Why the False Prophet is the Antichrist and Why it Matters (Part 2/6)
The Revelation 13 (Unholy) Trinity
Revelation 13 is arguably the most significant passage regarding the Antichrist’s role in the entire Bible. It tells the tale of two beasts. One beast comes upon the earthly scene in a stormcloud of war. With its ferocious roar and irresistable military superiority it subdues the nations. This first beast has seven heads and it is like a leopard. But even a warmongering beast of this magnitude is not immune to the effects of war when it becomes apparent that one of its seven heads has been wounded by the sword. Ultimately the nations of the world are so soundly subdued by the first beast that they declare “who can fight against it?” The war then extends beyond the nations as it even “makes war” against the saints.
The two beasts that John sees are forces that fundamentally alter life on earth. Neither one of them is insignificant. One beast is like a seven headed leopard, the other like a lamb. One beast dominates the earth and subdues it with overwhelming force and the other onboards the nations. If the first is the Blitzkrieg of Satan’s final campaign, the second is the propaganda for hearts and minds. The first is a god of war. The second a man of false peace. Together, these beasts are the two most evil entities in the history of the world.
What is this first beast that John describes with such vivid detail? To understand the nature of what John describes as an earthly reality we must look in the previous chapter to see the heavenly reality that precedes it. The seven headed beast of Revelation 13 is the earthly manifestation of a spiritual reality found in Revelation 12 that tells of a seven headed dragon that is cast down to earth.
The seven headed dragon is defined by war. Everywhere it goes it fights against God’s purpose. Ultimately it wages cosmic warfare against Michael and the heavenly angels. And what does the warmongering dragon do when its defeated in heaven and cast down to earth? It becomes a seven headed beast and goes to war against the inhabitants of earth. To sum it up, the seven headed beast of Revelation 13 is the earthly embodiment of the seven headed dragon of Revelation 12. This violent entity parallels Ares; the god of war.
In summary there are 3 primary movers in Revelation 13. Verse 4 says, “they worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast.” There is a clear confluence between the beast and dragon. The dragon is Satan himself. The seven headed beast is the earthly embodiment of Satan. And the third member of this demonic trinity is the second beast who is also called the False Prophet later in Revelation. The unholy trinity of the dragon, the beast, and the False Prophet is Satan’s earthly counterfeit to the blessed Godhead.
The (Other) Beast
With an abbreviated overview of the two beasts of Revelation 13 in place, I want to zoom into the second half of the chapter toward my main topic of concern. The second half of the chapter tells of the second beast’s profound impact upon the earth in the last days.
When John describes the False Prophet the prophecy is unparalleled. It goes far, far beyond a the role of a simple pitchman. There have been numerous false prophets and popes since the first century, but none important enough to be prefigured in the Bible. John isn’t describing just another in a long line of charlatans. Even the most infamous false prophets like Balaam and Korah pale in comparison to what John describes in the back half of Revelation 13. The prophecy of the False Prophet is entirely unique.
After John sees the first beast bring war and forcefully subdue the nations, he sees another beast enter the world stage.
“I saw another beast” v.11
Something needs to be said about the term “beast.” Besides being wild and dangerous, a beast is something that Adam was given divine authority over. A beast registers lower on the creation spectrum. Adam gave names to all of the animals; including beasts of the field. Adam was given dominion over the beast not vice versa.
But we find the authority that God gave Adam over the beasts of the field is fully upended in Revelation 13. Instead of the human race exerting its God given authority over the 2 beasts, we find the very opposite. These two beasts not only run roughshod over the entire earth trampling the nations underfoot but they do the one thing most abominable; they demand that humans created in the image of God worship them.
The final result of the Forbidden Fruit are these two beasts ruling Adam’s race. This is a horror above all horrors when we see the God that Adam was alone to worship is displaced by beasts. This can best be understood in the context of the Garden of Eden. The worship of the beast is the end result of turning away from our Creator to follow the Serpent.
Doing the Dirty Work
A program to bring the nations to their knees never goes over well. As per usual, global subjugation will be met with unhappy resistance. To get the world on board with this program a deft spokesman with unmatched oratory skill will need to win hearts and minds.
But to deceive the nations at the deepest levels requires more than just a wordsmith. It requires a figure that embodies everything the fallen human race thinks it should be. There is no greater treason recorded in the Bible than to betray the human race to the dragon. Make no mistake; converting the nations to become Satan worshippers is dirty work and the False Prophet is just the guy for the job.
“Rising out of the earth” v.11
When John says he sees the second beast “rising out of the earth” there is an inescapable similarity with the creation account in Genesis 2:7. “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” When God creates the human race He uses the dust of the ground. Adam literally rises from the earth. The connection couldn’t be more plain. The False Prophet is a human being. The False Prophet is the human element of the demonic trinity.
When the Apostle Paul uses the title “final Adam” he means that Jesus is God’s redemptive answer to the Fall. Jesus became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. In every way Jesus overcame sin and death. The first Adam sinned and fell in obedience to Satan. The Last Adam died and rose in obedience to God.
But in Revelation 13 we see the False Prophet is the inverse of the true Messiah. He becomes all that Adam had in his heart when he ate of the forbidden fruit. In this sense the False Prophet is Adam 2.0. Adam was the first to sin. The False Prophet lives the life of sin to the fullest. The False Prophet will finish what Adam started. Or you might be tempted to call him the man of sin.