“He exercised all the ruling authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, the one whose lethal wound had been healed” (Revelation 13:12 NET).
Revelation 13:11 offered a brief character sketch of the beast who arose from the earth. Now that character sketch is followed by a job description in the passage quoted above. Here, we find that he will not only exercise political authority, but will also play a key role in transforming the world’s view of the antichrist from a powerful governmental leader to a religious figure to be worshipped.
One method he will use to achieve that objective appears in Revelation 13:13: “He did astounding miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was watching” (NLT). This miraculous ability invites a comparison to the events described in Exodus chapter seven. That portion of Scripture recounts Moses’ appearance before Pharaoh, the ancient king of Egypt. God provided Moses with several miraculous signs to validate his calling, but Pharaoh’s magicians were able to duplicate those miracles, at least to a point.
These past and future examples remind us that “miraculous events” do not offer conclusive evidence to prove that someone’s message originates with God. In fact, the New Testament book of 1 Timothy tells us, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared” (1 Timothy 4:1-2 ESV).
Thus, we may fall prey to deception if we fail to measure a speaker’s alleged miracles against the authoritative text of Scripture. For instance, the false prophet referenced here in Revelation chapter thirteen will fool others so badly that they will willingly obey his directive to erect an image of the antichrist who first appeared in Revelation 13:1…
“And he deceives those who dwell on the earth–by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (Revelation 13:14-15).
This may allude to some form of artificial intelligence or similar technological advancement. But whatever it refers to, everyone on earth will worship this image at the risk of death. This brings us to one of the most controversial passages in all Scripture, a passage that will form the basis of our next study.