Revelation chapter 13: 1 to 10 - 'The Beast Out of the Sea'

1 And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.
2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.
3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.
4 Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. 6 He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.
8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.
9 He who has an ear, let him hear.
10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.

As Revelation unfolds, that which is ‘anti-Christ’ is revealed in many guises … as a dragon, a leopard (quite unlike any leopard known to man), and even a wild animal disguised in sheep’s clothing. Although there are those who would argue that it is one-and-the-same deceitful creature merely changing its appearance (like a chameleon), to suit the circumstance, the overall, lying, objective is the same.

All such imagery has its roots in the Book of Daniel where, the ‘awesome statue’ in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream - Daniel chapter 2 - is next seen in chapter 7 in the form of ‘four beasts’. The symbol of ‘the bear’ in chapter 7 appears next as ‘a ram’ in chapter 8. Similarly, ‘a leopard’ in Daniel 7 is found as ‘a goat’ in Daniel 8, and the four heads of ‘the leopard’ in Daniel 7 next appear as the horns of the goat in Daniel 8.

Without any debate, there is a clear association between the four beasts of Daniel 7, with the creatures of Revelation 13 and 17 - each of which has seven heads and ten horns.

The beast that we first met in Revelation 11: 7 and was said to come ‘…out of the abyss’, is Daniel’s fourth beast - albeit in a later manifestation - and can be identified both with ‘the dragon’ of Revelation 12: 3 and 17 - not least by its appearance and its works - and, for the same reasons, with the scarlet-coloured beast of Revelation 17: 3 and 8.

Whether, or not, the beasts in Revelation are the same creature merely reconstructing itself for the purposes of wicked expediency or, differing creatures in a confederacy of wickedness, is open for debate. Even so - it wasn’t until the translators of the English ‘Revised Version’ (and most many English translations thereafter), that ‘two’ creatures appeared on the Revelation stage at the same time. The setting was the seashore, and appears in verse 1 of chapter 13, or - in some translations - as the last verse of the previous chapter.

If, as some suggest, ‘the great red dragon’ and ‘the beast out of the sea’ - together, therefore, with the other beasts are one-and-the-same (albeit in varying manifestations), it would have been at this moment of meeting on the beach that the dragon, in giving its authority to the beast from the sea, also passed on its ‘psyche’ and ‘persona’.

Whether we are intended to see the creatures as four individuals, bent on the same overall purpose of frustrating the will of God and the well-being of His followers, or one in devious and devilish morphing exercise - no-one can, in all truth, confirm.