Every person must have something that motivates them in life; something that causes you to get up in the morning—something that excites you. That may be a job, family, school, sport, girlfriend, car, house, land, money, or power. A person has to have something to drive them.
The problem that the antichrist will face in the end time will be that of trying to get everyone motivated to be loyal to one world government. But last time we were reminded that the world at that time will be in utter chaos—not only with the intensified violence and evil on earth, but also the natural disasters. People will be looking for something or someone to help them.
There will be such a person—the beast, the antichrist. Tonight we will see that the antichrist is going to have help. There is a second beast, a beast that is going to help the antichrist find that unifying element to hold the loyalty of the people. So this second beast will become the worldwide spokesperson and propaganda chief for the antichrist.
READ v. 11. We see the origin of this second beast. He comes out of the earth. This means that he comes out from among the common people of the earth. He will be the second most powerful man in the government of the last days.
He appears to be a lamb because he has two horns like a little lamb. No person is ever afraid of a little lamb. This little lamb symbolizes at least three things:
1. The beast will appear innocent and harmless. There will be nothing about the appearance of this beast that will frighten anyone.
2. The beast will appear to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will be a religious leader. He will appear to represent Jesus Christ and peace and love and joy. People will think that he can do no wrong.
3. This beast will speak like a dragon. His voice is going to betray him. What he has to say will reveal that he is not a prophet of God, but instead a false prophet.
- That means he won’t be teaching God’s Word, but the word of the antichrist.
- He won’t be speaking the truth.
- He won’t be the spokesperson for God.
- He won’t be promoting the Lord Jesus Christ. He will support the policies of the antichrist.
This second beast will be the motivator of the masses for the antichrist. We know he will be a religious leader because in the passages later on (chapters 16:30, 19:20, 20:10) he is called the false prophet whenever he is mentioned. His origin will be that he comes from religion, from Christianity itself. He will be a prophet, a priest, a minister who professes to be a follower and teacher of the Lord Jesus Christ. Read v. 12.
His objective is to secure the devotion, the loyalty, and the allegiance of the world to the antichrist and his government. There are two things that we should note here:
1. This second beast will exercise all the power of the antichrist. The antichrist will give him the right to speak and act for him. He will be the chief executive officer of the antichrist.
2. Remember though, this beast is a prophet, a prominent religious leader. He comes from the root of Christianity and represents the Lamb of God. But the antichrist entices him to use his religious position and influence for the state.
A minister should never use his position to persuade anyone toward one political decision or another. Yet, in the end days, this second beast will do just that.
Read v. 13-17. Here we see the means of securing the loyalty and devotion of the people of the earth. He will use four things to do this:
1. He will deceive people with great miraculous signs, especially with fire. The problem that the false prophet will face is how to convince the masses of the world that God will understand their allegiance to the state? Really, there will only be one way. To do that, he has to prove that he is truly of God. He has to prove that God has approved of him preparing these masses for a new worship. How does he do that? By miraculous signs. The miracle of being able to call down fire from heaven. The devil will empower the false prophet to be able to do that. The people will see the miracle and be convinced that he is a true prophet
Just what the miracle involves is never said, but whatever it is will be awe-inspiring. At that point, whatever he suggests must be acceptable to God. Or so the people will think. To sum it up, the false prophet will prove that he and his declarations are of God by performing these miracles. So this is one way he will be able to persuade the world’s masses.
2. A second way is that the false prophet will use universal religion to secure the loyalty of the people. We have to admit that this worship of the state and its leaders is not such a far-fetched idea. In every generation there are dictators and leaders of government who insist upon the first loyalty and allegiance of the people.
The old Roman Empire instituted the worship of the state and emperor as the unifying principle to hold the people together. The leaders of the end time will know exactly what Rome did. We talked last time about the government of the end time will be a revival of the old Roman government. But more than all this it will be the peace and economic recovery that the antichrist will bring to earth. The antichrist will seem like God’s answer to their prayers.
The antichrist arises from a small nation in the east. He conquers three nations and then seven other nations willingly come under his rule. He basically will be running the world. And with everything going so well, it is no doubt that the people of the world will submit to him. The exact thing would happen right now if a world ruler came into existence. The masses would submit to his rule.
The antichrist will have to come up with some way to assure the continued support of the people. He does that through the second beast. To keep the support of the people, all the antichrist and the state need is for the people to show every so often that they do support and give their first loyalty to the state.
Knowing this background, we know how easily it can happen in the end time. With that in mind, note two things.
a. The universal image will center on an image to the beast. The false prophet will suggest that the people of the world make an image of the beast. READ Matt.24:15; 2 Thess. 2:3-4.
The temple of God is the temple of the Jews at Jerusalem. It is prophesied that it will be rebuilt in the end time. The false prophet will convince the people that the world is so blessed because of him. He will convince them that in order to keep these blessings going, everyone will have to honor and give their first loyalty and allegiance to the state. He will convince them that the best way to show one’s loyalty is to have an image of the state (the antichrist) in the great religious center of the world.
Then he will suggest that everyone will need to express their loyalty (worship) to the state before some state authority. Of course, that person would receive some certificate showing that he had expressed his first loyalty to the antichrist and his government.
b. But note a second thing, the universal worship will center on some supernatural power that will enable the beast to speak. Just as there are all kinds of shrines and places where miracles are supposed to have happened today, there will be a spectacular miracle in the end time. Satan will cause a miracle to happen.
Some people, worshipping in the shrine built to the antichrist, will hear the image speak. God will allow the world to be deceived as part of the judgment for their ungodliness.
3. The third thing that the antichrist will do to secure the loyalty of the people is that he will use religious persecution. Very simply, anyone who does not worship the state and the beast or antichrist will be slaughtered.
We know that no believer can confess loyalty to a person or government above God. The true believer can be loyal to his government, 100% loyal, but he can’t put anything above God.
Therefore, the worst holocaust ever known to man will take place in the end time. True believers and all other people who have strong religious faith including Jews, Moslems, Hindus, and other, will be slaughtered in the holocaust of the antichrist.
4. The fourth way that the false prophet will use to secure the loyalty to the antichrist and the state is through economic controls. Scripture spells it out. There will be some mark placed upon the head or forearm of people to show that they are loyal to the state.
Food and supplies and other purchases—the whole economy—will be based upon this mark. A person must have the mark to buy anything. If he doesn’t, then he is a traitor to the state and antichrist. The person will have no choice, he either gives his first loyalty to the state or else be killed or starved to death or be forced to flee to the wilderness for safety and survival. Many believers will do the latter, and God will keep a remnant alive as a testimony to His name. READ v. 18.
Here is the infamous number that is more well-known in literature than any other number, 666. What does it mean? No one knows. Scripture doesn’t say what it means. All we know is that Scripture says the number is that of a man.
In Scripture the perfect number is seven. Therefore, since man’s number is six, that means that man is incomplete and short of God’s glory, short of God’s perfection. The beast is a mere man. His days are numbered. He will do what all other human leaders have done—die and pass on to face the eternal judgment of God.
We will stop here for tonight. But I close with this thought. 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 all 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.
