The Antichrist and False Prophet / Revelation 13-14

A God Who Loves the Unqualified

Amen. Thank you for that worship. It makes me wonder what it would have been like to be in one of those underground churches back in the Roman Empire. You’re hiding out, and all you have are maybe three pages from a Bible that someone managed to rip out before their home was raided, and you’re gathering together as believers. I love the fact that we can do this.

Individually, I am so glad that God isn’t impressed by our resumes. I’m so glad He isn’t saying, “Hey, I’d really like a group of the spiritual best of the best.” If God were saying, “If you’re not the best, find another team to play on,” most of us would be in trouble. I’m just glad that God loves us exactly as we are.

Tonight, we are going to look at something called the False Prophet—the second beast that rises up—and then we’re going to look at the Mark of the Beast. Now, for a lot of people, this is a source of anxiety. When you got your Vons rewards card and first started swiping it, you might have thought, “Oh gosh, is this it? Have I completely blown it?” Or maybe you went to the hospital and woke up wondering, “Do I have a microchip on me somewhere?” Everybody seems to be freaking out about the Mark of the Beast, but we’re going to talk about it directly from the Word.

Before we get into that, let’s talk about the Antichrist. As we’ve worked to this point in our study, we’ve seen him come on the scene. In Daniel 9, we saw there would be a man who comes at the beginning of the seven-year tribulation period and signs a false peace treaty with the nations. In the middle of that “week,” at the three-and-a-half-year mark, he goes into the temple of God, proclaims himself to be God, and puts a stop to sacrifice. He’s called the Son of Perdition and the Man of Lawlessness.

We get the name “Antichrist” from John’s writings. In 1 John, he says that many antichrists have appeared, and from this, we know it is the last hour. It’s not so much a name as it is a description. He is a poser. He is an imitation of everything Christ has done, but he is a counterfeit of the legitimate.

The Prophetic Backdrop: Daniel’s Four Beasts

Before we dive into Revelation 13, we have to look at the background in Daniel chapter 7. Daniel is in captivity in Babylon, and as he is spending time in the book of Jeremiah, God begins to reveal things to him. He has a vision that is truly awesome because, centuries prior to the events, Daniel lays out with incredible detail exactly what is going to happen in the years to come. He sees an image of four beasts that represent the flow of world power in human history.

Let’s look at the first beast in verse four. It was like a lion that had the wings of an eagle. Daniel watched until the wings were plucked, it was made to stand on two feet like a man, and a human mind was given to it. Now, you’ve probably had dreams before where you’re falling from a cliff and never hit the bottom, but chances are you’ve never had a dream like this. This lion with eagle wings represented Babylon under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar. This was the empire that destroyed the nation of Israel, looted the temple, and destroyed Jerusalem.

Daniel 7:4 (NASB)

’The first [was] like a lion and had [the] wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it.

Then a second beast comes up, resembling a bear. It was raised up on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth. If you know your history, this is the Medo-Persian Empire. It was raised on one side because the Persian side of the empire became much stronger than the Medes. The three ribs represent the three sections of territory they conquered: Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt. Interestingly, these people are still around. The Persians are modern-day Iranians. The Medes are the ancestors of the Kurdish people. Iraq is “old school” Babylon. These players are still on the stage today.

Daniel 7:5 (NASB)

’And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs [were] in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, ‘Arise, devour much meat!’

Then comes the third beast in verse six. It was like a leopard with four wings and four heads. What is a leopard known for? Speed. When the Greek Empire rose to prominence under Alexander the Great, they attacked with lightning speed. They conquered at a velocity the world had never seen. But after Alexander died, what happened? His kingdom was split between his four generals: Lysimachus, Cassander, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. The beast had four heads because the empire was split four ways.

Daniel 7:6 (NASB)

’After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

Finally, Daniel sees a fourth beast, and this one is different. It is dreadful, terrifying, and extremely strong. It had large iron teeth that devoured and crushed everything, and it had ten horns. This represents the Roman Empire. Notice that there isn’t a fifth beast that destroys Rome. Instead, Rome eventually splintered. The ten horns represent positions of power or the splintering of the empire. When the Goths and Visigoths came in, they didn’t destroy the empire’s influence; it splintered into the European nations we know today, like Germany, France, and Spain.

Daniel 7:7 (NASB)

’After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

As Daniel is looking at these ten horns, another “little horn” comes up among them. This horn has the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. This little horn is the Antichrist. Daniel sees him speaking boastful, wicked words until the beast is finally slain and cast into the burning fire.

Daniel 7:8 (NASB)

’While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great [boasts].

Daniel 7:11 (NASB)

’Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.

This matches exactly what we see in Revelation 19, where Jesus Christ rides in on a white horse, takes the beast and the false prophet, and casts them into the lake of fire. Daniel’s prophecy is breathtaking. He predicted Babylon, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks and their four-way split, and the Roman Empire and its splintering. All of it happened exactly as he said. So, when he says one final ruler will rise out of a revived version of this union and reign until he is cast into the fire, I think we can count on that occurring too.

The Beast from the Sea

With that backdrop, let’s look at Revelation 13. John sees a dragon standing on the sand of the seashore. Some translations say John was standing there, but the oldest texts suggest it is the dragon. Then, a beast rises out of the sea. In prophetic language, the “sea” often represents the mass of humanity or the Gentile world. This man rises up in the middle of the Tribulation.

Revelation 13:1 (NASB)

And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns [were] ten diadems, and on his heads [were] blasphemous names.

It might seem odd that the world, in a time of total chaos, would look to one man to lead them. Yet, history shows us this is exactly what happens. In the early 1900s, Germany was in economic and political chaos, and they looked to a young man named Adolf to lead them. He turned the nation around economically, but he also turned them into a target for the world. It isn’t odd at all that a desperate world would rally around one personality. This beast has the attributes of all the previous empires—the leopard, the bear, and the lion—and he is literally empowered by Satan himself.

Revelation 13:2 (NASB)

And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like [those] of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.

The Mock Resurrection and the Unholy Trinity

The only way this Antichrist can demand worship from the whole world is to mimic the most significant event in human history: the resurrection. We see in verses three and four that one of his heads appeared to have a fatal wound, but the wound was healed. The whole earth is amazed and follows him.

Revelation 13:3-4 (NASB)

[I saw] one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed [and followed] after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?’

Earlier in Revelation 11, we saw the two witnesses who were killed and then raised after three days. The Antichrist is going to mimic that. He is going to pose as a resurrected savior. This is where the “Unholy Trinity” taking shape. In the true Trinity, the Spirit points to the Son, and the Son magnifies the Father. In this counterfeit version, you have the Dragon (the father of lies) who empowers the Antichrist (the son), and soon we will see the False Prophet (the unholy spirit) who points everyone back to the beast.

This man will be given authority for forty-two months—three and a half years. He will blaspheme God, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. He will make war against the saints. Every knee will bow to him, and every tongue will confess him, mimicking the authority that belongs only to Jesus Christ.

Revelation 13:5-7 (NASB)

There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, [that is], those who dwell in heaven. It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.

But there is a select group of people who will not bow. Verse eight tells us that everyone whose name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will worship him. This means those whom God chose before the foundation of the earth—the remnant, the elect—will remain faithful. Paul told the Ephesians that God chose us in Christ before the world began. He told the Romans that those He called, He also justified and glorified. This is the hope for the believer: even when the whole world bows to the beast, God will have a people who belong to Him.

Revelation 13:8 (NASB)

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 False Prophet: The Ultimate Hype Man

In verse 11, we meet the second character: the False Prophet. To use an old-school illustration, if you remember the rap group Public Enemy, you had Chuck D and Flavor Flav. Chuck D was the main guy, the “beast” of the group. Flavor Flav wore the big clock and the gold teeth, and his whole job was just to point to Chuck D and get the crowd hyped. He didn’t really rap or dance; he was just the hype man.

That is essentially the False Prophet. He doesn’t do anything on his own initiative; he just points everyone to the Antichrist. He looks like a lamb—he’s a religious figure—but he speaks like a dragon. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Revelation 13:11 (NASB)

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 performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to deceive people. He directs the world to make an image of the beast. Now, God usually mocks idols of wood and stone because they can’t speak, but this image is different. It is given “breath.”

Revelation 13:12-14 (NASB)

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.

In Greek, the word used here is pneuma, which means breath or spirit. It is not zoe, which means life. Only God gives life. But this image is given the potential to speak. When I first read commentators saying this might be a robot or a technological image, I thought, “That’s so dumb.” Then I went to Disneyland. When you see the animatronics and the technology we have today, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched. This False Prophet exalts the beast, and if you don’t worship the image, you are killed.

Revelation 13:15 (NASB)

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.

The Mark of the Beast

Then we get to the famous part. He causes everyone—small and great, rich and poor—to be given a mark on their right hand or forehead. Without this mark, you cannot buy or sell. This is the ultimate system of global control.

Revelation 13:16-18 (NASB)

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.

People wig out over this. They wonder, “Is it my ATM card? Is it a microchip? Have I taken it accidentally?” Let me give you some peace. First, if you are a believer, I believe you’ll be in glory with the Lord when this happens. Second, you will know exactly what you are doing. This isn’t something you “accidentally” take while getting a flu shot. It is a deliberate mark of allegiance to a man who rules the world.

Imagine one person in control of all global commerce. In Revelation 6, we see that a day’s wage will only buy a loaf of bread. That’s a hundred-dollar loaf of bread! This guy will call the shots. If you want to go to Vons and get a Snapple, you’ll need the mark. If you don’t have it, you get nothing.

We don’t know who he is yet. People have guessed everyone from Hitler to Kissinger, and the math never quite adds up. As one smart commentator put it, the fact that we can’t identify him yet just proves he is still in the future. But the point for us isn’t to be amateur detectives trying to calculate 666. The point is that God is in control.

Living in the Light of Truth

I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I know this: if Daniel said Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome would rise in exactly that order, and they did, then I want to know the God Daniel knew. I want to know the God who holds the future in His hands.

That God is the person of Jesus Christ. He came to provide a way for us to live in peace with God forever. While the world may eventually look to a beast for answers, we look to the Lamb.

Closing Prayer

Father, there are times we read the scriptures and they are so practical—how to guard our tongues, how to love our wives, how to raise our children. And then there are times like tonight, where we’re talking about dragons, beasts, false prophets, and talking images. It can make us wonder what on earth is happening.

But I am so grateful that in the middle of these texts, one thing remains true: You are still in control. You are still on the throne. Even as we see the shadows of these things, You are gathering a people for Your own possession. As the Bride of Christ, may we live our faith to such a degree that the world takes note and is drawn to You. We thank You for the hope we have in Christ and for the beauty of Your return. We pray this in Christ’s name, Amen.