Revelation 13:1-4

1And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.

The Beast out of the Sea

And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns
and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each
head a blasphemous name. 2The beast I saw resembled a
leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that
of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne
and great authority. 3One of the heads of the beast seemed to
have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.
The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.
4Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to
the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who
is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"





13:1-2 - Previously, John had been before God’s throne. Now he is moved to the shore of the sea. The biblical symbolism of the sea is fairly familiar. The sea is commonly associated with the enemies of Israel (Isa. 57:20; Isa. 17:12) as well as often symbolically representing the Abyss (Rev. 9:1-3). The Beast is both the enemy of God’s people and arises symbolically from the demonic Abyss. The beast has ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his
horns. In chapter 17, an angel will explain to John some of the imagery of this
passage. The ten crowned horns (which represent power) of the Beast are
explained to be kings of imperial provinces (17:12), while the seven heads are
shown to be the line of the Caesars (17:9-11). Nero, who will be discussed
further in a moment, would be one of those heads. In contrast to the biblical
High Priest who wore the name of God on his head (Ex. 28:36-38), the Beast
has a blasphemous name on each head. The Caesars were gods in Roman
theology. The name Augustus means One to be worshiped , and they also took
the names divus (god) and even Deus or Theos (God). Nero, for instance,
commanded absolute obedience and even erected a 120-foot-high statue of
Himself.


John says that the appearance of the beast was like a leopard, but had feet like
those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion . The beast, then, is the Roman
empire and is pictured as a ravenous, ferocious animal. These are the first three
beasts (in reverse order) used to describe the three of the four great world
empires in Daniel 7:1-6). Rome, the fourth empire, encapsulates all of the
beast-like aspects of the other three, but is far worse (Dan. 7:7). The passage
in Daniel is also where John derives the imagery of the ten horns and seven
heads . Clearly, John intends to show his readers that the beast is not some
mysterious figure that looms in the future. It is not the Pope, Osama Bin laden,
or some other world figure. The beast is the Roman empire that combines in
itself all of the terrible features of Daniel’s other three empires, Babylon,
Medo-Persia, and Greece, but is far more ferocious. Although, the beast is
Rome, it is also personified by the Emperor Nero. The empire was embodied
and represented by the reigning emperor. Nero was so violent that he was
referred to by contemporaries as the beast. He murdered many members of his
own family, was bisexual, reported watching people suffer in horrifying ways
as an aphrodisiac, dressed up as a wild beast in order to attack and rape male
and female prisoners, burnt Christians at the stake to light up his garden parties,
launched the first imperial persecution of Christians at the instigation of the
Jews, and was the emperor of the most powerful empire on earth.


13:3-4 - John says that one of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a
fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed . This led to the whole
world being astonished and resulted in them following the beast. The Beast
resembles, does the bidding of, and is is connected to the Dragon. This should
remind us of the promise that Christ would one day crush the head of the
Dragon (Gen. 3:15). Likewise, Daniel has prophesied that the Kingdom of
Christ would crush and replace the Satanic empires. And so it was that the
people of all nations began to flow toward the mountain of the Lord’s House,
the Kingdom of God. Members of Caesar’s own household had become
believers (Phil. 4:22) and, according to early church father Tertullian, Tiberius
Caesar even made a formal request to the Roman Senate to acknowledge
Christ’s divinity. It seemed that the beast would, indeed be crushed by Christ’s
Kingdom. Quickly, however, the tables were reversed as heresy, apostasy, and
persecution by the Jews and Roman Senate began to cause great masses of
Christians to fall away (1 Tim. 1:3-7, 19-20; 4:1-3; 6:20-21; 2 Tim. 2:16-18;
3:1-9, 13; 4:10, 14-16; Tit. 1:10-16; 1 John 2:18-19). The impression given in
the New Testament is that many churches fell apart and abandoned the faith in
the face of Nero’s persecution. The Beast had received a head wound but still
lived. The reality was that Christ had already defeated the Dragon and the
Beast, but the implications of his victory had yet to be worked out. The Saints
had yet to overcome and take dominion. We learn that the whole world was
astonished and worshiped the Dragon and the Beast . The word rendered
world here should be translated land , which then lets us know that this is Israel.
Israel was given a choice between Christ and Caesar and had chosen Caesar,
echoing the words of the chief priests from the time of Christ, "we have no king
but Caesar" (John 19:15).