Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #24 of Revelation, chapter 13, and we are going to read Revelation 13:13-14:

And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

We will first be looking at verse 13 and at the beast that came up out of the earth: “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven.”  We saw that “wonders” can also be translated as “signs,” so he does great “signs.”  The signs that God tells us about is the sign of making “fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.”  This calling down fire from heaven is a legitimate thing for God to do and we do read about God and the people of God calling down fire from heaven in times of danger.  For instance, we see in Luke 9 that Christ is not going to grant the disciples’ request, but it is significant that they bring up this question, where it says in Luke 9:51-56:

And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

James and John were referring to an historical event we can read about in the Old Testament, when Elijah called down fire from heaven.  Jesus corrects them and says that they know not what manner of spirit they are identifying with and he told them he had come to save and not to destroy.  This is the time of salvation and God is teaching about salvation at this point, so one would not call down fire from heaven.

What the disciples were referring to, we can read about in 2Kings, chapter 1.  In this chapter there was a king of Israel that was very sick and he sent to Ekron to inquire of the God of Ekron concerning his illness, but the messengers were turned back by a prophet.  The prophet asked them if there was not a God in Israel that they must go to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron.  In hearing this, the king asks, in 2Kings 1:7-12:

And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words? And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly. And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

The historical account goes on to describe a third captain and his fifty that were sent.  The king of Israel was desperate, so he continued to send officers and their fifties.  So, the third captain and his fifty approached Elijah very carefully and the third captain pleads for his life and the lives of his men.  Elijah was then told by God to go with him and the third captain and his fifty were not destroyed by fire called down from heaven.  In this historical account in 2Kings, we can see God’s salvation program: “two thirds” are destroyed by fire from heaven and “one third” is spared.  God speaks of saving the “third part” in Zechariah, chapter 13, and “two thirds” are destroyed, so it is a clear picture of the Gospel. But it is also what John and James are drawing upon in the passage we read in the Gospel of Luke and what is being drawn upon in our verse in Revelation 13.  The beast, Satan, at the time of the Great Tribulation, has the ability to make fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.  Notice in the Scripture we read in 2Kings, chapter 1, when Elijah responded to the captain that said, “Thou man of God, come down,” he answered, “If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven,” and that means that fire coming down from heaven would mean that Elijah was a man of God and a true prophet of the Lord.  Therefore, being able to call down fire from heaven “validates” a true prophet of God and that is why it is such a big deal for this to be said of Satan at the time of the end, the time when God is judging the churches.  For Satan to have ability to call down fire from heaven is as though he is validating his presence as the man of sin ruling in the churches.  He is validating himself as though he is God and people will respond to this and they will be deceived by this.

But the question remains, because the Bible says that Satan infiltrates the churches and overcomes them and then he does these great signs in the sight of men like bringing fire down from heaven, have we seen that?  Has that “sign” been occurring in the churches of today?  We see many strange things going on there, but as far as I am aware, there are no churches that claim to be able to call down fire from heaven.  Even the strangest and most far out churches (as far as going away from the Word of God) do not even claim to have that power.  So does this mean that what we are reading about in Revelation 13 has not yet happened?  No, it does not mean that at all.  We have to keep searching the Bible to see what else could be in view.

Speaking of Jesus, it says in Matthew 26:47-48:

And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.

Then Jesus said in Matthew 26:50-54:

And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear.  Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

We also read about the same event in John 18:1-6:

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples. Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way: That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.

Here, we read of Judas and the band of men that came to take Jesus.  If ever there was a proper time for a man of God (and Christ is the “man” of God) to call down fire from heaven, this was it.  The king of Israel, long ago, thought to apprehend Elijah (and Elijah was only a type and figure of Christ) and he was able to call down fire from heaven and burn up the captains and their fifties.  They had come to seize him and take him; they did not come humbly and beseech him and gently ask him, as the third captain and his fifty had done, but they intended to take him by force, just as Judas and the band of men came to take the Lord Jesus Christ by force.  Now would be the time to call down fire from heaven and destroy them all in an instant and, yet, Christ did not do that and we read about why he did not do it, in Matthew 26:54: “But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?”  Therefore, He allowed these men to take him, but in order to demonstrate that Christ is the “man of God” and has the ability and power to call down fire from heaven, Christ said, “I AM,” those two mighty and powerful words that reveal that He is Eternal God, the great “I AM.”  When Moses was at the burning bush, he asked God what he should say when the children of Israel would ask who had sent him: “What is his name?”   The voice came forth from the bush, “I AM THAT I AM.”  In other words, it was the ever-existent One, the everlasting God, from eternity past to eternity future, the great “I AM.”  He is the One that “always is” and who lives. 

So Christ is letting this be known in response to these men: “Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am.”  As soon as He said to them, “I AM,” they went backwards and fell to the ground, but they ought to have been burned and destroyed for daring to lay hands upon the Lord Jesus Christ, but that could not be because it was necessary for the Scripture to be fulfilled in all things God had written.  So Christ went with them.  However, He did make them to fall over backwards at the power of the declaration of His deity.  It is the great “I AM” they are daring to put their hands upon; it is “God in the flesh” and Christ is substituting “falling over backwards” for “calling down fire from heaven.”   

So, when we read in our verse in Revelation 13:13, “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,” God is saying, “It will not be a literal fire, but it will be the thing (the “sign”) I substituted in the Garden of Gethsemane for calling down fire from heaven, which will be to cause them to fall backwards.”  Keep in mind who was in the Garden of Gethsemane when that mighty sign was performed.  It was Judas and the men from the chief priests and Pharisees and some of the disciples, but who else was there?  Satan was there because he had entered into Judas and Satan was leading Judas in this betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Satan had a “front row seat.”  He was also very knowledgeable of the Scriptures and he knew what Elijah had done long ago and he knew what Christ could have done, but did not do.  So the “substitution” was made.  God did not give him the ability to call down fire from heaven in a literal way, but Satan had been given power during the Great Tribulation (and, perhaps, even in these days afterwards) to be able to do the “sign” of causing people to “fall over backwards.” 

So we find in many churches today that people “fall over backwards” and it is a fairly new phenomenon over these last couple of decades, which would coincide with the period of the Great Tribulation and the loosing of Satan and what we are reading about in Revelation 13.  It is a fairly new phenomenon and, yet, it is now widespread.  Satan’s has this ability to manipulate people and perform this sign of “falling over backwards,” speaking in tongues and all the other charismatic acts that are going on in many churches today.

I looked up this idea of “falling over backwards,” which is also called “being slain in the spirit,” and it lead to some information in Wikipedia (which can be a fairly reliable source, but these estimates may not be exact) which said there are about 500 million people that now identify with the Pentecostal or charismatic churches in the world today.  Therefore, these people would be open, to a large degree, to this kind of phenomenon, like “falling over backwards” and “being slain in the spirit.”  There are 500 million “Christians” in the Pentecostal movement and they get that name from “Pentecost” when the Holy Spirit was poured out.  They think that speaking in tongues, miraculous healings and falling over backwards are evidences of possessing the Spirit of God. In other words, they think it is a sign of salvation or a sign of being a man of God, just as Elijah had called down fire from heaven.  Yet, it is not a sign of a child of God at all.  It is actually a sign that someone is not a child of God; it is someone that is adding to the Word of God because they think they think these things come forth from God: additional revelation or miraculous actions. 

If these things were coming from God, they should be recorded in the Bible, if they are truth, but God has said that once the Bible was complete, we were not to add to that Book.  We are not to add a single Word and we are not add a revelation that came to us in a tongue; that would be additional information and ought to be added to the Bible, but God has said there is nothing to be added.  Whatever source those tongues are coming from and whatever power is behind causing people to fall over backwards are not from God.  These things are from Satan if they are, indeed, supernatural.  They are from the beast who had previously taken his seat in the churches and they are indicators of a congregation under the wrath of God and a people that are under the judgment of God.  They are indicators of apostasy and they are indicators of the fact that God’s Spirit had departed and Satan’s spirit had entered in. 

It is a terrible thing that 500 million people are open to these kinds of signs and wonders.   Since people in the corporate churches of the world number about 2 billion, it means that one out of every four professed Christian is open to supernatural activities and, therefore, open to Satan.  I suppose it may be a far greater number than that.  Even those that are not open to these things are in rebellion to God, because God had commanded all the people in the churches to come out the churches, but they stubbornly resisted, just as their forefathers of Israel resisted the Holy Ghost.  They resisted the commandment of God that He gave in His Word and they continued on in rebellion against Him.

Here, it says in Revelation 13:14:

And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast…

Again, 500 million people are open to these things and are being blatantly deceived by these types of “miracles.”  However, the entire church world has not been operating by the power of the Spirit of God (because God abandoned them), but they operate through the power of Satan and they are, likewise, deceived in thinking of themselves as faithful.  “Oh, we do not go after tongues and we do not have charismatic leanings; we understand they are not right or true.  We are Reformed.”  Well, you may be “Reformed” and you may be faithful to the Reformers’ teachings, but you are not faithful to the Word of God because God has ended the church age.  He had commanded you to come out of the churches and you have remained, unfaithfully.  You have stubbornly resisted the commandment of God, for whatever purpose, and as a result God has bundled the “Reformed” part of the corporate church, along with the Pentecostal part of the church, into one bundles of tares and cast it into the fire of His wrath in the Day of Judgment.