Don't get me wrong. I still vote in every election. I vote for the lesser of two evils. It's my civic duty, but my hope is not in getting my preferred candidates into office. Our hope is in Jesus and in the knowledge that he has a good plan that will result in us being with Him, enjoying His presence forever.
That's our hope. And until that day, we are called to do what Christians have always been called to do. Faithfully follow Jesus, obey His commands, preach the gospel, love the Saints, and most importantly, abide in Him. Hear me on this, please. Some of you desperately need to really hear me on this.
Jesus has not called us to stop governments and redeem the global political system. It's not in the Bible. The only time that happens is when Jesus comes and does it. Jesus has called us to establish His Kingdom in our little personal worlds. Hear me.
Hear me. Hear me, please. On this. We are called to establish His Kingdom in our hearts. First of all, in our marriages, in our families, in our homes and in our churches.
That's what we are called to do. And you know what? Let me be honest. We need to humble ourselves and admit the truth. That's a big enough task for us.
That's enough. That's a challenging enough calling to keep us busy for the rest of their lives. Establishing the Kingdom of Jesus in our hearts, our marriages, our families, our homes, in our churches. The Kingdom of God will be established on the Earth. When when Jesus comes back to the Earth and establishes pushes his throne in Jerusalem and his Kingdom across the Earth.
That's when that will happen. Maranatha, let's pray. Would you bow your head and close your eyes? Jesus, thank you for your word. And I know this is kind of a dark study today into Antichrist and the future schemes of Satan.
But, Lord, I pray for each of us that we would not be consumed by an obsession with these things which you told your disciples must take place. Lord, I pray that we would not be deceived into putting our hope in political candidates instead of you. Lord, our hope is that there are things underway in our world that are ordained by you that have a good ending. Our hope is in the fact that things get made right on the Earth. When we return to the Earth with you and you rule and reign and justice and righteousness rules and reigns on the Earth.
Lord, we can't wait for that. So, Lord, I pray that instead of looking all around us and pointing fingers and pointing out all the injustice and wickedness that we see in our world systems, Lord, I pray that we would cast our focus on the few areas where you have given us influence. And you have given us a measure of authority. And, Lord, we pray that our focus would be on establishing your Kingdom and your throne first in our own hearts. Lord, that you would rule and reign absolutely in our lives.
Lord, we ask that you would rule and reign in our marriages, that they would be governed by you. And by your word, Lord, we ask that your Kingdom would come and be established in our families and in our children and then our grandchildren and our great grandchildren. Lord, we pray that your Kingdom would be established in our churches, that you would reign, that your word and your desire and your instructions would reign in our churches. And, Lord, we know that's enough. That's enough.
That's enough of a challenge. But we thank you that you've empowered us by your spirit to see your Kingdom come in our little world, the little sphere of influence that you've given us. So help us to be faithful there, Lord. And may your Kingdom come in the places where you've given us a measure of authority and the places you've given us influence. Come and reign, King Jesus and come back soon.
In other words, those who have rejected Jesus are following Antichrist and will never change their allegiance.
Verse eight makes it clear that everyone who worships Antichrist during the Great Tribulation is damned irreversibly. The only people who will refuse to worship Antichrist will be those who have turned to Jesus and the ethnic Jews who will flee to Petra and turn to Jesus when he appears at the second Coming. When John refers to Jesus as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, he means that it was always God's plan that Jesus would die for our sins. It was the plan before the world was created because God has always known how things will play out.
And here's the wonderful part. God has always known how each person's life would play out. He has always known who would choose him. And Revelation 17;8 declares that the names written in the Book of Life have been there from the foundation of the world. Those who love Jesus and belong to him will not be deceived by Antichrist. They will not worship him.
They will overcome Him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Satan will overcome them on the Earth, but they will overcome Satan in eternity. Write this down. It's true today and it will be true in the Great Tribulation. Believers do not overcome to earn their place in the Book of Life.
Believers overcome because their names are written in the Book of Life. Let me say that again, believers do not overcome to earn their place in the Book of Life. Believers overcome because their names are written in the Book of Life. Believers do not stand in their own strength. Believers do not overcome Satan in their own strength.
Believers stand because Jesus empowers believers to stand. Believers overcome Satan because Jesus empowers believers to overcome Satan. Verse Nine if anyone has an ear, let them hear. Every other time we've seen this phrase in Revelation, it's been followed by the phrase what the Spirit says to the churches. Why don't we see that here?
Because it's not for us. The Church will be in heaven. In the Great Tribulation. This is an exhortation for the man or woman who is reading Revelation after the Rapture. It's an exhortation to understand what will happen during the Great Tribulation and to choose the Lord's side.
I cannot imagine the gravity these words will hold for the person who opens its pages, seeking answers after the Rapture and seeing things unfold exactly as they are written. Verses Ten he who leads into captivity shall go into captivity and he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the Saints. Now this doesn't translate well into English, but here's the gist of what the Lord is saying. Those who turn to me after the Rapture will not be called to an armed resistance against Antichrist in His agenda.
Their hope will be in knowing and understanding that I am ultimately in control. They are called to trust their souls and their lives to me and stay faithful to me, even to the death. There will be no miraculous earthly deliverance for these Gentile tribulation Saints on the Earth. Satan will overcome them. But in eternity they will overcome Satan.
As we've been studying through revelation, I hope you've realized that we are so close to the rapture. I hope you've begun to see the plans of God unfolding around us as the signs of the times increase in both frequency and intensity. And I also hope that you've noticed something else important. We are not called to try and stop these signs of the times from appearing. We're not called to armed resistance against the plans of God.
When teaching his disciples about these things, Jesus told them. See that you are not troubled for all these things. Here's the key. All these things must come to pass. Our hope is not in getting our preferred political candidates elected.
This is almost certainly a reference to the abomination of desolation that we've talked about so many times, which happens around the halfway point of the Tribulation. Those who dwell in heaven is a reference to us, the Raptured Church. I suspect that Antichrist will declare good riddance. Those Christians were always the real problem. Now we can come together as a sea of humanity and build the world that we've always dreamed of.
We can fulfill our potential. Take the next step in our evolution now that we're free and unrestrained and unencumbered by those outdated and imagined moral constraints and constructs that were championed by those Christians. I know that's hard to imagine, right? It's political tradition for the current administration to blame all problems on the previous administration, but I suspect that's exactly what Antichrist is going to do. He's going to rise to power with this new vision for humanity and unite the world around hatred toward Christianity and justify the killing of those who side with Jesus.
During the Great Tribulation, verse Seven says it was granted to him to Antichrist, to make war with the Saints and to overcome them underlying overcome them. This is the moment we read about in Revelation 1217 in our previous study, unable to touch the Jews in Petra, Satan, through Antichrist, directs his wrath toward anyone he can find who pledges allegiance to Jesus. You'll recall as well in Daniel Seven, verses 21 and 22 describe this. Daniel says, I was watching and the same Horn was making war against the Saints and prevailing against them until the ancient of days came and a judgment was made in favor of the Saints of the most high, and the time came for the Saints to possess the Kingdom.
During the Great Tribulation, Antichrist's earthly schemes against believers will succeed.
Verse seven declares that he will overcome them and that's one more reason we know this cannot be referring to the Church. I say that because of what Jesus spoke to Peter in Matthew 1618 saying, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Jesus promised Peter that even though empires, tyrants and armies would try to wipe out the Church, erase them from the Earth, none of them would succeed. The Church would keep going and would not be overcome, would not be erased from the Earth.
In the Great Tribulation, we see no such protection granted to Gentile believers because they are not part of the Church.
They will be part of a distinct, different group in heaven, which we discussed in detail in Revelation Seven. The bottom line is that these Saints who are being overcome by Antichrist are those Gentiles who are saved during the Tribulation. After the Rapture, the Tribulation will result in the greatest revival the world has ever seen. But almost all of those who turn to the Lord in that time will do so at the expense of their lives. In the Great Tribulation, the rest of verse Seven tells us an authority was given him Antichrist over underlying every tribe, tongue and nation.
We know that Antichrist will lead a revived Roman Empire, and this first verse is tells us that he will be given the power to do even more, ruling over an Empire larger than any leader before him could even imagine. Verse Eight underlying all who dwell on the Earth. All who dwell on the Earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. We know that those who dwell on the Earth is a term used in Revelation for people who have determined to make the Earth their home instead of heaven.
Today we understand that it would be no problem for the whole world to see and hear and Marvel together at an internationally newsworthy event that will dominate the Internet. When it happens.
This is really important. We don't follow God because of signs and wonders. Do you know why it's because God is not the only one who can perform signs and wonders? While there's no comparison between God's power and Satan's power, Satan does have the power to work miracles on the Earth, and he's been doing it for millennia. Do you recall Jannes and Jambres, the two magicians of Pharaoh's court, when Moses threw down his staff and it turned into a snake?
They were able to do the same thing by the occultic power of Satan. If you're only following Jesus because of signs and wonders, you'll find yourself constantly searching for more of them. And sooner or later you'll end up following someone who's not doing them by the power of God. So how do we evaluate the legitimacy of a Ministry? Well, we compare what is being taught and done by that Ministry to the word of God.
And the second thing we do is we examine who gets the glory from that Ministry. Does the glory go to Jesus, or does it go to someone else? Verse four tells us who gets the glory when Antichrist rises from the dead. It says, So they worshiped the Dragon who gave authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast, who is able to make war with him? The world's reaction to Antichrist's resurrection is to praise him as a God and declare who's able to make war with him.
In other words, who can stop him? He's invincible. Just as the Father raised Jesus, the Son from earthly and eternal death, Satan will be permitted to raise Antichrist from earthly death. Just as Jesus the Son directed glory to his heavenly Father. Antichrist Satan's Son will direct glory to his father, Satan the Dragon.
In one Corinthians, 1020, Paul observes the things which the Gentiles sacrificed. They sacrificed to demons and not to God. The Gentiles thought they were sacrificing to their gods, but they were really sacrificing to the demons who were behind those gods. Those who worship Antichrist will really be worshiping the power behind him, Satan. And just as Jesus has been given all authority by his Father, which he will exercise at the second coming, Antichrist will be given all authority on Earth by his father.
Satan. Antichrist will enter the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem claim to be the only God worthy of worship, and the world will agree verse five and he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies just as we read over and over in Daniel seven and he was given authority to continue for guess how long? 42 months or 1260 days or three and a half years or time times and a half a time. This is how we know that this assassination attempt happens around the halfway point of the Tribulation because it's immediately followed by Antiochus being allowed to reign and persecute the Saints for three and a half years.
He's killed.
He's raised by Satan, possessed by Satan, imbued with power and authority by Satan and allowed to continue by God for 42 months. The length of the Great Tribulation by the power of Satan, Antichrist becomes a pastor of deception. He will have Satan's gift for charismatic speech and will serve as Satan's mouthpiece. How good are Satan's oratory skills? Well, he talked a third of the Angels in heaven to joining him in his rebellion against God.
He managed to persuade Adam and Eve to do the one thing they were forbidden from doing, and he successfully deceived all of us. At one time or another. People are going to eat up Antichrist's words and will view him as an angel of light. Now notice who Antichrist blasphemes in verse is. Then he opened his mouth and blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, his Tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.
And I'll explain how we know that in a few minutes I'm going to give you the punchline that I believe this is talking about. Antichrist will be killed in what will most likely be an assassination attempt. The original Greek allows the text to say he will be killed or appear to be killed. But based on Typology and the rest of the text in Revelation, it's my personal belief that he really is killed. So write this down.
Antichrist will likely be killed in an assassination attempt. He'll likely be killed in an assassination attempt. And Zechariah Eleven verses 16 to 17. It's on your outline. Give more detail about the wounds that Antichrist will suffer.
This is unbelievable prophecy, it says, for indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces. Who's the great shepherd? In Scripture it's Jesus. But Zechariah prophesied a false shepherd would emerge in Israel in the land.
At first he will be welcomed by the Jewish people as one who cares for them. They'll think he is a shepherd, and I'll suggest, as I have before, that he'll be welcomed as Messiah. But he'll soon reveal his true nature as he rips them apart and devours them in the great Tribulation. Zechariah then goes on and says, Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock, a sword shall be against his arm and against his right eye. His arm shall completely wither and his right eye shall be totally blinded.
How's that for specific, this likely assassination attempt will leave Antiochus blind in his right eye and paralyzed in one arm. He will come back to life. But he will be left with these scars. Now think with me for a moment so you can understand the Typology understand what's going on here. The pattern that's emerging.
We worship someone who came back to life but still bears scars. Revelation 13 refers to Antichrist's fatal. Would he? Times it becomes one of his most defining characteristics, and his scar has become known around the whole world. Back to Revelation 13.
Three for the plot twist here, and his deadly wound was healed. Antichrist is likely killed in an assassination attempt. But write this down. However, he will rise from the dead. He will rise from the dead.
Now some suggest this will be a fake resurrection, but I see no reason to read that into the text. Revelation Eleven seven told us that the beast came from the bottomless pit, the abyss. So it seems likely that he really does die. His spirit descends into the bottomless pit. But then when the pit is opened, it's permitted to return to his earthly body, and he rises from the dead.
And we need to slow down for a minute and let this sink in. Because this is not some magic trick or some illusion. This is a legitimately supernatural and miraculous recovery that will be medically documented. Can you imagine how this will be received? A real, undisputed miracle from the leader of the New World Order?
No wonder many will respond. He has the right to demand to be worshiped because apparently, he is God. He is. And that's just the response we see. We read and all the world marveled and followed the beast. So in addition to a fraudulent Trinity, in addition to a fraudulent Kingdom, Satan will be permitted to concoct a fraudulent resurrection and fraudulent scars for his fraudulent savior.
We've made this point before, but verse three provides another example. Just a century ago, the idea that Antichrist's resurrection would be seen by all the world was considered impossible, and for that reason, almost all Bible scholars believed that verses like this should be interpreted as entirely symbolic.
It mostly just crumbled over time, under the weight of its own decadence, and hedonism it splits and one half quickly faded away, while the other half took over 1000 years to fade away unbelievably. There was still a Caesar on the throne in Rome in the 1001 hundreds. Although we only had the authority of a Mayor since that time, various men have tried to revive the Roman Empire or something like it under different names and failed. Napoleon tried and failed. Hitler tried and failed.
But in the last days there will be one who will bring back the Empire. Two weeks ago, I explained how Satan will construct a fraudulent Trinity consisting of himself, Antichrist and the false Prophet. Antichrist's revived Roman Empire will be a fraudulent version of the millennial Kingdom under Antichrist in the Great Tribulation, the world will get to see what things are like when Satan reigns on the Earth with very little restraint under Jesus. In the millennial Kingdom, the world will get to see what things are like when Jesus reigns on the Earth.
For those of you who are conspiratorially inclined, I recommend doing some Internet research into the Treaty of Rome.
It's a document written in the 1009 and 150s that outlines the foundational, principles and goals of what we know today as the European Union. You'll discover that the vision was to unite Europe around a common language, a common economy, and much, much more, very much like a revived Roman Empire. Let's jump back to Revelation 13 two flip there, it says, the Dragon that Satan gave him that's Antichrist his power, his throne, and great authority. During the temptation of Christ, Satan showed Jesus the kingdoms of the world and their glory and said, all these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.
Jesus responded away with you, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord, your God and him only shall you serve.
Jesus didn't take Satan's offer, but Satan will make the same offer to a man who will accept his deal and that man will become the one we know as Antiochus. Satan will give authority to Antiochus, and in return, Antichrist will direct the worship of the would he Satan? How is Satan able to do this? Remember, while Jesus holds the title deed to the Earth, he has not yet fully opened it and ushered in the Kingdom age, the millennial Kingdom. Currently, Satan is still technically the God of this age, as Paul put it.
Additionally, we know that God will remove the restraining power of the Church from the Earth during this time. And finally, the Lord will simply permit Satan to do this as part of God's sovereign plan. John the Apostle is the only biblical author who uses the term Antichrist, and he only uses it in his Epistles. First and second, John, he uses it to refer to a spirit rather than a person. The word Antichrist is generally translated against God, and while that's accurate, it's more accurate to translate the word Antichrist to mean in place of God.
It's the Satanic spirit that desired to be in the place of God. It's the spirit personified by Lucifer's attempted rebellion in heaven. Therefore, as Satan possesses Antichrist, we will see him personify the same Luciferian spirit that desires to be in place of Christ. Antiochus Revelation 13 three, John says, and I saw one of his heads that's Antiochus as if it had been mortally wounded, as if it had been mortally wounded. So would he halfway point of the Tribulation.
It mostly just crumbled over time, under the weight of its own decadence, and hedonism it splits and one half quickly faded away, while the other half took over 1000 years to fade away unbelievably. There was still a Caesar on the throne in Rome in the 1001 hundreds. Although we only had the authority of a Mayor since that time, various men have tried to revive the Roman Empire or something like it under different names and failed. Napoleon tried and failed. Hitler tried and failed.
But in the last days there will be one who will bring back the Empire. Two weeks ago, I explained how Satan will construct a fraudulent Trinity consisting of himself, Antichrist and the false Prophet. Antichrist's revived Roman Empire will be a fraudulent version of the millennial Kingdom under Antichrist in the Great Tribulation, the world will get to see what things are like when Satan reigns on the Earth with very little restraint under Jesus. In the millennial Kingdom, the world will get to see what things are like when Jesus reigns on the Earth.
For those of you who are conspiratorially inclined, I recommend doing some Internet research into the Treaty of Rome.
It's a document written in the 1009 and 150s that outlines the foundational, principles and goals of what we know today as the European Union. You'll discover that the vision was to unite Europe around a common language, a common economy, and much, much more, very much like a revived Roman Empire. Let's jump back to Revelation 13 two flip there, it says, the Dragon that Satan gave him that's Antichrist his power, his throne, and great authority. During the temptation of Christ, Satan showed Jesus the kingdoms of the world and their glory and said, all these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.
Jesus responded away with you, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord, your God and him only shall you serve.
Jesus didn't take Satan's offer, but Satan will make the same offer to a man who will accept his deal and that man will become the one we know as Antiochus. Satan will give authority to Antiochus, and in return, Antichrist will direct the worship of the would he Satan? How is Satan able to do this? Remember, while Jesus holds the title deed to the Earth, he has not yet fully opened it and ushered in the Kingdom age, the millennial Kingdom. Currently, Satan is still technically the God of this age, as Paul put it.
Additionally, we know that God will remove the restraining power of the Church from the Earth during this time. And finally, the Lord will simply permit Satan to do this as part of God's sovereign plan. John the Apostle is the only biblical author who uses the term Antichrist, and he only uses it in his Epistles. First and second, John, he uses it to refer to a spirit rather than a person. The word Antichrist is generally translated against God, and while that's accurate, it's more accurate to translate the word Antichrist to mean in place of God.
It's the Satanic spirit that desired to be in the place of God. It's the spirit personified by Lucifer's attempted rebellion in heaven. Therefore, as Satan possesses Antichrist, we will see him personify the same Luciferian spirit that desires to be in place of Christ. Antiochus Revelation 13 three, John says, and I saw one of his heads that's Antiochus as if it had been mortally wounded, as if it had been mortally wounded. So would he halfway point of the Tribulation.
Now again, I know we're jumping all over the place, but I'm trying to put this stuff in the order that makes the most sense, and I hope we're doing okay with that. So, let's go back. Daniel. 7:21. Daniel says, I was watching and the same Horn, the little Horn waged war...
Antiochus was making war against the Saints and prevailing against them until Antichrist power to persecute and kill the Saints in the Great Tribulation comes to an end when Daniel says the ancient of days that's Jesus came and a judgment was made in favor of the Saints of the most high, and the time came for the Saints to possess the Kingdom. So, this is referring to the second Coming. Daniel says the persecution of the Saints on the Earth. Antiochus killing and persecuting those who belong to Jesus will come to an end when Jesus returns and establishes his Kingdom on the Earth.
That's a reference to the Second Coming, where Satan and every spiritual entity allied to him will be bound in the bottomless pit for the duration of the 1000 years of the millennial Kingdom.
Skip down to Daniel 7:25. We read he that's Antichrist shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the Saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. We talked about that back in Revelation Ten. Then the Saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time. As we know, time and times and half a time is simply another way of describing the three and a half years of the Great Tribulation.
So, we know there will be many who come to faith in Jesus during the Tribulation, and in the Great Tribulation. Antichrist will seek to kill all of those believers until Jesus appears at the second Coming. Now, perhaps you're a bit confused by all this talk about the Fourth Beast and the Roman Empire being revived in the Great Tribulation under the leadership of Antichrist. Let's see if we can just shed a little bit more light on this. The revived Roman Empire, as we said, will be directed by the same spirit that was working behind the scenes during its first incarnation.
It will govern in a similar fashion using overwhelming force and fear, and once again its leader will declare himself to be God and demand to be worshiped just as the Caesars did. History sometimes softens things up or romanticizes the past. And when many think of the Roman Empire, they think of the Pax Romana, the famous Roman peace that brought peace to the known world by uniting her under a single authority. But what we forget is just how bloody that authority was. If you were walking into a town or a city anywhere in the Empire, it was common to pass several crucified corpses on your way into the city or town, and these corpses and crucifixions would be staged and positioned to send a message to everyone entering the town or city.
Global peace is here. Embrace it, or this is what will happen to you. It's amazing how many people become committed to world peace when the only alternative is a torturous death, the Roman Empire butchered the world into submission. We don't have time to discuss it today, but Daniel, too prophesied that while the Roman Empire would fall away, it would return in the last days, the same last days that include the second coming. One of the most interesting things about the Roman Empire is that it wasn't ever really conquered.
I came near to one of those who stood by and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things now underline the rest of this in verses 17, those great beasts, which are four, are four Kings or kingdoms which arise out of the Earth, referring to the Babylonian meatopersian, Greek and Roman empires. Now skip ahead to Daniel 719. Then I wish to know the truth about the fourth beast, the Roman Empire, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured broken pieces and trampled the residue with its feet.
So this fourth beast was much worse, so much more brutal than the first three.
Daniel just had to know more about it in verses 23, he's given this explanation. Take a look at verses 23. The fourth beast shall be a fourth Kingdom on the Earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms and shall devour underline this the whole Earth, trample it and break it in pieces. Now understand the verbiage that's being used here. When the Roman Empire existed, it spanned what was then considered to be the whole Earth.
When Antichrist rules has revived Roman Empire, it will span what is today considered the whole Earth. But we also know it won't be literally the whole Earth, because as we saw a couple of weeks ago, Edom Moab and Amen will not be conquered. The country of Jordan will not be conquered. So there will be a few small spots on the Earth that are not under Antichrist's rule, but for the most part it's going to be so much of the Earth that it can accurately be referred to as the whole Earth.
Jumping back to verse 20, Daniel shares that he also wanted to know more about the ten horns that were on its head and the other Horn, the little Horn which came up before which three fell, namely that Horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words whose appearance was greater than his fellows.
Now I know we're jumping around but hang with me. In verses 24, Daniel gets his explanation of the ten horns. It says the ten horns are ten Kings who shall arise from this Kingdom, and another shall rise after them. He shall be different from the first one and shall subdue three Kings. And then in Revelation 1712, we receive confirmation that what Daniel saw is indeed prophetic and applies to the end times and to Antichrist, because in Revelation 1712, an angel explains to John the ten horns, which you saw, John, are ten Kings or kingdoms who have received no Kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for 1 hour or one time period as Kings with the beast.
We read in the first year of Belshazzar, King of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.
Daniel spoke, saying, I saw in my vision by night and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. Would you underline the Great Sea? In Revelation 13, one John saw the beast. He saw Antichrist coming out of what? The sea?
The Gentile Nations of the world. Daniel will now see four beasts, each representing an Empire. Their characteristics all appear in the description of the beast in Revelation 13, but in reverse order. Some scholars suggest the reason is because Daniel was looking ahead in time while John is looking back in time. Whatever the reason, the point is that the Empire of the Beast in Revelation 13 contains all the characteristics of the empires that conquered Israel.
Verse three and four great beasts came up from the sea. You can underline the sea again, each different from the other. The first was like a lion. This speaks of the ferocious and boastful Babylonians, and suddenly another beast like a bear. This speaks of the overpowering and dominant military of the meatopers.
After this I looked and there was another like a leopard. This speaks of the lightning fast Greek Empire that rapidly conquered all rivals under the leadership of Alexander the Great, who was actually Macedonian. Then Daniel sees a completely different kind of beast, the terrifying Roman Empire. After this I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth.
It was devouring, breaking in pieces and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had underlined this ten horns. This last beast is a single Empire made up of ten kingdoms or nations, as Antichrist's future Empire will be. The same spirit that was behind the Roman Empire back then will be behind a revived Roman Empire of sorts in the Great Tribulation. As Daniel contemplates what he's seen in his dream thus far.
The Lord zooms in on the fourth beast, the Roman Empire, and shows Daniel some details that will unfold when this Empire is revived. In the Great Tribulation and Daniel seven eight we read. I was considering the horns, so I was thinking about the horns, and there was underline this another Horn, a little one coming up among them before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there in this Horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words or a mouth making great boasts.
So write this down.
The little Horn that Daniel sees is Antichrist. The little Horn Daniel sees is Antichrist. We talk about this stuff a lot, just to drill it into our minds to help us remember and to understand he will rise up amidst this ten Kingdom Union of sorts. And in one quick blow he will take out the political leaders of three of those kingdoms or nations or countries. As we travel through revelation, it will be confirmed that Antichrist will be a gifted and charismatic orator who is constantly boasting and speaking.
Blasphemies skip down to Daniel chapter seven, verse eleven. We read. I watch them because of the sound of the pompous words which the Horn was speaking. Now jump down to verse 15. I Daniel was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.
Butchert what you are seeing in Canada is vandalism to synagocs as some people hate and blame the Jews for what is going on in Israel.
About what is really going on about faith read my last few pages the writings of South West Church archives they talk about what is going on in America I will post more from them later. Some of what they are saying will fit in many other countries too..............
Wello Butchert this fenonamone has been going on for many years, everywhere. In Holland many churches have closed and become all kinds of shops. It is a sighn of the times and anotheer sign that we are getting closer to the end of this dispensation......................
And there will be even more incredible things revealed in the final few chapters of this book. But for now, here's what you need to know. If you love Jesus, then your story ends with the words, "...and they live happily ever after."
Well, the pause button is still paused on our narrative as John backtracks to fill us in on some additional developments that will unfold in the Tribulation. In Revelation chapter twelve, we saw Israeli Jews flee to what is likely the ancient rock city of Petra, where God will supernaturally protect them from Satan and Antichrist. During the Great Tribulation, we also learned that likely around the halfway point of the Tribulation, Satan and all supernatural entities who oppose Yahweh will lose access to the heavenly places forever as Michael and his Angels engage them in battle and cast them down to the Earth.
Aware that his time is rapidly running out, Satan will be determined to thwart God's plans any way he can. As a result, the second half of the Tribulation, known as the Great Tribulation will be far worse than the first half.
Over our next two studies in Revelation, we are going to cover Antichrist, the Mark of the beast and this character known as the False Prophet. It's going to be fascinating. It's going to be a little bit dark. I'm not going to lie, but hopefully it will debunk a lot of wild theories that have run rampant in the Church for far too long. So as we dive into the text as you turn to Revelation chapter 13, we need to begin by addressing a translation issue in verse is the oldest and most reliable texts.
Begin with, then he not. Then I. And if you go back to the last verse of the previous chapter, Revelation Twelve, it's clear who the he is. It's the Dragon Satan. That means verses one here in chapter 13 should actually begin with the phrase Then the Dragon, then the Dragon.
So you might want to write that in your Bibles if it's not written that way. So I'm going to read it the way it should be written. Verse one would begin. Then the Dragon stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast underlying beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns, ten crowns, and on his heads a Blasphemous name. So let's make sure we remember what we've already learned.
We know that the Dragon is Satan, and this beast is Antichrist. Now, for the sake of clarity, we should note that the term beast is used in Scripture to refer to the person of Antiochus. It's used to refer to the demonic power that will possess him, and it's also used to refer to the Kingdom that he will rule over during the Great Tribulation. The sea is sometimes used in Scripture as an idiom for the Gentile Nations of the world. Would you write that down?
It's used as an idiom for the Gentile Nations of the world. For this reason, many scholars believe Antichrist will rise to power in a Gentile nation. In other words, he won't rise to power in Israel. In the Book of Isaiah, the Prophet Antichrist is referred to as the Assyrian because he rebuilds the temple, leading the Jews to likely welcome him as Messiah. There are many who believe Antichrist will be at least half Jewish.
Passage: Revelation 13:1-10...Speaker: Jeff Thompson
John receives a vision that corresponds with a vision Daniel received hundreds of years earlier that is packed with shocking details regarding the rise of antichrist in The Tribulation.
Because I care about you. I have to ask out of love, out of concern if you too, have fallen prey to the rumor that the book of Revelation is hard to understand because Gobbledygook say we for you see, the word revelation means that something has been revealed, and we know that the first words of this book tell us exactly who it is that's being revealed. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ, and God wanted us to read this book, understand it so that we could respond to it so much that he included in it a very special blessing.
And we find that in Revelation chapter one, verse three, let's claim it together, as we always do. Blessed is he or she who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it for the time is near.
But God knew there would still be those who would say it's just too hard to understand. So, we also included a simple and easy to follow outline. And we find that in Revelation chapter one, verse 19, Jesus tells John, write the things which you have seen that was the resurrected and glorified Jesus in chapter one. Then John is told to write about the things which are. That refers to the Church Age, which began around 32 A.D. on Pentecost in Acts chapter two and continues up to the present day.
And the Church age is laid out in chapter two and three, prophetically in chronological order.
And then third. And finally, John is told to write about things which will take place after this, after the Church age comes to a close and the Church age comes to a close with the event known as the Rapture that takes place in Revelation. Chapter four, verses one, let me read it to you. John says, after these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard that was the voice of Jesus in chapter one was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this."
And up John goes serving as a picture of the Church who will be raptured to be with the Lord. And then Jesus takes all of chapters four and five to make sure that we don't miss the fact that the Church is with Him in heaven before wrath comes down in Revelation, chapter six, and it's in chapter six, verse 16, that it's revealed those on the Earth understand where these judgments are coming from because they identify it as the wrath of the Lamb. And in the Scripture, the Lamb is a reference to who Jesus.
Chapters two and three take us through the Church age up to the present day. The Church goes up in chapter four, verses one, we see her safe and secure with Jesus in heaven for chapters four and five before wrath comes down in chapter six, and that wrath continues over a time period of seven years known as the Tribulation, and it's documented in chapter six through 19 after which Jesus returns to the Earth with his Saints to set up his Kingdom on the Earth and rule for 1000 years in what's known as the Millennial Kingdom.
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. John 9:3
Jesus, passing by, saw a blind man. His disciples asked the question, “Who did sin, this man, or his parents?” It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. In typical flesh, someone is looking for somewhere to place the blame, reason, and/or motive for the blindness.
Sounds much like our homes, churches, marriages, ministry teams and workplaces, doesn’t it? Everyone from the Pastor to parishioner, from the CEO to janitor, husband to wife, and last but not least, from teacher to student all seem to be looking for a place to put the blame.
Jesus said “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” In other words, these things happened that the goodness, greatness, and magnitude of God might be revealed.
Has it ever occurred to you that the reason we are facing the challenge at hand is not because we did something to deserve it? Instead of it being punishment for things gone wrong in the past, it could be just the opposite.
Could it be the challenges at hand end up showing the greatness of the teacher and the student? That they reveal the true love between the husband and wife? Bring redemption to a lost soul? Give the janitor new purpose, and the CEO new drive? Out of this problem may be new vision for the pastor and new trust for the parishioner.
Last, but certainly not least, life situations do not occur for correction, and certainly there are consequences to everything. However, most things occur to turn our heads, hearts, and hooves/feet toward Jesus.
Our prayer for you this week: May we quit looking for blame among others and start looking for the manifestation of the works of God.
A Powerful Antidote Against Deception Larry Spargimino...May 30, 2019
Jesus and His apostles spoke about great deception in the last days. There would be false messiahs (Matt. 24:5 ), deceptive miracles (2 Thess. 2:9 ), fake prophets (1 Jn. 4:1)—all hoping to get rich on their delusions. How can a Christian family come through all of the semantic smog and lying wonders with their souls intact? What about church families? Is it possible to thrive and not just survive?
The Answer Is In The Body There are many family responsibilities given by God to His children. By “family,” I mean one’s personal family, but it also includes one’s extended church family. These responsibilities are God’s way of keeping us strong, especially the responsibility that we all have to counsel one another.
In Romans 15:14 we read a rather amazing statement from the heart of God given to the Apostle Paul:
And I myself am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
What does the Bible mean when it says that we are to “admonish one another”?
The word “admonish” is a translation of the verb noutheteo. There was a book on Christian counseling written by Jay E. Adams that became quite popular and has many good points in it. The title, Competent to Counsel (Zondervan, 1986), is based on the last phrase of Romans 15:14, which can be rendered “competent to counsel.” The apostle writes that the believers in Rome were “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge” and “competent to counsel one another.”
“Admonish,” “instruct,” “counsel” are all possible renderings of noutheteo. The word is used in the New Testament in warnings against behavior that is not in accord with God’s will, and has both a preventive and corrective function, as in Acts 20:31:
Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears (see also 1 Cor. 4:14; Col. 1:28; 1 Thess. 5:12, 14; 2 Thess.
In days of great deception and spiritual danger it is mandatory that believers minister one to another in this way. Christians need to watch out for each other. It is not a mark of Christian love to allow someone to walk over the precipice into spiritual ruin without at least a gentle word of admonition.
Such admonition clearly needs to be done in a spirit of love. It needs to be preceded by prayer for wisdom and direction. It’s important that we “check our eyes for beams and timbers” before working on the speck in someone else’s eye (See Matt. 7:3-5).
Such instruction, or counsel, needs to be done by those who are mature.
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted (Gal. 6:1).
The word “restore” was a word that was used in setting broken bones. Do it gently and carefully, otherwise excruciating pain will result!
Who Is Qualified? Paul is writing to the church at Rome. He writes that the believers “are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” I doubt if he means every single person in the congregation; but he does believe that there are Christians in the church who can engage in this important ministry.
Paul is not writing to Christian counselors, pastors, or trained counseling professionals who are taking a refresher course, but to Christians, ordinary saints, believers in a local church, the church at Rome. Every local congregation has some individuals who are “competent to counsel” and who can warn, admonish, and instruct.
But what about the term “brethren”? Is the apostle only writing about the men? Are women disqualified from such a nouthetic ministry?
There is a consensus among credible commentators—this author would be in agreement with them the male form of identification was not intended to exclude woman
“It takes a big man to admit they were wrong.” At least, that’s what my Dad used to tell me. I find most people rarely admit they were wrong. That’s why it came as such a surprise to me that Creflo Dollar, the American televangelist, founder and senior pastor of the Atlanta-based megachurch World Changers Church International, recently confessed to his congregation that his past teachings on tithing were wrong.
Dollar, an advocate and supporter of the prosperity gospel, issued his remarks during a sermon titled The Great Misunderstanding. Is that all it was? Just a misunderstanding?
Dollar has been no stranger to controversy. For many years he taught the so-called prosperity gospel doctrine, the belief that God will bless those who give their money to Him. In 2015, he was criticized for raising money for a $60 million private jet. In 2012, the televangelist was arrested for allegedly choking his 15- year-old daughter.
Prosperity theology, sometimes referred to as the prosperity gospel, the health and wealth gospel, the gospel of success, or seed faith, is a religious belief among some Christians that financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes will increase one’s material wealth. Material, and especially financial success, is seen as a sign of divine favor.
Prosperity theology has been criticized by leaders from various Christian denominations, including within some Pentecostal and charismatic movements, who maintain that it is irresponsible, promotes idolatry, and is contrary to the Bible. As we all know, the practices of some preachers have attracted scandal and some have been charged with financial fraud.
Prosperity theology views the Bible as a contract between God and humans: if humans have faith in God, he will deliver security and prosperity. The doctrine emphasizes the importance of personal empowerment, proposing that it is God’s will for his people to be blessed. The atonement, the reconciliation with God, is interpreted to include the alleviation of sickness and poverty, which are viewed as curses to be broken by faith. This is believed to be achieved through donations of money, visualization, and positive confession.
Another Atlanta pastor, Michael Clayton Harris, called on Dollar to give people a refund for his teachings, pointing to the story of Zaccheus, a tax collector in the New Testament who repaid people four times the amount he had stolen from them.
Throughout his message, Dollar stressed that there is a distinction between the Old and New Testaments when it comes to tithing. In Old Testament law, God’s people were required to give 10 percent of their income, but in the New Testament, that law no longer applies as believers can give as much as they are able to the Lord.
We read in Luke 12:15 “And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. 16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
What's the big idea? While the other three gospels portray Jesus as the King, the Servant, and the Son of Man, John portrays Jesus as the Son of God. John stated his theme more clearly than any of the other gospel writers. He wrote so that his readers might “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,” so that they may have life in His name (John 20:31). To accomplish that goal, John presented a riveting and distinctive picture of Jesus Christ, one in complete unity with the portraits in the other three gospels, but one that also adds significantly to the Bible’s revelation of Jesus Christ, the God-man.
John used a variety of techniques to communicate to his readers the nature of Jesus. These include his citation of Jesus’s seven “I am” statements, in which Jesus spoke of Himself in terms such as “the Light of the world” (8:12), “the resurrection and the life” (11:25), and “the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6). Much of John’s gospel (chapters 2–12) might be called the Book of Signs, as it recounts Jesus’s performing of seven different miracles—such as the turning water to wine at Cana and raising Lazarus from the dead at Bethany. These miracles illustrate His identity as the Son of God.
How do I apply this? Jesus’s identity as the divine Son of God sets Him apart from any other man who ever lived. He carries with Him the transcendence that comes only with God Himself. Therefore, His work on our behalf makes our salvation sure. Because He is God, His sacrifice on the cross has eternal implications, unlike the limited effect of the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament. Jesus, the God-man, has atoned for our sins. We can place our confidence in Him because of His divine nature.
For readers of John’s gospel, the question is a simple, though significant, one: Do you believe that Jesus is Lord? If you believe, you will receive eternal life, claiming the truth that you will one day live in the presence of God in a place with no more pain, no more tears, and no more death.
Chuck Swindoll preaching Listen to Chuck Swindoll’s overview of John in his audio message from the Classic series God’s Masterwork.
The Book of John Who wrote the book? Not surprisingly, the gospel of John never provides the name of its author. Such identifications were not made in any of the other three biblical gospels either. However, two significant factors point to the identification of John as the author. First, the book itself identifies the author as the disciple whom Jesus loved. This description likely pointed to John for three reasons: the author had to be one of the twelve disciples because he was an eyewitness to the events in the gospel (John 21:24); he was probably one of the inner circle of three disciples (James, John, and Peter) because he was among the first Mary told of the resurrection (20:1–10); and this disciple is distinguished from Peter in the book, while James died too soon after the resurrection to be the author.
The second significant evidence for John’s authorship is the unanimous testimony of early Christians, among them the second-century Christian Irenaeus, who declared that John was the disciple who laid his head on Jesus—the disciple “whom Jesus loved” (13:23)—and the author of the gospel.
Where are we? In Christian tradition, John’s gospel has always been referred to as the fourth gospel, meaning it was composed after the other three. Polycarp, a second-century Christian martyr who knew John personally, told Irenaeus that John had written the book during the apostle’s time serving the church in Ephesus. These factors suggest that John wrote the book between AD 85 and AD 95.
Why is John so important? John did not include the nativity story in his gospel; instead, he introduced his book by going back even further into history. Invoking the “in the beginning” language of Genesis 1:1, John made a direct link between the nature of God and the nature of the Word, Jesus Christ. The emphasis on the deity of Christ is a striking quality of John’s gospel. It also comes through clearly elsewhere in the book, particularly in John 8:58 when Jesus claimed the divine name—“I am”—for Himself, which led an angry mob of Jews to try and kill Him for blasphemy.
What's the big idea? Just as Matthew portrays Jesus as the King, and as Mark reveals Him as the Servant, so Luke offers a unique perspective of Jesus as the Son of Man. This phrase, “Son of Man,” was Jesus’s favorite way to refer to Himself.
Most famous among the people unique to Luke’s gospel is the tax collector Zaccheus, a short man who had to climb a tree to see over the crowds as Jesus approached his town. Jesus ended up sharing a meal with Zaccheus at his house, much to the chagrin of the local religious leaders. When Zaccheus expressed his regret over his former way of life and vowed to make restitution, Jesus responded with what became the theme of Luke’s gospel: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Luke portrayed Jesus as God’s ideal Man, who offers salvation to all humanity—Jew and Gentile alike.
How do I apply this? The richness of Luke’s portrayal of Jesus has profound implications for our relationship with God today. Jesus walks through Luke’s gospel illustrating His deep and abiding care for people, regardless of what they have done or their status in society.
Do you believe that God loves you no matter what you’ve done? The fact that the eternal Son of God condescended to lower Himself, take on human flesh, make Himself subject to human limitations, and seek out His people in bodily form shows us clearly how much God cares for us and, in turn, how we are to care for others.
Chuck Swindoll preaching Listen to Chuck Swindoll’s overview of Luke in his audio message from the Classic series God’s Masterwork.
The Book of Luke; Who wrote the book? While Luke’s name never appears in this gospel, ancient Christian tradition unanimously ascribes the book to him. One ancient prologue written to introduce the gospel describes Luke as a Syrian from Antioch. With this piece of information, we can deduce that Luke was probably not Jewish. Paul also listed him with other Gentiles in his greetings to the Colossians (4:14). The ancient prologue goes on to state that Luke eventually settled in the Greek city of Thebes, where he died at age 84.1
Luke’s own introduction to his gospel indicates that Luke composed the letter with the purpose of providing a careful rendering of the events of Christ’s life in chronological order. As a physician, Luke would have been trained as a careful observer, a quality that would have been invaluable in this project. The result was the first part of a two-volume work written to Theophilus. We know the subsequent volume as Acts.
Where are we? Much of the dating of the book of Luke depends on the dating of Acts. Luke’s second volume cuts off with Paul imprisoned in Rome, before Paul’s death (AD 68) and even before the persecution of Christians broke out under Nero (AD 64). It stands to reason that the book of Luke was completed before Acts. But when?
Acts 21:17 says that Luke accompanied Paul on the apostle’s final visit to Jerusalem, a visit that occurred in AD 57–58. Eventually, the Jews had Paul arrested in the temple, a two-year ordeal which ended with Paul’s imprisonment in Caesarea. Luke likely used this time apart from Paul to begin gathering information for writing the gospel from primary sources—those people who had witnessed the ministry, death, and resurrection appearances of Jesus. If Luke took to writing his gospel soon after the information was gathered, then it would have been completed around AD 60, after Paul had been transferred to a Roman prison.
Why is Luke so important? Luke’s interest in people is undeniable. Much of the material unique to Luke’s gospel involves Jesus’s interactions with individuals, many of them on the fringes of “acceptable” society—sinners, women, and children among them. Like Matthew and Mark, Luke recorded the incident of a woman coming to pour perfume on Jesus’s feet. But Luke was the only gospel writer to point out the fact known to all present that she was an immoral woman (Luke 7:37). In a similar way, we find in Luke alone the conversation between the robbers crucified alongside Jesus, one of them defending Jesus and receiving the promise of paradise. Luke’s portrayal of Jesus reveals in our Lord a man come to minister and show compassion to all people, no matter their station in life.
* I read about a Bible school it was totally run on faith. Upon graduation, the students had to put into practice what they had learned.
Two teams of eight men were to travel through England and preach in the churches. They were never to ask anyone, for anything. If someone were to ask they had to keep silent.
This went well. Knowing in which church they would be preaching next, checks would follow them. The people would say that even though they had not asked for money, the Lord had put it upon their hearts to send some anyway.
Then one day, the men were having a meeting with young people. One of the men told them that they were all invited for tea the next day.
The others were shocked; “How could you do that? You know we don't have the money for a tea.” (Tea in England is not just a cup of tea, but sandwiches and cake). Not to worry, the young people were perceptive. The offers for sugar, tea, milk, cookies and sandwiches came in. When asked what else was needed, they all together wanted to blurt out, a cake! But they had to keep silent.
The men went to check the mail, but no money was found, so they could buy a cake.
It was four o'clock the next day, when there was a knock on the door. It was the mailman and he had a parcel for one of the men. The mailmen said; “I have already finished my rounds and was going to deliver this tomorrow morning, but I think that there is something edible in here.”
The one, whom the parcel was for, took his sweet time to open it for he just knew what was in the parcel. And so it was. His landlady had sent him a chocolate cake. Praise the Lord!
The men of this team had also made tithing their number one priority. As soon as money came in the Lord received ten percent right away. This team came back from the tour with money to spare. The other team that had gone out at the same time also gave tithing, but not ten percent, they held back a little, for emergencies. That team came back deeply in debt.
Living by faith. I often would talk to people about having faith. One day the Lord put a thought in my mind; “You tell people to have faith, but your faith is in your bank account, for you to teach others about faith is easy for you to do, clear your account and you live by faith yourself.”
You have to understand that I had been saving since I started to work at age fourteen. I did not need to pick up my pay-check on my day off, for I always had enough money saved. I knew that the Lord was right, but this was a big thing to for me to do. Spent all of my money? I did, I had no choice. What I did with it I can’t remember today.
I was lying outside catching the sun for a tan, when I sat up with a shock it was ten days before the rent was due. I had a total of one hundred dollars in the bank. My rent alone was now one hundred and forty dollars and I had to eat etc.
I started to pray right away; about twenty minutes later the phone rang. It was the union hall did I want to work the next three days? You bet I did! I thanked the Lord for answering so promptly.
The phone rang again, the union telling me that they were sorry the company had found someone, before they could confirm the job for me.
I was beside myself. I told the Lord that I did not understand how He could give me a job, and then take it away from me.
The phone again! It was the union once more. They told me that they had felt so bad for me that they tried very hard to find me something else.
They found a job, but it was for one day only.
I told the Lord that I still didn’t understand why He first gave me three days of work, took it back, and now gave me only one day.
At coffee break the next day, the manager asked me if I could work for him the next six weeks. He first wanted to see what kind of worker I was. The first store was a small company and the job was for only three days. This company had several stores and after the six weeks in the one store, I was put to work in some of their other stores.
Of course, the Lord knew this, so He closed one door, to open another. And testing me!
While Matthew’s gospel portrays Jesus as the King, Mark reveals Him as God’s Servant. Jesus’s work was always for a larger purpose, a point clearly summarized in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark filled his gospel with the miracles of Jesus, illustrating again and again both the power and the compassion of the Son of God. In these passages, Mark revealed more than Jesus as the good teacher who offered people spiritual renewal; the book also portrays Jesus as the true God and the true man, reaching into the lives of people and effecting physical and circumstantial change.
But Jesus’s life as the agent of change wasn’t without an ultimate purpose. Amid His hands-on ministry, Jesus constantly pointed to the definitive way in which He would serve humanity: His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. It is only through faith in these works of Jesus Christ that human beings find eternal redemption for their whole selves. Moreover, Jesus becomes our model for how to live our lives—serving others as He did.
How do I apply this? Three times in three consecutive chapters—8, 9, and 10—Mark pictured Jesus informing His disciples of His great sacrifice and ultimate victory. His disciples either rejected the teaching altogether (Mark 8:31–32) or they showed themselves concerned with other matters (9:31–34; 10:32–37). As Jesus prepared to perform the greatest service in the history of the human race, His disciples could only think about themselves—their position or safety.
Do you find it a struggle to get yourself oriented toward sacrificial service, as Jesus’s disciples did? The temptations we all wrestle with when faced with an opportunity to serve another person are to pull back within ourselves, to seek our comfort, or to protect our own interests.
The challenge that Jesus presents to us in the book of Mark involves breaking out of those patterns of self-absorption and giving ourselves in service and love to others.
HOME RESOURCES INSIGHTS ON THE BIBLE THE GOSPELS Chuck Swindoll preaching Listen to Chuck Swindoll’s overview of Mark in his audio message from the Classic series God’s Masterwork. The Book of Mark Who wrote the book? The Bible records more information about Mark than any of the other gospel writers aside from the apostle John. Luke mentioned Mark’s name several times in Acts. A budding Jerusalem church met in his mother’s home. Mark also started the first missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas but went home early, though he later traveled with Barnabas to Cyprus for more mission work. He became significant in the life of Paul, being one of the last people the apostle mentioned in his final letter (2 Timothy 4:11).
However, Mark’s most significant personal connection was the one he had with Peter, who was likely Mark’s source for the material in the gospel. Mark’s mother’s house was a regular enough stop for Peter that the servants recognized him by voice alone (Acts 12:12–14). And it appears that Mark was present at Gethsemane, a young man watching the proceedings from a safe distance (Mark 14:51–52), leading some scholars to believe the Last Supper took place in Mark’s home.
Where are we? Because Mark offered no further comment on Jesus’s prophecy regarding the destruction of the temple—an event that occurred in AD 70—we can safely assume that Mark composed the gospel sometime before that tragic event. Also, the gospel has a distinctly Roman feel to it, particularly when compared with the Jewish emphasis of the book of Matthew. Mark chose to leave aside most comments on fulfilled prophecy (compare Matthew 21:1–6 and Mark 11:1–4), and when he felt compelled to use an Aramaic term, he interpreted it (Mark 3:17). This suggests that Mark was in Rome, writing from Peter’s recollections sometime before that apostle’s death (ca. AD 64–68), possibly composing the gospel between AD 57 and AD 59.
Why is Mark so important? Mark’s gospel portrays Jesus as constantly on the move. The forward motion in Mark’s writing keeps the knowledgeable reader’s mind continually looking ahead to the cross and the resurrection. Thirty-nine times Mark used the word immediately, giving a sense that Jesus’s time on earth was short and that there was much to accomplish in His few years of ministry.
Matthew wrote his account of Jesus’s ministry to show that Jesus was and is indeed the King, Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. He reflected this concern in his opening line, “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). From there, Matthew consistently took his readers back to the Old Testament, providing Old Testament testimony regarding the birth of Jesus, Bethlehem as the location of Jesus’s birth, the flight to Egypt, Herod’s slaughter of the infants, and the beginning of Jesus’s ministry. In a world where many in the Jewish community had claimed the role of Messiah for themselves, Matthew’s commitment to grounding the life of Jesus in the Old Testament raised Jesus above the multitude of these false messiahs. The apostle painted a portrait of our Lord that highlights His uniqueness among all others to ever walk this earth. How do I apply this? After enduring four hundred years of prophetic silence, God’s people must have wondered whether or not He had deserted them. After centuries of regular communication from God, the people found themselves without a genuine prophet or spokesman for God. However, the ministries of John and Jesus reminded God’s people that He had not forgotten them. God’s silence during that period was merely a precursor to pulling the linchpin of His redemptive plan. God hadn’t forgotten—He remembered His people. Matthew made that clear.
It was true then, and it is certainly true today. Do you ever feel as though God has deserted you or that He sits in silence in the face of your requests? As we read through the pages of Matthew, not only do we see Jesus Christ revealed as Israel’s King and Messiah, but His coming to earth as God in the flesh reminds us of His deep love for us. Now resurrected and ascended, the Lord Jesus will always be with us, even to the end of time (Matthew 28:20).
Christ’s commission to His followers is still His mandate to us today: “Make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). Christ’s work of building His church is the work He does through each of us.
Listen to Chuck Swindoll’s overview of Matthew in his audio message from the Classic series God’s Masterwork.
The Book of Mathew ...Who wrote the book? While Matthew did not sign his own name to “his” gospel, the early church uniformly attested to the apostle’s authorship of the book. As early as AD 140, a Christian named Papias wrote that Matthew had compiled the sayings of the Lord in Hebrew (presumably before Matthew translated them into Greek for a larger audience).
Matthew’s name appears in all the biblical lists of the twelve apostles, though Mark and Luke refer to him as Levi. His history as a tax collector distinguished him from the other apostles, and immediately after his call to follow Jesus—an event he recorded in Matthew 9:9—Matthew hosted a feast for Jesus in his home with an invitation list made up of Matthew’s sinful friends. Apparently Matthew did not think it odd that Jesus and he would associate with the sinful and downtrodden of society. Where are we? Matthew is the most Jewish-centric of the four gospels. The apostle regularly invoked the writings of the Old Testament prophets in an effort to illustrate Jesus’s identity as Israel’s long-awaited Messiah.
However, the gospel of Matthew has been notoriously difficult to date. Several factors speak to a date ranging from AD 60–65. First of all, the book makes no mention of the destruction of the temple, an event which occurred in AD 70. Such a cataclysmic event likely would have received some comment, particularly in a book so clearly influenced by Judaism. The largely Jewish character of the book also suggests it was written at a time when much of the evangelism by Christians was directed more exclusively at Jews, something that became less and less common as the decades passed. Finally, many scholars believe Mark to have been the first gospel composed, making it most probable that Matthew was written soon after. Why is Matthew so important? The apostle Matthew, a Jew himself, offered a decidedly Jewish perspective on the ministry of Jesus. He included more than fifty direct citations—and even more indirect allusions—from the Old Testament. This exceeds any of the other gospels and indicates that Matthew had the Jewish population in mind when he sat down to write. Matthew’s extensive connections between Jesus and the Old Testament provide ample prophetic evidence for Jesus’s ministry but also give contemporary readers a glimpse into how first-century readers approached the Old Testament with a Christ-centered mind-set.
In addition, Matthew’s gospel answers the question on the mind of every Jewish reader: “If Jesus is the King of the Jews, then where is God’s promised kingdom?” Matthew reveals that Jesus did offer the kingdom to Israel, but the offer was rejected (Matthew 4:17; 16:13–28; 21:42–43). God’s primary work in the world is now accomplished through the building of Christ’s church, after which Jesus will come again to earth and establish His kingdom—ruling the world from Israel.
Listen to Chuck Swindoll’s overview of Matthew in his audio message from the Classic series God’s Masterwork.
The Book of Mathew; Who wrote the book? While Matthew did not sign his own name to “his” gospel, the early church uniformly attested to the apostle’s authorship of the book. As early as AD 140, a Christian named Papias wrote that Matthew had compiled the sayings of the Lord in Hebrew (presumably before Matthew translated them into Greek for a larger audience).
Matthew’s name appears in all the biblical lists of the twelve apostles, though Mark and Luke refer to him as Levi. His history as a tax collector distinguished him from the other apostles, and immediately after his call to follow Jesus—an event he recorded in Matthew 9:9—Matthew hosted a feast for Jesus in his home with an invitation list made up of Matthew’s sinful friends. Apparently Matthew did not think it odd that Jesus and he would associate with the sinful and downtrodden of society.
Where are we? Matthew is the most Jewish-centric of the four gospels. The apostle regularly invoked the writings of the Old Testament prophets in an effort to illustrate Jesus’s identity as Israel’s long-awaited Messiah.
However, the gospel of Matthew has been notoriously difficult to date. Several factors speak to a date ranging from AD 60–65. First of all, the book makes no mention of the destruction of the temple, an event which occurred in AD 70. Such a cataclysmic event likely would have received some comment, particularly in a book so clearly influenced by Judaism. The largely Jewish character of the book also suggests it was written at a time when much of the evangelism by Christians was directed more exclusively at Jews, something that became less and less common as the decades passed. Finally, many scholars believe Mark to have been the first gospel composed, making it most probable that Matthew was written soon after. Why is Matthew so important?
The Democrat’s vicious hatred of Donald Trump is really a vicious hatred of you, me, and all the other Americans who put him into office and want to keep him there. The subterfuge, constitutional violations, and bitter hostility that has been levelled at President Trump is levelled at you and me. Democrats exhibit the moral restraints of a runaway train. They will show more civility to MS-13 butchers than they will to God-fearing Americans.
Donald Trump is only a man, and he needs our prayers. America needs our prayers. I don’t think it was a good idea for the president to pull American troops out of Syria and betray the Kurds who bravely helped to remove the scourge of ISIS. I am willing to admit, however, that maybe President Trump was juggling some other considerations of which I am not aware. Let’s all humble ourselves and pray for America’s future. A Call to Intercessory Prayer The Apostle Paul exhorts believers to pray for all men, “For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Tim. 2:1–2). If a Democrat is elected to the office of president in 2020 we will not lead “a quiet and peaceable life.” America will be forever changed and will never recover from the devastating effects of Democratic leadership.
There are many calls for intercessory prayer in the Bible (Rom. 15:30–31; Phil. 1:19; 2 Thess. 3:1–2). Jesus makes intercession for us (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25), and so does the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:26–27). The apostle says we are to pray “for kings, and for all that are in authority.” God has created government for the purpose of restraining evil and for punishing those who do evil. Without government, there would be anarchy. Some have said a bad government is better than no government at all. That may be true, but bad governments have taken the lives of 100 million people in the 20th century.
One of the things a Democratic president will do for sure is take away religious liberty. All of the Democratic candidates have given expression to ideas that will outlaw Christian standards. Chuck Colson said, “Our founding fathers believed that without freedom of religion and freedom of conscience, all of our other freedoms aren’t worth the paper they are written on. If government can dictate what we may or may not believe, or how we may or may not live out our beliefs, then we are no longer a free people.” That means, if America elects a Democratic president, we will no longer be a free people (breakpoint). Please pray for our great not-so-perfect president, and for the country that has given us so much!
In his speech, President Trump went on to point out that these oppressive regimes now have the added benefit of modern technology. They “have the power to exercise new and disturbing forms of suppression and domination.” Just look at China’s social credit system and the struggle of the Hong Kong protesters. They know too well what “suppression and domination” means. President Xi Jin-ping is furious that dissenters picture him in a cartoon walking arm-in-arm with Winnie the Pooh! God bless the dissenters!
The president is right when he says that we live in a world where others see “conquest and domination” as their destiny. Because of this, the president said that since his election “the United States has spent over $2.5 trillion to completely rebuild our great military.”
Democratic presidents would rather spend money on social programs than on the military. It was true in the Clinton and Obama administrations. Obviously, there are others who seem to think war is never an option. As I drive down the highways in central Oklahoma, I see billboards that state in bold letters: “Tell Congress—No War With Iran.”
These billboards are in the Oklahoma City metro area. They are sponsored by Americans Against The Next War. May I make a suggestion? They need to put up signs in Iran stating: “Tell President Hassan Rouhani—No War With Israel.”
Are these people living on a moonbeam? Iran is the world’s number one sponsor of state terrorism. Iran’s bellicose leaders are fueling the tragic wars in both Syria and Yemen, and are supplying Hezbollah and Hamas with rockets to lob at Israel. Iran’s venomous leaders vomit hatred against Israel and America. Last year, Iran’s leaders issued a joint statement that Israel is a “malignant cancerous tumor that has to be removed and eradicated.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said “Peace is not just the absence of violence, but the presence of justice.”
“I’m Not a Democrat or a Republican” I have a pet peeve. I’ve often heard well-meaning Christians say, “I am not a Democrat or a Republican. I am just standing for what’s right.” I understand why they say that. It takes the focus off of political squabbles and puts the focus on the issues. However, the Democratic Party has a long history of standing against all that is good. Carol Swain, professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University, asks, “Did you know that the Democratic Party defended slavery, started the Civil War, founded the KKK, and fought against every major civil rights act in U.S. history?”
She points out that in contrast, the Republican Party (founded in 1854) was the anti-slavery party. Their attempt to stop slavery was dealt a major blow by the Supreme Court in the 1857 Dred v. Sandford decision. The court ruled that slaves aren’t citizens, just property. The seven justices who voted in favor of slavery were Democrats. The two justices who dissented? Both Republicans. Today, the Democratic Party favors everything that is bizarre, freakish, anti-God, and anti-family. The Democrats falsely claim that the Republican Party, and in particular, Donald Trump, is the villain when, in reality, it is the failed policies of the Democratic Party that are destroying the cities of America with an unchecked homeless population, filth, and contagion. America, get ready for an outbreak of bubonic plague! Democratic mayors and governors are failing to comply with federal law and deliberately hindering the work of law enforcement in protecting their populations from illegal aliens and criminals.
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What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
Don't get me wrong. I still vote in every election. I vote for the lesser of two evils. It's my civic duty, but my hope is not in getting my preferred candidates into office. Our hope is in Jesus and in the knowledge that he has a good plan that will result in us being with Him, enjoying His presence forever.That's our hope. And until that day, we are called to do what Christians have always been called to do. Faithfully follow Jesus, obey His commands, preach the gospel, love the Saints, and most importantly, abide in Him. Hear me on this, please. Some of you desperately need to really hear me on this.
Jesus has not called us to stop governments and redeem the global political system. It's not in the Bible. The only time that happens is when Jesus comes and does it. Jesus has called us to establish His Kingdom in our little personal worlds. Hear me.
Hear me. Hear me, please. On this. We are called to establish His Kingdom in our hearts. First of all, in our marriages, in our families, in our homes and in our churches.
That's what we are called to do. And you know what? Let me be honest. We need to humble ourselves and admit the truth. That's a big enough task for us.
That's enough. That's a challenging enough calling to keep us busy for the rest of their lives. Establishing the Kingdom of Jesus in our hearts, our marriages, our families, our homes, in our churches. The Kingdom of God will be established on the Earth. When when Jesus comes back to the Earth and establishes pushes his throne in Jerusalem and his Kingdom across the Earth.
That's when that will happen. Maranatha, let's pray. Would you bow your head and close your eyes? Jesus, thank you for your word. And I know this is kind of a dark study today into Antichrist and the future schemes of Satan.
But, Lord, I pray for each of us that we would not be consumed by an obsession with these things which you told your disciples must take place. Lord, I pray that we would not be deceived into putting our hope in political candidates instead of you. Lord, our hope is that there are things underway in our world that are ordained by you that have a good ending. Our hope is in the fact that things get made right on the Earth. When we return to the Earth with you and you rule and reign and justice and righteousness rules and reigns on the Earth.
Lord, we can't wait for that. So, Lord, I pray that instead of looking all around us and pointing fingers and pointing out all the injustice and wickedness that we see in our world systems, Lord, I pray that we would cast our focus on the few areas where you have given us influence. And you have given us a measure of authority. And, Lord, we pray that our focus would be on establishing your Kingdom and your throne first in our own hearts. Lord, that you would rule and reign absolutely in our lives.
Lord, we ask that you would rule and reign in our marriages, that they would be governed by you. And by your word, Lord, we ask that your Kingdom would come and be established in our families and in our children and then our grandchildren and our great grandchildren. Lord, we pray that your Kingdom would be established in our churches, that you would reign, that your word and your desire and your instructions would reign in our churches. And, Lord, we know that's enough. That's enough.
That's enough of a challenge. But we thank you that you've empowered us by your spirit to see your Kingdom come in our little world, the little sphere of influence that you've given us. So help us to be faithful there, Lord. And may your Kingdom come in the places where you've given us a measure of authority and the places you've given us influence. Come and reign, King Jesus and come back soon.
We love you. It's in your name. We pray. Amen.