The False Prophet

We live in an age of deception. A time where the media chooses the stories they want us to believe. A time when Artificial intelligence is making it hard to know who is authentic and real or who is just telling us what they want us to hear. A time when movies, television and social media portray the prefect lifestyles. A time when society tells us there is no such thing as absolute truth. It’s a very confusing time. It’s not like the day most of us grew up in, when we could get our news from Walter Cronkite, or Huntly and Brinkly, and never doubt the veracity of their stories. We live in a very deceptive age. So much so, that many people are even having a hard time finding churches that will preach the truth.

And in saying all this, it’s a perfect time for the deceiver, the evil one, Satan, to hatch his plan to deceive the world into following and worshiping him. In fact, you could say, the environment for deception today is the richest it’s ever been, since the idea of absolute truth is so unpopular today, the stage is being set for one of the greatest deceptions of all time. In fact, today as we return to Revelation John is given a vision into one of the great deceivers of the end times, The False Prophet. As we walk through Revelation 13:11-18, we will discover that now through this second beast from the earth, that Satan will empower his false prophet to help bring about a one-world government, one-world religion, and a one-world economy, so that all humanity will willingly submit to. So, if you brought your Bible with you today, let me encourage you to find Revelation 13, so we can see how Satan brings about his greatest deception as the False prophet arrives on the scene. So, if you’ve found Revelation 13:11, let’s look at the first characteristic of this spiritual imposter. And his first characteristic is simple:

The False Prophet Will Be Deceitful Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. Revelation 13:11 John sees another beast of the same sort as the first. He comes up out of the earth. The difference in origin from the first beast may be intended to help us distinguish the two beasts from each other. Coming from the earth, this may imply that he is calmer, more peaceful, and subtle than the antichrist. Like a lamb, he has the appearance of a friend. He has “two horns like a lamb.” The two horns signify his strength, but it is not a great strength. The beast from the sea is very powerful with 10 horns. However, this false prophet, has only two horns, signifying much less strength.

The key to his deception is seen in his appearance. He has the appearance of a lamb. With this appearance, he will give the impression of being harmless and gentle. However, Jesus warned us in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves.” Here is the most ravenous wolf of all who is nothing less than a mouthpiece for the deceptive schemes of Satan. This is the false prophet. His whole being is intent on deceiving the world.

The False Prophet Will Promote False Worship It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf and made the earth, and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. Revelation 13:12 The false prophet is given the same authority as the beast. He is the mouthpiece and advocate of the beast. Further, he is the promoter of gross idolatry. His purpose is to make all people worship the first beast who is the counterfeit Christ.

At this time, Hindus, Buddhists, Animists, Sikhs, etc, – all persons of faith will join hands and heart in worship, praise and adoration of the beast, the antichrist. This will be the beginning of a one world religion. Its seeds are being sown even today. In an article titled “U.N. Faithful Eye Global Religion,” James Harder writes: “The secretary-general of the United Nation’s Millennium Peace summit thinks that all religious apples fall from the same tree and are equally delicious. At a recent international meeting, he told 1,000 delegates that religions need to accept the validity of all religions or else it will be difficult to attain world peace. Recently, the notion has emerged that the pathway to peace necessitates the unification of religions. The Universal Religion Initiative recently convened with 300 people representing 39 religions and signed a charter, which officially launched the movement. The goal is that there will come a day in which “religious people will no longer insist on a single truth.” Episcopal Bishop Swing, a leader in the movement goes even further saying: “There will have to be a godly cease-fire, a temporary truce where the absolute exclusive claims of each religion will be honored but an agreed upon neutrality will be exercised in terms of proselytizing, condemning, murdering, or dominating. These will not be tolerated in the United Religions Zone.”

What that means for those who come to faith in Christ during this time, is that claiming to have faith in Jesus as the one way of salvation will no longer be tolerated. As a result, there will be severe consequences for those who refuse to fall in line with the one world religion. We will see that later in this passage. But for now, we see the purpose of Satan in the False Prophet. He wants a one world religion where Jesus is no longer worshiped.

And part of his strategy to bring this about is what we see in the next deception: The False Prophet Will Use Miracles To Deceive And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. Revelation 13:13-14 One of the strategies of the false prophet is to not only bring about worship to the counterfeit Christ, but to use counterfeit miracles to win people over. One specific sign miracle he performs is “causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in front of people.” Here he duplicates the miracle of Elijah and the two witnesses of Revelation 11:5. The spectacular nature of this miracle mesmerizes and deceives the world.

But his deception and seduction does not stop here. The false prophet next tells them to make an image, an idol to the beast. That’s exactly what they do. Like Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2, a great idol will be erected to honor and worship the antichrist. This will take place probably near the midpoint of the tribulation, possibly in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.

Chuck Swindoll says, “Blinded by unbelief and sin, the world will easily fall prey to the second Beasts’ deceptive message and methods. Intellectually attracted to him, emotionally drawn by his appealing style and convinced by his amazing signs, they will voluntarily submit and obey and worship.” The false prophet will use miracles to deceive and seduce people to worship the beast. But at the same time…

The False Prophet Will Persecute True Believers The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. Revelation 13:15 At this point, the false prophet goes even further. It’s not enough to deceive the world into worshiping the beast. The false prophet is given power to “give a spirit” or breathe life, into the image. God allows the false prophet to use demonic powers to make this image speak. Now this image becomes the instrument of Satan whereby he can make blasphemous and boastful claims to his divine nature.

It makes you think that in an era of Artificial Intelligence and advanced robotics, that the technology to create such a demonic idol is available to us today. For the Old Testament teaches that no idol can hear, walk, talk or see. But there will be a day when this delusion is so real, that all humanity will willingly worship the image of the beast, the image of the antichrist.

But then things get dicey, especially for those who see through Satan’s deception. Those who come to faith in Jesus at this time, Christian’s and Jews alike, should have enough discernment to see through this demonic and blasphemous image. But the deception behind this miracle will be so powerful and seductive that it may even deceive the faithful.

You may be sitting here wondering how anyone could be fooled be such a thing. But we need to remember that the deceiver will be at the height of his powers, the influence of Christian culture will have all but vanished. The world will be thoroughly deceived and will worship this image. And anyone who does not will be considered strange or even dangerous. So much so that the power given to the false prophet will not be simply to give this image the ability to speak. He will have the power to kill anyone who refuses to worship the beast.

Professor J. Scott Duvall is on target when he says, “The demonic idol demands worship on penalty of death. Christians may either give allegiance to false gods and live or stay faithful to Christ with the real possibility of physical death.” This will be a dangerous and difficult time for Christians to follow Jesus, and for Jews to remain faithful. The False Prophet will persecute those who refuse to worship this idol, and many will be martyred. But now the oppressive reign of the Beast and False Prophet gets even worse at this point. For as we come to verses 16 and 17, we see that

The False Prophet Will Force All to Take the Mark of the Beast It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. Revelation 13:16-17

All of the false prophet’s deceptions have led to this point. Creating a one world religion, a one world government, and a universal worship of the beast and his image has all led to this: to force the whole world to submit to the reign of the evil one. And the final piece of the puzzle in his plan for global domination is to create a one world economy.

Now the situation will be right to force every category of humanity to comply to a one world economic system. Every person will be given some type of mark, some form of identification on their right hand or their forehead. Without it they will not be able to buy or sell. While we do not know exactly what the mark is, we know its design is meant to identify each person as belonging to the antichrist. In this way, the beast is counterfeiting the mark, the seal of God. Once you take the mark, you are identifying yourself as one of his people. You’re not going to have much choice in the matter. And most of humanity wont’ think twice about it. However, this is all part of Satan’s plan for total world domination. If you want to survive in his economy, you will take the mark.

However, for God’s people at this time, this is a dreadful development. Any believer who refuses to take the mark will face economic boycott and social alienation. That is why John concludes this revelation of the False Prophet by saying: This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666. Revelation 13:18

That’s the whole point of this chapter. Now, and in the future, those who follow Christ, need wisdom to stand firm in their faith in the face of evil. For those who have come to faith in Christ during the face of evil in the tribulation, they will need great discernment. They will need to be wise in discerning the difference between true and false prophets. They will need to be wise by understanding how costly it will be to follow Jesus. They will need to be wise enough to see the enemy for who he really is and what he wants to accomplish. He wants total submission to him in worship, in government, and in economic decisions. He wants total power over mankind and will not tolerate anyone who claims to worship or follow Jesus.

God’s people will need great wisdom to face evil during the end times. But w the question I have for us today is, what about our time? Right now, we are living in what the Bible calls, this present evil age. In the first half of Revelation 13, we came to understand that this present evil age is an antichrist age. There is a growing intolerance of Christianity. To hold to the Bible as the authority for life is considered archaic and even hateful. We live in an age where people create their own truth. So even in our day we need wisdom. We need discernment. And the only way we can gain this wisdom and grow in wisdom and not fall to the lies and deceptions of this present evil age, is to be filled with the truths of God’s Word. Without the truths of God’s Word, we are susceptible to the lies of the evil one.

This is why we preach God’s Word faithfully. This is why we want to encourage you to be in the Word daily, to be in community with other believers in a Journey Group, to make it a habit to gather for worship on Sundays. We are being cultivated by our present world system to embrace the lies of the evil one as normal everyday behavior. Our world wants us to devalue human life, to see abortion as women’s health care, not the murder of an innocent life created in the image of God. Our world wants us to let go of marriage between a man and a woman as a sacred thing. It normalizes cohabitation, adultery, homosexuality and gender confusion. Our world tells us we are the masters of our domain, that man is the end of all things, that there is no God. Our world tells us that Christianity is out of touch with reality and is a hateful religion. We are being schooled even now for the rise of the beast and his false prophet. We are being prepared even now for a one world government, one world religion, and one world economy. So, we need wisdom! We need truth – God’s truth. We need to be a people of the Word.

Now, one final word on the mark of the beast. There has been so much written and discussed about this mark. So once again, there is great symbolism in the number 666. There are those who have tried to tie this number to a person throughout history. For many, the idea is that John is enabling us to identify the Antichrist, or first beast, because the letters of his name in Greek add up to 666. Using this and similar systems, Christians in recent years have argued that Ronald Regan is the Antichrist since each of his three names had six letters. The American Statesman Henry Kissinger was long considered an Antichrist candidate, not only because of his labors for a secular world peace but also because the letters of his last name add up to 66 in the Greek system. The problem is that by this approach there is virtually no limit to antichrist candidates. One commentator fancifully made a case for Barney, the children’s television character, since the words “cute purple dinosaur” yield the calculation 666.

So, we need some clarity here. And I love how G.K Beale explains this for us. He says: The statement is, “It is the number of a man. His number is 666.” The number is more of a description than an identification. Six is the number of man. He was created on the sixth day. He is to work six days. In contrast, the number of perfection is seven, and the superlative of seven is 777… The beast is the greatest man but still a man. He is a six, not a seven. He, along with Satan and the false prophet, is a 666, a trinity of imperfection. Not now or ever will they be a 777. He is the best man can produce, but he is still a man. He is “the completeness of sinful incompleteness,” the ultimate in “coming up short.” He is good enough to deceive many, but he is nowhere close to good enough to displace Jesus. That is why the False Prophet will be a master of deceit. This is why we live in an age of deception even now.

But as we conclude John’s vision on the False Prophet and the deception of Satan through the beast of the sea, and this beast of the earth, I want us to reflect on how Satan is working to draw us away from Jesus today, to keep us from trusting in Jesus in this present evil age.

I would say it this way: Today, many are putting their trust in government to guide their lives. Many are putting their trust in money or the economy. Turn on the news, and everything we see or hear is related to our trusts in government or the economy. And the final thing we see today is that many people are putting their trust in one form of religion or another. But when we look at all that people are putting their trust in, I am reminded from Scripture, that none of these man-centered influences can ever truly meet all our needs or expectations.

Rather our faith and confidence should be put on a person: Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life. In Jesus is found abundant life, salvation from sin, and hope for life with God. In Jesus is a kingdom that is not of this world. For His is a kingdom of righteousness, joy and peace. His a kingdom full of mercy, grace, justice and love. This is who we must keep our eyes on. This is who we must learn to follow. He is the source of all wisdom and joy. Do not be deceived by the false illusions and hopes of this world. But put your trust in Jesus. He is the true prophet of God. He is the coming King, and He is the true lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Keep trusting in Him, and He will give you the wisdom you need to discern good versus evil in this present evil age.