The False Prophet, Part 1 Revelation 13: /26/2017 Copyright by Mark Vaughan 2/2017

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1 The False Prophet, Part 1 Revelation 13: /26/2017 Copyright by Mark Vaughan 2/2017 Open your Bibles to Revelation 13 where we continue our study through this last book of the Bible with its detailed future prophecies. We ve covered the first half of the chapter & the first beast, who is the future world ruler typically termed the Antichrist. Today we are introduced to a second beast who is later referred to as the false prophet who will lead the world in false religion. Follow along with me as I read Revelation 13:1-18. [READ] In Revelation 16:13 the dragon & beast are mentioned with this third character this second beast but there he is called the false prophet. Similarly in Revelation 19:10 as they are judged, these two are called the beast & the false prophet. And in Revelation 20:10, the devil, the beast & the false prophet are said to be thrown in the lake of fire. So the 1 st beast is the beast & the 2 nd beast is the false prophet. The second beast is not called the false prophet here, but his purposes are those of a prophet leading worship of the first beast, the Antichrist. And this false prophet is also the third person of the false trinity, the third member of the devil s mimicry. Chapter 12 discussed the devil s historic hateful rage against God focused on God s Son as the Promised Messiah to come to Israel. Satan cannot get out of God s sovereign shadow over all. Though he knows he is a mere subject & creature from God, the devil will keep on rebelling until his time is over. And recall from Revelation 12:12 that the devil called the dragon will know that his time is short. He will know at the midpoint of the future 7-year Tribulation that he will only have 3 ½ years left to wreak his havoc on the earth. The Rapture of the Church will have happened & then the devil will be finally cast out of heaven for good. Yet he will be trying to deceive & destroy as many souls on earth as he can until Christ brings in His millennial kingdom. But he will ultimately lose & spend eternity in the lake of fire. Even his small victories are turned into defeats where God works all things together for His glory & for the good for those who love God. God is even the implied Giver in Revelation when the passive voice is used to state that authority or power was given. So even the Antichrist s freedom to blaspheme God is allowed by God for a short time to sin s sinfulness & God s righteousness to judge. God is the ultimate authority & supreme power. Yet knowing that does not stop the devil from trying to usurp God s place & lead people away from God & His goodness. The devil is doing so now through the lies of the world & the many enticements & entrapments of the flesh. Satan has his false prophets at work now just as he has had them throughout history. As we began to look at the Antichrist, we noted the antichrist spirit already at work denying the Deity & humanity of Christ. 1

2 And similarly we could survey the presence of false prophets now & throughout history that seek to exalt anyone other than God in Christ. False prophets in Israel pointed to the idols & passing powers of other nations as vain hopes for protection & provision. And false prophets throughout the NT church have put forth other leaders or authorities or saviors as the place to put trust & honor. But just as there will be 1 final Antichrist person, so there will be 1 future false prophet who leads the lies against God. That future false prophet is the second beast we meet in Revelation 13. Again the devil copies the true God in the roles of the Trinity. The dragon copies the role that God the Father has in the Trinity & the Antichrist copies the role of God the Son, the true Christ, Jesus. Then to round out the copycat unholy trinity, the false prophet will function in ways that imitate the role of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit take what God reveals & points to the glory of Jesus Christ. The Spirit functions in response to the Father & the Son to point people to worship the Father & the Son. In John 16:13-14, Jesus said, But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. So the role of the Holy Spirit is to bring God s authority & truth to people to lead them to glorify Christ & the Father. Analogously, the false prophet will take the dragon & beast s authority & exert it to force worship of the beast & the dragon. But in contrast, the false prophet will be a liar & a purveyor of lies not truth & he will lead the world into those lies. Those agendas & actions of the false prophet will deceptively ensnare the masses as people are given over to their sin & its judgment. So we can be warned from studying the future false prophet. We can be helped by knowing of the errors & evils that will come. We can be motivated to warn others & to lead them to Christ. But in addition to a future focus, we can learn to guard against similar tactics of the enemy today to guard against error & guide us to truth. We ve said the devil s techniques are not original because he copies God, but his methods also do not change. The lying, deceiving, manipulative, power-grabbing, violent, controlling, dangerous ways will continue just as he is doing today. The future false prophet will employ tactics that other false prophets have utilized throughout history & still in our times. And that means we can study the future false prophet with applications in the present about the ongoing dangers of false prophets today. Today as we walk through verses 11-14, we ll observe 2 general lessons about the future false prophet that will also warn us against the activities of false prophets in our times. I think it s helpful to frame it that way so that we are warned & not wowed by this future evil trickster & power broker. We want to see evil as dangerous, not glamorous; & I trust this way of outlining our study will help us to do so. 2

3 As we learn details about the future false prophet in Revelation 13:11-14, we ll outline 2 warnings also false prophets in general. Let s move forward by reading verse 11 again. [READ] The vision of the Apostle John was continuing here as he saw another beast where another means another of the same kind. Since the first beast will be a person, so also this second beast is another person a real future man. The 1 st beast rises from the sea, the 2 nd is seen rising out of the earth. Recall that Revelation 11:7 mentioned the first beast as coming up out of the abyss or the bottomless pit. So the sea is the bottomless pit where some demons were imprisoned. Though the false prophet will have demonic backing, his earthly origin likely symbolizes his link to nations of the world. So rather than the mysterious connotations of the sea as the source of monstrous evils, this second beast will seem more tame. His origin from the earth will appear more natural & with only 2 horns he will appear less powerful than the first beast. And those 2 horns will be like a lamb so he appears harmless as he is welcomed by the world as their religious leader. No pitchfork. But he will surely be a wolf in sheep s clothing, as Jesus warned in Matthew 7:15 that false prophets will be. He will be sly & cunning, appearing gentle, but speaking like a dragon with his voice & volition coming from the devil. With his devilish deceit, he will ascend to a place of authority to tell the world what s worthy of worship & they will follow. This second beast will be given authoritative status of expert witness. He will have free exercise of authority under the antichrist. Read Revelation 13:12 to see that next. [READ] The sense of that word authority is that he has freedom & right & choice & power to act. This second beast practices all the authority of the first beast, meaning his influence over the world equals that of the Antichrist. But he is also subject to the Antichrist because his exercise of authority is described as in the presence of the first beast. His actions serve the Antichrist by exerting his authority to force the earth & those who dwell in it to worship the first beast. That s frightening but it s not surprising. Analogous to the Holy Spirit, he leads, convinces & evokes worship of the false christ just as the Holy Spirit does for the true Christ. And that the description those who dwell on the earth in Revelation is used of those who refuse to repent during the Tribulation & persist in rebellion against God & Christ. But verse 12 says it differently to include the earth where more than unbelievers will still be alive & so not everyone will worship the beast. Some who don t will be killed as we ll see next week & Revelation 12:6 predicted a saved remnant of the woman Israel that will be protected in the final 3 ½ years of the Tribulation. Turn to Revelation 12:13-17 to read again of the dragon s failed attempt to sweep away that remnant of Israel such that he is forced to leave & vent his fury only against the rest of her descendants. [READ] 3

4 So that probably is part of the false prophet s attempt to get the whole earth & all who dwell in it to worship the Antichrist. That will be his purpose, but not everyone will follow as a remnant of Israel will be preserved & other believers will likely be martyred. The 2 nd beast s goal will be worship of the 1 st beast only. And the reason for worship will be the worth displayed in the healing of the fatal wound of the first beast. You remember that copycat tactic by the devil, don t you? Look at verse 3 of Revelation 13 again to recall that. [READ] The 7 heads of the first beast were kings & kingdoms that reached across historic world empires depicted by animals. And one of those heads a future king Antichrist will be slain to death somehow & then healed back to life. We re not told if this copying of the true Christ s death & resurrection will be real death & resuscitation or a counterfeit. But the world will be amazed by it & the false prophet will channel that amazement into religious euphoria worship of the Antichrist. That s the clear religious role of the false prophet. Like the true Holy Spirit points to the true Christ Jesus, so the false prophet will copy the Trinitarian role by pointing to the false christ. His smoothness & apparent harmlessness as a lamb will surely strike human hearts as winsome to follow. That s the danger of the second beast, the future false prophet. That sounds stunning & scary I am SO GLAD I won t be there. I m thankful the NT teaches that the church will be caught up to be with Christ before the 7-year Tribulation begins on earth & so I won t be here to meet the false prophet or antichrist. But my relief & gratitude should lead me to warn others against the deluding darkness that s coming. Knowing the horror of evil, we should plead with people to turn from sin to trust in Jesus to be free & forgiven. Then beyond that, the dangers of the false prophet should also alert us the devil s similar scheming ways in our times. So here s a 1 st application warning from what we learn about the false prophet so far point #1 today be warned against misplaced authorities. We can learn from this false prophet as a wrong authority that we must also, #1 be warned against misplaced authorities. Those misplaced authorities include anyone or anything that usurps the rightful supreme place of God as He has spoken in His Word. They may be authorities in other ways like the 2 nd beast will be but we must not trust any such authority as equal to God. And notice how they work they may not speak direct blasphemies against God like the Antichrist will do they may not rail against God. The false prophet will prove more subtle & his words will mainly praise the amazing value & potential of the first beast. So he will lead the masses astray into worship of the first beast. Apparently he will focus less on attacking the true Christ that s the antichrist s goal & more on exalting & honoring the false christ. 4

5 So the attacks of misplaced authorities may not be direct. They may simply lure you away by praising something else. Their positive emphasis on the good that comes saying look here will turns the eyes of faith to look away from truth. Like false prophets in Jeremiah s time, they may promise peace, peace where there is no peace but it will enticingly sound so good. They may be like other false prophets in OT that extolled the protection & prosperity of other nations as where Israel needed to place their trust to truly succeed & be secure. They say, Look at how well it goes for them, look to their values. What might you praise like that today? Can you think of ways the same lies operate in your life in our times? They may sneak in with promises that catch your desires so craftily that you don t notice the false focus of self-worship. Today they may say You ll be happier & healthier & never suffer if you just take this pill or eat these foods or follow these exercises. That may sound harmless but it can lead us to forget that trials & suffering are expected on earth when heaven is our home. Persecution & tribulation are promised to followers of Jesus. As we turn away to what else sounds good, we forget that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & selfcontrol are the fruit of the Spirit, not some false prophet. They are what God works in us by grace through faith in His Word & His Person, not by some other prophet or method. Be warned that the devil is always working to assault God directly like the Antichrist will do, but he is also always pointing away saying, look here, look here, away from God with praise of other authorities. Genesis 3:6 depicts that in Eve s initial sin, saying, When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, & that it was a delight to the eyes, & that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit & ate; & she gave also to her husband with her, & he ate. Yes, Satan had questioned & contradicted God s Word, but he also enticed Eve to honor the forbidden tree & its fruit this is good, this is delight, this will make you wise so come here. So be warned by methods of the future false prophet that go back to the garden by being aware of misplaced authorities that draw you away from the truth, even by the praise of something else. Today they may more obviously lie by saying you can have your best life now when heaven is the true good life we await. But the lesser false prophets of health, wealth & prosperity entice us from other angles, whether in our bodily comforts or our relational ease of avoiding difficult people or ministry because it will cost you. Yet false prophets extol how their leader or method will give something that s not like what Jesus promised. Or it may sound like what Jesus promised they may promise you love or joy or peace or calm you down to make you more patient or kind or good or faithful or gentle or self-controlled. They may not rail against God, but they lift up an alternate lifestyle, they praise another road that has no self-denial & nothing to do with taking up your cross to follow Jesus. And when that comes out it s a LIE because it s not what Jesus promised though it may sound good. 5

6 They may be authorities that share stories or research studies hailing others who have been helped by their religions & programs. Or they may be authorities that extol the supposed good life of the rich & famous that point you to chase fame through sports or entertainment or self-promotion or loving money. So be warned because most NT warnings about false prophets are about them coming up from WITHIN the church. 2 nd Peter 2:1-3 says false prophets & false teachers will secretly introduce destructive heresies... [and] Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Or Jude says, they can creep in unnoticed..., ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and who are flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. So they appeal to greed & freedom to do whatever you want. They appear good because 2 nd Corinthians 11:14-15 says even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. As the end times escalate, Matthew 24:11 says Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. So we always need to be on the alert. What self-professed expert or professional guru or success story or therapy functions as your misplaced authority? When a crisis arises, to whom do you typically turn first? Do you pick up the phone or schedule an appointment or do you first PRAY & seek your Sovereign Savior s help? Sure. We can find help from others so don t misunderstand me. But what misplaced authorities do we not see as false prophets are pointing us away from Christ with praise of others? It s helpful to think about this way what do you praise? What do you praise to other people? when you see others have problems or whatever, what do you lift up before the eyes of others & speak with praise to the ears of others? May God show us & free us to focus fully on Christ s supremacy. Christ is sufficient & He is trustworthy as the ultimate lovingly & benevolent authority & so He is the 1 st place we must go, the 1 st supreme one we must trust. That s a first area of application we can learn from studying the details of the future false prophet of the Tribulation. #1 be warned against misplaced authorities. Then 2 nd ly, be warned against misleading powers. Application #2 today that we ll learn from the details of the future false prophet in Revelation 13:13-14 is this be warned against misleading powers. Look at Revelation 13:13 & let s read on. [READ] This verse highlights that the first beast resuscitation will only be part of the false prophet copying God s two true prophets that He will send during the Tribulation. Recall Revelation 11 tells of those two witnesses that will call fire down from heaven & do other majestic things for God s glory. 6

7 And God will allow those 2 witnesses to be killed by the Antichrist after their work is done & yet God will also raise them to life again after 3 ½ days for all the world to see. Everyone on earth will see their resurrection, which we can imagine happening now because we have phones we can watch videos on. Since the resurrection of those two witnesses 2 true prophets of God will be known to every soul on earth, then the devil will need to copy something that amazing & well-known. And the powerful ministry of the 2 witnesses will be copied by the false prophet when he is able to call fire down from heaven also. The false prophet will make fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men to get their attention & then he will also point to the apparent resurrection of the antichrist too. Those will be some of his great signs, copying God & His prophets who used powerful signs in the time of Christ & the NT & OT. God has used various signs & wonders throughout biblical history to prove His Word by pointing to His messengers & by highlighting the deity of Christ & the authority of His apostles. So the devil will mimic that power, just as Jesus predicted in Mark 13:22 as the end times escalate. In Mark 13:22, Jesus said, false Christs & false prophets will arise, & will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect which is not possible for the elect. Those will be MISLEADING powers, powerful signs that will point to the dragon & antichrist & AWAY from the true God. It s strange that the modern church has been swept away with emphases on signs & wonders when Jesus warned repeatedly that an evil & adulterous generation craves for a sign. Both Matthew 12:39 & 16:4 report that warning from Jesus & it is repeated in the other Gospels. Especially when the Tribulation comes, everyone should be warned, as 2 nd Thessalonians 2:9 says, that the antichrist s coming will be with all power and signs and false wonders. So for the NT church today with the finished Scriptures & sufficient Gospel, rather than seeking after signs, the Scripture points us to what God has already done & recorded for us. God s Word is finished with all the promises & proofs we need to know & trust & follow God as He come in Christ Jesus. The needed signs have been done to point to Christ to show He is God & to show He s enough & so the focus on signs now is rather to warn about how they can MISLEAD us. That s what will happen with the future false prophet s signs as we see next as we read on into Revelation 13:14. [READ] What is the effect of the signs that this false prophet will do? The cause named is the signs because of the signs and the effect is stated before that he will deceive those who dwell on the earth. The false prophet will use false signs miracles done by demonic power to trick & seduce & deceive He will lead them astray, to cause them to wander away from truth into the destructive & damning heresies of antichrist worship. Of course, it will be effective on those who dwell on the earth on this group of people have seen repeatedly as those who repeatedly resists the truth & rebel against God. Even after seeing judgments they know are from God & the Lamb. 7

8 As 2 nd Thessalonians 2:10 says, they will not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved such that it will be their fault. Then 2 nd Thessalonians 2:11-12 continues by saying God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. They will want their wickedness-they will not want the truth. The effect of the misleading signs will be to mislead them to mistakenly think they can have their sin & worship this authority & power so they will be guided into error by deceit. At this point you may be wondering how powerful these demonic signs can be now or in the future. I mean, if you are smart & scientific, won t you be able to figure out how false prophets do their magic tricks? Romans 1 describes being given over to sin & the third step of that is what a depraved mind, not even being able to think straight. Sure maybe sometimes frauds will be evident even as some are now but make no mistake that Satan has empowered evil imitation of God s wonders at times. Pharaoh s magicians apparently copied some of the miracles God did through Moses, though often on a smaller scale. [Exodus 7] Acts 8:9-11 also recounts a man named Simon practicing some type of magic that astonished people. The verse states that the signs were given to the false prophet to perform again with that silent emphasis is on God s sovereign permission, purposing the freedom for evil to flourish for a short time. God does not create or approve of false wonders or deception, but He gives His enemies freedom under His sovereign plan. At times God uses such false signs as a way to test & prove what s really in people whether to prove the faith of believers or test unbelievers & prove their unfaithfulness. That s what He warned about way back in Deuteronomy 13:1-5 for Israel, for example. Deuteronomy 13:1-5 says, If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you. Amazingly Deuteronomy 13:1-5 warned about such false signs & wonders coming true but still don t trust them, God said. So it s not impossible nor improbable that strange misleading signs may occur in our times just as they will surely occur in the Tribulation. If you hear that & wonder where s God when this happens, then don t miss the divine passive in the middle of verse 14. So that kind of thing shouldn t surprise us now or in the future. God allows those to test people because He wants faith proven He wants love proven even when visible circumstances tempt us to believe something else. 8

9 Doesn t that already happen on a much lower scale already anyway just remember Job s story, right? to remember that. So even when life s trials tempt us to give up, we must guard against wrongly interpreting trials as an absence of God s love or as an abdication of God s throne. We must guard against being led astray by the successes or comforts or apparently miraculous wonders experienced by others. And God takes that seriously because He commanded such false prophets to be put to death in Deuteronomy 13:5 & 18:20. Of course, that was for Israel s government, not for us in the church to take justice into our own hands, but it does alert us to the seriousness. And Deuteronomy gives the same method for evaluating such prophets & their signs that Revelation 13 does for the future. You evaluate by looking where they point where do they lead? Do they point to the sufficiency of God & His gracious Gospel in Jesus Christ or do they exalt something else? Do they lead astray from worship of the One true God or do they say chase more signs or they say, trust Jesus, He s enough! Do they lead to worshipping other gods, idols of the nations or idols of our contemporary culture live for this, have this, this is what you really want? Or is God in Christ really enough? Because the antichrist in the future, just as false prophets now, will lead to false leader & false message & false hope. Verse 14 here says these will be done in the presence of the beast, meaning they are from & for the antichrist. The false prophet will use his powers to command the unbelieving & deceived earth-dwellers to craft an icon, a physical statue image of the antichrist. Somehow it may be molded to highlight the wound of the sword that killed him before he came to life again. Whatever its appearance, the idol will be made to honor the Antichrist for coming to life after his deadly sword wound. It will be used like Nebuchadnezzar s image in Daniel 3 as a tool to force idolatrous worship of the world leader of the time. Likely it will be set up on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem as part of the abomination of desolation that we ve read about in Daniel 9:27 & Matthew 24:15 & 2 nd Thessalonians 2:4. It will clearly because against the true God & His real Christ as part of a worldwide religion of antichrist exaltation. Yet it will be accompanied by miraculous signs that will appear so compelling & powerful to deceive people, saying, this is your hope, this is your savior, this is your god. And that s what people will be looking for because the insecurities of the people on earth during the turbulent Tribulation judgments will cause people to long for anyone or anything to bring them some safety & security, some measure of peace. It already happens today please some leader, calm the currents of world turmoil & terrorism but just imagine how desperate people will be to bring some sense of stability. And in the future, they lead to making an image of the beast. They will have rejected God & will be given over to the beast. 9

10 And they will eagerly cling to this new powerful leader, calling out that, oh, we have a new hope! That should move us to warn people that you don t want to be under the deluding influence that s coming, so flee that coming wrath. And it should warn us against misleading powers against chasing after signs. We need to ask if people s supposed claims of signs are just distractions for people to seek more neat tricks like they with Jesus. Read what the crowds did with Jesus hey, Jesus, make more bread, do another miracle, feed us. And we need to ask if the people doing the signs are the ones who get exalted for doing them, for the attention they get. Sure some people may have good motives in doing so but we need to ask why why, is the Gospel no longer enough? I think prayer is the great powerful weapon that gives God all the glory because it s clear we do nothing but ask & He shows all the power. Pray & the Word & the Gospel Romans 1:16 are the power of God unto salvation, right? SO let s keep in mind the powers God has said He first & foremost uses in our times. As Paul argued in 1 st Corinthians 1&2, Jews seek for signs & Gentiles want worldly wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified to save. Though to Gentiles that s foolishness & to Jews it s a stumbling block, he said that s enough preach Christ crucified and stay faithful to the tools God uses. That s why it s great to know the songs we sing & sing them to yourself & to others & so praise Him & His amazing love. And can it be, that I should gain an interest in the Savior s love? Died He God the Son for me, the rebel, for me who caused His pain? AMAZING LOVE, how can it be the Thou my God shouldst die for me! Amazing love compelling, marvelous, wonderful grace that God the Father would send His Son to suffer in our place & take our penalty for our sin & then give us everything that Jesus earned in His righteous life & say it s all free, Trust Me & come & find rest Then He proved it by rising from the dead isn t that enough? So stay faithful first to the main tools God says He uses the Word & the Gospel through the Word & prayer. And through those He does miracles like saving sinners rescuing rebels like me & you. And along the way, He does work unexplainable at times through answers to prayer so don t misunderstand me. God does answer prayer & He does do crazy beautiful things through Christians using our gifts to serve Him. But always He gets the glory & He is moving through His providence & His ordained means. He has finished His use of the sign gifts for the completion of Scripture & establishing His church & that s another message I ve done at another time you can look up. But today, meditating on what s revealed of the future false prophet, we re taught to be warned against misleading powers. Be warned against misplaced authorities & misleading powers. 10

11 The present tense verbs in verses highlight the continual practices of the false prophet seeking to deceive people. And that continual pursuit of deceiving people is the practice of the devil through the various false prophets at work today. So we need to consistently & persistently return to the value of remembering the One true authority & supreme Power. We need to daily & hourly restore our focus on our Creator God who has given us His precious promises in the Scriptures & has promised His gracious salvation to us through the true Christ, Jesus. If you don t know that salvation in Christ alone, we d love to share more with you after the service. If you do know Him, then praise Him & believe He IS your authority & He IS your power & He is the One to trust & love & follow. And whatever comes in His good, kind, loving providence in your life is a test for you to prove that love to Him. He knows, but it s for you to experience the joy of loving & following Him by faith. And then for you, as you live that out, it s the opportunity for others to see that & you tell them you tell them how great He is & you praise Him to them. Tell them about Jesus as you see the problems in their lives & you see the issues all around, you tell people about Jesus & His promises. Let that be whom you praise & exalt before people. Pray with me as we close. 11