And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon [Rev. 13:11].


And I saw another wild beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb, and he was speaking as a dragon.

This wild beast is easier to identify than was the first. After you establish who the first beast is it is not too much trouble to identify the second. The first beast comes out of the sea, and the second one comes out of the earth. What is the difference? The sea represents the peoples of the world. The great mob of mankind today is like the surging and restless sea—that has always been true. The earth from which this second beast arises is symbolic of Palestine, and it is naturally assumed that the second beast comes from Israel. He is a messiah, and Israel would not accept him unless he had come from their land and was one of them.
“And he had two horns like a lamb.” This suggests his imitation of Christ. The first beast is opposed to Christ—he is Antichrist. The second beast imitates Christ. He also is antichrist (considering anti, meaning “instead of”); he poses as Christ. He has two horns like a lamb, but he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He imitates the “… Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), only this pseudolamb does not subtract sin; he adds and multiplies it in the world. He does not come to do his own will, but the will of the first beast. He is a counterfeit Christ. He will do a lot of talking about loving everyone, but underneath he is a dangerous beast, just as the first one was, deceiving the whole world.
The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 7:15: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” This second beast is the epitome of all false prophets, and he is an antichrist. It takes two men to fulfill the position that Christ fulfills—and of course, they do not fulfill it. But Satan needs two men to attempt even an imitation of Him.
Again, the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 24:24: “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” The false prophet is sort of a “John the Baptist” to the first beast. Some have identified him as King Saul or Judas, which is mere assumption and cannot be proved.

WILD BEAST, DELEGATED AUTHORITY

And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed [Rev. 13:12].


And he exerciseth all the authority of the first wild beast in his presence. And he maketh the earth and the dwellers therein to worship the first wild beast, whose wound of death was healed.

The second wild beast has a delegated authority from the first wild beast, which actually makes him subservient to him, but he is also on a par with him—he has the same power.
This second wild beast leads in a movement to exterminate the harlot of Revelation 17, which is the false church that will go into the Great Tribulation period. John does not even dignify that church by calling it a church; it is called a harlot. The true church, which has now left the earth, is called the bride of Christ. But here you have the last vestige of an apostate church with all of its humanism. The false prophet will offer the world something new to worship—the first wild beast, the willful king, the Man of Sin, the last world dictator (see Dan. 11:36–39; Matt. 24:24; 2 Thess. 2:3–10). Here is presented to us this terrible second beast who will exalt the first beast to the place of worship.
“Whose wound of death was healed” reveals that both the first and the second beasts are healers and miracle workers. This is the big lie, the “strong delusion” that is going to come to the world.

And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live [Rev. 13:13–14].


And he doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven into the earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth the dwellers on the earth through [Gr.: dia] the signs which it was given him to do in the presence of the wild beast; saying to the dwellers on the earth that they should make an image [Gr.: eikon] to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived.

This false prophet is a worker of signs and miracles (see Matt. 24:24). Our Lord warned against this false prophet. His deception is that he apes Elijah in bringing down fire from heaven. He is a combination of Jannes and Jambres: “Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods” (Exod. 7:11–12). In other words, they were clever magicians, and I believe they had satanic power. This Beast in the end time will also have satanic power.
We read in Matthew 3:11: “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” John the Baptist specifically said he had nothing to do with fire, but this false prophet is going to imitate Elijah.
The false prophet plays with fire until he is cast into the lake of fire (see Rev. 19:20). The world is taken in by this deception, with the exception of God’s elect, those who are His—they cannot be deceived.
The false prophet shows his hand by causing to be made an image of the man of sin. The Greek word for image is eikon, which means “likeness.” The big production is a likeness of the first beast that emphasizes the wound of death that was healed. It is interesting to note that the Lord Jesus did not permit anything connected with His physical appearance to survive. But the likeness of the Antichrist will evidently be placed in the temple at Jerusalem, and I believe it is the abomination of desolation to which our Lord referred: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)” (Matt. 24:15). This is the abomination of desolation that is to appear, and although we cannot be dogmatic, we believe it will be this image of Antichrist, the first wild beast.

WILD BEAST, DELUSION PERPETRATED ON THE WORLD

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name [Rev. 13:15–17].


And it was given to him to give breath [Gr.: pneuma] to the image of the wild beast, that the image of the wild beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, that there be given them a mark on their right hand or upon their forehead; and that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except the one having the mark, even the name of the beast or the number of his name.

“And it was given to him to give breath (the Greek word is pneuma) to the image of the wild beast.” This is going to be a different kind of idol. Isaiah and all the prophets mention the fact that idols cannot speak. Paul also mentions it. But here is an idol that will speak. I think they will call all the scientists of the world to look at this image. The scientists will give a report that they cannot understand it, they cannot explain it and that it is a miracle. This is something that will cause the whole world to turn and worship the Beast.
He is now wedding religion and business, for you will have to have the mark of the Beast to do business. In John’s day soldiers were branded by their commanders, slaves were branded by their masters, and those attached to certain pagan temples were branded by the mark of the god or goddess whom they served. Ptolemy Philopater had all Jews in Alexandria marked with the ivy leaf, which was the symbol of Dionysus. In our day a newspaper columnist who wrote an article entitled, “Living by the Numbers,” deplored the fact that we have to carry so many different cards in our wallets and concluded with this paragraph:

It would simplify matters if the government would assign each of us a single all–purpose number which we would have tattooed across the forehead to spare us the trouble of carrying all these cards.

Don’t misunderstand me. This is not the fulfillment of prophecy, but it sure shows how prophecy can come to pass. What is the mark of the Beast? It is not given us to know. We are not told, but that has not kept many expositors from telling us what it is!

WILD BEAST, DESIGNATION

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six [Rev. 13:18].


Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of man; and his number is six hundred and sixty and six.

“Here is wisdom” seems to be a rather ironical declaration when we consider the maze of speculation that has been accumulated through the centuries on this verse.
In the Greek there is a very beautiful arrangement of this number.


hexakosioi 600

hexekonta 60

hex 6


A numerical value is attached to each letter to be sure, but we must let it stand there, for the visible number of the Beast and its meaning await the day of his manifestation. And I do not believe he has yet been manifested. This number has made a nice little jigsaw puzzle for a lot of people to play at, but, my friend, you will not know who he is until you get to the Great Tribulation period.
I would suggest that we not waste our time trying to identify a person by this number. Instead, we need to present Jesus Christ that we might reduce the population of those who have to go through the Great Tribulation period and who will therefore know what the number of the Beast is.
I am not anxious to know the number of the Beast, and I am thankful I will not have to live in that period. I am very thankful today that I know Jesus Christ as my Savior. Instead of spending time with Antichrist, I want to know Christ. I can say with Paul: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Phil. 3:10).
The only positive and important item for us today is that the first beast is a man. This teaches me not to trust man. “Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit” (Jer. 17:5–8).
The passage in Revelation does not interest me a bit as to what the number of the Beast is or who he is or anything about him, but it makes me want to know Jesus Christ more, because my plan is to be with Him—not because of who I am or what I have done, but because Jesus Christ died for me on the cross, and by His grace I will go into His presence.

McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Prophecy (Revelation 6-13) (electronic ed., Vol. 59, pp. 181–187). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

13:11 another beast. This is the final false prophet (called such in 16:13; 19:20; 20:10) who promotes Antichrist’s power and convinces the world to worship him as God. This companion beast will be the chief, most persuasive proponent of satanic religion (cf. 16:13; 19:20; 20:10). Antichrist will be primarily a political and military leader, but the false prophet will be a religious leader. Politics and religion will unite in a worldwide religion of worshiping the Antichrist (see 17:1–9, 15–17). out of the earth. Likely another reference to the abyss that lies below the earth. The false prophet will be sent forth and controlled by a powerful demon from below. The earth imagery, in contrast to that of the foreboding, mysterious sea in v. 1, may imply that the false prophet is subtler and more winsome than Antichrist. two horns like a lamb. This describes the relative weakness of the false prophet compared to Antichrist, who has 10 horns. A lamb has only two small bumps on its head, very inferior to the 10 horned beast. like a lamb. The lamb imagery may also imply that the false prophet will be also a false Christ masquerading as the true Lamb. Unlike Antichrist, the false prophet will come not as a killing, destroying animal, but as one who appears gentle and deceptively attractive. spoke like a dragon. The false prophet will be Satan’s mouthpiece and thus his message will be like the dragon, Satan—the source of all false religion (cf. 2 Cor. 11:14).
13:12 exercises all the authority of the first beast. The false prophet exercises the same kind of satanic power as Antichrist because he is empowered by the same source. He, too, will have worldwide influence and reputation as a miracle worker and speaker. causes … to worship.“He causes” is used 8 times of him. He wields influence to establish a false world religion headed by Antichrist and to entice people to accept that system. whose deadly wound was healed. See notes on v. 3; 17:8. This likely refers to the carefully crafted deception of a false resurrection, a false murder to inspire allegiance for the world.
13:13 great signs. The same phrase is used of Jesus’ miracles (John 2:11, 23; 6:2), which indicates the false prophet performs signs that counterfeit Christ’s. Satan, who has done supernatural works in the past (e.g., Ex. 7:11; 2 Tim. 3:8), must use his strategy of false miracles to convince the world that Antichrist is more powerful than God’s true witnesses (chap. 11), including Jesus Christ. fire come down from heaven. The context indicates that the false prophet does counterfeit pyrotechnic signs continually to convince men of his power, and also in imitation of the two witnesses (11:5).
13:14 make an image. This refers to replication of Antichrist that is related to the throne he will erect during the abomination of desolation, halfway into the Tribulation period. This will happen in the Jerusalem temple when Antichrist abolishes the former false world religion and seeks to have people worship him alone as God (cf. Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; Matt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:4). The false prophet and Antichrist again will deceive the world with a clever imitation of Christ, who will later return and reign from the true throne in Jerusalem.
13:15 speak. The false prophet will give the image of Antichrist the appearance of life, and the image will seem to utter words—contrary to what is normally true of idols (cf. Ps. 135:15, 16; Hab. 2:19). cause … to be killed. His gentleness is a lie, since he is a killer (7:9–17). Some Gentiles will be spared to populate the kingdom (Matt. 25:31–40) and Jews will be protected (12:17).


MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 2010). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.