So far in Revelation 13, we have seen in the imagery seen by Apostle John:
Satan calling up Antichrist out of the sea of humanity, specifically the peoples of the Mediterranean Sea;
That the rise of Antichrist will be mercurial in speed, brutally strong and vicious in conquest, and will demand the attention of the world
That Antichrist will have the qualities that are an amalgam of different kingdoms of antiquity, and will lead a ten nation confederation of countries that will rule the world
He will be, most likely, of Roman, Grecian and Jewish descent
Antichrist will suffer a fatal blow by sword to the head, specifically to the right side of his head, putting out his right eye, withering an arm
Satan will have a demon possess the dead but healed body of Antichrist, while Antichrist's spirit will go to Hades upon death
This demon possession of Antichrist's body will be passed off as a miraculous resurrection meant to overshadow and replace the Resurrection of Jesus Christ in importance
The great mass of humanity will fall for the great lie, the great delusion of a fake resurrection, and will marvel and wonder at Antichrist and follow Him
Antichrist--and, Satan by default--will receive the worship and adoration of the world. The world, for the most part, has rejected the testimony of the Word of God, but will be duped by the message of Antichrist.
The Bizzaro Savior,
Who Is Not A Savior
The movie "Man of Steel" debuted this last week. I am looking forward to seeing it with the family. I understand that there are many allusions to God and to Jesus Christ, and the movie looks great in the previews and the music by Hans Zimmer is masterful.
In the comic series by DC Comics, there are many other characters such as Batman, Wonder Woman and more. However, there is an interesting character by the name of Bizzaro. Bizzaro is the mirror image of Superman; in other words, he is the exact opposite of Superman. For instance, green Kryptonite weakens and can kill Superman, but makes Bizzaro stronger. Superman has heat vision, Bizzaro has freeze vision, and on and on.
Antichrist will be a Jesus wannabe, but he will have reverse qualities to Jesus. Hate instead of love. War instead of peace. Pride instead of humility.
This week, we will wrap up this section of Scripture and as we see the monstrous plans of Antichrist, and how the world will follow in lockstep with him. It will truly be the worst period ever experienced on earth: the Great Tribulation, the second half of the Tribulation period.
The Great Orator
And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. Revelation 13:5-6 (NKJV)
Throughout history, there have been many men and women that have earned the title "Great Orator". Pericles. Lincoln. Churchill. Reagan. Kennedy. Ghandi. Mandela. Walensa. However, great orators have also included those of infamy: Hitler. Stalin. Marx. Alexander. Mussollini. Pol Pot. If you were to wrap up the charming talents of the first group, and the evil, malicious intent of the second group into one person, that would be Antichrist.
The third commandment concerns blasphemy: "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7, NKJV) We often think that "taking the name of the Lord...in vain" means to say God's name as a swear word (that includes the name of Jesus); it does, but it goes beyond that. A popular blasphemy that people say today is OMG, or "Oh my God"; other versions are "oh my Lord", "Sweet Jesus" and also stating "I swear to God". It is one matter to put your hand on the Bible in court and swear to tell the truth, but another to use God's name as an exclamation point or a means of promise to another over trivial matters.
Antichrist will be a malevolent charmer who will seek to deflect worship from God and onto himself. One method will be to openly blaspheme God, to cut God down, to use profanity that is not fit to print when speaking of the Almighty. However, he will use great oratory--great public speaking--when he does such thing, and people will go right along with it. Think about it for a moment; our culture has been desensitized to all sorts of blasphemy over the past forty years or so because of the blasphemous speech in media. Movies use God's name in vain more than the "f" word. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is testing the waters regarding showing nudity and profanity on TV, but God's name is already taken in vain on TV. A great deal of rap music and other music genres have the "Explicit Lyrics" label. The way is being paved, but Antichrist will not just push the limits will remove limits on profanity and blasphemy. He will have a "bragging mouth" that will blaspheme God (including Jesus), blaspheme heaven itself (God will "tabernacle" or "tent" with His people in heaven) and against even you and me and all of the other saints in heaven.
When will this happen? Antichrist's fatal wound and desecration of the temple will happen at the midpoint of the tribulation, when he will tell the world that he is God--and millions of Jews will turn to Christ. "He was given authority to continue for forty-two months, or three and a half years--half of the seven year Tribulation Period, the Great Tribulation. Daniel refers to this time as "a time, times and half a time" (Daniel 7:25b); the worst persecution of the saints ever. God will allow this to happen, and Satan will push his "anti-god" agenda.
God Can--and WILL--Give You More Than You Can Handle
It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. Revelation 13:7
There is a popular saying, perhaps you have said it yourself: "God won't give you any more than you can handle". Where is that found anywhere in Scripture? Nowhere. God can--and will--give you more than you can handle.
Proof of this is found in many places in the canon of Scripture. Job, for instance, endured the loss of everything he had, including all his family except his nagging wife, then had boils from the top of his head to his heels. Paul had the "thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor 12:7-9), a physical ailment that God allowed Satan to inflict on him, to prevent pride in Paul's heart. Each one of the Apostles died martyr's deaths with the exception of John, and he was sent into exile at rocky, barren island of Patmos. The Bible is replete with stories of great suffering and trial from David, Abraham, Moses, Hannah and others.
Today, we hear stories of Christian persecution worldwide in places like China, Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan that result not just in physical torture but the death penalty. 100,000 Christians are martyred per year worldwide. I'd say the "God won't give you more than you can handle" statement would float about as well with those folks about as well as "if you have enough faith you can have health, wealth and prosperity".
Those folks that buy into the idea that God will not give you more than you can handle would also have a hard time explaining this concept to saints in the end times. The first part of verse 7, "It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them" shows us that God, in His sovereignty, will allow the persecution--including execution--of those that call Jesus their Savior. Going back to the parallel verse from the prophet Daniel we see this persecution as well: "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. (Daniel 7:25, KJV) Again, Antichrist's "bragging mouth" (J. Vernon McGee), in the epitome of arrogance, will blaspheme El-Elyon, "The Most High God", and he will "wear out", persecute (NKJV), or "wear down" (NASB) the saints during that day. Later in chapter 13, the False Prophet will "cause as many as would not worship the image (of the Beast, Antichrist) to be killed" (13:15b).
Why does God allow His children to suffer, and even be martyred? Good question. Here are a few reasons, explained more in Saturday and Sunday's devotional:
To show those in the faith as opposed to "posers"
To draw a person closer to God
To develop trust in the promises of God
As an example of Christian living to both the saved and unsaved
Antichrist's power will be "over every tribe, tongue, and nation". Every ethnic group, those of different languages, and virtually all nations will be his, and those nations will unite under his banner, hunting down the saints.
All People That On Earth Do Dwell--The Bizzaro Version
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Rev 13:8
In the Sunday service, we sang the song "All People That On Earth Do Dwell", a wonderful song honoring God in praise sang to the tune of the Doxology. Here are some of the lyrics, a call to the people of earth to praise God:
All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with thankful voice.
Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell;
Come ye before Him and rejoice.
However, in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the statement "All who dwell on the earth" written by John does not mean saved people but unsaved people. They are people of the world, the unsaved:
The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 (NKJV)
The vast majority of the people of the earth will reject the ministry of the Gospel through the 144,000 super-evangelists that God has sent to them (Rev 7:1-12). In fact, they would rather die, having mountains and caves fall on them instead of facing Jesus Christ. And, as we will see in a few weeks, once they receive the "mark of the beast" on either the right hand or the forehead, they will be forever doomed to Hell with the very abomination that they chose to worship.
Those that worship the Beast are "whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." It's important to remember that Jesus was not slain from the foundation of the world, He died on the cross 2000 years ago of course. His death was determined at the foundation of the world--creation itself--but so also were the names of those that would come to faith in Jesus Christ. This is an important point, and one that is not just limited to this passage of Scripture.
Some of the readers of these devotionals may believe in election, some may believe in free will. Those arguing election (this writer included) would say that God chose and wrote down my name and other saints names down in this book at the foundation of the world. Free-willers would argue that God looks down the corridors of time, chooses based upon the choice that the person would make and writes down that person's name in the Lamb's Book of Life. In either case, once your name is in, it is in and cannot be removed. Saved people have their name in the book from the foundation of the world. In other words, if you are saved, it's permanent and you cannot lose your salvation.
Different Lines of Thought...
If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. Revelation 13:9-10, NKJV
This passage of scripture, verses 9 and 10, have a few different thoughts when it comes to the Bible scholars. First, verse 9 is pretty easy to figure out; if you are saved, you can "hear" God. If you are not saved, you cannot, at least when it comes to things of faith. Yes, everyone understands for the most part that you should not lie, steal, murder and so on, but there are many spiritual truths that the unsaved just do not understand. So, if you have an ear (are saved), listen up.
Essentially there are two lines of thought, and both have merit and both are actually true. First, there will still be people saved during the tribulation period and Antichrist is going to war with them. Many will be taken captive, and many will die by the sword--many by beheading. In short, the idea is that if you are captured, do not resist. Do not try to kill people to escape, because "live by the sword, die by the sword". Christians are to live giving good example and there just may be some prison guard in that day that has made neither a decision for Antichrist or for Jesus and that might be the thing that might be a lifestyle witness.
Second, there is a promise of God dealing with evil men. I get a little miffed when I hear people talk about karma, because karma is a Hindu teaching; it is almost as though karma is a law of the universe to some folks or a force of nature. God does deal with sin, sooner or later, but those of you that are in the whole "karma is gonna swing around and bite you", you'd better make sure you look in the mirror. That being said, there will be a judgment day for evil men during that time; all will be taken captive and sent to Hades through either judgment by death or judgment at the Judgment of the Nations (the sheep and goats judgment). God also shows that those evil men who live by the sword will die the same way.
There will be many saints--saved people--saved during the Tribulation period, that will be captured and die for their faith in Jesus. However, because of their faith in Jesus--which is given to them--God will help them in that horrible time to endure "more than they can handle" and have patience in waiting in prison.
You and I know that there is work to do. There is a world before us that is lost, is on its way to Hell or on it's way to the Tribulation Period which will be like a Hell on earth. Our job is to tell them about Jesus, it is not to play the part of the Holy Spirit and make them get saved but to share Jesus with them. If they do not come to faith, they are not rejecting you, they are rejecting God in their blindness.
Time is short. Let's get to work.
