Lying Wonders

Series on Revelation

II The Viewpoint

C Cycle Three, Seven Symbolic Histories

2 The Personages

d The Second Beast

Text: 13:11-18

Introduction

Here in this passage we see the second beast, another emissary of Satan. Remember the dragon stood on the shore of the sea, that is, the border between sea and land. The first beast arose out of the sea and the second comes out of the earth so that we see the dragon’s worldwide activity on land and on sea. The devil’s activity is like the U.S. Marines, “From the Halls of Montezuma To the Shores of Tripoli; We will fight our country’s battles In the air, on land and sea.” John characterizes this second beast as having two horns like a lamb but of speaking like a dragon. In other words he is not what he appears to be. Outwardly he looks harmless but his message is pure poison, evil propaganda. Like Joseph Goebbels in Nazi Germany was to Hitler, this second beast is a propaganda minister for the first beast. Goebbels was a zealous and inflammatory orator able to convince people to follow Hitler to the death, which is what he did. As Germany and the Axis powers were losing he was able to intensify the propaganda by urging the Germans to accept the idea of total war and mobilization. Thus he led men down the path to total destruction, just like the second beast is doing in this vision. Hendriksen reminds us “Satan uses the beast coming up out of the sea as the Antichrist and the beast coming out of the earth as the false prophet. The one represents physical force and raw power, for he comes up out of the sea of humanity; the other stands for deceit, because he presents himself as possessing intellectual acumen and rational philosophy. The one attacks the external part of a human being, that is, the physical body, with destruction and death; the other influences the inner part of a person, namely, the mind. The second one is even more fearful than the first; he is able to make the inhabitants of the earth worship the beast that came out of the sea. He is a symbol of false religion and fallacious philosophy.” The first beast is political and the second is religious. So let us look at this master of deceit and note four things, the worship, the wonders, the warrant and the wisdom.

I The Worship

Jesus’ answer to the Devil in Matthew 4:10 is to the point. Satan wants Jesus to worship him. He shows Jesus all the kingdoms of this world and their glory and he says he will give them all to Christ if He will bow down and worship him, and we read, Jesus said to him, Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ However, we read in Revelation 13:11 and 12, Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. The second beast or false prophet also preaches a message of exclusive worship, but with a different object. It is not the Triune God, not Jahweh, the living God, not the Lord, but the first beast. If he gets his way, everyone in the world will have the same religion. In the first century Paul tells us in I Corinthians 10 that when Christians entered a pagan temple and participated in meals offered to an idol, they were in fact participating in the worship of demons. Down through the centuries multitudes have turned away from Christ to follow idols and this is the nefarious work of the second beast. The Antichrist wants all people to worship him and thus supplant the worship of Christ. The idea of everyone having the same religion may seem far fetched in a world where the trend seems to be to take no religion seriously and to talk about faith without specifying the object of that faith, but actually this helps. In this way people are encouraged to agree about what they believe. The truth is that if you count out Christians, the whole world is one religion now. They all celebrate their act of believing, and they believe in idols, and their works, and their agreement, and commitment to peace and unity and the only people who are exclusivists are the Christians who say that there is only one way, Jesus! It looks like the second beast is succeeding.

II The Wonders

This lying prophet is given the ability to do lying wonders by Satan. We read in verses 13-15, And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. People flock to signs and wonders and are readily deceived by them. Jesus performed more miracles than anyone in history but the people kept pressing for more. John MacArthur writes, “Have you noticed that no matter how many times charismatic televangelists make outlandish false prophecies, they never lack for followers, and they don’t stop claiming the Lord has spoken directly to them? A list of failed charismatic prophesies could fill several volumes. And yet, amazingly, the “prophets” who make such fantastic claims now appear to have more influence than ever—even among mainstream evangelicals.” The truth is that miracles and signs and wonders mean absolutely nothing in themselves. It is only the meaning attached to them by the Word of God that makes them significant and useful. Here in this vision, the people care more about the signs and wonders than about the substance of what is being taught. Thus it is now and always will be. Even now Satan uses miracles to deceive people. False theologies and false religions are supported by satanic miracles so that people will believe in them instead of Christ. During my long ministry I found it necessary several times to convince people who had experienced extraordinary things that they deemed to be supernatural, not to trust in those experiences. I did not suggest that they did not happen, for that would have been futile. Obviously the person believed that they did happen, but the point is that they were not to be trusted as an indication of salvation. That can only come from the Word of God, the gospel and saving faith in Jesus Christ. So the second beast, the false prophet is at work right now in the world you live in. Listen to Matthew 7:22 and 23, Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ There is and interesting reference to one miracle in this passage. It says, He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak. Here the words of the prophet Isaiah hit home. Perhaps no prophet is as hard on idolatry as Isaiah. He points out the nonsense of splitting a log and using half to make yourself a god and the other half to cook your dinner. Half the log spares the worshiper from the evening chill. The other half, fashioned into an idol, is appealed to for eternal salvation. Isaiah diagnoses the problem: eyes are “plastered over so they cannot see.” Spiritual blindness makes even obvious truth seem an incomprehensible mystery.

III The Warrant

A warrant is an authorization, a sanction, and according to our text the false prophet forces everyone to have one as we read in verses 16 and 17, He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. History is replete with accounts of slaves, soldiers, or zealots being branded or tattooed. The verse, however, specifies that the purpose for bearing the mark of the beast is to be able to buy or sell merchandise so this is the whole population. The right hand signifies friendship and is a sign of working together in a common cause in opposition to God. The mark on the forehead implies that these people are influenced by the same philosophy and thought patterns. Is it a visible physical mark or invisible? Opinions differ widely. In Our modern computerized identity card society in which people are often numbered, it is easy to think of physical options. Most of us have been stamped at an event or a theme park so that we can leave and reenter. Being stamped in a more permanent manner is quite conceivable in a culture consumed with tattoos. Yet there is still this consideration, that according to chapters 7 and 14 the servants of God have received the seal of the Lord and the name of both the Father and the Lamb on their foreheads. If the mark on Gods people is invisible, then why not the mark of the beast. Michael Ramsey writes, “Many Americans who have little or no interest in believing or practicing anything found in the Bible suddenly become literal-minded fundamentalists when it comes to the mark of the beast. Some of their interpretations place the passage in the world of the occult or science fiction, while others propose conspiracy theories about the European Common Market, rampant computer technology, the increasing prevalence of credit and debit cards, personal identification numbers and the like. As a result, many serious Christians avoid the chapter altogether” The really important thing here is that the false prophet uses economic pressures to accomplish his ends. From what we see today in our societies this is the main force that drives people. Even in our elections people seem to choose leaders who make the greatest promises of prosperity. Vladimir Lenin’s communist revolution and other such revolts succeeded because of the promises of prosperity, which as you know, were never fulfilled. The end was that the people were enslaved which is certainly the goal of the false prophet.

IV The Wisdom

Thus we close with an admonition to be wise in verse 18, This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666. It would be impossible to list all the conjectures about the identity of the antichrist over the centuries for the number is bewildering. Most of the actions predicated of the second beast in this Scripture are in the present tense which suggests that as John was watching the vision they were happening. The Apostle’s aim is not to construct a scenario for a specific series of events in the distant future, but to interpret imaginatively certain developments in his own day. Once we stop looking for a blueprint of the future, we can gain insight from the picture he paints into the conflict between good and evil in every generation—including our own. Historicist interpreters of the book of Revelation have suggested numerous Roman emperors, the Pope of Rome, pagan rulers and others. This really misses the main point and is anything but wise. Revelation is a highly symbolic book and the main point of this entire thirteenth chapter is the contrast between Christ and antichrist. In the Bible the number seven signifies completeness and six, incompleteness. Satan, the great imitator, strives to achieve seven but always ends up with six. God finished his work of creation in seven days and it was perfect. He told the Israelites to march around Jericho seven times with seven priests blowing seven trumpets on the seventh day and they defeated the city. He decreed that a Hebrew servant be set free in the seventh year. Satan by contrast faces divine judgment. Hendriksen writes, “In the book of Revelation the number six always points to judgment: at the end of the sixth seal, the sixth trumpet, and the sixth bowl. Satan’s work always results in failure. The number of the beast is 666, that is, failure upon failure upon failure!” Thus wisdom dictates that there is an antichrist in your day as there was in the Apostle John’s day as John writes in I John 2:18, Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that antichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour. Right now leaders of tyrannical government are opposing the kingdom of God and the preachers of the Devil are exalting it against the Christ of God. it is man’s number, 666.