Well, I can tell you this, after being reminded about who William
Tyndale was and what he accomplished made me more
excited to open God's Word with you this afternoon.
Let's turn in our Bibles now to Revelation chapter 13.
When the Lord Jesus taught about some of the marks of the last
days, he explained that of the most prevalent signs would be
the emergence of false Christs and false prophets who would
even perform signs and wonders so as to deceive many.
And though there will be multiple of deceivers who will
arise, especially when the world is in its most chaotic phase,
searching for answers, longing for somebody to bring a solution
to all the mayhem around them, the Word of God also teaches
that there will be a single false prophet who'll be the most
influential and impactful of them all.
That's right, the Scriptures teach that there is coming an
ultimate final false prophet who'll be the most fraudulent
and conniving of them all. Now, students of the End Times
rarely give attention to this individual because the
Antichrist seems to get most of the press.
But we have to remember that as we've been studying Revelation
13, John's vision of this beast who represents the Antichrist is
not yet complete. We haven't gotten the whole
picture yet. As we're about to read John, the
same John who saw this terrifying creature is going to
describe another one. There will be another beast who
will arise, and he will play a very significant role in the
final years of human history. And so he will be the focus of
our study today as we now turn to Revelation 13, beginning in
verse 11. And we're going to consider some
of the characteristics of this second beast as he's introduced
us in this prophecy. Revelation 13, verse 11 reads.
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth.
It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon.
It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its
presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the
first beast whose mortal wound was healed.
It performs great signs, even making fire come down from
heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it
is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it
deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an
image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet
lived. Let's pray one more time,
Father. We believe that what we just
read is your voice, and we believe that it is a treasure
for our souls. But we also know that our flesh,
our carnality, can meddle with what you intend to say.
So we ask for your help. We ask for clarity, We ask for
conviction. We even ask for comfort as we
open up these words more carefully.
And we pray that our hearts would be drawn to the person of
Jesus Christ in a more intimate and loving manner.
We give you glory and thanks, Lord, Take authority over every
thought, every emotion. Lord, may we receive the pure
milk of the Word as your church. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Well, the verses that we just
read can seem quite daunting, like many portions of the Book
of Revelation, but I think we can simplify what we just read
by breaking these thoughts up into three main sections, if you
will. So we're looking at the second
beast. We studied the past couple of
weeks about the first beast, but now we have this new figure
before us, and I want us to look at three things concerning him.
Number one, I want us to consider the identity of the
second beast. Who is he or what is he?
Can we know that? Well, we'll find out in a few
moments. So the identity of the beast.
But from there we have to look at the mission of the second
beast. What's his purpose and how does
it correlate with the operations of the first beast?
Is there a partnership going on here?
Evidently, as we just read, there is.
And finally, I don't want us to consider the authority of the
second beast because the miracles that he will be able to
perform you cannot ignore. And they mean something.
And so let's begin by looking at the identity of the second
beast. It's plainly laid out here in
verse 11, is it not? But look again in your Bibles.
John begins by saying, then I saw another beast rising out of
the earth. So like the first beast, there
are a lot of opinions about who or what this new beast
represents. But the fact that John says he
saw another beast helps us know that this character is distinct
from the first one, but he is also sharing something in
common. That's what the original word
for another actually means. Separate, yet of the same kind.
Why is that important to know What we determine when studying
the first beast? That this is primarily speaking
about a person who will be a ruler of an empire.
He's a political, military figure.
He's an individual once again. So for now, John, to say that he
saw another beast teaches us that we're also looking at
another person. And this will become more clear
as we go on. But what we want to spend more
time here is where this beast comes from.
Did you notice that it's different from the first?
This beast, we're told, comes out of the earth.
Where did the first beast come out of the sea?
Very good. Now here's where it gets a
little bit tricky. We also determined that when the
first beast came out of the sea, the sea, according to Revelation
and a lot of parts of the Bible, represents the nations.
So if the sea represents the nations, then what does it mean
for the second beast to come out of the earth?
Well, we'll see in a moment. Here's 1 popular interpretation.
Since the sea, again in Revelation strongly symbolizes
peoples and nations and multitudes and languages, this
strongly means that the first beast must be a Gentile.
And when you factor in all these other prophecies about the
Antichrist, you make a very strong case that he is indeed
someone who is a Gentile. By way of contrast however,
because the second beast comes from the earth, some claim that
he originates from a more specific location, namely
Israel. And the reason for that is
because they'll make a case that the land often in the Bible
speaks about Israel, the land, even if it's not specifically
telling you what land it is. That generic term the land can
mean Israel, making this individual the second beast of
Jewish descent. Now I'm aware of those who are
proponents of this. You will also show and provide
additional sub points that this interpretation is most likely
because of things like for example, do you remember when we
studied about the 144,000, we have all these tribes and 12,000
coming from each of them. Well one main tribe that's not
mentioned was which tribe Dan, the tribe of Dan.
And then when you consider the prophecy about Dan early in
Genesis, that's very ominous. And so some make this
connection. Well, Dan is omitted from the
144 who will be redeemed and will represent Christ.
Dan also doesn't get the best kind of descriptions even in the
Old Testament. So could it be that the second
beast who comes from the earth actually comes out of this
particular tribe and is therefore of Jewish descent?
Which would make sense to some degree, because how else are you
going to pursue Jews to put their trust in somebody like the
Antichrist? It's a very compelling case,
however, it's difficult to state it dogmatically due to the lack
of clear scriptural evidence. Therefore, this is a good place
to remind ourselves of something that when a text lacks
scriptural support, we must refrain from making absolute
claims. Now we can talk about it, and we
can have different opinions. I mean, for you to identify who
the second beast is, it's very difficult to become a heretic
with your opinion, though it's possible.
Anything is possible, I guess. We have to be charitable, we
have to be humble, and we have to develop the discipline of
seeking to get the answers with the data that is before us.
So if we are simply working with this text, if we're looking at
just what's revealed in the immediate context, what is more
likely being communicated here is that this beast who is going
to function as a spiritual and religious figure is not heaven
sent. In other words, the imagery
demonstrates that this powerful persuasive voice that's going to
inspire the world to worship is worldly.
He's from below. It reminds me actually what
Jesus said when he distinguished himself from the religious
leaders of his time when he confronted them in John chapter
8. Do you remember what he said in
John 8 verse 23? He said to them, you are from
below, I am from above, you are of this world, I am not of this
world. So for John to receive this
description of the second beast from the outset could very well
mean that he represents a person who comes from the earth
anchoring us, especially as we go on to see what he's going to
perform. He's going to do miracles.
I mean, impressive miracles, not cheap ones.
And it's as though we are being told right away, yes, this man
whom you are witnessing is very powerful.
He is very persuasive, but remember, he is from the earth.
That's not all there is to the identity of the beast.
The second part of verse 11, look at it again with me in your
Bibles. It had two horns like a lamb and
it spoke like a dragon. A very different description
from the first piece, right? The first beast that John saw,
Terrifying. It was one single creature
made-up of all these different animal details.
It had multiple heads, multiple horns.
It just grotesque. And then you come to the second
beast and we're reading something like a lamb, with very
little additional details, much less intimidating, perhaps by
way of comparison. Or is it?
Why is the second beast described as lamb like?
Well, because whoever this individual is, he is going to
appear to be innocent, gentle, harmless.
He does possess authority, as symbolized by the horns.
Horns of the Bible speak of authority, but not in the same
way as the first beast, who had a lot of horns, and he came as a
crushing, conquering political dictator.
No, the second beast instead has horns, but doesn't have crowns
on them. The first piece had crowns,
remember, and that speaks of, again, kingdoms and governments.
So whatever authority this lamb has, it's not of political
nature. And said he presents himself as
meek, as winsome. I mean, he you feel safe around
this lamb in a sense, you're you're secure.
There's a soothing voice to some degree that will bring comfort
and assurance to much of the world, especially as it is
falling apart. However, all of this will be a
sham. This is all a facade.
On the surface the second beast may seem lamb like, but when it
opens its mouth you hear the voice of a dragon.
Isn't what we read Now what could that possibly mean?
Can you imagine the sound and the sight looks like a lamb, but
when it opens its mouth of the roar of a dragon, it's very
simple. We know the Dragons represent
Satan, and so here what Here's what this means.
Although this beast comes with a demeanor that seems reliable and
trusting and wholesome, his words are from the devil.
His message is satanic. He is ultimately energized and
possessed by the Evil 1 and I argue he's more terrifying this
second beast than the first because of just the Absolute lie
that this man will be to the world.
And he fulfills exactly what the Lord Jesus warned about in
Matthew 715. What did he say?
He warned. Beware of false prophets.
Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
And this man will be more than a wolf.
He will be a dragon. Again.
He's going to be the ultimate false prophet, the last false
prophet, the false prophet of the false prophets, and to the
world he will seem like a lamb. And this is a good place to
pause and reflect on how Satan works in our world.
So far in this vision, we've seen two beasts.
They are different in their characteristics and their
functions, yet they are both empowered by Satan.
And that tells me how Satan operates even today, like the
first beasts who openly blasphemes God, who with a
lethal hatred hunts down Christians to kill them, even
who even declares himself to be God.
Satan today, and we're seeing this more and more in our day,
are we not, is becoming less and less subtle.
There are times where he manifests himself clearly,
directly. I mean, you're watching award
shows now where Satan is being demonstrated and praised.
It's open mockery, but like the second beast, Satan also works
in not so obvious ways, and one of the most deceiving ways that
he masks himself as gentle and inviting and harmless and even
righteous is in the realm of religion and faith.
Have you ever considered in the New Testament how much
Christians, Christians, not the world Christians, are warned
about false teachers? There is a warning in virtually
every New Testament book. Did you know that?
You know what that tells me? That tells me that leaders in
the local church should regularly warn the people of God
of people like that, of false teachers.
And that's what I want to do in this brief time, just in the
section here, I want to be able to offer some warning.
I want to be able to offer us some level of discernment to be
able to distinguish somebody who is true and somebody who is a
fraud. There are a lot of voices these
days, and the difficulty of false prophets now is that in
the in the New Testament, false prophets would have to lurk into
an actual meeting like this and build relationships and then
invite people to their homes or be invited to their homes and
sit with them and spew their lives.
Nowadays, they're in your pocket and they have podcasts and they
fill arenas and they seem like they perform miracles.
And when you hear them, man, they touch your heart.
They're the way they are with words, and they even quote
Scripture. It's terrifying to some degree,
but we shouldn't be paranoid. The Bible has been granted us to
be deceived. Proof.
And here's one of the things that you and I have to develop
as a discipline. When anybody teaches in the name
of God, whether on a platform or in a living room or on a screen,
do not make your judgement based on how they look.
You know, false teachers also wear suits and ties.
Do not make your judgement on how they sound or how persuasive
their words are or how powerful their deeds may be.
Instead, listen to what they are saying and evaluate it with
God's Word. Remember, the second beast had
the appearance of a lamb, but when it opens its mouth, it has
the words of Satan. What was the giveaway when the
lamb opened its mouth? From the external, from distant
observation, harmless, innocent, cute moment, it began to speak.
It revealed where it actually came from, which tells you and I
that what we have to do in order to be able to identify those who
are true from those who are false is listen to the content,
listen to the substance of the message, and by God's grace, we
have something to compare it to. You know, there are people who
are willing to believe anyone, even their twisted teaching
about the Lord Jesus and the Christian faith, even though it
clearly contradicts God's word, because they seem sincere.
All it takes is somebody to seem sincere for people to let their
guard down. I mean, when that person talks,
they have tears streaming down their face as they talk about
their version of Christ. Certainly there's some
legitimacy here. Certainly they seem genuine.
Tears are not the mark of truth. Passion and intensity are not
the evidences of somebody being sincere.
It's what they're saying, not how they're saying it.
Actually, I want to invite you to a book of the Bible that
shows us this even more in Romans.
Look at Romans 16 for a second. Romans 16, verse 18.
Paul warns. This is just one example of how
the apostles, almost in all of their writings admonish
Christians to not be duped. In Romans 16, verse 18, he says,
for such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own
appetites. Pause for a moment.
There are people who present themselves as teachers, as
missionaries, as miracle workers, and they claim to come
in the name of the truth, but they are really serving their
own appetites. You have to understand that just
because somebody takes the time to travel somewhere, get up on a
platform, speak through a microphone, doesn't mean that
they come from a humble and truthful place.
There's some people who are manipulating and taking
advantage of Christians for their own selfish gain, but
their own appetites. And by look at this smooth talk
and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive.
Who are the victims of such false teachers?
The naive. What is a naive person?
Somebody who lacks wisdom and judgement?
Somebody who's gullible. Somebody who just listens and
they, there's no discernment, there's no pushback, there's no
questions being asked, there's no evaluation being made.
You know, it's amazing. In Acts chapter 17, when Paul
and Silas went to Berea, we're told that the believers in Berea
were more noble than the Thessalonians for two reasons.
Because they eagerly received the scriptures.
So there was a hunger. And more than that, they daily
examined the Scriptures to see if what this missionary team was
saying was according to the Word of God.
So we have a choice as Christians.
We're either going to be noble according to the Holy Spirit
standards or naive. And a naive, they don't go to
the Word of God. This is not the ultimate
authority to determine what's true and what's false.
Experience is the ultimate authority.
Somebody's personality, their charisma, they're supposed
stories of how they have backing to their ministry because look
what God did supposedly through me.
No, no, no, that's all great, but I got to find out what the
Scriptures say and the Holy Spirit crowns the brains with
nobility. Because now here's the thing.
I knew some people when I first got saved, that if you went to
the Bible to examine what somebody was saying or what a
ministry was all about, you're being religious, you're being
legalistic, you're not being open minded.
You can say what you want. I want to be noble according to
God's standards. What does God's word have to
say? And so we can either be naive or
we can be noble. Now this is what's so
interesting. They, they speak with smooth
words. There's flattery going on here,
but what makes them false? Go back to verse 17, the verse
right before this, Paul writes, I appeal to you, brothers, to
watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles
contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.
Avoid them over and over in different ways.
It's it's the same mark of difference.
What makes somebody false ultimately is that what they're
saying is contrary to the doctrine that you've known
that's been provided to us. So move through all the smooth
talk, all the powerful oratory skills, and listen to what is
being communicated. Doesn't honor doesn't line up
with the Bible. And if it doesn't, especially
with the black and white of doctrine, they're dangerous.
They're either willfully ignorant or they're untrained,
and they shouldn't be teaching in the first place.
And I know there is more to learn about how to identify
false teachers, but for now, we have to ask the Lord for the
discipline to investigate the material of what's being said,
not the method to look for the substance of what's being said,
Not for sight, and not for even signs.
God help us. There are some people who are so
caught up in signs and wonders. I believe that God can do
miracles, but miracles alone do not determine if something is
true. This second beast is going to
perform miracles. And I'm afraid for professing
Christians who make their whole Christianity about
manifestations are setting themselves up for great danger
today and tomorrow. This lamb, like man, appears
true, and he will even perform miracles, and it will dam people
to hell for eternity. Which brings us to our second
thought. We looked at the identity of the
beast. But let's look at the mission of
the beast. Come back to Revelation 13 for a
moment and look again at verse 12.
It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its
presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the
first beast whose mortal wound was healed.
So you've been hearing me say from the beginning of this
message that whoever the second beast is, he's going to be a
false prophet. But is there anything in
Scripture that explicitly states that?
And I'm here to tell you, yes, there is.
But before we look at these Scriptures, be mindful of us.
Remember this. That's so far in this amazing,
captivating vision. We've been learning about
different figures. Number one, the dragon who is
Satan. Then we've seen the first beast
who is the Antichrist, and now we come to the second beast,
who's the final figure in this vision.
And I want to show you how he is not only labeled as a false
prophet, but the false prophet. So are you there in Revelation?
Travel with me to chapter 16 and look at verse 13, Revelation 16,
verse 13. And I saw coming out of the
mouth of the dragon. We looked at him before, right?
And out of the mouth of the beast.
We saw him already, didn't we? Who do you expect to be
announced next? The second beast, right?
But notice what it says. And out of the mouth of the
false prophet 3 unclean spirits like frogs.
Go to chapter 19, verse 20. This is in a text that describes
what will take place when Christ actually returns, physically
returns to the world. And it says here in Revelation
1920. And the beast was captured, and
with it the false prophet, who in its presence had done the
signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the
beast and those who worshipped its image.
These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with
sulfur. So again, now we are
reintroduced to the beast, and not just the second beast, but
the false prophet, the function of the second beast.
And notice that they were thrown alive in the lake of fire.
So these two figures are more than institutions.
They are not just movements, they are individuals.
I hope that's clear. Let's look at one more thing.
Go to chapter 20, verse 10. And the devil who had deceived
them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfa where the beast
and the false prophet were. And they will be tormented day
and night, forever and ever. These are texts, in my opinion,
that make it very difficult to see how these truths have been
fulfilled in the past, among many things that we've already
seen in Revelation. It's only going to get more
complicated for those who hold to a different view other than
the futurist interpretation. But here's what we want to
establish. This beast is the false prophet.
Right now, what makes a false prophet false is that they
propagate a false message. So we have to now examine and
try to understand what is the agenda that he's going to be
pushing? What is the campaign that he's
going to be promoting? And it's very simple.
Verse 12 tells us back in chapter 13 that he makes the
earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast.
So he's going to step on the scene in order to convince the
world to not just serve the first beast, not just honor the
first beast, but to actually worship him.
You think that's crazy? Worship a man.
We'll do a little bit of research in history and and
you'll discover that there are empires and there are forms of
government, especially those that are authoritarian and
dictator like where it doesn't take very long for the ruler of
that movement to be deified. So this is nothing new.
This isn't so far fetched, but here's what's so amazing to me.
This second beast who is known as the false prophet now as he
comes into this vision, completes a picture reminding us
of how Satan seeks to imitate the true God to the extent that
he even wants to mimic the triune nature of our God.
We serve a God who is 1 but is also Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. And now with this second beast
before us, we can determine that Satan is so desperate, so vile,
so creepy that he even wants to imitate the Tri unity of the
true God. Think about it.
You have the dragon who empowers the Antichrist.
Now that dragon is like an anti father, the Antichrist, I'm sure
it's clear he is going to be essentially the devil Incarnate.
He is obviously an anti Christ anti son of God.
And now we read about this second beast who were told is
the false prophet and his job is to do what point people and
promote the worship of the Antichrist, A counterfeit Holy
Spirit. So what we have here in this
vision is the satanic Trinity, a false father, a false son, a
false Holy Spirit. Do you remember what Jesus said
when He described the main role of the Holy Spirit in John 16
verse 14? He said He will glorify me, for
He will take what is mine and declare it to you.
That's what He said about the Holy Spirit.
By the way, pause. Do you want to know if the Holy
Spirit is in a church? See how much that church
elevates and exalts Jesus Christ?
That's what he does. He he wants to glorify Christ.
He wants to help people love him and adore Him and serve him.
That's his duty. That's his job, and he gladly
does it. Do you want to know the Holy
Spirit is working in your life? You will love Christ more and
more and more. That's the way I know when the
Holy Spirit is really in a person or through a ministry or
through the preacher. How much do you make of Christ?
Because Jesus himself said he will glorify me.
And in a sick, evil way, this false prophet will attempt to
copy the work of the Holy Spirit by trying trying to draw the
allegiance and the affections of the inhabitants of the world
toward the Antichrist. And his ambition to do so will
will receive great momentum because of the miracle that we
looked at. Remember last week where this
Antichrist will apparently be assassinated, but he will also
seem to have raised from the dead a resurrection esque type
of miracle. And that miracle, remember when
we opened this message and read the verses that we're focusing
on brings up, it comes to our attention more than once in
order to show us that this false prophet is going to utilize that
event to convince the masses, hey, this Antichrist is more
than he's more than human. He's divine.
He was able to conquer death. Have you seen our world in
recent history, all the people that are succumbed to disease
and devastation and the sword? Well, here you have a man here
who was able to evade death, conquer death.
Is he not worthy of our worship? This is how he's going to talk.
He's going to be so compelling. He's going to be so, so, so
convincing. He's going to be such a joy to
listen to, and more and more people are going to believe his
message, not just enjoy what he has to say.
So what we have here is in fact a remarkable demonstration of
the devil seeking to be like God in every way possible.
And before long, all of this will culminate in A1 world
religion. So alongside the one world
government that the Antichrist will establish, there will also
be this effort in the final years of human history to gather
people for a global unity of spirituality.
And the Antichrist will be the focal point of man's worship.
And these detailed predictions are fascinating, are they not?
We're going to learn more about this One world religion.
And by the way, we're seeing it entertained now.
There are leaders of sex and different religion who are
trying to convince and promote this idea of just let's just
all, we all serve the same God, you know, are you of the
Abrahamic faith? Yes.
It just all goes back to the same root.
And there's going to be this push, this ecumenical idea of
let's all gather, let's, this is going to be the source of our
unity and peace in the world. And it's been unsuccessful so
far. But at this point, it's actually
going to reach a point where it's going to happen.
The world's going to agree to this.
So you have a one world government and without a one
world religion. As we go to Chapter 17 in the
coming weeks, we'll look more into that.
But for now, you know what gripped me as I was studying
this the other night? That even with everything
happening in the tribulation period, disasters and all these
different things, man will still be preoccupied with worship.
That moved me, That moved me. You know why?
Because it says something about human nature that there is
something innate in each of us that desires to worship someone
or something. There's this yearning for to,
to, to, to touch the transcendent.
I'll never forget this when I was in college, they gave the
Christian group in that campus such a difficult time to start a
campus ministry and to be very public about it.
I remember it so clearly because I wanted to be a part of it.
And as Christians on that campus, we're getting together
to try to talk and discuss and, you know, sit with a program
coordinators and whoever was in charge behind the scenes.
I remember this in the cafeteria speaking to one of the young
adults at the time, my young adult pastor actually.
And when we had left talking about the plans for the campus,
I looked behind me in the cafeteria were these lineups of
students. And it caught my attention.
So I went to go look into it. My young adult's pastor at the
time left at that point. And what I realized is that the,
the, the school had invited fortune tellers and they had
four or five tables of fortune tellers with tarot cards and
they had kids lined up to have their future interpreted and
read. I was curious, so I went up to
the the table there. I says, how do I sign up?
I didn't do it. I just said, I want to know.
They said, sorry, Sir, we have a wait list and we have people
giving their number so we can text them once they're ready to
come up. What is that?
I'll tell you what it is. People are hungry for the
supernatural people. People have this instinct,
knowledge that there's something beyond the material world, and
there's this longing for people to even worship.
And here's the fundamental problem that worship is often
misdirected, and the Bible calls that idolatry.
Only the true God deserves our ultimate, our devotion, our
obedience. And if we don't offer it to him,
we will inevitably give it to someone or something else, even
ourselves. So my question for us this
afternoon is, do you worship? But what do you worship?
And who do you worship? Where is your greatest affection
set? Where do you find your ultimate
meaning? What determines your purpose?
And ask yourself even this, what is the supreme authority that
determines my decisions? The answers to those questions
will identify for you the object of your worship.
And it's either the true God as revealed in the Bible or an
idol. And in this time you will have
people, the future we're looking at right in this book, who will
be preoccupied with worship because we are all created to
worship and we have the choice to either worship the truth or
something that is false to our own spiritual peril.
So the mission of the second beast is to inspire worship for
a false Christ who offer false promises, false salvation, false
miracles, and many will believe him.
Let's consider now the authority of the second beast.
In the last two verses of the text that we read, it says here
in verse 13 of Revelation 13, it performs great signs, even
making fire come down from heaven to the earth in front of
people. And by the signs that it is
allowed, you got to highlight that part that it is allowed to
work in the presence of the beast.
It deceives those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make
an image of the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet
lived. So this false prophet will not
only manipulate the masses with his his language and his words,
not only will he continually point to and make a case from
this incredible event, this resurrection type miracle that
the Antichrist will experience and showcase on top of it, he's
going to perform miracles. Astounding ones, impressive
ones. And I understand that some
people who come to a text like this have these dominant
questions. Is this, is this genuine?
Are these fake? Are these just a show?
This is just a sleight of hand kind of thing.
And if it is real, then how how do we explain God allowing these
type of demonic individuals perform levels of miracles on on
par with his supernatural ability?
And those are legitimate questions.
And the answer is deeper than, well, Satan is a supernatural
being. He's the really the the puppet
master behind all this. So he's energizing them to
perform these kind of things. I think it's much more profound.
And here's the answer. God, God is allowing as we just
read it, is allowing them to perform such mighty things as an
act of judgement on the world. That's the answer.
And that's exactly how the apostle Paul explains it.
So here's our final text today in Second Thessalonians in
chapter 2. I want you to see how he gives
commentary on what we're reading here in Revelation 13 in chapter
2 of Second Thessalonians verse 9.
Paul writes the coming of a lawless 1 is by the activity of
Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all
wicked deception for those who are perishing because they
refuse to love the truth and so be saved.
Verse 11 is the main one that we want to look at.
Therefore God, not Satan, not the false prophet, not the
Antichrist. Therefore God sends them a
strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order
that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but
had pleasure in unrighteousness. You have to be very careful with
a text like this. I've seen people use it to
accuse the character of God. It does not say that God sends a
strong delusion on just anybody. It isn't just arbitrarily
deceive or allow deception, rather to claim people, it says
that he sends a strong delusion. Delusion on those who refuse to
love the truth and so be saved. On those who do not believe the
truth but had taken pleasure in unrighteousness.
And the context of this passage is of the last days speaking
about what's to come. Which means that after all that
the Lord will do leading up to the culmination of the age we've
been looking at in Revelation, the miracles, the
manifestations, the obvious display of God's existence
unlike any other period, unlike any other era.
Despite all of that, God will be met with persistent rejection,
and it will reach a point where he will finally determine if you
want to be in darkness that badly.
If you want to deny me, I won't convict you anymore.
I won't manifest myself to you anymore.
Do you? You want to be in your sin.
You want to obey falsehood? Here you go.
I will let you believe a false Messiah and a false prophet to
your own destruction. He's not the author of this
section, but he is a sovereign one who allows it to come like a
flood upon a generation. More specifically, who have spat
in his face despite his incredible efforts to save them.
Now, I can imagine how some might use a passage like this to
accuse God of being cruel. And if you're somebody here
sitting and listening and thinking something like that, I
want to challenge your accusation.
I want to challenge your accusation by asking how can you
charge God of being wrong for simply giving people what they
want? You know, it's amazing you have
some that no matter what God does with humanity, he's to
blame for something, right? So if he convicts you of
unrighteousness, if he shines the light in your life while you
are in the dark, people who don't want to be convicted say,
well, you're unloving. Who are you to say that this is
true and this is false, this is right and this is wrong, this is
good and this is evil. And if he lets you live in the
deception that you want to die for, well, he's unjust and he's
unfair and he's mean. So no matter what way you look
at it, God always gets the blame.
This is how evil we are. There's a time coming, as I
said, that God will allow these people to have a freedom to
unveil evil unlike any other point.
And it will be, to some degree, a manifestation of God's
judgement upon a generation who have already determined we don't
want to be saved. We want our sin, We want our
falsehood. We hate you and we deny you
completely. OK, if that's what you
determined, here's another Messiah and here's another false
prophet, and here's another message of salvation that will
not save you, but condemn you. God will send a strong delusion,
and that's what we're reading about in Revelation 13.
It will be so strong that this false prophet will even convince
the world. All right, let's now make an
image of this beast like Nebuchadnezzar when he created
that statue of himself and demanded all his subjects to
worship it. History repeats itself.
This Antichrist will gladly welcome the creative idea from
the false prophet to have an image raised.
We're going to see what's going to happen with this image next
week. But for now, I want us to
meditate on something. As we come to this table.
We read how God will send a strong delusion, but that's not
his heart. Before God will send a strong
delusion, He has already sent something much more wonderful,
and it's his Son Jesus. That's his heart. 2000 years
ago. He sent mercy, He sent grace, He
sent love, He sent the payment for all of our deeds, all of our
wrongdoings, all of our rebellion.
God sent a rescue mission on our behalf in the person of Jesus
Christ. He took on flesh and He allowed
evil men to do what they wanted with him.
Not that he lost control. He laid down his life willingly
knowing that He would be able to absorb all the wrath that rests
on your head and mine as He was elevated to that tree.
He was not just a mere martyr. He was not a victim of the
religious corrupt system or the Roman Empire.
This was all preordained. This was all established from
from eternity past within the Tri unity of our God.
Coming up with the ultimate plan of salvation that would deem
would redeem any man who would simply humble themselves and
realize Jesus on that tree took my place and he paid the price
and He lived out my obedience and he, he laid down his life to
receive God's judgement. Why did he do all that as an
invitation for you and I to see his love and also to receive him
personally. Here's my final question.
I've asked a lot today. Do you know Jesus?
You know, although that passage in Second Thessalonians is a
prediction of what's to come, it also carries principle for
today. It is a very dangerous thing to
constantly be exposed to the truth and swatted away.
You're not doing your heart any good.
In fact, you were setting yourself up to become even more
and more and more hardened. And I don't want anybody to
think here that I'm manipulating anybody.
I want you to understand this is what the Scripture warns.
If you hear His voice today, today is a day of salvation.
If you sense throughout this message, especially this last
part, your heart being cut, there's something coming alive
in you where you realize there's something true about this.
I don't know all the details, but I know that there is a God.
I know that I'm sinful, and you're telling me that this God
loved me so much that he died for me.
If you sense that prompting, don't silence it, don't ignore
it. Respond to it.
Respond to it, investigate it, question it in a good way, look
into it, don't dismiss it. Because when people constantly
suppress that conviction, they make themselves more right for
deception. Believer, you and I are here
today to understand and remind ourselves with this table before
us that God so loved us. He took on flesh and He shed His
blood. And you were sitting here today,
if you put your faith in this message as totally forgiven
forever and ever, and all these warnings about deception and
false messiahs and people being tricked, that doesn't apply to
you. You've been delivered from that.
And you and I stand as the children of God for all of
eternity because of His grace. Let's celebrate that together.
Amen. Lord, we thank you for this
word. We thank you for these elements
as we now turn our attention upon this wonderful ordinance.
Awaken love in our hearts for the person of Christ, for the
person who doesn't know you. May they be introduced to you by
the power of your Holy Spirit, and may they bend the knee to
the true Messiah. This afternoon we ask these
things in Jesus name, Amen.