Revelation 13:1-10 Series

Revelation 13:1-10 The Two Beasts

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindred's, and tongues, and nations. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.

10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

In the last chapter, chapter 12 we read how God cast the Dragon/Satan out of heaven to the earth with a third of the angels because they had started a war against God in Heaven.

And today we will be looking at chapter 13 and we will see in this, the story of two beasts. One who was risen up out of the sea and the second risen up out of the earth. Each of these beast were given great powers from Satan to do his biding.

So lets break this chapter into two parts and start by looking at the first beast.

1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Interestingly enough this beast in some was resembles the description of Satan in chapter 12:3 ~ And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.

Both have seven heads and 10 horns but the beast here that comes out of the ocean has 3 more crowns than Satan. Now it may seem fit that this beast in some way is higher in authority than Satan being it has 3 more crowns but this isn't the case. Satan is the great deceiver and I think he is in some way trying to show the beast is more powerful than him for some reason. Satan has suffered several losses so far and he may have wanted to create the illusion that somehow this beast is a kind of new and improved version of himself.

This beast it says had written on its heads “the name of blasphemy”. This suggests to me that this name on its 7 heads would somehow imply it has some divine status. Maybe that it is god or christ.

2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

A leopard, a bear, and a lion are what makeup this beast visually. These are all things in which humans would be familiar with, and would look at these things as things of strength, power, cunningness, stealth, speed and I am sure we could include some other things.

It seems almost that if you were to ask someone what would the ultimate predator look like if you could combine parts from differing animals, it would be this beast. And Satan gave this beast power, his seat, and authority.

3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?