The Battle for Worship

Transcript

GR 2032
02/25/2018
The Battle for Worship
Revelation 13:15-18
Gil Rugh

One of the old writers on biblical prophecy titled his book, “The Conflict of the Ages.” And that is indeed an accurate title of what is taking place and what comes to its climax in the book of Revelation that we are studying together.

We are in chapter 13 and you might put the chart up. This is the basic overview of what we are talking about so you don't get confused as we come to the book of the Revelation. This is the period of time leading up to the first coming of Christ and it involved the first 69 sevens of Daniel, 69 weeks of years, 483 years beginning with the decree in 444 B.C.

I was reviewing some stuff that we can date this accurately—it was March 5, 444 B.C. So that's going to have an anniversary here just in the week ahead of us pretty much. It started in 444 B.C. and those first 69 weeks, 483 years culminate just before the crucifixion of Christ, because after the 69th week the Messiah would be cut off and have nothing. There was no kingdom established on the earth at that point.

Then we have the church age, established in Acts 2, the period of time in which we are living. And as we move through this period of time we are moving toward what we call the rapture of the church which will involve the church being caught up to meet Christ in the air, all true believers.

That will be followed by the final seven-year period. An individual known as the little horn, we call him the Antichrist, will sign a covenant with Israel and that will set the clock running again for the last seven-year period.

Let me note something. In the book of Revelation we're talking about this last seven-year period, the 70th week, known as the tribulation. Now it is to be expected, we are anticipating the coming of Christ. There is nothing that the Bible says has to happen before the rapture of the church. In that sense it could have happened anytime along through here. We call it the imminent return of Christ, it can happen imminently, at any time. There is nothing the Bible says has to happen before that event.


However, as we move closer to this period, we might expect, since God has told us quite a bit about this seven-year period, as we see things that are said will be going on in this seven-year period, we might expect that we are getting closer to that time. They can't guarantee it, but something major-like. We know when we get into this seven-year period, the nation Israel is functioning as a nation, they will be back in their land. The little horn couldn't sign an agreement with the nation Israel if the nation didn't exist as a nation.

So certain things make us aware that we could be getting close to this time. Israel is back in their land, recognized as a nation. We even have issues that have arisen relatively recently about where the embassy will be put. That helps identify the capital of Israel. Other things going on, the move toward globalism, the rise of what we call the European Union, since we know there will be a revival of the old Roman Empire. We are moving toward one-world government, unified under one leader. Things going on that will take place here. Can't say finally. I heard someone say maybe Israel, there will be a war and Israel will be driven out of the land and it starts all over again. Maybe. You can believe that if you want, but I don't. I think we are moving close to this period of time So I believe in an imminent rapture, I believed in an imminent rapture 30 years ago, I believe it more so today, perhaps. Now is our salvation nearer than when we first began. And we are about 2,000 years nearer than when Paul wrote that to the Romans.

So we are studying this event here, and we are right about in the middle when we are in Revelation 13. We've seen the judgments that take place during this first 3½-year period, the seals and the trumpets. The bowls are ahead of us during the last 3½ years, but there has been a break in the flow because when you get to the middle there are a number of things taking place that are crucial to understand.

So he started that break in chapter 10, then in chapter 11 he talked about some matters—two witnesses who will be raised up, the temple will be in operation, certain things going on.

In chapter 12 we saw there is war in heaven in this middle period, Satan is cast out of heaven. Comes down to earth with great wrath, knowing time is running out. There are only 1260 days, 3½ years left for him to thwart the program and plan of God.

We come into chapter 13, we are told that there is going to come to full power in the middle of this seven year period, a man who will become the world ruler. And also in the last part of chapter 13 we are looking at another individual who will be a spiritual leader, directing the worship of the world to this first man. We noted we have a Satanic trinity brought before us, where the devil tries to replace God the Father, replace God the Son Jesus Christ with the man we call the Antichrist. And then we have the one we are talking about, the second beast of chapter 13, he's referred to a number of times in the rest of the book of Revelation as the false prophet. And he counterfeits the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Remember when the Holy Spirit would come, Jesus said, He would direct all the worship and attention to Christ. The false prophet directs the worship of the world to the Antichrist.

It's important we understand that all that has gone on since the fall of Adam in the Garden, the fall of the human race with the sin of Adam and Eve down to the present day, down through here, is a battle for the worship of all human beings. And that is the conflict that the devil has with God. God is the only One to be worshiped. We are instructed to worship only the Lord and serve Him. Jesus said you shall worship the Lord God, and Him only shall you serve. It's a battle for worship, and that's what we are looking at as we are in chapter 13 and the last part of the chapter—the worship of the world being directed to this Antichrist.

Come back to Genesis 11. Now we have had the flood of Noah, and that concluded in chapter 9. Then you have a genealogy of the descendants of the family of Noah, because remember all the world has been wiped out. So now everyone is not only a descendant of Adam, they are also a descendant of Noah and his three sons. So the genealogy is set there.

Then you come to Genesis 11, “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.” So there was no division now as they have come off the ark and they have begun to repopulate the earth. And everybody speaks the same language. They all came out from Noah and the language he spoke and his family spoke, and it is passed on. “It came about as they journeyed east they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, come and let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly, and they used brick for stone, they used tar for mortar.” Now here is the plan. “They said, ‘come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into heaven.’” I don't think that they were so deluded that they thought they could build a tower that would go all the way up, through the sky, into heaven. What this was, was a worship center and the top would be flat and that's where they would worship God. They could make sacrifice and so on because it is elevated, it is up there, it picks them up from the earth and closer to heaven. And that would be where their worship would be centered, at this tower and the top of it. “Let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” You see what their concern is, what will unify them here. They all have the same language so they can communicate with everyone. So let's build a city where we will all be focused and have the center of our worship there. We will be unified in our worship. Now this did not please God, it was not according to His instructions for them.

So the Lord comes down, He is observing, verse 6, “Behold they are one people, they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do. Now nothing which they purposed to do will be impossible for them.” Meaning they will be able to accomplish this. They can communicate with one another, they are all agreed on this worship center. This is the plan of the devil to have creation united, one focal point with one religion.

That's where we are going in the book of Revelation, we'll see more when we get to chapters 17-18. So what God does, verse 7, “Come let us go down there, confuse their language so they will not understand one another. So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth and they stopped building.” So they called it Babel, and we'll see Babylon when we get to Revelation 17-18. “The Lord confused the language of the whole earth and scattered them abroad.” We talk about globalism today, and we're all one family on the earth, and we want to break down barriers and distinctions. That's not God's plan, that's the devil's plan because the devil wants to unite the whole world under his authority, joined in worshiping him. So that's the conflict that has continued down through the ages to this very day. It is a battle for the worship of every single individual. Will you worship the living God? Or will you worship the devil?

Come over to John 4, Jesus is visiting with the woman at the well in Samaria. The Samaritans had developed their own worship system to unite them because they didn't want to go to Jerusalem and back into that, Samaritans being mixed blood Jews. So this woman wants to initiate a discussion with Christ who has initiated the discussion, but she wants to turn it because He has told her truths about herself that revealed He had to be a prophet at least. Where should we worship? Verse 20, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, you say that in Jerusalem.” In other words He is a Jew. We Samaritans say you ought to worship at this mountain, you Jews say that worship ought to take place in Jerusalem. Where is the correct place of worship? She is trying to turn the focus of the worship to the place.

People do that today, the building they built where they hold the worship becomes something sacred. And it's when you go into the building. So we build cathedrals that will strike awe and give us feeling of grandeur. And then we create ceremonies so people will feel an emotion and go through a certain action. And that becomes worship. What's the right place? Which mountain do we go to? Well God had appointed Jerusalem as the place and the focal point of His work in the world. That is still true through the Gospels, remember. He has not finished His work with Israel and is ready to put it on pause until after the death of Christ.

He tells her, verse 21, “Woman, believe Me. An hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know.” Jesus quite direct, not trying to make a compromise here. You don't have any idea who or what you are worshiping. “We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” God had revealed Himself to the Jews, the worship system He had established was a Jewish system centered in Jerusalem, and ultimately the Savior, the Messiah. She did not know that was the One she was talking to at this point is the Savior. Salvation is from the Jews. “An hour is coming,” now note this, “and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” Now note this next statement, “For such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”

We all have our different views, our different ways of worshiping God, but we all want to worship God. Jesus said, My Father is only looking for one kind of worshiper, those who will worship Him in spirit that comes from the heart, the inner person, that's His goal. This external activity never was acceptable to Him, not even among the Jews when they came to Jerusalem. When they reduced it to just external forms, it was repulsive to God. He said, don't come anymore, it is sacrilegious, because they didn't come with their hearts, their spirits, according to truth.

Look at verse 24, “God is spirit, those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.” What did Jesus say? “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Me.” It is very exclusive, it is not inclusive. It is inclusive in that all are invited to come, it is exclusive in that no one can come to the Father except through Jesus Christ and faith in His finished work. This is what worship is about, this is the battle that has gone on since the Garden of Eden. Who do you worship? I worship God. Have you come to understand you are guilty, defiled sinner who cannot come into the presence of a holy God? You must have a Savior who offers a sacrifice that God will accept in your place so you can come before Him. That's the issue. Remember what the devil did? We have referred to it so many times in Matthew 4, when he said to Christ, “I will give You all the kingdoms of the world if you will fall down and worship me.” That's the devil's battle.

Come over to John 8. The Jews prided themselves in being Jews, the focus had been transferred to just physical, external things. Jesus reminded them, we'll break in here, verse 34, “Jesus said to them, ‘everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.’” Verse 36, “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Verse 41, “You are doing the deeds of your father.” Now note this, verse 42, “Jesus said to them, ‘if God were your Father you would love Me.’” That's the dividing line between true and false worship.

We worship God. Do you love Jesus Christ? Have you believed in Him? No, that's your convictions, that's not mine. Well then you don't love God, you are not doing His deeds. Verse 44, “You are of your father the devil. You want to do the desires of your father.” Note the end of verse 44, “He is a liar, the father of lies.”

This is where we are in Revelation 13 with the false worship system that will be established at that time. It's a foundation of lies, it's not worship of the true and living God. It's the worship of a mighty spirit being, the devil, Lucifer, Satan, the serpent of old. Verse 47, “He who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason you do not hear them because you are not of God.” That's the dividing line. Those who really know and love God, who love Jesus Christ love His Word. It shouldn't surprise us. We have to get unbelievers to come. They come but they don't want to stay, they don't like our service. Well, if you don't want to hear the Word of God and the church is the pillar and support of the truth, and Jesus said God's Word is truth.

People who don't want to hear the truth aren't going to be breaking down the doors to come hear the truth, are they? It's only the grace of God that you were drawn to hear it, that I was drawn to hear it. Only His grace that brought wretched sinners in under the sound of the Word wherever and however it was, that their eyes might be opened, that they might believe. And now you have a desire for the Word. We begin to structure things to be appealing to those who don't want to hear the truth, you know what we sacrifice? The truth. Jesus had to ask the people, why do you want to kill Me, a Man who told you the truth? That's why they wanted to kill Him, He told them the truth.

So this is a matter of worship, this is the conflict going on. It has not changed today, it is a battle for worship. Who do you worship? And it's the conflict.

So when we come back to Revelation 13, stop at Romans 1. The Gospel is God's plan of salvation, Romans 1:16-17. It reveals God's righteousness. How can I be righteous before a holy God? You believe the Gospel, it's “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” not everyone who hears. But you must hear to be able to believe, Paul will get to that in Romans 10. Not everybody who hears believes. But it is God's power for salvation to everyone who does believe. It's a matter of God's grace, you are here to hear the Word of God today, the truth that Christ died for your sins. But that doesn't mean you will be saved. You could sit here for 50 years and hear that truth and die and go to an eternal hell because you never believed. It is the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” You need to have that marked, circled, inscribed in your minds. “In it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.” And life comes through faith. “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth.” The unbeliever does not want to hear the truth, he is offended by the truth, opposes the truth, hates the truth and those who present the truth.

So as he goes on, what do they do? Because they don't want to hear, they don't want to believe, God says then I will turn you over to what you want. God had revealed Himself but they chose to reject Him. And verse 23, “They exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man” and so on. “Therefore God gave them over.” Verse 25, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie.” And do you know what they did? They worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. So God gave them over. And just an unraveling, deteriorating picture. Where is the condition of the world today? In their persistent, continued rebellion and rejection of the truth of God, they decline more and more into their own sinful pursuits. They are more and more offended by the presentation of truth.

So now come back to Revelation 13. We have been talking about the second beast, he is the political ruler's right-hand man, the second beast. Revelation 13:11, and we looked at the opening verses here. He “came out of the earth,” he “has two horns” like a lamb, he comes across like genuine “meek spiritual leader.” But he “speaks as a dragon,” there are “lies that come out of his mouth.” He is to lead people in false worship but he will do it very convincingly. “He has the authority of the first beast in his presence.” In other words he acts with full authority from the first beast who is the Antichrist. “He makes the earth and those who dwell on it worship the first beast whose fatal wound was healed.”

I've shared with you, it seems to me the indication is this man seems to have died. Perhaps he really died. It said he had the fatal wound and was healed. We looked at that somewhat in detail. At any point this individual is going to be worshiped. And this second beast is called the false prophet and we looked, there are a number of references to the false prophet in the book of Revelation. This individual called the false prophet will be cast into hell in Revelation 19, he directs worship. He can do mighty miracles. Again, there is a lot of discussion that goes on, are these real miracles? Are they fake miracles? That really is a side issue, it's like talking about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, how many demons can inhabit a person. Well, legion. We have an example of that during the earthly ministry of Christ.

But I don't know. The point is the world will be totally deceived. The deception of the world will be so great, it will go to the point that if it weren't for God's sovereign intervention, even the elect would be deceived. And in Matthew 24 Jesus said that these false Christs and so on, “if possible would deceive the very elect.” But it's not possible. Up in verse 8, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him but not those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.” So this is going to be a time of mighty miracles. How they are done, there is supernatural activity going on, the devil is behind them, the restraining influence is removed, the sovereignty of God is seen in verse 14-15 again. We looked at this, “It was given to him.” God is sovereign, He doesn't give up His sovereignty and absolute authority, but it is His will that men be deceived, like we just read in Romans 1, He “gives them over.” Do you want deception? Do you want lies? You can have them. You decided you don't want Me, you don't want My truth, you don't want My salvation. You can have what you want. And the devil has greater freedom, greater power to demonstrate something of His power than he has ever had before.

So the earth is being deceived, there are signs being done. Verse 14, “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. And telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and is come to life. It was given to him,” and this is where we were in our previous study. “It was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast so the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” You see where we've come, now we have a world dictator and we have one-world religion that binds the world together. There is only one person who can be worshiped, there is only one center of worship. It is where the image of the Antichrist is.

Come back to Daniel 9:27, here we have what we reviewed earlier. “And he will make a firm covenant,” this is the prince who is to come, the Antichrist, the first beast out of Revelation 13. “Make a firm covenant with the many for one week,” one 7, that seven-year period. That's what marks the beginning of that seven years. “In the middle of the week he'll put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering,” indicating that the covenant that he had signed is now broken. And the sacrifice and grain offering going on indicate the temple is in operation, as we talked about in Revelation 11, by the time you get to the middle because sacrifice and offering are going on. None of that is going on in Jerusalem today because you have to have the temple rebuilt and the sacrificial system then reinstituted, and so on. Note this, “On the wing of abomination will come one who makes desolate, even until complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” And we'll see that when we get to Revelation 19. So this wing of abomination comes one who makes desolate.

Come over to Daniel 12:11, “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished,” again indicated here that the sacrificial system was instituted during the first 3½ years. “And the abomination of desolation,” it's the same thing talked about in a little different phrasing—the wing of abomination, one who makes desolate. Here the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days. So when the sacrifices are ended and the abomination of desolation is set up we have 1290 days. Now we've seen 1260 days in Revelation, there is an extra 30 days here. And then there will be an extra 45 days in verse 12 for a total of 75 days. We'll talk about that a little later in Revelation, why those extra days are there. You'll note here we are about the 3½ years, a little beyond it. So again the timing is the same.

This “abomination of desolation,” come to Matthew 24. And Jesus' sermon on the Mount of Olives when the disciples asked Him about His second coming, when He is talking about the tribulation of those times and so on. And then verse 15, “Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the Holy Place.” So you see now, we have been told in Revelation 13 they make an image, he has to be worshiped; the sacrifice going on in the temple has been ended; and this image, this statue of the Antichrist has been set up in the temple. That's the Holy Place. He is prefigured by one who is called the little horn in Daniel 8, who is not the final Antichrist, but Antiochus Epiphanes. Very humbly viewed himself as God manifest, had that on the coins that we have found, even minted with his image on it. Set up an image to be worshiped in the very temple, that was a prefiguring and a type of what would yet come.

Here Jesus says, you see this. Now in Revelation 13 what we are talking about in this future seven-year period, in the middle of it, what Daniel talked about, the abomination of desolation set up in the Holy Place. And note what he says, “Let the reader understand.” That means here there will be time in this seven-year period when Jews will be reading this and some of those Jews will be elect Jews and they'll understand. This is all coming to fruition, this is where we are. And we're going to see that same expression in connection with the number 666 in a moment in Revelation 13. The reader “is to understand,” it's a warning. When you see that, we won't see it, the church will have been raptured at least 3½ years before this. They will be standing in the Holy Place, let the reader understand. “Those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, on the housetops, flee.” Why? Verse 21, “Then there will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be.” So the worst times for the world you can think of, this is the worst for tribulation. Note verse 22, “Unless those days have been cut short, no life would have been saved.”

There is a combination going on. You have the wrath of God being poured out on an unbelieving world. We saw the seals and the trumpets, and the bowls, “the worst are yet to come.” And you have the Antichrist under the direction of the devil trying to wipe out every believer and for sure every single Jew, believer or not. If Christ didn't intervene, there would be no survivors. “But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” And verse 24, “False Christs, false prophets will arise, will show great signs and wonders so to misled even if possible the elect.” The abomination of desolation.

Come over to 2 Thessalonians 2:3, “Let no one in any way deceive you, it will not come,” the Day of the Lord, this seven-year tribulation, “unless the apostasy,” or the departure, “comes first.” I believe this word departure here, sometimes used for religious apostasy, but the word means departure. I think the departure here is the departure of the church from the earth. “Comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship.” You see there is no one to be worshiped but him. So he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. And what is restraining things right down to this day is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. But when He is removed . . . The mystery of lawlessness is already at work, look around you. We have a world in rebellion against God and His truth and His Savior. “The restrainer will be taken out of the way, then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming.” That hasn't happened, Christ hasn't returned to earth yet in power and great glory, as he went on to talk about in Matthew 24.

So you see this abomination of desolation, the Antichrist sitting in the temple. But he's not going to just stay there, but the image will be there, it will be alive…..now with what we can do with computer generated . . . Maybe that's what it will be, I don't know what it will be when we get down to it. But it's going to be convincing, more convincing than anything the world has experienced. This is more than just a magic trick, this is the power of the devil being displayed with a fullness and convincingly more powerful than ever before. So that's what we are talking about.

Come back to Revelation, this is where we are in Revelation 13, then “there was given to him the breath of the image,” verse 15, I take it that is the abomination of desolation set up in the Holy Place. “And anybody who won't worship the image of the beast is killed.” That's it, there is no alternative. And how is he going to know? Well, “He causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the freeman and the slave.” So this is worldwide power now, and authority. “To be given a mark,” that means a mark, can be used of a tattoo, “either on their right hand,” on the back of their hand, “or on their forehead. And no one will be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.”

And so we come to that infamous number. “Here is wisdom,” note this, “let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man. His number is 666.” Amazing how many people know about 666 and don't know much about the Bible. Sometimes I have read where a person's address was going to be 666 something and they were in the news because they wanted you to skip that number because they didn't want their address to be 666. It's connected with evil.

What are you talking about? Well, it's not so hard for us to understand. I clipped out an article here on one of the Maccabees, the third Maccabees. This was 200 years before Christ, approximately, the king in Egypt forced Egyptian Jews to be registered in a census, then to be branded with the ivy leaf of their god. And anyone who refused was executed. Just how sometimes this has gone on. We've looked at the mark. Ezekiel talked about those who were marked when judgment was coming on Jerusalem. Turn back to Revelation 7, here there is going to be judgment but there is first a sealing of 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each tribe. So verse 3, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond servants of our God on their forehead.” So you see what the devil is doing, he is creating his own counterfeit. God seals His people on their forehead, I seal my people on the forehead, too. I'm a little more liberal, I also do the right hand. Satan's view.

Come over to Revelation 22:4, “They will see His face, His name will be on their foreheads.” So you see here the devil mimicking, imitating what God says He does. Now will this be visible? It may well be visible, obviously some of these marks like being sealed with the seal from God doesn't necessarily mean it's a visible seal but it is seen to protect them from judgments and so on, and identify them as belonging to God. But here, however it is done, it will be an identification. And something true here that we need to understand, those who get the mark of the beast are confirmed in their lostness. Everyone who gets the mark of the beast is going to hell.

There are going to be people saved by the grace of God, they hear before they are found or the Lord is dealing with them so they hide or whatever to avoid the mark. But you know if you are not committed to Christ, why avoid the mark? You are going to die. Now we can understand with our ability to control things, I mean, I don't understand technical things. They say they store all the conversations of everybody, and I can't even comprehend how they can do that. I don't understand these little chips and what they do. I could at least with a roll of film, you took a picture and then you could unroll it and you could see it. You are putting all these things on a little . . .

But now we can understand. If it is a visible tattoo and he has control over the world, you either line up and get it or, as Jesus said, you run and hide. There is no choice. We say, it's going to be hard to work out. Well I don't know how it is all going to be worked out. When he says they are going to get 666, now let me just tell you what the number 666 is so you don't have to be confused, it's a name. The numbers tie to a name.

I wrote down something I thought you'd like, this came from Pompeii when they did their discoveries there. There was some graffiti on a wall in Pompeii, it said, “I love her whose name is 545.” Now that comes from the fact that in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, each of the letters of the alphabet had a number associated with it. We have that sort of with Latin numerals now, certain numbers associated with it. So you see some in a book, this was published in …., and it gives the Latin letters. I opened a book that belonged to someone else that I had come to, and they had written in there all the Roman numerals and the numerical equivalent because we are not as familiar with that. What does the L stand for? What does the V stand for? And that's a C, what's that? They all had a numerical equivalent. Well, we are going the other way here. The numbers represent a letter, so when this man wrote, like you see, you drive by a bridge and some brave soul got up there and it says I love Marilyn. That's too long, I love . . . He put the numbers for her name, I love 545. So people look at that and say that's so-and-so.

So I take it what we have here, 666 is called the number of man. Man was created on the sixth day, 7 is the number of Revelation, of perfection and completion. Six is the number of man, it's not complete and not perfection. It is man's number. He is the ultimate man, he will be finally what the devil has striven for. He couldn't get Christ to worship him so he has his own man.

I don't think we can figure out who it is. There are always guesses and every time we get a President somebody tries to figure out how certain variations of his name or title could mean 666. I take it this will be understood at this time period in the tribulation, just like we read in Matthew 24, let him who has understanding, here “he who has understanding calculate the number.” When they say you can get 666 or you can write the name, you say I don't want to do that. I'm heading for the mountains. That's, I take it, what will be going on. I can't tell you what the name will be because it's given here like this so it will be secret until then. And all of a sudden that infamous 666 makes sense. Will make sense to the unbeliever, he finally has a god that he can worship, a god that takes care of him, a god that finally brought order to this messed up system. That's where we are going. Ultimately what the devil wants is worship.

You know, sin, I sometimes say sin makes you stupid. That may not be the way, you are stupid because of sin, maybe that's better. You don't see. The devil could quote, as I've shared with you, the book of Revelation. Why doesn't he just turn over here and find out when you get to Revelation 19 you lose. When you get to Revelation 20 you are going to hell. And say I can't win. Well, let me ask you, why do you take your Bible and say let me read you, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, in order that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.” Why don't you believe in Christ? And they say no. That makes no sense. We have it in black and white from the living God. “He that has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son of God will not see life but the wrath of God abides on Him.”

They want to talk about the love of God, we heard it sung today, the “demonstration of God's love” is that “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Why don't you believe that? Why would you choose to go to hell? Why would you choose to continue to rebel? It makes no sense. That's where the devil is. I know he has read it, but it hasn't happened yet, has it? So he still thinks he can win, and we'll just tear these last chapters out. The devil wins. Does he really think that?

Sin blinds you, sin makes you foolish, you can't think anymore. God says “the wages of sin is death,” which includes eternal suffering in hell, as we'll see in Revelation 14 and then again in Revelation 20. That's the wages of sin. “But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.” Doesn't seem to me like there is any choice. You take the free gift and get eternal life. Well, go out and share it with ten people this afternoon and see what their response is. I just have to tell you something that is the most wonderful thing that you will ever hear. The God of heaven is so loving He had His Son come to earth and die for you because you were a sinner, condemned to an eternal hell and He has made it possible for you to be forgiven and go to heaven. Would you like to trust Christ? See how many of the ten respond. Why?

Why do people grow up in this church, spend years here and go out and never trust Christ. Why did I reject it instead of believing it the first time? Why did you? Why did we finally believe? Because God in His grace doesn't give up. “He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth.” It's a battle for who do you worship. Well, I make my own choices. No you don't. You either choose God's way or the devil's way. It's a matter of the one whom we worship.

We thank God for His grace. There is a Savior, there is salvation. We are looking at the future, that is to control the church today and have an impact on us. We know what is ahead. Why did God give us all this detail? So it would have an impact on our lives now and we would live in light of what He said is before us.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your Word, thank You for all You have revealed. And Lord by Your grace we have come to salvation in Christ. And Lord as Your children we are to be lovers of truth, in love with You, in love with the truth You have given. That's why we want to study it, we want to take it in, we want to understand it more clearly, more fully. We want to grow in the knowledge and grace that has been provided to us, bestowed upon us. Lord, so easy for us to become lax and careless and in the passing of time even somewhat indifferent. Lord, I pray that our hearts may be strong, that our passion may be strong in our love for You, in our love for the truth. We pray in Christ's name, amen.