The Beast and the False Prophet

Good evening. Would y'all stand with me? We want to welcome you to Calvary Chapel this evening and we want to welcome those of you who are joining us online. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we just thank you for this opportunity to gather this midweek day, evening to worship in song and study your word, Lord. Bless each aspect of the ministry this evening as the children's church

church is going on. Bless that the youth group. Bless that, Lord, the nursery and our time in here, Lord, as we worship in song and study your word. Be glorified, Lord, in all that we do. We just give you thanks, the desire. Give us a hunger for your word and the desire for that sacrifice. That's how that without the shedding of blood, there's no remediance to the Father. You said,

not my will, but yours. And so, Father God, we thank you that we're forgiven. We thank you that our hope is in you. Father, as Pastor Ryan, that you would give wisdom to each to perceive your word, hear it, and all those things that you want to do with each one here tonight. We give you thanks in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless y'all. Good evening. If you would open

up in your Bibles to the book of Revelation, chapter 13. Revelation 13. Tonight, we're going to look at two very important things. We're going to look at two very important things. We're going to look at two very important things. We're going to look at two very important things. We're going to look at two very interesting characters in times events, very interesting characters in the book

of Revelation, the beast and the false prophet, or the antichrist and the false prophet. So, we pick up in chapter 13, verse 1. This is what it says. And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. The beast which I saw was like

a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast. They worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority, and his feet were like those of a

beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him? There was given him a mouth, speaking arrogant words and blasphemies. And authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. It was also given to him to make

war with the saints and to overcome them. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to And authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him. Everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world and the book of life of the Lamb who had been slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If

anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes. If anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. So this first character that we look at is referred to as the beast. Now let's build just a little bit of context here for what we're dealing with, because the first character that we see is

actually the dragon. Now in chapter 12, we talked about this war that took place in heaven. And one of the characters in the war that took place in heaven was the dragon. And of course, if we wondered who the dragon was, John identified him for us in chapter 12. The dragon is the devil or Satan, the accuser of the brethren, the one who deceives. That's who the dragon is. And so as John begins to see this scene,

as he moves from heaven down to earth, because remember, where had the dragon been cast out of? The dragon had been cast out of heaven and down to the earth and was not allowed back in there. No more place was found in heaven for him. And so it says, the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore and I saw a beast coming out of the sea. The place where this beast is coming from is out of the sea. And from that, we understand that this

beast will come out of the Gentile nations. As a matter of fact, you might write over the margin of your Bible. If you don't have it in there already, Daniel chapter seven, because Daniel chapter seven is going to use very similar language to describe this antichrist that is described for us here in chapter 13. We're told that he came out of the sea because the sea is oftentimes in the Old Testament referred to as the sea of the sea. And so we're told that he came out of the sea.

As the Gentile nations, the exact same language is used in Daniel chapter seven. And so we know that this, this beast is coming out of the sea. And then we're given this description of what this beast looked like. Notice what it says in verse one, the beast that was coming up out of the sea had 10 horns and seven heads and on his horns were 10 diadems and on his heads were blasphemous names.

Now this should sound familiar to you for two reasons. It should first of all sound familiar to you because that's the description of the dragon in chapter 12. Remember that exact same description is given to us of the dragon. Now that indicates something to us. What that indicates to us is that there's something very satanic about this man that comes out of the sea, about this

leader that comes from amongst the Gentile nations. Not only is he from amongst the Gentiles, but there's something very satanic in nature about him. But there should be a second reason why that sounds a little bit familiar to you. And it again goes back to the book of Daniel, because in the book of Daniel, when it describes in chapter seven, this antichrist, it describes the 10 horns, a 10 nation confederation. So let's

see if we can't figure out what these things mean. So it says they has 10 horns. And we know from Daniel chapter seven, that that speaks of 10 Kings, but he also has seven heads. Now this is a pretty grotesque looking creature if you think about it. So what are these seven heads? Well, I'm glad that you asked. Turn over to the book of Revelation chapter 17. And I want you to look at verses nine through 12 of chapter 17. Revelation 17,

nine says this, here is the mind, which has wisdom, the seven heads. Oh, wait, that's the exact same thing we're talking about right now. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits and they are seven Kings. Five have fallen. One is the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must remain a little while the beast, which was, and is not is himself also in

eighth and is one of the seven. And he goes to destructions that the, to destruction, the 10 horns, which you saw are 10 Kings who have not yet received a kingdom that they receive authority as with the beast for one hour. So what are these seven heads? Well, these seven heads we're told right here are seven mountains that are seven Kings. Now I believe that these represent the

Gentile nations. Some of which are presented to us in the book of Daniel two are not. I believe that they represent the nations of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece. And the one that is as was mentioned there in chapter 17 is the nation of Rome. The one that is, that has not come yet. The seventh one is the Antichrist. He's the one that is to come. And so when we see this Antichrist emerging with these seven heads, we realize that

there's seven Kings and he's one of them, but he also has these 10 horns again from the book of Daniel. We know that those 10 horns are a 10 nation confederation that will be established during the end times during that tribulational period, at which point in time, one of the horns will become greater than the other. And so when we see this Antichrist emerging with these seven leaders and take over, that's the Antichrist. So we see this description given to us 10 horns, seven heads, 10 diadems. But there's one other thing that we take note of on his head were

blasphemous names on his head were blasphemous names. Now, blasphemy can take on a couple of different forms. Blasphemy can either be speaking against God, or it can be putting yourself in the place of God. I believe that's what it's speaking of. When it speaks of the blasphemous names on his head, the pride of these leaders and the pride of this Antichrist. And we'll see that again with some of the words that he speaks. And so

we see this description given of him, but now the description continues in verse two. It says in the beast, which I saw was like a leopard and his feet were like those of a bear and his mouth, like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his sword gave him his power. And the beast gave him his power and his sword gave him his power. He has the throne and great authority. Now again, from Daniel chapter seven, we're given the

description of four nations. In Daniel chapter seven, we're given the description of the nations of Babylon, which is the lion. We're given the description of the nation of Medo-Persians, which is the bear. We're given the description of the nation of Greece, which is the leopard. The only one that is not mentioned in John here is the image of the eagle, which is the Roman

empire itself. Only the first three are combined to talk about this beast. And it's interesting these animals that are used because they each symbolize something. Of course, the leopard speaks of the great speed with which this leader will come in, the swiftness of which this leader will come in. The feet like a bear speak of his great power and the mouth like a lion speaks of

not only his ferocious nature, but also the authority that we will have, that he will have over the earth. And then the last thing that we see is where his authority comes from. His authority comes from none other than the dragon himself. Interesting because while the authority comes from the dragon, it could not have any authority unless it were allowed by God.

And so we see that God allows this, but it is Satan that empowers. Now, I've been thinking about this quite a bit over the last two or three days, this authority that the king has, this authority that this antichrist has. And it reminded me of something that old Dr. J. Vernon McGee used to always say. He says, a nation will always get the leaders that it deserves.

A nation will always get the leaders that it deserves. Now, in the end times, we're going to see that all of the world, save a remnant of people that have come to the, to the truth, but the world as a whole has turned against God. And so God said, if you want to turn against me, then I'll give you exactly what you want. And I'll give you the exactly the leader that you deserve, a leader that is empowered by none other than Satan himself, because that's what you deserve. But can I draw a quick point

of application without getting myself in too much trouble? It's probably not possible, but I'm going to do it anyway. A nation have the leader that we deserve right now. We have a leader with no authority. We have a leader with no backbone. We have a leader with no morality. And that's exactly what we deserve as a nation, because as a nation, we've lost our authority. We've lost our backbone and we've lost

our morality. We have no strong moral ground to stand on because we stopped being a nation of godliness. I have been in shock the past two weeks at how many mass shootings there's been, there have been. I don't know why, but I just can't stop thinking about it. The fact that within two days, there's been two. There was one at a sweet 16 birthday party. And there was one that started

in a home and ended on a highway. One was in Alabama. One was in Maine of all places, right? I didn't know anybody in Maine was allowed to own a gun, but you know why these things are taking so long? Because the heart of the nation has turned against God. And when the heart of a nation turns against God, then God turns against the heart of a nation. And he begins to give us not

only the leaders that we deserve, but he turns us over to our own ways. I fear that what we're seeing in the United States of America today is God telling the nation, fine then, have it your way. And he's giving us exactly what we've asked for. And so we see that this leader receives his authority from none other than the dragon himself, who of course has been kicked out of heaven and is ready to unleash his fury upon the earth. But the next thing that we see is we see that there's a fatal wound that takes

place with this antichrist. He says, I saw one of his heads, verse three, as if it had been slain and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed. And followed after the beast. And they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast saying, who is like the beast? And who is able to wage war with him? Okay. This is another little section where I go, I have questions, right? I hope through

all of this, you've thought the same thing. I have questions. I hope when I'm done teaching, you still go, I have questions that you want to go search out more for yourself. Because quite frankly, when I get done on a Wednesday night, I'm still like, I got questions. I don't know if I solved all the problems. I don't know if I solved all the problems. I don't know if I solved all the

problems that I needed to solve tonight. Okay. So what we see is that this beast receives a fatal wound as if it had been slain. Interestingly enough, the exact same Greek language is used here that's used of Christ earlier in the book of Revelation when he was referred to as the lamb who looked as if he had been slain. Same Greek language that's used there. That should tell us

something. What does that tell us about the antichrist? He's a counterfeit. Because Satan is a counterfeit, right? We need to know that. And so going into this, it says that one of his heads was as if it had been wounded. And then the fatal wound was healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast. So what's he talking about? What actually takes place here? Well, I'm going to give you a handful

of the things that I read about over the past couple of days about what may have happened. And then I'll give you my opinion. And that plus $4.95 will get you a coffee at Starbucks, but you'll get the idea. So these are a handful of the ideas. And if this is your idea, maybe you could hit bingo, right? So one of the ideas is that this fatal wound is the partial destruction of the Roman

empire. And the healing of the wound is the reviving of the Roman empire. Matter of fact, John Walvoord, a commentator I very much respect, that's what he holds to. That's the idea that he holds to. J. Vernon McGee is the same way, that this is the revived Roman empire, that that's what this is talking about, is the healing of this fatal wound. And everybody goes, oh my gosh, we didn't think that this could

be brought back. And so that's the healing of this fatal wound. It could be that this antichrist is killed and brought back to life. The problem with that is that only God has the power to give life. That is firmly established throughout scripture, the author and sustainer of life is God. So I have a hard time going along with that as an idea, that this antichrist is actually killed and brought back. But several commentators pointed

out that in Zechariah chapter 11, verse 17, as a matter of fact, turn there with me really quickly. Zechariah 11, 17, two books before the end of the Old Testament, one past Malachi. It speaks of the worthless shepherd, which is another term that is used for the antichrist. Zechariah chapter 11, verse 17, it says this, Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock. A sword will be on his arm and on his

right eye. His arm will be totally withered and his right eye will be blind. The commentators interpreted it like this. They said there will be some form of an assassination attempt upon this antichrist and he will be healed from it, whether through lying signs and wonderings, or something along those lines, or he will survive an assassination attempt and everybody will be amazed by it. Which of those is it? I have no idea. This thing I do know,

whichever it is, there will be great deception involved. I think that there will be some aspect of either making it look like he was killed and brought back to life or a wound that took place and then he's healed from it. I think that there's going to be some aspect of deception, that will be involved with this antichrist at this point in time. And the reason why I believe that this will be some act of deception is because we are told that in the end times, there will be a great deception that takes place. A deception that falls upon everyone to where

they will believe everything that this antichrist has to say. Now, I don't know about you, but I've questioned that sometimes. I'm like, can people really, is there really going to be something that happens at that point in time that will cause this antichrist to die? I don't know about you, that many people to be deceived. But then I watch an interview with anybody and I'm like,

yeah, that can probably happen. I follow Charlie Kirk on Instagram. If you don't follow Charlie Kirk, you should, because he puts out all kinds of interesting information. But I follow Charlie Kirk on Instagram and he showed a clip from The View. Now, I do everything within my power to not even know The View exists. But anyway, this was kind of interesting. Some actress who

I have no idea who she is, it's inconsequential to me. This actress was sitting on the stage, talking to Whoopi Goldberg. And she said, you know what I have found so disturbing in the world today, so disturbing in religion today, is that the Christian right is no different from the Taliban. There's nothing about the Christian right that is different from the Taliban today.

And that's bothersome to me. And Whoopi Goldberg goes, I don't think you're the only one that feels that way. And I'm watching this. I'm going, do you know what the Taliban does? Have you ever, you wouldn't be on stage. Who's talking if the Taliban was the Christian right? We would have already kicked you off the stage by now, because you're a woman. The Christian right isn't the Taliban. But you see, she's bought

into a great deception. And she's the beginning of it. We all look right now and we go, oh my gosh, she's deceived. But that's the way the whole world will be at that point in time. Because the enemy deceives. Now, I'm going to follow that with the same statement I've been making over and over again. She is not our enemy. Know that. That woman whose name I don't know is not my enemy, just because she made a foolish

statement. Because she is deceived. She is someone whose eyes need to be open to the truth. Because you know what? Before I came to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, I was deceived too. My deception looked different than hers, but it was still deception. And so whatever takes place with this fatal wound, there's a great deception that will take place because it will be the bolstering of

this antichrist. Because I want you to notice the effect of the antichrist. I want you to notice the effect of this fatal wound being healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast. You see, that's the end result of whatever this situation is that took place, is that the whole earth is amazed and they followed the beast and they went, who is like the

beast? Who can wage war with him? Because no one can defeat the beast. And everyone worshiped the dragon and everyone praised the dragon. And everyone worshiped the dragon and everyone praised the beast. Now, after we've seen this situation with the fatal wound, he begins to explain a little bit about what this beast will do or what the beast does as he is among the people. Notice what it

says. Verse five, there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act for 42 months was given to him. Three things we see in that verse. We see, first of all, that he was given, a mouth to speak arrogant words and he was given a mouth to speak blasphemies. Two completely different things. There will be an arrogance about this antichrist and the arrogance about

this antichrist will be the self-promotion that will continue to take place. I appreciated that John Corson said this, although I'm going to use newer people. He will hit all of the talk show circuits, right? The commentary that I was reading, this age is the commentary that I was reading by John Corson. He goes, he will be on Donahue. He will be on Oprah and he will be, I mean, he listed

one more. I don't remember the name of it, but he will be on Donahue. He will be on Donahue. He will be on Larry King. He'll be on Larry King. He'll be on all those places touting the greatness of what he was able to do. Listen, I don't know where all the antichrist is going to be, but he'll be on all of the talk shows touting just how amazing he is. And you know, they will dote over him. Can you

imagine what those interviews will be like? How did you do it? Tell us, tell us how you, I mean, we're talking Caesar Flickerman on steroids, right? I mean, just it's going to be awful. And so he'll speak arrogant. He'll be on Donahue. He'll be on Donahue. He'll be on Donahue. He'll be on Donahue. But then the other thing he'll speak is, is blasphemies. And we know that the greatest

blasphemy that he will speak will be standing in the temple and declaring himself to be God. And then the third thing that we read about him is that he's given authority to act for 42 months. Have you noticed a theme about how long some of this stuff is going to take? Ever since we hit about chapter 11, all of these things are going to take place for, for 42 months, three and a half years, time, times, and half the time. You see, God is very specific in laying out to John exactly what

the timeframe is going to look like. Now, well, let's move on and I'll deal with that in just a second. It says, it was also given to him. Oh, excuse me. No, no. Yeah. Verse seven. It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them and have authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. It was all given to him. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him. Everyone whose name has not been written

from the foundation of the world in the book of the life of the, or in the book of life of the lamb who had been slain. The next thing that we see is it's given to him to make war with the saints. Now you should ask yourself a question right now to make sure that you're still a pre-tribulationalist. Who are the saints? I thought the church wasn't in here, Ryan. The church isn't

in here. Remember we talked about the fact that there's going to be saints during the tribulation period. I think there's two different reasons for that. There's going to be saints during the tribulation period. There's going to be saints during the tribulation period. There's going to groups that fit into this. I think the groups that fit into this are first of all, the nation

of Israel, because oftentimes in the old Testament, the nation of Israel referred to as those set apart the saints, if you will, the called out ones of God. But I believe it's also those that get saved during the time of the tribulation. Those who come to that knowledge of the truth. And it says it's given to him by who remember by the dragons given to him to wage war with the saints and sadly enough to overcome them.

And that everybody will worship the beast. Again, we're told in the book of Daniel that when this guy hits the scene, matter of fact, we also saw it in the beginning of revelation. When this guy hits the scene, everything's going to be great. He will, as we're told in Daniel chapter nine, he will make firm a treaty with the people for seven years. And it will seem like everything's going

to be amazing. I believe at that point in time is when the temple will be rebuilt. And the whole world will look at him and go, oh my gosh, look at what he's done. He's brought peace to the Middle East. He's brought peace everywhere. He's brought all these things together and everything will look wonderful until the middle of the tribulational period. And what Jesus in Matthew chapter 24 refers to as the abomination of desolation as

spoken of by the prophet Daniel, when he sets himself up in the temple, hit the road, Jack. You know why he tells in the, children of Israel in the book of Matthew, that when the abomination of desolation sets himself up in the temple, it's time to hit the road is because it's been given to him to wage war with the saints and to overcome them. That's why it's going to be really good. If you're not pregnant, when you have to make this trip, it's going to be really good. If you don't go back to

the house to get your coat. Once the Antichrist says, worship me, don't look back. Just get out flee because it'll be given to him to wage war. With the saints and to overcome them. This worship of the Antichrist has seen multiple places throughout scripture, but it's what he will declare that the entire world will do. Everyone will worship him. Ah, almost everyone, everyone's name who has not been written from the foundation

of the world in the book of life of the lamb who has been slain. Can I just say that the end of verse eight is a little bit of an oasis in what is a very dry and thirsty land, because we're reminded that the only ones who don't bow down to him are those whose names have been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. If you have the King James or the new King James translation, it says those whose names have been written in the book of life of life of the lamb who has been slain since the foundation of the world. I want to point a couple of things out to you about that verse, because I think it's amazing. First of all,

those whose names were written in the book of life, they're not bowing the knee, right? They're not going to bow down to the idol. As a matter of fact, that's how some of them end up in heaven at the foot of the altar going, Lord, how long, how long until you pour out judgment on him? Oh, not yet. But I want to point out a couple of other things. God's plan of redemption

has been since the foundation of the world. Let me put it to you this way. God knew what he was getting into when he made us. God knew what he was getting into when he formed us. He knew he would have to redeem us. And you know what? He did it anyway. I've always said, I'm so glad looking back on life, the things I've gone through up to this point in time, God didn't tell me ahead of time what all

I was going to have to go through. He didn't say, hey, by the way, these are all the things that I'm going to have to go through. These are all the things you're going to go through in your life. And I know I've got some things ahead of me that I'm still going to have to go through in life. But I'm really glad that I haven't known what all those details are.

Because if I knew what all those details were, I might just be like, no, right? Like when I became the pastor here, if somebody would have been like, hey, in about three years, there's going to be a pandemic and you're going to have no idea what you're supposed to do. And you'll be right if you do something or you'll be wrong if you do what everybody says is right. And you'll be wrong if you do what everybody says is right. And you'll be wrong if you do what everybody says is right.

is wrong. No matter what you do, you'll be wrong. I would have been like, well, I'm not going to be a pastor then. That's a terrible idea. I don't want to be a pastor in a pandemic. God didn't tell me that. He just said, go do it. And I was like, okay, right? Just ignorantly, blissfully going into life. But God knew exactly what he was getting into when he got us. God did know

everything that we were going to have to go through. God knew everything we would put him through, and he did it anyway. Can I just tell you, there's no greater love than that. There's no greater love that you can understand about God than to know that he knew what you were going to put him through, and he did it anyway. But the second thing I want to point out to you is this.

Your name has been written in the book of life since before the foundation of the world. And if you don't believe it from Revelation, you could at least believe it from Ephesians chapter one. Where it says that you were chosen in him, listen, before the foundation of the world. God was like, let's write some names down. Ryan. My daughter asked me a fascinating question.

I was taking her to jujitsu tonight. She goes, dad, if I hadn't been born before the rapture happened, would I be in heaven with you? And I was like, ooh, that's a good one. Okay, if mom was pregnant, yes. If not, no. We hadn't thought of you yet. She goes, what if you'd started thinking about me? Would I have gone there? And I was like, oh my gosh, that's, that's way too deep for me on

a Wednesday evening. That's how God is, man. Before the foundation of the world, he was thinking about us, and he was writing your name down. You should, you should really bask in that, right? Charles Spurgeon put it best. He said, I don't have a problem with the fact that God chooses people. I have a problem with the fact that God chose me, because it's just awe-inspiring sometimes, right?

I'm used to being the guy that gets, gets picked last for like the basketball team and stuff, right? I mean, I guess nobody else is going to take the bald guy. We'll take him. But God's like, but I pick you, and he chose you, written before the foundations of the world. All right, moving on. It says, if anyone has an ear, let him hear. It means that's something we

should really pay attention to. If anyone's destined for captivity, to captivity he goes, if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. And here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. There's two things I want to point out to you about that verse. Number one is that judgment will be sure for the Antichrist and all those who wage war against

the saints. That's what he means by that. Number two, there is a distinct need for perseverance, because notice what he says. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints, is the knowledge that though incredibly difficult things may come upon you, God will take care of you. God will avenge you. And there's a great need for perseverance. There's a great need for the perseverance of the saints during the time of the tribulation.

And brothers and sisters, there's a great need for the perseverance of the saints right now. It is way too easy for us as believers in Jesus Christ to go, that's hard. I'm not going to do that. No, it is going to be hard. You should do it anyway. It is going to be hard. You should move forward anyway. Okay. So that's the beast from the sea, the Antichrist. We could probably spend a good

amount of time actually listening. And by the way, you should check it out too. I listened to the first part of the series by Jack Hibbs today on the Antichrist, and he goes very topically over this. I'm assuming the second part of this series is going to be either tonight or Sunday morning. I'm not sure which, but you should go to Jack Hibbs' website, which is just jackhibbs.com and

listen to that study because it's a really, really good study. Fascinating stuff. If you want to learn just a little bit more about that, go to jackhibbs.com. If you want to learn just a little bit more, my goal is not to dig too deeply into the Antichrist, but to move through Revelation. So now we come to the false prophet. It says, then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb,

and he spoke as a dragon. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose fatal wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he makes fire come down from out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given to him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give

breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not want to be healed. And he makes fire come down from out of heaven to the earth in the presence worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he causes all the small and the great and the rich and the poor and the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. And he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has

understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man, and his number is 600. And 66. At least it's not a controversial section. Okay, so we come to another beast, right? Now, it means another of the same kind, but it is a different beast, okay? And the things that let us know that it's a different beast are a handful of things that show that it is different. Number one,

it comes up out of the earth. Now, there are some commentators who teach that because it comes up out of the earth, it speaks of the land which speaks of the land of Israel. Again, J. Vernon McGee, John Walvoord, they both speak of the land of Israel. And they both speak of the land of Israel. And they both speak of the land of Israel. And they both speak of the land of Israel. And they both

feel this way. Is this false prophet going to come out of the nation of Israel? Maybe. Is it not going to come out of the nation of Israel? Maybe. It comes out of the earth. That's all I can really tell you on that because, again, people are very split on their opinion on that. Some people believe that it will be someone who is Jewish by birth, and then there are just as many people who are

just as adamant that it will not be. From this, we understand something, though. It is different from the Antichrist. This is a different individual. The second thing that we take note of is that this beast has two horns like a lamb, which, again, speaks of a little bit more mild of an individual, a little bit more gentle of an individual, two horns of a lamb. And then

the third thing that we see is that he spoke as a dragon, which tells us that this beast is empowered by Satan in the same way that the first beast is empowered by Satan. But now we see the mission of this beast. It says he exercises all authority of the first beast in his presence, and he makes the earth and all those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose fatal wound was healed. What's his mission? First of all, is to make the earth worship the first beast. This is why he's

often referred to as the false prophet. Because he will be the mouthpiece that tells everybody, this is the guy you should follow. He is, if you will, John the Baptist for Jesus. Some have even likened him to the Holy Spirit, an unholy Holy Spirit for Jesus that tells everybody you should worship the beast. He reveals the beast to everybody. Because notice what he does in verse 13. It says he performs

great signs. So that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. Now, a couple of things should come to your mind when you hear that verse. First of all, it says he performs great signs. Well, who performed great signs as far as the Old Testament was concerned? Well, I first of all think of Moses. Moses, who performed amazing signs and wonders, right? But there were some

magicians living in the land of Egypt at the same time that Moses was doing this. And do you remember what they did? The same signs after he performed them, they mimicked, they were a counterfeit of the things that Moses was able to do, those great signs and wonders. And that's exactly what this false prophet is going to do. He will perform lying signs and wonders. But there's a second thing that I took

note of. He is able to call fire down from out of heaven down to the earth. Do you remember what prophet did that? Elijah, when he was battling with the prophets of Baal. Remember, he built the altar, poured water all over the altar, and he called down fire from heaven that not only consumed the sacrifice and the water, but it consumed the altar. That tells us

that he will be a false prophet. Now, what did Jesus warn us so much about in Matthew chapter 24 to where he gave us two, if not three, warnings about it? In the end times, there will be false prophets who will arise and perform lying signs and wonders. If possible, even the elect. That's exactly what we see taking place here. He performs these lying signs and wonders. Verse 14, and he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs,

which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast. But there's one other thing that he does. He tells those who dwell on the earth to make an image of the beast who had the wound of the sword. Now, again, with the things we've talked about, you should be thinking about another Old Testament story, right? We're tying it all together with the book of Revelation. Remember somebody that

built an image to themselves? It was Nebuchadnezzar. He built the image that he had dreamed about and told everybody to worship him. Only this is going to be even a little bit different than that because he's going to tell all the people on the earth, you know what we should really do to honor this man, this Messiah who has brought peace to everyone? We should build an image to

him and that's a great idea. That's how we can honor him. We'll build a statue of him and then we'll build a library. No, it doesn't say anything about a library. We'll build a statue to him, but something fascinating takes place. It says, verse 15, and it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many

as do not worship the image of the beast. To be killed. I'm not going to lie. I've been thinking about this one a lot more than I probably should have because I'm going, what would that even be? And how would he be able to give an image breath? Now, again, most of the commentaries I'm reading are pretty old. Of course, technology has advanced fast enough that two years ago could have been pretty old, right? Of course, all the

commentaries that I'm reading that are remotely modern at all talk about technology, but you know what I'm thinking about? Again, I don't know if this makes me weird or not, but follow me. I'm thinking about all of the AI stuff that's out right now. I'm thinking about the images that AI is going to be able to use. You know, I was listening to a radio program the other day,

a talk show, and a lady called in who, well, he invited this lady on the show to talk about this because someone had used AI to place a phone call as if they had abducted her daughter. And told her that if she did not deposit a million dollars into an account that he would kill her daughter. And she's absolutely freaked out. And so she gets a hold of her husband and says, this is what's going on. He goes, what are you talking about? She's with me. She said,

it was the creepiest thing. He had her voice. He was able to play her voice for me to show me that he had her. It was the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen. Most terrifying thing I'd ever heard of. She couldn't even hardly tell the story. Without being in tears. And her daughter is completely fine. Artificial intelligence. Now, I've always had a theory that goes along with the Tower of Babel, right? So the Tower of Babel,

which by the way, was instituted by Nimrod, which if you know anything about Nimrod, you know that Nimrod was the first to come in a spirit of an antichrist. Because Nimrod was the first builder of kingdoms. It says he was a mighty hunter before the Lord. But the idea behind that and his desire was to kill God. He was an archer whose goal was to kill God. And so they built this

Tower of Babel for two reasons. Number one, to protect themselves from ever being flooded again. Number two, because Nimrod wanted to be worshiped as a God and he wanted to do away with God. Now, I've always said that our modern day Tower of Babel is technology. We have been in the process of building this modern day Tower of Babel. Now, I don't want you to go throw your iPhones away and

get rid of all your technology and go out and live on the land, right? That's not my goal of what I'm telling you right now. But what I'm saying is what we're seeing take place in our culture right now is the building of the new Tower of Babel. Because what is all of our greatest hope? Oh no, the cash is going to run out. That's okay. We can go to cryptocurrency. In cryptocurrency, I trust.

In technology, I trust. Right? That's what's going on right now. So I believe personally, again, this and a few dollars, they'll get you some coffee somewhere. I believe that this technology, this AI is what the false prophet will use to construct an image that, listen, it would not be that hard with the things that they can do with technology today to go straight Star Trek on us and

put an image of someone up there who breathes and talks. Only we'll be able to see it in real time, right? That's what I think is going to take place. Do with that what you will. But it's my own personal theory on this. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. And so he's going to construct this image. And as he constructs this image, I want you to notice

what it says. This image of the beast, Mila verse 15, would even speak and listen, cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. Now I'm running short on time. I'm actually going over time here, but hang with me. So the last thing that we see is we see a mark. And he says, and he causes all the small, the great, the rich, the poor, the free man and the slaves. It doesn't matter who you are to all be given a mark on their right

hand or on their forehead. Interesting because when God sealed the 144,000, do you remember what he used? He used a mark to seal them, right? Satan's a counterfeit. And he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast

for the number is that of a man. And his number is 666. Now here's what we know about the mark. We know that everyone will have to receive it. Otherwise they'll face death. We know that you will not be able to be a part of the economy. You will not be able to be a part of the world system. If you do not have this mark, we know that this mark will be placed on your right hand or on your forehead. And we know that

the mark can be kept. We know that the mark can be kept. We know that the mark can be kept. We know calculated to a number 666, which is the number of man. So what's the mark of the beast? I don't know. Neither does anybody else. Listen, the COVID-19 vaccine is not the mark of the beast. We need to know that. The chip on your credit card, not the mark of the beast. The shopper's

card that you use at Dillon's. I remember the nineties when those first came out, I think it was nineties and pastor and pastor Mark saying, I promise the Dillon's card is not the mark of the beast. And I was like, who thought that? Clearly people did. If that was, if that was you, it's okay. You don't have to tell anybody. Just keep it, keep it to yourself. These things are not the mark of the

beast. Listen, the mark of the beast will be something that is both economic and spiritual in nature. There will have to be a conscious choice to take it. And there will be something that alters everything about who we are. Once we've taken it, I believe there's something demonic in nature that will take place, but we don't know what it is. But listen, brothers and

sisters, we're not going to be here. The Bible's decently limited on what it tells us about the mark of the beast. And yet how many people spend oodles and gobs of time speculating on what the mark of the beast is. And they live their lives terrified. What if I took the mark of the beast? I like to screw with them a little bit. Well, you're in trouble. And then I say, I'm just

kidding. After I let it sit for a minute. Well, anyway, I'll leave that there. Because there will be a definitive dedication of yourself to the Antichrist to take that mark. And it tells us that when you add up the numbers, the mark is, for the number is that of a man and his number is 666. My favorite thing is when people start going, okay, so if you take the letter M, that's a 12. If you take the letter

this, that's a this. And if you add this up, turns out Nero was the Antichrist because his number equals 666. And if you add this up, turns out Nero was the Antichrist because his number equals 666. I don't know if we could do that or not. I know that the number six in biblical numerology always represents man. And isn't it kind of interesting that it's 666

representing what I think of as an unholy Trinity, right? Because that's kind of what we've seen here, right? It is an unholy Trinity. You see, in the Trinity, you have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And in this unholy Trinity, you have the dragon, which is Satan. You have the Antichrist. And then you have the false prophet, 666, the unholy Trinity. What's the mark of the

beast? I don't know. Don't be here to find out, okay? Trust in Jesus, okay? So here's what I want to wrap up with. I want to wrap up with three things because there's three little takeaways I want to point out. Why is chapter 13 in here? Well, because first of all, it shows us that what we are preparing for is a one-world government, a one-world religion, and a

one-world religion. And that's what we're preparing for. So what we're preparing for is a one-world economy. Again, I know he's a popular man, but Rick Warren calls it the three-legged stool. That if we could just get everybody together in our government and in our religion and in our economy, that we could have world peace. Which, by the way, is the name of his

website, peace. Do with that what you will, but let your discernment that comes through the Holy Spirit do some work on you when it comes to Rick Warren. Because you know who he got the three three-legged stool from? Peter Drucker, who's an atheist. So just so we know that. That's what's preparing us for right now. Therefore, as we look at our world and the things that are going on in

our world right now, we need to say, why are the things happening that are happening right now? Well, because it's all ushering us towards a one-world government and a one-world religion and a one-world economy. You know what the real problem is in the world right now? The Christian right. You know why? Because there's no difference between them and the Taliban.

We're the ones causing the problems right now. We're the ones that are preventing peace right now. Because we're the ones that can't get along with everybody. If we just had that one-world religion, we'd be fine. Listen, all of the governments in the world are falling apart right now. Vladimir Putin can't figure out how to take over Ukraine. Joe Biden doesn't know his name.

The guy from China can't decide if he's going to take over Taiwan. And the guy that looks like a squished-up peep can't figure out how to fire a missile correctly, right? We need a one-world government. That would solve everything. But you know what? Then there's the problem with the economy. Because what's going on in all of the economies of the world right now? They're falling

apart. They're falling apart. We should just all pool our resources and we should have a one-world economy. Identities are getting stolen left and right. You know what? If we could put everything into something that would go in your right hand or your forehead, which by the way, Amazon's working on that. I think they have it going in places like Portland. All of the technology,

there to do some of this kind of thing. If we just had one-world economy, then it would solve everything. Friends, that's what's happening in our world right now. I don't tell you that to freak you out. I tell you that to get you ready. I tell you that because it means it's time to focus. And that brings me to my second point. Do not put your trust in man. Don't put your trust in man.

Because right now, our entire world is looking for someone who can solve it all. I don't know how many of us, and listen, I know all of us as believers, we just want Trump to get re-elected, right? Everything. How many of you have posted recently, this is what gas prices were in 2020. I'd go for some mean tweets and a good gas price right now. Listen, it's not Trump we're trusting in, okay? It's not Ron DeSantis we're trusting in.

It's none of these people. You cannot put your trust in man. Because listen, what the entire world is going to be looking for is someone who can solve it all. And if you don't put your trust in man, you can't put your trust in man. So we can't put our trust in a man. Because men will always do the same thing. They'll let us down. And they will not ask for directions, right? And so that brings

me to number three. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Because that's what the book of Revelation is supposed to do for us, is it's supposed to put our eyes on Jesus. Because if we will keep our eyes on Jesus and look full in his wonderful face, then the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. You keep focusing on knowing your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And he will take care of all of these

other things. Because friends, the economy is falling apart. I don't know if you've noticed that. There's going to be more food shortages. I don't know if you've noticed that. Because unless we get rain sometime soon, God bless them. I'm praying for these farmers right now. And you should be praying for the farmers right now. Because as much as it gets exciting to know that all of these

things are coming into play, there are real people that are really losing crops right now. And they're really losing cattle right now. And that means they're really having a hard time putting food on their table right now and paying their bills right now. And you need to be praying for these guys. Because you know what? We have a God who took care of his people during drought. If you

don't believe me, just read the stories of Elijah and Elisha, how God was able to take care of his people miraculously in a drought when they had an idiot for a ruler, right? And God can do the same thing today. And God can do the same thing today. And God can do the same thing today. And God can do the same thing today. Keep your eyes on Jesus, because he is the author and the finisher of our

faith. Amen. Father, we come to you now and we thank you for who you are. Lord, I thank you that you've told us that these things are going to take place because we're your friends. And Lord, people tell their friends what they're about to do. And that's what you did for us. And so Lord, keep us close to you, I pray, and keep our eyes on you. Lord, it's fun to study these things and

to speculate, but what we really want to do is see Jesus. And so Lord, help us to know and understand, to discern the signs of the times. But Lord, also keep our eyes focused on you, the author and the finisher of our faith. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.