In Revelation 12, Satan was unveiled as the force of evil in our world, the phantom menace behind human history who wages war against God’s people. In Revelation 13, the dragon calls forth two legendary creatures, Leviathan from the sea (13:1) and Behemoth from the earth (13:11), as its agents of suffering and sin. According to Jewish tradition, these beasts were created on the fifth day, and their separation between the sea and the land was symbolic of God’s establishing order to the primordial chaos (Gen. 1:21; Job 40:15–19; 41:1–2; 4 Ezra 6:49–52). Here, however, we have a sinister reversal, as the dragon summons both creatures from their domains to unleash chaos onto the created world.

The beast from the sea clearly resembles the dragon and likewise has seven heads and ten horns, but…