REVELATION - Week 3

If Revelation 6–11 gave us seals, trumpets, and plagues, chapters 13–19 take us deeper into the visionary drama. Here we meet two strange and terrifying figures: the beasts. These chapters are full of rich imagery—Babylon, bowls of wrath, angelic harvests, hallelujah choruses—but the beasts are perhaps the most gripping symbols in the whole book. So, in this post we’ll focus on them.

What are the beasts? What did John mean by them? And how have Christians understood them across the centuries?

The Beast from the Sea (Revelation 13:1–10)

John sees a beast rising out of the sea, “with ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns” (13:1). It looks like a mix of leopard, bear, and lion, echoing Daniel 7 where four beasts symbolise successive empires. For John’s audience in the late first century, the connection would have been obvious: this was about Rome. The empire was the “beast” that devoured nations, demanded worship, and persecuted the faithful. The heads and horns signal imperial power, and the beast’s blasphemous claims point towards the imperial cult, where emperors like Domitian encouraged divine honours.

This ‘critical-historical’ reading is widely accepted among scholars today.

Revelation isn’t predicting a future empire we’re still waiting for—it’s interpreting the oppressive power of Rome in John’s own day.

That doesn’t mean it has no relevance now, but its starting point is clear: Rome is the beast.

The Beast from the Land (Revelation 13:11–18)

A second beast rises, this time from the land. It has two horns like a lamb but speaks like a dragon (13:11). It makes people worship the first beast and performs deceptive signs. Many scholars see this as a symbol of the provincial authorities and priesthoods who enforced the imperial cult within Asia Minor, where John’s churches were located. This beast isn’t Rome itself, but Rome’s local collaborators—the ones who pressured Christians to join in public sacrifices, festivals, and emperor worship.

Last Sunday, I spoke about the letters to the churches, and how Pergamum and Thyatira had been found guilty of engaging in the worship practices of other gods, or the emperor. These, we could say, are the victims of this beast of the land.

And then, of course, we come to the famous number, 666.

Revelation says it’s “the number of a man” (13:18). Through a system called gematria, where letters carry numerical value, many scholars identify this with Nero Caesar, whose name adds up to 666 when written in Hebrew letters. Early readers of Revelation probably caught the reference. John is saying: the beastly power of Rome is Nero-like: violent, persecuting, destructive. Now, however, it’s just embodied in a later emperor like Domitian.

The Fate of the Beasts (Revelation 17–19)

Later in the book, the beasts reappear alongside the great prostitute “Babylon” (17:3). The beast is described again with seven heads and ten horns, and we’re told the seven heads are “seven hills” (17:9).

Rome, famously built on seven hills, is clearly in view.

The beast allies with Babylon (symbolising Rome as a city and imperial system) but both ultimately fall under God’s judgement. By chapter 19, the beasts are captured and destroyed (19:20).

For John’s first hearers, this would have been radical encouragement. Rome seemed invincible. Its propaganda claimed it brought peace, order, and divine blessing. Revelation unmasks it: Rome is not a saviour, but a beast. And beasts do not last.

Traditional Christian Views

Of course, through history, Christians have read the beasts in many different ways. In the Middle Ages, some saw them as the rise of Islam. In the Reformation, Protestants often identified the beasts with the papacy - Martin Luther called the Pope the ‘antichrist-beast’. In modern times, some interpreters link the beasts to future world governments, totalitarian regimes, or even technology.

These readings often reflect the fears and contexts of their interpreters.

They may not match John’s original meaning, but they do show how Revelation’s imagery can be powerfully reapplied. The danger, though, is when speculation about “future beasts” distracts from the book’s central point: the call to faithful resistance against oppressive powers in every age.

Why the Beasts Still Matter

A critical-historical approach helps us see the beasts as Rome and its imperial machinery, but that doesn’t make them irrelevant. Revelation offers a lens through which Christians can recognise “beastly” powers in our world today - whether in states, systems, or ideologies that demand ultimate loyalty, dehumanise, and destroy. The beasts remind us that empires often cloak themselves in false claims of peace and prosperity, but beneath the surface their violence is exposed.

And the end of the story is hope: beasts do not have the final word. Revelation 19 envisions their downfall, not by human rebellion but by the coming of Christ, who judges with justice.

Revelation 13–19 presents us with the beasts - symbols of Rome’s power and its enforcers. Critical scholarship grounds them firmly in the first-century world, but their imagery continues to echo, warning Christians in every age about powers that demand more than they deserve. We may not all agree on who the beasts are today, but John’s vision still rings true: they fall, and Christ reigns.