Happy Sabbath, church family.
Glad you're joining us today, whether you're here in the flesh or I know some of you are
tuning in as well.
And today's sermon, I just want to set the stage, is not my own, full disclosure.
But this is in the spirit of next Sabbath's special observation as religious liberty Sabbath.
So that's January 11th, next Sabbath.
And this is, of course, a special theme near and dear to us.
And it commonly includes a special offering appeal as well.
The Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department usually provides a sermon that we can choose
to deliver at the local church level.
And as for the source of today's message, it's adapted from a sermon by Pastor Joe Reeves.
He's serving presently at the General Conference as the Assistant Director of Sabbath School
and Personal Ministries.
And he's also the editor of the Inverse Bible Study Guide.
And now before we do jump in, though, I do want to offer up one more word of prayer.
So please join me as I do that.
Dear Lord, please join us today as we dwell on your word, dwell on the state of affairs
in the world today and what that means for how the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
And let us turn away our focus from maybe some ideas we may have about what that kingdom
should look like and turn us instead to truly the kingdom of heaven that you have in store
and waiting for us.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
So a funny thing has happened in our lifetime, in my lifetime.
People have changed their mind a little bit about this idea of religious liberty.
Many who used to think religious liberty was maybe a blasé topic have now become very
animated and vocal about religious liberty issues.
And this is especially we saw kind of a marked turn in that since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Civil and religious liberty has become that much more popular as a topic of debate in
the American church and in the wider culture.
A few years ago, COVID-19 mandates, you may remember, and then not too distant past, they
made many Christians feel squeezed by secularism, especially in places where perhaps casinos
and taverns were still allowed to stay open while churches were ordered to close.
Unvaccinated people who were excluded from events or were restricted from travel felt
like second class citizens, but they were not the only ones feeling as though their
rights were being ignored.
There were others who felt as though they were also treated differently.
Victims of racial violence, police brutality, or corruption in the criminal justice system
have not always received equal treatment under the law.
And today, the ideals of our republic, our being, are under pressure to test whether
or not we will truly protect the freedom and the dignity of every individual.
After the upheaval of the past few years, many Christians in America resent the establishment
more than ever before.
Pastors and church members across the US feel wounded, maybe even, and angry and ready to
rise up and maybe even take control.
During the past couple of years, we've seen large stadiums filled with crowds who are
united in their desire for Christians to take power.
Meanwhile, Seventh-day Adventists are uniquely positioned not to cave to the demands of radical
secularists or to indulge in the clamor of Christian nationalists, but to be a voice
of truth in an age of extremism.
Adventists have a rich heritage and a prophetic understanding that is desperately needed for
this time, but it does take clear thinking and strong nerves to stand true for principle
while crowds, you know, the power of crowds, crowds everywhere are becoming increasingly
fanatical.
Seventh-day Adventist church members are needed today who will not be easily pulled different
directions but will have the clarity, have the strength to stand firm on Scripture, which
is where we're going today.
Of course, Seventh-day Adventists are not the only Christians turning to the book of
Revelation to find answers about what's happening in America and in the world today.
It's very popular these days to hear preachers use the book of Revelation to warn people
against government tyranny.
One of the verses commonly quoted is Revelation 13, 16, and 17.
Anyone who's studied the mark of the beast knows the text well.
And that reads, he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave,
to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or
sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.
Talk about totalitarian control.
These verses describe a time during which the government forces people to go along with
the mark of the beast agenda.
In this prophecy, economic pressure is applied in the most extreme sense.
A description of economic tyranny is a message that resonates with millions today, which
is why these verses have become exceedingly popular during the last few years.
But careful Bible students should beware, because while the last verses of Revelation
13 have recently skyrocketed in popularity, the preceding verses, hmm, they've been pushed
by the wayside.
American preachers rarely quote the context, and there's a reason for that.
The context would be devastating to their listeners.
Nobody wants to hear about what the Bible says leads up to the final tyranny in this
world.
The previous verses give a very unpopular message that is typically ignored by prophecy
teachers, sometimes even neglected by Adventists.
So let's back up a few verses and carefully consider the context.
So verses 13 and 14 give us an onramp of sorts for the mark of the beast action.
Adventists have preached a lot of sermons over the years about the mark of the beast,
but we sometimes say less about the image to that beast, which that's a problem.
You cannot properly comprehend the mark of the beast scenario unless you first understand
how the image to the beast sets the stage.
In these verses, the world's final superpower is seen leading the way in a false religious
revival that results in a religious tyranny.
And so let's read that onramp.
Let's read Revelation 13 verses 13 and 14.
That says, he performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on
the earth in the sight of men.
And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do
in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the
beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.
These verses are clear that there are going to be very impressive miracles, right?
Miracles healing supernatural events leading up to the final deception in this world.
The word sign is the same word that the writer John used in his gospel to describe the miracles
of Jesus when he healed people, when he fed the multitudes.
But in Revelation 13, what we see, it's the wrong side that's working these miracles.
The text says that these deceivers even call down fire from heaven.
It's an impressive feat, but what does that mean?
The last book of the Bible is using a very specific symbol that is not hard to understand
in the wider context of scripture.
And to understand the meaning of fire falling from heaven, what story or what image does
that conjure to mind for us?
Name a character.
Elijah.
Elijah, yeah.
We first think of the prophet Elijah on top of Mount Carmel.
Elijah was locked in a national contest of worship.
The whole nation was gathered at the top of Mount Carmel for an epic showdown between competing
religions.
After a disastrous and embarrassing day of prayer and demonstrations by the false prophets
of Baal, the prophet Elijah offered a humble prayer and was answered promptly by fire from
heaven.
And that, of course, is the story we find in first Kings.
So the same type of contest over worship will happen again, according to Revelation 13.
And that's got an absolutely astonishing difference.
In Revelation 13, it's the wrong side calling fire down from heaven.
It's kind of stunning when you think about it.
And this results in a mass religious deception on a scale that far exceeds anything we've
experienced before.
So to better understand the symbol of fire falling from heaven, we also need the New
Testament story of Pentecost.
When flames of fire descended from heaven and they appeared on the head of each person
in the upper room.
This fire from heaven symbolized any takers?
The Holy Spirit, absolutely.
And it was a token of Holy Spirit power and revival that came in answer to also to a prayer.
So in Revelation, though, this fire from heaven is not the genuine thing.
It's the counterfeit.
It represents a false outpouring of the Holy Spirit that comes in answer to compromised
prayers.
This prophecy is describing a false religious revival that will sweep the nation and lead
to the image of the beast that we read of later in the more often quoted parts of Revelation
13.
So do we want to know why so many prophecy teachers avoid Revelation 13 verses 14 and
15, the earlier part of that passage?
It's because these verses make one thing certain.
The image to the beast is not formed by atheists.
It's not some secular power as a lot of people envision in popular Christianity today.
There are miracles.
There are prayers.
There are there is a religious revival.
The image to the beast is not a secular program.
The image to the beast is not going to come from global elites who are hostile to Christian
values.
It's just the opposite.
It will come from where it's least expected.
The image to the beast is made possible by a group of pastors, revivalists in America
who are working together with lawmakers to bring America back to God.
Out of an effort to restore, so to speak, restore Christianity in this nation, Revelation
13 clearly describes a religious tyranny that emerges.
And so this is why it's called the image to the beast.
What's an image usually?
It's like a replica, a copy, a reflection.
And in this case, what is it a reflection of?
This image to the beast is an image of the beast from the sea described in earlier, yet
earlier in Revelation 13, symbolizing the religious tyranny of the dark ages when the
church controlled the state, when the church controlled the state, the repetition for the
cheap seats there.
Christianity is clear that the religious tyranny of the dark ages will be revived in the last
days.
So now, that may be a little hard to take, a little hard to believe after communist dictators
may have exercised a secular tyranny and made it such a dominant threat to Christians in
the past centuries.
Beginning even with the French Revolution, much blood has been shed by secular dictators
who are hostile to Christianity.
It's not that it doesn't happen.
Revelation 11 speaks powerfully to the reality of secular persecution against Christians.
However, in the full sweep of the last 2,000 or so years, secular tyranny has killed its
thousands, while religious tyranny has killed its 10,000s.
In the 1700s, people fled to America to escape the religious persecution that had been happening
in Europe for more than 1,000 years prior.
While there has been a spike in secular persecution during the past 200 or so years, Revelation
13 is clear that the final persecution in this world will be religious in nature, in
which churches gain the upper hand again and enforce their version of Christianity.
Revelation 17 also depicts a religious power that has gained power over the state.
In Revelation 17, there's a woman with mystery Babylon written on her forehead.
This woman is riding the beast, riding the beast, meaning that the religious power holds
a position of dominance over state power.
Many people today think that the beast is riding the woman when we can be certain from
prophecy that the religious power will come out on top.
And that's nothing new.
For 173 years, Adventists have not deviated in what we teach about America in prophecy.
Beginning in 1851, Adventists have been clear about what we believe will cause the final
demise of liberty in America.
And dating back to May 19, 1851, the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald published an article
about the United States in prophecy.
And that article was written by the then 21-year-old J.N. Andrews, the namesake of our flagship
seminary.
And this article reads in part, an image to the beast that received the deadly wound must
be made.
That beast was, in truth, a church clothed with civil power and authority by which it
put to death the saints of God.
And he cites Revelation 13 verses 5 through 8 and Daniel 7, 23 through 26.
An image to the beast then must be another church, Andrews continues, an image to the
beast then must be another church clothed with civil power and authority to put the
saints of God to death.
This can be nothing else but the corrupt and fallen Protestant church.
A little chilling.
In 1851, 21-year-old J.N. Andrews saw clearly that according to Bible prophecy, the final
threat to religious liberty would be coming from the Protestant churches of America.
That's not to say that the only threat to religious liberty will come from religious
leaders.
To the contrary, we've experienced religious liberty threats from all sides.
But the final threat, though, that final threat to religious liberty will come from the churches
of America.
Ellen White, one of the most translated authors in the world and one we hold near and dear
to our hearts, she emphasized this point even more strongly 38 years later when she published
The Great Controversy in 1888.
In The Great Controversy, there's a passage clear and unwavering both in its explanation
of the mark of the beast and the image to the beast.
Controlling the image to the beast, it says, in order for the United States to form an
image of the beast, the religious power must so control the civil government that the authority
of the state will also be employed by the church to accomplish her own ends.
In this quote, who is controlling whom?
It's not the government controlling the religious power.
It's the church controlling the government.
There's a big difference.
The image to the beast will be accomplished when the religious power in America takes
control of civil government for the enforcement of a religious agenda.
That's our future, an America in which Protestant Christianity becomes dominant and overbearing.
Can we see this in development?
Ellen White explained that if you want to track the early progress of the image to the
beast, don't just listen to what the judges are saying in the Supreme Court.
Don't just listen to your legislators and what is being discussed in Congress.
Listen to what the pastors are saying from American pulpits.
On page 445, Ellen White continues, when the leading churches of the United States, uniting
upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state
to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will
have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy and the infliction of civil penalties upon
dissenters will inevitably result.
How do we measure progress on the image to the beast?
Who do we watch?
The leading power brokers in this world?
The leading business tycoons, the global elites, the World Economic Forum or some such?
According to Ellen White, according to biblical prophecy, the best place to track early progress
of the image to the beast is watching the leading churches of America.
In 2025, it's happening.
If you tune into popular pastors in America today, you'll notice that the tone is changing.
Today Christian leaders in America are feeling hurt, wounded, angry even about how things
have gone in this country.
That is not to say they're all going hunky-dory, but what are we doing with that?
And so again today, Christian leaders in America feeling hurt, wounded, angry, they sense it's
time to take a more aggressive approach and get this nation back to God.
Continuing on page 445 in great controversy, the image to the beast presents that form
of apostate Protestantism, which will be developed when the Protestant churches shall seek the
aid of the civil power for the enforcement of their dogmas.
The image to the beast prophecy, we can draw from this passage, that the image to the beast
prophecy predicts that church dogma will again gain the upper hand over secular dogma.
Friends, this seeking of power to enforce a belief system's dogma through a state upon
its people echoes the same misunderstanding by the Israelites in Christ's day.
Their idea of the Messiah's mission on earth was less about seeking and saving the lost
and more about overthrowing an empire to restore God's chosen to earthly power.
We see this confusion persisted among even Jesus' own followers, closest followers at
the end of his earthly ministry.
In Acts 1, today's key text, after Jesus was resurrected, we're told he spent 40 days
with his disciples.
If we read in early Acts 1, that first chapter of Acts, verse 3 puts it, he spoke about the
kingdom of God.
That's how that 40 days spent is described.
He spoke of the kingdom of God for 40 days with his followers, and at the end of that
40 days, just before Jesus ascended to heaven, we see today's key text.
They gathered around him and asked, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the
kingdom to Israel?
Imagine that question.
Imagine that question after 40 days with his disciples talking about the kingdom of God
and overlooking all that.
They were still focused on a restored earthly power.
And today, I'm afraid we run the same, the risk of the same misunderstanding, the same
foolishness if we focus on some sort of worldly dominance instead of the kingdom Jesus spoke
of, the kingdom not of this world.
Revelation 13 reminds us how easy it is for the persecuted to become the persecutor when
earthly power comes to the hands of the fallen misguided man.
Revelation 12, the earth provided a haven for the persecuted church.
It says in Revelation 12, 16, but the earth helped the woman and the earth opened its
mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of its mouth.
But in Revelation 13, those who fled from persecution, the tables turned.
They became the persecutors.
It says in Revelation 13, 11 and 12, then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth
and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.
And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the
earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.
Whereas the earth is associated with the persecuted in Revelation 12, the earth is associated
with the persecutors in Revelation 13.
The persecuted becomes the persecutor.
Unfortunately, church history is full of such examples, beginning with persecuted Christians
in the fourth century who with the help of Constantine eventually became persecutors.
This transition from persecuted to persecutor happened not only to Catholics but also to
Protestants.
In Germany, the Lutherans who fought hard for their own religious liberties were not
willing to extend those liberties to the Anabaptists.
The one thing that both Catholic and Lutheran princes agreed on at the time of 1529, and
I'm going to slaughter this, the diet of spire, heard it either way, what the Catholic
and Lutheran princes could agree upon in that diet, that meeting of sorts, was that Anabaptists
could not be tolerated in Germany.
And many Anabaptists then died at the hands of both Lutherans and Catholics in the following
years.
In 16th century Germany, the persecuted Protestants became the persecuting Protestants.
In Geneva, Switzerland, after John Calvin gained independence from Rome and secured religious
liberty for himself and his church, he burned Michael Servetus at the stake for holding
dissident beliefs about the Trinity.
In Geneva, the persecuted again became the persecutor.
And finally, in the American colonies, Puritans fled to the New World to escape persecution
from the King of England and the Church of England.
But when arriving in America, Puritans established religious liberty for themselves, not really
for anyone else.
And that's not religious liberty at all, is it?
They fined, imprisoned, and even executed people who did not conform to their beliefs,
their Puritan beliefs and practices.
And so in America, colonial America too, we see the persecuted become the persecutor.
Roger Williams broke that cycle when he envisioned a new colony that would protect religious
liberty, not only for the Baptists, but for all religious minorities, including atheists,
Jews, and Muslims.
Because of his commitment to the separation of church and state, Rhode Island became a
shelter for persecuted peoples of all persuasions.
Today, Seventh-day Adventists follow in the tradition of Roger Williams in advocating
a robust separation, keyword there, separation of church and state.
We believe in protecting human dignity and the religious convictions of all, including
those who believe differently than we do.
Today, the doctrine of separation of church and state is fiercely debated though.
This sermon's author, Pastor Joe Reeves, I named him before, he felt this tension keenly
a few years back as a pastor in Spokane, Washington.
At that time, he was actually invited to represent Seventh-day Adventists on an interfaith religious
liberty panel that was organized by the area's Church of Latter-day Saints.
And at this religious liberty event, he sat between a Roman Catholic priest and a Buddhist
guru.
People with very different beliefs from his own.
And he was also joined at the table by a non-denominational pastor and a conference president from the
Mormon church.
So a bit of the meeting of the minds.
All walks of faith, or several walks of faith represented here.
And the panel was moderated by a pastor from the Salvation Army.
He considered it a privilege to have that opportunity.
This is the author here.
He considered it a privilege to have that opportunity to share a few Seventh-day Adventist
perspectives with this diverse audience.
At one point during the panel discussion, Pastor Reeves shared how Seventh-day Adventists
have a strong history of advocating for the separation of church and state, an ethic brought
to America by Baptist pastor and founder of Rhode Island, Roger Williams.
When he spoke about the separation of church and state, the moderator of the panel immediately
questioned him, saying, when you say separation of church and state, you mean the state being
out of the church, not the church being out of the state, right?
So when the Salvation Army pastor asked that question, Pastor Reeves believes he spoke
for millions of Americans who believe that the separation of church and state is a one-way
street.
They believe the government should stay out of the church, but the church doesn't necessarily
stay out of the government.
And this is where the real rubbed is today, isn't it?
This is where Adventists better know our position.
When you study the history of Rome, there were times that the emperor controlled the
pope, and there were times that the pope controlled the emperor.
How did those go?
Was there any contrast or much contrast?
Both of those situations were a problem.
So Adventists believe the separation of church and state goes both directions.
We're against both the church controlling the state and the state controlling the church.
Our understanding of Revelation 11, the French Revolution, examples of communist dictatorships
around the world, all of this makes it impossible for us to be apathetic toward any state that
seeks to control the church.
Our understanding of Revelation 13 and the history of fourth century Catholics in Rome,
the example of Lutherans in Germany, Calvinists in Geneva, Puritans in America, makes this
impossible to be neutral towards churches that use the state to enforce their agenda.
So today, Seventh-day Adamists belong to a diminishing class of Christians who believe
that the separation of church and state is a two-way street, where both church and state
hold mutual respect for each other and where neither is used to implement the agenda of
the other.
So God has given us biblical prophecy so that we can be awake, so that we can be watchful
before the second coming of Jesus.
For Adventists to neglect, for us to neglect Revelation 13 and the image to the beast prophecy
would be just as catastrophic as it was for the Jewish leaders to neglect Isaiah 53 and
Daniel 9 at the time of Christ.
When religious leaders neglected certain Messianic prophecies 2,000 years ago, it led them to
reject the Messiah who stood right in front of them.
If Bible students today, if we neglect Revelation 13 and the image to the beast prophecy, there's
no doubt we'll be swept in by the deception and left unprepared to recognize Christ in
front of us.
Today there's a strong temptation for Adventist Christians to compromise our principles for
the sake of politics.
Today many Christians are intoxicated by the politics of Babylon.
And while we reject the doctrines of Babylon, let's not get drunk on the politics of Babylon.
It's easy to sip a little of the wine of Babylon once in a while until we start feeling relaxed
with it.
No doubt that the image to the beast will be a very attractive moral project in the
beginning.
It will be something that will unite Christians everywhere.
And yet it will end terribly.
God has called Seventh-day Analysts to the stage for such a time as this.
We have the prophecies of Revelation to help us navigate the complexities of today's world.
Let us not now neglect our religious liberty heritage, but step forward with more courage
than ever.
This isn't the time for Adventists to change our interpretation of prophecy.
We need our prophetic heritage today more than ever.
And so will you please join me in seeking the Lord through deeper prayer, more diligent
study.
Do you sense a need for God to guide us and strengthen us for the complex challenges that
we face today?
May God do something very special in each of us to soften our hearts and open our eyes.
May we not get pulled into various directions, but stand firm right where God has called
us to be.
Maybe God's calling you to strengthen the relationships you have in our community or
to build some new friendships.
Now's the time to make friends before we need friends.
Maybe God is calling you to host an event, calling us here perhaps to level up and raise
awareness about religious liberty or Bible prophecy.
And maybe he's calling us to share the Liberty Magazine, the Great Controversy, or some other
literature on this important topic.
Whatever you feel called to do, don't wait.
It's 2025.
That's a year closer to God's return.
So is a year for action.
Bow your heads with me, please.
Heavenly Father, as we part from your house today, let us remember to trust in you, obey
you and seek not the kingdom of this world, but the kingdom of heaven.
Help us continue to dive deep into our devotion with you, perhaps reinforcing and restoring
resolutions for the new year to dwell with you more every day and allow you to dwell
in us, that we may better recognize the sound of the Master's voice, to better recognize
your face when you present yourself to us, and so that we may also better help others
learn more about you.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.