The power of this second beast is the power of false religion, and particularly false Christianity. It is the power of the false and apostatizing churches that look on the outside like they represent Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, in the midst of this world. They have a veneer of Christianity over them. They use Christ’s name. They speak His lingo in certain respects. But very far from actually representing Christ, when you listen to what these false and apostatizing churches really say, they in fact represent the dragon. They speak false teaching. They present a false Christ. And they do so in the name of Jesus Christ Himself.

That understanding of the second beast is confirmed by a number of other passages in the Book of Revelation that speak of this beast once again. I give you two: the first one is Revelation 19:1–21. In Revelation 19:1–21 both of these beasts come back again as the Scriptures reveal their ultimate destruction by Jesus Christ Himself. There the second beast is described the exact same way he is described in Revelation 13:1–18, except now this second beast is explicitly called the false prophet.

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet…

Notice that the description is the same as in Revelation 13:1–18.

…that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Revelation 19:20, KJV.

The second beast there is described as a false prophet, a religious beast that claims to be the mouthpiece of God (which a prophet does – it claims to speak God's own will to people and says that people must follow him in what he says, for he holds the authority of Jehovah God Himself and His Christ). But this beast is a false prophet. He lies. He deceives. He does not speak for God, though he tells all peoples that he does. Instead, he speaks for the dragon. He presents himself like a lamb, but he speaks like a dragon.

Secondly, remember last time I said Revelation 17:1–18 gives much inspired commentary on these beasts of Revelation 13:1–18. In Revelation 17:1–5, and especially Revelation 17:3, there is the same political beast (the first beast) with seven heads and ten horns and names of blasphemy on its heads. But then there is another figure presented: A woman. This woman is all dolled up, and she is holding a cup in her hand, and in that cup are abominations and fornications. And then Revelation 17:5 says that the name on the head of this woman is written Babylon the great, the mother of harlots. That is the second beast. The end of Revelation 17:1–18 says that the power that holds sway over the kings of the earth is a whore. The second beast is a whore. A whore is another way of picturing the false and apostatizing church. The church which is supposed to be the bride of Jesus Christ, but instead has committed spiritual whoredom and is found allied to the beast of the opposite of Christ, the Antichrist. She commits spiritual adultery upon Jesus Christ, though she acts as though she is faithful to Christ. She tells everyone that she represents the Lamb, Christ Himself, when in fact she is stabbing Christ in the back by representing the dragon. The second beast is the false apostatizing church.¹

Cory Griess