A Great Persecuting Power (The Ten-Horned Beast of Revelation 13)
Early Christian Martyrs. "He shall ... wear out the saints of the Most High." Dan. 7:25.
1. What is the first symbol of Revelation 13?
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” Rev. 13:1.
Notes.—As already learned from studying the book of Daniel, a beast in prophecy represents some great earthly power or kingdom; a head, a governing power; horns, a number of kingdoms; crowned heads or crowned horns, political rulership; waters, “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” Rev. 17:15.
“The beasts of Daniel and John are empires. The ten-horned beast is the Roman power.... The head is the governing power of the body. The heads of this beast represent successive governments.”—“Romanism and the Reformation,” by H. Grattan Guinness, pages 144, 145.
2. How is this beast further described?