{"id":18986,"date":"2019-05-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-12T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-038-the-coming-world-ruler-part-1\/"},"modified":"2019-05-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T05:00:00","slug":"revelation-038-the-coming-world-ruler-part-1","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-038-the-coming-world-ruler-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 038 – The Coming World Ruler (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18986","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 038 - The Coming World Ruler (Part 1)","sermon_date":"20190512","sermon_month":"5","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":6650,"sermon_slides":6653,"sermon_mp3":6655,"sermon_id":"5121915583913","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"13:1-3a","sermon_transcript":"Dr. Andy Woods\n\nThe Coming World Ruler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a05-12-19\n\nRevelation 13:1-3a \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lesson 38\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 13.\u00a0 As you\u2019re turning there I want to thank Gabe for teaching last week, and Jim for filling in for Sunday School.\u00a0 Of course, I want to wish everybody Happy Mother\u2019s Day.\u00a0 How does the saying go, \u201cA man works from sun to sun, but a woman\u2019s work is never done?\u201d\u00a0 Would you all agree with that?\u00a0 [clapping] Another one of my personal favorites is \u201cshe who rocks the cradle rules the world.\u201d\u00a0 So, we\u2019re king of living in a cultural where motherhood is sort of being demoted under feminism and different things so we want to acknowledge the biblical role of mother\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad-hood, its importance in the outworking of God\u2019s purposes.\u00a0 I know that some women sort of dread Mother\u2019s Day for the simple reason that for whatever reason they\u2019re childless.\u00a0 And I would encourage you that this is your day as well because even if you don\u2019t have physical lineage, sons or daughters, the Bible teaches very clearly that you can have spiritual sons or daughters, those that you disciple, those that you pour your life into.\u00a0 In fact, you remember that Paul called Timothy his what?\u00a0 His son in the faith!\u00a0 So this is your day as well, Mother\u2019s Day.\n\nAnd of course, this time of the year is always a happy time because we have the college graduations going on and so we want to acknowledge some people in our church that recently graduated from college.\u00a0 First of all, yesterday I had a chance to go to the graduation ceremony at the College of Biblical Studies and guess who walked across the aisle to receive her diploma, with honors, high honors I think it was\u2026 Judy Cunningham.\u00a0 [Clapping] And then I also saw another guy walk across the stage and receive his diploma with the highest honors and he got some kind of award, it was someone that was involved with our church for many years, and now has moved on to another ministry but you all remember Chris Lampson, don\u2019t you?\u00a0 [Clapping] And then out in Dallas, Texas someone else graduated, someone that\u2019s filled in the pulpit here, Jim McGowan\u2019s son-in-law, Will Miller. [Clapping] Graduation is always a happy time.\n\nLet\u2019s turn to the Book of Revelation, chapter 13.\u00a0 Now you might be saying I thought you just read a bunch of verses about the antichrist, how are you going to work that into a Mother\u2019s Day message?\u00a0 [Laughter] And the answer is I make no attempt to connect the two together at all; it just happens to be what we\u2019re going through.\u00a0 But we are in a place in the Book of Revelation where the trumpet judgments have been sounded.\u00a0 A host of judgments have come to the earth and as typically happens in the Book of Revelation there\u2019s about five times where the chronology stops to give more information about what is happening.\u00a0 This happens about five times in the Book of Revelation and that\u2019s where we find ourselves in our third chronology stopper where Satan is counteracting what is happening.\u00a0 The interesting thing about the devil is he never goes down without a fight and with trumpet seven we read these words in Revelation 11:15. \u201c\u2026The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; [and He will reign forever and ever.]\u201d\n\nThe kingdom of God is coming to the earth.\u00a0 Do you believe that?\u00a0 In fact, didn\u2019t Jesus tell us to pray \u201cThy kingdom\u201d what? \u201ccome,\u201d and here in the Book of Revelation it\u2019s happening.\u00a0 Satan is not just going to sit there and take it lying down; he never does!\u00a0 So, the break in the action is an explanation of what Satan is doing as a response to what God is doing.\u00a0 God makes a move, Satan makes a counter move.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why in your personal life you face so many struggles if and when the Lord begins to use you, because as the Lord begins to use you Satan is threatened by that and he makes a countermove and begins to apply resistance.\n\nThe countermove happens in Revelation 12 where Satan is evicted from heaven and desires to gobble up the woman (or the nation of Israel) which is the instrument through which the kingdom will come.\u00a0 He hates Israel.\u00a0 He hates the Jews.\u00a0 And what better way to prevent the coming of the kingdom than to destroy the instrument through which it is predicted the kingdom will come.\u00a0 We saw all of that in three sermons going through Revelation chapter 12.\u00a0 And the interesting thing about Satan is he uses people.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, one day up in Caesarea Philippi Peter made a statement concerning the crucifixion of Jesus, Jesus began to predict His crucifixion and Peter, just to kind of sum it up, told the Lord that wouldn\u2019t be a very good career move for you at this time, to get crucified.\u00a0 And you remember the response of Jesus to Peter? \u201cGet behind Me Satan.\u201d [ Matthew 16:23, \u201cBut He turned and said to Peter, \u201cGet behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.\u201d]\n\nYou see, a moment earlier God had used Peter\u2019s mouth and now Satan gets into the action and Satan uses Peter\u2019s mouth to discourage our Lord from going to the cross and accomplishing His mission.\u00a0 Just as God uses people Satan uses people.\u00a0 And what you have in Revelation 13 are the two people Satan uses to fulfill his plan of world domination and eradication of the nation of Israel.\u00a0 These people are, number one, the first beast, Revelation 13:1-10, and number two, the second beast, Revelation 13:11-18.\u00a0 We have been introduced to the first beast or the antichrist already in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 He is the rider on the white horse with the first seal judgment, Revelation 6:1-2, the one who comes on the scene and seems to solve the world\u2019s problems.\u00a0 We\u2019ve also run into him in Revelation 11:7, he is the beast that killed the two witnesses in the city streets of Jerusalem.\u00a0 And yet God, as we have studied, brings those two witnesses to life.\u00a0 So, we\u2019ve had some glimpses, if you will, of this coming beast or antichrist; we just haven had a lot of in depth information about him until now but once you hit Revelation 13 you get an in depth description of him and his associates, an individual described in the second part of the chapter, the second beast.\n\nIf I had to distinguish these two beasts I would say this: the first beast is primarily political, he\u2019s a political entity.\u00a0 The second beast, which obviously we won\u2019t get to today, is primarily a spiritual or religious entity.\u00a0 A political figure in the first part of the chapter, and a religious figure in the second part of the chapter.\u00a0 And those are two realms that Satan always seeks to get control of, number one, politics, and number two, the world of spirituality or religion.\u00a0 Once he gets control of those two realms there\u2019s really not much more he needs to have to deceive the masses and to deceive the world.\n\nSo, we\u2019re going to begin our journey here by taking a look at the first beast, Revelation 13:1-10.\u00a0 And here are the 13 points we\u2019re going to be marching through.\u00a0 There are points 1-7.\u00a0 [1.\u00a0 His Gentile ethnicity (1b) 2, His fulfillment of Daniel\u2019s prophecies (1c-2a) 3. His Satanic empowerment (2b) [4] His resurrection (5) His sudden appearance in John\u2019s vision (6) His power-based adoration (7) His oratory (5a)] And there\u2019s points 8-13.\u00a0 [(8) His time of authority (5b) (9) His blasphemies (10) \u00a0His persecution of God\u2019s people (7a) (11) \u00a0His global jurisdiction (7b)\u00a0 [12] \u00a0His unregenerate audience (8) [13] \u00a0His oppressive influence (9-10)]\n\nYou say well, wait a minute, how are we going to beat the Baptists to the cafeteria [Laughter] for a Mother\u2019s Day celebration if you go through all 13 points.\u00a0 Well, you can rest easy, I won\u2019t be going through all 13 points today, but don\u2019t tempt me, I may be tempted to do it.\n\nBut notice first of all the first point, notice the first beast, notice his sudden appearance.\u00a0 Take a look if you could at the beginning of verse 1, in chapter 13, \u201cAnd the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.\u201d\u00a0 Now do you remember who the dragon is?\u00a0 The dragon is Satan, we\u2019ve carefully explained how to define the various symbols in the Book of Revelation and in prior sermons you\u2019ll remember that the dragon is the devil himself, the serpent of old.\u00a0 The Book of Revelation calls him that in chapter 12:9 and chapter 20:2. [Revelation 12:9, \u201cAnd the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 20:2, \u201cAnd he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;\u201d]\n\nSo, Satan here is standing on the earth; he\u2019s standing on the sand of the seashore.\u00a0 Now why is he doing that?\u00a0 Because he\u2019s been kicked out of heaven completely.\u00a0 We talked about the fact that Satan, even in his fallen state has the capacity to go into God\u2019s presence, not to worship and serve as he once did as a high-ranking angel but rather to communicate and to accuse.\u00a0 In fact, we\u2019re told in the Bible that Satan accuses us before the Lord how frequently?\u00a0 Day and night, and aren\u2019t you glad you have a good defense attorney in the person of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Apparently about halfway through the tribulation period this privilege that Satan has is taken away and he plummets to the earth. He comes to the earth because the earth is the only realm or the only domain that he has left.\u00a0 And as we have talked about Satan uses people!\u00a0 This is why your Bible says things like this, in Ephesians 4:26, \u201cDo not let the sun go down on your anger, [27] lest you give the devil a\u201d what? \u201ca foothold.\u201d\u00a0 Satan can\u2019t possess a Christian because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and I don\u2019t think God and Satan can be roommates\u2026 Amen!\n\nBut I do believe this, that when a Christian will pander to the sin nature Satan will take whatever room you want to give him and he can actually use your mouth much like he used Peter\u2019s mouth for destructive purposes.\u00a0 And when we let the sun go down on our anger and we harbor grudges and animosity and vengeance towards other people, not remembering that we have been forgiven just as we are to forgive other people.\u00a0 You know, there\u2019s a solution for bitterness\u2014it\u2019s called forgiveness!\u00a0 If you\u2019re a forgiving person you\u2019re not going to be a very bitter person but if you\u2019re an unforgiving person you\u2019ll be a very bitter person.\u00a0 And Satan, Ephesians 4, will take whatever ground you give him and actually use your mouth (without you even knowing it many times) to accomplish his own purposes.\n\n\u201cDo not let the sun go down on your anger,\u201d the first time I read that I thought well, here\u2019s the solution, I think I\u2019d even move to Alaska because the sun never goes down, not most of the time, and I can stay angry all of the time\u2026 and no, that\u2019s not what the Bible says!\u00a0 The Bible says have an attitude of grace towards other people, remembering that God has given us grace.\u00a0 But Satan loves to use people and in John 13:27 we learn that Satan actually entered into Judas to accomplish the final deed, John 13:27, the trial of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That verse says, \u201cAfter the morsel, Satan then entered into him. [Therefore, Jesus said to him, \u2018What you do, do quickly.\u2019]\u00a0 Judas, John 17:12, is called the son of perdition.\u00a0 [John 17:12, \u201cWhile I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.\u201d]\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Now in the Bible there\u2019s only one other person in all the Bible that gets the designation \u201cson of perdition,\u201d son of destruction.\u00a0 You know who that is?\u00a0 That\u2019s the anti-Christ.\u00a0 2 Thessalonians 2:3 says, \u201cLet no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,\u201d and I think the reason that only these two people, Judas and antichrist, Judas and the first beast, are called the \u201cson of perdition\u201d or destruction is because these are the only two people in history that will actually be possessed by Satan himself.\u00a0 Just as he possessed Judas to attack the first coming of Christ, he (I believe) will possess the beast or the antichrist thwarting in Satan\u2019s mind the Second Coming of Christ.\u00a0 More on that a little bit later.\n\nBut the coming lawless one, or the coming antichrist, or the coming beast, is going to be a man.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I have entitled this message The Coming World Ruler.\u00a0 Before Jesus comes to establish His kingdom upon the earth there will be what we would call an artificial substitute, a counterfeit, a counterfeit that will be palatable to those that reject the authentic.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to me that the more a person rejects truth the more their mind becomes opened up to artificial substitutes.\u00a0 And this is the sorry state of the hypostatic union before the overwhelming conquest of Jesus Christ, massive deception is predicted to hit this planet.\u00a0 And this coming lawless one is in actual man, he\u2019s a person!\n\nThe reason I emphasize that is there\u2019s a lot of people out there teaching today that the antichrist is not going to be a person, there\u2019s just this spirit of the antichrist.\u00a0 They like to quote 1 John 4:3, which talks about the spirit of the antichrist.\u00a0 I wish they would read the whole verse.\u00a0 What does the whole verse say? \u201cevery spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.\u201d\u00a0 Before THE antichrist shows up the world will have within it a spirit of the antichrist but the spirit of the antichrist in no way denies the actual coming of a person who will embody the spirit of the age.\n\nDidn\u2019t we just read in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 concerning the antichrist?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t he called the \u201cman\u201d anthropos<\/em> in Greek, \u201cthe man of lawlessness.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, you\u2019ve got your Bible open to Revelation 13, look down at verse 18.\u00a0 \u201cHere is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man;\u201d see that? \u201cand his number is six hundred and sixty-six.\u201d\u00a0 Beloved, there is coming a person, just as historical, just as personal as was Jesus Himself two thousand years ago who will be the antichrist.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting that when you study this in church history the early church fathers agreed with what I\u2019m saying, not just the spirit but a man.\n\nHere is a quotation from Irenaeus; Irenaeus is just one generation removed from John who wrote the Apocalypse. The chain goes like this: John to Polycarp to Irenaeus.\u00a0 So Irenaeus would certainly know quite a bit about what the Bible originally meant and Irenaeus says this in His book, Against Heresies.\u201d<\/em> \u00a0For when he (Antichrist) is come, and of his own accord concentrates in his own person \u2026\u201d see that, \u201che shall do according to his own will and choice \u2026so that his dupes may adore him as the Christ.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Towards the end of the quote he says, \u201cHis prescience foreseeing all this, and at the proper time sending such a man<\/u>...\u201d\u00a0 [Irenaeus (AD 130\u2012202), Against Heresies<\/em>, 5.28.2. sections 1-2.]\n\nHe\u2019s an actual person; in fact, this person is so real I think it\u2019s possible he could be on the earth today.\u00a0 In fact, I believe this: Satan does not know when the rapture will take place, once the rapture takes place the restrainer will be removed, the antichrist will have his way, Satan, not being omniscient but being a created being does not know when that event is going to occur so he\u2019s always had someone waiting in the wings should this be the generation that sees the removal of the restrainer.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why you can look at so many people in history or so many people in public life today and you say to yourself, wow, they would be a heck of an antichrist. We\u2019ve had some Presidents in recent memory, if I remember right, that almost looked like they were auditioning for the role because Satan doesn\u2019t know when this restraint will be removed and he\u2019s always had a man or a person waiting.\u00a0 And what we\u2019re reading about here in Revelation 13 is when this man comes to the forefront.\n\nNow you might be asking yourself, well, wait a minute, I thought he was called the beast here. Is he a beast or is he a man?\u00a0 The reason he is called a beast here is not to subtract from the fact that he is an actual person; he\u2019s called the beast here to emulate or to reveal what his true character is.\u00a0 His character will be beastly, it will be animalistic, sort of like a ravenous beast that has absolutely no conscience.\u00a0 The reason he is called the beast is because that\u2019s the way his character will be like.\n\nBy the way, Peter, the apostle, says something very similar about Satan in 1 Peter 4:8.\u00a0 He said, \u201cBe sober, be on the alert, your adversary the devil prowls around,\u201d what\u2019s the next word? \u201clike,\u201d figure of speech, simile to be exact, \u201clike a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.\u201d\u00a0 Pete says you know, Satan isn\u2019t a lion but he sure is an awful lot like a lion in terms of a ravenous animal that has no conscience. And I think that\u2019s the reason he has revealed here this coming antichrist as a beast.\n\nSo we move away from his sudden appearance in John\u2019s vision and we move to number two, notice his Gentile ethnicity.\u00a0 There are many, many people that will tell you that this coming antichrist is Jewish.\u00a0 Notice what it says there in the second part of verse 1, John says, \u201cThen I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns\u00a0were<\/em>\u00a0ten diadems, and on his heads\u00a0were<\/em>\u00a0blasphemous names.\u201d\u00a0 Notice that this beast arises out of the sea.\n\nNow many people say he must be Jewish because the event that will start the seven-year tribulation period will be a peace treaty between the antichrist and unbelieving Israel.\u00a0 That peace treaty, and I believe largely the world today as you look at Israel entering into one peace treaty after another, is being set up before our very eyes.\u00a0 But whenever this restraint is removed and this beast or this man of sin comes forth he will enter into a peace treaty with unbelieving Israel.\u00a0 The Book of Isaiah, chapter 28 calls it a treaty with hell itself.\u00a0 [Isaiah 28:15, \u201cBecause you have said, \u201cWe have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have made a pact.]\n\nOnce that treaty is entered into the seven-year countdown following the rapture begins.\u00a0 And people say well, the antichrist must be Jewish because the Jews would only enter into a treaty with a fellow Jew, they would never enter into a treaty with a Gentile guaranteeing her security.\u00a0 But you see, I believe that there\u2019s information here in Revelation 13 that indicates that this coming beast will not be Jewish but he will be a Gentile.\u00a0 Why do I say that?\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice in verse 1 that he comes out of the sea.\u00a0 Now do a study on the sea and you\u2019ll discover that the sea represents in the Bible (typically when it\u2019s used symbolically) the mass of Gentile nations.\u00a0 For example, over in Isaiah 57:20 it says, \u201cBut the wicked are like the tossing sea, [For it cannot be quiet, And its waters toss up refuse and mud.]\u201d\n\nAnd then, as we\u2019ve studied in Daniel 7:2-3, that chapter which talks about these Gentile powers coming forth, it says they come forth out of the sea. [2] \u201cDaniel said, \u201cI was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. [3] \u201cAnd four great beasts\u201d Gentile powers \u201cere coming up from the sea, different from one another\u201d\n\nIn fact, when you go over to the Book of Revelation, chapter 17 verse 15 it says this: \u201cAnd he said to me, the water\u201d that\u2019s the sea, \u201cwhich you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.\u201d\u00a0 A careful study of \u201cthe sea\u201d indicates that \u201cthe sea\u201d is not the land of Israel; \u2018the sea\u201d would represent the great mass of Gentile population and therefore I believe that this coming beast will not be Jewish but he will be Gentile.\u00a0 One of the reasons I think this is because he is operating at the end of the time period that we have studied very carefully in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 called the end of the times of the Gentiles.\u00a0 It\u2019s a period of time when the nation of Israel is trampled down by various Gentile powers, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and finally will come the antichrist\u2019s kingdom.\u00a0 And doesn\u2019t it make sense at the end of the times of the Gentiles it will be headed by who?\u00a0 A Gentile.\n\nIf you want to make a case for Jewish identification I would not identify the first beast as Jewish; I think there\u2019s a much better case that the second beast, the religious leader, will be Jewish.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 If you look at verse 11 it gives you a clue.\u00a0 It says, \u201cThen I saw another beast coming out of the\u201d what? \u201cthe earth; \u201cthat\u2019s the Greek word which can also mean land, \u201cand he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.\u201d\u00a0 The second beast does not come out of the sea, he comes out of the land.\u00a0 And when you do a study on the land what you\u2019ll discover in the Bible is the land can refer many times to the land of Israel.\u00a0 Zechariah 12:12 says, of Israel, \u201cThe land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves.\u201d\u00a0 The land is Israel, the sea is the Gentile population.\u00a0 So, my current thinking on this is the first beast will most likely be a Gentile; the second beast very well could be a Jewish individual.\n\nBut we continue to read here and we come to number three, you\u2019ll notice how the first beast, where we\u2019re focused this morning, is now fulfilling Daniel\u2019s prophecies.\u00a0 Daniel himself gave a series of prophecies about this coming world ruler all the way back in the 6th<\/sup> century B.C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And notice what it says there in the last part of verse 1 of chapter 13, of this first beast.\u00a0 Notice what it says, \u201chaving ten horns and seven heads and on his horn were ten diadems and on his heads were blasphemous names.\u201d\u00a0 Now if you\u2019re a student of the Book of Daniel what you\u2019ll start to remember is this relates very much to Daniel\u2019s prophecies given six centuries before the time of John.\n\nThere are two issues here: what does it mean by ten horns and seven heads, and then what in the world is verse 2 talking about where it says, \u201cAnd the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like\u00a0those<\/em>\u00a0of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.\u201d In fact, my family and I just watched together The Wizard of Oz, and I was reminded of lions and tigers and bears. What do you make of these animals and what do we make of these ten horns and seven heads that are so intimately connected with the first beast. Let\u2019s see if we can tackle these one by one.\n\nWhat are these ten horns?\u00a0 We know from Daniel 7:23 that the antichrist one day will preside over what we would call the New World Order.\u00a0 [Daniel 7:23, \u201cThus he said: \u2018The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 A one-world government that will devour (Daniel 7:23) the whole earth.\u00a0 All of the talking and speaking today about a global government, one world government, these politicians can\u2019t even get through their speeches without mentioning globalism.\u00a0 All of the sort of sayings that people have, act locally, think locally, all of these kinds of things, I call it globaloney myself.\u00a0 But you can see how the psychology of the world is being prepared for this coming one world government.\u00a0 And when we go to Daniel 2 we learn that this world government is going to b divided into ten kings or ten kingdoms.\u00a0 I would say it this way, ten regions.\u00a0 I remember when one of these one-world organizations, The Club of Rome, came out with a map a few years ago and they had the world divided up not into nine regions, not into eleven regions but exactly ten regions and I said oh my goodness, this idea is alive and well in the thinking of fallen man.\n\nDaniel 2:44 says this: \u201cIn the days of those kings,\u201d what kings?\u00a0 The ten kings! \u201cthe God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will be not left for another people, it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but itself will endure forever.\u201d\n\nIn order for God\u2019s kingdom to come, the stone cut without human hands, in order for it to shatter\u00a0\u00a0 this ten-king confederacy in the days of those kings what do you have to have first?\u00a0 A ten-king confederacy.\u00a0 The nations of the world divided into ten, ten kings, ten kingdoms, perhaps it\u2019s talking about ten regions.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the best explanation I know of for the ten horns on this beast.\n\nBy the way, you\u2019ll notice in verse 1 that on each of these horns, later called heads which I\u2019ll explain in just a minute, are blasphemous names.\u00a0 Yes, the coming world ruler will be primarily political but his involvement will also move into the religious realm where he will engage in some of the most blasphemous, most anti-God statements, activities, and programs a human being has ever done.\u00a0 So, I think this is a pretty good explanation as to who these ten horns are.\n\nYou say well wait a minute pastor, I\u2019m reading this very carefully and it doesn\u2019t just say ten horns, it says seven heads.\u00a0 He has ten horns and seven heads. What does that mean?\u00a0 My short answer is I\u2019m not entirely sure, but I can give you the options.\u00a0 Daniel 7:24 says this: \u201cAs for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones\u201d look at the end of verse 24, He will \u201cwill subdue three kings.\u201d\u00a0 So, you have this ten king confederacy all over planet earth and a one world government, and then the antichrist shows up and he takes control of the whole thing.\u00a0 And yet what does it say here?\u00a0 Three of the ten won\u2019t cooperate so they must be subdued.\u00a0 So, he rises to power, seven cooperate, three do not, so the three must be subdued. According to my old math ten minus seven equals three, or ten minus three equals seven.\u00a0 You say I didn\u2019t know we had to do math for Bible prophecy.\u00a0 But that may explain why it\u2019s ten and then seven, maybe it\u2019s an explanation of the three non-cooperative ones that get subdued by the antichrist.\u00a0 That\u2019s a possibility.\n\nBut there\u2019s something else that\u2019s a possibility.\u00a0 Notice, if\u00a0 you will, Revelation 17 and notice, if you will, verses 9 and 10.\u00a0 Look what it says here, we haven\u2019t gotten to that section yet and we\u2019re going to have a lot more to say about it when we get to that section but I think it gives a tremendous hint on how to interpret this ten horns and seven heads when it\u2019s talking about the system of the antichrist.\u00a0 It says this: \u201c\"Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits,\u201d and people say well that\u2019s the seven hills of Rome.\u00a0 Well keep reading, [10] \u201cand they are seven kings;\u201d so the seven mountains is a symbol for what?\u00a0 Seven kings!\u00a0 Do we have some more information about those seven kings?\u00a0 John says I\u2019m glad you asked, \u201cfive have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.\u201d\n\nSo these seven heads are seven kings and when you study the Book of Daniel very carefully you\u2019ll learn that \u201cking\u201d and \u201ckingdom\u201d are kind of used as synonyms.\u00a0 It\u2019s like saying the Reagan administration, you\u2019re talking about a person but then you\u2019re talking about the administration that he governed.\u00a0 That\u2019s how these seven kings or kingdoms are used and they represent seven heads.\u00a0 Now when you go through the Bible what you\u2019ll discover is there have been seven empires that have been hostile to the nation of Israel; seven anti-Semitic kingdoms.\u00a0 The first one is Egypt; Egypt of course is where the nation of Israel was taken into captivity for four hundred years in the time of Moses.\u00a0 The second one was Assyria; Assyria was the empire that God used to scatter the ten northern tribes in 722 B.C.\u00a0 Then after her came Babylon; Babylon of course was the Gentile nation that took the nation of Israel into the seventy-year captivity.\n\nAnd then following Babylon came Persia; it was under Persia that we read about a very wicked king named Haman who developed a plot to exterminate the Jews.\u00a0 We read about that in the Book of Esther.\u00a0 The Persian Empire was followed by the Grecian Empire and that was the empire of Alexander the Great; it was later the empire, as Alexander the Great\u2019s empire was divided by named Antiochus Epiphanes, or Antiochus Epiphanes, it just depends on which syllable gets the emphasis as we like to say.\u00a0 And it was that man that launched a horrific attack against the nation of Israel, in between the testaments.\u00a0 He\u2019s the subject of much of Daniel\u2019s prophecies and he desecrated their temple.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting that from that particular desecration the Jews got a holiday out of it called what?\u00a0 Hanukkah. It\u2019s interesting that when you attack the nation of Israel not only does Israel survive but she gets a holiday out of it as well.\u00a0 That certainly is what happened in the Persian period with Haman; there\u2019s a holiday that came out of that called what?\u00a0 Anybody know? Purim or Lots.\n\nAnd then Greece was followed by Rome, of course we know what Rome did to the Jewish people, ejecting them from their homeland in A.D.\u00a0 70.\u00a0 And then what we learn is that Rome has to be brought back to life.\u00a0 There is going to arise a new world order coming forth from the cultural inheritance of ancient Rome; eventually it will cover the whole earth and we call that Rome phase 2.\u00a0 So the last time I checked how many anti-Semitic kingdoms do you have here?\u00a0 You have seven; those are the seven heads that we read about in Revelation 17:9-10.\u00a0 Those are also the seven heads that we read about in Revelation 13:1. [Revelation 17:9-10, \u201cHere is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, [10] and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 13:1, \u201cAnd the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.]\u00a0 The ten horns I think represent the ten-king confederacy which will exist contemporaneously with the antichrist.\u00a0 The seven heads would represent the embodiment of all of the anti-Semitic empires that have come before and are now represented in one composite anti-Semitic beast, the beast we\u2019re reading about here.\n\nBut what in the world do we do with these four animals, the Wizard of Oz, here we go!\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAnd the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like that of a bear, and his mouth like that of a lion.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 13:2]\u00a0\u00a0 Now remember our studies on the Book of Daniel and now you can under\u00adstand why we studied Daniel first.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 Daniel is the basement; the Book of Revelation is the ceiling.\u00a0 It\u2019s very difficult to understand this material without a foundation in the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 And in the Book of Daniel we read about four kings or four kingdoms during the times of the Gentiles that would trample Israel down.\u00a0 And remember how those kingdoms were described.\u00a0 The first one was like a lion, Daniel 7:3-7, that would represent the empire of Babylon.\n\n[Daniel 7:3-7, \u201cAnd four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. [4] \u201cThe first was<\/em> like a lion and had the<\/em> wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it. [5] \u201cAnd behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were<\/em> in its mouth between its teeth; and thus, they said to it, \u2018Arise, devour much meat!\u2019 [6] \u201cAfter this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. [7] \u201cAfter this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It 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 ten horns.\u201d]\n\nSecondly came a bear, that\u2019s also in Daniel 7:3-7, and that would represent the coming of the empire of Medo-Persia.\u00a0 Third would be a leopard and that would represent an empire that would come into existence centuries after Daniel had died and that empire is called Greece.\u00a0 And then would come a fourth beast, a terrifying beast, sort of a nondescript beast and that would represent the coming of the empire of Rome.\u00a0 So we have a lion, we have a bear, and we have a leopard in Daniel 7, and my goodness, what are we reading about here, a lion, a bear, and a leopard.\u00a0 Now look at this, this is very interesting.\u00a0 Do you see the order Daniel puts them in?\u00a0 First would come the lion, second would come the bear, third would come the leopard.\u00a0 Why does Daniel put them in that order?\u00a0 Because from Daniel\u2019s perspective in the sixth century the next one on the horizon was the lion or Babylon, then the bear or Medo-Persia, and then the leopard which would represent Greece.\n\nIsn\u2019t it interesting that John, there in verse 2 puts them in the exact opposite order?\u00a0 The leopard is first, the bear is second, the lion is third.\u00a0 Why the difference?\u00a0 Because Daniel is giving you the chronology from a sixth century point of view.\u00a0 The nearest empire to him in the chronological time period would be Babylon.\u00a0\u00a0 But not so John, as John in the first century was looking not forward but is not looking backward; to him the nearest one was Greece, and then the next nearest one would be Persia, and the one in the far distance looking backward would be Babylon.\u00a0 So, it is very interesting to me how the details come into sharp focus when you begin to understand the time frame of the different writers of the Bible.\u00a0 One is giving a sixth century B.C. perspective; another one is giving a first century B.C. perspective.\n\nAnd you see, it\u2019s only through diligent Bible study that these interesting details emerge.\u00a0\u00a0 Your average Christian will just read right over this, not understanding what it is, but not so you because you are no longer a normal well-adjusted psychologically healthy person, you go to a church that\u2019s interested in prophetic details where you pastor, who\u2019s certainly not normal, well-adjusted or psychologically healthy points things out.\u00a0 But these things are important because we believe in inspiration of the Bible right down to the exact words.\u00a0 In fact, right down to the exact letters that comprise the words.\u00a0 In fact, right down to the exact strokes of the pen that make up the letters, that make up the words and make up the sentences, that make up the paragraphs, that make up the ideas.\u00a0 In fact, God has given us an awful lot of things to study here.\u00a0 Amen.\n\nSo, what is he talking about, John, in Revelation 13 where he sees this beast coming and this beast is like a leopard, like a bear, like a lion.\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s hard to interpret that without verse 12 of Daniel 7.\u00a0 Daniel 7:12 is sort of just passed over by most people but I think it\u2019s in Daniel 7:12 you start to understand what John is talking about here in Revelation 13.\u00a0 Notice what Daniel says as he describes these four beasts.\u00a0 \u201cAs for the rest of the beasts their dominion was taken away,\u201d notice this, \u201cbut an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.\u201d\u00a0 Yes, each beast would be defeated politically but as that beast was defeated politically it would continue to live culturally within the empire that had just conquered them.\n\nSo, we know that Persia conquered Babylon politically yet Babylon continued to live culturally in the Persian Empire. And it\u2019s very interesting that when you study the conquest by Babylon of Persia Cyrus, and I didn\u2019t bring in all the archeological evidence to document this because your minds are numb already with everything I\u2019m trying to say, but Cyrus, according to the archeological evidence came in and he was very careful about not upsetting the Babylonian deities.\u00a0 In fact, the man was a polytheist and he thought if he upset them too much his life would be cursed.\u00a0 So he was very nice to them.\u00a0 In other words, he didn\u2019t destroy their temples, he didn\u2019t destroy their sanctuaries, and so the whole Babylonian polytheistic pantheon continued to live and it continued to breathe within the Persian system that had just conquered Babylon.\n\nThen later on in history Greece conquered Persia\u2026 see why I couldn\u2019t tie this in on Mother\u2019s Day, how would you tie this into Mother\u2019s Day?\u00a0 It\u2019s impossible.\u00a0 Greece conquered Persia politically yet Babylon and Persia (do you follow me) continued to live culturally in the Grecian Empire.\u00a0 And then Rome came along.\u00a0 Rome conquered Greece politically yet Babylon, Persia, and Greece continued to live culturally in the Roman Empire.\u00a0 Now historians will tell you this, yes, Rome conquered Greece politically but Greece conquered Rome culturally, the same deity, the same Grecian polytheism that was alive and well in Greece simply switched administrations and they just took on Roman names.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you have deities that are sometimes given a Roman name alongside their Grecian name; it\u2019s the exact same deity.\n\nAnd so by the time the first beast arises he will be the composite of everything.\u00a0 He will be Revived Rome and he will be Ancient Rome and he will also be a composite fixture of Grecian religion and Persian religion and Babylonian religion and all of those systems which are alive and well will continue to breathe and move and have their being in the worst of the worst that\u2019s ever come along, this coming first beast.\u00a0 And I think that\u2019s what John is seeing there in verse 2 when he says, \u201cAnd the beast which I saw was like a leopard,\u201d it was like that \u201cof a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 13:2, \u201cAnd 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.\u201d]\u00a0 So, he is no doubt the embodiment and the fulfillment of everything terrible that\u2019s come before, as all of these systems are continuing to live in the coming world ruler, the beast that\u2019s on the horizon.\n\nNow notice the second part of verse 2 where we\u2019re given a description of his satanic empowerment.\u00a0 Notice the second part of verse 2, \u201cAnd the dragon\u201d who would that be?\u00a0 Satan! \u201c\u2026 gave him his power and his throne and great authority.\u201d\u00a0 So the first beast that\u2019s coming has a throne and he has great authority and how in the world did he get those things?\u00a0 Verse 2 is very clear, they came to him through the dragon and we know that the dragon, Revelation 12:9 and Revelation 20:2 is Satan himself.\u00a0 [Revelation 12:9, \u201cAnd the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 20:2, \u201cAnd he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;\u201d]\n\nAnd that\u2019s why Revelation 13 follows Revelation 12.\u00a0 See the cutting insights you get by coming to Sugar Land Bible Church?\u00a0 Chapter 13 follows chapter 12.\u00a0 Chapter 12 is Satan\u2019s hatred for Israel; chapter 13 are the two entities that he\u2019s using to bring forth this hatred and this world domination.\u00a0 There in verse 2 it describes it very clearly, if a miracle happens and we get a chance to do verse 4 today you\u2019ll see the exact same thing.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s sort of interesting and you guys can tell what kind of week I\u2019ve had looking into all of this stuff, what an interesting week this was. It\u2019s interesting that in Revelation 12:3 it says this, \u201cand another sign was seen in heaven and behold a great red dragon\u201d who\u2019s the dragon?\u00a0 Satan, having seven heads and ten horns.\u00a0 Aren\u2019t those seven heads and ten horns on the beast also.\u00a0 In other words, what Satan has, seven heads and ten horns, are now a dominant characteristic in the person that he\u2019s using, the beast or the antichrist himself.\n\nAnd one of the things I hope you\u2019re starting to see as we\u2019re moving through this material is how Satan is imitating God.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice here it says, \u201cthe dragon gave,\u201d doesn\u2019t sound like grace to you?\u00a0 \u201cThe dragon gave him\u201d that\u2019s the first beast that we\u2019re studying, \u201chis power and his throne and his great authority.\u201d\u00a0 Everything that God does Satan imitates.\n\nIn fact, I got so worked up about this I put together this chart and there\u2019s part two of the chart.\u00a0 And I wish I had time to teach through the whole chart, maybe we do.\u00a0 But what this chart shows, and you can take this chart and probably expand it in your own studies.\u00a0 It shows that everywhere you have something Jesus does God the Father through God the Son, Satan is imitating.\u00a0 In fact, when you go down there to number 11 you\u2019ll learn that God the Father gives a throne to God the Son.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that what the dragon here is doing to the beast?\u00a0 The dragon is giving the beast a throne through gift or through grace.\u00a0 I mean, that\u2019s exactly the program of God the Father through God the Son.\u00a0 One of the things you\u2019ll see in the Bible is the Trinity.\u00a0 We believe in one God yet He has manifested Himself in three separate personages, God the Son, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 The doctrine of the Trinity.\n\nAre you seeing a satanic Trinity here?\u00a0 What you\u2019re seeing here is the dragon, one member of the Trinity, the first beast, the second member of the Trinity, and another beast coming at the end of the chapter, a third member of the Trinity.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll see this over and over again as you go through the Book of Revelation, you\u2019ll see how Satan is imitating God.\u00a0 \u00a0You say well why does Satan do that?\u00a0 Here\u2019s the name of the game with Satan\u2019s tactics and strategies.\u00a0 He presents truth about 99% so that it really isn\u2019t truth because if it\u2019s not 100% it can\u2019t be true.\u00a0 So he\u2019ll give you enough ground, about 90% without going over the edge and becoming actual truth because your average person out there who is not rooted and grounded in God\u2019s Word cannot see the difference.\u00a0 So many people in this world have bought into a deception because they don\u2019t start as their starting point with God\u2019s sufficient infallible inerrant Word.\u00a0 They just buy into a system that looks so similar and they can\u2019t quite see the difference because they don\u2019t have on the belt of truth and the helmet of salvation and it looks so similar and they buy into it, and Satan says I\u2019ve got you, because I\u2019ve got\u00a0 you in a lie, it\u2019s a lie that\u00a0 you think is true but it\u2019s not true because it\u2019s about a 99% replica of the truth.\n\nThis is why the world at this time is going to fall in love with the dragon and the beast and the false prophet, because the whole thing looks so religious.\u00a0 It looks spiritual, in fact, if you\u2019re sort of a person that doesn\u2019t know much about the Bible it looks quite biblical.\n\nNow the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, not if but when they come to your house will sound very spiritual; in fact, they will quote Bible verses, in fact, they know so many Bible verses it\u2019ll sort of take you off guard about how much time they\u2019ve spend studying the Bible.\u00a0 It\u2019s just what?\u00a0 Verses out of context.\u00a0 And in fact, if you track it down carefully you\u2019ll learn that these verses really don\u2019t come out of the Bible, they come out of their own translation of the Bible, called The New World Translation, which looks very similar to Christianity; it looks very similar to biblical truth but it\u2019s not biblical truth.\n\nYou say well how do I know?\u00a0 Because I can compare everything they say with this Book, and one\u00a0 \u00a0of the things they say is Jesus was a created being, at which point I say ehhhhh, thanks for playing. WRONG!\u00a0\u00a0 The Bible never teaches that Jesus was a created being; the Bible teaches Jesus is eternally existent and they just throw one little word or one little letter in front of the Word of God in John 1:1 and John 1:14, they just say He was not God but \u201ca God\u201d and in the process they just alter the meaning.\u00a0 And your average person out there falls for the deception because it sounds so good and it looks so biblical and it looks so spiritual.\u00a0 Mormonism thrives on people who believe the Bible is God\u2019s Word but don\u2019t really know much about the Bible.\u00a0 If you have a conviction that the Bible is God\u2019s Word and you really never studied it and you don\u2019t know much about it you\u2019re a sitting duck for Mormonism because they\u2019ll show up at your door and they\u2019re going to quote Ezekiel 37 which talks about the two sticks coming together and one of those sticks is named Joseph.\u00a0 And they say you know what, that\u2019s Joseph Smith who had his revelation concerning the guest appearance of Jesus in North America 1600, 1700, 1800, and if you\u2019ve never studied Ezekiel 37 and you don\u2019t understand that\u2019s a millennial passage where God is reuniting the tribes of Israel in the millennial kingdom you\u2019ll see the word Joseph and after all Ezekiel 37 uses the word Joseph in it.\u00a0 It sounds so good, I mean, this way we can make Jesus American after all, He showed up over here.\u00a0 And so people are convicted that Ezekiel 37 is true but they don\u2019t really understand it.\u00a0 And someone with the gift of gab shows up and gives them their routine and boom, a sitting duck, pulled right into the kingdom of the cults.\n\nAnd by the way, when you go to these massive crusade rallies, whether it be the late group, Billy Graham, Louis Palou, these kind of crusade evangelistic activities, as you go to these things look at who\u2019s in the parking lot afterwards?\u00a0 The kingdom of the cults are there, with their brochures and with their literature.\u00a0 Why are they targeting those areas?\u00a0 Because hypothetically you\u2019ve got a bunch of people that are now regenerated, having received Christ as Savior at this crusade.\u00a0\u00a0 And how much time have they had to grow?\u00a0 Not a lot, about the trip from the crusade to the parking lot.\u00a0 No study in doctrine, no study in the Bible, no understanding of God\u2019s Word, and what a sitting duck such a person would be to someone that comes along and promotes 99% of the truth.\u00a0 They would be sucked right into the kingdom of the cults, sucked right into the Watchtower Organization, sucked right into Mormonism, etc.\n\nAnd the reason I\u2019m sharing these things is I want you to understand the strategies of the devil.\u00a0 Paul the apostle, in 2 Corinthians 2:11 says of Satan, \u201cwe are not ignorant of his devices.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 2:11, \u201cso that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his devices.\u201d]\u00a0 And when you study Bible prophecy you see his strategy, you see how he\u2019s going to deceive the masses and deceive the world through a 99% presentation of the truth but not enough to save a soul.\u00a0 And people are pulled into spiritual deception as a result.\n\nWell, we jumped from the frying pan (as the saying goes) into the fire, where we learn here about the antichrist\u2019s resurrection.\u00a0 We\u2019ll conclude with this, in fact, we won\u2019t even conclude with it there\u2019s so much here, I can maybe scratch the surface.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, verse 3, \u201cI saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed.\u00a0 And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 13:3]\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The whole world is amazed by this first beast, they\u2019re following him.\u00a0 You see that in verse 3, the second part of the verse. Why is that?\u00a0 Because there\u2019s a mock or a fake resurrection from the dead at the beginning of verse 3, \u201cI saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed.\u201d\n\nNow this is really a hot potato because there\u2019s two major issues here.\u00a0 Number one, is this a national or an individual resurrection. I\u2019ll give you my answer; my answer is yes.\u00a0 Number two, if it involves an individual resurrection is this an authentic resurrection.\u00a0 I mean, are you telling me that the deceptive powers of Satan are so profound that he could even fake a resurrection from the dead?\u00a0 Is this national or individual?\u00a0 Well, when you look at verse 3 you\u2019ve got to look at it very carefully, it says, \u201cI saw one of his heads as if it had been slain\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Remember who the heads are?\u00a0 The heads are the seven mountains or seven kings or seven anti-Semitic kingdoms that have come against Israel.\u00a0 One of those kingdoms, number six, was ancient Rome and when John says \u201cI saw one that is\u201d he\u2019s talking about ancient Rome but then he\u2019s talking about a Revived Rome yet to come.\u00a0 I think what this is saying is when the world sees what flippantly is called the Holy Roman Empire, that once trampled down the whole earth, come back to live politically, one of his heads, as we move from number six to number seven, the world is going to say that is absolutely amazing!\u00a0 And because there has been a political resurrection, a political resuscitation the world is going to be astonished by this.\u00a0 And you say well, that solves the issue, right, is it individual or national, you just told us it was national.\n\nWell, look down to verse 14, verse 14 adds the detail.\u00a0 \u201cAnd 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\u201d singular, it\u2019s not dealing with one of his heads anymore, \u201cto the beast\u201d singular, \u201cwho had the wound of the sword and has come to life.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [Revelation 13:14] Verse 14, unlike verse 3, is not dealing with one of his heads, it\u2019s dealing with the beast himself.\u00a0 [Verse 3, \u201cone of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed\u00a0and followed<\/em>\u00a0after the beast.\u201d]\n\nAnd I believe this, that the beast will die and he will come back to life personally, just like the empire that he presides over was dead, Rome 1, and came back to life, and when the world sees those two things, number one, a political resurrection, number two, a personal resurrection, the world is going to say obviously this man is from God, we\u2019re going to follow Him.\n\nSo is this an individual resurrection or is this a national resurrection?\u00a0 My answer to that question is yes.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s both.\u00a0 One of the heads dies and comes back to life, political, as we move from kingdom six to kingdom seven, and the cultural inheritance of the Romans Empire comes back to life.\u00a0 But verse 14, I believe, is actually talking about an individual resurrection from the dead.\u00a0 You can see how the world would be astonished by this and follow after this man.\u00a0 He\u2019s not just performed a political miracle, he\u2019s performed an individual miracle as well.\u00a0 You know when John F. Kennedy was shot and the cameras and the news focused so much on that event, could you imagine what would have happened to that man in terms of his popularity if on the third day he had come back to life?\u00a0 I mean, the world would be stunned by that, astonished by that, surely they would hail such a man as their king and then if John F. Kennedy, in the process performed a political miracle of the type that we\u2019re reading about here, hypothetically let\u2019s say the country was in a recession or a depression, which it wasn\u2019t at that time but let\u2019s pretend hypothetically it was, and he fixed that problem.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got a political miracle, you\u2019ve got an individual resurrection and that\u2019s why verse 3 says \u201cthe whole world\u201d is astonished \u201cand followed after the beast.\u201d\n\nAnd you say well, wait a minute pastor, we\u2019ve got a big problem here.\u00a0 Are you telling me that this is actually going to be a real resurrection from the dead?\u00a0 I mean, doesn\u2019t only God Himself have the power to bring back someone from the dead.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re telling me that Satan has the power to bring back someone from the dead just like God has the power to bring back His Son from the dead, how in the world can you say that, is that not blasphemous?\u00a0 And how do you know that Satan himself, if he has this power, didn\u2019t fake the resurrection of Jesus Christ?\u00a0 You say well, what\u2019s the answer to that conundrum.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to come back next week where we\u2019re going to get into that.\n\nBut you may be here visiting Sugar Land Bible Church for the first time saying what in the world is going on at this church?\u00a0 I mean, I came here for a nice little Mother\u2019s Day outing and my goodness, I\u2019ve never heard stuff like this before.\u00a0 Well, the reason we go into this is we believe this: God\u2019s Word is true and the spiritual world is real.\u00a0 And consequently because of the reality of the spiritual world Jesus Christ stepped out of eternity into time to pay a debt that we could never pay\u2026 it\u2019s called sin!\u00a0 Sin is what separates us from God; it\u2019s a problem that all of us have and Jesus Christ bridged the gap, He came into the world to solve that, in fact, His final words on the cross were what?\u00a0 \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\n\nEverything necessary to bridge this gap and forgive our sins has been paid for and what must we do as human beings.\u00a0 We contribute nothing to what Jesus did for us other than to receive it as a gift.\u00a0 The Spirit of God has come into the world to convict men and women of their need to do this, to receive what Jesus has done on their behalf.\u00a0 We don\u2019t fix ourselves, we don\u2019t try to bridge the gap between God and ourselves because of sin through good works or good effort of trying harder.\u00a0 We rest upon, we rely upon by way of faith what Jesus did for us.\n\nAnd that\u2019s why we like to conclude all of our services by reminding people that that offer of salvation is available right now to anybody that will receive it by faith.\u00a0\u00a0 You can\u2019t get it any other way other than faith. Faith means reliance, it means dependence, it means confidence.\u00a0 The Spirit of God convicts you and at some point, you come to a realization that Jesus is the solution and you trust in Him and Him alone for salvation.\n\nIf If the Spirit of God is convicting anybody within the sound of my voice, whether it be in this building or listening by social media or on the internet, to respond to that conviction our exhortation to you here at Sugar Land Bible Church is today is the day of salvation.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t