Rev 13:1– And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon his horns ten royal crowns, and upon his heads the names of blasphemy.
The dragon stood on the sand of the sea and a beast came out of the sea. Since it is “a beast” and not “the beast,” this beast is not the one previously mentioned in Rev 11:7 but a new player in the story. [Show More]
| The first part of this verse in the English (“And he stood upon the sand of the sea”) is listed as Revelation 12:18 in the Greek. See comments on Rev 12:18. The label itself is not critical to interpretation. But the reason for doing this is that the natural beginning of Revelation 13 is with the “And I saw (Greek: kai eidon), a typical visionary opening in the book of Revelation.
“Beast” (Greek: thērion) represents a wild, untamed animal. The kingdom of God and those aligned with Him are never represented by “beast” in Scripture (the four “beasts” in the heavenly throne room [Rev 4:6-7] translate a very different Greek word—zōon). Beast powers always seek their own glory, not the glory of God. |
The sea symbolizes humankind (cf. Rev 17:15). The beast is one of its institutions. The beasts in Daniel 7 also came out of the same sea of people. [Show More]
| As a symbol, the word “sea” (Greek: thalassa) represents the great mass of humankind and its institutions (cf. Rev 17:15).
In the Greek, the words “out of the sea” (Greek: ek tēs thalassēs) come before the “beast coming” (Greek: thērion anabainon), the subject and predicate of the sentence. In Greek this position in the sentence signals emphasis.
The beast coming up out of the sea recalls Daniel 7, where four beasts came up out of the sea one by one. This makes it clear that the sea out of which the beast comes is the very same sea that the dragon parks next to (Rev 12:18). The arrival of the dragon on the beach, therefore, has something to do with the beast that then arises out of the sea. |
While this beast comes out of the sea, the land beast, later in Rev 13 (Rev 13:11), comes out of the land. Whenever Revelation contrasts earth with sea, earth is a positive concept. [Show More]
| “And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea” (Greek: kai eidon ek tēs thalassēs thērion anabainon) both directly parallels 13:11 (“And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth”– Greek: kai eidon allo thērion anabainon ek tēs gēs) and is in direct contrast with it. Whenever earth is contrasted with sea in Revelation, it is a positive concept, at least at first. |
Both horns and heads symbolize earthly political powers, but in both Daniel and Revelation, while the horns exist at the same time, the heads are consecutive (Rev 17:12; Dan 7:7, 23-24). Some of those heads represent institutions that existed before Revelation was written. The Sea Beast symbolizes an institution that was formed through the fragmentation of the Roman Empire. [Show More]
| Unlike 12:3 and 17:3, the heads and horns are here listed in reverse order, the reason for which is not stated. The beast from the sea has ten horns and seven heads. Horns are symbolic of earthly political powers in both Revelation (17:12) and Daniel (7:7, 23-24). Heads also represent earthly political powers, but are likely consecutive, as is the case in Revelation 17:9-10. In that case, the beast would be active in a series of eras of history, one head after another.
Since the sea beast is a composite of all four beasts of Daniel 7, a large part of that history had already occurred by the time Revelation was written.
Since the dragon represents Satan in the primary sense (as indicated in Rev 12:9) and only in a secondary sense represents Rome (which sought to destroy the baby Jesus through the actions of Herod– cf. 12:5), the beast from the sea continues the work of both in a new era. The sea beast, therefore, represents an earthly power that comes into play after the fall of the Roman Empire. It would exhibit Satan’s character in the way it blasphemes God and persecutes His people. It has been bequeathed the authority of the dragon to carry on his work (Rev 13:2). Like other historical reflections in the book of Revelation, the activity of the beast from the sea is portrayed as an extension of the cosmic conflict, the battle between Christ and Satan. |