Revelation 13

13 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems upon its horns and a blasphemous name upon its heads. 2And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. 3One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth followed the beast with wonder. 4Men worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?" 5And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months; 6it opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation, 8and all who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain. 9If any one has an ear, let him hear: 10If any one is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if any one slays with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

For this chapter, I defer to Scott Hahn's descriptions of the beasts and the Mark of the Beast, and will add my own comments only sparingly.

THE FIRST BEAST
..Unsuccessful in his assaults on the woman and her son, the dragon returns to attack her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. The dragon summons his own seed, two dreadful beasts. Oddly enough, amid all the hopeful and awe-inspiring images of the Apocalypse, these hideous monsters seem to spark the most interest. Moviemakers and televangelists dwell longer, by far, on 666 than on the glassy sea or the Lion of Judah.
..I feel an urgency to impress upon you the reality of the beasts. They are symbols, but they're not just symbols. They are real spiritual beings, members of the satanic "lowerarchy," demonic persons who have controlled and corrupted the political destiny of nations. John describes two ugly beasts. But I believe the beasts he saw were much more horrible than his description.
..In much of Revelation--but especially chapters 4 and 5--John describes the realities behind the Mass. Now, he does the same with sin and evil. Just as our actions in the liturgy are united with unseen heavenly things, so are our sinful deeds attached to infernal wickedness. In the Mass, what does God want to make us? A kingdom of priests who reign through their sacrificial offerings. On the other hand, what does Satan want to accomplish through the beasts? He wants to subvert God's plan by corrupting both kingdom and priesthood. Thus, John shows us, first, the demon that corrupts government authority, the state. Next, he reveals the demon of corrupt religious authority.
..First beasts first: from the sea arises a hideous seven-headed, ten-horned monster, a terrifying combination of leopard, lion, and bear. The horns symbolise power; the diadems (or crowns), kingship. Both its power and its kingship it receives from the dragon. We would err, however, if we identified this beast with monarchy in general. No, the beast represents corrupt political authority of any sort.
..It's tempting, too, to identify the beast exclusively with Rome, or with the Herodian dynasty that Rome maintained in the Holy Land. Certainly the Rome of John's day typified the sort of government represented by the beast. But the beast itself does not allow for such a simple identification. It's actually a combination of all four of the beasts from a vision of the Old Testament prophet Daniel (see Dan 7). I follow the Church Fathers, who saw Daniel's beasts pointing to four gentile empires: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome--all of whom persecuted God's people before the Messiah's coming.
..Revelation's seven-headed beast, then, stands for all corrupted political power. For it's a human impulse to look upon the power of the state as the greatest power on earth and say, like the people in the Apocalypse, "Who can fight against it?" Out of fear for this power--or desire for a piece of the action--people constantly compromise themselves and worship the dragon and the beast. History's most blatant example of a human institution usurping God's prerogatives is Rome and its Caesars. They literally demanded the worship that belongs to God alone. And they made war on the saints, instigating bloody persecutions of those who would not worship the emperor.
..Again, however, I must emphasize that the beast is not only Rome, or Rome's puppet, the Herodians. The beast refers also to any corrupt government, any state that puts itself above God's covenant order. More than that, the beast represents the corrupting spiritual force behind these institutions. (The Lamb's Supper, pp. 80-82.)

Before we move on, I just wanted to briefly comment on verse 8. All the world will worship this first beast, except those who are written in the Lamb's book of Life. According to the RSV used here, as well as the New Jerusalem Bible that I use, tell us that those whose names are in the Sacrificial Lamb's book of life, have been recorded since before the foundation of the world, emphasising the soveriegn election of God, who has predestined them to grace. However, other translations, such as the King James Version and the Douay-Rheims, read "And all that dwell upon the earth adored him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb which was slain from the beginning of the world" (D-R), emphasising the eternal sacrifice of the Lamb (from heaven's perspective). This is also the wording that St. Jerome used in the Latin Vulgate, and the way that the words themselves are ordered in the original Greek. As such, we have a double truth here: God has predestined many to receive His Grace, and those who persevere in that have no need to fear the Beast (verse 10). Second, Christ's sacrifice is eternal, extending before the past began and beyond the end of time. This is why John portrays Him throughout Revelation as the Slain Lamb. And this is how, in the Eucharist, we are participating in that selfsame sacrifice on the Cross, represented to us in the Mass!

11Then I saw another beast which rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. 12It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. 13It works great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of men; 14and by the signs which it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on earth, bidding them make an image for the beast which was wounded by the sword and yet lived; 15and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast should even speak, and to cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. 16Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
18This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six.

Again, Scott Hahn writes about the Second Beast:

THE SECOND BEAST
..This beast comes from the earth and has horns like a lamb. The lamb imagery is jarring, as we've come by now to associate it with sacred things. John's use of it, I believe, is intentional, for I believe that this beast is meant to suggest the corrupted priesthood in first-century Jerusalem.
..The initial clue is that this beast comes out of "the earth," which in the original Greek could also mean "the land" or "the country," as opposed to "the sea," which brings forth the gentile beasts (see Dan 7). Further, John was likely bearing witness to the ultimate compromise of priestly authority, which had occurred only a few years before. In a dramatic historical moment, religious authority had given its allegiance to corrupt government authority instead of God. Jesus, the Lamb of God, High King and High Priest, stood before Pontius Pilate and the chief priests of the Jews. Pilate said to the Jews, "Here is your king!" They cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!" Pilate replied, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar" (see Jn 19:15). Indeed, it was the high priest himself, Caiaphas, who first spoke of Jesus' sacrifice as politically "expedient" for the people (see Jn 11:47-52).
..So they rejected Christ and elevated Caesar. They rejected the Lamb and worshiped the beast. Certainly Caesar was the government's ruler and as such deserved respect (see Lk 20:21-25). But Caesar wanted more than respect. He demanded sacrificial worship, which the chief priests gave him when they handed over the Lamb of God.
..The beast resembles a lamb in some superficial features. We see that everything he does is in mimicry and mockery of the Lamb's saving work. The Lamb stands as though it had been slain; the beast receives a mortal wound, but recovers. God enthrones the Lamb; the dragon enthrones the beast. Those who worship the Lamb receive His sign on hteir foreheads (Rev 7:2-4); those who worship the beast wear the mark of the beast.
..Which brings us to the difficult question: What is the mark of the beast? John tells us that it is the name of the beast, or the number of its name. What is that? John answers in a riddle: "This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six" (Rev 13:18).
..One one level, the number may represent the Roman Emperor Nero, whose name transliterated into Hebrew indeed has the value 666. Yet there are many other, or additional, possibilities. Consider that 666 was the number of gold talents King Solomon required from the nations yearly (see 1 Kgs 10). Consider also that Solomon was the first priest-king since Melchizedek (see Ps 110). Moreover, John says that discerning the identity of the beast "calls for wisdom," which some interpreters have seen as another reference to Solomon, who was renowned for his wisdom.
..Finally, 666 can be interpreted as a degredation of the number seven, which, in Israel's tradition, represented perfection, holiness, and the covenant. The seventh day, for example, was declared holy by God and set aside for rest and worship. Work was done in six days; it was sanctified, however, in the sacrificial worship represented by the seventh day. The number "666," then, represents a man stalled in the sixth day, serving the beast who concerns himself with buying and selling (see Rev 13:17) without rest for worship. Though work is holy, it becomes evil when man refuses to offer it to God.
..Yet we should be clear about something. This interpretation should not lead any Christian to justify anti-Semitism. The Book of Revelation overwhelmingly demonstrates the dignity of Israel--its Temple, its prophets, its covenants. The Apocalypse should rather lead us to a greater appreciation for our heritage in Israel--and to a sober consideration of our own accountability before God. How well are we living according to our covenant with God? How faithful are we to our priesthood? The book stands as a warning to all of us.
..The beastly message is this: we are fighting spiritual forces: immense depraved, malevolent forces. If we had to fight them alone, we'd be trounced. But here's good news: there is a way we can hope to overcome. The solution has to match the problem, spiritual force for spiritual force, immense beauty for immense ugliness, holiness for depravity, love for malevolence. The solution is the Mass, when heaven touches down to save an earth under siege. (The Lamb's Supper, pp. 82-85)

Amen!

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