In Revelation 13:1–10, the apostle John receives a vision of the anti-Christian kingdom in the form of a great and terrible beast who is slowly rising up out of the sea onto the land. John records a description of that beast as he sees it rising up out of the water and coming onto the land. He speaks of the heads of that beast first, naturally, because the first thing that John would see was those heads coming up above the water. John tells us that there were seven heads on this beast, with ten horns on those seven heads. He says that on each of the ten horns there was a crown. Ten horns; ten crowns. John sees, too, that there is on each of the heads a name written – a name of blasphemy.

As this beast rises and a bit more comes out of the water, John realizes that his body is the body of a leopard. And as it comes out even more and puts its two front legs upon the dry land, he sees that his feet, however, are not the feet of a leopard, but are rather the feet of a bear. [He has] bear claws for feet. Then John looks closer at those heads again and notices that the mouths of those heads are not the mouths of leopards either, but are actually the mouths of lions. A leopard body with a lion’s mouth and bear’s claws, and seven heads with ten crowns upon ten horns. A terrible and frightening beast to see rising out of the water!¹

Cory Griess