When Man Becomes a Beast: Sports, Maccabees, and Revelation 13

Most people don’t realize the Bible has already exposed sports idolatry — not only watching the games, but the glorifying of the body, athletic fame, and the culture that surrounds it.

1 Maccabees 1:14–15 says God’s people built a Greek gymnasium “according to the customs of the heathen,” made themselves uncircumcised, and abandoned the holy covenant.
1 Maccabees 1:11–13 shows that this began when certain men said, “Let us make a covenant with the heathen.”
The entire system pulled God’s people into pagan identity and body-worship.

2 Maccabees 4:12–15 expands the picture:
the high priest gladly built a gymnasium, the youth were trained in Greek athletics, and even the priests abandoned the altar because they “esteemed the honours of the Greeks best of all.”
2 Maccabees 4:19 ties this directly to pagan religion, as Jerusalem sent money to the sacrifices of Hercules.

Jewish commentators, early Christian teachers, and modern historians all agree:
the gymnasium in Maccabees was a pagan worship system built around the human body and athletic glory.

This becomes a prototype of Revelation — people shaped by the “image” of the culture rather than by God’s commandments.

Daniel 4 gives the clearest warning.
Teachers from Jerome to Calvin have noted that Nebuchadnezzar became as a beast (Dan. 4), a sign that when man exalts himself above God, he loses the image of man and takes on the nature of the beast.

The pattern is ancient and repeating:
• Greek sports idolatry (Maccabees)
• Man becoming a beast (Nebuchadnezzar)
• The image of the beast (Revelation 13)
• Modern sports culture
• Modern body-worship and performance idolatry

All tell the same story:

When man rejects God’s commandments, he doesn’t become more “free” — he becomes less human.
Only Christ restores the true image.