but alas had come back to life! This is perhaps what John is trying to allude to in his use of the Nero image. WORSHIP OF THE BEAST Given the apparent resurrection of the Beast it is no wonder that the people worship it, proclaiming in 13:4 -- "Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?" The people absolutise the power of the Beast, the Empire, asserting that no other power can come to defeat it -- they claim it is invincible. The statement "Who is like the Beast?" is an obvious allusion back to Exodus 15:11: "Who is like you, O LORD?" The Beast is only ever a parody of the true reality: The Beast has been resurrected, but this is a poor man's version of the Resurrection of the Lamb depicted in Revelation 5 The Beast is a parody of the God of Israel -- "Who is like you?" Revelation reveals that the people, by saying such magnificent things about the beast, by esteeming the Empire, are in fact worshipping the Dragon, or Satan (13:4), that horrible figure from Revelation 12 who attempted to kill the woman and her child. Indeed, what gives authority to the Beast, and indeed the source of his power, is in fact according to John the great source of evil himself! THE ACTIONS OF THE BEAST And so the Beast goes about doing what a Beast does: And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and