I can't help but think that that's a good theme song for our study of the book of Revelation. We'll understand it better by and by because there are some tough spots in Revelation and tonight we're in the 13th chapter and this is a challenge to us. Actually I'm not going to need it tonight, Paul. So isn't that wonderful how he thinks ahead that way? It really is. I'm grateful for his help. But tonight we're not going to need the overhead as we look at this chapter.
Did you get the note as you came in, the notes I should say, the outline? Okay, great. Thank you. There are seven great actors that are on the stage of world history in the last 42 months of this age. We've been looking at those as we've worked our way through chapters 12 and 13. In the first place we studied the woman clothed with the sun in chapter 12, representing, we believe, the nation of Israel, the 12 tribes of Israel.
The red dragon, the second actor, which is clearly identified as Satan. The third is the male child who was born of the woman clothed with the sun. This male child ascends to the throne of God and it is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. The fourth great actor is Michael, the archangel. The fifth, the offspring of the woman, which would be the Jewish nation in that day of the tribulation. The sixth of the actors is the beast from the sea that we studied a few weeks ago and tonight.
The seventh, the beast out of the land. The second wild beast, because that's really what the word means, it's not a domesticated kind of beast, it's a wild, untamable beast. The second of the beasts is a religious counterpart to the first one that we saw that came up out of the sea. That beast is a political figure and ruler. It is not only a person, but beyond the personage of the beast, there is his empire, his power base politically. The beast seems to have that dual representation.
It is both a man and it is his empire and as we saw, we believe that the best interpretation of his empire, his power base, is that that is identified as a version of the Roman Empire to be revived in the last days with a confederation of ten European nations represented by the ten horns that were a part of that beast that we studied. Both of the beasts, the political ruler and this religious ruler that we'll look at tonight, are puppets that are empowered by the great dragon Satan.
They are used really for his purposes. There is a miraculous resurrection or at least an apparent resurrection that is suggested in the language tonight with relation to that first beast. Let me just mention up front that it may refer to a wound that is received by the personage of Antichrist, this political ruler, a wound which at least appears to take his life and which is by all appearances supernaturally healed and he is restored.
Or what we will read this evening may refer to the wounding of the empire that he rules. There are some who see it that way and understand that the healing and the apparent resurrection in the language that is used refers to the revival of the empire, the Roman Empire over which this Antichrist will rule.
It is clear that this beast speaks great blasphemies against God, against his realm, against his people and that he has given 42 months to do his work and to kill believers in the tribulation period. Now Daniel in the Old Testament also saw this political ruler, but he did not see what is revealed to us now by John in this vision of the revelation. It is a counterpart to the political ruler in the religious realm.
He says, �Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a lion.� And so we see first the description of this wild beast itself. It is another beast as John describes it. The word �another� means another of a similar kind to what he has just seen. In the Greek language you can say �another� two different ways at least. One way means another of a different kind.
The other way, and that is the way that is here, John writes it, �another beast of the same sort, another beast similar to the first one.� The idea seems to be not that the two are identical, but that the two are of the same nature. They have the same desires. They come from the same energy source, which is Satan. And we see in the description that this beast comes up out of the earth or out of the land.
Now there are some Bible teachers who have historically understood this to mean that this religious leader that we are looking at will come from the land of Palestine. Now when he says that he comes out of the land or out of the earth, it means that he is coming forth from that part of the mid-east. And therefore is probably a Jew, an apostate Jew from Israel. The argument is that because then of his Jewish ancestry he will be able to work his deception more easily upon the Jewish nation.
They tie that together with a phrase from Daniel chapter 11 verse 37 where there is a phrase regarding the gods of his fathers speaking of the antichrist. And they say that the antichrist too may well be from the Jewish nation. They have a Jewish connection there. However, the word God there is really the word gods. It does not refer to the God of Israel, but to the pagan gods. And furthermore it refers to antichrist and not to the false prophet.
And so it seems to me that to try to tie Daniel 11 with this and to read into this phrase that he comes up out of the earth or out of the land, meaning that he comes out of Israel, is going a little far. It's stretching it in the interpretation. There's no contextual support for that it seems to me. The country and the national origin of this beast, this religious leader, are not clear at least in my opinion. He is described as having two horns like a lamb.
You get the picture in your minds of a lamb that has the two horns. It may be that the two horns stand in contrast to the antichrist who is seen with ten of them and therefore it indicates that he has lesser power than antichrist. I'm not sure the horns are that significant here. Certainly there are no crowns associated with these horns as with those of the first beast. So it may be that the emphasis here is not so much upon the horns as upon the fact that he appears to be like a lamb.
There seems to be an obvious allusion to the lamb of God. That there is an imitation of sorts here of Christ. The same individual, at least if you follow my line of interpretation, is called in subsequent passages by a different name than this beast out of the earth. Turn with me to chapter 16 and verse 13. Is this coming across clearly enough to you tonight? I feel like I'm really having to strain. We need it a little louder then. Thank you. Revelation 16 and verse 13.
He says, I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming up out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Where is the name that is given subsequently in Revelation for this second beast? He is called the false prophet. Chapter 19 and verse 20 repeats this name.
Then the beast was captured and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Now you go back and compare what is said about the second beast in chapter 13 and you see that this person who is called the false prophet here in chapter 19 and verse 20 is the very same person. He is the one who worked signs in the presence of the beast.
He deceives those who received the mark of the beast and who worships the image of the beast that he sets up. Then again in chapter 20 and verse 10 it says, and the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. So this description of the beast as a lamb gives us the overtones of a religious figure. One who sort of stands in as a messiah on behalf of this one who claims to be God, anti-Christ.
Now they are both anti-Christ in a sense. You see them joining their unique giftedness together so that the one as a political ruler and the other as a religious ruler cause the world to be united after them and to follow them. And now going back again to chapter 13 we see that he speaks as a dragon. And so here we have the tie in with Satan. He is one who reveals his true nature and his source of ability as coming from Satan himself.
Now in chapter 13 verses 12 and 13 we see the deeds of the beast. It says he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. Notice that phrase as we saw it in chapter 19. And causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. There's what I was referring to earlier. He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from God on the earth in the sight of men.
We notice that the first beast delegates tremendous authority to this second beast. It says that he exercises his authority in the presence of the first beast. Now 34 times in the book of Revelation you see that same phrase in his presence. It doesn't always refer to evil. But here it is. It is the false prophet doing his thing in the presence of the first beast, the antichrist. And what it means is that the first beast, the antichrist, gives him the authority.
To be in his presence means that he derives his authority from the antichrist. The position of his ministry, if you want to put it that way, is given to him because he is in the presence of the beast. He derives his authority, his power from the beast. And you notice that this false prophet does not promote himself but he promotes rather this first beast. He causes the world to worship after the first beast. You'll notice it says he causes the earth and those who dwell in it.
Let me stop for a moment to point that phrase out to you. You see it again here in this chapter and we've seen it before in the book. And it's a technical term and it refers to those who are lost, those who have the mark of the beast. It refers to those who have no relationship to the true God, who have rejected him and who by that have been turned, because of that, have been turned to the lie of the antichrist. They are his followers.
And now this false prophet causes these people who have been thoroughly deceived by the lie of the antichrist to worship this first beast. He points them in his direction and the implication seems to be that he creates a religion around this first beast. Just as Jesus came to reveal the Father to us, so this false prophet will claim to be revealing God to the world in that day. Only that God will be this first beast.
He causes an image to be built and constructed to the first beast, according to verse 15. And that image is erected in the rebuilt, the reconstructed temple in Jerusalem. It seems that Jerusalem will become the central city to this new religion. It already is the holy place by the world's three greatest religions.
And it seems that a fourth religion will be added in the days of the tribulation, at least the last half of it, as this new religion that may in some way amalgamate the others and unite the others so that the religions of the world will be focused upon this first beast, the antichrist. And then this false prophet, it says, causes great signs, great wonders to take place. These are literally, it says, megala wonders. We talk about mega this and mega that. Well here it's mega wonders.
M Well there are some who have suggested that perhaps laser technology will be such in that day that there will be satellites that antichrist will be able to launch and which will be able to fire at his command at the earth, different sites on the earth, so that he is able to command buildings or groups to be struck with fire. And the fire will literally fall right out of the sky upon these places and people. It is also possible for Satan to duplicate this kind of thing.
So it need not be a man-made satellite. I have no doubt that Satan is able to imitate this kind of miracle which certainly is reminiscent of Elijah in the Old Testament, one of God's great prophets. This man, the false prophet in his deeds will do great signs and miracles. Let's turn to a couple of other passages to see that. Matthew chapter 24, first the words of Jesus himself.
Matthew chapter 24. The disciples have asked Jesus what are the signs that we should look for of your coming and of the end of the age. Jesus in this response from his teaching on the Mount of Olives gives them some signs. And understand that the signs that he gives do not relate to the church and to the rapture of the church. They relate to what the disciples specifically asked him about and that is his coming again and the end of the age.
So as we look at the signs in this chapter, understand that those signs are for that coming, not for the coming for the church. There are no signs related to that imminent return of Christ for his church.
But regarding the end of the age and his coming again, one of the things that Jesus says, verse 23 says, then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there, do not believe it, for false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders so as to deceive if possible even the elect. Now it is not possible for the elect ultimately to be deceived, but Jesus is simply pointing out how strong the delusion will be.
And he says there will be signs and wonders that will cause deception throughout the earth and people will worship the antichrist because of them. This ties together with 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and what the apostle Paul writes regarding this man of lawlessness or the antichrist. Let's begin in verse 3. We've read a verse or two out of this context before, but let's look at the whole passage. He says, let no one deceive you by any means, 2 Thessalonians 2, 3.
For that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. That phrase, the falling away, is our word apostasy. The apostasia. There are a few Bible teachers who try to see this as being some reference to the rapture. And if it were, it would be a very clear statement as to the rapture before the antichrist comes, a pre-trib rapture. I don't think that's a very good understanding of the term.
If the word apostasy is used here, the rapture of the church, it's the only place in the whole New Testament where it's ever used of that. Rather, the word apostasy almost always refers to the falling away from the truth that will occur right at the end times. Man has always strayed from the truth and rejected the truth, but there is going to be something unique about the end times. There is going to be a dramatic and sudden and worldwide falling away from the truth about God.
An apostasy of unparalleled magnitude. Now it says that that's going to come first and the man of sin is revealed after that, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Now this is that great act of antichrist when in the middle of the tribulation period he will go to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and there command that the sacrifices cease, as Daniel chapter 9 tells us he will in the middle of the seven years.
And he will set up himself as God and the false prophet, though not mentioned here in this context, will be partnered with him in this and a new religion will be established, Jerusalem the headquarters, and the temple of God will be usurped and the worship of Antichrist will be focused upon it. And Paul goes on to say, do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time.
The mystery of lawlessness is already at work, and we know that to be true, it's been at work through the age. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way, probably referring to the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit upon evil during this age. But in some sense the Holy Spirit is going to loosen his hold, his restraint upon lawlessness at God's appointed time. That may be, by the way, an allusion to the rapture of the church.
The church of Jesus Christ being indwelt by the Holy Spirit is the salt of the earth. Your presence in mind in the world today is a hindrance to evil. And folks, that is why people hate the church of Jesus Christ so much. There is a growing hostility in our society against true believers. You see it everywhere from newspaper stories to television stories to what you read in books.
There is a hostility to those that hold to the values of the Word of God and who believe in Jesus Christ as the only Savior of the world. Why is that? Well, because our presence is a hindrance to the lawlessness that wants to break out among men. Not only is it a lawlessness within the heart of man himself, but there is a supernatural element of Satan working in the world wanting this lawlessness to break out. And our presence stops that or hinders it to some degree.
And so when Paul says what he does about the restrainer being removed, it may be a reference to the church being taken out so that then lawlessness can explode like it wants to. Where was I before I got carried away there? Here we go, verse 8. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming.
It's worth pointing out that every time Antichrist is mentioned in the New Testament in the same context his judgment is also mentioned. Every time. God wants to make it clear that this powerful lawless individual is doomed already. He will fall into the judgment of God.
He goes on to describe him as the coming of the lawless one, he says, is in accordance or in according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. These are the earth dwellers who have rejected the truth and therefore they have been turned to a lie and now they are completely deceived. By what?
By the lawless one and the working of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders. So going back now to Revelation 13, don't be surprised if you see miracles being done that are not done in the name of Jesus Christ or that are done in the name of Jesus Christ but not sincerely because the enemy of our souls is capable of imitating miracles and by his working can perform signs and wonders that in the last days will cause the whole world to be deceived.
Therefore we must constantly be on guard and discerning the spirits as we are told in 1 John 4 verses 1 to 3. I'm going to digress for just a moment here and say something else. We live in a world that for the last 150 or 200 years has been controlled by scientism. That is, we will not believe in anything that we can't put in a test tube. We've got to be able to see it, to feel it, to smell it. It's got to be measured and tested by science before it's real.
Now we think because we've been born during this period that man must have always thought this way. The fact is that this is a new idea that's come upon the world. Only in the last 150 years or so has this dominated. Before that there was an integration of the supernatural with the natural. Our world view that we're taught in school, we're taught by media, by our culture is that the supernatural is here and the natural is here. You see this, you don't see that, therefore it's not real.
The only thing that's real is what you can see. That's the world view that dominates our culture. The world view that has dominated the last 2,000 years, however, is a world view that sees an integration of the supernatural with the natural. There's an overlapping of the two. So people before this anticipated and expected that supernatural things would happen. That's the way they saw the world.
By the way, that's still the way a lot of people see the world who haven't been contaminated by western civilization. They still see the supernatural even though it may not be God, it's evil. They nonetheless see that there are supernatural forces that are at work in nature. Now there is a change that is suddenly taking place. Time has led us to hopelessness and despair and you are now seeing a change taking place in the western culture.
There's starting to be a reintegration of supernatural forces and energy with the natural. I'm not talking about godly supernatural forces, I'm talking about the forces of darkness. You see it in new age kinds of thinking. You see it in some medical care where they are understanding that beyond medicine and scientific treatment, there's a power in the mind to heal. Of course there is some truth to that.
But they are seeing it beyond just the normal, they are seeing supernatural power in the mind as they call it. And it's tapping into the dark side to occultic kinds of forces. It seems to me that what this suggests is that by the time the tribulation period arrives, there's going to be a willingness on the part of the western world, this Roman Empire in ruins as it is now, there's going to be a willingness in the western civilization to reintegrate the supernatural with the natural.
So that when signs and wonders are being done by this powerful religious figure, the false prophet, they will immediately connect that with this political figure, the antichrist, as they are told. The false prophet will say, here, here's the source of it all, here's the antichrist, and the world will just suck it up.
They'll be ready for it because I think even right now they're getting prepared by the change of thinking in western civilization regarding the supernatural and its relation to nature. In verses 14 to 17 we see the deception of the beast, we've already talked about this to some degree.
He deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads. And so here we see the deception of the beast and the false prophet. The miracles are done in the presence of the beast, an image is made. The image is given breath. The idea seems to be to be given vitality, to be given life-like force, to be given reality. By the way, what is that new term that's being used in computer generated images and games?
What's it called? The new reality? What is it? Virtual. Virtual reality. That ties together exactly with the language that is used here. This image is given virtual reality. It's given breath. It's given vitality so that this image appears to be alive and it can speak. And not only that, it is able to call fire down upon those who will not worship the beast, that they may be killed.
It could be that our computer technology is entering right into the stage where this kind of an image can be built with disastrous results. You say, well can people on a broad scale be this deceived? Have you ever heard of Sung Myung Moon and his prophetess, Young Eun Kim? Sung Myung Moon first came to the United States about 1973 or 4. Does that sound about right?
Remember I was pastoring in Cincinnati at the time and we went over to downtown and saw all over downtown Cincinnati the pictures of this Korean individual and he was coming. I've forgotten exactly what the phrase was but the idea was he was coming to proclaim Christ. And we were all caught off guard wondering who in the world is this individual. Well now today we understand who he is. He is a Korean antichrist who calls himself the Lord of the Second Advent.
Jesus you see, according to him, failed and now Sung Myung Moon has come to finish the work. He has lots of weird and strange ideas that perpetuate the unification church but he has this woman who is called Young Eun Kim who is his prophet.
And she goes before him, points to him, he gets up and speaks and thousands upon thousands of people in stadiums around the world, not so much now in the United States thankfully, but in other parts of the world follow after this Korean version of the antichrist. We see the deception, we see the religious emphasis in this false teacher and he has vitality that is given to him by this religious leader who is his false prophet, this woman.
Now it says that there is an enforcement to the deception in the case of the coming antichrist. The enforcement has to do with economics. It says he causes all small and great rich and poor free and slave to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.
And so all the people, and we're thinking here now of the earth dwellers, will have this mark, literally the word means an imprint, upon their forehead or upon their right hand. This is in contrast to the mark that is said to be upon the lambs 144,000 in the next chapter in the first verse. There it says, I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion and with him 144,000, we've seen them before in chapter seven, having his father's name written on their foreheads.
So we have on the other side of the equation the antichrist who is causing people to place his name on their forehead or in their right hand. It's the mark of his, it's a mark or it's his name or it's the number of the beast, which we'll talk about in a moment. Is this talking about some kind of a tattoo with invisible ink? That's possible, that's been suggested.
Is it talking about more recent technology in which information about an individual can be placed on a microchip and put under the skin so that you can be identified by that microchip that has all of your statistics? Is it possible that such a microchip will allow you, because you have it on your body, it will allow you to buy and sell, to eat in the tribulation period? Well I think that is possible.
It seems here that men will be marked as animals or as slaves, branded as it were, with antichrist identification signifying that they belong to him and that they will be slaves of the beast because of this. Tremendous deception that we see here. Now we come to the designation of the beast in verse 18. This is a deeply debated verse. Here is wisdom, let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.
His number is 666. Well I wish we had the wisdom that John refers to here. Here is wisdom. Here is understanding. Here is insight. Here is the identity. This beast's number is 666. Now there has been a lot of speculation as to what this number means. Some of the speculation is related to a study of numbers and alphabets. Both the Greeks and the Romans did not have numerals and so they assigned number qualities to letters of their alphabet. And so we have what we call Roman numerals, right?
These are letters from the alphabet but they stand for numbers. Interestingly someone pointed out that if you take each of the letters of the Roman numbers that is I, V, X, L, C, D, that's 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 and you add all of those together what do you get? What do you think? 666. What does that tell us? I'm not sure. Some say, they deduce from that that that's an indication that it's the Roman Empire.
There were Roman numerals of course in that day and they say this was the code that John was talking about the Roman Empire which he didn't want to name because this book was going to be dispersed throughout the Empire but that he's talking about the Roman Empire, 666.
Of course there are those who have studied names of various Roman Caesars, secretaries of state of the United States, and a whole host of other people and they've assigned numerical worth to the letters of their name and they come up with 666. All of those things fall short of giving us any real indication or idea as to who Antichrist is. Sixth in the Bible is the number of man. Man was created on the sixth day. Man was given six days to labor.
The number six is one short of seven which is the number of perfection or completion. Six stands for man. What we have here seems to be a human imitation of the Trinity, 6 and 6 and 6. 666 may symbolically represent the highest that man can achieve apart from God. It is Satan's Superman who is the 666.
This figure, this number, this symbol will undoubtedly be very clear to the believers of that day and it may well be while it's veiled to us, the unfolding of events in the tribulation period will allow the believers of that day to use this verse to pinpoint who the Antichrist is. It will be very clear to them whereas it's veiled to us. I don't think we ought to be overly alarmed and concerned about that frankly because I'm not looking for the Antichrist. I don't think you are either.
We're looking for Christ. His return for the church is going to precede the coming of this man of lawlessness. We may have some ideas and guesses and hints and thoughts as to who the Antichrist will be and how the false prophet will fit into this. We see the ecumenical movement which has been dead for 20 years or more beginning to be revived and picked up again. Is that the one world religion that's headed by this false prophet?
As we get to chapter 17, we're going to be talking about some of that because it ties the two together, religion and politics. There are some very interesting things that are said in chapters 17 and 18. I do think we can say this, that world religions today are heading toward an awful day of amalgamation under the lie of the false prophet. And under the flag of this religion, millions will follow the lamb with two horns into the lake of fire which is his eternal destiny.
For many years, there was a way of interpreting the Bible and prophecy in particular that said that the world is getting better and better and better. And someday when the Gospel has been preached and the whole world has been converted, Jesus Christ will come again and establish his kingdom. It was called post-millennialism. In fact, it's being revived today. Did you know that? It's being revived in a group that's called the Kingdom Now or Dominion Theology Advocates.
And their belief is that we need to establish Christ's kingdom now and bring the laws of the Old Testament to bear upon our culture. And we need to establish God's kingdom so that Jesus can come back again. It's just post-millennialism in a different wrapping. But as we look around us, is the world getting better and better? Is the world responding to the Gospel in such a way that we can see that the world is going to be converted?
The answer to that, tragically, sadly, but truthfully, is no, it is not. The world is rapidly deteriorating and going the other way. The world is headed toward the apostasy. Now for those of us who know Jesus Christ, that is not something that is to be feared. It brings certain aspects of concern to us naturally as human beings. But we need not fear these things. We have a hope that supersedes all of that. It's a hope in Jesus Christ. It is a hope of salvation. It is the hope of His soon return.
But let us not forget those that are in the darkness. Let's not get so wrapped up in the assurance and the blessedness and the hope that we have in Christ that we forget those who are lost and who are moving with the stream of the world toward the worship of Antichrist through the false prophet. It must be burdened to share the truth, to be faith proclaimers of the Gospel, that God may reach and save those whom He would in this culture. God like for us to sing in closing, I lost the number.
I shall find it again. Number 485, there we go. It is a chorus. Perhaps you've heard it. It says, the battle belongs to the Lord.