Morning Bible Study: Revelation 13: 11-18

11  Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of a dragon. 

12  He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he required all the earth and its people to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 

13  He did astounding miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was watching. 

14  And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life. 

15  He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die. 

16  He required everyone-small and great, rich and poor, free and slave-to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. 

17  And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name. 

18  Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666. NLT

Commentary

(the following commentary is from www.easyenglish.bible/bible-commentary/revelation-lbw.htm)

"Verse 11 The beast who came out of the earth was the false prophet. He had two horns like a lamb. He gave the impression that he was gentle like a lamb. When he spoke, he was like a dragon. He was clever with lies. He could easily persuade people to do what he wanted them to do.

Jesus warned about false prophets. He said, ‘They seem as gentle as sheep when they come to you. But inside they behave like wild animals.’ (Matthew 7:15).

The evil team of three was complete: the dragon (Satan), the beast (Antichrist) and the false prophet. Christ received his power from the Father (Matthew 11:27). So, Antichrist received his power from the dragon. The Holy Spirit is the agent on behalf of Christ (John 16:14). So, the false prophet is the agent for Antichrist (Revelation 13:12).

Verse 12 The dragon (Satan) gave power to the first beast (Antichrist). The second beast (the false prophet) has power from the first one. He does what the Antichrist desires. He was like a prophet who served his god.

His purpose was to make all the people worship the Antichrist. The Antichrist had a bad injury and seemed to have died. But he lived again.

Verse 13 The false prophet did all kinds of magic acts. He even made fire come down out of the skies. All the people could see the fire. These deeds caused people to believe the false prophet.

Verse 14 He used the powers that he had for the benefit of the Antichrist. He did many great deeds that astonished the people. They believed the lies of the false prophet.

Those who trusted God did not believe the false prophet. They knew that the false prophet’s words were lies.

The false prophet told the people to make an image of Antichrist. And the people obeyed him. They made an image of the first beast. This was the beast that had a sword injury. He should have died. But he lived again.

Verse 15 The false prophet was able to make the image of Antichrist to come alive. This was powerful magic. But the power came from Satan. And the image could even speak. It demanded that all people should worship it. It ordered the death of any person who refused to worship the beast.

This is all part of the struggle between Antichrist and Christ, between Satan and God.

Verses 16-17 The false prophet made an order that all people must accept a mark. Each person must have the mark either on the right hand or on the front of the head. It did not matter who they were. Every person must have the mark.

The mark was the name of Antichrist or the number of that name. Sometimes people used numbers instead of letters for a name. This method was called ‘gematria’. We do not know how they calculated a name. A number was equal to the name of Antichrist. That number was the mark.

Any people who did not have that mark could not trade. They could not buy from the shops. They could not sell anything. Normal life would not be possible for them.

The only people who refused to have the mark were those who trusted God. They would rather die than have the mark of Antichrist. They remained loyal to Christ even if they had to die for it.

The mark showed that the person trusted Antichrist rather than Christ.

Verse 18 The number of the name of the person is 666. This seems to be a puzzle. The number has a meaning. And that meaning is the name of the beast. That beast means the man called Antichrist. An intelligent person should calculate what his real name is. He should work out the name from the number.

Perhaps one day an intelligent person will be able to find the answer. We do not yet know who the Antichrist will be.

In the first letter of John, we read this. ‘You have heard that the Antichrist is coming. Even now many antichrists have come’ (1 John 2:18). Before the Antichrist comes, there will be many antichrists. Some had already come at the time when John was writing. There have been many antichrists since then. Some are working in the world today. They are people who oppose Christ. They try to destroy all that Christ has done. They are the enemies of the church and of Christians. The antichrists have the same evil purpose as we will see in the Antichrist. They hate the Lord Jesus Christ. They hate all those who belong to him."