Good evening everyone. I want to welcome you to our fourth presentation of Three Angels,
One Message, where we've been taking a kind of a deep dive into one collection of passages
from Revelation in Chapter 14. We started first with looking at the Gospel and how it
was presented in the book of Revelation. Then we moved to the first angel, which was a call
back to faithful worship of the Creator God. Then we looked at the Fall of Confusion that
was embodied in old time, the Tower of Babel and the confusion of languages. Then at Babylon,
then finally now spiritual Babylon. So you would see religious confusion, political confusion,
social confusion, all leading towards getting people really away from being grounded in
Jesus. So what we saw though from that second angel is that the confusion wouldn't last
forever. The confusion would fall. Babylon is fallen, is fallen, says that second angel.
We studied a couple of key points as to how we could prepare ourselves against the confusion
if you will. Testing things by the word of God. Prayerfully considering if what you're
hearing lines up with what you're studying, etc., etc. Tonight we're going to pick up
with our third and our final angel. It's not our final message, but it is our final angel.
Angel three, Revelation and the Mark of the Beast. This is a long collection of slides.
It's only slightly longer than we have been, but we are trying to get through them in a
reasonable time. So before we dive in, let's say a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we
want to thank you so much for your word. We want to thank you for being our surety and
our stability in this world of chaos and confusion. So now we pray that as we open up your word,
as we study this passage again, this important passage, I pray that you would be present,
help us to understand, help us to apply what we learn, not only those of us here, but also
those that are watching online. We pray for them as well, for we ask in Jesus' name, Amen
and Amen. Well, let's ask the question, what is the Mark of the Beast? This is an oft-talked
about, oft-debated. Sometimes it gets pretty fantastical when anyone brings up this particular
topic. Maybe you've heard that the Mark of the Beast is a tattoo, a brand, or a mark
on the skin. Some people like to think of it maybe like the tattoos that the Jews got
during the Holocaust. That practice will be reinstituted again, but this time for Christians.
You get a tattoo on your arm, get a tattoo on your head, and that's how they will tell
if you have the Mark of the Beast. Have you heard of that? Well, have you heard this one
maybe that the Mark of the Beast is the number 666? That you should avoid it if you go to
Walmart and you ring up your groceries and they come to $6.66, we'll put on an extra
package of gum. If you go to the DMV and you get the license plate where those three numbers
say 666, change it out for something else. That actually did happen in the state of Arkansas
when I was growing up. It happened to be that time when the number came up in the sequence.
That was the most requested replacement play. No one wanted it, but you could see a few
of them driving around because some people saw that just the number itself is not associated
or is not the Mark of the Beast. I've even heard it relatively more fantastical with
regards to this number. If you have ever seen the energy drink Monster, have you seen that
can? You've seen where it's got the three claw marks that go down the front of it. That's
their trademark. Well, I have heard it proposed that because those three claw marks look like
the sixth letter in the Hebrew alphabet, then the Monster can is associated with the Mark
of the Beast. So don't drink that. They are probably not healthy for you. They have nothing
to do with the Mark of the Beast. I can assure you. What about this? A universal ID card.
You need to not only have your driver's license, but everybody also needs to have a secondary
ID card that then is used to enter buildings or used to get across state lines or used
to have you heard maybe something along those lines? Or this. This one is really popular.
A microchip implanted under the skin, maybe in your palm or something like that. This
is actually being practiced right now. There are at least two different kinds of microchips
that humans get implanted just under their skin, one for medical purposes. This was introduced
shortly after COVID, where you could have the microchip just under the skin. All of
your important and necessary medical data was stored on that microchip. So if you went
to the ER, if you were unconscious, if you just wanted to streamline a doctor's visit,
they could scan your microchip. They would pull up your age, your weight. It would tell
them if you've got any cancers in your family histories, things like that. That's already
being put into practice. There is also a microchip that is being used where you can have it
connected to all of your financial payment accounts, if you will. So it works like if
you take your credit card and you tap and go. They also have a microchip that you can
have implanted where you just give a high five to the payment machine and off you go.
It's charged right to your Visa account. That is there. But so far, there is no association
with a microchip and the Mark of the Beast. Well, some people even thought that the COVID
vaccine itself was the Mark of the Beast. This gained a little bit of traction. It was
kind of shot down about as quickly as it shot up. And that's because really, vaccines are
not the Mark of the Beast. They can be very good for you. They are sometimes encouraged
if it works for you. But with it being a new technology, with it being at the hands of
in many places heavy-handed government responses, this of course led people to wonder about
its, are there ulterior motives behind it? If you're a little bit more into conspiracies,
one can perhaps understand how you might go, I don't know about that. Well, I can assure
you that the Mark of the Beast is not the COVID vaccine. Or maybe it's something else.
Maybe the Mark of the Beast is just something else. I've heard there's a whole lot of different
theories out there, but these seem to be some of the most popular ones, depending on where
you look and what you read. What we need to remember before we continue is that the book
of Revelation is a book heavy in cryptic symbols. We have strange beasts. We have trumpets.
We have bowls. We have speaking angels. We have rainbows and we have things like that.
The book of Revelation speaks of Jesus. It speaks of the gospel. It speaks of eternal
truths written by a loving God to an end time generation. And the book of Revelation speaks
of worship. In fact, we studied worship as Revelation's greatest issue. I'm sorry. In
our second presentation. Why? This is going to be annoying, I can tell. Because the central
issue in Earth's final conflict has to do with worship. The conflict between Christ and
Satan began in heaven over worship. It will come to its final climax over worship. So
what should we be looking for with the Mark of the Beast? Well, first, let us briefly
review to make sure we understand this vital point. The messages we've been studying are
so important that they are pictured as being carried by three angels flying swiftly through
the sky. We devoted one whole presentation to the everlasting gospel, a defining quality
about these angels. I'm not going to reread all of them. We have read them many times
before. The first angel did cry out, though, fear God and give him glory because the hour
of his judgment has come and the heart of it worship him. Worship. Heaven's first
appeal is to give our supreme allegiance and heartfelt worship to the creator. The
creator in light of heaven's judgment. In our last message, we studied that Babylon
represents a confused apostate religious system that has substituted falsehood for truth while
aligning herself in unholy unions with world governments. She rejected the pure truths
of the Bible. She preferred to mix truth with error so that the second angel's message
announces that she has fallen from God's favor and we should not share in her confusion.
In fact, there was a warning a couple of chapters later to come out of Babylon and then
God calls you his people. Don't stay in confusion is the warning. Note one cannot
one cannot faithfully worship God if we have mixed truth with error. That's in the first
and the second angels message. It's got to be a pure worship or it's not faithful worship.
It is something else. We've continued now with the first verse of this third angel.
Let's read it and another angel a third followed them saying with a loud voice if anyone
worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or his hand with this
first verse we see again that worship is at the forefront of the proclamation. The angel
recognizes another entity that people can worship the beast and its image and warns
against doing such a thing though you do not want to be found in the with the group of
people who worship the beast and its image. You don't want to be found there because it
goes on to say that if you are you also will drink the wine of God's wrath for full strength
into the cup of his anger. So it is is it clear that the heart of what we are studying
is worship. Is that clear so far worship should we then be looking for the mark of the beast
to be detached or unassociated from worship. No we should see it closely connected to the
thought the idea of worship. So let's now turn our attention to its discovery before
we can look to the mark though we need to look to the beast. The beast Revelation 13
and before I go on I want to say that this is this particular presentation is rather
large. I have done my best to condense it down into a singular into a singular presentation
but there's so much I couldn't get to. We are leaving out other very relevant sections
of the Bible just because I can't make this 200 slides and three hours long. We don't
want to do that to either you or me. So if there are other questions if there is a greater
interest in the extra material please see me or or Kevin Sarah Anthony Grace even Janet
has done this study with me on the side. We have other resources contact us DM us on Facebook
we can get the resources to you for greater study. So for tonight we're going to go through
some things a little bit quicker than I would prefer but we're going to do our best. Well
one we have already touched on that in Bible prophecy a beast equals a nation. You might
also hear it phrased as a king or a kingdom or a nation. Any one of those threes are interchangeable
today we really don't have a lot of kingdoms but we do have plenty of nations and so that
would be the equivalence if you read kingdom in the Bible. We will also see that this nation
is a religious nation. The beast of Revelation 13 is a religious nation and we know that
because it blasphemes. If it were not religious it could not blaspheme in other words. How
does it blaspheme? Well Revelation 13 6 tells us this he opened his mouth in blasphemy against
God to blaspheme his name his tabernacle and those who dwell in heaven. And then again
in Revelation 17 so he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness. I saw a woman
sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and
ten horns. You find the same nation depicted a couple of different ways or at least two
in Revelation. Revelation 13 it's depicted without the woman. Revelation 17 it has the
woman. Both locations the beast is blasphemous. That's the common thread that we're seeing.
Since blasphemy is mentioned numerous times as one of the identifying features of the
beast power it must be significant. Let's discover how this term is used in other places
in the New Testament. We got to find let the Bible interpret itself in other words. John
10 33 the Jews answered him this is Jesus they were accusing him of this. They said
for a good work we do not stone you but for blasphemy and because you here's the definition
being a man make yourself God. They were accusing Jesus of being blasphemous because they said
he was only a man who claimed to be God and he couldn't do that. Well was Jesus a blasphemer.
Well certainly not. Oh why not. Well because when Jesus claimed it it was true. If you
were I claimed it it would not be true. It would be blasphemous. But Jesus had that right.
Jesus was a mortal being but he still claimed the privileges the prerogatives of God as
an equal. That wasn't blasphemy for him but for anyone else. It would be. That's one
definition. Our second definition in Luke 521 again they were looking to accuse Jesus
of this. The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason saying who is this who speaks blasphemies
and here's our definition who can forgive sins but God alone. If you believe that you
can forgive sins then you are guilty of blasphemy because the Bible says that only God can forgive
sins but again for Jesus this was not because Jesus was as much God as he was man. So to
summarize the two biblical examples of blasphemy are this if any man pretends to be or claims
to be God and if any man claims the power to forgive sins in Jesus case the accusations
were unjust because he truly was and is God. He holds all the powers all the prerogatives
of God including the right to forgive sins. So now let us discover what other entity violates
these two principles of blasphemy. There really is only one that consistently does both and
that's the key. You might be able to find a couple of institutions a couple of churches
a couple of individuals who perhaps are guilty of one or the other but you usually don't
find both at the same time in the same institution consistently and without interruption. I'm
going to tell you upfront that we are going to show that the Roman Catholic Church claims
both of these things. They claim that the power of forgiveness or absolution first is
there is their first claim it's vested in her priests by Christ himself. That's a this
is a rather big claim but let's see quote from a very prominent Catholic author quote
seek where you will throughout heaven and earth and you will find but one created being
who can forgive the sinner. Who can free him from the chains of hell and that extraordinary
being is the priest the Catholic priest. Well we can ask this question who can forgive sins
except God. They had already thought of this the author was the question which the Pharisee
sneeringly asked who can forgive sins is the questions which the Pharisees of the present
day also ask and I answer. There is a man on earth that can forgive sins and that man
is the Catholic priest. What did we just read from the Bible itself though. That certainly
doesn't align with this. The Pharisees were accusing Jesus that he could not do a thing
and they were acknowledging God as the only one who could and yet this Catholic author
recognized in men the very thing that defines blasphemy. That doesn't sound like ground
that we should find ourselves on because what does the Bible say the Bible says in
first Timothy 2 5 that there is one God one mediator between God and men the man Christ
Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all. You need the mediator who is sinless because you
are sinful. If if the priest is the mediator between God and sinful humanity then he would
also need another mediator. In other words they would find themselves in a cycle that
they couldn't escape. One a person who needs a defense attorney really shouldn't be defending
someone else from breaking the law. Makes sense. All the Catholic Church tries to thread
that needle that just simply cannot be thread. That is it is an official teaching of the
Roman Church that God dispenses the grace of forgiveness through the priest. Proof of
this church's teaching of this doctrine is seen actually in a rather recent news semi
recent. This just actually re-emphasizes that fact. In March of 2020 when all the churches
mostly the churches globally were closed down due to the pandemic Catholics wondered how
can we then be forgiven of our sins. We can't go to our priest because inside of the Catholic
Church if you can't make it to confessional you cannot have that sin forgiven. That's
not hyperbole that's literal. That's a part of their sacraments. So the pope made this
declaration that well actually a Vatican Tribunal that deals with matters of conscience
including confession stated this that though absolution of sin is the usual means through
which sins are forgiven by a priest in times of that's supposed to be great necessity
such as with the ongoing spread of COVID at the time other solutions are needed. In other
words because this is such a big deal we are going to give you a secondary option. We will
bestow upon you a secondary option. What is that secondary option? Well Pope Francis said
that people who can't manage to go to confession as a result of being locked down can confess
directly to God. In other words they believe that your sins cannot be forgiven except by
a priest but the pope can give you permission to go to God directly. Thank you but I will
take 1 John 1 19 at its word if we confess our sins. He that is Jesus is faithful and
just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So what does the Bible
say? Who do you go to for forgiveness of sins? Right to God. Does the Bible say that that
must pass through a priest first? No. Who does it say is faithful and just in your forgiving?
Jesus. There is no ifs, ands, or buts to this. This is about how faithful and just he is
when we go to him with our confessions. That speaks so much about his love and his grace,
his kindness and his long suffering towards us. Why would we put up another barrier between
us and our savior who loves us? Why would we do that? Especially contrary to what the
Bible has said. And how far does he take the forgiving? Well good news he takes it all
the way cleansing us even from all of the unrighteousness. That's wonderful news my
friends. I'm so encouraged by that. No man, no priest, no pew warmer can do what Jesus
will do when you go to him with your faults and your failings. Jesus will do it all for
you. Also we've looked at the one example of how blasphemy, if any man claims the power
to forgive sin, is present in the Roman Catholic Church. But we need to make sure that we only
or don't only leave it at the one. We have to have both. We have to have both of them
or it cannot be a true characteristic. So now let's look at this second example. If
any man pretends to be or claims to be God. A somewhat lengthy quote but bear with me.
The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man. But as it were
God and the vicar of God. Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown as King of Heaven,
as King of Earth, and of the lower regions. In other words he also has the rulership,
the authority over hell. That's what that would mean. The Pope is as it were God on
earth, chief King of Kings, to whom has been entrusted by the omnipotent God direction
of the heavenly kingdom. This is an expansion over where Jesus says you have the keys to
heaven and to hell. Whatever you say will be bound in heaven and whatever you don't
permit will be. I'm kind of paraphrasing but they have taken that to mean other than
God will honor prayers of faith to you literally have authority in heaven, on earth,
and on hell in place of God. That's the conclusion that they have drawn. This is
from article two in Prompta Bibliotheca. This was written in 1772. Pope Leo the
13th urged, quote, complete submission and obedience of will to the church and to the
Roman Pontiff as to God himself. This was from the great encyclical letters of Pope
Leo the 13th. The same a proud Pontiff, and he was a proud Pontiff, he also claimed
this, we the popes hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty. More evidence could
be given, I would say these two are enough, you can find it. And in case you're wondering,
maybe these quotes are just super old, they haven't recanted them. The state hasn't
or the church hasn't reneged on them. They still wear the crowns, they still hold the
titles today that they did in the 1716, the 1400s. None of that has changed, it just
carries on. In fact, they believe that it cannot change. Even when you have a
heretical pope, that pope is still respected as carrying these titles. I don't
know how you harmonize it, but they hold it. The Roman Church certainly believes
that the pope stands in the place of God himself on earth. So let's look at these
identifying characteristics. It's a nation that is religious, in other words, it's an
unhealthy union of church and state. And we talked a little bit last week on how you
can have a healthy union. You can have Christian ideals supporting a political
movement for something good. And an example I like to use is abolition. You could
use temperance movements, things like that. They kind of went hand in hand at times.
This would be an unhealthy union. We saw that it's blasphemous. If you read through
the Bible, you will see that it's received its power from imperial or pagan
Rome, and that it would rule for a set time. Revelation 13 verses 4 and 5 say,
They worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and it
was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. A dragon was a well-known symbol
for imperial Rome, for pagan Rome. It means other things in the Bible, but it is
certainly this. Historically speaking, we need to do a little bit of math. When we
are calculating time periods, because you notice we just saw a time period right
here, 42 months. When calculating these time periods in the Bible, especially in
prophecy, you have to do it a little different. It's not a one-to-one ratio in
that one day equals one day. In the Bible, in prophecy, we call it a day-to-year
principle. It means that for every day mentioned in the prophecy, we actually
count in terms of years. These two references in Numbers 1434 and in
Ezekiel 4-6 give the principle, one to the Israelites and one to Ezekiel. These
were from the word of the mouth of God Himself. We're not taking it from Moses.
We're not taking it from Ezekiel. God says, here's the principle. One day, one
year. So now let's look at this, 42 months. In ancient calendars, they did not have
the 31, 30, 31, 30. They didn't count like that with your knuckles because they
didn't know that there were 365 and a quarter days. They believed that there was
a fixed 30-day month, a fixed 360 days. All the ancient calendars operated on
this because it came from, I believe, Egypt or certainly Babylon, the ancient
Babylonian Empire. They liked to work with good rounded numbers. So they had
30-day months. You just do the simple math. 30 days times 42 months is 1260 days,
prophetic days. So if you take that principle into account, that's years.
That's all we're looking at. It is also described the same time period. It's
described different ways elsewhere in the Bible, most notably Daniel chapter 7,
where you will see it read one literally as the 1260 days, but also as time, times,
and the dividing of time. So that would be a time as a year. Times being plural
would be two years, and the dividing of time, of course, would be half a year. So
that comes up to three and a half years. Same thing, 1260 days. Again, lots of
places we can go to to build our case for what we're making today. We just don't
have time for all of it. Well, let's look at this. Historically, when Constantine
moved the capital of Rome in AD 330 from Rome to Constantinople, it left a
leadership vacuum in Rome. That vacuum was fairly left open until about AD 538,
when Justinian, the Roman Emperor, officially granted the Roman Bishop the
role of defender of the Emperor's empire, the definer of heretics, and defender of
the faith. This was the Roman Emperor basically said, I'm not there anyways.
It's kind of nice in Constantinople. I've left the bishop in an unofficial
capacity. Well, in this year they made it official. The scepter was handed over, the
titles were bestowed, and now the Bishop of Rome got to rule. The Pope then filled
this void, became not only a powerful religious leader, but also a political
force to be reckoned with in Europe. The papacy, and that's a little different
than just the Catholic Church, the papacy is the Vatican, the city, the little city
state, because it is its own nation, if you will, and it's the Church. The
Catholic Church and the Vatican make up the papacy. So the papacy exercised great
influence from AD 538 for 1260 years until the year 1798 when Napoleon's
general Berthier took the Pope captive. Now some people have said yes,
Pastor Aaron, that was not the first time that the Pope had been captured in
history. That's true, not the first time the Pope had been captured. Well, why
does it matter? Well, because when the Pope was captured this time, it lasted.
It really put an end to the high level of influence that the papacy exercised
in Western Europe until that point. The Church had already been a little on the
decline, but then when that happened, it really went out of fashion. At other
times when the Pope was captured, the Church still kept influencing kings and
monarchs and rulers and the like, even when the Pope was in a dungeon cell
somewhere. Not this time. This time, I believe, because God said when this date
would roll around, then it would come the end of this long stretch of authority.
When God says it, it's going to happen. Berthier and his army captured Pope
Pius VI. They removed him from his throne. The aged Pontiff was hurried from
prison to prison and at length confined in a fortress at the top of the Alps
where he died in exile in 1799. This was an extremely serious blow to the papacy,
but it wasn't fatal because it says that the beast was wounded as if it were dead.
It's a very interesting wording that the Bible gives it because it doesn't say
that the beast was wounded dead. It was as if, like a cockroach. You ever stepped
on a cockroach and off it goes again? You step on it again and off it goes
again? Just to be fair, I have family members who are Catholic. I have a lot of
respect for many Catholics. There are some who are deeply faithful, and this is
not an insult on them. The wound just didn't kill it, is what we're trying to
say. Why is that? Well, because Revelation 13 continues after the mortal wound
was received by the first beast, another beast comes up. It exercises all the
authority of the first beast in the presence, makes the earth its inhabitants,
worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. You can be
terribly wounded and live. There are some incredible x-rays out there of railroad
spikes through the skull of people just, I mean, missing whole sections of bodies
and they should have bled out and miraculously they were sustained and so
on. This mortal wound carried the same result. Anyone looking on at the papacy
in 1798 would have said it's done for, but the Bible tells us that that wound
was going to heal. Well, it's not far-fetched to see how that wound has
healed today. The Roman papacy is gaining in authority, power, and influence around
the world. World leaders welcome the Pope as he travels around the world as an
ambassador of the Church of Rome. In fact, the papacy is the only place that has,
it's the only church that also has its own embassies that other world leaders
then go to and send their own ambassadors. It's a church, don't forget.
There is not another church around the world that has that. There is not another
church as worldly famous as Billy Graham was. He could not go where the Pope goes
and get the red carpet treatment. The tens of thousands of people that flock to
the Pope in areas hostile to Christianity, the Pope goes and is
welcomed with open arms. It's the only religious leader that is like this.
Presidents seek the Pope's advice. It's incredible. He was invited to address a
joint session of the US Congress in a move that many political observers
considered unprecedented. I don't remember how long ago that was, 2016, 2018,
somewhere in that area, I believe, 2015. He did his rounds up in New England, ended
up in Pennsylvania and then at Congress and so forth. It was a big deal.
I remember there was a lot of chatter about it and then it was unprecedented
when he talked to both chambers of Congress at the same time. Kings, political
leaders, presidents visit him regularly at the Vatican and they treat him as
royalty when he visits other countries. There is not another religious leader
that is welcomed like him. Not Joel Osteen, not the Dalai Lama, not anybody
that is welcomed like the Pope. By all external appearances, the papacy seems to
be softening its image to accommodate the spirit of our age. In fact, the
current Pope is called heretical by many of his followers because of this
softening appearance. He's gotten a little softer on same-sex unions, a
little softer on out-of-wedlock babies, a little softer on who can be baptized, a
little softer on these things that are historically hard lines inside of the
Catholic Church. By all appearances, he seems actually like a pretty nice guy.
He bends down and washes the feet of people that no one else would touch. Some
of it is okay. I think more people could follow that kind of example, but we have
to be mindful. At a time when the world is looking for moral leadership, the
Pope's star is rising rapidly, and those yearning for such leadership are right.
Moral leadership is in short supply. The latest research on moral leadership
finds that employees, managers, and executives believe that the need for
moral leadership is more urgent than ever. Surveys reveal a deep lack of trust
in institutions and governments, and in case you're wondering, over the last two
years, it has dropped precipitously in the United States. The trust in
institutions, the trust in governments, the trust in reporting avenues and other
institutions like our news, no one trusts them in the United States,
certainly not compared to 20 or 50 years ago. It's falling, but like we talked
about, when there is a vacancy, people look for that hole to be filled. Millions
of people are wondering, where is someone who is morally fit to lead the world? If
you want to bring the world together today, in a world fragmented by ethnic
tensions and racisms, with governments and even allies that don't trust one
another, where is a moral voice capable of bringing people together? In a world
of instability and uncertainty, rising hunger and increasing poverty, economic
and environmental disasters, it would be easy, very easy, if there were another
global upheaving like we saw with COVID, perhaps a tactical nuke. That has
actually been in the news recently. It would be very easy to see how someone
like the Pontiff of Rome could be the one that the world invites to bring
everyone together, because if you'll remember or if you weren't here and you
can watch it on our The End to Confusion, one purpose to confusion in reference to
how cults operate, they confuse their followers so then the leader can be
chosen a little bit more certainly. When there's lots of confusion, people look
for stability. When you have everybody seemingly failing you on who you can
trust and one person comes forward and says, you can trust me, I am morally
upright, and everyone else goes, sure he is. It's very easy to add stability, if
you will, to a world of confusion. It's not a far-fetched kind of way to kind of
piece some of these things together.
We just talked on this. Human nature looks for stability from confusion and
the Pope has already revered the world over by leaders of every nation and
religion. It's not hard to see how he could rise to the top and everyone look
to him as a moral guide, a moral fixed point, if you will, in a world of
confusion. But this doesn't answer one question. One question that we need to
ask, because remember we aren't talking about the Mark of the Beast, well what
vehicle could the devil use or what he might suggest to unify society?
We have to ask this. Have you ever wondered what he might use? Well, history
often repeats itself. We've mentioned him once before. Let's return just for a
moment to the days of Constantine. Constantine was in charge about the time
that Rome was falling apart. Germanic tribes on their shores, financial
instability, the money was just kind of going around. They weren't conquering.
People were just staying at home and debating things in cycles. Rome really
just kind of fell. It really wasn't conquered. So in an attempt to save his
empire, Constantine turned to religion. He found something. The authority of the
church combined with the power of the state, it became the very instrument that
Constantine was searching for. People find peace and stability in faith. And so
he united the two. Christians had a special reverence for Sunday since
Christ rose from the dead on that day. Christians and Constantine's time kept
both the Sabbath and Sunday. One because it's in the Bible and the other one
because Christ rose on that day. It kind of kept them both. The pagans of
Constantine's time were often sun worshipers. The continual strengthening of
the sanctity of Sunday in the fourth century, it was a calculated political
and religious move to save the empire at a time of crisis. If you've got one
group yelling at the other and that group accusing this group, well if you
find common ground that the two of them can stand on and then the emperor comes
out and says, here's your common ground, stop fighting. That lends itself to
stability. Constantine was looking for that. He wanted his empire united and the
Roman church wanted it converted. That's precisely why Constantine passed the
first Sunday law. The church reinforced its decree in church councils by making
Sunday the sacred day of worship. We read this. Arthur Weagle is a renowned
historian. He says this, the church made a sacred day of Sunday largely because
it was the weekly festival of the sun. It was a definite Christian policy to take
over the pagan festivals, endear to the people by tradition, and give them
Christian significance. It wasn't only done for the days of worship, it was also
done for the idols that they worshiped. I believe Saturn and Peter are the exact
same idols. Saint Peter if you look in Catholic church. I believe it's, it might
be Mars and Peter. That would make a little bit more sense than Zeus and John
or something like that. You can find the same pagan idols in one temple with
the idols that represent supposed saints in the Catholic church. Exact same
idols. We see this with other holidays as well. All Saints Day and so on. A
common day of worship does have the potential to unite a divided world. We're
certainly living in a divided world if you will. As we have emphasized to start
off our presentation tonight, the central issue of Earth's final conflict will be
worship. The issue of the mark of the beast revolves around worship, but it
also focuses on the issue of authority. Whose and how? That's what we have to get
to. We have to ask a couple of these questions. Whose authority and how does
the mark of the beast revolve around worship? Well one, we start with something
that we know. The Sabbath is the eternal symbol of our rest in Jesus Christ. We
looked at that. We studied it. The seventh day of the week is at the heart of how
we worship God. From creation to Exodus to Isaiah to the Gospels to the book of
Acts to the Epistle to the Hebrews to Revelation. The Sabbath is that focal
point for worship in terms of how we worship God. We've already been called
back to this faithful worship by the first angel and with the Sabbath's
connection to creation, we acknowledge God's authority in our lives. Because by
recognizing the connection between Sabbath and creation, we recognize God's
authority as our Creator. That's the connection. The biblical Sabbath means
that we rest in Him because of what He has done in creating and redeeming us. We
can't make ourselves. We can't save ourselves. He did it. Sabbath tells us
that. We observe the Sabbath to acknowledge His creatorship and
sovereignty in our lives. We keep the seventh day Sabbath not to work toward
salvation, but because we are already saved. That's why it's a rest in Him. He's
already done the work. We just accept it. That's what the Sabbath is. But the
Church of Rome claims that Sunday is the mark of its ecclesiastical or church
authority. We saw the connection of the Sabbath with Jesus, but the
Catholic Church claims that Sunday is the mark of its authority. Let's see what
they say. Of course, the Catholic Church claims that the change, the change of the
days of worship, was her act. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power
and authority in religious matters. That's the American Catholic Quarterly
Review. The Roman Church claims that the mark of its authority is its right to
change the Sabbath from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week.
Now, I want you to, we're going to correct something in just a moment. We go
on with another quote, Louis Gaston Seguerre, in his treatise on the
authority of the Catholic Church, dated 1874, says this,
Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay in
spite of themselves to the authority of the Catholic Church. Somewhere in my
box is still packed from moving. I have my own copy of a little tiny Catholic
Catechism where you can flip to the pages. I have them marked and I have them
highlighted, where they ask the question, what is the Sabbath? And the Catholic
Catechism will say, the Sabbath is the seventh day of the week. Then they will
say, well then why do we worship on Sunday? And the Catholic Catechism will
answer, because the Church, using her authority, conferred the day of worship
to Sunday. Then someone has asked me, well Pastor Aaron, I've looked at
those. Those are copyrighted from the 1950s. Now that's old. This date is old.
1874, that's so old. Church doesn't think that anymore. So of course I got out my
Catechism, I dusted it off, I turned to the copyright page and I saw that that
copyright from the 1950s was correct. It was the 1950s. But then I saw 1975, 1985,
1995, 2005, and then 2015, the most recent copyright. Once they had to start
renewing their copyrights every ten years, they basically just says, yep we
still believe it. Because every time that copyright is renewed, the Church is
reaffirming those statements. So I'm just waiting for 2025 when I will pick up my
new copy, and I will look to see if it is still there, and I would be surprised if
it is not. So what vehicle would the devil suggest to unify society? Is it
possible? We're just asking the question, is it possible that the vehicle used to
accomplish the goal of world unification will be Sunday worship, a common day of
worship, promoted as a world day of unity for the good of mankind? Because if you
are going to get maybe non-religious people on board, you've got to
connected it, you got to connect it to something that also applies to the
non-religious. Maybe it's just for the good of mankind. Well the stage is being
set even now. Pope Benedict XVI, I had to think there, says this June 6, 2012,
the demands of work can't bully people out of needed time off. It can't bully
people out of needed time off. Now someone reading that might go, yeah that's
right, I'm a workaholic, my husband is, my wife is, my parents were, I certainly
don't want that for me or my kids, wouldn't it be great if we weren't
bullied by work into never having time off? Sounds good, sounds good. But he went
on to say that Sunday might be, could be, let's consider if it shall be. No, it must
be a day of rest for the Catholic Church. No, for everyone he says. When he says
everyone, my friends, he means it. Here's the reason. So people can be free to be
with their families and with God. And if you choose to not be with God that day,
at least you get to be with your families. That's a win-win for the
religious and the non-religious. And then he takes it one step further by
defending Sunday, one defends human freedom. I like human freedom. If you
take Pope Benedict at his word, then you have to associate human freedom with the
observance of Sunday. Sunday is the day of the Lord and of man, a day which
everyone must be able to be free. Free for the family and free for God, Pope
Benedict says. Make no mistake about it, the day is coming and I believe it's
possibly sooner than we think. I have, I have, I guess my own personal opinions as
to why I think it might be sooner than we think. But I believe sooner than we
think laws will be passed restricting religious liberty. As a side little
parenthetical, the Pope says that Sunday is the day of the Lord and of man. Did we
see that? The Bible says that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath and that the
Sabbath was made for man. I would encourage us that we take the Bible as
it reads and that we always test what is said with what is written. Because if we
take one man at his word, then we have to throw out these Bible verses without
putting too fine a point on it. Those who conscientiously follow the Word of God
and keep the true Sabbath of the Lord will be labeled as opposing unity and
the good of society. Now can you imagine? Let's read this quickly. Those who honor
the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking
down the moral restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, calling
down the judgments of God upon the earth. Their conscientious scruples will be
pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, contempt of authority. They will be
accused of disaffection toward the government. Sounds fantastical. Can't
happen. Certainly not in the United States. A recent quote by a prominent
American political spokesperson says this, again we see a majority of Americans
who disagree. And so when you are not with what majority of Americans are, then
you know that is extreme. That is an extreme way of thinking. It's an extreme
way of thinking to not just go along with the majority of what Americans are
thinking. This should catch our attention because in the United States tradition
we have very clear parameters put in place to protect the minority from the
predations of the majority. You should not be labeled extreme if you choose to
just not go along. And I would say that with us should certainly catch our
attention as the word extremist is being used with increasing abandon in our
public discourse. It's being thrown around like it's Christmas morning and
your kids are playing with the wrapping paper. Everything is an extremist this
and what extremist has come to mean is you don't agree with what we want you to
agree with. That's how it's becoming more and more used like. It's almost also
always in the context of a threat to our democracy. So if you find yourself in a
minority and you aren't going along with the majority you can today be labeled
an extremist and a threat to our democracy. It no longer takes great leaps
of the imagination to draw the connection from in the minority and that
would be Sabbath keeping in this conversation to a threat to democracy or
a way of life or even freedom for people as the Pope would say. If you're not a
part of all of that the only thing left mostly unsaid is what to do with those
that are labeled extreme. Because of course you do something with people that
are labeled a threat to democracy. So what is the mark of the beast? What is
the mark of the beast? While it still seems inconceivable to us today. Oh this
is a continuation I actually do want to continue the thought from this last one.
It still seems inconceivable to us today that anything like that could threaten
us today except it's not far-fetched. Regardless of how you fall this is my
interpretation of the two years of COVID. Generally two years. During COVID
governments around the world forced under penalty of fines and imprisonment
the closure of houses of worship around the globe. That was a manner of enforced
worship. How so? Well because it was declared you must worship at home or
else. That is a manner of enforced worship. It has been demonstrated that
governments across the globe need only to declare something an emergency and
they will rapidly violate religious liberties in many forms. And it generally
works that if if the power can be exercised in the negative sense stay
away governments also have a track record of enforcing it and do this in
the positive sense. While they've already flexed one direction the mark of the
beast would suggest flexing the other way. That's all we're saying. So what is
the mark of the beast? Well the beast is the papacy, the Vatican, the Catholic
Church. That it is Sunday observance is what it claims as its mark of authority.
And that the mark of the beast is enforced observance of Sunday as a
sacred day of worship. It's forced. Revelation 13 tells us that under
threats and and penalties and coercion you are you take it or else. So that's
why it is enforced. Revelation 14 9 says this though another angel a third
followed them saying with a loud voice if anyone worships the beast and its
image receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand he also will drink the wine
of God's wrath poured full strength into the cup of his anger he will be tormented
with fire and sulfur in the presence of the Holy Angels and in the presence of
the Lamb and it will not be a pretty day for the worshipers of the beast and its
image whoever receives the mark of its name. In other words God is desperately
warning you and I about what will happen to those who ally themselves with the
beast and follow after its claim to worship. Those who have rejected the
first two angels warnings the call to true worship and away from religious
confusion find themselves in danger of being on the receiving end of God's wrath
in the judgment. How are God's people to respond to this challenge to God's
authority this challenge to his prescribed means of worship? Well if
worship on Sunday eventually enforced as the mark of the beast what is the
alternative? Is there an alternative? Well Jesus says in John 14 15 if you
love me keep my commandments and I prayerfully hope each one of us can
answer to the affirmative on the first one. How are we doing on the second half?
Do you love Jesus today? God's people are always motivated by their love for him.
God's people are not motivated out of fear. They are not motivated because if
I do this then God will gift me something. It's not a tit-for-tat kind of
exchange in our relationship to him. We are motivated by love. How has Jesus said
that we can show our love for him? Well faithfulness is how we can show our
love to God and it brings us to the counter option for the mark of the beast
the seal of God. Revelation 7 verse 2 says I saw another angel ascending from
the rising of the Sun with the seal of the living God. Seals in ancient times
were used to notarize or attest to the authenticity of official documents. I
was in school at a time when the archaeology professor at Southern
Adventist University all of a sudden was very excited and next thing the the
school of religion knew he had basically disappeared for the next day and
that's been changed. What is going on with with our professor? Well word came
through the archaeology grapevine that the seal of Isaiah had been
found in an excavation. Well that is so so vitally important to a biblical
archaeologists mind that adds so much evidence extra biblically to the real
existence of the prophet of Isaiah that he basically just took off and started
calling people in Israel and doing what he did. It was very exciting to find
these seals. Often the seals that we find are the only pieces of evidence of a
person's proof of their existence because some things are so old and
they've mostly been destroyed. They're very important. Everybody who was anybody
had a seal. People designed their seals to be unique, distinctive, and
individualized and they were used this way and this is this is not going to be
uncommon to us if you ever had anything notarized. If you have a marriage
certificate or a birth certificate we do the same thing today. With the contract
or the agreement there would be a bit of a sealing wax. They would press the seal
into it as evidence that the document was genuine. To be authentic a seal must
contain at least three elements. We still do this today. The name, the title,
and the territory of the individual whose seal it was and you would see that
like Mrs. Jane Doe, County Clerk, Catoosa County on your marriage certificate.
Something like that, right? We see that. Same three categories. Since the final
conflict is over worship and God's authority is revealed in his law, we
expect God's seal to be embedded in that law. In fact, the prophet Isaiah says
this, bind up the testimony seal the law among my disciples. At the heart of God's
law we read the fourth commandment, the one dealing with the Sabbath, which says
this in part. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor
and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. Four
in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth the sea and all that is in
them and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath
day and he hallowed it. We see in this commandment the name the Lord your God
and it doesn't just give his name he also tells his relationship to you. The
Lord your God, the title, the one who made, creator, I made it all and his
territory, the heavens, the earth, the sea and all that is in them. His territory is
as expansive as it gets. Some of the old Napoleons or the old
Stalins would be jealous of this kind of territory. God claims everything as his.
The Sabbath places us in a special position of worship and loyalty to the
Creator. That is why it is singled out as the Keystone Commandment, the sign or
the seal of the Covenant. Most of the Ten Commandments are accepted even by
secular people as good. Non-religious people look at don't murder and they go
yep. They look at don't steal they go yeah I don't want anyone taking my stuff
from my car. You know they look at don't don't covet or don't cheat with my
spouse. Yeah yeah don't don't do that. We can agree with that. You know kids honor
your mother and father and they say yes you hear that little Jimmy? Even the
non-religious agree with most of the Ten Commandments. Religious people even
agree with the other ones. Have no other gods before me. Don't worship idols. Don't
take God's name in vain. They go yep yep yep all makes sense. This one though this
is the only one debated over. It's the only one that people go well I don't
know about that one. I think I I think I read somewhere that I didn't read it in
the book of Acts. People will say that because I didn't read it in the book of
it's there. It's very obviously there or they will say well it's not explicitly
restated or this is the only one that people really try to explain away rather
than wondering how can I be faithful towards it like the other nine. That's
the better question because the Sabbath places us in a special position of
worship and loyalty to the Creator. That's why it is this by observing the
Sabbath God's last-day people are placing their seal. They are giving their
assent and their agreement to a covenant relationship with God. It is their pledge
of loyalty and obedience to the whole law. James says if you stumble in one
you've stumbled in the rest of them. You can't explain away one and say I'm doing
great God how about it. It doesn't work that way according to the Bible. When we
observe the Sabbath we acknowledge our position as subjects of the divine king
because for an agreement to be valid both parties have to sign it. I just
recently went through the process of buying my first house. I've only ever rented
until now so many papers. So much and everyone has to sign it. Me and my wife
and the seller and his wife and the attorney is signing things and our
realtors are signing things and it's about this thick. So many. If one of us
didn't sign on that dotted line we'd have to start all over. Both parties had to
sign to it before it could be a valid purchase. So it is with our covenant
relationship with God. He's already put his stamp on his part of the bargain.
I've made you. I've created time. I've asked you to be with me during that time.
I will bless you. I will forgive you. I will I will bring you home one day. Now
put your name on there and that's what we're supposed to do with the Sabbath.
The prophecy of Revelation 13 tells us that in the last days during the time of
universal crisis God's people step forward. We don't continue to sit on the
bench watching everyone else argue about this or that. We step forward and we
place our stamp, our seal, our signature right on the covenant. Not by just saying
yes please but by actually keeping the Sabbath. Can't just say okay makes sense.
You've got to follow through. As I say put skin in the game. When they do this
it will be God's turn. He steps forward. He puts his seal on it. He guarantees. He
guarantees that they are his true followers. That's a beautiful thing
because God wants the universe to behold in his people the triumph of his grace.
He wants to show us off. He wants everyone to know that even in a time of
universal apostasy, even in the face of a death decree, even under the
threatenings of you can't buy and sell, that God will have a people who is loyal
to him and they are unwavering. God wants to show you off. God wants people to
notice that you are faithful to him and the ceiling is God's shout of triumph.
It's God's trumpet of victory over you. It is his victory banner that waves
before the universe. The mark of the beast at its very heart exalts human
above the divine. It places man's word above God's word. I even showed a very
clear example of man's word violating God's word. Just side by side. Just like
that. Just like that. The mark of the beast results in replacing the
commandments of God with human decrees and it leads to giving glory to man
rather than giving glory to God. Comes down to this climax. Revelation 14 and
verse 12. Here is a call for the endurance of the saints. Those who keep
the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. This is all building up to
something. God's last-day message ends with this climax. We are saved by grace.
Our hearts are filled with the faith of Jesus. His faith motivates and changes us
and inspires and empowers us if we are found in this description. Do you want to
be found in that description? God, Jesus' faith frees you from the guilt of your
past, delivers you from the bondage of sin both past and present and the hope
of in the future nevermore. You won't have to worry about it again. You are
saved by grace. You can't do anything else but through the power that he, but
through his power, you give him your allegiance and you serve and obey him
forever. Right now we are faced with a choice of the two options presented in
the Word of God for showing who your allegiance belongs to, who you love and
who you want as Lord in your life. Which will you choose? Like this man facing the
fork in the road, which way will you turn? Do you want to be counted among the
saints of God? Well, turn towards Jesus. Do you want to be sealed with his seal?
Choose to keep his Sabbath. Do you desire to avoid religious confusion and following
after a coercive institution? Well, leave Babylon. Avoid confusion. Don't go towards
man's dictates, but rather towards God's directives. You have a choice today and
today you will face the same challenge put forth by Joshua to Israel of old.
Choose this day whom you will serve. Will it be God or will it be the beast? Let us
pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word and we thank you for the
warnings, but not only the warnings, but we thank you for the promise because as
we turn to you, as we draw closer to you, you have promised to sustain us, to lift
us, to bring us all the way through to the end. Lord, I pray that that would be
sooner than later. Lord, we thank you for your faithfulness towards us and we pray
for the strength to make a decision in your favor tonight as we pray in Jesus'
name. Amen.