Today’s reading is Revelation 13
A Shocking Promise About False Prophets
I have heard about Deuteronomy 18:21-22 all my Christian life:
And if you say in your heart, “How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?”–when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him (ESV).
Seems clear enough. If a prophet foretells the future, and it doesn’t happen, obviously, he’s a false prophet. However, I had for years read through and overlooked Deuteronomy 13:1-5:
If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, “Let us go after other gods,” which 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 know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst (ESV).
In other words, sometimes a false prophet would foretell the future and it would happen. Sometimes, the false prophet would declare a sign, and then perform the sign (recall the magicians who copied some of Moses’s signs). How would you know when these were false prophets? Actually, it was quite easy. Even if they performed great miracles or foretold the future, if they taught other gods (or by extension taught disobedience to the one, true God), they were still false prophets.
When we read John’s gospel, we recognized one of the big questions John was answering was whether or not Jesus was the new Moses prophesied in Deuteronomy 18 or the false prophet described in Deuteronomy 13. We are not surprised then to see this false prophet resurface in John’s apocalypse. This is precisely the background for the earth or land beast in the latter half of Revelation 13. To drive this home, the second beast is even named “The False Prophet” in Revelation 16:13; 19:20; and 20:10.
A Dragon in Lamb’s clothing
We were told everyone whose name was not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life would worship the sea beast. Now we see the propaganda machine leading the world to worship:
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon (Revelation 13:11, ESV).
This beast looks like a lamb. Yes, we should think of the Lamb that was slain. The word “lamb” is used 29 times in Revelation. Every other time besides this one, it refers to Jesus. The land beast looks like Jesus. The beast looks like a prophet. However, it doesn’t have the Lamb’s voice. Which means, it doesn’t have the Good Shepherd’s voice (see John 10:5, 16). He doesn’t speak with God’s voice, the voice God’s people are to obey (see Deuteronomy 13:4). It has the dragon’s voice. In other words, anyone compromising with the false prophet demonstrates themselves as outside Christ’s flock.
False Signs and lYing Wonders
The false prophet of Revelation 13 acts exactly as the false prophet from Deuteronomy 13 does. He performs great signs and wonders. They actually do take place. He even makes fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people. That is, he mirrors the signs of the two witnesses. But instead of pointing people to the Lord, he points people to the sea beast.
The land beast hyperlinks back to Daniel just as the sea beast did. This time, it recalls Daniel 3. Just as Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar erected an image of gold and commanded all the “nations and territories, peoples and languages”(Daniel 3:4, LES2/LXX; compare Revelation 13:7) to worship it, the false prophet commands all the people to worship the image of the sea beast. He even gives the image power to speak, another lying sign and wonder. Just as Nebuchadnezzar threatened death to any who refused to worship his image, the false prophet caused all who refused to worship the image to be slain. Perhaps now we know why the two witnesses were killed–they refused to worship.
The false prophet displays signs and wonders. But recall Deuteronomy 13. The seven churches should not be fooled. He doesn’t have the Good Shepherd’s voice. Further, he is telling them to worship someone other than the One who sits on heaven’s throne. This is a test to see if the seven churches love the Lord with all their heart and soul. Or, having left their first love, will they be drawn in and duped by the lying signs.
Who Is this Beast from the Earth?
If the sea beast represents the geo-political enemies of Christ’s kingdom, the land beast represents the religious enemies. It is false religion competing with Christian worship. It is false religion supporting the enemy state. For those who see Revelation as a rebuke against the Jewish nation for rejecting and executing their Messiah, they see Judaizing teaching such as taught against in Galatians. That is possible. However, I admit, I still see Rome in all this. For the original readers in those seven Asian churches, surrounded by intense idolatry and the Imperial cult, the land beast seems obvious. Worshiping in the temples. Sacrificing to pagan gods. Going along with pagan festivals. Honoring the emperor as God. All this is the voice of the dragon in the false prophet leading folks to worship the sea beast.
Yet, like the sea beast, Revelation is written in these vague signs and symbols so that when the false prophet/land beast is defeated, we can recognize it anywhere a similar beast raises its head. The seven churches were being attacked by the land beast head on. Yet when false religion persecutes God’s true followers in any country, at any time, we witness the work of the land beast.
And what influence it has. The mark of the beast on his worshipers hands and foreheads is not to be seen as literal anymore than the seal on the saints’ foreheads which it mimics and parodies (see Revelation 7:3). As Father, Son, and Spirit know those who are theirs, so do the dragon, the sea beast, and the false prophet. Then we see how this unholy trinity tempts the saints to bear the mark and worship the image. They threaten the people financially. If the saints won’t take the mark, they can’t buy or sell. They can’t conduct business. They can’t make a living. If they escape quick execution, they experience slow, torturous starvation. Sacrifice to Hephaestus or you can’t be part of the metal smith guilds. Sacrifice to Ceres or we won’t purchase your crops or sell you seed. Pinch incense to Caesar or we will throw you in jail.
A Warning for Churches Today
Perhaps I’m making a reckless comparison as I consider the report of threats to fire people if they refuse to use a person’s preferred pronouns or if they dead name an individual. Maybe it is too much to think this compares to threats of debanking, canceling, doxing, and firing unless employees sign a DEI document. Maybe we go too far if we think this relates to threats to remove tax-exempt status, heap up fines, or effectively close doors of institutions refusing to financially support abortion or go along with sexual immorality. Maybe fearing any of those things would happen is nothing more than chicken little declaring the sky is falling. But, then again…
Please, don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying these modern issues are the mark of the beast or are a sign of the end times. But, please don’t miss the point in the original context. The very financial issues our ancient counterparts were being told to stand up and endure are the stands many modern Christians assume God would never ask us to take. “Surely,” we tell ourselves, “God would never expect us to choose an approach that would cost us our jobs or our ability to make a living. After all, He calls us to provide for our families.” Yet, that is exactly what John said the seven churches would face under this land beast.
Pergamum and Thyatira were being taught to compromise with the pagan practices of their neighbors. They were being led to eat at the tables and sleep in the beds of the false gods. If compromising led to being able to put food on the table for your children, what could be wrong with it. Right? Couldn’t we go ahead and participate in meaningless actions as long as our hearts were still in the right place? As long as we didn’t actually mean it, couldn’t we go along to get along? After all, aren’t we supposed to love all people and never, ever judge our neighbor in any way?
Don’t you see how this false prophet can look like Jesus? And yet, it’s voice comes from the dragon. There is only one way to overcome this. Be in God’s Word and know His voice. By the way, this is in part why so much of John’s apocalypse connects to the ancient prophets. Part of his persuasion is showing he is speaking with God’s voice as God has always spoken. He’s not actually teaching something new.
Don’t compromise. Hold fast, Jesus always wins. And if you have already started compromising, REPENT! Jesus will come in judgment.
PODCAST!!!
PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family
How does Revelation 13 prompt or improve your trust in God?
Read the Bible 