Bible Commentaries
Revelation 13

Verses 1-18

Still reviewing the process, a beast is seen as the agent of Satan. It is the Antichrist, who is counterfeit of Christ. He appears with the signs and symbols of kingship. He is characterized by attractiveness, for the whole earth wonders after him, and is constrained to worship. It is the ultimate blasphemy of the counterfeiting of God's anointed King by Satan.

Yet another beast is portrayed, and in him the deception is still carried forward further. The methods he employs are a counterfeiting of those which mark the activity of the Spirit. Nevertheless, they are all rendered valueless by the erection at the center of his propaganda of an idol representative of his master. As the counterfeit ever demonstrates the existence of the genuine, so the genuine makes opportunity for the presence and activity of the counterfeit. Imitations have ever formed the gravest perils in the history of the Church and the world, and the devil's final attempt to gain the government of the race will thus be an appalling attempt to imitate the Person of God's crowned and anointed King. The mental enlightenment of the race by that time will admit of no positive denial of the existence of God or of the reality of the spiritual. The world, therefore, must be deceived by misrepresentation.