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"Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of
His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His parousia, even him whose
parousia is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders."
One of the Divine Titles in this book is the unfolded name Jehovah--"Him which is,
and which was, and which is to come". The counterfeit of this name is seen in the
description of the beast--"He was, and is not, and shall be present". There is also a very
evident imitation of the glorious words of Rev. 1: 18, "I am He that liveth, and was dead;
and, behold, I am alive unto the ages of the ages".
The ascension of the beast from the abyss after it could be said of him "he is not"
indicates that we are here dealing with something superhuman. In some form or other
this is life from the dead. Just how far Satan has the power of giving back life we do not
pretend to know, and how much is real and how much is deception we cannot say. The
statements of Scripture plainly intimate the miraculous, and II Thess. 2:, already quoted,
uses the same words "power, signs, wonders" as are used in Heb. 2: 4, with the added
qualification "lying". In Rev. 17: 8 we read:--
"And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the
book of life from the overthrow of the world."
In Rev. 13:, after describing the superhuman phase of this beast, verse 8 says:--
"And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, whose names have not been
written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the overthrow of the world."
Before the angel proceeds to give further detail, he adds the words, "Here is the mind
that hath wisdom" (17: 9). This is a close correspondence with the closing verse of
chapter 13:, "Here is wisdom, let him that hath understanding count the number of the
beast". There is evidently some close association between the number of the beast, 666,
or his mark, and the threefold description "He who was, and is not, and shall be present".
It seems very probable that his mark, which all his followers will have to wear, will be
some device that will set forth this great Satanic counterfeit of the resurrection.
Practically all of the peculiar and sacred prerogatives of the Saviour have been
appropriated by false leaders and systems, but it remains for the superhuman beast at the
end to travesty His Name, "the One who was, and is, and is to come", His resurrection
and His parousia.
We must not omit another most important reference. In Rev. 12: we have the great
sign of the woman and the birth of the man-child, and there we have a description of
Satan--"a great red dragon having SEVEN HEADS and TEN HORNS". There is war in
heaven and Satan is cast out into the earth. Satan DESCENDS (12: 12 katabaino), and
the beast ASCENDS (13: 1 anabaino). Both words are used of Christ. The wild beast
that ascends from the sea is described in exactly the same terms as was the great red
dragon, "having TEN HORNS and SEVEN HEADS". One important difference is made,
which we must remember as we proceed, and that is, the dragon has "on his heads seven
crowns", whereas the beast has "on his horns ten crowns and on his heads names of
blasphemy".