The first beast, we said last time, is a beast of great power. Well, the second beast represents power too, in its own right. Last time we noticed that the ten horns on the first beast revealed power, for horns in Scripture are a picture of power (we saw that from Deuteronomy 33:17). Well, this second beast coming up out of the earth also has horns – not ten horns now, but two horns. And this too indicates a certain amount of power – but this time not political power.

The first beast had ten crowns dangling on its ten horns, indicating the specific type of power that that beast had: A royal, political power. This second beast has no crowns off of its horns. Instead, the particular form of power that this beast has is indicated by the fact that these horns are horns on the head of a lamb. Revelation 13:11a: And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb. It is striking, because the lamb in sacred Scripture is a picture of Jesus. In this same chapter, in Revelation 13:8, the lamb is used to picture Jesus Christ: The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This second beast has a certain power from looking like Jesus.

However, the very next element in John's description of this beast makes it unmistakably clear that as much as this beast appears like Jesus and looks like Jesus, it is not Jesus, nor does it represent Him. We know that because John says that when this beast opens its mouths it speaks like a dragon. Revelation 13:11: And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. Christ does not speak like a dragon, neither does anyone who represents Him. The dragon, as we saw last time, is the devil himself. The power of this beast comes precisely from pretending to appear like Jesus, all the while speaking like the devil himself, in promotion of the devil himself.¹

Cory Griess