"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. 2 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. 3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marvelled as they followed the beast. 4 And they worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”
5 And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. 9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear:
10 If anyone is to be taken captive,
to captivity he goes;
if anyone is to be slain with the sword,
with the sword must he be slain.
Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints."
Revelation 13:1-10
We must now seek to 'identify' the beast arising out of the sea. The first verse is better translated, 'And he stood' - i.e. the dragon, who proceeds to summon help for his nefarious purposes. It is in answer to this summons that the horrific monster emerges out of the sea. The sea, as we have already seen, represents humanity, and the emergence of the beast from the sea is meant to indicate that it is something that humanity throws up at the behest of the dragon. This is very terrible to realise, but it is starkly realistic, for we have in fact seen this happen in our time. Satan has in the twentieth century stood on the verge of humanity and called forth from it all the bitter dregs in the human heart and incarnated them in the mighty powers that stand over against the Christian Church in its intent and purpose to persecute and finally destroy it. The beasts, then, represent the 'incarnation' of the dragon who is behind the scenes. He is not seen here, except as the sinister power behind all that is done. And the beasts, it is important to see, represent concrete realities; they are not 'spirit' forces, but visible representations of spirit forces, at work in the world. This monster rising out of the sea speaks of world dominion directed against God's people whenever and wherever it appears in history - hence the many heads and horns (1). It is in this way that the persecuting power of the evil one becomes visible. Of this, and of the 'origin' of the vision we shall have more to say in the next Note.