The False Prophet

Revelation 13:11-17

“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.” (Revelation 13:11-12)

The second beast that appeared to John has two horns like lambs horn, symbolizing his power yet appearing relatively harmless.  At the same time, he speaks like the dragon, Satan and has access to the power Satan has given the first beast.  He works at getting people to worship the Antichrist and his government.  This second beast, like the first, is led and controlled by a single individual, but is actually a religious organization.  

From the Pharaohs of Egypt, to the Emperors of Japan and the queen of England or the Dalai Lama and the various Islamic sects today, rulers have used religion to strengthen their control of their people, and the antichrist will be no different.   In the Islamic tradition of the Mahdi, Jesus, the Masih or Messiah will come to Damascus, dressed in yellow robes.  He will join the Mahdi in eliminating evil.  He will slay the Dajjal or false religions and unite mankind, breaking the cross.  Though he does not believe in Allah, the Antichrist will use the Islamic religion to establish his kingdom.

“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.” (Revelation 13:13-14)

Posing as Jesus Christ, the false prophet will be able to do miraculous seeming things that impress many people, and convince them that he is the true Messiah.  As we were told earlier, he exercises all the powers of the Antichrist.  II Thessalonians 2:9-11 describes the powers he will exercise and their purpose.  “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”

While he will have supernatural power, much of what the false prophet does is illusion such as some of our modern day magicians do.  God will cause those who have rejected him to be more suggestible so they fall more easily for the tricks. 

“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.” (Revelation 13:15)

One of the things that the false prophet will do is produce an image or figure of the beast that speaks, and execute anyone who will not worship the statue.  Having seen some of the very lifelike figures in some of the amusement parks, I suspect he will use some similar type of technology to protect the real man. 

“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.” (Revelation 13:16-18)

Jews were required to wear a star and Nazi’s were expected to wear a swastika in Nazi Germany to identify them.  People wearing a swastika were able to obtain whatever was available, while those wearing stars were refused even basic food.  The false prophet will have similar authority, forbidding those who do not have the proper markings, either of a special sign, or the name or his id number on either their hand or their forehead. 

Today there is considerable discussion whether the mark is some kind of RFID chip or if it is some symbol such as that worn by many Moslems on their arm or forehead to make them readily identifiable.   There is also a great deal of speculation as to what the symbol and number actually mean.  We don’t need to worry about it at this time.  It will become abundantly clear when the time comes.