The False Prophet

Read Revelation 13:11-18

Introduction

Illustration: When I was a kid, I remember standing in front of the church with all of the other children and singing the song “Be Careful Little Eyes What You See”. Many of you here today probably remember singing that song as well. Do you remember all of the verses? ---- There’s the title verse, “Be careful little eyes what you see”, and then, “Be careful little hands what you do”, and then there’s the verse that we all used to giggle about in Sunday School, “Be careful little tongue what you say”, and who could forget, “Be careful little feet where you go”, but there’s one more verse of that song that I honestly think is probably the most important because it cuts to the basis of the simple core truth being taught in this simple children’s song, “Be careful little heart whom you trust”. If you recall, last week when we looked at the first portion of Revelation 13, vv. 1-10, I kept asking you a question. Do you remember what it was? ---- In whom do you place your trust? That’s a good question isn’t it, especially in the day and time in which we live. I think we’d all agree that it’s often easy to be pulled in several different directions at the same time, with none of them pulling you in the direction of Christ. God’s word makes it clear that there’s lots of deception in the world, and so it would stand to reason that you and I need to know what to look out for. In other words, what to guard our hearts against. In Revelation 13:11-18, John tells us that he saw a second beast related directly to the first one of Rev. 13:1-10. Most Commentators refer to this second beast as the false prophet, and that’s because of what John says later on in Rev. 16. Now, to be up front with you about it, there’s some disagreement as to exactly what these verses are referring to; is John talking about someone or something? My personal take on it is that it’s probably both because there’s an application for us today as well as one that seems to apply to the final manifestation of what these verses are talking about in the period of time right before the second coming of Christ. So, if that’s the case, how do we apply what John says here to our lives today? ---- Well, I’d say that in these verses John tells us that Satan uses false prophets to deceive and compel people to worship him, and in telling us this John also let’s know what to lookout for so that we won’t fall prey to these schemes, and that, friends, has a direct bearing on our daily lives in the here and now. Let’s take a look.

13:11-12 “False Prophets are Deceptive and Promote False Worship”

Explanation: First, vv.11 and 12, tell us that false prophets are deceptive and that they promote false worship.

Notice, if you will, that in v.11 John says the beast he saw had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It can be easy to be deceived can’t it, especially when something looks harmless and is so enticing. The basic point here is that often things aren’t exactly what they seem to be, so be careful and don’t let your guard down!

Illustration: I once read about a woman who found out some really interesting information about her husband, a man she’d been married to, at that time, for nearly 25 years. Her and her husband had lived in a nice quiet suburban neighborhood for most of their married life, she worked as a manager in the local supermarket, and he as a salesman for a successful chemical company. They’d never had any children of their own, but she’d always attributed that to his having to be gone fairly often on business trips for the company. Even though she wished her husband could be home more often, she didn’t complain because he more than supplied for all their needs and was always willing to help her out when he was home, but all of that changed one evening when she sat down to watch the news. During one portion of the broadcast the news anchor began discussing a dangerous and covert military raid that had occurred in a foreign country and just as the camera was showing footage from the events, there, right before her eyes she saw her husband, dressed in full military gear! He had paint on his face, and he was carrying equipment she’d never imagined she’d ever see him with. Certainly, it wasn’t the man she was used to with a crisp white dress shirt and matching tie! You see, for all of those years she’d been deceived, her husband had been using his job as a chemical salesman as a front when in reality he was a spy who was involved in covert operations. You’ve probably heard the old saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees”. Well, that’s what happen in this situation, the woman didn’t connect the dots, even when she would find military fatigues stashed away in her husband’s closet. ---- Sometimes it’s hard for us to connect the dots too because the Devil is very subtle and he uses lots of things as a front, and the truth is that most of them look as innocent as can be!

Argumentation: Now, I’m not at all saying that we shouldn’t have men and women in our military who are spies because what they do certainly protects us! However, the point is that sometimes things aren’t what they seem to be. When it comes to false prophets, they can be really compelling and as John says there in v.12, they do everything within their power to try and get you follow them, and by doing so you give worship to the beast. And where does the beast find its power source? ---- In the activity of Satan, who would like nothing more than to gain for himself the worship that’s due only to God, and friends therein lies the crux of the problem. When we worship something or someone besides our Creator, that’s called idolatry and it’s easy to slip into it without even realizing that you’re doing so.

Appeal: So, be very careful where you put you trust because false prophets are deceptive, and they will do anything to promote false worship! Now, if that’s what false prophets do, then the next question we need to be asking is, how do they do it? To answer that we need to look at vv.13 and 14 where John tells us that false prophets perform deceptive signs.

13:13-14 “False Prophets Perform Deceptive Signs”

Argumentation: I think one of the most difficult things for many believers in our day and time to accept, especially westerners, is the reality of the existence of supernatural realm. Friends, the Bible is quite clear on this reality. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians he said, “12… we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12, NKJV). I find it absolutely astonishing that people consistently use the phrase “Seeing is believing”, and yet, when they do see they don’t believe because they attribute what they see to some kind of naturalistic or scientific explanation. Even those who profess to be Christians do this! The truth is, however, that Satan is alive and well on planet earth, and he’s got a whole slew of minions helping him out! No, I’m not saying that every single event that happens is Satanically inspired, but I do believe that there’s very often more going on than meets the eye. And that, my friends, does mean that at times false prophets are empowered to perform deceptive signs.

Explanation: In v.13 John tells us that the false prophet, “13… performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men”, and then in v.14 John says that “14 … 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.” What I find interesting about this is how it seems to fit right in with what Jesus says will be commonplace during the time between his first and second comings. ---- When Jesus was on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem talking to his disciples, he told to them, 4 …Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many” (Mt. 24:4-5, NIV84). Then again, later in his discussion he told them that “24 … false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible” (Mt. 24:24, NIV84). If you don’t think these things are possible, then you might want to rethink that opinion because according to Jesus, they are! Church, false prophets do perform deceptive signs. Why(?) because they have a supernatural power behind them that’s driving them, and it pushes those who are willing to buy in to follow. Don’t be fooled by it because it’s of the Devil who would like nothing more than to deceive you, gain your trust, and pull you into whatever scheme he’s hatched up!

Appeal: The question you need to be asking yourself when you see things happening is this, does it line up with Scripture? Does this bring glory to God? And then, when you’ve answered those questions, you have to ask yourself, who am I following, and why am I following them? If the answer doesn’t lead you back to Christ, then you desperately need to reevaluate your spiritual condition, call out to God and ask him to help you center your life on Christ as your Lord and Savior! Let’s look at vv.15-17.

13:15-17 “False Prophets Bring Persecution and Demand Loyalty”

Explanation: These verses build on what we’ve just talked about because here we’re told that the false prophet “15… was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast (that’s the beast of 13:1-10), 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.” Do you realize what that verse is saying? ---- It’s saying that when you’re not willing to follow the beast, which at the very least during the period we live now, manifests itself in evil human governments and the leaders who dominate them, if you’re not willing to buy into their principles, their ideas of what constitutes morality, then you may well pay for it with your life!

Argumentation: Now, that’s a big fat hard pill to swallow, but it’s what the text says, and it’s here that we’ve got to be very, very careful. You see, it’s easy to compromise your principles in a heated moment of passion, or when the pressure begins to mount up against you, but that’s the very moment when you have to stand the strongest because it’s then, during that time when you might think that you’re at your weakest that God most often makes you the strongest, and it’s in that split second when the gospel of the cross speaks the loudest. ---- Tertullian, the great second century apologist once said that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” The point, friends, is that people see the truth in something that a person is willing to give their life for. Do you realize that every one of the men who originally followed Jesus, except Judas, gave his life for the faith? Even John, the author of the book we’re studying, according to church tradition, was boiled alive in an effort to stamp him out, but God wouldn’t have it, and so we have the book we’re studying today, Revelation. Church, if anything that should give you hope, and here’s why. It’s because you can see the sovereign finger of God at work. You will not draw your last breath and leave this earth until God is finished with you! ---- Application: What does that mean for us in the here and now? ---- It means that we are called to be faithful to the gospel and win souls for the kingdom! You and I, we, that is the church, the body of Christ, we are the instrument through which God works to bring the gospel to the nations and save people! Even though false prophets may bring persecution and demand loyalty, we are called to be loyal to our Savior Jesus Christ. Yes, these verses do speak of a “mark”, but I would strongly argue that it refers to a spiritual reality more so than it does to some kind of bar code or tattoo, and here’s why. We’ve already seen that time and time again John takes his imagery from the OT, so why should this be any different? I find it very intriguing that in the OT God’s people were told concerning the law, “This observance shall be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the law of the LORD is to be on your lips” (Exo. 13:9, NIV84). And then, in Deuteronomy 6:6 the people were told, “6These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts” (NIV84). Then, two verses later in Deut. 6:8, “8Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads” (NIV84). Now, here’s what’s interesting, when you place these texts from Exodus and Deuteronomy side by side you notice that the law being on one’s lips and in one’s heart is parallel, and it points to the fact that this is an internal thing that manifests itself externally in how a person lives. In other words, this person is a believer who is marked by the Spirit and this is not some kind stamp, tattoo, or written mark being referred to in Exodus and Deut. The polar opposite of that would be a person who doesn’t have the law written on their hand or on their forehead; that person isn’t a believer; that person is marked in a different way as they carry the mark of the world. ---- Application: So, how does this illuminate what you read in Rev. 13 concerning the mark? “According to this text, Rev. 13:16-17, the mark of the beast’s ownership is placed on the forehead and right hand. If the forehead represents our beliefs, and the right hand represents our conduct as a result of those beliefs (which it clearly does in these OT texts), then the mark that’s spoken of in these verses has to be (a spiritual thing) referring to a satanic counterfeit of commitment to God and his law.”[1] But, for the sake of argument (even though I’m arguing that the mark is a spiritual thing), let’s just say that one day this mark does have some kind of physical manifestation. What about it then? ---- One of the biggest and main truths you can draw from what’s said here in Rev. 13 is that you cannot unknowingly take the mark of the beast. Why(?) because in order for it to mean anything you have to worship the beast, and simply put, if you’re a true follower of Christ, you’re not going to do that.

Appeal: So, let me cut straight to the chase here and ask you, who are you following, is it Jesus, or is it someone/something else? And that brings us to v.18 where we find out that false prophets lead people into idolatry.

13:18 “False Prophets Lead People into Idolatry” Explanation: John says that all of this calls for “18 … wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.” Now, we could spend a really, really long time talking about this verse and how people have tried for nearly two-thousand years to guess who are what that number 666 is referring to. However, I want to point something out to you that’s, frankly, not brought out in many English translations, and that’s the way this verse is translated, and what the Greek text here actually says. The NET Bible, or the 1984 NIV probably do the best job with the translation, listen to how the NET Bible translates v.18, “18 This call for wisdom. Let the one who has insight calculate the beast’s number, for it is man’s number, and his (that is man’s number) is 666” (Rev. 13:18, NET). Do you see the difference? The point seems to be that this number, 666, is more of a reference to humanity in general, and the fact that we have a tendency to elevate ourselves onto a pedestal where only God belongs. We want to idolize ourselves. Yes, I do believe there’s going to be one satanically inspired manifestation of this at the very end that completely embodies what’s taught in these verses (you know him as the anti-Christ), but all in all humanity on the whole is anti-God / anti-Christ. Man has done his best to remove God from school as well as the public square and he does his best to support what God’s word clearly classifies as sin in totally demolishing the sanctity of both human life and marriage between a man and a woman, and then guess what man does? He turns right around and ask God to bless him(?) Really, who do we think we are(!)?

Appeal / Conclusion: Church, Satan uses false prophets to deceive and compel people to worship him, and my question to you today is this, are you being deceived? Are you being compelled to worship something that deep down inside you know that you shouldn’t? If that’s you, then I have the answer to your predicament. His name is Jesus, and he’s calling to you today, come to me. Won’t you come?

Invitation

Closing Prayer

[1] Mystery Explained: David H. Campbell. Loc. 2659, Kindle.