John spoke about the beast from the sea when he wrote about the spirit of the antichrist. He warned Christians to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” (1 Jn 4:1-3). The false prophets do not believe that the Son of God lived in the flesh on this earth, neither do they believe we can live as sons and daughters of God while on this earth. They will compromise holiness for carnality every time.
[Note: just as a “woman” can be used as a type for representing all of Israel or all of the church, the “beast of the earth” represents a type for all false prophets who speak or teach against God’s Spirit. Many illustrations are given in the bible regarding the delineation between the natural man of the earth and the spiritual man of God. In Revelation, the spiritual man is called an “Overcomer”.]
The mind that is in mankind after the fall is naturally opposed to God, having its own form of reasoning and wisdom (1 Cor 2:14). Men who glory in their own thoughts seldom think there is another way to think. They do not realize that they are alienated from God and are enemies in their minds because of their behavior (Col 1:21). Because mankind is created in God’s own image, he has a wonderful mind and great reasoning skills. It is so wonderful in fact that the tendency for the carnal mind is to think he, himself, is his own god.
All that evil needs to succeed on earth is for an individual to think he or she is God or equal to God. This was Lucifer’s sin, and the same sin he is perfecting in men and women who reject the life of God’s Spirit. Satan’s current goal is to get men and women to feel comfortable in their carnal nature (for it is familiar to them) and to become enemies of God’s Spirit, rejecting their God-given identity. God put His treasures inside of us (2 Cor 4:7). The more we discover this, the more we become formed into His nature. Satan wants mankind to believe that all their treasures are inherent, and that God has no part in their identity or their talents.
Because the war of the beast from the earth takes place in the minds of men, we need to remember that scripture warns us that our battles are not against flesh and blood. They are against “the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12) Those who have God’s mark in their foreheads have submitted their thinking to God. The can say, with Paul, that their weapons “have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Cor 10:3-5)
The beast from the earth has two horns, like a lamb. He presents himself with the appearance of being Christ-like in speech and strength. However, when he talks we hear the dragon speaking because his words are blasphemous. He will seem prophetic, and indeed he is the false prophet we read about in Revelation 19:20 “who deceives the inhabitants of the earth with his miracles.” He will cause men to worship their own nature instead of God.
The beast from the earth has the appearance of a fatal wound, which was healed. The fatal wound represents the victory of the Cross. Though God’s purposes for redemption were accomplished through Jesus’ sacrifice, and the ordinances written against us were made null and void, it is not a total victory without our overcoming. Therefore, during the season following Christ’s resurrection God sent His Spirit into the minds and hearts of spiritual men and women to spread His kingdom. The fatality of the wound of the beast appears to be healed because the life of the beast remains. The final and true victory over the spirit and image of the beasts comes only to those overcomers who refuse his thinking. The true Overcomer is that person who submits his/her own mind to the mind of Christ.
The false prophets will become a great influence on the earth because of the authority given to them by the spiritual entity we know as the “beast from the sea”. They will overwhelm men’s minds with their logic and eloquent words. Indeed, it is written “Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?” (Rev 13:4). Men will find it difficult to resist the thinking that is expressed through the mouths of the false prophets and the works of their hands. The beast of the sea, utilizing those who represent the beast of the earth, will place his mark on the minds and the works of the hands of those who worship him, causing opposition between men who love their carnal nature and those who have God’s mark upon them. The beast’s mark is 666, which is defined as the fully mature and complete number of man as god. This represents the fullness of man’s carnal nature being worshipped instead of God’s nature being worshipped.
The opposition between those who think they are their own god and those who worship the One True God will have the outward manifestation of oppression toward the Overcomers. Those “Christians” who want to “get along” in this world will have to make friends with those carnal individuals who have what they need to survive. In other words, those who “need to buy what the world has to offer” will be put into the position of loving this life, or they won’t survive. They will have to receive the mark of the beast to buy into the systems of this carnal world. This will be a severe trial for those striving to be overcomers. Only those who are willing to war against satan, those who “(do) not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Rev 12:11) will overcome him.
The carnal mind will never think it can overcome the beast of the sea because of the words of the beast of the earth through his false prophets. The Spiritual mind will think it can overcome. The Spiritual man will know the power of the sacrifice made for him; the Blood of the Lamb (Rev 12:11). The Spiritual man will lay down his/her life as Jesus did on the cross. But the Overcomer’s faith will seem like foolishness for those who love their own thoughts and worship their carnal nature. The sides taken for the grand battle over the fate of mankind will be determined by the smaller battles won in the individual minds of men and women.
Helen & Dave Kraemer
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