How to Escape the
Mark of the Beast [He] is able to keep you from stumbling, and
to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. —Jude 1:24, emphasis added As
the end of the world approaches, so does earth’s darkest hour. Hell will soon open, and the
pit will vomit out its demon hordes to run wildly throughout humanity. Other
beasts from the abyss will globally wreak death and destruction. Satan himself
will invade the earth and seemingly conquer it at last. At the helm, the visible
leader of the world will be the long promised man of sin, the lawless one, the
beast, the coming world leader—commonly known as
the Antichrist. But behind him, the real power will be the god of this world,
the dragon, old Lucifer, the lying serpent of Eden. Imagine what it would be
like if that perfect leader were to step forward tomorrow—a man who appears to seemingly come out
of nowhere—almost a person from
the past who rolls into one all the great leaders of the world. Imagine one man
with the strength of a Caesar, the military genius of an Alexander, the
mesmerizing oratory of a Hitler, the warmth of a Ronald Reagan, the ruthless
determination of a Ghenghis Khan, and the apparent compassion and tenderness of
Jesus Christ! John Phillips writes: “In 1 Timothy 4:1–3, the Bible clearly teaches that we can
expect this invasion from the pit in the last days. During the final days, most
people will be led astray by evil spirits and occult teachings. The shadows of
these times are already darkening the world. Nothing but the restraining
presence of God the
Holy Spirit is holding back the floodgates of this time of evil. . . . Advanced
demonism was the mark of Noah’s day; [and] it is
becoming an increasingly evident characteristic of the age in which we live.”1 Revelation 13 explains (as do
other scriptures) what I consider to be one of the saddest doctrines in the
Bible—the teaching about the Antichrist, which
tells us that the FALSE Christ will be universally embraced by the world after
the TRUE Christ has been rejected!
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let
him understand) (Matthew 24:15). “For false christs [pseudo-christs] and
false prophets [pseudo-prophets] will rise and show great signs and wonders to
deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24). “I was watching; and the same horn was
making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, . . . He shall
speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the
Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be
given into his hand for a time and times and half a time” (Daniel 7:21, 25). The coming of the
lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and
lying wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9). Far more lethal
than rampant viruses, far more poisonous than radioactivity or toxins, a
counterfeit Christianity is seeping into our world. Jesus warned of a coming
day of deception that was so intoxicating that without His intervention even
God’s children would succumb. Revelation 13
shows the second flood, which will destroy our world. The first flood in
Genesis was with water from God to judge sinful humanity. This second flood is
with deception from Satan to seal the doom of humans unwilling to follow the
Lord. Perhaps the Antichrist will step into the world from a battlefield or
maybe from the United Nations. Very possibly, a glowing metallic UFO will
slowly descend in a globally watched spot and, before the wandering eyes of all
the inhabitants of the earth, out will step the ultimate Superman—the first beast! In concise word
pictures, John describes the culmination of the lies of Satan. Mankind needs to
beware of Satan’s counterfeit
authority (Revelation 12:17–13:2), counterfeit resurrection (Revelation 13:3– 5), counterfeit citizenship (Revelation
13:6–10), counterfeit worship (Revelation
13:11– 15), and counterfeit security—the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:16–18). How can you escape these counterfeits
of Satan? The only place of safety is to have the security that the real Christ
gives. May the wonders of this chapter cause you to seek God’s mark—and not the mark of
the beast! My Prayer for You This Week: Oh Lord, as we read the words in
Revelation 13, we are grieved to think of someone who will blaspheme Your name,
Your dwelling place—the very God of
heaven! We are grieved that he will be allowed to parade and march up and down
on this planet for forty-two months, imitating Your three and one-half years of
ministry—even imitating Your resurrection from the
dead, Lord Jesus—and imitating Your
power from heaven. We love You, so our hearts are grieved to think that mankind
and humanity would stoop to the depths to be led by this monster from the pit!
We want to magnify Your name, for the world is coming to a day when it will
seek to obliterate the name of the true and living God—the Creator, the Redeemer, and the
righteous Judge from the very consciousness of this planet. We pray that You
might be praised through us, and that we might be among those who turn many to
righteousness that we might all shine like the stars forever. May
we have Your
compassion, Lord Jesus, to tell everyone about You, and earnestly plead, like
Paul, with them so that they might be reconciled to God and avoid the terror of
the Lord. Give us an insatiable desire to win souls to You, Lord Jesus. Help us
to faithfully tell people that before them is a choice, a destiny, and a
destination that is either blessed or horrible, and that they must choose life
and look at the Savior. Enable us to see You clearly! We pray all these things
in Your precious name. Amen.
