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The History of the Ages – Lesson 40

In the last lesson I outlined some things concerning the Antichrist from what John says about him in Revelation 13:1-8. And after that he makes an interesting comment in verses 9-10. “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear (and understand). If anyone is destined for captivity, then into captivity he will go; if anyone is to be killed by the sword, then the sword will kill him. This is (the test) of the patient endurance and faith of the saints.” This has to be understood in the context of the previous verses that tell us the Antichrist will make war (symbolized by the “sword”) against the saints and overcome them (verse 7). During the last 3½ years of the tribulation the Antichrist is going to kill as many believers as he can. John also says that those whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb will worship the Antichrist (verse 8). These are the ones destined for captivity. The Antichrist will control every aspect of their lives (verses 16-17).

Now, if you’ve read some of the articles on my website, you may remember me talking about the difference between spiritual reality and religious pretense. It’s easy to say you believe. It’s simple to follow the crowd and go through the motions of participating in the traditions and rituals of religion. But when you’re faced with vicious persecution and almost certain death, it’s a real test to stand your ground and prove your loyalty to God. That’s what John is saying in verses 9-10. When Satan (verse 4) and then the false prophet (who we will talk about in this lesson) join forces with the Antichrist, he will unleash his fury against both Jews and those who are coming to Christ. This will not be just a difficult time for Jews and believers; it will be an impossible time. Multitudes will not survive.

This brings us to verse 11 where John sees “another beast”. By the way, while I’m thinking about this, let me explain something. There are three “beasts” in Revelation. It’s important to understand this and make the proper distinction when required by paying attention to the context. The Antichrist is called a beast (13:1). Here, the false prophet is a beast (13:11). Then there was the beast out of the abyss (11:7) that kills the two witnesses. Now I’ll list some things about the false prophet taken from verses 11-17 and some later references.

1. Like the Antichrist, he will also be a man. John sees “another” beast. This is allos, which literally means, “another of the same kind”. Also, personal pronouns are used of both in the text, indicating they are persons.
2. Like the Antichrist comes up out of the sea, the false prophet comes up out of the earth. Both mean the same thing (compare Daniel 7:3 with 7:7). They both rise up through the multitudes of humanity. They’re natural born men, not fallen angels or men who lived in the past and were resurrected or reincarnated. There are hundreds of false theories regarding this, trying to prove they are past political leaders, Roman Popes, etc.
3. He is commonly called the false prophet because of what is said about him in verse 12. He has the same supernatural powers displayed by the Antichrist (remember II Thessalonians 2:8-12) and uses them to promote the idea that the Antichrist is God. And, you could make the point from 13:2 that tells us the Antichrist is given power and authority by the dragon (Satan), that the false prophet (since he has the same powers) has received them from the dragon, as well (also compare 19:20).
4. He will come with a lamb-like appearance to deceive, but he will speak like the dragon (verse 11). In my experience, this is true of many religious leaders.
5. He will force men to worship the Antichrist (verse 12).
6. He will perform many great miracles specifically designed to mimic things that God has done in the past. These counterfeit miracles will deceive many and give the false prophet great influence over them (verses 13-15; 19:20).
7. He will use that influence to cause men to make a statue of the Antichrist. He will have the ability to make the image come to life and speak and will demand the death penalty for those who refuse to worship the statue (14-15; 15:2; 20:4-6).
8. He will force men in the kingdoms dominated by the Antichrist to receive the mark or name of the Antichrist on their forehead or right hand (verse 16) and make a law that no one can buy or sell without that mark (verse 17).
9. He will join the Antichrist and the dragon in sending demon spirits out to gather the nations to Armageddon (16:13-16; 19:19-21).
10. He is captured alive with the Antichrist at Armageddon and cast into the lake of fire (19:20).
11. Now, this last one is a little more complicated. The false prophet, along with the Antichrist, will still be alive in the torment of the lake of fire one thousand years later. They were “cast alive” into the lake of fire in 19:20. After that, Satan is bound in the abyss for a thousand years (the Millennium that we’ll look at later) in 20:1-3. He is then loosed to deceive the nations at the end of the thousand years to gather them together for the final battle in 20:7-9. Then Satan is cast into the lake of fire “where the beast and the false prophet are, where they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” in 20:10. Are you with me so far? The Antichrist and false prophet are thrown alive into the lake of fire at Armageddon. Satan joins them a thousand years later. Now we go back to Revelation 14:9-11 that tells us that those who receive the mark of the beast and worship him are doomed to eternal torment. Verse 11 says, “the smoke of their torment will ascend forever and ever”. With that, we must add Isaiah 66:22-24 that tells us when the new heavens and new eternal earth become a reality (what I call the eternal state that we’ll talk about much later) there will be Sabbath days set aside and two things will be required of everyone: they will have to worship before the Lord (verse 23); and they will have to look down into openings in the earth that allow them to see the lake of fire and what happens to those who have rebelled against God (verse 24). These are the places described above in verse 11 where the smoke of their torment will ascend forever and ever.

John’s description of the false prophet goes from 13:11 to 13:17, leaving one more verse in this chapter. “Here is wisdom. Let those who have insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. And that number is six hundred and sixty-six.” Again, if you take the efforts of past and present religious hucksters seriously, you’ll have many theories to consider – all trying to prove the number 666 represents some evil tyrant of the past from Nero to Hitler.  

But, since I believe the Scriptures are clear that both the Antichrist and the false prophet are men (we already covered that in points 1 and 2 above), this is my take on this verse. The number six (hex) is often used to suggest incompleteness, in comparison to the perfect number seven. Here the number is tripled to represent the fullest expression of man’s pride and arrogance in his opposition to a perfect and holy God. The Antichrist, under the influence and direct support of Satan, and with the help of the false prophet, is the culmination of all that fallen man has ever devised in his long history of rebellion against God.