The Mark and Number of the Beast DCLXVI

I'd like to share something here on the board with all of you as we begin the message. Just going to write this down.

Okay, hopefully most of you can see that. I'll just spell it. This is a vision test. Okay, you didn't have to go to school. This is a vision test. Capital D, capital C, capital L, capital X, capital V, and capital I. If you've got that, your vision is good, and we can proceed with this message.

You just keep on looking at that and try to figure it out. We're going to begin our message then. This is a message that I've given over the years throughout the United States, especially when we used to have the World News and Prophecy seminars. We would travel throughout the States, and different of us would be giving presentations to our brethren around the nation. Allow me to begin with simply this. When one fully reads God's Word, and it does need to be fully read, we read the end of the book.

When we read the end of the book, we have the great assurance from His revealed message to us that He wins, God wins, His Christ wins. Those faithful saints, if they win, we as the followers will also win. But there are some challenging, potentially life-altering details that do come along the way. In this case, remember that little expression that we have in our English jargon, the devil is in the details? Well, in this discussion that we're going to have today, and especially dealing with this, the devil really is in the details. Perhaps there is no single term in Scripture that sends waves of chill in questioning down our collective spines, then the phraseology of the mark of the beast, and its corresponding term of the number of the beast.

These two terms, out of Scripture, the mark of the beast and the number of the beast, are going to be the focus of this message. Novels have been written, movies have been made, scary movies sometimes have been made surrounding these two terms. But here's what I want to ask all of you and draw out of you today as an audience and those that will be watching this in the future. What does the Bible say about the mark of the beast?

What can we gain from what the Bible says? And what must we understand that we will not understand at this point about the mark of the beast? What the Bible says at times, and what the Bible doesn't say at times, sometimes we collectively put together and therefore think that is what God says. And that we have prefigured out his jigsaw puzzle before he has shown us fully what is going to happen. The terms are indeed used.

They're used in scary thrillers, they're used in mystery and horror movies. But the reality is that that term of the mark of the beast and the number of the beast, they are truly going to affect the headlines in the future. In a future that will not be devoid of God but watching everything. And I'm offering this message just as Sandy offered his message to make you aware, to make you to understand there is indeed judgment. But also there is also righteous judgment for God's saints and God's followers as these events begin to build and develop in crescendo to their final climax.

Before proceeding, let's appreciate how the book of Revelation is written. Some of you are going to be hearing a sermon on prophecy for the very first time. So I kind of want to unpack it slowly so you'll understand where we are going. Let's understand that the book of Revelation is designed by God for those that he calls out. We call them the saints. It is written approximately 90 to 95 AD and it's written in what is called apocalyptic style. I want to share that with you. Apocalyptic style was a style of Jewish writing basically from about 200 BC to about 200 AD. And of course, it incorporated somewhat into what we might call Christian writing.

And apocalyptic style is designed, and I like to put this down for you, apocalyptic style is designed as a book or a writing of wisdom. Wisdom is extremely important when we are reading apocalyptic literature. Allow me to share just a few verses to begin with. Revelation 3.22. You might want to jot that down. It says, He that hath an ear. He that hath an ear. That's an ear that is open to God and open to His speaking to us. And not just our own hearing. Also in Revelation 13 and verse 16, we'll be turning to that later. God says, Here is wisdom. Oftentimes, we think of wisdom literature as being that back in the Old Testament.

Literature like the Proverbs. Literature like the book of Ecclesiastes. But this is also wisdom literature that develops insights beyond our own perceptions. And what I want to share with you when we're dealing with apocalyptic literature. And I say this quite sincerely as one student of the Scriptures along with all of you. Reading apocalyptic literature begs God's guidance.

It also begs humility on our part to allow God to fill in the pieces rather than simply ourselves. Apocalyptic literature of itself is colorful. It is metaphorical at times. Big characters. And we'll be getting to some of those as we discuss this, the Mark of the Beast. The wisdom of the Spirit and the wisdom of walking through and allowing God to direct our steps is to recognize that which is, in a sense, metaphorical.

But even the metaphorical has real things that are happening underneath to distinguish that which is colorful and that which is actually going to happen. And to recognize that they come together. And to recognize that sometimes we're going to have to understand in reading this that God is giving us a GPS to the future where He is going and where He wants us to meet Him at following His lead. And to recognize that. What God does in prophecy is this. I'm going to share two words with you. Are you with me?

And that is simply this. As we read the Scripture and as God opens our minds and opens our hearts, He does give us enough to consider. He doesn't want us to be blindsided with world events and prophetic events and His arrival. So He gives us a lot to consider. When the time comes, when the moment is around the corner or we are in the moment, He will give us the comprehension.

I have lived with that faith in my system since I first heard this way of life when I was 11 years old in La Mesa, California. And to recognize even some of the world-shaking events that we've been through since I was a boy. Just like what we went through here in 1962 with the Cuban Missile Crisis and living in San Diego of all places if there were World War III.

We recognized that God allowed us to recognize that there were things yet to happen in Scripture that had not yet occurred that would occur. So that we knew that this would not be the time of the end. That God had more in store for us. So what I want to share with all of you and kind of my GPS with prophecy is simply this. Stay wide. Stay wide. And in God's time, in God's way, allow Him to fill in the details.

And sometimes it will only be as it is occurring. Think of what the disciples used to write at times in the Gospels. And it says, And then they remembered what Jesus had said. They remembered what Jesus had said. Now they understood it. And as we move towards the day of judgment. And remember, judgment is not only, oh no, there's judgment. Remember, the saints are also going to receive judgment, aren't they?

That's good. We want God to use His Son Jesus Christ to be our judge. So, bottom line is this. As we read the book of Revelation, we have to have our faith underlined. And ask God for faith to understand what is going. If He allowed us to know everything now, and you know what's going to happen this way, and this way, and this way, and let's move this piece in here. And we've got it all figured out.

Where is the danger in that when we deal with prophecy? It would be by our works, and not by having faith in God. But we have extreme confidence that God is going to give us enough to understand what He is doing as this world, this end of the age, comes to a climax. Therefore, this message today is designed to not only define the mark of the beast as much as we can, but to equally define the responsibility of those who will face this threat as the saints of God.

This is not only going to be about the mark of the beast, or the beast. It's going to be about you. And those who will be there in that time and in that day as to what they face, but to also recognize that in a type we are facing that beast today. I'll get to that in a few minutes.

Let's first understand that Revelation, the book there of Revelation, is a layered message. The book of Revelation, that is Latin for revealing. Any time you see T-I-O-N, that's Latin. It was initially written as the Apokaleps. Now, that's a Greek word, the Apokaleps. And that means an unveiling, almost like an unpeeling, almost like where you take an onion and you slowly peel off the different layers of it to get to the core of things. It was written, one thing that we, when I mentioned that it is a layered message, it was written in the first century, around 90 to 95 AD, as best as we can calculate.

What I want to share with you is simply this. It was written for the saints of God at that time. It was written for the first century. It was written for and revealed by God to real people in real time that were facing a real beast and a real threat and facing martyrdom. We need to understand that. In understanding prophecy, very simply, there are types and there are anti-types.

Types are accumulating forerunners. To understand this will allow us to understand the Scriptures. Types are a crescendoing forerunner, layer upon layer, building up to the end of the age. So we have types. Then there are the anti-types. Those are the conclusions of when everything crescendos and the end is near. What was happening in the 90s AD? The Flavian house was then ruling over the Roman Empire. That would have been Vespasian and his two sons Titus and Domitian. Domitian, there had always been this element of Emperor worship since the time of Julius Caesar 100 years before.

But it continued to develop and then it got into the hands and the hearts of people like Nero and Domitian. He thought in a sense that he was indeed God on earth and more than ever elevated the role of Emperor worship. Emperor worship was especially acute, which you'll find interesting, in Asia Minor. Now, who's in Asia Minor? Those are the seven churches. They're sitting right on top of this cauldron of Emperor worship.

They are mentioned again in Revelation 2 and Revelation 3. It had immediate meaning for those people in those days to recognize that no matter what they went through. That at the end, it would come to an end. That God would triumph. That he would send his Christ. And we'll talk about that a little bit more. They needed encouragement. Some of them were just new-founded Christians, babes in Christ as it were. Now they've given up their allegiance to this Domitian, to this Roman Empire, and their life was on the line.

But, but, it's also written for us today upon whom the ends of the age have come. One thing I'd like to share a word with you. You might want to jot it down. I've used this a lot over the years. It's simply this. There is a tension. There is always a tension, a tight wire in Scripture between the past, the present, and the future.

Again, it goes into those types and the anti-types. A little bit of like what Mr. Beatty was talking about. There are types that are going to lead ultimately up to the abomination of desolation that is most likely going to occur over in the Holy Land in that area.

So there's always this tension. To not understand tension in the Bible. God was speaking to real people, as Sandy brought out in your message, Sandy, that Jeremiah was speaking to those people in those days. Then you brought it forward speaking to us in those days. So you always have to keep really wide in all of this. But the future and the final assault on the faithful saints of God is given structure in Revelation 12 and 14.

We're going to turn to there in a moment. This conflict is designed to dominate the world stage in what is called the last days. It is literally a battle to the death between two spiritual forces that have skirmished throughout time and vie for, and this is important, and vie for humanity's unquestionable and unwavering allegiance. I want to repeat that again. You and I are affected by what we're going through today.

This system that has vied since Eden, since Eden, it's a vying for humanity. Let's put it to an hour, yours and mine, unquestionable and unwavering allegiance. Over the years, I have called it the thread of two, if you like to jot that down, the thread of two. I'm glad there's not three or four because it's just enough to stay with two, but stay with me for just a second. When we go from Genesis to the book of Revelation, let's understand there are two gods. There is the God of creation, and as Paul brings out, there is the God of this age.

There is this God that dominates the airwaves. These two gods, from the beginning, offer two ways. Two ways, the way of give and the way of get. That's offered through two trees, one rooted in self and the now, and the other rooted in faith and in promise. They are symbolized by two cities, Jerusalem above and Babylon below. Additionally, they are defined by two women, the faithful woman of Revelation 11 and 12, and the woman of Revelation 17 in verse 3.

Babylon, the harlot, that rides the beast, therefore representing two churches. There are followers who accept and receive two different seals, all leading to two different outcomes. Aren't you glad there's not a third option? But sometimes that's what people settle for and we'll be getting into.

What are those two outcomes? Destruction or salvation? All stems from that first prophecy that is given in Genesis 3.15. Join me if you would there, please. In Genesis 3.15, normally we think of Genesis just being about creation, but again, remember there is a tension in the Bible. The Old Testament conceals the New Testament and the New Testament reveals the Old Testament. In verse 15, And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. Her seed being, remember, Jesus Christ. And he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

The beginning of all of this began and eaten, and continues to our day, of vying for the attention of those that are made in God's image and in God's likeness. With that thought now, join me if you would to Revelation 12. In Revelation 12, we note the first key earthly player. Revelation 12, and we're going to pick up the thought in verse 1. Now, a great sign appeared in heaven, and a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. And then, being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

This is speaking of the Christ child.

The word coming to earth in fleshly form. And another sign appeared in heaven to behold a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadoms on his head. And his tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon, the dragon stood before the woman, who was ready to give birth, to devour her child as soon as it was born. And we think of what is called the slaughter of the innocents, that as Herod took the newborn of Bethlehem, and it was just not Herod. There is a spirit behind that, trying to crush the inauguration of God in the flesh on earth. And she bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and his throne. Jesus was called to be the king of this world, the king of this earth, not only the Lord of our personal life now, but one day to be the ruler under God, the father of this entire world, a time in which we call the millennium. But as we recognize here that he was taken up. So this speaks of his birth, he lived, and we have a resurrection. Verse 7, And the war broke out in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought. But they did not prevail, nor was the place found for them in heaven any longer. And so the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and Satan. So the dragon is defined with the words of the Bible itself, who deceives the entire world, which should cause this alarm. Notice the immensity of the deception. And he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And then I heard a loud voice saying to heaven, Now salvation and strength and kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren. Now this is interesting. He is not only the siever, but he's also an accuser of the brethren, who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. Now it speaks about some of those that, again, there is a tension between the past, the present, the time in first century AD, up until our time, and in the future of the saints of God, that not only gave their life to God the Father and Jesus Christ at baptism, but gave it all. And they overcame them by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them, and woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows that his time is short. Now whether this has completely happened, don't ask me. I will leave that to God.

This can be once, this can be twice, different people have different thoughts, but the reality, the finality is, he is going to be tossed down, and the key word here is to notice this, because he knows that his time is short. There is nothing more dangerous than a rattlesnake that is caught in a corner and coiling. You can just ask my dear wife, she escaped.

That's not the serpent we're talking about, though. That's just the Sun City serpent.

But there's nothing like a bear or a lion that is cornered, and the dragon is going to be cornered, and he's going to know that his time is short. Why does he know that his time is going to be short? This is not a great controversy. Yes, there is a skirmish that's been going on for 6,000 years, but just before you get spooked about talking about the mark of the beast, just recognize this, God and the Word, now we know as Jesus Christ, is uncreated.

They are uncreated. They are outside of time and space. Remember always, just when you start getting worried about the devil, it's simply this. He is a created being. He's not on the same par as God the Father and Jesus Christ. Remember what it says in the Old Testament? On the day that you were created, Lucifer is a created being.

And what is created has beginning and it has an end. God is. Jesus Christ is. But there is something that's happening down here for humanity to recognize itself apart from God. Now, let's pick up the thought in here where it says, so the servant was spewed out, verse 15, and it says further that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. That's going to come after the saints. This flood is a symbolic term for an army, for an agency of force, and the earth helped the woman.

And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep, notice, who keep the commandments of God. That is really going to be important and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. There are two things that are happening as to how I define who God is working with. And that is that they have the testimony of Jesus Christ, and they also keep the commandments of God. I use that as kind of just, okay God, this is who you say that you're working with in this day and age.

Let's understand that. What we understand then is the key earthly player. That is, those are the saints. We call it the church, which just means the ecclesia, the saints as a whole. We recognize that Satan's time is short. Now, let's go to chapter 13, verse 1. Then I stood on the sands of the sea and I saw a beast, rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now, this is what John is seeing. This is what a spiritually alert, inspired individual has by the revelatory message of God in him.

This is not what the world is going to see. Let's understand this is coming from a focus of God. He had a blasphemous name. Now, the beast, which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and the mouth was like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power and his throne in great authority. Let's understand something. The headlines are not just simply being made in Moscow, in Paris, and in London, in Washington, D.C., and in Tehran.

The big headlines and the big news occur in heaven, occur in a realm that is vying against one another for domination of those on this earth that are made after God's image and God's likeness. If you just go to the book of Daniel, go through Daniel 7, 8, 9, you'll hear about the Prince of Persia bucking up against the Prince of Greece. You'll hear about Michael being sent in to defend the covenant people of God.

Down here as human beings, our vision is limited. We tend to be earthbound. Revelation allows us to recognize that there is a greater sphere that is at work than just simply mankind. I'm going to show that to you in a moment. And I saw one of his heads as it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world marveled and followed the beast. Long live the beast. Long live the beast.

This is a system that has been and is and will yet be. Remember, there is a tension. And this is a system as old as Nimrod and the Tower of Babel, to what we heard with Sandy's message about Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldees, to the time of Rome and forward. It's a living thing because it is spiritually induced. By the dragon that keeps on rising up and rising up.

It just won't die. You just won't know. There are these resurrections that are occurring. Now, what I want to share with you, verse 4. So they noticed, worshiped the dragon, who gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with them?

Kind of like back in the book of Daniel, when in doubt, whether it was the Babylonians or later Cyrus, you know, whenever he got to him, he said, Long live the king. Good start when you want the king's favor. Long live the king. So they say, Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with them? The key thing I want to share with all of you, because we get our human eyes stuck down here below. Notice verse 4. So they worshiped the dragon. It's not just about an earthly figure.

The beast and the second beast that we're going to go into a moment are pawns of the dragon, of the deceiver, of the accuser, of Satan. And he was given a mouth, speaking great things, and blasphemies. And he was given authority to continue for 42 months. And then he opened his mouth and blasphemed against God, to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And it was granted to him to make war, or allow, to make war with the saints and overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. When that term is used in Scripture, it's usually talking about the nations of this world, or those that are apart from God, those that are what we would call back at this time the Gentile nations.

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. And if anyone has an ear, here goes wisdom, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity, and he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. Patience and faith. Then I saw another beast. You might say this is the little beast, the second beast. Then I saw another beast coming out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.

And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell on it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that even fire comes down from heaven on earth in the sight of men. I do not think this part is apocalyptic. There are going to be lying wonders, as Paul's writings say.

It's going to happen. And he performs great signs, so that even the fire comes down from earth in sight of men. And 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. And he was granted 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.

This has occurred in the past. This occurred during the time of Nero, when Rome burned and the Christians were used as a scapegoat, and they were burned alive on top of the circus maximus, the Colosseum was not yet built. They were the nightlights that were used for the chariot races. As tar was poured over them and they were lit up like a firecracker. Then later, during the time of Domitian, the second great persecution in the first century, that Christians were being killed because they would not offer incense to Caesar. I'll talk about that in a moment. Notice what it then says here. And he calls us all both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive notice a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark of the name of the beast. Or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of man and his number is 666.

Let's talk about a moment. There's two things that we see here that I want to mention here. Notice verse 16, because we're going to come back to that later in the message. They receive a mark on their right hand and on their foreheads. You might want to take note of that. That's going to be important in our discussion. Let's talk about this now for a second, to recognize what's going on. This term mark that you see here comes from the Greek. The word there is... I'm taking a look at my notes here, so I'll spell it right... is spelled this way.

Shar-rog-ma.

You see, that sounds like a masculine cologne, but it had much deeper meaning for those in the first century AD. Shar-rog-ma, the term mark Shar-rog-ma, means to stamp, or to impress, or to imprint. Now, in this, we're talking about a spiritual imprint. We're talking about something that is being impressed in hearts and in the hand, which is our life's energy. That term, during the time of the Roman Empire, slaves were often marked by the brand of their owner. What did it mean to the real audience in real time? Shar-rog-ma was a mark, in other words, that slaves would be branded. Sometimes runaway slaves that were trying to get away from what the master thought should be allegiance to them would be rebranded. They would gain a stigma. That means to be stigmatized because you were branded. There was an imprint. You were not your own person. You were owned by somebody else. H. H. Skaggs, in The Greatness of Babylon, 1962, page 173, shares this. Slaves were identified by some kind of mark, either tattooed or branded on face and or the back of the hand. With all of this said, we connect reality that no one seemingly escapes. All who worship the beast are his property. Also, at times, in the Roman army, devoted soldiers would brand their generals' names on their bodies. Those soldiers were saying, just like when Caesar crossed the Rubicon, that those soldiers gave their life to him, no matter where he went that they were going to follow. They might have had this shiragma. On every contract of buying or selling, there was a shiragma or a mark or an imprint with a date and the emperor's name. Such a concept might depict future people that accept the beast's official authority over their lives. All official coinage of the empire had Caesar's likeness impressed on it. On its surface, it was his property.

Let's think about that for a moment. When Caesar put his face on a coin, Caesar was a supreme. Every Caesar, because so often Rome would be iracked by civil war or battles or other empires like the Parthians or the Germanic tribes would come down, another Caesar would come and he would imprint and put his shiragma on a coin. Good news! I have arrived. I am your protector. Worship me. Interesting. Now, this is probably what affected the churches in Asia Minor.

When offering of incense was offered to the deity of Caesar, a certificate was granted to state for the record of action. Such a mark could signify recognition of worship that one who has been called to follow Christ could only do by denying his faith. I want to share that with you again. So important. This is what was happening in Asia Minor in the 90s AD.

I'm going to repeat it again. When offerings of incense, which was an annual event in the Roman Empire, were offered to the deity of Caesar and or his descendants, a certificate was granted to state for record that the action had occurred. Such a mark that shiragma could signify recognition of worship that one who has been called to follow Christ could only do by denying his faith. Only do by denying his faith. Let's be blunt. Let's get down as we say. This is black and white. This is what has been going on since Eden.

That there is this vying for those that are made in God's image to give their total allegiance to one and or the other. And you cannot, as Jesus said, you cannot serve two masters. So what picture is dominant? What picture comes to the fore as we tie all these uses of shiragma in the Roman Empire? Let me throw down a few words. You might want to jot them down. Most of them begin with D as in, oh, no, D. Domination. A beast will dominate. Also devotion. Your sole allegiance. Also devastation of inner man's values.

God created us to think, to be, to imagine, to have freedom. There will be no freedom underneath this system. It will have a stranglehold on man's movements, personally, in moral, financial and spiritual ways. Now, the number of the beast is probably the best known and most studied verse in the Bible. Let's understand something, what we're doing here. Stay with me a second. What we have here, in ancient times, people did not have the figuration that we have for numerals today.

A one, a two, a three, a four. And so what they did, they assigned value by letters. So, all of you kind of remember what you learned in seventh or eighth grade when you did Roman numerals? I'm looking at our teachers. Okay. Richard and Tammy. Okay. D is what? Five hundred. Oh, the American education system. Was that you, Joel, or your father-in-law? Okay, good. Okay. Five hundred. One hundred. Fifty. Ten. Five. Four. No, one. Six, six, six. Try the best-known figuration in the Bible as far as that.

Like I said, what happens is that oftentimes people would figure out personalities that they didn't like and make it out somehow, one way or the other, wiggle room, make it six, six, six. It is thought that Nero himself was six, six, six.

Now, my point in all of this is to just simply say this. There are lots of books, lots of thoughts on this. I'm just simply going to take... I'm kind of a simple person. I'm a simple pastor. I'm going to take God at His word on this one. When you look at Revelation 13, here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of man and his number is six, six, six.

When you do different numeric evaluations of Scripture and what they fit, six is normally known as the number of man. Man was created on the sixth day. Okay? Three is often used as the number of finality. Now, this is Robin Weber's figuration, but it works for me. This is about man. Even if they come with religiosity as that second beast that is going to ride the other beast, that spiritual power that will be upon an empire, it is man.

When all stripped down, it might look like a sheep, but inside it is a wolf. It might look like a glorious human being or the power of God pulling fire out of heaven. It is not giving God glory. It is giving self-glory. Three is the number of finality. Six, six, six. What I'm going to share in all of this, I'm going to give you some good news right now. I know my voice is going up because I just get excited, talking in general about the Bible. There's another number that we want to remember here. I'm just going to throw this down right now.

777. Okay? That's not an airline. It's to recognize this. There's going to come a time that when these forces are going to come together, they are going to be religious, they are going to be temporal. The religious, as the Bible says, is going to ride on the back of the temporal. It's very interesting that this system is talked about being resurrected over time. It gets wounded, it gets healed. It gets wounded, and it gets healed. I think the best way of talking about it, you know, sometimes how...

Any of you ever see the musical Brigadoon? Can I see a show of hands? I'd like to see what you're watching or going to see the play. Okay. Anyway, the Brigadoon would appear every hundred years. It would come through the fog, and it would be there again.

That's a little bit like this system. It comes, it goes. It comes, it goes. The best thing to liken it to, for those of you that know a little bit of your history, would be like the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire that was found out long ago and far away, but almost lasted in its initial form for a thousand years. It's very interesting what Voltaire said, the French philosopher, back in the 18th century. He said that the Holy Roman Empire, this is the way to think about it, is neither Holy Roman or an empire.

You might want to jot that down. It was neither Holy Roman or an empire. Of course, what would you expect a Frenchman to say about the Germans? Anyway, anyway, so it's a very unique combination that's going to come together. As it comes together, the Holy Roman Empire, back to the time of Justinian and Otto the Saxon and Charles V, it would come together. It would be kind of unwieldy. They needed one another, but there was always this fight between the north and the south, the Germanic element at the top being the temporal power, and then the papacy down below.

But it was always kind of vying. They didn't trust one another, but in their minds they needed one another. They didn't like one another, but they needed one another because each wanted to be, this is Hebrew, they wanted to be top banana. So we have to kind of recognize what's going on here. Now, one thing I want to share with you is this. You say, well, look at our world right now. I'm going to make one comment. You can jot this down and really think about it.

Fear is a powerful thing. Fear is a powerful thing. It can change the society overnight. Now, just think of what we've been through in this pandemic, which cannot even be likened to past pandemics, all of the bubonic plague, etc., etc., or even Spanish influenza back in 1918 through 1921. This is only about one-sixth to one-seventh as lethal as what occurred back in the 1918-1921 sector after World War I.

But fear is a powerful thing. When I'm saying all this, I'm not linking what's happened to the beast right now. Okay, don't go there. I'm not putting the hat on anybody. I'm just saying you think things are always going to go on and on, and there's not going to be a ripple on the stream. And all of a sudden overnight, overnight things can happen.

Look how our lives changed in just a small way compared to other nations that have been affected by this pandemic. But let's go back to 1930 Germany. Let's go back to the Kristallnacht, the Night of the Broken Glass. Think of the Jews. Good Jews! Jews that had fought for the Kaiser during World War I that were decorated. Jews that were the musicians. Jews that were the professors. Jews that were on Taylor Row in Munich or in Berlin. And overnight fear gripped the German nation. It even gripped good Germans.

And overnight, people that looked upon themselves as loyal Germans began to be put into boxcars, sent to Poland, and never seen again. Sometimes people will say, how could this happen? How could the nation that brought us Bach and Brahms and Beethoven and mathematicians and musicians, philosophers, cities that worked come to this? What happened during World War II and leading up to it was not just temporal, it was spiritual. When you see what Hitler sounded like and acted like in the stadium at Nuremberg, that was not just a man, but that was a precursor. That was a type of a greater type yet to come. And to recognize our lives can change overnight. You need to be prepared. As Sandy was talking about, you need to be aware. You need to know who you're going to serve. And whether it's in our lifetime or not, or this is going to be somewhere in the future, all of us are in one sense living in Babylon. And Babylon seeks your devotion. Babylon, this system that actually was seated in the Garden of Eden, desires your allegiance and wants to pull you away from the creator God.

And while whether this all occurs in our lifetime, it will come. As the sun rises and the sun sets, it will come. But at this time, just like in the first century AD with our relatives back there, we too, we too have to know. And God has to know. And Christ who gave his life for us has got to know where our allegiance is. Whether we follow Babylon, or whether our citizenship is locked in heaven, registered in heaven, as Hebrew says, with the saints, fear is a powerful thing.

A lot of it, again, is going to come down to this. Faith in Christ and the keeping of the commandments. I love it how God just makes things simple. I'm a simple person. And it's interesting if you think about it. What is our mission statement? That we preach the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. We are citizens of that kingdom. We are in preparation to be a kingdom of priests in that kingdom. Under the one that is going to put away the beast once and forever.

It's really interesting. It's of note, at least to stay wide and see what happens. It is of note that a prior church and a state conglomerate in the 4th century AD persecuted those who would obey all 10 commandments, including the 4th. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. That same day of which God says in Exodus is a sign between me and the for all generations. The famous edict of the Council of Laodicea, 363 AD, said, Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, resting rather on Sunday. But if anyone be found Judaizing, let them be declared anathema from Christ. Once anathema, people were to be purged to be saved.

From that time forth, it has been of note that the great world church, a self-proclaimed universal church, has persecuted and even had crusades in times past against those who did not stay with me now. Did not recognize a man between them and God.

Used Scripture as the sole source of revelation.

Considered themselves as human beings filled with the Spirit as the church, not a building, not an entity, or an institution that proclaimed itself as the kingdom of God on earth. And rejected holy sacraments outside of Scripture. It's interesting that back in the 13th century, during the Fourth Crusade, part of it went to conquer Constantinople.

A part of it went into France. And there was a crusade by Europeans upon fellow Europeans. They were called the Albigensians. Because this is exactly how the Albigensians were. They did not believe that there could be a man between them and God, that they were God's children. They read the Scriptures. They learned from the Scriptures rather than simply learning from a man and having his stamp of authority on it.

We are spiritual relatives of those people that did not love their life unto death. But gave it. Does the observance of the Seventh-Day Sabbath by Christians pose a factor in the discussion of the Mark of the Beast and subsequent persecution that follows? Will their refusal to work on the Seventh-Day Sabbath or worship on another day be the tipping point of martyrdom? Time will tell. Time will tell.

I'm not saying it is, but I think we have to put it in the basket of what will be the Mark of the Beast.

The Revelation of the Book of Revelation is simply this, that we will be entering a time in which there is no third option. No third option. No one escapes. For a God or for the beast, that is challenging for people that want it both ways, one foot in and one. And this is why I say that this message is for us today. If I can see all of you up here a second. I'm the PowerPoint. I'm moving. I am moving. It's simply this. And we know this with all of us, our human nature. We want to have one foot planted in the kingdom of God, but we want to have one foot planted over here in good old terra firma, you know, the earth.

The Book of Revelation tells us, so we kind of want that third option. We're not going to be over here all the way, and we're not going to be over here all the way. But we'll do this. We'll take the third option. We're going to be very, as we say today, very big-minded. So we're going to cover all the bases. I want to ask you a question today so we make it relevant. Are you playing the third option? Because there is going to be no third option. The story of the Bible, two ways from Eden.

Okay? Two gods. Two trees. Two ways. Two cities. Two churches. Two outcomes. Destruction for salvation. There is no Mr. In-between. There is no Ms. In-between. God doesn't just want a part of you. God wants all of you. The Beast System that is arising doesn't just want a part of you. It wants to dominate you. And in that domination, as you say, oh, who is like the bits? Like Bugs Life. Remember, the Bugs Life is going towards the... Oh, it's so wonderful! Long live the Beast!

And all the little munchkins get out and go, dah, dah, dah, dah. Long live the Beast! No! Long live He that gave His life for us and His Father! That's a decision we made at baptism that we must hold to. I'm going to share something that's going to go about in a few minutes here. I think this is important. Remember when we went to Revelation 16. Come back with me a second here to Revelation 16.

And that no one may buy or sell... Oh, no, 16. He calls us all both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand and on their foreheads. This is very important. This needs to be understood in the time that was happening. We might say there's a cultural and religious parody here that is being acted out. That would have been understood by the Apostle John, who was a Jew. And there were many Jewish Christians still yet extend in that first century church. To recognize what's happening here. It is the grim opposite of the Jewish custom of wearing phylacteries on their left arm and on their forehead.

Have you ever seen an Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem or in Brooklyn? Which is pretty Orthodox when you get in parts of Brooklyn. They have that little leather pouch here and they have a leather pouch on their left hand. What is in that letter? It goes back to it. I'm going to give you the verse here if I can find it.

I can't find it right now, but it's in the Old Testament where God says to do this. That God's law will always be with them. And it's in that little box that they have on their head. And they wear on their left arm. Because again, this is where this is going about being on the forehead and being on the arm. There are four scriptural passages in a phylactery. I'd like to share them with you real quickly. The first scrap that is in that phylactery is this.

It's Exodus 13 2-10, where God is delivering Israel from Egyptian bondage. They always look to deliverance. Think of what Sandy was always looking to deliverance, and it is only God that delivers. The second slip is in Exodus 13 11-16. And it speaks of God slaying Egypt's first-born sons to force Pharaoh to free Israel, his sons. Again, God, even in times of strife and dire necessity, is the deliver.

The third scrap, Deuteronomy 6 4-9, it talks about Jehovah's command that Israel love him and serve him wholeheartedly, symbolizing the true God, true worship, and unswerving devotion to that God and that God alone, and not a man or another individual that thinks he is the servant of God but is blaspheming God. The last scrap is in Deuteronomy 11 13-21, where it speaks about God's blessing on Israel, those that faithfully obey him, and his curses on those that don't. Now, what is very important is this. I'm just going to pick one thought here.

The key to understanding these seals that are going to occur in the future is about your... I'm going to use this word again, ad nauseam... Your unswavering allegiance and devotion to God Almighty. Maybe you're being tested today in some way, and you know what? As hard as this, it's good. God wants to know that he's going to come first. But in the Shema, which is how to do it on the 4th, it says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord your God is one.

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all of your mind in the second is likened unto it. Now, you say, that's Judaism. But what did Jesus say in the book of Mark, Mark 12, 29-31? When a question came to him, and Jesus says in Mark 12, Hear, O Israel, do I dare say the spiritual Israel of God, Galatians 6, 16? Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord your God is one, and you shall love him with all of your heart, and all of your mind, and all of your soul.

And you shall love your neighbor, and the second is likened unto it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I would dare say, dear brethren, that Jesus practiced what he preached, because he gave his life for his brethren, and he gave his life committed, even on that stake, on that altar of Golgotha. And that's why we love him. And that's why the Father puts him before us, to be our shepherd, to be our leader.

Now, we do not do this today, where we put something on our forearms, or we put something on our foreheads, because we know what the covenant says in Jeremiah. We know what it says in Hebrews, that there's going to come a time when God will put his law, and he will write his law in our hearts and in our minds. We have something even more powerful than a little leather box up here. I'm not trying to diminish the sincerity of the Jewish people, but God's given us better promises, as the book of Hebrews says.

He's put his spirit in us. It's no longer just like a pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day leading us. That same one has now put his essence, put his essence, put the spirit of the Father and the Son in us, to gird us up for the days that are yet ahead. They are coming. We've seen things this past year. This is just simply apolitical, analytical. We've seen things happen in America that we would never dream happen in America with control of individual liberty, all in the name of...

Now let's just fill in the blanks. It can happen overnight. It can happen in Germany. It'll happen again, but this time to the whole world. What I want to share with you simply is this, as we begin to conclude.

There's another seal. Know how God works in twos? Just join me in Revelation 7 real quickly. I hope I can keep you awake for just a few more minutes, because we've got to get this part of the story in Revelation 7. God is about to have the angels. It's almost the day of the Lord. Then I saw another angel sending from the east, verse 2, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was granted to harm the earth, and she sang, Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.

Did you realize that there are two marks, two seals, in the book of Revelation? God has his own seal, too.

Sometimes, what am I going to do? What has God called me into? This is not looking good. No. God also impresses. God also imprints. God gives us a better seal. It's very interesting that when you look at the word there is... I'm going to spell it here. I can spell it.

This Greek word is sprogus.

God also imprints. God also seals. It's called the Holy Spirit. That's his seal. I'm just going to give you some verses. You can jot down. You know what I'm actually going to do? I'm just going to send you all my notes. That way I don't have to do the whole sermon for the next three hours.

But to recognize that he seals us. He's in charge. What happens sometimes with prophecy? I've dealt with prophecy most of my adult life. I've taught it, written about it, etc., etc., and no human nature. We want to get into all the spooky stuff. The four horsemen of the apocalypse.

I'm not talking about the Notre Dame team back in the 20s. Roll under your mirror. No, okay. You don't remember those. You're a baby. Okay. Is that just having fun? Is that... We said, oh, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, religious deception, war, famine, you know, you name it. Let's remember something just to share a thought with you to pick you up at the end. There's more than four horsemen in the book of Revelation. Are you with me? If you're staying here, you're in bad shape. There's a fifth horseman that's talked about in Revelation 17. It's none other than Jesus Christ. Jesus... You lay that on somebody sometime when they get into a talk about, oh, it looks so horrible. Yeah, but you know what? Jesus is coming over the horizon. He's on the white horse. He's the good guy. And he's the Son of God. And he's going to come to save the saints, and he's going to open up a whole new age. And God also has his own seal. He has on his own mark that he has placed within us those that have the faith of Jesus and love the commandments. I'm going to share one more thing because I see some young people out here, and I'm not trying to spook you about all this stuff about the mark of the beast and all of this. When I was 12 years old, it was the first time I was in the old San Diego church. Little Robbie was in the San Diego church with my mother and my father, and I heard a sermon. And in that sermon was... Remember, this was during the time of the Cold War, the Soviet Union, America, and all things happening. And I remember a man getting up and quoting Amos 3 and verse 7. Let's turn over there for a moment. Amos 3. If you can't find Amos, that's why I said, I'm giving you a hand, and it's on page 1058 of my Bible. With a little levity, but with all seriousness, because, well, I've given my life for this, and so have you. Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets. A lion is roared who will not fear the Lord has spoken who can but prophesy.

You and I have given our life to the greatest prophet of Israel.

We've given our life to the heavenly rabbi that God the Father sent to teach us, not only by word, but by example, who gave his life. He stood up to cheers and taunts and persecution and killed illegally and unjustly. The worst thing that he ever did was be perfect. I think that went through for a second. That's who we follow. That's our example. That's who will be with us, no matter what we're going through right now in this life. Whoever faces this final culminating climax of this bind between these two forces is to recognize that.

As we conclude, what you know and what I know, whether then or now, whatever you're facing, that's why Christians always bring more to life than what's coming their way. Did you hear me? As a Christian, as a child of God, we are to bring more to life than whatever is coming our way. So, the greatest question that I can simply ask you as I conclude is this. It's found in 2 Peter 3 and verse 11. As we have put our finger and our hearts into prophecy today, therefore, what manner of man, what manner of woman, what manner of child of God ought we to be? Seeing that these things come. Seeing that these things are so. We'll talk about that in the message chat.