Bible Study - September 16, 2020

Before we get started, if anyone has any questions, comments, or anything that relate back to last week, certainly feel free to ask them now or we can discuss what you would like. Okay. Otherwise, we'll go ahead and get started in chapter 13. You know, just to give us the setting and the layout of the book of Revelation again, at the end of chapter 9, we were brought through the sixth trumpet, and then in chapters 10 and 11, God filled us into what was happening up until the sixth trumpet.

We have the two witnesses that have been preaching, and then they are killed before the sixth trumpet ends, and they're resurrected right at the sixth trumpet at the end of Revelation 11. It simply says the seventh trumpet sounds. So we've talked about that. We went into chapter 12 that shows the history of the church that Jesus Christ started, the persecution that it endured really from the time that he started it that extended for all those years, 1260 years, as God protected it as it was in the wilderness, moving it from place to place.

The church never died out, but boy did it endure a lot of persecution and a lot of martyrdom during those times as the Catholic Church, to put it blatantly, just pretty much kept the fall on everything regaling to the Bible. It just kept everything the truth away, and the Bible was hidden from people for all those years until in the 1500s, late 1500s, it began to be published in England after the Catholic Church relinquished a little bit and allowed it to be seen.

So we came up to the end time in chapter 12, and we have the church, part of the church, still fleeing into the wilderness, where it's nurtured for time, times, and a half a time from the presence of the serpent. And then we have the dragon, Satan, who is just simply enraged with the rest of the woman, the true church, and he goes to war with the people who are left behind, if we will, and their lives are absolutely, you know, they enter a time that's just atrocious and horrible from our aspect. And with all that, we come into chapter 13, and then we're introduced to the beast power, the government that's extant on the earth at the time, three and a half years before the return of Jesus Christ, what life will be like under that government, and the religious component to that government, and later on in the chapter as well.

So let's pick it up there in chapter 13. We could literally spend probably two or three Bible studies in chapter 13 alone if we wanted to, but I don't want to spend that much time in chapter 13. I want to keep moving ahead. I'm gonna send everyone tonight or tomorrow kind of a handout that someone sent me.

You know, we get into chapter 13 and we talk about the seven heads, the resurrections of the Roman Empire, the head that was mortally wounded and is alive again. But someone sent me this thing that I hadn't seen actually for years. It's kind of a layout of history and all explains the the horns, the crowns, all the reiterations of the Roman Empire because really for all of modern history, someone has been trying to unify Europe. And there's been time after time after time the Roman Empire has been resurrected. You know, the latest one being during the Second World War when Mussolini and Italy and the Catholic Church back then tried to unite it.

Well, there's a time coming. So I'll send this to you and it's actually quite fascinating. I spent some time last night after it was sent to me looking at it. It's interesting to look through that and see how everything in the Bible is spelled out here in history that you can document in any historical document. So I won't spend a lot of time on that, but after the feast, if we want to talk more about the beast and go through in detail, we can certainly schedule a Bible study for that. I'll wait to hear from you on that.

But I'd like to get through to the point where we should be as we come into trumpets because the timing... I didn't actually initially plan it this way, but we'll come to the point where as we celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles... no, not the Feast of Tabernacles... the Feast of Trumpets, the Sabbath, will be right to the point, I believe, where the seventh trumpet is sounding and it will flow right into the Holy Day that we're all going to be observing here just a couple days.

But in chapter 13, verse 1, we have this government that shows up on earth three and a half years before the government that's on earth before Jesus Christ returns is totally unlike, as I say so many times, anything you and I have ever lived through. We have no idea what it's like to live under an autocratic king who demands, you know, that we literally bow to and worship him and that we do everything it is back in call.

We have no idea what that's like because we've lived in a time that's unique in human history where we've had the freedom to assemble, freedom to worship as we want, freedom to freedom of speech, freedom to develop our careers, be educated, move wherever we want to. That time is about to disappear, you know, as we look at chapter 13. And as we come into chapter 13, we see a world that is really in a state of just in a state, kind of a state of just like they don't know what to do.

You kind of you get the sense that the world has just fallen apart as we move into chapter 13. And this beast power that arises fills a void that wasn't there before. Chapter 13, verse 1, it says, then I stood on the sand of the sea. And so again, we have John, and here he is, you know, we can picture, you know, many of us will be going to Daytona Beach or the face, sitting there on the sand of the sea, looking out over the ocean. And as he's standing there looking, he sees a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and 10 horns, and on his horns 10 crowns, and on his heads, a blasphemous name.

Now you can imagine that that's us and we're standing there on the beach, and all of a sudden this beast arises out of the sea.

It's going to be a time of wonder. It's going to be a time of awe, maybe a time of fear, especially with the beast that he sees. And what he sees in the form of a beast is terrible. It is frightening. It is a picture of a government that is going to bring the very torturous time on people, and like anything the world says, anything in times before, anytime since, paraphrasing what's going through the Great Tribulation, but it's a time, it's a time, it's a time that everything changes.

And I want to draw your attention to where it says, stood on the sand of the sea. You know, under the sea is always a fascinating time, right? We look into the ocean, we have Jacques Cousteau and other underwater oceanographers who have these pictures that are what we're fascinated by.

We see life under sea, and we see sharks, and we see all these things that we can never see through the naked eye. It's kind of like this other world that's out there, and God has created all this, all this, and up out of the sea something comes. You know, when we read the sea, it can mean, some commentaries say, that it's in the midst of many peoples, many nations, many tongues, and it's kind of that vast area out there that encompasses all people.

Or it can mean the literal sea. In this case, it's probably both, because we know as we go into Revelation 13, and as we read the descriptions of this beast here, it takes us back to Daniel 2, Daniel 7, Daniel 11, where the very same prophecies that we read about in Revelation 13 are discussed there. So I'm not going to go back to Daniel and read those. You can mark in your notes there, and it would be beneficial to go later on tonight and look at Daniel 7 or tomorrow, and you'll see that Daniel 7 is talking about the first beast, the second beast, the third beast, the fourth beast that's terrible and different to all of all the rest, and how that beast just keeps being resurrected until Jesus Christ returns and smashes it, it takes the kingdoms of the world and makes it his own.

That extends until that time. You're going to see a synopsis in Daniel 7, and those very few verses of what we're going to be talking about in Revelation 13, what the world is like at the time before Jesus Christ returned. But here, and there in Daniel 7, it specifically mentions the Great Sea, and we know what the Great Sea is, is the Mediterranean Sea.

So this beast that arises out of the sea kind of gives us a clue of where that beast is. The Mediterranean Sea, of course, is the focus of a lot of the activity around the sea that happens, and we have other clues as we go through Revelation of where the beast is as well. You know, in Revelation 17, it talks about the woman that rides the beast, and it talks about seven hills, and it says, let us know this is a place where that rides the kings of the earth.

And we get a very good picture and identification of where this beast is, and it's in Europe. It's in Europe at the northern part of the of the Red Sea. In chapter 13, I mentioned it's like John, you know, is looking at the sea, and this beast arises, and it comes out of nowhere, and it fills a void because we know from Daniel 11 another very, very, very detailed prophecy that you can go through step by step and see how it's been perfectly fulfilled through the pages of history.

That at the end of at the end time age, there are three world ruling, or not world ruling, very strong powers on earth at that time. It talks about the king of the north, and we know that's a united Europe just from what it said there because it defines the man who is in control of Europe or that king of the north. At that time, he mirrors what it says about the beast power here in Revelation 13. It talks about him going into the king of the south, the conglomeration of, you know, of Islamic states that are there, maybe kind of a resurrection of the Ottoman Empire or something like that, and he moves through the king of the south and completely obliterates them.

And even though he's done that, there's not peace in that empire that's there at that time because it says here's news from the east, and the kings from the east are making noise because we still have a world at war, and later on in the southern trumpet we see kings of the east moving in, you know, to Armageddon where Christ is going to meet those armies that are gathered together to battle him. So we read of north, south, and east in Daniel 11, but we never read about west, and that's one thing always to remember. Today the world looks west. West do America. We're the economic power. We're the military power of the earth. Everyone looks to us. We're the one where the power is, but as Revelation 13 begins, it's as if America and the west is nowhere to be found. It's not mentioned in prophecy. It's lost its power. The people have been disbanded, and the world is looking for some way to fill the void that has been left behind when today's power is gone.

You know, once we can only imagine, because no one really knows what will happen when if and when America, the American economy, fails. When the stock market fails, what happens to the rest of the world? Does it completely fall apart? You know, back in 2007 and 2008 when you read the Economist Reports, it came very close to a global collapse during that time of financial trouble in the United States. And really, I think, only by the hand of God did the United States survive in our economy and the world economy. But there's a time coming, and when we crash, the world crashes with us. That's the way the world is set up today. And as we come into chapter 13, we see this. We see a total void, and then out of nowhere, seemingly, this beast arises from the sea.

And he has a beast, a literal beast that is described. You know, as you watch John's description here, as he describes the beast, and it's terrible and it's horrible, it reminded me, reminded me, as I was putting this together, of another beast that's in the Old Testament. Certainly Daniel 7 talks about the same beast and the characteristic of it. But back in, you'll remember the Job. Job will talk about this beast, Leviathan, in the sea. And this is kind of like almost mythical creature, if I can use that word, Leviathan, you know, that God, God, there's this Leviathan in the sea that he talks about. And we don't really know what Leviathan is, but let's go back and look at a few verses, because that creature is mentioned in Job. It's also mentioned in the Psalms and the book of Isaiah as well. Let's look at Psalm 120, Psalm 104, Psalm 104 and verse 26.

Just to kind of see where this creature is mentioned, he's also mentioned back in Psalm 74, I think it is.

Psalm, what's the normal chapter? Psalm 104. Let's pick it up in verse 24, actually, and read the whole stanza. Psalm 104 verse 24. O Lord, how manifold are your works? In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your possessions. This great and wide sea in which are innumerable, teeming things, living things, both small and great, to see that we know. There are the ships sail about. There is that leviathan, which you have made to play there. There is that beast in the sea that is down there that's mentioned in the Bible, the correct translation, and made to play there. You know, mine says that you have formed there. This leviathan in the sea. Over in Isaiah, in a prophecy for the end time, leviathan is mentioned again. Isaiah will pick it up in chapter 26 and verse 20. This will harken back to a couple weeks ago when we were talking about the places that Christ has prepared for us and is preparing for us. We talk about the time, the place, wherever God takes those that he nurtures for your time, times, and half a time from the face of the serpent. But Isaiah 26 verse 20 says, Come, my people, enter your chambers and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment until the indignation is passed, for behold, the Lord comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will also disclose her blood, and no will no more cover her slain.

So we have this end-time prophecy. We go into Isaiah 27 verse 1. It says, In that day, and when we read in that day, it's usually talking about the time ahead of us. In that day, the Lord with his severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, Leviathan, then that twisted serpent, and he will slay the reptile that is in the sea.

So we have this beast in Revelation 13 arising out of the sea. It's a surprise to everyone, kind of an amazing sight that makes you wonder. You know, John wasn't expecting that beast, I'm assuming, to rise out of the sea, but there it was. And we know that at the end of the time that that beast power rules the earth with the power of Satan infused by the power of Satan, infused by the power of Satan, that God will take away.

He will bind that serpent, that twisted serpent, that Satan, that Leviathan, that beast that rises out of the sea, and it will be no more until the thousand years are up. So maybe, just maybe, you know, when Leviathan shows up in the Old Testament, it's kind of a symbol of Satan and what is happening here in Revelation.

Because remember, as Revelation has given us a prophecy, and we can support Revelation from the Old Testament, the New Testament from Christ's words, from the prophets' words, as it all comes together in the end time as God's given us this prophecy to see what lies ahead of us yet.

So here in chapter 13, we can go back there to Revelation. Here's John. He sees this this sight. He sees this beast, this literal beast, arising up out of the sea. And he, there's, there's, it's notable the description that he makes of the beast. It has seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns it has ten crowns, and on his heads it's a blasphemous name.

Well, the blasphemous name tells us that even though this beast may want to present itself as a gift from God or the Savior of the earth or the world-ruling empire that's going to save mankind from the ruin that it finds itself in, it's not, it's not of God. If we go back to chapter 12, you know, last week we, we, as we began chapter 12, we looked at these signs in, in heaven, and we saw, you know, the woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and a garland of 12 stars.

When she was going to give birth to the male child, we know that's Jesus Christ, and he will be the one to return and to rule the world forever and ever. But then with verse 3 of chapter 12, we have this adversary. We have this adversary that's there as well. Another sign appeared in heaven in chapter 12 verse 3, a great fiery red dragon, and he has seven heads and ten horns, just like this beast that, that John sees arising from the sea. And he has on, he has seven heads and ten horns and seven diodems or seven crowns on his head. Well, that's a little bit different than the beast that John sees.

He has ten horns, he has ten crowns on his horns. The beast here in chapter 12 verse 3 or the dragon is a little bit different. But the signs are there. This is the one and the same. This is the one and the same. Satan and then this beast arising out of the sea is a Satan. It's not of God. It's got the same markings of him, and we're told that clearly as we go through chapter 13.

And of course, the blasphemous name certainly tells us that this is an adversary of God who is, who is, who is against him. In verse 2 of chapter 13, it says, The beast that I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth was like the mouth of a lion. Now, if you look back in Daniel 7, even the secular commentaries pretty much identified the three world-ruling kingdoms before Rome.

They know that the first beast is Babylon. They know the second one is Persia. The third one is Greece. The fourth one is Rome, and Rome never dies. It exists until the time Jesus Christ returns and smashes it to smithereens. Same thing with the statue in Daniel 2. You see it in Daniel 7 as well, and we see it here in Revelation. But every one of those succeeding world-ruling empires was worse or less, less humane, I will, than the one preceding it. So you have the Babylonian Empire and its characteristics, and you add to that what the Persians were like, and add to that what the Greeks were like, and then you add to this, this fourth terrible beast that Daniel talks about that was different all the rest.

And that's what we have here. We have a beast that incorporates all those elements of the world-ruling empires before, but it's the terrible beast. It's like these others, but it is, it is different. And in verse 2 it tells us, it's the dragon who, in chapter 12 verse 9, is clearly identified as Satan. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.

And it is great authority. It's a world, it's a world-dominating authority that the beast power has at the end time. And I saw verse 3, one of his heads, as if it had been morally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world marveled and followed the beast.

Now I mentioned, I mentioned earlier that, you know, the Roman Empire, the first Roman Empire, was conquered in 476 AD. And since then, there's been other attempts to unite Europe. It's just kind of one of those recurring things through history. There's always been someone who wants to unite Europe, and if they feel if they have Europe, they can control the world. The most recent, of course, was I mentioned Mussolini in Italy. Hitler was part of that regime. The Catholic Church was part of that regime. As they tried to unify Europe, and they wanted world domination. And if you recall, that regime was 100% against the Jews, right? The Jews that they identified as the people of God. That unity, or that union, proposed union of the Uriman Empire, was 100% against the people who identified themselves as God. They hated the Sabbath. They hated everything about that race. And that's well-documented, of course, in our minds and in history.

But then it died. It was put away. And the world may think that's all done. Europe now is kind of a peaceful place. As we've lived our lives since the Second World War, we don't see it as a threat. But the desire is still there to unify Europe. And in the end times, we'll see this come about. Prophecies indicate that this base will be a union of Europe. And just like the attempts before, it's going to hate the people of God. The world will think it's dead, but all of a sudden, here it is. There's a union over there that no one foresaw coming. And it's a terrible beast. And it's totally different than Europe today. You know, we talk about social democracy and some of the states in Europe, and they don't seem so bad. But they're that way today because of the influence of the United States and the freedoms that we have. Europe itself has always been an autocratic kingdom of kings that want to lord it over everyone else, that want to force their own way on people. The kings that want to be worshipped. Just like Satan always wants to be worshipped. What he wants us to do is worship him. He wanted to be like God. You know, he even told Jesus Christ when he was on earth during the Great Temptation, if you'll just bow down to me, if you'll just bow down to me, I'll give you everything. All I want you to do is worship me is what Satan is about, and this beast power that has his name all over it, that's what it's going to want the world to do. Worship it. Bow down to it. Count it as God. It stands against the true God in every way, shape, and form. So we see this kind of monumental change in the world order, if you will. This beast appears. It's unlike anything anyone has ever seen. You know, I almost get the sense that the world is just there, not knowing what to do. Just everything has changed. Everything has fallen apart. This beast comes out of the sea. It looks like it has answers. It's totally different than anything they lived before, but they really have no choice. They have no choice as you go through this chapter to do anything, but bow down to it, because there's no alternative. They can't say, no, we'll take the Constitution of the United States of America. No, we'll do it this way. There's no choice. This is the only choice they have, and it's a tough choice. You know, it says at the end of verse 3 there, and I don't think we can minimize that, and all the world, and I repeat often, whenever you see the word all, it means all the world, or at least all the world in its domain, right, in that European setting and where its influence is, all the world marveled.

Just like John marveled when he saw the beast, just like we would if we were standing on the sand of the sea, and we saw this enormous thing rise up at us, all the world marveled, and all the world followed the beast. They had no choice. There were no elections. There were no political, you know, discourses. It was, this is the way life is, people. This is what you are going to do, and this is the way you're going to live from here on out. So they not only followed the beast, they worshipped. They worshipped the dragon. Satan is getting what he wants. The world is at his totally at his, at his heat. They worshipped the dragon who gave authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, his governmental system, saying, who? Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And so you have this state where the world is really held captive. They have no choice, but that beast is kind of like a savior to them. Now, now there's an economy again. It's a military might. No one's going to fight against that beast. There's not going to be any, any militias out there to, to conquer this beast. It's, it's powerful, and people have no way, no way to counter its might. But it does provide economic benefits, and we'll see some of that as we get into Revelation 18 in a couple weeks when it talks about the, the wide, the wide, the wide scope of the economy of that Babylonish system. So they worship the dragon. They have no choice. It's either that or die is, is what we're going to see here in a few minutes. And they ask, well, who's like him? Who's able to make war with him? And in verse five, we see this beast is talking all against God. It takes everything, well, verse six of six, you know, five and six, and we look at it together, you know, everything against God. It says that he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for 42 months.

Now, as we're looking at this beast power, you know, remember, as we were talking about the two witnesses, they are on earth. They're preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. They're preaching the truth. They're identifying for the world who this beast power is. They're telling people turn to God, resist the mark of the beast, resist the beast. Your only hope for eternal life is to, to accept Jesus Christ as sacrifice, repent, and endure through this time we're in, and not take the mark of the beast. So we've got this, this, this focus in the world. We have the beast power saying everything they can against God, blaspheming him, blaspheming his tabernacle, blaspheming his name, blaspheming those who dwell in heaven. If you can imagine, if you can imagine the, the gall and the audacity of this beast that says these things against God. And then we have the witnesses that are there that are saying just the opposite. It's a fascinating time to think about on in the history of the earth and what's going to be going on during that time. And it's a very telling time on the earth too, because as we get later on in the chapter, we talk about the mark of the beast, we get in chapter 14 and beyond, it talks about all those who accept the mark of the beast, their end is terrible. You know, it's a time of trial on the earth. Will you accept the mark of the beast and the whole world that doesn't have God's Holy Spirit does. We find they're just powerless. They can't make any other decision and a choice and it's a powerful lesson for us, but I get ahead of myself. So we have this this conflict going on between the two witnesses and of course the beast power. No, they want, they want the witnesses dead. They want total control. They don't want any talk of God, just like autocratic powers do. Just like, you know, well, just like they have in all the past. They don't want to talk about God. The king is God. They don't want people looking to a God, praying to God. They want to eliminate him. They want to eliminate him and they want total control of all the humans of this domain. And he focuses in verse 7 on the people of God. It was granted to him. It was granted to him to make war with the saints. And we know who the saints are. It defines the saints for us in chapter 14. Here's the patience in verse 12. Here's the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

So we have, you know, this group of people that listen during that time and who do keep the commandments of God and who do have the faith of God because those are the very things that are going to see them through this horrendous time on earth, as we'll see here in a bit.

It's granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. It truly is a world-ruling empire. It is not just a nation. It is a total domination of the world at that time. You know, we won't get into Revelation 17 tonight that talks about the woman who rides the beast. But that woman who rides the beast, we're told in chapter 17, it's drunk. It's drunk with the blood of the saints. The beast hates the people of God. The woman who rides the beast, the beast hates the people of God. Always a mark of Satan's domain is it hates God. It tries to do away with God. It tries to eliminate God.

And it hates the people of God. And so whenever you see a government like that, you know, this is not a God. This is not the direction that anyone should take. When we see things like that, and sometimes we hear things in the world we live in today, and we hear about the direction the world can go, and as we are here in 2020, you know, we look ahead and we can see things happening that are sure different than any time that we've ever seen in any of our lives before. And we can see prophecy at work. And we can see some of these things happening and how the world could evolve from a place really of democracy having affected and been a blessing to all of the world, to going back to what has happened for 6,000 years before, well, 5,000-some hundred years before America was here and Britain, and brought a different way of governance, a different way of governance to the world. And the last 200 years have been, you know, fantastic for people.

Not at all what all the people before us ever endured, but we're going back to that time, you know, when we look at the pages of the Bible, and God will destroy that government when Jesus Christ returns. Now, I'm going to let me finish a couple verses here, then I'm going to pause and we can talk and any comments that anyone has.

It says here in verse 8, All, all who dwell on the earth will worship him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. There is a group of people who can resist the beast power, and the only way they can do it is if they have repented, truly repented, or God has called them, they've truly repented, they've been baptized, they have God's Holy Spirit living in them that gives us the power, the power to overcome, that gives us the faith in Jesus Christ, that as we go through our lives from the time of baptism until the time of our death or the return of Jesus Christ, we keep on letting that Holy Spirit and God perfect us and bring us to that state that we need to be in, that when all these things fall on the earth, whether it's very, very, very, very soon, or you know, maybe a few years off, only God knows when all this is going to happen, that we're ready.

Because the only way we will be ready and be able to withstand the beast at that time is if we've used this time now to get ourselves ready, that we've made the choices along the way to choose God and deny self, to have faith in Him, to learn to trust, to learn to reply, and all through all these little things that we go through, that faith marks who we are, that we don't let anything stand between us and doing what God says, that we're not people who shrink back, but we're people who move forward.

People, when God says do it, we do it, and we don't say, wait, wait, I can't. You know, those are the five foolish virgins who aren't ready when the bridegoon comes. The people of God, and I hope that's everyone listening today and everyone of God's people all over the world, that we're using this time that God gives us, these tests that God gives us, these trials that God gives us, to build that faith and to build that perfect obedience that He wants in us, that we do whatever He says because we have that absolute faith in Him and we're committed to doing what He wants, because if we haven't developed that, we're not going to have the strength to stand up against this beast.

We're not going to have the strength in the face of someone saying, if you don't do this, this is what's going to happen to you, or this is what's going to happen to your children, or this is what's going to happen, we'll cave if we haven't developed that during that time. It just doesn't automatically appear. It's something that we have to develop as we go through life, and that's our time now in the summer growing season until the time of the trumpets and the return of Jesus Christ and all these things that we've been looking to, that begin to come about.

All who dwell on the earth will worship Him, whose names haven't been written in the book of life of the land slain from the foundation of the world. And Christ, as He gives John this revelation, says, if anyone has an ear, let them hear. You know, make sure our ears are wide open. Make sure that when we read these things, we get it, and we're not just reading over it and thinking something else, and not letting it have an effect on us. That it's time for us to listen and do what God said and come out of whatever slumber we all are, because it tells us all those 10 virgins are asleep, so we all have some waking up to do.

And then I finished last week, or I talked about verse 10, and after we read about this beast power that's terrible, that's awful, that it forces its will on everyone, and we're told to resist it. You know, it says in verse 10, he who leads into captivity shall go into captivity. You know, and you know what we so we reap, and we find God when he uses powers to punish nations, then that nation gets punished.

Right? I mean, what we what we sow, what we reap. I think last week it was brought out here that, you know, we're living in a time that, you know, this beast power, you know, it might just not be the beast power that sends us into captivity and rounds us up and makes us slaves and takes us, ships us off to wherever it wants us to ship to be shipped to. It could be our our kids. It could be our friends. It could be our neighbors. It could be our the people we work with, who when the beast power puts pressure on them, they say, these people go over and visit them. They keep the Sabbath. They keep the Holy Days. I know what they believe. That's who you want, not us. Go get them. Right? And so those people, you know, we could be led into captivity and may learn, you know, the sting of betrayal, just like Jesus Christ learned the sting of betrayal, when we learned that it's been someone that we thought we were very close to us, that, you know, kind of turned us in and whatever happens to us as a result. Or whatever that verse means, see who leads into captivity shall go into captivity, and he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. And I do want to pause on that one here a little bit. You know, sometimes the natural tendency of man is when they're being attacked, they attack back. You know, we can look at Matthew 26. Put your finger there. When Jesus Christ was being portrayed, you know, that night after the Passover, he went out into the garden, and then Judas came, Judas with the army of Roman soldiers, and the disciples that were with Jesus sized up what was happening. Here was something that was going to, you know, arrest Jesus. Well, they didn't want him to arrest Jesus, and Peter happened to have a sword. And you remember the story there. He pulls his sword out, he cuts off Malchus's ear. He did what came naturally to him. We're not going to let you arrest our Savior. We're not going to let you arrest the Son of God. I'm here to defend him and stop this is what was in Peter's mind. And that's a very noble thing. You know, if you look at it from Peter's standpoint, he's going to defend Jesus Christ. But here in verse 52, Jesus Christ said to Peter the very same thing he says here in Revelation 13.10, Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Don't you think that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he will provide me with more than 12 legions of angels?

So it was Christ was saying, Peter, Peter, put the sword away. This is God's will. You may not like what God's will is. It may not be the way you wanted the script to be written, but it is God's will. Don't fight against it. So Peter learned a powerful lesson that night, just like he learned when he said, you know, I will never deny you, and yet he did. Peter learned a lot that evening of Christ's arrest, and he lived his life the rest of the rest of his life, you know, in God's will.

And what God is telling us here in verse 10 of chapter 13, to those who find themselves in the domain of this beast power, who are having to choose God in the face of absolute animosity from the world at that time, he says, don't go to war with them. Don't go to war with them. Don't pull the sword out. Don't get your weapons out. Don't be armed. Don't be firing at people. If you do that, you're going to die by the sword. Let God's will be. And then he goes on in verse 10, he sums it up, and he says, and here's the patience. We talked about this last week. It's the Greek word, hupomoni. Here's the patient endurance. Here's how the saints, the true saints, will survive that time of the beast power. They're not going to do it by going to war. They're not going to do it by bringing out weapons. They're not going to do it by protesting peaceful or violent. Here's the patience and the faith of the saints. They're going to do it because they learn to accept God's will and endure and have the faith in God that he will see them through. They won't fall. They will understand the pain they're going through, the tremendous awful times they're going through, but they will have the faith of God, and that will be what sees them through. None of their own preparations, none of their own might, none of their own power, only the Spirit of God can see people through, you know, the time that's coming ahead, and the saints will have developed that during this lifetime. I'll pause in a minute.

You know, we can go back to the examples of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There they were in this same type of world ruling kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man on earth. Remember the times that they were told, if you don't bow down and worship me, if you don't bow down and worship this image, if you don't, if we bind your praying to any other God except Nebuchadnezzar, you're dead. We're going to throw you into the lion's dead. We're going to send you into a fiery furnace. And those young men, those young men didn't cave, you know, against the beast power of that day. They didn't yield. And that's an example to us when we have the faith of God, and when we have the patient endurance that God looks to us to have, and will develop in us, that we will be able to withstand this time as well, and only with that will we be able to survive the time of the beast, the beast power. Let me pause and let me pause, and if anyone's got comments, thoughts? Yeah, Mr. Shaby, I've got one comment I thought's pretty interesting about Revelation 13 versus just versus 1 through 8, especially if you look at the King James Version. Right. It's a figure of speech used there called polysyndeton, or it's polysyndeton or many ands, and if you notice all the ands there, it says, and I stood upon the sea of the sand, and saw bees rise up, and the ten horns, and all the way through those first eight verses, and that figure of speech polysyndeton is used to convey a sense of gravity, and a sense of, you know, like when you see each of those ands to just really pause and really consider what's going on there, and I just think it's used several times throughout the Bible. I just think, and this is one of those areas where it's used, and it's just very interesting to take note because of what is really going on, and it just really reinforces what we're reading and how serious what we're reading and what's going on there. Yeah, very good. Yeah, as you were talking, I look back, yeah, look at all those answers, and it kind of just multiplies. I mean, there's everything going on with this speech power, not just a couple things, it's and this and this. Good, good observation, and it does lead us right into that, so.

Okay, want to continue? Yes, I hear someone. Yeah, this is all James. Oh, hey James.

Yes, how are you doing? Okay. I just wanted to throw this out there. You know, they're Satanists persecuting people even now. You know, in the Middle East, there are quote-unquote Christians, I guess, like in Egypt, there are Coptic Christians, etc. And a lot of these people are persecuted, beheaded, killed for their belief, pretty much by, I guess, the Muslims now. So I guess what I'm trying to say, all right, my question is, these things are going on, and I don't know, it's not the true church, but they're called Christian.

So I think it's the beginning of people getting used to that kind of thing happening. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? I do. I do. Yeah, they're against God. They say they believe in God, and they're against them, and those people are willing to die for it.

But it will be intensified, right? Because I think as we go through, what we're going to see is the Christian churches of the world, they will do what they've probably been showing us the pattern is. They will continue to cave to the pressures of the world. As we've watched some of the churches out there, and initially they were against same-sex marriage, but as time goes on, all of a sudden they're adopting it. And as pressures increase for them to adopt this and that, they begin to adopt it, and they let the world dictate what it is that they're going to do. The church of God will never do that. The church of God will always stand by the Bible and preach the word of God and not compromise with the world just to make itself more attractive to the world or to end and conform to the modern times. So that's, I think, why we will say, of course, Satan knows where the true church of God is, and we're going to be very, very, very visible in the time of the Beast's power because we won't be doing what the Beast says. The rest of the churches will. We'll see this little Beast's power we're going into next. They'll all do what the Beast says. They'll worship who they're told to worship, but the people of God will not. But, James, I think we begin to see that in the world around us, yes.

My brother Shabia, back to your reference to Leviathan. Psalms, I think, 1, 74 verse 14 says it shows the same description that God has heads, so that it comes forward and the same imagery goes forward. Yeah, Leviathan may well be, you know, maybe that's just kind of a picture of what this is.

And the same one that you quoted says that you made that Leviathan to play there, almost like it's a single. It doesn't reproduce like every other kind of creature.

Kind of the kind. It's just that singular creature. Very good, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, Mr. Shabia, I was just thinking about the imagery here in Revelation 13, and sometimes it makes it almost sound like some kind of cultish thing, you know, that you'd see in a B-movie or something like that. And it's like you were talking, you're talking about a leader that had the audacity to stand up against God. And as I thought about it, I thought, you know, that's going to be the popular thing, I believe, at this age. I think that's what delineates this time period from any other time period in history where it's going to be the popular thing to make fun of Christians and all things God. Because if you're a Christian, then you can't stand for anything scientific, you know, or whatever the case. So many people make fun of Christianity today very boldly. And I know particularly in Europe, at least in my travels there with a lot of the young people, I mean, the idea that you believe in God is already kind of a really weird, strange thing. And I even saw today a study out that was released about a survey about how little people know today about the Holocaust among millennials and Generation Z. I mean, these things are like fictional events almost to some of those people. So I mean, they're not looking for it. So I don't think it's going to be something that, I guess I'm saying we shouldn't be looking for the, you know, forked tongue individual, but rather someone who's going to come out and this is going to be embraced by the world. It's going to be the popular thing. It's going to look like the right thing to the overwhelming majority of people. And that's what we've got to be on guard against. Yep. No, you're absolutely right. That's why when those when the two witnesses are killed, that's why the world makes merry, right? They are thrilled to death that they have overcome them and shut them up, if you will. So it's just yeah. And you're right. You can see that today. I mean, there is the Bible is made fun of today. And if you say you live by the Bible, there are some people who would look at you and think, you know, you poor pathetic creature you haven't, you haven't, you're not living in the 21st century.

Yeah, good, good observation. Oh, bro, Shaby. Second Thessalonians.

Two, echoes what Christ already said in the the Avilet, as they call it, where the first thing all says in verse three is, Luna, let anyone deceive any of us. Then he talks about the man of sin.

And he talks about that right now God is the one who's preventing the man of sin of coming on the scene until the specific time frame to come out as it showed in the water coming out of the sea.

That's Second Thessalonians chapter two. Yes, yeah. Second Thessalonians two, you know, we get into the the rest of chapter 13. It's a direct corollary to what we're going to be talking about, yeah, the man of sin being revealed. Because even though there's a lot of evil going on in the world, he can tell anybody out there. Yeah. Okay, one other... Yes. Yeah, this is an observation. This week, I heard, well, I heard I read a little bit of news going on the fires in the west. The vocabulary is kind of scripture on the way because they're saying, oh, this is apocalyptic, or this is a biblical proportion in all the fires and the smoke that was happening. So we used to live in San Francisco, and when I saw the smoke, they're putting their lights nine o'clock in the morning.

That was really unprecedented. And that's my observation. They were... looks like they were talking about experiencing apocalypse, end of time. So I wonder if they're being conditioned, because these events that are happening today are very, very unusual. So it looks like it's a shift coming on. Got it up. Got a lot going on, right? Those fires, they are, they are unprecedented. You know, we've got this coronavirus that's like nothing that we've ever faced before.

Of course, hurricanes come every year, but they just... there's a lot going on in the country today, and it's not good. And then we have this contentious presidential election that is, is a very tough, very tough one too, tearing the country apart.

Okay, let's go on, and let's look at this. There's another little beast here, a smaller beast than the beast we've been talking about, but very prominent in the time before Jesus Christ returns. In verse 11, it says, I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. The first one came up out of the sea. This one comes up out of the earth. He's already existing there on earth. It's not something that's a surprise. Maybe the power that he has at the end time, but he's been around for a while. He's been alive on the earth and something that we've, you know, that we've seen. I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon. Well, you know, notice the word he there tells us that there's an individual. You know, we won't, like I said, have time to go over to Revelation 17, but we see the system that this he, this little beast controls. In Revelation 17, there's, it's called a woman, you know, a woman who has, who has influence all over tribes and nations, called the horse, Babylon, Babylon, the mystery, religion, and everything. But here's the he, he that rides that beast, rides that woman. I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb. Kind of looked good, right? I mean, he seemed like a nice guy, seems like he would be saying the word of God, kind of gentle, kind of we get taken in by his words, his demeanor, kind of coming as in, I've got the answers to all the world's problems. If we just do this, and we just marry the religion of the world to the governmental system of the world, it's all going to be great. It's a world ruling empire. It's one world rule. And if we just do this, this is the, this is the salvation we've been looking for. Saying all the right things. He looked like a lamb, but boy, he spoke like a dragon, you know, and what his words belied himself. The true people of God would listen to it and say, no, that's not God at all. They're not going to be, they're not going to be deceived, but the people of the world will be deceived. And he's going to be very cunning. He's going to be very alluring. He's going to be probably very charismatic. And he's going to, he's going to pack a lot of power, you know, in miracles that we see with this man, so that the whole world follows him. And we're reminded of Jesus Christ, you know, as he gave the Olivet prophecy, he started off by saying, don't be deceived. So one of the, one of the marks of the end time is people will be deceived. The whole world is going to be deceived. Satan is the master deceiver. You know, we talked last week, and I think it bears remembering, you know, Satan was so, he's so clever, so cunning, so deceitful, maybe so understated in so many ways that he was able to get a third of the angels to follow him and reject God. I mean, they, they were created. They knew what they were. They saw the joy in heaven. They saw the unity that was there. They knew what the purpose that they have, but somehow he got them all to follow him. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, you know, they knew who they were. Adam knew that one, the one second he was there, and then he saw the animals, he saw the garden, he saw Eve, you know, be created for him.

And somehow Satan, when he entered, he was able to talk them out of God, and they rejected him.

The influence he has, we can never underestimate. And the tricks that he can play on our minds, and the compromise, and he can just get us to move a little. If we'll just disobey God a little, if we'll just put ourselves before God's will and his commands just a little, that's enough. Because God isn't looking for, you know, close. He's not playing a game of horseshoes with us. He's looking for all of us, all heart, all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul, to be dedicated to him. So we see this beast. He looks good. You know, 1 Corinthians, it tells us, Satan appears as an angel of light, but boy, the people of God are going to understand the words they're going to look at and say, no, that's not the words of God at all. He had horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a lion, I mean, like a dragon, and he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. He's got dominion. That first beast is giving him authority, that big beast, and you do whatever it takes. I just want people to worship me. Again, I just want to be worshiped, and he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and he causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. That resurrection of an empire that mankind for thousands of years has tried to bring about.

He performs great signs, so he's got some power behind him, too. He's going to work some miracles that are fascinating, and he's going to say they're the power from God. He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth and the sight of men.

You know, Jesus Christ talked about false prophets, and he said they're going to be so convincing at the end time that if it was possible, even the elect would be deceived. And, you know, some will be. Some will be. If, again, if we are not close to God, if we don't know the Bible, if we don't know these prophecies, if we're not keeping our eyes on Him, if we're not discerning the Spirit, if the Holy Spirit of God isn't in us, then when we hear words, we can say, no, that's not the words of God. That's not the way it is. No matter how convincing this false prophet is, as Abraham mentioned, second Thessalonians 2, that should be another thing. I won't take the time, you know, to read it tonight, but go back and look at the man of sin. Look at the miracles that he performs in there. It's talking about this same man here in Revelation. He performs great signs. In verse 14, he deceives, he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. Let's build images. Let's worship this.

He's going to lead people into idolatry, you know, and king worship, worshiping man rather than God, following the commands of God, man, rather than following the commands of God. And he was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. Whatever those words mean—right? I mean, when he says he gives breath to the image of the beast, that the image ofverts should speak and cause as many as would not worship the image to be killed—whatever those words mean, I don't know exactly what those means, but something miraculous going on there. Something that the world will look at and say, this must be God who has this power to do that. And he's telling us to worship this beast, and mankind will fall for it. People of God won't, shouldn't, but it's going to be pretty amazing and pretty powerful, whatever it is. And it's going to take a lot of strength to stand up against it. Hey, Mr. Shavey? Yes, sir! Just kind of interject on that thought. I can't remember if it was when I was in China or when I got back, but the Roman pontiff, it was very interesting because being in China for the religious organization is a pretty tough thing. And what the Roman Church actually worked out at that time, just a few years ago, was for the Chinese government to recognize the pontiff as the leader of the church in exchange for allowing the Communist Party to appoint their own bishops. And it was very interesting what you were just saying made me think of that. And it's interesting now because whoever does not follow the bishops, it's really the Communist Party who was leading the church there. And they'll go in and shut down the church and put everybody in jail and throw them in jail. And the Roman pontiff is fine with it because he's basically in exchange for being recognized as the leader of the church, giving power over to the state officials there. I just thought it was a real interesting parallel. Yeah. You can see the patterns. Yes. Did I hear someone else? I was saying he's a heroine. He doesn't care for the sheep. Yeah, Mr. Stryker, I find it pretty interesting that I think what I really could see is like with all the charisma and all the charm, I honestly could see it get to the point where people are so swept by this new religion where I could see something like hashtag new Christianity is cool, all that kind of thing, because it's just encompassing what everybody wants it to encompass. And because we're in such a social media digitized age, I really could see that be sort of a sweeping notion upon it just because it lines up with something that people are already doing and that they want to do. Even if they don't necessarily believe or buy into it, just because it lines up with something that they want to do, I can just see them going, Oh yeah, I'm Christian now. And it's just like, you're not. But I understand why it would appeal to you. Like you said, even there's our in-post current Christians that are accepting same-sex marriage and everything, and they're just like, Oh, no, love is love and God is happy with you. That's not what that says, but I really could see that part of it being right in line with what the Bible is saying and just being so captivating, being so charming and being willing to bend to the world in order just to have power. Yep. Very good. They're going to be thinking they're pleasing God. Yes, I heard another.

Yeah, there's some speculation here. Going back to the main beast getting the deadly wound. Someone speculated that maybe when he goes into, you know, as he sets up his royal tent in the capital, that a zealot of the Jews attacked him, and he's healed. Then also in regards to, you know, he deceives those and the people worship, and if they don't, then they also are called. So there's some kind of trace, some kind of trace and technology maybe. So these are all speculation that's going on there. A possibility, yes. Yeah, yeah. It's labeled as speculation, but interesting. Very interesting. Yes, they have no idea. Your phone, do you want to trace technology? You know, they died. Everybody's rejoicing. Before and now, we could have never had that imagery done as possible. How can everybody know that they died? No pigeon, how's that fast?

You know, Mr. Shambia, when it comes to the image of the beast, I remember reading in the past some of the church's writings about how, you know, the pope, the first pope was very enthralled and kind of worshiped the whole Roman governmental structure. And he basically designed the Catholic church structure as an image of the Roman government. So I remember reading that. I think that might have something to do with it.

Very good. In a recent sermon, Mr. Steve Myers was talking about, he was also speculating, and he said that one scenario could possibly be that the two beasts are pointing at the two witnesses and saying, they're not the real deal, we're the real deal. And of course, they're able to do miracles as well. So that could be a way of deception for people as well. Yep, it could be.

Remember, the two witnesses can do miracles too, though, right? So they can battle it out with miracles. Moses, Aaron, and Pharaoh's magicians are very similar too. Okay, well, let's let you know. Chapter 13, like I said, has so much. As we move on in chapter 13, you know, we get to chapter 6, or verse 16, and we come to this mark of the beast that fascinates everyone. I mean, everyone has heard of the mark of the beast that has ever even heard of the Bible, I think. So he causes all of verse 16, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave. So there's no one really exempt from this.

Everyone who's on earth at that time is going to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads. And the significance of that mark is that no one is going to be able to buy or sell, except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. So we have this time on earth that's, again, so foreign to us that unless we have, you know, whatever this mark is, and we can all, you know, we've all heard speculations and probably we've all heard speculations that each other haven't heard on what is the mark of the beast. Right? I mean, we know that, you know, you know, many people believe, and certainly it was brought out this afternoon, I thought it was a good point, that, you know, Deuteronomy, God says, you know, have his law as a mark on our foreheads.

And let it guide our right hands. And so the law of God is certainly going to be, you know, a sign of God's people. And then they're going to be keeping another law. We're going to be, you know, it's not going to, the beast isn't going to have a day of worship on Saturday. They're going to have it on Sunday. And that's where the world is going to be, worshiping.

And the people of God aren't going to be. You know, some people say it's a chip. So that if you, that when you go into a store, you know, we read some of these things about Amazon and some of the things they're developing, but all you have to do is kind of like, you know, wave your hand over something and it can charge your credit card.

Now, when you go in there, it's like, no, we don't sell to you because you haven't submitted to the beast. You know, whatever it is, it's fascinating. And I, you know, but it certainly is going to have something to do with the law of God. You know, if you're going to accept the mark of the beast, you are going to bow down and you're going to worship the beast.

What it says throughout this chapter here is, all the world, except those who are written in the book of life, are going to bow down. They're going to worship the beast. They have no choice. They're powerless otherwise. They can't, you know, they're threatened. They're going to do what the beast said. The same thing that you and I would do if we didn't have the Spirit of God and know what all this means.

So, I don't know if someone wants to talk about the mark of the beast, you know, this afternoon a little bit, we talked about the number 666. There's any numbers of theories of what it could be there.

You know, I think we've all heard some of them, how those numbers add up. Many of them go right back to the papacy. Many of them go right back to the Catholic Church.

And, you know, it's kind of undeniable that, you know, that the Catholic Church is in the is here as the instrument and whatever form it is at that time. It may not look like the Catholic Church today.

But remember, the Catholic Church today doesn't look like the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages that was killing everyone in sight and who was enforcing their will on people. And if you didn't believe Catholic, you were going to be killed.

That's the Catholic Church of old. That's the Catholic Church that, you know, is indicated in the verses that we read in Revelation 13 here, going back to the way they were. Just like Europe going back to the kingship and a king who wants to be worshipped and who wants to be preeminent on earth and doesn't want anything to do with God and blasphemes him because he wants to be, you know, he wants to be preeminent. So I'll pause there if anyone wants to talk about the mark of the beast or anything that you've heard about that or would like to talk about. It's a fascinating subject. For us, you know, if we find ourselves in this situation with the beast, we simply cannot accept the mark of the beast. You know, there is no compromise. Whatever the pain, whatever the torture, whatever the cost to us is, people at this time simply have to reject the mark of the beast. And the only way they can do that is if they develop that faith in God now and that, you know, what we're going to read here in verse 15, how we guard ourselves against being deceived by this beast power that is about this little beast that's about to show up on the earth at this time.

Mr. Chabey, I was going to say in the past, I read before where the mark of the beast had to do with worshipping on Saturday or going to work on Saturday and the Sabbath. And the beast itself is the mark of the beast, which would be the Roman government and the Roman Catholic Church enforced that. And, you know, that happened in the past twice. It happened in the early days after Constantine and all that when he decided to change the day of worship from, you know, that outlaw people so they couldn't worship on the Sabbath. But they had to worship on Sunday. And it even had to do with buying or selling and working, you know. And then the Roman Catholic Church enforced that and martyred those people who would not go along with it. And then it happened a second time in the Middle Ages, the Dark Ages, when it happened again where they persecuted Christians, Sabbath-keeping Christians, in that regard. So, you know, my personal thought is that it has to do with accepting, you know, are you going to keep the Sabbath? Because it does have to do with buying or selling. It has to do with, you know, earning a living. And are you going to go ahead and work on the Sabbath and break that law? Because if you break one of God's commandments, it's the same as breaking all of them.

Or are you going to, you know, stick with God? And so, that's what I think it has to do with it. Okay. One point that I think, you know, it gets...we talk a lot about blaspheming, and I don't know if it gets overlooked or we don't think about it, but, you know, one of the things I've heard is that there's a belief... you know, one definition or meaning is that people who believe that they can actually forgive sin in place of God.

And that's one of the beliefs in the Catholic Church, that the Pope and his priest can actually forgive sins, and that they're the intercessor, or they're the link between God and humans. And when you realize that only God can forgive sins, you know, that starts to really put in perspective what he means when blaspheming God. I mean, you know, we talk about sins against God, but that's another just example of something I've heard that kind of adds to that pointing towards that, not necessarily the Pope, but that whole religious and governmental system that the Roman Catholic Church has set up and has carried through time.

Yep. Very good. Good. Mr. Shaby? Yes. Go ahead. Okay. Thanks. Yes, sure. So just to kind of jump off on what Dave was saying there, you know, we see in, of course, Deuteronomy 6, as you mentioned, that God's law was a sign between his people on the frontlets of the head and the hand, so forth. But also Exodus 31 really singles out the Sabbath day as a sign between God and his people, which is also a mark whenever you look at that word there. You know, it's a mark of God forever, a sign between him and his people. So when you see a mark of a beast, you see that same language being used, though in the New Testament with the Greek words, it just kind of makes you think, okay, so this is a counter sign.

So what God's sign, what God's mark is, is his law. The Sabbath singled out, well, here's a counter mark. So that's kind of a logical thing. And of course, Dave talked about how, you know, Sunday became to be worshiped. But a few years ago, I saw where the European Union actually inscribed into law something called the Working Time Directive in Europe, where they now require employers to give one day and seven off from work under the Working Time Directive of the European Union Law. And they tried to make it Sunday and actually wrote it into law to make it Sunday initially because it was to honor their combined culture and the European Union is the way they kind of worded it.

But then it was challenged legally in the European court and they overturned it. But they still have it as one single day. They did it initially on religious grounds. And there's still actually a movement, a Sunday movement. I forget what it's called, the European Sunday movement. I got it bookmarked somewhere over in Europe, where they're still trying to make that one day and seven as part of the Working Time Directive in European law be Sunday, but on non-religious grounds.

But it will require employers to shut down on that day. And only that day of the week will be protected. It's actually part of the law now. Interesting. Interesting, yeah. You can kind of see things moving in a direction that should give us pause. I'll just add something here. I was raised in England and the early days, soon after the war in the 1950s and 1960s, most people were working Saturdays and having Sunday off.

It was a six-day a week and that was because of necessity, you know, to get the economy back again, I guess. And Sunday, even now, is pretty much shut down. The Blue Laws of England, you want to go out, you don't find restaurants open, you can hardly find anything open on a Sunday because of the Blue Laws. It's quite prominent. And also, the calendar now in Europe starts the first day a week on Monday, not on the Sunday. So it goes through until Sunday as the seventh day of the week and then Monday the first day of the week.

So it looks like Sunday is the seventh day. Yeah, very good. I think a lot of us can remember back when it was going up. We just, I mean, everything was closed on Sunday. Nothing was open back then.

Mr. Shady, in that verse 17, it says, might buy or sell, but there are other conditions. It's either you buy or sell or the name of the beast or the third one is or the number of his name. So you have to have three conditions. And I want to talk on the second condition, the name.

This is speculation, but you mentioned about inquisition in the Middle Ages. One of the big things there was the belief in Trinity. And even today, if you don't believe in the Trinity, you are marked, even by the mainstream Christians. They would look at you and say, you're strange because you're not in the fail of Christianity if you do not believe Trinity. So I think that one of the names of the beast is part of the Trinity. That's a good point because every once in a while I'll hear a story from another pastor someplace where the most recent one has been, they didn't get a lease because even though they believed in Jesus Christ and were able to say that and everything, that church found out that we didn't believe in the Trinity and they wouldn't print at that time. Interesting. That's a good point, Bob.

Okay, well, let's go on to verse 18. Because just like in verse 10 of chapter 13, it tells us, we've got to have patience, we've got to have the hupomony and faith in order to endure that time, in order to endure this little beast. And the blasphemies that he's putting out there and all of his bravado and the world just absolutely believing in it says, here's wisdom. Now, here's wisdom. Now, back in James 1, we talked about, or James 3, I guess it was, where the chapter on the tongues, it talks, it contrasts earthly wisdom to godly wisdom. Here's wisdom. Let him who has understanding. You know, Psalm 111 verse 10 tells us, a good understanding has he who keeps the commandments of God. So it's going to be so convincing what goes on at that time, so convincing that even the very elect could be deceived if they're not as close to God as they should be, if they don't have the wisdom of God, that they can discern what's going on, if they don't have the understanding that comes from living, you know, God's way and completely committing to him. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it's the number of a man, his number is 666. And I think, you know, we can speculate on that now and, you know, but I think as time goes on, we'll understand more and more what that means when we see the names of the beast and the number of the beast. And we'll be able to discern if we've become, you know, deception proof, and there's only one way to become deception proof, and that's to have the wisdom of God, and there's only one way to receive that. So James made a point earlier about here, you know, we have the mark of the beast, and here, you know, it's kind of a contrast to the mark that God puts on us or the sealing on the foreheads of God. And as we, you know, head into chapter 14, remember there's no chapter break in the original manuscripts here. It talks about the beast power, talks about the little beast, finishes that conversation, goes right into the 144,000. And they have the seal of God, you know, they have their father's name written on their foreheads in chapter 14. John says, you know, okay, I've seen this. This is what was going on on the earth during this time, here through all this time leading up to the seventh trump, where the seventh trump sounded, bringing us all up to speed on what's been going on on the earth. Then I looked, and behold, a lamb standing on Mount Zion. Well, this lamb is obviously Jesus Christ, but he's not standing on the Mount of Olives, where he'll stand when he returns to earth. He's standing on Mount Zion, you know, and there is a Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Some of the commentaries say that it's a, you know, figurative thing as well that refers to the church and whatever. But anyway, we have John now looking, looking, and he's looking at the beast power. He's looking at the little beast that runs. He says, you know, here's how to, you know, here's how to withstand the beast of the little beast. And I looked, and here's the lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him are 144,000 who have his father's name written on their foreheads. Now, here's a group of people who God has said, you know, who God has looked at them, and they, you know, every indication as we go through here is that these people have made it. They are, they before God, are now perfect. They, you know, as we read about who these 144,000 are and the characteristics, look what we, it says about him in verse 2.

John says, And like the voice of loud thunder. How many times do we see that when God is announcing something, the voice that comes, just like in Exodus 19 when the people of Israel were standing there at Mount Sinai. I heard a voice like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. You know, we can relate back to Revelation 4 when we, when we had a glimpse into the throne of God, and we saw the 24 older elders and in times when they're singing, they're playing harps. Remember we talked about, you know, that we don't like to know much about the 24 elders, but harps is one of the things that they play, and as John hears voices, and then all of a sudden he hears the sound of harpists playing their harps.

And they sang as it were a new song before the throne. There they are up in heaven, and they're singing a brand new song before God, before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. So here's this group. John hears a voice, or voices. He hears harps. He hears a new song, and the fact that it says new song, it was a new song, yes to John, but a new song, and then this 144,000 of all the people on earth, no one could learn that song except the 144,000.

Now you and I are unique on the earth. You know, we can read the Bible, and you know the however many that are on together here tonight, and we're looking at the words of the Bible, and we understand what it says. But we could invite family members in here. We could invite friends from work, and we could be having the same conversation, and we would have people looking at us saying, I don't know how you see that.

I don't see how you're all in agreement with that. I don't get this at all. How many times have we even talked to people about the Sabbath day, and they can read the same verses that we do that shows us the seventh day is the Sabbath day, and they say, but it makes no difference.

God doesn't care. We keep the first day or no day at all. You know, we have to be as good people. We can just disregard that. We only understand things because we have the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 2 tells us that. We have the mind of God because God has put His Spirit in us because we've repented, because we've chosen Him, because we continue to yield Him, Him, and He continues to give us His Spirit and increase that as He sees us yield more and more and more to Him, and He sees it in our hearts.

So we understand, and that's what we can read through the book of Revelation. If we go through it again in a year, we're going to learn more about what God has buried in here. So here's this group of 144,000, and they can learn this song. No one else can learn the song because they're bound by the Holy Spirit. They've got the Spirit of God, and God leads us into understanding. He teaches us. He helps us. He helps us to what we have the mind of Christ, and here they are.

You know, the same way that we understand the Bible. Here's this 144,000 that can learn that song because they belong to God, and they belong to God because they've chosen Him after He called and yielded Him. And notice it says they were redeemed from the earth. Well, I mean, we see Jesus Christ as our Redeemer. What is, you know, that's the people that God calls. This is the age that we live in now. Jesus Christ died for our sins. He redeems us. And here's the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth, who are now able to learn this song, Standing with Jesus Christ on Mount Zion, here at the same context that we're reading about beast powers and looking ahead to the seventh trumpet that we're going to rejoin here in Revelation 15, all these things that are going on.

And we have this group of people. And verse 4 tells us, these are the ones who were, notice the word ver, right? Verse 3, who were redeemed from the earth. Not who are being redeemed from the earth, but who were redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who were not defiled with women. Now, through the course of their lives, they let all their other religious affiliations, beliefs, thoughts, they were, they let God purify their minds, they learned to live by every word of God.

And they didn't hang on to this theory and that theory. They became, as it says, virgins. They were, they are virgins. They were not defiled with women.

They let all that other stuff behind, and they just believed God and lived by every word of the Bible. You know, 1 John 3 tells us that, you know, if we believe Jesus Christ is returning, all those who have that hope in them, purify themselves. You know, that's, they're teachable. They keep doing things. They keep becoming more and more like Jesus Christ.

When they see an area that they're not like Jesus Christ, they overcome it. It may hurt. It may, it may pain them to give up something, but they're dedicated to becoming more and more like Him and following that way. These are, they are, they are virgins. They've become pure. They're blameless in God's sight now. None of us are blameless in God's sight at this minute.

We have a long way to go to become like this people. When is it that the Bible tells us that we become perfect in His sight, that we are virgins? It tells us that the first resurrection, that's when it becomes, right?

That's when we, that's when we become from that way. These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. You know, they don't say, no, not me. I'm not going there. I'm staying behind.

You know, God says, do this, but not now. There's nothing that stands between them and where the Lamb tells them to go or leads them to go. There's no fear. There's nothing that's going to separate them from what God says. If He says, do it, they do it. They've learned that through the course of their lives. And I think in this verse, you know, those of us that are married, and the husbands will appreciate that. You know, if I get transferred out of Orlando and Jacksonville one day, and I have to go someplace else, I would sure expect my wife is going to follow me wherever I go.

I sure hope she doesn't say, you can head off to wherever you want to go, but I'm staying right here. I expect she's going to follow wherever God leads us, and wherever He would have us go. That's what wives do. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. If He's in one place, that's where they are right by His side. If He's in another part of the universe, that's where they are right by His side.

These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men. Were redeemed. Past tense. It's happened already. These were redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit. I mean, now their words are perfect. You know, none of our words are perfect. You know, James 3, when we read through that, all of us have to work on that. None of us are even close to having a perfect mouth. But then these people in their mouth was found no deceit, no guile.

For they are without fault before the throne of God. Beautiful verses to describe a people, this 144,000, look what they've overcome. Look who they've become. You know, they've allowed God to lead them and mold them into who He wants them to be. You know, time is here. Oh, yeah. Okay, we're gonna stop there. I'm gonna go over to verse 12 here and then verse in chapter 15.

You know, and you can read through ahead in chapter 14. We'll come back to some of this here next week and maybe talk about it a little bit here on the Feast of Trumpets. But it says, here is the patience of saints, the saints. Here, you know, here, just as John talks about, you know, here, you know, here is the patience and the faith of the saints about the big, about the major beast. Here is wisdom talking about the little beast. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Gotta believe in God, gotta trust in Him, gotta follow Him wherever He goes, gotta keep His commandments. And the more we learn, you know, if we're out of line, to get ourselves in line with Him only happens with His Holy Spirit.

And so as you read through chapter 14, you see these angels that appear, you know, talking about preaching the everlasting gospel, talking about Babylon is going to fall. And we read about that in chapter 18, just how what an effect on the world's economy that system has had. You know, then we have this angel who goes out and he's gonna, he's gonna reap the grapes with a sharp sickle.

And in verse 20, just kind of one of those, like, verses that you read. And when you picture it, you think, wow. So this is the wine press in chapter 14, verse 20. The wine press was trampled outside the city and blood came out of the wine press up to the horses' bridles. You know, we all, we all know how high that is up to the horses' bridles for 1,600 furlongs. Look at the price of disobedience to God. Look at the vengeance that God is going to bring on this earth for having rejected Him. As the world reaps, you know, what they sowed. So, you know, we have these chapters 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, that we have an insight into what's going on in the world at that time.

At the end of chapter 9, it says the seventh trumpet sounds. And then in chapter 15, we come back to the seventh trumpet. Verse 15, or verse 5 of chapter 15 refers us to the temple, the temple of the tabernacle was opened. There at the end of chapter 9, I think it was, it talks about the end of chapter 11, you know, it talks in verse 19 about the temple being opened, whether this is the same one.

And John is bringing us back to that vision as now we're going to progress into the seventh trumpet. And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands. Now the seventh trumpet, remember, has already sounded back at the end of the sixth trumpet, back at the end of the two witnesses chapter. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.

And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

So I'm going to end there, but I'm going to invite any comments or any any conversation at all. Yes, Rose-Shavie? Yes, sir. You know, when you were talking about how, you know, when some people were like, oh, you know, it just said, you know, it's just like, it doesn't matter what day or any of that. I find it so incredible just how much how many parallels there are of us as the creation to Him as the Creator. We do all sorts of things. We institute governments and come up with all sorts of inventions and all of that. And it's incredible how if you use something other than the way that it's instructed in like an operator's manual, just how poorly it can go or that it might work, but it works sub-optimally. Yet somehow we fail to see the similarity of God's design in us and we try to figure out some way around it when we do it His way it works at maximum efficiency, maximum capacity, the way that it's designed. Or if someone else tries to come up with a new way, they go, no, it shouldn't be that way. Well, why not? Because that's not how I designed it. Yes, the same is true here. It's not going to work properly because that's not how it was designed. But because we want to do our own thing, in essence, we push aside what has been set forth because we want to be in control and we want to have power. And it's not surprising, but it's crazy to see it in motion, I would say. And it just makes having God's calling that much more wonderful. Knowing that if we didn't have it, we would probably look at it and do the exact same thing. But we would do exactly the same thing. Yeah. Good observation. It seems so easy. It seems so simple when we say it. Just do it the way God says and it all works out. But harder to do, isn't it? Because we struggle against our own desires and our own wants. Brother Shabyam, what the brother just said was exactly what the line at Satan told our first flesh and blood parents. Which was, you shall be like God, inside and good and evil for yourself. And that's what mankind basically is until God graciously calls us and we submit. But going back to chapter 14, wouldn't you say verses 1 through 5 is a summary of what happens after Christ puts forth his sickle in verses 14? It's almost like here's a vision, but it hasn't happened yet because the 7 trumpets sounded in 11, 15. And this happens where Christ puts forth his sickle. Verse 14, and then we're harvested.

Yeah. Good well, babes. I look at the word then, you know, as John were, then I saw this and then I saw that. And, you know, it might be sequential, but it could be an inset that happens later on. We're going to have to wait and see if this is chronological of what's happening or exactly when some of these things happen.

And I remember in 1 Corinthians, you know, the 7 trumpets has sounded, and we have all this, and then the 7 vials are poured out. So at the 7th trump, you know, it's a significant thing, and then we have the 7 vials, right? Yeah, because the resurrection takes place at the 7 trumpets. Then we meet Christ in the ear for the meted with him and the Father, all the holy processions of your new name, your crown, your this, your that. The 7 last plagues are poured out during that time, maybe. Yeah. And then, because there seems to be a little span of time. It's not immediately your resurrection and boom, boom, everything takes place. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, at that time when he returns, his feet are on the Mount of Olives, we do have in Chapter 14 here that this time, that this, in this vision, he's standing on Mount Zion, not on the Mount of Olives. So how all that fits into it, I think we just have to kind of wait and let God fill in the blanks. Just remember the 7th trumpet doesn't all happen in one day. It is a period of time that goes on there. And exactly when things happen to the 7th trump, that period of time, only God knows. But as we get closer, we'll know more.