Revelation 13:14

And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given unto him 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 who hath the stroke of the sword and lived.

And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth ... The vast majority of mankind will accept at face value the claims of false religion. The purpose of the deception was to produce the worship of the beast. "Its function is again seen to be religious, not secular; it is a system and not a person."[81] Moffatt also discerned the same truth: "This figure is not any individual like Simon Magus, etc., but a personification of some order or institution."[82]

That they should make an image to the beast ... A literal image? No. What is the image of a great worldwide state? It is a little state, made after the pattern of the big one. The Vatican City State of Rome is surely such an "image," whether it is the one meant here or not. It is complete with soldiers (The Swiss Guards), a diplomatic apparatus reaching to the ends of creation, and having its own laws, government, and all the other trappings of a worldly empire (in miniature, an image), and all this from the alleged followers of him who said, "My kingdom is not of this world."

[81] Charles H. Roberson, op. cit., p. 98.

[82] James Moffatt, op. cit., p. 432.