Revelation Chapter 13 Verse 4

 Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, “Let no one deceive you by any

means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first,

and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and

exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so

that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is

God.”

 This worship of the Antichrist is what Jesus predicted in John 5:43, “I

have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if

another comes in his own names, him you will receive.” This is what

Satan has wanted all along. To be worshipped. Satan said to Jesus in

Matthew 4:9-10, ““All these things I will give You if You will fall

down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you,

Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and

Him only you shall serve.””

 Now something I want to show you in this example is that Jesus links

worship with serving. And that is a fact. If you worship God, you

will serve Him. If you want to know what you worship, look for what

you serve. Our culture is fixated on serving self. Just like Jesus said

one will come in his own name… In a culture addicted to making

myself/yourself the god of your life, be a Christian… Make Jesus the

God of your life and serve Him.

 One small step further. Jesus said that the other that would come, it

would be him they would receive. So, Jesus links receiving with

worshipping with serving… If you have received Jesus, then there will

be an element of worship in your life and that worship will show up in

you serving the Lord.

Revelation Chapter 13 Verse 5

 Notice John says he “continues” for 42 months, which is 3.5 years…

Revelation Chapter 13 Verses 6 – 8

 And so, he turns against God completely and anything having to do

with God. The Antichrist will claim to be God and John tells us here

that the people will bow, they will receive Him for 42 months.

 In the previous chapter we were given a glimpse of the dragon making

war with the woman and with her children. With Israel and with

Christianity. Here, we see that the weaponry he uses is the military

might of all nations which was given to him. Handed to him by the

New World Order.

 And essentially, wherever a Jew or a Christian is found they are killed.

We will see that again later in this chapter as anyone that does not

worship the beast is killed, as it says here, “He made war with the

saints and overcame them…”

 If you are killed for your faith, then you are not overcome. Last

chapter we read they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by

the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the

death… What good is it if a man gains the whole world yet loses his

soul…, turn that around…, it is well, great gain, if a man loses the

whole world yet gains his soul… They are not overcome in their faith

but physically, anyone found not worshipping the beast during the

Great Tribulation will be overcome physically to the death.

Revelation Chapter 13 Verse 9

 Who is John talking to then? Those that are left. Has to be those that

missed the rapture and I’ll show you that in a moment. These are the

few that may be fortunate enough to find a Bible, to read of all of this

happening right now, right as it was written! He’s not talking to the

church. How do we know that? Where’s the Spirit? Every other

place, “He who has an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit

says…” Not here…John is saying here, heads up! Heads up to where

this is all going…wide-eyed they’d be reading this seeing it unfold

right in their yesterday…and where is it all going? …Verse 10

Revelation Chapter 13 Verse 10

 Patience is so much easier when we know the end of the story.

Anxiety subsides, frustration halts. That’s called hope. John is saying

to them and even to us…the end of this and him is sure…you may be

in a difficult marriage, persecuted on the job, fighting illness,

undergoing severe pressures financially, or just plain

weary…understand…this is the patience of the saints…don’t stop

doing what is right! Trust the Lord and know that He is faithful, and

that He will deliver! Become a worshipper!

 Galatians 6:9, “Do not grow weary while doing good, for in due

season you shall reap if you do not lose heart!” And if He doesn’t in

this life, Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this

present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be

revealed in us.”

Revelation Chapter 13 Verse 11

 This final character gives us the full revelation of the unholy trinity. In

verse 11 we have the dragon (Satan), and then we have “another

beast,” which is not the beast of last week (who was the antichrist).

Here we are introduced to the false prophet. He is something like the

first beast but not the first beast. What’s going on there?

 Just as the Holy Spirit’s job is to point us to Jesus, so too the false

prophet’s job is to point to the first beast, to the Antichrist. (Revelation

20:10 gives us this unholy, mocking, counterfeit trinity clearly, “The

devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone

where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented

day and night forever and ever.”)

 Now, different from the first beast, John says that this beast had two

horns like a “lamb.” I want to come back to this word for “lamb” in

the Greek however for now notice John says, “like a lamb” in other

words “similar to” or “bringing to mind a lamb,” and two horns, not

ten, with two being the number of testimony.

 Sin, the flesh, they do offer a testimony. It always promises. Perhaps

its love, perhaps its life… If sin wasn’t attractive to our wants then

we’d never mess with it…, but in the end, (and we’ll see this as we

continue in this chapter), in the end, the devil, the flesh, sin…always

delivers death!

 You’re never going to get life out of sin. Walking in the flesh, you’ll

always end up in your life and the life of others doing damage control

and clean-up.

 So how? How is it that so many even today are following after and

buying into the plan of one who hates them so much? One whose heart

is filled only with a desire for power and reign and love for himself?

Yet Jesus said of the wide path, many go by its way? It’s very

simple…

 I wasn’t malicious to the core, wanting everyone around me to be hurt

and desiring to use people for my own gain before I gave my life to

Christ. My heart’s desire was love, joy, peace, gentleness and

life…always was. Actually, that’s God’s design in me. Ecclesiastes

3:11 says that, “He has made all things beautiful even setting eternity

in the hearts of His creation.”

 Folks mean well, desire well, seek well. Sinners and when we sin we

are looking for good, but sin and the flesh don’t deliver that and if you

fall for it, well, that’s why so many today are lost. This term “lost” is

used in the Bible and in the church for those that don’t know the Lord,

why?

 We think, we perceive, we hear the whisper of rationality, “No one

will know, go ahead, it’s not that bad…just a little this, a little

that…good will come of it, you deserve this, this is good and this is

right for you,” and we follow, and end up somewhere very

unfamiliar…, not good, somewhere we never planned to go…, we’ve

gotten lost…and because of it, we continue on… All you ever

wanted was joy, love, peace, kindness…but this path…what’s

happened and I don’t even know now what to do…lost…

 This is why divorce papers are signed, kids are without parents, jobs

lost, families torn, bridges burned and we are left to devices that numb

because if we’re about our wits long enough, the self disdain will

usher in a depression and a hopelessness that leaves us praying for

death…THAT is what the devil delivers! THAT is where sin takes

you…promises peace, pleasure and prosperity, and delivers life pain.

 I believe that’s how this beast will do it. That word in the Greek for

lamb is more literally, “little lamb.” Nothing about this account given

by John is threatening. This man, from the perspective of heaven, a

“beast.” Most likely not the perspective of earth. This beast appears

as harmless as a little lamb and speaks the words of the dragon. That

doesn’t mean he screams hate…the dragon would get no followers or

at least very few if that was his tactic…no, he preaches the gospel of

sin…that’s what that means. Not hateful rhetoric but persuasive

leading into deception. This beast is to the Anti-Christ as the Holy

Spirit is to the real Christ. Testifying of him, pointing people to him.

We’ll see him work wonders, miracles that will even incite worship of

the Anti-Christ.

 And that brings up an interesting thought. The Anti-Christ is the

political leader, could this beast be the religious leader? Unifying the

entire earth under the authority of the one who has gone into the

temple and claimed to be God? I think the clues are there…

Revelation Chapter 13 verses 12 – 13

 Calling fire down from heaven is important because it essentially

offsets the miracle of the two witnesses (Chapter 11). The sign looks

the same, the source is the issue. Satan will counterfeit and imitate all

day long, but the source will be revealed when you see what it does to

your life. And in a way, the enemy has an advantage…especially on

those who do not have the Spirit of truth in their heart of hearts…the

Holy Spirit. The devil’s advantage is that he lies…God promises…the

devil lies. And so, while God’s story stays the same…the devil will

change his offerings and promises in a second if it sufficiently traps

you….

Revelation Chapter 13 Verse 14

 There it is…the little lamb…no force here, his weapon is deception.

Many times we rebel against the Word of God because the Word of

God tells us what is right. If we aren’t in alignment with that, what

happens? We feel forced, cornered…, “Well I guess if I don’t change

then I’m wrong…” and something in us doesn’t just submit to that

although we should… Many times, there is a bit of force involved in

following the Lord. Now it’s the force of love…it’s the force of

ultimately what will save your life…but it feels like force none-the-

less and our flesh hates it. These are words here like “causes” and

“deceives.” Obviously, the gospel of the antichrist will be something

the flesh flocks to…as it is today already…the wide path…

 The entire motivation of the false prophet is to bring about unity in

worship to the Anti-Christ. He performs great signs to bring this about

and he even leads them in practicing personal worship by instructing

them to make an image, or build a statue, of the Anti-Christ for their

front porches and dinner tables.

 And so, it all adds up. This is the religious leader of the Great

Tribulation and this new religion is on the scene today just not unified

and not named but it will be…all that serve self, all that travel the wide

path, they already are members of this church of the dragon and now,

the world fully given over to the physical reign of the Anti-Christ, is

united in the worship of the beast and the dragon!

 And how is that unity kept thriving? Same way it is today, through the

constant barrage of inserted ideas of “get mine, have yours, indulge,

kick back, all eyes on me.” Turn the TV on, turn the radio on, open the

newspaper, scan the magazines…, how is it that folks go all day

everyday without giving a thought to eternity, without a moment of

perceiving the call of God upon their lives? Because the noise of the

temporal, the aroma of self-service…is constant.

 In a culture addicted to making myself/yourself the god of your life,

be a Christian… Make Jesus the God of your life and serve Him.