Revelation 13:1-10

In chapter 12, the dragon went off to make war on the woman's offspring. In chapter 13 we see two beasts, who represent a kingdom and a king — the setting of the stage for the final days of this world and its kingdoms.¶

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven 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)¶

A beast like Daniel's¶

It is always good to use the Bible to define the Bible, and Daniel 7 helps us here. In Daniel's vision, four beasts rising out of the sea are four kingdoms represented by four kings — a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a fourth more terrible than them all that dominates the world. In Revelation 13, this one beast rising out of the sea looks like all three of the first beasts combined. The four beasts (like Nebuchadnezzar's statue in Daniel 2) represent four empires in succession, ending with Rome. Rome has been gone for around 1,600 years — but according to Daniel 2 and 7, after the last empire God sets up his kingdom and gives it to his saints forever. So: has that final empire fully been destroyed? I don't think so. This fourth beast rising out of the sea seems to be a resurrection of the Roman empire — a reincarnation that this time has the likeness of all previous empires (which desire to conquer, subjugate, and be worshiped). Daniel 7:12 says of the other beasts, "their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time" — their life saved for a specific season, now alive in this beast.¶

I believe we are the generation witnessing the rise of this final kingdom. The world powers are working to unite the world as never before — removing borders and creating international laws that override national sovereignty.¶

Worshiping the beast is worshiping Satan¶

And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?"

Revelation 13:4 (ESV)¶

By worshiping this kingdom and its leader, they are worshiping Satan. This is what we are warned against: "Do not love the world or the things in the world" (1 John 2:15-17) — when we love the kingdom of this world, we love what Satan represents. Tellingly, right after this warning, John writes, "it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come" (1 John 2:18). The mission of this final kingdom is that Satan, in his last hour, is trying to set up his own rule and mimic what God has done. This has been in the devil's mind all along (Isaiah 14:12-17, the proverb against the king of Babylon describing Satan's fall: "I will make myself like the Most High"). Every king of every empire in history has wanted what Satan wants.¶

Nebuchadnezzar saw the kingdoms as a statue of earthly materials. God sees them as wild, unruly, vicious beasts. When God created man in his image, he created us to rule over the beasts (Genesis 1:26). This is the end of the matter: kingdoms rise in this world, but all of them will fall before our King, and his kingdom will never fall (Daniel 7:13-14).¶