The papacy exercised control in matters political and religious, and over the consciences of men.

Gr. thronos, “throne.” The popes ascended the throne of the Caesars. The capital of the papal system was the same as that occupied by the Roman Empire at its height.

 Though primarily representing Satan, the dragon, in a secondary sense, represents the Roman Empire (see on ch. 12:3). The power succeeding the Roman Empire, which received from the dragon “his power, and his seat, and great authority,” is clearly papal Rome. “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 Mediaeval Church [1900], p. 150). This identification is confirmed in the specifications enumerated in the following verses.

Behind this activity was Satan, seeking to exterminate the church. When he found that his efforts to annihilate the followers of Christ through persecution proved unavailing, he altered his tactics and sought to lure the church away from Christ through the establishment of a vast counterfeit religious system. Instead of working directly through paganism the dragon now worked behind the facade of a professedly Christian organization, hoping thereby to disguise his identity.

 See on ch. 12:3.

 There is doubtless an allusion here to the symbolism of Dan. 7. Of the beasts seen by Daniel the first was like a lion, the second like a bear, the third like a leopard. The beast seen by John had physical characteristics drawn from all three. This doubtless denotes that the power represented by the beast of Revelation possessed characteristics prominent in the kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, and Greece. Some have noted that John alludes to these powers in the reverse order of their appearance in history, as he looks backward from his day.