Resisting Trump with Revelation (21)
The Dragon and Two Beasts: The First Two Portents 2 (chs.12-13) The Sea Beast (13:1-10) Jesus continues his exposure of the deep dynamics at work in creation as the Dragon plants himself on the shore to continue his nefarious activities. [1] He summons a minion from the sea, a beast with “ten horns and seven heads” diadems on each horns and blasphemous names on the heads (13:1). He comes from the “sea” a haunt of demons and evil in Jewish thought. When Jesus describes the new heaven and new earth in Rev.21 he explicitly mentions that there was no sea (21:1). Evil has no foothold in the new creation! But here and now it does. The ten and seven horns and heads bedecked with crowns reflects earlier use of this imagery: ten horns – full and complete power; seven heads filled with blasphemy. It was leopard-like, with bear-like feet, and a lion’s mouth (13:2). These animal elements were a part of Daniel’s vision of successive empires (7:3-7). Jesus’ creates th...