Good morning. How are y'all doing today? I'm doing great. Thank you so much. We always like to open by saying if this is your first time joining us here in our sanctuary, whether you're in the room or if you're joining us online in our sanctuary, we want to say welcome to all of you. We're so glad you're here to worship with us today.
I am Pastor Nathan and this morning we are going to be continuing our look at the beast from the sea that we see in Revelation Chapter 13. Last week we started the look at this beast with a look at who and what the beast is. Who and what the beast represents as a symbolic display in Revelation.
If you weren't here, I encourage you to go get that study because we spent a lot of time with the prophecies of Daniel, specifically in Daniel Chapter 7 and Chapter 2, looking to identify what this terrible beast we read about in Revelation 13 represents.
And what we learned there is that this beast represents both the coming worldwide totalitarian one world government that we're going to see on this earth during the tribulation period and the one who leads this government who is called among other things the Antichrist.
We saw the source of this coming leader's power and authority as it very clearly told us that it was Satan himself, the great dragon who empowers this person who gives this Antichrist his power, his throne, his authority it told us.
And we see that Satan is the one who uses this person, the Antichrist, to further his schemes on the earth during the tribulation period.
It was Satan presenting this man as a counterfeit Jesus, as a false Messiah going so far as to even give a display or present a counterfeit resurrection as this beast we read had a wounded head and the wound was fatal but miraculously healed in some way.
And all this was done so that when that Antichrist would enter into the rebuilt temple of God in Jerusalem at the midpoint of the tribulation time and then desecrate that temple by sitting in God's place and claiming to be God and demanding worship as God, the whole earth as verse 3 of Revelation 13 tells us would be amazed and would follow this beast.
This morning we're going to look at what that amazement leads to.
When we find ourselves amazed by what Satan might pass off as counterfeit miracles, counterfeit resurrections, counterfeit goodness.
And sometimes we could just get caught up in it and get amazed. We're going to see what that looks like, what that leads to, and what the following looks like when it says that the whole world followed the beast.
We're going to see Satan getting what he's been after the whole time.
We're going to see Satan finally after all of history getting the worship that he is so desperately desired.
And as my assistant Irene mentioned last night, it's almost a bit comical that after all this time and all this fighting, all he does is get three and a half years.
And then it's over.
Because God has spoken.
But we're going to see him get this worship, finally, get this adoration, finally, and we're going to see what he does with it.
Specifically how he uses it to blaspheme God, to blaspheme God's name, God's home, and those who live there.
And we're also going to see this morning the earthly fate of those who wait until tribulation time to finally respond to the free gift of salvation that Jesus Christ offers you today.
Those who wait until this time to put their faith in the name of the one and only true God, Jesus Christ.
Yes, there is the blessed hope that they will receive salvation during this tribulation period.
But the suffering and the persecution that they will fall under because of their faith in Jesus Christ will be horrific.
And I see that as a warning today that today is the day of salvation.
If you don't know Jesus Christ today, come to know him today while we're still in the age of grace.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Father, we love you.
We thank you, God, for your word.
We thank you, God, for your truth.
We even thank you for the book of Revelation, Lord, as it's so enlightening, Lord.
At times it's really weird, Lord, and it has really strange images.
Lord, but we're grateful, God, that we have the whole word of God, Genesis to Revelation,
that we could look back to the Old Testament and look to other parts of Scripture to help us interpret, Lord,
this vision that you're giving John the apostle, that you gave to him, Lord, of the future to come and the end of this age of grace on earth.
Lord, I pray, God, we would be encouraged, Lord, that as we continue to learn of your devices,
to learn of your schemes, to learn—or the devil's devices, I'm sorry, the devil's schemes,
and to learn how he works, God, that we would be people that are educated and ready to stand against those schemes, Lord,
that God, in this age of grace, Lord, while the church is still here on earth,
we would be motivated and encouraged to be people who go out and preach the gospel and share the hope of Jesus Christ,
to share the salvation that is available to them today, Lord, that they would be not only forgiven and saved for eternity, God,
but Lord, should you come back during our lifetime that we would be taken in the rapture and saved from the wrath to come.
But Lord, we know this is all about you, and so God, let us see Jesus Christ in these words, the words of this prophecy, God,
that we would be drawn closer to you, more in love with you, have a desire to know you more and more every single day.
Lord, we thank you and we love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
So, with that, we are in Revelation, chapter 13, and this chapter that we've been studying opens with John seeing a great beast coming up out of the sea.
And we discussed last time that this sea was a symbolic representation, a biblical representation of the sea of humanity,
the ocean being the population of earth, and somewhat of a more specific representation is the non-Jewish people,
the unbelieving Gentile world is what this sea is commonly used to be symbolic of in the Bible.
And so he saw this beast coming up out of the sea, and this beast we discussed represented a coming global ruler,
the Antichrist, and a worldwide government that he's going to lead during the end times.
We looked at how the prophet Daniel saw a very similar vision and received interpretations of that vision,
which we looked at in Daniel, chapter 7, and those interpretations helped us understand the various symbolic details of this beast.
Details like this beast had ten horns and seven heads. And again, we're like, what is that describing?
What is that symbolic of? And again, we saw that this tied the beast very closely to the dragon,
which we looked at in Revelation, chapter 12, who also has ten, seven heads and ten horns.
But we did see the differences from this beast and the dragon, telling us that the beast isn't the dragon.
The dragon, being representative of Satan himself, is using this beast, is inspiring, empowering this beast.
But this beast of Revelation 13 is not Satan. We saw the details that this beast had ten crowns sitting upon those ten horns,
a detail that set it apart as different from the dragon.
And we looked at how those ten crowns and ten horns represented prophetically ten rulers and their nations
that would come together during the end times to form this one world government.
And this one world government of the end times would have characteristics of many former historical worldwide empires
that ruled the world of their time. Empires like the Babylonian Empire and the Medo-Persian Empire
and the Greek Empire and the Roman Empires. And this beast, as we've been seeing,
this wild, untamed juggernaut of power and authority, will be led by this one individual,
referred to as the Antichrist in 1 John, referred to as the Little Horn in Daniel 7,
referred to as the Man of Lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians, who is himself a beast,
both embodying and representing everything that this horrible monster portrays.
However, we did see that this man, the Antichrist, was also represented earlier in Revelation.
If you remember at the very onset of the Tribulation period, at the very beginning,
the Antichrist was represented by the white horse, the rider on the white horse,
as we looked at the four horses of the apocalypse. And we saw that the Tribulation opened
with this rider on this horse, being a counterfeit of Jesus, who also rides in on a white horse.
But this man was seen in John's vision carrying a bow, but a bow with no arrows.
So he was a man of aggression, a man of power, but not in the beginning,
a man that would bring war right away. We saw that that rider on the white horse
had a victory's wreath on his head, not the crown of a king, but the victory wreath of a winner,
as he went out to victoriously sweep the world off its feet.
We've discussed how the Antichrist, this coming world leader, is going to be a man
who is someone to be admired, someone that people are going to look at and respect and adore.
The Antichrist is going to be the worldwide leader that everybody has always wanted.
And he's even going to bring peace in the Middle East, as we see in Daniel's vision of the 70 weeks of years.
For example, in Daniel chapter 9 verse 27, speaking of this coming ruler,
he says prophetically that he will make a firm covenant with many for one week.
Now, we don't have time to get into all of the details of this, but this idea of one week
refers to a set of seven years. A set of seven years is referred to as a week.
And so when you get into Daniel's vision of the 70 weeks, it's 70 sets of seven,
and he prophesies when the Messiah is going to show up in Jerusalem,
and then he prophesies that the Messiah will be cut off, and then there's going to be a 70th week,
a 70th set of seven years in that sense in the future.
And so when he says he will make a firm covenant with many for one week, we know prophetically
that he's speaking of a seven-year arrangement, a seven-year peace treaty
that makes Israel able to build their temple on the Temple Mount.
We've talked about that in the past as well.
But that apparent peace won't last very long as his true motivation, this world leader, this Antichrist,
his true intention will eventually be revealed, because as we continue to read in Daniel 9, 27,
it says, but in the middle of the week, three and a half years into tribulation,
he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering.
And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple
until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.
And so that is the prophetical representation or speaking prophetically that in the middle of this
tribulation period, in the middle of this final week of history, if you will,
this final seven years, that agreement that the Antichrist makes with Israel to allow them
to rebuild their temple and to continue or to resume their sacrifices
and all of their rituals in the temple, he will break that agreement three and a half years
into tribulation and force Israel to stop their sacrifices and offerings in the temple.
And he will do that by committing what is called the abomination of desolation,
as we just saw in Daniel 9. Jesus also referred to this event in Matthew chapter 24,
where he will stop their sacrifices by entering into the temple himself,
sitting on the seat that is God's throne and saying, I'm God, worship me.
You see, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 4 spoke of this.
Paul speaking prophetically, he said, the man of lawlessness will sit in God's temple
proclaiming that he himself is God. And this event marks a very significant shift
in the end times because Jesus in Matthew 24, 15 said this to the Jewish people.
So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel
standing in the holy place, let the reader understand that those in Judea must flee
to the mountains. They must flee because as we saw in Revelation chapter 12
with the woman representing the nation of Israel, Satan has always been against Israel.
He hates Israel. He hates the Jewish people. He did everything he could to keep the Messiah
from being born out of the Jewish people and he couldn't stop it.
Jesus was born. Jesus lived. Jesus died on the cross.
Jesus was resurrected bringing salvation to the whole world. Hallelujah.
And then the church was established. And since then, Satan has been doing everything he can
to wipe out the Jewish people because well, if he couldn't stop the Messiah,
then at least he could kill the Jews and prevent God's promises of a coming Messianic kingdom
based in Jerusalem. But again, we read there in Revelation 12 that the persecution
against Israel, the Jewish people, will grow exponentially at this point.
Anti-Semitism on a level that has never even been seen before.
So all of these events along with the fatal head wound that we talked about last time
that is healed brings us up to Revelation chapter 13 verse 4 where we're going to pick it up today.
Now as a brief reminder, you know, many see this fatal head wound that the beast got
and that was healed is presented as a miraculous resurrection of the Antichrist.
That the Antichrist is killed somehow at the midpoint and then he somehow comes back to life
or appears to come back to life and the result of that is that the world is amazed.
Right? In 2 Thessalonians 2.9 it says the coming of the lawless one is based upon Satan's working
with every kind of miracle both signs and wonders serving the lie.
And wonder is exactly what happens. You see in Revelation 13.3 it told us that the whole earth
was amazed and followed the beast. Amazed. That word amazed in the Greek is thalmazo.
It means to wonder or marvel at some event or object.
It's the idea of being stricken with wow. You ever been stricken with wow?
Somebody does something pretty impressive and it's like wow.
Or your spouse says something particularly stupid and you go wow. Did you really say that?
Right? We've experienced being stricken with wow, you know, being mesmerized by something.
It also carries the idea of being surprised or excited or curious or shocked.
Right? That's the idea of amazed and what will happen is when this Antichrist comes back,
comes back to life, whether it's a real resurrection or a staged one,
whether it's Satan possessing the body, we're not sure. There's different interpretations of that.
But we know that there's a fatal wound that is healed. When this Antichrist comes back,
the world will be struck with amazement.
By this point, they're already struck with his rise to power.
They're already struck with his mental agility, his intellect, his ability to solve complex issues and problems.
You see, because as we've already said, he already solved the most complex political problem
that has plagued the world up until this time.
The millennia old racial tensions between the Jews and the Arabs.
And he solves it. And everybody's just like, that's impossible, but he did it.
And they're like, not only is this guy able to rule and govern in an amazing way,
but now he has power over life and death.
Nobody has ever been able to do that. Forgetting about Jesus Christ,
who had been preached for millennia at this point.
And so they're wowed. They're amazed. They marvel.
And in that, they are deceived and they believe the lie.
And wonder really always is the first step that leads to worship.
And that's exactly what happens next. Verse four of Revelation 13.
It says, they worshiped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast.
And they worshiped the beast.
Saying, who is like the beast? Who is able to wage war against it?
Did you notice what it said there?
They worshiped the dragon. Who's the dragon?
Satan.
It possibly indicates that what we see at this point in history
is this worldwide delusion of atheism.
And this worldwide delusion of just there is no God.
And that just seems to melt away suddenly.
And the whole world starts to worship, and they're eager to worship Satan.
There seems to be an implication here that it's just open.
It's not secret anymore. We're worshiping the dragon.
We're worshiping Satan.
And they worship the beast who represents him.
Now worship is exactly what Satan has wanted since the very beginning.
We understand that Satan is a created angelic being.
He was created by God to serve God, to bring glory to God.
He was a creature of incredible beauty
and incredible intelligence and power and position.
But he became so impressed with himself
that he began to desire the honor and glory that belonged to God alone.
You see, the Old Testament gives us some insights into this individual
both before and after his fall.
One of them is in Ezekiel chapter 28, says this in verse 12.
It says, You were the seal of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God.
Every kind of precious stone covered you,
carnelian, topaz, and diamond, barrel, onyx, and jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald.
Your mountains and settings were crafted in gold.
They were prepared on the day you were created.
You were an anointed guardian cherub, for I had appointed you.
You were on the holy mountain of God.
You walked among the fiery stones.
And from the day you were created, you were blameless in your ways.
Pretty glorious picture, right?
Until wickedness was found in you.
Through the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence and you sinned.
So I expelled you in disgrace from the mountain of God
and banished you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
Your heart became proud because of your beauty.
If you're an underliner or a highlighter, that is a great verse to do so with.
You became proud because of your beauty.
For the sake of your splendor, you corrupted your wisdom.
So I threw you down to the ground and I made a spectacle,
or made you a spectacle before kings.
And of course in Isaiah chapter 14 verse 12 it says,
Shining morning star, how you have fallen from the heavens,
you destroyer of nations.
You have been cut down to the ground.
You said to yourself, I will ascend to the heavens.
I will set up my throne above the stars of God.
I will sit on the mount of God's assembly in the remotest parts of the north.
I will ascend above the highest clouds.
I will make myself like the most high.
But you will be brought down to Sheol into the deepest regions of the pit.
These two passages, they show us the sin of Satan,
the sin of this beautiful angelic being,
this anointed guardian cherub who is very special in the hierarchy of the angels
and the creations of God, pride, self-exaltation,
a desire to have for himself the honor and glory that belong to God alone.
Do you think God takes it seriously when we try to take the glory and honor
that belong to him alone?
Absolutely he does.
And it's incidentally the exact same thing that we see expressed
through this man, the Antichrist, in 2 Thessalonians 2, 4.
Again, Paul writing about this Antichrist, the man of lawlessness,
says he opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship
so that he sits in God's temple proclaiming that he himself is God.
So Satan fell, but he doesn't stop.
He didn't stop, he doesn't stop.
He wanted to and he still wants.
And all the way up through the end times he wants to be worshiped instead of God.
And so he puts forth this Antichrist, this instead of Messiah to be his representative,
to point people back to worshiping him and the whole earth is amazed
and will follow him and worship him during this time.
Now in case you think this concept is far-fetched, right?
In case you think the concept that, you know, the idea of a world leader
coming on the scene and just like deceiving everybody like this, that's ridiculous.
That can't happen.
You don't have to look too far back in history to see exactly that taking place.
You think about what happened in Europe with Hitler.
If you go back and you read the histories, of course most of us recall the atrocities, right?
We recall the bad evil Hitler.
We recall the war.
We recall these horrible things because his name is now synonymous with evil and wickedness.
But if you go back and you study the histories, at first,
when he first came on the scene and first started rising to power,
the whole world was swayed by him.
What a cool guy.
What a wonderful guy.
What wow.
They were wowed.
They were amazed.
Even the Prime Minister of Europe, or Prime Minister of England, sorry,
he was on record saying, Hitler's great.
We love him.
We support him.
In the Antichrist, his representative will be a demon-controlled, devil-taught charmer of men,
attractive, charismatic, genius, a political statesman, a social lion, a financial wizard,
an intellectual giant, a religious deceiver, a masterful orator, a gifted organizer.
And with boundless enthusiasm, everybody just goes, he's God.
Let's follow him.
And they readily and willingly give their hearts over to him.
Verse 5, it says, the beast was given a mouth to utter boasts and blasphemies.
It was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months.
Now, notice 42 months, right?
That is exactly according to the prophetic calendar, three and a half years.
And so what we're seeing here is that this midpoint of tribulation,
when this abomination of desolation takes place, this fatal wound that is healed,
he rises, the world's amazed, start to worship him.
Then there's a final 42 months where he goes bonkers, where the oppression ramps up,
where his evil just is out in the open.
And it's at this point, incidentally, that Satan is more or less pulling off the mask.
No more deceptions, no more trickeries.
It's Satan.
I'm him.
Worship me.
I'm God.
And everybody's like, okay.
And they just go along with it.
So after the events of the midpoint of tribulation where he desecrates the temple,
where he demands to be worshiped, it says then he begins to exercise this authority.
Now, it's noted here and in other places that the beast will have the ability to sway people
with persuasive speech, right?
He's given a mouth.
That idea is that he's given the ability to speak persuasively.
And this adds to the idea that the Antichrist will be a master speaker, a master politician.
Because with that mouth, it says he utters, boasts.
That word boasts means pompous things, arrogant things.
Probably about himself and his power and his beauty and his charisma.
And, you know, I've solved every problem in just boastful things, arrogant things.
It's interesting, four times in the prophecy of Daniel chapter seven,
this world leader is described as having a mouth that was speaking arrogantly.
And that word arrogantly means self-exalting.
And again, looking back through history, right, if you're a history student,
you could see all the major worldwide dictators or the leaders
that were controlling some of these worldwide governments,
or at least governments that controlled the world as it existed at the time.
They've risen to power with their ability in part to use persuasive speech to sway the people.
Again, referencing Nazi Germany.
Hitler was a gifted orator.
You watch some of his speeches and stuff.
You just turn the volume off and just look at his body language.
And yeah, that's his movement.
It's inspiring in a way.
You listen to his words and the people were so fired up.
In fact, I found a quote about people who were there during the time of Nazi Germany
and that lived under his regime that got out of it.
They said, Americans can never understand the euphoric impact that Hitler had on us.
Even cynics were swayed.
And he's just one example of world leaders having this power of speech, swaying people's minds,
making them think this instead of this, you know.
And that's become a whole industry in our world, right?
You've got the whole marketing world now is the whole point of marketing is to sway your thinking.
So you buy this or buy that, right?
There are whole industries around this.
And some of the most popular leaders and government leaders are people who speak so well
and they're so eloquent and wow, and they're so inspiring.
And it's going to be a part of all of this.
And the Antichrist, he's going to be so persuasive.
They will even get the Jewish people and the Arab people of the area to get along,
something nobody has been able to do.
And I can imagine that after the church is raptured out of the world
and Christians suddenly disappear,
that his powerfully persuasive speech is going to just convince the world that missing Christians,
that's a good thing, right?
What an evolutionary step forward for mankind to get these intolerant bigots.
And, you know, and they're just gone.
And, you know, nature has purged itself of those intolerant fundamentalists.
Or, which is making a comeback, aliens, right?
Didn't hear about aliens for a while.
Suddenly aliens.
What?
Aliens.
And that's long been, you know, put forth as a possible explanation that when the church is raptured,
you know, it's going to be like, oh, alien abduction.
And of course we see that.
We've got politicians sitting in Congress going, I speak definitively.
There are aliens.
And, you know, it's like the groundwork is being laid for something, right?
Anyways, it's interesting there.
It says the beast was given a mouth to utter both subblasphemies,
and it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months.
That word allowed there is literally the idea of given permission.
Now, since it's abusive, aggressive, oppressive authority is restricted, right, it's allowed for 42 months,
that gives us the idea that God is the one allowing this.
If Satan was the one allowing this, Satan wouldn't stop at 42 months, right?
He wouldn't be like, well, you know, all eternity I've been waiting for this, three and a half years, I'm happy.
No, he'd be like, let's keep going.
So it shows us that there's a purpose, there's a plan.
God has a plan and a purpose in this whole thing.
The whole timeline, the prophetical timeline that he's given to us, that we're able to study,
we see there's a point and a plan, and God allows this to take place.
I think personally part of that, at least, is, and I mentioned this in a previous study,
just the way he did with Pharaoh, where it says God hardened Pharaoh's heart.
Pharaoh did not want to believe in God, did not want to acknowledge God, did not.
And so God said, okay, right, I'll give you over to that.
And so I think God allowing this is because the world is that we don't want God, we don't want Jesus,
we don't want prayer in schools, we don't want Christian clubs on campus,
we want everything else, but not Jesus.
We want something else.
And so, oh, hey, this guy, look, oh, wow, let's worship the dragon, let's worship the beast.
And I think God, at least part of this, is him going, okay, I'll let you have what you want,
and then we'll talk after how you liked it.
Verse six.
It began to speak blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his dwelling,
and those who dwell in heaven.
And so along with his arrogant speech, along with his boastful speech,
it tells us that he was given this mouth to utter boasts and blasphemies.
And it specifically says blasphemies against God.
That word blaspheme, if you've never heard the definition,
means reviling or disrespectful speech against someone as a way to harm or injure their reputation.
That's what blasphemy is.
Is I'm going to speak about them disrespectfully or in a reviling way
because I want to harm their reputation.
That's this idea here.
And so it says that he speaks blasphemies against God.
His goal is to harm the reputation of God, to damage the idea of God,
to damage the picture of God in people's minds, in the world's mind.
He wants to damage that as much as he can.
And it's interesting, he tells us he blasphemes his name, his dwelling, and those who dwell in heaven.
Very interesting.
Now, the idea of blaspheming his name is just blaspheming who he is,
blaspheming his reputation, blaspheming his character.
You know, is God really good?
Does he really want the best for you?
Is he really going to save you?
Blasphemy.
You know, God's not really good.
Actually, he's probably, you know, kind of selfish, and you hear this kind of talk today.
And then it says blaspheme his dwelling.
His dwelling simply is referring to the heavenlies where God dwells.
And I thought, why would the Antichrist want to blaspheme where God lives?
Well, what is a part of the hope of salvation?
The hope of heaven, right?
That we get off this rock and we go to paradise.
We go to a perfect place that is described for us later in Revelation.
Streets of gold and the tree of life is there and just, you know, this wonderful picture of heaven.
And so let's slander that too.
You don't want to go there.
You don't want to go to paradise.
It's probably not paradise.
But then he has this interesting phrase where he says he blasphemes those who dwell there.
Now, this is interesting because the word dwell is a verb, and it's in the present active tense.
What that means is it's those who are already there at the time this blasphemy is being spoken.
It's an interesting detail because the church has already been taken to heaven at this point.
The church has been raptured up to heaven at this point.
And this is another indicator that there are those people already dwelling there during this tribulation period.
And so he's blaspheming God and his character.
He's blaspheming the place that is the hope that people on earth are pointed to
when they think of the hope of salvation and being with God forever.
And then he's blaspheming all those who are already there, those who made it,
those who are out of his reach, those who are there dwelling with God.
And why is he blaspheming their name?
Well, think about it.
During tribulation period, there's going to be thousands and thousands of people around the world that disappear.
And then this world leader comes on the scene and starts solving things.
And all this stuff is going on.
And during the tribulation period, the gospel is still being preached, right?
We've talked about the witnesses being raised up, the 144,000, the two in Jerusalem.
We've seen pictures of people getting saved and being slaughtered for their faith during the tribulation period.
We call them tribulation saints.
The church is gone, but these are people who get saved during this time.
The downside is that they're experiencing all of this wrath that God is pouring out on earth.
And as they get killed for their faith, they're like, God, when are you going to avenge those who murdered us?
And he's like, hang on. It's coming.
But the idea there is that the testimony of those who disappeared in the rapture, the testimony of those who were caught up,
the testimony of those missing, it speaks to the hope of heaven.
That's why he wants to blaspheme heaven.
Because when people start trying to explain, where did all these people go?
They're going to be like aliens.
And some are going to be like, I'm not sure.
You know, my mom, my dad, my kids, my friends at work, they were telling me about Jesus for years.
And I just kept saying, no, I don't want none of that.
And I don't believe in that.
And they kept telling me the church was going to be raptured one day.
And then they disappeared.
And you want me to believe it's aliens?
Maybe it's what they told me.
And so their very absence, because they're in heaven, is going to speak to the testimony of Jesus Christ.
And Satan and his tool, the Antichrist, are going to hate that message.
They hate it. They hate it. They hate it. They hate it.
So he's going to blaspheme all of it.
Verse seven, and it was permitted, the beast, to wage war against the saints and conquer them.
It was also given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation.
So for a time, the masses on earth will be amazed at the power of the beast.
And they will believe so strongly that it cannot be conquered.
We read that earlier. Who is like the beast? Who can conquer the beast?
He is invulnerable.
And so they will see this beast, this guy who seemingly died and came back to life and is now exerting all this power.
They'll be like, oh, he is everything. He is God. Worship him.
And they will see him as the complete winner.
They will see him as the winner.
And then he's going to go on to blaspheme God and blaspheme God's home in heaven
and blaspheme those who went there and just tell these lies and slander.
And he's going to do it so much to the point that to the world, yeah, you know what?
If God is real, he's a complete loser.
And if those people that believe God, they're losers, too.
I mean, he's the winner. Look how powerful he is.
And so once the Antichrist succeeds in his influence and domination,
he will wage war against those who are on the earth who dare believe in Jesus.
And it will be a Holocaust like we've never seen.
Specifically, it's going to be a Holocaust again against the Jewish people.
And it will also be against all who claim the name of their Savior.
But it starts with, as I mentioned earlier, this abomination of desolation,
this event that Jesus and Daniel both spoke about.
And when Jesus spoke about this, we saw that he spoke about the oppression to come, right?
He said, flee. When you see this, flee. It's going to get bad.
Well, Daniel in chapter 7 verse 25, he spoke of the same thing.
He said, speaking of the Antichrist, he will speak words against the Most High
and oppress the Holy Ones.
That word Holy Ones is a word that's often rendered saints, okay?
So he will oppress the Holy Ones of the Most High.
He will intend to change religious festivals and laws,
and the Holy Ones will be handed over him for a time, times, and half a time.
And if you remember in a previous study, that phrase time, times, and a half a time
is another way to say three and a half years, which we already saw in Revelation
as the 42 months that he gets to oppress during this last half of the Tribulation.
And so it says he was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them.
That word conquer means to defeat with a military victory.
So he's going to fight and have military victory over them.
The idea of conquering here doesn't mean that he conquers their faith.
It means that he can, and he does destroy their lives,
like physically kills people, and we're going to see some of that later.
But he does it without restriction, as God has given him authority over this time.
And thus again, he appears to defeat God and his people and to be victorious over him,
and it just all feeds into the lie that people want to believe.
But let's address the saints thing. Who are the saints here?
Some people go, the saints are just the Jews.
Some people go, no, this is just the Christians.
Well, if you look at the prophecy of Daniel, which we just read in Daniel 7,
he's talking about oppressing the Holy Ones of the Most High.
Which Holy Ones? Well, he says he will intend to change religious festivals and laws.
That seems to be referring to the Jewish people and their religious festivals and laws within the temple.
And so if you take the prophecy of Daniel, you take the mother that we saw in Revelation, Chapter 12,
who is the woman, I'm sorry, who does the woman represent, be in Israel,
and then you combine Matthew 24 of that where Jesus was talking to the Jews,
and he goes, when you see the abomination of desolation, flee Judea.
Right, you put all that together, it seems to indicate that the saints he's referring to here are the Jewish people.
The Jewish people specifically.
This is actually supported by Zechariah Chapter 13, which was a specific prophecy given about the House of David,
which is another way to refer to Israel during the end times.
It says this, in Zechariah 13, 8, it says, in the whole land, this is the Lord's declaration,
two-thirds will be cut off and die, but a third will be left in it.
Two-thirds.
It just said that the beast is permitted to wage war and to conquer them.
And so if you tie that into the prophetical look at the end times,
during this last three and a half years, that two-thirds of the Jewish people are going to be killed.
Another Holocaust, another genocide.
Now today's Jewish population of the world is 15 million people.
What's two-thirds of that?
Ten million Jews will be killed in three and a half years.
It'll make the Holocaust under Hitler look like a small thing.
It's going to be a terrible, terrible time.
But if you consider the word saints there, the word saints used there in the Greek,
and you tie that to the concept of holy ones,
that word saints is used biblically to refer to both believing Jews and believing Gentiles.
It's not used for either group exclusively.
And so saints here could be referring to all believers during the end times,
both Jewish believers and Gentile believers.
And this, incidentally, seems to be supported by Zechariah chapter 14, right?
So in Zechariah 13, there's a specific prophecy about the two-thirds of the Jewish people will be killed during this time.
But then in Zechariah 14, it goes on to talk about while the Antichrist is persecuting the Jews,
he goes on a rampage and just kills believers all over the world.
So there's this idea that it could be both.
The word saints could be referring to Jews specifically,
or all believers during this time, including the Jewish believers.
So now when I say this phrase all believers, you know, all believers during this time,
what do I mean by that?
Again, that will refer, depend on your interpretation of the rapture.
Okay.
This stuff gets really complicated real fast.
I'll try and make it clear.
If you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture the way I do,
then saints is referring to the tribulation saints, people who get saved during the seven-year period.
They're not the church.
The church is a very specific New Testament entity that is raptured out of the world at the beginning of tribulation.
And then there's still people on earth which get saved.
We call them tribulation saints.
But if you hold to a mid-tribulation or a pre-wrath or a post-tribulation interpretation,
then you would see these saints as all of God's people on earth,
including the church because the church is still here during the tribulation period.
But remember, Matthew 16, 18, Jesus speaking of the church said this in Matthew 16, 18.
He said, the gates of hell will not overpower the church.
The gates of hell will not overpower the church.
The word overpower there means to conquer.
The word there means to conquer with a military victory.
So it seems to be indicating where Jesus said that the gates of hell,
and that's a euphemistic way to refer to the powers and the forces and the efforts of hell,
and he goes, that will never conquer the church.
So if this group of saints is indeed conquered by the Antichrist,
as it tells us very clearly here in Revelation 13, then it can't be the church.
Why?
Because the church was already raptured out at the beginning of tribulation.
Does that make sense?
Okay.
If you disagree with me, send me an email. We'll talk later.
But that concept there does create some problems for people who hold to a non-pre-tribulation rapture interpretation,
and so I just wanted to address it real quick.
But what will this holocaust, this persecution look like during the end times?
Well, again, in Daniel 7.25, he said that the Antichrist will speak words against the Most High
and oppress the holy ones of the Most High.
That word oppress is very interesting because it means to wear down or to wear out.
We all have clothes that we've kept far too long.
You know what I'm talking about?
Every time you see that shirt, you're like, gosh, I got that 15 years ago.
Why am I still wearing it?
It still fits, whatever.
But what happens to clothes when they get worn over and over and over?
They get worn out.
That idea of they start to lose their luster, they start to lose their strength,
they start to lose their holes and stuff, they start to not hold together.
It's an idea of wearing something out.
And so what the Antichrist will do to believers during the end times is he will just harass them
and wear them out.
He will continually harass believers, and I believe he'll do that to both Jews and non-Jews as well.
What will this harassment look like?
Possibly physical harassment, legal injustice, seizure of property, blatant punishment,
failure to comply laws.
You can't dare bake a cake.
You can't have a flower shop.
Sound familiar?
It's already happening, and it's going to ramp up.
And then later in Revelation chapter 13, we're going to see how everyone is required to take a mark,
to buy and sell.
They're required to take a mark for commercial purposes, and if you refuse to take this mark,
you will be branded as an extremist, and you will probably end up losing your life
and your head chopped off.
Fun, right?
But again, we see that the authority of the Antichrist during this time is going to be pervasive.
It says that he is allowed to have authority over every tribe, every people, every language, every nation.
That is a biblical phrase to refer to the whole peoples of the earth, right?
And so he will be, and the global attitude will be viciously against God, against Jesus,
and against all who would dare believe in him.
So verse 8.
All those who live on the earth will worship it, speaking of the beast.
Everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life
of the lamb who was slaughtered.
So it says all those whose names were not written in the book of life will worship the beast.
Considering this final world government is called by some the revived Roman government,
one of the methods of worship, it's thought, because worship will be enforced,
governmentally enforced during this time, it might be similar to how worship was
governmentally enforced during the time of Rome.
If you guys remember from past studies, during the first century when the Roman cult started to grow,
when they said, hey, we're not just a political entity, but the Roman Caesars are gods.
You're going to worship them as gods.
One of the things that the cities would do is in order to enter the marketplace to buy and sell,
there was this incense burner and you had to grab a pinch of incense and go Caesar is Lord,
drop it in the burner, and that was how you were allowed to go buy and sell.
So people think that during the end times there's going to be something similar,
there's going to be some act of saying Antichrist is Lord in order for you to go into a shop,
to go into a store, that could be tied back to the mark as we talked about,
but we'll deal with that in another study.
But during that time the Romans simply tried to say, oh, no, no, no, this whole incense thing,
that's just showing political allegiance.
But the Christians saw it for what it really was.
It was an act of worship and they said we're not going to do that.
And so again, as we see the mark of the beast being required for commerce,
it's going to be in a very similar light.
But again, after the great, terrible totalitarian rulers of the 20th century enforcing this type of stuff,
you go back and look at Lenin and Stalin and Hitler and Mao and others,
it's not hard to imagine or it shouldn't be hard to imagine a dominating world leader
demanding such showings of allegiance because it's already happened in similar ways.
But there's an interesting phrase there.
He talks about those who are not found in the book of life of the lamb who is slaughtered, the book of life.
This is something that is referenced again in Revelation chapter 20,
it's simply a book that contains the names of every single saved person.
All of God's redeemed.
It's interesting because we talk about God knows us by name.
He knows how many hairs are on our head, right?
He's intimately familiar with us in so much so that he has a book of everybody that's going to believe in him by name.
Revelation 20, 15, it says anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
The idea here is that worshiping the beast and having your name in the book of life are mutually exclusive.
You can't do both.
And we'll talk about how that ties into the Mark and stuff when we get there.
But this title he gives him, the lamb who is slaughtered, this is just a deeply meaningful title of Jesus.
It's a title that captures all he did for us.
It captures how he did it, right?
We saw that in the very beginning as John was in the throne room.
He sees this lamb that was slaughtered and it's that lamb that takes the scroll and then starts this whole process.
That Jesus willingly went to the slaughter to die for you and me.
That he laid down his life.
It's such a beautiful picture of who he is.
And there's a book of those who are covered by the shed blood of the lamb that God has.
Now when we tie that title to what it says there from the foundation of the world, it just simply reminds us that God's plan of redemption was set in place long ago.
God's plan to save mankind was set in place before he even created the beings that would need the redemption.
God knew. He planned it. He's ready.
He wasn't surprised by the fall of Adam.
He knew. He's God. He's omnipotent. He's all-knowing.
He wasn't surprised by the fall of Adam.
He's not surprised by any of the other evidence of our fallen nature, right?
We talked about that when Satan stands before God and accuses us.
Here's all the evidence. God's like, I already knew all that.
Yeah, but he did this. I knew that too.
Well, then why do you love him?
Why is he your kid? And Jesus just goes, because he's covered by my blood.
And that is the whole picture here.
God's not surprised by your failing either.
He's not surprised. God isn't making up this plan as he goes along.
The whole idea of redemption, the whole idea of the history of mankind, the whole concept of the end times and how it plays out,
it's all according to God's perfect plan.
We may not always understand how what he allows can be perfect, but he's God. We are not.
And that's why we're called to trust him and to walk by faith in Jesus Christ.
Now, verse nine and ten, it says, If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.
If anyone is to be taken captive into captivity, he goes.
If anyone is to be killed with a sword, with a sword, he will be killed.
This calls for endurance and faithfulness from the saints.
So when you see that phrase, if anyone has an ear in the Bible, that's a way to basically say,
Hey, what I'm about to tell you is a solemn word of warning.
So listen up. All right. Listen up. Please pay attention.
And it's a warning. I see this as a warning for all of us today.
If you're in this room today, if you're watching online today and you do not know Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior,
but you're you're coming to church, maybe you're watching videos, you're you're you're investigating whatever it may be.
But you haven't given your life to the Lord.
I believe this is a warning for you.
Because I used to say before I was saved, I had a friend who witnessed to me every day at work.
It was highly irritating.
And but he was faithful and he would always tell me about end times and revelation.
And this is what's going to happen. And I'd be like, whatever.
And, you know, and he would like, no, this is what the Bible says.
And I'd always be like, look, I've never seen anything that'll convince me.
And then he'd be like, well, this is how, you know, the end times are going to lay out.
And I'm like, look, when that happens and I see that dude and he comes on the scene and sets up to go, when I see that, sign me up.
I'll be the super Christian.
You'd always tell me you don't understand.
The deception is going to be so heavy and so thick, you can't assume you're just going to be able to go, oh, Jesus is real.
I see the section of revelation. I see that that warning to those who might say, I'm just going to wait until tribulation to come to Jesus.
You risk one continually hardening your heart saying, no, Jesus, no, Jesus, no, Jesus.
And your heart gets harder and harder and harder.
And you risk that hardening against truth from now until then.
So much so that when the end finally gets here, you will be so deceived and your heart will be so hard against truth that you will believe the lie.
You will be amazed. You will be in wonder at this wonderful man.
And you will be a part of those who are under his sway.
And that's what you risk by refusing Jesus today and saying, I will wait until these things happen.
You risk remaining under his sway and remaining marveled and amazed at his apparent miraculous persona and all that the Antichrist will be.
So much so that you will be one of those people you risk being one of those people that will say, no, he's God, not Jesus.
You also risk that even if you do come to Jesus during the tribulation time, man, it's going to be a radical, horrible, painful, terrifying time of persecution for your faith.
For anybody that thinks it's bad now to be a Christian, this is nothing compared to what it's going to be during the time where God says, OK, Satan, have full reign.
The masses want it. Have full reign.
And it's all for his purpose and his plans.
But it's going to be horrific for those who dare say, I believe in Jesus during that time.
And there will be no standing against the devil and the Antichrist during that time.
There will be no recourse.
God's going to allow this for his purposes. And what does he say there?
This calls for endurance and faithfulness from the saints during that time.
It's going to require great endurance and faithfulness for those who believe during this time.
And so what is the warning?
Get saved today.
Give your life to Jesus now.
Don't wait.
One, you don't even know if you're going to live long enough to get into this tribulation period.
And if you die without Jesus today, you're not saved.
But even if you are alive into this tribulation period
and you say, no, Jesus, no, Jesus, no, Jesus, no, Jesus, no, Jesus, from now until then,
you think you're suddenly going to be soft to the gospel?
Chances are likely you'll be so hardened against it, you'll be one of these people who worship the beast.
And it says here you'll be taken captive.
That word captive there paints the picture that during this time,
if you do say, I'm going to wait until then, and you get saved then,
hallelujah, praise God, you're saved.
But the horrible torture you're going to be under, it says, taking captive.
You will have no rights, is what it's referring to.
You will have no protection, no recourse here on earth.
The law will be against you.
Judges will be against you.
Law enforcement will be against you.
The government will be against you.
Those in authority will be against you.
And the world will applaud and celebrate the persecution
and the oppression that will come against you simply for being a Christian.
Why would you wait for that?
Why wait to commit your life to Jesus?
I believe God is speaking to some right now this morning.
Right this moment, God is going, I'm speaking to you.
You need to get saved.
And maybe you've come to a place where in your heart and your mind,
you've started to say, I think I believe God is real.
I know he's alive, but it makes sense.
He's holy, he's just.
I get it, but I just haven't received him.
And you know that you stand right now without him, without salvation,
without forgiveness, without being covered by the blood of Christ.
And maybe God is revealing to you right now in your heart
that you will rightly suffer his wrath and judgment for sin during this time.
And he's saying, come to me now.
Get saved now.
Know me now.
See, because when we compare the way, the truth, and the life Jesus to the counterfeit,
when we compare those together, we see the differences.
Jesus was a perfect man, God in the flesh without sin.
The Antichrist is called in the Bible the man of sin.
Jesus is known as the good shepherd.
Prophecies in Zechariah call the Antichrist the idol shepherd.
Jesus is seen here in Revelation as the lamb who is slain,
while the Antichrist is portrayed as this horrible, ugly, monstrous beast.
Jesus wants to give you life eternal.
But Satan now and through the Antichrist then offers only death and damnation.
Who do you want to follow?
You're following one or the other.
And if you say neither, rejecting Jesus is following Satan.
The apparent death of the Antichrist then is meant to deceive the whole world,
but the death of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago was meant to save it.
And it was meant to save you. He died for you.
Now the world is already being deceived.
We see it in our world today. Right is being called wrong.
Wrong is being called right. Good is being called evil.
Evil is being called good.
Many today worship Satan without even realizing they're doing it.
But what's incidentally on the rise is people who openly worship Satan
and saying, I know exactly what I'm doing.
Jesus offers true salvation today. Take it.
Be forgiven. Be redeemed. Have your sins washed away.
Have your name written into the book of life.
And have your eyes open to the reality of the war that is raging all around you.
Secure your safety.
Secure your salvation by accepting the sacrifice of the lamb
who is slaughtered for you from the foundation of the world.
He loves you that much.
And then worship him, the only one worthy of worship, Jesus Christ, God Almighty.
Let's pray.
Father God, we pray God, Lord.
Right now, Lord, we start and I pray for those Lord in this room that don't know you,
maybe those watching online that don't know you.
God, they're here in church and we're so grateful for that.
Lord, maybe they're here because they're investigating, Lord.
They have questions.
Maybe they're here because they just came with a family member. Who knows?
But Lord, I believe you brought them here for this appointment,
this divine appointment you have with them today.
God, as we're looking into what is coming in the future in our world,
we see precursors of it all around us.
And yet, God, there are some here, Lord, that you brought to specifically speak to them,
to reinforce what you've already been telling them, to draw them to you,
to once again lay the offer of forgiveness and salvation before them
that they would be able to come to God Almighty, their creator,
and be forgiven of all of their sin.
To have the penalty for breaking your law wiped away.
To be adopted into your families, your children.
To have the hope of heaven and the promise of paradise when they would leave this earth.
And so Lord, I pray God that right now as I'm talking and as they're listening
and God, as you are moving on their hearts, Lord,
that they would stop believing the lie.
They would stop thinking that they have time to wait
because today is the day of their salvation.
So while we're praying, just heads bowed and eyes closed in the room.
If you're a Christian, just be praying right now.
But if you're not a believer, if you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,
and God has been speaking to you today,
he has been revealing to you today the lies that you believe in
and how Satan has been deceiving you.
And you've realized, I need to give my life to Jesus.
I'm telling you, God loves you and he will welcome you.
So while we're praying, heads bowed, eyes closed,
I want you to raise your hand where you're seated.
If you want to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior this morning.
If you want to know that you are forgiven of all of your sins.
If you want to know that when you die, that you will be going to heaven
to spend eternity with your Savior.
Just raise your hand and let me pray with you today.
If you're watching online, obviously I can't see you.
But if you want to receive Jesus Christ this morning,
I want you to just in chat just say, I want to receive Jesus.
Just type it into chat and then our moderators will connect with you.
But even if you're watching online, I'm going to pray in a moment.
I want you to pray this prayer with me to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
But anybody in this room, raise your hand so I can see it.
Let me pray with you today.
All right.
Well, even if you're not raising your hand for some reason
and you know you need to do this, or again if you're online,
pray with me now and say, Lord Jesus, I know I've sinned against you.
I know I've broken your law.
I've done bad things.
I've done evil things.
I've done selfish things.
I recognize that there is a penalty that I need to pay for those things.
But God, I can't pay it.
The debt is too big.
And so God, please forgive me of my sins.
Come into my life.
Be my Lord and Savior.
Be my Master and Friend.
Wash me clean because of your shed blood on the cross.
I believe, God, that you are the lamb who was slaughtered
from the foundation of the world.
But God, I believe in you and what you did for me.
I trust in that.
Write my name in the Book of Life.
Help me to see truth and to no longer be deceived by the lies of the devil.
Thank you for loving me so much that you would adopt me into your family,
that you would give me a new heart, that you would save me.
Thank you.
Amen.
Well, for the rest of us, you know, like we've been saying as we've been going through Revelation,
we know it's coming.
God gave us a glimpse at the end of the story, and that's wonderful.
But it's not just so we can read it and go, hey, that's cool, and go about our lives.
It's so that we are motivated by what is to come to go out and warn those before it happens.
And so I just challenge all of us to go out and share your faith.
If you've never shared your faith, you don't know how.
We have an evangelism ministry that exists to teach you how to do that.
We have teams of people to lock arms with you so you're not alone and have to feel scared or nervous.
If that's not it and it's just I've just been lazy, then stop being lazy.
Get up. We have tracks available.
You have your testimony available.
But pray.
Say, God, give me opportunities to warn people about the wrath to come, to share the hope of salvation with them.
God, give me opportunity.
I promise you, if you pray that prayer, he'll do it, which is why many of us probably don't pray that prayer.
But trust God to fill your mouth, to fill your heart, to give you a heart for the lost, because bad things are coming.
And deception is already in the world.
It's only going to get worse.
But we have the light of truth to combat that, to fight against that.
We just need to wield it.
We just need to use it.
Amen.
All right.
Thank you.