Let’s have a look at Revelation 13 and make one or two conclusions from it.
If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Revelation 13.
Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 2 Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marvelled and followed the beast. 4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”
5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. 6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Then, we read about the second beast in verse 11,
11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
The famous 666 prophecy!
One of the things which you notice if you study that scripture is that it speaks about a time when the government is going to come under the control of this man. Not just in one place, but basically, everywhere.
Now some have disputed whether that is possible today because you see governments going in totally different directions, you see America going one way, China going another way, Russia going another way.
But will they ever all come together?
And it does appear that if it does happen, then any kind of union will be a very fragile union, the type of union Daniel speaks about, the iron and the clay coming together but which don’t hold together.
31 “You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendour was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. 32 This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.
Daniel 2.31-34
Therefore, you have nations coming together but also falling apart. And that’s one of the features of the last days.
The Antichrist is going to be given power by ten kings who give their own power to him. The ten kings are either ten regions of the world or ten leaders who give their power to the Antichrist at the time of his setting up of this global government.
Three of them then turn against him, so there already is conflict between them.
Yet, it is possible to see, as we look at the world today, this coming together of nations (a bit more about how that’s happening in a moment).
The scripture also says that he’s going to be given power by the devil. It says the dragon gave him his power and great authority.
It also speaks about him having some connection with a leopard, a bear, a lion, and the dragon.
What do those things mean?
If you go to the Book of Daniel, you see that those empires refer to the empires which oppressed God’s people from the time of Nebuchadnezzar: the lion which was Babylon, the bear which was Persia, and the leopard which was Greece, followed by the final beast which was Rome.
There is going to be something of the spirit behind those empires which will be behind this one.
And it all goes back to ancient Babylon, to the tower of Babel. That is, bringing the nations together and the spirit behind Babel, which is the Antichrist, anti-God spirit which will end up worshiping what has been made, not worshiping the creator and will bring in counterfeit a religious system.
It also says about him being mortally wounded and his deadly wound being healed, and all the world marvelled and followed the beast because of this.
Now, there is some speculation about what that means. Some have said that he will experience a counterfeit death and resurrection, that is, he’ll be assassinated, apparently die and come back to life. It’s possible.
I’m not going to say that that’s what will happen but if something happens which provides a visible sign that he is a new messiah type coming to save us, that he’s got power, then, you can imagine that people in the world would marvel and follow him.
The Bible goes on to say that they’ll worship the dragon who gave the authority to the beast. So, as they worship him, they’re worshiping the dragon behind him.
I’ve spoken about all those leaders like Hitler, Stalin, Mao. If they worship these leaders they’re not worshiping just the person, they’re worshiping the demonic spirit which is behind them. (See: Many antichrists have already come)
Satan is giving power to these men and people are then worshipping them in a way which is bringing them into bondage to Satan.
The Antichrist is given power and authority, he speaks great things and blasphemies, therefore, he’s speaking against God.
He is given authority for 42 months. 42 months, if you work it out, is three and a half (3.5) years and, in the scriptures, you have this period of seven years at the end of days, the Tribulation period, which is divided into two halves.
From what I understand, he’s coming to power in the first three and a half years. After those initial three and a half years, he brings in the Mark of the Beast system, and, from then on, it’s big trouble right through to the end of days and the Second Coming of Jesus.
You have this period in which the Antichrist is given power, during which time he opens his mouth and blasphemes against God, blasphemes against His name, His Tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.
The Antichrist is blaspheming against God, he’s making war with the saints and overcoming them, and he has authority over every tribe tongue and nation. People whose names have not been written in the Book of Life worship him.
In the end, you’re going to have a choice between the beast and the Messiah. There is NO in-between.
Either you worship him, the wrong one, or you worship the true one, Jesus the Messiah, this is why we need to worship Jesus now.
Then, we have this second beast who comes along, who is described as the false prophet, who is a kind of ‘sidekick’ to the Antichrist, and he brings in the worship of the image of the beast.
We talked a bit about images earlier. He makes an image which causes people to worship the image. The image, apparently, can speak.
Therefore, whether it’s some technological device using advanced computer technology, I don’t know, but there’s something which causes this image to communicate. Some have even said it could be just the television: you’ve got an image which speaks and a projection of the message through the image – speaking image.
We are living in the only time in history where people have had access to a ‘speaking image’. In the past, you had images which couldn’t speak. People might have worshipped them, but you never had an image which could speak.
Now, we all spend half of our time watching an image which speaks, which can be used for good but, most often, is used for harm.
And the image speaks and causes people to worship the beast.
It says worship. And that those who would not worship the image of the beast are to be killed. Therefore, you will have a choice to worship it or not to worship it.
Again, you can go back to Book of Daniel chapter 3 where Nebuchadnezzar sets up the image and he says ‘you’ve got to bow down and worship, and, if you don’t, you get thrown into the burning fiery furnace’. That’s the spirit of the Antichrist which was there in Daniel and is here in Revelation.
4 Then a herald cried aloud: “To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, 5 that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; 6 and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”
Daniel 3.4-6
Then, in verse 16, we have this very interesting verse which speaks about him causing people, whether they’re small or great, rich or poor, free or slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads. And no one can buy or sell unless they have the Mark of the Beast or the number of his name and this has something to do with the number 666.
16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
I’m not going to speculate too much about this because there’s endless speculation about what it means. Why the number 666?
What it does say here is that we bring in a system in which you can’t buy or sell unless you have this authorization through this mark, which somehow gives you the opportunity to buy and sell.
Why buying and selling?
Well, if you can’t buy and sell, you can’t really enter into society, can you? You need to be able to buy and sell to go on a train, go on a bus, get your food, go to work, receive money.
The act of going to work is part of our basic society. You have to be able to buy and sell. He’s saying that this will be a means by which you can be stopped from buying and selling if you don’t have this mark.
What does it mean then? We are being prepared for it now. There are things happening now which are pushing the world in this direction.
I see a few people nodding their heads. Perhaps you believe there are…
There is actually a “Giant” in the works. Produced by The Giant Company. It will be the world’s tallest, largest, speaking and moving statue. https://thegiantcompany.ie/
development as of October, 2021. https:/./www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDv0G5V2c4c
Thanks Mary!