By: Tom Lowe Date: 10/19/16
Title: Beast from the Land (13:11-18)
Revelation 13:11-18 (KJV)
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Introduction
The first beast is a political power and a person, and his power will become worldwide. We come now to the second beast, the one who comes out of the earth and is a religious leader.
Commentary
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Chapter 13 has two parts; the first part of the chapter (1-10) deals with the coming of Satan’s false prince; the remainder of the chapter (11-18) has to do with a second mysterious person conjured up by Satan to act as the propaganda chief for the beast. This person is called the false prophet. The first beast is possibly a Gentile, or at least he is partly Gentile, since he comes up from the sea. The second beast, the lamb like beast, is probably a Jew, since he comes up out of the earth, or, more accurately, out of “the land,” meaning the ancient land of Palestine where Christ was born and died. What is the difference between them? The sea represents the peoples of the world. The great mob of mankind today is like the surging and restless sea—that has always been true. The earth from which this second beast arises is symbolic of Palestine, and it is naturally assumed that the second beast comes from Israel. He is a messiah, and Israel would not accept him unless he had come from their land and was one of them.
Note: some believe that this second beast will be a nation or a government. But that theory is difficult to accept because the Greek says “another beast.” The way it is constructed denotes another of the same kind therefore, the most natural way to read this is that another man[1] is on the scene performing critical works at the direction of the first beast. The great function of the second beast is to glorify the first beast. Thus Satan, the beast, and the false prophet form a satanic Trinity.
This second beast has a very deceptive appearance, and yet, he is easier to identify than was the first. After you establish who the first beast is it is not too much trouble to identify the second. John says, “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” The first beast has 10 horns; the second one has two horns. Territory is symbolized by the 10 horns of the first beast—“The ten horns of the beast are ten kings who have not yet risen to power. They will be appointed to their kingdoms for one brief moment to reign with the beast” (17:12; NLT); testimony is symbolized by the two horns of the second beast and, of course, it is false testimony. Jesus had warned of false teachers, “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really wolves that will tear you apart” (Matthew 7:15, NLT). The two horns of the second beast suggest his imitation of Christ. The first beast is opposed to Christ—he is Antichrist. The second beast imitates Christ. He also is Antichrist (considering anti, meaning “instead of”); he poses as Christ.
The second beast looks like a lamb and is therefore most deceptive in appearance. Nobody is afraid of a lamb. A lamb is gentle, harmless, and innocent and in Scripture, ceremonially clean. When the false prophet appears, he will, at first, seem to be all these things. Nobody will be frightened of him, for like a lamb, he will seem to be meek and lowly and will therefore be grossly underrated by mankind. The reason for the guise is that his role is to get people to worship the beast, and therefore he has to be a salesman. He must make all of the evil of the beast look good to humanity. Even though he will have two horns like a lamb, he will speak like a dragon—he will speak the words of Satan. He will appear harmless, but in reality his words will be deadly. But that is part of Satan’s plan.
If the second beast has the horns of a lamb, and he speaks like a dragon, the very voice of Satan is heard when he speaks. The mode of Satan’s language is the lie; he is the father of lies (John 8:44). The time has come when man must believe the lie, what Paul calls “the strong delusion” (2 Thessalonians 2:11). Attracted by the vitality of the beast, and assured by the seeming docility of the false prophet men will take at its face value the monstrous lie they are now to be told. In the satanic Trinity now formed, the beast is the anti-God (13:6); the false prophet is the anti-Christ[2], and Satan is the anti-Spirit, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2).
Again, the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 24:24: “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” The false prophet is sort of a “John the Baptist” to the first beast. Some have identified him as King Saul or Judas, which is mere assumption and cannot be proved.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
The false prophet has a very spirited appeal. We are told that “he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” The two work hand in glove. The false prophet becomes the chief executive officer of the new regime, but he works under the beast. He is the organizer and propaganda czar of a new religion centered in the beast, and he is the chief vicar of the new Caesar cult. The authority of the false prophet is derived from the beast. The first beast is the man of sin, the son of perdition in whom Satan invests his power (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12). The conspiracy is intended to channel worship to Satan through the person of the beast.
The role of the false prophet will be to make the new religion appealing and palatable to men. No doubt it will combine all the features of the religious systems of man, will appeal to man’s total personality, and will take full advantage of his carnal appetite. The dynamic appeal of the false prophet will lie in his skill in combining political expediency with religious passion, self interest with benevolent philanthropy, lofty sentiment with blatant sophistry, moral platitude with unbridled self-indulgence. His arguments will be subtle, convincing, and appealing. His oratory will be hypnotic, for he will be able to move the masses to tears or whip them into frenzy. He will control the communication media of the world and will skillfully organized mass publicity to promote his ends. He will be the master of every promotional device and public relations gimmick. He will manage the truth with guile beyond words, bending it, twisting it, and distorting it. Public opinion will be his to command. He will mold world thought and shape human opinion like so much potter’s clay. His deadly appeal will lie in the fact that what he says will sound so right, so sensible, so exactly what unregenerate men have always wanted to hear. All of this power is centered on one goal—to get every living being to worship the Antichrist rather than Jesus Christ.
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
The false prophet has a very deadly approach. He is deadly in the way he BLINDS mankind. Signs from heaven and signs from hell will be included in his bag of tricks, and men will be so confused that they will not be able to tell one from the other. John says, “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.” This will be no mere sleight of hand, no sham hocus-pocus of a stage magician. This will be a real miracle, convincing the most skeptical of men—all, in fact, except the saints of God. The memory of the two witnesses will be fresh in the minds of men. They summoned fire from heaven; the false prophet will do the same. And who can forget that spectacular miracle by Elijah recorded in 1 Kings 18:36-38 where he called on God to send down fire from heaven. Ironically Elijah had performed that miracle so that God could show who was a true prophet and who was not. The unbelieving Jews demanded that Jesus show them a sign from heaven, and He positively refused to perform such a miracle to support His claims. But the false prophet didn’t follow Jesus’ example! He will delight to set the sky ablaze. Never forget, the devil can perform miracles . . . limited, yes—but miracles.
Keep in mind that these two beasts work together—political and religious. The first will be the leader of the most powerful united kingdom that has ever been on this earth. He will be the most colossal ruler—the boldest, most blasphemous ruler who ever lived upon the face of this earth. The second beast will have no royal authority outside of Palestine; therefore, he uses the power and prestige of the political beast to bring about his diabolical design to get all the peoples of earth to bow down to Rome and worship the great beast who was wounded unto death but now has miraculously come alive. The second beast will have no military power of his own. Military power will be turned over to the first beast by the dragon—the devil. The second beast is much worse than the first. He influences man religiously and leads them into the vilest blasphemy and idolatry. He demands men to worship him. He sits in the temple in Jerusalem and announces publicly that he is God Almighty. See 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10, especially verse 4—“. . . He will even go into God’s Temple and sit there, claiming that he is God.”
Jesus came in His Father’s name, to do His Father’s will. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. The false messiah will come in his own name, to do his own will (John 5:43). With the exception of those who have believed and been redeemed through the testimony of the 144,000 and the two witnesses of chapter 11, the masses will fall down and receive the beast as their messiah, and joyfully line up to receive his mark in their forehead or in their right hand. They will be sent strong delusion; they will believe the lie. Read 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12.
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
He also BLINDS men with signs from hell. John says, “And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed . Because of these powers, he will be able to convince people that he preaches the truth, and everyone who is NOT a true believer will be fooled.
The prophet instructs people to make an image of the first beast and to put it in their homes. Then, according to verse 15, the prophet gives the image, or idol, the power to speak. The word speak is often translated “spirit.” This seems to mean that not only can the image speak, but it has a spirit within it that will be watching everyone in his or her home. If anyone strays from total allegiance, that person will somehow be killed, apparently by the idol itself.
The Jerusalem temple will have been rebuilt by this time. The beast, having turned against the Jew, will march his troops into the temple, set up his image in the holy place and command that it be worshipped. This is the “ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION” referred to by the Lord Jesus in His great prophetic discourse (Matthew 24:22; Daniel 12:1). The image is referred to seven times in Revelation (13:15; 14:9, 11; 15:2; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4). To worship this image will be the crowning act of blasphemy for mankind. For this sin there will be no forgiveness, either in this life or the next. Yet to refuse to worship it, will cause one to incur the wrath of the beast and to court imminent death. (This is reminiscent of the great statue that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had built to himself and then had required everyone to worship; Daniel 3:1-11). The bringing to life of the image is an unexplained miracle of Satan. Perhaps the devil himself, lurking behind the idol, will lend the wood and stone his own life force. So then, the false prophet, the agent both of the beast and of Satan will blind mankind with the strong delusion, making beast-worship the universal religion of lost mankind.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
The false prophet is deadly not only in the way he BLINDS mankind but also in the way he BINDS mankind. He does this very cleverly, and he does it very completely. John tells us how cleverly he BINDS them. He says “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.” In the days of the Roman Empire, a citizen had to offer a pinch of incense on a pagan altar as a token of his loyalty to the Caesar cult. That was all—just a pinch of salt. Christians refused to do it and perished by the thousands for their loyalty to Christ. In a coming day, the last of the Caesar’s will make a similar demand. He will require a simple mark stamped on forehead or hand, as a token of allegiance. This mark is another of the grim parodies which occur in this chapter; it is a parody of a sacred Jewish custom. When a Jew prayed, he wore phylacteries on his left arm and on his forehead. They were little leather boxes with little scrolls of parchment inside them on which the following passages were written—Exodus 13:1-10; 13:11-16; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21.
One and all the unregenerate of earth will line up to receive the brand of the beast in a universal display of solidarity. Some will receive the mark because they are convinced. The world, they think, has long needed to unite in a binding federation to end war and waste. These will be convinced that in the beast can be centered a common government, a common market, and a common faith. Others will receive the mark because they are careless. It will make no difference to them one way or the other. They might just as well bow to the beast as to some other dictator and, as for his mark, well, so what? Others will receive the mark because they are spineless. Not to receive that brand will be highly dangerous, for it will put a person into a very unpopular and small minority, a minority opposed to an all-world federation for peace, progress, and prosperity under the highly popular beast. So then, for one reason or another, men will accept the mark. Cleverly, in the name of world unity and under the guise of the good of mankind, the false prophet BINDS mankind.
This mark, sometimes translated, “the mark of the beast,” is designed to mock the mark God places on His followers: John wrote this about the mark God gives to believers—“And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads” (7:2-3). Just as God marks His people to save them, so Satan’s creature marks his people to save them from the persecution that Satan will inflict upon God’s followers. Identifying this mark is not as important as identifying the purpose of the mark. Those who accept it are showing their allegiance to Satan, their willingness to operate within the economic system he promotes, and their rebellion against God. To refuse the mark means committing oneself entirely to God, preferring death to compromising one’s faith in Christ.
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
He BINDS them very completely as well. But John draws our attention to the sweeping extent of the success of his scheme. He says “that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” There will be a total economic enforcement of the will of the beast. Every human being will be required to display the passport of the slavebrand; for without that identifying mark, no transaction great or small will be made. Whether it is the industrialist trying to close a billion-dollar international deal, or the child buying an ice cream cone at the corner store, the rule will be—no seal, no sale! From one end of the earth to the other, not a single wheel of commerce will move without the sign of the seal. Nor will any black market system either dare or desire to defy the will of the beast. The boycott will be complete.
It is possible to see a note of religion in the rationing system and in the mark of the beast, which will link those who receive it to the kingdom of the beast. Revelation warns that those who accept the mark of the beast will have to endure God’s cup of anger (See 14:9-12; 20:7-15). Those who receive the mark can never be saved nor forgiven. In that day those who eat will join the kingdom of the Antichrist, marked to be damned. If they do not receive the mark, they will hide in the forest, in the mountains and the caves; they will beg, borrow, steal, eat out of the Rivers and the woods, until finally they are caught and killed. “They that endure to the end, the same shall be saved.”
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
But if John tells us of the sweeping extent of the success of this scheme, he also tells us the single exception to that success. He says, “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” “Wisdom” is the application of the knowledge of God into real life. There will be an enlightened remnant that will see through the whole sordid scheme, and they will recognize the beast for whom and what he is by the number of his name.
The Greek and Hebrew alphabets have numerical values attached to the letters of their respective alphabets. The beast’s name, when it is known, will yield the number 666. This number, mystic and mysterious as it is, has taxed the ingenuity of commentators from the very beginning. People have seen in it an identification mark for the pope on the one hand and Nero, who symbolized all the evils of the Roman Empire, on the other (The Greek letters of Nero’s name represent numbers which total 666.). There are some Bible interpreters who have suggested that the number represents, Napoleon, Martin Luther, the number of man or the unholy trinity of Satan, the Creature, and the False Prophet (16:13); which was designed to undo Christ work and overthrow Him. It has been pointed out that the number 666 is the sum of all the numbers which make up the square of 6. It has been claimed that the symbol of the ancient mysteries was SSS, or 666. Gallons of ink have been spilled in seeking to interpret the meaning of the number “six hundred three score and six.”
Final Comments
When the beast comes, the enlightened will recognize him by the number of his name. Being thus forewarned, they will be forearmed and will be able to make swift and secret arrangements to get away into the wilderness to await the Lord’s return from glory. In the mean time, I would suggest that we not waste our time trying to identify a person by this number. Instead, we need to present Jesus Christ, so that we might reduce the population of those who have to go through the Great Tribulation Period and who will therefore know what the number of the beast is.
I am very thankful today that I know Jesus Christ as my Savior. Instead of spending time with the Antichrist, I want to know Christ. I can say with Paul: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10). I am really not very interested in knowing what the number of the beast really is or who he is or anything about him, but it makes me want to know Jesus Christ more, because my plan is to be with Him—not because of who I am or what I have done, but because Jesus Christ died for me on the cross, and by His grace I will go into His presence.
[1] Like the first beast, he is a real person, a man who is subordinate to and dependent upon the first beast, as the first beast is subordinate to and dependent upon Satan.
[2] Some believe him to be the Anti Christ. Others assign this title to the beast. Indeed, there is much confusion about the identity of the Anti Christ. The term occurs only in 1 John 1:2, 18, 22; 4:3, 2 John 7 and the statements made there are not sufficient for the title to be dogmatically given to either one of the two beasts of Revelation 13. An assortment of disjointed, although Biblical, ideas have been gathered around the somewhat nebulous title “the Anti Christ.” It is best to avoid this controversy and stick to the Biblical terms used in the passage namely the beast and the false prophet.
