Chapter 13 follows on from the picture of the dragon attacking the woman and her offspring in chapter 12. We have here two beasts that come on the scene, who help the dragon (the devil) as he seeks to destroy the church.

The description of the hideous dragon and this hideous beast (v1) are to seek to get across to us something of how hideous that evil is. Based on a parallel passage in Daniel 7 we can say that this beast represents political kingdoms and rulers that are opposed to the Lord (v2).

An amazing thing happens to the beast (v3) which shows the terrible persistence of evil. Evil leaders are taken down, things look good, but then another head of evil rises, as bad or worse than the first one. The period of the beast’s power is again 3 ½ years, the time from Jesus’ first to second coming. There is a call for endurance (v7-10) and the assurance of the certainty for those in the Lamb’s book of life.

The first beast is anti-God governments but the second beast (v11-18) represents false religion. The mark of the beast (v16-17) is not some bar code but rather a life moulded to the ways of this world rather than a life marked by the grace of Christ. The number of the beast 666 (v18), speaks of a life repeatedly falling short of the number of perfection which is 7.