer 48:42 – magnified Jer 50:29 – for she hath Eze 9:4 – set a mark Eze 35:13 – with Dan 5:23 – lifted Dan 7:8 – a mouth Dan 7:11 – the voice Dan 7:25 – he shall speak Mat 15:18 – General Joh 8:44 – He was Eph 4:29 – no 2Th 2:4 – and exalteth 1Ti 1:20 – blaspheme 2Ti 3:2 – blasphemers Jam 2:7 – blaspheme Jam 3:5 – so 2Pe 2:18 – they speak Rev 13:1 – blasphemy
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 13:6. To blaspheme means to speak evil against that which is disliked. The leaders in Pagan Rome did not like the name of God nor the services of His tabernacle (the church), because He taught men they should not worship idols. Therefore they spoke against the divine institution that was on the earth, and against the beings in heaven who were servants of God.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 6.
3. To blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven–Rev 13:6. The emperor’s blasphemies of the name of God were extended to “his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” The tabernacle was the original name for the temple, and indicated the aim of the emperor to destroy it. The phrase “them that dwell in heaven” referred to the Jewish authorities, and signified the emperor’s purpose to bring to end the Jewish state.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 13:6. In this verse the blasphemies of Rev 13:5 are more particularly described.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, {11} and his tabernacle, {12} and them that dwell in heaven.
(11) That is, the holy Church, the true house of the living God.
(12) That is, the godly who as a group hid themselves from his cruelty. For this bloody beast charged those holy souls falsely with innumerable accusations for the name of Christ as we read in Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Arnobius, Minutius, Eusebius, Augustine and others: whose example the latter times followed most diligently, in destroying the flock of Christ: and we in our own memory have found by experience, to our incredible grief. Concerning heaven, see in Rev 11:12
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
He will blaspheme God by claiming to be God (2Th 2:4). This is evidently what he will do throughout the Great Tribulation, not just at one point in it. Enoixen, "he opened," is a constative aorist. [Note: Robertson, 6:401.] The phrase "he opened his mouth" often indicates the beginning of a prolonged discourse (cf. Mat 5:2; Act 8:35). He will speak against God and God’s dwelling place, His heavenly tabernacle (Dan 7:25). The phrase "those who dwell in heaven" defines the tabernacle in terms of its inhabitants, namely, God and the holy angels. Apparently the beast will share the dragon’s antagonism to God and the angels for having cast the dragon out of heaven (Rev 12:7-9; Rev 12:12).