And it works great signs, that it should cause even fire to come down from heaven to the earth before men.
Halfway through Revelation 13 a second beast appears, and it performs the sign that once settled who the true God is. The fire that fell for Elijah now falls for a deceiver. If heaven itself seems to back a lie, what keeps anyone from believing it?
The signs are not listed, but one is named — and it happens in public view.
He "performs great signs." These are not listed, but one outstanding sign is named: he makes "fire come down from heaven," and he does it in public, "in front of people." This is the kind of miracle by which Elijah proved the claims of Jehovah over those of Baal (1 Kings 18:38-39). In this way the second Beast supports the first beast's claim to the worship of the whole world.
One writer names this second beast the Antichrist. The parallel with Elijah runs further than the fire — both scenes end in killing, but opposite people die.
In his day, God gave Elijah power to call down fire from heaven. It bore witness to the true God and exposed the worship of an idol. What Elijah did by the power of God, Antichrist will copy by the power of the devil. He will use it to turn men away from the true God to worship an idol, the image of the beast. In Elijah's day the fire exposed the idolaters, and the prophets of Baal were killed. In the coming day the wonder of fire from heaven will deceive men into worshipping an idol, and those who refuse to worship the image will be killed (1 Kings 18:36-40).
The sign is not strange. It looks like the very evidence God Himself has used.
This second beast makes fire come down from heaven. It is very solemn testimony. In 2 Thessalonians 2:9 the Greek uses the same words for the works of the one whose coming is by the power of Satan as Acts 2:22 uses for the proofs of the Christ — power, signs and wonders. So the same things given to prove the Christ are given also to prove the antichrist!
Commentators differ on whether the fire actually falls. One reads the wonders as genuine events that God permits:
These are not merely pretended miracles. They are real wonders. God will send men a strong delusion, so that they believe a lie, and at that time He will allow this instrument of Satan to produce them. No one will be deceived by them except those who would not receive the love of the truth so that they might be saved.
Another calls it imitation — something that holds only in the way people see it:
So he imitates the great power of God — though of course it is not so; it holds only in the sight and understanding of men.
Either way, the crowd is convinced.
The deception is also a judgment on people who had already turned from God.
This is the time when God, in judgment, gives up the guilty scene of the Christian world, which had already given Him up. Their punishment begins here. God hands them over to an active delusion, so that they believe a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:11). The result is that Satan takes his seat in the professing house of God, and so completely sets God aside that devil-worship is the terrible result.
Scripture announced this miracle in advance. So it does not mean the same thing to everyone who sees it.
Elijah once did this very miracle to turn the hearts of a fallen-away Israel back to the true God. Here the deceiver is allowed to do it to turn men to a false one. Men are given up to be deceived… God's Word announced this beforehand, so of course it is the perfect safeguard of those who trust it. To God's chosen ones this very miracle would be a sign, not of Christ, but of Antichrist. But to the men who dwell on the earth… heaven itself would seem to seal the deceiver's claims.
Intelligence is no defence here. What holds is something simpler and much more available.
All the cunning and subtlety, the signs and lying wonders, all the resources of Satan, all the machinery of hell, are completely powerless against a heart that is governed by the love of the truth. A little child who knows and believes and loves the truth is wonderfully shielded, sheltered and kept safe by God from the blinding and deceiving power of the wicked one.
- Copy — The one named sign is Elijah's own miracle, borrowed to prove the opposite case. Fire once exposed an idol; now it recommends one.
- Credentials — Acts uses certain words to certify Jesus. 2 Thessalonians uses the same words for this deceiver's works. So a miracle by itself proves nothing about its source.
- Cause — God gives up a world that had already given Him up. He hands it over to a delusion, and the punishment starts here.
- Consequence — Elijah's fire ended with the prophets of Baal killed. This fire ends with everyone who refuses the image killed.
- Cure — The same miracle that seals the deceiver's claim for the world marks him out to anyone who trusted the Word beforehand. Love of the truth, not cleverness, keeps a person standing.
And it deceives those that dwell upon the earth by reason of the signs which it was given to it to work before the beast, saying to those that dwell upon the earth to make an image to the beast, which has the wound of the sword, and lived.
A second power deceives the world by working signs. It then tells people to build an image to a ruler who once took a deadly wound and lived. Two questions follow: are the signs real, and why does a wounded ruler win the world's worship?
The deceiver here is not the beast the world admires. It is a second beast, who works in the presence of the first. His signs hold up a throne that rests on nothing solid.
He leads astray and deceives the people of the earth by the signs he is allowed to work in front of the beast. The beast is glad to have such power holding up his throne. It lifts his authority high and makes it look grand in the eyes of men — authority that rested only on deceit, on deluded minds, or on persecution.
The verse says these signs are allowed. Writers insist they are not stage tricks.
These are not fake miracles. They are real wonders. There is coming a time when God will send men a strong delusion, so that they believe a lie, and then this instrument of Satan will be allowed to produce them. Only those who refused to receive the love of the truth that would have saved them will be deceived by them.
Commentators differ on how the signs work. Some give human cleverness a share in them:
These are not miracles of grace, like the ones the Lord did on earth. They are terrifying feats, such as making fire come down from heaven. 2 Thessalonians 2:9 calls them "false signs and wonders." So human cleverness will likely have some part in them, yet behind them stand both satanic power and satanic delusion.
The particular sign named — fire from heaven — is borrowed. It was once God's own proof against idols, and it is now bent to the opposite purpose.
In his day God gave Elijah power to call down fire from heaven. It bore witness to the true God and exposed the worship of an idol. What Elijah did by the power of God, the Antichrist will copy by the power of the devil. His aim is to turn people from the true God to worship an idol — the image of the beast. In Elijah's day the fire exposed the idol worshippers, and the prophets of Baal were killed. In the coming day fire from heaven will deceive people into worshipping an idol, and those who refuse to worship the image will be killed.
The verse names the victims: those who dwell on earth. The phrase marks out a kind of person, not an address.
These passages point to a group of people who are not simply on the earth. Their only interests are in it, and they are limited by it. In moral character they are "dwellers on the earth."
The delusion is also a judgment on Christendom — the world that carries the Christian name:
This is the time when God gives up the guilty world of Christendom in judgment, paying back what it deserves. It had already given Him up. Their punishment begins here.
This is not the first time people have been ordered to worship an image. The age of the Gentile empires opened the same way:
It is striking that when Gentile world rule began, men were forced on pain of death to worship an image standing for the greatness and majesty of the first empire (Dan. 3). Now, as that rule closes, it happens again. How stubborn human nature is! … An image is something that stands for another, though it need not look like it. We are sure that the "image to the Beast" will be a real, literal, huge figure set up in the centre of Christendom, and through it the Beast will be worshipped.
The difference is the ending. God once stopped Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Daniel 3:
Our chapter shows that the times of the Gentiles will end just as they began, and seemingly with greater success: those who refuse to worship the image of the beast will be killed. This time God will not step in to block the plans of these wicked men, as He once did with Nebuchadnezzar. Their judgment will fall in one crushing blow at the end.
The verse names the beast by his wound. That naming is deliberate.
This surprising fact is mentioned three times in this chapter. In Revelation 13:3 the whole earth wonders after him because his mortal wound was healed. In Revelation 13:12 he is again described as the first beast whose mortal wound was healed. That is not said just to identify him, since "first beast" alone would have been enough for that. Clearly it is for emphasis.
- Permitted — the signs are real, not tricks. They are allowed, so God is letting the delusion come; Satan is not overpowering Him.
- Borrowed — the one sign named, fire from heaven, was Elijah's proof of the true God. Here it drives people to an idol.
- Aimed — the targets are the dwellers on earth. Their whole interest is bounded by this world, and they refused the love of the truth.
- Repeated — Gentile rule began with a forced image in Daniel 3 and ends with one. This time no rescue comes.
- Wounded — the world worships the ruler who took a sword blow and lived. The healed wound, named three times in the chapter, is what wins its wonder.
And it was given to it to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should also speak, and should cause that as many as should not do homage to the image of the beast should be killed.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.