Beastly Behavior - Revelation 12:12-13:4

[0:00] All right, Revelation 12. We will finish 12 tonight. And Lord willing, we'll jump into 13 for a couple verses.

[0:12] ! I've highlighted in blue and then underlined in blue on the two ends. They are the extremes. That has to do with us, the church. All right, so we have the church age, the rapture.

[0:24] We're out of here. The red is what we're reading about now in the book of Revelation, which will take place for those seven years when we're with Christ. And in the bridal suite, essentially, seven years.

[0:37] And then we return with him at the second coming. So that's where the church is. Right now, we are above the red line, right? We are in with the Lord. As it says in Revelation 4, John says, I heard a voice saying, come up here.

[0:53] And Paul elaborates that on that much more in Thessalonians. But we've come through chapter 12. So the first half of the tribulation, you have the seal judgments. And then the second half, we jump into the trumpets, then the bowls and all of that.

[1:09] But there's this kind of interlude. And this is where we've been now for a little bit, looking at these kind of things that are taking place. And we'll look at this again tonight, where heaven looks at things not chronologically.

[1:22] Right? We see things by time. We see things in chronology. Heaven looks at things more event-driven. So you see that in the Old Testament, when you see a prophecy that includes Jesus's first coming, and Jesus's second coming, back to back, verse to verse.

[1:37] And it's like, whoa, there's a lot that happened in there that wasn't talked about. Well, because heaven sees things event-driven, not by time, because God's outside of time. He's not constrained by time.

[1:47] We experience those events in time, in chronology. And so it seems like they're unfolding in a way that's just one thing after another after another, where heaven looks at it as, well, this is just one event.

[1:59] Last time, not last week, but last time we were in Revelation 12, last time we got together, we saw there appear these great signs in heaven. One of them was the dragon, and he swept a third of the stars with him, meaning Satan, right?

[2:13] When he took the rebellious angels and he fell with them. Well, did that happen in Revelation? Is that yet to come? No, it's already happened, right? So we're getting an event overview in the beginning of the book of chapter 12 of Revelation, bringing us to the current event, which is, you know, the dragon being cast to the earth.

[2:33] The seven-headed dragon being cast to the earth. That's the current event we're reading about in Revelation. The entire event, though, is that, yes, there was a woman, meaning Israel.

[2:44] She had the man-child, and he was caught up to heaven. And then Satan, now the serpent, the dragon, is persecuting the woman. That's the event timeline, in a sense, that we're in in Revelation.

[2:57] But heaven sees the whole event as one thing. Tonight, we're going to finish 12 and jump a few verses into 13, and we're going to talk about the beast as he comes on the scene.

[3:09] Chapter 13 will start the same way. It'll be this overview of the event of the beast and his arrival, which will then bring us to where we are actually reading about on the timeline in Revelation.

[3:22] And we'll see that as we get to it. So tonight, we're going to look at beastly behavior. A lot of beastly behavior. He's like, behavior, you know? I think that's how the Lord looks at the Antichrist when he comes.

[3:34] And the dragon, you know? It's like, wow, the enemy's so big. And the Lord's like, it's just like a little punter dog. Boom, you know? It's like, argh. It's not anything to him. It's no big deal. You know, Solomon says in Ecclesiastes that there's nothing new under the sun.

[3:54] That which will be, shall be again. And then he says, even that which is now, those which are coming, well, they won't even remember it. And it's so true. There's nothing original. Origination is only found in the Bible.

[4:06] There's nothing original outside the Bible. Everything starts here. There's nothing you can come up with. Well, you know, technology is not in the Bible. But it all originates in the Bible.

[4:18] Everything that man comes up with, everything that comes out of man's heart and mind, it all comes from the scriptures. There's no originality found outside that. Satan can't create. So he counterfeits everything.

[4:29] And that's what we're going to see here as we've gone through Revelation. We've seen that. He just counterfeits everything. He takes what is good and pure and he corrupts it. Because he can't do anything to make his own stuff.

[4:40] So he has to take someone else's, right? And verse 12 is what we got up to. So we ended in where the ones that were being persecuted, it says in verse 11, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.

[4:59] And so they were able to overcome because they had to focus on something outside of this world, right? They loved not their lives. It meant there was something worth more, worth more than life itself, which was faithfulness to the Lord, knowing the Lord.

[5:12] The woman, as it says in verse 6, flees into the wilderness. Michael takes the dragon and throws him to the earth. And the earth, now, it says in verse 12, therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them.

[5:26] Why? Well, because the accuser of the brethren has been cast down. He no longer has access to heaven to accuse the brethren. So rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them.

[5:37] Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea. For the devil has come down unto you having great wrath, because he knows he has but a short time.

[5:49] This is our third woe. Remember, there are three woes. The first is when the fifth trumpet is opened, and we see that there's a shift in the judgments being not just derived from either nature or man or whatever, but now there's an unleashing of the demonic in the world.

[6:09] The two witnesses in Revelation 11, 14, it says there's a woe there that they bring. And then the dragon coming to the earth. Revelation 12, 12 here. Our third woe.

[6:21] Woe to the inhabitants of the earth. The inhabitants means those that are dwelled or settled. Those that are settled in the earth. Woe to them. The world chose the devil over the deliverer, and now they're getting what they wanted.

[6:32] They're getting what they asked for. The word that says, therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them. Do you know what the word dwell? Whoops, didn't mean to put him up again. Do you know what the word dwell means?

[6:43] It means tabernacle. Isn't that wild? You know, Exodus on Sundays, a tabernacle. It says, rejoice, you heavens, and you that tabernacle in the heavens. You that tabernacle there, rejoice.

[6:55] Because we dwell where Satan can't approach. Satan's been kicked out of heaven at this point. He can't approach there. 1 Timothy 6, 16 says that who only has immortality, speaking of Jesus, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto.

[7:10] So, we can't even approach that, let alone Satan. How can light and darkness mix? How do we approach that? Well, then spake Jesus again unto them in John 8, 12, saying, I am the light of the world.

[7:23] He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. So, no, I can't just come marching in as we are looking at on Sundays with the priests. You can't just say, well, I'm a priest and I'm going to go marching in.

[7:36] No, you have to have the light of life. And then 1 John 1, 7 says, but if we walk in the light as he's in the light, we have fellowship one with another. Fellowship is contingent upon our walk, and our walk is contingent upon if we're in the light.

[7:55] We can't walk in darkness. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. We experience the reality of who we are in Christ by being in the light. So we dwell where Satan can't approach.

[8:06] And he knows his time is short. Literally where it says there that he knows his time is short, the wording literally means small in quantity. He knows he has a small quantity. Jesus' return is a truth that not even the devil can deny.

[8:19] He knows it. He knows that he's coming soon. The shorter the time, the greater his wrath, right? It increases the closer the time draws near to Jesus' appearing.

[8:31] Remember in the Gospels, all of the, like, demonic activity? It seemed like everybody had a brother, a sister, a mother, or somebody who was like, you know, hey, and so-and-so, she's demon-possessed. I got one of those, too.

[8:42] You know, it's like, wow, everybody had someone. In the book of Acts, there are two primary encounters with demons. You have Sceva's sons who say, you know, in the name of Jesus who Paul preaches, I command you to be gone.

[8:56] And then the demon answers back and says, Paul, I know, and Jesus, I know, but I don't know you. And then chases him out, beats him and strips him naked and chases him out.

[9:08] And then there's a slave girl who follows Paul and Barnabas, and eventually Paul turns and says, you know, cast him out. But after all of that activity in the Gospels, over 50 instances where Jesus confronts the demonic, over 50 instances, there's only two in Acts?

[9:25] What happened here? Well, I think when Jesus shows up as a baby in Bethlehem, Satan knows his time is short. He knows the quantity of time he has of whatever Jesus is going to do, because he wasn't prepared for the cross.

[9:40] Satan wasn't. He thought, ha, ha, ha, I got him. I've brought him into my domain. I've brought him into death. Little did he know that Jesus went into death to conquer death and overcome it. But I think in those 30 years, while Jesus was growing and as a boy and becoming a man, Satan was just supercharging the world and the atmosphere with the demonic.

[10:02] And so here we see again, as Satan's wrath increases, as the time draws closer. Woe to those who dwell upon the earth. Verse 13, and when the dragon saw that he was cast to the earth.

[10:16] So this is whatever's happened here, where the dragon, Satan, realizes something has completely changed now. I have been shut out.

[10:29] Think of what it must do to his pride, right? The one who says, I will be like the most high. I shall ascend into the hill. And, you know, for all of, I don't know what you call it, all of his life, he's had access to heaven, to that realm.

[10:43] Is Satan's power now limited to the earth's dimension and earth's methods? I don't know. It almost seems like it. Because then we're all of a sudden going to, he's going to, we're going to hear about the beast and he's going to give his power unto the beast.

[10:57] Why would he do that? Well, maybe because he's limited now. What does he do now? He begins to focus on Israel. And when the dragon saw that he was cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman, which brought forth the man-child.

[11:15] Satan's battle is now 100% focused upon Israel. Why? Because his only hope to prevent the inevitable is to remove Israel. If he can remove Israel, then he can prevent the inevitable.

[11:29] He knows he has a short quantity of time and all right, I'm going to go all out. But has he been going all out already? Has it ever worked? Has he ever accomplished this task?

[11:40] How many thousands of years has he been trying to accomplish that task? Unfortunately, there's a lot of people today who will help him with that task. Who will look at Israel and think, well, they're the problem.

[11:51] You know, oh, what? They won't look beneath the surface of what they're being fed by the world, by the dragon system, and seeing that, wait a minute, these are God's people and they're being persecuted.

[12:01] Jeremiah 31, verse 35 says, Thus saith the Lord, which gives the sun for light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and the stars for light by night, which divides the sea when the waves thereof roar.

[12:16] The Lord of hosts is his name. Can anybody else do any of that? No. None of us can do that. Satan can't do that. No principality in power can do that.

[12:28] He says, If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever. Seems pretty sure. In fact, if Israel's not sure in their covenant before the Lord, then we're not sure in ours.

[12:44] Because the same God who promised them is the same one who promises us. The same one who says, hey, Israel, I've chosen you. You're mine. It doesn't matter what you do. Oh, you'll be chastened.

[12:54] You know, there's, as we said, there's the Abrahamic covenant where Israel is his people, and he will never break that. And then there's the Mosaic covenant, which we're looking at on Sunday, which is contingent upon their behavior.

[13:06] It's a national covenant. That's, you look at today, and Israel as God's people is blessed under the Abrahamic covenant, but as a nation, they are struggling.

[13:17] Because why? Well, they've turned from the Lord. They're not following the Lord. But the seed of the nation of Israel shall not cease from being a nation before him forever.

[13:29] A people is what that means. So Satan is now 100% focused upon this. They don't know what he thinks he's going to do. It's never worked. But when you only speak lies, and you're the father of lies, you're probably pretty susceptible to deceit, you know?

[13:47] You probably believe your own press. Verse 14. And now to the woman, we're given two wings of the great eagle. And again, like we said before, is that, you wonder at that time what that will be.

[14:00] Is that going to be like an airlift? That some friends of Israel will come in and just airlift them out? Or will it just be that as they, you know, flee out of their homes, when they see the abomination of desolation, that God just gives them like just miraculous passage?

[14:15] They'll flee into the wilderness. And into her place, specific place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time.

[14:25] So three and a half years from the face of the serpent. She'll flee into the wilderness. Most likely, and we won't look at all those places, but points to Petra. She'll flee down into the rock city of Petra.

[14:37] Pretty cool. I mean, I'd like to see it sometime. Pretty wild how long it must have taken to fashion that.

[14:50] But no amount of wrath from the enemy can keep God from caring for and preserving his people. No matter how wrathful the enemy gets, no matter what he does, God's going to keep and he's going to preserve his people.

[15:01] He's going to care for them. Isaiah 43, 19 says, I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. And God will literally make a way in the wilderness for Israel to get down there.

[15:14] Matthew 24, beginning in verse 15 says, When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso reads, let him understand.

[15:26] Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. And so that'll be this time. They're going to flee and God's going to give them wings to flee with. You know, the eagles are coming and they're going to, they're going to go. But where it says that they shall be protected from the face of the serpent, that literally represents the physical presence.

[15:44] They will be protected from the physical presence of the serpent. He will not be able to get to them. Psalm 23, verse 5. We all know this one. Thou prepares the table before me in the presence, in the face before mine enemies.

[15:58] Anoints my head with oil and my cup runs over. The last place you really want to sit down and have dinner is in the presence, in the face, in the physical presence of your enemy. But God is going to protect them.

[16:09] He's going to preserve them from the very presence of the enemy. And so the serpent, he says, well, I got to do something now. And he's cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

[16:24] And again, here we see heaven's perspective is different than earth. Revelation is very much heaven's perspective of these events. It's event-based. It's not chronology-based, chronologically based.

[16:38] And here we see how heaven sees this event, that the serpent is casting out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. Is this a physical flood?

[16:49] No, I don't think so. Isaiah 59, 19 tells us, Is this a physical dragon who's coming after a single physical woman?

[17:10] No, it's representing Satan and his kingdom at this time, based upon earth, coming after Israel. And so is this a physical flood? No, I don't think so. It's the enemy. The enemy, when he comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.

[17:26] He shall stand against him. Satan is using a rebellious, and he deceived people at this time. There are people who have joined with the serpent, and we're going to see a little bit later as we get into 13 why that is.

[17:41] But they're rebellious and they're deceived, and they are joining with him. Verse 16, the earth helped the woman. So Satan may have been cast into the earth, but it still belongs to God.

[17:54] The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon cast out of his mouth. That must have been quite shocking. Charge! Off the edge they go.

[18:07] Psalm 24.1 says, The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. It's all his. The earth is the Lord's. It doesn't matter if Satan's in the world.

[18:19] It doesn't matter who's dwelling in the world. It still belongs to the Lord, ultimately. Man, that's pretty crazy. Is that really going to happen? The earth opened up. Well, remember in Numbers chapter 16, when Korah, he comes to Moses, and he's like, you take too much on yourself.

[18:35] We are all princes as well. And he wants to be in authority with Moses. And Moses says, All right, well, all of you bring your staffs. The staff was their symbol of authority.

[18:46] Put it before the tabernacle, before the tent of congregation, before the Lord, and we'll leave it there. And we'll see the next day what happens. And they all come back, and all their staffs look the same, except Moses's, or Aaron's, at the time.

[18:59] And it's just like, and it's just, you know, got flowers, and almonds, and branches, and it's alive. And Moses says, the Lord's going to judge you.

[19:11] He says, All of you that are with Korah, go and stand with him at his tent. If you want to stand with him, and then all of you who want to come with me, come over here with the Lord. And he says this, in Numbers 1630, he said, But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit, then you shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.

[19:37] Yeah, that might do it. And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up. What's it say there that was? If the Lord make a what? A new thing. Anybody else ever been able to do that?

[19:48] Anybody else ever said, the earth open up and swallow them? Origination starts in the Bible. The Bible is the originator. So for the dragon here, it won't be a new thing. It'll be an old thing, replayed, when the Lord will open its mouth, and she'll swallow up this blood.

[20:06] And how does the dragon respond in verse 17? He was wroth. He was angry. He couldn't get to her. He can't get there. God's protecting him from the face, from the presence.

[20:17] Israel will be protected. Remember, at this time, at the abomination of desolation, Israel goes, Uh-oh. We had the wrong guy. And they run to Petra, or fly, or whatever. But at this time, I believe, their minds, the veil is lifted, their eyes are opened, and they realize, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

[20:35] And the Lord goes, Boom! I got you protected. I'm going to keep you. And so the dragon is angry with the woman, and he goes now to make war with the remnant. It means the rest and the remaining.

[20:45] So, you know, I don't know if you're in Kentucky, and you're watching, and you see the abomination of desolation, and you're like, Oh man, how am I going to get to Petra? And you don't go, or whatever.

[20:57] Well, there's a remnant. There's those that remain. There's those that are outside of God's place of protection, in a sense. And he went to make war with the remnant of her seed. And what is her seed specifically?

[21:10] Which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Satan will attack believers and believing Jews. The remnant, the rest, the remaining.

[21:22] You say, Well, is this just believers and not Jews? Maybe they're not believers. I don't think so at all. Because remember what we're dealing with in Revelation. Our language has shifted. We're dealing with the nation of Israel. You don't see the church mentioned.

[21:34] You don't see verbiage of the church. You don't see the redeemed, except when he's talking about those in heaven. Those on earth is referring to the woman, it's referring to Israel. And now here where it says, Her seed specifically, Jews, believing Jews, which keep the commands of God.

[21:50] So despite extreme persecution, Israel's remaining offspring at this time will keep the word, and they will testify to the word. Keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

[22:03] At this time, Israel's remnant has rejected the false Messiah. They've been rescued from the dragon, and they are seeking him who comes in the name of the Lord.

[22:14] It's an amazing time to be alive. I'll be alive, but I'll be in heaven. Right? But it's an amazing time. It'll be an amazing time where what we pray for, God, open the eyes of your people, Lord.

[22:28] Open Israel's eyes, Lord. Save them. When their eyes nationally will be opened, and Israel will realize we have followed a false Messiah, and they'll say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

[22:39] Now go read Matthew 24 in light of that, thinking of yourself as one of those whose eyes are open. You're looking for the true Messiah, and all of a sudden, it just fits, it just fits so well.

[22:50] So that ends chapter 12. We were supposed to finish it last time. We didn't. But this is some pretty beastly behavior by the dragon. He's just going all out, just trying to kill them.

[23:03] And we'll find out as we go through Revelation, that process is, it seems like he's chasing them down, he's beheading them. It's capital punishment to not follow the dragon, the beast.

[23:15] And so chapter 13 starts in the same way chapter 12 did, and it's event-based that brings us quickly up to speed to where the events are now with what we're reading.

[23:26] So we'll just read a few verses here and kind of get that idea. John says, And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a great beast, a great creature, rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns upon his horns.

[23:40] I'm sorry, ten horns. And upon his horns, ten crowns. And upon his heads, the name of blasphemy. So this would be the Antichrist we read about in chapter 5, 6, and 6, when the seals are opened and we see the rider on the white horse, the counterfeit Christ.

[24:02] So he's been around since the beginning of the seven years. But this is the event of this, seeing him come out of the water, seeing him rise up out of the nations. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion.

[24:18] The dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority. And then he goes into events that are happening at this time. And I saw as one of his heads as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered at the beast.

[24:33] And they worshipped the dragon, which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? Who's able to make war with him? And so this would be the midpoint of the tribulation when the Antichrist goes in and says, I'm God, worship me.

[24:48] So that's where John sees him coming out of the water. Well, that would be when he arrives on the scene in the beginning of the tribulation, the beginning of the seven years of Jacob's trouble. And now what we read here in verse four, they worship the dragon, they worship the beast.

[25:01] Well, that's that midpoint where he says, you have to worship me. And then as we keep reading, next time, we'll get to where they have to take a mark that they might buy or sell tied to worship.

[25:12] So the mark of the beast isn't until halfway into the seven years of Jacob's trouble. It's tied in with the worship. So John says here in verse one, I stood upon the sand of the sea.

[25:24] So this is different, very different. He's been in heaven. He's been observing these things and now he's standing on the sand of the sea. He's not in the sea. He's standing on the edge of it and he sees a beast rise up out of the sea.

[25:36] So again, this is heaven giving the timeline that brought us to this moment. What is biblical prophecy? Well, I think biblical prophecy is just God's truth expressed to man.

[25:48] Basically, you can forth tell, you can foretell, but it's God's truth being expressed to man. We have a more sure word of what? Well, of God's truth expressed.

[25:59] Or it's almost God's view. Prophecy is simply God's view of everything, which is truth, right? He is the way, the truth, and the life. So biblical prophecy, whether it is to forth tell, whether it is to foretell, God is essentially saying, here's my view on this.

[26:15] And here's how I'm expressing this to man. Here's the truth as expressed to man. So heaven is just giving us that view, that perspective. And that's what we call prophecy.

[26:27] Chapter 12 was more heavenly focused. It was very much, you know, war in heaven and what's happening. Now we're earthbound. This chapter 13 is very earth focused. I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, he has seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

[26:46] So here we have the sea again, just as we saw the flood, the waters coming out of the dragon's mouth to get the woman. Now we have a sea with a beast, a creature coming out of it.

[26:59] Isaiah 17 verse 12 and 13 says, woe to the multitude of many people which make a noise like the noise of the seas and the rushing of nations that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters.

[27:13] The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters but God shall rebuke them and they shall flee far off and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

[27:25] Woe to the multitude of many people which make a noise like the noise of the seas. Isaiah 17 12 and 13. Jump forward a good deal in Isaiah. You get to Isaiah 57 verse 20 and said, but the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt constantly churning churning, churning, churning up never pure always a defiled source.

[27:49] The wicked are like the sea and so sea when you see the sea in scripture it represents the nations it represents the people coming out from among the people and so the beast will arise out of three things.

[28:03] This beast he will rise out of evil he will rise out of chaos he will rise out of rebellion. All of these things are the opposite of the true Christ.

[28:16] The beast is the counterfeit Christ the anti the instead of Christ right? So he comes out of evil and chaos and rebellion. What is the world like so much that they put it in front of themselves constantly?

[28:31] Evil and chaos and rebellion. it drives the news industry. I mean it's never like peace, joy and blessing. Oh sign me up to that newspaper.

[28:44] I mean look I'm not going to rag on even Christian publications. I get them and I love that they keep me up to date in the news but usually a lot of those are also evil chaos and rebellion from a biblical light but still that's the world we live in.

[28:59] You know we live in a world where the wicked are troubled like a troubled sea and they're constantly just churning up churning up mire. John writes in 1 John chapter 2 he says little children verse 18 it is the last time it's not the last days it's the last times the last days would be those seven years with that tribulation it's the last time meaning what?

[29:23] Meaning there's no other time after this there's no other covenant that needs to be cut there's no other work that needs to be done Jesus has done it all these are the last times after this it's the end it's the only thing left is to wrap it up it is the last time and as you have heard the antichrist instead of Christ or I like calling them opposite Christ they shall come the antichrist shall come and even now there are many opposite Christs whereby you know it's the last time you know it because there are many who are living this life of this spirit of this opposite Christ that only takes place in these last times so who is this beast we see this name as we said in Revelation chapter 6 as the keep saying 6 is it 5 or 6 when the seals are opened yeah 6 it's what we call the antichrist or the instead of Christ I think he will literally be called the beast

[30:25] I'm sure it'll be some acronym I didn't get a chance to come up with that you know bad evil and satanic tiger but the world loves or the enemy loves Satan loves to put those things right in front of people and deceive them with it right in front of them we can see it our eyes are open but don't you see that but the beast is mentioned multiple times in scripture in Daniel chapter 7 if you on your own we'll look at that a little bit tonight but there's a lot there you can read about that Daniel chapter 7 verse 8 he's the little horn of Daniel that comes up and supplants two other horns he's the king of fierce countenance of Daniel 8 23 he's the prince that shall come of Daniel 9 26 he's the willful king in Daniel 11 36 through 45 he's the one who comes in his own name as Jesus talks about says another will me you didn't receive but another will come in his own name and you will receive him he says to Israel at least for three and a half years and that's in John 5 43

[31:30] Israel will receive as their messiah and he's the son of perdition the lawless one the man of sin 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 3 this is all speaking of this guy here in Revelation and he has as we saw he has horns and crowns and heads well thankfully Revelation also tells us a little further on in Revelation 17 exactly what this is John writes and here is the mind which has wisdom the seven heads of this beast are seven mountains on which the woman sits so eventually we're gonna read about this woman who rides on this beast and he says the beast that she's riding we know has seven heads and his seven heads are seven mountains and there are seven kings five are fallen and one is and another has not yet come and when he comes he must continue a short space and the beast that was and is not even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goes into perdition and the ten horns which you saw are ten kings which has received no kingdom as yet but received their power as kings one hour with the beast so we have seven heads which is seven mountains ten kings right

[32:47] Daniel 7 gives us a little more insight into this as well he sees in a vision of the night a beast so we're going to look he's going to in the next verse he's going to talk about a leopard a bear and a lion so what's that well Daniel had a vision of a leopard a bear and a lion these four beasts or three beasts the lion is the Babylonian people's kingdom the bear is the Medo-Persians and the leopard is the Greek so he's seeing essentially again event based not like we see chronologically and people based and God says well here it is here's the events as I see them I see this people group as a lion this one as a leopard this one as bear right and then he says there's a fourth one I saw this fourth beast dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly and had great iron teeth and it devoured and break in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it and had how many horns ten horns so he's seeing the same creature that's coming out of the sea

[33:57] John writes here in Revelation in our text tonight upon his head heads were the name of blasphemy upon his heads the name of blasphemy blasphemy you know what have we been looking at in Exodus with the clothing of the high priest what was upon his head you know his crown holiness to the Lord what's upon the heads of the opposite Christ blasphemy blasphemy the opposite of holiness the beast will have rule over a kingdom with the authority that's based in blasphemy he will rule over a kingdom of blasphemy his authority will be based in that there'll be a world that will say yes this is our guy because he is blasphemous he's the one he's the one we've looked for the most perfect ruler again in Daniel chapter seven verse 25 Daniel talks about him with his blasphemy and he shall speak great words against the most high and shall wear out the saints of the most high and think to change times and laws and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time speaking of his persecution of the nation of Israel and he shall speak great words against the most high so the beast is very similar to the dragon but he's distinct from him he's not the dragon but he's very similar to him verse 2 the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard and his feet whereas the feet of a bear and his mouth as the mouth of a lion and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority so he's going to encompass all of these kingdoms!

[35:38] Daniel's vision with the different types of metal and material that it was made of and then Daniel's vision with the beasts the creatures it's simply God saying this is the nations spread out across time as I see them well this last nation this last kingdom essentially sorry not nation kingdom that rules the world the dominant one will have all parts of the others in with it and Daniel again back in chapter seven he says that he sees in the vision of the night and behold the four winds of the heavens strove against the great sea and four great beasts came out of the sea and they were different from one to another and then he goes through and tells what they each were and how they each had different characteristics and then in verse seven that's a lot well okay I'll just read it to you he says after this I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly like we just read it had great iron teeth it devoured and break in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it and had ten horns and I considered the horns and behold there came up another came up among them another little horn before whom three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots so this one horn displaces three behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man and a mouth speaking great things this would be our beast we're reading about in

[37:12] Revelation the Antichrist the instead of Christ the man of lawlessness and I beheld till the thrones were cast down and the ancient of ancient of days did sit whose garment was white as snow and the hair of his head like the pure wool his throne was like the fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire we just jump from eight to nine like it was nothing it's like oh right this beast comes up and boom the Lord takes care of it he does he does take care of it so it says he was like a leopard this kingdom it's swift like a bear powerful and like a lion it has authority and it's fierce this will be the characteristics of the beast's kingdom and it'll be very swift and like we said seven years is less than two terms and all this he's gonna just jump right into it now there may be a lot of it kind of set up and ready to go ahead of time but when the greatest catastrophe that's ever happened upon the face of planet earth next to the flood

[38:26] I guess the flood was the worst the second will be the rapture when millions and billions of people just hopefully billions are taken it will it will trigger this system being put in place and it makes sense when he says hey we're gonna you gotta have a number if you wanna buy and sell we're gonna track all of you we're never gonna lose anybody again oh but you have to worship as well we'll look at that next time but the dragon is the one who gives his power his supernatural ability he gives his throne dominion to rule and he gives his authority permission or power to do as one pleases the dragon gives this this is his to give this isn't like it's not saying that well he stole this or it's he's forcing this no this says it is his he tried to give it to Jesus if you remember in Matthew chapter four when Jesus was led into the wilderness it was tempted 40 days of the devil and he says hey takes him to a high mountain he says see all this he shows him in a moment all the kingdoms of the world why because Satan is inhabiting the same plane in a sense spiritual plane that he had access to heaven he can see that in the same way as what heaven sees this event based he says I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world

[39:36] I'll give you the leopard and the bear and the lion I'll give it all to you if you bow down and worship me and Jesus said get these hence you shall worship the Lord it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve so this is Satan's to give and this is the guy who's going to take it up and he'll have supernatural ability have dominion to rule have permission or power to do as he pleases perhaps again the dragon's scope of power has been limited perhaps he needs the help of this man to accomplish his ends that he has to give him his power because he's been cast down to the earth and he needs to work through him two more verses and I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death okay so if you have seven heads and you're a seven headed creature you lose one you're not going to die you got the six other ones as it were but not as it really is right he's the deceiver I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death but not as it really is and his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered at the beast all of them like wow second Thessalonians you can turn there or I'll just put on the screen it's a little tight but there it is

[40:49] Paul writes now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him two facts indisputable facts Paul says our Lord is coming and we're being gathered together unto him that you be not soon shaken in mind or troubled neither by spirit nor by word or letter from us as though the day of Christ is at hand don't let anybody deceive you into what?

[41:15] thinking you've missed it you've missed the gathering or maybe the gathering is not coming maybe it's something totally different that we're gonna like take over the seven kingdoms of the world and we will rule and don't be deceived by spirit by word by letter as though the day of Christ is at hand let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come the departing first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition so two events have to take place a departing and then that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition that's a beast that's our that's our big mouth with his blaspheming who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God and that's the abomination of desolation that's everything we're reading about right now where the woman has just fled into the wilderness because he sits as God in the temple of God and says

[42:16] I am God I have serpent's power I am God remember you not I like those Paul says don't you remember I told you about this remember you not that when I was yet with you I told you these things there is nothing new under the sun that which has been shall be and that which is now those that shall come will forget it and that's what Paul is saying you forgot already remember I told you this don't be shaken stand fast jumping down to verse 8 in 2nd Thessalonians 2 and then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming even him that's what his end is going to be even him whose coming is after the working of Satan well Satan of course just gave him his power and his dominion and his authority with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth they might be saved well that puts it in pretty good perspective doesn't it what are we talking about we're talking about before the rapture are we talking about those that didn't believe no we're talking very specifically about he goes into the temple declares himself to be God and those who don't believe the truth that they might be saved will believe the lie because of the deceiving wonders and the lies when it looks like he's dead but comes back to life and he says no I'm God well they didn't believe and so with all deceivableness of unrighteousness he will deceive them that perish the supernatural work of the real Christ never point never ever pointed to himself remarkably you see the beast all will wonder after the beast the oh wow this guy's amazing but Jesus when he would come he would heal and afterwards it says and they glorified the God of Israel like Jesus healed the blind the lame they brought all of them there's times where it says and Jesus healed them all

[44:13] I think I'd be going home and going honey that Jesus is amazing wow like he healed our demon possessed children because that's the time we live in and they're all you know I was like man no but they went home glorifying God they glorified the God of Israel wow praise God that he would visit us with such favor that he would send someone who would heal these people gave glory to God whereas the supernatural work of the instead of Christ does the opposite it brings glory to self I mean it's kind of how you can know because remember the spirit of antichrist has gone into the world there are many antichrists many opposite Christs how can you know if it's an opposite Christ well does it give glory to God does that person that ministry that spirit that whatever does it give glory to God or is it refocusing back upon self the spirit of the opposite Christ is being used today by the dragon as we sit here the dragon who still has access to heaven and to whatever that gives him with his abilities he is using many opposite Christs to condition the world for the opposite Christ of Revelation this whole world is being conditioned now we won't be here but he's conditioning a world love not the world 1 John 2 verse 15 through 18 love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him for all that it's in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world what does it not say partake not in the world oh it doesn't say that don't live in the world doesn't say that it says love not the world what does love do love is singular it prioritizes don't prioritize don't single that out don't love the world for all that's in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father it's of the world and the problem is the world passes away and the desire thereof but he that does the will of God abides forever spend your time on eternal things little children it is the last time and as you have heard that antichrist shall come even now there are many antichrists whereby we know it's the last time in context when does that verse come we read it earlier many antichrists it comes in context with don't love the world so the antichrist the instead of christ the many opposite christ that are out there are saying you can love the world that's the deception today love the world single out the things of the world partake in those to the exclusion of all else is it wrong to partake no but it is to love listen the only alternative to the truth is what deception there's no other alternative like well you know what

[47:07] I just don't really agree with that that I don't believe the bible but you know I'm processing other things well then you're either in the truth or deception there is no other alternative there's nothing else there's no like truth to you know 2.0 1 John 2.20 but you have an unction an anointing old king james you have an anointing from the holy one and you know all things I have not written unto you because you know not the truth but because you know it and that no lie is of the truth we have the ability to process the deceptions we can see past that we can see behind those things whoa wow that program that whatever government mandate that form of entertainment that mindset is conditioning the world for the instead of Christ now this time again as Israel is being warned as they go and flee into the wilderness Matthew 24 tells them at that time there shall arise false Christ and false prophets and we're going to read about the false prophet next time and shall show great signs and wonders we just read that the man of lawlessness will be given that by the serpent or by the dragon and so much that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect who are the elect well it's not talking about the church because we're not there it's talking about Israel whose eyes are open at this time you know I want to show you two Greek words that I stumbled upon

[48:34] I'm not in any way casting judgment or telling you what you should or shouldn't do in relation to this but I just thought it was pretty cool in the idea that you know that which is to the pure all things are pure but to those who are unbelieving they defile everything you know like we just read that the wicked they're churning up all the time all the time all this junk you can't take something fun and pure and innocent and eventually the dragon's gonna use it he's gonna use it to condition you think of how far we've gone with like technology you know like to where it's so ingrained and intertwined into our lives in a way that it's not just this is neat I remember when that Amazon Echo first came out you know I got the first one we still have it she's old and slow now but I was like man this thing's so cool and now that seems so like has been just to be like yeah that's so normal just to you know say Alexa do this or whatever and now things are so much more advanced and they're so integrated into our lives but it says here in our text

[49:45] I saw one of his heads as if it were wounded to death death in the Greek is thanatos there's a word that's taken from that thanatos is a minor Greek god of death he's the son of night and darkness and they base the character Thanos in the Marvel movies off of that the wording here where it says then that all the world wondered at the beast do you know what that word means in the Greek marvel it means they were marvel ultimately the world will marvel at the beast of being with superpowers who overcame Thanos and I'm not I'm not casting judgment on that I'm saying we are the only ones whose eyes can be opened and see wow behind something fun behind something like superheroes Sue and I were talking about this I had this Superman figure when I was a kid I love it it's so cool you know truth justice in the American way now it's like I don't know what it's supposed to represent now and it was just fun it was a toy it was there's something exciting how you can save and rescue people and fight the bad guys and what does Satan do he churns it all up and he turns something that could be fun into something but I thought that was wild like I just that like literally it's the words that it will seem like he's dead it will seem like death like Thanos defeats him but he will come back and defeat Thanos and the world will literally marvel at a being which appears to have superpowers it's like that's what the world is being set up for behind something fun is the dragon system verse 4 and they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast and they worshipped the beast saying who is like unto the beast who's like unto the beast unfortunately many people today aspire to be just like him you know it's becoming normalized in our vocabulary who's one of the like most popular

[51:45] YouTube people well some of us might know where's Henry Mr. Beast so just our vocabulary is normalizing these things preparing people they will worship the dragon who gave power to the beast the world worships power and not purity the world worships talent instead of truth worship power it doesn't matter if it's pure it's strong it's powerful wow yeah but like the dude lives a vile life has like had it's terrible yeah but you know he's powerful and he can get things done okay worship talent instead of truth you know good grief we do that with sports like these guys can do they're good at sports and we ask them like moral questions what do you think about this you know this topic they're like I don't know I spent all my time practicing this game but we worship talent the world worships talent instead of truth deception is the only alternative to truth 1 John chapter 3 little children verse 7 let no man deceive you he that does righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous he that commits sin is of the devil for the devil sins from the beginning this is pretty it's kind of basic for this purpose the son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil whosoever is born of God does not commit sin for his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he's born of God what does that mean talking about origination again it's talking about the very core is what what originates this you and I our lives are originated our new life in what in righteousness we're not gonna we're not gonna end up in sin this this whole experience of our life is not gonna the fruit of it's not gonna end up in sin and deception because we don't have to be deceived we have the fruit of righteousness he's born of God who's like the beast well unfortunately many people aspire to be like him who can make war against the beast

[53:52] I think that's kind of funny obviously these people at this time didn't just read chapter 12 where Michael threw the dragon to the earth who can make war against the beast and Michael's like I just did that Revelation 17 14 these shall make war with the lamb and the lamb shall overcome them for he is lord of lords and king of kings and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful like you and me called chosen and faithful it says we are that that's who we are that's who God God sees us as that God will eventually have enough of this beastly behavior who can make war against the beast well in Revelation 19 and the beast was taken I think of the Lord kind of picking him up by the scruff of his neck and with the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image these both like that little punter dog were cast into a lake of fire burning with brimstone who can make war against the beast the Lord's like when it's time it's all gonna end today we like the woman of

[55:02] Israel or the woman Israel we have rejected the false messiahs we are seeking him who's to come in the name of the Lord John stood on the edge of the sea he wasn't bathing in it but he was there he was part of that and like we said it was love not the world not don't partake in the world don't go near the world you know oh no the dragon has a system and he's prepping the world he sure is but I don't have to take part in that I don't have to take part in the deception because I know the truth right you and I are the only ones who do you and I are the only ones who can look at something that we can take part of and say man I enjoy that for the enjoyment that's in it and someone else can go yeah man wouldn't it be great if we could be like superheroes if like they made a way for people to become superheroes and then you know the truth and you can say well you know be careful the day may come where they do but that's a deception because there's only one hero that's super and it's Jesus it's only when

[56:07] Satan has lost the battle for the souls of saints in heaven that he begins the fruitless persecution of their bodies right he's lost the battle so he turns on the earth and Jesus says in Luke chapter 12 I say unto you my friends be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that of no more that they can do but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear fear him which after he's killed the body has power to cast into hell yeah he's saying do you fear him whoa who's that well that's the Lord he's the only one fear him he wants to be scared like oh Luke 12 verse 6 are not five sparrows sold for two farthings and not one of them's forgotten before God before you get all worked up here about your body being killed look at I'm gonna take care of the little birds I'm gonna take care of you but even the very hairs of your head are all numbered fear not therefore you are of more value than many sparrows don't fear the one that can kill the body God is able to preserve us no amount of wrath deception or beastly behavior from the enemy can keep

[57:17] God from caring for and preserving his people no matter how much is churned up in this world no matter how much the dragon breathes out whatever no amount of wrath deception or beastly behavior can keep God from caring for and preserving his people psalm 121 verses 7 and 8 the Lord shall preserve you from all evil the Lord shall preserve your soul the Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth even forevermore the Lord has preserved us we read this in the same light that we read Exodus we see God's faithfulness we see his love we see his grace we see his care for humanity he doesn't just come say this is we're just going to wipe this out I mean look at the rebellion look at the deception look at the blasphemy that's taking place at this time and God is still long suffering not willing that he should perish father we thank you so much

[58:17] Lord that you have you have sent the one true Christ you have sent the authentic Christ we thank you God that all truth and all life and all that's real originates with you or the enemy all he does is counterfeit he's just a bunch of instead of us and opposites and it doesn't lead to anything good and Lord we live in a world that we are not of but we are in it Lord but Lord we are not in it as those that are deceived or as have been opened Lord we're in it as those that are walking in the light as you are in the light Lord we're those that have righteousness not because we are righteous but because we have your righteousness and what a blessing and a privilege that is Lord Lord we can take part in a world that's defiled without being defiled we can live in a world Lord that is impure without taking part in impurities and Lord we can shine our lights to this world not judging them Lord you've already judged them at the cross you judge them righteous if they will believe in you and so that's our wonderful part to go to a dying world and say hey let me tell you about a really superhero his name is Jesus thank you Lord we love you and praise you in Jesus name amen amen amen

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