Today’s reading is Revelation 13.
The Third Woe Continues
In Revelation 12:12, the third woe was named: “But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (ESV). He goes on to make war against the woman, who is protected, and on her offspring “who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” In Revelation 13, we see the reinforcements the dragon calls to wage war: the sea beast and the earth/land beast.
Like Dragon, Like Beast
Within the vision, the sea beast is clearly the “offspring” of the serpent. I don’t mean that literally. I’m not saying the sea beast is the son of the dragon. But notice the resemblance. The beast is a chip off the old dragon block.
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems (Revelation 12:3, ESV)
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 (Revelation 13:1, ESV).
As in Genesis, like begets like, kind begets kind. A seven-headed, ten-horned dragon no doubt begets a seven-headed, ten-horned sea monster. Whoever and whatever this beast is or represents, we are clearly supposed to see it as the seed of the serpent. The battle from Genesis 3 between the offspring of the woman and the offspring of the serpent continues.
Channeling Daniel Once Again
While John definitely wants us to see the family resemblance between the sea beast and Satan, the picture itself is formed from the even more ancient vision in Daniel 7. Daniel saw four great beasts come up out of the sea. The first beast was like a lion, the second like a bear, the third like a leopard, and the fourth was terrifying and dreadful and strong like no other beast before it.
The sea beast in Revelation 13 is a chimaera, that is, a terrifying mixture of the beasts from Daniel 7. “And the beast that I saw,” John writes, “was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth like a lion’s mouth” (Revelation 13:2, ESV). The seven heads and the ten horns of the sea beast are themselves a callback to the number of heads and horns initially described of the four beasts in Daniel 7. Since the third beast there had four heads and the fourth beast had ten horns, the sea beast of Revelation presents as a terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong beast who is a mixture of Daniel’s visionary monsters. This is important for figuring out what this beast represents. It is a terrifying, dreadful beast that is like none of the beasts before it, but at the same time a mixture of all the beasts that ever were.
Further Connections Between Daniel’s Beasts and the Sea Beast
In Daniel’s vision, the fourth beast grows an eleventh horn that spoke great words (Daniel 7:11). It had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things and seemed greater than its companions (Daniel 7:21). He spoke words against the Most High (Daniel 7:25). In the same way, the sea beast of Revelation 13 was given a mouth uttering arrogant, blasphemous words, blaspheming God and God’s dwelling (Revelation 13:5-6). The eleventh horn of Daniel 7‘s fourth beast made war with the saints and prevailed over them (Daniel 7:21). He shall “wear out the saints of the Most High (Daniel 7:25). The sea beast of Revelation 13 “was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them” (Revelation 13:7, ESV).
Finally, the authority, victory, and conquering of Daniel’s fourth beast was going to be for “a time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 7:25). The sea beast of Revelation 13 is allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months (Revelation 13:5). The phrase in Daniel 7:25 is a way of saying three-and-a-half years, equivalent to forty-two months and also 1260 days. In other words, this period corresponds to the 1260 days the woman is nourished in Revelation 12:6 and the “time, and times, and half a time” the winged woman is protected and nourished in Revelation 12:14, the forty-two months the Gentiles are allowed to trample the courts in Revelation 11:2, and the 1260 days the two witnesses perform their work in Revelation 11:3.
Who Is This Beast from the Sea?
According to Daniel 7:17, the “four great beasts from the sea are four kings who shall arise out of the earth” (ESV). Though, notice Daniel 7:23: “As for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms…” (ESV). “King” and “kingdom” seem to be used by metonymy to refer to the same thing. Rather than speaking of the reign of individual kings, it refers to the empires encompassing the reigns of multiple kings. This mirrors the statue dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2.
All of this helps us grasp some meaning behind the great sea beast of Revelation 13. First, with the connection back to Daniel, we can say the beast represents a kingdom. This beast focuses on the geo-political enemy of God’s kingdom. On the one hand, the sea beast seems to me almost certainly to represent the terrifying, dreadful fourth beast of Daniel 7 which tramples and conquers all before it, which corresponds to the legs of iron and feet of iron and clay in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2. It represents the kingdom itself that governs the seven cities in which the seven churches dwell: Rome.
However, at the same time, as this beast is clearly a conglomeration of all the preceding beasts, John is not doing quite the same thing as Daniel. Daniel was providing a future chronology of events for the early readers of Daniel to watch unfold. Those events are in our distant past. John took Daniel’s visions, stirred them up in a pot, and then recontextualized them in a way that gave great application to the first readers of Revelation. However, he presented them in a way that made them meaningful to even us today.
Certainly, the seven churches of Asia were to see the kingdom in power over their cities as the beast in their day. The war on the saints was most definitely the persecution that kingdom repeatedly brought against Christ’s kingdom. They were in the days of Daniel’s beast like no other beast before it. However, John, by mixing the beasts, presents much more than one single kingdom. He represents governing, geo-political, worldly power in all its forms. He represents the corruption that comes with that approach to power. He represents one of the ongoing, repeated, great competitors of King Jesus–any world power that would claim to be king. Though that fourth beast would be “killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire” (Daniel 7:11, ESV), the impact of worldly kingdoms would be “prolonged for a season” (Daniel 7:12, ESV). Wherever that dominion or impact is felt, it will be a thorn in the side of God’s kingdom.
Sardis and Laodicea seemed to be enamored with the manifestation of that king in their day. They mirrored their churches off the lives of their cities. They measured their own value off the value of their cities. John calls them to repent, showing them they were getting in bed with a beast, the offspring of Satan himself. This beast blasphemed their God and made war against their brethren, it was folly to compromise with him. “Repent!” John says to them.
A Warning for Churches Today
My friends and neighbors, my brothers and sisters, please let us take this message from Revelation seriously. The kingdoms rising from the sea which are kings that come from the earth are not the allies of God’s kingdom made without hands. Though they offer olive branches and promise peace, prosperity, and protection, they are beasts.
We in our modern day, no matter our country, are patriotic on a level that matches and sometimes exceeds that of the Romans, and very often equate our geo-political powers with God’s nations. We in America definitely do. Perhaps it is good that we read Revelation in an election year in America. When Christ’s kingdom makes alliances with political parties, when we believe the way to the preservation of our kingdom lies in the politics of the earth’s nations, we are blinded by our earthly sight and need to purchase eye-salve from God. Jesus is our King. When we think the outcomes of city, state, or national elections actually spell a loss or a victory for Christ’s kingdom, we have lost sight of who is our King. Neither Biden, nor Trump, nor Kennedy, nor Harris, nor DeSantis, nor any other earthly ruler, no matter his or her platform, is our king. And like it or not, they are, every one of them, swimming in the waters from which sea beasts rise. If we are not careful, we will inch by inch and degree by degree find ourselves swimming with monsters and believe it is okay because they provide us with tax breaks or line our pockets with handouts and benefits.
Our job is to worship the God of the heavens, not defend political parties. Our job is to spread the good news of His Kingdom and His King, Jesus, not elect presidents. Our job is to be different from the world around us though that will provoke persecution. Our job is to be faithful to our King no matter how the earthly kingdoms treat us. Let us not compromise with monsters, lest we find we are actually worshiping the dragon and, like some of the Asian churches and Christians, not even know it.
Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 13.
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PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family
How does Revelation 13 admonish you?
Read the Bible 