In Rev 12, the main participants are a pregnant woman, a red dragon, and the woman’s son. The dragon wanted to devour the woman’s child as soon as he was born, but her child was taken to God. The woman was divinely protected by God in the wilderness from the dragon for 1260 days. The action takes place in Heaven. After the son is taken to God, there was a war in heaven between the dragon and his angels, and Michael and his angels. The dragon, who is a sign for Satan, and his demons were defeated by Michael and his angels and were hurled down to earth. The dragon pursued the woman who gave birth to the son, and when he could not punish her, he decided to wage war against the rest of her offspring. The rest of her offspring refers to the people on earth that believed in Jesus. I think that the woman refers to Israel, the dragon to Satan, and the son to Jesus Christ. In Rev 13, the action takes place on earth. The main participants are the dragon, the beast out of the sea, and the beast out of earth. The dragon gave the beast out of the sea his power, throne, and great authority. The beast out the sea was “given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation” (Rev 13:7) by the dragon. The beast out of the sea blasphemes God, his angels, and his people, and wages war against God’s people to conquer them. The beast out of the earth made earth’s inhabitants worship the beast out of the sea, and performed great signs on behalf of the beast out of the sea. The beast out of the earth also forced all people to have a mark on their right hand or forehead in order to buy or sell anything. The shift of location and the introduction of new characters reveals that John has a very negative view of Rome and the Roman society. The dragon represents Satan, the beast out of the sea as Rome, and the beast out of the earth as false prophets. This symbolism shows that John believed that the Roman Empire had been given power and authority from the devil, which is definitely an extremely negative view of the Romans. The Romans had power over all the people of earth, and were persecuting God’s people, just like the beast out of the sea in Rev 13. This can possibly refer to Roman emperors, like Nero, persecuting the Christians. The beast out of the earth represents false prophets who deceived people into following the Roman Empire, and in turn the devil. This makes me believe that John believed the Roman Empire was evil, deceitful, and blasphemous if he compared it to the devil and anti-Christ. The shift in location reveals that the battle of good and evil has now come to earth. The devil, Rome, and the false prophets represent the forces of evil that are against God and his people. Although God’s people are being persecuted by the Roman Empire and Satan, John tells the people to have “patient endurance and faithfulness” (Rev 13:10) on the arrival of God to defeat Satan and his followers.