Why is He Called the Beast?
Mankind is so foolish. We seem to think that evil presents itself as a horrible, ugly, repulsive thing that we would run away from. I wish that were the case. I wish I was repulsed by evil. But if I’m honest there is something attractive about some things that I know are wrong. The promise of pleasure or luxury or security lures many people astray. We are all flawed with the desire to feed all our wants. It is the nature of our flesh.
When we give into our base nature, we feed the flesh. But the paradox of man is that we can rise up above our selfish wants and sacrifice ourselves for something greater. We can show such nobility and hope in the darkest times. Our base nature is like that of beasts but we reflect the divine nature of God as His image bearers when we rise above our flesh. We are conflicted, vacillating between good and evil, spirit and flesh, godly desire and carnal desire.
The Beast feeds the fleshly desires. The beast is what we all need to rise above. It is the image of the beast in our nature that will be drawn to the Beast in Revelation. Yes, I said we would be drawn toward the Beast, the Antichrist. Scripture tells us that Satan can appear as an angel of light and his men as ministers of righteousness. How much more will the Antichrist appeal to us? He will be charismatic, physically as well a intellectually. He will know how to cater to people’s emotions and draw them in. He will demonstrate a lot of initial success in what appear to be good and impossible things. He’ll broker a middle east treaty and likely demonstrate the leadership to pull our world out of dire crises. He will appeal to every concept of hero and usher the earth into an apparent prosperity that most people can’t imagine. Every fiber of our flesh will be drawn to the gifts presented by the Beast.
And all we’ll have to do is forget what God has told us. Forget the scriptures that warn against this great delusion. Forget the prophecies and forget the power of God. Focus instead on the power of the Beast, the comforts and conveniences that will be made available to everyone who submits to the authority of the Beast. No person in the history of the world has ever held the power that the Beast will have, aided by technologies that haven’t even been invented yet. There will be such opulence available to those that submit to the authority of the Beast, and people will be called fools for not partaking of the finest mankind has ever produced.
The world will label these fools who refuse to submit to the new and best-ever opportunities the Beast has made possible. The world grow to hate these fools for Christ, who suffer for no good reason when they could just embrace the new ways and stop holding out for some out-dated myths, the myths of religion that have brought on so many wars.
The giants will have never appeared to be bigger and the temptations will have never been stronger.
And our only hope is God. Our only hope is the Creator of All, Who predicted that this time would come.
So it is imperative that we get back into the Word of God, reminding ourselves that no matter how big the giants, our God is greater. Remembering that if God could provide for the nation of Israel in the desert for forty years, He will provide for all our needs. Preparing ourselves for the truth that many things we think we “need” are nothing more than wants that appeal to our flesh. Preparing ourselves against the temptation to please ourselves and to take our salvation into our own hands. Trusting that God is the same today, tomorrow and yesterday. Accepting the label that we are fools for Christ as we hold on to the words of people like Jim Elliott: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
I respect my brothers who believe the Rapture comes before the Antichrist rises to power, but I don’t see that in the Scriptures. The pre-trib belief places assumptions on verses that supposedly assure that the Church will be spared from the Tribulation. I would love to be wrong and spared this time of trial, but I recognize the Tribulation is only temporary. The Beast will appeal to our flesh just as he is consumed with feeding his own insatiable appetite. He will embody Satan, literally be possessed by the most powerful of the demons. And he will seek to rend the creation of God apart in subtle and ingenious ways.
But God our Father has a plan, and our God will not be surprised or thwarted by some angel kicked out of heaven long ago. Satan couldn’t win then and he certainly won’t prevail against our God in the end. Choose the winning side and prepare yourselves now.
copyright ©2019 Mitchell Malloy (http://mitchellmalloyblogspot.com/)
