The Completion of the False Trinity

Transcript

GR 2031
02/11/2018
The Completion of the False Trinity
Revelation 13:11-15
Gil Rugh

We're studying the book of Revelation together and we are in chapter 13, so if you would turn there, Revelation 13. We'll start with our chart that you have memorized if you have been here very often, but it is foundational.

This is the overview of the 70 weeks of Daniel, and what is exciting about this chart for us, the church age. This is the period of time in which we are living. Obviously this chart is not to scale, this is a 2000-year period so far, approximately; this is a seven-year period.

So this is the period of time we are in, in the book of Revelation; this is the period of time in which we are living. And I am trusting that we are living right about here and any moment I expect to leave with you. This is the Rapture of the church, when God's program in building the church will be complete. This is the time called in Revelation 11 the fullness of the Gentiles, because this is the time when God's work of salvation is focused primarily on the Gentile nations and peoples.

Doesn't mean Jews are excluded but it is different than it was in the Old Testament before the church age when God was working primarily with the Jews and the nation Israel. This is a day of great opportunity and salvation blessing for non-Jews primarily, called the fullness of the Gentiles in Revelation 11. With the Rapture, the church will be removed from the earth, all believers caught up to meet Christ in the air.

Then we will begin a seven-year period called the 70th week of Daniel, it is the final seven-year period in God's 490-year program with the nation Israel. We stopped in that program, had a pause with the crucifixion of Christ, Israel's rejection of the Messiah.

The church was started in Acts 2, and Israel has lived under the judgment of God as a nation for this period. Now He will return to His work of bringing Israel to salvation, and we remind ourselves of two things going on in this seven-year period. #1, God is pouring out His wrath on an unbelieving world like has never been seen before, worldwide judgment. At the same time, secondly, He is working with the nation Israel and through this seven-year period, through the sufferings that their nation will endure, and they will be tremendous, He is working to bring them to the point where they turn from their rebellion and recognize Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah of Israel, Savior. Takes all of that. How patient and gracious God has been.

So at that point Christ will return from heaven to earth to deliver Israel, because if He did not come at this point, the nation would be destroyed and the judgments of God would wipe out everybody else. Jesus said that if He did not intervene at this point, the end of this seven-year period, there wouldn't be a person left alive on the face of the earth. Between the judgments of God on the unbelieving world and the work of the devil to annihilate the nation Israel, it will be the return of Christ to provide ultimate completion to God's plan. And that will enable us to have the kingdom established on earth and the fulfillment of all the prophecies of the Old Testament toward that end.

We are in the book of Revelation covering this seven-year period. We have looked really through the first 3½ years. Now we have stopped here in the middle and events that take place from the middle to the end that are of particular importance and of particular interest to the nation Israel are being explained. And that was true in Revelation 11, 12, 13, 14, introduced in Revelation 10.

So the events that take place here and over this last 3½ years are of particular importance. For the first 3½ years, Israel has been doing all right, there has been an artificial peace established for Israel. We saw the temple was rebuilt, the sacrificial system was reinstituted, Israel is living under the protection of a man we know of as the Antichrist. He signed a covenant as the key figure in the revived Roman Empire, allied with ten nations to protect Israel. In the middle here all of that changes.

So we are talking about events of the middle, and what is key here is the revelation of two individuals who come to prominence in the middle of this time period. The one we know of as the Antichrist, and then there will be a second individual known as the false prophet. So that's where we are in Revelation 13. The church is in heaven, been raptured here, but the world is going on and we are being filled in on what we need to know.

We've looked through the first part of Revelation 13, you had the first beast that came out of the sea. And this is the rise of the Antichrist. He started out in a small insignificant way, the book of Daniel referred to him as a little horn, rather small and insignificant. But when you get to the middle, he will become world dictator. He is identified as the first beast, the beast out of the sea. The first beast we call him because there will be a second beast we will see in a moment. Then we went through some of the descriptions and characteristics. We noted that he may be raised from the dead because it talks that way when it talks about him. Verse 3, “I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain,” and there is a connection of the man and the empire, but it seems you get personal here. The as slain seemed to indicate that he will die. Same expression used of Christ in Revelation 5:6, the Lamb as slain. “And his fatal wound was healed, the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast. And they worship the dragon, they worship the beast.” We see here a Satanic trinity coming together, the third person of that Satanic trinity will come to our attention just shortly.

“They have authority for 42 months,” the end of verse 5. So we know we are in the last half of that seven-year period because when this 42-months period expires Christ will return to earth. So he has authority to act for 42 months and “he opens his mouth in blasphemies” and so on. We looked at verses 5-10 and I just want to review with you a summary of what we looked at in verses 5-10. We are going to put some of these up on the screen as a reminder.

#1, God is sovereign over sinful men and their actions. We noted God's sovereignty is key, will be through this whole chapter. In verse 5 it says “there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant things;” down in verse 7, “it was also given to him.” God is sovereign in everything that is happening. It seems like the devil has taken over but that is only because it is God's sovereign plan that man's rebellion in following the devil reaches its climax. So God is sovereign over sinful men and their actions. He didn't cause them to sin, He has removed His restraining grace in allowing them. And we talked about Romans 1 where as a result of man's continued rejection of God, God turned them over so they could pursue their sinful desires. It's an act of judgment. So here His sovereignty displayed.

#2, Arrogance and blasphemy will characterize the beast's reign. Verse 5, “It was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies.” Verse 6, “He opened his mouth in blasphemies against God to blaspheme His name, tabernacle, and those tabernacled in heaven.” He is opposed in every way to God and everyone and everything associated with God. Let me just remind you that is true of fallen man, fallen humanity. “The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked,” it is in a continual state of rebellion against God. What is different in this period of time that we are studying in Revelation, God is removing some of the restraint He has placed on the devil and his followers. So we have that rebellion held back during the time in which we live. We ought not to be surprised. The devil is no different in character today than he will be during that seven-year period. The heart of fallen man in his rebellion against God is no different today than it will be in that seven-year period. And the rebellion of fallen, sinful, unredeemed people is no different than it will be in that day. We as believers need to be careful we keep a perspective, and that is one thing we are learning. Man doesn't get better and better, he gets worse and worse.

#3, And this came up in the songs that were sung this morning as well. It is sometimes the plan of God for His people to be overcome by evil people. God will protect us, God will keep us, and He does, sometimes to a very unpleasant end for us humanly speaking. Verse 7, “It was given to him to make war with the saints to overcome them.” He will be crushing those who become believers. By God's grace there will be people being saved during this time, but they will pay a tremendous price with awful suffering and death. And it is God's plan that it seems like the devil and evil is winning and God has given the devil and the beast authority to make war with the saints and to overcome them. Now he doesn't have the final victory because even in death they will be victorious because they will enjoy the presence of God. But looking on a human level they are being defeated everywhere. So it is sometimes God's plan, His sovereignty is His sovereignty. Continually brought to our attention here as God's people.

#4, Only the elect are spared Satanic deception. Verse 8, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.” The book written before the creation that contains the names of those who will come to trust Christ. We looked at other passages. You say that's discouraging, I might as well give up. Maybe my name is not in the book. Maybe it's not. If you refuse to believe in Christ, it is not there. If you want to trust in Christ, call upon Him, for whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. You will not be able to blame God for your stubborn refusal to call upon Him and place your faith in the Savior He provided. But God is sovereign in the work of salvation. If that were not so, no one would be saved and we must not ever forget that. We who have been saved are trophies of His grace, not that we were less sinful or better or more deserving than anyone else.

#5, God chose some to salvation before creation. That ties to the previous point. Since they are God's chosen, they will be spared the deception. The unbeliever has no ability to sort out truth and error. I mean, they believe the most foolish things. Why would they believe that? They believe we were created and came to exist out of an evolution that began with a big explosion. You say, how can they believe that? The beauty of even your body and how complicated it is, and when one part doesn't work right your body is in trouble. But it just all happened to happen. That's the kind of faith that is foolish. So the believers will not be deceived. It will take the special grace of God working in the life of a believer because the deception will be so great. Jesus said “if possible,” Matthew 24, “even the elect would be deceived.” So we're going to talk about that deception shortly. This is going to be a time of great Satanic deception, and it is only the grace of God in the lives of the elect that keep them from being deceived. That's how great the deception will be.

#6, God's purpose for His children may include suffering and death. And I need you to make note, we skipped verse 9 but we're coming back to it, verse 10, “If anyone is destined for captivity to captivity he goes.” This is talking about God's sovereignty for His people. He has talked about their preservation from deception in verse 8 but that doesn't mean they are going to be preserved from suffering because remember back in verse 7, “It was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.” So if anyone is destined for captivity to captivity he goes. Now if you are using the New American Standard Bible as I am, it probably reads next, “if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed.” And that gives you, I think, a confusion. It would be better translated “if anyone is to be killed, with the sword he must be killed.” Some textual issues here with the word that we won't go into. But I think the better translation here is if anyone is to be killed, with the sword he must be killed. He is talking about God's sovereignty in allowing His children to be overcome, to be taken captive, to be killed. So God's intention for His children. That is true today. God's children suffer diseases and illnesses and tragedies. Sometimes it is God's will for that to happen. Sometimes it seems like a believer has been killed, how many believers have given their lives as martyrs during the history of the church and God didn't intervene to keep them from being burned at the stake or tortured and so on. Sometimes that is His will. That's why it is important for us to grasp the sovereignty of God as we go through Revelation. He is in total control, outcome is as He says. No matter how I died, it's no defeat. And so these believers during this period of time, as their families are being torn apart and they are being carried off to concentration camps and murdered in terrible ways.

#7, Endurance and faithfulness come from accepting what God appoints for us. Look at the last statement, Verse 10, “Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.” What is? Going captive? Being killed? Recognizing the sovereignty of God, He is the One who has chosen us in verse 8, He is the One sovereign. At this point in time I recognize things are not out of control. The person living then could read it and say God is sovereign. Sort of like the song sung from Job, Though He slay Me, Yet I Will Love Him. He is the God I serve, we recognize His sovereignty. Sometimes believers get shaken and we are all human, He knows that we are but dust. But this is why we anchor ourselves in God's truth. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints, that perseverance. That builds perseverance. And my faith in Him enables me to be faithful. What? This trial.

If you read the accounts of the martyrs and you sit back amazed and say they go to the stake to be burned and they are praising God, testifying to the power of God and His salvation, even as the flames consume them. What gives them that endurance? My God is sovereign. This is not defeating me, this is not frustrating His plan for me. Like James says, “count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various kinds of trials. For the testing of your faith produces endurance.”

Sometimes when we live a relatively comfortable life we have a rather shallow endurance level, we have an untested faith, If I can use that. You go places when they have suffered for their faith you say they have a tenacity and a determination. I remember as I shared, one time when we were in another country a number of years ago, we were visiting with a pastor who had been in prison for 20 years. We were giving him some material in a hotel lobby and we said, are you afraid they will arrest you? What are they going to do? Put me back in prison? I've been there, and he talks about all he suffered. He said they can only do it again. I said well, I have to get on the plane and get out of here, he's a nut. But he's a tested believer, it produces endurance, it strengthens our faith so we can rejoice in it.

So that's a little bit of review from where we were. We are ready to pick up with verse 11. Do you know what verse 11 reminds us? This chapter is unique in this way. This is the only chapter in the Bible that brings the two key individuals that will dominate this last 3½ year period together. Here you have the explanation of their relationship and the roles they play with one another. That's why we'll call it the completion of the Satanic trinity, with the devil trying to imitate and replace ultimately God the Father. The Antichrist trying to be the false Christ, replacing the honored new Christ. And then the false prophet, called another beast. We'll see he is given the name false prophet a number of times through the book of Revelation.

But he says, “I saw another beast coming up out of the earth.” This is another beast, we noted that word another in a previous reference, it's another of the same kind. And he is called a beast, even as the first one was called in verse 1, then I saw a beast coming out of the sea. Now I saw another beast. So they are both called beast, denoting something of their character. And this is the word another, allos, that refers to another of the same kind in contrast to heteros, Greek word for another that means another of a different kind. This is another beast, in his character he is like the first beast but he has his uniqueness. He is coming up out of the earth.

Now coming out of the earth, some connect this to the land of Israel and say he is probably Jewish, he is coming out of the land. I don't think that is the emphasis, I think it is just emphasizing here that he has no relationship to the God of heaven or heaven. And all that he has comes from the earth, and he is connected to the earth. Because that's the way the word earth is used in the next verse, in the second sentence of verse 12, “He makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast.” Obviously there he is talking about the people of the world. And that's true. They are referred to as the earth down in verse 14, “telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast.” So the earth there seems to be referring to the people of the world. They will have an impact on the Jews obviously, but I don't see support for these being necessarily Jewish.

Some of the details of prophecy, we can get the picture but the details in their finality will be known when it happens. Everything said here is going to be true but exactly how it is carried out. We'll see that. We talk about these individuals just exactly. It wouldn't change anything if he is a Jew or if he is not a Jew. We don't want to lose our focus on what is important in the revelation here. Whether he is a Jew or not is secondary. The fact is the ministry he will have and what he will accomplish. That's what the focus is.

“He came up out of the earth, he had two horns like a lamb.” Two horns like a lamb. This would seem to indicate something of a rather mild and meek appearance. Remember “Jesus said ‘I am meek and lowly in heart. Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy-laden.’” Christ is described as a Lamb as we open up Revelation 14. “I looked and behold the Lamb was standing.” So here is the lamb with two horns, seemed to indicate he comes across in this meek, maybe mild, and yet attractive way. We think of him coming on the scene, like bursting on the scene, but rather comes in such a way but there is a magnetism about him that you are drawn to him, as we will see. So he has this appearance as a lamb, but he speaks as a dragon. That means that the devil is behind him. The dragon, remember was identified as the devil back in Revelation 12:7ff, the dragon, serpent of old, the devil, Satan. So he is a man who will be very eloquent because the devil is enabling him to be the speaker.

So no matter how he appears, no matter what that personal attraction is, he is a mouthpiece of the devil. This is the way the devil works, he is the master counterfeiter. And that is his goal. Do you know what he wants? He doesn't want to be totally different, he wants to be like God, he wants us to worship him. He is not trying to create something totally alternative, except it is an alternative to God, worship me. He wants to be the replacement. And this comes out through this section, as we will see. Be aware, the greatest danger to Christianity is not Hinduism or those far away religions or totally different. The greatest danger to biblical Christianity is Christianity that is not biblical, the counterfeit.

Come back to Matthew 7. Jesus spoke of this in the Sermon on the Mount. Look at verse 15, “Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Sounds like that second beast in Revelation, doesn't it. He is like a lamb with his little horns, but he speaks as the dragon. So here, “they come in sheep's clothing, inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” That's the way the devil works—so appealing, so wonderful, they are just the kind of person you can't help but admire him. He seems meek and non-assertive, but there is a magnetism and a power and an aura about him. You just don't know what to make of it.

Come over to 2 Corinthians 11, Paul's concern for the church at Corinth. What does he say? Verse 3, “I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness.” How did the serpent deceive Eve? Come and say He is not the living God, I'm the living God, I am more powerful? No, he didn't. He came and said I have something for your benefit, I can really help you. Eating the fruit of that tree won't be bad for you, it will be good for you. And think about it, you will be like God. That can't be bad. Have a bite.

So “as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness be careful your minds are not led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” What happened in the Corinthian church, they were opening their ears and listening to false teaching. He warns them down in verse 13, “Such men are false apostles.” You see what he is doing, he has created a counterfeit for the genuine to appeal to Christians. “Deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.” Doesn't change their character. The greatest damage to the church comes from within, not from without. The Corinthian church is being led astray from the truth that Paul taught. How did they get so confused? The devil is a master counterfeiter.

Come back to Revelation 13. This one, verse 11, called the beast and speaks as the dragon, we refer to as the false prophet because that's how the book of Revelation will refer to him. Look in Revelation 16:13, and here you see the Satanic trinity brought together. “I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon,” remember he would like to be like God. “I will be like the Most High, I will lift my throne up,” Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. So here “out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast.” That's the first beast, the Antichrist in Revelation 13. “Out of the mouth of the false prophet,” that's the second beast. He is called the false prophet, he speaks as the dragon. So he becomes the spokesman here in directing the worship of the world to the Antichrist. And those who worship the Antichrist worship whom? The devil.

So that's the pattern. Look over in Revelation 19:20, and here is where they will be sentenced to hell. These two individuals, the first beast and the second beast, are the first two sentenced to hell. They will be in hell 1000 years before the devil gets sentenced. “The beast,” Revelation 19:20, “was seized and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark. They were thrown into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.” We see the false prophet again. Then in Revelation 20:10 when the devil joins them in hell, “and the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are also.” You'll note they were cast here a thousand years before, but they are still there. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. That's the only alternative to your eternal destiny—heaven or hell. Both are eternal. But what a contrast.

Come back to Revelation 13. So we have the second beast here and he has an appearance of mildness, attractiveness, but he is a spokesman for the devil. “He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence.” His presence means he is acting on his behalf, sort of like Christ and the Holy Spirit. When Christ was preparing the disciples to leave, He said when He left, John 15, the earth He would send the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit would testify of Christ. And so we call people to place their faith in Christ. We don't say place your faith in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, the third person, but the work of the Holy Spirit is to direct men's attention to the second person of the trinity, who is the One who loved them and died for them. So here he has authority, he and the first beast don't work in conflict. He acts with the authority of the first beast because they both have authority from the devil. But they work in harmony, not conflict. The second beast here has no desire, no goal to replace the first beast. They are working in harmony.

“He makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.” He is the religious leader, his purpose is to direct the worship of the world to the Antichrist, the first beast. Like the Holy Spirit works in the world and works upon hearts. And we share the Gospel and pray that the Spirit of God will open their eyes and they might come to believe.

So here his work is to direct the worship of the world. Note, “he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.” I take it that is emphasizing the resurrection of the first beast that we talked about, who was slain. And there is discussion, but the impact is the same. Some believe it wasn't a genuine resurrection, it was just appearance. You know, we are not going to know how far the devil can go until it actually comes. We do know many of the restraints on him are removed and he has greater authority than he has ever had. So I take it, whose fatal wound was healed, how are you going to argue with this? We have living proof he was raised from the dead.

Now people didn't believe when Christ was raised from the dead because the unbeliever never believes the truth. But he has an openness to believe and follow the lie because remember the children of the devil do the will of their father, the devil. That includes very religious people, it included the religious leaders of Israel. You do the will of your father the devil. It's not surprising that you murder, that you lie, that you reject the truth. He was a liar from the beginning. In Jesus' conversation with them.

So he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose wound was healed. And do you want further proof of the super-naturalness of this, that this first beast is God incarnate? “He performs great signs,” not just signs, great signs, mega signs, “so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.” We looked back in Revelation 11, the two witnesses, verse 5, “If anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies. If anyone wants to harm them, they must be killed in that way.”

And we went back and looked at Elijah, “if I be a man of God may fire come down from heaven and consume you.” So here now we have this false prophet to say, you want proof of genuineness. Was Elijah genuine? Did he call down fire from heaven? Watch this. Does anybody question whether I am genuine?
So “he performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.” I take it there will be crowds here, and now we have mass media of all kinds. Do you think this won't be on the news? That it won't be seen again and again and again? He is doing it to deceive the world. Satan doesn't have small plans, he is a big thinker, he has to get the world to worship him, if he is going to have a kingdom like God prophesied. He's not happy, I'll get this country, I'll get this nation, that will be good enough. He is looking for worldwide . . . Remember Luke 4, show Christ all the kingdoms of the world and I can give them to You because they have been given to my authority. That tells you something, he is not in ultimate control. God is, it is God's sovereign plan that Satan would have that authority to continue to lead in his rebellion against God, but he can never win.

Look at verse 13, “he performs great signs, makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men and he deceives those who dwell on the earth, because of the signs,” now note, “which it was given him to perform.” This will be mentioned in verse 15, “it was given to him;” we saw this back in Revelation 13:5, “it was given to him;” verse 7, “it was given to him.” There is this constant reminder, no matter how spectacular this is, no matter how amazing, the ultimate power and authority resides only in the one true, living God.

Remember God “will send a strong delusion that they should believe a lie,” 2 Thessalonians 2? So it becomes a question, how far will they be able to go? How far will it be God's will to allow Satan to proceed in his delusion? Ultimately we won't know until it is being carried out and the prophecy is being fulfilled. But I think we need to be careful. I read some commentators who say these will probably be just great magical tricks. Remember we looked at the book of Job, and when God gave Satan the authority to do it, he could raise an army to kill Job's servants and steal his flocks; he could cause the wind to blow so strong it collapsed the house on all of Job's children; he could even bring devastating sickness and illness to the body of Job. I mean, we have to be careful in deciding what God can do and can't do. He can never allow Himself to be replaced, but like Romans 1 when men continue to reject Him, He “gave them over,” He gave them over, He gave them over. Do you want to persist in rebellion against Me? I'll remove some of the restraints and now let your rebellion magnify. But you can't win.

So here give greater authority to the devil, great miracles. These miracles would be like, the only time maybe comparable was when Christ was on earth. But remember His was a limited scope. Now we are having worldwide done. Christ hardly ever left the regions of the land of Israel. In that sense He had a very limited ministry. This is going to be carried on, on a bigger scale, if you understand how I put that. The impact of what Christ did obviously cannot be measured, but here these things are being done. Christ's miracles were done here in this Galilee or in Judea or . . . This is being done with the whole world as an audience.

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 that's the expression we had up in verse 12, “in his presence.” That means he is doing it in the context of him, authority derived from him and connected with him as his representative. “Telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and had come to life.” Again, this expression, the personal pronouns used here of this beast who had the wound and all would indicate his death and resurrection. Hard to think of them worshiping an empire and building an image to the empire in this way. At any rate the impact is the same. They are going to build an image to him, an image of the beast. Perhaps like you have in Daniel 3. Remember Nebuchadnezzar? Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego? And Nebuchadnezzar built this massive image 90 feet tall, 60 feet wide. They didn't do things on a small scale. Now when the instruments play, everybody fall down and worship him. Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego don't, and into the furnace they go. This is the kind of situation we have here. They made the image, and this is an image of the first beast.

Now verse 15, “It was given to him,” again the sovereignty of God in this but “to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” This image of the beast becomes a prominent expression, it becomes a prominent element in the worship of the Antichrist in the book of Revelation. It is mentioned three times in verse 15—image of the beast, image of the beast, image of the beast. Down in Revelation 14:9, “If anyone worships the beast and his image;” down in verse 11, “those who worship the beast and his image;” down in Revelation 15:2, “those who had been victorious over the beast and his image;” down in Revelation 16:2, “the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.” So this image becomes a dominant element from this point on. Remember Christ speaking on the Mount of Olives in Matthew 24, “when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the Holy Place, you better flee.” So that's what we are talking about here, the image of this man placed in the temple that had been reconstructed during the first 3½ years as we saw in Revelation 11, as a result of the Antichrist signing a covenant of peace with Israel that began the seven-year period. But in the middle that covenant is broken and now things change totally.

The question comes, “it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast,” what happens here? This image comes to life or appears to come to life. It can speak, it can cause people who won't fall down and worship to be killed. When we do the grammar of the Greek here saying that the cause goes with the speak and they both have to connect back to the image of the beast, it's the image of the beast causing this as a derivative of the work of the false prophet as all the worship must come to the beast and his image because his image represents him. What does it mean, it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast? Well, the word breath is the word spirit, pneuma, we refer to it in English as pneuma, like pneumatology, the study of the Spirit. Now some make a point, he doesn't say he could give life to the image of the beast, only spirit. But that is not a valid argument because James 2:26 says “the body without the spirit is dead.” So the spirit is life, and when you die, your spirit leaves your body. When you are resurrected, your spirit will move back into your body.

Come back to Revelation 11. Remember the two witnesses in Revelation 11 are killed and their bodies lie in the streets for everybody to see for 3½ days, verse 11. Then “the breath of life from God came into them.” The breath of life is literally the spirit of life, though it is the spirit. So I don't think that resolves the issue, and there is disagreement. Probably three views that I just checked out, looking at different commentaries, that you would be familiar with and I would be familiar with. One very popular one says that this was a trick, some kind of ventriloquist and so on. I doubt that, that's not a very great miracle. The other possibility is the spirit is a demonic spirit and we know demonic spirits could indwell people during Jesus' earthly ministry, and they could control the person, they could prevent them from hearing, prevent them from speaking. They could cause them to throw themselves down in a fire, to go into convulsions. They could give them great strength so they could break chains. They couldn't make a chain big enough to hold them. So they can go in and control people, so maybe it's a demonic spirit. Or there are good commentaries that said God chooses to enable the devil to carry out an ultimate deception here, give true life to the image. Don't want to get lost. Whatever it is the impact is the same. People who see this believe it's a alive, believe it is real. And for 3½ years this goes on as an object of worship. We see that as we move through the chapter as we just looked at, referring to the image, from here into chapter 16.

So don't get lost on which will it be, which one will it be. Well, we probably won't get the final word on that, determines how much God has decided to give in authority for Satan to do something. But the point will be whatever is done here has the same impact on the people of the time. They are convinced this image is alive, it talks, it requires worship and only God could bring this about. And it is the image of the Antichrist. So it can be argued it is his power in this, the very thing that God didn't want Israel to have, an image to worship. But man always wants something he can see and touch and feel. So you have the image here, he gives it breath. However you interpret pneuma, spirit, the impact will be the same.

The image of the beast would even speak and “will cause as many as don't worship the image of the beast to be killed.” We don't have time to go back right now to Matthew, Daniel and 2 Thessalonians, but we will pick that up. Let me just review with you some of what we have looked at in these verses, impress them on our minds.

#1, Satan's best counterfeits are yet to come, his best counterfeits. That will be in 2 Thessalonians 2, we haven't gone to all these passages. We do that often enough that if you are here, you are familiar. That's where it says God will send a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. This is a time of God's judgment, this is a time of salvation for you. Some people say if I see all this happening, the tribulation comes, I will place my faith in Christ then. And if I get martyred at least I will go to heaven. It's going to be a lot harder in those days. By God's grace many will be saved, but the basic thing is Satan's best counterfeits are yet to come. And the ones he is using in our day are terribly effective, but they will even be much more effective in days to come.

#2, Satan's servants come disguised as sheep. If we are not very careful, we will get deluded like the Corinthians did, like the Galatians did, like those that Jude had to write to did. We have to be careful. That doesn't mean we don't trust anyone, but we just don't have a gullible trusting of everyone. And the Word of God has to be the standard, we'll see that.

#3, Satan's goal is to have the world worship him. Satan is a being consumed by a passion to be worshiped as God. So don't get the idea, at least they go to church, at least they have some religion. And we get this when we begin to wed politics and religion, so we see false religious system that has some political views that we would like, so we overlook our religious differences because at least we could agree on some social issues, some issues like this. We make no agreements with the devil, there are no compacts with the devil. Serious business. Satan is looking for worship.

#4, Satan will use great miracles to deceive the world. The Greek word we carry over into English is mega. These are called in the Bible mega miracles. God's intention is they be so spectacular and convincing that only His grace in the life of the elect will keep the elect from being swept away. So whatever is going on here, it will be like the world has never seen. It's a Satanic trinity, trying to counterfeit the living God so Satan can receive the worship of the world that he so desperately and relentlessly seeks.

And that is #5, rejection of Christ will culminate in the worship of the beast. Ultimately there are only two types of worship in the world—the worship of the living God through His Son Jesus Christ because Christ said no one comes to the Father but by Me, and everything else. That's it. People think that is not very politically correct and that's too exclusive, but that's God's right, to be exclusive. He is exclusively God and He can tell us how He must be worshiped, He can tell us that in our sinful condition we are unacceptable, we cannot come to Him. In His grace He has made a way. He provided His Son to suffer and die to pay the penalty for our sin. And He said if you will believe in Him I will cleanse you, forgive you, cause you to be made new, be born again. And then I welcome you to come into My presence. But no one comes to the Father but by Christ. So the culmination of the world, his direction will be worldwide worship of the devil, but that's not the end, the last chapter is the kingdom in Revelation 20-22.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your Word. We are greatly blessed that You should reveal yourself, make Yourself known, Lord, give us Your words for us to study, understand, submit to. Above all to reveal to us the salvation You provided in Your Son, an act of mercy and grace to redeem those who were not deserving, were not worthy. All of us, every single one, have sinned against You, unrighteous, deserving of eternal condemnation. But You offer the free gift of life in Christ. Thank You, Lord, for such grace. In Christ's name, amen.