Ten horns: John’s description of this beast tells us first of all that this beast represents a great political power. That is true in the first place because this beast has ten horns, with ten crowns dangling off of those ten horns. Horns in the Scriptures are symbols of great power. We see that, for example, in Deuteronomy 33:17, where Moses is blessing the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. He says: As the firstborn of his ox, majesty is his, and his horns are the horns of the wild ox; with them he will push the peoples, all at once, to the ends of the earth. Ephraim and Manasseh were going to be powerful like the horn of an ox, and they would push nations out of their way. A horn is a symbol of power.

Ten crowns: Now add to this that these horns have crowns dangling from them. That describes for us precisely what kind of power this beast represents. He holds royal power; that is, political power. Crowns are the symbols of kingly rule. There are ten crowns upon ten horns. As you may know, ten is the number of completeness in Scripture (i.e. Ten Commandments, because ten indicates that the Law of those commandments is the full, complete Law of Jehovah God). Here, when you put it together, the point is that the Antichrist kingdom will be a political kingdom with complete, full political earthly power. This kingdom will control all aspects, therefore, of governmental power. It will completely control the power to make laws. It will have the complete power to enforce those laws upon the earth with the military might that it has and with the police force that it has in its employ. It will have the power of the judiciary (the power to judge men) to determine which men are acting in conformity with the laws of the anti-Christian kingdom and which men are not it. It will decide the punishment of those who will not conform to its agenda. All aspects of earthly power, political power, from whatever angle you look at it, will be under the control of this anti-Christian kingdom.¹

Cory Griess