Revelation 19:19-21 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
The beast gathered his followers gather to fight the rider. Their rejection of the rider shows their ignorance of who they are dealing with. They do not acknowledge Jesus as the king. Their king is the beast. They have been totally deceived. They are not passive in this deception. This is the natural outcome of rejecting Christ and the gospel. This rejection leads to their downfall and defeat. Both the beast, representing secular power, and his prophet, representing false religious power, will be thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is an image from the Valley of Hinnom known as Gehenna, and was a salley southwest of Jerusalem where humans were sacrifice in 2 Kings 16:3; 23:10; Jer 7:31. It was a place where trash was burned with a continuous fire. It became symbolic for the abode of the wicked dead (Matthew 5:22; Mark 9:43). The rest of humanity was also defeated and killed by Christ’s sword of justice (see 1:16; 2:12).
Knowing the outcome of following the Beast and his prophet, we must be ever vigilant so as not to be deceived by this world. We must keep our faith in Christ focused and fixed (see Hebrews 12:1-2). The best defense against the forces of evil is faith in Christ.
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