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Summary
Revelation 13:11-18 reveals the false prophet—Satan’s counterfeit of the Holy Spirit—who will rise during the great tribulation to deceive the world and drive worship toward the Antichrist. We are reminded that Satan’s strategy has always been to imitate God, creating an unholy trinity of the dragon, the Antichrist, and the false prophet to seize control of government, religion, and economy. The false prophet will appear lamb-like but speak like a dragon, performing demonic signs, erecting a living image of the beast, and enforcing a mark without which no one can buy or sell.
Key Lessons:
- Satan’s method is always imitation and counterfeiting—he mimics the Godhead with an unholy trinity of dragon, Antichrist, and false prophet to deceive the world.
- The false prophet’s power rests in deceptive words and counterfeit signs, reminding us that true salvation never depends on signs and wonders but on faith in Christ alone.
- The number 666 represents the trinity of imperfection—the best man can produce always falls short of God’s perfection and is destined to collapse.
- Believers are preserved because their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, providing security even in the darkest hour of human history.
Application: We are called to live with urgency as lightbearers of the gospel, to be discerning about false prophets and anti-God movements in our own day, and to identify and avoid anyone who denies Christ’s deity, humanity, substitutionary atonement, or bodily resurrection.
Discussion Questions:
- How does understanding Satan’s strategy of counterfeiting God’s work help us recognize deception in our own culture and religious landscape?
- Why is it dangerous to seek signs and wonders as the basis of faith, and how can we ground ourselves more firmly in Scripture instead?
- What practical steps can we take this week to be lightbearers and to grow in biblical discernment about the false teachings we encounter?
Scripture Focus: Revelation 13:11-18 describes the false prophet’s description and fourfold function; 1 Kings 18 (Elijah and fire from heaven) shows what the false prophet mimics; Matthew 24:24 warns of false signs; 2 Thessalonians 2:4 describes the abomination of desolation; Ephesians 5:8 calls believers to walk as children of light.
Outline
- Introduction
- The Urgency of Prophetic Scripture
- Christ vs. Antichrist: The Contrast
- The Unholy Trinity
- The False Prophet’s Description
- Function 1: Promoting the Beast
- Function 2: Performing Deluding Signs
- Function 3: Producing the Beast’s Image
- Function 4: Propagating the Beast’s Badge
- The Prophetic Clock Keeps Ticking
- Be Light and Be Discerning
- Closing Prayer
Introduction
Okay, let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to Revelation 13.
Every time you hear the prophetic scriptures, it should stir in you a certain life and death urgency because revelation is a book that will push you out of your despondency and will bring you to a place where you have to make clear decisions on what you’re going to do with Christ. We live in a day where that urgency is very much needed in the church to go out these doors and not forget what you heard or what you were taught, but to go and live for Christ.
The Urgency of Prophetic Scripture
It’s like a story I came across from a soldier who was going to jump school. He said that he was sitting on hard wooden bleachers at Fort Benning, Georgia and attending the United States Army Airborne School.
We prepared for our first parachute jump. Soon we would soar hundreds of feet above the red Georgia clay and hear the jump master bark out orders like, “Stand up, hook up, check your equipment, stand in the door, go, go, go.” The instructor had our undivided attention, and the airborne sergeant’s voice rang out confidently as he explained what to do in case of a parachute malfunction.
If your main chute should fail to deploy, don’t panic. Pull the handle of your auxiliary chute. Should your auxiliary chute fail to fill with air, do not panic. Pull it towards your body and then vigorously throw it away from you. Should your auxiliary chute again fail to deploy, don’t panic.
He vigorously repeated the process and then paused dramatically. With intention and with the slightest mischievous gaze in his eye, he said, “Should all that fail, don’t panic. You’ll have the rest of your life to get your parachute deployed.”
Now, really, the point is urgency. Making sure things are in place and that you understand what you ought to do, because in a very real sense life is dangerous, especially when the truth reveals what is coming. That’s why the Bible tells us don’t be ignorant about these things. Know what’s going to take place and then live your life in light of those things.
“Life is dangerous, especially when the truth reveals what is coming.”
That becomes very important. As we move into Revelation 13:11-18, we will see today the last days world prophet come on the scene.
Remember the essential reason for the tribulation: Satan is angry and breaks his covenant with Israel and goes after Israel and the people of God. Satan already lost three battles, so he is angry because of that. In Revelation 13, we see his plan going forward. That is, how is he going to fight to get the world to worship him?
Well, Satan, as I mentioned last time, is going to fight the same way God does. What that meant was that he is going to imitate the Godhead. He’s going to imitate the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit with a strong emphasis on mimicking Jesus Christ.
Christ vs. Antichrist: The Contrast
Now, if we were to contrast Christ with the beast, we would find in scripture that Christ came in the Father’s name, Antichrist will come in his own name.
That Christ came from above, Antichrist will come from beneath. That Christ came to seek, to serve, and to save, Antichrist comes to dominate and destroy.
Christ performed his miracles in the aid of the Holy Spirit. Antichrist will work his miracles in the power of Satan through the false prophet.
Christ came and imparted light and wisdom and truth. Antichrist will come and drive the world to delusion.
“Christ came and imparted light and wisdom and truth. Antichrist will drive the world to delusion.”
Christ was despised and rejected of men. The antichrist will be admired and adored by men.
Christ came and exalted God and magnified his name. Antichrist will exalt himself and magnify his own name. Christ came as the good shepherd of the sheep. Antichrist will come as the evil shepherd to persecute and dog the sheep.
Christ is the bridegroom of the holy and spotless and unblemished church. Antichrist will be the counterfeit of the harlot bride, the apostate church.
Christ is the lamb of God, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Antichrist will be like a lamb but will speak like a dragon. In other words, the church is to know who these people are and what is going to take place, so they will always be ready and they will always be cautious.
The Unholy Trinity
This is a diabolical trinity or trio which refers to three individual characters who become central figures in the three and a half years of the great tribulation. Two of them will rise to world leadership, one political and the other religious.
Because these individuals are energized by Satan himself, they form together an unholy trinity. Satan has a particular goal in mind. To reach that goal, he must deceive the whole world and get them to worship him.
“Satan has a particular goal: he must deceive the whole world and get them to worship him.”
His goal is twofold: to wear out the saints and to get people to worship himself. The dragon, as I mentioned already, is Satan himself. He is the counterfeit father.
Antichrist, which we mentioned last time, is the lawless one. He will be the political leader and he will counterfeit the son. He will be the beast out of the sea. Today we will look at the false prophet. He will be the religious leader and he will counterfeit the Holy Spirit, the beast out of the earth.
The dragon, which is Satan, gives the antichrist power, a throne and great authority, as it says in verse 2 of chapter 13. He says, “And the dragon gave him power and his throne and great authority.” He is given this authority to rule politically because he will be the ruler of the final world empire spoken of in Daniel the prophet. He has a method on how he’s going to gain the following.
Satan will not present himself as a monster that he is. The Bible exposes him in Revelation using words like beast. He doesn’t use those words. He’s going to present himself as very attractive, intelligent, and likable in all ways. The Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, will truly be an amazing figure and will display a subtle magnetic draw upon the people of the world.
Satan has his two world leaders fight against God and his people, but they come on the world at a time when the whole world is really desperate for some kind of world or global leadership. Antichrist will come promising to solve the pressing problems of the nations of the world.
The first beast rises out of the sea, representative of unregenerate humanity and most likely symbolizes coming from a gentile nation. Out of one nation Satan will bring forth a super political leader. The beast will be Satan in a human body.
But notice as we read through scripture in verse 11 it says, “Then I saw another beast.” The Bible describes them not as someone pleasurable, but as someone like a wild beast, out of control, someone to be feared.
The next beast is out of the earth. It says in verse 11, the beast coming out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.
Satan’s Strategy for World Control
This first beast will be this last days world prophet identified as the false prophet. He will be Satan’s super religious leader. The dragon, that is Satan, uses the beast from the sea, that is antichrist, and the beast from the earth, that is the false prophet. Why does he use them? He uses them to gain control of both the governments of the world and the religious apparatus, creating one world government led by antichrist and one world religion led by the false prophet.
Satan is very aware that he must be in complete control of the religious system of the world. He knows that man is by nature religious. To capture people, religion is a good way to do it.
It looks like at this point in history, as one commentator said, it will be the point of history where ecumenism takes on global significance and religious people will no longer insist on one truth. It will be very dangerous to proclaim Jesus as the only way to be saved, to be forgiven of sins, and to be made right with God. To say Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life—that’s a death sentence during this time.
“To say Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life will be a death sentence during this time.”
The heads of the ecumenical harlot religion will work closely and exchange favors with the antichrist as he rises to power. But they will not fare very well. That’s the religious system. After antichrist achieves world power, the heads of the ecumenical religion will be destroyed by the very ones they helped.
It tells us that in Revelation 17:16 where it says, “The 10 horns which you saw and the beast, these will hate the harlot.” The harlot is the apostate religious system. In other words, Satan uses that system until he gains full control religiously and then he proclaims himself to be God.
The Saints’ Security in the Lamb’s Book of Life
Once the unholy trinity—the dragon, the antichrist, and the false prophet—achieve absolute power, the false church will be destroyed and they will have complete freedom to establish their own anti-God regime. Keep in mind that from what we learn in Revelation 13:8-10, the saints are exhorted to endure persecution during this time and reminded of their preservation because their names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 13:8 states: “All who dwell on the earth will worship him. Everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.” The saints have this encouragement during this bad time, this horrible and dark time of human history. The worst time that the world has ever seen will be happening now. No time before that could compare to this time.
The saints will have the security of salvation because their names have been written in a registry owned specifically by their Savior, and they will be protected.
“The saints will have the security of salvation because their names are written in a registry owned by their Savior.”
Some will lose their life.
The False Prophet’s Description
Learn with me this morning the urgency of the description of the false prophet and the function so that you will be discerning and be able to oppose the anti-God, antichrist movement that is still in our world even right now and then ultimately be light-bearers of the gospel and people that know what’s happening.
Let’s look at the first thing, and that’s the false prophet’s description, which is found in verse 11. The first thing about his description is that he surfaces from the earth. Verse 11 says, “And I saw another beast coming out of the earth.”
He is called “another” there, which means he is the same kind as the antichrist, and he comes out of the earth as opposed to coming out of the sea. The sea being the mass of humanity, so possibly him coming out of the earth may mean that he will not come out of the mass of humanity but will come out of Palestine. It could possibly be indicating that he is a Jew, but we really don’t know.
The false prophet is just the same as the first beast. The false prophet is the dragon’s masterpiece of deception.
“The false prophet is the dragon’s masterpiece of deception.”
He’s the masterpiece of delusion. His plan is to usurp the kingdom of God and to replace it with his own dark kingdom and dominion.
A Sheep with Horns
That’s the character we see being described of this person during this time. And then notice also secondly in verse 11, he is a sheep with horns and he had two horns like a lamb.
So the false prophet gives the appearance of a peacemaker and presents himself as a helpful friend. The lamb is used of Christ 29 times in Revelation, but only one time it is used of the false prophet.
So the lamb—lambs don’t have horns.
So these horns represent something else. They represent strength. They represent authority. Again, lambs don’t have strength. Lambs don’t have authority. They’re probably the weakest creature on this earth. So they have to be always protected. They always need a shepherd to protect them.
So this lamb doesn’t have horns. So these horns do represent strength and authority. And the false prophet has less strength with only two horns than the antichrist who has 10 horns.
So he is counterfeiting the ministry of Jesus as the Lamb of God. Of course this will be all deception to the world. Only those who know the word of God and the truth will know who this person is.
“Only those who know the word of God and the truth will know who this person is.”
So the false prophet’s strength really will be in the use of words. He will be a wordsmith.
He Speaks with a Forked Tongue
That’s who he’ll be. And notice in verse 11, a third thing it says about him. He speaks with a forked tongue. And it says, “And he spoke as a dragon.” We know symbolically a lamb doesn’t speak.
But here it’s talking about the character of the person. A lamb is not supposed to speak as a dragon. A dragon would be something cruel and monstrous, but this one does, showing that he’s quite different.
He gets his enablement to speak from Satan himself. The false prophet speaks on behalf of the Antichrist like a beguiling dragon. And just as the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ, the false prophet will honor the Antichrist.
Prophets wear sheep’s clothing. And the false prophet will come to Israel in sheep’s clothing. This is what Jesus warned about in the gospel: “Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing. But inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” They don’t show you the inward part. They don’t show you the character. They just show you the facade, the outside. So the false prophet will be the minister of propaganda and he will be good at it.
“They don’t show you the inward part. They just show you the facade, the outside.”
Function 1: Promoting the Beast
That’s who he’s identified as in verse 11. Now let’s look at the second thing it says: the false prophet’s function. I’ll spend the rest of the time with this. There are four functions that the false prophet has during this time. The first one, and one of the main ones, is to promote the beast, to promote the antichrist. Notice what it says in verse 12. It says 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.
So the false prophet will be united with the antichrist for the purpose of achieving world dominance, and his main mission is to point people to the antichrist.
A good prophet is a person who points people to the one they serve. If the false prophet acts like the ministry of the Holy Spirit, he will convince people that the first beast, the antichrist, is the Messiah. He is the Messiah. He is the one Israel has been looking for.
So the false prophet by his tactics forces the world to worship the beast and choose between the true Christ and the antichrist.
“The false prophet forces the world to choose between the true Christ and the Antichrist.”
Yet it will not be seen by the world like forced worship. To those who dwell on the earth—that’s the term used in Revelation—for those who refuse to worship such a no, in other words, no one will refuse to worship such a peacemaker, such a uniter of the world who will achieve unity in global government, who will achieve unity in global religion, who will choose unity in a global economy under a magnificent, benevolent world leader. The antichrist.
The world, in other words, will willingly submit to this order to worship the first beast. But notice in verse 12, the little thing that’s tagged on the end there. This is like the second time this says it: whose fatal wound was healed. The false prophet reminds everybody that this first beast took a bullet for you, that he was killed with the sword.
And so the first beast gains control by pairing the seeming death and return to life, mimicking Jesus Christ. So people, he’s looking more and more like the Messiah. And that’s exactly what the false prophet is doing.
Deception Through Demonic Signs
Now, how does he get people to worship the Antichrist?
Well, deception through demonic signs. Notice in verse 13, it says he performs great signs so that even he makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.
So he wants to do signs like Jesus did, but his goal is very different. His goal is to make an impression on the earth dwellers and get them to worship Antichrist as their savior, as their Messiah.
But notice what he does here. He even makes fire come down out of heaven.
What is he trying to do here? He’s trying to imitate.
Some said, “Well, this could be the imitation of the miracle of Pentecost or the imitation of fire coming out of the two witnesses in Revelation 11.” But I believe he’s referring to what we read this morning—the miracle that mimics the passage that is closest to the prophet Elijah. What happened there? Remember, in that passage the end result was all the people knew there was only one God who is worthy to be worshiped, and that was the God of Israel. Let me remind you what it says.
Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.
When all the people saw it, here’s the result. They fell on their faces and they said, “The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God.” That’s what he wants to do. He wants to get the people of the world the same result that happened in that text.
1 Kings 18:38-39: “The fire of the Lord fell… and they said, ‘The Lord, he is God!’”
So again, he’s mimicking the scripture and the prophets.
He’s staying that what that means? The Bible—I mean, that Satan’s read the Bible. He knows the Bible.
I hope you read the Bible better than him.
So that’s what happens by demonic signs.
Function 2: Performing Deluding Signs
But notice a second function. The first one was to demand worship of the beast.
The second one is to perform his own deluding signs. In verse 14, it says, “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.” Now, you’ve noticed the beast is very much watching what’s going on.
He’s present when the false prophet is functioning because he wants to make sure that the false prophet is doing exactly what he wants the false prophet to do. See, the false prophet will have supernatural power that will be very, very convincing and he will do all his signs on behalf of the antichrist. All his signs will be designated to deceive and to mislead those who dwell on the earth.
And these powerful signs are designed to mesmerize and to seduce people, to bring them in, to schmooze them in order to show people that he has the power of God and move them to unquestionably worship the antichrist so that they will be intellectually attracted to him. They will be emotionally drawn to him.
They will be amazingly convinced by him and they at that point will be willing and voluntarily submit and obey him.
So scripture warned and predicted in the last days there would be great signs of deception.
And if it wasn’t for the keeping power and discernment that God provides to his elect, they too would not be able to stand. For Jesus says in Matthew 24:24, “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, the elect.” So at that time the people who are God’s people will be given this understanding of everything that’s going on. They will look past the facade and they will see the reality of what’s going on globally and they will not give in to that.
Matthew 24:24: “False Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs so as to mislead, if possible, the elect.”
So they believe him, but not according to revealed truth.
That’s the dwellers on earth, but according to signs that point to the reality of his claim, keeping the rejector of truth spellbound in admiration of the lawless one as being God himself.
True Salvation Rests on Faith Alone
I just want to make a note.
True salvation will always rest on faith in Jesus Christ alone without signs and wonders. You do not need signs and wonders. You’d want to seek for them.
“True salvation will always rest on faith in Jesus Christ alone without signs and wonders.”
They are not needed.
Jesus also said a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after what? Signs. Right? And it goes to show the farther a nation moves away from God and his truth, the more sexually perverted and deviant and insane and lawless it and the world will become. And a people like that are easily deceived.
There’s no discernment at all there because they’re all living for themselves. You’re going to find that out more when we get further into Revelation. Satan has always tried to lead God’s people into immorality and idolatry by his own evil forces.
Function 3: Producing the Beast’s Image
There’s a third function during this time of the great tribulation, and it’s this verse number 14. The second part of the verse says that he’s going to produce the beast’s image.
Notice it said there. It says, “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.” So in other words, the false prophet will tell the people. He’s not going to do this himself. He tells the people to erect a statue and build a great idol.
So the statue will be erected to honor and to worship the first beast, the antichrist.
This is full-blown gross immorality. But no one will see it like that.
His worship will always include image worship, which like all idolatry is devil worship.
So the false prophet will perform many miracles and signs, but his climactic miracle will be the giving of the appearance of life. I want to say it like that to the image of the antichrist.
“His worship will always include image worship, which like all idolatry is devil worship.”
This statue will receive life or the qualities of breath and speech.
Notice what it says in verse 15.
It says, “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.” Now, he’s doing something quite amazing here. He’s making an idol. Remember, idols usually don’t move or speak or do anything. He’s making an idol that’s been created by the people to actually give an appearance of life.
I don’t believe that he actually gives life because only God can give life.
I think that he gives the appearance of life. And then notice what else he gives them. He gives the beast the ability to speak.
We’re not really told how this takes place, but it will.
And the image will actually speak. The antichrist will sit on the throne in Jerusalem and proclaim himself to be God. This leads up to the abomination of desolation where even Thessalonians tells us who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as being God. This is leading up to that.
Modern Technology and the Image of the Beast
Now maybe in times past when somebody read Revelation and they would read that passage of scripture, they would say, “This is unbelievable. How could this happen?” But today, it’s already in the works.
A man-made idol that gives the appearance of life. I ran across this interesting tidbit of information that I thought maybe you should hear.
An Ireland-based company called the Great Giant Company, which was started by Padding Dunning as a company to raise money in order to do cultural and commercial products projects that combine art, amusement, virtual reality, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
The Giant Company calls its creation the world’s tallest moving statue. Each giant will stand more than 10 stories high.
These giants are programmable and capable of speaking, of singing, of moving their heads and their arms. They also what they call shapeshift, assuming the forms of people. For example, in an instant, a giant can look like Abraham Lincoln, Michael Jordan, Superman, whoever you want. It even can produce the greatest version of you, the ultimate selfie.
The Giant Company plans to install 21 of these statues in 21 cities around the globe. The company plans to generate millions of dollars and estimates 500,000 visitors a year. But here’s the kicker.
“The Giant Company plans to install 21 of these moving statues in 21 cities around the globe.”
Not only will they be huge and able to speak and move, but these giants will also be able to communicate with one another. Whatever city they would be planted, each is also a member of a family that can digitally communicate with other giants around the world.
It seems like the founders would have their save the planet endeavors end up really being a technology of man’s own salvation. Not that they planned it that way. Yet even with good intentions, in the end a philosophy like that elevates people and degenerates God.
There will be a future giant, one called a demonstration of the false prophet where he gets the people. The false prophet, in other words, will initiate this project and the antichrist will authorize it when he rules the world during the great tribulation.
We’re not far from a time that this can be a reality.
Worship or Death
What would the motivation be? If you look at verse 15, it says, “And cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” See, this will induce many to worship the antichrist.
But for those who do not join in this adoration, it will be a capital crime to refuse to participate in the universal worship of the beast. So then the false prophet will bring death by execution or by slowly starving people.
There will be a great need to endure in the truth of the gospel during this time so that people will not be subdued by the power of temptation to compromise, because it would be much easier to give allegiance to the image and live and let me alone, let me live my life type of mindset.
“It would be much easier to give allegiance to the image and live than stay faithful to Christ and lose your life.”
Then stay faithful to Christ and lose your life by either being murdered by them or by a guillotine or starvation.
Function 4: Propagating the Beast’s Badge
But there’s a fourth function that is given to the false prophet and it’s found in verse 16 through 18 and that’s this: to propagate the beast’s badge.
And what’s the mandate? The false prophet will mark the followers with a counterfeit seal.
So he has individual control of people.
The false prophet will take control so that no one will be able to buy or sell without a mark indicating loyalty to Antichrist. Verse number 16, look what it says. And he causes all the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand and on their forehead. See, he will have no regard for anyone. So the rich can’t bribe him because they’re a special class and they have the money to do so. They will not care about that.
They will just care about control.
So all must decide if they will take the identification mark or not. And the identification mark we don’t know what it is. It’s not 666. It’s something.
And those who receive the mark commit the ultimate, tragic, irrevocable choice to reject Christ and embrace the Antichrist as God.
“Those who receive the mark commit the ultimate, tragic, irrevocable choice to reject Christ.”
There’s no returning from that. They will reap the last judgments because of that.
So everyone will receive some type of mark indicating and identifying as belonging to the antichrist and his government.
Now you wonder today why there is such a big data revolution and today there’s also a big connectivity revolution.
So the antichrist will have full control of massive information retrieval and storage capacity to track and manipulate billions of people on planet earth during that time.
Some have called this digital devilry, a global system of imaginary projection and instant worldwide human control.
But we’re already being programmed for that. We have iPhones that know everything you do, where you go, what you buy, what you like and don’t like. They’re already gathering information on all of us.
We have human recognition technology, facial voice, fingerprint recognition. We have AI, artificial intelligence. We already have artificial general intelligence. And they believe by 2030 we will have artificial super intelligence and that will mean that you can control anybody anywhere in the world at any time. Everything that’s going on.
So he’s able to do that. So if you go and not only individual control, he’ll have economic control. If you don’t have the mark, the most basic necessities of life will be denied you. We go down to the block.
Hey, what? We have no milk. We have no bread. We have no eggs. Let’s go get some. How? We’re usually running to the store for those items most of the time, right? But you go to the store, you have—you can’t buy.
You have no access to it. Your credit card doesn’t go through. No more cash. So the cash is not going to help. Or even having gas and electric or propane or water, it’s cut off. Why? Because you don’t have the mark. Your debit cards and credit cards are all denied. You have no access to the banks. You’re denied.
So he provides that no one will be able to buy or sell except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.
It could be that that would be incorporated.
But I want you to notice in verse number where he’s talking about the mark itself. If we have a question, is the number a description or is it an identification?
The Number 666: The Trinity of Imperfection
Verse number 18, here’s wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast for the number is that of a man and his number is 666. In all my reading and study on this there are more interpretations of this than any other thing I’ve ever read. I mean after a while I just stack them up. I said for I don’t even know what it means. But what? We really don’t know what it means.
But one thing is sure, the mark will identify a person with the antichrist and in opposition to Jesus Christ. That will be clear.
But most of the people who wrote on this mentioned the numerical value of the 666.
Some people even in the century in which John wrote noted that Nero’s name, if letters were associated with numbers, figured out to 666. So not that the character of Nero, which was a very wicked leader, is going to be antichrist or is going to be a super character like Nero.
But if six always represents the number of man as being imperfect, who always falls short, the beast is the greatest man yet still a man. And again, he falls short of perfection. He wants to be like God, but he can’t.
So the 666 may be the trinity of imperfection. The best that man can produce. He has control of everything.
So Antichrist, kingdom of evil, though it looks apparently strong, is essentially weak. Some say this is the first truth symbolized in the number 666. He is eternally incapable of being the number seven, the number of perfection.
“He is eternally incapable of being the number seven—the number of perfection.”
Therefore, he is internally incapable of endangering the supremacy of God and overthrowing his kingdom.
Just when it looks like Antichrist almost reaches the summit of attainment and scaling the heavens to seize the throne of God, God Almighty with a word crushes his opponent and his kingdom and it collapses. That’s going to be the end.
So the larger Antichrist’s kingdom grows, the less power it has to hold it together because he and his kingdom are fatally flawed. It’s just like a bubble. The more air gets into it, the more it swells, the nearer it is to destruction. And that’s really how it is going to be for those who see what’s going on during that time.
God’s Perfect Trinity vs. Satan’s Flawed Kingdom
Another thing is very sure: Antichrist will never be like the true and living God. He will never be a perfect person. He will never be like Jesus Christ. Never be like the trinity of perfection.
God the Father who is the great I am. The God who always was with no beginning or end in his perfect person. The Holy Spirit described already in Revelation 1:4 from the seven spirits who is before the throne.
We know that’s the Holy Spirit because the number seven is used to describe perfection. And here it was used for his perfect presence before the throne of God. And then Jesus Christ comes into the world, lives a perfect life, a sinless life, goes to the cross and genuinely dies in our place as sinners. Right?
The just dying for the unjust so he can bring us to God. So we can be forgiven. So he could put his righteousness on our account so everything would be clean and wiped away. And that, as we sung, no condemnation can be brought against us ever again because of Jesus’ not only perfect life but perfect sacrifice.
“No condemnation can be brought against us ever again because of Jesus’ perfect life and perfect sacrifice.”
He completed a perfect salvation.
So that all efforts—this is my conclusion at least on this—to identify Antichrist through the numerical equivalents of the number 666 are futile. Only the people, the saints who live during that tribulation will know what it represents and who it represents. But there are certain consistent principles that we do know from the word of God: that Satan will always keep his real identity shrouded in mystery, that Satan will always act like a counterfeit liar, that Satan has the capability of making the God-rejecting earth dwellers unaware of what’s really going on.
Scripture is the only reliable source for exposing the character of the enemy and his plan.
Amen.
Your name cannot be in the lamb’s book of life and at the same time follow and live like the devil. It can’t be. So if your name is placed on the roles of the citizens of heaven, it points to a security only believers have claim to.
The Prophetic Clock Keeps Ticking
We cannot date when these things will take place, but the prophetic clock keeps ticking.
One of these days, suddenly, unexpectedly, the sound of a heavenly trumpet will be blasted and a cry of triumph will pierce the air.
“One of these days, suddenly, unexpectedly, a heavenly trumpet will be blasted and a cry of triumph will pierce the air.”
Then the rapture, the resurrection, and the judgment seat of Christ will be for those who believe. But for the unsaved, there will be a revealing of Antichrist and the terrors of the great tribulation and the devastation of the war of Armageddon.
So the question would be, do we have the urgency? Are you ready?
If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have really no reason to fear an eternal hell. But it is your responsibility to live a holy life to represent and adorn the gospel as you live. And if you are living a disobedient life, today is the time to correct that because if Christ came, you will be ashamed and apprehensive when he does return.
So if you’ve never acknowledged your sin and placed your faith in Jesus and trusted in Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will enter the darkest period of all human history if that time comes. And it is likely that you will become a follower of Antichrist.
Second Thessalonians does tell people who knew the truth before the rapture of the church are likely to be deluded by and destroyed. For the Bible does tell us in Thessalonians, for this reason God will send upon them a strong deluding influence so that they will believe what is false in order that they all may be judged who do not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness.
Well, as long as people live and if they have not taken the mark of the beast, they still are available to receive Christ.
There’s only really one response. There’s only one sane response: receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and do it before it’s too late.
Be Light and Be Discerning
What should we do for those who do know Christ as Lord and Savior? I think the first thing we need to do is be light.
We who are Christians can oppose the spirit of antichrist by being lightbearers.
Jesus is the one who says you are the light of the world.
Light in the Bible represents both truth and goodness. Jesus also says, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they will see your good works and glorify your father in heaven.” All of us were formerly darkness.
But what does it say in Ephesians? “But now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” That’s our responsibility today. There’s no one else who is going to see light or hear the gospel usually except from you.
Ephesians 5:8: “Now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”
You have to be light, but you also have to be discerning.
Knowing the character of Antichrist and the false prophet will help us be discerning about the religious phenomena and confusion of our own day.
You turn on the radio, you look at all these websites. All kinds of wacky, crazy people have their own thing going with all these followers. When you listen to them or hear them, they have no credentials and they have no ability to actually rightly handle the word of God.
By knowing the word of God, we will be able to identify present-day false prophets and teachers. Anyone who denies Christ’s deity—that’s the first place you look. And his humanity, his substitutionary atonement, or his bodily resurrection represents the spirit of antichrist.
Such people are to be exposed and avoided.
Are you ready? Because all these things will happen and God’s people must be ready.
Amen.
Closing Prayer
Or owe me. Let’s pray. Lord, thank you again for just giving us the ability to read the word of God, have it in our hand, and be able to really think through the things that will take place, Lord. And I can’t say that they’re pleasant to think about. They’re not, Lord.
But Lord, there are things in the scripture for our not only edification but for increasing our knowledge of the plan of the enemy against the people of God and against you.
I pray Lord that we would live our life in a way that we would take these things as urgent and so important that they would change the way we think and what we do and where we go, how we speak, how we act because we know everywhere we go, we’re to honor your great name.
And we want to give you all the glory and praise, Lord, for those who are saved to open our eyes to the truth, to show us the true way of salvation, and to bring us and grant us the gift of faith and repentance so we can trust in Christ as our Lord and Savior. Thank you, Lord.
We give you all the praise and the glory and honor. Make us people that are worthy of living the truth. And I pray in Christ’s name. Amen.