Week 52 Revelation
The word beast is used roughly 117 times in the bible. Out of the 117 John uses the word 36 times in Revelation (~31%).
The majority of times in the bible beast refers to generic run-of-the-mill animals…dogs cows lions and like that. But not in Revelation. John’s references are to non-regular animals.
I do a quick survey to see what I can find out about the beast in Revelation.
First thing is that there isn’t just one beast – there’s two. One comes from the sea…Beast #1. The other comes from the earth…Beast #2.
Beast #1 has 7 heads & 10 horns and is authorized by the dragon.
Beast #2 has 2 horns and he’s a mouthpiece for the dragon.
The two Beasts are in cahoots – Beast #1 validates Beast #2 and Beast #2 performs miracles & makes people worship Beast #1 & brings an inanimate image of Beast #1 to life & and pressures people to get marked with the number 666.
(It looks like Beast #2 is also called the False Prophet – the descriptions of the two are similar.)
Beast #1 seems to be the ringleader but both are linked to the dragon in a trinity of badness.
Which means that in the end the Devil (dragon) & Beast #1 & the False Prophet (Beast #2) end up in the lake-of-fire.
When I review what I’ve found I feel that I know more about the two beasts than before. But I also notice there’s quite-a-bit I still don’t know.
Notes: ideas taken from Revelation 13:1 & 11, 12-18, 16:13-14. False Prophet/Beast #2 16:13, 19:20, 20:10. [Added note: beast in Daniel also refers to non-animals.]