Read Revelation 13:1, 2. Where does the beast come from, and who gives the beast his authority?

 The first beast power of Revelation 13 receives his power, seat, and great authority from the dragon. Revelation 12:9 and Revelation 20:2 identify the dragon as Satan. Satan is a cunning foe and works through earthly powers. Revelation 12:3-5 says this “dragon” — the devil — attempted to destroy the “male Child” as soon as He was born. This “male Child” was later “caught up to God and His throne” (NKJV). This, of course, refers to Christ. Desiring to destroy the Christ child, Satan worked through Herod and imperial Rome. At the end of Jesus’ life, a Roman governor, Pilate, condemned Christ to die, a Roman executioner nailed Him to the cruel cross, a Roman soldier pierced Him with a spear, and Roman soldiers guarded His tomb. According to Revelation 13:2, the dragon, Satan, working through pagan Rome, would give the seat of its government to this emerging beast power.

 “Though primarily representing Satan, the dragon, in a secondary sense, represents the Roman Empire.... The power succeeding the Roman Empire, which received from the dragon ‘his power, and his seat, and great authority,’ is clearly papal Rome.” — The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 817. Historian A. C. Flick explains that “out of the ruins of political Rome, arose the great moral Empire in the ‘giant form’ of the Roman Church.” — A. C. Flick, The Rise of the Medieval Church (1900) p. 150 as quoted in The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, page 817.

 Read Revelation 13:3 and Revelation 14:4. What contrast do you see in these verses?

 In contrast to “all the world,” who follows the beast, God will have a people who will “follow the Lamb” instead. As always, it will be one side or the other, for Jesus or against Jesus. There will be then, as now, no middle ground, no neutral position. To not firmly commit to Jesus is, consciously or not, to commit to the other side.