Study Audio Download

Rev 13:14-18- Part 1, The Beast Deceives Us Using Miracles

[Study Aired January 31, 2025]

Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by [the means of] those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Rev 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six.

Introduction

Keeping in mind that according to verse three of chapter one, we will all “keep the things written” in this book, we have seen that the two beasts of this 13th chapter of Revelation are actually nothing more than the two preordained stages of the one beast which we all are by virtue of being created on the sixth day right along with all the other beasts of the earth.

Gen 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Gen 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. [Mankind was not given to eat meat until after the flood].
Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Gen 9:3  Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

It was by God’s own design that the beast made in God’s image, which was destined to eventually rule over all the other beasts, would first be designated by the number six. God created Adam on the sixth day to reveal to mankind that His creature was not a completed creature. “The first man Adam” (1Co 15:45) being nothing more than a mere physical beast, created on the sixth day, right along with all the other beasts of the earth, was not yet complete, which is the very meaning and signification of the number ‘six’. Being yet incomplete mankind has by nature “no preeminence above a beast”.

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
Ecc 3:19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
Ecc 3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

We have seen that the earthly flesh which we all naturally inhabit is symbolized by “the sea” (Rev 13:1, Rev 17:15)

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

So our first beast in this chapter comes up out of the sea. The second beast in our progression toward our completion receives “a deadly wound” when he first hears the gospel. While we are not at first told what causes this “deadly wound” we are told that this deadly wound is healed, prompting us to worship this inward beast, to the extent that this second beast within us becomes a God unto himself.

2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Paul consistently taught that “[We] are the temple of God”:

Rom 8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

So our religious beast is symbolized as “coming up out of the earth, with two horns like a lamb”. We are not really converted in the least at this second stage of our progression. The wound that did momentarily inflict a deadly wound quickly heals, and we find that, in reality, we still hate the doctrines of the True Lamb of God. At this stage of our progression, we are told that “he speaks as a dragon” because we are, at this point the sons of the great red dragon, who gives us the power to perform miracles which deceive our inward beast. We watch as our prayers are answered right there in Babylon while we are yet “carnal babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4). We are miraculously and physically blessed after we start tithing to that harlot Babylonian system. This inward deception is completely irresistible, to the extent that we, as this “beast [which] came up out of the earth” are granted the power to “overcome and kill the saints.”

Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

No one who “has two horns like a lamb” thinks of himself as a beast who “speaks as a dragon,” so we are blinded to our true state by being “given power to make fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men” in the form of fiery sermons which do indeed change lives and appear to be “many wonderful works”.

Rev 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

A miracle is a miracle, but a miracle is not a synonym for Truth. The biblical truth is that God actually uses miracles to deceive those to whom He does not impart a love of the Truth.

2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The fruit of these miracles and wonders performed by the religious beast within us, before our beast who comes up out of the sea, is “strong delusion”, which causes all the earth within us, and them that dwell therein, within us, to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. How does God describe these miracles, which our second beast is given the power to do in the presence of our first beast? Here in this same chapter of 2 Thessalonians is how God describes these miracles which He gives our beast the power to perform:

2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth [G2722, ‘Katecho’, to restrain] that he might be revealed [within you] in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [G2722, ‘Katecho’, to restrain] will let [Greek: withhold], until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed [within you], whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth [the knowledge of His Word], and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming [within]:
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, [“Strong delusion”]
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish [are perishing]; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

So what is it that distinguishes our beast, with the power to perform miracles, from our new man who “dies daily” to the “power and signs and lying wonders” of our religious beast who “shows himself that he is God” and who causes us to worship our first beast? What distinguishes these two parts of our progression is that our new man is not swayed by the miracles performed by our religious beast, and our new man has been given a “love of the truth”. Our second earthly beast is impervious, and he is completely unaffected by Truth. Our old man, our beast with two horns like a lamb but who speaks as a dragon, puts church doctrine before a love of the Truth, and seeks to destroy the True Lamb of God and the knowledge of His doctrines.

It is the doctrines of our inward beast which imparts to us “the image of the beast”, and it is our love of the Truth of the doctrines of Christ which imparts to us the image of our Creator.

Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

There it is! It is our “love of the true… knowledge of Christ and His Father”, which changes our old “image” from the image of “our father the devil” into the “new man… the image of Him that created us”. As we come to “see” and “know God and Jesus Christ”, we are “transformed into that same image”, “from glory to glory”.

Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

2Co 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Since Christ tells us “the Words I speak to you are spirit…”, it is His Words and His doctrines which “change us into the same image”. In the same way, the “image of the beast” is given to us via our faith in him and our worship of his doctrines:

Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Notice that “the mark of his name” and “the number of his name” are both “of his name”. In the same way, his name and his image are both the same thing. The name, number, mark and the image of the beast, are all simply the love of, and the faith in, His lies as opposed to “the love of the Truth” and faith in the Words of God.

Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by [the means of] those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

This is speaking of the second part of our progression, or the second beast in our progression toward the maturing of the wild beast within us. It is only now in this verse, that we are told what caused the deadly wound which was inflicted on the beast of the first part of our progression. That deadly wound was inflicted by the only thing that “can make war with the beast.” It was inflicted “by a sword”, and that “sword [is] of the spirit, which is the Word of God”.

Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit,which is the word of God:

The “fire”, which is the word of God, inflicts upon us a “deadly wound”, but “the fiery darts of the wicked” cause that deadly wound to be healed, and we are once more a healthy and rebellious beast. “The sword of the spirit… is the word of God.” The Word of God alone can inflict a deadly wound upon our first beast which comes up out of the sea of our flesh (“the sea”). It was the Word of God which first brought us to desire to die to our own flesh, but our religious beast caused that wound to be healed before we could be “twice [killed]”, and the deadly wound be once more inflicted, and our names are reinstated in God’s book of life.

We must “live by every word”, and that includes these words:

Jud 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

“David slew Goliath… with sling and with a stone”, but he also killed Goliath with a sword, and it is only “with the sword” that our second beast will eventually be slain. That will only happen after He gives life to the image of our first beast whose deadly wound he causes to be healed, thus keeping us from entering into the kingdom of God “within us”.

1Sa 17:50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but [there was] no sword in the hand of David.
1Sa 17:51 Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

The fact that David slew Goliath, with “his [own] sword”, is a type and a shadow of each of us being judged “out of our own mouths”. Those very words are all right there in the Word of God, and they are “all ours” to be lived and kept.

Luk 19:22 And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, [thou] wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

Notice the function of the New Testament symbol of our second beast in our progression toward the judgment of our old beastly man. Here is how our deadly wound with a sword is caused to be healed by our second beast within. This is the function of the beast that “comes up out of the earth”.

Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Mat 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

It is you and I who have been these scribes and Pharisees. It is each of us, in the image of our father the devil, who “in times past” have blasphemed the name of God by speaking the lies and false doctrines of our father the devil and being conformed to his image.

Rev 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

It is the second beast of our progression which “gives life to the image of the first beast”. It is our second beast with “two horns like a Lamb, but who speaks as a dragon”, who causes us to worship the image of our first beast. Let’s not fail to notice that it is “the image of the beast” that speaks, and causes us to worship the image of the beast, because, as we said earlier, our ‘image’ is determined by our faith in our doctrines. It is the doctrines we speak and for which we stand, which show all men in whose ‘image’ we really are. The father of our beast looks exactly like his son. They both have “seven heads and ten horns”, and it is the doctrines of our father, the doctrines of this dragon, which are spoken by us when we are in his image as this “image of the beast”.

Joh 8:41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
Joh 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? [even] because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

… and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

What does this mean? How does the beast which “comes up out of the earth” and causes us to worship the image of the beast, also cause us to be killed when we refuse to continue to worship the image of the beast?

If we have learned anything about this book of revelation it is that this book has been “signified unto us” (Rev 1:1), and the “killing” of those who overcome the image, mark, name and number of the beast is no exception to that rule. So what does “as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” really mean?

Before we answer that question, let us establish and remember that there is not one person on the face of the earth who is not first “overcome of the beast”. “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him.” There is not one person who will not first “receive his name, number and mark”.

Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:9  If any man have an ear, let him hear.

“If any man have an ear, let him hear” is God’s way of telling us that very few will understand these words, because very “few… are given eyes that see and ears that hear… these mysteries of the kingdom of God” (Mat 13:10-15). Not one person in a thousand will understand that everyone’s name is first blotted out of God’s book of life, before it is replaced by receiving a second and permanent deadly wound to our old man, “the beast”.

Exo 32:33  And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

Who is “blotted out of God’s book of life”? It is only those “whosoever have sinned against God”. So, who is that?

Psa 51:4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

That explains how the spirit can say that “all that dwell upon the face of the earth shall worship the image of the beast”. All are first blotted out of the book of life, because “all have sinned” against God. This also explains how the beast is “given power to make war with and overcome the saints and all that dwell on the earth”. So when we are told that there are some who “would not worship the beast”, what we are really being told is that there are some few who will repent of worshiping the beast, and who will “overcome the beast and his mark and his image and his number and his name”.

Is that really what happens to God’s faithful? Is it true that we are all, at first, overcome and killed by the beast, before we overcome him? What do the scriptures teach?

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

So even God’s elect must “get the victory over the beast, his image, mark and the number of his name”. Truly “all that dwell on the earth” will worship this beast in their own appointed time, and then a few will be granted to “get the victory over the beast, his image, his mark and the number of his name”.

How is this religious beast, with two horns like a lamb who speaks as a dragon, given to “kill the saints”? Here is how that is accomplished. This part of our progression is accomplished by the beast within in the exact reverse of how “Christ in us” kills and destroys the man of sin within us.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Here is what the symbolism of “killing the saints” means:

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour [smell] of his knowledge by [Greek: ‘dia‘, through] us in every place.
2Co 2:15  For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved [Greek: being saved], and in them that perish [Greek: perishing]:
2Co 2:16  To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

Here is Rotherham’s rendition of verse 15:

2Co 2:15 That, of Christ, a grateful odour, are we, unto God,- in them who are being saved, and in them who are being lost:

It is the saints who “receive a deadly wound” that is healed, and it is the healing of that deadly wound which is the death, or the killing, of God’s elect. “All things are ours” (1Co 3:21-22).

1Jn 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

There is not a man or woman alive who has not, at some time, hated his brother. So it is easy to see how the beast within us causes us to kill those who do not worship his image.

Christ also tells us how we go about killing those who will not worship the image of the beast:

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

“He that finds his life” is us when our deadly wound is healed, and “he that loseth his life” is us when the beast with two horns like a lamb, who speaks as a dragon, “kills us” and we become the smell of death to him and to his. It is only through dying daily and being crucified with Christ that we “find our life”.

“As many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” is no more literal than any other of the signified words of the book of this prophecy. Our death at the hands of our own religious beast is accomplished when we refuse to do what our self-righteous, religious beast wants us to do, and instead we seek what is commendable to God. We are killed by that beast when we deny the desires of our beast and seek only to please our heavenly Father, instead of pleasing ourselves, pleasing our families and pleasing our friends.

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
2Co 2:15  For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
2Co 2:16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

That is how our beast “causes us to be killed”.

Here are many more of the details concerning how our self-righteous, religious, two-horned beast goes about killing God’s elect within us:

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

The word ‘all’ is qualified with six other words, “both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond”. There is not one person who is excluded from those six categories. All men who have ever lived are either small or great, rich or poor, free or bond. There is not as much as one exception. The fact that this mark is in the right hand and in the forehead explains clearly what is being said concerning “all men” to those who are granted to “compare spiritual things with spiritual” (1Co 2:13-14). We have already discussed how it is that we all “blaspheme the name of God among the Gentiles” by the way we live our lives in rebellion against the words of the very Lord whose name we claim as ours. It is by the very life we live and the things we think in our hearts and minds, symbolized by “our foreheads”; these are the things which lead us to what we do with our “right hand”. The holy spirit reveals this to us in the shadows we are given in the Old Testament concerning the “mark” of God.

What is the “mark” of God? First we are told that the mark of God is obedience to His laws. Where does God tell us He places His mark upon us? Here is where God places His mark of our obedience to His laws:

Exo 13:9  And it [obedience] shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.

Exo 13:16  And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt.

God’s mark is symbolized as being upon our hand because “with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt… for by strength of hand the Lord brings us forth out of ” our sins. But which hand of God symbolizes such strength, in the types and shadows of the Old Testament?

Exo 15:6  Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy [our beast, the “man of sin” within us].

Where does God tells us he has placed His mark upon us? If it is the “strength of hand” that He himself has, then that would be “His right hand”.

“All men both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, receiving a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads” is the symbol of the total commitment of our hearts to the thoughts and doctrines of our father the devil, which demonstrates for all to see who is it that we worship and serve.

We will pause here and continue in our next study to seek to know what happens to those who overcome the mark, name, and number of the beast.