Bible Points

Each political campaign as me thinking about “images”. Politicians hire “image consultants” and “social media influencers to help them gain followers.

“Image consultants” are nothing new but today with special effects and AI deepfakes I’ve been thinking about the “image of the beast” and how the Apostle John in Revelation would have interpreted and described what he saw in his apocalyptic vision over 2000 years ago. In other words, if you were living in the 1st century, which words would you choose to describe a plane, helicopter, or what’s shown on a TV or smartphone display screen?

Today, when we watch a video of a politician giving a speech, is it that politician speaking live, a recording, or AI-generated? We really don’t know, unless we are at that location, in person. And these days, with the advance of technology, even watching someone in person doesn’t guarantee that what we are seeing is real.

We are living in strange days. The culture (news media, big tech, government, entertainers, big pharma, big food, Hollywood, etc) is definitely influencing our thinking and worldviews, and decision-making. It is so easy to see when you consider how just weeks ago everyone had great disdain for one particular candidate, and today she is celebrated as a female messiah. They’ve rebranded her “image” right before our eyes and are continuing to do it.

Think about it.

What exactly is the nature of the image of the beast? The Bible does not say. The old speculation was that the image of the beast is a statue given the appearance of life. With the rise of new technologies come new theories, including a hologram, an android, a cyborg, a human-animal hybrid, or a human clone. Whatever it is, the image of the beast is the focal point of worship in the “religion of the beast” during the second half of the tribulation. Bowing to the image of the beast is how the deceived people of the world will worship the “man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) who sets himself up as a god in the temple of Jerusalem (2 Thessalonians 2:4). (GotQuestions)

Here are verses in Revelation that use the word “image”:

Rev_13:14  And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which were given to him to do in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life.
Rev_13:15  And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
Rev_14:9  Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
Rev_14:11  “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
Rev_15:2  Then I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who have overcome the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.
Rev_16:2  So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who have the mark of the beast and who worship his image.
Rev_19:20  And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who did the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.
Rev_20:4  Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their witness of Jesus and because of the word of God, and who also had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.