The Anti-Prophet and Mark of The Beast
Sermon Notes
Today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Revelation. It’s a series about finding peace in our world of chaos, and the text we’re studying today is about trying to find peace in a false savior. It’s about trying to find peace in a false savior, because sometimes we’ll treat people or things as a savior when life gets hard. For example, sometimes people treat their friends, family, pastor, or counselor as a savior when facing hardships. Sometimes people treat their drugs, alcohol, or digital devices as a savior, to help numb or distract them from their hardships. Sometimes people treat working out, Yoga, meditation as a savior, to help release some of the tensions from their hardships. We all have people or things we’ll sometimes treat as a savior when life gets hard. What are those things for you?...Who or what have you been recently treating as a savior, when life gets hard?...Today’s text is about trying to find peace in a false savior, when life gets hard. It’s about trying to find peace in a false savior, worshiping a false savior, when life gets hard. Let’s turn to Revelation 13 and get into it. You’ll find Revelation in the back of the bible, it’s the very last book of the bible. We’ll be in Revelation 13:11-18. Title of the message is The anti-Prophet and Mark Of The Beast. The big idea is to worship Christ, instead of being deceived by the anti-Prophet of the Antichrist...Worship Christ, instead of being deceived by the anti-Prophet of the Antichrist...
Here’s your context. The book of revelation is about the 2nd coming of Jesus, and what will happen at the end of history when he returns. We divided the entire book into four major sections based on four major visions Jesus gives to John the author, and right now we’re in the 2nd vision which is of Jesus and the Cosmos. It’s of Jesus ruling over the entire cosmos, and his wrath against sin and evil. As we’ve studied this series we’ve learned there’s 7 stages in God’s final judgement, and ch 11 ends with the 7th stage beginning. But we won’t learn about the full effects of this 7thstage until ch 15. Instead what we’ve learned as we’ve studied ch’s 12-13 is Satan starts a war in heaven with God, and it’s now transitioned into a war that’s happening here on earth. It’s a war where Satan is trying to capture our hearts, and fight against everything Jesus says is good for our hearts. We’ll learn more about this war as we study the rest of ch 13, and we’ll specifically learn the following: 1st who is the anti-Prophet, 2nd what is the anti-Prophet’s power, 3rd what is the anti-Prophet’s plan? We’ll learn about the anti-Prophet, the Power, and the Plan. Let’s check it out.
Revelation 13:11-18 states, “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.” Okay so now there’s another beast, a 3rd character being added to Satan’s war on earth. As I mentioned last week ch’s 12-13 reveals Satan’s plan to unleash an Anti-Trinity against humanity. It consists of 1st an Anti-Father which John describes as the dragon Satan, 2nd an Anti-Christ which John describes as the beast of the sea, and 3rd an Anti-Holy Spirit which John describes as the beast of the earth. So this 3rd character being added here is the Anti-Holy Spirit. In ch’s 16 and 19 it says they’re a false prophet, they’re an anti-Prophet. But who is this anti-Prophet?...What do we know about this anti-Prophet?...Most scholars agree this anti-Prophet is a real person, a false prophet who will come at the end of history, but it could also represent a false religious movement or institution they’re leading. This anti-Prophet will be different than the Antichrist, because he’s coming as a calmer false prophet instead of as a ferocious dictator. John clearly describes two different people, two different beasts, when he says one comes from the sea and the other from the earth. In ancient civilizations the sea was often viewed as more chaotic and ferocious than the calmer land on earth. So the implication is the anti-Prophet will be much calmer than the ferocious Antichrist. He’ll be a great speaker who’s very intelligent, charming, persuasive with his words. The text says he’ll appear to be gentle like a lamb, but his words will be deceptive and dangerous like a dragon. He’ll appear to be gentle like the lamb Jesus, but his words will be deceptive and dangerous like the dragon Satan. He’ll be a false prophet, an anti-Prophet, who will lead others to worship the Antichrist instead of Jesus Christ.
Again vs. 11, “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and compels the earth and those who live on it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. 13 It also performs great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in front of people. 14 It deceives those who live on the earth...” This is about the anti-Prophet’s power, which is deception...The anti-Prophet’s greatest power is deception...John says he’ll deceive people not only with his words, but also with his actions. Satan will empower him to do some deceptive miracles that’ll cause people to seek hope in him and the Antichrist. He’ll capture people’s attention with his deceptive miracles, and he’ll capture their hearts with his deceptive messages. With his deceptive miracles and messages, he’ll lead others to worship the Antichrist instead of Jesus Christ. Jesus repeatedly warned us about this when he says in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravaging wolves.” He also says in Matthew 24:11, “Many false prophets will arise, and lead many astray.” So Jesus not only warns us about the deception of many false prophets, but he’s also giving John this vision to warn us about an even greater, more deceptive false prophet that’ll come when people are desperate at the end of history. We have to read this as if it’s the end of the world when people are desperate for survival. People will have already seen over 50% of the human population die from the first 6 stages of God’s final judgement. So the world will be in chaos, and people will be desperate for survival. They’ll be desperate for a savior! That’s when the anti-Prophet will use his deceptive miracles and messages to deceive people into thinking the Antichrist is their savior. He’ll convince people into thinking the Antichrist is the solution to their greatest problems, so they’ll worship the Antichrist establishing a one world religion. Some people think it’s impossible for somebody to establish a one world religion, but there’s actually global efforts for this that’s already happening!
In an article titled the U.N. Faithful Eye Global Religion, James Harder writes, “The secretary-general of the United Nation’s Millennium Peace Summit, thinks all religious apples fall from the same tree and are equally delicious. At a recent international meeting he told 1,000 delegates, that religions need to accept the validity of all religions, or else it’ll be difficult to attain world peace...The pathway to peace necessitates the unification of religions. The Universal Religion Initiative recently convened with 300 people representing 39 religions, and they signed a charter which officially launched the movement. The goal is that there will be a day in which ‘religious people, will no longer insist on a single truth.’” They said the goal is for religious people to no longer insist on a single truth, which means the goal is to create a one world religion. I’m not saying the United Nations is the anti-Prophet, I’m just saying the pieces are already being put in place for all this to happen. The pieces are already being put in place for the anti-Prophet to step in when the world starts falling apart, and people start getting desperate for a savior. The global platforms are already being built for the anti-Prophet to point people to the Antichrist as their savior. He’ll use these global platforms to display his deceptive miracles and messages, to help the Antichrist create a one-world religion, government, and economy, which the text mentions next.
Again vs. 14 states, “It deceives those who live on the earth, because of the signs it’s permitted to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 It was permitted to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could both speak, and cause whoever would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” We’ve seen similar things like this happen all throughout history. We’ve seen emperors and dictators make images of themselves, then require people to worship the image or be killed. John’s saying something like this will happen at the end of history, but on a much greater global scale. It’ll entail people having to worship the Antichrist in a one world religion, or face death. But just like the anti-Prophet gives life to the image of the beast, there are a lot of anti-Prophets or false prophets giving life to the images and idols we’re pursuing in our lives. Kevin DeYoung states, “In our day, the beast may not directly instruct us to worship the state or the president, but he still functions as a mouthpiece for the Devil. He entices us to make money, the desire of our hearts. He convinces us that sex will be most fulfilling, when it’s most free of commitment and ethical norms. He lies to us about the lasting value of fame, power, professional success, and academic prestige. The beast gives breath to these things, so they seem god-like in our eyes. We must have them, and we won’t be happy, fulfilled, or valuable without them.”So just like the anti-Prophet gives life to the image of the beast, there are a lot of anti-Prophets or false prophets giving life to the images and idols we’re pursuing in our lives. It’s all coming from false prophets, promising us false saviors, trying to deceive our hearts into thinking those idols will satisfy us more than Jesus can. It’s only going to get worse when the final anti-Prophet comes, to deceive people’s hearts into thinking the final Antichrist can satisfy their hearts better than Jesus Christ can. When he eventually has enough people joining his one world religion, he’ll threaten to kill anyone who doesn’t worship the Antichrist over Jesus Christ.
Vs. 16, “And it makes everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of its name.” This is the world shifting not just to a one world religion, but also to a one world government and economy where nobody can’t buy or sell anything, without the mark of the beast. This is the anti-Prophet’s plan. It’s to use his deceptive miracles and messages to help the Antichrist create a one-world religion, government, and economy. It’s to have the global power to persecute and execute anyone who doesn’t worship the Antichrist, anyone who doesn’t have the mark of the beast. In ancient civilizations they’d often put marks like tattoos or cattle branding on people like soldiers, salves, and members of religious cults. But John’s saying at the end of history everyone will receive a certain mark on their bodies that’ll signify their allegiance to the Antichrist, and whoever refuses will be executed. If they manage to escape execution, they’ll face daily persecution and hardships as they struggle to buy or sell anything in this new one world government and economy. It’ll be a time when people are possibly marked with something like a microchip or a barcode tattoo, and the only way to get things like water, food, clothing, medical care, basic necessities of life, is to scan your microchip or barcode tattoo. If you don’t have that mark you aren’t getting those basic necessities for life, and if you try purchasing them without it, you’ll be reported to the local authorities and executed.
Once again this is something that’s been happening all throughout history with evil dictators like Hitler. It’s even still happening today in many controlled communist societies. It’s hard to comprehend something like this happening because we’re living in a comfortable free society. But it isn’t hard for somebody to comprehend this who’s living in a controlled communist society. In fact a man from a Bulgarian communist society said, “You can’t understand that the most terrible instrument of persecution ever devised, is a ration card. You can’t buy and you can’t sell except according to that little card. If they please, you can be starved to death. If they please, you can be dispossessed of everything you have. For you can’t trade, buy, or sell, without their permission.” What’s happening in Revelation 13 is like living in a controlled communist society, except it’ll be a global one world religion, government, and economy we can’t escape. Many people will crack under the pressure and get whatever mark they need to survive. But the ultimate plan in all this, is to force people to give their allegiance either to the Antichrist or to Jesus Christ. It’s to separate those who will receive the mark of the Antichrist from those who will receive the mark of Jesus Christ, which we’ll learn more about next week in ch 14. It’s all preparation for the final separation that’ll happen between Satan’s kingdom of hell and Jesus’ kingdom of heaven. Who we put our faith and allegiance in, will determine which eternal kingdom will be in.
Vs. 18, “This calls for wisdom:, Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, because it is the number of a person. Its number is 666.” John’s telling us the mark will either be the name of the Antichrist or the number of his name which is 666. People have been trying to figure out the meaning of the numbers 666 for years, hoping to identify who the Antichrist is. They use an ancient coding process that was used in many ancient civilizations called gematria, which is where every letter has an equivalent numerical value. For example in Hebrew the gematria name Neron Kaisar has a numerical value of 666, which caused many to think the Roman Emperor Nero was the Antichrist. People have also suggested the gematria names of Domitian, Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and many others. But all these are premature because we haven’t reached this point in history when the final Antichrist has achieved global power yet. The number 666 isn’t associated with any historical figure from the past, it’s associated with the final Antichrist when he achieves global power in the future. So the meaning of this mark and the numbers 666 isn’t determined yet, because he hasn’t achieved his global power yet. But when he does, John says people will need to use wisdom. In vs 10 he says we need faithful endurance when facing the Antichrist, but here he says we need wisdom when facing the deceptive lies of the anti-Prophet.
The big idea of the message is to worship Christ, instead of being deceived by the anti-Prophet of the Antichrist...Don’t be deceived into thinking the Antichrist will be a better savior than Jesus Christ...Look I know it’s a very heavy text, but don’t miss the hopeful part of the text. Don’t miss the part where it says in vs 18 that the Antichrist is just a person. It says the number of the beast is a person, it’s a man, which means his power is limited. So if the Antichrist achieves global power in our lifetime, we need to remember he’s just a person, he’s just a man. He’ll appear to be the world’s savior, but he’s still just a man who will never be as great as the real savior Jesus. We need to remember that even now so we aren’t deceived into chasing human idols thinking they’re better saviors than Jesus. If you seek a temporary savior you’ll get a temporary salvation, but if you seek an eternal savior you’ll get an eternal salvation...If you seek a temporary savior you’ll get a temporary salvation, but if you seek an eternal savior you’ll get an eternal salvation...
Jesus is the only eternal savior who can give us an eternal salvation. He’s the only incarnate, fully human and fully divine God who became a man, to die for our sins on the cross, and then rose again so we can enjoy eternal life in heaven with him. Those who put their faith in him won’t receive the mark of the beast, instead they’ll receive the mark of the lamb who will eventually turn into a lion. When Jesus returns he’ll turn into a lion and in ch 19 he’ll defeat both beasts. So we don’t have to fear the wrath of the beast, when we have the protection of the lion...We don’t have to fear the temporary wrath of the beast, when we have eternal salvation through faith in Jesus. The beast is just a man, but Jesus is a good savior, a good shepherd who will guide us through the darkest valleys of the shadow of death, and resurrect us into a joyful eternal life. So in the words of King David, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”