Participants:
Series Code: ICJ
Program Code: ICJ190015A
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00:01 Someday the mark of the beast, when it comes,
00:03 will be very popular. 00:05 But why? 00:29 Well, we've been studying Revelation 12 and 13, 00:32 and these three great powers that show up; 00:35 pagan Rome, and then papal Rome inherits the power and 00:39 authority of ancient pagan Rome, and then we see this beast 00:44 from the earth with his lamb-like horns 00:47 and then speaks like a dragon. 00:49 It makes an image to this leopard beast 00:52 and forces the world. 00:54 And then we talked about 666 and the struggle 00:58 not only of Christianity, but of ancient Israel 01:01 to not compromise with the paganistic powers of the world. 01:06 We've seen how Christianity has been enveloped, 01:09 how the papal power has been enveloped 01:12 with a lot of compromise with the Babylonian systems 01:15 and the paganism, and how 666 is the number of ancient paganism, 01:21 Babylonian paganism, and became the number of all those powers 01:26 that persecute God's people, and put together church and state 01:31 and persecute God's people. 01:33 We saw it in ancient Babylon 01:34 with Daniel and his three friends. 01:36 And now we're coming down again to what is the actual mark. 01:40 So we've talked about the number of his name 01:43 and what that stands for, this persecuting power. 01:47 But what is the mark of the beast? 01:49 Now there's been all kinds of wild ideas. 01:53 But you've got to remember, context is everything. 01:55 And so we want to go right to the Scripture again 01:58 and take a look at this. 02:00 Now the Bible says in Revelation 13:16-17, 02:04 some very well known parts of Scripture, 02:08 "He causes all..." 02:10 That's this beast from the earth. 02:13 "...causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, 02:16 free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand 02:20 or in their forehead..." 02:22 So it's an economic issue that is going to play a big deal. 02:26 Persuasion is going to be a big deal. 02:29 "...that no man may buy or sell..." 02:31 Economics are going to be a huge deal. 02:35 "...except one who has the mark of the beast, 02:37 or the number of his name." 02:40 Now this takes some wisdom. 02:42 The Bible says to use wisdom. 02:44 To think about this a little bit. 02:46 But it doesn't mean that it's not knowable. 02:48 There's many counterfeits, as I've mentioned before. 02:52 But the Scripture is its own interpreter. 02:55 And I want to underline that. 02:57 The Bible will interpret itself if we allow it to. 03:00 Because its real Author is not the men who wrote it, 03:04 but the Holy Spirit who inspired them to write it 03:07 and gave them the truth. 03:09 So we want to let the Scripture interpret itself. 03:13 Now as I mentioned, there are many, many counterfeits. 03:17 But there's a connection here between Revelation 6 and 7 03:23 that pictures the end of the seven seals 03:25 and the coming of Jesus, and a countless number of people 03:29 that say, "Who will be able to stand?" 03:32 And then you find chapter 7 answering that question. 03:37 And chapter 7 answers that question 03:39 with those angels who are holding back the winds of strife 03:44 until something very special can happen. 03:47 It's called the sealing. 03:49 And this angel comes with a seal, 03:51 and he seals God's people in their foreheads. 03:55 We're going to come back to that. 03:57 So in the end of time the world is going to be brought 04:00 to a final test. 04:03 A test that is going to make people make a decision 04:08 whether they're going to trust Jesus and the Bible 04:11 with their life or whether they're going to trust 04:14 the forces of economics and the mark of the beast. 04:18 That's why the mark of the beast is going to be 04:20 pretty popular in the end of time. 04:22 It's going to look like a solution to the world's ills. 04:25 A solution to economics, 04:27 a solution to some other things I'm going to talk about. 04:30 And that's why it's going to be popular. 04:32 That's why people are going to buy into it. 04:33 It looks like it's going to be able to solve 04:35 their earthly problems. 04:37 But it doesn't solve their earthly problems 04:39 because the truth is they end up crying for the 04:42 rocks and the mountains to fall on them 04:44 and to hide them from the face of the coming Lord. 04:47 But those who have not received the mark of the beast 04:50 and are sealed with the seal of God, 04:51 they're ready for Jesus to come. 04:54 And we want to be ready for Jesus to come. 04:57 So this test of the mark of the beast will decide the destiny 05:01 of every human being who is alive when Jesus comes. 05:05 And there's going to be a lot of people alive 05:06 when He comes in the clouds of glory. 05:09 Now the three angels' messages found in Revelation 14 05:12 kind of repeat and enlarge the issues 05:15 that we find in Revelation 12 and 13. 05:18 And we want to hear this third angel, there's three angels, 05:21 but we're going to focus on the third one. 05:22 We want to hear this third one and what he says 05:25 about the mark of the beast. 05:26 Revelation 14:9-11 05:29 "Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 05:32 'If any man...'" And there's that word again. 05:35 Worships. 05:36 "If any man worships the beast or his image, 05:43 and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 05:47 the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God..." 05:52 Now it doesn't mean that God is just off the rails 05:55 angry kind of thing, but God is just. 05:57 He's the judge of the universe. 05:59 And He's coming back in justice. 06:01 I mentioned this before, a lot of people have... 06:03 And I do, I'm looking forward to the coming of Jesus. 06:06 He's going to put an end to all this whole sin problem 06:08 and the misery and the mess that's here. 06:11 And I'm grateful for that. 06:12 He comes to rescue His people that are faithful, 06:14 but He also comes with justice. 06:17 Justice against those who try to destroy His people. 06:20 And as the Bible says, and to destroy the earth. 06:23 Well, let's go on here. 06:26 Worshiping is a main issue. 06:30 And the way you worship the beast is by receiving his mark 06:34 or serving him. 06:35 Remember, worship and serving go together. 06:39 You can't separate the two. 06:41 So the Revelation is a book of contrasts. 06:44 And let me give you some of those contrasts 06:46 just to refresh our memory. 06:48 There are two women in Revelation: 06:49 the woman of Revelation 12 clothed with the stars of heaven 06:53 and the sun and the moon, and the woman of Revelation 17 06:58 clothed with all of her jewels, etc. 07:01 Scarlet and purple; you can read the description there. 07:05 And then there's the great red dragon 07:07 with seven heads and ten horns contrasted by the lamb 07:11 with seven horns and seven eyes. 07:14 And then there's the New Jerusalem 07:17 that's pictured in the Bible, but it is contrast to Babylon, 07:22 that great city that the whole world embraces 07:25 and loves in the end of time. 07:27 We'll talk more about this Babylon before we're done here. 07:30 And then, of course, there's the holy Godhead: 07:33 the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. 07:35 And it's contrasted by the false trinity, if you please: 07:40 that of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. 07:43 And in contrast to those who worship the beast 07:47 and receive his mark, in Revelation 14:12 07:52 it goes on to say this, "Here is the patience of the saints; 07:59 here are they who keep the commandments of God 08:02 and the faith of Jesus." 08:03 These saints have patience. 08:05 They wait on the Lord. 08:07 And waiting sometimes is so hard. 08:10 But they have patience. 08:12 They've trusted their lives with God, and they're waiting on Him. 08:16 And they do something. 08:18 They keep the commandments of God 08:20 and they have the faith of Jesus. 08:25 Now the key to discovering what the mark of the beast is 08:30 is found in the text itself. 08:33 The mark of the beast then is in opposition 08:37 to something found in the commandments of God. 08:39 So that third angel says, "Here are they that receive 08:42 the mark of the beast and worship the image," 08:45 and then contrast the saints who keep the commandments of God 08:51 and the faith of Jesus. 08:53 So what that means is that there's something in the 08:58 commandments of God that's the genuine mark 09:02 or seal, if you please, that's being counterfeited 09:08 by this image to the beast. 09:11 So we need to take a look then, of course, 09:14 at the Ten Commandments. 09:15 If we find the genuine, we shouldn't have any problem 09:19 finding the counterfeit. 09:22 So this opposition to this seal of God 09:27 is like the antichrist, which means, in place of. 09:29 The mark of the beast is substituted for something 09:34 in the Ten Commandments. 09:36 It's in place of. 09:38 The name, antichrist, also indicates a substitution. 09:42 I've mentioned this before. 09:43 In English we usually think of, "anti," 09:45 as being simply, "against." 09:47 But in the Greek it's often used as, "in place of." 09:52 Now it can be in place of hostile, because it 09:54 wants whatever its got. 09:56 But that's what it really means here. 09:58 It's a substitution for something that's good 10:01 that's not good. 10:04 Okay, it could be someone who falsely claims to be Christ, 10:09 but it can also be a false christ promoted by others 10:13 in place of the real one. 10:17 Now this is what the explanation of the Baltimore Catechism 10:20 on page 130 says. 10:23 This is a very fascinating thing. 10:24 What is says, and we've identified this leopard beast 10:28 that the other beast makes an image to, we've identified 10:34 that as the papacy and the popes during the Dark Ages. 10:39 And we're going to find here this very fascinating quote 10:41 from the Baltimore Catechism, page 130. 10:44 "Our holy father, the pope, the bishop of Rome, 10:48 is the vicar of Christ on earth, the visible head of the church." 10:54 "'Vicar;' that is, one who holds another's place 10:58 and acts in his name." 11:00 That is amazing, isn't it? 11:02 In other words, he's saying the papacy 11:05 acts in place of Christ on earth. 11:11 So this substituted power has something to do with 11:15 the worship of the Creator, and of course the Ten Commandments. 11:19 That's clear from the context. 11:21 Now some people may say, I've had some people tell me, 11:24 "Well it's just talking about the commandments of God. 11:25 And that could be, you know, 'Love your neighbor 11:27 as yourself,' or something like that." 11:29 But wait a minute. Context is everything. 11:32 You can't pull it out of the context. 11:34 If I cherry pick this, and cherry pick this, 11:36 and take them out of context, I can make people say 11:39 anything in the world. 11:40 But the context is the ark of the covenant. 11:44 And listen to Revelation 11:19 as it opens up the verse 11:49 just before we get the opening to Revelation 12 and 13 11:53 and the final events of earth's history. 11:56 And Jesus is moving through that heavenly Sanctuary. 11:58 He's moving into the time of the end, 12:01 and He moves into the Holy of Holies. 12:02 And this is where the ark of the covenant is. 12:05 This is what it says, "The temple of God 12:08 was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant 12:11 was seen in His temple." 12:13 The ark of the covenant contained nothing less 12:16 than the Ten Commandments. 12:18 The Ten Commandments. 12:20 And that's the context. 12:22 Those that keep the commandments of God 12:24 in chapter 12, and those that keep the commandments of God 12:27 in chapter 14, it's talking about the Ten Commandments. 12:31 Because that's the context. 12:33 Is there a mark or some equivalent 12:36 in the Ten Commandments? 12:38 If there is, then we have found the truth about 12:42 the mark of the beast, 12:43 and the Scripture has interpreted itself. 12:47 So let's see if we can find something that, 12:50 like the mark of the beast, that would go something like this: 12:54 the mark of the beast received in the forehead 12:56 verses "blank" of God received in the forehead. 13:01 If you go to Revelation 7, in the end of time 13:05 describing those people who are able to stand. 13:08 So they're going to be equivalent to those, of course, 13:09 that are going through the mark of the beast. 13:11 It's just another recaption of it. 13:13 And it says, "And after these things," in Revelation 7:1-3, 13:17 "after these things I saw four angels standing 13:21 at the four corners of the earth..." 13:24 Why are they standing at the four corners of the earth? 13:26 What is the reason here? 13:28 Well the Scripture is very clear. 13:30 They're holding back these winds of strife 13:33 in order that this mighty angel with God's seal 13:37 can come and seal His people, seal His saints, 13:43 with the seal of the living God. |
Revised 2019-10-02