Latest / Admonition Podcast / Revelation 13 (Lesson 2) - Aaron Cozort - May 24, 2026
Transcript
- 0:00Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to the book of Revelation, chapter 13.
- 0:04We will briefly review from uh from the beginning of the book just to catch up those who are visiting with us on where we're at in the book.
- 0:12But let's begin with a word prayer.
- 0:14Our gracious father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day that you blessed us with, grateful for the opportunity that we have to serve you, to glorify your
- 0:24name, to sing praise to your name, to pray and to bow before your throne, to come to you in.
- 0:31uh supplication and in prayer, but also in thanksgiving.
- 0:35Lord, we are mindful of those who are not with us and not present because of illness or health.
- 0:41We pray that you give them the strength that they need to be able to once again be assembled together with us.
- 0:46Lord, we pray for endurance for those who deal with chronic issues and continually day by day are afflicted with hardships.
- 0:55Lord, we pray that you be with those who are struggling spiritually and we pray that you help them to open your word and to align their heart and their mind with your word and
- 1:07your will.
- 1:08And Lord, we pray that we might be an encouragement and an exhortation to them to do those things.
- 1:14Lord, we pray that you will forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory.
- 1:17All this we ask in Jesus name, amen.
- 1:22John is on the Isle of Patmos.
- 1:24for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
- 1:28And as he is there on the first day of the week or on the Lord's Day, as the text says, he hears a voice behind him and he turns to see one who has the appearance of Christ, but in
- 1:40a glorified state.
- 1:43He has seven stars in his right hand and the stars represent what in the book of Revelation?
- 1:51The churches.
- 1:53and he has seven golden lampstands that are before him and they represent the angels of or the messengers of the churches.
- 2:02so Jesus speaks through John to the seven churches of Asia Minor and to each one of them a message is delivered.
- 2:10Some of them nothing positive is said about them.
- 2:14Some of them nothing negative is said about them and others there's a
- 2:18There's a mix.
- 2:19There's some good and some bad, some things they need to work on.
- 2:22But many of them are told to repent, to correct things that they are doing, at least some portion of the congregation is doing.
- 2:30And if they do not, then he will make war with them.
- 2:35But they're also warned, as in Revelation chapter two, verse 10, that persecution is coming.
- 2:42Some of them were going to be imprisoned.
- 2:45Some of them were never going to come out.
- 2:49of prison.
- 2:50Then chapter four opens and John is shown an open door and in the vision he goes through the door and he goes into the throne room of God and he sees the glory that is described
- 3:04there, the glory of the one who sits on the throne, though he doesn't actually describe the one who sits on the throne.
- 3:12The representation of God the Father's glory might
- 3:17and power surrounded by the Spirit of God, surrounded by the sea, surrounded by the four beasts that turn every direction and that are a picture from Ezekiel of God's battle
- 3:32wagon, as it were.
- 3:33They are the ones who see everything and deal with it on behalf of the Lord.
- 3:39But he also sees the 24 elders that are surrounding the throne.
- 3:44And every time the beast
- 3:47call out to praise and glorify God because he is worthy.
- 3:51The elders praise and glorify God and they take their crowns of victory and they cast them down before the throne.
- 3:58And this goes on continually.
- 4:00Then chapter five opens.
- 4:02In chapter five, you find again, as the worship continues in the throne room of God,
- 4:10An angel comes forth and they are searching for one who can open the scroll that's in the right hand of the one who sits on the throne.
- 4:18The scroll is filled front and back with writing and John desires to know what the one who sits on the throne has revealed in the scroll, but there's no one found who's worthy to
- 4:31open the scroll.
- 4:33And so John begins to weep.
- 4:35One of the elders comes to John and says, do not weep.
- 4:38for we have found the one who is worthy to open the scroll and is the lion of the tribe of Judah.
- 4:45It is the lamb who was slain but is alive.
- 4:49He is the one who appears to be dead but is alive.
- 4:52He is the lamb that has seven eyes.
- 4:55He sees everything.
- 4:57He has seven horns.
- 4:59And that means this isn't a cute little lamb.
- 5:03This is a lamb that does battle, okay?
- 5:07It is the Christ.
- 5:09It is the descendant of David.
- 5:11Chapter 6 opens as the scroll begins to be opened, as the seals from the scroll begin to be opened.
- 5:18Seal 1 is opened and a white horse goes out and begins to conquer.
- 5:22And the white horse looks like a Parthian warrior.
- 5:25He looks like the only enemy Rome never defeated.
- 5:31And he's going out and he's conquering.
- 5:34And then three more horses.
- 5:36persecution starts coming, hardship starts coming.
- 5:40And so there's economic hardship, there's physical hardship, and there's death.
- 5:48And then you have the fifth seal opened, and the altar uh is seen, and the souls that are under the altar are crying out, how long, Lord, are you going to allow the persecution
- 6:02that is seen representatively in the?
- 6:05second, third, fourth horse, how long are you gonna allow this to continue?
- 6:09They're killing us.
- 6:12And those saints are told to rest for a little while, they're given white robes, and basically are told, I'll deal with it, I'll deal with it when I'm ready to deal with it.
- 6:23Next seal opens up, sixth seal opens, and God forecasts dealing with it.
- 6:29He says, this is how it's gonna happen.
- 6:32All the rich people, all the mighty people, all the glorious people, all the people who think they are secure in everything they have are going to run for the hills, they're
- 6:41going to run under the mountains, and they're going to cry for the mountains to fall on them because they're trying to avoid the wrath of the Lamb.
- 6:50But before we go too much further, there's a question that needs to be asked.
- 6:55In the day of the wrath of the Lamb, who will be able to stand?
- 6:59And so chapter seven, you have a pause.
- 7:01Chapter 7, you have a pause because God's going to tell you who can stand in the day of the wrath of judgment from God and the answer is everyone who has God's name written on
- 7:13their forehead.
- 7:14You go back to chapter 3 and you find the church is told that God's name is going to be written on their forehead.
- 7:20So what is he saying?
- 7:21He says, everybody who belongs to me, who's a part of the church, who's alive on the earth, but who's dwelling places in heaven.
- 7:30Those people can stand in the day of God's wrath.
- 7:34And so they're all marked so that they do not get touched by the judgment.
- 7:37Then you have seven trumpets begin to sound.
- 7:39These are going to be partial judgments.
- 7:41So the first four trumpet sound, then the fifth trumpet, sixth trumpet, seventh trumpet with the last three trumpets, they're three woes.
- 7:49We're not gonna go through all of the things that happen in those trumpets.
- 7:52They're partial judgments.
- 7:53We're gonna see pictures of them happen again with the full.
- 8:00pouring out of judgment because the trumpets were partial and the bowls that are coming up are going to be complete.
- 8:08Okay, so we're not gonna go through all of them.
- 8:10Then we see uh chapter, I don't know, lost track of my numbers here.
- 8:16Chapter 10 opens and John sees as the seventh trumpets about to sound, another pause, another reassurance to the Christians.
- 8:29God's in control.
- 8:31You're gonna look all around you and you're gonna see everything that's coming and you're gonna see everything that John's about to tell you and you're going to assume that God's
- 8:39lost control and that the Christians are going to be annihilated and there is no hope, but that's not the case.
- 8:46So mighty angel stands one foot on the sea, one foot on land, which by the way, pause real quick.
- 8:52We're in chapter 13 and where did the first beast come out up out of?
- 9:01the sea.
- 9:02Where's the second beast going to come up out of?
- 9:06The land.
- 9:08So in chapter 10, an angel standing with one foot on the sea and one foot on land.
- 9:13In other words, God's in charge.
- 9:16When the beast rises up, the angel's already able to be victorious over him.
- 9:22He's already standing over where he came from.
- 9:25It's a picture, you know, when, if you were to think about it this way,
- 9:30um When you've got a great big tall skyscraper and then the penthouse, the area at the very top is owned by the person who owns the skyscraper, what's the point?
- 9:45Everybody else lives underneath them, right?
- 9:48They're in charge.
- 9:50What they say goes.
- 9:52The angel is standing on the place where the two beasts are gonna come up out of saying,
- 9:59I've already told you what's going to Isaiah would make the point over and over and over in Isaiah's prophecy that God is going to tell you the end from the beginning.
- 10:12He's going to tell you what's going to happen before it ever happens.
- 10:15He's going to tell you how it's going to turn out before it ever happens.
- 10:17He's going to tell you how he's going to be victorious and how he's going to deliver his people before any of the trouble ever begins.
- 10:24And that's what the angel standing on the sea and on the land is doing.
- 10:29He's got another revelation.
- 10:31He's got a small little book and John is told to take a little book and consume the book and he does.
- 10:36And the message is sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his belly.
- 10:40It's sweet because it's the word of God.
- 10:42It's bitter because the message is going to include troubles coming.
- 10:49And it's coming in the form of the attack of Satan on God's people using an empire.
- 10:58that looks like the three first empires Daniel talked about.
- 11:04Okay, so we'll get into that more in just a moment.
- 11:06But before we do, there's also two witnesses.
- 11:09In chapter 11, John sees these two olive trees and seven lampstands, one on each olive tree, and this uh picture that the fire of God, the message of God never goes out.
- 11:25But then the two messengers, the two witnesses turn into two prophets.
- 11:29The two prophets speak God's message and they can't be stopped as long as they're speaking God's message.
- 11:35But the moment they stop speaking God's message, when the message is completed, the people come and they kill the prophets.
- 11:41They kill the messengers.
- 11:42They kill the witnesses and they leave them dead in the streets for three and a half days.
- 11:47And they don't bury them.
- 11:49They just leave them dead lying there in the street.
- 11:51But then God comes and resurrects them back to life.
- 11:53Pope takes them out.
- 11:55of harm's way and the message is you're going to speak God's message, you're going to declare what God tells you to declare and they may kill you for it, but the moment they
- 12:06kill you, they can't touch you.
- 12:09You remember what Jesus said all the way back in Matthew chapter 10?
- 12:13Do not fear what men can do to you.
- 12:17Do not fear him who can kill the body.
- 12:21rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.
- 12:26And that's the message to the churches.
- 12:29Don't fear the people who can kill you.
- 12:32So then chapter 12 opens and you see the woman and the dragon.
- 12:36The woman is represented with 12 stars above her head.
- 12:39She represents the people of God and the dragon is clearly stated in chapter 12 as being Satan, the devil himself.
- 12:47The devil wants to consume the one, the child, that the woman gives birth to.
- 12:52The woman is representative of God's people.
- 12:56The God's people in the Old Testament bring forth the Messiah.
- 12:59The child's the Messiah.
- 13:01All of that is clear within the text.
- 13:03So she gives birth to the child and the moment she does, as the devil's waiting, as the dragon's waiting to consume the child, the child escapes up into heaven.
- 13:13Devil loses.
- 13:14Then the devil goes up into heaven and tries to make war with the child in heaven.
- 13:19The devil loses.
- 13:21The devil's cast with his angels, cast back down to the earth, comes down to again try and attack the woman and the offspring of her children and loses again.
- 13:31The devil's a three-time loser.
- 13:33But when he can't get his way trying to defeat God's people in the Old Testament,
- 13:40And when he can't get his way trying to defeat God's people in the form of the Christ, the Messiah, and when he can't get his way to stop the birth of the church and the formation
- 13:51of the church and the offspring of the woman, then what is he going to do?
- 13:56Well, he's going to take the government that he's got influence over and he's going to start using the government to persecute the people of God.
- 14:04So we find at the end of chapter 13, we're going to be introduced
- 14:09to the sea beast, which is representative of Rome, the land beast, which is representative of Rome's prophets and priests and their religious leaders, and a number which is given to
- 14:24the people.
- 14:24So, before we get into chapter 13, just a reminder, we're not gonna deal with chapter 17 yet, but I do wanna put in front of you the kings that are represented from Daniel's
- 14:37prophecy.
- 14:38Again.
- 14:39This is looking at Rome from Daniel's prophecy.
- 14:43John doesn't care what the latest historian or the first historian had to say about who the first king of Rome was.
- 14:51John doesn't care what everyone in consensus in world history says the first king of Rome was.
- 14:58John only cares what Daniel said about the first king of Rome.
- 15:02And Daniel said the first king of Rome was Augustus.
- 15:06And the second king was Tiberius and the third king was Caligula and the fourth king was Claudius and the fifth king was Nero.
- 15:11And in Nero, that fifth king, persecution began against God's people.
- 15:18Up until that point, Rome didn't care one whit about the church.
- 15:23There was persecution from the Jews, but under Nero, persecution began and Nero looked like he was going to kill the people of God.
- 15:35And then Nero died.
- 15:37And suddenly the persecution stops because Rome enters a civil war.
- 15:43And for three kings that are all gonna be uprooted, they're gonna come and go in just a matter of two years, no persecution.
- 15:52Then Vespasian comes to the throne and he's represented in the sixth because the first, the three that come after Nero are there for such a short time, they don't matter.
- 16:00Okay?
- 16:01So Vespasian comes to the throne and is in the days of Vespasian.
- 16:05that John is writing.
- 16:07John is writing because the persecution's about to begin again.
- 16:13Now after Vespasian, Titus is gonna come to the throne, but he's only gonna reign for two years, two months, and two days.
- 16:20And then Domitian comes to the throne.
- 16:24And in Domitian, you have the resurrection of the beast.
- 16:29You have the resurrection of persecution.
- 16:33But Domitian does something different than what Nero did.
- 16:37Nero took the Christians as a convenience in Rome, in the city of Rome, and he hung them up and he lit them on fire in the streets because they were a distraction to what Nero was
- 16:51doing in destroying the empire.
- 16:56He needed a scapegoat, and that's what the Christians were.
- 17:00And everybody, you remember the quote from the Jews that come to see Paul in Rome?
- 17:07As Paul, in the end of the book of Acts, gets to Rome, and he's about to be on trial, and he's there in the city of Rome, and he's under house arrest, and the Jews come to him, and
- 17:18they say, tell us about the sect everywhere spoken against.
- 17:27the perception of Christians by even the Jews in Rome is everybody hates these people.
- 17:36So they were a good scapegoat because everybody hated them, okay?
- 17:41So chapter 13, verses one through 10, we have the sea beast arise out of the nations.
- 17:49The nations are in turmoil.
- 17:51The picture is one from Daniel chapter seven.
- 17:54We went through most of this.
- 17:56Last week, we're not going to go into it in depth, but notice just by way of reminder, we find in verse 7, it was granted to him, that is the sea beast, to make war with the saints
- 18:12and to overcome them, and authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.
- 18:22Do you remember what the three temptations that Satan offered Jesus were?
- 18:34What was the first one?
- 18:37turn the stone into bread.
- 18:39What was the second one?
- 18:41We can use Matthew's recording because Luke and Matthew swap them up, the second and the third.
- 18:47What was the second one?
- 18:49Took him up to the pinnacle of the temple and said what?
- 18:53Cast yourself off because the Old Testament says that the angels won't let you dash your foot on a stone.
- 19:00Let's see if God keeps his promises.
- 19:03What was the third one?
- 19:07And if you bow down and worship me, what will I give you?
- 19:12All the nations of the earth.
- 19:16Seems as though Jesus wasn't the only one that Satan used that offer with.
- 19:24because what does Satan deliver to the sea beast?
- 19:28What does the dragon deliver to the sea beast?
- 19:30He delivers to him uh authority over all tribes, tongues, and nations.
- 19:39but it's important to remember verse 6.
- 19:46Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.
- 19:59As we continue to point out and will continue to point out every time we run into it, the Christians alive on the earth are not described as those who dwell on the earth.
- 20:13They are described as those who dwell in heaven.
- 20:16their home, their abode is in heaven, their temporary dwelling place, their sojourn is on the earth.
- 20:28and the dragon and the sea beast are going to blaspheme the name of the Lord, they're going to blaspheme his tabernacle, the church, and they're going to make war with those
- 20:41whose dwelling place is in heaven, but are alive on the earth.
- 20:48When it is described as the sea beast having authority over every tribe, tongue, and nation, we all understand because we've already been told by John that the dragon only has
- 21:02the authority God lets him have.
- 21:06His authority is three and a half.
- 21:09His authority is temporary.
- 21:12His authority is circumscribed.
- 21:15And so when someone who has limited authority gives someone else below them limited authority, they don't have any more authority than the first person had.
- 21:25Jesus is offered by Satan every nation under heaven.
- 21:32And yet when you come to Matthew chapter 28 verse 18, when Jesus has been resurrected from the grave, Jesus tells his apostles all what?
- 21:43Authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth.
- 21:50That hadn't changed.
- 21:52Jesus still has all authority.
- 21:55Jesus' authority isn't circumscribed authority.
- 21:58Jesus' authority is complete.
- 22:01authority as the Hebrew writer will point out, his authority is complete with the exclusion of the one who gave him the authority, which is God the Father himself.
- 22:13The Hebrew writer will point out that we rationally recognize that the one who put all things under his feet, that is the feet of Christ, is excluded from being under his feet.
- 22:28So Christ does not have authority over the Father.
- 22:32rather the Father has put all things under the authority of Christ.
- 22:36Okay, that includes, by the way, the dragon, all nations, tongues, and peoples, and the sea beast.
- 22:43We're gonna see that before we're done.
- 22:46He says, verse eight, sorry, verse seven, it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.
- 22:55And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.
- 23:00All who dwell on the earth will worship Him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
- 23:10Who's going to worship the beast?
- 23:13Everybody who's not a Christian.
- 23:17Why are they going to worship the sea beast?
- 23:19Because they already worship the dragon.
- 23:23and he's a representation of the dragon.
- 23:27Why are they going to fall before Rome?
- 23:29Because they want what Rome has to offer.
- 23:37He says, if anyone has an ear, let him hear, verse 9.
- 23:42He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity.
- 23:45He who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword.
- 23:48Here is the patience and faith of the saints.
- 23:52As John concludes his description of the sea beast, he reminds the people of God, he reminds the Christian, you're not going to get out of this by raising an army and going to
- 24:06war.
- 24:08you're going to get out of this by faithfulness to Jesus Christ.
- 24:13So then we read verse 11, and then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.
- 24:25Every good thing has an opposite.
- 24:29So when Jesus is seen in chapter five, what did he look like?
- 24:37a lamb and a lion.
- 24:41Okay?
- 24:42Go back to the sea beast and notice verse 2, now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.
- 24:57Everything good, Satan makes a corrupted version of.
- 25:01Everything righteous that God does, Satan corrupts.
- 25:05Think of it this way.
- 25:08Back in Genesis chapter three, what did Satan say?
- 25:12You shall not surely die.
- 25:17Everything God says, Satan turns it on his head.
- 25:21So now we have the second beast and the second beast comes forth, he looks like a lamb.
- 25:25He's got two horns.
- 25:28And notice he speaks like a dragon.
- 25:35In other words, he's just the mouth.
- 25:37piece of Satan.
- 25:40He looks cute and cuddly.
- 25:43He looks nice and friendly.
- 25:46He looks kind of like the wolves in sheep's clothing of false prophets look like because that's what he is.
- 25:58He's the false prophets of Rome.
- 26:01So notice he saw he had two horns like a lamb.
- 26:05and spoke like a dragon and he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose
- 26:17deadly wound was healed.
- 26:19They come forth, the second beast comes forth, he says to all the nations and all the people and all the tongues, you've got to worship this guy, he's been resurrected back to
- 26:31life.
- 26:34They claimed that Domitian was Nero resurrected.
- 26:39They claimed that Domitian was a god on earth.
- 26:46And so the priests of Rome would go about and they would say, do you good business owner proclaim Caesar to be god?
- 26:59you do?
- 26:59That's great.
- 27:00You go ahead and keep running your business.
- 27:04Why don't we help you with your business?
- 27:06Why don't we, I tell you what, why don't you incorporate your business into the worship that we have?
- 27:15and they would corrupt people both through monetary and religious matters.
- 27:23But the qualification was you had to declare Caesar to be God.
- 27:30Notice he performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on earth in the sight of men.
- 27:40What did Elijah do?
- 27:47All right, Elijah disproved Baal from being God and proved that the false prophets of Baal were false prophets by the fact that they couldn't bring down fire from heaven.
- 28:00Well, know, Satan's got a little more sophisticated since then.
- 28:04So now Satan's false prophets are able to appear as though they can bring fire from heaven.
- 28:10That's convincing enough in the Old Testament to convince people that that must be God.
- 28:15So it must be God.
- 28:18He performs great signs.
- 28:21He also, verse 14, deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs, which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an
- 28:32image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.
- 28:37So they say, hey, you know what?
- 28:39Caesar is God.
- 28:41Caesar's resurrected.
- 28:43Caesar is who we say he is.
- 28:47Caesar is this great God who can do these great things, watch us perform these false miracles and be convinced by them.
- 28:54All right, now let's make an image to Caesar.
- 28:58Now in Daniel, do you remember somebody who made an image to themselves and told everybody, when you hear the music, what are you gonna do?
- 29:12You're gonna fall down and worship Nebuchadnezzar.
- 29:17The picture here is not about going in history going, where did the priests of Rome do this exact thing?
- 29:25These are all still Old Testament pictures.
- 29:28John is representing what the false prophets of Rome are going to do in pictures from the Old Testament.
- 29:37And he uses this time Daniel's picture of Nebuchadnezzar and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
- 29:44is going to make this great image and everybody is going to fall down and worship or they're going to die.
- 29:49Okay, so notice he granted power, verse 15, to give breath to the image of the beast.
- 29:59So now in the representation in the image and the vision, John is seeing it and he sees the sea beast and he sees the land beast and then the land beast builds this great image
- 30:10like Nebuchadnezzar and the dragon breathes the image to life.
- 30:14Oh, look, this is going to be the very image of your God in front of you.
- 30:23He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, and the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be
- 30:33killed.
- 30:36Old Testament imagery.
- 30:39You don't worship the image.
- 30:42You don't worship the beast.
- 30:44What happens to you?
- 30:47You die.
- 30:50He causes all, verse 16, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads.
- 31:04that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name.
- 31:14Now if you read Hal Lindsey's book, The Late Great Planet Earth, and you go read about what this is, this is a coming technology where you won't be able to buy anything, you
- 31:25won't be able to sell anything unless you've got a chip implanted in you.
- 31:32and you read all of the nonsense about the central bank digital currencies coming today and you've got people breathlessly, this is it, this is it, you won't be able to buy or
- 31:43sell or anything and the government's gonna have complete control over everything, you won't be able to get a loaf of bread unless you've got the central bank digital currency
- 31:50and that's 666, that's the number of...
- 31:57Because if, if we were to accept that interpretation, long before that, you're going to have every Christian walking around with God's name tattooed on their forehead.
- 32:12And if that were the case, I don't think the world would have to try too hard to figure out which one was which.
- 32:20in the vision.
- 32:24All of God's people are already marked.
- 32:27So what does Satan do in the vision?
- 32:30Satan says, well, I'm going to have my own mark.
- 32:33And I tell you what, if you don't use my mark, you're going to starve to death.
- 32:39You're going to go hungry and you're going to do any business.
- 32:46Have we ever seen a time in world history where a government decided to mark a bunch of people so they could know exactly who they were and whether or not they were allowed to
- 32:56own a business, do business, or participate in an economy?
- 33:01absolutely.
- 33:03Is this anything new?
- 33:05No.
- 33:07And by the way, if you go back to World War II, there were people.
- 33:11who were dispensational premillennialists that were saying, it's the end of times.
- 33:17Look what they're doing in Germany.
- 33:21They're marking people.
- 33:24Was it the end of times?
- 33:26Was it the return of Christ?
- 33:29No, it wasn't.
- 33:34So John says, here's wisdom.
- 33:40Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.
- 33:46His number is 666.
- 33:53Now there's nothing mysterious, ominous, or special about the number 666 except this.
- 34:01What's the number of perfection?
- 34:04Seven, what does John say the number of a man is?
- 34:10Six, what day was man created?
- 34:14Sixth day.
- 34:17God said, there, I'm done.
- 34:19And he rested.
- 34:20He stopped.
- 34:23But when you look at perfection, man doesn't attain to it.
- 34:31And when you put a number in a row and you say, you know what?
- 34:37I'll tell you what.
- 34:38If we put man's number here and we just keep putting man's number, if it ever maybe, if it just improves a little bit, eventually it'll be seven, right?
- 34:49Well, put it one sixth.
- 34:50Is it seven?
- 34:51No.
- 34:52Try again.
- 34:52Put one six.
- 34:53No?
- 34:54Another six.
- 34:54It's kind of like an Avon Costello routine.
- 34:56You keep putting the numbers there to see if they ever make seven.
- 34:59They never will!
- 35:03His point is, this isn't God.
- 35:09That's the point of 6.6, sis.
- 35:12It's falling short every time of perfection.
- 35:18It's never going to achieve Godhood.
- 35:25It's false.
- 35:27It's derived from men, not God.
- 35:34So the number 666, what does it say?
- 35:38Well, John tells you what it says.
- 35:39It's the number of a man.
- 35:41It belongs to men.
- 35:43It doesn't belong to God.
- 35:45It's not his number.
- 35:48So John sees the sea beast come forth and he sees the land beast come forth and he sees them go forth and start persecuting the church.
- 35:59and he sees them entangle all the world's economies in all of the worship of the beast.
- 36:07And if you were watching this in the form of a movie, you would have seen John looking at the earth and seeing all this stuff happening on the earth, and then John would have
- 36:20looked up to heaven.
- 36:24And you might have considered the thought crossing John's mind.
- 36:28I wonder how the Lord's going to deal with this.
- 36:32Chapter 14 opens, I looked and behold, a lamb standing on Mount Zion and with him 144,000 having his father's name written on their forehead.
- 36:48you go back to the days of Elijah.
- 36:53And as Elijah is running for his life, being threatened by Jezebel, and he finally reaches his point of what he considers safety, and he stops.
- 37:09And then he runs more and he finally reaches Sinai.
- 37:16and God talks to him there.
- 37:20And he says, I'm the only one.
- 37:26and God informs him, no, there are 7,000 in Israel who have not bowed the knee to Baal.
- 37:34You think you're the only one left.
- 37:37You feel like you're the only one left, but you're not.
- 37:43John is seeing the whole world swept over by the influence of the sea beast and the land beast and the influence of the dragon.
- 37:56And John is reminded by Christ, don't worry, I have those who belong to me.
- 38:04Now over in chapter seven, we were already told who the 144,000 are.
- 38:10They're the righteous people of God who are alive and who dwell in heaven, but they're alive on the earth.
- 38:20They're the Christians.
- 38:22They're the ones that are faithful to Christ who will not give up.
- 38:26their testimony of Christ.
- 38:29And they're standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion.
- 38:35They're the church, and they're faithful, and they might be dying physically, but they're not succumbing to the influence of the beast.
- 38:47They're not trading the name of God for the name of the beast.
- 38:52They're not getting 666 written on their forehead.
- 38:57They're faithful.
- 38:58They're overcoming, even if they're dying.
- 39:03So they're standing there on Mount Zion with a lamb.
- 39:07And they have the Father's name written on their forehead.
- 39:10And I heard a voice from heaven like the voice of many waters and like the voice of a loud thunder.
- 39:15And I heard the sound of the harpists playing with their harps.
- 39:18They sang as it were a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders.
- 39:27And no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth.
- 39:36These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins.
- 39:41These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
- 39:45These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.
- 39:51And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.
- 39:59Now.
- 40:02will close the challenge to any premillennial dispensationalist that's waiting for a thousand year reign of Christ, which they think they find right here.
- 40:13and ask them, when Christ reigns, how many women are going to be found with Christ?
- 40:23Because according to this text, none.
- 40:30How many married people are going to be found with Christ?
- 40:34None.
- 40:37How many people are going to be those who are going to be with Christ who can sing this new song?
- 40:44Well, it's going to be a male chorus.
- 40:50And for some of the more foolish of my brethren who would like to come to this passage and therefore argue that instrumental music and worship is therefore authorized because the as
- 41:02they're as they're singing in a vision, there's visionary harps that are being strung.
- 41:15You might also ask you, does that mean that you're going to recommend that all Christians remain virgins?
- 41:24Because if one is a good idea, then so is the other.
- 41:31The picture is an Old Testament picture.
- 41:41The picture is a Davidic picture of the nation of God unified under a king's banner.
- 41:58When did that happen in the Old Testament?
- 42:01It happened when David took Jerusalem.
- 42:08Go back and read the history of David.
- 42:11Northern Kingdom divided.
- 42:13They wanted the descendants of Saul.
- 42:16Southern Kingdom, Judah said, no, we're making David king.
- 42:21And so, Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom go to war with one another.
- 42:26For years they go to war with one another.
- 42:32And when David takes Jerusalem, which is also known as what city?
- 42:42Zion.
- 42:42The nation shortly thereafter will be unified.
- 42:48They will be one.
- 42:49And through the remainder, basically, of David's reign and the reign of Solomon, you have 12 tribes all unified in worship and praise and allegiance to God.
- 43:09It's an Old Testament picture.
- 43:12And where in the Bible were harps authorized for use in worship?
- 43:21In the Old Testament, under David.
- 43:27This picture is a representation of the church represented by a glorified Israel led by a glorified King.
- 43:44lion of the tribe of Judah.
- 43:47the son of David, reigning from his throne in Zion.
- 43:56But I remind you in Matthew chapter 28 verse 18, as of the point that Jesus was resurrected and was back on the earth before he ascended into heaven, Jesus said, as of
- 44:07that moment, all authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth.
- 44:14And he's been reigning ever since.
- 44:17Thank you for your attention.