This Calls for Wisdom
(Rev 13:11-18)
Revelation is the last book of the Bible that reveals all Satans strategies against us with his great authority. Yet its not about the dramatic or the deeds of God, who fights for us but about our endurance with faith, the real authority from God. In the last days, things become the most corrupt in religion. The number one target we need to sort out with true wisdom is the false prophet disguised with the gospel, yet armed with worldly strategies. How then can we discern the false prophet? What are his strategies?
1. He comes to us as a little lamb. 'Another beast, coming out of the earth' in verse 11 looks like a lamb. It copies Christ, disguised as a lamb and an angel of light. Thus we need the wisdom to discern it because we are living in the last days. In Revelation 19:20, the beast is described as 'the false prophet.' The phrase 'spoke like a dragon' refers to the spreading of the dragons values. Marcus Aurelius, one of the five wisest emperors of Rome, who wrote The Meditations actually persecuted Christianity like a false prophet disguised as a lamb. Theres no true king of peace but Christ. Thus our forced human values, like filial piety can also be a mask of a lamb. Are you ready to discern the false prophet under the mask of an angel in our human relationships?
2. He incites us to worship the Antichrist Satans kingdom copies the organization of the Trinity God the Father glorified by the Son, who is served by true prophets. Satan, the dragon king is served by his subject the Antichrist, the beast of the sea and the false prophet, the Antichrists henchman, the beast of the earth. Unlike the gospel that instructs us to put our hope in God himself as our eternal reward, Satans message is focused on our earthly reward and crown by worshiping the Antichrist and taking advantage of Jesus. As in 1 John 4:3, the false prophet incites us to disown our humble Jesus and worship Satans earthly power. We need wisdom to discern this false worship from true worship. Do you worship Jesus, the incarnated God clothed in a humble body? Do you respect anybody because of his or her faith?
3. He allures us with his great signs. The false prophet attracted people not with what God saw good, but with what looked miraculous before the people by making fire come down from heaven etc. Then he ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. Yet the true miracle is to accept the wound as it is. Then he copied the Holy Spirit by giving breath to the image of the first beast, the Antichrist, a fake and misleading process of holy inspiration. He also let the image speak. However, holiness is not about lip-service but about bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we need to be vigilant over the miraculous signs without the fruit. In verse 15, the beast of the earth caused all who refused to worship the image to be killed. Thus our obsessive and manipulative relationships can be a sort of cruel idolatry. What about you? Into what kind of idols are you breathing? Those who cant understand the Word chase miracles. Do you worship God because of the prophets who showed you miraculous sign? Or do you worship the prophets themselves because of the miracles?
4. He incites us to receive the mark of a beast. In those days, the mark in v.16 referred to the royal seal of a Roman emperor that shows his ratification. Receiving the mark of the beast is receiving his name. The name is inscribed in all human ideology without Jesus like humanism, materialism, pietism, and secularism etc. These are actually Satans deadly weapons. We all are born with the beasts mark. But those who belong to Gods remnant are consecrated by Jesus crucifixion and receive his name. Those who have true wisdom are called to calculate the number of the beast, the human number 666. The number, which refers to Roman emperor Nero, is the symbol of the Antichrist, the persecutor of Christianity. No matter how hard it tries, the number of the Antichrist and false prophet, 666 cannot reach the number of the Trinity, 777. What looks closest to the number seven or the lamb in the world is humanism.Patience and faith are the features of the wise people, who are called to calculate the number to see if they chase God or the power of the world. 666, also considered as a verichip, a microchip inserted under the skin for ID purposes, can be recognized only by Gods selected people, to whom God gave his wisdom. Are you offended by the world as a Christian? If you focus on salvation only without the teaching that matures you spiritually, you are a false prophet. Heresy teaches many things, but it focuses on one thing. We need to live a balanced life. The Bible encourages us to keep our patience and faith, in which the world is not interested at all. We get true wisdom when we hold on to our daily Christian life as usual even though no one recognizes us or nothing is changed. To Christians, nothing is trivial or incidental. We need to risk our life on everything whether it is a worship or a small group. Only then, can we count the number of the beast. How we prepare for the last days is up to how we live today. It calls for wisdom. Wisdom follows the cross we carry. May God bless us to discern the power of Satan and his false prophet with Gods wisdom focused on his salvation and God himself as our ultimate reward.
Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. (Rev 13:11)
