REVELATION 13-15 REVELATION REFRESHER SERIES PART 62021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Revelation 13-15 Revelation Refresher Series Part 6

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. Well, as we continue the Revelation Refresher series, we have been for the past couple weeks in really the great pause. Chapters 10 through 14 of Revelation are primarily parenthetical.

it's as if, and I've been using this illustration, you pause a movie to kind of give some background information to those who are watching with you. And so, you know, you hit pause and you say, well, this person came from this way and this is why they gave this line and shared that thought. And there's that context that's given to help

bring a little bit more meaning and value to the events that are going on. And in chapters 10 through 14, we see the Lord do something similar to that. He hits pause on the sequence. We're seeing a lot of things happening chronologically or in sequence up to chapter 10, but

But now there's a pause. Now there's, you know, a few different things from different parts of different time periods and primarily looking at different parts of the tribulation. But even well before the tribulation and well after the tribulation, we kind of see all this context being brought in to help us better understand these events. And so we're going to continue on in that great pause.

tonight and finish it up as we get ready for the final steps of the tribulation period. Well, in thinking about the tribulation period, just a quick reminder of the outline of what we're looking at as far as the things that are to come.

The Lord told John back in Revelation chapter 1 to record these things and to write down these things which are, the things which you have seen, and then the things which are to come. And so we are currently living in the present. That's probably not a surprise. The present for us is the church age.

And so the Lord addresses that age and the chapters that are most important to us really are Revelation chapters 2 and 3. That's where we're living right now in those letters to the seven churches that Jesus wrote. And so we're living in that time period, the church age. But at some point in the future, there will be a time period called the tribulation. It's a seven-year period and we'll see that a little bit more in depth as we continue on tonight.

Then after that comes the millennium. It's a thousand-year reign where Jesus himself rules and reigns here upon the earth for 1,000 years.

And then following that is eternity. And so we'll continue to progress down this timeline as we work our way through the book of Revelation. Again, primarily tonight, looking at some things that are in different places as we look at these chapters where God has paused the timeline for a moment to give some background information and context.

Now we're kind of zeroing in on the tribulation period for the past few weeks. And so looking at this timeline that we built a little bit last week, and we'll continue to build it out this week, the tribulation period is seven years long. We know that from Daniel chapter 9, where the Lord gives Daniel this vision, this prophecy, about 70 periods of seven years that are determined for the nation of Israel.

And 69 of those seven-year periods have been fulfilled and were completed when Christ came into Jerusalem. But now there's one more seven-year period, one more week that is yet to be fulfilled.

And so that week will be fulfilled. It's also referred to as the tribulation. And so that's something that the Lord showed to Daniel in Daniel chapter 9. You can check that out to get more insight and more understanding about that.

But from the different passages about the tribulation, we have some good understandings of the things that will be happening at different points in the tribulation. There also in Daniel chapter 9, we see the beginning of the tribulation. And what starts the tribulation is a covenant that is made with the person we call the Antichrist. We'll talk about him as we get into chapter 13 tonight.

But in Daniel 9.27, it tells us that he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, or that seven-year time period.

And so that covenant signals the beginning of that tribulation period. And so a lot of times we associate the rapture of the church with the beginning of the tribulation, and there's probably a close relationship, but it's not exactly that the rapture signals or starts the tribulation technically. It's the signing of this covenant or this agreement that is made with the Antichrist and the people of Israel. Well, we also know that there's a middle to the tribulation.

And the middle happens with an event called the abomination of desolation. And here we see this also in Daniel 9, verse 27. In the middle of the week, or the middle of that seven-year period, the Antichrist brings an end to sacrifice and offering.

So he disrupts the agreement that was made. He puts an end to the sacrifices that are happening. And so that divides the tribulation in half. There's three and a half years up to that point and three and a half years after that point for the tribulation period. We also know that the tribulation ends with what we call Armageddon or the Battle of Armageddon.

It is when the armies gather together to battle each other, but in the midst of that, the Lord Jesus returns and the armies then turn to fight against the Lord and are destroyed completely by him. And that is the end of the tribulation period. It's the second coming of Jesus Christ at the battle of Armageddon.

Now, as we talk about timing in the midst of the tribulation period, there's a lot of different perspectives and opinions and different avenues and things that we could consider. But I'm going to be sharing...

primarily my perspective on the timing. And I don't normally, you know, speculate out loud as much as I do when talking about these things. But the reason why I do at this point is because it's a little bit easier to pick one lane and walk through that and share that than to try to cover every option because there is so much variety in perspectives and ways that these things might be fulfilled. And so I share as we move forward, you know, some of these things are

just estimations or speculations about the timings of things. But these anchors that we have are for sure. These are the things that are tied to the scriptures, and we can set their timing with precision and be definite and secure in that.

But I would suggest to you that the middle of the tribulation corresponds with the transition from the trumpets to the final judgment, which is the bowl judgments. And so we looked at the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and then we have yet to reach, we'll get there next week, the seven bowl judgments. And

And it seems to me that the seventh trumpet contains the seven bold judgments and is covering the latter part of the tribulation that last three and a half years. And so on our diagram, on our timeline, it kind of looks like this. The first three and a half years, you have the seven seals being opened as

As part of the seventh seal, you have the six trumpet judgments. And then as the seventh trumpet sounds, then comes forth the rest of these judgments. And so we'll see those unfold as we continue on. Well, we also saw a few other things last week as we were looking at chapters 10, 11, and 12. We saw that there was a temple and there were sacrifices going on. And that fits into the first half of the tribulation period. That

That it might be that they're actually building the temple during that first half. The temple might already be built and then sacrifices just start at the beginning of the tribulation period. We can't say those things for certainty. But for the first three and a half years, there will be a reinstitution of the Levitical law there in Jerusalem with the temple and with sacrifices going on.

But then, of course, in the middle, the abomination of desolation happens, and the people of Israel, those who listen to the Lord, they will flee to the wilderness. And we saw the Lord showing that they would be provided for. They would be fed and taken care of for 1260 days. Now that...

time period is common in the book of Revelation as well as the book of Daniel. It's 1260 days, which is the same as 42 months, which is the same as three and a half years. And so we're talking about one half of the tribulation or the other half of the tribulation typically when you see the 1260 days, the 42 months, or the three and a half years also referred to as times, time, and a half a time.

Well, then we also saw two witnesses in chapter 11, and they are ministering and calling people to repentance.

They minister for 1260 days, and my suggestion, again, this is one of those things that's not super precise, but I would suggest they are ministering during the first half of the tribulation period and conclude at the end of that middle section where the abomination of desolation takes place and there's a battle that goes on between the two witnesses and the Antichrist.

Well, it also seems as we went into chapter 12, we begin to see this drama played out in this vision of a dragon, a woman, and a child. And we see Satan as the dragon being cast out of heaven. And it seems to me that the

that event takes place also at the middle of the tribulation period. It describes Satan coming down to earth and then now he is enraged and so he is even more upset and causing more problems than previously as he knows his days are numbered as he has been cast out.

And so that's a quick kind of bring us back up to speed on the timeline and the focus on the tribulation period that kind of sets the stage now for Revelation chapter 13. And so we're going to be looking at chapter 13, 14, and 15 tonight, Lord willing.

Still to come in the tribulation, we'll get to the bold judgments next week and the battle of Armageddon, the return of Jesus Christ in the coming weeks, and so much more that God has in store. But still, as we continue this great pause, it's this time for us to fill in the gaps and have a better understanding of what is happening here in this tribulation period. And so we're going to dive into chapter 13 now. Revelation chapter 13, the key verse is verse 2.

Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. As you look at chapter 13, it's divided into two parts. Verses 1 through 10, John saw a beast rising up out of the sea, and then he saw another beast in verses 11 through 18 coming up out of the earth.

And this is really a continuation of, as I described it, the drama that we saw develop there in Revelation chapter 12.

There was the woman, there was the dragon, and there was the child there in Revelation chapter 12. And we identified these different, you know, symbols that were referred to. The woman being clearly revealed as Israel, the dragon being clearly revealed as Satan, and the child being clearly revealed as Jesus. Now, here in chapter 13, it continues, and two more characters are introduced.

The beast that comes up out of the sea, and then the beast that comes up out of the earth. Now, who are these beasts? Well, once again, I would suggest there is enough information in the passage for us to know who they are. And so digging into this passage a little bit more, looking first of all at this beast that comes up out of the sea, and

Check out verse 1. It says, Now jumping to the conclusion really quickly, this fourth character that we see described will be referred to as the Antichrist. Now, the name Antichrist...

Well, he goes by many other names in the Bible. There's many different ways that he is referred to. Antichrist kind of is the one that is most familiar to us or that is most common to us. And it fits really well because anti speaks about being against, but it also can speak of being instead of. And this is really what is happening here with Antichrist, that he is against Christ, but he's also presenting himself instead of Christ to the world.

And so he is, you know, positioning himself as an alternative Savior or a better Savior, someone to worship and someone to follow instead of Jesus Christ. Now, we first saw the Antichrist introduced back in Revelation chapter 6 with the first seal.

What we learn about him there is he comes forth to conquer. And so we see him, you know, rising to power at that time. But here, as we are more in the middle of the tribulation period, now the disguise comes off and it is revealed that he is not, you know, this glorious leader, but really he is the beast.

And so he's described as having seven heads and ten horns with ten crowns and on his head a blasphemous name.

Now, looking at all of these details, you can, you know, kind of try to piece apart all of these different elements of this picture that John is painting here and follow those through and come to different conclusions. Seven heads, perhaps, is a reference to Rome because in Revelation chapter 17, verse 9, it talks about the seven heads are seven mountains. And

and Rome was described as being the city on seven hills, and so perhaps that is a connection to Rome, and many people will look at this and understand it to be a revival of the Roman Empire that the Antichrist is leading. There's the ten horns, which in Revelation chapter 17 verse 2 tells us that the ten horns are ten kings or ten kingdoms, and so it's a, you know, a

an alliance of multiple kingdoms that join together under the leadership of this one guy in perhaps a revived Roman Empire that's led by the Antichrist. And so some of those details, you know, they're not for sure. They seem pretty likely. You can kind of play out different scenarios in your mind. But the overall idea in summary is that this beast will rule the final kingdom of man.

There will be this one world kingdom, one world government, not completely submitted to by all of the world, but collectively, you know, largely the world will submit. But the battle of Armageddon at the end, sometimes we forget this, is people coming to battle against the beast because they don't want to submit to his rule. And not for religious or moral reasons, but, you know, just for political reasons. And so...

We see this kingdom that is going to be established, and this Antichrist, this leader, will be at the head to rule and to present himself as an alternative to Christ. Now he goes on in verse 2 to say, "...the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority."

And so here again, we have a lot of different elements to this vision that are interesting to trace back and to seek out. There's a lot of things that correspond with chapter 13 here in this description of the beast with things that were revealed to Daniel as he was prophesying for the Lord.

It corresponds with Daniel chapter 2 and Daniel chapter 7 primarily. You might remember Daniel chapter 2. That's where King Nebuchadnezzar has this vision of the great statue. And he's freaked out about it. He wants to find out who it is. His wise men can't tell him. So he says, all right, death to all the wise men. Until Daniel says, give me a day. Let me pray about it. Let me see if the Lord wants to show us this. And he comes back and he gives him the dream and the interpretation.

And so the dream that he had was this statue, this vision of a statue with a head of gold, a chest of silver, a midsection of bronze, legs of iron, and then feet that were a mixture of iron and clay.

And the Lord gave the understanding of what that dream was about or what that vision was about. It was about the different world kingdoms that would exist. And so the head of gold was the Babylonian Empire. And then after that came the Medo-Persian Empire, the silver. Then the bronze represented the Greek Empire. And then the iron represented the Roman Empire. And all of those things were fulfilled in history just as God prophesied through Daniel in Daniel chapter 2.

But there's that final piece there, the feet that are a mixture of iron and clay and with the 10 toes that probably corresponds to the 10 horns that we saw in verse 1. And so there is this future empire that is still going to be fulfilled based on what the Lord revealed here in Daniel chapter 2. That part hasn't been fulfilled yet. And the beast, when he comes on the scene, he will rule that final kingdom, which is the feet mixed with iron and clay.

Well, then in Daniel chapter 7, Daniel has a similar vision, but he sees it this time as beasts. And there are these four different beasts that he sees. And again, the Lord gives him the insight. It's the different kingdoms that come. And so again, it speaks of the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire. But again, there is this future empire that is not yet fulfilled. And there's these parallels in these descriptions.

You'll notice here in verse 2, it says that he had the feet of a leopard, and

The beast, I'm sorry, was like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of a bear and his mouth was like the mouth of a lion. It's like taking all the best parts of those previous kingdoms into this new kingdom now that, again, the Antichrist will lead. Now, verse 2 goes on to tell us, the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And so this kingdom is going to be demonic.

to the very core. It's the dragon, the devil, who will be inspiring this and bringing this whole thing about. Remember when Jesus was tempted by Satan in Luke chapter 4? And Satan said, I'll give all of this to you, as he showed him all the kingdoms. And Jesus didn't dispute that Satan could do that, but he would not bow down because, of course, you shall worship the Lord your God only.

And so Satan's claim was valid, and so now he fulfills that by giving it to this man, Antichrist. He's empowered by Satan to wreck havoc, really, in fighting against the plan of God. Well, verse 3, it goes on to say, "...as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world marveled and followed the beast."

This verse, we start to lose a little bit of clarity. There's not a lot of extra verses to look at or other visions to look at.

It's not exactly clear what it means. Most agree that there is probably going to be an assassination attempt that happens upon the Antichrist, but then he recovers from it, and so then the whole world worships him as a result. An alternative option is perhaps it's corresponding with the death of the two witnesses, and

And in the battle with the two witnesses, perhaps the Antichrist is injured and seems like it's a mortal wound, but he recovers. And so there is this great celebration and worship of the beast as a result of that. So whatever it is, whichever option it is, or one that we haven't thought of yet, the world is captivated by the Antichrist. And so it tells us in verse 4, so they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast and

And they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? Who can stand against the beast? And so they begin to worship the beast as well as the dragon. They begin to worship Satan. They begin to worship his agent, the Antichrist.

It's really what Satan has wanted since the beginning. In Isaiah chapter 14, we see that declaration of Satan, that desire to be worshipped, to be adored and revered as God. And so now, in this time, he will get his dream fulfilled here on the earth as he gives power to this Antichrist, and the world rejoices and celebrates and begins to worship him.

Now there will be opposition. Again, remember the battle of Armageddon, how it ends. But generally speaking, the world will be captivated by this beast, the Antichrist. Well, verse 5 goes on to say,

Then he opened his mouth and blasphemed me against God to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. Now here again, it gives us a little bit of timing perspective because it says that he was given authority to continue for 42 months. And so I want to go back to our timeline for a moment.

and think about where we're at. So here is the seven-year tribulation period in which the Antichrist is going to come to power. There's going to be that middle point of the abomination of desolation where he presents himself as God and demands or calls for all of the world to worship him. And we see a little bit of that here in chapter 13. But it's interesting that it says he was given authority to continue for 42 months.

And so I would suggest to you that what we're looking at here is heading into, this is, you know, kind of bringing us up to speed a little bit on the Antichrist in the first half of the tribulation, but now he's referencing the latter half of the tribulation period. And so the beast speaks blasphemies now for 42 more months. He's already been on the scene, he's had power, but now he's granted authority to continue to,

to press on and to carry on his plans for 42 months. Now again, 42 months is the same as 1260 days, which is the same as three and a half years. And so the Antichrist will be clearly revealed to be the beast right at the middle of the tribulation period, and he'll proclaim himself to be God.

He'll present himself as God. There's going to be a defiling of the temple, and in the temple, he will be calling the world to worship him as God. And so it's going to be a full-on assault on the name and character and nature of God, and a full, you know, presenting himself as a replacement, as an alternative, instead of Jesus Christ to worship and follow the Antichrist.

Well, verses 7 and 8 describe for us a little bit different scenarios than we would expect in the scriptures. In verse 7, it says, "...to make war with the saints and to overcome them. An authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

The beast is going to experience some victory as he presents himself as a replacement savior. He's going to fight against the saints, those who come to faith during the tribulation period. He will fight against them and have victory and overcome.

And universally, again, generally speaking, there will be this worldwide worship of this beast. Now, God is still in control. Remember in verse 5, it says that he was given authority to continue for 42 months.

Here in verse 7, it says that it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. It's always important to reflect on these clues that God is still on the throne in the midst of this. He doesn't just know the future, but he controls the future. And he is allowing these things to unfold for the good of his people. And so we see this continue on throughout the book of Revelation.

Now, verse 9 is interesting. It says, if anyone has an ear, let him hear. And we saw that phrase, we saw that exhortation a lot as we were in chapters 2 and 3 in the letters to the churches that Jesus wrote to them. I would suggest to you this, that Revelation chapter 2 and 3 is for us. And so he kept saying to the church, if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

But I would suggest this exhortation here in Revelation 13 9 is primarily for tribulation saints. He who has an ear, let him hear. Now is the time to pay attention and to listen to these things because this guy who looks so amazing and everybody's worshiping him, he's actually the beast. He is empowered by Satan and there will be great deception and so the people will be...

They will need to be called out of that deception to have an ear to hear what it is that the Lord is saying. In verse 10, it says, He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity. He who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints. The Lord is saying, look, all of these things have to play out. These things have to unfold. And so have patience, have faith, hold fast to the Lord.

Well, that's the first beast. We see him come up out of the sea. It's the Antichrist. And so we see his different elements and aspects that are unfolded there during the tribulation period. But who is this second beast? A new character here is introduced, a beast rising up out of

And we haven't really talked about this person up to this point in Revelation. And so as far as the book of Revelation is concerned, this is new content, new material. Who is this? He'll be referred to later on in the coming chapters. But this is the first time we're getting a glimpse of this other person alongside of the Antichrist. Verse 11 says,

And he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon."

And so here we're adding to these characters on stage. Now, I say character, but these are, you know, real people or real entities and real events that are going to take place. But we have the dragon, which is Satan. We have the woman, which is Israel. We have the child, which is Jesus. We have the first beast, which is the Antichrist. And now we have the second beast, which

And this beast is what we refer to as the false prophet. The false prophet is someone who is alongside of the Antichrist. And as we'll see here, is part of really orchestrating the worship of the beast around the world. Now later on, we'll see this in Revelation chapter 19, verse 20.

At the end, when Jesus returns, it tells us that the beast was captured and with him the false prophet. And so we get to see these two together, and they're together as we look at different passages throughout Revelation from here on out. The Antichrist and the false prophet, they're the demonic duo. Sometimes people refer to this as the unholy trinity.

as you have Satan giving both of these guys their power. And so you have the Satan, you have Antichrist, you have the false prophet, and they kind of form an unholy trinity to fight against the real trinity, the triune nature of God, who is the true and living God. And so the false prophet, his purpose is to come on the earth and deceive the earth and cause them to worship the beast.

As the Antichrist leads a one-world government, the false prophet leads a one-world religious system. And so that's this second beast coming up out of the earth. Look at verse 12. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven and

And so this false prophet is going to come on the scene with power. He's going to have a similar voice. It tells us that he speaks, you know, like the dragon, like the beast. And so he's going to be in league with them. And he's going to deceive the world to bring them to worship the beast.

And part of this deception is going to be great signs, even fire coming down from heaven. And I would, you know, just pause and consider, can you imagine the kind of deceptive power that this would have, right? I mean, we saw in our

recent elections and even history of elections, right? There's always promises given. There's deceit, you know, that takes place. There's all of these things. But could you imagine, you know, that type of thing, a political race, when there's miracles being performed, not parlor tricks, not fake things, but real, you know, like Mount Carmel with Elijah calling down fire from heaven, you know, actual miracles taking place, the deception that that will, uh,

bring is going to be really impossible and incredible for us to try to consider. The strong delusion is coming for those who reject the truth. And this false prophet will be an agent of deception, running this one-world religion, calling them to worship the beast. And there's going to be two important elements to this religion.

There's going to be the image of the beast and there's going to be the mark of the beast. We see the image of the beast in verse 14 and 15. It says,

Here we have this false prophet setting up an image, giving life to this image, and demanding that the world worship this image.

What we have happening here is what I would describe as the abomination of desolation. This was something referred to by Daniel in Daniel chapter 9, and Jesus referred to it as well in Matthew chapter 24, verses 15 and 16.

He said, when you see the abomination of desolation, that is specifically, you know, desolating the holy of holies inside the temple, it's the abomination of desolation. That's the description of that event. And that's what will be happening here. This image of the beast will be set up there within the temple.

And the world will be called to worship the beast. And anybody who does not worship the beast or the image of the beast, it says in verse 15, he has power for them to be killed. And so in some form or fashion, he gives life or animates this image. And there's been much speculation over the years. Is it going to be animatronics, you know, just, you know,

like a machine type thing? Is it going to be a biological thing? And some have suggested like a clone, perhaps, that could be the fulfillment of this. Or it could be a supernatural thing that we haven't envisioned yet. We don't really know. But there is going to be this image. Life will be given to it. And it is going to be...

a cause for the world to worship the beast. And so this one world religion led by this false prophet will be centered around the beast and this image that was set up there in the temple. Well, then we also have the mark of the beast. Check out verse 16 and 17. It says, he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads.

Now this, of course, has been the subject of much speculation and much, you know, ideas about what it might be for many, many, many years. And it's, you know, ranged from tattoos to microchips. Of course, it could be something else that we haven't imagined yet and don't understand yet.

I would encourage you, sometimes as Christians, we kind of speak about the speculation of these things as certainty. Like the Bible says the mark of the beast is going to be a tattoo. Well, I don't know that it's that clear. I don't see it that clearly. It could be a microchip. It could be something else that we're not seeing yet. It could be a tattoo. We don't know yet. And so I think it's important for us to be careful about how certain we are about things that the Bible doesn't tell us very clearly.

But here's the important part about the mark of the beast. The implementation of it really doesn't matter. Whether it's technology or tattoo or whatever it might be, it really doesn't matter. The crucial thing about this is that this mark of the beast is going to be part of the one world religion. Remember, the false prophet is the one who causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the beast.

And so this worship of the beast, we'll see this elaborated on in chapter 14 as well, is tied to the mark of the beast. So it's not just an implementation of some type of technology or some type of thing, but it is in agreement with the worship of the beast.

And so I would encourage you to consider that it's important for us to understand the mark of the beast in that context because it's a different thing then. We don't have to be afraid of technology or things that aren't the mark of the beast because of the traditions about them. But instead, we need to keep our hearts set on worship of God and keep our hearts close to God because that's really what this is going to be about.

And those who are not close to the Lord are really going to fall under this strong delusion. And there is going to be this great deception as this false prophet calls all to worship. As he enforces, and it's going to be a life or death choice that happens here, enforces either worship the beast or die.

And I would suggest to you that this happens in our timeline in this latter half of the tribulation period, where the false prophet, after the beast has been, you know, kind of resurrected, the image has been set up, the abomination of desolation, and then now the mark of the beast comes on the scene. Now the enforcing of worship. Now it's choose the beast and worship him and swear your allegiance to him or die.

And that will be taking place during the latter half of the tribulation period. And it's going to be worldwide across all nationalities. It's going to be, you know, across all social classes. He says it causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, the billionaires of the world. And, you know, the poverty-stricken neighborhoods will be destroyed.

aligning themselves with the beast in that way. And so, just to make it clear, receiving the mark at that time, it will be a swearing of allegiance to the beast. It will be an act of worship of the beast. It will not be taken accidentally or unknowingly.

And so, you know, there's no need to fear that. It will be a deliberate decision. There will be great delusion and deception, but it will be a willful act that is done in the worship of the beast. Well, then he gives us verse 18. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.

Those evil and wicked numbers, right? Six, six, six. This verse is interesting in that it's caused, again, much speculation and discussion and debate about what this exactly means. But in the Greek culture, in Roman culture, with the speaking of Greek, the numbers that they used were based on the alphabet. And so it was a common thing

for them to use numbers in that way. And so there's an example that many scholars point to. They found some graffiti written in ancient Greek in Pompeii, and it says, I love her whose number is 545.

And so whatever her name is, we don't know, but her number, you know, and so they would use the numbers as kind of like a substitution because you could add up the letters because the letters were also numbers, and

And so 545 was her number. That was back before they had a 10-digit phone number. They had a 3-digit phone number. No, I'm just kidding. But it's kind of a similar idea, perhaps, that his name adds up to 666 under these ideas or under this method.

But it also doesn't say that specifically or exactly. And so there's a little bit of room for the Lord to fulfill this in a lot of different ways. But notice what it says. And so again, it's kind of prompted a lot of people to try to do this calculation.

But here again is where I would say, you know, he who has an ear, let him hear. This part isn't really for us today. This is for those in the tribulation period. This is for those who are like watching these things unfold. And at that time, I would suggest that it will be clear that calculation can be made and it will be clear that this person is the Antichrist that the Bible has foretold would come on the scene.

And so here we have the beast that comes out of the sea, the beast that comes out of the earth, the Antichrist, the false prophet, this demonic duo or unholy trinity of Satan's plan against God in replacement of God's plan.

Well, we're going to move on now to chapter 14, which is packed full of stuff, so we want to kind of work our way through this. Revelation chapter 14, verse 6 is the key verse. It says, And verses 1 through 5, we see the lamb on Mount Zion with 144,000.

Then in verses 6 through 13, we see three angels preaching, delivering a message to those who dwell on earth. And then in verses 14 through 16, we see one like the Son of Man on a cloud. And then finally, verses 17 through 20, an angel thrusts his sickle into the earth to begin to reap the judgment upon the earth. Now, Revelation chapter 14, unlike chapter 13, it has a few different pieces and a few different things going on.

First of all, we see the lamb on Mount Zion with the 144,000. Now, as you look at this, the lamb is clearly Jesus. He is referred to as the lamb in almost every chapter in the book of Revelation. Over and over again, he's referred to as the lamb.

This seems to be a preview of something that happens after the tribulation. When Jesus returns and he is with the 144,000 who survive the tribulation period. And so you might remember back in Revelation chapter 7, they were sealed. It says in Revelation chapter 7 verse 4, the number of those who were sealed was 144,000.

And so you see, you know, this group of Israelites, 12,000 from each tribe, who are sealed, protected. They're going to survive the tribulation period and then die.

Jesus will be with them on Mount Zion afterwards. And it seems like that is the scene that is describing their victory. And I kind of look at it this way, that the Lord is saying, look, this looks dark, all these beasts and dragons and all of these things, but there is going to be a victory. There is going to be those who survive and make it through and endure in the midst of these things.

Well, then we see them enter into a time of worship in verses 2 and 3. In verse 3, it says, And so we see this time of worship that these people,

144,000 sealed servants of the Lord have their before the throne on Mount Zion. And so it seems to be taking place in the millennium when Jesus has established his kingdom. And here is this group that has survived it, been protected through it, and now they worship the Lord. I think it's interesting that it says it's a song that nobody could learn except them.

And all throughout the book of Revelation, we see these glimpses into the heavenly scene, into the throne room, and there's always worship that's happening. And as different groups are involved, there's different songs that are being sung. And each group has their own song. And I think that speaks to us about the uniqueness of our individual relationships with the Lord. There are different ways that God is working with different groups of people, and there

And so we have this great variety that heaven will not be this mass, everybody singing, you know, the same chorus, exactly the same way, with the same melody, with the same tone, with the same pace, you know, and it's just this same thing over and over again.

But there's going to be this great variety as God is working in our lives in different ways, has worked in our lives in different ways, and doing new things in eternity in different ways, that there will be this ongoing great variety. And for you and me, our own personal expression of worship and love to the Lord as He continues to reveal what He has done and continues to work in our lives throughout eternity. And so a great glimpse of that future that is in store for us.

Well, moving on to verses 6 through 13 now, we get to see these three angels. And these three angels are flying through the heavens, and they each have a unique or specific message that

for the people of earth. In verse 6, he says, Now, as you see these three angels flying in the midst of heaven,

There is some ideas that this is perhaps satellites, and so it's the picture of the signal being broadcast via satellites throughout and to the whole world.

and perhaps that is a possibility. I tend to not think that way, because in this case, it doesn't say like an angel or like a bird or, you know, like a comparison. It's another angel, and so as John has been interacting and seeing all of these different angels and different pieces of this vision, here's another angel on the scene now, and there is this message being

broadcast by this angel. And so I tend to look at this as literally, it's an angelic supernatural being flying through the heavens and proclaiming this message in a way that all of the world, that every tribe, tongue, nation, and people can hear and understand. And I really like this picture because it really shows us what kind of God that we serve. That we serve a God who gives every possible chance for repentance.

I've mentioned it in the past as we've seen the measured judgment, that it's one-third or one-fourth. You know, there's these specific limitations on the judgment that is being poured out. Although the judgment is severe and worse than we could ever imagine, it's measured so that the Lord gives people the best opportunity to repent that He can give them, that they can have. That it's the least amount of judgment that's necessary for the most amount of repentance.

And here in the midst of this tribulation period where there is this great deception like the world has never seen before, there's also this great revelation as the Lord sends out an angel to bring forth this message to all of the world, to call people to worship God and not the beast.

This angel has the everlasting gospel, calling man to repentance, saying, fear God, give glory to him, and worship him, in contrast to the beast that the false prophet is calling all of the world to worship. And everybody around them will be worshiping in that time. Jesus tells us in Matthew 24, verse 14, that the gospel will be preached in all of the world as a witness to the nations, and then the end will come.

And perhaps this is fulfilled with missionary work, but for sure this is fulfilled here in chapter 14 as this angel goes out and preaches the gospel, the everlasting gospel to all nations that they might turn from the deception that is being brought forth by the Antichrist.

Well, then the second messenger, the second angel comes in verse 8. Another angel followed saying, The second message is Babylon is fallen.

And that doesn't mean a lot to us right now in this moment, but it's speaking about the kingdom of the Antichrist. And perhaps it's referring to the literal city, political capital of that one world government.

It's perhaps the commercial capital, as we'll see in Revelation chapter 18, or the religious capital, as we'll see in Revelation chapter 17. There's a few different scenarios that we could envision this happening in. But Babylon represents that united rebellion against God. And this proclamation is all of those efforts will fail. Babylon is fallen.

Well, then the third angel comes in verse 9 and 10. He warns against taking the mark of the beast. A third angel followed them and saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast in his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand,

He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

So the gospel is preached, the certain judgment is preached, and now this third angel comes on the scene and says, don't worship the beast and don't take his mark on your forehead or on your hand. And so notice again, the worship and the mark go hand in hand. These two are tied together. Taking of the mark will be an act of worship.

It will not be accidental or forcibly. It will be a decision, a willful choice to receive or to align with the beast. And so this angel warns against that. Again, God's grace and mercy, giving a clear warning, a clear opportunity for people to turn back and get right with God. And so three messengers flying through the earth, giving these three messages.

Well, then in verses 14 through 16, we see a vision of the one like the Son of Man on a cloud. Now, this may be Jesus. It might be another angel. Again, it's one of those things that we can discuss, but we don't actually know. It's like the Son of Man. And so it's possible that it's Jesus because the Lord himself declared that he had been given all authority over

for judgment in John chapter 5 verse 22 and 23. He tells us that the Father committed all judgment to the Son and so it's possible that it is him with the sickle and he is going to be ripe, you know, harvesting the field. It says the harvest of the earth is ripe there in verse 15 and speaking of the judgment that will be unleashed upon the earth.

Well, then in verses 17 through 20, now we find another angel. This time it's specifically an angel. He comes out of the temple. He also has a sharp sickle. In verse 18, it says, another angel came out from the altar who had the power over fire. He cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle saying, thrust your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth for her grapes are fully ripe.

And so here now is the call for the final reaping of judgment. As I mentioned before, God uses the least amount of judgment to bring about the most amount of repentance. It's like that balance of finding, you know, the most amount of popcorn that you want to pop without burning any of the popcorn, right? In that same way here, the situation is, okay,

All the popcorn that will be popped has been popped. Now it's time to just bring the judgment upon the rest of the inhabitants of the earth. Everybody who's going to become saved is saved. It's time now for the full judgment to be unleashed.

And so this is what's being described here. And now as we are in that kind of pause time right now, it's really foreshadowing those final days of the tribulation period where there will be this great judgment. It tells us in verse 20, it describes it as a wine press trampled outside the city and the blood came out of the wine press up to the horse's bridles for 1,600 furlongs.

Now, 1,600 furlongs is about the equivalent of 184 miles, and so it's talking about this massive amount of blood that is the result of the judgment that is brought upon the earth. Now, it is likely picturing, and we usually typically look at this and understand it, to be describing the Battle of Armageddon and what takes place there.

The battle of Armageddon is named that because it's taking place in the valley of Megiddo there in Israel.

And so there is this valley there. It's also known as the Jezreel Valley. The armies will be gathered there. The Lord will come back, and they will be wiped out. And so it is possible that this is describing that. They estimate the square footage of the Valley of Megiddo is about 184 miles or about 1,600 furlongs. And so that's an interesting possibility to consider.

And so that wraps up chapter 14. Now I do want to hit chapter 15, even though I know we're almost running late. But chapter 15 is pretty short, and it sets up the stage for where we'll pick up next week in chapter 16. So Revelation chapter 15, verse 1 is the key verse. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. In verse 1, John sees seven angels with the last plagues.

In verse 2 through 4, he sees those who have victory over the beast. And then in verses 5 through 8, he sees the temple in heaven is opened. Here's where I would say is the transition. The Lord is now unpaused. We've looked through all the parenthetical thoughts, got all the background context, all the things that we need. And now it's setting the stage for the final judgments that will come upon the earth.

And so now in verse 1, seven angels come out. Now you remember the seven seals, as they were opened by the Lord on that scroll, there was judgments that were unleashed upon the earth. In the seventh seal, seven angels came out, and then they began to sound their trumpets, and judgments were unleashed. And so there was the seven trumpet judgments.

Well, then as the seventh trumpet sounds, seven more angels come out, corresponding here with verse 1. They have bowls of judgment, and that's what we're going to be looking at in chapter 16. As each one pours out his bowl of judgment upon the earth, things are taking place and judgment is being poured out upon the earth. The wrath of God, all the reaping and all the pictures that we just saw in chapter 14 are going to be unfolding there in these final judgments.

there at the end of the tribulation period. Well, he also sees those who have victory over the beast in verses two through four. And again, we see another group of people, martyrs who survive, martyrs who have victory, but it's interesting because they're dead, right? We wouldn't typically think of that as victory, but they're in the presence of God. And so they have overcome.

They have overcome in the sense that they were not deceived. They did not yield. They did not give in. Therefore, they are victorious. They believed in Jesus, and they died for their faith. They died for their commitment to the Lord. And so they are standing before the Lord. And again, there's another scene of worship here as they worship God who is so good to them. They sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.

which may be references to a couple different psalms, but likely are songs that are unique to them for their circumstance, and so I won't get into that. Well then, finally in verses 5 through 8, the temple in heaven is opened.

And we saw this as the seventh trumpet was about to sound or was sounding. The temple in heaven was opened. And so I would suggest to you we're now again unpausing. We're picking up where we left off back in chapter 11. And now we're going to move forward on the timeline to finish out the tribulation period. And so the temple in heaven was opened. Out of the temple came the seven angels in verse 6.

And so this would be in the latter half of the tribulation period where now the seven bold judgments are going to be poured out upon the earth. Now again, the exact timing of that

Are these seven bowls going to last for these three and a half years? There's room for discussion, and you can consider that on your own. Just my perspective, because of the way all of these different things line up, it seems like that is the way it takes shape, at least in my head.

But now we have these final scene. The full wrath of God is going to be poured out. The full wrath of God is going to be unleashed upon the earth who has insisted on their rebellion in spite of all of these things that have taken place. The temple, it says, is filled with smoke from the glory of God.

As the glory of the Lord begins to shine, and the Lord is really wiping out all the traces of the enemy and Satan on the earth in the midst of that unleashing of the full wrath. Up to this point in the tribulation period, we haven't seen the full wrath of God unleashed yet, which is kind of crazy to think about, because we've seen a lot of tribulation, right? Things that we have a hard time imagining. But

The Lord essentially says, you haven't seen anything yet. I've been measured in my judgment. I've been holding back. And now it's going to be unleashed. Well, we've covered quite a bit tonight with the Antichrist, the false prophet, the mark of the beast, all of these different tribulation events and judgments that will come.

And so it's a good spot for us to pause and allow the Lord to continue to speak to us about these things and prepare us for the things to come. As we look at these things of judgment, you know, again, it can be a challenge sometimes and perhaps, you know, discouraging or fearful or what do I do with this, right? But let it be a reminder for you that God is still on the throne.

He is in control. He will make all things right. The most important thing for us to do is to align ourselves with the Lord, to stay close to him, to know him, and to walk with him. Jesus said this in Luke chapter 12, verse 4 and 5. He said,

Fear him who after he has killed has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him.

The Lord says, fear me. That is to put him first, to align ourselves with him, to not be so preoccupied and so concerned with what everybody else says or what everybody else is doing, but to be looking to the Lord and saying, Lord, what do you want of me? And as we align ourselves with him, as we walk closely with him, we'll be prepared. Well, we look forward to the rapture of the church so that we don't have to face all of these things.

but we also will have our own types of tribulation in this life, and we will be prepared and ready for those things as we stay close to the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word and the important reminders that we see here, Lord, the reminder to be right with you, to walk uprightly, to protect ourselves from deception by believing the truth right now. I pray, God, that you would help us

Again, to identify those things where we are attached to this world, to this life, to the temporary, where we are deceived and blinded by the things of this life or by the enemy. Lord, help us to see clearly how much we need you. Help us, Lord, to draw near to you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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