"11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. 12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life. 15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six."
I have been frequently asked, "Why do people reject God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ?" People love their sin more than truth and they don’t want God interfering with what they consider "a good time." And, if those who claim to believe in God, really believed the warnings of Scripture that they are under God’s judgment now, they would immediately repent of their sin. Unfortunately, many are deceived, by Satan's design, thinking that they’re basically good and that God will overlook their sin and give them credit for their good deeds on judgment day. The Greek philosopher, Plato once said "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."
Jesus said "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Here another beast is revealed to John, the
beast out of the earth. This completes the
trinity of evil—the dragon, the beast out of the sea, and now, the
beast out of the earth. Notice, that this one is distinguished from
the previous two, since he comes out of the earth. This beast operates under the authority of
the sea beast and is totally committed to promoting not himself, but the
first beast. Bible prophecy provides with a unique lens, in which to view the age in which we live, in order that we can have a proper theological perspective of what’s happening around the world. No one knows more about this man and how he operates than God Himself.
"Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six."
Satan's most dominate character trait is he is a liar and a murderer. The primary weapon in Satan’s arsenal against God, and His purpose is deception. He is the father of lies, disguised as an angel of light. He masquerades his lies as God's truth. His mission since the beginning has been bombard the world with his confusion and demonic doctrines, whether by his demons or by men. The promise of Scripture, is the closer we get to the end, there will be a myriad of false prophets and false teachers.
Verse 11, "Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon." The word "another," is the Greek word "allos," which means another of the same kind. The phrase, "coming up" is a present participle portraying a gradual, but continual ascendancy as a world figure and leader. This beast plays a different role. The world will buy into the lies of the false prophet, and they will worship the Antichrist as if he were God.
For this reason, the work of the false prophet is critical to Satan's evil agenda. I believe this false prophet, will be the greatest, most powerful and convincing false preacher the world has ever heard. I am sure, that like me, you’ve heard gifted preachers, there have been many throughout history. This will be like none the world has ever seen, leading the world into the final one world religion, which in the end, encompasses the worship of the Antichrist.
I'd like you to notice, the false prophet has two horns like a lamb. This speaks of his subtlety. He doesn’t come in fiercely like the Antichrist. He is a false Christ masquerading as if he were the true Lamb. He appears to be gentle, with a certain tenderness, this is a counterfeit of the true Lamb. But John says at the end of the verse, when he opens his mouth "he spoke as a dragon." He speaks like a dragon because he is Satan’s mouthpiece. When he opens his mouth,Satan's words come out. As a footnote, this is what they use to say when Adolph Hitler spoke, it wasn’t his own voice. False prophets are the voices of hell, but they don't come in blaspheming God. He will deceptively offer the world hope, and comfort, in the midst of all of the fears, and all of the death, and all of the destruction of the Tribulation.
In verse 12, "He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed." Here we see his power and authority, he exercises the same kind of demonic power, the same kind of authority as the Antichrist, because he is empowered by the same source but he will be a silver tongued orator. Remember, biblically, horns are symbolic of strength and power.
Notice the phrase, "And he make," it is used eight times of him, because of his tremendous influence, he causes this to happen. Here, he "the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed." He will look like a preacher, claim to speak the Word of God, but he is of Satan. As I stated previously, the Bible says Satan has the power of death, but not the power of life. I believe this is a carefully crafted false resurrection, to imitate the Lord’s resurrection and the two witnesses in chapter 11.
Let's look at verse 13, "He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. So, in addition to functioning alongside the Antichrist, having the full authority of the Antichrist, performing great signs, using a pseudo resurrection to draw attention to him as being supernatural. "Great signs," in the Greek is sēmeia megala. This is the same phrase is used of Christ to describe our Lord’s miracles in John chapters 2 and 6. This will be the greatest hoax in history.
It's interesting to mention, that the world is so blinded, so deceived, they will believe what is false, but they did not believe the truth! They will believe Satan's fabricated supernatural signs, imitating Christ, fire come down out of heaven to the earth, mimicking the power of the two witnesses. But they rejected the true Christ. By the way, God has often used fire out of heaven, in fact, He used it to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah back in Genesis 19.And, in response to Elijah’s prayer, He sent fire from heaven on Mount Carmel in Leviticus 10. In Satan's methodology, there is a vast difference between his advertising and the product that the purchaser receives. This should be a stark warning to all of us. Miraculous signs, in and of themselves, are not a proof that whatever is going on is from God.
That brings us to the last verse dealing with his power, verse 14, "And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life." This speaks to the vulnerability of people. He is able to deceive those who dwell on the earth. Between the false prophet and the Antichrist, they will cause everybody in the whole world to be deceived.
At the end of verse 14, John says they will even erect an idol "Telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life." And they’ll erect it in Jerusalem, all in defiance of the One True God.
In Closing..
Beloved, we are living in an esoteric, mystic oriented age where reality is too often reduced to a personal experience. It grieves me terribly, that even the church has moved away from truth of the Word of God as our authority, putting an emphasis on subjective experiences. How thankful we should be that our God reigns and that He will glorify Himself, just as He has promised.
Today, we the world desperately needs the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is our responsibility to tell them about Him. We must proclaim the true Word of God to a lost and perishing world, as the final authority, never just our personal experiences. The time is short, and sinful, ignorant, deceived and desperate people are attracted to the things of this world like a moth to a flame. They’re unfulfilled, searching for anything to fill that void in them, they're looking for a deliverer. Let us point them to Jesus Christ.
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen