Revelation Chapter Thirteen Part II

The theme of Chapter 13 Part II is the works of the of two beasts – the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and The dragon (or Satan).

Revelation 13:3 “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”

Back in our notes on verse one of this chapter, we discussed the seven heads, which are identified in Chapter 17 as seven mountains and seven kings. We determined that they were kingdoms and kings. The seventh and head and mountain is the last king and kingdom. We will learn much more about this subject in chapter 17.

After that, the angel gave us this riddle: “And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition” (Rev 17:11). Here in verse three we have the solution to the riddle. The seventh head suffers a grievous wound. That seems to kill it to kill it. The seventh head appears to be dead. There is an eighth kingdom in our future¹. It is the end time kingdom that will be in power at the return of Christ; it is the kingdom of the Antichrist.

This eighth kingdom is also the seventh which is revived. It is the head with the deadly wound that is healed, and all the world will marvel because of this. It is the beast that was and then is not, which means it appeared to have died. When the deadly wound is healed, the seventh kingdom is revived and becomes the eighth and final kingdom of the age. Kingdom. It is the eighth but was of the original seven.

Who are the seven kingdoms? A little research of the history of the Middle East will tell you their identities. The first six are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia (or Medo-Persia), Greece, and Rome. The seventh kingdom is the Ottoman Empire, which ruled long after Eastern and Western Rome Empires had ceased to exist. It ruled until 1924 AD.

The Ottoman Empire began as several Islamic Caliphates, which qualified as an empire originally ruled by Caliphs and later Sultans; the list of these regimes is a long one. The Caliphates began directly after Muhammad’s death in 632 AD. The Ottoman Empire lasted until 1924 AD, when it was dissolved. In the end times, it will be revived. That is the head that appeared to be fatally wounded but was, or will be, healed.

The apparent death of the Ottoman Empire and its revival is in view here. This beast was suffered a deadly wound. This would seem to be a mortal wound, but like the Ottoman Empire, it is later healed and alive. The wound should have caused its destruction but did not. This astonishes people.

The Ottoman Empire got its name from Osman I, ruler of the Osman Dynasty in Anatolia, which is part of modern Turkey. After the decline of the Abbasid dynasty in the Thirteenth Century, which was the last of the caliphates, the Osmans began move into that territory filling the vacuum left by the Abbasids.

The Ottoman Empire was also known as the Turkish Empire, and by some in the West, simply Turkey. Much more detailed information about these things is available online and in many books. Such a study is beyond the scope of this commentary

Revelation 13:4 “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”

Who are “they”? They are those peoples of the world who are not God’s people. They are not the 144,000, nor are the woman who was carried to safety on eagles’ wings. They are the other people of the world. They are the unsaved, those whose names were not written in the Book of Life. They worship the dragon and therefore his beast. The dragon is Satan so it is Satan they worship. Why? Because his beast looks like a lamb (v. 11). Satan wants to be God; he wants to be Christ. So, he attempts to look like Christ. In Rev 6:2, the rider on the white horse looked like Christ, but is not, because Satan masquerades as an angel of light.

The peoples of the world are ready to worship the dragon because he comes peaceably, offering peace. There will have been war, famine, and disasters. These will have taken their toll. The world will be in shambles. The world will be looking for a savior. In comes the dragon masquerading as an angel of light and claiming to be the herald of peace and the savior of the world. So they worship him.

Since they will worship the dragon, and they will worship beast, that is, The Antichrist and his political system; here we have a diabolical parody of The Father and the Son. When we add the False Prophet, who convinces people to worship the beast, we see a diabolical parody of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Paul says of this time, “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved {11} And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: {12} That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness..” (2 Thessalonians 2:8-10) That is why they worship the beast.

In the world there will be no state or nation that can stand up to the beast. Just like ancient empires. The nations and states of the world were no match for conquering empires and the world will be no match for the beast. There will be no resisting it either militarily or politically, hence the statement “ who is able to make war with him?“

Revelation 13:5 “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”

The subject is the beast, not the dragon. The dragon controls the beast, but the beast is the subject. The beast, or the one-world political system (Rev 13:7), will have a spokesman, a human man, that will speak for it. The political system the rises from among the masses of humanity (the sea—Dan 7:2-3; Rev 17:15; Isa 17:12), thus it’s leader will be a human man. Both the political system and the man will be demonically inspired and assisted and the. About what blasphemies and things does he speak?

Here are a few things that blaspheme:

• • • • Irreverent or impious statements that revile God or bring Him down to man’s level (Exo 20:7).
      • Making remarks that injure the reputation of God or of another person (Lev 24:15-16).
      • Pronouncing a curse against Yahweh or His Son (Lev 24:15).
      • Falsely claiming that Yahweh is not who He claims to be (Gen 3:5; Ps 14:1).Claiming that an idol is Yahweh (Neh 9:18)
      • Denying Jesus is the Christ, the son of God (Mat 26:63-65).
      • A human or any other being claiming to be Almighty God or claiming attributes of God for oneself (Mar 2:7; Joh 8:58-59).
      • Accusing God’s Christ of being Satan or having a demon (Joh 7:20).

Who is this spokesman? We know that he will “speak great words against the most High” (Dan 7:25). He will “do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods” (Dan 11:36). Those are the great things and blasphemies he will speak. Additionally, he “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped” (2 Thes 2:4).

These are all attributes of Antiochus IV Epiphanes written about in Daniel, as well as the man of sin (or lawlessness), the son of perdition, written about in 2 Thes 2:3. Antiochus is a type of the coming Antichrist. These attributes show us that this spokesman is Antichrist himself. The beast out of the sea is the kingdom of the Antichrist and Antichrist is king over it.

Antichrist will be very persuasive in convincing people that Yahweh is a usurper and that the dragon is actually god. Therefore, he will have nothing good to say about Yahweh and His Christ. He will claim that Jesus is not God; that He is not the Savior, and the He did not really die on the cross. Every statement out of his mouth will revile Yahweh while lifting up the Dragon or his representative as the true god. These things are already happening today by the God haters in the world—and the false prophet has not even been revealed yet.

Islam certainly professes many of the things in the above paragraph. For example, in Islam, Jesus (Isa) is not the Son of God, for Allah has no son. Islam professes that Jesus did not die on the cross, but a replacement did in His place, and that Jesus was only a messenger of Allah. These statements are found in the Quran (Sura An Nisa 4:157 & 171, and others).

It is important that we fully understand that it is the Dragon, or Satan that controls the beast. All of the evil events that occur in Revelation have their origins with Satan. In fact, Satan, the enemy of God, the adversary of God’s people, and in the New Testament, the accuser of the brethren, was the instigator of all sin. In Eden, he enticed Adam and Eve to commit the first sin, thus causing evil to enter the world that was perfect before. Therefore, all sin originated with Satan.

All of the activities of the beast, antichrist, and the false prophet are controlled by Satan, He is the puppet master, and they are the puppets. God controls Satan, so God allows Satan access to creation and allows him to tempt the people. That does not mean that God Himself is evil. Most definitely not. In fact, God allows evil for good reasons. First, He allows it to show the difference between good and evil. Without evil how would we know what is good? Additionally, evil advances itself by itself; this shows it is not of God.

This provides us with a choice. Shall we do evil things or should we seek righteousness. It is a choice. We read, in Deu 30:19, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” We can choose evil or good. Unfortunately more choose evil than good.

Satan controls the beast and all the evil promulgated in Revelation and throughout history. That is because Satan is the adversary of God and wants all people to follow and worship him as god (2 Thes 2:4). God, on the other hand is “not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9). Satan wishes to reverse God’s desire for people to be saved. He wants no one to come to repentance and wants all to perish just like he will perish. That is the ultimate goal of all Satan’s activities. That is, to thwart God.

Satan ultimately wishes to delay the fulness of the Gentiles and thus delay the coming of Christ (see Rom 11:25,26,27). That is because he knows that will be the end of his liberty. That will be the time he is “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev 20: 7,8,9,10).

Paul tells us: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 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.” (2 Thessalonians 2:8-10) These lying wonders, signs, and deceptions will be the blasphemies spoken by the beast.

The beast’s spokesman, Antichrist, will speak these lies and deceptions for forty-two months. We can see that this is also three and one-half years. We see that period of time in several places in the scriptures.

Here is a list of those found in the King James Bible²:

• • • • Forty and two months: Rev 11:2; 13:5
      • A thousand two hundred and threescore days: Rev 11:3; 12:6
      • A time, and times, and half a time: Rev 12:14
      • A time, times, and an half: Dan 12:7
      • A time and times and the dividing of time: Dan 7:25
      • Three years and six months: Luk 4:25, James 5:17
      • Elijah is said to have shut off rain for three years in 1 Kin 17:1, but in I Kin 18:1 “in the third year,” God told Elijah He would allow rain, not at the end of the 3 years, but during the third year. The New Testament confirms 3.5 years in Luk 4:25 & Jas 5:17

We thoroughly discussed this time period in our notes on chapter twelve, verses six and 14. Since this is the last mention of a 3.5 year in the Revelation as well as the entire Bible, let us look specifically at the meaning of the number 3.5. We see from above that 3.5 years is expressed several different ways.

Dr. Bob Utley wrote that forty-two months, or 3.5 years, symbolizes a period of persecution. Dr. Utley also wrote that 3.5 is half of 7 and seven years is the complete period of persecution, so 3.5 years represents the complete period of persecution that is cut short as Jesus said in Mat. 24:22; Mar 13:20; and Luk 21:24³. That scholarly opinion appears to be exactly correct.

Revelation 13:6 “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”

In Verse 5, the beast was given a mouth with which to speak. In this verse the speaking begins. The spokesman, who is Antichrist, blasphemes God. How? Just like we said above. “He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thes. 2:4 NIV). We listed several ways God will be blasphemed by the beast. Do you understand? It is Satan who gives power to the beast to speak those blasphemies.

Let us take a moment to look at the Antichrist. The first mention of an individual Antichrist is seen in 1 John 2:18, “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” There are three things to look at in this verse.

1. antichrist shall come An Antichrist will come some day
   
2. even now are there many antichrists There were already many antichrists in John’s day as there are today (but not The Antichrist)
   
3. whereby we know that it is the last
   time We know this is the last time because the spirit of antichrist is already at work and has been since John’s day.
   

We have been in the last days since the church began at Pentecost; Scripture tells un in Acts 2:16-17 that the last time began when the Holy Spirit came and filled the believers at Pentecost (see also Gen 49:1; Isa 2:2; 2 Tim 3:1; Heb 1:2; Jas 5:3, 1 Pet 1:5; 2 Pet 3:3; Jud 1:18).

The definition of the Greek word αντιχριστος, antichrist, is literally “an opposer of Christ or one who usurps the place of Christ⁴” The Greek combining form or prefix, αντι anti is defined as, “1. over against, opposite to, before 2. for, instead of, in place of⁵.”

There are antichrists today— there are folks that are opposed to Christ today and there are some that claim to be Christ or claim to be here is Christ’s place.

The Antichrist that shall come, according to 1Jn 2:18, has been called by many different names in the Bible. Some of them are: Antichrist, the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition, the Prince that shall come, the Little Horn, and the Beast out of the Sea. They all describe a man that blasphemes God, that claims to be in Christ’s place, is controlled by Satan, is against God’s people, is thoroughly evil, and is destined to the Lake of Fire.

Revelation 13:7 “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”

This beast will war with God’s people just like the old Roman Empire did under such leaders as Nero, Decius, Diocletian, Trajan, etc. Those emperors overcame and killed many saints but were unable to stamp out the church. Remember that the woman that represents God’s people is taken on eagles’ wings to a place of protection and nourishment.

The second phrase here, “ and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” is proof that this will be a one-world political system that rules over all others. It will be based in the Middle East, but its power will extend to the entire world. Even today, we already see that events in the Middle East have ramifications for all the countries in the world. The war with the saints (Christians) will last 3½ years (12:4).

Like Antiochus Epiphanes before him (Dan 8:11;13; 9:27), the beast will outlaw the practice of the worship of Yahweh God, by Christianity and Judaism as well. He will stop the practice of both He will revile Christ, attempt to destroy churches and their crosses, will outlaw assemblies that worship God and His Christ, as well as Synagogue services. The penalty of such worship will be death. The Roman persecutions against Christians provide us with a sample of what it will be like to worship Christ. Islamic persecutions in our day will also give us another example.

Just like we see in Roman history, a person claiming to be a Christian whose faith is not real, will be easily led astray under these circumstances. In ancient Rome, there were many that decided to worship the Emperor and the pantheon of Roman gods rather that suffer the fate that true Christians suffered⁶. It will be the same under this persecution of the beast as it was in Rome and as we see with Islam today.

In Rome, as in other periods of persecution, Christianity survived those persecutions, and the church grew greatly in numbers during those times. Historically it is a normal occurrence for the church to grow under persecution, even up to our day. Examples abound. History shows us that it is likely that the church will grow under the coming persecutions as well.

Revelation 13:8 “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

This means that Christians will be singled out as those who will not conform to the new system. That will subject them to scorn, ridicule, and persecution by the authorities and by the unbelieving public. The world has always hated the church, and that hatred will be even more intense during this time. Christians will be the only ones who refuse to worship the beast. Therefore, the dragon will try to subdue them. Public opinion will be one of the tools Satan will use. Persecution of Christians is certain during this time of tribulation.

Christians living in this coming time must realize if we are persecuted, we suffer with Christ:

Acts 5:41, “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Rev 13:9  If any man have an ear, let him hear.

If you have a spiritual ear, you will discern what the Spirit teaches about the Scriptures. If the Holy Spirit is in you, you will be able to correctly understand what He, the Holy Spirit is telling you. This admonition is given here in reference to verse ten. Heed and understand the verse ten—it is important.

Revelation 13:10a He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword.

The first phrase likely applies to Christians telling them not to resist captivity. However, since it is unlikely that Christians will lead anyone into captivity during this period, this must apply to the beast taking Christians captive. The ones killing with the sword are likely the policing forces of the beast. Jesus told Peter, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Mat 26:52 NKJV, ESV)

Jeremiah, prophesying about Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuzaradan, the Captain of the Guard, coming against Judah and Jerusalem, he wrote, “And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity” (Jer 15:2).

Jeremiah reiterated this in Jer 43:11, “And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword.”

This is essentially that exact thing John is relaying to us in this verse. At the time to which Jeremiah referred, Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon was the enemy of Judah and all its people. That enemy was going to come and kill many of the people, injure many of the people, and take some of the people into captivity.

The enemy that will come against the Christians (saved Gentiles and saved Jews) is Satan, the dragon through his beast. This beast, the political system of the dragon, headed by Antichrist, will have power “to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.“

It is plain that the dragon and his false prophet (verse 11 and following) will be able to overcome Christians. This tells us that some will go into captivity and others will be killed by the sword. Note that we are not necessarily prohibited from taking up the arms against these enemies, but we are cautioned that if we do then we are subject to being killed by those arms.

We must address two other issues here. 1. When Jesus sent out the seventy-two disciples, He told then to take nothing with them—not luggage, money, food or shoes (Luk 10:4). Later he reminded them that they had no need of those things. 2. After that he told them to buy a sword:

Luk 22:36-38 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. (37) For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end. (38) And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.

It is obvious from the text, that Jesus intended the sword to be used as a defense. We understand that from the next verse when Jesus told his disciples that things were coming to a head in their immediate future and the sword may be useful if attacked. When told that the disciples had two swords, he told them that the two were enough.

Just having the two swords with them was a deterrent to violence. We know that Jesus did not want them to be used aggressively because when the Apostle Peter used his sword to cut off Malchus’ ear, Jesus rebuked him and told him to re-sheath his sword. Then Jesus healed Malchus’ ear (Luk 22:41).

Joh 18:10-11 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. (11) Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

If we must defend ourselves with arms, then we must realize that we may be killed by arms. Drawing a pistol to defend oneself may induce opponent to draw his, shoot first, and kill the one attempting to defend himself. The cup that Christ spoke of here was the divine wrath of God on Christ as punishment for the sins of those who would believe in Christ as their savior.

Revelation 13:10b Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

This tells us that what will happen will happen. If we have full trust and faith in God, we are not to worry, for He is in control. We are to endure hopefully and with patience. “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

The word rendered patience, can also mean endurance, which better fits the context here. Rev 14:12, is a parallel verse that explains that the saints are those “that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.“

The Apostle Paul wrote that tribulation creates patience in us: Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us (Rom 5:1-5).” Meditate on these words the next time a period of tribulation comes upon you.

The saints alive at the time will endure persecution much like the did during the ancient Roman persecutions. The persecutions of the Jews under Antiochus IV Epiphanes described in the books of Daniel and the Maccabees, are another example of persecution God’s people have endured in the past. The persecution of the Antichrist will continue for three and one-half years (Rev 13:5). The good news is that the church grew exponentially during those periods of turmoil and tribulation.

Revelation 13:11 “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.”

This beast is also known as the False Prophet. We know this from Rev 19:20, “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image” (Emphasis added). This is exactly the motive and mission of this beast out of the earth, which is to deceive people into worshipping the Antichrist and his image and accepting his mark.

According to Daniel, the beasts out of the sea are four kingdoms (see notes at Rev 13:2 and Dan 7:7). Hear we see a beast coming up out of the earth. Daniel explains that the beasts out of the earth are four kings that will arise out of the earth (Dan 7:17). Those kings that did arise out of the earth in fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy, were merely human men whom God established as kings.

Let us remember that Scripture interprets Scripture (Act 17:1-2; 2 Tim 3:15-17; 1 Pet 1:20) and that Solomon said that everything in the world and in history that happens has happened before and will happen again (Ecc 1:9-11). We can safely and Biblically understand that this beast out of the sea is a human man just as those kings were. Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, Cyrus in Persia, and Alexander in Macedonia are examples; all were men.

John described this beast as a person with attributes of a Lamb, including meekness and humility, but at the same time speaking words inspired by Satan himself designed to turn people away from Yahweh and from his Christ. This lamb had horns, which can represent many things in scripture. Here are a few:

Power, strength, kings, idolatry. On pagan altars like at Dan and Bethel, the horns represent honor and dominion. Horns symbolize the summit of a hill, glory, exaltation, or pride, aggressive strength. The horns on brazen altar in front of the Tabernacle and in front of the Temple precincts also represent blood atonement.

However to ascribe any of those things to a lamb would be senseless because younger lambs have no horns and older male lambs that are not yet sheep, only have stubs where the horns will grow as they mature. Therefore we must understand that John’s purpose in this description is to show that this man is attempting to mimic Christ. He is not really a lamb but a wolf in lamb’s clothing.

The fact that the beast has two lamb’s horns, or stubs, shows that he will be powerful, but the world will see him as a benevolent, charismatic populist. He will have the appearance of a kind, loving individual that is only interested the needs and desires of others. People will flock to him like the crowds gathered around Jesus during His earthly ministry. He will be charming, likeable, and will draw thousands to him. He may even go around having rallies that attract hundreds of thousands at a time. The charisma of Hitler comes to mind.

Like Jesus, he will exude joyfulness, charm, and congeniality. He will be friendly and easy to get along with. He will be the life of the party. These attributes will endear him to many and enable him to lead millions astray and they will be loving it. He will not attempt to glorify himself but will use all his talents and power to point people toward worshipping the first beast.

His congenial abilities will be insincere, because, as John wrote, he will speak like a dragon. In other words, he will do Satan’s bidding with likeability. His words will be smooth and pleasant, but they will actually be the words of the dragon, which is Satan. He will lead people into worshipping the Antichrist and his empire. People will willingly follow the desires of Satan through this charismatic individual. Jesus even told us that the days of their rule will be shortened for even the elect may possibly be deceived by him (Mat 24: 22, 24; Mar 13:20, 22).

Remember that the Apostle Paul wrote that Satan himself in transformed into an angel of light. This false prophet will put on the appearance of a savior, of an angel of light, while leading many to everlasting destruction. Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits” (Mat 7:15-16a).

This beast, or False Prophet will deceitfully appear as the savior of the world to unbelievers, like a sheep in wolf’s clothing attacking the flock.

Revelation 13:12 “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.”

This human man of verse 11, who is the False Prophet, represents another man, the “man of sin” (2 Thes 2:3) or Antichrist, who is the king of the beast out of the sea. As Antichrist’s representative, he uses intrigue (Dan 11:21) to cause most people who dwell on earth to worship the Antichrist. Many will accept him and will join him in his efforts to evangelize the world (Dan 11:34). Even though he is suave, polished, and loved by the masses, he is still an immensely powerful person.

He will have all the power of the first beast, which will have the power of the Dragon, Satan on his side. That power will enable him to appear to do great miracles. He will use the fact that the first beast recovered from a deadly wound as a very persuasive argument that the masses should worship the Antichrist. We discussed the deadly wound that was healed back in verse three.

The false prophet begins a religious system in the image of the beast, the final kingdom of the world before the return of Christ. In other words, we have empire worship, which was the religion of Rome when the church was under heavy Roman persecution. Empire-worship necessarily means Emperor worship. Rome was worshipped by proxy through the emperor. The beast from the sea, which is the kingdom of the Antichrist, and the Antichrist will be worshipped.

He will eventually use force on the people of God, that is, Christians, because they will reject the Antichrist and his arguments, and will continue to worship Christ, just like the early Christians did under the Roman persecutions. The Jews similarly suffered persecution under Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Daniel 11, 12, 1 Maccabees 1, etc.)

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Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? He is going to return to the world soon. Are you ready? When He does if you do not know Him as your Savior, you will join all those who do not know Him in “Outer Darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Mat 22:13-14).

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Mark Oaks, February 1, 2021

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