Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #29 of Revelation, chapter 13, and we are looking at Revelation 13:15:

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

If you have been following along, we have taken a pretty close look at the word “life” in verse 15 and it really should not be translated as “life,” but as “spirit.”  It is referring to the “spirit of error” and the spirit of delusion.  It refers to “another spirit” and not the Spirit of God, of course, since this refers to Satan and his kingdom of darkness; the churches became part of Satan’s kingdom once God turned them over to him at the end of the church age and the beginning point of judgment on the house of God, also known as the Great Tribulation period.

So “spirit” was given unto the image of the beast and, again, the “image” is the likeness of Satan, who is a spirit being.  One cannot make a physical likeness, but it is the likeness of his character.  He is the “father of lies.”  So the churches were made over in his “image” and they have taken on the appearance or likeness of Satan.  It is no wonder that over the course of the Great Tribulation and into our present time, we have seen the churches given up to more and more wickedness and coming up with stranger teachings than ever before; we hear of churches that have “Super Bowl Sundays” and beer parties, and so forth.  It is all a result of the “spirit” of the beast that was given unto the image. 

The churches are what is being referred to here and it is not just the “Catholic” church, for example.  Some people have a special interest in them and they would say, “Yes, the Catholic church is the image of the beast.”  But it is not just the Catholic Church, but it is the Reformed Church, the independent churches and all churches.  It is all congregations that are part of the institution of the corporate church – the New Testament churches of any denomination in all countries.  It is not just American churches and it is not just European churches, but it is all the churches on all the continents of the world.  They have all been given over to Satan and fashioned in his likeness, the image of the beast.  So, we are reading here of something that is true of every single church; it is true of the corporate church on your block, around the corner, in the next city, in the next state and in the next country.  No matter where you are in the world, this is the spiritual condition of the churches.

Again, let me read from the beginning of Revelation 13:15:

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

Now this is an unusual image, is it not?  We know it is not an actual idol.  First of all, you cannot give spirit to an idol and you cannot give speech to an idol.  God mocks physical idols elsewhere in the Bible.  He says they have eyes, but they see not.  They have mouths, but they speak not and they must be born, or carried about, because they lack “life.”  They lack the things that come along with life, such as the ability to speak.  There is no real life in them, unlike God who is the living God and the ever present One who gives life to all creatures.  God is the essence of life.  But Satan is not God.  He can attempt to look like God but God carefully used the word “spirit” instead of the word “life” because Satan cannot give life like God can. 

And, yet, Satan can cause the image to speak.  The Greek word for “speak” is “laleo” and it is a common word that means “to speak.”  It is used often in the Bible and it is also translated as “preach” or “preached” several times.  This same Greek word is found in Mark 2:2:

And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.

He spoke the Word, but, here, it is translated as “preached.” 

Keep in mind that this is how God defines Biblical words.  We find a Greek or Hebrew word that is translated as several different English words.  As we look at each of these words, comparing Scripture with Scripture, we begin to develop a fuller definition of the word and it helps us to understand the word much better than just seeing one English translation of that word.

So in the verse we are looking at, this word takes on the idea of “preaching” and we associate “preaching” with what?  We associate it with declaring the Word of God and that is why this Greek word was translated as “preached” in Mark 2:2.  If you spoke the Word or taught the Word unto them, then what are you doing?  You are “preaching.”  Where are “preachers” found?  They are found in the churches and congregations of the world.  Of course, we can find them elsewhere and we are thankful that there are still “true worshippers” of God outside the churches and congregations that, likewise, speak the Word and, therefore, can be said to be “preaching,” but this is especially so in the churches and congregations.  There is “preaching” going on.

We find this same Greek word “laleo” in Acts 16:6:

Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,

They were forbidden to “speak” or “preach” the word in Asia.  It is, again, the same word.  So when we read in our verse in Revelation 13:15 that he had power to give spirit unto the image of the beast, that word “spirit” when associated with the evil one relates to “other gospels,” “other Christs” and “other spirits.”  That is what Satan is interested in – he develops a gospel that is as close as possible to truth, but is error and will lead people astray.  It was his overriding concern to be like God.   Where did he go as soon as he was loosed?  He did not go to a haunted house, but he went into the churches.  It is a single-mindedness that Satan possessed.  He wanted to be like God and to be worshipped as God and, therefore, he must use the Word of God, so he has his “ministers of righteousness,” but they are false apostles; they are not true.  He has his people as leaders and preachers in the churches and congregations.  His people “speak” the word that he wants them to speak, as Satan is the ruler of their lives in the time he was ruling in the churches during the Great Tribulation period.  He had been given rule to a far greater degree than ever before in the world and, especially, in the churches and he had his “preachers” preach the word of error, to preach the lies that God allows them to believe. 

By the way, that lets us know that when people believe in these “far out” things like speaking in tongues and falling over backwards it is because God has sent them strong delusion that they should believe the lie.  We should not doubt their sincerity – they believe these things are the working of the Holy Spirit and they believe the things their churches teach, but it is all a lie.  It is a result of the day we are living in and the fact that these people had never become saved and, therefore, they are prone to believe that a lie is the truth, and so forth.

Again, it says in Revelation 15:13:

… that the image of the beast should both speak…

So, we could say that the image of the beast should “preach,” because the image are the churches as a whole and they operate through “preaching,” so this image has the ability to speak forth or preach.  And it goes on to say in Revelation 15:13:

… and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

Again, Satan had been loosed.  The “time and season” has changed – the church age is over.  Now it is time for judgment on the churches and congregations, but no one knew these things when they first happened or even for some time afterward. 

People had been going to church the Sunday before the church age ended and all was well: the Spirit of Christ was in the midst and the light of the candlestick was present.  But the next Sunday, the church age was over, the Spirit of Christ had left, the light of the candle was out and there was spiritual darkness, but, outwardly, no one could perceive these things.  No one realized these things (at the time) so the churches continued to operate as they had done and then we began to see changes over the course of the Great Tribulation period.  There was a quicker development of apostasy and some churches that had been (reasonably) faithful were now giving “ear” to the idea of “speaking in tongues.”  They do not want to condemn that idea, so they are opening themselves up to it.  Then they were finally willing to allow that a woman can be a “deaconess.”  Surely the Bible allows for that, but she will not have any spiritual authority over men; so they crack the door open a bit on that point and, soon after that, they allow women to lead the prayer or to bring a “little Word” at Sunday school when men are present.  So more error creeps in and, thereby, they become more open to error as time goes on because God is not there to ward off these things.  The Holy Spirit is not there to offer protection to the congregation as a whole. 

God had actually given up the churches and God was now actively working against the corporate body, fighting against it.  They are objects of His wrath and God was using Satan as an instrument to punish the churches, as He poured out His wrath, so the “flow” of spiritual things goes completely the wrong way and the “force” of spiritual things are going against the truth and going to “error.”  It is like trying to hold back a tidal wave – you just cannot do it.  So the true believers became more and more disturbed and more troubled and there become more instances of the true believers going to the pastor and saying things like, “Pastor, I know you are allowing women to be deacons and teach men in Sunday school and I do not think that is right.  Look at this verse in 1Timothy, where it says, “I suffer not a woman to teach or usurp authority over a man.”  Then, in another church, it is not a problem regarding women teaching men, but the problem is that they have decided that a single man or a divorced man can be an elder.  Again, it does not “sit right” with a true believer in that congregation.  Why?  It is because they “hear” the voice of Christ and this is “another voice” and not the Spirit of Truth – it is the “spirit of error.”  So the true believer goes to the pastor and elders and he says, “The Bible is pretty clear on the qualifications of a deacon or elder: they should be the husband of one wife; therefore, they should not be divorced and they should rule their households well.  And, of course, the pastor comes up with some excuse.  They always come up with something and they have a way of explaining away the error and why, at this point, their decision is really a good thing.

I remember in one church the pastor was perceived as an extremely faithful preacher.  He preached (apparently) faithfully and, yet, in that church they began to allow single men to be deacons.  So something similar to what I have been describing took place and a group of true believers went to him and said, “Look at these verses: it says, ‘the husband of one wife,’ so how can you say that a single man can be a deacon?”  I remember him preaching on this point and saying, “If we do not lift up the young men, we will ruin the man!  We will ruin the man!”  Yet, he did not answer from the Bible how he got around the very plain statement that a deacon or elder must be the “husband of one wife” and, not only that, but they must have children and give evidence of raising their children well.  He never really addressed that, but with force he declared that this was how it was going to be because we do not want to ruin these young men.  So, there was another “nail in the coffin” of that particular church. 

And, in church after church, it was a failure to be obedient on this point or on that point and soon the true believers are trying to find a relatively faithful church, at least to some degree, and they are seeing that more and more churches are not using the King James Bible, but they are going to the New International Version (NIV) or other versions of the Bible.  This just boggles the mind of the true believers.  Why would someone reject this outstanding and excellent version of the Bible, like the King James?  It is without peer in the English language and there is nothing that can compare to it, but the churches are going to “lesser” versions that are not as carefully done and that have many errors; they dare to change words and omit Scripture or verses.  How can that be?  What would cause someone to think that would be a good thing?  The answer is: the King James is the best and it is the most faithful and, therefore, it identifies with Truth and the Spirit of Christ.  But, there is “another spirit” and “another gospel” and “another Christ” that has entered into the churches and they must be fashioned and formed after the “image of the beast.”  They are in Satan’s image and, therefore, they cannot have this faithful version of the Bible.  They want versions with more error, so the NIV is presented and they accept it.  Of course, this is not the way the discussion went in the churches.  They did not say, “Let us bring in a lesser version of the Bible.”  No – they would lift up the attributes of the NIV and some of the other versions and say, “This is more in the language of the people, so people can understand.”  Of course, there are all sorts of problems with that way of thinking.

When I was in seminary we had an Old Testament professor who had worked on the NIV translation and he was telling us in class how much he regretted it.  It was not what he thought it would be, so it is very possible that even some of the people that worked on that translation were fooled.  I know one individual that does regret the way it (the NIV) came out.  It is a very poor English translation of the holy Word of God.  We do not need any other translation, if we speak English.  We already had the best.  If you do not understand it, it is not because of the “Old English,” but it is because that is the way God wrote the Bible.  There are still many things in the Bible that I read (and I am sure you do, too) and I do not understand them.  It just shows there is a need to “search it out,” and awkward language is an indicator that God is hiding something in His Word.

So this is a process that took place in the churches over many years, with the churches becoming more and more conformed to the “image of the beast” and more and more lies overtaking them, with the true believers becoming increasingly troubled: “What is going on?” 

I remember in the late 1990s I determined to see if there was a faithful church somewhere out there.  Every Sunday for about a year, we were searching; we would call churches and I would ask them a few pointed questions to try to get a feel for the doctrines they taught.  We were visiting churches practically every Sunday.  We looked in the phone book and we had a large area we looked in; we live in the Philadelphia area and we have gone as far as New York, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland, trying to find a reasonably faithful church and in church, after church, after church, there was always something.  For example, in one church we may have liked that they still used the King James Bible, but the message that the pastor had preached was not faithful; or in another church, when the children went to Sunday school, they did not teach them from the Bible but gave them coloring books and how can we raise our children properly using that way?  There was always something and, usually, it was more than two or three things.  We put forth an honest effort and by the end of a year, we had found nothing.  Now we see why it was no surprise – no surprise at all – because no faithful church did exist at that time because God had ended the church age.  There was no church anywhere in the world where someone could go and find the “spirit of Christ,” and it would take the Spirit of Christ to make any church faithful and He had already left long ago, never to return to the corporate churches.