What Is the Seven-Headed Wild Beast of Revelation Chapter 13?

The wild beast with seven heads introduced at Revelation 13:1 represents the worldwide political system.

• It ascends “out of the sea,” that is, from the turbulent masses of mankind that are the source of human governments.​—Revelation 13:1; Isaiah 17:12, 13.

“Ten horns and seven heads”

Certain numbers are used symbolically in the Bible. For example, ten and seven represent completeness. The key to understanding the specific meaning of the “ten horns and seven heads” of the beast of Revelation chapter 13 is an “image of the wild beast” identified later in Revelation​—a bright-red beast that has seven heads and ten horns. (Revelation 13:​1, 14, 15; 17:3) The Bible says that the seven heads of this red beast mean “seven kings,” or governments.​—Revelation 17:​9, 10.

Likewise, the seven heads of the beast of Revelation 13:1 represent seven governments: the primary political powers that have dominated through history and have taken the lead in oppressing God’s people​—Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and Anglo-America. If we conclude that the ten horns represent all sovereign states, small and large, then the diadem, or crown, on each horn shows that each nation rules concurrently with the primary political power of the time.

According to the last book in the Bible, 666 is the number, or name, of the wild beast with seven heads and ten horns that comes out of the sea. (Revelation 13:​1, 17, 18) This beast is a symbol of the worldwide political system, which rules over “every tribe and people and tongue and nation.” (Revelation 13:7) The name 666 identifies the political system as a gross failure in God’s sight. How?