Revelation 13:11-18 The False Prophet

Revelation 13:11-18 We now see a person commonly called the false prophet (see Rev. 16:13). He leads the worship of the wildbeast and exercises his authority. It seems odd that he would be described as having horns like a lamb, although he speaks like a dragon. Most likely this indicates a disguise, an attempt to feign innocence, even though his words are dragonlike. He exercises supernatural power causing fire to come down from heaven, reminiscent of Elijah. (1 Kings 18:38, 2 Kings 1:10-14). People who are oblivious to the prophetic fulfillment of this act on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell to bring spiritual life rather than physical death (Acts 2:3-4), will be impressed by the physical fire falling supernaturally to consume the saints. Satan finally is allowed to counterfeit one of God's miracles. (See also Exodus 7:11, where Pharaoh's magicians were limited by God's sovereignty.) And so the false prophet causes all to make and worship the image of the wildbeast. The wound of the wildbeast is mentioned three times in this chapter. (Revelation 13:3,12,14) Is this the same worthless shepherd mentioned in Zechariah 11:17?

          How does the false prophet give breath to the image of the wildbeast? Perhaps sophisticated computer programming, or perhaps supernaturally. The image of the wildbeast will speak, and then those who will not worship the image of the wildbeast will be killed.

          The mark of the wildbeast occasions a lot of speculation. The basics are unambiguous. The false prophet makes everyone regardless of station receive a mark in order to participate in the world economic system. The mark is either the wildbeast's name or his number. And the wisdom of understanding his number is that 666 means the ultimate essence of the number six which is the number of man. In other words, the wildbeast will set up a system that is human to the core, the distillation of everything that human wisdom can devise. This is the epitome of God's demonstration to humankind that we need Him. Because it will fail. The root cause of failure will be human sin. The cure for the problem of sin, and all the disaster it inflicts on humanity, is not a system of rules and procedures and law enforcement. Sin must  be dealt with through redemption in the blood of the Lamb. This is foolishness to man but the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25) The exact details for the mark of the beast and the number's meaning are less important than these observations.