In Matthew 24:24, Jesus warned that in the end times false prophets would arise showing signs and wonders and with such power that if it were possible, they would deceive the elect. We have seen many come over recent times, people like David Koresh and Jim Jones, but the one who is to arise during the Tribulation will be the most deceiving ever. Since humanity is so incurably religious, the Antichrist will need to provide an outlet for those inclinations in order to deceive the world. We will see in chapter 17 that the Antichrist will establish an ecumenical church that will have so much power that it will contain his power. He will eliminate that power at the midpoint of the Tribulation, at which time he will establish his own form of worship, the worship of himself as God. The devil will raise a special man to propagate that religion, the third personality and second beast of chapter 13, the false prophet.
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.
That John beheld another beast coming up out of the earth makes many believe that this means that this beast will be a Jew. That he comes up out of the earth seems to mean that he will not be of mixed nationality like the Antichrist. Due to the fact that the Tribulation is for Israel, it would make perfect sense that an apostate Jew would attempt to deceive the very people God is most trying to draw to him. He may even be the one who leads Israel to come to a covenant with the Antichrist beginning the Tribulation. In no way is it certain that he will be, this is merely the thinking of many scholars. His two horns like a lamb symbolize authority. Lambs don’t have horns but are meek and mild creatures. The false prophet won’t be meek and mild. He will be arrogant and authoritive, he will be the second most powerful man on earth. In Matthew 7:15, Jesus told us to “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” The False Prophet will be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He will arise from the earth appearing to have the interest of the world in mind, but will have great power that he will use to do Satan’s work. That’s why he’s described as a two horned lamb. He spake as a dragon because he will his receive power of deceptive speech from Satan who is the dragon (ch. 12). He will deceive the nations along with Antichrist through the power of words. This also suggests that he may be the one to deceive Israel into signing a covenant with Antichrist. Though at the beginning of the Tribulation he doesn’t seem to be revealed as the False Prophet, I believe he will have a great hand in the world’s deception. I also believe he will have a strong relationship throughout the Tribulation with the Antichrist.
Revelation 13:12-14 – 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. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
That he exercises the power of the Antichrist in his presence shows the close relationship between the two, and how they will work together to gain power over the entire earth. With this power, he will cause all people to worship Antichrist. The whole purpose of the power given to him will be to cause humanity to worship Antichrist as God. After his resurrection, the Antichrist will be so deceived about himself that he will proclaim himself God, sit on God’s throne in the temple, and seek the worship of the world (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8). The purpose of the False Prophet is to cause this “world religion” to be put into effect. An apt description of the False Prophet is that he will be the High Priest of this “world religion”.
This section of scripture gives us the full personage of the Satanic Trinity.
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Satan – Anti-God. He is the head of the three and leads them as God leads the Holy Trinity. Like God, he will resurrect his “son” giving him great power of deception. The power that God gave Christ though is salvation.
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Antichrist – Anti-Christ – He, like Christ, does the work of his father and follows his will. He will have a 3 ½ year “ministry” in the sense that all he does in the first half of the Tribulation leads to what will come for his worship in the future. Christ’s 3 ½ year ministry led to our salvation and allows us to worship him as savior. Like Christ he will be killed at the end of his ministry and be resurrected. The difference is not only the reason for their death’s and resurrection’s, but that Christ’s kingdom is eternal, and Antichrist’s is only 3 ½ more years.
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False Prophet – Anti-Holy Spirit – Like the Holy Spirit, he will call men to worship. Unlike the Holy Spirit, his call will not be for the salvation of souls, but for their damnation. He does great wonders (signs), just as the Holy Spirit did through the Apostles at the beginning of the church. Great wonders is also the same phrase that was used to describe Jesus’ ministry almost 2000 years ago. This leads us to believe that Satan and the Antichrist will give the False Prophet great power in which to work with. This should be no surprise to those who know scripture that Satan has great power, and gives great power to people. When Moses was in Pharaoh’s court, God gave him the power to turn his rod into a serpent. Satan also though gave power to Pharaoh’s magicians to do the same. God, of course, being more powerful gave Moses’ serpent power to eat Pharaoh’s magician’s serpents. 2 Thessalonians 2:9 tells us that the Antichrist will be given power to perform counterfeit wonders and signs. It is very conceivable that he and the False Prophet would be able to counterfeit even the miracles of Jesus in an attempt to lead the world to believe that the Antichrist is the Messiah promised to the Jews. This shows us the significant truth that the supernatural doesn’t confirm God’s work. Satan has used the supernatural throughout history in his work against humanity and God. One of those great wonders described here is calling fire from heaven. Just as Elijah called down fire from heaven in 1 Kings 18:38 and 2 Kings 1:10, the False Prophet will also. Therefore, there will be an Elijah as God’s man in the first half, and an Elijah as Satan’s man in the second half. Satan, just as Elijah, has shown the power to call down fire. He destroyed Job’s sheep and servants in this way in Job 1:16. Since Satan is the source of the False Prophet’s power, it will be no problem for him. The false prophet will perform these miracles as a way to deceive men, but He will only have power to do miracles in the presence of Antichrist. With this deception, he will cause an image of the antichrist to be built. This will be similar to Daniel 3, when Nebuchadnezzar had an image built if himself for all of Babylon to worship. They build it because they believe Antichrist to be God because of his resurrection.
Revelation 13:15 – And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
The False Prophet will give breath to the image insomuch as the image will have the power to speak. After it is built, he will force all humanity
to bow and worship the image. He will issue an order that all who don’t be executed. This also is similar to Nebuchadnezzar’s edict of death. His sentence was a fiery furnace in which Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were delivered, but Revelation 20:4 tells us that not worshipping the beast and his image will come with a sentence of beheading. Virtually all scholars believe this will be by guillotine.
Revelation 13:16-17 – And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
The false prophet will force all humanity to receive a mark on their forehead or right hand. No man will be able to buy or sell without this mark. This shows the strangle hold Antichrist will have on the world economy through his socialistic government. So, we see that the false prophet, and not the Antichrist, will institute the mark, contrary to what most believe.
Revelation 13:18 – Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
This mark will be Antichrist’s name, or the number of his name (666). It appears in some way that his name will be part of the equation in the number. In the Hebrew language, for example, letters have a number representation…as in many languages. 6 is the number of man, but 666 is not necessarily the actual mark.
Why would God allow the Antichrist and False Prophet this kind of power? Because, though this is a time in which God will overwhelmingly supernaturally involve Himself in the earth, He still wants those to believe to believe in faith. If He were the only source of the supernatural, it would take faith out of the equation. Scripture tells us though that; “without faith it is impossible to please God.”
Until next time…God Bless!!
Free By Christ 