The Devil Deceives
Read Revelation 13
Rev 13:1 Then I saw a
beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads; on each of
its horns there was a crown, and on each of its heads there was a name that was
insulting to God.
FROM the New Bible Commentary 21st Century
edition:
“The beast from
the sea and the beast from the land form a kind of evil trinity. Satan claims
to be God; the antichrist is the false Christ of Satan; and the beast from the
earth performs the function of an unholy spirit.
“The antichrist
persuades the world to worship the devil. He has a fatal wound but lives, in a
monstrous imitation of the resurrected Christ of God.
“The second beast
seeks to persuade the world to worship the antichrist by his witness in word and
deed, as the Holy Spirit witnesses to God’s Christ. And through the mark of the
beast (itself a distortion of the seal of God) he creates a devilish imitation
of the church of Christ. John depicts the world as divided between followers of
the Truth and followers of the Lie.”
And then there is
the “name that was insulting to God”. Who is that? The commentary continues.
“Despite the many
possibilities that the number 666 yields, it is virtually certain that the
individual thereby indicated was known in all the churches addressed by John,
and probably far wider. The name Nero Caesar transliterated into Hebrew from
Greek yields the number 666.”
As all Roman
emperors, Nero pointed to himself as a god to worship. In John’s day he was the
devil’s false Christ, and great persecution came in his rule. God showed John again
that for a time, in God’s providence, he will cause persecution on his church
and his people. And he also shows he will claim the victory.
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