“The False Prophet”
Rev. 13:11-18
- INTRO. - (Give title) Last week we looked at “The
Beast From the Sea.” This is a reference to the
Antichrist. He will come from the “sea,” most likely a
reference to the Gentile nations. He will come from
the revived Roman Empire. He will have a counterfeit
death and resurrection. He will defile the earth with
blasphemous words. He will rule the whole world. He
will set himself up as God and will force the whole
world to worship him – at the cost of their eternal
souls. And all this will be done by Satan’s power.
- And yet, despite the merciless, sweeping tyranny of
the first beast, Satan will not be content to stop there.
He will raise up another conspirator who is (even) a
more ruthless tyrant, in the sense that he will enslave
the minds and souls of men.
- This second beast may seem less terrifying than the
first one, since he only has two horns and appears as
“a lamb,” but he is still very ominous, and speaks
“like a dragon.” This last part (no doubt) tells us more
about his true character.
- The false prophet will be able to deceive the
unbelieving world, because the power of religion over
men’s minds is so great. Since man is incurably
religious -- because God has put within man a Godshaped vacuum -- he will give men an outlet for their
religious inclinations in that day. Men will have
something tangible to worship, and they will have a
religious system that will encompass the whole world.
- Of course, false prophets have plagued the people of
God from the beginning of history -- but the Bible
tells us that they will proliferate even more as the time
approaches for the return of Christ.
- Jesus said, in Matt. 24:11, “And many false prophets
will arise, and will mislead many.” John MacArthur
explains that “just as the false christs who have
plagued mankind will culminate in the final
Antichrist, so also will the false prophets culminate in
a final false prophet (cf. 16:13; 19:20; 20:10). He will
be Satan’s last and most powerful lying deceiver.”
- We’ve already seen how the first beast will become
the head of human government, now we’ll see how the
second beast will become the ruler of all world
religion.
- Let’s read this passage of Scripture again together:
“And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth;
and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a
dragon. 12And he exercises all the authority of the
first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and
those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose
fatal wound was healed. 13And he performs great
signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of
heaven to the earth in the presence of men. 14And he
deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the
signs which it was given him to perform in the
presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the
earth to make an image to the beast who had the
wound of the sword and has come to life. 15And there
was given to him to give breath to the image of the
beast, that the image of the beast might even speak
and cause as many as do not worship the image of the
beast to be killed. 16And he causes all, the small and
the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men
and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand,
or on their forehead, 17and he provides that no one
should be able to buy or to sell, except the one who
has the mark, either 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 the number is that of a man; and his number is six
hundred and sixty-six.”
- We need to note three specific truths about this second
beast. First of all:
I.
HE COMES AS A SERVANT TO SATAN
(vv. 11-12)
- Look again at v. 11, “And I saw another beast coming
up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb,
and he spoke as a dragon.” Notice, first of all:
A. His Identity (v. 11)
- Who is this second beast? Well, he is very similar to
the first beast. The word “another” means “another of
the same kind.” And the main way in which he will be
like the first beast is that he will also be empowered
by Satan.
- And yet there are also some significant differences
between these two beasts as well. While the first beast
comes “from the sea,” this one comes “from the
earth.”
- The word for “earth” (there in v. 11) can also mean
“land,” and this is likely because it is being contrasted
with the “sea.” As we saw last week, the “sea”
represents the nations of the world, but in Scripture,
the “land” often points to the “Promised Land” or
Israel.
- And it is because of this that most Bible prophecy
students believe that this beast will be Jewish
(although I will raise a question about that tonight).
The argument goes that if he is a Jew, it is possible
that the Jews alive in that day would be deceived into
thinking that he was their promised Messiah (that they
are still waiting for).
- This might also explain why the Jews would enter into
a treaty with the first beast. Additionally, it might also
explain the use of the phrase in v. 11, “he had two
horns like a lamb…” In other words, he will come
imitating the Lamb of God, the true Messiah, Jesus
Christ.
- Satan is going to counterfeit all the works of God, and,
(like we saw last week), he will even counterfeit the
resurrection of Christ. But (according to this view) it
is here that we see him counterfeiting the Jewish
Messiah. (We’ll come back to this in a moment.)
- But commenting on the two horns, Charles Ryrie
writes, “The horns suggest strength, though less
strength than the first beast, and the lamb may allude
to an appearance of meekness or innocence and may
also indicate his character as an imitation of the Lamb
of God.”
- In fact, what we see (here) is that he is really
counterfeiting the Holy Trinity. Turn with me for a
moment to 16:13. Notice what it says here: “And I
saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of
the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the
false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs…”
Three Persons of the Trinity and three Satanic
characters: The dragon, the Antichrist, and the false
prophet.
- But back to 13:11, notice that although both beasts
have horns, there is a difference here – the 1st beast
has 10 crowned horns while the 2 nd beast has 2
uncrowned horns.
- I believe this simply points to the fact that the first
beast will rule in the political arena while the second
beast will have religious authority.
- Steve Gregg explains that “It is generally held that this
beast is a religious leader—or even a counterfeit
messiah—in contrast to the largely political character
of the first beast.”
- He says, “It seems apparent that the second beast is to
be identified with the ‘false prophet’ in 16:13, 19:20,
and 20:10.”
- And, by the way, there are some interpreters who do
not consider this beast to be a literal man, but a
symbol of world religion as a whole.
- For example, Ladd suggests that this beast represents
“organized religion, prostituted for evil ends,
employed to support civic power.” Mounce says,
“The false prophet stands for the role of false religion
in effecting the capitulation of mankind to the worship
of secular power.” He says, “It is the universal victory
of humanism.”
- This is very common among the “spiritualists.” For
example, Wilson calls this beast “false religion as the
servant of the secular power.”
- Most “futurists,” however, see this as a literal person.
Walvoord seems to be representative of this position
when he writes, “The identification of the second
beast as the head of the apostate church is indicated in
many ways in the book of Revelation.”
- Interestingly, Walvoord then goes on to give a lengthy
quote from Alford which implies that this person may
be the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
- That, by the way, was certainly a popular perspective
of the Reformers, and many have held this view since
the days of the Reformation.
- Now, certainly, that false religious system of works
righteousness could be a contributor to this final form
of world religion, but I think it will be larger than
Roman Catholicism. It will take in all the world
religions.
- MacArthur really nails this issue when he writes,
“Some view this second beast as an institution, a form
of government, or an ideology. But…(Rev. 19:20
says), ‘And the beast was seized, and with him the
false prophet who performed the signs in his presence,
by which he deceived those who had received the
mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image;
these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which
burns with brimstone.’” He says, “Obviously, it is
people not ideologies, institutions, or governments
that God will cast into hell.”
- Now, it’s also interesting to note (at this point) that
there are those who believe that the second beast here
is really the Antichrist rather than the first one. This is
primarily because of the belief that he will be a Jew
and therefore will come as a false Jewish Messiah.
- Gaebelein is one who holds this view. He writes,
“The second beast is a Jew…The sphere of the second
beast is Palestine…This second beast is the final,
personal Antichrist…He is a counterfeit lamb and his
two horns are an indication of the priestly and kingly
authority of Christ. He is the one of whom our Lord
spoke (John 5:43). He is the man of sin, the son of
perdition described by Paul in 2 Thess. 2. He must be
a Jew or his claim to being Israel’s Messiah would not
be accepted by the Jews.”
- Now, that sounds fairly convincing, doesn’t it? Well,
it does until you read what Walvoord says in response.
He says, “There is no evidence that either of the beasts
is a Jew…It would seem quite unlikely that either of
the two beasts of Revelation 13 will be a Jew
inasmuch as they both persecute the Jewish people
and are the final Roman rulers of the times of the
Gentiles.”
- Steve Gregg says, “Walvoord seems to represent the
majority of dispensational interpreters when he writes
that: ‘among premillennial expositors, the trend seems
to be to identify all of these terms [the man of sin (2
Thess. 2:3), the little horn (Dan. 7:8), the prince that
shall come (Dan. 9:26), the willful king (Dan. 11:36ff),
Antichrist (1 John 2:18)] with the first beast and
relegate the second beast to a subordinate role as a
religious, rather than a political ruler.”
- Well, this leads us to v. 12, where we see:
B. His Authority (v. 12a)
- Here’s what it says, “And he exercises all the authority
of the first beast in his presence.” Now, we didn’t
really discuss this last week (when we talked about the
Antichrist), but I don’t want you to miss this.
- Verse 2 says that the dragon gives the first beast his
power and authority. And then v. 12 says that the
false prophet shares in this authority.
- Now, there are two Greek words that are used for
“power.” There is “exousia,” which refers to limited
power, and is usually translated “authority.” Then
there is “dunamis,” which refers to supernatural
power.
- This is the kind of power the Bible declares that we
have in Christ Jesus. We have this kind of power to
live the Christian life and to witness for Him.
- But what I want you to take note of, is that Satan does
not have that kind of power right now. He is not
omnipotent like God. But it appears that God will
allow him that kind of power for a period of time to
serve His own purpose of deceiving the nations to
follow him, ultimately to their own judgment.
- And the second beast will have a delegated power
from the first beast, but he will also (apparently) have
supernatural power by which he will deceive the
world.
- In other words, the second beast will be subservient to
the first beast, but will be on par with him in
exercising power to do mighty miracles. But let’s go
on to the last part of v. 12 and notice:
C. His Intentions (v. 12b)
- Look at v. 12 again, “And he makes the earth and
those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose
fatal wound was healed.”
- This second beast will be like “John the Baptist” to the
Antichrist (which will be another counterfeit by
Satan). He could well be described as the high priest
of the Antichrist’s religious system during the last half
of the Tribulation period.
- Now, you say, “Wait a minute! You mean there is still
going to be religion after the church is taken out of the
world?” You bet there will be!
- Listen, Satan is not opposed to religion. In fact, he
loves religion. Religion has damned many people to
hell. The devil loves it when people just go through
empty religious rituals that can never save them.
- There will be religion, alright. The new world religion
will be the worship of the Antichrist. And every other
world religion will merge together with this religion to
form a monstrous religious system, which will be
headed by the false prophet.
- And one of the ways that the false prophet will
accomplish this, is through his incredible gift of
oratory. MacArthur says that he “may well be the
most eloquent, powerful, convincing speaker in
human history, and his lofty oratory will persuade the
world to worship Antichrist.”
- John Phillips writes, “The dynamic appeal of the false
prophet will lie in his skill in combining political
expediency with religious passion…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 a frenzy. He will
control the communications media of the world and
will skillfully organize mass publicity to promote his
ends. He will manage the truth with guile beyond
words, bending it, twisting it, and distorting it…He
will mold world thought and shape human opinion
like so much potter’s clay.” But notice secondly:
II.
HE COMES AS A MASTER OF MAGIC (vv.
13-15)
- Not only does he come as a servant of Satan, but also
as a master of magic. Look with me at v. 13, “And he
performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come
down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of
men.”
- And according to 2 Thess. 2:9-10, he will have the
power to perform “signs and false wonders, and with
all the deception of wickedness…” This man will be a
mighty miracle worker, and his miracles will deceive
the world into believing in the Antichrist.
- None of the false teachers, up to this point in history,
have ever possessed the kind of power this man will
have. And there will (really) be none like him. He
will be allowed by God to exhibit supernatural powers
that will impress the world and deceive them into
embracing the Antichrist and his system.
- Now, this should probably not surprise us too much.
Even in the OT we see where Satan has always tried to
counterfeit the true miracles of God. ILL. - When
Moses threw down his staff, and it became a serpent,
the Egyptian sorcerers appeared to be able to do the
same thing. (Of course, Moses’ snake ate up their
snakes to show where the real power was.) But they
were able to (at least) appear to be able to do some of
the same things Moses was able to do (by their
occultic powers).
- Now, notice what the specific miracle of the false
prophet will be. Verse 13 says, “…so that he even
makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in
the presence of men.” The fact that the word for
“makes” is in the Greek present tense indicates that he
will do this a number of times.
- Now, this may be an attempt to counterfeit the miracle
that was performed by the prophet Elijah in the OT, or
it may be a counterfeit of the miracle the two
witnesses perform by fire coming from their mouths to
devour those who try to attack them.
will be the time for them to flee from the wrath of the
Antichrist.
- Ryrie believes this to be a “duplication of the power of
the two witnesses to show the world that he has as
much power as they had.”
- But, you know, when you read about this statue being
erected in the Temple, and you think about the fact
that all the world will be forced to worship the
Antichrist, what does it remind you of?
- But this will be just one of his many miracles.
Another one is given to us in v. 15. Well, actually,
let’s go back to v. 14 and get the context, “And he
deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the
signs (plural) which it was given him to perform in the
presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the
earth to make an image to the beast who had the
wound of the sword and has come to life.”
- The false prophet convinces the people of the world to
erect a statue of the first beast, the one who “had the
wound of the sword and has come to life.” Because
this supposed “resurrection” from the dead will be so
impressive and convincing, the people will put an
image of the beast in the Temple.
- And this, of course, is the Abomination of Desolation.
Remember what it says in Matt. 24:15, “Therefore
when you see the abomination of desolation which
was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in
the holy place (let the reader understand)…”
- In other words, when you see that statue standing
there in the temple, then you will know that this is all
being fulfilled. And he then tells the Jews that this
- Doesn’t it remind us of the account in Daniel 3, where
Nebuchadnezzar erected the statue of gold on the
plains of Dura, and forced all the people to worship
the statue or die? (expound)
- But, now listen, what should all this power of the false
prophet teach us? It should teach us that not every
miracle necessarily comes from God.
- When we hear about psychic healings, and mystical
visions, and some statue crying, or someone saying
they can see the face of Mary in a piece of bread, or
that someone has been able to perform some kind of
“psychic phenomena,” we should not necessarily
conclude that these things come from God.
- There is another power in the world, and although he
is not omniscient like God, he is still powerful enough
to cause deception and delusion.
- And, in fact, I believe that the increase of attention to
so-called “psychic phenomena” and reports of socalled miracles and the pre-occupation with the
supernatural is just preparing people for this time.
(expound)
image.” He says, “The speech and movements of this
image could be easily manufactured.”
- But Jesus said (in Matt. 24:33), “…when you see all
these things, recognize that He is near, right at the
door.” That’s why we need to be especially alert and
discerning in our day and time. We’re seeing more
and more so-called miracles all around us, but not
everything supernatural comes from God.
- In like manner, Walvoord writes, “The intention of the
passage seems to be that the image has the appearance
of life manifested in breathing, but actually it may be
no more than a robot.” He says, “The image is further
described as being able to speak, a faculty easily
accomplished by mechanical means.”
- But let’s go back to v. 15. Notice what the false
prophet is going to do in relation to this image (this
statue of the Antichrist): “And there was given to him
to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image
of the beast might even speak and cause as many as do
not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”
- But in response to this, I think Steve Gregg is right on
target when he writes, “These comments fail to note,
however, that the very ease with which technology
today can generate speech and robotic movement
would seem to remove any occasion of marvel at the
ability of the second beast to manufacture such
phenomena.” In other words, people are used to that
kind of thing, so it wouldn’t likely fool them.
- The false prophet is going to be able to bring the
image of the beast to life. The image is going to
breathe and begin to speak.
- Now, there are some who have taken the position that
this will be some sort of a hoax rather than a true
miracle here.
- Ryrie, for example, says that this could “indicate a true
miracle (performed by the power of Satan) which
actually gives life to the image. Or, the word [for
‘breath’] may be translated ‘wind’ and indicate some
magical sleight of hand which the second beast
performs that gives the appearance of real life to this
- But this is going to be so convincing to the world, that
they will be able to issue a decree that anyone who
does not worship the image of the beast (and therefore
to worship the beast and the dragon who indwells him)
will be put to death.
- Now, according to 20:4, the method of putting them to
death will be that of beheading. Now, listen, I have
heard unthinking people say things like, “Well, I’ll
just wait and see if all this happens before I commit
my life to Jesus Christ.”
- But that is about as foolish a statement as anyone
could make. First of all, because those who profess
faith in Christ after the Rapture of the church will
have to pay a great price by losing their own head.
But it also fails to recognize the power of the
deception that will prevail in that day. (expound)
- Well, there is another role that the false prophet will
fulfill, and that is:
III.
HE COMES AS A CONTROLLER OF
COMMERCE (vv. 16-17)
- Look with me at v. 16, “And he causes all, the small
and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free
men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right
hand, or on their forehead, and he provides that no one
should be able to buy or to sell, except the one who
has the mark, either the name of the beast or the
number of his name.”
- Most futurists see this as a cashless, worldwide
economy, with some kind of credit/debit numbers
assigned to every person in the world. And eventually
this number will be attached in some way to each
person (supposedly in order to prevent theft or fraud
or stolen identities).
- The false prophet will perfect a way to expose
everyone who believes in Jesus Christ and refuses to
accept this mark of the beast. All beast worshippers
will be compelled to
distinguishing “mark.”
receive
some
sort
of
- Perhaps it will be a tattoo that is only visible under
ultraviolet light, or maybe it will be an embedded
chip, (there has been all kinds of speculation) but it
will be somewhere on their forehead or their right
hand, and everyone who does not have this mark will
not be able to buy anything or sell anything.
- And, by the way, this will be extremely difficult for
modern people who have grown accustomed to having
everything and not having to sacrifice for anything.
Can you imagine what kind of shock this will be to
people? (expound)
- But now, think of the alternative. What will happen to
those who accept the mark of the beast? We don’t
have to speculate about that because John gives us the
answer in 14:9-10, “And another angel, a third one,
followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone
worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark
on his forehead or upon his hand, he also will drink of
the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full
strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be
tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of
the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.’”
- People will not have a good choice in that day.
Physically speaking, it will be necessary to have the
mark of the beast, but spiritually speaking it will be
eternally damming to have it.
- Now, the big question that Bible prophecy students
have debated for centuries is, “What will this mark
be?” Look with me at v. 18, “Here is wisdom. Let him
who has understanding calculate the number of the
beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number
is six hundred and sixty-six.”
- Everyone seems to want to figure this out, and to be
able to “calculate the number of the beast.” And
perhaps some of the most fanciful speculations in
Bible prophecy have come from this verse.
- For example, back when I was growing up, people
were taking the letters of the last name “Kissinger”
and saying that it added up to 666. This is because at
that time Henry Kissinger was at the center stage of
world history. But, of course, that is no longer
anything anyone would say because most people today
don’t even know who Henry Kissinger is.
- J. B. Smith, after mentioning that the six Roman
numerals (I, V, X, L, C, D) add up to 666, points “to
the possibility of a Roman being the Antichrist…All
the numerals from 1 to 36 total 666. (And) ‘beast’ in
the evil sense occurs exactly 36 times (6x6) in
Revelation.”
- Steve Gregg says, “Attempts have been made to
identify the number 666 with the names of many
persons in ancient or modern history. One popular
opinion is that the Antichrist will be a reincarnation of
Nero or Judas Iscariot. Many modern historical figures
have been shown to have names that can, by ingenious
calculations, be made to conform to this diabolical
cipher.”
- MacArthur writes, “Perhaps no detail in Revelation
has intrigued people more than this ‘number.’ There
has been no end to the speculation as to its
significance and how to calculate it. In Greek,
Hebrew, and Latin, letters had numerical equivalents,
and a myriad of schemes to associate the names of
historical individuals with the number 666 have been
put forth. Nero, Caligula, Domitian, Napoleon, Hitler,
Mussolini, Stalin, and a host of others have been
proposed, based on some sort of convoluted
mathematical rendering of the letters in their name.”
- And there have been all kinds of other speculations
like this. But I think it is really dangerous to
speculate. I think it will become evident when it is
supposed to become evident, but not until.
- J. Vernon McGee once wrote, “The visible number of
the Beast and its meaning await the day of his
manifestation. And I do not believe he has yet been
manifested. This number has made a nice little jigsaw
puzzle for a lot of people to play at, but, my friend,
you will not know who he is until you get to the Great
Tribulation period.”
- In the same way, an early church father, Irenaeus,
cautioned against speculating about the identity of this
person until he arrives on the scene.
- And I don’t believe the identity of the Antichrist and
the false prophet will become evident until after the
church has been taken out of the world.
- So what should our focus be? I believe that it is more
important for us to focus on what the number 6
symbolizes. The Bible tells us that it is the number of
man. And this will be the ultimate time of exalting
man.
- Gaebelein writes, “The number 666 signifies man’s
day and man’s defiance of God under Satan’s power in
it culmination.”
- You see, it all comes down to whether men will turn to
God or trust in man. This will be the ultimate time of
exalting man, but God will prevail. Those who trust
in men will perish. Only those who trust in God will
survive.
- PRAYER