The STRATEGY For SATAN’s FINEST HOUR--A-III—Revelation 13:1-18
Attention:
We’ve all heard of criminals who do really ‘dumb’ things:
An Illinois man pretending to have a gun, kidnapped a motorist & forced him to drive to two different automated teller machines. The kidnapper then proceeded to withdraw money from his own bank accounts.
OR--
A man walked into a Topeka, Kansas ‘Kwik Stop’, & asked for all the money in the cash drawer. Apparently, the take was too small, so he tied up the store clerk & worked the counter himself for three hours until police showed up & grabbed him.
The criminal’s strategies were seriously lacking wisdom!
The strategy you may concoct on your own to fix your situation may not be very effective, so that it ‘comes back to bite you’ as it were...destined to fail.
If your strategy is well thought out it MAY indeed be effective...
*However, it is NOT well thought-out unless it is by God’s design in Christ. Then & only then will it be truthfully successful!
Satan’s strategy is well thought out & is effective at keeping people from living by truth, yet pride being the driver of that strategy, it is ‘ultimately’ doomed to failure. Praise God that Satan’s end-time strategy is limited in time.
By examining ‘Satan’s Finest Hour’, then we are better able to plan around his trickery/wiles/schemes/cunning. We will then be able to see our own spiritual shortcomings & needs, & see that our needs commend themselves to God’s ability rather than Satan’s, our own, or someone else’s.
In avoiding Satan’s deceptions, we will lead fulfilled spiritual lives & lead others to experience that same fulfillment.
Eph. 6:11-13—“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh & blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, & having done all, to stand.”
God furnished, to the apostle John, a picture of Satan’s finest hour.
Those who trust Scripture are furnished a clear picture of Satan’s end time strategy.
What strategies will mark Satan’s last days?
2 major strategies for Satan’s finest hour are...
A--Satan’s Counterfeit CHRIST(:1-10)
&
B--Satan’s Counterfeit PROPHET(:11-18)
Today we are going to continue looking at Part-A
A--SATAN’s COUNTERFEIT CHRIST(:1-10)
We will examine some Satanic strategies that are wielded thru the counterfeit Christ.
Previously we discovered that
Satan’s strategy for his finest hour Turns...
1. POLITICS/Rule His Way(:1-2a)
2. EMPOWERMENT His Way(:2b)
3—Satan’s strategy for his finest hour Turns...
ATTENTION His Way(:3a)
Explanation:(:3a) Commendation/Fascination
:3—“And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, & his deadly wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed & followed after the beast;”
“One of his heads”—
“The Antichrist will be a man” “who is indwelt by a powerful demon of the abyss.” “While all unbelievers are children of Satan, no one in human history will be more completely the devil’s child that the Antichrist.”—MNTC
“The final world empire will” embody the source & outflow of “a satanically empowered individual”(the Antichrist)—Thomas-II, p.154
The prophet Daniel’s fourth “beast”(dominion/empire), will be ruled thru “10 horns”(rulers)(Dan. 7:7-8;Rev. 17:12-13). That dominion/empire is described as dreadful & terrible & exceedingly strong(Dan. 7:7).
Dan. 7:7-8—“After this I saw in the night visions, & behold, a fourth beast, dreadful & terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, & trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, & it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, & there was 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, & a mouth speaking pompous words.”
Rev. 17:12-13—“The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, & they will give their power & authority to the beast.”
*“It appears that one head designates the entire existence of the beast at some given time, because the wounded head equates with the whole beast in 13:12, 14.”—R.L. Thomas-II
The beast from the sea is identified with “one of his/its heads”—being the world-encompassing dominion he holds.
17:9-10—“Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, & the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time.”
In 17:19-11 “the scarlet woman rides on this beast from the sea & the seven-heads are specifically stated to be the seven kings ruling over seven kingdoms.”—NAC
As goes the head, so goes the body.
As goes the leader, so goes the empire.
One of the “heads” of this beast from the sea appeared(“as if”) to have been “slain”(cf.-:12, 14).
This wording may indicate this is ‘one’ of the “false wonders” spoken of in 2Thess. 2:9-10 but probably speaks of those more specifically stated in Rev. 13:13-15.
2Thess. 2:9-10—“The coming of the lawless one[Antichrist] is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, & lying wonders, & with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
Rev. 13:13-15—“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 & lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak & cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”
That “one of his heads” is slain tells us that the imperial world empire—both the effect & avenue of Antichrist’s dominion/rule—&/or it’s leader, appears for all rational thought to have perished by means of the sword or battle(:14).
“One”—mia—Adj.—1) Only one, someone. Strong—One or first.?Irregular feminine of—eiv—a primary numeral; One.
“Heads”(See :1)—kefalh—Noun Fem.—1) The head, both of men & often of animals. Since the loss of the head destroys life, this word is used in the phrases relating to capital & extreme punishment.; 2) metaph.--Anything supreme, chief, prominent—2a) Of persons, master lord--Of a husband in relation to his wife, 2b) of Christ--The Lord of the husband & of the Church, 2c) of things--The corner stone. Strong—from the primary kaptw(in the sense of seizing); The head(as the part most readily taken hold of), literally or figuratively.
“As if it had been mortally wounded”—
“As if it had been slain”[NASB]
The “deadly wound” of the sea beast(Antichrist) will be caused in some way by a sword(:14).
•The Antichrist will declare war on the ten kings(Dan. 11:40-45). He will subdue three of them—the king of the north, south, & east. He will set up his headquarters between the Mediterranean & Dead Seas, & will thus be located in Jerusalem at Mount Zion(Dan. 11:45). “It is apparently during this conflict that the Antichrist is killed.”—A.G. Fruchtenbaum in ‘The Footsteps Of The Messiah’[FOTM]
Rev. 13:12, 14; 17:8-11—“And he[false prophet of the false Christ] exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth & those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.”.....“And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword & has come to life.”....““The beast that you saw was & is not, & is about to come up out of the abyss & to go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth will wonder, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast, that he was & is not & will come. “Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, & they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; & when he comes, he must remain a little while. “And the beast which was & is not, is himself also an eighth, & is one of the seven, & he goes to destruction.”
“As If”(See :2, 11)—wv—Adverb—1) As, like, even as, etc. Strong—probably adverb of comparative from ov, h, o; Which how, i.e. In that manner(very variously used).
“Mortally/To Death”2X[See “deadly/fatal” below](See :12—“deadly”)—yanatov—Noun Masc.—1) The death of the body—1a) That separation(whether natural or violent) of the soul & the body by which the life on earth is ended, 1b) with the implied idea of future misery in hell—1b1) The power of death, 1c) since the nether world, the abode of the dead, was conceived as being very dark, it is Equivalent to the region of thickest darkness i.e. figuratively--A region enveloped in the darkness of ignorance & sin; 2) metaph.--The loss of that life which alone is worthy of the name,—2a) The misery of the soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts & increases after the death of the body in hell; 3) The miserable state of the wicked dead in hell; 4) in the widest sense--Death comprising all the miseries arising from sin, as well physical death as the loss of a life consecrated to God & blessed in him on earth, to be followed by wretchedness in hell. Strong—(properly, an adjective used as a noun) Death(literally or figuratively).
“Wounded/Slain”(See :8)—esfagmenhn eiv yanaton—sfazw—Verb—1) To slay, slaughter, butcher; 2) To put to death by violence; 3) Mortally wounded. Strong—a primary verb; To butcher(especially an animal for food or in sacrifice) or generally--To slaughter, or specifically--To maim(violently). Used 10X.
“His deadly wound was healed”—
“His fatal wound was healed”[NASB]
In order for Satan to destroy the Jews, his counterfeit Christ(the beast out of the sea/Antichrist) is resurrected from death.
Perhaps some will accept him as their Messiah.
Yet remember the 144, 000 & the two witnesses with their influence.
Or perhaps this resurrection-like miracle will solidify people allegiances to & in the Antichrist. Those who would have otherwise believed the true witness of Christ, will be captured by this attention-getting event.
The miraculous nature of the healed “fatal wound” could not be denied by those of the earth.
With the Antichrist’s(resurrected beast from the sea) resurrection he will be worshiped & feared(Rev. 13:3-4).
Having his fatal wound healed, he will then have the influence needed to draw &/or secure ten kings into alliance with himself as head, having relinquished their power & authority to him. Thus Satan’s one-world kingdom will be solidified & solidifying(Rev. 17:12-13). Also, in order for Satan to gain the confidence of & later, destroy the Jews[12:13-14; Dan. 9:27], his counterfeit Christ will be resurrected from death.—FOTM
Rev. 12:13-14—“Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time & times & half a time, from the presence of the serpent.”
Dan. 9:27—“Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice & offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.””
“Deadly/Fatal”[See “mortally/to death” above]—yanatov—
“Wound”(See :14)—plhgh—Noun Fem.—1) A blow, stripe, a wound; 2) A public calamity, heavy affliction, plague. Strong—A stroke; by implication--A wound; figuratively--A calamity. Used 21X.?From—plhssw—apparently another form of plassw(through the idea of flattening out); To pound, i.e. figuratively--To inflict with(calamity).
“Healed”(See :12)—yerapeuw—1Aorist Passive Indicative 3rd Sing.—1) To serve, do service; 2) To heal, cure, restore to health. Strong—to wait upon menially, i.e. figuratively--To adore(God), or specially--To relieve(of disease).?English=‘Therapy’/‘Therapeutic’
Argumentation:
Should we not be Attracted to the Lord!?...rather than to the things of the world, which are the things of Satan?
1Chron. 16:1-12(Ps. 105)—“So they brought the ark of God, & set it in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then they offered burnt offerings & peace offerings before God. And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings & the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD. Then he distributed to everyone of Israel, both man & woman, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, & a cake of raisins. And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to commemorate, to thank, & to praise the LORD God of Israel: Asaph the chief, & next to him Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, & Obed-Edom: Jeiel with stringed instruments & harps, but Asaph made music with cymbals; Benaiah & Jahaziel the priests regularly blew the trumpets before the ark of the covenant of God. On that day David first delivered this psalm into the hand of Asaph & his brethren, to thank the LORD: Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD! Seek the LORD & His strength; Seek His face evermore! Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, & the judgments of His mouth,”
Ps. 98:1-6—“<<A Psalm.>> Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! For He has done marvelous things; His right hand & His holy arm have gained Him the victory. The LORD has made known His salvation; His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His mercy & His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Break forth in song, rejoice, & sing praises. Sing to the LORD with the harp, With the harp & the sound of a psalm, With trumpets & the sound of a horn; Shout joyfully before the LORD, the King.”
Mat. 8:5-17—“Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” And Jesus said to him, “I will come & heal him.” The centurion answered & said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, & my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ & he goes; & to another, ‘Come,’ & he comes; & to my servant, ‘Do this,’ & he does it.” When Jesus heard it, He marveled, & said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east & west, & sit down with Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping & gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; & as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour. Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. So He touched her hand, & the fever left her. And she arose & served them. When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, & healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.””
There are some who only ‘trust’ Jesus because He is a miracle worker. If He does not supply their physical need in the manner they envision then they will not follow Him. Such ‘belief’ is not saving & makes the person ripe for Attraction to the miraculous no matter it’s source. Add the physical want of food & income to the equation(cf.-Rev. 13:16-17) & such people will not be able to resist the beast’s agenda
Jn. 8:21-31, 36—“Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, & you will seek Me, & will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?” And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” Then they said to Him, “Who are You?” And Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. I have many things to say & to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; & I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.” They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, & that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, & the truth shall make you free.”.....“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
Jn. 3:1-7—“There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night & said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered & said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb & be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water & the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, & that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
Gal. 1:6-12—“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you & want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
1Jn. 3:1—“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”
Jn. 12:31-48—[Jesus said]—“Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die. The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; & how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, & departed, & was hidden from them. But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: “He has blinded their eyes & hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts & turn, So that I should heal them.” These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory & spoke of Him. Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Then Jesus cried out & said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words & does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, & does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.”
*Jn. 3:16-21—““For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, & men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light & does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.””
Illustration:
Our summer Royal Ambassadors(RAs—boys youth) trip up the Flint River near Bainbridge, GA/Dave was a Deacon & the RA leader(in his fifties at the time)/He had a pontoon boat & took us up the river a good ways, to a rather high riverbank(~6ft.) that was shaded by lots of cypress trees/It was the dog days of summer—Hot as blazes & buggy!/There was a long sturdy rope attached to one of the bigger trees, with knots tied every foot, so the boys could swing out over the river & drop in/The Flint River was laden(as usual) with red clay sediment & we couldn’t see more than a couple inches down, & I’m on shore saying to myself, “What if there are cypress knees under the surface”/I’m on shore also saying to myself, “What if there are ‘gators around here that’ll rush over to eat us at the first sign of distress?”/At ‘risk of life & limb’, to make a long story short, I dared to grab the rope & jumped in!/The daring of the others got my ATTENTION
I started watching a TV show, which documented daredevil snowmobile riders/I found out there is a whole series of those documentaries/I watched a few minutes of people in Canada who excitedly waited out the summer months just so they could intentionally trail-blaze down snow-covered mountains/They intentionally went careening down virgin mountainsides between trees & boulders/They, on their snowmobiles, intentionally ‘caught air’, jumping over boulders/They intentionally went flying over dropoffs onto snow-covered ground with unknown dangers under the snow—random boulders or felled trees or crevaces buried under the snow!/ATTENTION
Famous last words—‘Hey, look what I can do!’/Some(but praise God, not all) suppose that if the kid who makes such a statement doesn’t mess up doing something really dangerous, then they have earned their respect/ATTENTION
Application:
?Could your faith survive ATTENTION Turned Satan’s Way?
?Could your faith survive Satan’s Finest Hour?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
Dumb Criminals—The kidnapper who withdrew money from his own bank accounts. The robber who worked the check-out counter himself for three hours until police showed up & grabbed him. Poor strategy.
Praise God that Satan’s end-time strategy is limited in time.
Action:
Satan’s strategy for his finest hour Turns...
3. ATTENTION His Way(:3a)
1. POLITICS/Rule His Way(:1-2a)
2. EMPOWERMENT His Way(:2b)
Pt#3-only! Presented 03/24/2019am to:
1stBC Cbelle
206 Storrs Ave.(SE Ave. A)
Carrabelle, FL 32322
Pt#s 2-8 Presented 05/11/2003am to;
Providence Baptist Church
975 Providence Road
Whigham, GA 39897
