The Truth About Revelation 13 | Pastor Allen Nolan Sermon

Now that we have a good understanding of the mystery of the Beast, we can now go to chapter 13 and start studying it verse by verse. So, what I want you to do is just open up your Bible to chapter 13 and let's look at the first two verses. And we're going to go verse by verse up to verse number 10, but we're going to start with the first two verses, 1 and 2.

"And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had 10 horns and seven heads, with 10 crowns on his horns and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his authority and his throne and great authority."

Now, we need to be to make sure that we keep this in context because chapter 13 is not a new vision. It's actually a continuation of chapter 12. In fact, what I'd like to do is I'd like to read the last verse in chapter 12 and the first verse in chapter 13, so you'll see what I mean when I say that chapter 13 is a continuation of chapter 12. Let's read the last verse and then we'll read the read the first verse in chapter 13.

"Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and he went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus."

"And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had 10 horns and seven heads, with 10 crowns on his horns and on each head a blasphemous name."

You see, the whole reason that the dragon is is standing on the seashore is because he needs the Beast to wage war against the rest of the woman's offspring. So, he's standing on the shore of the sea, calling forth the Beast, commanding it to rise up out of the sea. Can you see how chapter 12 is now flowing into chapter 13? Good.

So, to make sure that we keep this in context, let me summarize the sequence of events in chapter 12, beginning with the war in heaven. Remember, the war in heaven occurs at the midpoint of the tribulation. Michael and his angels are battling Satan and his angels, and of course, Michael wins, and Satan is expelled from heaven for good. You see, contrary to what most people believe, Satan still has access to heaven. Look at verse number 10.

"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 'Now has come the salvation and the strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ.'"

Now, what does a colon do? A colon introduces an explanatory clause. He's going to explain something to us here.

"'For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.'"

Now, I want you to think about this verse here. Lucifer was not accusing us before he fell. Before he fell, do you think Lucifer, whose job was to worship God and lead worship in heaven, do you think that he was worshiping and saying, "Now look at them down there"? No. We weren't even created because, actually, Satan fell before man was ever created. So, Lucifer wasn't accusing us before he fell. No, he only began accusing us after he fell. So, this tells us that Satan has access to God in heaven, or he wouldn't be able to accuse us before God day and night. But after this war in heaven takes place, Satan is no longer going to have access to heaven. He's going to be cast down to the Earth.

And verse number 13 tells us that he'll be filled with rage because he's been cast down and also because he knows he only has a short time. So, he's going to direct his his rage toward the woman who gave birth to the child. Now, if you remember, the woman represents Israel, and the child represents Jesus. So, Satan wants to take all of his anger out on the Jews, more specifically, the Jews in Judea or the Jews in Jerusalem.

Now, Pastor, how do you know that? Well, we didn't find that in the Book of Revelation, but when we studied the Gospels, we found out in the Olivet Discourse where Jesus was talking to his disciples about the end of the world. He said, "When you see the abomination of desolation take place..." And when does that happen? At the midpoint, at the midpoint or the middle of the tribulation. "...when you see the abomination of desolation take place, those in Judea flee." So, we know that he's going to turn his rage upon the Jews in Jerusalem, but they're going to escape to the wilderness and they're going to be supernaturally protected by God.

So, when he's unable to get to them, he then is going to turn on the rest of her offspring, the 144,000 and their converts. And this is where the Beast comes into the picture. As I said, the whole reason that the dragon is standing on the seashore is because he needs the Beast to make war against the rest of the woman's offspring. So, he is standing on the seashore calling for the Beast to rise up out of the sea.

And that brings us back to verses 1 and 2 in Chapter 13. And knowing that, we can now study these 10 verses. So, let's go on.

"And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had 10 horns and seven heads, with 10 crowns on his horns and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority."

Now, by now, you should know that the Beast represents the revived Roman Empire. And this empire is going to be unlike any empire before it. I say that because this empire is going to be a combination of the best characteristics of the previous kingdoms that we've studied. That's why it has seven heads and the body of a leopard, the feet of a bear, and the mouth of a lion. It's combining the best traits from all the previous empires into one super empire. So, six of the seven heads represent past kingdoms or empires. The different body parts represent specific empires from the past. The leopard represents the Grecian Empire, the bear represents the Persian Empire, and the lion represents the Babylonian Empire. So, the seventh and final kingdom will be, in a sense, the sum of all the previous kingdoms. It will be the most powerful and wicked kingdom the world has ever seen.

Now, you can tell by reading the first two verses that this is going to be the most powerful kingdom the world has ever seen. Take America in in the height of its glory and its power and multiply it by a hundred. That's how powerful this thing is going to be. But it's also going to be the most wicked. Now, how do I know that? I know that because it says that its power and authority comes from Satan. Look at the last part of verse two.

"The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority."

"One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast."

Now, heads represent what? Kingdoms. Repeat after me: Heads represent kingdoms. So, this is talking about one of the kingdoms, not the Antichrist. You see, a lot of scholars teach that the Antichrist is going to suffer a fatal head wound and then he's going to be miraculously healed. Well, I can see that, and especially when we get down to a few more verses, when we're talking about the false prophet, we can see how the Antichrist might have a fatal head wound and he's going to be miraculously healed. But in this verse, it's not talking about the Antichrist. It's talking about one of the previous kingdoms, one of the heads, because heads represent kingdoms. All right.

And we know which one of the kingdoms it represents because of history. Let me give you a little history lesson. Every one of the previous kingdoms that we've talked about, they were conquered and absorbed into the kingdom that conquered it, with one exception: the Roman Empire. So, even though every one of the first five kingdoms eventually fell, in a sense, they still continued on because they were absorbed into the next kingdom. The only exception was the Roman Empire. It fell, but it was not absorbed into another kingdom or another world empire. So, basically, it died. And that's the fatal wound that John is talking about. But the Roman Empire will be revived in the last days. In other words, this fatal wound is going to be healed. That's why we refer to the Beast as the revived Roman Empire.

"Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast and they also worshiped the beast and asked, 'Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?'"

Now, if you were here last week, you know that Islam is going to be the one world religion. Now, I'm saying that not because that's what the Bible says. I'm saying that because if you study Islamic eschatology along with what the Bible says, you can see how it's setting up to be. In fact, the revived Roman Empire is going to be an Islamic empire. So, when the Antichrist comes on the scene, Muslims are going to think that he's their Messiah, he's the Mahdi, the 12th Imam, the one they've been waiting for. But he's really going to be the Antichrist. So, if Muslims believe that the Antichrist is the Mahdi, who will they believe is giving him his power? Allah, of course. So, they'll think that they're worshiping Allah, but they're really worshiping the Dragon. In fact, Allah is the dragon. There it is. I said it, but it's true. Allah is the dragon.

And let me prove that to you. Turn to Isaiah 14:12-14. We looked at this last week, but I want this to be deep in your heart.

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High."

Now, I want you to underline the word "ascend." In fact, it's actually "ascend above." Those two words are really a phrase that's translated from the Hebrew word "alah." So, the devil is "alah," the one who wanted to ascend above God. Now, in Arabic, the word "Allah" actually means "the God." But in Hebrew, "alah" means "to ascend above." So, the Bible reveals who Allah really is. So, the Muslims will think that they're worshiping Allah, and they are. They just don't know that Allah is Satan. And people, that's not a hard stretch of the imagination. In fact, if you study just a little bit of Islamic doctrine, you'll find out that Allah kills, steals, destroys. Those are the very things that when Jesus came along, he said, "The thief comes to kill, to steal, to destroy. I've come that you might have life, and that you might have life more abundantly."

Now, when we go back to the Old Testament, some people point back to the Old Testament, "Wait a minute, look what God did in the Old Testament." Well, that was a different dispensation. That was a dispensation of judgment, a dispensation of law, until Jesus could come and fulfill the law. We now live in a dispensation of grace. But when you study Islamic doctrine, what you find out is who they are worshiping. It's not anything like what Yahweh is or Jehovah.

"And there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for 42 months was given to him."

Now, notice it says, "And there was given to him," talking about the Beast. "There was given to the Beast a mouth." The mouth is referring to a spokesperson, a leader. Now, this is very important because from this time on, the Beast in John's vision can refer to one of two things. It can refer to the seventh and final kingdom, which is the revived Roman Empire, or it can refer to the Antichrist, who's the leader of the revived Roman Empire, because he's the mouth of the Beast, the spokesperson, the one who rules the Beast.

Now, it's very important that you understand what I just said. So, I'm going to say it again, but I'm going to say it in a different way. The Beast in John's vision represents the Antichrist and his kingdom. So, sometimes the word "Beast" is used to refer to the Antichrist, and sometimes it's used to refer to his kingdom. The context will tell you which. So, as we begin from this point on, reading and it talks about the Beast, we will be able to tell from the context, is it referring to the revived Roman Empire or is it referring to the the Antichrist?

Now, let me explain why the Beast is used both ways. You see, during the middle of the tribulation, the Antichrist is going to be given so much authority and so much power, he won't just be the leader of the revived Roman Empire; he'll be the revived Roman Empire because it will be an Islamic confederation or an Islamic coalition. It's going to be an Islamic empire. He will be seen as the Mahdi, he will be seen as the 12th Imam. He is the undisputed leader of it. What he says goes. And as we get a little further into this, you'll find out why all of a sudden all of the Muslims will cheer for this man. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Notice what the last part of verse number five says: "authority to act for 42 months was given to him." Not talking about the Beast now, or not talking about the revived Roman Empire. It's talking about the Antichrist here. Now, wait a minute. It says "authority to act for 42 months was given to him." I thought the Antichrist came on the scene at the beginning of the tribulation. Wasn't he the guy that was riding the White Horse? When we look up there and we look at the very first seal, it says a white horse comes, and we have in there Antichrist, and we said that he's going to start the seven-year peace treaty with Israel. So, isn't he the one that came on the scene at the beginning of the tribulation? Well, then why does it say that authority to act for 42 months was given to him? That's 42 months, only three and a half years. What's the deal?

Here's the deal: He does not become the absolute ruler of the revived Roman Empire until the middle of the tribulation. You see, when he first comes on the scene, he is a great politician, he is a wonderful orator, he is someone that is able to do wonderful things, and he's going to be able to come in and take a few Islamic nations and bring them together into a peace treaty with Israel and allow Israel to rebuild the Temple. But the revived Roman Empire has not yet given him his authority. They haven't turned everything over to him. When he first comes in on the scene on the White Horse, there's only going to be a few Islamic nations that's going to recognize him as the Imam. But he does something in the middle of the tribulation that all of a sudden gets everyone's attention, and every Islamic nation in the world rises up and says, "Yes."

"He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven."

All over the world, Muslims profess the Shahada. How many of you heard of the Shahada? The Shahada states that there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger. Now, some of them say, "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his servant and messenger." They say this to distinguish their God from the Jews' God and the Christians' God. And I'm really glad that they do, because we do not serve the same God. Let me state that again: we do not serve the same God. We serve Jehovah, also known as Yahweh. Yes, he has different names that he has revealed himself by. When Moses said, "When I go to Egypt and they're going to ask who sent you, who do I say sent me?" He said, "You just tell them that I AM has sent you." But when he revealed his name, he came along and said, "I am Jehovah." "I am Jehovah Tsidkenu, your righteousness. I am Jehovah M'kaddesh, your sanctification. I am Jehovah Jireh, your provider. I am Jehovah Shammah, which means I'm always present. I am Jehovah Nissi, I'm your victory." But I want you to understand, with all of those things, Rapha, Rohi, all of those, he starts with Jehovah. He is Jehovah, also known as Yahweh. They serve Allah, the one who wanted to ascend above Jehovah, but failed. And who is Allah? Allah is the dragon, the one who gives authority to the Beast. So, naturally, the Antichrist receives his authority from the dragon, and therefore, he is going to blaspheme the one true God. But he's also going to blaspheme, according to this verse, those who live in heaven. And who would that be? Who lives in heaven? Christians. Before this time, the Rapture will occur. The Christians will go to heaven. They will be living in heaven. This verse says that he not only blasphemes God, but he blasphemes those who live in heaven. He blasphemes Christians. So, the Antichrist is going to blaspheme the one true God and those who believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Muslim world will cheer him on.

"He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them, and he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation."

Now, this tells us the Antichrist is not going to be content with just blaspheming Christians. No, he will not be content until he makes war with them, on those that dwell upon the Earth. In other words, he's going to hunt Christians down to murder them. So, those who weren't raptured are going to be given a choice. And you need to understand this if you're living on the Earth because you weren't raptured, you weren't prepared. You will be given a choice in the second half of the tribulation. You either have a choice to become a Muslim or die. And that goes right along with Islamic eschatology. Islamic eschatology teaches that when the Mahdi comes, he will establish an Islamic empire over the entire world and he will convert the people. But those who can't convert, he can't convert, he will kill. Islamic eschatology teaches that that is not me taking out some little remote references or some fanatical Muslim. If you read and study Islamic eschatology, when the Mahdi comes, he will convert the world to the Islamic faith, and those he cannot convert, he will kill.

Now, the last part of verse number seven is interesting. Look at the last part: "and he was given authority over for every tribe, people, language and nation." Now, most scholars take this to mean that the Antichrist will rule the world, and the scriptures seem to bear that out. But it's not that way until the second half of the tribulation. During the first half of the tribulation, it won't be that way. You have all these different nations, and they're kind of doing their own thing. But as we begin to see the seals take place, and we began to see the trumpets take place, if you thought this economic crisis that we're in is something, now you haven't seen anything. We're going to have an economic crisis, we're going to have a climate crisis, we're going to have all types of a crisis. But there's going to be one person that's going to show that he is such a capable leader in what he's doing in his little area that the world's going to be fascinated by it. And so, this person, at the second half of the tribulation, is going to receive his full power and authority.

Now, again, if you've been reading and going along with me and processing this information, you know that it's not until the middle of the tribulation that the Beast rises up from the sea. Did the Beast rise up from the sea in the first half? No. The seventh trumpet blew. When the seventh trumpet blew, we were at the midpoint of the tribulation. The war in heaven takes place, Satan is cast down. We also saw in chapter 11, the two prophets are killed, and then we see the abomination of desolation take place. So, the question is, why would the Beast rise up at the second half of the tribulation? It's because of what I just said, the abomination of desolation. You see, in the first half of the tribulation, the Antichrist is just a ruler over three empires, or three kingdoms. Remember, he plucks up three, and he is the king over that. They're submitting to him, and he does such a good job, and he has this peace treaty with Israel. But in the middle of the tribulation, the abomination of desolation takes place. The Book of Daniel tells us that the Mahdi, the 12th Imam, will go into the temple and he will declare himself to be God and demand to be worshiped. And at that point, because the world, and I showed you the video, and you can go study the statistics, it's only continuing on, the Islamic faith is growing four times faster than Christianity. Did you know that? Four times faster than Christianity. So, by that time, it's going to be an Islamic world. And when this man who came along, and there's going to be this fanatical group that says he's the Imam, the other Muslims are going to sit back, "That's not part of those three nations," and they're going to watch him and they're going to go, "Oh, I don't like what he did." But the others know what he's doing. Oh, it says he's going to come in and he's going to convert many of the Jews, and that's what he's doing. But when he comes in at the middle of the tribulation and commits the abomination of desolation, they're all going to go, "Yes, he is the Imam," and they are on board. The 10 kingdoms are Islamic kingdoms, and they're going to give their authority to him for one brief moment.

"Look at Revelation 17:12-13. 'The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received their kingdoms, but they will receive authority as kings for one hour with the beast. They will make war on the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.'"

Verse number eight: "All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world."

Again, verse eight, number again, verse number eight is telling us that you will have a choice. If you're not raptured, you can either become a Muslim and worship the Mahdi and the dragon who has given him his authority, or you can be persecuted. So, guess what? Everyone becomes a Muslim except for a few Christians, those who became Christians after the Rapture because they know better. But everyone else will worship the Beast.

"Look at verse eight again. 'All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.'"

So, everyone will worship the the Beast, Allah.

"He who has an ear, let him hear. Anyone is to go, let me say that again: He who has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patience and patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints."

This is not a riddle. The first part of verse number 10, not verse nine, verse number 10, is actually a Hebrewism. Notice what it says: "If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed." This is a Hebrewism. It is taken from Jeremiah the 15th chapter, verse number two, and it refers to Divine Providence.

"Look at Jeremiah 15:2 on the screens. 'And if they say to you, "Where can we go?" then tell them, "This is what the Lord says: Those who are destined for death, to death; those who are destined for the sword, to the sword; those who are destined for famine, to famine; those who are destined for captivity, to captivity."'"

Now, if you notice, I did not say this is a quote from Jeremiah 15:2. This is a reference to it. It refers to Divine Providence. In the book of Jeremiah, if you remember, Jeremiah was telling them, "You don't understand. God is bringing judgment. You need to submit to his judgment. There is nothing you can do about it." This is Divine Providence. Well, that's exactly what this verse 10 is about. This is talking about Divine Providence. The end is going to play out just as God said it would. The Antichrist is going to be given power and authority to make war with the saints for 42 months, three and a half years. Those who become Christians after the Rapture, they will be persecuted, and there is no way to stop it. Those destined for captivity will go into captivity. Those destined to die will die. No ifs, no buts, no walking on your faith or talking on your faith or confessing it. This is Divine Providence. God said this will happen. Those who are destined to go into captivity for standing up for Jesus will go into captivity. Those who are destined to die for standing up for Jesus will be destined to die. You cannot change it. That's what he's telling us.

We're coming to a point in the world where there is no ifs, ands, or buts. When the 12th Imam comes, when the Mahdi comes, he is the Antichrist. But the Islamic world will recognize him as their Messiah. And their eschatology teaches that he will convert the entire world into an Islamic nation or an Islamic world, and those he can't convert, he will kill. And so, God is giving us fair warning. He's telling us now, while there is still time to do something about it, that those who will go into captivity will go into captivity, and those who are destined to die will die, and you will not be able to change it.

So, notice the last part of verse 10: "This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints." Wow. In other words, what he's telling us, if you miss the Rapture, then you better be faithful to the end. And by all means, don't fear the one who can kill the body, but fear the one who can destroy both the body and the soul. Do not worship the Antichrist or the dragon who gives authority to the Antichrist, Allah. Do not take his mark. Stay faithful to the end. Those who stay faithful will get to go to heaven. Those who don't will be destined to hell. This is what it's coming to.

We hit this in Chapter 13. Now, in verse number 11, we will continue on, and we will see the false prophet. We'll see what his job is. We'll also find out what Islamic eschatology has to say about this person, and we'll see how it's all going to play out, just the way that God said it would.

Turn to Revelation Chapter 13. We're going to pick it up in verse number 11, continue on verse by verse, finish up with chapter 13 tonight.

"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon."

I want you to underline the word "another." It's translated from the Greek word "allos," which actually means "another of the same kind." What's interesting is that the Greeks had two words for "another": "allos," which means, as I said, "another of the same kind," and "heteros," which means "another of a different kind." So, this is another beast of the same kind. In other words, it's like like the first Beast. So, even though the two beasts look different and they have two different functions, they're basically the same. They're both evil, and they have the very same goal. So, they're going to work together as a team. Now, can you guess who the second beast is? Yes, you can. We'll get there in just a little bit.

Now, this Beast is different from the first Beast in that it comes up out of the earth rather than the sea. And that's pretty significant. Let me explain why. The sea is a symbol of the Gentile Nations. So, most scholars expect the Antichrist to be a Gentile. In fact, Daniel tells us that he's going to come from one of the nations in the revived Roman Empire. You remember we kept going back to the Book of Daniel, and the reason we did that is because Daniel really laid the foundation for the Book of Revelation. And to really understand the Book of Revelation, you must understand the Book of Daniel. The word "earth" is translated from the Greek word "ge," which can also be translated as "land." And land is a symbol of Israel. So, most scholars expect the false prophet to be a Jew. He'll come from the land of Israel.

The second reason it's significant is because it tells us that the second beast is going to play a secondary role to the first Beast. Now, why would that tell us if he comes up from the earth that he's going to play a secondary role? Well, you have to understand the thought in the time that John wrote this. In biblical times, people believed that land animals couldn't compare in magnitude with sea creatures. These sailors would come into the ports, and they would talk about these huge animals. And can you imagine seeing a whale or a great white shark? Someone dies, you throw them off, and you see these sharks just feeding upon it. So, in their minds, land animals couldn't even compare with the magnitude of sea creatures. So, coming out of the earth indicated that the second beast was going to be inferior in power to the first Beast. So, the second beast will, in all probability, be a Jew, and he's going to play a secondary role to the first Beast.

Now, if you were paying attention and noticed what I was doing, I referred to the second beast as the false prophet. I do that because the Bible refers to him as the false prophet, not in this chapter, but in chapters 16, 19, and 20. Look at Revelation Chapter 19, verse number 20, and you'll see what I mean.

"And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the signs by which he had deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. This pair was thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur."

Now, look at Revelation 20:10.

"Then the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

Now, the reason he's referred to, who is the false prophet, is because he plays a religious role. His job is to get everyone to worship the dragon and the first Beast, the Antichrist. And he's going to be very convincing. In fact, I want you to notice how John describes him. First of all, he's depicted as a lamb with two horns. As a lamb, he's going to have a mild and meek, yet charismatic personality. The two horns represent symmetry. It also represents power, but it also, because there's two, represents symmetry. So, he's going to be this polished, charismatic, charming, very powerful figure. But he's actually a wolf in sheep's clothing, because what it says is that he speaks the dragon's words, which means that he'll use deceptive, subtle, and seductive speech to lure people away from their faith in Christ Jesus and into the dragon's trap. And all the while, he's going to be appearing as harmless as a lamb.

"And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed."

Now, I want you to notice that the Antichrist has full confidence in the false prophet. And I say this because it says that he exerciseth all the power of the first Beast. The word "power" is the Greek word "exousia," and it means "authority." So, the first Beast has so much confidence in the false prophet that he entrusts him with all of his authority, and he's going to use that authority to get the world to worship the Beast. In fact, their relationship is comparable to Moses and Aaron. The Antichrist is going to be the one that's in charge, he's the one that's going to pull the strings to everything. But the false prophet comes along, and what he does is he points everyone to the Beast, and he performs all of these miraculous signs to get people to worship the Beast.

"And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men."

Now, in order to be able to influence people, he's going to have to gain credibility. And the way that he's going to gain credibility is by doing miraculous signs. The NIV is really a better translation of this. Notice what it says: "And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men."

Now, can you see why he's referred to as a prophet? He's doing exactly what Elijah did in the Old Testament. He's calling fire down from heaven. And because he's a Jew, he's going to gain credibility with all of the Jewish people, especially when they see fire coming down from heaven, just like Elijah. If you remember, when Elijah brought all of the prophets of Baal up, and he challenged them, and he said, "If Baal be God, we're going to serve him, but we'll find out." And so, he tells them, "Whoever can call fire down from heaven will recognize that person as a prophet of the true God." And of course, you know, the prophets of Baal, they get out there, and they wail and they cut themselves, and they can't do it. And of course, Elijah begins to mock them, "Well, maybe you need to cry a little bit louder, maybe your God is sleeping." And they cry a little bit louder, and finally, they just give up, exhausted. There's no more that they can do. And of course, Elijah's so different. He builds up an altar, he he sacrifices the animal there, and then he has water poured upon it, and all he does is he calls fire down from heaven, and of course, it zaps it, and it zaps it so much that it zaps up all the water, just chars everything there, and they recognize, "Man, this is a prophet."

Well, here comes this second beast, and he's able to do the very same thing as Elijah. So, immediately, being a Jew and able to do these things, he's going to gain instant credibility. And because he's been entrusted with the authority from the Antichrist, who's a Gentile, he's going to gain his credibility with the Gentiles. And as we've been seeing in some of the previous messages, it's going to be with the Muslims, because they're going to see him as what? The Mahdi. And so, when this Prophet comes on the scene, and we're going to see, as we study next week, well, won't be next week, but in the future, we're going to be seeing that they're looking for this second person also. They're looking for this Prophet. The Muslims are. And of course, this person's going to fulfill everything that they're looking for.

Now, these miraculous signs are all a part of the devil's plan to verify the claims that this man is a prophet of God. And the whole purpose of these miraculous signs is to obscure the truth, in order to confuse the people and to win them over. These signs are going to be genuine miracles. They're not a magician's trick, they're not trickery, it's not a skill in pyrotechnics. No, these are miraculous signs, and they would be so miraculous that if it were possible, they would deceive even the elect. That's why Jesus said what he did in Matthew 24:24.

"For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."

But the faithful are not going to be deceived. They'll recognize these signs for what they are. But the world's going to be sucked in. They'll think that to do these things, he must be a prophet of God, and that's why he's doing that.

"And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live."

Now, the very thing that Jesus said would happen in Matthew 24:24 happens. He's able to deceive those who dwell upon the Earth. But it's the miraculous signs that cause people to be deceived. Now, I don't want to give you the idea that he caused fire down from heaven just once, and the whole world is deceived by this one little act. No, the the false prophet is going to be able to call fire down from heaven almost at will, whenever he wants to. You see, the word "maketh" in verse number 13 is in the present tense, and and you need to understand something about Greek grammar. In Greek grammar, the tense denotes kind of action. It denotes kind of action and time of action. But I'll be honest with you, kind of action takes priority over time of action, because in the tense, the kind of action will also tell you when it takes place. Give an example: if something's the aorist tense, it refers to or denotes punctiliar action, in other words, it happened in a second, or it happened at a particular time in space, and so it usually is past tense. But the most important part of Greek grammar in the when it comes to the tenses is kind of action. And so, this is the present tense, which denotes continual action. So, this tells us that he's able to do this. He's able to call fire down from heaven whenever he wants to, and that's how he's going to be able to deceive the people.

Now, once people are deceived into believing that he's a prophet of God, what does he do? Well, he instructs them to make an image of the first Beast. Look at verse number 15. Let's find out what he does after that.

"And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."

Let me see if I read that different. I didn't really put the inflection where it needed to be, so let me read that again. "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."

Now, you need to understand a very important principle, and if you're taking notes, write this down: Only God can give life. So, this is not saying that the image of the Beast came to life. In fact, the King James version is a really bad translation because it gives the impression that the false prophet actually brings this image to life, and that is not what the original Greek text says. Let me prove that to you. I want you to underline the word "life." I'm going to show you what I mean by that. The word "life" is translated from the Greek word "pneuma," which means "spirit." And this is where it gets interesting. You see, the word "spirit" can mean one of several things. It can refer to our breath. In other words, what makes a person alive. When someone dies, what's the first thing that you do to find out whether they're really dead or not? You check their pulse. But what you really want to know is, are they breathing? If they're not breathing, we understand something. We've got to get them breathing, because if we don't get them breathing, they're not going to live. So, when we talk about breath, we're talking about what makes a person physically alive. But it can also refer to that part of us that makes us think, express emotion, make decisions, etc. That's why the spirit and so many times are synonymous. There is a distinction, and we talk about that distinction, especially when we're talking about the word of God and how it's able to go down to the division of soul and spirit. We talk about that. But the Bible also uses the spirit and soul synonymously, and the reason it does is because it, the spirit can also refer to that part of us that makes us think, that makes us express emotion, that makes decisions. In other words, you might think of it like this: it makes an inanimate object animated.

Now, most of the translators chose to translate the Greek word "pneuma" as "breath." Let me show that to you. Look at the NIV. The NIV says, "He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed." Now, look at The New American Standard. Those are the two most popular translations in America. It says, "And there was given to him to give breath to the image of the Beast, that the image of the Beast might even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the Beast to be killed." But those translations are just as bad as the King James version. I'll tell you why. First of all, "breath" implies life. So, even though they realize that God only God gives life, and they didn't like that, they go, "You know what? The King James version, that's a bad translation because it says he's able to give this image life." And they said, "That's a bad translation." So, they translated the word "pneuma" "breath." But the problem is, "breath" implies life. So, if he gives breath to the image, then it then it implies that he is giving life to the image. And as I said before, only God can give life.

If you turn to the Book of Genesis, and he's talking about the creation of man, you'll get to the seventh verse, and what it says is that God breathed into man the breath of life, the breath of life, and he always uses it that way when he's talking about God giving life. He didn't just give him breath, he gave him the breath of life. That's what created or or transformed this mudman, this inanimate object, into an animated object, a man, a person who's alive. So, if he gives breath to the image, that it implies that he's giving life to this image. And as I said before, only God can give life. So, in this context, the Greek word "pneuma" can't refer to breath. It has to refer to something else, and it only has one other meaning. Remember, "pneuma" can refer to making something think, express emotion, make decisions, etc. Now, in this age of computers, that doesn't sound too hard. But a hundred years ago, no way. You know, just this week, our staff went to Dallas to the one-day Catalyst conference, and we used a GPS tracker to find our hotel, restaurants, and the church that the conference was at. It's kind of interesting. We were looking for Copeland, that was the name of the restaurant, and the GPS tracker told us it was at 5353 Bel Line Road. Man, we looked all over for Copeland. We would stop people. You know, I'm not one of those that want to ask for directions, so I would stop and I'd see someone that's in that area and say, "You know where our Copeland is?" And they, "Yeah, I kind of remember." And they would start telling us about the area, and we'd drive all through that area and couldn't find it. And I said, "Well, what is the address?" It's 5353 South of Bel Line Road. And sure enough, we went there, and guess what? It had gone out of business and sold itself to a bank, that building to a bank. But what's interesting is that GPS tracker took us right there. It was amazing. And I'm told that the newer GPS trackers are even better. They talk to you. But not just...

Talk to you. They express emotion. When you make a wrong, uh, turn, you know, I, I had one of the staff members tell me that, you know, their GPS trackers, you go down. If you miss your turn, it goes, "You missed the turn! You missed the turn! You need to do a U-turn!" It's like it gets frantic. And she said she didn't like it because it was almost like, you know, it's getting her nervous. I missed the turn.

But, you know, it's, it's programmed to do that. Now, in John's day, that would have been unheard of. How can you take an inanimate object and make it animated? Well, today we know that you can do it with a computer chip. But in their day, there was only one way that you could take an inanimate object and make it animated: you gave it Numa.

Now, I personally believe that this is what the false prophet's going to do. He's going to make an inanimate object animate it, which, I said, which I said in John's day meant that he was going to have to give it Numa, the ability to think, to express emotion, to make decisions, etc. And that's what John's talking about now.

Look back at the last part of verse 15. "And he had power to give life (Numa) unto the image of the Beast." He's able to take an inanimate object and make it animated. So he has the power to give Numa unto the image of the Beast, that the image of the Beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the Beast should be killed.

Now, the reason the image is given Numa is so that it can speak and so that it can have the ability to kill those who don't worship the image of the Beast. You, you see what's kind of interesting is you don't get this from the English translation. But if you go back to the original Greek text, there's a little word there called Hina. It introduces a causal phrase. The whole reason that the false prophet gives Numa unto this image is because he wants it to be able to communicate, and he wants it to be able to kill those who do not worship the Beast. That's the only reason it's given this Numa, and that we know that because of the word Hina. This is the purpose of it, in other words.

Now, I want you to underline the word "speak" because it says here that the whole purpose is so it can speak. The word "speak" is translated from the Greek word Laleo. Laleo means to communicate. So this image is given the ability to communicate with people. And we're already seeing that technology today. We see it in GPS trackers, computers, phone systems, almost any electronic device. It's kind of irritating at times. You call up a company and, and it says, "Enter the last four digits of your Social Security number." And you enter that in. "Is this Alan Nolan?" "Yes or no?" "Yes." "Give us your mother's maiden name." And you give that in. "Also, enter your password or speak the password." And so you're going through all of these things. We see this ability.

And he, the reason it says that he wants it to become animated, the, the reason he wants to give it Numa is because he wants it to be able to communicate with the people. But it goes further. He says it also has the power to kill those who don't worship the image of the Beast. And the implication is, who? Those who don't worship the dragon or the Beast, the Antichrist.

Now, let me show you a news story that actually ran yesterday on the Fox News Channel. Let's run that, if you don't mind. All right. This next story may sound like something out of, well, a Hollywood thriller. A Saudi inventor has created a killer microchip. It's designed to track terrorists and criminals. And, well, you can think of somebody. Not only does it include a GPS device, it also has a lethal dose of cyanide, which can be activated at any time. You get my point. The inventor's bid for a patent has been rejected in Germany. Joining us now, this morning, to talk about it, Jake Ward, Deputy Editor of Popular Science. Okay, this is pretty maob, pretty, uh, sinister and nefarious. How exactly would this work?

Well, there's a, a category of technology, uh, that involves GPS tracking systems being shrunk down to the size where you could actually implant it surgically. And we've seen a number of applications for this. Um, this is, without question, the most sinister version of it that I've certainly heard of. Um, you know, and, and the notion of tracking criminals is not new, but the notion of killing them remotely, I think, is, is a whole new thing.

Yeah, and Germany says, "Look, we're not going to approve this." Because for that very purpose. And apparently, in some of the paperwork and applying for the patent, you know, you could track fugitives from justice, terrorists, illegal immigrants, criminals, political opponents, defectors, and Saudi Arabians who don't return home from pilgrimage. It's a, it's a little bit wild. I agree. I mean, the, the thing about, uh, uh, you know, this kind of patent is, Germany has very tight laws about making sure that you, you're not registering something that really is just a, a bad idea, a scary idea. And in this case, this guy obviously has some very strong feelings about what it would be used for. But it just seems a little outlandish.

Yeah. Well, terrorist groups might be interested. I'm sure they'd be happy to grant their own form of a patent for that. Sure. Um, the bigger world, though, of GPS, talk to us about how it's being used to, for example, uh, track sex offenders.

Sure. Uh, the Washington State Legislature right now is considering a, uh, the possibility of registering perhaps 100 sex offenders, um, with a GPS chip that's implanted in their shoulder, um, because they found that a few of them, um, have, uh, been wearing them on their, uh, wrists and then have cut them off, which just defeats the purpose. And so, um, but the, the larger world of this technology is actually pretty happy stuff. I mean, um, there is new technology for tracking Alzheimer's patients, you know, who may have got wander away, right? Um, tracking, uh, uh, the, the vital signs of professional athletes from the sideline. Um, you know, there's been a couple in which, you know, football players have collapsed of heat exhaustion and seeing the early warning signs of that. There's technology that, that sort of allows you to do that remotely. Um, you know, even something as benign as keeping track of your dog, you know, a radio frequency tag implanted in your pet. The, the vet, you know, finds a stray, scans it, and finds its rightful owner in an instant.

Yeah. Do you see an explosion of the use of GPS devices and, and obviously, a lot of people are concerned about an intrusion of privacy?

Absolutely. Sure. I mean, I think that, there is a tradeoff there. And obviously, this, this, uh, you know, the, the inventor who filed for this patent has gone across the line in terms of privacy. Um, but, the, you know, the use of GPS in the future will allow you to, you know, you'll never lose your wallet again. You'll never lose your keys again. It's that kind of stuff where you're going to, you know, you'll be able to beep any object you own, you know, and, and, and find it in the house. And so, um, you know, there's, there's the vicious expression, and then there's the really, really helpful expression that I think we'll see in the future.

You know, I lose socks in the dryer. I don't know how that happens. Maybe that would help me, uh, in that regard. Jake Ward, Deputy Editor of Popular Science. Uh, interesting stuff. Thanks very much. I got my little buddies microchipped, baby. Yeah, I do. Just in case they get away. And then you, you bring them and you take them to like the checkout counter at the grocery store and you scan them, and then they say, "I belong to Megan Kelly." That is very cool. Yeah, Bailey and Boss, something like that.

Now, the, the big chip that you saw, that was the one that they wore on the wrist. That's not what they implanted. You look at that, you go, "Oh my God." It's kind of interesting with nanotechnology and what they're able to do with that. In fact, just type that in. Georgia Tech is doing so many fantastic things with nanotechnology. But you can see where this is heading. And it's kind of interesting to me. And I don't know if you noticed this, but the inventor was from what country? Saudi Arabia. It's kind of interesting about that. So here's a person from Saudi Arabia that's coming up with this. And who would think to put cyanide in that? You know, you're not where you're supposed to be.

But, you know, it's kind of interesting that as we're reading through this, in John's day, the only way they could have described all of the sudden, you see this image, but he's seeing a vision of this image, and it's communicating with people, and it's able to kill those who are not worshiping the Beast. And so he says, "The false prophet gave it Numa." And basically, he wasn't saying that he brought it to life. What he was saying is, this image had the ability. So we don't know what this image of the Beast is, but we know that it has the ability to communicate, and it also has the ability to kill those who do not worship the image of the Beast.

Verse 16. "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads." Now, once the false prophet deludes the people into thinking that he's a prophet of God, and that the image of the Beast is able to communicate, he makes, he is then going to make it mandatory for all people to take the mark of the Beast.

You see these things happen in a progressive manner. I don't know why, but sometimes we just throw all these things out. We can't see it happening because we don't see the progressive manner in which it takes place. You know, when God created this Earth, and he created this world, if you notice, he created it in such a way that he didn't create the animals before there was something for them to eat. He did it in, in this progressive manner. And of course, the devil, he's nothing more than a, what would I say, an imitator. And as an imitator, he's going to do the very same thing.

So what happens when the false prophet comes on the scene? The very first thing he has to do is he has to, to gain credibility. He's got to gain credibility as a prophet of God. And so what does he do? He starts doing all of these miraculous signs. And once he is established with the people and gained credibility that he is truly a prophet of God, and he points to what people are going to think is the 12th Imam or the Mahdi. And so what he's going to do then is he's going to say, "We need to construct an image of the Beast." And so once that's constructed, now he gives it Numa, in other words, the ability to communicate, and also the ability to be able to kill those who don't worship the Beast.

But it's not any good if you don't have what we're talking about there, if you don't have a computer chip or one of these other things in it. So guess what he does? He makes it mandatory for everyone to have the mark of the Beast. And this mandate is going to extend to everyone. It includes all social classes. Doesn't matter if you're Donald Trump. It says the rich and the poor. If you're Donald Trump, it doesn't matter. If you want to buy and sell, you've got to have this. If you're a peasant, doesn't matter. You've got to have this. It covers every person regardless of position. He says the free and the slave. That's kind of interesting because he does this in three different ways. First of all, he says, makes it mandatory for all. And then he says the rich and the poor. And then he says the free and the slave. What he's actually do is emphasizing, actually doing is emphasizing the fact that this is going to be mandatory for everyone.

So the entire population is going to have to receive the mark of the Antichrist, and it's going to be placed either on the right hand or the forehead, so it won't be covered by any clothing. That's amazing where technology is taking us. And here's what's interesting, even about 40 to 50 years ago, there is no way when you read the Book of Revelation that you, that just seems impossible. Possible. Now we're reading through the Book of Revelation, we're going, "Oh my gosh, you see this, you see this, you see this." And this isn't something out of an Orson Wells, uh, movie or book. This is something that is happening now.

Verse 17. "And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the Beast, or the number of his name." So without the mark, you're not going to be able to buy or sell anything. But if you take the mark, you're damned for all eternity.

Look at Revelation 14:9-11. "Then a third angel followed them, shouting, 'Anyone who worships the Beast and his statue, or who accepts his mark on the forehead or on the hand, must drink the wine of God's anger. It has been poured full strength into God's cup of God's cup of Wrath, and they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the Holy Angels and the Lamb. The smoke of their torment will rise.'"

Now, notice this: "forever and ever. And they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the Beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name." So the angels actually going to fly over, and the whole thing is a warning: Don't take the mark.

Now, you have to understand something. Those who weren't ready for the Rapture, get saved after the Rapture. They begin to see all these things begin to play out because mama taught them or they went to church, they just never made the decision. They're going to be put in a horrible predicament because if they don't take the mark, they can't buy or sell anything. But if they take the mark, then guess what? You're damned forever.

So the false prophet is actually going to use the necessities of life as a tool to punish the faithful for their loyalty to Jesus Christ. So there's a constant pressure to become a worshiper of the Beast and to take the mark because without it, you can't buy or sell anything. Everything's going to be scanned. There will be no money the way that we know money. Everything is going to be electronic.

Verse 18. "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."

Now, what is "three score"? That's King James version, 60. So it's 666. The number of the Beast is the number of man. 666. You know it because you've watched all the movies called "Damien," "The Omen," 666.

Now, why is it 666? Why is it six? Because six is the number of man. Why is six the number of man? Well, because on the sixth day, God created man. Look at Genesis 1:26-31. "Then God said, 'Let us make human beings in our image to be like ourselves. They will rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.' So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."

Now, how many of you ever heard me teach on what it means to be made in the image of God? Do you guys know what it means to be made in the image of God? What it means to be made in the image of God is that you have the ability to reason. You are not a beast. You are not an animal or a wild animal. God has created you to be able to make logical decisions and to reason things out. That's why the Bible says that he that takes another man's life, his life will be taken, for that man was made in the image of God. And what it means by that is, you know better. You know, God's not going to judge grizzly bears for killing one another, or two dogs get into a fight. You know, that dog that killed the other dog is not going to stand before God on the Jud judgment day. As much as you love your pets, they're not going to be in heaven with you. There is no dog heaven. All right?

But you need, are there creatures up there? Well, yeah. We read through the Book of Revelation, we see all these things. But I just want you to understand something. The reason that man is judged to a different standard is, is because he is made in the image of God. It doesn't mean that we look like God. Sometimes we get that idea that when we see God, he's going to have two legs, he's going to have two feet, he's going to have five toes on each feet, he's going to have four fingers on each hand and a thumb, he's going to have shoulders. Those are all anthropomorphic characteristics. In other words, characteristics like man, so we can understand. I don't know what God looks like. Maybe he does look like us. But when it says that we're made in the image of God, what it actually means is that we have the ability to reason and think like God. Animals don't have that ability.

You know, you look at some smart animals. My, my dad's got a dog that's really pretty, pretty intelligent. My dad tells him to do things and he does. He understands what my dad is saying. But I promise you, if a dog comes by that's in heat, his instincts take over. And that's why the Bible tells us not to act like brute beasts. Our instincts are not supposed to take over because we're made in the image of God, and we have the ability to reason.

So let's go further. "Then God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and govern it. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.' Then God said, 'Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.'" So he didn't create man until after all these things were already here. "And I have given every green plant is food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life." And that is what happened. Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was good. And evening passed, and morning came, marking what day? The sixth day.

God, God created things, and each day it got a little bit better. He created this, and it was good. He created the next thing on the second day, and it was even better. And he continues to create these things till he comes to the last day, the sixth day, and he created man. So six is the number of man. 666 is the number of the man who tries to be God or like God. That's part of the Satan trilogy or trinity.

Now, let's talk about how you calculate the number of the Beast because verse 17 referred to the number of his name, in other words, the number of the Antichrist. So let's talk about how you calculate the number of the Antichrist. In ancient times, each letter of the alphabet also served as a number. The first nine letters in the Greek alphabet stood for the numbers 1-9, and the next nine letters stood for the numbers 10-90, and so on. Now, in, in the Greek alphabet, there's not enough letters, so they had to actually take certain, um, obsolete letters and signs to supplement the system. But what you did was, you took the person's name, and then you added up the corresponding numbers. Because Alpha would be this number, one. Beta would be two. Alpha, beta, gamma would be three. Delta would be four. And Epsilon would be five. And so if someone had a name, you could actually come in and you could calculate, and that would be the number of their name. Does that make sense?

Now, this calculation technique was called Gematria, or as some say, Gematria. Gematria is the Greek word for numerology. And I'm not sure if I pronounced that right. You can correct me if you want. I looked to see what, how you pronounce it, and I couldn't find it. So the Antichrist's name is going to equal 666. But let me give you a word of caution, if you don't mind. I would not speculate on who the Antichrist is because when he comes on the scene, we're going to know it. God has given us Revelation. And for years, the Book of Revelation was like a mystery. But one of the reasons it was like a mystery is because we did not have the technology to even try to understand the book. But now we've come to a place where we can see these prophecies being fulfilled literally.

You know, it's interesting, but you've always heard preachers for years and years, and maybe you didn't hear them, they were before your time. They would say, you know, the return of Jesus Christ is imminent. In other words, it could come at any time. But the truth of the matter, it wasn't. And the more educated pastors would tell you it wasn't. Most of you probably don't realize this, but Spurgeon actually said, and I think I quoted him when we started the Book of Revelation, that the end of the world would not happen in his generation because the things that were necessary to fulfill the prophetical scriptures were not possible in his generation. But he also said that he could see as technology was increasing that it would come in the next 100, 150 years. And it was amazing that he had such insight.

Because what's, what is so interesting is now, as we read through the Book of Revelation, it's not even that hard to imagine. Now, when you see that he gives breath, or it gives Numa, to the image of the Beast, it's like you can see that. And it has the ability to communicate. I just got GPS in my car, or I got my iPhone, and now my ring comes out this way. And now, if I can't read because maybe I'm blind, I can press something and it will speak to me, and I can communicate that way. We have that technology now.

And now, I was just sitting, in fact, I've been studying this, and Lisa was still getting ready, and so I was watching Fox News yesterday, and this story came on, and I go, "You can see it. It's happening." But I still would not speculate on who the Antichrist is because when he comes on the scene, you're going to know who he is. And the reason you're going to know who he is is because we're going to be able to see everything is written in the Book of Revelation. This man's going to sign a seven-year peace treaty. When you see the temple being rebuilt, and hopefully you'll see it from heaven, but just in case you're not prepared, you see the temple being built, and then you see these two scraggly men claiming to be prophets, Moses and Elijah, in Jerusalem. And he's, they're coming in and they're harassing the Jews. But what they're really doing is explaining everything that they do and how it relates to Jesus. And then you begin to see all these things that we've studied. You look at these seven seals, and then you watch the seven trumpets, and you see all of these things coming. Let me tell you, you'll know who the Antichrist is. But the most fascinating thing is, it'll be easy to calculate the number of his name. But until then, don't, don't worry about it. Just be ready for the Rapture.

In verses 6 through 13 of chapter 14, what we're going to find out is the spotlight is going to shift from heaven to earth. If you remember, in verses 1-5 of chapter 14, John had a vision of the 144,000 in heaven singing a new song before the throne. But in verse number six, the focus is going to shift back to earth. So if you don't mind, turn with me to the Book of Revelation, chapter 14, because I like to keep everything in context. We're going to read verses 6-13. So let's do that.

"Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, 'Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.' A second angel followed and said, 'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the great, which made all the nations to drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.' The third angel followed them and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he too will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the Holy Angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.' This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven say, 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Yes,' says the Lord, 'they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.'"

Now, I know as you're reading through the Book of Revelation, sometimes it can seem like it doesn't make much sense. And I think it's because we kind of get caught up in all of the imagery and the symbolism that's there. So if you don't mind, I'm going to try and make this as simple as possible. Sure. You don't mind, do you? Well, we're going to do that.

What's kind of interesting is after the vision of the 144,000 in heaven, John sees three angels flying across the sky, one after another, and each are making dramatic and climactic announcements. Each announcement is a prophetic statement. Now, does everyone know or remember what the word prophetic means? We talked about it last week. Anyone remember? You should remember it. I hope you do. The word announces that Babylon has fallen. He's announcing it as if it's already fallen. But the truth is, at this point in time, when he's flying across the sky, it hasn't. It hasn't happened yet. In fact, it doesn't happen until chapter 18, verse number two. But he's acknowledging the event as if it has already happened because it will happen. As surely as I'm standing here, it will happen. So, in a sense, a prophetic statement is, is a preview of what's to come.

Now, why is that important? Because that's very important. It's important because each angelic announcement in this passage of scripture is a preview of what's to come in the next few chapters. As an example, the first angel proclaims that the hour of God's judgment has finally come. And sure enough, in chapters 15 and 16, God's wrath is poured out upon the earth. Seven angels are given seven vials that are filled with the wrath of God, and each angel, one after another, in a sequence, pours out his vial upon the earth. The second angel proclaims that Babylon has fallen, but it doesn't happen, as I said, until chapter 18, verse number two. That's where we see the fall of Babylon. The third angel proclaims that those who take the mark and worship the image of the Beast will drink the wrath of God and suffer eternal damnation. But we don't see them experiencing the wrath of God until chapter 16, and we don't see them thrown to the lake of fire until chapter 20. And we're not going to get there tonight. But verses 14 through 20 in chapter 14 is actually a pre-preview of the battle of Armageddon. So, as I said, each angelic announcement is a preview of what's to come in the next few chapters. We're kind of getting, maybe what you would call a movie trailer. You know, you go to the movies, and it's supposed to start at 7:00. What time does it really start? 7:15. There's 15 minutes of all of these previews of the movies that are about to come that are going to be released in the next six months. Well, you know, this is what's happening here. We're getting a preview of what's going to happen at the last half of the tribulation. And who's giving us this preview? Three angels who are flying across the sky.

So let's study each angelic announcement. Look at verses 6 and 7. "Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, 'Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.'"

Now, let me point out a few things that most people miss when they read these verses. You know, I find, I have found that really the key is in the details. And as you read through this, there are certain things that are glaring, but most people miss it. So I'm going to kind of point out those things that are glaring to me, but maybe you've missed. First of all, the gospel that the angel is proclaiming doesn't mention Jesus' death, burial, or resurrection. In fact, Jesus isn't even mentioned in this gospel. And there's not a call for repentance, or even an exhortation to believe or have faith. Instead, the people are called to fear God and give him glory in light of the coming judgment.

Secondly, the proclamation to fear God and give him glory is given to those that live on the earth. Now, that's a bad translation. And I want to explain why. The word "live" is actually translated from the Greek word "kathimeno," which means to sit. So the angel's proclamation is to those that are sitting on the earth, not living on the earth, but sitting on the earth. Now, before I explain why that's so important, let me just continue on and point out these other things.

The gospel this angel is proclaiming is also referred to as the eternal gospel, more literally, the gospel of eternity. You see, this angel isn't proclaiming the whole gospel. He's just proclaiming a part of the gospel, the eternal part. You see, there's only one gospel, but there are many aspects to the gospel that you can emphasize. Let me give you some examples. You can emphasize the part where God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. That's the love aspect of the gospel. And sometimes when I'm teaching the gospel, that's the only part of the gospel that I emphasize. You can emphasize the part where Jesus died for our sins. And at Easter, that's the part that we usually emphasize. That's the vicarious aspect of the gospel. You can emphasize the part where Jesus was resurrected, therefore we have new life because we're now the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That's the righteousness part of the gospel. But you can also emphasize the eternity aspect of the gospel. Those who receive the gospel have eternal life. Those who reject the gospel have eternal damnation. That's the part of the gospel this angel is proclaiming, the eternal aspect of it. That's why it's referred to as the eternal gospel in our translations, but in the Greek, it really says the gospel of eternity.

The first thing I want to point out is that angels have never been commissioned to preach the gospel. Only men have. I want you to search the scriptures. Try and find anywhere that angels proclaim the gospel. You won't find that. Only men proclaim the gospel. And if you'll notice, this angel isn't preaching the gospel either. He's not proclaiming the death, the burial, or the resurrection. He's not calling people to repentance. He's not asking them to believe. So what in the world is this first angel doing? Well, it all makes sense if you understand that this angel and the next two angels are addressing saints, not sinners.

In your notes, it says Christians, not unbelievers. But what I want you to do is write on there that he's addressing saints, not sinners. That's why he's not proclaiming the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, because the people he's already, the people he's addressing already believe. That's why he's not calling them to repent, because the people that he's addressing have already repented. That's why he's only speaking to those who are sitting on the earth, rather than to those that are living on the earth. Sitting on the earth indicates a temporary position. Living on the earth indicates a permanent position. So he's addressing those who see heaven as their home, not their earth. They're just sitting here until Christ returns. You know, sometimes we'll be talking to someone who brings something over to the house, and we'll say, "Oh, oh, just sit it there. I'll get to it in a little bit." You see, that's what this angel is doing. He is proclaiming to the gospel to those who are just sitting there until Jesus returns. That's also why he's not proclaiming the whole gospel. He's only proclaiming the eternal aspect of it. You see, he's not preaching the gospel. He's actually encouraging the saints to endure, to hold on. God wants them to know, so he sent an angel to proclaim that the hour of God's judgment has finally come. It won't be much longer. Babylon has fallen. Those who take the ark and worship the image of the Beast will drink the wine of God's Wrath and will be eternally damned. So hold on just a little bit longer.

Now, remember why these saints are on the earth in the first place. The reason these saints are on the earth in the first place is because they missed the Rapture. They weren't prepared when Jesus returned in the air. And as a result of that, they were left on the earth. And the 144,000 came, and they were preaching the gospel, going wherever Jesus sent them. And these people have believed and they've received. But they're still stuck in the middle of the tribulation. In fact, now they're going to have to endure the last half of the tribulation.

Now, let me explain one more thing before we move on to verse eight. The angelic announcement in chap, or announcements in chapter 14 aren't just prophetic, they're also progressive. And what do I mean by that? I mean that they build on each other, and they're all meant to do one thing: they're all meant to encourage the saints to endure, to remain faithful, to encourage them to look beyond the temporary circumstances that they're finding themselves in, and to focus on the future.

I'm going to talk a little bit about the situation that they're going to find themselves in after the seventh trumpet blows. The abomination of desolation takes place. The Antichrist now comes on the scene along with the false prophet. Now everyone's forced to take the mark and to worship the image of the Beast. This is the situation these saints are found in. And so God does three things. He sends three angels to proclaim to them these three announcements, these three messages.

So let's look at verse number eight. "A second angel followed and said, 'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the great, which made all the nations to drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.'" Now, remember, Babylon doesn't actually fall until chapter 18, verse number two. But even though the fall of Babylon hasn't happened yet, it's still absolute certainty that it's going to fall. That's why the word "fallen" is repeated. It's repeated for emphasis, but it's also written in what is known as the proleptic aorist tense.

Now, I'm going to say something that probably is not right grammar-wise, but it's kind of interesting that when I was taking Greek grammar, if, if you ever get a degree in Greek, you'll, you'll spend the first year just doing Greek grammar, five hours each semester. By the time you finish your first year, you've already had 10 hours of Greek grammar. And then your second year, you spend both semesters learning syntax, that's, uh, about four hours each. So you end up by your second year, you have 18 hours. And the third year is nothing but exegesis. But what's kind of interesting is that when we were in Greek grammar, I'd never even heard of such a thing as the aorist tense. And so our professor was trying to make it easy for us. He said, "Well, just think of the aorist tense as the tense of facticity." Facticity, I don't even know if that's a word. But what he meant is, it's a fact. It has happened. And that's why in the aorist tense, you almost always translate it as past tense, because it's a fact. It means it's already happened.

But this isn't that way. This is a proleptic aorist. It means it's speaking as if something has already happened, but it hasn't happened yet. So this isn't only repeated, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great," but it's also written in the proleptic aorist tense, which means that even though it hasn't happened yet, it is so certain that it's going to happen, it's written as if it's already happened. And then it's repeated for emphasis.

But I also want you to notice why God's judgment is going to fall upon Babylon. It's because she made all the nations to drink the maddening wine of her adulteries. In other words, she influenced the nations to commit spiritual adultery. The phrase "she made all the nations to drink" is actually a figure of speech. It means that she coerced people to do things they wouldn't have done without her influence. Now, what can you think that we've covered so far that she is doing or coercing people to do? What is Babylon coercing people to do? Take the mark, worship the image of the Beast.

Now, let's talk about this figure of speech a little bit. In John's day, and I actually believe it's in our day today too, it wasn't unusual for immoral men to try and intoxicate women for the whole purpose of trying to seduce them, in order to have sex with them. And so what they would do if they were immoral is they would try to get the woman drunk in order to be able to have sex with them. And that's what Babylon is guilty of: intoxicating nations with her wealth and her power for the purpose of seducing them to commit spiritual adultery. In other words, to take the mark. And she's going to go a little bit further. She's going to make it where you can't buy and you can't sell unless you take the mark. She's forcing them to drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.

Here's what's interesting. Most of us just focus in on that you won't be able to buy or sell. But I'm going to go a little bit further. It doesn't mean that you just won't be able to buy and sell. It also means that you won't have a job. Why do you work? You work to get money. But you won't be able to use your money during the second half of the tribulation if you don't have the mark. Because what they're going to do is they're going to make everything electronic. And so when you go to work, the only way that they can deposit into your account what you've earned, your wages, is if you have a mark. So I want you to think about this. It doesn't just mean that you can't go buy food or you can't sell your products. It also means that you're going to be fired. You either take the mark or you're fired.

Now, can you see how she's coercing people to be able to do that? But here's the problem. Those who accept Babylon's, the accept Babylon's wine of spiritual adultery will also have to drink the cup of God's wine, or God's, God's Wrath. People, that's a catch-22 situation. You can't drink Babylon's wine of spiritual adultery without, without also drinking the, the cup of God's Wrath.

Now, I'm not going to reveal the identity of Babylon just yet because it's actually disclosed in a later vision. So there's no sense jumping ahead. If I go ahead and tell you who it is, and most of you probably already know, uh, who Babylon represents, but I'm going to kind of hold that out when we get to that part in Revelation, and we'll be there very shortly. We'll cover that.

So jump to verses 9 through 11. "A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he too will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the Holy Angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.'"

Now, remember, this is a warning to the saints, not the sinners. And this is the warning that he's given to the saints: Don't take the mark. Now, for those who have already taken the mark, it's too late. Their fate is sealed. They will suffer the wrath of God, and they'll also have to suffer eternal damnation in a place of torment. You see, receiving the mark seals your eternal doom. There is no reversal. Once that person takes the mark, now it doesn't matter if a person's there and he receives Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He is now being put in a place where there's extreme pressure being placed upon him to take the mark. You can't buy, you can't sell, you don't have a job. You got a family. What are you going to do with that?

So not only does he come, the second angel says, "Babylon is fallen." Why would he say that? Why does he say that before it's ever happened? Because he wants them to understand the end result. The one who's trying to force you to do this, they're going to fall. That system that they've created, it's not going to last, and it's going to fall very shortly. Hold out. And in order to make sure they understand this, the third angel comes, and he shouts this warning out: Don't take the mark.

Now, I want you to notice that in verse 10, wine is used to symbolize the wrath of God. It's used to symbolize God's wrath for two reasons. First of all, whenever grapes are crushed, the red juice flows from the wine press, just like the blood of God's enemies are going to flow when he tramples upon them. Look at Revelation 14:19-20. "So the angel swung a sickle over the earth and loaded the grapes into the great wine press of God's Wrath. The grapes were trampled in the wine press outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press in a stream about 180 miles long, as as a horse's bridal." That's where we get it.

Now, look at Isaiah 63:3. "I have been treading the wine press alone; no one was there to help me. In my anger I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes; in my fury I have trampled my foes—their blood has stained my clothes." So God's going to trample his enemies like grapes are trampled into wine press.

Now, let me just kind of throw something out at you. Maybe you know, maybe you don't. But if you ever go over to Israel, or I'm supposing maybe California, where they're trying to come in and make wine out of grapes, I don't know if they do it here because of technology. But over in Israel, we'll go to a wine press, and what's kind of interesting is what they would do is they would bring these wines in, and then the women would come and barefoot, they would begin to trample on it. Remember the Lucy episode? How many remember that? Everyone loves Lucy. You know, she got in there and they're trampling. Why do they do that? Why do they not just get in there and just crush everything out like they do, uh, maybe with olives? Do you know why? The reason that they do it barefoot is because you don't want to crush the seeds. If you crush the seeds, then the wine becomes very bitter. So what happens is, you get women in there, and they're barefoot, and they're going to crush it. But they don't have enough weight, and the seeds, the seeds of their feet, they're not in their sandals. It allows them to crush the grapes without breaking the seed or crushing the.

seed that's kind of interesting because what we find out with God's Wrath is that God will trample us like grapes, but he won't annihilate our soul. So those who have to face Eternal damnation, the reason we call it Eternal damnation is because they will be punished forever and ever, but the soul is never annihilated. That's another reason why wine is.

But let me go to the second reason why wine is Al symbolizes God's Wrath. Secondly, when the wine is fermented, it causes men to fall into a drunken stupor, much like the confused stupor of those who suffer the wrath of God. Look at Psalms chapter 75: 7-8. It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall. For the Lord holds a cup in his hand that is full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours out the wine in Jud judgment, and all the wicked must drink it, draining it to the dregs. In other words, it's up.

But I want you to notice this: wine is full strength. You see, in John's day, you did not mix it full strength. Actually, it's one part to three; you had three parts of water to one part of alcohol. And one of the reasons that they did that is because sometimes the water was bad with their sistens, so they just pour a little alcohol in there that fermented and hopefully it would make the water better. The alcohol in it would kill the bacteria. But here's what's interesting: when God comes along and he looks at the wicked, he says, uh-uh, it's full strength; it's all alcohol, and he makes them drink it all. And he says, "Drink it, draining it to the dregs." In other words, the wicked are forced to drink the cup of God's Wrath, and as a result, they fall into confused stupor.

And if you've ever seen a person that we call falling down drunk, what do they do? They fall down and they get up, and they fall down and they get up. Not when you drink God's wine. When the wicked drinks God's wine, they fall down never to get up. They can't help it; they can't stop it; it's just going to happen. That's why wine is used to symbolize the wrath of God.

So again, let me emphasize because this is what is being emphasized, that all of those who drink Babylon's wine of spiritual adultery, all of those who take the mark and worship the image of the Beast will also drink the cup of God's Wrath. Or you might say it like this: those who choose choose to drink Babylon's wine of immorality will be forced to drink God's wine of Wrath. And people, with God's Wrath, as I've already said, it's eternal.

Look at verses 10 and 11. "He too will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the Holy Angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast in His image or for anyone who receives the mark of his name."

I want you to notice the last part of verse 10. "He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the Holy Angels and of the Lamb." Now, when you first read this, it sounds like they're going to be punished, and Jesus and the angels are going to be there watching them. I mean, that's what it says. It says that he will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the Holy Angels of the Lamb. But that's not what it's meaning. What it's trying to say, and what he's referring to, is the White Throne Judgment. Everyone who takes the mark and worships the image of the Beast is going to stand before Jesus Christ and his angels, and they're going to be thrown into the Lake of Fire. And Jesus and his angels will actually watch, just as a person who is receiving capital punishment, you always have witnesses that will come and see it. Jesus and the angels will see these people being thrown into the Lake of Fire.

Look at Revelation 20: 11-14. We're going to jump ahead just a little bit. "And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. Who was sitting on the great white throne? The Lamb, Jesus. The earth and the sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne, and the books were open, including the book of life, and the dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead, and all were judged according to their deeds. Then death and the grave were thrown into the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is the second death."

Now, those that are thrown to the Lake of Fire, as I said, don't burn up. They suffer forever and ever. Now, there's a few churches that teach, uh-uh, it's annihilation. You know, if you do have to suffer the punishment of God, well, you will burn up completely, and it's over, and he's not going to do it forever and ever. People, that is not what the scriptures teach.

Look back at the last part of verse 10 and the first part of verse 11. "He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the Holy Angels and of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever." First of all, it says that they're going to be tormented with burning sulfur. Now, it probably should have been translated as brimstone. Brimstone is a type of of asphalt that's found in volcanic deposits and produces both intense heat and a very stinky smell. The smell actually comes from the smoke, and the smoke from the burning brimstone, which causes their torment, rises forever and ever. In other words, their torment never ends.

People, this is why it is so important that we spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ because we don't want to see anyone go to hell. And we talk about hell as if that's the eternal destination, but it's not. You remember when I taught on what happens the moment we die? Hell is just a temporary holding place. It still is a place of punishment, and it's a horrible place to be. But just as as our bodies, if we die, our bodies are going to be resurrected, and they're going to be joined to meet our spirit or our soul in the sky. We're going to live forever with the resurrected body. You need to understand that even for the dead, even for the sinner, his body will be resurrected, just like our body is going to be resurrected. And we find that in the Book of Revelation, chapter 20, and it's going to be joined to his soul, and that is going to be thrown into the Lake of Fire. He's going to have a body like we have, except where we're in heaven, they're going to be in the Lake of Fire forever and ever.

Verses 12 and 13. "This calls for," you might say it this way, "because of this, this calls for patience, patient endurance on the part of the Saints who obey God's Commandments and remain faithful to Jesus." Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them."

Now, remember I told you when I began this sermon that these three angelic proclamations are directed to the Saints, not the sinners. You see, the whole purpose of these three angelic proclamations is to encourage the Saints to endure the persecution and to remain faithful to Jesus. And verse number 12 proves that. Look at verse number 12 again. "This cause." What, what does he mean, "this cause"? He said he's talking about these three angelic proclamations: the gospel of Eternity, Babylon is falling, the one who has created this system where if you don't take the mark, you can't buy, you can't sell, you won't have a job, and so it's coercing people to do it. Hey, Babylon's going to fall. And then he goes further and says, "Those, this warning, those who take the mark are going to suffer eternal damnation." And he says, "This for this reason, it calls for patient endurance on the part of the Saints."

So we begin to see that the whole reason that these three angels came is so that we, I shouldn't say that we're going to be raptured, we're not going to be here. So the Saints who are on the earth at the time of the tribulation, because they missed the rapture, they didn't receive Jesus before the rapture occurred, but they received Jesus after the rapture as a result of the 144,000 and those who were preaching the gospel, they are being given a warning. They are being encouraged. And so what he's trying to do is tell them, make sure that you understand that it's not going to do you any good to take the mark because the very system that's coercing you to do that, it's going to fall. God's judgment's going to come. And for all of those who came in and took the mark, they're not only going to be facing God's Wrath during the last half of the tribulation, but they're also going to suffer eternal persecution and eternal damnation. That's why I say that the three angelic proclamations are addressed to the Saints, not the sinners. It's to encourage them, judgment's coming, Babylon's going to fall, and it's to warn them, don't take the mark.

But if they don't take the mark and they don't worship the image of the Beast, what's going to happen to them? What does it tell us? They're going to be martyred. Look at verse 13. "Then I heard a voice from heaven say, 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Yes,' says the Spirit, 'they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.'"

Dying during the last half of the tribulation won't be a curse to the Saints. In fact, dying during the last half of the tribulation for the Saints is actually going to be a blessing, but only if they endure and remain faithful. And that's why he ends this: "They will rest from their labor." What labor? Enduring, remaining faithful, not taking the mark, doing the best they can to survive, but refusing to te to to be coerced by. But if they endure and they remain faithful, their deeds will follow them.