The Roman Beast

Rev. 13:1-4 (ESV)
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. [2] And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. [3] One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. [4] And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?"
I think the best commentary I have found on Rev. 13 is Oscar Cullmann’s “the State in the Johanine Apocolypse. He obviously was not being paid by the word as it is brief, and yet powerful. The beast here described is the consolidation of the four beasts of Daniel Chapter seven, representing four kingdoms. But here, these four beasts have all become one beast, and this beast represents the Roman Empire, and then by extension all totalitarian states.
Perhaps it was living through one of the most evil totalitarian states mankind has ever seen that gave Oscar Cullmann such insight. Totalitarian states always look quite formidable, and are often hard to throw off. The people worship in fear. They ask “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” They are amazed and even impressed with its power, but secretly long for its destruction. And it isn’t always easy to fight these states.
Nazi Germany, was hard to put down, and to do so the allies had to, or at least they did, broker a deal with another manifestation of the beast, Stalin. As a kid I still remember today crossing Check Point Charlie into East Berlin. It was a bit much for a five year old to process thinking about a government that would shoot its citizens rather than let them cross a border. That followed up by a stay in Southern Africa, and I never could figure out why on vacation to Durban the black kids weren’t allowed to play with me on the beach. Cuba, a tiny little Island, and the U.S. has not been able to do anything about it. Iraq? Doing something about a totalitarian state can often lead to opening a quite undesirable can of worms. Iran, or those places controlled by the Taliban. I’m hard pressed to think of an Islamic country that isn’t a representation of this beast, that doesn’t overstep its authority. When people are killed for believing in Christ or some other religion, the state has overstepped its authority. And don’t give me any line about the people not caring or wanting it that way, the one person shot for apostasy certainly had the right to apostasy, or we have lost all bearing in the United States. The majority of the people may not care about freedom of religion, but that is really aside from the whole point. In some things the majority simply can’t rule. Sometimes the majority is just as much a tyranny as a single dictator. Either human’s have rights or they don’t.