Wasn’t Domitian’s nickname “Nero” -—
lol. That would be convenient. But I've found no evidence of that in any church writings and certainly not in Scripture. A German dispensationalist, Ethelbert Stauffer, referred to Domitian as "The Beast," but a variety of Roman emporers could have fit that description.
Uncle Chip, who benefits by believing Rome and her minions are not the beast of revelation?
It's a long weekend. I'm going to read Gentry's book online free...
I can find no reference to Domitian's nickname. I would highly question his nickname as Nero since 1) Domitian preceded Nero and I would suspect wanted to forge his own legacy, and 2) Nero forced his wife to commit suicide. I doubt that #2 reason would endear Nero to him (but then again...).
That not withstanding, the reference posted above does far more than give a reference to a particular emperor. The Muratorian Canon states "…for the blessed apostle Paul himself, following the order of his predecessor John, he wrote to only seven churches by name, in the following order". As the text states, Paul followed John's order. This is rather difficult to refute if it is indeed true. Couple that with the Syrian text and Jerome's explanation, it makes a rather compelling argument that Revelation was written before 70AD. Given the fact that all we have is one little reference from Ignaeteus, the Syrian, Muratorian, and Jerome carries a bit more weight.