The Antichrist has been a terrible tyrant. Satan is not satisfied with the Antichrist ruling on the throne. There is another tyrant known as the False Prophet. He is another beast like the Antichrist. There is an unholy trinity of Satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet. The False Prophet imitates the Holy Spirit by pointing people to the Antichrist.

1 – His deceptive appearance (vs. 11)

The Beast is not a system. He is a person. His companion the Antichrist is a person. They are both thrown into the Lake of Fire later. In this verse the word “another” means another of the same kind. The Beast is a real person.

He will use camouflage to fool you. He conducts himself like a lamb but he speaks like a dragon! Don’t be fooled by the outward appearance as it can be deceptive. The Beast wore a sheep’s skin to cover his evil nature.

2. His dynamic appeal (vs. 12-13)

He is appealing to everyone. The world will listen to what he has to say. He will cast a hypnotic spell across the world.

• His worship (vs. 12) – He will cause everyone to worship the first Beast (the Antichrist). He will unify the religious systems of the world. He will get rid of all the extreme ideas in the religious systems to bring about this unity. Christians and Muslims for example don’t believe the same thing. This is why the Bible has to be dropped by these ecumenicists. They will be worshipping the Antichrist instead of Christ. A church without Christ. Don’t be part of a “dead” Church.
• His wonders (vs. 13) – He does this to give himself some authenticity. He is imitating Elijah in the Old Testament. Demons can work miracles. People will be impressed. People love the spectacular. This opens the door to deception. Don’t believe everything you see! Not all signs and wonders are from God.

3. His deadly approach (vs. 14-18)

The False Prophet will encourage the world to build an image of the Antichrist and worship it.

• His miracles (vs. 15) – He had power to make the image come alive and speak. There are several words for “life” in the Bible. The word used here means “spirit, wind, breath”. This image will be demon energised to speak to people. People will go crazy to worship the Beast. Those that don’t will be killed. It will be a demon-controlled world.
• His mark (vs. 16) – What is this mark of the Beast? God marks his own with the seal of the Holy Spirit. The Devil will mark his own. They are branded by the Beast and it is 666. The reason for doing this is for money. The Antichrist will ensure that no one can buy or sell unless they have his mark. Whoever controls the money controls the world. How does he do this? He has to unify the things with a one world government and commerce. There won’t be any cash. Everything will be done electronically. It is already easy today to do business without seeing any money. We get paid into our accounts and pay our bills without seeing any actual notes or coins. We are getting used to using debit and credit cards. It annoys us if someone slows things down by paying cash when we are at the checkout! The entire details of your life could go on a mark the size of a pinhead. It could easily be put on or under your skin. The Antichrist and the False Prophet will make use of technology to control the people. If you don’t accept it then you will be put to death! The number of 666 will be revealed at the end times. We don’t know the significance of it at the moment. Is it possible today? Yes. In the wrong hands this can be used to control the population of the world.

Categories: Revelation