The Strategy For Satan’s Finest Hour-2

The STRATEGY For SATAN’s FINEST HOUR--A-II—Revelation 13:1-18

Attention:

Those Poor Alligators!

At the zoo one day when a woman began frantically running around the alligator habitat. She was holding her head in both hands desperate as to what to do.

Screaming hysterically, she ran up to a man who was wearing a T-shirt with a Christian message on it. She yelled out, “Help me, help me sir, my mother-in-law fell into the alligator habitat!”

Knowing there was little he could do to help, he immediately began looking for zoo employees, or policemen, or firemen, or EMTs, or anyone associated with public safety to help the poor woman.

The woman looked at him funny & said “No, No sir, help is already on the way. I want you to pray for those poor alligators!”

The daughter-in-law was concerned for the alligators that they would be protected from her mother-in-law!

Likewise our concern should be for those who are unaware of the danger they are in without Christ.

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--To produce a Counterfeit CHRIST(:1-10)

&

B--To produce a Counterfeit PROPHET(:11-18)

By examining ‘Satan’s Finest Hour’, then we are better able to see our own shortcomings, & God’s commendations, so that we may avoid Satan’s deceptions, & lead others on a straight path.

A--SATAN’s COUNTERFEIT CHRIST(:1-10)

8 Satanic strategies wielded thru the counterfeit Christ.

Previously we discovered that

Satan’s strategy for his finest hour Turns...

POLITICS/Rule His Way(:1-2a)

2—Satan’s strategy for his finest hour Turns...

EMPOWERMENT His Way(:2b)

Explanation:(:2b) Authority

:2—“...The dragon gave him his power, his throne, & great authority.”

“His power”—

Inherent strength, or ability.

The dragon(Satan) will supply this “beast”/Antichrist “his power.”(12:9, 12c)

*?But exactly what power does & will Satan have to give?

For one thing, Satan offers the spirit of present worldly ‘systems’ because he is ‘the Prince of the power of the air’...

Eph. 2:1-2—“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses & sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,”

There is also a pervasive sense that ‘this God stuff’ is inconsequential, impersonal, & irrelevant.

Satan wields power over “rulers”, “Powers”, “world forces”, “spiritual forces of wickedness”—“principalities”, “powers”, “the rulers of the darkness of this world”, “spiritual wickedness.” In the Tribulation period, Satan’s power will be invested in a man—the Antichrist.

Eph. 6:12-13—“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.”

His power will be manifested in an all-consuming pride made worse by strict limitations upon his time & space(12:9, 12c), forced upon him by God’s timetable regarding the end day. “Dragon”(See :4)—drakwn—Noun Masc.—1) A dragon, a great serpent, a name for Satan. Strong—probably from an alternate form of derkomai(to look); A fabulous kind of serpent(perhaps as supposed to fascinate). Used 13X.

“Gave”(See :4, 5, 7, 15)—didwmi—Verb—1) To give; 2) To give something to someone—2a) Of one's own accord to give one something, to his advantage—2a1) To bestow a gift, 2b) To grant, give to one asking, let have, 2c) To supply, furnish, necessary things, 2d) To give over, deliver; 3) To give—3a) To cause, profuse, give forth from one's self—3b) To appoint to an office, 3c) To cause to come forth, 3c) To give one to someone as his own; 4) To grant or permit one. Didwmi denotes “to give” in general, opposite to lambanw--“to take”; dwreomai specific--“to bestow, present”; didwmi might be used even of evils, but dwreomai could be used of such things only ironically. Strong—a prolonged form of a primary verb(which is used as an alternative in most of the tenses); To give(used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figuratively; greatly modified by the connection).

“His”2X(See :4, 6)—autov—Pronoun—1) Himself, herself, themselves, itself; 2) He, she, it; 3) The same. Strong—from the particle au[perhaps akin to the base of ahr[air] through the idea of a baffling wind]--Backward; the reflexive pronoun--Self, used(alone or in the comparative eautou) of the third person , & (with the proper personal pronoun)of the other persons.

“Power”—dunamiv—Noun Fem.—1) Strength power, ability—1a) Inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts & puts forth, 1b) Power for performing miracles, 1c) Moral power & excellence of soul, 1d) The power & influence which belong to riches & wealth, 1e) Power & resources arising from numbers, 1f) Power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, hosts. Dunamiv denotes power, natural ability, general & inherent Strong—from dunamai[To be able or possible]; Force(literally or figuratively); specially--Miraculous power(usually by implication--A miracle itself).