The Mark Of The Beast And The Last Tattoo!!
Revelation 13:11-18
Introduction:
A. The United Nations represents a dream found in the minds
of men, of a unified world,
B. At this very moment, forces are in motion for a one world
government under one ruler-- a one world church under
one religious leader.
C. These events are predicted in the first half of Rev. 13 and
reveal Satan’s super-man, the coming world dictator.
D. The second half of the chapter tells us of one coming who
will unite this world under one religion and he is called in
the text: the "beast out of the earth."
1. This is the false prophet, because this is the way he is
referred to in Revelation 16:13; 19:20; and 20:10.
2. He will be the minister of propaganda or the press
secretary for the beast out of the sea.
a. He will be the "PR" man for the devil’s messiah.
b. He will cause the entire world to fall down and worship
his lord, who is the devil himself.
There are 4 reasons why he will be able to accomplish something no one else in history has ever been able to accomplish, and here they are:
I. First--the emergence of the beast.
A. (v.11) says, "Then I saw another beast coming up out of the
earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon."
B. We were introduced to the beast out of the earth, but now we are introduced to the beast out of the sea, who is called "another beast."
1. that word “another” means: "another of the same kind."
2 Beasts—2 peas out of the same pod
belched out of the belly of hell.
both are the devil’s puppets.
2. Like the first beast, this beast is also given a strange
description.
C. He is described both as a lamb and as a dragon.
1. a lamb to represent his meekness.
2. at first -- soft spoken smooth talking operator, but sugar
will not melt in his mouth.
3. he will be gentle, gracious, and appealing to the masses.
4. told that he has horns, but a lamb has no horns.
5. horns in scripture represent power and authority.
6. As a lamb, we see his meekness by his horns we see his
might. but then we see that he speaks like a dragon.
8. he is malevolent and violent in his actions.
9. he will be an intimidator and an exterminator.
D. He will insist that all worship his master, the devil and
he will kill all who refuse to do so, he is literally a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
E. So the beast will be as meek as a lamb, as mighty as a
lion, and as malicious as a dragon.
II. Two--the POWER of the beast.
A. (v.12) says, "And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." he has the same power, the same authority as the first beast. just as the first beast derives his might and power from the devil, the second beast derives his power and might from the first beast.
1. now this fact tells us of the kind of might that he wields.”
2. he will use his deceptive might and power to deceive the earth into worshiping the beast.
3. it may come as a surprise to you to learn that Satan is not against religion.
4. he is in the religion business up to his ears.
B. He wants to pervert religion, and divert religion until the only religion in the world revolves around worshiping him.
C. Daniel 11:36 tells us that the goal of the anti-Christ is to "Exalt and magnify himself above every god."
1. that has always been the primary desire of the devil.
D. Satan has always wanted to be like god, to take god’s place, to usurp god’s authority, to accept god’s worship, to wear god’s crown, to rule god’s kingdom, to sit on god’s throne.
1. the job of the false prophet is to lead the entire world to worship the devil.
2. the false prophet is the counterpart of the holy spirit.
3. the primary ministry of the holy spirit is to glorify Christ and to lead people to worship him.
4. it is his job to magnify Jesus and to exalt Jesus.
E. Well likewise, it is the job of the false prophet to get people to worship Satan and to magnify him and exalt him above every other god.
F. You see, just as there is an anti-Christ, there is an anti-spirit, Satan is the master counterfeiter.
1. just as there is a holy trinity, there is also an unholy trinity.
G. This unholy trinity is described in rev. 16:13, "and I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.”
H. Just as there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, there is the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet.
1. the dragon, or Satan is the counterfeit father.
2. the beast is the counterfeit Christ.
3. the false prophet is the counterfeit holy spirit.
4. the dragon opposes god the father.
5. the beast opposes god the son.
6. the false prophet opposes god the holy spirit.
I. So just as there is to be one world government led by the beast, there is going to be one world religion that will be headed by this false prophet.
J. Now it may surprise you to know that there are many people promoting this concept today, and they would welcome this political and religious unity as the world’s only hope.
K. Arnold Toynbee, the great historian writes, "Living together as a single family is the only future mankind can have now that western technology has, Simultaneously annihilated distance and invented the atomic bomb. the alternative to the destruction of the human race is a worldwide social fusion of all the tribes, nations, civilizations and religions of the world. this world even now is being set up by the master deceiver to accept these leaders as they come on the scene.”
L. (v.15) "He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed."
M. Those who refused to attend the devil’s church, to practice the devil’s religion, to study the devil’s bible, and to worship the devil as god, will pay for it with their lives.
N. The blood of the saints, those with God’s mark on their foreheads, will run in the streets, fill the rivers and flow into the ocean. there will be no place to run, no place to hide, and it will all be done in the name of religion.
O. Now that should not surprise you. Jesus was crucified in the name of religion.
P. Paul persecuted the early church and had many Christians put to death in the name of religion.
Q. Millions of people throughout the centuries have been mindlessly murdered in the name of religion.
R. One man was talking to a Christian about the importance of merely having religion and he said, "After all, all religions have some good in them." and the Christian said, "so has rat poison. it is 98% corn meal, but the other 2% is enough poison to kill."
1. I won’t deny that there MAY BE some good in all religion, but religion kills!!
2. It is the Spirit that gives life.
S. We see in v.15 that this false prophet will cause many to worship the devil, in fact, he will cause most to worship the devil. but he cannot cause all to worship the devil.
T. He will again be frustrated in his desire to be like god because one day god is going to cause everyone who has ever lived to worship the lord Jesus Christ.
U. Phil 2:10, "I tell you, a day is coming when "every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." 1. I believe that includes the devil, the beast, and the false prophet.
V. The devil and his hordes are powerful but they are not all-powerful. they are mighty but they are not almighty. Our Lord is God Almighty "Greater is he who is in us, than he who is in the world."
W. The second beast gets his power from the first beast. the first beast gets his power from the dragon, but who does the dragon, the devil, Satan himself, get his power from? God Almighty!! The only power the devil has, the only power the devil wields, is the power that god allows.
III. Third--the miracles of the beast.
A. (vs. 13-14) "He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. and he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived."
B. This beast will be a master of miracles. he will perform great signs and wonders. This carnal unbelieving world will be mesmerized by this master of miracles. C. He will use his miraculous powers to deceive the world into accepting his message and therefore into accepting his master.
D. Jesus warned about this very thing taking place in the last days. Jesus said in Matt. 24:4, "Take heed that no one deceives you." Jesus warned that the last days would be a time of deception and spiritual chicanery.
E. He went on to add in v.24, "For false Christ and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect."
4. This beast will call fire down from heaven. he will set the heavens ablaze.
L. He will make the sky burn red with fire, perhaps in this modern day it will be done by an atomic explosion in the outer atmosphere that will rain fire down from heaven.
1. Then he will make an image to the beast.
2. He will be able to cause this inanimate object to actually breath and to come alive.
3. Now I want you to notice he does not just make an image OF the beast, but rather an image TO the beast.
4. This is what Jesus called in matt. 24:15, the "abomination of desolation’.
5. this image will be set up in the temple in Jerusalem.
6. Satan will desecrate the house of god and defile the worship of god by causing all to come and pay homage to this image.
7. Now I am sure that when john wrote this he did not understand it.
8. He had no concept of an image that could speak.
9. I am also sure that for many centuries bible scholars wondered at what this meant, but today it doesn’t seem so strange.
10. this is no longer science fiction, but rather this is scientific fact.
11. With the advent of television, we have been able to see the images of people talking.
Q. In layman’s terms, what this man is speaking of is the possibility of a computerized human or a humanized computer AND THAT MY FRIENDS IS A VERY SCARY POSSIBILITY!!
R. Either way we see the frightening possibility of the realization of Revelation 13:15.
IV. Fourth--the mark of the beast.
A. (v,16) "and he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads."
1. The word “mark” is synonymous with the word seal.
B. An emperor would take a signet ring, dip it in hot wax and put his seal on a letter to authenticate its contents.
1. Now remember, this false prophet is the counterfeit counterpart of the holy spirit.
2. Just as god’s children are sealed by the spirit, the devil’s children will be branded by the beast.
3. The devil is going to turn this world into one giant concentration camp.
4. Everyone will have the name and the number of the beast.
5. It will either be on the forehead or the right hand.
6. It may not necessarily be visible.
C. you can go to six flags and get your hand stamped and you will have a tattoo that is invisible to the naked eye, but visible under a special light.
1. Through this mark this beast is going to control the commerce and the currency of this world.
D. (v.17) "And that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
E. this satanic society will be cashless and we are rapidly moving in that direction.
F. David Eubanks, our banker and senior vice president of community bank told me they pushed for the new form of money management known as EFT”S "electronic funds transfer system" for years before it was approved!!
G. This system allows the transfer of money electronically, allowing transactions to take place in real time without currency changing hands.
H. The world’s current monetary system is creating havoc among bankers, in America alone, the annual check processing cost is $10 million, cash causes even greater problems as crime has invaded the white collar world.
1. So no wonder many are crying today, "away with cash and eliminate crime!"
I. The American Bar Association Magazine reported in 2006, "Crime would be virtually eliminated if cash and plastic became obsolete, because cash is the only real motive for 90% of the robberies. In Europe the world banking association has formulated an international monetary transfer system called shift, otherwise known as the "Society For Worldwide Inter-Bank Financial Teller Communication."
K. The purpose of this conglomeration is to allow international business transactions to take place without the need of any cash or currency.
L. Henry Spaak, one of the organizational leaders of swift stated, "We do not want another committee. we have too many already. what we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of the people, and to lift us out of the economic morass into which we are sinking. send us such a man and be he god or the devil, we will receive him."
M. There is coming a day when you won’t have to worry about losing your credit card, you will be one!!
N. A world number is feasible, in the near future, but it also poses a problem if carried in the form of say a card, so many are now advocating the insertion of a world number on a person’s body. Insiders say that Homeland Security has the votes to pull this off and it WILL HAPPEN by 2010.
O. Technology is now available whereby an invisible mark can be put on you by a laser which is invisible to the eye, but visible under infra-red light.
P. You may think that what I am saying is from outer space and left field, but in a news magazine used in American high schools called senior scholastic a group of young people were pictured with numbers on their foreheads.
1. the photo was captioned, "the future."
2. the day is coming when if you are not marked, there will be no selling, no buying, therefore no living, only dying.
3. the rule will be no seal, no sell! no brand, no buy! no mark, no money!
4. theologically, we know what it means.
5. six is the number of man.
6. man was created on the sixth day.
7. he was told to work six days, but to rest on the seventh.
8. seven is the perfect number.
9. three is the divine number, the number of God.
10. there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but here are three sixes.
Q. I don’t know the total significance of this famous number, and no one else does either, but I was amazed to see how those three numbers play a part in the world today.
R. Since 1973 the license plate numbers of all Arab owned vehicles in the city of Jerusalem have been prefixed with "666" beginning in 1977, the IRS circular e (supplement)
1. Employer’s tax guide w-2p form required a "666" prefix.
S. The universal computer code for international communication is "6" and is expected to expand to "666."
T. The central computers for sears, J.C.. Penney, and many other chain stores around the world prefix transactions with "666."
1. The US. Selective Service cards contain a "666" code.
2. the overseas telephone operator number from Israel is "666."
U. Some people will take the mark because they are convinced that this world would be better off under one government and one church, so their motto is: "united we stand, divided we fall."
1. Others will take the mark because they are careless.
2. Others will receive the mark because they are cowardly.
3. They are not willing to stand alone against the beast and the rest of the world.
4. Now there is a tremendous difference between the beast and the lamb.
5. The beast gives you a number, but the lamb gives you a name.
V. The real question is: when the roll is called up yonder will your name be called, or will your number be up?
W. Now when you preach a message like this you can be accused of using scare tactics.
1. You may be saying, "That is a scary message preacher!!"
2. well, there is not one scary thing about it, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ!!
X. Now you have a choice. You can love the Lamb and be sealed by the Spirit or submit to Satan and be TATTOOED by the beast, IT’S YOUR CALL!!
~~~~~Amen~~~~~
