Revelation 13:12-14 - It deceived the inhabitants of the earth

13:12,13

The primary purpose of the second beast was to make the “earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast”. There is mention again that that first beast’s fatal wound had been healed. The second beast had all the authority of the first one, but was in no way a rival to it. The power of the beast was demonstrated in vivid terms by it calling down fire from heaven to earth “in full view of the people”. So what we have is a terrifying picture of the beast and its demonstration of power, but the beast will ultimately be destroyed. We may be confronted by seemingly powerful forces, but none of them are all powerful.

13:14

The signs that the beast performed deluded the world into honouring the beast who was wounded yet lived. So we should notice the twofold deception here. First, there are the signs themselves which deluded people into thinking they should listen to the beast. Secondly, he directed worship towards the first beast. So people would think that if the second beast was truly evil it would demand worship for itself, rather than someone else.  We need to be very careful. Deut 13:1-4 is also very apt here. Two signs for spotting false prophets are given in the Old Testament. One is simply that if what they say will happen doesn’t happen then clearly they are not quite as prophetic as they claimed! In Deut 13 we are told that even if the signs do take place, but the “prophet” is urging them to follow other gods, then the prophet is a false prophet and must not be followed. Deut 13:4 sums up how we should act, we must follow and revere the Lord, keep His commands and serve Him.