In Chapter 12 we met the dragon, who now calls not just one associate but two — which forms a kind of ‘unholy trinity’. Together, these three are a counterfeit of God’s Kingdom, and in forms that echo Daniel 7, create a Roman parody of the true and living God. The beasts’ power and deception call the earth to worship them, but the ones ‘marked’ by Christ will not be marked by the beast.
