“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. 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.
And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 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.
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: 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. 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.” - (Re 13:11-18) KJV
Last week we saw the amazing consistency in prophecies between the apostle John and the prophet Daniel. Both scriptures provided complementary details that enabled us to really understand the subject being treated – the last world empire and the emperor that rises. This week we see a figure that is unique to the book of Revelation – the last false prophet.
1. He comes up out of the earth. We saw that the “sea” was representative of the nations of the world, so what does earth mean? This is the land of Israel. This is alluded to in Rev 21:1, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” This does not mean that surfers will not enjoy the new Earth! – it simply means that at the conclusion of Gods plan, there will no longer be a “sea” of Gentiles. All of the new earth will be “earth” – land inhabited by God’s people. This person will be an Israelite.
2. He has two horns like a lamb. He will imitate Christ!
3. He speaks like a dragon. His words will be cunning and deceptive – half-truths and good sounding philosophies.
4. He exercises all the power of the first beast before him – This is unique. A prophet that is given wide reaching administrative powers by the king.
5. His mission statement – to make the dwellers of the earth (there it is again) to worship the first beast. This is a prophet that will make a lot of Israel worship a false messiah. Christ came in His own name and they did not receive Him. “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” John 5:43 This is Christ prophesying about the end-times!
6. This prophet does miracles that are unprecedented. If you recall, the acid test of which God was the true God in the Old Testament was performed by Elijah (1 Kings 18:21-40) – which was fire from heaven. The God that answered with fire was the true God. Satan was prevented from perfoming this counterfeit then, but in the end-time, his prophet is allowed to make fire from heaven come down – the deception is complete!! Small wonder that a people that reject the New Testament should be hoodwinked by a prophet that so completely fakes them out!
7. What does the prophet do with this political/prophetic capital? Having captured everyone’s credibility, he now moves to the lie…. Creating a idol. Just like the serpent seduced Eve by making her doubt God, and then crowned it with a lie (“You shall not surely die”), this lamb-like dragon-persuasive prophet crowns his philosophy by openly adoring the king that gives him his power. He even gives life to this image so that it can speak and act!
8. With power firmly in his hands, this prophet now consolidates his authority by taking control of people where it counts – their purses. People have speculated that this mark of the beast is a chip of some kind… but it is not necessary to go that route. All the mark implies is capitulation. It can be an indelible tattoo or brand – but the fact that one is wearing it means that one has agreed to be part of the empire of the beast. It is interesting that during the Holocaust Jews had to wear a mark to identify themselves as Jews and were targeted for persecution. This is the opposite – wearing a mark confers protection, and its absence means trouble! This is a very difficult period for the saints – they are prevented from even getting the basic necessities of life… which is why they will flee to the wilderness … and live off the land. God will preserve them for the forty two months that this persecution will endure.
This mark interestingly can be one of three things. A mark, the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Different hierarchies of allegiance? Interesting to contemplate….
9. Verse 18 is a most familiar and highly debated verse… movies and songs have been made and sung about 666 – and various numerological schemes have been proposed to identify a man with this number. We regret that we have nothing to add here – there has been enough speculation already. Suffice it to say that once these events take place, there will no longer be a mystery as to who this number designates.
The Beast from the sea and the horn that exercises its power (the Antichrist) is bad enough, but when we look at this figure of the false prophet – that is truly chilling! Truly this is why we have been shown all this before – should God will that we see these times – we will not be deceived. Hallelujah!