The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - Revelation - The Anti-Christ Surfaces

[0:00] Good morning. Again, chapter 12, verse 13, through chapter 13, verse 10.

[0:13] And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.

[0:25] But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent.

[0:44] And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.

[0:56] But the earth helped the woman. And the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river, which the dragon poured out of his mouth.

[1:08] So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

[1:22] 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.

[1:36] And on his horns were ten diadems. And on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard.

[1:51] 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 in great authority.

[2:08] 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.

[2:23] They worshipped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast?

[2:37] And who was able to wage war with him? There was given to him a mouth, speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, An authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.

[2:56] And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

[3:10] It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.

[3:26] 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 life of the Lamb who has been slain.

[3:42] If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes.

[3:53] If anyone kills with a sword, with a sword he will or must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.

[4:07] And while we're in the neighborhood, still in this same chapter, I just want to drop down to something that I'm sure we will not get to today, but I do know that your interest will be piqued in this, because everybody's has for as long as I can remember.

[4:25] And that has to do with the last verse of chapter 13, and that is verse 18. And John says, 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.

[4:47] A number that is rather famous throughout the world, even though most people would admit they don't know a whole lot about it, but we will be able to give you the mathematical configuration in our next session together that shows how this name is arrived at, and what the numerical quality and quantity is for each of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet, of which there are only 22, in contrast to the English alphabet that has 26.

[5:17] So we will look at that, and you'll at least have an idea. You'll know how the number was arrived at, and perhaps can make a little sense of that. And still, again, while we are here in the area, and momentarily we're going to Daniel 9, then we'll be in Matthew, then we'll finish up again in Revelation.

[5:35] But I just want to point out a couple of items to you that are very critical, and they are all connected with the pages we have open before us. If you will look at Revelation chapter 12, and verse 6, at the end of the verse, we find the 1,260 days.

[5:57] That is, three and a half years, or 42 months. And if you will look at verse 14 of chapter 12, we have a time, and times, and half a time.

[6:15] That is speaking of the same frame of time, it's just stating it in a little different way. It's still 42 months, three and one half years. And then, when you come down to verse 5 of chapter 13, you see all of these are connected.

[6:32] Authority to act for 42 months was given to him. One almost gets the impression that this time frame is expressed in every way possible, so as for everyone to be able to understand exactly how much time is involved.

[6:52] And it is said in every way that it can be said. Now, I would like you to go back to Daniel chapter 9 that we have often referred to as the book of the Revelation of the Old Testament.

[7:06] And indeed it is because Daniel and the Revelation are very closely connected in a number of ways. We are not going to spend much time here. I just want to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance that what Daniel is talking about in his 70 weeks is essentially what the whole of the book of Revelation is about.

[7:30] All 22 chapters. It is about this time of seven years or referred to as one prophetic week or one unit of sevens.

[7:43] And keep in mind, if you will, that Daniel was written approximately 500 years before Christ was born in Bethlehem.

[7:56] And it is going to prophesy about the coming of the Messiah. There are two, if you will, supermans that are mentioned in this text in Daniel.

[8:10] One is legitimate. One is illegitimate. One is the personification of holiness. The other is the personification of evil.

[8:22] And in verse 24 of Daniel chapter 9, Daniel is given the key. He is perplexed as to what he has seen in this vision. It is the angel Gabriel who comes to inform him and to give him the content for the prophecy.

[8:39] And this time, verse 24 reads, 70 weeks. Immediately, let me advise you, that should be translated 70 sevens. That's what it is in the Hebrew.

[8:52] The English put in weeks because they thought that that would clarify, and actually all it did was confound the issue. It is 70 units of seven. And that means that each unit of seven is seven years times 70.

[9:07] The total time frame involved is 490 years. 483 of those years have already passed.

[9:20] They ended when Christ came the first time. The last week or the last segment of seven has not been completed.

[9:33] It ran for 483 years and stopped. But there's supposed to be 490. Where are the last seven years? The last seven years constitute the content we are talking about in the book of the Revelation.

[9:50] They are the last seven years. Also known as the 70th week of Daniel. 69 weeks are already gone. They're history.

[10:02] They ended when the Messiah was here the first time. Read with me if you will beginning with verse 24. 70 weeks have been decreed for your people. And that of course refers to the Jewish people.

[10:13] Daniel's people are the Jewish people. And your holy city that refers to Jerusalem to do a number of things. One, to finish the transgression.

[10:24] I'm not going to spend time explaining what these were because we dealt with them earlier and we spent some time in detail on them so I'm just going to read on. Several things are going to be accomplished.

[10:35] To finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.

[10:49] Well, what is the most holy place? The most holy place is the most sacred unit or room that is in the temple of God.

[11:02] That's where the Ark of the Covenant is kept. That's where God said he would meet with his people in this most holy place. And this is what he's talking about here. And to anoint the most holy place. So, Daniel, you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince.

[11:25] Now, this is speaking of none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not named as such here, but that's who it is. The very word Messiah in the Hebrew, Mashiach, is translated Christ in English.

[11:40] So, we're talking about one and the same. Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. Add those up and you get 69 weeks. It will be built again with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.

[11:58] Then, after the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off. Now, you have to take into consideration the seven weeks mentioned earlier have already been passed, and they're already gone, and the 62 weeks added to it brings it to the time when the Messiah will be cut off.

[12:18] This is referencing the time when Christ will conclude his three-year earthly ministry and you'll be crucified. This is his death.

[12:29] This is what Daniel is speaking of. When he says Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, that is, he will not be the recipient of anything to which he is entitled.

[12:41] He will claim that when he returns for the second time. He will have nothing, and he will have no posterity, for our Lord will, of course, not have married and will not have born children.

[12:51] He will be the end of the tribe of Judah that rules and reigns. And he is, of course, from the tribe of Judah, and the monarchy was established through Judah, the fourth-born son, and it constituted a continuation of father and son all the way from David the king.

[13:18] Actually, it even goes back into the Old Testament kings, which will not take time to consider. But Christ will, of course, be the end of that. He will be the final king. He will be the one that will sit upon the throne of David and reign in perpetuity.

[13:33] His reign will be just briefly interrupted by an insubordination that will occur in Revelation chapter 20, and it will be put down summarily, and then the eternal state will begin.

[13:48] So what I want you to keep in mind here is that the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come, this is not Christ.

[13:59] this is the Antichrist. And the people of the prince who is to come will be those who line up and pledge their allegiance to the Antichrist, which will be most of the world.

[14:16] And one of the principal items of his agenda will be an intense anti-Semitism. and in reality, I am confident that what we are dealing with here is going to be a resurrection of a very old enmity and feud that began thousands of years ago.

[14:49] Because these people, if they are who I think they are, and I'm not going to mention that now because I don't want it to sound like sensationalism or anything like that, but I'm convinced that this is what's involved.

[15:02] We are going to see a resurrection of the age-old war-like state that existed between Isaac and Jacob, who were together in this, and Ishmael and Esau, who also were together.

[15:23] that's an age-old rivalry. They are blood-related. It goes way back to the beginning, and this is where it's going to end. And while I'm here, just let me insert this.

[15:36] It is going to be essential, as you move on through Revelation, that the area commonly referred to as Babylon is going to be resurrected and rebuilt and is going to become a world capital of finance and industry and commerce.

[15:59] Right now, that is about as far removed from reality as you can get, because about all that exists in ancient Babylon now, in southern Iraq, is desert.

[16:12] Israel is important, although Saddam Hussein viewed himself as a modern Nebuchadnezzar, and he set about in his lifetime trying to rebuild portions of the ancient Babylonian estate.

[16:30] Israel was built. And it included the famous hanging gardens of Babylon that nobody's ever been able to really duplicate or even that carefully defined, but he was intent on doing that.

[16:43] And Saddam Hussein actually succeeded in building, in furbishing, the Ishtar Gate, a thing of absolute beauty that Nebuchadnezzar built, hundreds of years before Christ arrived on the scene.

[17:02] And Babylon was the world center then. And what the prophecy says and requires is that this, relatively speaking, God forsaken place, now, isolated, is going to become burgeoning with activity and commerce and things that you cannot imagine.

[17:23] And we don't see anything like that on the scene now. How long is it going to take to do that? I have no idea. So how far away this is, I don't know. But I wonder if you are aware that there is one geographical place that is mentioned in the Bible more than any other.

[17:46] And that is Jerusalem. Jerusalem is, of course, the capital of Israel, it is the only place in all of the Bible that God refers to as my land.

[18:01] And geographically, it is at the very center of the earth. Guess what geographical place is mentioned in the Bible next in frequency?

[18:15] Babylon. And it is no coincidence that Babylon is where this all began. And Babylon is where it is all going to end.

[18:30] And that is made very clear in Revelation 17 and Revelation 18. And the typical approach that so many expositors take is, well, it doesn't mean that Babylon.

[18:41] It's just, it's like a code name. But it's not really Babylon. Well, what is it really? Some think it's New York City. Some think it's one of the countries of Europe.

[18:55] I think we will be able to see in no uncertain terms that it's Babylon. And that Babylon really means, of all things, Babylon.

[19:07] This is where the great insurrection against God began. This is where the Tower of Babel was built. And this is where it is finally going to end.

[19:18] This is where the Antichrist is going to meet his doom. So this is very, very significant. All right, now let's keep on, if we may, here. About the Messiah. And the people of the Prince who is to come, that's the Antichrist, will destroy the city and the sanctuary.

[19:38] Well, right now, there is no sanctuary to destroy. It was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans. Roman general Titus, they completely leveled it.

[19:51] So there has been no sanctuary and no temple and no altar and no sacrifice in Jerusalem since 70 A.D.

[20:01] Almost 2,000 years. So in order for this to be destroyed and to come with a flood, and that flood, when the Bible mentions that it will come with a flood, it always has to do, and it always means an invasion of enemy troops.

[20:16] That will be the flood. It won't be a water flood. It will be a human flood, and it will be enemy troops. So this is going to have to be rebuilt in order for it to be destroyed. And now there is no temple there, but there will be.

[20:31] And its end will come with a flood. Even to the end there will be war. Desolations are determined. And he, the he in verse 27, refers back to the prince who is to come in verse 26.

[20:48] And he will make a firm covenant with the many. And the many here in context will be the Jewish people who will be in control of Jerusalem, the temple, etc., for one week.

[21:04] That is not seven days. That is seven years. That's the biblical week. It is literally for one seven. But in the middle of the week, that is three and a half, or 42 months, or 1260 days, or time, times, and half a time, all the same, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offerings.

[21:32] Well, now, Jews today are not making any sacrifices. They're not making any grain offerings. They don't have any place to make them. There is no temple. So all of this is requiring and inferring that the temple will be rebuilt, and it will be the third temple.

[21:47] And I don't know if you are aware of it or not, but there is a group very active and very serious in Jerusalem today. We had opportunity to visit with them in 1990.

[21:59] They are referred to as the Third Temple Mount Faithful. The first temple was the one that Solomon built. The second temple was the one that was built after they came back from captivity that Herod enlarged, and it was referred to as Herod's Temple.

[22:14] That's the second temple. So there have been two temples. This is going to be the third temple, and it is going to be raised as well. Then, during this time of tribulation, during this seven-year period, particularly during the first three and a half years, Israel is going to have a great deal of latitude and a great deal of freedom, because this covenant will be in effect.

[22:42] Israel is going to sign this pact with the Antichrist, of course, not having any idea who he really is, but he will be billed as someone who is in a position to guarantee the security and the freedom of the nation of Israel.

[23:04] And there are no people on the face of the earth who have longed for security and freedom more than the Jewish people, and there's no one who has been more bereft of it than the Jewish people.

[23:16] And when this pact is negotiated and they sign on, it will be a virtual guarantee to the nation of Israel that they will be comfortable with and have confidence in.

[23:30] It is going to be in place for seven years, and Israel is collectively going to have a big sigh of relief, because they are going to be reasonably confident that they are going to be guaranteed seven years of uninterrupted freedom, and at the end of the end of the renegotiate something else.

[23:56] But, in the middle of those seven years, three and a half years down the road, 42 months into it, 1260 days into it, the Antichrist reveals his true identity, and all hell breaks loose.

[24:16] The deal is off, the pact is off, the false face of the Antichrist is off, the ruse is over with, he is revealed for who and what he really is, and Israel and all of the Jews of the world are going to be placed in the crosshairs of the Antichrist in a way that they never have been before.

[24:39] So, in making this firm covenant in verse 27, in the middle of the week, he will put a stop to sacrifice. Oh, yes, you Jews, you go right ahead and worship, you can make your sacrifices, we won't interrupt, and he's going to violate that.

[24:58] And on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate. This is the same character, this is the Antichrist.

[25:08] Even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate. This desolator, defiler, is the abomination.

[25:22] That's the one that Daniel is speaking of here. He is everything that Christ is not. He is a complete opposite in every way. He is evil, he is murderous, he is barbaric, he is deceitful, he is conniving, he is scheming, he is untrustworthy, he is a personification of evil, and he will be energized by none other than Satan himself in the same way that God the Son is energized and dispatched by the Father to accomplish his work.

[26:00] Now on your way back to Revelation, we've got to stop in Matthew chapter 24, passage I'm sure you're familiar with, but I need to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.

[26:12] Matthew chapter 24, Christ is speaking, this is the Olivet Discourse, this is the most lengthy treatise ever given by our Lord regarding the future.

[26:25] And we're going to have to just break into the middle of it and we'll just have to sacrifice part of the text because we're not going to be able to take time for the whole thing.

[26:37] So I just want you to jump in, if you would, with verse 15 of Matthew 24, Christ is speaking, he's talking to his disciples, and he says, therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet.

[26:59] We just read that. That's what Jesus is talking about. And that's what every Jew during Jesus' lifetime was very familiar with. They all knew about Daniel 9. And Christ is referring to that because he knows full well.

[27:12] They know about it. He's not telling them anything new. When you see that, that was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand.

[27:23] In other words, this abomination of desolation is going to be a being. A being that will abominate, contaminate, desecrate that holy sight with just the evil of his persona.

[27:44] And he is going to declare himself to be God and to demand worship. And the world will willingly, eagerly give it and recognize him.

[28:00] when you see that happen, Christ is talking to the generation of Jews who will be alive at this time.

[28:10] And by the way, I can't go into the details now regarding it, but I am satisfied that they are going to be reading the New Testament then, like they never have before. They do not even accept it now as being valid.

[28:23] They do not believe that it is the word of God, as is their Old Testament. But Christ said, when you see that happen, let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. This is where Jerusalem is.

[28:35] It is not going to be safe there anymore. Get out of town now. In fact, Christ goes on to talk about the great urgency that is going to be involved because when the Antichrist makes that move, it is going to be like the tick of a clock that is going to put into force.

[28:59] The arrest, the elimination, the murder, the execution, whatever you want to call it, of as many Jews as possible. And Christ is saying, when you see that abomination that desolated, the one that Daniel is speaking of, when you see him stand in the holy place to get out of town, flee to the mountains, and they are going to flee, many of them on foot, and they will go, I am persuaded, down to where Petra is in southern Transjordan right now, and there they will be miraculously nourished and sustained by God in the same way he sustained his people when they came out of Egypt with manna from heaven.

[29:41] I don't know if it will be manna or what it will be, but I do know they are going to be providentially cared for. This will be the Jewish remnant of the last day.

[29:51] And this Antichrist is referred to numerous times throughout scripture with different names, but it's the same person each time. In Genesis 3.15, he is the seed of Satan, or the seed of the adversary.

[30:08] In Daniel 7 and verse 8, he is the little horn. In Daniel 8.23, the Antichrist is called the king of fierce countenance.

[30:19] In Daniel 9.26, he is called the prince that shall come. We've already looked at that. As well as verse 27, where he is identified as the desolator.

[30:30] And then in Daniel 11 and verse 36, he is called the willful king. In 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 3, he is called the man of sin.

[30:43] In verse 3, he is also called the son of perdition. And in verse 8, he is called the lawless one. In 1 John chapter 2 and verse 22, he is called simply by the name by which we know him best, the Antichrist.

[30:59] And in Revelation 11.7 and 13.2 that we have before us, to which we must now return, he is referred to as the beast. So, let us go there if we may, please.

[31:10] And the one who stands on the sand of the seashore, and I wasn't even aware of this chapter division here, as unfortunate as it is, until I was speaking with someone just a week ago or so.

[31:25] He was asking me about this, and I must confess, I completely overlooked that, didn't pick up on that at all. But there is no question that the he, in verse 1 of chapter 13, is referring to the dragon who is in verse 17.

[31:41] And that is the he. And he stood on the sand of the seashore. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea.

[31:53] It is almost as if this dragon, and by the way, the dragon here is unquestionably Satan himself. And the context makes that clear. And we've got all three personalities involved in this portion.

[32:07] We've got Satan himself, who is the kingpin of the whole thing. And then there is the Antichrist, who is energized by Satan. He is Satan's right-hand man.

[32:18] And then there is the other beast that will surface later in this chapter, and he is referred to as the false prophet. He will be the religious aspect of the trio. So, Satan, think of it in terms of Satan is going to be the head of the whole thing, and he will energize the Antichrist.

[32:36] The Antichrist thrust is going to primarily be political and military. That of the false prophet will be politically, will be sensitive to the political and the military, but his big thing is going to be the religion.

[32:53] It will be the false religion. And man is incurably religious. He's never been able to live without it. He will, if he has to, create gods of his own to worship.

[33:04] And history has proved that time and time again. So, that's what's going to happen here. All of these things are going to come into being during this last period of the Great Tribulation period.

[33:15] So, John says, I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. This is a grotesque looking thing, isn't it? Artists try to draw this and sketch it, and no matter how they make it, it always looks really bizarre, just absolutely weird.

[33:33] And in a way, that's going to be the nature of this. It's going to be so extraordinary and so evil extraordinary that it virtually defies description.

[33:48] The ten horns and the seven heads. The heads and the horns speak of power. All throughout Scripture, Old Testament and New Testament, when this term horn is used, it is in reference to an individual's power.

[34:02] This is one of the names given to the Antichrist. He's referred to as the little horn. And that's the way he's going to start out, because his origin will be rather insignificant, and yet he will very rapidly go from a relative nobody to someone of real stature and substance to be reckoned with.

[34:23] This Antichrist is going to be a 90-day wonder. He's going to rise to power in a meteoric kind of way, riding on the back of one success after another.

[34:39] And with each success, people are going to become more and more impressed, and they're going to willingly relinquish more and more authority to him because they trust him. And the reason they will trust him is because of his accomplishments.

[34:53] They will not be able to argue with that. And well, look at what he did here. If he did that there, I wonder what he could do. Well, let's ask him. Let's give him this authority. And they're going to do so. So the world leaders are going to be begging this person to take control over these issues.

[35:11] And he will accommodate them. All with his pernicious agenda in mind, and they won't have a clue. They will be completely trusting.

[35:24] John says, in this vision that he saw, was like a leopard. He didn't say it was a leopard. This is a simile. Simile uses the term like and as, but it doesn't mean that it is the thing.

[35:40] John is giving a description of that which it reminds him of more than anything else. And as John looks at it, he says, it looks to me more like a leopard than anything.

[35:52] But obviously, it's a one-time thing that he has never seen before, and he's trying to describe it. And his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.

[36:05] This is a composite individual. And this actually represents three kingdoms that have already come and gone, passed off the scene. And they are, of course, the lion was representative of Nebuchadnezzar.

[36:20] The bear was the Medo-Persian Empire. And the leopard was Alexander the Great. And the blitzkriegs that he conducted militarily, moving like a leopard, cat-like, and all of this fits and comes into place.

[36:33] And I saw one of his heads. I'm sorry. And the dragon, the dragon is, unquestionably, Satan himself.

[36:43] If you look across the page, there can be no question as to the identity of the dragon. We are told that verse 9 of chapter 12, the great dragon, this is another term for serpent, the great dragon or serpent was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, and he was thrown down to the earth.

[37:09] So we can make a positive identification there with the dragon in verse 4 of chapter 13. And we are told that in verse 3, that his fatal wound, one of his heads, has a fatal wound, and the fatal wound was healed.

[37:27] And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon, that is, Satan, because he gave his authority to the beast.

[37:44] And they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? And who is able to wage war with him? Do you recall what one of the beast's most significant accomplishments was?

[37:59] In a previous chapter? Chapter 11? Remember the two witnesses? They were indestructible? No one could kill them? Why is it that no one could kill them?

[38:10] Well, let me remind you of something I've told you already about a number of times, and you've got to keep this in mind when you come to the Revelation. There is going to be an installation of the supernatural in the 70th week of Daniel, the likes of which the world has never seen.

[38:28] There is going to be a reversal to the miraculous, to the obvious, to the undeniable. And Satan is going to demonstrate numerous powers that he is not demonstrating now.

[38:45] When Christ was here, his modus operandi was the miraculous. Everywhere he went, almost everything he did, he defied all of the common laws of nature.

[38:58] With a word, he stilled the storm and the waves. You just don't do that. With his will, he turned plain old drinking water into the best wine anyone had tasted.

[39:13] You just don't do that. They brought throngs of people to him with every kind of disease that you can imagine. And the text makes it very clear, and it says he healed them all.

[39:26] He didn't heal most of them. He healed them all. Of all kinds of sicknesses and disease. That just doesn't happen. That is supernatural.

[39:38] And it all suggests that the one who is doing this comes from a different sphere than anything and everything that we have to do with.

[39:52] This is completely over the top. Our tendency is to think, well, those things, that's not possible. Well, of course it's not possible.

[40:03] Not in our venue. That's why we call them miracles. They're not possible. They are going to be in full force during this time.

[40:15] This is when we see those supernatural demonic beings described as locusts coming out of that pit. This is when we're going to see these two witnesses who were not identified.

[40:27] And I'm not trying to put names on them because I don't have any idea who they are. All I can say is I'm almost 100% sure that they're Jews. But I don't know.

[40:37] I know Moses and Elijah and Enoch and all the rest. But none of that can be proved. It's all conjecture. They are going to be indestructible. But this guy, the Antichrist, is going to be the first one to come on the scene who will be able to do away with them.

[40:57] And the whole world will rejoice. Because they hate those two guys. I mean, with a passion. Remember that from chapter 11? And then, to make matters worse, they're going to see to it that their dead bodies lie in the streets.

[41:12] So that the cameras from all over the world and all of the networks can focus in on that and parade the demise of the two most despised individuals in the world.

[41:24] And people are going to be having cocktail parties all over the world to celebrate the demise of these two witnesses. And then, after three and a half days, they rise.

[41:37] Well, that can't be. Well, of course it can't be. That's why it's a miracle. It just operates outside the normal sphere of our laws, what we call natural laws.

[41:51] It's almost as if supernatural laws are going to be the order of the day during this tribulation period. And it's so hard for us to accommodate that because we are locked in to what we call normal.

[42:07] Limited. You can't do that. That just doesn't happen. But it will then. It will then. It's a completely different venue. And they are going to be so grateful for the demise of these two pests, worldwide pests, that they're going to pin medals on this Antichrist for being the one who could do away with them.

[42:32] So, we are told that in verse 5 there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies.

[42:44] And this, of course, will be blaspheming throughout the God of heaven. And authority to act for 42 months was given to him. That's three and a half years, 1260 days, a time, times, and a half a time.

[43:01] And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle. And nobody is going to be saying, that's terrible.

[43:12] He shouldn't be doing it. No, they're going to be doing it too. He's going to be leading the way. This is going to be the world population, with the exception of those who are coming to faith as a result of the 144,000.

[43:24] World population is collectively going to be thumbing their nose at the God of heaven. In contempt and derision and blasphemy. And his tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

[43:40] And it was given to him, the Antichrist, to make war with the saints. These are people who have the audacity to refuse the mark of the beast.

[43:58] The mark of the beast is a mark of ownership. Ownership. And those who receive the mark will be owned, if you will, by the beast.

[44:13] Those who don't have the mark will be viewed as renegades, as obstructionists, as opposition, as hated, as worthy of death.

[44:25] And to overcome them. And authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.

[44:40] He didn't have to take them. It was given to him. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him.

[44:52] Worship. What does worship mean? What is worship? Worship is worth. W-O-R-T-H.

[45:02] Worth. Ship. You worship that to which you ascribe the greatest worth and value.

[45:15] The Antichrist is going to come across as an absolutely indispensable person to the world at large.

[45:28] They will worship him because they assign great worth and value to him for what he has accomplished. They will be so grateful and will worship him.

[45:41] Everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

[45:53] Anyone has an ear, let him hear. Anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes. Anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed.

[46:05] Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. We are going to have to conclude this here with verse 10. But verse 11 opens a new drama.

[46:18] And that is the religious factor that will be in play during this time. And that will be the third member of the unholy trinity, also known as the false prophet.

[46:30] And his game will be to deceive, deceive, deceive. And the world will be ripe for one deception after another.

[46:42] And they will submit to it. I guess you could say that we think we live sometimes in uncertain times. But that's nothing.

[46:54] What we experience is nothing compared to what it's going to be then. Chaos is going to be the order of a day in a way that the world has never seen. And there is but one ray of hope that is available.

[47:14] And that is the same one that has always been there. He is the faithful God who will not leave us nor forsake us. He is the one who is the sovereign God who is in charge, who works all things after the counsel of his will.

[47:26] And while it looks as if Satan here is going to have free reign, Satan has never had a reign that was free from the leash that God has attached to him.

[47:37] And in essence, I want you to think of it this way as we close. All God is going to be doing here is allowing Satan to have his way in such a way that is most consistent and most like what the world at that time will want and will embrace.

[47:59] In other words, through the Antichrist and his ministry, God is going to be giving an unbelieving world pretty much what they want and what they ask for.

[48:15] I suspect they have no idea what it ultimately is going to result in. And you know, way back in the beginning, God gave Adam and Eve pretty much what they ask for.

[48:37] Freedom, independence, the exercise of their own will. And God gave them what they ask for.

[48:48] And I'm sure they had no idea at all what all would entail from that. But what we are dealing with today and all kinds of negative, hurtful situations we see all throughout the world, including terrorism and all that goes with it, is part and parcel of man getting what he told God he wanted.

[49:15] Long story short is this. In our fallenness, in our human nature, embarrassing though it is, we really would prefer what we want as opposed to what God wants.

[49:32] And we have the arrogance and the audacity to think and really believe that our way really is the best and it's to be preferred. That's a grand lie.

[49:44] Adam and Eve found the truth of it. But in man's corrupt and fallen nature, this is pretty much what we're locked into. I've told you in time past, and so say I now again, that perhaps the most significant consequence of our parents' first fall in disobedience is they entered into a sphere of self-centeredness that they never had before.

[50:11] And today, the whole human race is cursed with this disease of self-centeredness that wants to put one's own will above everything and everyone else.

[50:26] That's the nature of fallen man. Nothing can combat that but the gospel. And we are so grateful that it does.

[50:37] Think, as powerful, as rigid, as unforgiving as that nature is, it can still be overcome by the gospel of Christ.

[50:50] Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Would you stand and join with me in prayer, please? Father, we recognize that what we have shared and what the scriptures teach in a non-controversial way for the most part is that to which this world is headed.

[51:15] And yet you will be there when the world gets there because you are the omniscient, omnipresent deity that we love and worship and wish to serve.

[51:26] And we pray that you will enlighten us as to these things and that you will remind us that day may very well be short and we need to buy up the time.

[51:42] We need to make ourselves available to you as individuals and as a church in any way that we can that pleases you so that we can address a fallen and a deceived culture in which we live.

[51:58] We are so grateful that we have the power of the gospel with which to confront it because nothing else is adequate. So as we continue on with whatever you require of us, we trust that each of us will be pliable, open, and available to your leading and your direction.

[52:20] That we'll see a lost and dying world around us and realize that the gospel that we possess is the only hope they have. Let us be generous in giving it forth and entrusting it to do what only it can do.

[52:33] In Christ's name we pray. Amen.