Revelation 13 : 15

^{Revelation 13 : 15}

15   He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

He was given power to give breath to the image; this is the counterfeit of creation in which God gives the breath of life and man became a living being, its speech is the counterfeit of the word of God (Hughes). Contrast this to the breath of God that brought back to life the two witnesses (

Rev. 11:11 Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.

Unlike Baal

1 King 18:29 And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.

 this idol could speak, it is interesting that in John’s description of idols in 9:20 he says that they ‘cannot see or hear or walk’, he does not say they cannot speak

 Isa 45:20 " Assemble yourselves and come; Draw near together, You who have escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge, Who carry the wood of their carved image, And pray to a god that cannot save.

 Jer 10:5 They are upright, like a palm tree, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, For they cannot do evil, Nor can they do any good."

 Hab 2:18 " What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, The molded image, a teacher of lies, That the maker of its mold should trust in it, To make mute idols?

We should again notice that the source of the voice is the dragon through the line of delegated authority from the dragon to the beast out of the sea 13:2, to the beast out of the earth (13:12) and now to the image of the beast. Just as God speaks His word, the Devil speaks lies (12:15), the beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies (13:5-6), the beast out of the earth spoke like the dragon (13:11), evil spirits come out of the mouth of the dragon, beast and false prophet (16:13-14), so also words come out of the image of the beast. The words are caused by demons cf. 16:14, they are a miraculous sign (13:13). The Lamb fights with the word of God, the sword of the spirit which proceeds out of his mouth (1:26, 2:16, 19:15, 21), so the image of the beast speaks lies and death.

 Like Nebuchadnezzar

(Dan 3:6 and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace."

he forces everyone to worship the image of the beast under pain of death. Those who refuse to worship the image are in the Lamb’s book of life (13:8), by refusing to worship the image they betray their identity as worshippers of God (11:1) and are killed (Beasley-Murray) but later we see them in heaven as victorious over the beast and his image (15:2).

Consider false religion (Hinduism, Islam, etc.) or false philosophy such as communism, it is this that gives power to, and sustains the state. If we take Mao as our model of the beast then the Party is his minister of propaganda (false prophet) and his image would equate to the many pictures of Mao around China, however we should note that Mao did not have world-wide rule. It is unfashionable to say but the false religion would also apply to the Roman Catholic Church prior to the reformation, which was also based in Rome. Consider such Papal titles as Holy Father, this is clearly blasphemous and papal infallibility, for only God is infallible. Consider such practices as indulgences, that is Simony, i.e. buying forgiveness.

v15 - and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed –

Worship and idolatry are once again the issue here. This reminds us of the story in Daniel, of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,

Dan 3:5-6 that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up;

6     and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace."

which the order is given ‘Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace’ Dan 3:6. This gives a clue to the identity of the beast that in this case is Nebuchadnezzar, that is a world ruler who ruled Babylon the great city. Daniel's description of Nebuchadnezzar in Dan 4:22 says

'You have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth'.

 Dan 3:7 indicates that 'all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshipped the image of gold', that Nebuchadnezzar made under pain of death. The saints are required to have the same bravery as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who said "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.", Dan 3:16-18. The fire of Nebuchadnezzar is temporary but God’s fire is eternal, those who worship the image of the beast to avoid man’s fire will end up in God’s fire instead (14:9-11, 20:15, 21:8). While Christ may not save them from any furnace of this world he will save them from the lake of fire which is the second death. If a Christian refused to make an act of worship to Caesar he was liable to the death penalty. Here the beast forces the people into idolatry, only those who know their God will refuse to worship the image (Dan 11:32), we find those who had been victorious over the beast and his image in Rev 15:2. This implies that to be victorious over the beast is to be a martyr (cf. 12:11). Resisting joining in with those who worship the image involves patient endurance on the part of the saints (Rev 14:12), together with death or imprisonment. However the penalty imposed by God for worshipping the image is severe, Rev 14:9-11. The image is mentioned three times in this chapter and seven more times in Revelation