Let’s have a look at Revelation 13 and make one or two conclusions from it.

If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Revelation 13.

Then, we read about the second beast in verse 11,

The famous 666 prophecy!

One of the things which you notice if you study that scripture is that it speaks about a time when the government is going to come under the control of this man. Not just in one place, but basically, everywhere.

Now some have disputed whether that is possible today because you see governments going in totally different directions, you see America going one way, China going another way, Russia going another way.

But will they ever all come together?

And it does appear that if it does happen, then any kind of union will be a very fragile union, the type of union Daniel speaks about, the iron and the clay coming together but which don’t hold together.

Therefore, you have nations coming together but also falling apart. And that’s one of the features of the last days.

The Antichrist is going to be given power by ten kings who give their own power to him. The ten kings are either ten regions of the world or ten leaders who give their power to the Antichrist at the time of his setting up of this global government.

Three of them then turn against him, so there already is conflict between them.

Yet, it is possible to see, as we look at the world today, this coming together of nations (a bit more about how that’s happening in a moment).

The scripture also says that he’s going to be given power by the devil. It says the dragon gave him his power and great authority.

It also speaks about him having some connection with a leopard, a bear, a lion, and the dragon.

What do those things mean?

If you go to the Book of Daniel, you see that those empires refer to the empires which oppressed God’s people from the time of Nebuchadnezzar: the lion which was Babylon, the bear which was Persia, and the leopard which was Greece, followed by the final beast which was Rome.

There is going to be something of the spirit behind those empires which will be behind this one.

And it all goes back to ancient Babylon, to the tower of Babel. That is, bringing the nations together and the spirit behind Babel, which is the Antichrist, anti-God spirit which will end up worshiping what has been made, not worshiping the creator and will bring in counterfeit a religious system.

It also says about him being mortally wounded and his deadly wound being healed, and all the world marvelled and followed the beast because of this.

Now, there is some speculation about what that means. Some have said that he will experience a counterfeit death and resurrection, that is, he’ll be assassinated, apparently die and come back to life. It’s possible.

I’m not going to say that that’s what will happen but if something happens which provides a visible sign that he is a new messiah type coming to save us, that he’s got power, then, you can imagine that people in the world would marvel and follow him.

The Bible goes on to say that they’ll worship the dragon who gave the authority to the beast. So, as they worship him, they’re worshiping the dragon behind him.

I’ve spoken about all those leaders like Hitler, Stalin, Mao. If they worship these leaders they’re not worshiping just the person, they’re worshiping the demonic spirit which is behind them. (See: Many antichrists have already come)

Satan is giving power to these men and people are then worshipping them in a way which is bringing them into bondage to Satan.

The Antichrist is given power and authority, he speaks great things and blasphemies, therefore, he’s speaking against God.

He is given authority for 42 months. 42 months, if you work it out, is three and a half (3.5) years and, in the scriptures, you have this period of seven years at the end of days, the Tribulation period, which is divided into two halves.

From what I understand, he’s coming to power in the first three and a half years. After those initial three and a half years, he brings in the Mark of the Beast system, and, from then on, it’s big trouble right through to the end of days and the Second Coming of Jesus.

You have this period in which the Antichrist is given power, during which time he opens his mouth and blasphemes against God, blasphemes against His name, His Tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.

The Antichrist is blaspheming against God, he’s making war with the saints and overcoming them, and he has authority over every tribe tongue and nation. People whose names have not been written in the Book of Life worship him.

In the end, you’re going to have a choice between the beast and the Messiah. There is NO in-between.

Either you worship him, the wrong one, or you worship the true one, Jesus the Messiah, this is why we need to worship Jesus now.

Then, we have this second beast who comes along, who is described as the false prophet, who is a kind of ‘sidekick’ to the Antichrist, and he brings in the worship of the image of the beast.

We talked a bit about images earlier. He makes an image which causes people to worship the image. The image, apparently, can speak.

Therefore, whether it’s some technological device using advanced computer technology, I don’t know, but there’s something which causes this image to communicate. Some have even said it could be just the television: you’ve got an image which speaks and a projection of the message through the image – speaking image.

We are living in the only time in history where people have had access to a ‘speaking image’. In the past, you had images which couldn’t speak. People might have worshipped them, but you never had an image which could speak.

Now, we all spend half of our time watching an image which speaks, which can be used for good but, most often, is used for harm.

And the image speaks and causes people to worship the beast.

It says worship. And that those who would not worship the image of the beast are to be killed. Therefore, you will have a choice to worship it or not to worship it.

Again, you can go back to Book of Daniel chapter 3 where Nebuchadnezzar sets up the image and he says ‘you’ve got to bow down and worship, and, if you don’t, you get thrown into the burning fiery furnace’. That’s the spirit of the Antichrist which was there in Daniel and is here in Revelation.

Then, in verse 16, we have this very interesting verse which speaks about him causing people, whether they’re small or great, rich or poor, free or slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads. And no one can buy or sell unless they have the Mark of the Beast or the number of his name and this has something to do with the number 666.

I’m not going to speculate too much about this because there’s endless speculation about what it means. Why the number 666?

What it does say here is that we bring in a system in which you can’t buy or sell unless you have this authorization through this mark, which somehow gives you the opportunity to buy and sell.

Why buying and selling?

Well, if you can’t buy and sell, you can’t really enter into society, can you? You need to be able to buy and sell to go on a train, go on a bus, get your food, go to work, receive money.

The act of going to work is part of our basic society. You have to be able to buy and sell. He’s saying that this will be a means by which you can be stopped from buying and selling if you don’t have this mark.

What does it mean then?  We are being prepared for it now. There are things happening now which are pushing the world in this direction.

I see a few people nodding their heads. Perhaps you believe there are…