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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he required all the earth and its people to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. He did astounding miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was watching. And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life. He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die.
He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.
Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.
Revelation 13:11-18
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
After a day’s break to rightfully recognize and pay tribute to the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., today we head back to the thirteenth chapter of Revelation and look at its second half where we find a second beast emerge, this time from the earth to serve as a powerful accomplice to the beast from the sea. Let’s look again at these verses:
Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he required all the earth and its people to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. He did astounding miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was watching. And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life. He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die.
He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.
Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666. Vv. 11-18
Here we read about another vision from John, one about a “beast” that emerged “out of the earth”. Like the first, this beast, albeit less imposing, still had distinguishing features such as the “two horns” that were “like those of a lamb” and a “voice of a dragon”.
Note that although this beast assumed a subordinate role to the first, he possessed the same authority and he used it to demand that “all the earth and its people” give their “worship” to “the first beast”, the one “whose fatal would had been healed”.
This second beast also performed “astounding miracles” on “behalf of the first beast” which included making “fire flash down to earth from the sky” as “everyone was watching”. Further, the scriptures tell us that he “deceived all the people who belong to this world”, convincing them to “make a great statue of the first beast” before bringing the statue alive “so that it could speak”. We read where “the statue of the beast” then “commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die” and then “required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave” to “be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead” which we’re told was “either the name of the beast or the number representing his name”, the number 666. If someone wasn’t marked, then they couldn’t “buy or sell anything”.
It will be a dark and dangerous time, one where the Beast and his accomplice, one who would be identified as the false prophet, would have their way for three and a half years (42 months or a time, times, and half a time).
Thankfully, their time in power will be short lived for as we will see, Jesus will ultimately have the victory and condemn these two beasts to the darkness of Hell for all eternity.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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