13 and 14
We begin to talk about the anti-Christ, son of perdition, man of lawlessness,
This battle between mankind and Satan began back in Genesis 3….verses 14, 15 says this, there are two seeds the seed of man and the seed of Satan, the battle has always been between man and Satan but God through Christ gave us the power to overcome him, if we desire
Genesis 3:14, 15 So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 and I will put enmity Between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
The serpent is identified here in revelation as we talked about last week as the red dragon, he is going to bring forth this coming world leader there are a many titles for him in both the old and new testaments.
He also has a side kick known as the false prophet. These three Satan, the world leader (the false messiah), the false prophet (as the counterfit Holy Spirit) The Satanic trinity!
We will see the rising of two beast one from land and one from the sea these are the world leader and false prophet, let’s go
13:1 “Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns….
- The crowns here are diadems crowns of authority were given to this beast from Satan. Because this beast rises from the water many scholars believe that this beast is a Gentile, often in Scripture the masses of people are described as a sea
1a, 2 And written on each head were names that blasphemed God. 2 This beast looked like a leopard, but it had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion! And the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority.
This reflects Daniel 7 if you have time read that chapter. As you read that chapter you will see that we have this beast portrayed in the inverse order of Daniel that is because Daniel was looking forward and John is looking backward….the Lion communicates offensively, arrogantly (Nebuchadnezzar), the Bear controls extensively (Persian empire), Leopard conquers swiftly (Daniel 8) Alexander the great, and all of these attributes are given to the world leader.
3 I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast.
You can look at this as a wound to a government or an entity. Others feel it is literal to a person. It is very possible that both are correct.
I think the more we watch this emerge it seems we are talking about a literal person. The world thinks he was dead and it amazes the world as he seems to come back to life. It seems that this head wound becomes a leading identifier of this person.
There is a physical identifier of this world leader in the last verse of Zachariah 11:17. Zachariah gives us insight into this last days world leader
What sorrow awaits this worthless shepherd (or Idolatrous shepherd)
who abandons the flock!
The sword will cut his arm
and pierce his right eye.
His arm will become useless,
and his right eye completely blind.”
This is one of these little enigmas that lace the book of Zachariah. This final world leader will have an arm incapacitated and an eye incapacitated which may explain why it is that his followers will want to honor him by getting his mark on their forehead or hand or both, (giving allegiance to the beast).
4 They worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. “Who is as great as the beast?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?”
This world leader is going to be filled with Satanic power. Many of us could make a list of people we believe are Satanically filled with power. But take note they will worship Satan, his followers are Satan worshipers. He is going to be satanically empowered and the entire world is going to worship Satan because of him and he will appear to be invincible.
5 Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months.
Two Identifiers head wound and the other is that is he has a big mount, all through Daniel he is boasting and Paul in Thessalonians 2 says his arrogance will be outstanding. He is given 3 and ½ years to do whatever he wants
6 And he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and his dwelling—that is, those who dwell in heaven.
He blasphemes God, His name, heaven and his throne, and the church and the angels.
7 And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation.
He was allowed to conquer the saints…doesn’t that fly in the face of Jesus words
Matthew 16:15-18
Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.
Jesus says here the powers of hell will not prevail against the church, but Revelation says the anti-Christ will overcome the saints….this is a very clear indication that the church, once again is already in heaven as Jesus said satan will not overcome the church but these tribulation saints are not the church they are end-time saints, the church has been taken out.
This is a period of suffering over the whole world, Gentile saints are killed in the time of the tribulation.
8 And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made.
Notice everyone will worship the beast, every Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, false Christians, every religion will lay down the tenets of their faith and worship the beast.
9,10 Anyone with ears to hear
should listen and understand.
10 Anyone who is destined for prison
will be taken to prison.
Anyone destined to die by the sword
will die by the sword.
This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful.
Everyone must hear and understand the fate of the tribulation saints and the fate of the earth dwellers whose names are not in the book of life
This is the launching of the world leader, but there are two portions of the anti-Christ
13:11 Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of a dragon.
Some scholars speculate because he is coming out of the earth that he is of Jewish heritage, whether that is true or not is worth at least considering, also the mention of being like a lamb, he is not a lamb but like one the two horns represent two symbols of authority. (political, spiritual), here he is called the other beast, in other places we he will be called the false prophet. He is alluded to being Jewish in Ezekiel 21, 28; Daniel 11:36,37; John 5:43, Psalm 65 he is received by Israel which leads some to believe He is Jewish.
12- 14 He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he required all the earth and its people to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. He did astounding miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was watching. 14 And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life
He gets his power from the one whose deadly wound was healed. He provides false wonders that are imitations of God’s power. This is a always a challenge for us as Pentecostals and Charismatics, we believe in the gifts and the power of God being used today but don’t follow signs and wonders only follow the Lord. Who is getting the glory from the signs and wonders God or someone or something else? He deceived many by miracles….Satan’s greatest thing is deception…can you imagine a major political figure performing miracles? If you focus is on signs and wonders your will always be seeking more but you focus must be on Jesus!
15 He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die.
This is like nebuchadnezzars statue Daniel 3. Think about today’s technology, could this be a hologram, or it could be an actual statue that speaks
16,17 He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. 17 And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.
This is a brand or seal, his followers will take on a brand that will show their allegiance to this leader. He is able to enforce that because he has economic control. There is nothing wrong with having a credit card or a pin number that is not the point it is His name, His number not yours that will be branded on these people and each one is destined for hell as they take on complete allegiance to Satan. Leviticus 19,21 Deuteronomy 14 and some other places prohibit Israel from taking a mark. I mentioned earlier about his eye and arm are dried up.
18 Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.
People who know nothing about God know about 666 but we get it wrong so often. The number 6 is used as the number for man 7 is complete, perfection God and 6 is one less.
Many people have tried to fit Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, Adolf Hitler, Napoleon, and so many others the problem is none of these work in the Greek. English count and letters aren’t what is being fulfilled here. There are multiple ways people try to make it work out mathematically. If you torture the data long enough it will say anything. Whose number are we talking about? People worry about RIFD’s, inserted chips but once again it is not our name and number but it is the anti-Christ’s. Have you taken His name or number? He will control your taking his name and number because without it you will not be able to transfer funds, make deposits, get paid, purchase food or anything, pay your bills…but it is the name and number of the one who survived the head wound and his arm doesn’t work and we won’t be here any way!
I need us to look at something here…Daniel chapter 9 is a prophecy about the coming messiah and then the 70th week which is the last days but there is a pause between the 69th week and 70th week and that has been 2000 years
Daniel 9:26, 27
After this period of sixty-two sets of seven, the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. (38 years after Jesus death and resurrection the Roman armies destroyed the city and the temple, Luke 21 we then are lead to then beginning of the 70th week because where the verse leads us) The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. 27 The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.”
A ruler from the tribe of the armies who destroyed the city and the temple during the 70th week will rise and make a peace treaty with Israel for 7 years but at the end of 3 and ½ years will break that treaty….so the anti-Christ will come from the Roman empire but we must remember the Roman empire western side collapsed 1000 years before the eastern side which stretched through to Iran.
Daniel chapter 2 and 7 reveal the kingdoms that will follow…I don’t have time to go into all of this I would encourage you to do a study in Daniel.
When we get to Chapter 17 we will find out a possibility of the nationality of the Anti-Christ
Micah 5: 5,6, Isaiah 10: 5,12,24, Isaiah 52:4 Pharoah that knew not Joseph
Chapter 14
Table of contents for what is going to happen later, prelude to the climax of the book which is the seven bowls of God’s wrath
1, 2 Then I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads
This is nearing the end of the great tribulation…there are 144,000 and none of the sealed have been lost…High priestly prayer , John 17 “all you have given me, I have lost none” It is a hope for us that God has us sealed and will keep us.
John is watching the 144,000 standing with Jesus, they may have known he was there are not seen him but Jesus was there with them.
. 2 And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of mighty ocean waves or the rolling of loud thunder. It was like the sound of many harpists playing together. 3 This great choir sang a wonderful new song in front of the throne of God and before the four living beings and the twenty-four elders. No one could learn this song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 They have kept themselves as pure as virgins, following the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been purchased from among the people on the earth as a special offering to God and to the Lamb. 5 They have told no lies; they are without blame.
They are singing in front of the church and the cherubim, it is song only these redeemed can sing this song…new song only the redeemed Psalm 3, 40, 96,98 and all through the Psalm
These were all virgins (could be natural) more likely have kept themselves from Idolatry as idolatry is identified spiritual fornication as we are dealing with the earth dwellers being caught up in worshiping the beast..the church is considered the chaste virgin of Christ…in contrast to Jezebel…..no lies, they were not taken in by the lie, 2 Thessalonians 2:11 Paul talks about the lie that the followers of the beast will be taken in by.
6,7 And I saw another angel flying through the sky, carrying the eternal Good News to proclaim to the people who belong to this world—to every nation, tribe, language, and people. 7 “Fear God,” he shouted. “Give glory to him. For the time has come when he will sit as judge. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all the springs of water.”
Notice the angels are proclaiming the Gospel (Good News) to the whole world but it is not the gospel of grace that we came to know Him by…but it is still a Gospel that God is proclaiming to the whole world….”Fear God” he is coming to judge….this is a last call to the rebellious…Notice the emphasis of God as creator….all of the lies of the enemy root lies are attacks on God the creator it is the failure to recognize God as creator in Romans 1 that results in God’s judgment of turning men and women over to homosexuality and lesbianism. Our culture is destroyed by the denial of God as creator leads to evolution which leads to the freedom of all kinds of sin including the murder of unborn children and the elderly.
Science by many of the distinguished scientist of history was the pursuit of the truth today it has become the pursuit of naturalist who discredit any God explanation even if they can’t explain it. Kepler and Newton both had basically said the true pursuit of science is the pursuit of the truth of God. Newton wrote over a million words of commentary over Daniel and Revelation.
8 Then another angel followed him through the sky, shouting, “Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen—because she made all the nations of the world drink the wine of her passionate immorality.”
Babylon has always been Satan’s headquarters Cimeramus female deity the worship associated with Nimrod which is fountainhead area of all false religion.
“Fallen Fallen” why is it mentioned twice it is mentioned the same way in Jeremiah 51. Genesis 41:32 we get an insight from Joseph the dream was double unto Pharaoh shows it was given by God and it is something that will shortly come to pass.
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 10 must drink the wine of God’s anger. It has been poured full strength into 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. 11 The smoke of their torment will rise 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.”
If you take his Mark you forfeit any opportunity to being saved…once again it is his mark, not your mark. We need to reach as many as we can now….the mark is tied in with his name so once again it is not a bar code of your name or a capsule with your bio information it is taking a mark of selling out completely to the fleshly desires Satan wanted man to chace from the beginning because that is who he is at war.
12 This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!”
Those who are coming to Christ during this time must patiently endure all that they are going through….this assurance is relevant to this tribulation saints because they may feel they have missed the rapture but the Lord assures them with the phrase “from now on” they will make it to heaven
14 Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was someone like the Son of Man. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
Jesus is here with a crown on his head and something we have never seen before, a sickle in His hand.
15,16 Then another angel came from the Temple and shouted to the one sitting on the cloud, “Swing the sickle, for the time of harvest has come; the crop on earth is ripe.” 16 So the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the whole earth was harvested.
The world ripe here means withered, overripe….it is a harvest because the fruit is rotten. This ties in with the next verses
17-19 After that, another angel came from the Temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, who had power to destroy with fire, came from the altar. He shouted to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sickle now to gather the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are ripe for judgment.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God’s wrath.
Strange terminology here, this is not a wheat harvest as we see implied when talking about the harvesting of souls we are talking about a grape harvest
Jeremiah 25:30,31 talks about God’s judgment as treading of a winepress and that is reflective of what John is seeing here
20 The grapes were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress in a stream about 180 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle.
Can you imagine a river of blood that is four to five feet deep? What is this hinting at? We will still discuss about the battle of Har – megeddio (armegeddon – (Har meaning mount) Jesus told the believers when you see Jerusalem surrounded by enemies to flee to the mountains. The discourses that we reading in Matthew24, Mark 13 and Luke are two different destructions of the temple. Because they followed Luke’s when general Vespasian and his son Titus were about to attack Jerusalem, they were stalled because Nero died and Vespasian ended up leaving and going to rome. During that period the Christians remembered Jesus words from Luke 21 and escaped and Eusibius tells us that over 1 million people were killed during that raid, under Titus but no Christians died because they believed Jesus and escaped. This was 38 years after Jesus words. Matthew addresses after the signs take place.
Many people think that Jesus in his return comes to the mt of Olives first, (Zachariah 14) but he actually goes to Basrah (Petra) first to rescue the remnant who will have escaped and are hiding out there. We see this happens Isaiah 63:1-6
Who is this who comes from Edom,
from the city of Bozrah,
with his clothing stained red?
Who is this in royal robes,
marching in his great strength?
“It is I, the LORD, announcing your salvation!
It is I, the LORD, who has the power to save!”
2 Why are your clothes so red,
as if you have been treading out grapes?
3 “I have been treading the winepress 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.
4 For the time has come for me to avenge my people,
to ransom them from their oppressors.
5 I was amazed to see that no one intervened
to help the oppressed.
So I myself stepped in to save them with my strong arm,
and my wrath sustained me.
6 I crushed the nations in my anger
and made them stagger and fall to the ground,
spilling their blood upon the earth.”
Jesus is covered with the blood of destroying his enemies and while he is coming back with the church. He doesn’t need the church, nor the angels, he eliminates the enemies, all by himself. This is the “day of vengeance” that he left out in Luke 4 when he announced His ministry. Jesus is coming back as a warrior and in God’s fury.
From Meggedo to Petra is 180 miles. A stream of blood running from Armageddon (Meggedo, near Haifa, to Petra where He rescues the redeemed. Once gain if anyone thinks the church is going to go through the tribulation doesn’t understand neither the nature of the church or the nature of the tribulation….you need to study ecclesiolgy and understand the purpose of the church as the bride of Christ and the purpose of the tribulation is the pouring out of God’s wrath on the rebellious world and forces.
Chapter 14 is just a preamble of what is going to happen in chapter 15 and 16…let me just show you
15:1 Then I saw in heaven another marvelous event of great significance. Seven angels were holding the seven last plagues, which would bring God’s wrath to completion.
We will be getting into the idea of eternal punishment….this is one of the hardest doctrines for Christians to grasp