Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Revelation 13:1-10
Beast from the sea (13:1-10)Like the dragon of Chapter 12, the beast that arises out of the sea has seven heads and ten horns. If the dragon symbolizes Satan, the opponent of God in the spirit world, the beast out of the sea probably symbolizes the opponent of God in the world of humankind. As God took human form in Jesus Christ, so Satan takes human form in one called the antichrist (GNB: enemy of Christ), or man of lawlessness (GNB: wicked one). He combines cunning, strength, cruelty and... read more
Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Revelation 13:1-4
Revelation 13:1-4. And I stood upon the sand of the sea, &c. Here the beast is described at large, who was only mentioned before, Revelation 11:7; and a beast, in the prophetic style, is a tyrannical idolatrous empire. The kingdom of God and of Christ is never represented under the image of a beast. As Daniel ( Dan 7:2-3 ) beheld four great beasts, representing the four great empires, come up from a stormy sea, that is, from the commotions of the world; so St. John ( Rev... read more