834. 19:20 Then the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who worked signs in its presence, by which he led astray those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. This symbolizes all those people who professed faith alone and were inwardly evil, both the laity and common people and the clergy and the learned, who by arguments and assertions that faith alone is the only means of salvation, had brought others to accept that faith and to live in accordance with it.

The beast here means the beast from the sea, described in Revelation 13:1-10, and the false prophet means the beast from the earth, described in the same chapter, verses 11 to 18. The beast from the sea means the laity and common people who are caught up in a religion teaching faith alone, and the beast from the earth means the clergy and the learned who are caught up in that religion, as may be seen from the exposition of that chapter.

It is clearly apparent that the false prophet here is the beast from the earth, described in chapter 13:11-18, because we are told here that the false prophet worked signs in the presence of the other beast, by which he led astray those who received the mark of the beast and who worshiped its image. For the same thing is said about the beast from the earth in chapter 13, namely, that it performed great signs in the presence of the beast from the sea, and led astray those who dwell on the earth, so that they worshiped its image and received its mark on their right hand and on their foreheads (Revelation 13:12-17). It is apparent from this that the false prophet here symbolizes the clergy and the learned who had confirmed themselves in a religion teaching faith alone and had led the laity and common people astray. They are called a false prophet, because a false prophet symbolizes people who teach and preach falsities by twisting the Word's truths (nos. 8, 701).

The signs done by this beast symbolize arguments and assertions that faith alone is the only means of salvation, as may be seen in nos. 598, 599, 704 above. To receive the mark of the beast and worship its image means, symbolically, to acknowledge and accept that faith (nos. 634, 637, 679).