chapter 13 is nothing less than the full force of satan and of his kingdom being unleashed on the world in the very very last chapter of human history it reaches a fever it reaches a pitch that you just saw me read in chapter 13 that is worldwide it’s it’s the great deception it’s the great deception and how can we have any hope friends that we will be kept when such deception is unleashed on the world to recap chapter 12 because i know we’ve been out of revelation here for a little bit what we saw in chapter 12 was that the dragon satan he loses right um he he goes to fight and that in the heavenly realm and it says michael the archangel and and the the armies of god they defeat satan and throw him to the earth he’s cast out so in the heavenlies he loses but remember what we saw is that jesus on his cross he defanged that dragon that old serpent from the garden because on the cross jesus showed himself that he was lord

Jesus, the God-man, showed that He is King of heaven and that He is King of the earth. Jesus did it by taking away the sting of death. What is the sting of death? Paul tells us in Romans. Sin. What’s so bad about dying? You’ve got to answer for your life. And so what has Satan been doing with God’s law all these many centuries? Accusing, right? Accusing our brothers. But every sinful accusation that Satan could level against you is redirected to Jesus on His cross. And there it found its great end as Jesus carried the weight of your sin. But then by Jesus’ death and resurrection, we’re told that we’re given the very Spirit of Christ and we trust in Him. So that every tactic, every scheme, the very power of Satan can have no hold on us. And we can be victorious in the resurrected life of Jesus. So I say that to say, even as we come to the end of the book, we’re not just celebrating the end of the book. And yay, Jesus figured out a way to pull off a win. And I was reminded of this talking the other day with someone. The cross of Jesus was never God’s plan B. It was always God’s plan B. Before time began, before the ages, to bring Himself glory through defeating His enemy and winning a people for Himself through the cross of His Son, Jesus.

And we saw in chapter 12 last week, if you remember, the dragon knows it. Because what does it say? He knows his time is short. But he doesn’t go home and he doesn’t give up. Satan is going to fight every battle. Because he still wants more than anything to be God. And he wants God’s glory. And you could say, well, why would he do that if he knows he’s going to lose? Well, you know, as much as I do, gross pride can drive a person to do all kinds of wildly foolish and wicked things. And so no less a fallen angel.

At the end of chapter 12, we saw in verse 17 that the dragon stands on the shore of the sea. And now, coming into verse 1 in chapter 13, we see why.

We see that a beast is rising out of the sea. With ten horns, seven heads, and the ten diadems on its horns, and blasphemous names on its head. And what’s the significance of the sea? Why is this creature rising out of the sea? Well, in ancient thought, in ancient time, the sea was always… associated, affiliated with a place of great unrest. It’s a place of chaos. The sea is thought of the place where the dead are. So it makes perfect sense for such a chaotic, uncontrollable place where surely many sailors lost their lives. This is the chaotic, unresting place from which Satan brings forth his beast. He brings forth his false messiah. And we’re told that he’s got ten horns. Ten horns, seven heads, and ten crowns on each. And blasphemous names. Now, remember the number seven is our magic number seven in Revelation. And it always means fullness or perfection. So what we’re being told is that the beast, in his time, when he comes, he’s going to have a perfect reign. He’s going to have a perfect and complete world domination. And with ten horns, and with diadems, he’s going to have an absolute force that no other nation could possibly reckon with. See also how the beast has seven heads, just like the dragon, who it mirrors. Because he gets his power, and he gets his authority. He gets everything from the dragon. And then we’re told that this beast is so haughty and high that he takes names that only God… and Christ should wear. So he obnoxiously and blatantly attempts to play the role of Jesus.

And then we’re given some very strange details, as we’re accustomed to now in Revelation. We’re told he has these features of a leopard, and a bear, and a lion. And that’s not random. This vision very much so relies on Daniel chapter 7. And we’ve referred to Daniel quite a bit as we’ve gone along. And in Daniel chapter 7, Daniel has shown the rise and fall of multiple kingdoms. So Babylon, Persia, the Greeks, and the Romans. So each one is given one of these different features of a leopard and a bear, and these things. But this beast, this kingdom, has all the features of all the worst kingdoms combined into one. He’s a superpower.

He has all the power. All the earthly royalty. All the authority.

And then he apparently has, and it tells us later in the chapter, a mortal wound given to him from the blow of a sword. And what happens when the beast gets this wound and apparently recovers, it wows, it wows the whole world. And I want you to notice these three words. Because I think it’s significant. It says in verse 3, It’s a mortal wound was healed and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. In verse 4, they worshipped.

That’s great deception. They are marveling and they’re following and they’re worshipping the beast and the dragon. So who is the beast? What is that? What is that supposed to be? And to reference the G.K. Chesterton quote, I said when we started Revelation, you know, John had no monsters in his apocalypse. So strange as one of his own commentators. Right. So over church history, there’s been a great number of very strange interpretations of what it means. But the historic, I think, faithful interpretation of this, I’m going to read Robert Mounts because I think what he says is really good. He says, There’s little doubt that for John, the beast was the Roman Empire. as persecutor of the church. It comes onto the land from the sea, just as the Roman troops did when they invaded the eastern Mediterranean. The beast is that spirit of imperial power, which claims a religious sanction for its gross injustices. Yet the beast is more than the Roman Empire. John’s vision grew out of the details of his own historical situation, but its complete fulfillment awaits the final scene of human history. The beast has always been and will be in a final intensified manifestation, the deification of secular authority. It is a counterfeit power that is self-centered, behaves as if it were fully autonomous, and it demands total allegiance and excessive praise. So you can look back to the Roman Empire and you can pinpoint certain emperors who did especially persecute the Christian church. On the whole, the Roman Empire, at the time it was not just the Roman Empire, it was the empire that ruled the world. Rome had no real formidable enemy for many centuries. And Rome was in every way anti-Christian. They were under the influence of Satan. And so when you think about, about Nero, Vespasian, Domitian, those and more, they not only persecuted Christians in a great way, they claimed deity, they demanded to be worshipped.

But we’ve made this point before, and I want to make it again. It’s not like Rome was really bad, and then at the end it’s going to be really bad. In every era of human history, there’s always been some king, and some kingdom that’s hated the church. There’s always been someone, somewhere, who stood against Jesus. And the reason for that is because God wants us to always be in a state of readiness. I can’t say, well, it’s probably not my time. Friend, in your time, there’s always the spirit of anti-Christ at work. Is it the last time? Is it the greatest time? I don’t know. But the spirit of anti-Christ has been working and will work until the very end. So what we’re seeing, we’ve seen in the Egyptians who stood against God’s people, the Philistines, the Syrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, up to Rome. And again, throughout modern history, you could pinpoint the persecutors of the church. It’s just in chapter 13, we’re seeing the most potent form of evil ever unleashed on the globe through God. Through God’s governmental dominance. Okay, so what are the ten horns? What are the seven heads? Chapter 17, which we’ll get there, it spells out what they are. And what they are, the seven heads and the ten horns with the crowns, is their kings and kingdoms. Their kings and kingdoms. And what chapter 17 tells us is they all throw their crown to the anti-Christ. They all not only surrender to him, but they adore him so that he truly become, becomes a one-world global power.

It’s scary, but it’s not new. It’s not surprising. Because what did Jesus tell us in Matthew 24? He says, Then if anyone says to you, Look, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have promised you, I have told you beforehand. So if they say to you, Look, he’s in the wilderness, do not go out. If they say, Look, he’s in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. In other words, there’s no way to actually fool a Christian. There’s no way to actually be, to give a good showing as if you were the Christ. Jesus says, When I come, my people will know it. So don’t be fooled by what you hear here and there.

And then the Antichrist is defiant. He blasphemes God. He blasphemes all that he cannot have. The heavenly places, the royalty of heaven, the whole host of heaven. Yet, we’re told the whole world stands with him as he does it for a period of 42 months.

What I want us to see in this passage, and I know, again, passages and revelations, they can feel really abstract and really strange. There’s always a concrete thing for us to see. And it’s this here. The Father calls you and I to marvel and follow and worship. His Messiah. These are right behaviors. It’s the wrong object of worship. Because the beast can never be the Christ, just as the dragon can never be the Father. Does this beast, does his kingdom last forever? No. Because what does John go ahead and tell us? He tells us that God has put a 42-month lease. And when those 42 months are up, lights out, the puppet shows up, and it comes to an end. John, just as every king in every kingdom in every age, as great and powerful and as wonderful as it may seem at the time, and the kingdom thinks, wow, we live in an unprecedented age. There’s never been a king like us. There’s never been anyone like Alexander the Great. There’s never been anyone like King Darius. There’s never been anyone like the Pharaoh. There’s never been anyone like Nero. They’re all gone. They all fall.

And those who trust in them fall with those who trust in them. Those kingdoms.

I want you to see a few passages all the way back in Daniel that give us the comfort that we need. In Daniel 2, verse 44, it says, in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever. Psalm 2, I will tell the decree, the Lord said to me, the Father says to the Son, today I have begotten you, ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with the rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Hebrews chapter 1, verse 8, but of the Son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter, of your kingdom. So who is Jesus in the midst of a world that is falling apart? If we’re living in the times, it’s certainly falling apart on a really big scale. Jesus still stands, friends, as the true Lord of heaven and earth. And his kingdom is an eternal kingdom, even when, especially when, he allows it to look like it’s not the case.

He wants us to believe this Jesus, he’s unmatched and he’s unchallenged.

Consider the centuries of brutal, grisly martyrdom that Christians experienced under Rome. Rome, they were inventors of torture. From crucifixion to being fed alive to animals, to being burned alive, to using corpses as lanterns to light their gardens. They were brutal. Absolutely brutal. Yet those Christians believed because they knew who they were following.

Maybe you remember the name Wang Yi. Wang Yi was a pastor in the news quite a bit a few years ago. He pastors a series of house churches. It had to become a series of house churches in China. And he criticized the communist government of China for their authoritarian grip on churches. And he, in 2019, was sentenced to nine years in prison. Nine years in prison because he refused to be a church the government’s way.

We have to ask ourselves that same question, friends. Do we know who our king is?

Because we can see in our time, in our hemisphere in the West, certainly morality is in great decline and godliness is in great decline. And it’s a pretty precarious, unreliable situation, isn’t it? Whether the government is going to be pro-Christian or not, depending on who’s in office. And we just never know the future. But we need to know, don’t we? Who is your king? And I believe the word of God gives us this very precious encouragement here so that we hold on to a king in a kingdom that will outlast a king in a kingdom that soon… a kingdom that’s soon to be destroyed.

So if we’re going to worship, and we have to worship because we’re all designed to worship, we must worship, let us worship the God who eternally reigns over all. The God who has had a plan from the beginning of time all the way to the very end. Who knew exactly when and how evil was going to show up. Who knew exactly how he was going to save people through the cross. Who knew exactly how the end was going to play out all through and through. And if we’re going to marvel, let’s marvel at Jesus. Because Jesus didn’t just get a moral wound and was brought back by some demonic force. Jesus said, I lay my life down of my own accord and I have the power to take it back up again. And Jesus did that not to impress, not to deceive, but Jesus laid his life down as what? A ransom for many. Jesus’ cross was selfless. Jesus’ cross was for you. Jesus’ cross was God’s eternal plan to save us and to rid the universe of evil once and for all. Jesus and Jesus alone deserves to be marveled at.

I love how one commentator, Gordon Fee, says, the dragon and his beast can only parody what the Father and the Son has accomplished. They can only parody it.

Jesus was resurrected indestructible. Indestructible. And in Jesus’ glory, glorious resurrection, so we are too in him.

Thirdly, if you must follow someone, and you must, follow Jesus. Because Jesus alone leads us to everlasting life.

And I was thinking about that passage and this passage and it brought Psalm 23 to mind. What’s it look like to follow Jesus? When it’s really hard. Well, we’re told in Psalm 23 that we won’t want. He makes us to lie down in green pastures. He leads us beside still waters. And I thought that was interesting. Jesus leads us beside still waters where the false Christ comes from the place of chaos and unrest.

Jesus restores my soul. Jesus leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. And even though we would walk through the valley of the shadow of death, there’s no reason to fear. Why? Because the word of God tells us Christ is with us and his rod and his staff comforts us. And we’re told that Jesus will prepare a table for us in the presence of our enemies and that goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives. And then where does the very end of following Jesus lead us? Tells us the very end of Psalm 23. We’ll dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Jesus leads us to eternal life. The beast, this false Christ, only to death.

In Revelation chapter 13, verse 7, we’re told that the beast is allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.

It says, and authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation and all who dwell on it. Everyone on earth will worship it. Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who is slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes. If anyone is to be slain, with the sword he must be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints. So the Bible doesn’t soft pedal the difficulty of Christianity

Revelation doesn’t tell us just choose team Jesus and you’re going to be snapped right up to a cloud and things are great. It doesn’t do that at all, does it? The Bible really challenges us to make sure it’s Christ we want to follow because if we follow Christ, it’s going to be hard. And Christian discipleship is hard. It’s hard to tell my flesh no when it wants just to give in to pleasure and do the easy thing. It’s hard to say no when the whole world system under the influence of Satan criticizes and persecutes and marginalizes for my belief in biblical truth and biblical values. Satan is an enemy so strong who presses in against us and wars against us daily.

And the scriptures plainly say a lot of Christians will be taken captive to captivity. They will go.

And if you’re slain with the sword, with the sword, you must be slain. It’s a sure thing to suffer for Christ. Doesn’t make any bones about that.

But notice the very precious thing that’s said in verse 7.

Does this pretend Messiah have authority over the earth for a limited time? Yes. Does he seem very, very strong and indestructible? Yes. But does he have the power to actually destroy the people of God?

No. Because he has no real power over those who are in the Lamb’s book of life. Remember what Jesus said? Jesus said, don’t be afraid of the one who can harm the body. Be afraid of the one who can cast both body and soul into hell.

So we’re given, we’re given, two commands here. And what these are, I want you to see it this way, these are qualities of those whose names are written in the book of life. If your name’s written in the book of life before the foundation of the world, here are two present qualities that ought to be alive and well in you. It doesn’t mean you’re perfect because you’re not. But it means by and large, these things will be at work in us by the grace and working of the Spirit. We’re called, which is a state of being here. You need to be, this needs to be a way for you of endurance and faith. When you see the word endurance, some translations, I think the NIV has patience, be patient and have faith. Some say steadfast. So this word here, this idea is not passivity, like, okay, it’s going to get bad. I’ll find my rock to get under, like clench my teeth and hopefully it’ll all blow over and I’ll be okay in the end. That’s not what it means as just, you know, to accept the reality of darkness seemingly having the victory for a minute. That’s not what it means. Jesus uses the exact same Greek word behind that word endurance in the Gospel of Luke when he’s talking about end-time persecution. Notice what he says. Luke 21, nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, famine and pestilence. There will be terrors, great signs from heaven. But before all this, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogue and prisons. And you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to do what? To bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends and some of you they will put to death. You’ll be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. Here it is. By your endurance you will gain your lives. So Jesus does not have a vision of biblical endurance for him where I’m locking myself in my bedroom and keeping my head down. Jesus has a vision of endurance in difficult dark times where I marvel, follow and worship Jesus to the point where it agitates the kingdom of Satan around me. So there’s wisdom in all things, we do, right? It’s not like I’m going to look for a fight. But at the end of the day, if Jesus is going to be my king and I’m going to marvel him as I should marvel him and I’m going to worship him the way I should worship him and I’m going to obey him the way he wants me in my life to obey him, someone somewhere is going to have a problem with it. And I’m going to be called to account whether it’s in front of the magistrate, the judge, my neighbor, the guy at work. I’m going to be called into account for why do you think that? Why do you believe that you’re going to be asked about the truth? These things that other people hate. So endurance is not passivity. Endurance is faithfully obeying Jesus when it’s difficult and faithfully proclaiming the gospel of Jesus with courage when we would cower otherwise. Jesus says, endure for my name’s sake.

But secondly, we’re told, have faith. Keep believing. Keep believing.

Paul, Paul in Ephesians 6, 16 says, in all circumstances, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. What is Satan going to do in your life? And what is Satan going to do in communist China? And what’s Satan doing in all parts of the world, including our own? He’s turning up the heat, man. He’s turning up the heat as much as God allows him to, to force you and I to cower, to live nominally, or even worse, to just reject Christ altogether. But if we use faith like a shield and we keep believing what we know is true, though it doesn’t look like it with the human eye, we’ll endure, we’ll persevere, we’ll be found faithful. So friends, don’t take your eye off of Jesus who you marvel at and worship and follow. Because when you take your eyes off Jesus and you look at how big your enemy is and you think about, about how weak you are, you throw your hands up and say, it can’t be done. And you’re right. With you, it can’t be done. But when you and I keep our eyes on Jesus, we can endure all things and we can believe all things to the very end. And we can trust that we’ll do those things because our names are written in the book of life of the Lamb.

And if that still feels a little too ethereal or intangible, here, here’s an article from just this last week, just this last week. And the title is Who’s Watching Ming? Digital Surveillance in China. Imagine that someone knows that you’re reading this article. They know where you’re sitting and who you’re with. They know the last thing you looked at on your phone, the last thing you searched for online, the last time you went to meet people. Your moves are watched, not just by cameras in the street, but online. That’s what life is like. It’s like for Ming in China. Digital technology is increasingly being used by the Chinese government to target Christians and surveillance systems are being used to track people’s movements and what they do online. It makes following Jesus and sharing the gospel really hard, but Ming’s determined to do it no matter the cost. The greatest risk Ming has taken is delivering secret Bibles. In parts of China, it’s relatively easy to get a physical Bible, but where Ming is from, it’s much harder, particularly, if the Bible’s translated into the language of his ethnic people group. Like Brother Andrew smuggling Bibles into communist Eastern Europe in the 1950s, Ming has had to go to great lengths to hide his operation. He would load the Bibles into his car in a hidden alley and send a message to his contacts. I’m on the way to the old place. The old place is cold. He knew that citizens’ phones were being monitored. Any wrong word would cost him his freedom. I could be arrested, interrogated, and interrogated, even in prison, he says. But I knew that God called me to share the gospel by distributing Bibles. One day, his fears came true. Ming and his friends were arrested. Miraculously, he was set free, but his friends weren’t. To make matters worse, they could no longer use the company that Ming and his fellow believers had worked so hard to set up as a cover for their smuggling. The arrest put him firmly on the radar of the authorities, and they remained determined to restrict his Christian activities. I knew it would be harder to dodge the police, and have to live even more cautiously. I’m officially not allowed to attend church, or even own a Bible anymore.

At first, every one or two months, the police search my house. They come less often now, but they still regularly search Ming’s home. Ming has sacrificed a lot for his faith. In China, persecution and level of restriction can look very different from province to province. Where Ming lives is among the most restrictive. Even hearing the gospel can be difficult because the surrounding community has a different faith.

He first heard about Jesus while he was away at college, and eventually chose to follow him. I told my father about my faith, and hoped he could accept me, but he reported me to the police. I was devastated that we could not reconcile.

I learned much more about Christ and how good God is. This was also the turning point for me. Learning about Jesus made me realize my friends and community back home needed him.

Ming heard the Lord softly speak to him. Go back to your hometown. Tell people about me there. Like so many people in the Bible, like Moses and Gideon and Mary, the first disciples, Ming was scared but obedient. He gave up everything to move home, including being with his wife and daughter, which means father-in-law forbade because of his faith. He chose to go back to a place, whereas every move was observed and cataloged and filed away to be used against him if necessary. And that’s where he started smuggling Bibles. And the article goes on.

Do you remember

James Coates, the Canadian pastor who, by the hundreds, the Canadian police during COVID, they barricaded his church and wouldn’t let anyone in. And then when he chose to have secret house meetings, they came, they dragged him out of his house. I don’t know if you’ve seen the video. His wife and children are screaming, crying, and he spent 35 days in prison. Just this past week, he was acquitted of all charges. Two years later, it took many years for him to be acquitted of all those charges. There’s another article from just this past week. One particular church, a UMC church in Maryland, they have till October to raise $4,000. That’s $4 million to keep their building because they chose, like many United Methodist churches, to leave that denomination because the denomination approves of same-sex unions and even some of their own ministers are non-celibate homosexual men. $4 million by October, they lose their building. Of course, the UMC is not trying to help them at all.

Why not just take it a little easier for me? Why not just, given to what the government wants completely? Why not just turn a blind eye if the UMC is okay with same-sex unions? You know, why not?

And there’s just really one answer for every one of us. Who do we marvel at? Who do we follow? And who do we worship? That determines how we respond to these things, friends.

Though the world will give way to a great deception, church, we’re kept by a great Savior for whom we live because we live in Him. And we have His power. And in Christ, we can endure. And in Christ, we will keep the faith.

He will keep us.

The Hebrew writer says, yet a little while and the coming one will come and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Let’s pray.

Father, we know how great

the kingdom of Satan works, how evil and wicked the enemy is, how weak we are of our own accord to stand against him. We know that we are frail. And we know, Lord, that we would fall.

But our one plea is your Son, Jesus, to keep us. To sustain us. To use us. Lord, that in all things, you and you alone will receive the glory.

Father, we pray you would just give us just a fresh sense and awareness of the power of the cross of Christ. That there is no adversity. There is no season. There is no enemy who is so great that can overcome. Lord, give us courage. Give us boldness

to live the truths we believe in your scriptures. Give us faith to keep believing. Let us live our days in wisdom. Let us live our days in your strength that we may truly follow Christ. And you’re well done, good and faithful servant.

So we just give you all the glory. And we trust, oh God, that you, that you alone will accomplish this in each of us and in your church. In Christ’s name.

Amen.