STUDY IN REVELATION 23
The Attack Through The Second Beast: A False Prophet
Revelation 13: 11-18
There is, in every human a desire to be committed to something. Every person has something that motivates them, something that interests them. There is something in every person’s life that they love to talk about. It could be a job, family, school, girlfriend/boyfriend, car etc.
The point is that man has to have something to which he can devote himself to and give his loyalty.
This becomes a problem, when you think about having a world government.
There are approximately 7,000 different languages spoken in the world today. And these are just the ones we know about.
The question is; how do you get everyone on earth to be loyal to one government?
What do you do about those who have never known anything other than tribal law?
This is the problem the antichrist and his government will be facing in the end time.
The thing to remember is the chaotic mess in the end time that will sweep across the entire planet. There will be natural disasters such as, earthquakes, the violent storms, famine sweeping across the land like never before. Add to this the fact that every nation will be dealing with wars or rumors of coming war. There will be violent overthrowing of governments and terrorist actions and the world become more and more evil.
People will be desperate for answers, for someone who can make sense of it all and lead them out of the mess they have found themselves in.
There will be such a man in the end who will seem to be the one. The antichrist will be the one who rises up to lead the people and give them hope BUT he will not be alone.
The antichrist will get help from the second beast, who will be responsible for unifying the people.
The second beast will understand the spirit of man and that man needs or desire something to be devoted to.
The second beast will be the worldwide spokesman for the antichrist. He will be the false prophet.
V. 11: The origin and description of the second beast.
1. According to this verse the second beast comes from Washington outer space out of the earth.
This doesn’t mean that he will rise up from the depths of the earth. It means that he will rise up from the common people of the earth. He will rise up out of the masses and he will hold a high office in world government.
The second beast will be the second most powerful person in the world. He will answer only to the antichrist.
2. The second beast has 2 horns like a raging bull mountain goat gentle little lamb.
Do you know anyone who is afraid of a little lamb?
There is nothing about the second beast that seems wild or evil. The lamb symbolizes three things.
a. The second beast will appear innocent and harmless. This will cause many to be attracted to him, since nothing in his appearance will be frightening.
b. The second beast will appear to be a follower of God. He will be a religious leader. People will believe that he can do no wrong.
BUT
c. The second beast will speak as a dragon. His voice will betray him. What he says will reveal his true identity as a false prophet instead of a prophet of God.
1. He will not be teaching God’s word but the word of the antichrist and the state.
2. He will not be speaking truth but lies.
3. He will not be promoting Jesus but will be promoting the policies of the antichrist.
The second beast will be the one who motivates the people of the earth to give their allegiance to the antichrist.
He will be the one who comes up with the plan that will unify the world
It is believed that the second beast will be a religious leader, since he is called a false prophet.
Scripture: Rev. 16: 13 * 19: 20 * 20: 10
Remember that he will be the second in command. He will hold a position, much like our vice president. He will be given his place of authority by the antichrist: he will have a religious background. He is a prophet, a priest, or a minister who professes to one thing when he is really a follower of the antichrist.
Scripture: Ro. 16: 18 * 2Cor. 11: 13-15 * 2Tim. 3: 1-2, 5, 13 * 2Jn. 7
v. 12 The objective of the second beast or as we will call him “false prophet.”
What is this guy up to? He will be busy securing the devotion of the world to the antichrist and his government. Let’s look at a couple of things.
1. The false prophet will be the second in command and will speak with the authority of the antichrist.
2. He will be a prominent religious leader. The antichrist will notice him and persuade him to use his position and influence for the state. This will mean that the false prophet…
a. Will hold some high position in religion.
b. Will most likely be known by many in the world.
c. Will be an effective speaker, who will be able to communicate with people; face to face, or in any kind of group style of meeting.
d. will, most likely, use television and radio to reach many of the people. He will use whatever sound or visual media available in that day. This would be about the only way for him to mobilize the entire world at once.
Vs. 13-17 The means by which the false prophet will secure the devotion of the people of the earth.
1. The false prophet will use miraculous signs, such as, fire to draw the people in to his trap.
How does the false prophet get the people of the world to believe that God is okay with this new type of worship?
God tells us that He is a jealous God and will not have any other god come before Him, so how will the false prophet convince people that God won’t mind an occasional act of worship or an expression of devotion to the state and its leader?
The only way will be to convince the people that he is speaking on the authority of [G]OD notice the big G God. He will need to convince the people that he has permission from God to set up this new style of worship.
The false prophet will convince people that he is real by calling fire down from heaven.
Where else have we seen this? Rev. 11: 3-13
Who else had the power to call fire down from heaven? The two witnesses. The miracle of calling fire down from heaven will be nothing more than a copy of what was done by the two witnesses.
I’m not sure what the fire is but I am sure that this will be enough to convince many to follow the leadership of the false prophet.
Remember that the only original idea the devil has ever had was to rebel against God. Everything he has done or will do is a mere copy of what God does.
The message of the devil has always been the same. “Forget the cross, forget the compassion. Forgiven from what? You haven’t done anything to be sorry for. What’s wrong with living for you? Be happy, live life to the fullest. Take care of number one.” And right to the bitter end he will be calling for those who will listen to rebel with him.
The devil will empower the false prophet to duplicate the miracle of fire and use that to convince many that he can be trusted.
Here’s a “what if” question for you. What if you were standing in a crowd, listening to the President of the United States giving a speech and All of a sudden you hear a loud pop and the president falls down. A spokesperson for the White House says the President is dead. But the Vice President, who claims to be a devoted believer, walks over to the President and raises him up and shouts “it’s a miracle!!”
What would you do? Would you believe? I am afraid that most of those watching would…many would pledge their allegiance to antichrist.
What about our own pledge? “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands: one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
Many have and are fighting to take God out of our pledge.
Criticism of the Pledge of Allegiance
Government requiring or promoting of the Pledge has drawn criticism and legal challenges on several grounds. Prominent legal challenges have been based on the contention that state-sponsored requiring or promoting of the Pledge is unconstitutional because it violates one or both of the religion clauses in the First Amendment.
Central to challenges in the 1940s were Jehovah’s Witnesses, a group whose beliefs preclude swearing loyalty to any power lesser than God, and who objected to policies in public schools requiring students to recite the Pledge. They objected on the grounds that their rights to freedom of religion as guaranteed by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment were being violated by such requirements.
Other objections have been raised since the addition of the phrase "under God" to the Pledge in 1954. Many critics contend that a government requiring or promoting this phrase violates protections against establishment of religion guaranteed in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
In a 2002 case brought by atheist Michael Newdow, whose daughter was being taught the Pledge in school, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the phrase "under God" an unconstitutional endorsement of monotheism when the Pledge was promoted in public school. In 2004, the Supreme Court heard Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, an appeal of the ruling, and rejected Newdow’s claim on the grounds that he was not the custodial parent, and therefore lacked standing, thus avoiding ruling on the merits of whether the phrase was constitutional in a school-sponsored recitation. On January 3, 2005, a new suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on behalf of three unnamed families. On September 14, 2005, District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled in their favor. Citing the precedent of the 2002 ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Karlton issued an Order stating that, upon proper motion, he will enjoin the school district defendants from continuing their practices of leading children in pledging allegiance to "one Nation under God".[5]
In 2004, linguist Geoffrey Nunberg criticized the addition of "under God" for a different reason. The original supporters of the addition thought that they were simply quoting Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. However, Nunberg said that to Lincoln and his contemporaries, "under God" meant "God willing" and they would have found its use in the Pledge of Allegiance grammatically incorrect.[6][7]
A bill — H.R. 2389 — was introduced in Congress in 2005 which, if enacted into law, would have stripped the Supreme Court and most federal courts of the power to consider any legal challenges to government requiring or promoting of the Pledge of Allegiance. H.R. 2389 was passed by the House of Representatives in July 2006, but failed due to the Senate’s not taking it up. Even if a similar bill is enacted, its practical effect may not be clear: proponents of the bill have argued that it is a valid exercise of Congress’s power to regulate the jurisdiction of the federal courts under Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution, but opponents question whether Congress has the authority to prevent the Supreme Court from hearing claims based on the Bill of Rights (since amendments postdate the original text of the Constitution and may thus implicitly limit the scope of Article III, Section 2).
In 2006, in the Florida case Frazier v. Alexandre, No. 05-81142 (S.D. Fla. May 31, 2006) "A federal district court in Florida has ruled that a 1942 state law requiring students to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.[8][9]
Notes
1.^ Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 4, US Code, http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/04C1.txt [1]
2.^ Hodak, George (June 2008), "Flag Day Reversal". ABA Journal. 94 (6):72
3.^ Leepson, Marc (2006). Flag: An American Biography. Macmillan. pp. 171. ISBN 0312323093.
4.^ "Knights of Columbus Fact Sheet". Knights of Columbus Fact Sheet. Knights of Columbus (2007-11-15). Retrieved on 2008-10-15.
5.^ [2]
6.^ Geoffrey Nunberg (2004-06-20). "I Might Have Guessed Parson Weems Would Figure In There Somewhere". Language Log. Retrieved on 2007-05-03.
7.^ Geoffrey Nunberg (2004-06-20). ""(Next) Under God," Phrasal Idiom". Language Log. Retrieved on 2007-05-03.
8.^ [3]
9.^ [4]
I like those four words “one nation, UNDER GOD” Without God there is no America. I wonder if some day our pledge will read “one nation, without God” Believe it or not, that is where the world wants to go.
2. The false prophet will use universal religion to secure the loyalty of the people.
There have always been leaders who believe the people should give their first allegiance to the government.
Most of these are on a much smaller scale than what the world will see during the tribulation.
I remember when I was in Africa, seeing the picture of the president of Kenya hanging everywhere. He did not have a problem with Christianity as long as his picture was on display in the churches.
The old Roman government was the closest to a world religion as we have ever known and I believe that this “end time” government will have many of the traits and characteristics of the old Roman Empire.
One thing that will be very instrumental in building a world religion and the worship of the antichrist will be the condition of the world.
There will be so much political unrest as well as economic crises that the people of the world will look to any man who can solve these terrible problems. The antichrist will stand as the only man who can bring order to the chaos the plagues the world.
To sum up this point let’s look at a couple of things.
a. The universal worship will center on an image of the beast. The false prophet will convince the people to make an image of the beast.
Scripture: Mt. 24: 15 * 2Th. 2: 3-4
The Temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt during the end time and the false prophet will convince the people of the world that:
> The world has been blessed with peace and economic recovery, courtesy of the antichrist.
> The antichrist is the one who is solving all the problems and bringing the utopia that world is experiencing.
> Every one needs to show their support and loyalty to the state that the antichrist has built. This will be the only way to keep the movement going and maintain peace in the world.
> The best way to show loyalty will be to build an image, in honor of the antichrist. Most likely there will be some sort of certificate that will be signed by the people, pledging their allegiance to the state or to the antichrist.
The false prophet will be responsible for setting up the image to the antichrist and he will set it up in the very temple of God. He will be the “worship leader” the one responsible for leading the people to worship the image of the beast, the antichrist.
Scripture: Rev. 13: 15 * Rev. 14: 9-11 * Rev. 15: 2 * Rev. 16:2 Rev. 19: 20 * Rev. 20: 4
b. According to verse 15, this universal worship will be centered on some supernatural power that causes the image to speak.
We hear of many people who claim to be able to perform miracles as well as places where miracles often happen. I have never heard of a statue that could speak, except of course in the movies.
Remember that in the end time there will be much deception and that Satan is the prince of counterfeit.
Scripture: 2Th. 2: 10-11
3. The false prophet will use religious persecution to secure loyalty to and worship of the antichrist and the state.
Here’s a trick question:
Can I be 100% loyal to my government? YES NO!!! I’m waiting on the preacher’s answer.
No believer can profess loyalty to a person or government above God; HOWEVER we can be 100% loyal to our nation, AS LONG AS THAT LOYALTY IS NOT PLACED ABOVE OUR LOYALTY TO GOD.
I believe that during this time there will be persecution of all those who hold strong religious belief. Of course we know that the Jews will be heavily persecuted during this time, but how about those devout Moslems, Hindus and other religious people who refuse to let go of their belief…the persecution won’t be reserved for just Christians & Jews…
Scripture: Rev. 7: 9, 13-14 * Rev. 15: 2-3 * Rev. 20: 4
**Do not hear me say that I believe that all religions will go to heaven. The ONLY way to God is through the blood and over the cross of Jesus Christ.
But I believe that no matter what religion you are, you will be persecuted in the end time if you do not bow down to the image and to the state.
4. The false prophet will use economic control to secure the loyalty to the antichrist. There is not a lot to be read into this scripture. It’s made very plain that there will be some sort of mark given to those who surrender to the antichrist.
The truth of the matter is if you want to eat, drink and be merry you will need the mark. There will be no purchase made without your mark. The person who refuses the mark will either be killed or just simply left starve or be at the mercy of the environment as they flee to the wilderness.
But there is a promise to those who give in and receive the mark. Rev. 14: 9-11 * 16: 2 * 20: 4
v. 18 The number of the beast or antichrist is 666.
What does this number mean? I have read a ton of opinions, while researching this verse and have concluded that all of them are mans attempt to answer an unanswerable question.
If God wanted us to know who this man is He would have made it plain. One thing we do know is that the number seven, in scripture represents perfection and this verse says that the number 666 is the number of A MAN. Man falls short of God and is incomplete therefore he is given the number 6.
Whatever the number sequence really means, one thing is certain:
1. The beast is not God, he is a mere man.
2. His days are numbered. Just like every other human who ever lived, this “super human” will die and he will give account before the God he mocked.
I leave you with this thought: I quote from “The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible”
“We must never forget that all men--no matter how great they may be nor how much they may do for us--will die. And they will face the judgment of God. This will be true of the most powerful of all leaders, the antichrist of the end time. How critical it is for every man to be prepared to stand up for Christ when the end comes.”
