And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. (Revelation 13:1-2 ESV).
This chapter begins the end in earnest. There is one coming who will literally take this world by storm. And that’s not a good thing. Scripture knows him by several names. Probably the most famous is ‘the Antichrist’ though we only see this name in the first two epistles of John. In Revelation “the beast” is used extensively with 37 mentions in 29 verses. A few other names and titles that he is known by is “the man of sin”, “the son of destruction”, “the lawless one”, “the little horn” and “the prince that is to come”. There is plenty of speculation about who it is and this has gone on for centuries, going right back to the time of Nero. It is none of these. However, he may have been born and is now awaiting his time.
We do have a clear description of what this person will be like. We see in this passage that the dragon Satan, whom we spoke of a lot in the previous two studies, stands on the shore of the sea. Since these last days will be a time when the Restrainer, the Holy Spirit and His work through the Church, have been taken out of the way. Having been kicked out of heaven the enemy knows that his time is now short and is allowed to bring forth his “beast”. Let’s just make a few quick points on this passage:
- The imagery of the beast, especially looking like a leopard, a bear and a lion, is from the book of Daniel. You might remember that while king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had a dream about a glorious statue of a man, symbolizing the coming kingdoms on this earth, God gave His impression of those same kingdoms by picturing them as various vicious beasts. Thus, the one who is coming will combine aspects of these various previous kingdoms.
- The beast comes out of the sea. The sea in scripture, as seen in the book of Revelation, speaks of the Gentile nations. And as we shall see in a few days, this stands in contrast with the second beast that comes from the land.
- The beast has ten horns. Horns in scripture speak of strength and the ten horns are a pointer to the kingdom of the last days coming out of the revived Roman Empire, from which the Antichrist arises. This corresponds to the 10 toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and the 10 horns in Belshazzar’s dream (cf. Daniel 7:7,24). The ten horns are also interpreted for us later (cf. Revelation 17:12-13). These are ten nations that give power to the beast.
- The beast has seven heads. The seven heads are both seven mountains and seven kings (or kingdoms) that exist throughout history (cf. Revelation 17). Each head is blasphemous, displaying gross disrespect for God, taking glory for itself and dwelling in pride. In future devotionals we’ll see that the coming Antichrist, as Satan’s man, will specifically speak out and blaspheme the God of heaven. He won’t be able to hide his hatred for God desiring all worship for himself.
- The beast resembles a leopard, a bear, and a lion. These represent the empires of Greece, Medo-Persia, and Babylon from the Old Testament (cf. Daniel 7). They are placed in the reverse order to what we see in Daniel because John is now looking back in time instead of forwards as seen in the days of Daniel.
- The coming Antichrist will be specifically empowered and even possessed by Satan Himself. It is Satanic power that will grant Antichrist the ability to accomplish incredible feats, goals and wonders (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).
It is a time of great difficulty for the believer. Yet, there is great hope. This calamity will not last forever and the result will be the victory of the King of Kings, Jesus Himself!