The False Prophet
True Story: God's Vision for His Church • Sermon • Submitted
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· 8 viewsThe false prophet is a deceiver and imposter that tries to coerce false worship for Satan and the antichrist.
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ME: Outline 2021
ME: Outline 2021
Happy new year!
As we enter the new year,
I would like to introduce a tentative schedule for this year.
Now, it is my philosophy that the most effective way to teach the Bible is verse by verse and book by book.
I believe that is the way God intended His Word to be taught.
So, as I result I mostly do series that go through an entire book of the Bible.
As you have probably noticed,
We went through John then Daniel then Ephesians,
And now we are just past the halfway point of Revelation.
But here is my hope,
If someone were to ask you what books of the Bible are you most familiar with,
Your answer would be John, Daniel, Ephesians, and Revelation.
When passages of Scripture come to mind,
It is passages from these books.
For me, and I hope it is the same for you,
Studying through these books has made these books come alive in your heart and in your life.
So, to start this year, we will continue through the second half of Revelation.
Lord willing we will finish this True Story series around Easter time,
Which is April 4th this year if you were wondering.
After we finish Revelation,
I would like to try something a little different this year.
As I already stated, I believe teaching through books of the Bible is the most effective way,
But not the only way to teach or preach God’s Word.
So, the primary way I plan to teach God’s Word is book by book,
Starting around Easter this year,
I plan to begin a series teaching a specific Christian doctrine we see throughout the Bible.
The doctrine is one you are familiar with,
Even if you do not refer to this doctrine by it’s formal title.
It is the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement.
And the goal of this series will be to re-center our lives on God’s sacrifice for us in Christ.
Then, when our lives are centered on this, we can join in the eternal celebration of the saints in heaven we see in Revelation,
Where they are praising God for the Lamb who was slain for us.
So, this series, simply titled It Is Well,
Will work through 14 passages of Scripture,
Going back to some of the earliest portions of the OT,
Through key passages that teach this doctrine throughout the Bible.
Then, Lord willing, during the summer,
After we finish the It Is Well series,
We will go back to a book study,
But it will be a shorter book.
We will do a five week series through 2 Peter,
Titled Naturally Supernatural: The Normal Christian Life.
The goal of this series will be to encourage an intentional pursuit of spiritual growth.
Because, as 2 Peter 1:3 states;
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
Then, Lord willing,
Late summer-fall,
We will begin another book study,
But instead of doing all of it verse by verse,
We will study this book by certain themes.
And when you see what book it is,
I think you can understand why.
This series will be Words to Live By: The Presence of Christ in the Wisdom of Proverbs.
The Book of Proverbs was not written to be read like a normal book.
But it is still God’s Word so we should still read it, preach it, teach it, and study it.
So, the goal of our study in Proverbs will be to understand in our mind,
Embrace in our heart,
And obey with our lives,
The truth of God’s Word.
And Lord willing this should lead us up to the Christmas season next year.
So, this is the tentative outline of where we are headed this year.
And I do not know about you,
But it excites me!
I am excited to continue to study and learn God’s Word.
I look forward to the second half of Revelation!
I am excited about the substitutionary atonement!
I want to study 2 Peter and Proverbs!
Now that we have an idea of where we are headed,
Let us turn our attention to where we are at in Rev. 13:11-18,
The Story of the False Prophet.
This story has a key word you will here multiple times this morning:
Deception, or deceptive.
That is perhaps the single-most effective way to describe the false prophet.
Deception is lying or trickery to get someone to believe something that is not true.
In some cases, we deceive ourselves.
But Revelation 13 shows that Satan truly is a master of deception through the antichrist and the false prophet.
Grant Osborne comments:
“The dragon uses these creatures to gain control of both the governmental and religious apparatus, creating both a one-world government and a one-world religion…This has always been Satan’s method, from the Egyptians in Moses’ time to the Babylonians and Persians of Daniel’s day to the Romans of John’s day to the Nazis and Stalin in the twentieth century…In other words, the material here about the final Antichrist also fits the many ‘antichrists’ that have preceded, of both the political and the religious variety.”
Last week, we saw the antichrist counterfeiting Christ with an imitation death and resurrection.
This morning, we see the false prophet use that event to forge a new world religion.
Motivating all of this is the dragon from ch. 12.
The tendency for world leaders to elevate themselves to an almost god-like level,
Believing they are not accountable to anyone,
Is to embody the antichrist and it is certainly present in our world today.
But ch. 13 presents the time just before the end of history,
Where the antichrist and the false prophet form this evil empire,
And all the world is confronted with the choice we ended with last week,
Are you pro-Christ or antichrist?
During this time, the false prophet will bring an image of the antichrist to life,
And every person will be forced to worship it and be given a mark,
Or else face a certain death.
In today’s world, it seems almost unimaginable that our world could transform this way.
But if there is one thing that 2020 taught us,
It is that the entire world can drastically transform in ways we could never predict in a very short amount of time.
And it is what, 80 years since Hitler rose to power in Germany?
How arrogant would it be for us to think the world would never get to this state.
We know that this will happen,
Because the Story of the False Prophet shows that it will happen.
As Danny Akin introduces this passage:
“As we navigate verses 11-18, we will discover that it will be through the instrumentality of this second beast empowered by Satan that a one-world government, one-world religion, and one-world economy will come to fruition. Humanity will willingly submit to it.”
The outline of our passage this morning is:
Deceptive Words (vs. 11-12)
Deceptive Signs (vs. 13-14)
Deceptive Image (vs. 15)
Deceptive Mark (vs. 16-18)
As I mentioned earlier,
Deceptive is a key word regarding the false prophet.
He will use words, signs, an image, and a mark to deceive people into believing he is a prophet of God.
Through this deception, he will force the world into a false worship of the antichrist and its image.
In 2 Thess. 2:11, Paul notes that during the day of the Lord,
God sends a powerful delusion so that they may believe what is false.
The antichrist is the essence of what is false,
He is the one who will rule over this one-world government, one-world religion, and one-world economy that Akin described.
The antichrist is the little-g god to the world.
And the false prophet is the antichrist’s PR department.
Every generation can take valuable lessons from this story of the false prophet.
Deceptive Words (vs. 11-12)
Let us begin by looking at Deceptive Words in Rev. 13:11-12;
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.
Vs. 11 begins by introducing a second beast,
But unlike the beast from the first half of ch. 13,
This beast rises out of the earth, not the sea.
When looking at later parts of Revelation,
For example, Rev. 19:20, we understand that this second beast is the false prophet.
Look with me at how Rev. 19:20 reveals this;
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 worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
The title, false prophet, suggests it may be a future religious leader during the end times.
The false prophet will claim to speak for God,
Thus he will represent religious authority that is contrary to God’s Word.
It says he is with the first beast,
Doing signs in his presence and deceiving those who receive the mark of the beast.
The false prophet is living propaganda for the beast.
We talked last week about how the antichrist is a wannabe Christ.
This false prophet is a wannabe Holy Spirit.
He is not seeking to draw worship to himself,
But drawing people into worshipping the beast.
Just as John 16:14 teaches that the Holy Spirit’s ministry to glorify Christ.
He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
The ways this false prophet will accomplish this counterfeit work,
Is through deceptive signs.
He will do false miracles of the Holy Spirit.
He will also force a mark upon his subjects,
Again trying to copy the way the Holy Spirit seals Christians,
As Eph. 1:13 teaches;
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
We talked last week how in the first century, John likely saw Rome as an embodiment of the tyrannical antichrist described in vs. 1-2.
At that time Asia Minor was infested with the “Commune of Asia.”
It was a council of representatives that promoted loyalty to the emperor of Rome.
Along with this council were priests that pushed emperor worship propaganda.
While this council and these priests are not the end times false prophet,
John likely saw them as an embodiment of this second beast.
That is not the only example of this in world history.
This idea of totalitarianism in modern times is a similar embodiment.
Thomas Schreiner argues;
“The totalitarian state is a beast, an antichrist. The state tends toward absolutism, desiring complete control over its citizens, even their worship and allegiance. We have seen manifestations of this throughout history, such as the rule of Napoleon and Hitler or the rise of communism in the Soviet Union and China…Christians are called upon to resist. We must be willing to suffer, to give our all for Christ, to persevere until the end in order to obtain the final reward.”
Turning our attention back to vs. 11,
We see this beast uses deception because he has two horns like a lamb.
First, the horn is a symbol of power,
In comparison to the first beast,
Which has ten horns,
Only having two horns indicates that this second beast may be weaker.
Perhaps a more gentle creature than the antichrist.
Danny Akin’s description is helpful:
“The earth, in contrast to the turmoil of the sea, implies the false prophet is calmer, more peaceful, and subtler than the antichrist. Like a lamb, he has the appearance of a friend…The two horns signify strength but not great strength.”
But also the comparison to a lamb evidences his attempts to be like Christ,
This is the only time in Revelation the word lamb is used in something other than a reference to Christ.
He wants to present himself as being in accord with Christ.
But this two-horned wannabe lamb is not like Christ.
Jesus warned us about this in Matt. 7:15;
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
This false prophet is even more evil than a ravenous wolf,
He is a megaphone for Satan!
He speaks like a dragon,
He is speaking a demonic message.
This is deceptive speech,
Like the speech the serpent spoke to Adam and Eve in the garden.
Jim Hamilton is right on in his commentary:
“This beast speaks like Satan, and Satan speaks against God’s word, blasphemes Jesus, and tells lies meant to result in the death of Jesus and his people. Christians do not tell lies to get other people killed…watch out for lambs who talk like dragons.”
You see, our speech reveals what is in our hearts.
Perhaps you have heard of the term “Freudian slip.”
It is when someone says something they did not mean to say,
But the theory is that it slipped out because it is what is truly in their subconscious.
I believe we use sarcasm too often in an attempt to cover up what is truly in our hearts.
We say something we really want to say to someone,
But then we say just kidding and think it is okay.
So, I believe there is some truth to this.
But our speech only reveals part of what is in our heart.
How often do you we speak what is really in our heart?
Does it concern you that God can hear your thoughts even if other people cannot?
I find this so convicting.
In his book, Blame it on the Brain, Ed Welch shares examples of when kind people have a mental disorder or a brain injury then suddenly say wicked, hurtful, and nasty things.
Culturally, Welch argues, we blame that on the injury or the diagnosis.
But what brain research seems to indicate is that those thoughts are already there,
The injury or the disorder has just taken the individual’s ability to keep those thoughts inside anymore.
Welch then takes this a step further as a heart issue.
Saying that many of us have sin in our heart that we are able to keep hidden from people around us,
And that our human tendency is to blame sin on an injury or diagnosis.
But the reality is if someone speaks like a dragon,
Either out loud,
Or in their own head,
It reveals the heart of a dragon.
Thankfully, the Bible teaches that God is in the business of spiritual heart surgery.
So, if we confess the wickedness of our heart,
God will remove the heart of a dragon and give us the heart of flesh.
He will seal us with the Holy Spirit,
Protecting us from permanently being given over to Satan.
Which is the mission of this false prophet,
To promote false worship on behalf of the beast.
He is a witness and advocate for the beast.
He promotes idolatry to the highest degree.
But vs. 12 shows that he does not just promote this,
He forces it upon people.
Look at how it is described, “[the false prophet] makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast.”
This is likely talking about forced universal religion,
Or universal worship.
Our world, the United Nations in particular,
Yearns for peace and strives for peace.
This well-intended endeavor for peace can easily go down an idolatrous path.
In an article titled “U.N. Faithful Eye Global Religion,” James Harder writes:
“All religious apples fall from the same tree and are equally delicious…religions need to accept the validity of all religions or else it will be difficult to attain world peace…the pathway to peace necessitates the unification of religions. The Universal Religion Initiative (URI) recently convened with 300 people present representing 39 religions and signed a charter, which officially launched the movement. The goal is that there will come a day in which ‘religious people will no longer insist on a single truth…There will have to be a godly cease-fire, a temporary truce where the absolute exclusive claims of each [religion] will be honored but an agreed upon neutrality will be exercised.’”
As Christians, we can affirm this desire and effort for peace.
But we cannot temporarily set aside the exclusivity of Christ.
Because the truth is that peace comes through Christ alone.
This Universal Religion Initiative is a human effort to force a man-made peace.
Which is what vs. 12 is talking about.
All religions of the world coming together,
Setting aside our differences, joining hand in hand, singing kumbayah.
Christians can say to Buddhists can say to Hindus can say to Sikhs can say to Muslims,
Its okay that our belief systems contradict each other,
Its close enough, they all came from the same tree,
So, for the sake of peace, for the greater good,
Let us set aside rationale and accept all religions as true.
The Bible does not work like that.
Jesus is the only way to peace.
So, we cannot accept these human constructs of peace.
We cannot affirm false religions for the effort of human peace.
To do so is the work of the false prophet.
Now, let me give one disclaimer before I have a mysterious person show up at my door and make me disappear forever.
I am not suggesting that the United Nations are the antichrist.
I am saying this impulse, this desire,
For a unified world religion is evidence that the presence of the false prophet is already alive in our world today.
And it is moving our world toward the end times when a unified world religion will be a reality.
When that comes,
We cannot minimize the exclusive claims about Christ,
To do so is both foolish and unloving.
The false prophet will use deceptive words to enforce false worship.
WE: Deceptive Signs (vs. 13-14)
WE: Deceptive Signs (vs. 13-14)
And when words are not enough,
The false prophet will use deceptive signs,
As we see in Rev. 13:13-14;
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.
These verses show that not everything that appears to be a miracle is actually a miracle.
Or that just because something is miraculous does it mean it is from God.
This false prophet will dazzle us with deceptive signs.
A sign is something miraculous that affirms a spiritual reality.
It is a way to verify something.
God has given signs in the Bible,
And the false prophet imitates this as a way to verify his deceptive religion.
Making fire come down from heaven to earth takes us back to the OT,
The prophet Elijah did this in 2 Kings. 1:10;
But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
But it also takes us back to Rev. 11:5;
And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.
The false prophet is mimicking the miracle of God’s two witnesses from earlier in the apocalypse,
And this false fire mesmerizes the people of the earth who rejected the true fire from 11:5.
Interestingly, vs. 14 shows that God is allowing this false prophet to work these signs in the presence of the beast.
Why?
Going back in the OT,
God taught us the importance of spiritual discernment,
Even in the face of a miracle,
In Deut. 13:1-3;
“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
So, all the way back in Deuteronomy, God’s Word gave this warning about a prophet,
Saying the miracles of a false prophet is a way to test believers,
To determine our devotion to the Lord.
Now, here we are in the last book of the Bible,
Looking forward to a future where a false prophet will come and do the exact things Deuteronomy warns us about.
Not only that, Jesus told us this would happen in Matt. 24:24;
For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
One thing that is important to acknowledge with this reference,
Is Jesus’ comment at the end, “if possible, even the elect.”
Some understand this as Jesus saying Christians could be led astray by the false prophet.
But what seems more likely is Jesus is trying to get us to understand the extent of deception of the false prophet.
That the false prophet would even lead believers astray if it were possible.
But it is not,
As Jesus also says in John 10:28-29;
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
This is what is referred to in Christian literature and commentaries as the perseverance of the saints.
Although, I would contend the preservation of the saints would be a more accurate way to describe it.
Because it is more God preserving us than it is our own perseverance.
R.C. Sproul agrees;
“Perseverance means continued adherence to a belief despite discouragement and opposition. The reason that believers persevere in faith and obedience, however, is not the strength of their own commitment, but that Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit preserves them.”
As well as the Westminster Confession of faith,
Which reads;
“They, whom God has accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.” (17.1)
Now, this doctrine does not mean that every person who claims to be a Christian will not be led astray,
Nor will those who try to live like a Christian by their own strength.
Jesus teaches on this in Matt. 7:21-23; 13:20-22.
On the other end, you can be a Christian and still backslide,
Or give in to sin.
This is opposing your new nature,
And as a result, the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sin.
Jesus teaches this in John 16:8.
That conviction, while unpleasant, affirms that you are secured with the Holy Spirit,
That you have a guaranteed salvation which cannot be taken,
That you cannot be led astray by the false prophet.
If you never feel convicted, it is not because you are doing such a good job living as a Christian,
It is because you have quenched the Holy Spirit so much,
Or because you do not truly believe that you need Christ to save you,
Because you have done such a good job at saving yourself.
If you do not feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit then you do not have the Holy Spirit.
The conviction of the Holy Spirit, not only assures you of your salvation,
But it also compels you to repent and to be restored.
Romans 8:30-39 is a key passage regarding the perseverance of the saints.
I would encourage you to read through it slowly sometime this week.
For time’s sake, I am not going to have us turn there this morning.
Rather, let us turn our attention back to vs. 14.
This false prophet will use these deceptive signs to deceive those who dwell on the earth.
Once unbelievers are convince that the antichrist is worth worshipping,
The false prophet will have them make an image, or an idol, of the antichrist.
And the world will willingly participate.
Chuck Swindoll says here;
“Blinded by unbelief and sin, the world will easily fall prey to the second Beast’s deceptive message and methods. Intellectually attracted to him, emotionally drawn by his appealing style and convinced by his amazing signs, they will voluntarily submit and obey.”
They will worship this image.
GOD: Deceptive Image (vs. 15)
GOD: Deceptive Image (vs. 15)
Rev. 13:15 shows this image is a deceptive image;
And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.
The trend going back to last week continues in vs. 15,
Everything the false prophet is doing, it is not doing without limitations,
It says that God allows the false prophet to give breath to the image of the beast.
Grant Osborne notes:
“The blasphemous names (vs. 5-6), the worship of the nations (vs. 7-8), the power to perform miracles and deceive (vs. 14-15) and even the persecution of the saints (vs. 7) happened only because God allowed it. There is no true power in evil. God is in firm control, and it can do no more than its part of the divine will. Nothing in the world, from Croatia to Rwanda to the moral wasteland that is modern America, escapes his notice, and it will end at his predetermined time.”
Until then, the false prophet will copy the work of the Holy Spirit.
In Ezekiel, the Holy Spirit breathed life into dry bones.
Here the false prophet breathes life into the image of the beast.
As a result, the image comes alive,
It speaks,
And worst of all, it persecutes God’s people.
Now, this image does not have to be a literal statue that comes to life,
Thomas Schreiner argues:
“We should not envisage an image literally coming to life. Instead, the point is the second beast’s empowering and supporting the first beast in its endeavors.”
Back in vs. 12, the false prophet made the earth worship the beast.
This act of coercion seems to be a staple of the false prophet’s ministry.
Because, now, in vs. 15, anyone who refuses to worship the image will be put to death.
This is the same predicament Daniel’s friends faced in Daniel 3,
When Nebuchadnezzar had a golden image set up and demanded absolute allegiance.
But they refused and God provided for them.
No doubt this future persecution will tempt believer’s toward compromise.
But the power of the gospel from God will give believer’s what is needed to endure and persevere.
The false prophet is determined to coerce worship of the antichrist.
So, if the deceptive image does not accomplish this,
The false prophet will take it a step further with the deceptive mark.
YOU: Deceptive Mark (vs. 16-18)
YOU: Deceptive Mark (vs. 16-18)
Rev. 13:16-18 show the false prophet’s deceptive mark.
Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.
The false prophet’s deception will extend worldwide to bring everyone into submission.
Vs. 16 shows every type of person will be marked.
This mark will be required to conduct business.
During the end times, the antichrist will have control over a world economy.
And some believe even Christians will commit apostasy to be able to buy and sell.
I have reservations about going that far.
Because if you are a Christian, the Bible says you are sealed by the Holy Spirit.
This mark is a counterfeit to the seal of the Holy Spirit,
You cannot have both.
But I do think Grant Osborne is not far off when he says;
“The idol of too many Christians is the dollar sign and so many in our churches put economic success ahead of following God.”
The purpose of the mark of the beast is to show ownership,
Those who have the mark are his slaves.
It signifies devotion to the beast.
The term for mark is meant to be understood like an imprint.
So, many have interpreted this to be a tattoo or even like a brand.
Something that can be visibly seen by people.
While I do not know exactly what the mark is,
Like the seal of the Holy Spirit is not a literal imprint that is seen on believers,
The mark of the beast is not likely going to be a visible imprint.
As Christians we do not have to fear the mark of the beast,
The passage indicates that you will not receive this mark unknowingly.
All who are given the mark, know exactly what they are doing.
There are a lot of dangers about speculating what the mark here could be.
And when we get so entangled with the speculations,
We miss the main point that God is making a spiritual distinction between those sealed with the Holy Spirit,
And those with the mark of the beast.
Rev. 20:4 shows what the future holds for those who do not receive the mark of the beast;
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Ultimately vs. 18 says it well,
This is a call for wisdom.
The number is of a human, 666.
This closing statement has been of great interest to many people throughout history,
Much attention and bewilderment has been given,
Many pages and large amounts of ink have been wasted on this statement.
Last week, I shared a historical list of guesses as to who the antichrist might be.
At the time Revelation was written,
The common assumption was the Roman Emperor, Nero, was the antichrist.
The number 666 is believed to possibly be a numerical value associated with the name Nero Caesar.
In Hebrew, they had an organizational system that was more of a game than anything, called gematria,
Where they would assign numerical values to the letters of the alphabet.
Using the gematria, the numerical value for Nero Caesar is 666.
The assumption is first-century believers were convinced that Nero is the antichrist,
And that he will rise from the dead during the end times.
Or that the future antichrist will imitate Nero’s wicked rule.
Historically, many have not seen this number’s association with Nero convincing,
First of all it is a complex solution to give the numerical value,
And secondly, Nero Caesar would have to be first transliterated to Hebrew before being given a numerical value.
So, the assumption of Nero seems like quite the stretch.
Thus we have seen a litany of guesses throughout history as to what the number 666 could represent.
Ronald Wilson Reagan, because he has six letters in his first, middle, and last name.
Even though English wasn’t even a language at the time of Revelation.
Some looked for the number in Social Security Cards,
Others looked in credit cards,
Others identified the coming of computers,
Taxi license plates in Israel beginning with 666,
The Roman Catholic Church was the mark of the beast according to reformers.
Just like the antichrist guesses we looked at last week,
The 666 guesses given throughout history have also been equally wrong.
And the speculation is not only not helpful,
But it can be rather harmful.
Instead of looking for the number 666 to appear in something,
I think the symbolism of the number here is more convincing.
Thinking of 666 as more of a description than an identification.
We have seen that numbers in Revelation have a symbolic significance,
Especially the number 7, symbolizes completeness or perfection.
The number 6 falls just short of 7.
To be a 6 is to fall short of perfection.
It is the number of man.
Man was also created on the sixth day.
What this would then mean,
Is that 777 would symbolize the Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Three perfect, complete beings, in one.
Therefore, 666 is the wannabe trinity; Satan, antichrist, and the false prophet.
Three imperfect beings, that fall short.
777 represents holiness and perfection,
666 represents pure evil and wickedness.
John is not trying to get us to calculate a specific individual.
As Stephen Small comments;
“John is not referring here in the first place to individual and historical tyrants; he is speaking of varied types of authority which use power wrongly, so as to induce doctrinal error and ethical compromise.”
The reason I find this symbolic understanding more convincing connects with what Jesus said about trying to set specific people or dates in Matt. 24:36,42,44;
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
This is why I go back to how vs. 18 starts,
This is a call for wisdom.
WE:
WE:
And biblically speaking, wisdom is not a prize to be earned,
It is a person,
It is the God-man, Jesus Christ.
We may be tempted to put our trust in the government.
We may be tempted to put our trust in money or the economy.
We may be tempted to put our trust in religious works.
The Bible teaches that all of these will fail us,
None of these are the answer.
The false prophet will take all of these things to draw worship for the beast.
This passage reveals our humble dependency upon the One Who is wisdom,
Jesus Christ.
Christ embodies wisdom,
The story of the false prophet calls for Christ.
This forces us to confess that we are too simple for the deception of this false prophet.
So, we cry out, Lord Jesus, help me! I am too simple for this deception!
Our faith and confidence must be put in the kingdom of God,
It must be placed upon bloody cross of Christ,
And the empty tomb of our risen Savior.
Do not believe the lies of the false prophet.
Do not align yourself with the antichrist.
Do not be deceived.
This is a call for wisdom.
It is a call for Christ.
Lord Jesus, help me! I am too simple for this deception.
If you do not think you are too simple to be deceived,
Picture how Jesus’ disciples felt when they discovered Judas betrayed Jesus.
They loved and lived with an antichrist for years,
And the night Jesus died,
He revealed Judas as a betrayer at dinner.
But more importantly that night,
He instituted what we call the Lord’s Supper or Communion.
In just a moment, Deb is going to begin playing some music and when she does,
The table is open, I’d like to invite all who have confessed this;
“Lord Jesus, help me! I am too simple for this deception.”
To come to the table.
It is a confession that acknowledges your dependence upon the Lord for salvation in this spiritual battle.
It is a cry that declares Christ as Lord of your life.
If that is not you, that can change this morning.
The Bible says you can believe this in your heart and confess it with your mouth,
And the moment you do, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit,
And you will never have to bear the mark of the beast.
So, once Deb begins playing music, the table is open,
If you could follow the arrows on the ground in the outer aisles
And stay toward the right of the center line in the middle aisle as you come forward.
When you return to your seat,
Pause for a moment of reflection, contemplation, or celebration with the Lord.
And once everyone has the bread and the cup we will partake together,
Then close in a song.
If you are unable to come up, we have some trays that are coming around,
If you get their attention and just be patient,
They will be sure to get the bread and cup to you.
As we prepare for this time,
Let us take just a moment to go before the Lord in prayer.
1 Corinthians 11:23-24 says;
The Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread,
and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said,
“This is My Body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”
In response, we eat.
Vs.25 continues;
In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me,”
In response, we drink.
Amen.