The devil’s Mouth Pieces.

 

One of the problems of those who push exclusively futurist readings of the book of Revelation is that they have been constantly looking for who the antichrist is, what the Mark of the Beast will be, and whether or not we are in the end so much that many people fail to see the important insights into how evil works that this book gives us. I personally hold a partial futurist view of the book, and partial preterist. If you slow down and pay careful attention to what the book is saying, many parts of the book show us how evil works. I have already discussed this from one perspective several years ago, you can read that article here, I think it might be my most read article in history.

But there is another insight I think we should look at right here in Revelation 13. Let’s read the first 8 verses and then I will point it out.

“1 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. 2 And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. 4 And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

5 And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain” (Rev. 13:1-8).

Some people read this and straight away want to try and work out who the antichrist will be. Some think Nero. Some think Hitler. Some think Klaus Schwab, some think Trump, or Netanyahu, or Obama, or Putin, or some future figure. But remember the Bible tells us there have been and will be many antichrists, “18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18). There will be The Antichrist, but there are many examples of antichrists, and I think if we were supposed to know exactly who he was we would have been given those details. But if we are being taught by these passages to identify how evil works, then these passages are much more useful to us, and make a lot more sense for our Christian walk. 

Notice where the beast gets his power, “And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority… 5 And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.” Whether the beast is The Antichrist or even just the antichrist system, either way, this teaches us something about the mouth pieces of this world. Many of them have been given their platform by the god of this world. “To it was given a mouth…”

Have you noticed how hard it is for those with a righteous mouth to get a significant platform in this world. There are exceptions of course. If God can raise up a man like Abraham or Moses, he can do likewise today. But even many of the voices in the church which gain prominence are voices which lead astray. This is simply because in this fallen world the dragon, the devil, has great power and authority to determine who gets heard and who does not.

Why does a Kayne, or a Taylor Swift, and other similar figures get so much of a platform? Why do so many of the prominent voices in our world have very little good to say and a lot of evil? Because this is how the devil’s system works, and if you read this passage as pointing to a final godless system at the end, then this way of doing things will only be more prominent in the final day. But even before the final world system comes we can see the devil’s strategies and methods all over the place.

How often does a Christian musician rise to prominence and then slowly deconstructs their faith in front of fans turning many away from Jesus? Do you think it is an accident that it happens so much? 

How often does a prominent preacher rise up and then start to sow new age error into the church leading many astray? 

How often does someone present themselves as a Christian politician but then advocates for and puts in place antichrist policies? 

The devil, even now, is giving his agents a mouth to utter haughty and blasphemous words, and to have authority for a short time. This is the devil’s strategy. That he does not change it at the end but simply doubles down on it should tell us something. He is a creature of habit, therefore pay attention to his habits. Notice things. Observe his patterns. 

Christians are too often and too easily led astray by the devil’s mouth pieces who have been given prominence. Not everyone who has prominence is evil, or deliberately seeking to deceive and turn people from Jesus. But the chances they are is higher than that they are not. You should recognize this.

The devil has not yet been defeated, and I would argue he has not yet been bound. But even if he has been bound, he has only been weakened a little. As John tells us, “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). Therefore, we should pay attention to what Revelation 13 says about how he works. If he gives power and authority to the mouthpieces of this world to deceive, then we should be very careful how much, if any, trust we put in public mouthpieces.

Note, where does John say the antichrists come from?

“18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:18-19).

They came from within the people of God. The first antichrists were Jews who denied Jesus. But then it became other Jews and Gentiles who denied Christ, people who sat under the preaching of the Apostles. And it developed from there.

This world is full of mouth pieces for the devil, and among the more prominent voices the proportion who are working for him go up massively. The devil has great power to give people a platform. Take notice of that, especially when you find yourself being emotionally manipulated by public mouth pieces in one direction or another. Chances are the devil is pulling your strings.