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Alpha/Omega - Revelation: The Antichrist and False Prophet
May 16, 2021 · 1 hr 3 min
Understanding their identity, practice and plan helps us as believers to know what to expect in our world as we move closer to the end. During the final three and half years of human history the antichrist will attempt to establish his authority as a political and military leader. The false prophet will be his minister of propaganda and facilitate his leadership. These times will call for perseverance and wisdom of the saints as they endure faithfully to the end. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
Series BRAVE Church May 16, 2021 · 1 hr 3 min · BRAVE Church
Understanding their identity, practice and plan helps us as believers to know what to expect in our world as we move closer to the end. During the final three and half years of human history the antichrist will attempt to establish his authority as a political and military leader. The false prophet will be his minister of propaganda and facilitate his leadership. These times will call for perseverance and wisdom of the saints as they endure faithfully to the end. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub ...more Show the full description Show less Understanding their identity, practice and plan helps us as believers to know what to expect in our world as we move closer to the end. During the final three and half years of human history the antichrist will attempt to establish his authority as a political and military leader. The false prophet will be his minister of propaganda and facilitate his leadership. These times will call for perseverance and wisdom of the saints as they endure faithfully to the end. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
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0:00 Lord Jesus, we just thank you for your living and active word. And, father, we are so grateful for you. Not only do we get the privilege of worshiping you here, but, Lord, hearing you. And the way that we hear you, Lord,0:10 is through your word. Lord, I pray for your help this morning that I would be accurate in teaching your word, and Lord that your Holy Spirit would use your word to cause us to be greater followers of the Lord Jesus0:21 Christ. And so, Lord, we gather with you here today and for all who are gathered who desire to hear the Lord speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you, and you will, by faith, put into practice what he0:32 shows you. Would you agree with me this morning by very loudly saying the word, amen. Amen. Having a game plan is very important. If you're going on a vacation, it's important to know where you're going0:44 and where you're traveling to and what your game plan is. If you're an athletic team, having a game plan is important for what you prepare to do, what you're planning to do during the game. If you're a military, having a0:56 strategy or a game plan is super important. And oftentimes, after a vacation or after a sporting event or after a military battle, different people will gather and they'll talk about how good their game plan was. And1:07 they'll say, know what? We game planned really well. It went super well. We did everything we set out to do. Other times they'll say, you know what? We weren't expecting that over there, and our game plan didn't1:17 accommodate that. And other times they'll say, we we shouldn't have a good plan. I mean, we got thoroughly beat because we just weren't ready for what was going to happen. When it comes to our lives spiritually, it's
1:27 important that we have a game plan. It's important that we know what God wants us to do. But just as important is when God gives us insight into his word for what our enemy is going to do, and we know how they're gonna
1:38 react, it's helpful to us. Sports teams that know, hey, this is the tendencies this team has. This is what they're gonna do. Our military that says this is the tendency that this group has, and here's what they're gonna
1:49 do. The more aware you are of your enemy and how they're gonna respond, the greater opportunity you have to win the battle. We've been talking in this book about the cast of characters. Last week, we were in
2:01 Revelation chapter 12, and we unveiled 5 different characters. We talked about who's gonna be a player in the end, and we talked about Israel being a player in the end. After this week, do you believe me? Yeah. Israel's
2:12 gonna be a player in the end. Satan's gonna be a player in the end. Jesus Christ is always a player. He's the most significant figure in the Bible. We also see the heavenly host of angels warring being a player in the
2:22 end, and we also see the saints or believers in Christ being a player in the end. What we're gonna see today in Revelation chapter 13 is we're gonna get introduced to 2 new characters, and more important than who they
2:33 are, it's going to be how they're gonna live and what they're gonna do so that we understand our enemy and his strategy. Today in Revelation chapter 13, you're gonna be introduced to the antichrist and
2:44 the false prophet. This final world political military dictator and his ministry of propaganda, the false prophet, who is going to try to support him. You're gonna see counterfeits all
2:56 throughout this text as to who the Antichrist is and what he is trying to accomplish and what he is trying to do. Just to give a little refresher course, especially for those of you that are new, as we've been walking
3:08 through the book of Revelation, really the first 11 chapters are spelled out for us chronologically and what is going to happen. And in chapter 12, 13, and 14, John, is the author, parenthetically begins to tell us about
3:20 what this last 3 and a half years begins to look like. Last week, we took a look at those 5 casts of characters. Today we're gonna be introduced to the Antichrist and the false prophet. In chapter 14 there's some more
3:31 information regarding this period of time. And then in chapter 15 it will pick up with the bold judgments which is where we left off when we finished chapter 11. This is very similar to how Jesus spoke during
3:43 the Olivet Discourse in Matthew chapter 24. You remember the first 14 verses that are there. That's all chronological. And then verses 15 to 31 parenthetically talks about the great tribulation, this last
3:55 3 and a half years. So during this last 7 year period called the seventieth week of Daniel, 7 years long, it's gonna start with the Antichrist making a peace treaty with Israel. He's going to break that covenant in the
4:06 middle of the 3 and a half years. You'll see the Antichrist come on the scene in a way he hasn't before, setting up worship of himself, and that's where the text is focused on today. Because we'll be
4:18 talking about the antichrist and the false prophet, let's start by talking about the antichrist. I'm gonna invite you to open your bibles up to Revelation chapter 13. We'll read through the first 10 verses together. See
4:28 if you can see the character qualities of this antichrist. We'll talk about 3 for the antichrist. We'll talk about 3 for the false prophet as we make our way all the way through chapter 13.
4:39 He says, and the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea having 10 horns and 7 heads and on his horns were 10 diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous
4:51 names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.
5:03 I saw 1 of the heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast. They worshipped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast, and they
5:15 worshipped the beast saying, who is like the beast and who is able to wage war with him? There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act for 42 months was given to him. And
5:27 he opened his mouth to blaspheme against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, that is those who dwell in heaven. It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over
5:39 every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of
5:50 the lamb who has been slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is destined for captivity to to captivity, he goes. If anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed.
6:02 Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. And here in these 10 verses are probably the clearest picture of who this end time world dictator is going to be, the
6:14 Antichrist. Anti meaning against or without. 1 who is going to set up his own kingdom or attempt to set it up as a 1 world system. And here's what we're gonna learn about this Antichrist. There's 3 things
6:26 that he will intentionally try to do, several, but we'll highlight 3 from this text. And the first is this, the Antichrist will intentionally seek to dominate the world. The Antichrist
6:38 will seek to dominate the world. As the text opens up, we see the dragon standing on the sand of the seashore. This is really the end of chapter 12. The dragon, if you'll remember, say it out loud. Who's the dragon?
6:50 Satan. Satan. This is the dragon. He's Satan, and he's standing on the seashore. And what do we see? We see a beast coming out of the sea having 10 horns and 7 heads and on his horns were 10 diadems and on his heads were
7:02 blasphemous names. Now this should be very reminiscent of what we studied last week in Revelation chapter 12. When we studied Satan, We saw in chapter 12 and verse 3, another sign appeared in heaven and behold a great
7:12 red dragon having 7 heads and 10 horns and on his head were 7 diadems. So what we've seen is almost a similarity. We see 7 heads and 10 horns. When we describe Satan, see
7:24 7 heads and 10 horns. But the crowns were on the heads. What we saw and talked about last week is that these 7 heads represent 7 worldwide kingdoms that at some
7:36 point had power over the whole earth. 6 of them have existed. 1 was Egypt, then Assyria, then Babylon, then Medo Persia, then Greece, then the Roman Empire. Then there's been a period of
7:48 time, but 1 day there will be a worldwide governmental, military, political, geopolitical world system that will run the entire globe. That's what's coming.
8:00 And what you see here that's a little different is the crowns or the diadems were on the 7 heads when it talked about the devil. But when it's talking about this beast, these horn these diadems are on the the horns. What
8:11 we have is a shift from these 7 world empires to 10 kings under this final rule of antichrist. Now you may say, how how do you get all that? Where where does that come from? I'm not just reading that in my bible.
8:23 I would encourage you to open up your bible to Daniel chapter 7. Unfortunately, because of time, we don't have time to go through the entire chapter. But Daniel, in his book, chapters 7 through 12, spells out a lot of
8:35 detail about what is going to take place in the end times and what it's going to look like. What we saw in Revelation chapter 12 was in verse 2, it said, and the beast I saw
8:47 which was like a leopard and his feet like those of a bear and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him authority and his power and his throne was given great authority. In Daniel chapter 7 verses 1
8:58 through 6, we see these same creatures. We see a leopard. We see a bear. We see a lion. This really spelled out 3 different world empires. The leopard represented Greece. The bear
9:10 represented Medo Persia, and the lion represented Babylon. Now there's a lot that could be said about these animals. Describing armies to animals is just telling us a little bit about what those armies were like.
9:20 Obviously, a leopard is fast and swift like Greece was. The bear represents power and being super powerful even though it lumbers, and the lion is the king of the jungle. The lion has all
9:32 authority, maybe greed to reign and rule. What we're gonna find out about this final world empire is that it's a combination of all the evil features preceding all the other world empires. Notice in Daniel chapter 7
9:44 verses 7 and 8 in Daniel's vision. He said, after this, I kept looking in the night visions and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong. And it had large
9:56 iron teeth that devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet. And it was different from all the beasts that were before it and it had 10 horns. While I was contemplating the horns,
10:07 behold, another horn, a little 1 came up among them, and 3 of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it. And behold, this horn possessed eyes like a man
10:19 I'm sorry. Possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boast. When we see this beast coming out, beast literally means monster. K?
10:31 There have been antichrists in every generation of the church. Jesus says, watch out for many false Christs will come proclaiming in my name that they are the Christ and deceive many. In every single
10:42 generation, there have always been, quote, unquote, antichrists or people that want to remove God from the culture and be worshiped themselves. There are people that will claim they're the Lord. In every generation,
10:54 there has been that, and there will continue to be that more and more until Jesus Christ arrives. But notice what John says in first John chapter 2 in verse 18. He says this, children, it is the
11:06 last hour. And just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour. Here's what he says. There's always been
11:18 antichrist, but there's coming a final antichrist. And in Daniel's vision, when he spells out the 7 heads and 10 horns, he talks about a little horn. That little horn is the Antichrist. That little horn has the
11:30 appearance and face of a man. And what is he gonna do? He's gonna uproot 3 of the kingdoms, and he's gonna rule over all. So there's gonna be some 10 kingdom confederation and an Antichrist that's gonna rise up
11:42 and rule. And where do we see him coming out of? He's coming out of the sea. A lot of people make a big deal about the sea. They say, well, the sea is Gentiles, so this antichrist is gonna rise up out of the nations and
11:53 be a Gentile. That's why we know that. Now is that true? I don't know. Could be. What we do know from Revelation chapter 11 that this 1 that rises up, this beast, this antichrist
12:05 is a monster, and he's coming from hell himself. This antichrist is going to be possessed by the devil himself. Just like Judas Iscariot at the end of his life had Satan
12:17 enter into him, the antichrist will have the same thing. Now pause for a second. Think about our godhead. Think about who we worship. Father, son, and holy spirit. The trinity
12:28 God. The father is not the son or the spirit. The son is not the father or the spirit, and the spirit is not the father or the son, but all 3 of them as 1 distinct essence make up 1 Godhead in
12:40 3 distinct persons. Now how does that work? Glory to God. I don't know. That is God. That's who he is. I mean, that's his nature. That's his character. That's who our God is. That's the God we
12:52 worship. What is Satan the God of? Satan's the God of this age. He's a counterfeit. So what is he gonna do? As the dragon, Satan himself, he's gonna set himself up as God, and then he's going to have a person
13:03 empowered by him just like the Lord Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man. He's going to have a counterfeit in this Antichrist who is a person who is empowered by him. And then when you see the, false
13:15 prophet, what is he gonna play the role of? He's gonna play the role of the Holy Spirit and be the minister of propaganda for the Antichrist. Just like the Holy Spirit's number 1 ministry is to magnify the resurrected
13:25 Jesus Christ. This is a counterfeit, unholy trinity that we're seeing here, And this is what's going on. And Daniel saw it, and Daniel was totally afraid. I mean, the end of Daniel chapter 7 I
13:37 encourage you to go back and read all of Daniel chapter 7. In Daniel chapter 7 verse 28, after he hears about fourth army that's going to rise up, where he's terrified in what he sees, he says, at this point, the
13:48 revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself. I mean, he's freaking out. Like he's never seen a
14:00 world power like what's about ready to come on the scene. There will be an end times world power. 1 government. 1 currency. 1 religion. And the religion will be to worship the Antichrist.
14:12 The religion will be to worship a man. Can you picture a world that wants to worship a man? Can you picture anybody that says if somebody could solve the world's problems, I'd be happy to give my allegiance to them? It's
14:23 happening right before your eyes. Is it gonna happen in this generation? I think it could. It may not. We don't know. But the bible says be ready. Be ready. Be ready. You do not know the hour. You do
14:35 not know the time. Be ready. And what we see in this Antichrist is he is going to dominate the world. He is gonna do everything he can to show that he has power
14:47 over everything. Now there have been Antichrist throughout our time. I mean, you go back just a little less than 100 years. You see Hitler. He was an antichrist for sure. Tried to have worldwide
14:59 global domination, and if it weren't for God's providence and a couple of snowstorms and different things, the whole world would have spoke German. Right? And we look at it as Americans looking back in history, like, how
15:09 could anybody have followed that? What was up with that? Here's what's up with that. The world is always looking for someone to worship, and if you don't worship the Lord
15:21 Jesus Christ, your heart will go after other gods every single time. And our world is looking for a geopolitical leader to solve its problems. Just watch the news. Everybody's
15:33 looking for someone to solve their problems. Your problem, friends, is your sin. Jesus Christ's death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead solved that problem. You need no
15:45 other. He's the king of kings and the lord of lords, and you need to settle that matter. Amen? So what we have here in the end is an antichrist that will intentionally seek to
15:57 dominate the world. And what is he gonna do? When we read about his heads, there were blasphemous names. Now what's blaspheme mean? Blasphemy means to give contempt to God. It means to give God a reverence.
16:08 Jesus said every sin during his ministry would be forgiven except the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Blasphemy means to verbally or written reproach God's
16:20 name, his character, his work, or his attributes. It means to talk down about God. During Jesus' ministry, it would be saying this. Hey, that's not the Holy Spirit. That's not God that did that. You're of the devil.
16:31 You're of Satan. The only sin that's unforgivable is unbelief. Unbelief is when you attribute the things of God to the things of Satan, and the world will do this very thing. Satan will have
16:42 blasphemous names. What's blasphemy? Jesus was crucified for blasphemy. The Jews crucified him because they said, you a mere man claim to be God. Well, indeed he was, he is, and will always be God.
16:54 He doesn't blasphemy, and he was telling the truth. Blasphemy means what you'll see at this end time rule is that these kingdoms of the world that are all gonna come together are gonna claim that the Antichrist is God,
17:06 and that you must give your allegiance and worship to this 1 man who is gonna be empowered by Satan. You're not gonna have freedom to choose your religion. You're gonna give all of your allegiance to him. That's what
17:17 he's going after. He's called the god of this age. He's called the prince of the power of the year. He's been given time during this last 3 and a half years to exercise that rule. Now let me be clear on this. I tried to
17:27 be clear on this last week. I wanna be clear on this again. Martin Luther referred to the devil as God's devil. Satan doesn't have authority on his own. When you hear the story you're gonna hear today, God's
17:38 just telling us, here's what's gonna happen. Just be aware. In Matthew 24 Jesus said, I told you in advance so that you'll know. I'm just I'm letting you know what's coming. But don't be afraid. Satan doesn't have more
17:49 power than God. Satan's not much more powerful than Jesus. There's Jesus and then there's created beings. So don't be afraid of this, but be aware of this. There is an antichrist
18:01 coming that will intentionally seek to dominate the world. You say, how will he do that? Because number 2, the antichrist will intentionally seek to deceive the world. He'll seek to deceive the world. Notice verse
18:13 3. I saw 1 of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed, and the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast.
18:26 Now what do you see here? What you see here is a staged death and resurrection. He's not just talking about 1 of these confederate nations that looked like it was falling and it came back, and everybody's like, oh, the
18:36 beast is so great. What you're seeing is the beast received a fatal wound. You'll even see that as we go on in the in the text in chap in verse 12 of chapter 13, whose fatal wound
18:48 was healed. What makes the gospel so powerful? What what makes Jesus unlike anyone else that's ever claimed to be God? He said destroy this temple. I'll rebuild it in 3 days. He told his disciples on 3 different
18:59 occasions he was going to Jerusalem to die, but not to worry because he would rise from the dead. Who is the king of kings and the lord of lords? The 1 who can pay for sin and overcome death. What did Jesus do? He died
19:10 on the cross and he rose from the dead. So what is Satan going to try to counterfeit with his little imp that's the antichrist? He's gonna stage a death and a resurrection. It's going to appear to the world that
19:22 he's received a fatal blow with a sword and that he's dead but he's gonna come back to life. And when the world sees this Antichrist, look he died and now he's alive. He must be God. Let's worship him.
19:34 It's deception at its highest level. That's what's going on. And the world is looking for someone to worship, and this counterfeit will cause people to
19:46 bow down and worship the Antichrist. Now whether this is God giving power where he's really been resurrected for a period of time, he's not truly resurrected. I mean, we saw Lazarus rise from the dead. We
19:57 saw Jairus' daughter rise from the dead. We saw other people in the New Testament rise from the dead, but they weren't resurrected. Resurrected means I've risen from the dead, I've conquered death, I'll never ever die
20:07 again. Lazarus got to die twice. Jairus' daughter got to die twice. Jesus Christ died once and overcame death, and he will he is alive, and he'll never die again.
20:19 What you see in the Antichrist, he's gonna stage a resurrection, but it's only for a short period of time because the Bible says his end is going to come, and He's going to get thumped, and He's going to eventually get
20:28 thrown into the lake of fire. He's not God. He's not resurrected, but there's going to be deception in such a way that the whole world's going to look on and say, Look look Look what
20:40 happened. He's risen from the dead. We we finally have this utopia. We finally have somebody that's worth giving our entire allegiance to. And notice what it says in verse 4.
20:52 They worship the dragon. Say it with me out loud. Who's the dragon? Yeah. So they're gonna worship Satan. There's gonna be Satan worship. Global satanic worship. They're gonna worship Satan
21:04 because he gave his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast saying, who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him? When people see this staged resurrection,
21:15 here's what they're gonna say. There's no 1 like him. There's no 1 like the Antichrist. There's no 1 like this beast. There's no world dictatorship that's ever been I mean, this is awesome. But it reminds me of other
21:26 scriptures that I see in my bible like Exodus 15 11, which says this, who is like you among the gods o lord? Who is like you majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders.
21:39 Deuteronomy 33 29, blessed are you, o Israel. Who is like you, a people saved by the lord? Psalm 35 10, all my bones will say, lord, who is like you? When
21:51 the bible's asking who is like you, what is the rhetorical answer when it comes to God? Who is like our God? What's the answer? No 1. There's no 1 like our God. There's only our God. There are no other gods. What are
22:02 people in the end gonna say? Who's like the beast? Who's like Satan? There's no 1 like him. What are they saying? We're gonna give our allegiance to him. Would you worship Satan?
22:15 I mean, most people will just catch us, no. I've never worshiped Satan. I'd never worshiped saint. What's it mean to worship saint? It means when you give your allegiance to that which
22:26 goes against God's word. And aren't we seeing satanic worship in our culture right now? Hasn't there been a push that way for generations? Aren't we seeing it play out? Mean, me just give you an example. Let me tell you
22:37 what the Bible teaches and then what satanically inspired people teach. The Bible teaches that the world was created by God in 6 literal days, that he created everything. Thrones, dominions, rulers, and
22:49 authorities, all things were created by him and through him. God created everything, and that's why we're here with a purpose. What does Satan say? No. It just kinda happened. You can't really know. I mean you just
23:01 kinda oozed out of some protoplasm and it just kinda all came together and there's no God behind all this. It's just kinda there. Christianity and the bible says human beings were the crown of God's creation on day 6.
23:13 That we were created in the image of God. What does Satan say? No. You're you're no different than anything else. As a matter of fact, the creation is more important than you who are created. Let's save the planet. Let's
23:24 work on taking care of the planet because the planet and animals and trees are way more important than human life. That's satanic. The Bible talks about this in chapter 1, that there are 2 genders. Do you
23:36 know what they are? Male and female. That's God. That's just the Bible. I'm not trying to be hateful here. I'm just telling you what the Bible says. What does our world say? There's myriads. I don't even know how many
23:48 there are anymore. What does God say about marriage? Marriage is between a man and a woman for life. What does our world say? That's just kind of whatever you want it to be.
24:00 The Bible says that God being worship worshiped is central to our life. That the most important thing we can do is to worship God. That our hearts are seeking to worship the true God. What
24:12 does the world say? It's not about God. It's about you. It's about you. Sermons should be about you and being a better version of you and helping you and being successful in
24:23 your life and making more money and having more possessions because it's you. That's satanically inspired worship. And then what about this 1? The Bible says Jesus Christ is the only way to God. He's the way the truth
24:34 and the life, and no 1 comes to the father except through him. There's only 1 God, and Jesus is the only way to him. What's the world say? Well there's many ways. Your path is best for you. My path is best for me. I
24:45 mean, all that stuff is a move towards satanic worship. That's where we live. That's the world that we live in. And think about this for a minute. At some
24:57 point in time, the things that I just told you from the bible in our country will be considered hate speech, and they will lock you up for saying it. And you might sit there and say, well, what? I'm not the pastor.
25:09 Listen. We're the church. If we don't stand up for what's truth now, it's gonna come faster than you think.
25:21 God has called us to stand on the truth. This is the truth. It's happening in other countries. In Canada right now there's a man who was arrested because his daughter wants to become a boy
25:33 and he's against it, and because he's against it he's been arrested. He's in a jail cell 23 hours a day in isolation because he stood up and said that's wrong for my daughter to become a son. And he's
25:45 been arrested and locked up for being hateful to the culture. There are pastors being arrested for gathering. Right? Mean friends, I'm just telling you right now, if we
25:57 don't stand on the truth, have nothing to stand on. Like it is time have we not seen it in the last year? Churches and pastors and Christians kind of cowering.
26:09 Like I don't know if we can stand up for Jesus because what are other people gonna think? What is this? Here's what we're gonna do at Brave Church. We are gonna stand on the truth. We are gonna gather, and we're gonna
26:17 worship the Lord till Jesus comes back.
26:31 Praise to the Lord. Praise the Lord.
26:48 He's worthy of all of our praise. Amen? He's worthy of it. He's worthy of it. And the world is looking for a group of believers that say do you really believe what you say? Do you really believe what the word says?
27:00 I love pastoring a church that would answer with a resounding oh yes we do. Oh yes we do. But there's a deception. There's this deception. There's this move away like I can't do this because somebody else might be
27:12 offended. Friends it's impossible in our generation not to offend somebody. You can't even say hello without offending somebody, without saying it in the wrong way. Right? I mean, then that's what's
27:24 going to happen. There's gonna be this deception in the world, and everybody's gonna say, who's like this beast? Who's like that? We've never seen anybody that's died and been resurrected. Oh, yes. We have. The Lord
27:33 Jesus Christ, and he's the only 1 worthy of being sought. Amen? The antichrist will intentionally seek to dominate the world. He'll seek to deceive the world. And then finally, he'll do this. He will intentionally seek
27:45 to destroy the saints. Notice verse 5. There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for 42 months
27:57 was given to him. 42 months, that's 3 and a half years. That's 1260 days. We're in that last period of that 7 year period. And he opened his mouth and blasphemed against
28:08 God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. What's he gonna speak against? He's gonna speak against the 1 true God, and he's gonna speak against everybody that says they believe
28:20 that. That's what's going to happen. 1 generation of the church will experience that. The last generation of the church is gonna go through some of that. It's called the great tribulation. That's why Jesus says, be
28:31 ready. I'm telling you in advance before it happens. Is it gonna happen in our in our generation? I don't know. I don't know. We're closer than we've ever been. I don't know. But
28:42 notice what he said. He's gonna try to destroy the saints. Notice verse 7. It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was
28:53 given to him. Said, wait wait time out. Great commissions. Jesus had all authority in heaven and on earth. Now now it says he does. Like, woah woah woah what's going on? There's a time frame for the last 3 and a half
29:02 years of the final 7 years that Jesus is allowing Satan to run rule for a period of time. Why? Because at that point in time, a majority of the world will say, this is what we've always wanted
29:14 anyway. Would you just give us that? We've always looked for a king to serve. Would you just give us that? And in the last 3 and a half years Jesus is gonna say, okay go ahead. Have your way. We read last week that
29:26 there's gonna be a time where Satan gets kicked out of heaven. He's already fallen, but he still has access to God where he accuses us day and night and does all these different things. But at that last 3 and a half year
29:35 period, Michael and all the angels are gonna war against him. He's gonna get booted to the earth. And when he realizes he's only got a little bit of time, he's gonna go crazy. He's gonna go after the Jews, and then he's
29:44 gonna go after every single saint that's still left on the planet. That's what he's going to do. That's who he is. And he's been given some authority by Jesus, but just know that's a short time frame. That at some point
29:55 in time during that last last 3 and a half years, like we talked about, after the antichrist appears, after there's a falling away, there will be the second coming of Jesus, which begins with the rapture of the saints
30:06 and the resurrection of the dead. And that begins Jesus' second coming before he pours out judgment on the planet. You say, how do you know that's the order? Turn in your bible to second Thessalonians chapter 2. Second
30:17 Thessalonians chapter 2. Don't have time to go through this. It's a you could go through the first 12 verses this week if you want to read that in addition to Daniel 7. But here's what Paul writes. Paul's writing to the
30:27 Thessalonian church because they're concerned they're in the day of the Lord. They lived in a day like ours, like, where they're asking, is this God's judgment being poured on us? Like, what's going on in the world?
30:36 Anybody ever asked that question here? Like, is this God? Is he mad at us? Like, what's going on? Because I thought you told us we'd be out of here by now. And Paul writes back to comfort them. He says, now we request
30:45 you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him. That's the parousia. That's our gathering with Christ. That you not be quickly shaken from your composure or disturbed
30:55 either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if it's from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Don't worry that the day of the Lord has come. God is not going to pour out his wrath on believers. I taught
31:05 you that. This is not the day of the Lord. Tribulation maybe, difficulties, tough times, not the day of the Lord. God is not going to pour out wrath upon his saints. Verse 3, let no 1 deceive you
31:17 in any way for it will not come, the day of the Lord, unless the apostasy comes first. Apostasy means falling away from the faith, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of
31:28 destruction, who exalts himself above every so called god or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of god displaying himself as being god. What's he say? You know you're not in the day of
31:40 the lord because 2 things haven't happened. Here's the 2 things that haven't happened. The man of lawlessness, the antichrist has not been revealed, and there hasn't been a falling away of the faith. You say, what's the
31:49 falling away of the faith? The falling away of the faith are false professors, people who say they're Christians until it gets rough and realize I'm not really a Christian. I just kinda went along with it for a little
31:58 while. So when you see those 2 things, then you'll know the day of the Lord's happening. And when the antichrist at the midpoint takes over, he's been there for the 7 years, but when he takes his place, what's going to
32:09 happen during the first 3 and a half years, he's gonna appear like this great political ruler and figure. He's gonna make all sorts of promises to end world hunger and to end all the diversity problems that we have.
32:21 And what you'll see is we're gonna take a mark. Those people that don't know the Lord will take a mark, and without this mark, you won't be able to buy or sell or do anything. But can you imagine the tracking that will
32:30 go on in people's lives? Mean, if you could track everybody everywhere, which you kinda can now with a cell phone anyway, but if you can do that, then it'd be no more crime. There'd be no more rape. Be no more
32:41 kidnapping. Why? Because you could put the person there at the time that it happened. You could watch them. So crime's gone. World hunger's gone. We can distribute food. We can keep your health in your hand or on your
32:53 forehead. We we can take care of you. And the whole world's gonna say, incredible. We finally have somebody that solved all the world's problems. We want you. At the 3 and a half year point in the middle,
33:05 he's gonna take his seat in Jerusalem, in the Holy of Holies. He's gonna take his place and declare that all people in the world worship him. During that first 3 and a half years, he'll make a peace treaty with Israel.
33:16 It'll appear as if he's for Israel, they're gonna work together. Israel will start their sacrificial system again to get ready for the coming Messiah. 3 and a half years in, he's gonna break the treaty, break the
33:26 covenant, and say, no. No. No. I'm gonna be worshipped. And things are gonna go from bad to worse. That's what's gonna happen with this Antichrist. He's a blasphemer. Blasphemer means I don't want anything to do with
33:37 Jesus. I don't want to hear another word about him. I don't want to hear another word about church. I don't want hear another word about God, and I don't want to hear about anybody else that serves him. Done with you.
33:46 What's he gonna try to do? Destroy the saints. Now notice what happened. It says it was given him to make war, and notice verse 8. All who dwell on the earth
33:57 will worship him. That is, notice this, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who has been slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. Like, this is my
34:08 time to pause as your pastor and ask you this question. Is your name written in the lamb's book of life? I mean, you better know. Because I think we we hear false gospels in our culture all the time,
34:20 which goes something like this. Hey. Guess what? God's really good. Did you know that you've done some bad things? Anybody here have done any bad things? Okay. Well, don't worry about that because Jesus died on the cross
34:31 for all the bad things that you did, and if you'll just believe that he died on that cross for you, then you'll go to heaven. Okay. Good. I'll I'll just believe that, I guess. Friends, that's not the gospel. The gospel
34:42 is not that Jesus died for bad things you did. He died for the bad thing you are. It's your heredity. It's your sin. You are dead in your trespasses and sins. You are separated
34:54 from God. He has every right to throw you into an eternal hell and punish you forever and ever for his glory, and he would be just in doing it. And yet, he loved the world so much that he didn't want
35:06 you to remain dead, but came incarnate flesh, died on the cross for all your sin, not just the things you did but the thing that you are, and rose from the dead in victory to demonstrate that
35:17 he's the only true God so that anybody who recognized that they were dead could repent and by faith trust him and him alone. That's the gospel. And here's the truth. Is your
35:29 name written in the book of life? Because what you see the parody here is anybody whosoever will may come. Whosoever will may come. If anybody
35:41 today would repent and trust Jesus, God will take you to be his forever and ever, and no 1 can ever take you out of his hand. And as you enter the door that says, whosoever will may come, you're like, oh I'm coming. But
35:51 when you get inside and you look back up, here's what it's gonna say. Eternally secure before the foundation of the world. That God had your name written in his book long before you knew he was even looking
36:03 for you. And that's the paradox. Going to church does not make you a Christian. Coming to brave church does not make you a Christian. Hearing the Bible does not make you a Christian. Being in a small group doesn't make
36:14 you a Christian. Being a good person doesn't make you a Christian. Here's what a Christian is. 1 who recognizes they're dead apart from Christ and have turned from their sin and turned to Christ and said, you and you
36:24 alone is where I have life, and I'm holding on to you until I see you face to face. That's Christianity. If that's not who you are, guess what? You won't make it. You won't make
36:35 it. If your Christianity is just kind of a thing you do on Sundays. If your Christianity is just a verbal profession of your faith, you really don't believe it in your heart, you won't make it. You just won't make it.
36:47 Christianity is when you know that you know that only in Jesus and in him alone do I have life. And because I have life in his name, I'll never let him go. And even better than that, here's what the bible says, he'll
36:59 never let you go. No 1 can snatch you out of his hand. He's marked you with a seal. You are eternally his. He's given a down payment or a deposit until you're completely his. Here's the question, are you completely
37:11 his? When did you turn your life from yourself over to God? When did you give him your life? I think John chapter 6 and verse 37 highlights this where Jesus is talking during his earthly ministry. He says, all that
37:23 the father gives me will come to me, and the 1 who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out. Anyone, anywhere, at any time that turns their life over to the Lord Jesus Christ, he won't
37:34 say, no, not you. No. I'm not gonna Christ died for the world, and anyone who by faith that comes to him is his for all eternity. Here's the biggest question as
37:46 we study this book. Do you have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Because truly, if you do, your spirit will bear witness with his spirit that you're a child of God. You'll know that you know that you know.Show more
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