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In the providence of God, we now come to Second Thessalonians, chapter two once again; we will be examining verses nine through 12 primarily. There is an old adage that says nature abhors a vacuum. Indeed, whenever a vacuum is created, it is immediately filled by something, be it water or air or some other form of matter. And our world today is experiencing a vacuum of righteous leadership and without it, we cannot survive. Our current presidential candidates are evidence of this, and as we watch the metastasizing corruption of sin continue to eat away at every fabric of our culture the world clamors for a leader to arise. The steady deterioration of societies is a real dilemma for the liberal elite of our country and of our world, because they remain committed to classic Darwinianism's evolutionary vision that would have us believe that humanity is going to continue to progress upward. Well, since this is not happening, they have to resort to what is called social engineering, where they try to influence the attitudes, the values and the social behaviors of a culture; and also resort to social justice, where they try to redistribute wealth and opportunities and give privileges to all peoples in the society. And of course, this requires the superior wisdom of an oligarchy - a liberal elite - who must control the populace who they consider to be ignorant rabble. But above all, this will require a leader to arise. Man is desperate for a leader with answers. Man is desperate for someone to stand up and say, "Here's what we need to do. Here's how we can solve the world's problem." Therefore, man is predisposed to worshiping anyone who offers them hope and change we can believe in every day.

We also see the constant turmoil caused by the collision of world religions. And of course, the cultural elite have the answer for that as well. It's called "pluralism." According to the Pluralism Project of Harvard University, this requires what they call an "energetic engagement with diversity." For them, tolerance becomes the supreme virtue. We must actively seek to understand each other across our lines of differences, they tell us. They say we aren't to necessarily forsake our own commitments, but we shouldn't live in isolation. We should coexist in relationship to one another. And of course, this requires dialog, give and take, self-criticism. It requires interfaith initiatives. It requires religious sinners. Basically, we are to consider all religions equal, because, after all, there's no absolute truth, and so let's all respect one another and learn to get along. According to the Pluralism Project at Harvard, they tell us that they maintain, quote, "an extensive directory of religious centers in the United States. At present this directory is a searchable database with listings of several 1000 centers." The directory does not always, as a rule, include the information on Christian and Jewish centers as this information can often be easily found elsewhere. However, it does include listings for the Buddhist Taoists, Hindu Jain Zoroastrian temples and centers, as well as Baha'i humanist and pagan centers, Islamic centers and Maajid and seek good warras.

Now the problem with all of this is that true Biblical Christianity mixes with absolutely nothing. Jesus says that he is the only way "I am, the Way, the Truth and the Life." Paul tells us in First Corinthians six, that we are "...not to be bound together with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?" He goes on to say, "or what harmony has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?" And he goes on to quote the Lord who says, "'Come out from their midst and be separate,' says the Lord, 'and do not touch what is unclean.'" So what is the world to do with true believers who reject pluralism - those of us who abhor religious tolerance, who refuse to dialog with pagans who are spiritually dead and have no capacity to understand divine truth. As a pastor, I am not called to dialog so that we can get along. I am not called to find common ground through conversation. I am called to preach the gospel, and the gospel ultimately confronts the damning wickedness of pluralism and religious syncretism. Jesus said, "'Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.'" In other words, he warned us that the gospel is going to infuriate the world, and as a result, there will be never ending conflict until he returns. So what are we to do? Jesus said in John 15, "If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world. Therefore, the world hates you." So what is the world going to do with us?

Historically, Satan tends to use what I see as a four-stage progression. He begins by maligning us, and then we are marginalized, and then we are mistreated, and finally, we are murdered. And this will ultimately require this change, this pluralism will require a steady shift in cultural thinking and laws and leadership. We see all of this at work today, but ultimately it will require a supreme leader around which the world can coalesce; a leader that will dominate the world; a false messiah who will come to do the will of his father, the devil. This is what the Bible calls the Antichrist, and this is the lawless Christ hating tyrant that Paul has been describing here in Second Thessalonians chapter two.

Let's pick it up at verse six. He says, "As you know, what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way." And as we have studied, that's a reference to the Holy Spirit's restraint, "Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming." And over the past several weeks, we've looked at great detail into what the Scriptures say regarding all of these events, but then we come to verses nine through 12 that we want to focus on this morning, "...that is, the one who's coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness."

This morning, we want to focus on the antichrist power, how he will be able to ascend to a place of world domination. We're going to look at what Paul says here for a few minutes, and then we're going to go to Revelation chapter 13 and see what the Lord also reveals to add meaning and understanding to what will happen. First, we want to look at the Satanic power and deceptions of the Antichrist. Notice in verse nine what Paul says his coming is, "...in accord with the activity of Satan." Activity is a Greek term, "energeia," we get our word energy from that, and it basically means the working power.

"His coming is in accord with the working power of Satan." He goes on to say, "with all power," - which refers to supernatural, miraculous activities; we see the term used in other passages, so we understand what that means - "with all power and signs." And this speaks of of miracles that validate the supernatural nature of the one performing them. And he says, "false wonders." And this is a term that appears frequently in the New Testament often in combination with the word "signs," and this speaks of a warning that something momentous or calamitous is likely to happen. So what the Spirit of God is saying through his apostle is that when the Antichrist appears, his miraculous acts will give him credibility as being God. Ultimately, as we put all of the other prophetic passages together, it will give him credibility, and it will elicit terror among those who behold him and ultimately worship him. But notice what Paul says, all that he does, will be false, "and false wonders." By the way, the adjective "false" modifies all three terms, false power, false signs and false wonders. This does not mean that these will merely be tricks. This isn't going to be sleight of hand. What he does someday will, in fact, be supernatural, empowered by Satan, but they will be false in the sense that they will deliberately lead people to believe that which is false. And we see some of this even today in the pagan religions and some of the extreme ends of the charismatic movement and the Pentecostal movement and so forth. But Satan will empower the Antichrist in such a way as to take all that we see today to a whole new level. His powers will cause the world to believe that he is God, and they will ultimately seek to worship him again.

Verse nine, this is the lawless one now, "whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved." So in other words, his supernatural and wicked signs and wonders are going to be so convincing that the world will reject Christ and worship him instead. And it's so sad, isn't it? Deception is always the appealing mask of evil. We have seen this down through the centuries, and countless millions have been deceived by it, and only the elect of God, those that are saved during the time of the tribulation, will not be seduced by these lies. In fact, Jesus says in Matthew 24:24 speaking of this time of judgment, just prior to his return, he says, "'For false christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.'"

Now won't you also notice how Paul describes unbelievers; he describes them as "those who perish." In other words, those who embrace error will be eternally lost. What a contrast to the gospel, right? I mean, you will remember even in John 3:16, Jesus said, "'Whoever believes in Me will not what will not perish, but have everlasting life.'" And likewise, Paul tells us in First Corinthians, one and verse 18, "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." Oh dear friends, the horror that awaits all who reject the cross, all who hate Christ; billions do today, and this is going to only escalate before the Lord returns.

So verse 10, "...with all the deception of wickedness," Satan will use the Antichrist to deceive those, "who perish, because he says they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved." Oh, now bear in mind, they will know the truth intellectually. They will understand the gospel, but they will hate it. All the cataclysmic judgments that are described in the prophecies point to the "parousia,"the physical return of the Lord Jesus Christ, in all of his glory, and the world will know that it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is causing all of these judgments to fall upon them. Remember earlier in Revelation, chapter six, earlier in the time of the tribulation, they will, "cry out to the mountains and to the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.' For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

Now, my point with all of this is to say, Satan, right now, continues to deceive countless millions by all of this silliness. Therefore, man is already predisposed to the religious deception that will come upon him just before Jesus returns. I mean, we all see how this works today. It's a progression. I've seen it down through the course of my life. Satan comes along and he deceives people into thinking things that are contrary to the Word and the will of God, and then he makes people comfortable in their sin. Ah, it's not that bad. You're just human. We all make mistakes, and then, well, now we need to demand that we're all tolerant of one another's sins. So tolerance becomes the supreme virtue. There's no moral authority. We need to just live and let live. And now what we need to do, and this is kind of where we're at in our culture, let's redefine sin so it is no longer sin. But we can't stop there. We have to write laws that criminalize those who disagree with the new morality and make it a hate crime, but we can't even stop there. Now what we must do is persecute those who violate the new moral code. This is where we're headed, dear friends, and in many ways, this is where we're at. This is the strategy that will pave the way for what the prophecies describe as the one world religion, and that will finally stop all of the warring factions. This move towards pluralism is accelerating. There are so many examples of this. I'll give you but one other one. This is the agenda of the quote Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Remember Tony Blair? He was the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Blair states, quote, "God's Spirit moves through us in the world at a pace that can never be constricted by any one religious paradigm. Be very wary of people who think theirs is the only way." End quote. And of course, on his board. It includes, I'll give you just a few, a Zen Buddhist, a Hindu from Minnesota, an Anglican, a rabbi, and Rick Warren of The Purpose Driven Life. I recall Blair was one of the featured speakers back in 2009 at a Leadership Summit hosted by Bill Hybel at the Willow Creek Church; and that's really the church that gave birth to the seeker sensitive movement about roughly 40 years ago, and they hosted the rock star Bono, or Bono, I'm not sure how you pronounce it, who created the coexist sign; you've seen that on the bumpers of cars, and that was first displayed in his 2005 Vertigo tour on this massive screen. I saw pictures of it. You've got the C of coexist, which is the Islamic crescent. The O is the broken inverted cross or the peace symbol. The E stand is the symbol for male and female. The X is the was they used the Jewish star of David, the I was used by the symbol of the Wicca pagan and Bahai. The S, they used the symbol for Taoism and Confucianism. And then the T, of course, was the Christian cross. And they also displayed the favorite mantra of the Emergent Church, which is really the New Age church. And the mantra was this, "everything you know is wrong." Boy, that's comforting. Everything you know is wrong. And then Bono led the audience in a chant, "Jesus, Jew, Mohammed, all true. Jesus, Jew, Mohammed all true." And folks think about this, these men are asked to speak at a quote "Christian Leadership Conference." You see, all discernment is gone. So I would submit to you that the world is being prepared for the Antichrist, and he is going to fill this leadership vacuum. He is going to send his son, the Antichrist, to fill the void, the second member of the unholy trinity. Satan counterfeits everything his trinity includes Satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet.

In Revelation, we learn during this time, the gospel will be faithfully proclaimed by the 144,000, by the two witnesses whom they saw rise from the dead and ascend into heaven. They will have absolutely no doubt as to who is causing all of these things and who they are dealing with, but as we read here, they will perish because they did not receive the love of the truth. And what is that? Who is the truth? What is the truth? Jesus said, "'I am the way, the life. I am the truth. No one comes to the Father, but through Me. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." But they want nothing to do with him. Paul also describes the truth in Colossians 1:15 as, "the word of truth, the gospel." So the point is, they will want nothing to do with Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior. They will think all of that is just silly myth, as most people do today, and they will want nothing to do with the gospel. This is why God condemns men to an eternal hell to this very day, because they do not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And what causes me to shudder is that there are those, I'm sure, within the sound of my voice right now who do not love the truth, and unless you repent, you will perish in your sins. Many people today know the truth intellectually. They understand the gospel, but they do not love God's provision of mercy and grace through his beloved Son. Many are like the Jewish leaders that Jesus described in John 12 and verse 42 who he said, "...believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogues; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God." And so Paul tells us that the unbelievers, who will be seduced by the Antichrist will perish because they do, "not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved."

You know, we see this all the time in our culture. We see many people - very religious people, many people that call themselves Christian - that believe in what is really nothing more than a man-centered counterfeit gospel, and it's constantly being proclaimed. It sounds so good. It seems to be so true, but it's a clever deception. Many times, it's not so much what it says, but what it doesn't say that provides the deception. We've seen it for years now in the man-centered gospel of the Purpose Driven Life movement. We see it today in a new movement, maybe you've heard of it, the Reset Movement. If you haven't, you can go online and look it up. They invite people to come to Jesus for all the wrong reasons. On their website, the Reset Movement says, "Come to Jesus to reset your dreams and goals in life. Reset your will to fight, reset your marriage, reset your judgment towards others, reset your addiction to video games, reset your pornography addictions." And it goes on and on and on, but nowhere will you read about the gospel. So people come to Jesus for all the wrong things, and they say on there, "Why Jesus?" Well, here's what they say. And by the way, as I read this, I want you to see a good counterfeit, a clever counterfeit, a satanic counterfeit, because it sounds so real, it sounds so good, but it is deceptive at its core because it eviscerates the truth of the gospel. They say, "Jesus changes everything. That's why Jesus, He offers life, hope and the ultimate reset. He lived the life we couldn't live, and died the death we deserve, and he is alive. Jesus welcomes you to come just as you are, no matter what you are dealing with. It can be in an instant or over the course of your life, but Jesus offers you a fresh start." End quote, No, Jesus doesn't offer you a fresh start. Jesus offers you undeserved mercy and grace. He offers you forgiveness of sins. He offers you his righteousness, a righteousness that is foreign to you, that without it, you will never enter into the presence of a holy God. What man needs is not reset. He needs repentance. He needs regeneration. He needs to be born again.

So again, the Antichrist is going to be the satanically possessed man that will deceive the world. Now bear in mind, in the Bible, we understand that the first half of the tribulation, the false prophet is going to arise along with the Antichrist; the Antichrist has his religious counterpart, along with myriads of demons and the Antichrist, will establish a one world religion. And finally, everybody is going to coexist. And that is described in Revelation 17 as quote, "Babylon, the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth." And you will recall that that text goes on to describe how that that great harlot church, will become drunk with the blood of the saints. And we know biblically, that midway through the Tribulation, he will turn against this system and demand that the world worship him. So at first, let's all just worship God, whoever he or she may be, any way that you want; but then eventually, in the middle of the week, he will demand that the world worship Him. So a little background there on the satanic power and deceptions of the Antichrist.

Let's move on and look at the divine abandonment that is associated with that. Notice what Paul says in verse 11, "For this reason," in other words, because they reject the truth about their sin and the Savior and so forth, "For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who do not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." Now, as we see here, and in many other passages of Scripture, God will not cause their unbelief, he will merely give them an opportunity to manifest it. And as we see biblically, all who persistently reject the truth of Christ in the gospel, all of those people will eventually be judged by God, and what he will do with them is harden their hearts forever against that truth, and he will condemn them by the very lies they freely chose to embrace. That's what Paul says here, "God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false." This is what we might call the wrath of divine abandonment, where God gives man over to the consequences of the iniquities that they love. We read about this, for example, in Romans one remember like Pharaoh of Egypt in the Old Testament, God will eventually harden the heart of a man who deliberately, with full conscience, rejects the truth, and that man or that woman will be forever sealed in the dungeon of deception that they prefer. You might recall in Second Timothy chapter four, remember how Paul talks about those who will not endure sound doctrine, but they will accumulate for themselves teachers that are going to tickle their ears and so forth, so on and so forth. And he describes them as those who "turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside unto myths." You've heard me speak on this before. The Greek is very special there; it helps us understand it. When it says, "they will turn away their ears from the truth," it's in the active voice, which means they deliberately hear the truth, they don't like it, they scoff at it, they want nothing to do with it; and when that happens, they will "turn aside unto myths," which is in the passive voice, which means the myths will overtake them and deceive them without them really even knowing that it's happened. By the time the Antichrist ascends to a place of world domination, people will have rejected the truth in ways that we cannot imagine, and they will be utterly overcome by the religious myths of the great harlot church and the Antichrist. This will be the deluding influence that God will send upon them because they did not receive the love of the truth. In other words, God will judicially seal them in the tomb of their unbelief.

Now, in order to understand more about this, I'd like to move to Revelation 13 for a few minutes. In the first 10 verses there, we see six themes that really emerge from the text regarding the coming Antichrist. First in verse one of Revelation 13, we learn of his demonic origin. Notice it says, "And he," referring to the dragon, "stood on the sand of the seashore." The dragon being Satan, he stood on the side of the seashore. And then John says, and, "I saw a beast coming up out of the sea." Now, by the way, when it says he stood on the sand of the seashore, that's symbolic of the nations of the world over which he will stand as their self-appointed ruler. And then he says, and, "I saw a beast," a "thērion" in the original language, a vicious, vile, ferocious, violent creature, and it's coming up out of the sea. And the metaphor of the sea is one that we find, especially in the Old Testament, that is used to describe the realm of wickedness - the sphere of Satan - the source of satanic sea monsters and so forth. In fact, the ancients considered the sea to be a symbol of the "reservoir of evil" they called it. It was likened to the biblical abyss. And in Revelation, chapter 11, verse seven, chapter 17, verse 8, we see again, the beast is coming up out of the abyss; that prison that currently incarcerates the most vile demons, and where Satan will one day be incarcerated until the final days of the millennium. And so the point is, John sees this man rising from this wretched penitentiary. The diabolical and desecrating nature of this demonic man can be seen in the epithets used to describe him in Scripture, for example, in Daniel, he is called "the insolent king," "the prince who is to come," "the one who makes desolate," "the despicable person," "the strong willed king." And folks to think this man may be alive today. Zechariah describes him as "the worthless shepherd." Of course, here in Second Thessalonians two, Paul describes him as "the man of lawlessness," "the son of destruction," "the lawless one." And in Revelation he is called "the beast." And so this man will be a charismatic demagogue. He will be brilliant, he will be persuasive, but he will just be deceptive and deadly.

And next we see his likeness to the one who empowers him. In verse one, he says that he has 10 horns and seven heads. By the way, this is an almost identical description to Satan in chapter 12 and verse three, where we read the, "great dragon having seven heads and 10 horns, and then on his head were seven diadems." Horns, biblically, are emblematic of strength and power. And in this symbolism, we see that the beast is going to ultimately rule over 10 kings with 10 nations. And in Daniel chapter seven and verse 16 and following we discover that the number 10 is really emblematic of the great political and military power of the Antichrist. And ultimately, according to Daniel 7:23, he's going to rule the world. There he is pictured as the fourth beast, and he says there will be a "fourth kingdom on the earth." That's a description that links him to the fourth kingdom of Daniel's vision. Remember when he had the vision there of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. In Daniel two, it speaks of a kingdom, ultimately the kingdom of Rome. It was described as the one with legs of iron, yet its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. It goes on to describe it as the one "that a stone cut out with hands," picturing Christ, "will strike on his feet of iron and clay and crush it" verses 33 and 34.

So what's happening here is the Lord is telling John in this vision that this beast has 10 horns - symbolic of this revived Roman Empire - and seven heads, which represents the seven successive world empires. And we see this again in Revelation 17 - Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and then finally, the kingdom of the antichrist. And notice on his 10 horns were 10 diadems - "diadēma." it's a crown; it refers to a crown that marked the regal status of a subordinate king. And so this is symbolic of the regal authority that will be associated with those 10 rulers and their empires, and all of them will be subordinate to the beast, to the Antichrist. And finally, we see that on his heads were "blasphemous names." These names will demonstrate their allegiance to the beast who has deified himself.

We also see his world empire described here in verse two, "And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, in his mouth, like the mouth of a lion. "You won't understand this unless you take time, which we're not going to be able to do. Go back to Daniel seven, this is all rooted in Daniel seven, where Daniel portrays four beasts: a lion, a bear, a leopard, and the fourth beast, which is a composite of the first three, is described as "dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong" in verse seven. By the way, here, John lists these animals in reverse, because he is looking back into history, whereas Daniel was looking forward into the future; and these three animals, the leopard and the bear and the lion, symbolized the ferocious power of the of the three successive world empires of Neo Babylonia, of Medo-Persia and then Greece; but the fourth beast, representing the Roman Empire, is emblematic of that final empire of the Antichrist that will incorporate the cruelty and the power of the first three. An empire that will be unparalleled in human history.

You know today, as you look at presidential campaigns and elections, you see how easy it is for people to abandon all common sense, all logic. I mean, where in the history of the world has socialism ever worked? It's absurd. But what they end up doing in times of desperation, when people are afraid, they turn to man, they don't turn to God; or they turn to woman, as the case may be in our culture today. And you know, every dictator preys upon these fears in order to rise to power. You will remember Adolf Hitler. He seized upon the depressed economy of Germany and the fears of the German people and guaranteed quote, "peace with honor, peace for our time," and they bought it, and the rest is history. Dear friends, the rule of the Antichrist will exceed the deceptions and wickedness of Hitler 1000-fold. And for good reason, notice in verse two, "And the dragon," referring to Satan, "gave him his power and his throne and great authority." Can you imagine what it will be like when the church is taken away and when the restraint of the Holy Spirit is removed? This will allow Satan's dictator to rule without restraint for 42 months, according to Daniel 7:25, as well as Revelation 13:5, that we'll come to here in a moment.

And next, the Lord reveals to us just the incredible deception that will unite the world in worshiping him. Number three, we see now his counterfeit death in verse three. John says and, "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." So this fake death and resurrection is going to galvanize the people of all of the vast religions and diversities of the world to follow after the beast. Now we're not told what the specifics are, but we are told that supposedly he is going to die, he is going to rise again. And you knew this was coming, because this is a counterfeit of what the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You know, we're all familiar with the religious version of world wrestling that we see all the time on television, just silly things. It's hard to believe anyone could possibly follow after the phony faith healers and so forth. But folks, the smoke and mirrors of Benny Hinn are going to pale into utter insignificance compared to what the Antichrist will do along with the False Prophet.

And his counterfeit death will lead, number four, to his global worship in verse four, and "...they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast." In other words, they're going to worship Satan because he gives his authority to the Antichrist, and they worship the Antichrist. You see by now, according to Bible prophecy, the cataclysmic judgments of the seal and the trumpet judgments will have killed billions of people. The inhabitants of the earth will be living as if it were in in medieval times, basically in utter terror, and yet they're going to continue to blaspheme the God of glory, their only hope of salvation. But in an amazing shift, we're going to see something happen. This ecumenical pluralism of the great harlot church, where all of the religions of the world have learned to coexist, they're suddenly going to bow their knee, and every tongue will confess that Antichrist is lord. That's what's going to happen according to the prophecies of Scripture. Christianity, of course, will be seen as enemy number one. And after seeing the death, in what many will consider the resurrection of the Antichrist, the world will quickly require and demand the same, and they will think that they can have that available to them through the worship of the Antichrist. Again, another counterfeit of Jesus who said, "Because I live, you too shall live." They will say, according to verse four, "'Who is like the beast and who is able to wage war with him?" So they will ultimately see him as invincible and worship him as God.

So we've seen his demonic origin, his world power, his counterfeit death and his global worship, and as we wrap it up this morning, we also see, number five, his arrogant blasphemies in verse five, and, "There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for 42 months was given to him." Isn't it interesting? Notice it says there "was given to him." You know, here again, the Lord reminds us that he is ultimately the sovereign God in control. He is allowing this to happen. It reminds me of what the Lord said through the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 45 verse seven, he says, "I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the LORD do all of these things." Beloved, never forget knowing that God is in charge is the source of such profound comfort, especially when we find ourselves struggling in some significant way. This will be such encouragement to those who are struggling during that horrific season of final judgment. So God ordains this 42 month season of blasphemy against himself. And notice it will include blasphemy against three things in verse six, "And he opened his mouth and blasphemies against God, to blaspheme" number one, "His name." And of course, the name of God is the summation of all of his glorious attributes. And he says, "His tabernacle" - that's where God resides in his transcendent glory in heaven from which Satan was originally expelled by this time. And then finally, and, "those who dwell in heaven," which is a reference to the saints and the holy angels, whom Satan hates.

And then finally, we see his murderous campaign in verse seven, and, "It was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them," - that is overcome them physically, not spiritually - and God, "gave authority gave authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation," all of that was "given to him. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him."  Isn't that amazing, by the way, "all who dwell on the earth" is a phrase used in Revelation to describe unbelievers. Obviously, believers are not going to worship him. Everyone else with will, and he says," 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." What an incredible passage of scripture. The phrase "the foundation of the world" in the New Testament is a synonym for "before time began," or "in eternity past." And it's interesting, seven times the New Testament describes believers as "those whose names have been written in the book of life." Those of you who know Christ, isn't it an amazing thing to know that before time began, your name was placed in a divine registry of those whom God chose to reconcile unto himself by his uninfluenced choice; a registry written in eternity past, as Paul says in Titus one, in verse one and two, we were "chosen of God." He goes on to say, "in the hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago," which can be translated "when he promised before time began." Ephesians, one four, "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world."

And so here, the Lord reminds us of the security of the believers; one that is secured by the Lamb who has been slain. And then he makes a plea for spiritual understanding. Here in verse nine, he says, "If anyone has an ear, let him hear." It's fascinating to think that this phrase is used seven times in chapters two and chapter three. And by that, I mean the phrase, "If anyone has an ear, let him hear," used seven times in chapters two and three, but every time it's used in chapters two and three, at the end, there is another phrase added, and that is "to what the Spirit says to the churches." Isn't it interesting that it doesn't say that here, that final phrase is omitted. It doesn't say," if anyone has an ear, let him hear to what the Spirit says to the churches." Well, why is that omitted? Because, dear friends, by this time, the church has been raptured away. It has been taken away before the tribulation begins. It's fascinating, in Revelation chapter two and three, we read about the churches on Earth. In chapter four, we read about the church is in heaven, but then it's never, ever mentioned again. This is why I humbly believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, and there's many other reasons as well.

But he says. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. And then he gives them a proverb addressed specifically to the saints who will be alive during this time of great suffering and persecution, "If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with a sword, with the sword he must be killed." And frankly, this is, this is a message of hope. He's basically saying, "I have ordained all of these things. I am in charge, and my grace will prevail." And thus, he concludes, "Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints."

Well, dear friends, there is a glimpse into what God has given us in his word about the things to come. And what I would leave you with is simply this: if you believe that the Bible is indeed the word of God, then you must agree that Jesus is coming again. And if Jesus is coming again, don't you think it's important for us to be found faithful when he returns? It's so easy for us to get caught up in all of the silliness of life and lose perspective of what is really happening, and that is there is a war going on between the kingdom of evil in the kingdom of righteousness; the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light, and we know who's going to win, but therefore we should live in light of those great realities. We should make our lives count for Christ. And I would plead with those of you who do not know Christ, who do not love the truth, not just know about it, but love the truth. Those of you who do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, those of you who do not love the gospel and find yourself overwhelmed by its glory and its grace whenever you meditate upon it, folks, if you do not love Christ and love the gospel, you probably do not know him, and I would plead with you to examine your heart and come to saving faith today, before it is too late.

Let's pray together,

Father, I pray that the great truths of your word will find fertile soil in each of our hearts, I pray that it will bring forth the fruit of genuine, saving faith in the hearts of those who do not know you and Lord, I pray that it will bring forth the great fruits of the Spirit; and those of us who do Lord Jesus, we pray that you will come quickly. And it's in your name that I pray, Amen.