What is the relationship between the devil, beast, and false prophet in Revelation?

[Shertzer23]

I just finished Revelation and have multiple questions about it. One of them is the question I asked in the title. While reading I interepreted them all as the devil, just in different manifestation. However, in Revelation 20:10, God throws them all into the lake of fire and brimstone, so they must be different. Are the beast and false prophets servants of the devil? Or is it some third thing I haven’t thought of?

 

[Mintaka]

In general, (name removed by moderator), I agree with you.

However, you’re dead wrong about the Antichrist. No human being could ever be “prepared at the moment of his conception to be possessed by the Devil himself”, because God is the only one who has control of human souls at the moment of their conception. Those of us not named “the Blessed Virgin Mary” do receive our fallen nature as soon as we are conceived, but that comes from our parents and the sin of our First Parents, Adam and Eve. It doesn’t come from God, although He allows it; and Satan has no hand in it.

As John says in his letters, anybody who is against Christ is an Antichrist. “The” Antichrist will be a normal human being who hates Christ, and who is allowed to be given powers by demons in order to make Satan’s final defeat even more embarrassing.

There are various theories about his origins (Roman like Nero, the tribe of Dan thing, somebody really good at pretending to be a good Catholic – you could make a whole list), but it really doesn’t matter who his parents will be. He’ll just be another nasty evil dictator, and they come a dime a dozen. The difference will be that he’ll be allowed to be nasty to his heart’s content, whereas your Stalin, Mao, and Hitler were restrained somewhat. (And that’s a scary thought, given that Mao et al killed hundreds of millions.)

The False Prophet will apparently be just that – a human being who tells lies and has some kind of occult powers.

The Beast is the empire of the Antichrist. That’s what all the seven heads and ten horns business is about. (And you can learn more about Beasts in the Book of Daniel.) The historical reading is that it was the Roman Empire. In a contemporary reading, you can identify it with any secular government that is Doing Bad Things. And since governments at all levels are always doing some bad things, you can always get some leverage out of the Beast.

The Dragon is the Devil. Satan. Lucifer. The Serpent. All names for the same evil fallen angel. Spoiler: he loses.

The idea of an “evil inverse Trinity” is… unlikely. I mean, Lucifer is not the guy to share his power with anyone, and the nature of all demons is similar. There may be some kind of “lower-archy”, as C.S. Lewis put it, but it’s based on raw power, where more powerful demons spend their time making less powerful demons do what they want, while cringing and obeying the still more powerful demons above them. So there’s probably one top dog demon (Lucifer), a bunch of feuding demons below him who are anxious to pull Lucifer or each other down but can’t, and so on from there.

But that’s not my business, because I hope never to go to Hell.

 

[Son.of.Thunder]

I would recommend reading the book titled ‘Coming Soon: Unlocking the Book of Revelation’ by Michael Barber.

 

[spauline]

Here is my take on it, in a slightly different manner:

The Dragon, the Beast and the False Prophet, Apocalypse 13

It seems appropriate that the dragon, beast, and false prophet can image a diabolical Trinity. In fact, this works well, not only in the context of preterism, but also idealism. Let us explore it. Clearly, if the dragon is the “father of lies,” the beast can be seen as the incarnation of these lies in human history in any age that is largely opposed to God. The false prophet can then image these lies, spoken between the dragon and beast, in much the same way in which the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. For reference, in the article on the Ecclesiology of the Loaves and Fishes
(hprweb.com/2016/09/sacramental-ecclesiology-in-the-loaves-and-fishes/)

I saw the two horns of the false prophet as the two great lies of the fall themselves, recycled in all ages of sin, summarizing, in their principles, all that has ever been wicked or will be:
Anti-Baptismal Disposition: The antithesis of the Baptismal disposition: no faith, no repentance. Seek not to know, love, and serve God in this life. Rather, believe as you wish and do as you wish. Don’t listen to God or any claimed revelation from God, whether by man or book. Decide for yourself what is true. And don’t do what God has told you to do, or what any claimed Revelation of God has told you to do. Rather, do what you want, whatever is convenient. You will be better off in all these things.

Anti-Marital Disposition toward God: As for seeking your ultimate fulfillment in marrying your Creator in the next life, rubbish! Rather, seek your ultimate fulfillment in figurative fornication with the creation, in this life—materialism—seeking your ultimate goal in this world, rather than the next!

…

 

[spauline]

…

Moving on, one can find profound meaning in the shore, the sea, and the earth. More specifically, the dragon takes his position on the shore, the (first) beast in the sea, and the false prophet (second beast) on the earth. We have seen in that same article just referenced that the earth is like a foundation, the Church, the pillar and “ground” of truth. (1 Tim. 3:15) The sea is a place of chaos, heresies and lies, tossing man to and fro. The shore would seem to be somewhere in the middle—part lies and part truth.

In this view, the devil, who takes his position on the shore (conclusion of Apocalypse 12) can be seen to hide behind half-truth, confounding the world with ideologies and ideas that have some truth and some falsehood, much like the extremes of right and left, each of which has some good and some bad. From this, total godless indifference arises: the beast from the sea. This could image the objective reality of godlessness. It has no foundation, only lies, and in the end, it will be tossed and drowned to its death.

This is in contrast to the second beast, the false prophet, who, rather than taking residence in the sea, like the first beast, arises from the earth. How would we see this? Well, it is initially very problematic. Why? Well, it is an issue because the earth is a true foundation of truth and grace, whereas the false prophet, on the other hand, who images the very lies of the fall themselves, is in no way a foundation.

In fact, the lies of the false prophet, which govern the beast from the sea, appropriately lead to the death and annihilation of the sea. Ah! But alas, this is perfect imagery! What does the dragon do except present his lies as good? Yes! That is exactly how the dragon portrays his ultimate lies from the fall! He presents his complete lies as though they are the complete truth! Hence, the false prophet, the fullness of deception, presents itself as the fullness of truth and stability: it stands on the earth and masquerades as though it has its origin in truth (it comes out of the earth). Therefore, the result is that the total lies of the devil, which spell both physical and spiritual doom for humanity, (the objective sea of death, the first beast) are presented as a supreme foundation for prosperity and peace (the subjective lie of placing them upon the earth, the second beast). Expectedly, the deception takes root in humanity, harshly verbalized in the same Apocalypse 13: “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with it? “ (Apoc. 13) Translation: “Behold, we have a supreme materialistic power and grandeur, and we have no need of God or religion. What will stop us from the ultimate paradise, or utopia?” Interestingly, this strikingly resembles Babel, where God says, “There will be nothing they shall not be able to do.” (Gen11:6)

 

[Benadam]

. What will stop us from the ultimate paradise, or utopia?” Interestingly, this strikingly resembles Babel, where God says, “There will be nothing they shall not be able to do.”

There is a connection to that ability to do anything and 'singlemindedness… A people operating as one is powerful. That is what happens at Pentecost. The languages were gathered into one so to speak.How many times do we read in Scriptures ‘to be of one mind’. What do we see in secularism. A false understanding of tolerance and diversity and freedom. A value system that seems to establish singlemindedness all the while advancing ideas of individuality and independence from moral authority from an external source. The more an anti God single mind develops the more people that can be controlled by fewer demons. The symbols of horse and rider, chariots and whole armies controlled by one demon describe that kind of single mind forming in peoples. Plagues of locusts are an image of this.

There is a connection to baptism and the tower of Babel. The Tower is a gathering of people that would have the flood as a recent memory. The tower is an attempt to create a place above the flood waters. To avoid judgement from God.

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