Sound The Trumpet : Revelation 13: 13-14

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“Revelation 13: 13-14”
by Art Sadlier
October 4th, 2009

The Miracles of the False Prophet

"And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, which had the wound and did live."

The peoples of the world have been impressed by the miracles of the two witnesses of God. God's two witnesses performed miracles during the first half of the tribulation. Now the two witnesses are gone from the earth, Revelation 11: 11-12. Satan now counteracts God's witnesses by giving power to the False Prophet to duplicate those miracles.

Satan uses deception but he also is allowed by God to exercise great powers. Remember in Job he was allowed to control the wind, fire and lightning. "And he maketh fire to come down from heaven on the earth", we see how Satan uses the false prophet to duplicate God's two witnesses.

"And deceiveth them that dwell the on earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do." Paul tells us of those miracles in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10, "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all powers and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the the love of the truth, that might be saved."

Notice what the deception involves, "That they should make an image unto the beast", this is the introduction of a new religion. It takes place at the midpoint of the tribulation after the Harlot false church is destroyed. We see the destruction of counterfeit christianity, the destruction of the world church that the unholy trinity has used to gain control over the peoples of the world. (Rev. 17:15-17). All down through the ages counterfeit religion has been Satan's tool against the true worship of God. The great Harlot is representative of all counterfeit religion, and God is going to use the unholy trinity to judge it.

Now Satan's true purpose is revealed, the worship of the world, and it starts with the worship of Satan's man, the beast. Ultimately, as the world worships the image of the beast they are worshipping Satan. This has been Satan's goal since that day that he proclaimed that he would be "like the most high."

This deception will be so great that those unregenerate men and women will have no chance of resisting the deception. Remember what Paul said, "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." Notice again the reason that God sends this strong delusion, "Because they received not the love of the truth, that might be saved." Understand when an Individual rejects the truth he is rejecting the light. He automatically places himself in darkness. God sends delusion to those who have rejected the light. When a man or woman turns away from the gospel, they place themselves beyond the grace of God.

"Which had the wound by a sword and did live", this is the greatest miracle that the False prophet performs. The beast appears to have been killed by a sword and is brought back to life, seemingly, by the False prophet. We know that Satan can not restore life, only God can do that. It seems obvious that this is an act of deception, the beast is not really dead though he appears to be so. Nevertheless, the world is deceived into believing this to be a resurrection of the dead, what a great deception?

This another of Satan's attempts to mimic God. The second person of the Holy Trinity was raised from the dead, so Satan presents the second person of the unholy trinity as being raised from the dead.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13