Revelation Last Days Living

Transcription

1 Revelation Last Days Living The Second Beast Rising! Revelation 13:11-18 Message #19 of 27 S749 Sermon given on July 23, 2017 Sunday Morning Service Pastor Rick Lancaster

2 The Second Beast Rising! Revelation 13:11-18 Opening Comments Turn to Revelation 13 We continue our series: Last Days Living Living in the light of Christ s soon coming! Chapters 12 and 13 describe three evil characters of the Tribulation period So far, we have discussed the Dragon, aka, the Devil, or Satan Last time, it was the Antichrist, who is empowered and enabled by the Dragon to rule the world Today, we will look at the third of three evil characters that play a key role in the end times the False Prophet Neither the Antichrist nor the False Prophet are any direct concern to us they aren t revealed until after the Rapture of the church But Satan is real and active in the world today And so there are lessons we ought to look to extract from this text so that we can live in the light of Christ s soon coming Jesus is coming soon, and we need to know how to live while we wait There are three things this message will encourage you to do Test the spirits Stand in the truth Trust the Lord Let s pray and get into our text for today Pray Teaching The Second Beast Rising! The Antichrist is the first beast rose out of the sea He is not going to be alone in his work to cause the world to deny God and worship Satan Revelation 13:11 1

3 coming up out of the earth some believe that means he will be a Jew he had two horns horns speak of authority or power Antichrist has ten horns False Prophet will not have as much power as the Antichrist The Antichrist also has ten crowns = rulership False Prophet does not rule, but supports the Antichrist = Second-incommand like a lamb presents himself as being docile and humble innocent Then he opened his mouth spoke like a dragon Doesn t mean he breathed fire = he spoke in the same manner as the dragon same language as Satan Jesus referred to the way Satan communicates John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. Satan has been lying to mankind since Adam and Eve were walking in the Garden of Eden His greatest lie created doubt in the woman s mind when he asked her, Did God really say He is still using that same lie when he asks, Did God really say that same sex relationships are an abomination? or Did God really say that abortion is murder? or Did God really say that viewing pornography is equal to fornication or adultery? The False Prophet will be a very charismatic speaker, and he will be a consummate liar He will accomplish something that no man could hope to do today Revelation 13:12 He will convince the world to abandon whatever form of religion they are practicing, and worship the Antichrist who appeared to die and come back to life Today, this is inconceivable though there are many who have as a goal a one-world religion the current pope believes it is possible Satan empowers this man so that he is more convincing 2

4 Revelation 13:13 These are real miracles similar to the miracles the prophets in the Old Testament performed The Apostle Paul warned us that Satan can work miracles 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. The warning is simple, not all miracles are from God The false prophet is convincing Revelation 13:14 The miracles convince those who dwell on the earth to listen to the False Prophet who tells them to worship the Antichrist Let s keep all this in perspective We are at the halfway point in the Tribulation 3 ½ years of God s wrath has been poured out on the world The Antichrist rises up from among the people as reveals himself as the savior they are looking for, not in what he says, but in what he does It is the False Prophet who convinces the people that the Antichrist is worthy of worship through cunning lies and great signs, miraculous acts The False Prophet convinces the people to create an image, probably a statue And then the False Prophet does something that is amazing Revelation 13:15 I have heard and read all kinds of interpretations about how this might be accomplished, using modern robotics, artificial intelligence, or computer graphics As a natural-born skeptic, I would not be impressed by anything that I might be able to explain using natural terms or technological means Certainly wouldn t cause me to worship it, or the person it represents Verse 13 says that the False Prophet was granted by Satan the power to do great miracles 3

5 This statue will appear to come to life not alive but will appear that way The false prophet causes all who do not worship the image to be killed Reminds us of Nebuchadnezzar s statue and Daniel s three friends This is, most likely, what Jesus was referring to when He quoted Daniel Matthew 24:15 Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand) If the False Prophet s lies and his miracles are not enough to compel people to worship the first beast, the Antichrist, he has one more thing he does Revelation 13:16-17 Back in chapter 7, we were introduced to 144,000 Jewish men who were sealed by God with a visible seal on their forehead At the halfway point of the Tribulation these 144,000 are still running around preaching about Jesus The False Prophet imitates God s mark with a mark for the Antichrist And, as a way to control people, this mark will be required to buy or sell The mark is a symbol of allegiance to and worship of the Antichrist, and by extension, worship of Satan To work, you will need the mark To buy a loaf of bread, or medicine for your child, you will need to prove that you are in allegiance to the Antichrist To pull this off, cash money will have to be eliminated We are already well on our way toward a cashless society Credit cards, debit cards, online and smartphone transactions Direct deposit of payroll checks and automatic online payments of bills All these and more, mean people are handling less and less cash I am not certain if I will see it in my lifetime, but the world will go to a cashless society, unless the lord returns soon please There are tests being conducted on the feasibility of a subdermal chip to replace credit cards a chip that would contain all your pertinent information Technology is advancing to the point that all these things are possible 4

6 That is very exciting to me means Jesus could be back very soon There are some who believe that by participating in these technologies that they are somehow taking the mark of the beast Ron Rhodes It is important to differentiate between this technology and the mark of the beast, for the technology itself is not the mark. The mark will be a visible sign on the forehead or right hand which indicates your allegiance to the Antichrist The technology is what he will use to force compliance to his will Next comes a verse that has stirred very much debate Revelation 13:18 Somehow, the number 666 is going to point to a very specific man during the Tribulation period This number will be associated with him Some suggest that it has to do with the numerical value of his name Gematria is the assigning of numerical values to letters It goes back thousands of years For example, the numerical value of my name: Richard Dean Lancaster is 745 My question is, to identify the Antichrist, what language would we use to make the calculation: English, Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic? Ron Rhodes In some way that is presently unknown to us, this number will be a crucial part of the Antichrist s identification. Right now, 666 is just a number don t tattoo it on your body, but don t freak out if it shows up in the normal things of life Remember also, the Antichrist won t be revealed until after the Rapture of the church Don t look for the Antichrist, look for Jesus What should we do while we wait for Jesus to come and get us? Three things from today s message First Test the Spirits The False Prophet will be able to do many great miracles But his motivation is to deceive Not all miracles are from God 1 John 4:1-3 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh 5

7 is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. There has always been a segment of people who want to see the miraculous before they will believe The religious people asked Jesus for a sign, so they could be convinced He was from heaven He told them the only sign He would give, would be His resurrection People are still looking for signs, miracles, and wonders And some pastors and churches are teaching that is true spirituality And sadly, that includes some Calvary Chapels Read the book: Entertaining Deception David Newton ccfv.life If you need a miracle to believe you are vulnerable to the deception of the devil Miracles happen look to see what spirit is behind that miracle Second thing Stand in the Truth Christians can be deceived we see it happening all the time The problem is the devil is really good at lying doesn t look like a lie when he whispers it into your ear Jesus warned us that it could happen Mark 13:22-23 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 23 But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand. Jesus warned us so that we would not be deceived The only defense we have is the Word of God, breathed to life within us by the Spirit of God in faith Paul said in Ephesians 6, Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth Surround your life with the truth saturate your life with God s Word If you do that, you will not be vulnerable to the lies of the Devil Third, and final thing Trust the Lord In the Tribulation, Believers will have to live in a world that is being ravaged by God s wrath, they will be persecuted by unbelievers, and then the Antichrist tries to force them to worship him Exposes them to starvation, exposure, and martyrdom To the church in Smyrna, Jesus said Be faithful unto death 6

8 Which means, trust God with your whole life; your life right now, your future life, and ultimately your death There are dozens of verses that tell us to trust the Lord 2 Samuel 22:31 As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. Trust in the Lord, He never lets us down God is still doing miracles in the world, let s look for Him in everything Build yourself up in God s Word and you will be able to detect the lies of the devil Surround yourself with people who love God and His Word and they will help you with that In all things and in all ways, trust the Lord, and watch what He will do for you and on your behalf Let s pray! 7