Revelation 13:11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.

A second beast?

Satan is a great imitator. The Holy Trinity is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy spirit. They are three distinct entities but one. Satan has his unholy trinity. The dragon, which is Satan, the beast from the sea which is the anti-Christ and the beast from the earth which is the false prophet. The false prophet is the religious emissary of the three.

The imagery of the two horns like a lamb hint at the power the false prophet will wield. The imagery of the lamb tells us of the religious angle he uses. The two beasts receive their power from Satan. But remember that God allows Satan the power he uses. We must remember that no matter what is happening or prophesied to happen, God is in control!

How does he use his power?

Revelation 13:12-14 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

Simply put, all this effort is put in to try and take some of God’s glory away from Him. Satan wants to be worshiped like a god. The power God grants him to deceive is used to perform signs that make it seem like the Messiah has come. This is possible because people have chosen not to learn about Jesus. Also, the church has performed poorly in the carrying out of the great commission.

What about the numbers?

Revelation 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. People have guessed about this number for centuries. There have been equations created to see if man could determine who this unholy beast could be. I look at it like this, 6 is the number of man, an incomplete number. We are incomplete because God has left a hole in our hearts that only He can fill. Just put the three 6’s together and it means the false, unholy trinity.

If you are reading this because the end time prophecies interest you, then God is using this to call you into a saving relationship with Him. Come to the Father, through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus!