The Satanic Priest

Rev. 13:11-18

Introduction:  Satan is not an originator; he is an imitator.  The Bible teaches us there is a divine trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  Satan also has a trinity as revealed here in this chapter.  Satan who is the dragon, the beast is the Antichrist, and the False Prophet is the imitation of the Holy Spirit.  Just as the Holy Spirit points men to Christ, the False Prophet points men to the Antichrist and his world religion.  The False Prophet may be called the Satanic Priest.

I. His mission vv. 11-12

A. The deception v. 11

1.  The image of the two horns suggest that he has horns but the absence of the crown indicates his authority is not political.

2. He will portray himself as a kind and gentle person.

3. He will be like a lamb point to his imitation of Jesus as the Lamb of God.

4. His mouth will be like a dragon point to the lie which is about to bring a strong delusion

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:” (2 Thessalonians 2:11)

5.  Speaking as a dragon refers to the character and content of Satan

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44)

6.  This second beast represents political and economic authorities over the people in Asia Minor in John’s day.

7. This second beast here is the servant of the dragon.

B. The demand v. 12

1.  The second beast will exercise all the authority of the first beast by acting as his prophet.

2. This prophet will be the Antichrist’s effective agent in directing the persecution and demand worship.

3. He will have some type of authority but the absence of the crown indicates his authority is not political.

II. His motive vv. 13-15

A. Satanic worship

1.  The false prophet (second beast) will point to the Antichrist and his image and compel people to worship Satan through the best.

2. He is capturing the heart of people to worship Satan.

3. These deceptive signs (II Thess. 2:9) will lead the world into devil worship.

4. He will lead the world into the abomination of desolation:  the image of the beast is set up in the temple in Jerusalem.  The height of blasphemy to desecrate God’s temple-Satan will command worship on earth at this time.

B. Worldwide deception

1.  This Satanic energized false prophet will do lying wonder and duplicate the cause of Christ.

2. This image will move and it will speak which deceives the future world.

3. Satan will want full demonic worship and bowing down to his desire.

“Several vices characterize false prophets, apart from the obvious one of teaching lies. Scripture denounces them as wicked (Jer. 23:11), adulterers (Jer. 23:14), greedy (Ezek. 22:25; Mic. 3:11; 2 Pet. 2:15), self-deceived (Ezek. 13:2–3), and idolaters (Jer. 2:8; 23:13). Not surprisingly, God will judge them severely[1]”

III. His mark vv. 16-18

A. Economic control vv. 16-17

1.  The false prophet will institute economic measures to gain control over people.

2. Without this mark you cannot buy or sell anything in the world.

3. We should not be surprised because we know the world leaders have been monitoring our buying and spending habits—have you noticed how many the rewards or cashback apps or cards we sign up for voluntarily-who monitors those?  How is it they know our spending habits?  You purchase something that has various parts that go with it, the next day or two you receive emails or texts to buy more.

4. We are living in an economic nightmare in many ways—think about it-credit score controls what we buy or how much we can buy-the governmental finances interest rate, gas prices, energy costs, groceries—it is easy to see how mankind can be controlled by economic controls.

“When a person burned a pinch of incense to worship Caesar, he received a certificate verifying that he had done so. This certificate preserved him from death by persecution, and it enabled him to buy and sell.811[2]

B. Antichrist identity v. 18

1.  The special mark is the name or number of the beast-666.

2. Since man was created on the sixth day, six is the number of man. 

3. Creation was made for man and the number six stamped on it like 24 hour days, twelve months a year.

4. No one is certain to understand or know the name and or the number meaning.

5. Numbers, identification number by social security card, bank account and routing numbers-this may be the world’s preparation for the beast’s use of numbers.

6. This is the middle of the Tribulation Period but we are not quite ready for the return of the Lord.

7. The warning is given to not be a part of the Satanic worship:  there are little areas where we must draw a line and say no to any hint of Satanic control or worship-drugs and alcohol is one example.

Conclusion:  In a time period in our world where Satanic activity is on the rise, we should not be surprised that what this passage is telling us this is the goal of Satan before his time is over.

[1] John F. MacArthur Jr., Revelation 12–22, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 2000), 56.

811 Barclay, 2:130.

[2] Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), Re 13:17.