Introduction to Chapter 13 Part 2

In Chapter 12 we see the dragon (Satan) who pursues the women (Israel) standing on the “sand of the sea”. Out of the sea rises a Beast (kingdom of Antichrist) which becomes the vehicle used by Satan to subdue the whole world under his direct power. This kingdom of the Beast will use four realms of influence to subdue man; politics, military, religious and economic.  The Beast or the “Little horn” of Daniel 7:8 focuses on the military and political realms. While the second beast, the False Prophet will focus on the religious and economic means of submission.

In the 13^th chapter, John sheds light on the methods used by this final world government to cement his universal power.  The religious aspect of his kingdom takes a turn at the midpoint of the tribulation.  The first 3.5 years of the 7-year tribulation the Antichrist and the False Prophet unite the world under a universal religious system (Revelation 17:1-6).  In the 2^nd half, the focus of this religious system becomes the Beast inhabited by Satan. The False Prophet performs satanic wonders including the “calling down of fire from heaven” to awe humanity into worshipping the Beast. He points to the resurrected Beast, the leader of the kingdom also called the Beast, urges Earth’s inhabitants to worship him. He instructs the world to create and worship an image of the first Beast. The image through satanic power appears to come to life and speak. Those refusing to worship the image are subjected to death.  If the military, political and spiritual power did not convince inhabitants of the Earth, the False Prophet applies economic tools to move the Earth’s inhabitants to submit.

            Those left alive on the Earth at this point in the 7-year tribulation must choose. They will have to accept the Antichrist as god on earth and live, or accept Christ and face death. Those alive and faced with these choices will know exactly what to do based on the 13^th chapter of Revelation.

The False Prophet

¹¹Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. ¹²And 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, who’s deadly wound, was healed.

Revelation 13:11-12

I saw another beast… This is the third member of this unholy trinity, Satan’s counterfeit of the trinity. This beast is a man called the “False prophet” (Rev 19:20).  He is a religious leader who counterfeits the Holy Spirit, by pointing to the Beast (First Beast) as the object of truth and worship. The false-prophet and the Antichrist work together from the start.  This new world religion will operate under the false ideal of “Relative truth”, those who insist on Jesus being the focus of objective truth will be killed during the first half of the tribulation. (Revelation 6:9-11)  Jesus spoke about this individual and the antichrist in the Olivet discourse,

²⁴For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵See, I have told you beforehand.

Matthew 24:24

 

Out of the earth…. (Gr. Ge….arable land, earth as a standing place) Contrasted to the “Beast out of the Sea” this Beast is out of the earth. Some commentators feel this reference to the Earth means he will be an apostate religious leader as opposed to being out of the sea of humanity. 

He had two horns like a lamb…. (Gr. Arnion…diminutive of areen, affection term lambkin used mainly in Revelation, 29 out of 30 times) Lambs are used mainly in the scriptures as a picture of sacrifice; Jesus is called the “Lamb of God”, God’s Passover lamb.  The lamblike nature of this beast demonstrates his religious aspect.  The two horns have significant meaning and can be interpreted in several ways.

            Horns are clearly spelled out in scripture as representing seats of authority. The ten horns of the beast represent ten kings (Rev 17:12, Daniel 7:24). In Daniel 8, the horns on the ram and goat represent the King’s of Greece, Persia and Media. These powers in the conflict, picture Greece as the one-horned goat and Persia-Media as the two-horned ram. Jesus is also pictured as a horn in Luke, He is called a “Horn of salvation”, (Luke 1:69). 

The two horns on this lamb can represent two distinct religious systems unified by the false prophet. There is strong evidence to suggest, this united religious system will be the adulterous church pictured in three of the seven churches (Laodicea, Sardis, Thyatira) unified with the remnants of Islam by the False Prophet.

Four points regarding this position:

1. Catholicism already accepts Muslims and Jews as having salvation, without having to believe Jesus died on the Cross, or that he is the Son of God.                     

841The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."[330]^[1]

839 "Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God in various ways."³²⁵  The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People,³²⁶ "the first to hear the Word of God."³²⁷ The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews "belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ",³²⁸ "for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable."^{329 [2]}

2. Islam as major force on the scene must be reduced for the Jewish Temple to be rebuilt at start of the 7-year tribulation period.  The “Dome of the Rock” must be destroyed which is either the cause or the conclusion of a war between Islam and Israel. A defeated Islam will be ripe for a new religious system.
3. With the “Rapture” of the Church, those left behind will look to unify a world filled with war and chaos, resulting from the Islamic war against Israel, (Ezekiel 38-39), the Rapture and the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple.  This church is exemplified by the Jesus’ response to the 5 virgins who missed the coming of the bridegroom,

 

¹¹“Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ ¹²But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ ¹³“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour ^in which the Son of Man is coming. (Matthew 25:11-13)

 

       This same warning to watch is issued to the church of Sardis, which is warned they will miss his coming if they fail to watch.

Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. Revelation 3:3

4. The adulterous church is destroyed in the 2^nd half of the tribulation period as this unified faith is turned away from the adulterous women and toward the Beast. (Revelation 17:16)                                 

Spoke like a dragon….The source of this world religion will be Satan, whose goal is to destroy those created in the image of God.  Biblical Christianity is exclusive; there is no room for a competing “Jesus”.

Islam denies Jesus is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross.  The Muslim Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible. Judaism today rejects Jesus as Messiah and labels him a false prophet.  Many in the ecumenical movement deny Jesus as the son of God along with countless heretical beliefs.  Here is what the bible says about those who reject the biblical Jesus.

²²Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. ²³Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

 I John 2:22-23.

²²Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”

 Matthew 7:22-23

                In the second half involves the removal of religion’s mask, humanity will worship Satan in the person of the Antichrist, who will demand worldwide worship. Those who refuse will be killed.  People worldwide will not be able to buy or sell anything unless they totally submit to the Beast and his false prophet.  Daniel foretold this nature of the Antichrist over 2500 years ago.

"He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all.

Daniel 11:37

Exercises all the authority….The role of this “false prophet” is to help the world accept the claims of the first beast.  The first Beast is Satan manifested, so the second Beast is in complete union with him and works to bring him credibility.

In his presence……. As Aaron was the spokesman for Moses before Pharaoh and Egypt. The false prophet will represent the Beast before the world. In his name and presence he points people on Earth to the Beast.

Causes the earth…. With signs and wonders and demonic spirits the Earth is deceived.

 

¹¹And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹²that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thes 2:11-12

 

¹³And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings ^of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Rev 16:13-14

Worship the beast….. The goal of the false prophet is for people to accept the deification of the Beast

Whose deadly wound was healed…. The death and resurrection of the Beast at the Mid-point will be in conjunction with the casting out of Satan from Heaven.  His death and resurrection will be highlighted as evidence for the Beast being God on Earth.  In the same way Jesus was crucified and resurrected was evidence of his being the Son of God, Satan will counterfeit the resurrection.

 

Satanic Signs & Wonders

¹³He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. ¹⁴And 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.                   

 Revelation 13:13-14

He performs great signs….The false prophet does the signs as a means of deception. Signs are not limited to God’s kingdom alone.  God allows Satan to also perform signs as a way of testing people.

¹“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,  ²and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ ³you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.  Deuteronomy 131:1-4

 

⁹The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 2 Thess 2:9-10

A wicked and adulterous generation will turn from “Truth” to a “Lie” for the sake of a sign (Matthew 16:4). The psychics who claim to speak to the dead are in fact speaking to “Familiar Sprits”, demons posing as departed loved ones (Lev 19:31, 20:6, 20:27).  The practice is old; Satan has deceived people for thousands of years using the system.  But God allows the deception because those who choose to follow the practice are being disobedient and in the process failing a test.   Satan’s restrictions on his deceptions will be removed during the 2^nd half of the tribulation.

Makes fire come down….A impressive sign to those on the Earth who are being deceived, but a clear identifier to believers who are waiting for the return of Christ.   Who will be able to question such signs without knowing the Truth?  This is also counterfeit of the two witnesses who called down fire on their enemies.

He was granted to do…..Satan can only do what he is permitted to do as demonstrated in Job.  Man is not being tempted beyond his ability to say no. But the test on earth has intensified because the time is short.

⁹So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? Job 1:9

Telling those who dwell….The false prophet instructs the inhabitants on the Earth how to worship the Beast.

The Image of the Beast…. ( Gr…eikon... a likeness, that is, (literally) statue, profile, or (figuratively) representation, resemblance:—image., an icon) Those on the will demonstrate their worship by making an image of the Beast.  This is similar to Satan’s deceptions throughout history. The man’s nature is to be worshipped if ultimate power can be obtained. Great military leaders eventually viewed themselves as god on Earth, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the great, and Julius Caesar are 3 memorable ones. The 20^th century, has had their share of leader worship transferred to image veneration.  Lenin, Mao, Kim il Sung and Hitler are recent examples of leader worship turned to image veneration. Man worship will ultimately be played out as Satan inhabits the body of a man and demands the world worship him as god.

One of the first acts of Satan is to immediately have the first 3 of 10 commandments broken.

1.                   No god but God.

2.                  Do not make an image.

3.                  Do not worship the image

The resurrection of the Beast will be the focus of the image for those dwelling on the Earth.

In Daniel 3, the bible prepares the world for this coming event by the example of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. Three Hebrew boys who choose death rather then worship the image the king of Babylon sets up.  The image is 60 cubits high, and 6 cubits wide, (60, 6) everyone was to bow to the image when the music played. The Hebrews refused and were thrown into a firery furnace, and were not harmed as one like; the “Son of God” rescued them. (Dan 3:25). The message in Daniel is to the whole world, if three Hebrew boys could survive a fiery furnace because the “Son of God” was in their midst, then we can survive because the “Son of God” has redeemed us, but we must not submit to the Beast.

 

1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

7 So at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, in symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

17 "If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.

18 "But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up."

25"Look!" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."

Daniel 3:1,7,17-18,25

God through the book of Daniel demonstrates the way of salvation for those living in the tribulation period.  The picture of Daniel 3 when contrasted to Revelation 13 is striking.

 

 

 

 

The image of the Beast

 ¹⁵He 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 13:15

He was granted power…..The image created by men of the Beast seemingly comes to life.  This Satanic miracle is allowed to take place by God.  Man is being tested by this part of the strong delusion that God is allowing to fall on those who refuse to believe the “Truth”.  The “Image” of the Beast comes to life and takes and further validates the identity of the “Beast”.  Those who know the scriptures will have a clear choice.

The image of the beast….The satanic powered Beast-Image is then able to reveal all who refuse worship, those who refuse are executed.  Worldwide hunts will begin for those who are identified by the Beast for refusing to worship.  For this reason many will go into hiding and it will take the Angels at the return of Christ to bring find them and bring them to meet their Lord.

³⁰Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:30-31

 

The Economic system of the Beast

 ¹⁶He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, ¹⁷and 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.

¹⁸Here 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

He causes all…..The False Prophet will implement a system to demand worship from all.  The rich and powerful will not be able to escape the requirements.  All people will need to submit to worshipping of the Beast.

To receive a mark   (Gr…charagma
; a scratch or etching, that is, stamp (as a badge of servitude), or sculptured figure (statue):—graven, mark.) The Greek word indicates the mark to be an outside mark demonstrating loyalty and submission to the Beast.  The location of the mark is either on the forehead or on the wrist.

 

That no one may buy or sell…The mark will be a system that allows control of the individual.  Without submission to the Beast there will be no ability to participate in the economic system.

Food, clothing, shelter and fuel will not available to those who have not submitted to the Beast.

New technologies known as bio-metrics are being developed to track and control segments of the population.  With the increase in terrorism little resistance to such a system can be logically justified today. Fear of terrorism has removed many of our concerns of intrusive government; citizens want to know who is a threat.  One way is to have everybody marked and accounted for. VeriChip is just one company developing a system that is being used by some countries today.

 Except one….Three types of identifications are listed.

1.                   The mark

2.                   Name of the Beast

3.                   Number of his Name

Let him who has understanding…..Here is another call of understanding to those who are alive at the Midpoint.  This is one more piece of evidence for those who are alive not to accept the mark.

The number of a man…..The Antichrist is a Man, and his name or some identifier is listed as a number.  Each letter in a name has a numerical equivalent.  When the letters in a name are added the total numerical value is the number of the name.  Most interpreters of revelation feel this is what is meant by this verse.  Whether the name uses a Greek or Hebrew letter is not known.