~ Dragon – Beast – False Prophet ~
The Key Scripture ~ “Then I
saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet” (Revelation
16:13).
The Dragon (the
anti-God) ~ “And there was war in heaven. Michael
and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels
fought back. But he was not strong
enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
The great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the
devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels
with him.
“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom
of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of
our brothers, who accuses them before our God
day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice,
you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the
earth and the sea, because the devil has gone
down to you! He is filled with fury, because
he knows that his time is short.’
“When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth,
he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great
eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where
she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the
serpent's reach. Then from his mouth the
serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away
with the torrent. But the earth helped
the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had
spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon
was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her
offspring — those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of
Jesus” (Revelation 12:7-17).
The Beast (the
anti-Christ) A beast from the sea! ~ “And the
dragon
stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten
crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had
feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his
throne and great authority. One of the
heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had
been healed. The whole world was
astonished and followed the beast. Men
worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also
worshiped the beast and asked, ‘Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?’
“The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and
blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to
slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the
saints and to conquer them. And he was
given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the
beast — all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to
the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.
“He who has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to go
into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be
killed
with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for
patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints” (Revelation
13:1-10).
The False Prophet (the
anti-Spirit) A beast from the earth! ~ “Then I
saw another beast, coming out of the earth.
He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first
beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first
beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.
And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come
down from heaven to earth in full view of men.
Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first
beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor
of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the
image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to
worship the image to be killed. He also
forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a
mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell
unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his
name” (Revelation 13:11-17). This
second beast is the epitome of all false prophets.
The Bottom Line ~ Thank God for His Son Jesus Christ
and the Cross of Calvary.
“Amazing
grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a
wretch like me! I once was lost, but now
am found, was blind, but now I see.” ~ John Newton
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
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