Revelation 13:2: And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

John used symbolic images from Daniel chapter 7 to describe the composite power of the First Beast that rose from the sea in Revelation 13:1.¹ The image of the First Beast that represented the Roman Empire² in John's vision was the fourth dreadful beast from Daniel's vision.³ The Roman Empire rose to power after three previous empires had fallen,⁴ including the Greek empire in the image of a leopard,⁵ Medo-Persia in the image of a bear,⁶ and Babylon in the image of a lion.⁷ Rome's incredible power included the brute force and political genius it assimilated from all three prior empires.⁸ The composite power of the Roman Empire made it both dreadful and terrible, as recorded in Daniel 7:7.⁹

Satan (the Dragon)¹⁰ has been the ultimate source of power in every world kingdom since he was cast down on earth with a host of unembodied spirits at the time of the physical creation.¹¹ And yet, when the First Beast rose from the symbolic sea (i.e., the abyss or bottomless pit)¹² in Revelation 13:1,¹³ the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.¹⁴ This is a truly remarkable statement. The Dragon had power because wicked people worshiped him and every evil that he represented.¹⁵ The Dragon gave that power to the First Beast as well as his seat, which represents Satan's throne of king-like power.¹⁶ Satan also gave the First Beast his great authority, which the Dragon (Lucifer)¹⁷ usurped in the premortal existence before his fall in heaven.¹⁸

Recorded history identifies Cain as the only person on earth to whom Satan ever gave his power, seat, and great authority.¹⁹ This occurred when Cain killed his brother Abel and Cain made a covenant with Satan for Cain to become Master Mahan.²⁰ Satan also gave his power, seat, and great authority to the disembodied spirit of Cain²¹ when the image of the First Beast rose from the abyss in Revelation 13:1.²² Cain's disembodied spirit was empowered by God to leave the bottomless pit to become the head of Satan's world kingdom on earth no later than 70 AD.²³ Only Cain qualified himself for this position because he is perdition.²⁴ His disembodied spirit remained Master Mahan after his death,²⁵ and he will also be Master Mahan with ascendency over Satan after his resurrection.²⁶