The Second Beast, The False Prophet
Revelation chapter 13 The Second Beast We find the second beast introduced in Rev. 13:11-18. We found in the first part of the chapter that the first beast came out of the sea and represented the political system of the tribulation and now we have the second beast that comes up out of the earth and represents a different system, and since it mentions a lamb then this is indicating a religious system of the tribulation. Bear in mind that this is an earthly not a heavenly religion. Which goes with the name the “false prophet” found in Rev. 16:13, 19:20, and 20:10. Satan has now brought together his trinity emulating the holy trinity. This second beast, the false prophet, is imitating the Holy Spirit in His religious role of leading people toward the Savior. The first beast, the anti-christ, is imitating Christ the King, and the dragon, Satan emulating God the omnipotent Supreme, or source of all power. The false prophet is going to do great wonders (v. 13) through the power of the dragon. He will bring down fire, just as fire was brought down upon Job to consume all the sheep and servants (Job 1:16). Again another instance is when, Pharaoh’s sorcerers turned their rods into snakes in Ex. 7:11-12. These and in many other instances listed in the Bible prove that Satan can transfer great power just like in Daniel 10:13 where the Prince of Persia withstood Michael for twenty-one days. We must keep in mind that Lucifer is the fourth most powerful being, the prince and powers of the air (Eph. 2:2, 6:12) and the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4). The second beast, the false prophet, will force all to bow to their demands under the penalty of the guillotine (Rev. 20:4). Rev. 6:9 and Rev. 7:7-17speaks of that multitude of martyrs that will be in heaven waiting and pleading for the end of the tribulation. The false prophet forcing all to bow to the image of the anti-christ or die ought to sound familiar. In Daniel 3:1-18 Nebuchadnezzar with the image of the ruler and here in Rev. 13:14-18 the image of the anti-christ. Also take notice of how the number “6” is emphasized in both occasions. Between these two beasts the entire economical, political and religious realm will be ruled. Covering all classes of people and all nations of the world. All will have to have the “mark”, name of the beast or number of his name to do anything commercially, to buy or sell anything. Now the number of the beast is the number of man “666”. This is totally man’s system and this system will be brought about during the tribulation. This number system is not one of today. Although I do believe that that the technological advances of our present numerical numbering system is a forerunner of the system that they beast will use. Even today almost everything and everyone is represented by a number, our Currency, social security, tracking numbers, part numbers, serial or model number, the ISBN code that is scanned in almost all things purchased. All these numerical systems being currently used as a way of tracking us where we go and what we do. These systems are just preparing a way to make accepting the inevitable palatable.