Beasts
What or who do the two main beasts represent?
In Revelation, satan (sometimes described as a great, red dragon) is present at the beginning of Creation (12:3-5; see Framework 1) and it has two main creatures that do its bidding in the eschaton (or ‘last days’): the abyss beast and the earth beast. The beasts appear in 13:1-18 and what their visual appearance represents is recorded in 17:1-18. In the interpretation in this study, the eschaton begins when the golden censer is thrown to earth and the seven trumpets are ready to sound (8:3-6; Framework 2). The beasts appear after the abyss opens; in Figure 3 (below) this is during the fifth and sixth trumpets. The emptying of the seven bowls full of the wrath of God is imminent (16:1-21; Framework 3 and 4). It is the dragon and the beasts who gather together ‘the kings of the whole world (…) for battle on the great day of God the Almighty (…) at the place that in Hebrew is called (A)rmageddon’ when the sixth bowl empties (16:12-16). The common, evil purpose of the beast and the kings is to defeat the Lamb (Christ) and ruin Babylon, the great city and harlot (17:12-16). The battle is thwarted by the storm and earthquake which destroys Babylon when the seventh bowl empties (16:17-21). The evil forces re-group to make war when the Rider (Christ) and his armies appear (19:19) and they are defeated in the Great Battle (19:20). Both beasts are captured and thrown into the lake-of-fire (19:20), forever and ever (20:10). After the battle, the dragon/ satan is seized by the angel who holds the key to the abyss and thrown into the abyss for a thousand years (20:1-3). After release from the abyss, and thwarted in its plans for a Final Battle (20:7-9), satan is also condemned to the lake-of-fire forever and ever (20:10).
This section considers: the beasts’ visual appearances; the abyss beast and Babylon; the era of the beasts (automatons, statues and friezes); when and where satan’s beasts first appear. More details of the beasts’ first appearances are described in Framework 3C and their link with Babylon in Framework 4C.
1) The beasts’ visual appearances
Satan’s first beast rises onto the earth from the abyss/ sea (the abyss beast), probably from below-the-earth. It looks like a leopard with seven heads that are inscribed with blasphemous names, and ten crowned horns (13:1-2). Satan’s second beast rises through the earth (the earth beast) and it has ‘two horns like a lamb’ (on a single head, is implied) and it ‘spoke like a dragon’ (13:11). The master of the two beasts (satan/ the dragon) also has ‘seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads’ (12:3). The monstrous forms of the beasts, with the heads and horns, do not automatically signify monstrous natures – they mimic the form of Christ the slain Lamb in Revelation, who has seven horns and seven eyes (on a single head, is implied, 5:6). The horns may represent sovereignty and the seven horns of the slain Lamb indicate Christ’s complete, time-less authority as God’s Messiah (2:27, 11:15, 12:10-11). Satan and the beasts mimic the transfer of authority through their triumvirate because the abyss beast has the authority of the dragon/ satan – but only for ‘forty-two months’ (13:5-7) and in the time when the ten kings (the beast’s ten crowned horns) and the beast ‘receive authority’ it is for a short, limited period (‘one hour’, 17:12). The seven eyes of the Lamb in Revelation represent the ‘seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth’ (5:6) but there is no evil equivalent recorded in Revelation. The images of the dragon and the beasts (their heads, crowns and horns) illustrate evil imitating good and the smoke from the opening abyss (9:2) may be a parody of the smoke from the glory and power of God that filled the temple when it opened (15:8).
The earth beast is a false prophet, who works on behalf of the abyss beast (13:12-17, 19:20, see also 16:13, 20:10). It sets up a speaking image of the abyss beast (13:12-15) and it forces everyone to worship the image and to receive a ‘mark’ before they can buy or sell anything. The mark is the name of the abyss beast or its number, and the number of the beast is 666 (13:16-18). This most likely refers to a Roman Emperor, but which one is ambiguous because this became obscure as generations passed.
2) The abyss beast and Babylon – see also Framework 4C
The close association between satan’s beasts and Babylon (the great city and harlot; 14:8, 16:17-21, 17:1-18:24) is shown to John when one of the bowl angels describes what the main beast’s visual appearance represents (17:1-18). The ‘angel with great authority’ condemns Babylon for her corruption and sin (18:1-20) and a ‘mighty angel’ confirms that she will fall (18:21-24). The scarlet beast of 17:3 is almost certainly the abyss beast of 13:1-10 (both rise from the abyss, they are covered with blasphemous names and each has seven heads and ten horns). Babylon proudly proclaims: “I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.” (18:7b) and she is seated on the (scarlet) beast and on ‘many waters’ (17:1) – perhaps indicating her subjugation of both and the reason for the beasts’ hatred of Babylon (17:16). The ‘waters’ are ‘peoples and multitudes and nations and languages’ (17:15).
The explanation of what the scarlet/ abyss beast represents is given in terms of physical identity. Its heads are seven hills or mountains upon which Babylon sits (17:9), and they may represent the physical and social bedrock of Babylon (almost certainly corrupt Rome in John’s era). They also represent seven kings (17:10). From John’s point of view, five of the seven kings/ heads were in his past, one was alive and the seventh will be king for a short time (17:9-10). The beast’s ten horns represent ten future kings who will ‘receive authority’ to rule (together with the beast, 13:2) from the dragon/ satan for a short period (‘one hour’, 17:12). Their common evil purpose is to defeat the Lamb and ruin Babylon, in the eschaton (17:13-16). The ten future kings may be the ‘kings from the east’ (16:12) and/ or the ‘kings of the whole world’ (16:14), who gather at Armageddon (16:16) just before a storm and a severe earthquake destroys Babylon the city (16:17-21). The beast itself only has one incarnation on earth, when it becomes ‘an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction’ (17:11) in the time when the ten kings and the beast ‘receive authority’ (from the dragon/ satan) for a short period (‘one hour’, 17:12). ‘Belongs to the seven’ suggests that when this beast becomes a king, he may be like the Roman Caesars of John’s day. He may be an autocratic ruler who is hailed as a god, as were some Roman emperors. In other words, the abyss beast does not have a series of incarnations as kings on earth (it only has one body and it is only king once) and its heads and horns do not become physical kings, they are symbolic of the seven kings that satan manipulated in John’s era, and the ten kings that satan and his two beasts will manipulate in the eschaton.
The earth beast is not described in chapter 17, but it has one head (implied) and ‘two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon’ (13:11) and its role is as a false prophet who does the bidding of the abyss beast, who demands worship by everyone (13:15). The horns of the earth beast are not kings but they may represent the authority given to it by the abyss beast – perhaps false prophecy in two eras (John’s era and the eschaton).
Both 17:3 and 13:1 refer to the abyss/ scarlet beast’s ten horns, seven heads and the covering of blasphemous names, so the two eras are not separated into chapters 13 and 17.
3) The era of the beasts: automatons, statues and friezes
The seven and ten kings represented on the (scarlet) abyss beast and the two horns on the earth beast reflect events in John’s era as well as in the eschaton. The earth beast sets up a speaking image of the abyss beast, whose worship was compulsory (13:14-15), and this is characteristic of ‘living’ automaton in some temples and wealthy homes in John’s era. This suggests the abyss beast itself looks like a living, manipulating, leopard-like statue that is able to blaspheme and exercise authority (13:5) – and then it becomes the eighth king (17:11).
The Greco-Romano period is characterised by elaborately decorated temples, with statues and carved friezes representing the gods and mythical events, so it is possible that the visual appearances of the dragon (12:3) and both beasts are like the statues and friezes that tell the story of evil on earth. The heads and horns of the scarlet/ abyss beast tell a story about seven (and then ten) kings and seven hills and John would have been familiar with this form of illustration of past and future history. The earth beast is a false prophet but it has two horns, so the appearances of both beasts are reminders of temple friezes that illustrate two eras. The first era is that of the seven kings/ Caesars, i.e. John’s own time (the first century A.D.); the second is the era of the ten kings in the eschaton. It is in the second era that the beasts rise from the abyss or earth and they becomes the eighth king, who hates Christ the Lamb and the harlot Babylon (17:14-16), or the false prophet. ‘Behind’ the beasts’ are the manipulations by satan/ the dragon, who also has ‘seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads’ (12:3).
This ‘two era’ interpretation is compatible with ‘the present age’ and ‘the age to come’, which is embedded in the eschatology in the Gospels and was a common historical structure in John’s era. In Towards … 6 (Validation), it is suggested that Jesus’ recorded words in the Gospels (particularly Lk. 17, Lk. 21, Mt. 24, Mk. 13) indicate that the disciples and their era would experience trauma like ‘birth-pangs’ of the end of the age (Mt. 24:3-8, Mk. 13:3-8) and then there will be the ‘times of the gentiles’, in which Jerusalem will be downtrodden (Lk. 21:24). After this, when people are living ordinary lives, like in the times of Noah (Lk. 17:26-27, Mt. 24:37-39) or Lot (Lk. 17:28-33), then the cosmos will be shaken apart and the Son of Man will appear suddenly, in the cloud(s) with power and great glory (Lk. 21:25-28, Mt. 24:29-31, Mk. 13:24-27). Matthew adds: a trumpet will sound (Mt. 24:31). With hindsight and foresight, it is likely these words refer to two eras: the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and persecution of the faithful in John’s era, and the eschaton. In the interpretation of Revelation in this study, Jesus’ words applied to the devastation during the sixth seal (6:12-17; Framework 2) and they will apply to the blasphemies and corruption associated with the beasts and with Babylon in the eschaton (17:1-18:24; Framework 4). Between the two eras is the ‘times of the gentiles’ (Lk. 21:24), which may correspond to the ‘silence in heaven for about half an hour’ when the seventh seal was opened (8:1).
4) When and where do satan’s two beasts first appear? – see Framework 3C
The abyss opens when the fifth trumpet sounds (9:1-11) so it is likely that the abyss beast rises from below-the-earth at that time (13:1-11). In the proposed macrostructure, the two beasts only appear once, so 9:1-11 and 13:11 are different perceptions of the same event. In the proposed macrostructure, this event is recorded as time-parallel 2 in Figure 3. Time-parallels are like text parallels, but with a chronological component that links different perceptions of the same event across the different visionary cosmic spaces (see Towards … 1b). This is the beginning of the ‘first woe’ and scorpion-like locusts come out of the smoke and darkness to torture ‘only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads’ (9:4, see 7:3-8) and their agonies last for five months (9:5). Their king is the Angel of the Abyss (called ‘Destruction’ or ‘Destroyer’; 9:11), so the abyss beast is neither an angel nor a leader of angelic forces. The abyss beast is allowed to make war on the faithful and it has power over all humanity for a short time, because it has the authority of the dragon/ satan for ‘forty-two months’ (13:5-7).
The second beast follows the first one, probably during the time of the sixth trumpet (‘second woe’) when the four angels who were standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds (7:1), are released at the River Euphrates (9:14-15) – this assumes these four angels are the same ones who were bound and then released at the Euphrates. In the proposed macrostructure, this event is recorded as time-parallel 3 (Figure 3). In this second woe, an army of 200 million mounted troops appear on the physical-spiritual earth and a third of mankind is killed by the fire, smoke and sulphur emitted from the mouths of the troops and the injuries caused by their tails (9:15-19). Yet survivors neither repent of their evil ways nor stop worshipping idols (9:20-21). The speaking image of the abyss beast that the earth beast set up may illustrate the compulsory idol worship at the time (13:15). Earlier, it is suggested that this behaviour reflects practices in John’s era.
In the proposed macrostructure, there are two visionary earthly spaces (see Framework 1B.d): the biblical earth and the physical-spiritual earth. Satan’s two beasts appear on the biblical earth, which is so called because the events described within it reflect the biblical narrative. The beasts, for example, are a reminder of Daniel’s beasts (Dan. 7:1-8:27, Framework 3C.b). The biblical time-line (predominately chapters 12-14) follows a biblical version of earth’s history and it describes why events happen, i.e. satan and his two beasts are ‘behind’ or influence earthly activities and wars (see Framework 1B.d). Richard Bauckham describes this as the ‘Messianic War’ (Bauckham, 1993a: 94). The physical-spiritual story-line combines these two dimensions together, and the time-line describes what happens on a visionary approximation of the material earth.
Characters have different identities and roles within the different dimensions. For example, during the sixth trumpet/ second woe, John is told about the murder of the ‘two witnesses’ in the ‘great city (…) where also their Lord was crucified’, i.e. Jerusalem (10:1-11:6). The abyss beast kills the witnesses (11:7-10), but the earth beast/ false prophet does the abyss beast’s bidding so it is likely that the false prophet orchestrates the murders. The abyss beast may be recognisable on the physical-spiritual earth when it becomes an ‘eighth king’ (17:11) during the time of the seven bowls full of the wrath of God. The timescale between the second woe (sixth trumpet) and third woe (probably the bowls) is unknown – but the time of the beasts is short (13:5-7, 17:12). John describes events within intertwined physical-spiritual and biblical earthly dimensions that are chronologically consistent, as demonstrated in the proposed macrostructure, but the apocalyptic (i.e. revelatory) literary form means that how events will unfold on the material earth at the relevant time is unknown. When the seven thunders are unsealed, we may know more (10:4).
Page updated 23 July 2025