A Beast From The Sea - Revelation 13:1-10

We are in the second half of the book of Revelation. We're starting in on chapter 13. There are 22 chapters, so we're a little bit past the halfway point in terms of chapter count. One of the things that you may have noticed is that our handouts are pretty lengthy and pretty detailed. The idea being that we give you things that you can check out on your own, give you an introduction. If we were to take the book of Revelation a little tiny bit at a time, we would be here for longer than a year, believe me. I went through with Brad Mastin from here and Jim Poole who was here at Holly Hills, now back in Virginia. I went through Revelation with the two of them and we went through 1,700 pages of notes. And that took a while.

We won't be doing that here. But we do want to leave quite a bit for you to study and so we've even got a couple pages of appendix items for you to look at here. What I've tried to do is to include diagrams and things like that. So here we are. Chapter 13 talks about the two beasts. We'll be taking a look at the first of those beasts here this morning. We are here in this earthly syncopation in the book of Revelation. And so we're going to remain that way to about the end of chapter 14. So we've got chapter 13 and chapter 14 to finish up before we get out of the earthly scene in the book of Revelation. One of the things we mentioned is Revelation is, as John wrote it, kind of like a musical score. It has its crescendos and then drops back down. It goes through eight cycles of heaven and earth syncopation.

And finally, we had the seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls or vial judgments charted. And we started this back in chapter 6. We're now in chapter 13. We're here in this interlude between the trumpet judgments and the bowl judgments. And this section of Revelation is explaining things that happened sometimes during the last half of the Tribulation period, or during the entire Tribulation period, and occasionally things that happened even before. And so I'll leave that up there. Now, what we're going to do is, in order to introduce Chapter 13, and I hope you have a handout here, you're going to need that to track with us. In order to introduce Chapter 13, I'm going to have a couple of pages and a little bit more. of just kind of getting the picture, including talking about the beast. The beast is one of those more famous terms that comes out of the book of Revelation.

One of the things we were talking about earlier before beginning is there is a computer over in Belgium that runs the financial calculations for the European Common Market. It is nicknamed the Beast. That, as interesting as it might be, is not the Beast of this chapter. The Beast of this chapter is actually a person, not a computer. And one of the things we'll start with is see this set of diagrams?

In the same way that scripture teaches a holy trinity, the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, there is also the unholy trinity that takes focus in this last half of the tribulation period. And that is Satan, who assumes the role of God the Father. Isaiah assumes it, he doesn't have it. There is the Antichrist who takes the place, the role of Christ, and the false prophet who appears to take the role of the Holy Spirit. So for the last three and a half years of the tribulation period, there is this unholy trinity that will be present on the earth.

And let me ask you this question. Why would Satan concoct such a thing? Why would this be his model? Why would he have an unholy trinity? Work for God. Okay, yeah, alright. Work for God. And why would that matter to him? Because he's trying to replace God. Yeah, he's trying to imitate and replace God. So what's he going to do? He's going to come up with his own version of the trinity. In a sense, he does to the unsaved. Yeah, to the unsaved, he does exactly that. Yes. Yeah. Other thoughts? Now, let's take a look at page 2 here on your handout.

One of the things that you're going to notice here is we have a chart there, a text table there, comparisons between Christ the Son of God and Antichrist, the son of Satan. One of those is Christ did miracles, signs, and wonders. We have the references there in Matthew, Mark, and John. What were some of the miracle signs and wonders that the Lord did in His first coming? Raising of Lazarus. Yeah, raising of Lazarus is one of them.

Pardon? On the fourth day. Right, on the fourth day. Others? Feeding the multitude. Feeding the multitude. Feeding 5,000. Okay. Alright. Good. Others? Healing a blind man from birth. Healing a man born blind from birth. Okay. Good. The young lady that wanted to be and grabbed hold of him. Yeah, it's recorded in Mark chapter 5. Right? Yeah. Walked on water. Yeah. So he did miracles, signs and wonders. So what is the Antichrist going to be doing during the tribulation period? Miracles, signs and wonders. Right? Christ himself warned of it in Matthew 24, 24.

And we'll see that also in 2 Thessalonians 2.9. The same thing. And then how about a violent death and true resurrection? That's of course recorded for us in the Gospels and also made reference to in Revelation. But then the Antichrist will have a violent death and apparent resurrection. How about that?

An apparent resurrection. People will be impressed. Right? A second coming. Christ will have a second coming at the end of the Tribulation period. The Antichrist will have a second coming before the end of the Tribulation period. Isn't that something? Why would it be deemed a second coming if he's been given the world to roam?

Ah, this is the Antichrist now, who is a person. Not Satan, but the Antichrist, who is a person. And he will have this violent death and resurrection, and this apparent second coming, and people will be tremendously impressed. enthralled with this man. Yes. So do you think these signs and wonders are actually going to be legitimate signs and wonders? I mean, he's not a creator. The Lord Christ was creation. No. Here is a for instance.

Remember when Moses and Aaron went to see Pharaoh. What did Moses do with his staff and rod? Threw it down and it became a serpent. What did Pharaoh's magicians also do? They did something similar, right? Now, as it turns out, what did Moses' snake, if you will, do to the others? Swallowed them up, okay?

And so I think that's one thing. These will attempt to impress people. The reality is, he's not going to be able to pull off the complete substitute for the Lord. But many will be fooled. Many will be impressed, okay? The next one here, Revelation 19.12 says Christ will be crowned with many crowns.

Revelation 13.1, first verse in this chapter, says that the Antichrist, the beast, will be crowned with ten crowns. So you have these direct comparisons, and those are some of the quick ones. We could probably look at some others in detail, but that gets the point across.

Here, how much time does the Lord Jesus Christ have to present Himself the first time, and then come the second time, and then to reign? How much time? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah, Christ comes the first time, right? And He's here for a period of time.

He actually carries on His ministry for about three years, right? But then, essentially, two thousand years have gone by in round numbers, right? Christ, when He comes again, will reign for how long? A thousand years, okay? The Antichrist has to pull this all off in three and a half years, okay?

He's got to work fast. And why does he pack it all into three and a half years? Why doesn't he take longer? He doesn't have longer, right? So he's got to pack it all into three and a half years. He just doesn't have longer. That's all. He knows his time is short. He's got three and a half years and that's it. That's all the time he's allotted. So he's got to pack it all in. You know, the death, burial, resurrection, second coming, you know, signs, wonders, miracles. He's got to pack it all in the three and a half years because that's all he's got. Yeah. And in a sense, that's part of the grace, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, even the people that are there with him at that period of time.

It could have gone on longer, but a certain period of time. To get some idea what that is like, how long is our president in office after an election? Four years. So it's a little less than that to give us some frame of reference. Three and a half years from the start of him marching into power to then pull off all these different things and then have it all cut off. Three and a half years.

So to give you some idea of what that's like in comparison to our time. A key thing to note here, this is the top of page three. Here is the sinister personality and it's important to recognize the Antichrist is a person. He will appear to be a human being. He will come across as a person.

He won't be like a computer system or Something else and the other thing is this and as we point out this relates to the Reconstructed Roman Empire, in other words, it's centered around Europe And people come up with oh, it's this president or that guy. No A couple of things we pointed out earlier in our study one is people need to cease trying to grab for somebody present It seems like whoever is the latest president, they figure out some way to identify that latest guy as the Antichrist. I mean, it just never fails.

He will not be an American president. This has to do with Europe, not anything to do with the United States. So far as we can tell, the United States will play no prominent part in the end time prophecies. And an American president, it's highly unlikely that an American president would subsequently grab power over Europe. That would be highly unlikely. This person, whoever it is, will grab power over Europe, and Europe is the one identified. So, I suppose in some realm of possibility it's there, but it's highly unlikely. And so the continuous grab for whoever the latest president is, is kind of a moonshot.

Okay. All right. Now, we have some supplements. The very last page is actually one page and then on the flip side another that I'll leave it for you to take a look at. It's contrast between Christ and the Antichrist. We've looked at a few contrasts and comparisons. There are a number of them. And on the flip side of that, a chart comparing the beast of Daniel chapter 7 to the beast of Revelation chapter 13. The one point that it's worth making is one we've made before.

Remember, what percentage of Revelation is out of the Old Testament? Yeah, 70%. A little over two-thirds of Revelation is straight out of the Old Testament. And so, when you talk about the beast, that's not something that just shows up in Revelation.

He's drawing from which Old Testament book? Daniel. The Book of Daniel. So John is not just concocting something that's never been spoken of before. Two-thirds to pick a fraction or closer to 70% if you want to pick a percent figure. is straight out of the Old Testament. And the beast is one straight out of there. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians about the Antichrist, and the reason he can do so before John has even written a book of Revelation is because it's out of the Old Testament.

So, key point here. Now, one thing about this beast, this word for beast is the word therion, which means a wild animal. This is no pet. This is no lab creature. This is a creature that would just as soon rip your guts out. Just look at you. And that's why this term is used. This beast is not some cuddly, furry, little cute thing. This beast is called that for a reason. And that's so we understand the nature of this guy. And he will sometimes appear to be very impressive. People will get attracted to him and follow him. But in the end, he doesn't care one whit about anybody. He cares about himself.

Ever been around somebody that's like that? I'm to that degree. I've shared before, Jim Jones, the cult leader, was my sister's 7th grade teacher. I sat across from the guy at PTA meetings because I went to a small high school and small school district. A lot of the kids I went to high school with died with him in Guyana. This guy is somebody a whole bunch of people followed.

But he would come up to my mother, for example, at PTA meetings, and she wouldn't be doing anything. He'd come up to her and say, incredible superstition, and then walk away. I mean, it's just really bizarre. Because, of course, she was a Christian, and that bothered him. He wanted people to follow him, and he would act in ways that would impress them. sometimes very strangely.

But in the end, it became very clear, anybody that's willing to have hundreds of people die with him, when he feels like it's all going to sink, is somebody that doesn't care for anybody but himself. In the end, all the impressive behavior, all the apparent acts of friendliness, are entirely self-centered. And that's the way this beast is. That's the way this beast is.

Here in verse 1 of chapter 13, it says, And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore, and then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. Now, this is a continuation of chapter 12, and remember how we said 70% of Revelation is out of the Old Testament. Well, the idea of a beast coming out of the sea is out of Daniel chapter 7. Now, what is the sea? What does the sea represent? And how do you know I'm not just fooling you? Pardon? Well, close. Yeah?

It comes from the book of Daniel, chapter 7. Yes, it's a spiritual sea, but there's actually a pattern there. Many peoples. Ultimately, when you have plural peoples and nations, languages, tongues, when you have that plural, this isn't the Jews, right? That's the nation. That's the people.

Plural of nations, languages, the pattern throughout the Old Testament starting from Genesis. That's Gentiles. Remember that even way back in Genesis chapter 10, dealing with the Tower of Babel, it's the Table of Nations. That's the start of the Gentiles. And that's his pattern here. So this beast out of the sea means he comes out of the Gentiles. Comes out of the Gentile nations there. So here is this, and what does he call him? What comes out of the sea? The dragon. How do we know what the dragon is? Or am I just concocting something? How do we know what the dragon is? Where do we find out who the dragon is?

Satan ultimately is the dragon. That's in chapter 12 and in chapter 20. Both places. And we gave you the list because Satan was multiply identified. The dragon stood on the sand of the seashore and I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. So here is Satan. working through this beast, having the ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems.

The picture here, the numbers of ten and seven, that's all out of Daniel. John did not just concoct this fresh and people are thinking, what on earth is he talking about? This is all out of the book of Daniel. Yes? Hold that analogy then in Daniel. Gentile nations, so we have to come to the end of the statute. So this has to be the time of the codes, right? Yep.

So here the sea is pictured as the source for this first beast, the Antichrist. So here's one question. What's the ethnicity of the Antichrist? There's only Two categories. Gentile. People have, it's this, it's that. It tells you right here, he's Gentile. So that's the ethnicity. Oh, it's possible he presents himself in all sorts of ways, but essentially he is at the root and at the source Gentile. Yes.

John tells us this beast has ten horns, seven heads, and on the horns ten diadems. Diadems, by the way, are royalty crowns. The ten horns are ten centers of power, as horns are uniformly a picture of power. We see the use of this word horn for power in the Old Testament prophets. In Revelation lesson 16, that was back in April, we covered this. What did the horns stand for? They stand for power. They were consistently used as a picture of power in the Old Testament prophets.

To get the full background on where these ten horns, seven heads, and seven diadems come from, we need to take a rabbit trail into the book of Daniel and some related passages. We have three points here. Number one, the leader of this confederation will make a seven-year covenant with Israel designed to give Israel protection in the land and solve the very volatile Israel-Arab dispute of the coveted land of Israel.

Daniel 9.27, we covered that last May. This treaty begins Daniel's 70th week, which we have come to call the Tribulation Period. As we pointed out previously, that's a period of seven years.

The second point, the white horse rider who conquers, this was one that we studied previously in Revelation chapter 6, who gains control by peace tactics, power politics, and by his charismatic personality and persuasive language, has already risen on the scene. So here he is already there. This brings about the ten nation confederation of Europe, or as Stan has made reference to, these are in Daniel's vision of the statue, the ten toes. That's where the number ten comes from. Federation of Nations that were once part of the old Roman Empire, Daniel chapter 2 and chapter 7.

Next, we have the potential for this in NATO and the European Common Market or, and I think this is very important, it could take another form not currently in existence. Why is it important that I say that? Because it's possible. It's possible that NATO and the European Common Market have connections to it, but do we know for certain that that's the case? No. And as we go through this, it's extremely important.

A lot of people studying prophecy, they have this compulsion for saying, it's this, it's this, when there's no way to verify that it's actually ultimately that. You won't know until you're in the tribulation period. And none of us who are believers here this morning will be here during the Tribulation period. We're not going to be able to verify it from people that are presently honored now.

Because ultimately it's tied to the Roman Empire and you've got an awful lot of the world that had no connection. Although the Roman Empire was extensive. At one point in time at its greatest reach the Roman Empire went from southern Britain down to the Persian Gulf. So the extent was great, but there are still great portions of the Roman Empire that are outside of that and not included, including, I would say, a majority of the world's population. But the point being, it's important that we not be grabbing at what we see now and saying, that's it. Because there's no way for us to verify it. People have been pointing out the Antichrist and saying this is the end time for a long time. Yes? I have a question. He makes a covenant with Israel for seven years. Yes. I think ultimately he is pivotal in this covenant with Israel, right? And exactly how he pulls it off is something that will remain to be seen.

But essentially, these parties that are involved have ultimately to sign on to this, right? Now, okay, now, but it's really important we're not, you know, grab on to some current situation and say that's it. It's very important. It could be something we currently see, but it could be something else that comes into existence that we don't even know about, that doesn't presently exist. So it's really important.

Before the year 1000, people thought, heavens, we're at the end times because the Muslims have attacked. We are at the end times because after that it was the Vikings came in and attacked in Europe. Remember how we had this Y2K frenzy? You know there was a Y1K frenzy? It had nothing to do with computers, but there was a whole frenzy about the year 1000, and that never happened.

People continued throughout the centuries, including Martin Luther, to pick out, you know, now is the end time, or this guy is the antichrist. Even the Franciscan group out of the Roman Catholic Church said that the Pope is the Antichrist. Luther said that the Pope is the Antichrist.

It's happened again and again and again. There's a pamphlet back in the 80s, 88 reasons why Jesus is coming in 1988. When he didn't come in 1988, the guy put out another pamphlet, 89 reasons why Jesus is coming in 1989. So people will grab for something that's current and present. And the reality is, I think everybody will be stumped. It sells good. And it meets a compulsion for us to kind of quicken our heartbeat and get all excited about now's the time.

When the reality is, Christ was quite correct when he said nobody's going to know the day and the hour. Are you saying that the Antichrist will be there prior to the Tribulation? All I'm saying is the Antichrist, in order for him to pull off what he does, will have to be born. But we could be out of here before we have any recognition of who this guy is.

Number three. Three kings of the Confederacy of ten nations rebel, but the rising dictator defeats them and emerges as a leader. Therefore, that's the reason for this number seven and then ten. Therefore, the Antichrist, the beast, is the head of ten crowned kings, ten horns and diadems, which after the Antichrist's oppression of a rebellion is governed by seven leaders, seven heads.

Revelation 13-1 finishes off with telling us that the heads of the beasts have blasphemous names. For a name to be blasphemous, it has to either speak against God or claim falsely to speak for God or to be God. It might be both. There might be, on the one hand, speaking against the God of Scripture. On the other hand, claiming, that guy's not God I am. So either one could be blasphemous. The meaning, which has been confirmed by other contexts, is that beast and his partners in crime will take on names of deity which belong to God himself. Since this is a satanic and unholy trinity, why should that surprise us?

Let's look at page five. You should have page five, which is a color printout sheet there. And these are pictures of animals that we'll talk about in a minute. This starts verse 2. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard. Notice, let's ask the question, why does he say like a leopard? Why doesn't he just say it was a leopard? Pardon? It's not human. It's not human. There's a comparison. A leopard is certainly not human.

One of the things we pointed out early is that one of the things that John does, he's a very consistent writer. One of the things he does, he uses like or as as a pattern from the very beginning. Remember the first chapter, hair like wool. Hair white as wool. Like or as is used as a comparison with things that are recognized in order to give us the picture of what he sees. His feet were like those of a bear, his mouth like the mouth of a lion.

And the dragon gave him his power and his throne in great authority." What does the Father do to the Son, Jesus Christ? Gives Him great power and authority. What does Satan, who is trying to act like the Father, do to the Beast? gives him power and authority, right? For three and a half years. For this period of time.

The comparisons there, again this comes out of the book of Daniel, chapter 7. The comparisons there are Greece was one of the things pictured, this leopard showing stealth and speed and cunning. and Medea Persia, like a bear, powerful and vicious claws, and Babylon, like a lion, vicious and threatening.

Why is he in the reverse order? Why did he present in the reverse order? Good point. Why would he do that? Let's ask this point. When Daniel was writing, what was his historical perspective? Forward. Here's John. How is John looking at these? John's writing at a later time, so he's looking back at these creatures. Daniel is looking forward to them. It's time perspective is the reason for the sequence.

How thorough is scripture? Scripture is amazingly thorough and consistent. And again, what John does here, he doesn't just concoct something and invent something. He is writing, again we keep throwing this out, 70% of Revelation straight out of the Old Testament.

This is another case in point. And all he does is he restates these things, putting these things from his perspective, but in fact the reversal is not just accidental, it has to do with John's time perspective. He's looking back, Daniel will look forward. That's the reason for the reversal. It's amazing, it's right there. That's the system. Babylon was the nation in power when Daniel wrote what he first wrote. So Daniel was looking forward from Babylon then to Medo-Persia, which took over during Daniel's life, and then Greece, which took over from the Persians.

I gave you the example of Jim Jones, who I think some of the modern terminology is a sociopath. Ever been around somebody like that? It's rather discomforting to be around someone who you realize they don't care one whit about anything and the only reason that they're restrained at all in what they do is because Maybe they don't feel like they can get away with it, or they feel like there will be consequences. But basically, in their motivation, they have no constraint. They would do anything. And they look at people as not people, but as objects to manipulate.

Ever been around somebody like that? It's rather frightening. My second son, Ed, works at the maximum security prison in Nevada State in Carson City. And he works, at least he's been shifted around, but at least one point in time he worked with the worst of the worst. These guys were so dangerous and so manipulative and so aggressive that you could barely let them out of their cell. Any opportunity you gave them, they would take advantage of you. And if you turn your head away or turn your back at all, they'd give no thought at all to shoving something between your ribs.

That's the way this guy is. He really cares nothing for anyone. He only cares about his own power and his own selfish, satanic accomplishments. That's the way this guy is. So actually God would be the perfect altruistic personality, and Satan would be the pure narcissistic personality.

Yeah, good way to put it. You get his point? Here is God who comes and says, I will die for you, totally at my own expense, even though you're not asking for the benefit. And furthermore, I will bless you so much that it will take eternity for you to discover the depth and magnitude of those blessings. That's God's viewpoint.

What does Satan do? He says, I don't care the slightest little bit about you, or what happens to you, or what you think, or how you feel, or what your hopes and aspirations are. I am going to use you to my own end, period. If you get in my way, I will smash you like a bug. Isn't it amazing the complete reversal in character between God, who is infinitely merciful and gracious, and Satan, who is anything but? Phenomenal contrast. Amazing.

This will be a scary time to be alive. As a matter of fact, staying alive might be a little tough. Verse 3 at the bottom of page 5. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain. Here is the death and resurrection. And his fatal wound was healed and the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast. Wow! That's impressive. I saw a picture of him. I took a picture with my cell phone and sent it to you. Check your cell phone. Wow. Turn on the news. You won't believe this. Everyone will be astounded. Everyone will be impressed. It will be quite amazing.

I thought he was dead. Look, there he is walking around. The whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast. Verse 4, they worshipped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast. Has Satan got what he wants? For a time. And they worshipped the beast saying, who is like the beast and who is able to wage war with him? This guy is powerful. After all, you kill him and he doesn't die. He doesn't stay dead, right? Now that's impressive, at least from the world standpoint. At least by appearances, he appears to have a death and resurrection. The world is impressed. And what do they do? Do they just say, wow, what happens? What does it say that they do?

Worship. It is not simply a matter of, wow, that's impressive. But it will be a matter of, oh, now it's time to worship. What's the problem with that, by the way? It's idolatry. Only worship the Lord. This is a picture that we get from scripture. names of the countries, right? It turns out to be atheism and idolatry as well, because it's blasphemous names, so it's not worshipping God, but other aspects, which is exactly what Israel did and was condemned for, sent to Babylon and Assyria for that same thing. Anything by names, by worship, that gives power and glory somewhere other than the Lord.

Verse 5 in the middle of page 6 there. And there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act for 42 months was given to him. So we've already seen this word blasphemies, now we see it described and underscored.

The God of heaven will be denied and reviled. The God of the beast, Satan, will take on the name and authority of God. This beast will speak as if he were the last line of authority on planet Earth, even the universe. But as we have seen before, his time of authority will be how long? Three and a half years, 42 months, 1260 days.

Verse 6, And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Remember the phrase that keeps coming up throughout the tribulation period is those who dwell on the earth. Blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and those who dwell in heaven. At this point in time, who dwells in heaven?

Pardon? Us! Yes! And essentially you'll have church-age believers will be on the list. Who else dwells in heaven at this point in time? The angels who follow the Lord will be here in the heavenly scene. And the Lord himself. So won't it be amazing? It looks like we're included in the verbal target. It won't mean much to us, but that apparently is going to happen. All those whom Satan has failed to get control over will be his verbal target. That includes you and me. Page 7, and that's also verse 7 at the top.

It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him." War with the saints. Now, when it says war with the saints, which saints are we talking about? Well, there are tribulation saints.

We have reason to believe from Revelation that the 144,000, even though they might be attacked, will be protected. But there will be others who will come to the Lord, right? Remember, what are the three primary sources of the gospel during the tribulation period? There's 144,000 that you mentioned, and two others. The Gospel Angel who will go about in the heavens and also, yeah? The Two Witnesses, right? Yeah, you're correct Tristan. So there's the Two Witnesses, the Gospel Angel, and 144,000 will be there to testify. Certainly there will also be these Tribulation Saints, but they also will pay a price. It will be difficult and many of them will be running to stay alive during this period of time. He will make a major initiative against those who believe.

So this saint doesn't refer to church saints, because saints are all those who are saved by faith of all time. You'll even see the word saints show up in, for example, the Old Testament in the Psalms regarding the Jews. So the word saints does not just refer to those who are church saints. Then we see a reference to a phrase that indicates the beast's reach will be global indeed.

Every tribe, every people, every tongue, and every nation will be impacted. Verse 8, And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, every one whose name has not been written in the book of life of the Lamb, who has been slain from the foundation of the world.

Wow, this is potent. Isn't this amazing stuff? We see a huge dividing line. There is a great mass of humanity and these are the ones who dwell on the earth during this time. That's the phrase we see at the bottom of the page, keep showing up during the tribulation period. This is a tribulation specific phrase.

The only exception to that is in Revelation 3.10 where the church is promised not to be among those. One of the many reasons why we look upon the Church as having been taken out prior to this time.

Prior to the Tribulation, Revelation 3.10, there is the one time that this phrase, those who dwell on the earth, shows up. And that's the promise that we in the Church will not be among them. And then the next that you see here is during the Tribulation from chapter 6 to chapter 17. that those who dwell in the earth phase keep showing up during the tribulation period. Those who dwell in the earth are going to worship the beast.

Basically, here's what's going to happen. It will be a time of great decision and how you decide will impact your eternity. You're either going to say, no, I put my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, for Him, for salvation, the one who was slain from the foundation of the world, or I put my trust in the beast. And it's one or the other.

And notice another pattern here in verse 9. If anyone has an ear to hear, let him hear. Notice when we were reading through chapters 2 and 3, this had to do with the churches. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. But now that we get into the middle of the tribulation period, it says, if anyone has an ear, let him hear. Interesting distinction.

Verse 10, if anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes. If anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here's the perseverance and the faith of the saints. Now at first it might sound like this is kind of fatalistic, as if nobody could ever change. But when we look at it carefully, we find it saying that people will reap what they sow. Where are you headed? That's going to determine the outcome. How's this going to turn out for you? Well, that's the decision people will make. Something else to take a look at here, from an eternal standpoint, there is never any injustice.

Have you ever seen Maybe either personally or maybe even just a TV presentation or a movie presentation. Have you ever seen a courtroom scene where justice didn't happen? My great-grandfather was a judge in Great Bend, Kansas, and he was very upset. As a matter of fact, as far as I can tell, he shortly thereafter quit being a judge. The people of the town broke into the jail and just hung this fellow who hadn't even shown up in court yet. They just strung him up. It's a lynch mob. And my great-grandfather was really upset because he said, that's not justice. But you may be aware of a situation that even went through the court and you say, that isn't right. That's not good the way that turned out.

But in the ultimate Everything, everything will be dealt with in one of three places and there will not be the slightest injustice. Ever had an injustice happen to you? Yeah, probably all of you have. But in the ultimate, in eternity, there will be no injustice that won't be dealt with. Everything will be dealt with in one of three places, either at the cross, or here on planet Earth, or in eternity.

Everything will be dealt with. Everything. Not the slightest thing will be overlooked. I am glad that I don't have to pay for my sins. Right? Would you be capable of paying for your sins? No. There is only one way and that was it would take an eternity of death for me to pay for my sins and that requires an eternity, not just a long time.

That's the only way. That's the lake of fire. And that's what will happen to those who refuse God's mercy and God's grace. And it is not because God's determined that's what's going to happen to them and He's just happy as can be that that's what they picked. But He has provided their salvation. Christ died for the sins of the whole world. He's provided for their salvation, but they refused it.

Every single injustice of all time, including the ones that have happened to me, where I've had injustice shown to me, and including the injustices that I've put upon other people, all those will be dealt with. Every single one. Not one missing. Not one overlooked. On the cross, here on earth, or in the tourney. All will be dealt with. All will be dealt with. on the ninth page there. I think this is a matter of looking at perspective. As believers, while we're studying these pages, it is important for us ultimately to not look feverishly for trying to identify the Antichrist.

We ought instead to put our hope, because here's what Paul calls the blessed hope, Titus 2, 11-14 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. That's the blessed hope. Though I am quite aware of what will take place during the tribulation period, I am not biting at the last little bits of fingernails, nervously waiting for the Antichrist to show up. I know what's been revealed. But for me as a believer, the blessed hope, that's what I'm looking for, the appearing of Jesus Christ.

And I hope it's today. I hope it's today. It would be wonderful if we don't get to go to the next service because the Lord calls us home. I would be just happy as can be. I wouldn't say, but Lord, I haven't delivered the sermon yet. I've worked all week. I would say, fine. If the Lord says it's time. I don't think so. I don't think I'll care about them. I don't think I'll care about them. But what a wonderful thing we have as believers to have this blessed hope instead of an awful dread. That's a wonderful thing that we have.

We have a blessed hope instead of a terrible dread. Praise the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage, there's certainly a lot, were it not for the blessed hope that we have and all that we can count upon in You, the promises that we have from You, were it not for those, we would have a lot to fear. We would have a lot to dread. And we could be preoccupied into the wee hours of the night with fear and anxiety and dread. How wonderful that we have the blessed hope, the hope of your coming. And we can look forward to that as the very next thing. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.