Today we return to Revelation 13, and this week we will finish the chapter. So far, we have identified the Beast From The Sea (13:1) as Antichrist, and to make a long story short, he will have the following qualities:
That the rise of Antichrist will be mercurial in speed, brutally strong and vicious in conquest, and will demand the attention of the world
That Antichrist will have the qualities of different kingdoms of antiquity, and will lead a ten nation confederation of countries that will rule the world and will be, most likely, of Roman, Grecian and Jewish descent
Antichrist will suffer a fatal blow by sword to the head, specifically to the right side of his head, putting out his right eye, withering an arm
Satan will have a demon possess the dead but healed body of Antichrist, while Antichrist's spirit will go to Hades upon death
This demon possession of Antichrist's body will be passed off as a miraculous resurrection meant to overshadow and replace the Resurrection of Jesus Christ in importance
The great mass of humanity will fall for the great lie, the great delusion of a fake resurrection, and will marvel and wonder at Antichrist and follow Him
Antichrist--and, Satan by default--will receive the worship and adoration of the world. The world, for the most part, has rejected the testimony of the Word of God, but will be duped by the message of Antichrist.
Antichrist will speak against Jesus Christ, say that he himself is God, and lead a vicious persecution against the people of God world wide.
This week, we will examine the "sidekick" of Antichrist, this Beast from out of the Earth: The False Prophet.
The Beast Out Of The Earth--The False Prophet
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. Rev 13:11-13
The word for beast in the original Greek is therion, denotes a wild, venomous or dangerous beast. It is the same word to describe Antichrist in verse 1 of this chapter. In short, both Antichrist and this "beast coming out of the earth" are dangerous, wild and venomous when compared to God and His people. As Antichrist will be against God, so will the beast mentioned here; and this beast will be wild, dangerous and venomous toward the people of the earth.
We also see that this beast is "out of the earth" while Antichrist comes "out of the sea". We identified Antichrist as being from the Mediterranean Sea area, and that he will most likely be of Roman and Greek heritage (possibly part Jewish as well). Some scholars feel that this beast will be Jewish as land is mentioned, but that is not certain; in fact, no one really knows for sure what his heritage will be. It is certain, however, that this "beast" is the False Prophet mentioned elsewhere in Revelation (16:13; 19:20; 20:10). The rising of the False Prophet will complete the "unholy trinity" that includes Satan and Antichrist.
He will have horns of a two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. The symbolism of the Lamb shows that this False Prophet will have a kind and lovable demeanor and will fool many people in the one world religion of that time into Antichrist worship. He will "lovingly" woo people into following Antichrist. However, he will be empowered by Satan as well as "the Dragon" (Rev 12) is a smooth talker as he himself can appear as "an angel of light" (2 Cor 11:14-15). He will also speak with great power, being a great orator like Antichrist.
The motive of the False Prophet will be for all the peoples of the world to worship Antichrist, and that will be his full time "ministry". He will point to the phony "miraculous healing" of Antichrist and may well even have had a hand in that bogus resurrection.
As we have discussed before, Satan can and does indeed counterfeit miracles. He will have been given authority by Antichrist for the False Prophet to do miracles in order to perform the "great delusion" from God that Paul wrote of in 2 Thessalonians 2. One of the miracles done by the Holy Spirit during the end times will have been when the two prophets from God shoot fire from their mouths to consume their enemies (11:1-6); the False Prophet's power to call down fire from heaven will make the thought of the "unholy trinity" of Satan, Antichrist and False Prophet seem to be plausible, mimicking Elijah as well (1 Kings 18:38)
This first part of the scripture regarding the False Prophet shows the first phase of "bringing people to Antichrist", a demonic evangelist that mimics in some ways, at least in the beginning, a twisted version of a Billy Graham type crusade.
Demonic Signs, Wonders and Miracles
And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.
He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. Revelation 13:14-15 (NKJV)
Now if you think for a moment, the people of earth at this point will be hungry for a powerful leader to solve the world's problems. The people of earth, for the most part, will have rejected Jesus' free offer of salvation; each person on earth seeks to worship something, and Antichrist will fit the bill in looking for both. God will comply with their rejection of love and salvation and allow them to be deluded (2 Thess 2:9-12).
The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 (NKJV)
The False Prophet will do signs and wonders that will "wow the crowd". I remember back in the 1980's when my wife and I visited my brother in western Wisconsin over the Fourth of July holiday. We went up on a hill above a huge earthen dam above the town and watched the fireworks and had to chuckle at the people when they said "Oooo! Ahhh!" in their Norwegianesque accent. We thought that the sounded like the Smurfs! The people of the earth will more than "Oooo" and "Ahhh" at the fire sent down from heaven and the other miracles; they will be ordered to build their own personal image of Antichrist and comply.
When I hear of the requirement of making images of Antichrist, I think of all the statues of Stalin that used to be prominent in every city in Russia. Stalin tried to destroy Christianity and the major religions calling Christianity "the opiate of the people", forbade Christian worship and installed communism, atheism and the teachings of evolution as their "religion". However, although Satan worked through Stalin and the Communist regime in Russia, Christianity never did actually die. Instead, a remnant remained and is flourishing today.
Now think for just a moment about the scene here. Disaster after disaster has occurred, from earthquake to meteor strikes to demonic locust/scorpion hordes coming out of the center of the earth and more. People will have been starved, will have suffered through wars yet--yet--will still reject Jesus Christ because of the hardness of their hearts. Just three of the "powers, signs, and lying wonders" will amaze and convince the vast majority of people to follow Antichrist; his pseudo-resurrection with the healing possibly done by the False Prophet; fire from the sky at the command of the False Prophet mimicking the Two Witnesses and Elijah and lastly, the erection of an image of Antichrist that appears alive.
It's important to know that this image will not live, but will appear to live. This image will appear to breathe, will talk and perhaps even carry on conversations. With the advent of artificial intelligence, animitronics and even hologram technology, it may well answer questions, and will appear alive but obviously will not be. Failure to worship Antichrist will result in death; the warm fuzzy religion of Antichrist will turn lethal to those that do not comply.
The Mark and Number Of The Beast
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. Revelation 13:16-18 (NKJV)
A man who had lived under Bulgaria's communist regime remarked:
"You cannot understand and you cannot know that the most terrible instrument of persecution ever devised is an innocent ration card. You cannot buy and you cannot sell except according to that little, innocent card. If they please, you can be starved to death, and if they please, you can be dispossessed of everything you have; for you cannot trade, and you cannot buy and you cannot sell, without permission." (W. A. Criswell, quoted in the MacArthur Revelation Commentary)
We are indeed spoiled in our country. Although since the founding of our country 237 years ago we have some the oppression of slavery and other acts against men and women that were unacceptable, our country has been a bastion of freedom, free speech and equality of peoples since it's inception. In short, people have value, and people can seek to improve themselves and their position in society if they work hard and are diligent. Although our country may have it's flaws, and they are many right now as we view the problems in Washington DC, it is still the greatest place in the world to live.
The one world religion that John writes about in Revelation 17 will be consumed by Antichrist and the False Prophet. The agenda of Antichrist and the False Prophet will be to unite the world together in a one-world religion, then swing that religion toward worshipping Antichrist. The False Prophet will, at first, present himself as a gentle, humble, loving religious leader that will continuously point toward Antichrist. He will wow the people with "powers, signs, and lying wonders", and people will flock to Antichrist, worship his image in both the rebuilt Temple and in their own hometowns and in their own homes and those that do not worship willingly will be put to death. But this will not be the worst of it.
All people--"small and great, rich and poor, free and slave"--will be forced to have a mark put upon their foreheads or on their right hands, that being the mark of the Beast, Antichrist. Only those that receive this "mark" will be able to buy food or clothing, sell goods and more; it is, as the Bulgarian man quoted above said, "the most terrible instrument of persecution ever devised". No mark, no food. No mark, no clothing. It will be forced worship of the Beast, which is actually forced worship of Satan. "(The False Prophet) is now wedding religion and business, for you will have to have the mark of the Beast to do business."--J. Vernon McGee.
During this awful time that will transpire in what I do believe is the near future, Antichrist and the False Prophet will seem to have the answers that all people seek. Antichrist will solve the knotty issue of peace in the Middle East, engineering a seven year peace treaty with Israel and the Islamic/Arab nations. The world will unite, as we will see in Revelation 17, under the banner of a one world religion that welcomes all people regardless of what they believe. For a time, the world will be happy--but only for a time. What follows will be the greatest deception upon the people of the earth, with people being put to death for not worshipping Antichrist's image and the forced marking of people across the earth--young and old, famous and obscure, rich and poor. But what is this mark? Quite honestly, we do not know for sure. But I have a few ideas that I would submit to you for thought.
Now I have to tread carefully here as I do not want to be misunderstood. In the past fifteen years or so, there has been a trend that has gained more notice and acceptance: tattooing. Now let me state that although I myself am not a big fan of tattoos, it is not a sin to have one in and of itself. We have liberty as Christians, and this is part of the liberty that we have. In short, it is not an uncommon thing to see someone with tattoos on their hands, and in some extreme cases, even faces. The shock value has dissipated. This mark may be a tattoo of a barcode, or the new type of barcode called a QR Code that is square and is readable by a smartphone.
Another possibility arises out of technology developed over the past 20 years or so. Technology exists today that would make it easy for people to be tracked; the RFID chip can be implanted under the skin of a person and have all of the information needed for identification. In addition, the computer technology now exists to implement this type of system world wide; barcode scanners and RFID chip readers (these are embedded in some credit cards, the "swipe and go" types) would connect to a worldwide, Internet based system. Also, as we have learned in the past few months, the government is tracking you already; there is, under construction at Camp Williams, near Bluffdale Utah, a massive government facility to track cell phone calls as part of national security.
In regards to the number 666, scholars agree for the most part that this refers to the demonic trinity--Satan, Antichrist, False Prophet--with the number 6 being man. This number will somehow be linked together with the tattoo or digital marking of people taking "the mark", showing a specific individual's allegiance to Antichrist. In contrast, the number 7 is universally accepted as the number of God (7 days in a week, the number 7 appears often in Revelation); Satan apes God but always falls short. The number of God is 777 (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) and the Satanic trinity is 666.
