Revealing the mystery of the False Prophet, the great deceiver whose surprising appearance in Revelation was hidden from the Prophets
READ TIME: 10-12 Minutes
The Mystery of the False Prophet
When considering the end of this age, we tend to focus on the Antichrist, the seed of Satan, prophesied in Genesis 3. From that point forward, at least ten Bible writers called him by at least 15 different names. He is called the Prince who is to come, the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction. But he is always described as one person, never a duo.
There are Bible greats on this list… I’m talking about Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Micah, Joel, and the apostles Paul and John. So if you were a learned scholar of the first 65 books of the Bible and then came to Revelation, you would be shocked to read of a second beast, a false prophet to the Antichrist.
But is this concept something new, or was it hidden in the Torah and wiring of the prophets?
The Beasts
To answer this question, let’s start by examining what is meant by the term beast. Daniel was the first to use this term to describe a vision he saw. But understanding what a beast is can be confusing.
An angel interpreting Daniel’s vision explained that the four beasts in the vision were four kings. But the angel then described the beasts as kingdoms and went on to describe the horns of a beast as kings. Then, later in Revelation, an angel describes the heads of a beast as kingdoms.
This seems a bit nebulous. Is a beast a king or a kingdom? Is a king a beast or a horn? And is a kingdom a beast or a head?
Are you confused so far?
Fortunately, Daniel 10 gives us the key to understanding this.
Daniel 10 reveals that these beasts have a prince, a watcher angel, over them. Just as Daniel 7 describes how the beast representing the Greek Empire would succeed the beast representing the Medo-Persian Empire, Daniel 10 describes how the prince of Greece is coming to succeed the prince of Persia.
This concept of a prince is the key to understanding the beasts. For example, we know from Revelation 13 that the end-times beast will be a kingdom or empire, and he will have a king. But what about the prince?
The key to understanding this is in Revelation 17. In this chapter, we learn that the end-times beast will arise from the abyss. Now if you recall, Revelation 9 teaches that a fallen angel (a prince) will arise from the abyss. This angel is known as Apollyon in Greek or Abaddon in Hebrew (synonymous with the abyss). So there is a strong possibility that this fallen angel is the prince over the end-times beast. (I’ll continue this topic in a future post.)
Explaining the Beast
It’s hard to parse out. But based on all the information, I would best describe a beast as the heavenly view of a fallen prince. That is, a twisted angel who rules over an evil kingdom. And though there are references to beasts being a kingdom or king, this is secondary to the prince who controls the beasts. For this reason, the kingdoms are primarily represented by the heads of the beast and the kings by the horns.
But this new beast, the beast from the earth, the false prophet, doesn’t fit this pattern. He is neither king nor kingdom. So how do we understand this beast?
The Beast from the Earth – The False Prophet
In Revelation 13, we learn of a beast who comes from the earth. This beast is not an empire at all. Referred to as the false prophet, he uses signs and wonders to gain followers for the beast from the sea.
How can we understand this?
Like the other beasts, the beast from the earth is primarily a spirit, a fallen angel. The beast from the sea rises from the abyss, implying that he was imprisoned there for some time. However, the beast from the earth, the great deceiver, has been roaming the earth.
We know this from the apostle John. John explained that a deceiving spirit walked the earth. He stated, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.“
He also stated, “every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.“
So the beast from the earth, the false prophet, is the deceiving spirit John said was to come. He is a fallen angel, a prince, a beast, and by John’s statements, the Antichrist.
Who is the Antichrist?
Now I know that that universally, people refer to the king over the beast from the sea as the Antichrist. But given that John coined the term antichrist to refer to the deceiver, I would argue that it is more accurate to call the false prophet the Antichrist.
The king over the end-times beast is described throughout the Old Testament primarily as a conqueror and less so as a deceiver. Paul’s references to him are more in keeping with the Old Testament references, calling him the Man of Lawlessness and the Son of Destruction. Interestingly, the word for destruction is the same root word for Apollyon and Abaddon, the prince over the beast.
But I’m not looking to cause more confusion. In general, if I use the term Antichrist in my posts, it will be in reference to the leader of the end-times beast.
Now, unlike the beast from the sea, which describes a governmental kingdom, the beast from the earth is a religious kingdom.
So why is this antichrist duo new to biblical prophecy? Is there any prior Biblical context for a second beast?
While new to the beast prophecies, this model of a king and a prophet goes back to the Torah.
(From here on, I’ll refer to the beast from the sea as the “Beast” and the beast from the earth as the “False Prophet”.)
The King and the Prophet
Starting in Exodus, we see a split of king and prophet. God chose Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. However, it may surprise you that Moses did not perform the first signs and wonders before Pharoah.
When God gave Moses this assignment, Moses gave excuses for why he could not lead. For example, he claimed to be unskilled in speech. The Lord countered by offering up his brother Aaron to speak for him. Specifically, He told Moses, “I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.“
It was Aaron who threw down the staff in front of Pharoah, where it turned into a snake. Aaron stretched the staff over the Nile and turned it to blood. He brought the plagues of frogs and gnats upon Egypt. After that, Moses transitioned to the signs and wonders. But the duo remained, and Moses became the leader of the Israelites while Aaron became the head of the priesthood, beginning the line of Levitical priests.
The leader of the Beast and the False Prophet appear to be an antitype of Moses and Aaron. While Moses claimed to be slow in speech, was humble, and feared the Lord, the leader of the Beast will be boastful, arrogant, and blasphemous before God. Likewise, as Aaron used signs and wonders to demonstrate God’s power and legitimacy, the False Prophet will use signs and wonders to prove the Beast’s power and legitimacy.
This example demonstrates how kings and governments see religion. A good leader, like Moses, prostrates himself before God and follows God’s lead for his people. However, a vein leader uses religion as a way to control people, to gain acceptance, and thus gain power over them.
So now I’ll ask, what religion will the False Prophet spread?
Religion Under the Beast
I believe what we see in Bible prophecy is a progression from a current religion to the Beast religion.
The most straightforward reading of Biblical prophecy shows that the Beast and its leader will come from the Middle East. What is the predominant religion of the Middle East? Islam.
By John’s definition, Islam is the most specific antichrist religion because it refutes that Jesus is the Messiah in the flesh. Islam teaches that Jesus did not die on the cross but that God deceived the world with an illusion of Jesus’ death. It further teaches that God raised him alive for a future time. In this belief, Islam denies the power of Jesus’ crucifixion and God’s solution for sin.
However, while Islam rejects Christ’s divinity, they believe He is returning, which is a significant part of their eschatology.
Islam believes a figure known as the Mahdi will arise in the end times. And they believe Jesus will return with their Mahdi. Per an Islamic eschatology site, Jesus will be like the minister for the Mahdi. His primary mission will be to correct the “error” regarding the Trinity and clarify Jesus’ nature as human (not divine). This site states that Jesus will “pray behind Imam Mahdi” and that the Mahdi will “lead the world.”
The site also cites surah 4:159 of the Koran, which states, “And there will be none of the People of the Book …’ By Allah! I have ordered the execution of many Christians and Jews, and I have witnessed their death, but none of them believed in the humanity of Jesus before his death.’”
So according to Islamic eschatology, all the Jews and Christians will be killed while denying that Jesus is only human. In other words, they will be martyred for believing that Jesus is God incarnate.
Jesus – The Islamic Beast
They also believe that Jesus will be killed by their form of the beast, called the deceiver – al-Dajjāl, and that their Mahdi and Jesus will fight the Dajjal.
Does all this sound familiar? It’s basically Christian eschatology, but with the roles reversed.
Let’s turn to Jesus’ words. He said, “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.“
So the False Prophet of Revelation 13 may claim to be Jesus. What I find fascinating about this is if you take the Islamic beliefs, but substitute the Mahdi for the Antichrist, substitute a non-divine Jesus for the False Prophet, and substitute al-Dajjāl for the true Jesus, their beliefs are shockingly close to Revelation.
The Antichrist (the Mahdi) will be accompanied by the False Prophet (their human Jesus) in a war where all those who hold to Christ’s divinity are martyred and where the Antichrist and False Prophet will battle against Jesus (al-Dajjāl). Jesus (al-Dajjāl) will slay the False Prophet (their human Jesus) and the Antichrist in this battle, and they will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.
But while the Beast will rise from Islam, scripture indicates that the Beast will morph Islam into a new religion.
The False Prophet – The Great Deception
The leader of the Beast will pursue Jerusalem as his prize according to Daniel 9 &11, Ezekiel 38, Zech. 12 &14, and Matthew 24. But something changes once he has his prize. As Paul foretold, “He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result, he takes his seat in God’s temple, displaying himself as God.“
By displaying himself as God, he would not just be rejected by Christians and Jews, but by Muslims as well.
So how will people of various religions accept this?
This is why the False Prophet is so important. He will falsely prove that the leader of the beast is from God through the miracles. The False Prophet will have the power to call fire down out of heaven to the earth. This is a significant sign that only three beings throughout the Bible demonstrated.
God consumed 250 men with fire at the rebellion of Korah, and He will annihilate Satan’s last army with fire. The only man to show this power was the prophet, Elijah. Elijah called fire down from heaven to consume two 50-man troops.
But one other has demonstrated this power… Satan.
In Job, God permitted Satan to use his power against Job. And Satan sent fire down from heaven to consume Job’s sheep and servants. So we know that Satan has this power. And he gives his power to the False Prophet, who exercises the authority of the Beast.
Could the faithful be subject to such deception?
The Faithful are Not Immune
Remember that the Israelites witnessed God cause the plagues in Egypt, the sea to split and swallow up Pharoah’s army, manna to fall from the sky to eat and water from a stone to drink, and His fire to descend on the mountain. And He warned them not to make idols and worship other gods. Yet, despite witnessing these fantastic feats , they quickly fell away. When Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain while he was with God, the people returned to idolatry, beseeching Aaron to make them a god.
By comparison, today’s people have not witnessed such extraordinary miracles. The False Prophet will show the people something they have never seen before. And so Muslims, Hindus, New Agers, Jews, and Christians will fall for his deception. But he will not convert them to a current religion like Islam; he will bring them to worship the Beast.
And this is revealed to us through a great mystery in the Bible, the harlot who rides the Beast.
The Rider of the Beast
While the leader of the Beast will come out of Islam, once he has won the people, he will no longer need it. The Beast will hate the religion from which it was manifested. He will hate any religion that honors other gods than him.
We see this play out in Revelation 17 and 18. In these chapters, John described a heinous woman, the harlot of Babylon, who rides the Beast. She is a great city under a pagan religious system that spread from Babylon and its pantheon of gods. Today’s religions sprang up from these gods, except Judaism and Christianity. She sits over the “peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.“
In a massive power play, the Beast will devour the harlot and destroy the great city over which she holds power.
This dichotomy of the Beast empire is foretold elsewhere, long before John saw the visions he wrote of in Revelation.
Daniel 2 describes a final empire that Daniel interprets from King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. In his interpretation, he stated, “…it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong, and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.“
Now there are many interpretations of this prophecy. However, I believe the best fit for this comes in the description of the harlot and the Beast. This prophecy describes the Beast and a religious system from which he arose. The harlot rides the Beast, indicating a union of sorts, yet she is separate.
Islam is not just a religious system; it is intertwined with a political system under Shariah law. The unyielding Beast, who none can defeat, is like iron. The Beast needs the harlot religion for a time to appease the people, but she is like clay, and he will shatter her once his need for her is completed and all worship falls to him.
Why the False Prophet was First Revealed in Revelation
So why is the False Prophet first mentioned in Revelation? I believe the best way to explain this is progressive revelation.
Take a look at Jesus. His purpose and plan are hinted at in the Old Testament through prophets like Isaiah and Daniel. In His life as a human on earth, Jesus explained His mission but only gave a glimpse of His glory to three of His disciples. But in Revelation, Jesus is revealed in His full glory.
Many Jews knew their Messiah was coming, but they didn’t fully understand His mission. His purpose and plan was progressively revealed.
I believe it is the same for the seed of Satan. We know that many prophets foretold of his coming. Daniel gave us the best glimpse into his appearance and described a beast empire with a boastful king. Centuries later, the apostles Paul and John revealed more about this beast and its boastful king.
But just as the Book of Revelation gives us progressive revelation into Christ, it also gives us a progressive revelation into the Beast and the False Prophet. John had already wrote of a deceiver he called the antichrist, who was to come. But he receives the full revelation of this deceiver once he is called up to heaven to see the events of the end of this age.
So if a man appears on the earth demonstrating great miracles, signs, and wonders and calls himself Jesus, or the Christ, how will we not be deceived?
Avoiding Deception
Fortunately, the Bible gives us very clear details on how Jesus will return. Revelation 19 states, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, ‘KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.‘”
This will be hard to miss. So no matter what signs and wonder we see, any person who claims to be Jesus who doesn’t arrive as described in Revelation is a fraud and false prophet.
Now Available: the podcast of this post with additional content added at
www.westcloudsrisingpodcast.com
Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
Related Posts:
The Anti-Apocalypse: Revealing the Cruelest Man in History
The Identity of the Beast of Revelation
Ottoman Empire – The Beast Reviving and Claiming Former Territories
How to Recognize the Mark of the Beast
Antichrist Spirit Rising: The Paradigm at the End of the Ages
How to See the God of Love and Mercy Among the Wrath of Revelation