The inhabitants of the earth represent the men and women who are excluded from the book of life by their own decisions.
The “inhabitants of the earth” are unrelenting in their hostility to Jesus and his servants, even rejoicing in the violent deaths of his “witnesses.” Unlike the “nations” and the “kings of the earth,” they are beyond redemption, and their names are excluded from the “book of life.”
“Inhabitants” translates the Greek verb katoikeô, meaning, “to dwell, inhabit.” In Revelation, it occurs only with negative connotations, and almost exclusively it refers to the “inhabitants of the earth,” a group always hostile to Jesus and his followers. Its first use is in the “letter” to the church at Pergamos:
- “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These things declares he that has the sharp two-edged sword. I know where you dwell, even where Satan's throne is; and you are holding fast my name, and did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells” – (Revelation 2:12-13).
IN PERGAMOS
Traditionally, “where Satan dwells” is applied either to the seat of the Roman provincial government based in Pergamos or to its temple dedicated to the veneration of the emperor. Either application may be correct. However, there is something larger in view.
In Pergamos, “dwell” is applied to Satan and the church, and the latter certainly did not reside in the governor’s residence or the emperor’s temple. Likewise, ‘Antipas,’ would not have been executed in either location. Most likely, he died outside the city walls.
Members of the congregation dwelled in the city. Yet Jesus assured them he was certainly aware that they lived where “Satan dwells.” As will become clear, this statement has a broader application.
Jesus promised the church at Philadelphia that he would keep them “from the hour of trial, which is going to come upon the whole habitable earth, to try the inhabitants of the earth.” The terms “whole habitable earth” and “inhabitants of the earth” are applied to the same situation. Implicit is the wider geographical area that will be affected by this “trial.” It will involve populations beyond the confines of Philadelphia – (Revelation 3:10).
IN DANIEL
The term, “inhabitants of the earth,” is derived from a passage in Daniel. After his downfall and restoration to the throne, Nebuchadnezzar declared:
- (Daniel 4:34-35) – “And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most-High, and I praised and honored him that lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation; and all the INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH are reputed as nothing, and he does according to his will in the HOST OF HEAVEN, and among the INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH; and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What are you doing?”
Later, when the “Lamb” opened the “fifth seal,” John saw the “souls of them who had been slain for the testimony they held” underneath the “altar.” The image was based on the altar of burnt offerings from Leviticus. The blood of sacrificial victims was poured out at its base. This is the picture behind the martyred “souls” found at the base of the “altar,” where the martyrs plead for vindication against the “inhabitants of the earth,” and here, this group is linked to the persecution of believers – (Revelation 6:9-11).
After the first four trumpets sounded, John saw an “eagle” pronouncing a warning - “Woe, woe, woe, for the inhabitants of the earth, because of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, who are yet to sound!” – (Revelation 8:13).
The first four trumpets unleashed “plagues” against the economy of the empire – its seaborne commerce, fresh water sources, and the like. The last three trumpets harmed the “inhabitants of the earth” themselves. “By these three plagues was the third part of men killed.” Nevertheless, they “repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”
THE BEAST
When the “Beast from the Abyss” killed the “Two Witnesses,” the “inhabitants of the earth rejoiced over them and made merry… for these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth.” While it was the “beast” who carried out these violent acts, the “inhabitants of the earth” certainly took pleasure in them.
In chapter 12, after the “son” was taken to the “throne,” Satan was expelled from heaven and “cast down to the earth.” While heaven “rejoiced,” the “great voice in heaven” declared an ominous warning to the “inhabitants of the earth”:
- “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you that tabernacle in them. Woe for the inhabitants of the earth and the sea: because the Devil is gone down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time.” – (Revelation 12:12).
Here, two groups are contrasted indicated by the two verbs used: “tabernacle” and “inhabit.” “Tabernacle” or “tent” indicates something temporary, such as a “tent” pitched during a journey. “Inhabit” or “dwell” suggests something more permanent. And note the expansion of the expression to the “inhabitants of the earth and the sea.” Unless the passage is a warning to sea creatures, the references are not geographical.
For the men who were “tabernacling in heaven,” the expulsion of the Devil meant rejoicing. For the “inhabitants of the earth,” it meant something far more ominous.
The identity of the ones who were “tabernacling in heaven” is provided by the context - the “brethren” who “overcame the Dragon by the blood of the Lamb.”
Precisely why the downfall of the “Dragon” meant “woe” to the “inhabitants of the earth” is not stated, other than the warning that he was enraged and had but a “short time” to vent his wrath. However, the target of his rage was NOT the “inhabitants of the earth,” but “those who have the testimony of Jesus.” The last clause links the latter group to the martyrs “under the altar” who had been slain on account of “their testimony.”
CONTRASTING GROUPS
The same two groups are found again in chapter 13, those who “tabernacle in heaven” and the “inhabitants of the earth”:
- (Revelation 13:4-10) – “And they rendered homage to the Dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they rendered homage to the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast, and who is able to war with him? And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and slanders, and there was given to him authority to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth for slander against God, to slander his name, and his tabernacle, them that tabernacle in the heaven. And it was given him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them… And all the inhabitants of the earth will render homage to him, whose name has not been written in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain.”
The rhetorical question, “Who is like him, and who can make war with him,” is reminiscent of Nebuchadnezzar’s declaration - “He does according to his will in the host of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, What are you doing?” As is now clear, the source of the two contrasting groups, those who “tabernacle in heaven” and the “inhabitants of the earth,” is the same passage from Daniel.
The “slander” is directed against “them who tabernacle in heaven.” The reference is NOT spatial. These terms differentiate between the two groups based on their allegiance either to the “Lamb” or to the “beast.” The followers of the “Lamb” have not taken up permanent residence in the present age, therefore, they are now “tabernacling.”
The “slander” refers to accusations brought against the saints by the “accuser of the brethren” in the earthly courts of law. A parallel is found in the letter to the church at Smyrna where the congregation was “slandered” before local authorities by Jews from the “synagogue of Satan.”
What identifies a person as a member of the “inhabitants of the earth” is not physical location, but whether his or her name is excluded from “the Lamb’s book of life.” In other words, all who render homage to the “beast.”
FALSE PROPHET
The second “beast,” the “false prophet,” ascended from the “earth” to deceive the “earth and its inhabitants.” This demonstrates that “earth” means something beyond the physical planet. Just as the “sea” and the “Abyss” are sources of evil, so, also, is the “earth.” This explains why the expulsion of Satan from heaven meant “woe” to those “inhabiting the earth and the sea.” It will mean “woe” to the unrepentant since the unleashing of Satan to persecute the church will culminate in the final judgment on all whose names were not “written in the book of life.”
The “false prophet” has two horns “like a lamb,” and performs the same “signs” done previously by the “two witnesses.” Thus, he imitates the “Lamb” and his “witnesses.” Similarly, the “first beast” received the “stroke of death” but lived, a parody of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This suggests their deception is a counterfeit of the true faith. In response, the “inhabitants of the earth” take the “mark of the beast,” and thus seal their fate.
In chapter 14, an angel “flying in mid-heaven” proclaimed the everlasting gospel to the “inhabitants of the earth,” AND to “every nation and tribe and tongue and people.”
Thus, the “nations” and the “inhabitants of the earth” are not necessarily identical. The angel summoned them to “fear God and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come.” Rather than to the “beast,” they must “render homage to him that made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.” Two more angels followed and pronounced judgment on “Babylon” - (Revelation 14:6-13).
“Babylon, the Great Harlot” is described in detail in chapter 17. She was the one with whom the “kings of the earth” and the “inhabitants of the earth” committed “fornication.” As with the “nations,” so the “kings of the earth” are distinguished from the “inhabitants of the earth,” though both groups were corrupted by “Babylon,” she who was drunk with the “blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”
The “Great Harlot” was carried by the “beast” with “seven heads and ten horns.” It “was and is not, and is going to ascend from the Abyss,” references to the previous slaying and “resurrection” of the “beast,” and to the ascent of the “beast from the Abyss” to destroy the “two witnesses.”
SUMMING UP
Revelation is pulling together themes from the preceding visions. The constant factor is the hostility of the “inhabitants of the earth” to the “Lamb,” and their preference for the “beast,” his “name,” and his “mark”:
- “And the inhabitants of the earth shall wonder, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast, how that he was, and is not, and shall come” – (Revelation 17:1-8).
Their consistent refusal to render homage to the “Lamb” explains why their “name was not written in the book of life.” At that time - “Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire, the second death. And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire” – (Revelation 20:11-15).
Their record also explains why the “inhabitants of the earth” were not found in the “city of New Jerusalem.” In Revelation, at times, the “nations” and the “kings of the earth” resist the “Lamb.” Nevertheless, both groups are found in the city, therefore, they are not without hope:
- “And the city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine upon it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb. And the nations shall walk amidst the light thereof: and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it” - (Revelation 21:23-24).
But, as a group, the “inhabitants of the earth” are beyond redemption, not because God is powerless to save them, but because they refuse His every offer. No matter how many plagues He sends, they refuse to repent. Like Pharaoh, they only harden their hearts. They “fornicate” with “Babylon.” They celebrate the deaths of God’s servants.
Rather than follow the “Lamb,” the “inhabitants of the earth… render homage to the beast” and welcome its “mark.” They prefer the counterfeit faith offered by the “beast” and “false prophet.” In short, their names are excluded from the “book of life” due to their own decisions. God’s final judgment and condemnation of the unrepentant to the “lake of fire” are fully justified.