The Apostle John, standing upon the Sand of the Sea, beholds a Beast ascending out of the sea, even that beast he alluded to in Ch. 11:7, as the destroyer of the Witnesses. Like the Dragon, it had Seven Heads and Ten Horns; and its power, throne, and great authority, it acquired from the Dragon. Thus it divided the Habitable with the Dragon; so that the inhabitants thereof worship the Dragon and the Beast. Upon the Seven Heads he saw a Name of Blasphemy, to which was given a Mouth like a Lion, with which he gave utterance to the great things and blasphemies he conceived. He sees them in continuance forty and two months, in the course of which long period they make war upon the saints and at length overcome them.
After the ascending of this beast from the sea, John beholds another beast ascending out of the earth, having Two Horns and speaking as a Dragon. After his ascent, he sees this beast in contemporaneous existence with the other; and of like constitution with the wounded head of the Ten-Horned Beast. John also sees an Image of the Wounded Head, which the Two-Horned Beast caused to be set up; and to which all on the earth of every degree were subjected.
The Name of the Beast symbolically revealed.