Revelation Chapter 13

VERSE 13 and 14 continued “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do…”

(As explained in The Keys of Revelation)

As stated in the previous post: If the very nature of these varied wonders and miracles were understood in explicit detail in advance of their happening, then of course their deceptive influence would be severely undercut, nonetheless, a few Scriptures are submitted here to shed some light on events to be anticipated in the future:

“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deut 13:1-3)

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come…Now as [the magicians of Egypt] Jannes [the beast?] and Jambres [the beast’s image?] resisted Moses [representative of Christ?], so do these also resist the truth…” (2 Tim 3:1, 8)

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false Christ’s and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive [seduce, lead astray—Mark 13:22], if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.” (Matt 24:23-25)

The clause “and deceives [where possible] them that dwell on the earth” (Rev. 13:14) applies to those amongst the Lord’s own followers—Christians unattached to either of the two beasts (or image)—who will succumb, at least temporarily, to deceptions yet future.”

“Whose coming [Parousia: presence, the Lord’s presence] is after [or accompanied by or during] the working [an energetic operation] of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thess 2:9-12)

Poor translations of this and the preceding verse tend to distort the true meaning, nevertheless the point is still made viz., at or during the presence of our Lord (the initial stages), Satan will be busy working in and through the false church all kinds of “lying wonders” (deceptions) in order to preserve his grip on the professing church, his great masterpiece the antichrist system.

“And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” (2 Cor 11:14, 15)

“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Gal 1:8)

“And I saw three unclean spirits [doctrines] like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” (Rev 16:13, 14)

For a more thorough examination of these various warnings please see out study on Matthew Chapter 24, “Our Lords Great Prophecy”, specifically Parts 15-27, “A Word of Warning”

We continue with the rest of Verse 14 in our next post.