A Beast from the Sea Rev, 13:1-10
Revelation 13:1-10 · Vern Peterman · Jun 23, 2002
Revelation (2001-03), No. 35
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/482622447755

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're in Revelation chapter 13. We're starting what is, by chapter count, the last half of the book of Revelation. Can you imagine that? Okay. So that's where we're at. We're looking at the first ten verses here this morning. Now, one of the things that we've tried to do at intervals is to try to stand back a little bit and get the big picture. Because we feel that that's important for people to understand, not just be so buried in the trees, if you will, that you lose the big picture. We want to see the forest. And so we'll take a little bit of time to do that before we move immediately and directly into the passage itself. The first thing is just to take a look. We've looked at this chart before, but just to keep the perspective in front of us. We've got this tribulation week that's taking place.

The Beast, as we read in Revelation chapter 11, comes in in the middle of this week and he does three things that stand out. He breaks a treaty that he's established at the beginning. Second thing, he goes and desecrates the temple. Third thing is he kills the two witnesses that the Lord has given ministry the first half of the tribulation period.

So here we have the last half of the tribulation period. What we're looking at here is kind of information this morning as we move into chapter 13 that's going to give us the big picture about what's happening during this last half of the seven year tribulation period that is going to be coming upon the whole world. Starting with the events in chapter 12 and now moving up through chapter 19 is really the time period we're looking at that covers this last half. But the other thing that happens is up until that time, the Antichrist, this beast that we first heard mention of in chapter 11, up until this time, he's just been kind of building support.

Now he moves in, and literally for the kill, so far as the two witnesses are concerned. Now he moves in and he is taking dominance. And this is a no-holds-barred action on his part. Let's take a look at something else. You've got on your handout, you've got two sheets on your handout this morning. You've got one that looks like this and the lettering here is smaller than I would usually used, but you have the same on your handout and my hope is that you can refer to that. This overhead and your handout show two diagrams comparing on one side the Holy Trinity and on the other side the unholy trinity. The holy trinity of course being the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The unholy trinity Satan, Antichrist, and the False Prophet.

So what is happening here is the unholy trinity is an imitation for three and a half years that will imitate the real and eternal Trinity. That's what Satan is setting up for this last half of the tribulation period. Notice here, Satan attempts to take the place of the Father. He sets up and sends his son, the Antichrist, to simulate the Son of God. and there will be the false prophet, and we'll read about him next week, the false prophet will simulate the place of the Holy Spirit in the same way that the Holy Spirit points to Christ, the false prophet will point to the Antichrist. See that? So each person of this false unholy trinity will be there to simulate the real and eternal trinity for three and a half years.

Satan is introduced in chapter 12. We looked at that last week and the week before that. Satan is introduced in chapter 12, and he is called the Dragon, the Devil, and given several other synonyms, if you will, in order that we might know who he is. What we find here in chapter 13 is these first 10 verses are introducing the Antichrist. The next verses to the end of the chapter, we'll introduce this false prophet. So we'll take a look at that false prophet next week in the balance of the verses in chapter 13.

Now, one of the things that you also should have on your hand out there is this comparison. Because since we're focusing this morning on Christ the Son of God and the Antichrist being the attempted synthetic imitation counterpart, the Antichrist is the son of Satan. Notice the comparisons.

They both do miracles. Christ did miracles when he was on earth, did he not? In fulfillment of passages from Psalms and Isaiah that were to attest and validate that he was indeed the Messiah. So what is the Antichrist going to do? He's going to do miracles. to try to imitate who Christ is, to try to look like Christ.

Notice the next thing. Christ had a violent death and a resurrection, so what's the imitation? A violent death and apparent resurrection. The next thing, there's even going to be a second coming. Christ has a second coming, so what does the Antichrist do? He has a second coming. We're going to read about that. Christ is crowned with many crowns, as we'll see in Revelation 19. So what is the Antichrist? He has ten crowns. There are a great many comparisons here that could be made.

Now there's also some contrast. You've got another part of your handout there that lays out these contrasts. And again, I wouldn't rely on the overhead except for the fact that you have hopefully a handout. The overhead lettering is a bit small. Now, this is more than we can afford to go over this morning.

My intent here is that you have a chance to take a look at that on your own. But just the key point is, as much as there are comparisons, there are also points of contrast. Because there are ways in which the Antichrist attempts to simulate Christ's character but falls short. So I'll let you take a look at that on your own time here.

Now, one thing to note, there are comparisons and there are contrasts. Just so that we keep that in mind is what the difference is, a comparison is a side-by-side view of things of the same category that have similar characteristics. and that's what this comparison list is intended to do. A contrast is a side-by-side view of things of the same category that have markedly different characteristics. You get the difference?

Same category, different characteristics. Let me give you an example. If someone says Vern has a head like a shaved balloon, that is a comparison. If I say Art has more hair on his chin than Vern has on the top of his head, that's a contrast. So you get the difference. There is a marked difference in a contrast. You're comparing things of the same category. Now, I'll let you take a look at those comparisons and contrasts on your own. And now a word about words. Do you mind if I say a word about words? Good, we're going to have a word about words.

We've used the word Antichrist this morning, and at other times, to refer to this sinister personality who will surface during the Tribulation period, achieving temporary but overwhelming dominance during the last half of the Tribulation period. Antichrist is but one of the names of this diabolical being.

Much of what we know about the Antichrist comes from three different places. One, from the Book of Daniel. The Book of Daniel refers to the Antichrist numerous times. Second, from Thessalonians, Chapter 2. And thirdly, from places like this in the Book of Revelation. Those are kind of the three main passages of Scripture. There are others, but those are the main ones where we get information about the Antichrist. The Antichrist is the first beast, because remember there's going to be two beasts in Chapter 13. the first beast in chapter 13, in the next several chapters of Revelation he will be referred to simply as the beast. As he was in chapter 11 when he was mentioned for the first time as killing the two witnesses.

Now this Greek, and I put this up here again not because you read it, because this is page 3 of your handout so you can refer to that. It has this Greek prefix that we carry over into English called anti, right? And we think of anti oftentimes as against. But we should keep in mind that this prefix anti is used in two ways in Greek. And one is the way we use it typically, and that is against. So it is, he is against Christ. But the other way that this prefix anti is used is instead of or in place of.

Ah, now that's an important insight. Because what is happening, and remember that diagram we saw there initially, what is happening is that the Antichrist has not just come to oppose Christ, he has come to displace Him. You see that? He has not just come to oppose Christ and to stand against Him, he has come to displace Him and to try to take His place. He is a usurper, not simply an opponent.

He has both characteristics, and we'll see more of that as we go through the passage and even into next week here. The other word that pops up as we go through this, and we saw it first there in chapter 11, we're going to see it again and again. It shows up multiple times in this chapter, and we're going to see it in future chapters as we go through Revelation. We have this word translated beast. And the original Greek word is therion, and it means a wild animal.

We're not talking about some cuddly little lap creature here. This is a wild animal. This is an animal who is untamable. This is also an animal who is, I think the term is rapacious. This creature would just soon rip your guts out as look at you. That's the kind of creature that this is conveying here.

John uses this word specifically to convey the character of this Antichrist, this beast. Because this creature has its own goals, it has its own nature, and the creature's goals and nature are such that he would just soon take anybody out of look at him. He wants what he wants, the way he wants it, any way he's going to get it, period. Anybody standing in his way is dead meat, literally.

That's why this word, the beast, is used. I think it's a good idea for us. This is not some cuddly lap creature. This is a wild animal who is out for its own character and nature, period. That's the character. The word is used on purpose. That's the character of this Antichrist.

Now, part 3 of your handout has a really good comparing of chapter 7 of Daniel with chapter 13 of Revelation. We won't have time to go through that point by point, but I give it to you to study on your own. You can go through chapter 7 of Daniel and read that, chapter 13, and look at some of the points that this comparison makes and gain some insights there. So I'll leave that for you to dig into on your own. Okay?

Okay? Okay. Good. Alright. Just checking. Alright. Now, we've been through some preliminaries. Let's go ahead and move into the passage. Alright. In verse 1. Verse 1 it says, And I stood on the sand of the seashore, and I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, And on his head were blasphemous names. Now, a lot of the high school students I've seen look just exactly like this.

Okay. Now, that being the case, of course, we have to proceed carefully here. We should note, this verse is really, you know, we have these nice convenient chapter and verse breaks. Those are nice to find things, aren't they? Because I don't have to tell you somewhere it says, I can tell you chapter and verse. So it's a good thing. This is a case where it makes a division that it may be helpful for us to just kind of fuse the end of chapter 12 with the beginning.

Because really, just kind of continuing on with the theme, it's still talking about this scene where the dragon's been in control. Now it's just kind of turning the scene towards the appointee of the dragon. Because remember how the dragon had ended up the prior chapter?

He had turned his attention against the people of Israel and against those who had placed their faith in Christ. And now what is his strategy implemented but to take this Antichrist and direct the Antichrist's attention against these people. These very people. That's what's going on here. As we look into the first verse, it's the same themes we saw in chapter 12, just moving on to the next step. It's continuing on.

And what we find here, John uses John uses some phraseology. He calls the sea. And you say, well, why does he use this word the sea? Well, again, it comes straight out of Daniel chapter 7. That's part of the comparison that you have on your table there. But twice in this passage, in Daniel chapter 7, the first several verses, Daniel uses this word sea. So John is just using the same imagery.

The sea, in this case, introduces some Gentile kingdoms. So again, when we look here at the sea in Revelation chapter 13, what he's talking about is here out of this Gentile world, these Gentile kingdoms, out of this sea comes this first beast, the Antichrist.

It is in that realm that this Antichrist is dealing. Now, the other thing that it brings up, this is Satan's answer, this is part of his strategy. He is bringing forth the spell and he's saying, okay, I'm going to target the Jews, I'm going to target those who believe in Christ, and the way I'm going to do it is I'm going to come up with this Antichrist. That's his strategy, that's the way he's going to go about his anti-Semitic, anti-Christian strategy. That's how he's going to carry it out. And so what he does is he says, in the past I brought up kingdoms, now I'm going to do my strategy with a person. I'm going to come up with an individual who will be the focal point of my strategy.

And, you know, we can conjure up in our minds the names of some people through history who have been awful people, who have led kingdoms and nations into doing horrible things. We might think of Hitler. You might think of Rasputin in the Russian background. You might think of Herod. He was the one who just had the babies killed because he didn't want anybody who might be king of Israel instead of him or his descendants. You might think of Nero or Attila the Hun or whatever other name comes to mind.

None of those people will be as inherently and absolutely and globally evil as this one. Whatever name conjures up in your mind, this guy's worse. Far worse. And he will be global. He will not stop short of anything but global control. That is exactly what he wants. Satan says, I want the whole works. And this is the guy I've appointed to do it. And that's what he's going to do.

Now, then, We look at it, John tells us that this beast has ten horns, seven heads, and on the horns, ten diadems. And what we want to look at here is just kind of go back through, because this use of horns and heads and all this, again, might make you think of high school students, but instead, what we want to take a look at here is sort of three steps in explanation.

This is drawing out of a great deal out of the book of Daniel. Again, we're taking a kind of a quick rabbit trail through the book of Daniel in order to get a good solid understanding here of what's taking place. We talked earlier back in Revelation chapter 6 about this rider of the white horse. This is the first horseman of the Apocalypse in the beginning of chapter 6. And this rider then speaks in persuasive language.

Basically, he's building support. He's not going out at that point in time and doing the intensive global control, but he's working towards that. He brings about a ten-nation confederacy, basically a reconstitution or resurrection or reviving of the old Roman Empire. That's what he's shooting for.

We have, and some people I think have gone a little too overboard, we have the potential for that, and for example the European Common Market, NATO, other European organizations, but it may well be, and I think we have to keep this open, it may well be that something else will come about that will be this ten-nation Confederacy. It's a mistake for people to try to point too much at what is visible now, something new and different could very well be conjured up specifically for the purposes of the Antichrist that does not now exist. So we have to be careful about grabbing at something that's there presently and saying, this is it. It may be it, that's as far as we can go, but during this time it will be very clear what's taking place to those who are living then. The next thing that comes up, the leader of this confederacy is going to make a seven-year covenant with Israel. Okay? So he'll establish that covenant. It is going to be the resolution, because right now we see daily headlines.

I know this last week, multiple examples of horrible things happening over in Israel. Israeli buses being blown up and terrible things. And it just seems like it's one thing after another. And Israel comes back with some pretty intense reactions. It's destabilizing and it's very upsetting to see this constantly going on. But the promise out of the Old Testament is that the Lord will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling. And that's exactly what we're seeing, only it's going to get worse.

He's going to come in and He's going to be the world's golden boy. He's going to say, I've got the fix. And everybody's going to say, wow. they're going to be impressed. Ever been impressed? This guy's going to be really impressive. Satan is going to be the one who is going to be bringing up the magic, the rabbit out of the hat that impresses everybody. It's going to look really good. But it's going to have a very sharp barb in it. And it's in the middle of this period of time when the treaty will be broken. Something else will take place there.

The three kings of the Confederacy, this group of nations will rebel, and this dictator, the beast or the Antichrist, I put his name in red letters here on purpose, defeats them. That's out of Daniel again, and emerges as the undeniable leader. Where we see that come forth here in this passage, Revelation chapter 13, is that the Antichrist, the beast, is the head of his ten crowned kings, ten horns and diadems, which after the Antichrist's suppression of the rebellion is governed by seven leaders, seven heads.

And verse 13-1 finishes off with telling us that the heads of the beast have blasphemous names. Now think of this, for a name to be blasphemous, it either has to speak directly against God, or it has to claim falsely to speak for God, or it'll claim to be God. See that? Blasphemy is speaking against God, claiming falsely to speak for God, or falsely claim to be God. And I think what you're likely to see is some of all three of these But substantially, the last one especially, because farther on, in only a couple verses here, we're going to see worship of the beast, worship of Satan come from this.

So it is ultimately a claim to be God. He will say, I am God. I am worthy of your worship. Worship me. And by the way, if you don't, there's a serious price to pay. That's the message he's going to bring. This beast will take the names of deity upon himself, and that will be blasphemy. That will be blasphemy. He's going to say, I am God.

Notice here in verse 2, And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. Now, John begins to describe this beast for us, this Antichrist. In doing so, John does this. He takes the images of three beasts out of the book of Daniel, the same Daniel chapter 7.

Those images of the beast were previously used as illustrations of the character of these ancient empires. But what does he do? He says, now it's no longer the character of some ancient empire, now this powerful Antichrist has the combined characteristics of several of those empires. So what does that look like? Here we have in verse 2, the character of the beast is pictured by the characteristics of a combination of these ancient empires.

And look, he says directly that he is like a leopard And this leopard then means stealth, speed, and cunning. The Greek there means a spotted one. Basically, here's this leopard and the idea is this thing comes and boy he is quick. He is fast. That would be equivalent to Greece.

One of the things that made Alexander the Great so successful is he trained his men to move with skill and to move quickly. and they moved in before people had a chance to respond, and they conquered one place after the next, after the next, after the next, and they moved, moved, moved, moved. And that is the reason for using the symbol of the leopard to picture the character that will be one of the characteristics of the Antichrist. He will move with stealth, he will move with speed, he will move with cunning. People will be shocked at his attack. The next thing like the empire of Medo-Persia, the bear, and notice that he's specific, like the seat of the bear.

Now, Nancy and I one time went camping in Yosemite National Park, and we happened to be in an area where there's lots of bears, and one of the things we noticed is that the bears had no trouble ripping the doors off the cars. Just tearing the doors clean off the car. They would take their paw and just one swipe, and the door would be gone. Just WHAM! It's out of there. And that's the kind of analogy. Here's this bear, it takes one swipe and you're out. And that's exactly the picture here. The Antichrist, if he finds an opponent, what does he do? He takes one swipe and the opponent is smashed. The opponent is ripped to shreds. Fatal wound instantly.

The last comparison he makes is Babylon. And notice he doesn't just say, like a lion, he says, like the teeth of the lion. And that's the reason for the emphasis here in the picture. Ferocious and threatening. What does a lion do when it attacks? It makes one fatal bite to the neck and the enemy or whatever it's taking down is gone. So that's the comparison here. He makes this three animal comparison, not just to use some nice little pictures, but to get the point across to us here.

We're talking somebody who is invincible from any human standpoint. He will be impressive, frighteningly so. Now, notice the dragon that is Satan himself. He's the one who gives the Antichrist the power and the throne. His position, his authority. This being is sold out to Satan. Satan is the one who empowers the Antichrist and the Beast. Have you ever talked with someone and you soon figure out that that person is willing to get what he wants at any price? It's unnerving, isn't it? You've been through that experience? It's kind of scary.

When I was in high school, and I've shared this before with some of you so it may not be news, I had occasional contact with Jim Jones, the cult leader. He was my sister's 7th grade teacher. I would meet him at PTA meetings and sit across from him. He would say or do anything in order to get power. He eventually, nine years after I graduated from high school, led 600 people to their deaths down in Guyana. A number of them were people I went to high school with.

He wanted what he wanted at any price. It did not matter what it cost you for him to get exactly what he wanted. He wanted what he wanted, when he wanted it, at any price, and that was it. Period. And that's the character of the Antichrist. If you've talked to somebody and you've been face-to-face with somebody that's like that, that has that mind and heart, it's kind of unnerving. That's the character of the Antichrist, but at a global scale. Can you imagine that?

Any price, anything, it doesn't matter. If that price is you, she's willing to pay it. He wants what he wants, when he wants it, and that means right now. Now, what's amazing, Satan will empower him 100%. Satan will come to him and say, what do you need? You got it. Whatever it takes.

Verse 3, 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, and they worship the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast. And they worship the beast, saying, who is like the beast and who is able to wage war with him? And in verse 3 we see that this Antichrist, the beast, appears to carry out something that sounds like a death and resurrection. It's just one more way that Satan carries out an imitation of what Christ has done in his death and resurrection. And we'll see evidence again of this in verse 14 as we look at it again next week.

This display of apparently miraculous power will impress the world. Do you see that at the end of verse 3? People are impressed. It isn't just a percentage. Do you notice that? It says the whole world will be amazed and follow after the beast. And verse 4 tells us what will be the result of the beast's impressive power and authority, and now what appears to be resurrection power. People will worship Satan, the one who gives authority and power to the beast. People will worship the beast because of his political power, because he's persuasive, because he's authoritative. And now he has miraculous power that is so overwhelmingly impressive. Wow!

Who on earth can hold a candle to this guy? He's going to get it together and he's going to hold it together and nobody can stop him. And then there'll be a one world religion. You see that? The whole world worships the beast. Now, I can have whatever doctrine I want. That's fine.

As long as it includes the beast. Gotta make room for the beast, you know. I can have whatever practices I want as long as the beast is exalted. You can even name Christ as long as you name the beast Christ. The pressure to conform will be beyond imagination. Conform, conform, conform. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Verse 5.

There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for 42 months was given to him." We've already seen this word blasphemies, and now we see it described and underscored. She's elaborating on what does this blasphemies mean. The God of heaven will be denied and reviled. The God of the beast, Satan, will take on the name and authority of God. The beast will speak as if he were the last line of authority on the planet. He'll speak that way.

Just as we've seen before, however, his time of authority is limited, isn't it? It's 42 months. We already know the limit of it. We looked at previously this chart here. Basically, we've been told repeatedly in both Daniel and Revelation that this period of time, Miscellaneous names here. We've got 1260 days 42 months three and a half years time times and half a time all those things keep pointing to the last half this three and a half year period of time as being the time Here that this is taking place the Antichrist will grab For all he can for a global domination during this last three and a half year period of time He will take it And verse 6 tells us this, And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. This is giving us further explanation of the character of this ghastly beast. He blasphemes God as if there were no consequences. Do you see that? Just as if it didn't matter. No consequences. Not going to make any difference. After all, I'm God is the way he talks. He acts as if he were God and as if the God of heaven cannot touch him.

Notice the last half of verse 6, though. He blasphemes those who dwell in heaven. It talks about the tabernacle being those who dwell in heaven. Interesting. Let's think about that. Think of those who dwell in heaven at this point in time. The last half of the tribulation. We have, of course, God himself. And that's been made clear numerous times and still will be made clear. We have the very angels who were involved in casting out Satan and his angels, right? Those are in heaven. Guess who else is in heaven? You and me.

He will blaspheme the church. How about that? He will blaspheme the church. He will speak reviling things because he failed, he failed, to prevent us from being with the Lamb. And so all He can do is spew out hatred. Those people who disappeared, those people who left, those awful ones, we don't want anybody to be like them. They left us down here with all this misery and pain. Okay?

He's going to speak blasphemies against all who are in heaven, us included. Notice here, in verse 7, 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. You see, it was also allowed that the beast, this object of the one world religion that's now formed, would initiate a major offensive against all those who believe. See, we won't be there the church, but those who have come to believe during this tribulation period, they will be the object of a major offensive.

We're not talking something incidental, like here's a parking ticket. It's like, these people are the worst things on planet Earth, get rid of them. If you have ants infesting your kitchen, you call the exterminator, you don't want him to take out 50% of the ants, right? 50% is not the number you're looking for. You want all the ants out of your kitchen, right? That's the way believers will be looked at during this period of time. We want them all out of here. Get them all out. They're pests and worse. One of the things you notice, he uses a word here, he says, it was given him to make war with the, not the church, with the saints. Did you notice that? War with the saints.

The word church isn't used. Matter of fact, it's been a number of chapters since we've seen the word church. This was a chart that we showed some chapters back, and now it's a good time to take a look at it. Here's the places where the word church is used during the early chapters of Revelation. Suddenly, you get to the end of chapter 3, and the word church just drops off.

And now we see the word saints being used. This case here, like we just read, being case in point. The word saints is being used, and that is a word that is used for believers of all times, not just the church. It is used for Old Testament saints. You'll find, if you look up in a concordant, the word saints, you'll find it in the Old Testament. It is a word that is general, not specific to the church. Church believers are saints, but saints is a general term for those who place their faith in Christ of all times. This use of the word saints here is not to mean the church. As a matter of fact, this word church specifically is dropped out just prior to the beginning of the tribulation period.

Interesting, huh? Okay. Something else that comes up. Then we see reference to a phrase that indicates the beast's reach will be global. Every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And we've noticed that other than in chapter five, that kind of phrase, tribe and people and tongue and nation, it only shows up during the tribulation period. The idea is global, global, global. And notice that what it's saying is every tribe, every people, every tongue, every nation, every, every, every, every. The intent here is to communicate to us this is a global reach. He's not looking for percentages. He's not looking for a few nations or a good collection of them. He wants the whole thing. Every, every, every.

Verse 8, All who dwell on the earth will worship Him, everyone whose name has not been written in the book of life of the Lamb, who has been slain from the foundation of the world. And here we see a great dividing line being set up. There is a great mass of humanity in this phrase that we looked at, all who dwell on the earth, shows up here. We've noted that this phrase shows up only in the Tribulation Period.

And the only place that it shows up outside of the Tribulation Period is the promise to the Church in Revelation 3.10 where it says, "...because you have kept the word of my perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth." The only place that that phrase is used in the context of the church is to promise the church they won't be there. So what we find is those who dwell on the earth, or that phrase dwell on the earth, other than that promise always shows up just in passages that refer to the tribulation period. It's a tribulation specific passage.

If you dwell on this little globe here, that's what it's talking about. Those who have their habitation. They're nested in, down here on planet Earth. And it's a reference specific to those. It's again an indication you have something unique happening during this tribulation period that hasn't happened before and isn't going to happen again.

What this verse does lay out is that the Lamb, Christ, has been slain from the foundation of the world. Christ's sacrifice on our behalf, now think about this, It was established from the foundation of the world. Christ being slain was implemented in history when Christ came at His first coming, when He was slain under Pontius Pilate.

It was made effective in our personal history when we believed. It is being made a reality in our daily lives as we take God at His word that we have been identified with Christ in His death. See that? There's an accomplishment before the foundation of the world. It's implemented in history. Now it's brought into effect in our daily lives.

And then it will be totally fulfilled when Christ takes us home to be with Him. Our condition then will be consistent with our position. Verse 9 tells us this. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. That sounds kind of simple, doesn't it? Alright? But we should take note of something here.

John was writing to the seven churches. Remember back in chapters 2 and 3? And at the end of each one of the messages to the seven churches, it said, or let he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches at the end of each one of the messages to the seven churches. Now, the closest thing, now that we're in the middle of the tribulation period, the closest thing that we find to that is, if anyone has an ear, let him hear. No reference to the churches. You see that? No reference to the churches. And instead of assuming that there are those who do have an ear, Now it's if anyone or if any man has an ear. It's a much more selective thing. It's hopeful that someone will listen. Okay? As opposed to assuming that there are those who will listen.

But what you see is all of a sudden the church has dropped out of this. There's multiple indications the church isn't here. See that? This is just another one. Instead of just saying, anyone who has an ear, let them hear what the Spirit says through the churches. He could have put that there. But instead, Churches is dropped out. It's just, if anyone who has an ear, let them hear.

Verse 10. If anyone is destined for captivity, captivity goes. If anyone kills with a sword, with a sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and faith of the saints. When we first read this verse, it may sound to us as if it's sort of fatalistic. If you're going to kill, you're going to kill. If you're going to be captive, you're going to be captive.

But if we look at it carefully, we find it's actually saying something different. This isn't fatalism. Look at carefully what it's saying. And it's really talking about kind of a law of reaping. If this one's going to lead others into captivity, he's going to be brought into captivity. If this one's going to kill by the sword, he himself will be killed by the sword.

See the difference there? The distinction there being, we have our phrase, whatever goes around comes around. If you're going to propagate these things, it's going to come back to you. And ultimately what this is saying, and I see it as an encouragement to Tribulation-era believers, saying, look guys, we know that you're being slaughtered by this Antichrist.

But, God is a God of justice. There will be a payday. for these evil acts that are being carried out. Because what are the two things that they're going to be doing with these Tribulation-era believers? Tribulation-period believers? They're going to be capturing them, and they're going to be killing them. It's going to happen.

And what he spells out here, he's telling the Tribulation-era believers, he's saying, God is a God of justice. God is a God of justice. And these who are carrying out these evil things against you who believe, are doing it unjustly, and there will be a payday someday. And I think it's important for us to take a look at, because the truth is, okay, we're not going to be in this tribulation period, but this principle still applies.

All of us have been in some part of this justice equation, we have had injustices done against us. Some of us may have had horrible, horrible injustices done against us. Some that are hard to forget. Some of us may even have been the cause of injustice and had a hard time forgetting that. Maybe both.

But what he's laying out here is, in God's eternal picture, no injustice will go unresolved and undealt with. There will be An answer to every injustice, either in this life, in the context of this life, or in the lake of fire, or at the cross. Every injustice will be dealt with. Why? Because God, by His very character, is a God of justice.

And I think that's something, you know, we look at this as, okay, this is dealing with the beast, the Antichrist, and the believers of that time. But the truth is, this This fits to us as well, just recognizing that there are injustices in this world, and we may have been subject to them. We may even have been at times the propagators. But the Lord has an answer for it all, and the answer ends up being His very character. And it's something I don't want to go over too quickly, because This is something obviously during the tribulation period you're going to really wrestle with. They're going to need some sense of Lord comfort me here.

This is horrible injustice going on. People who did nothing other than believe in you and they're being slaughtered before my eyes. We see injustice and maybe remember injustice and maybe have a hard time forgetting injustices that we've carried out. And yet he's saying here, the Lord, in His eternal perspective, in God's big picture, will deal with every injustice, every single one. Something else to take a look at here. We've spent ten verses, in summary, looking at the Antichrist. So, what should a Christian do? Should a Christian go about looking feverishly for the Antichrist?

I've gotten emails You know, here's all these things, boy, I mean, there's all sorts of little formulations, things inscribed inside somebody's hat, and, you know, you take this guy's name and add it to his wife's name, and you end up with 666, and I'm seeing all kinds of things. I mean, it's phenomenal.

But the truth is, the identity of the Antichrist, although it would be very apparent at that time, is not necessarily going to be apparent to us now. But, There's something that is very apparent to us and has been made apparent to us for a long time. And that's that while we're told of the Antichrist and we should not be ignorant, our focus should be on Christ and not the Antichrist. We are to be beholding Him.

There are groups, even groups that call themselves Christians, that are now stockpiling guns and MREs, those terrible tasting meals ready to eat. and all kinds of things in anticipation of some big battle against the Antichrist. But we have direction from Scripture. This is from Philippians 3, 20 and 21. Paul lays it on the line here.

He says, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself."

We are to be knowledgeable of the Antichrist, but not focused upon Him. We have a better focus. And rather than fear of this coming insidious, diabolical being, we instead can put our focus upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It is by beholding Him that we grow from glory to glory, not by anticipating the Antichrist. And there's no extra point for trying to figure out who it is ahead of time. But instead, there is eternal benefit and eternal value that begins now for beholding Him, even now, and looking forward to His coming, which will be the ultimate fulfillment. and we'll see Him face to face. Let's pray.