Reading Revelation 13:1-4 (RR35)

Beast-monsters arise out of the sea for Daniel.  A beast-monster arises out of the sea for John.  And behind that monster - unmasked! unveiled! apocalypse! - is the true evil: the dragon.  The dragon uses the beast-monster for his purposes.  For Daniel these were the empires of the day.  Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece.  For John that empire was Rome.  And people worship Rome, the beast-monster, and its head, the emperor. And in so doing they worship the spiritual power behind the beast: the devil, the satan, the serpent, that old dragon.  John's apocalypse continues.