The Revelation of Christ – Part 31:
The Beast out of the Earth
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
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SERMON
INTRODUCTION
The
Book of Revelation, or the Revelation of Christ, is the most challenging book
in the bible.
Because
of this fact, many avoid it or ignore it altogether. Some fear lack of
understanding; others afraid to misinterpret, which I guess it is better to
avoid than dive in and get it completely wrong.
Many
times, when a new believer comes to me for direction, they want to jump right
into Revelation and find out what’s to come.
This
is equivalent to deciding one day to learn Mandarin and sitting down to author
a novel in Chinese that very same day.
Or,
a kindergartner learning how to count, and then trying to calculate quantum
mechanics calculations.
The
words in Revelation have caused much debate on rapture, judgment, even some who
claim John was writing about the events in his day in code rather than Jesus
Christ revealing to him about the coming events and Judgment.
A
special blessing is promised to those who read Revelation.
Although
it may be a difficult book, we could all use a special blessing, reading this
is good for us all, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will take the
Revelation of Christ in small portions and gain understanding, little by
little.
SERMON SERIES
THE THINGS WHICH
ARE – The Church Age (Age of Grace)
Part 4 – Smyrna The
Steadfast Church
Part 5 – Pergamos The Immoral Church
Part 6 – Thyatira The Careless Pagan Church
Part 7 – Sardis The Spiritless Church
Part 8 – Philadelphia The Favored Church
Part 9 – Laodicea The Church God Hates
THE THINGS WHICH
SHALL BE – The Coming Judgment
Part 10 – The Throne of God
Part 11 – The Scroll and Seven Seals
Part 13 –
The First Seal
Part 14 – The Second Seal
Part 15 – The Third Seal
Part 16 – The Fourth Seal
Part 17 – The Fifth Seal
Part 18 – The Sixth Seal
Part 19 – The 144,000 Sealed
Part 20 – The Great Multitude
Part 21 – The Seventh Seal
Part 22 – Trumpets 1-4
Part 23 – The 5th Trumpet (1st woe)
Part 24 – The 6th Trumpet (2nd woe)
Part 25 – The Mighty Angel
Part 26 – The Two Witnesses
Part 27 – The 7th Trumpet and 3rd Woe
Part 28 – The Woman and the Dragon I
Part 29 – The Woman and the
Dragon II
Part 30 – The Beast out of the Sea
TODAY’S SERMON -
THE THINGS WHICH SHALL BE – The Coming Judgment
SCRIPTURE READING
Revelation 13:11-18
Then
I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb,
but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first
beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first
beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even
causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people.
14
Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first
beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an
image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The
second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so
that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be
killed.
16
It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to
receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they
could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast
or the number of its name.
18
This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of
the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.
I.
THEN I SAW A BEAST COMING OUT OF THE EARTH
a.
Introduction to the third party of the unholy trinity
i. Satan (the Dragon)
commanding the fallen angel from the pit that had been released (the first woe,
Revelation
9:1-11)
1. The fifth angel sounded his
trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star
was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke
rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were
darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down
on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 They
were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only
those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to
kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered
was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. 6 During those days
people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death
will elude them.
7
The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore
something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8 Their
hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had
breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like
the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had
tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to
torment people for five months. 11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss,
whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).
ii. This Beast comes out of the
Earth…he is human
iii. Satan wants to be God (Isaiah
14:13-15)
iv. However, Satan cannot come
into this dimension in the form of a human (As God can, entering as Jesus, who
is God in a physical form.)
1. Remember, John
1:1-5 “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2
He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without
him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was
the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
has not overcome it.”
2. The “Word” of God became
“flesh” so it could dwell among us in this dimension.
3. Satan does NOT have this
ability, he is a spirit, that is why we are told in Ephesians that our battle
is spiritual in nature, not against flesh. (Ephesians 6:11-12 “Put on the full armor
of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our
struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
v. So Satan (the Dragon)
commands the Destroyer (who commands all of the demons and fallen angels from
the abyss) to empower the Beast from the Sea (sea meaning multitudes of people)
who will act as Satan’s version of Jesus since he cannot enter this dimension
himself. THIS person IS the “antichrist”
vi. Satan is also incapable of
acting as God’s Holy Spirit in this dimension (which is God in Spirit), so
Satan must find an alternative to act as the Holy Spirit does testifying of
Christ and empowering followers of Jesus.
vii. He does this by commanding
the Destroyer to empower another Beast, from the land (meaning he too is human)
to act as Satan’s spirit to testify and empower.
viii. This is the Beast from the
earth, the False Prophet.
ix. Together, Satan the Dragon
thinking he is God the Father, empowering the antichrist and false prophet make
up an UN holy trinity, each falling short of divine fulfillment, or 666
x. When the Holy Spirit
revealed all of this to John in Revelation, he refers to all members of the
unholy trinity interchangeably as “The Beast”, for they are together acting
“as” one, a poor imitation of God the Father who IS one with Christ and the
Holy Spirit.
b.
A dragon in lambs clothing
i. “Two horns like a lamb, but
spoke like a dragon”
ii. This False Prophet acts as a
messenger of peace, speaking only what his father, Satan, gives him to speak
1. John 8:44 “You belong to your father,
the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer
from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.
When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of
lies.”
iii. And the message of the False
Prophet is this, testifying of the Beast from the Sea (the antichrist), and his
connection with “god” the Dragon (Satan)
iv. Revelation
13:12
“It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the
earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been
healed.”
1. The fatal wound that had
been healed is the return of the Roman Empire, which was also controlled by the
power of Satan in a failed attempt at stopping the birth of Jesus, thinking the
crucifixion would end it, and using the kingdom on earth to try and destroy
Jews and later, followers of Christ
c.
Causing signs in view of the people
i. How does the False Prophet
convince the people?
ii. By imitating the power of
God’s Holy Spirit
iii. It was given power to
perform signs, even causing fire to come down from the sky in full view of the
people
iv. It deceived the inhabitants
of earth because they believed their eyes and the false testimony of the False
Prophet
II.
IT WAS EMPOWERED ON BEHALF OF THE BEAST FROM THE SEA
a.
Given power to perform on behalf of the first beast
i. Everything it does is on
behalf of the antichrist
b.
It ordered construction of an image in honor of the
revived beast
i. The Ten Commands
1. You shall have no other Gods
but me
2. Make no idol, nor bow to it
or worship it
3. Do not take the Lord’s name
in vain
ii. These first three commands
have to do with our relationship with God the Father in heaven.
iii. The False Prophet works on
breaking man’s relationship with God the Father completely by testifying the
antichrist is god, having the people make an idol of him, bow down and worship
it, and then blaspheme the name of God through receiving the mark of the beast
as opposed the God’s Mark given to us (the Holy Spirit within us)
c.
The beast of the earth was given power to make the
image speak and kill
i. This idol will speak through
the power of the Dragon
III.
ALL WHO WORSHIPPED THE BEAST
a.
It forced all who worshipped it to receive a mark on
their hands or foreheads
i. Remember, God
marks His people spiritually (Revelation 9:4 God marked His people on
their forehead) and that mark is us receiving the Holy Spirit, it is a
spiritual mark.
b.
No one could buy or sell who did not belong to the
beast
i. Those who belong to the
Beast (666 unholy trinity) will be marked spiritually, however, they may also
have outward signs as well.
ii. Just by speaking with
followers of Christ, we can usually tell they are a follower without having to
see a “cross necklace” or a bible in their hand, we just know.
1. Also, anyone can purchase a
cross necklace or bible and carry it around, that does not make them a follower
of Christ!
iii. But people will know in the
Spirit whether someone is a follower of Christ or the beast!
iv. Restrictions will be placed
on those who do not belong to the Beast, just as it was in the days of the
Roman Empire before!
1. Nothing was legal without
the Roman acknowledgement
2. Jews could not own property
3. No one was “married” unless
Rome recognized it’
4. Etc...
c.
“It is the number of man, 666”
i. In Genesis 1 God sets apart the seventh
day for rest (All was done, and all was good)
ii. In Deuteronomy
5:12 God set apart the
seventh day as the holy day of rest, a Sabbath, for Israel
iii. Right at the start of the
Bible, the number 7 is identified with something being “finished” or
“complete.” From then on, that association continues, as 7 is often found in
contexts involving completeness or divine perfection. So we see the command for
animals to be at least seven days old before being used for sacrifice (Exodus
22:30), the command for
leprous Naaman to bathe in the Jordan River seven times to effect complete
cleansing (2 Kings 5:10), and the command for Joshua to march around
Jericho for seven days (and on the seventh day to make seven circuits) and for
seven priests to blow seven trumpets outside the city walls (Joshua
6:3–4). In these instances,
7 signifies a completion of some kind: a divine mandate is fulfilled.
iv. Man, being created on the 6th
day, falls short of 7, which represents divine fulfillment
1. Romans
3:23
“all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”
v. The fact that the Holy
Spirit chose to use 666 to represent the “Beast” means in effect, Satan (the
Dragon), The Beast of the Sea (Antichrist) and the Beast of the Earth (False
Prophet) are 6, 6, 6, or ALL are falling short of divine fulfillment, not
ordained of God.
vi. Anything “less than God”,
(which is ALL OF CREATION) will be judged by God, and 666 (the Beast
corporation) is no exception.
CONCLUSION
–
We now see the unholy
trinity at work. The counterfeit of God,
trying, as he has always done;
Satan (the Dragon)
commanding the Destroyer (who commands all of the fallen and demons from the
Abyss) are working to create their own kingdom.
Empowering a human to act
as savior, and another man to act as the Holy Spirit, this unholy trinity will
now try to establish Satan as God on earth, and win souls over by convincing
them to sever their ties with God the Father through the breaking of the first
3 commands, and creating for themselves a “heaven on earth”, where commands no
longer apply, and you may do as you wish.
Some ask, “why in the
world would anyone follow Satan?”
Because he promises things
our flesh desires, tempting us to follow our flesh as opposed to our spirit.
MANY will follow him
willfully, because they already follow their flesh, and when the Dragon comes,
he will say what their tickling hears have been dying to hear!
Matthew
24:37 “As it was in
the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
The biblical account of
Noah begins in Genesis 6. Approximately 1,600 years had passed since the
creation of Adam and Eve (Genesis
1:26–27). As the
earth’s population exploded in number, it also exploded with evil. Long
forgotten was the righteous sacrifice of Abel (Genesis
4:4) as “the Lord saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis
6:5). Verses 11 and 12 say, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and
the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt,
for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” However, “Noah found favor
in the eyes of the Lord” (verse
8).
When Jesus described the
events that will surround His second coming, He said, “Just as it was in the
days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and
drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah
entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26–27).
Jesus was pointing out
that, although the people of Noah’s day were totally depraved, they were not
the least bit concerned about it. They were carrying on the events of their
lives without a single thought of the judgment of God. Noah is described as “a
preacher of righteousness” (2
Peter 2:5), meaning he
had spent years warning his friends and neighbors what the Holy God was about
to do. No one listened.
NEXT
WEEK: The Lamb and the 144,000
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