Revelation 13:1 & 2

1And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. 2And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bears, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. 

Notice we are brought back to the realization of who is telling the story- "I" saw- reminds us that John is receiving this vision from God.

Chapter 13 talks about what happens when Satan is thrown out of Heaven.  He is aware that time is short and that he needs to do the most damage he can in the time he has.  So, he enlist some assistance from his minions.  We will find the mention of two beast in chapter 13.  

Verse one talks of a beast rising out of the sea.  The sea here is the sea of Humanity.  We will find the proof of that in Daniel 7: "24As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones, and shall put down three kings." 

One theory of the horns and heads:
The 7 horns and the ten heads are the rulers and the emperors of Rome since the first emperor, Augustus:

1.  Tiberius

2.  Caligula

3.  Claudius

4.  Nero

5.  Vespasian

6. Titus

7.  Domitian

The 10 horns:  after the death of Nero, there was chaos.  There were 3 rulers for a short period of time: Galba, Otho, and Vitellius.

The scripture says the names on its heads are blasphemous.  The titles the emperors took are called divus or sebastos meaning divine.  On Nero's coins was actually written "The Saviour of the World".

 Later emperors took titles as dominos or kurios which means lord.

The 10 horns could also be symbolic of the 10 kingdoms which are not yet formed but, will be formed inside the Old Roman Empire.  See Dan.7:23-24

 Daniel's fourth beast was compared to this beast and found that it was the fourth kingdom upon the earth, the Roman Empire.  John's beast represents the revived Roman Empire which will embody all the characteristics of all four of the world empires.  

Lets look at the description:

John's Beast:                    Daniel's Fourth Beast:

Out of the sea                   Out of sea                                  (our of the sea of humanity-from the nations)

Leopard body                    Dreadful and terrible

feat of Bear                      Exceedingly strong

Mouth of Lion                   Great Iron Teeth and nails of brass

Note: The Book of Daniel also mentions "three wild beasts" prior to this one.  That is of the Lion (Bablyon) Dan 7:1-4, the Bear (Medo-Persia) Dan 7:5, and the Leopard (Greece)Dan 7:6.

Back to the beasts:

Both beasts have 10 horns.  In both situations, the 10 horns stand for the 10 kings.  We will see in chapter 17 that the Roman Empire will be divided into 10 separate kingdoms, each will have a Head or King.

More about this first beast in Revelation:

He will become the ruler of the territory of the 7 kingdoms.

The majority of the literature out there agrees that this beast will become the ruler of the 10 kingdoms that have not yet been formed.  

The beast is also a man, in the verse it refers to the beast as "his".

He will have power and authority given to him by the dragon.  So, Satan is giving this beast power.

We will find out what this beast is going to accomplish as we go on through Revelation...don't want to jump to far ahead. 

This is a great place to stop!!  

Next time we will discuss the Wounded head.