Revelation 13 The Struggle and the Resisters - Greg Bahnsen {Part 50 of 63}

Lord, we again approach your throne this day, confessing that we're unworthy to speak to you or to be called by your name. And we ask that you would receive us and hear us not for any merit that can be found in us, but only for the all sufficient merit of your son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. We ask you, Father, that you'd pardon our sins, that you'd reconcile us to yourself, that you would put your hand upon us and bless us, and that your spirit would fill us, that we might be able to apply your word properly, to understand it, and to live lives which are more pleasing to you. We especially, Father, ask you to open our eyes to the struggle that is before us as Christians in this day, as in every age, and that you would steel us for that conflict, that you would equip us with the word of God, and that you'd have us fully equipped as Christian soldiers to go into such a battle. We ask you, Lord, that indeed the outcome of that battle would be glorifying to your name, that we would see the kingdom of Jesus Christ spread to earth's remotest ends. And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. We're going to continue looking at Revelation 13 this morning, so let's turn to Revelation 13 and read the entire chapter again together. I will try to conclude my remarks about the beast today in Revelation 13, because I think the subject of the beast is so very important, not simply because it's a popular subject. It's the sort of thing that you read about at great length in the commentaries on Revelation. And it's a subject of curiosity and fascination for so many people when it comes to eschatology. But it's, I think, a crucial theme in the book of Revelation, and the way that it's handled in the book of Revelation is very instructive for our lives today. And so today I'm going to be looking at the struggle that is represented here in Revelation 13. And then I want to look at the resisters, that is, those who resist in the midst of this struggle, the destiny of those resisters and their comfort, and then finally at the beast himself. Obviously, the struggle is between the beast and the resisters here, but we won't be going necessarily in order through the verses. We'll be taking a more thematic approach this morning. And then beginning next week, we'll start looking at the second beast and the implications of the second beast for current living as well. Revelation 13, verse 1. And he stood upon the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. And on his horns ten diadems. And upon his head names of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard. And his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and his great authority. And I saw one of his heads as though it had been smitten unto death. And his death stroke was healed. And the whole earth wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon because he gave his authority unto the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? And who is able to war with him? And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. And there was given to him authority to continue 40 and two months. And he opened his mouth for blasphemies against God. To blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, Even them that dwell in the heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him. Every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world. In the book of life. The lamb that hath been slain. If any man hath an ear, let him hear. If any man is for captivity, into captivity he goeth. If any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword must he be killed. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. And he had two horns like unto a lamb. And he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight. And he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast whose death stroke was healed. And he vieweth great signs that he should even make fire come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth. By reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast, Saying to them that dwell on the earth. That they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived. And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image of the beast. That the image of the beast should both speak. And caused that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he caused all the small and the great the rich and the poor, the free, and the bond that there be given them a mark on their right hand and upon their forehead, and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, even the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and. And his number is 666. By way of rehearsing what's gone before, remember that what we come to here in chapter 13 in the book of Revelation amounts to the new prophecy, or the second prophecy John said that John was told he'd be given. In Revelation 10, 8, 11, we read of a little book that John was to eat and digest, and then he would prophesy again over many tribes and tongues and nations. And this obviously is now the fulfillment of that, as he now lays out for us what the contents of that little book were. Revelation 13 begins the section in Revelation having to do with the second great enemy of the people of God in the first century. And in a sense we can title this whole section from Revelation 13 through 18 as the Roman empire versus the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The chapter opens with Satan on the sand of the sea, standing at the Mediterranean ocean, beckoning his henchmen from the sea, from across the sea, or from Rome, he beckons the beast to arise. And with the rising of that beast, we're then introduced to the tension that characterizes John Day, literally and particularly. But also we're introduced to, I think thematically or topically, the tension for all of history. And I think Mr. Rushdooney has been doing a good job of summarizing throughout the last four evenings for us the tension between humanism and Christianity. And in his commentary on the Book of Revelation, he says this at the beginning of the chapter on Revelation 13. The direction of history is twofold in its historical manifestation. Apostate man moves toward establishing a radically humanistic social order in which God is abolished and man is his own law and lawgiver. Apostate man works to create a paradise on earth without God, law or morality. The morality of humanism is that man is his own law and that no moral law beyond man can govern. Man, on the other hand, regenerate man works to re establish the law order of God among men, to establish church, state and society in terms of the word of God, and to manifest the kingdom of God in and its every meaning. And I think that's about as good a summary as you can give to what is thematically contained here in the 13th chapter of Revelation, the struggle between humanism, that is, the desire to work out all the implications of man not having a God that controls him, man being his own law, being his own measure, being his own standard. And then the tension between that humanism and Christianity, the attempt of Christians to work out the kingdom of God with all of its implications in society and in life, the attempt to have the rule of God come to bear upon men. And so the question becomes, ultimately, shall men, organized and centralized in the authority of the state, rule over other men? Or shall God, with his sovereignty and his supreme authority as Creator and Redeemer, shall he then have the rule over men? Remember that when we read Revelation 13 that we cannot take the hermeneutical or interpretive approach of, well, this book is literal where possible, unless we want to be reduced to what is the apparent absurdity of thinking that in fact there shall be a seven head, ten horned monster arise from the Mediterranean ocean someday or in the past. And my point is it's possible that that be a literal representation of some creature. We've never seen it, but it's still an empirical or a scientific possibility. That doesn't mean that's what John is saying, though. The fact that it's possible, the fact that the literal approach is possible, doesn't make it true. And so we reject the approach of the Bible that says literal where possible, and especially that approach of the book of Revelation. Now John tells us, this beast, this monster, comes forth from the sea or from the abyss, which is the abode of demons. And the monster or the beast is similar to the four beasts that appeared in the prophecy of Daniel. Daniel had prophesied that there are going to be four world empires that would arise, which would be tyrannical, which would overpower, and which would oppress the kingdom of God. And now Rome comes on the scene. And Rome, you see, is the epitome of all that. Rome is the expression of all the evil that went before it. And Rome has seven heads bespeaking the vitality of the kingdom, like the Hydra monster. I said last week, you kill one head and it still lives. And it has seven lives, similar to our expression today. You know, a cat having nine lives, and the heads bear names of blasphemy. Every one of the Roman emperors demanded in some form that he be recognized as divine. The Senate voted men into the Pantheon, which of course brought the ridicule of the early apologists. It's interesting to read Tertullian you see, and. And Irenaeus on early heresies and attacks on the Christian faith. And as they defend the Christian faith against the attacks of people in the Roman Empire, they especially point out that, by contrast, you Romans have a tendency to vote for your gods and you count the noses and you decide who's a God, you see? And that should bring ridicule. And it did. And John is saying, what we have here is this something of a pseudo God demanding worship from men. And the horns, the power, the might of the beast. These horns are crowned. This beast rules in terms of its might, or to use the contemporary phrase, might makes right. And so what is right in the Roman Empire is what the mighty Caesar will say. So there is a very good, I think, symbolic and pictorial depiction of the whole humanistic thrust of the modern state, that men rule in terms of power, men rule in terms of expediency. Men rule in terms of what will get by and what works pragmatism. They don't rule in terms of principle. They don't rule in terms of law, they don't rule in terms of integrity. And John says, that's the beast for you. You see, his horns are crowned. He doesn't have a head that is crowned. His horns are crowned. And finally, the beast is said to have a deathstroke. And later in the chapter, we read that it's the deathstroke of a sword that is healed. And let me remind you that the head of the beast is struck with the sword and dies, but the beast is said to live. Okay. Oftentimes you'll read in commentaries. Now, who is it that pretended to have this resurrection experience? Which emperor was it that pretended to be dead and then was alive? And that's a misreading of the chapter. It's. It, of course, opens the door to any number of fascinating parallels between Christ and the Antichrist. As Christ rose from the dead, so the Antichrist will try to mock or ape such miracles on his part. Well, for all the fascination that may be involved in that, there's not a great deal of biblical text to back it up. What the Bible says is that the head was struck with the sword and the beast lived. Which is in accordance with what I was saying previously, that the heads indicate the vitality of the beast. It's like the Hydra, you know, you can kill one head and two come back in its place. You kill the head of the beast, and the beast still is able to live. And then verses 16 and 17 we were working on last week when we ran out of time. And this beast causes all the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the bond that there be given them a mark on their right hand or upon their forehead, that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark. Even the name of the beast or the name of his, excuse me, the number of his name. The fact that John is stressed, the fact that John mentions the series of contrasts, by the way, only emphasizes the universality of the beast tyranny. John says the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the bond. He uses three types of contrast, but he uses the. The diametrically opposite poles within the contrast. And he wants to say, no matter how you cut the cake socially, you know, those who have great influence, those have no influence, Those who are rich, those who are poor and so forth, those who are mighty, those who are weak, it makes no difference. All men are ultimately going to have to give their allegiance to the beast, with the exception of the resisters that we'll look at in a minute or two. And the mark of the beast is to be placed on the forehead and upon the hand. And although later on I'm going to be talking about the mark of the beast a little more in depth and telling you what other commentaries have said about that, I don't believe personally that there can be any doubt, but that John, who was a godly Jew and who knew his Old Testament, who knew the ways of the Jews, who knew the customs, and who knew the way a Jew would read, this is certainly intending here to show the beast replacing the law of God with the law of man. In the Old Testament, a godly Jew was symbolically to have the law of God written on his forehead and upon his hand. And how did I explain that last week? What does that mean? Why did God want the law written on the forehead and upon the hand, why not upon the foot and the shoulder or something? I mean, what is the importance of it being upon the forehead? Let's begin there. Why was God's law written on the forehead? Yes. Or it guides the way you interpret everything. See, with the law of God written right up here, you see, as you look out at the world, everything is seen, everything is categorized, everything is evaluated in terms of what God's word. Not your own thinking, but God's thinking. Remember, God told his people that the beginning of wisdom was the fear of the Lord. And how do you indicate that you respect and have fear for a Lord when he tells you to do something. You do it. I mean, it won't do much good for a slave or a servant to tell his master, well, I have all the respect in the world for you, sire. When it turns out that that slave never does what the master says. You see, that's a disobedient slave, and that's the slave that gets beat and gets punished and gets cast out. And Jesus has parables about that. He says there's going to be a day when God will say that there are unfaithful servants who have claimed to be part of his kingdom, and they'll be cast out and they will be beaten with many stripes. But now, in that day, in terms of the culture of that day, the good slave was the slave that obeyed his master. And God says, if you are my people and if you are my slaves, then everything you do and everything you say and the way you see things is going to be in terms of my law. That's an interesting, seems to me an interesting implication of the law being written upon the forehead. The way you evaluate things must be in terms of God's law. What does that mean when it comes to evaluating God's law? Then? What implication does that carry for people who wish to say, well, God says, we're supposed to do that. How ridiculous. We wouldn't dare try that today. Well, if the law of God is ridiculous and the law stems from God, remember, the law is written by the very finger of God in the Old Testament, then who's ridiculous according to this interpretation? Well, nobody wants to say, do you? Because nobody wants to be caught dead saying that God is ridiculous. But is it possible, as the Puritans said over and over and over again, if you read the works of the English and American Puritans, is it possible that we could impugn the law of God and not impugn the lawgiver? Not at all. If it was ridiculous that men who murder were to then in their place undergo the same kind of retaliatory treatment. If it seems ridiculous to you, this idea of capital punishment, then of course, what is really ridiculous to you is the lawgiver himself. And so God's law, God's word, God's standard, the reflection of God's thinking, God's revelation becomes the way we evaluate everything in this world. And that no matter what anybody may say, no matter what the consequences may be, God's word takes preeminence. Christ said, didn't he, that the foolish man builds his house, where on the sand? But the wise man builds his house on the rock. I think probably the most unfortunate thing about the little song that we teach our children about that parable is, is that we tend to leave it at a childhood stage. That's a very mature parable. Jesus is saying something very important, important for adults, important for people who want to mature in their Christian life and experience. And he says, don't ever think that you get to the point where you can replace the foundational authority of God's Word with somehow the authority of the expert or the authority of the scientist or the philosopher or the teacher, no matter where that teacher may be. God's Word is the rock authority for your life. And if it isn't, then God will rain down judgment someday and see, and the winds will blow, and the water's going to be there and the floods will rise, and what's going to happen? The house that's built upon the sand. Great will be the fall thereof. I can assure all of us here today that name, the name of Jesus Christ, that the greatest fall of judgment, when God finally judges the hearts of men, the greatest fall is going to be in terms of those who name the name of Christ but don't live in terms of his authority and his Word. Great will be the fall of those who have in fact, founded their lives upon the sand. Jesus says that the wise man built his house upon the rock. And Jesus never cut himself off from the Old Testament. Jesus never criticized the Old Testament. That's because Jesus, of course, was the very mark and the very image of God. He wouldn't criticize his Father who had in fact, given the Old Testament. He wouldn't work against the work of the Spirit in the Old Testament, inspiring that word that was fully the word of God for Jesus. He never criticized it. And Jesus taught in terms of the Old Testament methodology, in terms of Old Testament images. Jesus said, the wise man builds his house upon the rock. Who's the wise man in the Old Testament? Who is wise, according to the Proverbs, the one who fears God. The thing that is said over and over and over again in the Book of Proverbs is that the foolish man has no fear of God before his eyes, but the wise man fears God. Indeed, the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge, is the fear of the Lord. Okay, well, I'd love to go on and on talking about this one theme. It's a theme that needs to be proclaimed, I think, over and over and over again in our lands. It's something that our churches need to learn. God's word has the ultimate Authority in our lives. God's word is beyond challenge. Remember what Paul said in Romans 9, Nay, but, O man, who are you to reply against your Maker? When God says such and such, who do you think you are to stand up? You see, and to say, well, I'm not so sure of that. Well, that doesn't seem so reasonable to me, Lord. Or, well, try that again. I mean, you're going to have to convince me this time. Paul says, nobody has the right to do that. In Romans 3. 4, Paul says, Let God be true, though all men are liars. Well, that was back in Paul's day. Very unsophisticated Paul, you know, he didn't know how to get along with people. You notice how Paul got beat up so often. People thought Paul was a very nasty sort of guy. But the reason they thought that of Paul is because he had such an attitude that he said, I'm going to stand where I think. God has revealed himself. And all the world can deem itself liars. As far as I'm concerned, all the world shall be deemed liars if they contradict the word of God. The law of God was written on the forehead because the godly Jew was to think everything in terms of God's thoughts. As Augustine said, we are to think God's thoughts after him. Okay, now, the law of God was also written on the hand. What's the significance of that? Why write the law of God on the hand? Well, James puts it very well when he says, we aren't to be hearers of the Word only, but what doers? Well, that's all great, you know, on paper, in terms of the way we think and the way we express ourselves, we say, yes, God is Lord, God's word is supreme. God's law directs my life. I'm going to stand here on his revelation. It's by that standard that I operate. But then what happens when you go out and you live a life different than that? The godly Jew was to operate was to see his hand as the symbol of what he does. What he did in the world was to be governed by the law of God. Just as he saw the world, so what he did in the world was to be, by God's word, by God's standards. And now John is portraying for us in Revelation 13, the combined beastly authority of all the empires that had gone before. Do earthly empires rule this way? Do earthly empires rule according to those standards? Is that the way men who are the tyrants of the ancient world saw themselves as the image of God, and therefore subject to him. And as his servant. The second Psalm had told men that they were to kiss the sun lest his wrath be kindled, and they perish in the way. The second Psalm said, be wise therefore, O ye judges and kings of the earth, serve the Lord with fear. But that isn't what we find. The second Psalm says, in fact, the combined forces of the world would rather gather themselves together against the Lord and against his anointed and say, let us cast their bands from us. Let us cast off the authority of God. And what happens, as in Babel, when men cast off the authority of God in their society is that they give to themselves the authority of God. They arrogate to themselves the rule of God. They become little gods. And so in Babel, they tried to build this ziggurat up to the sky, Right? And why supposed to be like the Washington Monument memorial of somebody? Well, in a sense, yes. In a sense, no. The Washington Memorial is perfectly innocent. But the memorial being built in Babel is a memorial to man as being his own guide and his own God and his own ruler. Let us make a name for ourselves and build this thing into the heavens. A stairway to heaven is what they were building in their own power and authority. And the Roman Empire was no better. The Roman Empire ruled in terms of might, might made right in the Roman Empire, not the law of God. And not integrity, not the standards of God, but the standards of men and the Caesars. And so John says, here we have the beast. He says, you write my name upon your forehead and upon your hand, not the name of your God. And if you don't, what shall happen? Here's the crushing blow to all those schemes that could in some way synthesize their efforts with humanism, all those that can live with kind of a peaceful coexistence with humanism. The beast says, you want to get along all right in this world, fine. You want to buy and sell. You want to carry on the daily routine of life, that's fine. All you have to do is begin by saying that my law is first and foremost, and then you can go about doing your business. And in the Roman Empire, that's the way the Christians were treated. The Christians were constantly exhorted by the subordinate officials in the Roman Empire. Why are you being so stubborn about not giving incense to the emperor? All you have to do is go down there Monday morning, give a little bit of incense, bow your head, you don't even have to say the prayer, walk away, and you'll be able to get along, okay, we'll give you the certificate and you can go. You can have your religious worship. You can be Christians, you can have whatever religion you want. The Roman Empire was very cautious to preserve the religious heritage of the people that it had conquered. The Romans simply wanted to unite the empire. They simply wanted to give peace to the empire. They simply wanted the empire to be united and harmonious. And how would that happen? Well, there will never be peace in any situation in life, be it an interpersonal relationship or relationship in terms of any institution of life or a social relationship or a peace in terms of all of society. In terms of the state. There will never be peace unless there's one law that's observed. When you have two laws, you have warring authorities, and therefore peace is impossible. And so Rome said, we must have one law. The ultimate law can't be the Christians law. That's ridiculous. After all, don't you believe in separation of church and state? They didn't believe in separation of church and state at one point. They believed that the state was to have its own church. It was to be a church state in the most literal sense, that the church, those who came and worshiped, were to worship the state. And so you bow down to the emperor and you give your incense, and then you can go about being a Christian. We have so many, it seems to me, forces upon us today and so many temptations today to do that very thing. It isn't so crass and it isn't so outward and overt, I grant you, but the temptation is there. If you'll but live in terms of what the state says, or in terms of what your tyrannical employer says, or in terms of what social pressure says. If you do your deference when it comes to the point of conflict, then you can go about and within a certain, closely defined area, in a certain pocket of your life, you can have your religious freedom. And so what happens then is that the church becomes emasculated. The word of God becomes something that pertains just to the inner spirit. Something that has to do with eternal consequences. Apple pie in the sky, by and by, but not for right now. The word of God, you see, gets cut down, cut down, cut down. The lordship of Christ becomes the lordship, you see, of just one little God over one little area of life. And then there's all these other gods that rule elsewhere, you see. What happens then is that the word of God becomes just like the religion section in Time magazine. Time magazine. If you open it up and look inside the COVID has all these categories, right? The nation you see in sports and entertainment, and we go on and on and on the economy have all these nice little things. And then there's also a little place there for religion. Now that may be all right in terms of a news magazine, but the implications for a Christian thinking that way are deplorable. They're deadly. It's spiritual suicide to think that God will be satisfied to have his word boxed up into one nice little convenient area for Sunday morning, perhaps, and religious devotions during the week. But outside of that, we have other gods and laws. So John says there you have the imperious authority of Rome that says our rule is going to be supreme and our rule will be over all areas of life. And Christians, if you have anything to say in terms of your religion, it will only be within the boundaries that we give to you. And then over against that you have the law of God. And God's just as tyrannical, of course. He's the sort of tyrant that has mercy and love and really sustains his people and takes care of them and saves them ultimately. But he's just as tyrannical when it comes to this imperious authority. God will not tolerate any competition. What is the one great law that Israel was to know? You may not have memorized all of their laws, but what was the one law that every Israelite had to know? Yes, and you are to love the Lord your God with what, 50% of your mind and 25% of your money or 10% or less? No, you love the Lord your God with everything you've got. And that's just a summary of the first commandment of the Decalogue. For the first commandment says, you shall have no other gods before me. By the way, when we look at that first command of the Decalogue, we mustn't forget that what the word before means in Hebrew is not, you shall have no other gods to take priority over me. I know. For so many years that's the way I understood that law. I read it in English and in English it seems to be saying, you shall have no other gods before me. I mean, I should be number one. And then you have all these other little gods trailing behind. Right? That's the implication, although nobody wants to draw it. No, God says, you shall have no other gods before me. The Hebrew means in the presence of my face, quite literally before my face, you shall have no other gods. You see, the implication of that commandment is that God's the all seeing one. And God's sight covers all of my life. And God says, in my sight, don't you dare have any other gods, any other priorities, any other claims upon your allegiance and deference. I am going to be your sole provider, your sole guide, your sole standard. I'm going to be God alone to you. Well, that. By way of rehearsal of what we've said already, you need to have that, you see, You've got to see how loaded the shotgun is before you can understand the implications of what John's getting at. Here we are at the end of the Bible, in a sense. All of the implication of the humanistic state and the implication of the imperious authority of God are coming to a head. And so you have this conflict, you have this clash between the beast, the monster, and Christ. Christ, of course, is God of gods, man of man. He is the true man. And what happens to men when they will not rule in terms of the law of God? John no longer sees them as men. You notice John doesn't say, what we have here is a Frankenstein kind of thing, you see, kind of a marred and defaced man, kind of a grotesque man. He says, no, we don't have a man at all. We have a monster. We have a beast. We have an animal. And so one must choose then between the rule of Christ, God's chosen man, and the rule of the state, which is nothing more than a monster or a beast. But this raises a question. How can that be reconciled with the attitude of Paul in Romans 13 toward the state? Paul says, after all, the state is ordained of God, and those who resist the authority resist the authority of God himself and shall receive to themselves damnation. How do you reconcile what Paul says in Romans 13 about how we are to be submissive to the higher authorities with what John says in Revelation 13 about resisting the higher authority? I'll wait until you have a suggestion. If there's no way to reconcile it in the word of God, you see, contradicts itself, as law is what goes along with the law, the state. I think Robert Mount put it very well in his commentary here. He says in just two sentences very quickly how this is to be reconciled with the other biblical teaching about the attitude of the Christian toward the state. He says, in the clash of loyalties between God and emperor, the Christian had no choice but to obey the one who is the source of all authority. What does Romans 13 say? That those who are the ruling authorities, the higher authorities, the powers that be, in English translation, are what ordained of God. You owe your allegiance to them, even as they owe their allegiance to God. That's why Paul was willing to preach in Thessalonica and to be cast out of the city and never be able to return to it, to be banished from the city upon fear of death. He was willing to preach in such a way that the accusation against him was, this man preaches another king, one Jesus. By the way, just in passing, parenthetically, what was the chant of the crowd when Pilate decided to crucify Christ? We have no king but Caesar. And when Paul was finally subdued by the savior, Jesus Christ, he learned what a terribly blasphemous thing that was to say. And he preached in such a way that he said, there's a king above Caesar. Jesus. And Caesar owes his allegiance to Jesus. Well, now it says in the clash of loyalties between God and emperor, the Christian had no choice but to obey the one who is the source of all authority. Only when the state continues to act within the limitations of its delegated authority can the believer freely submit to its regulations. Only when the state continues to act within the limitations of its delegated authority can the believer freely submit to its regulations. He's put his finger on it. Only when the state, you see, rules in terms of the authority of God itself, himself, only in terms of the parameters and limitations, boundaries that God puts upon it, is the state then to be obeyed by the Christian. And when it departs from that and becomes a monster, when it transgresses the law of God, then we must answer as Peter did. We must obey God rather than men. Let's look at the temptation of Jesus here in terms of the beast and the struggle that the beast brings upon the Christian church. Matthew, the fourth chapter, verses 8 to 10. Again, the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them all. Right, get the scene in mind. Satan takes Jesus to a very high point in the mountains. And then from that point he gives this panoramic vision of all the kingdoms of the world. And he lays upon that, and he shows Jesus the glory of all the kingdoms of the world. And then he says unto him, all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, get thee hence, Satan. For it stands written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve no other gods in the sight of God. In the presence of God, before the face of God, you'll worship only God. Satan says, if you want to have the glory of the kingdoms of the world and that kind of power, you're going to have to come to me first. Well, Jesus resisted that temptation. The Roman Empire did not. And so in Revelation 13, verse 4, we read, and they worshiped the dragon, the dragon here being Satan. And they worshiped Satan because he gave his authority unto the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? Deification of secular power or unmitigated deference to the state and to the authority of men is actually Satan worship in the sight of God. Well, that tells us something about the struggle. And in our remaining minutes, we need to talk about the resisters and the beast now, if we have time. First, the resisters. Who resists the beast. Revelation 13:7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. There was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. This is very interesting In Daniel the seventh chapter, verse 21, which we won't look at because of time right now, but you might put that in your notes. Daniel 7:21. The Jews were told by Daniel, speaking for God, that their defense of Jerusalem against Antiochus Epiphanes, or the one who would become Antiochus Epiphanes, would be at first unsuccessful. And John says, you should recognize that for 42 months authority is going to be given to the beast to overrun the church. What is the destiny of the resisters? This is before the fact now. This is in the day when Christians are deciding, where is my allegiance going to be? And John says, I'll tell you if you make the right choice, what the outcome is going to be. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. You're going to get killed. That's what's going to happen. And the beast is going to show its power and authority. It's going to show its teeth. And the sign the beast will give to the world that nobody can war with him is that he's going to take your blood. Although the saints are put to death by the beast, however, the real victory belongs to them. It takes a lot of patience and it takes a lot of faith to undergo affliction and believe that the affliction in the long one is for the good of the people of God and the kingdom of Christ. But look at chapter 15, verse 2. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, and them that come off victorious from the beast and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God. Now we can go on and talk about what the symbol of the sea is and the harps and all that. But the important thing is the phraseology of John, chapter 15. Those who came off victorious from the beast, those who lost their life for the sake of the kingdom of Jesus Christ and for loyalty to the Savior, came off victorious from the beast. Or as Paul puts it in Romans, the eighth chapter, nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors in him who loved us. If you were a Christian living in that day, and you knew that the outcome of your resistance to the Roman Empire was going to be your death, but God said, nevertheless, in my sight you will be victorious, and that will in the long run have consequences both on earth and in heaven for the kingdom of Jesus Christ. I don't want you to think, you know, quite so politely and sophisticatedly and peacefully now, with our Sunday clothes on, sitting in nice comfortable pews, I mean, right there, when the Roman soldiers are telling you, offer the incense or lose your head. And John says, those who come off victorious from the beast. See, that's why. Then John goes on to offer comfort to the resisters. Because although that is the right decision to make, it's a tough one, humanly speaking. It's a tough decision. John says in verse nine, if any man hath an ear, let him hear. That's the recurring phrase in the letters to the seven churches as John's giving exhortation in the name of Jesus to the seven churches in chapters two and three of Revelation. Over and over again, we come to the point in the letter where we read, and those who have ears to hear, let them hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. If you have an ear to hear, if God has given you the spiritual reception necessary, listen to what the Spirit says. Jesus in his ministry would say that over and over again. Any man who has an ear, let him hear this. By the way, we should recognize that in our preaching, I think that when we preach, we don't preach to all men, necessarily in the outward sense, we preach to all men. But we should recognize that not all men will receive what we say, but only those who have been given ears to hear will. And John says, those who are genuine believers, those who have been regenerated by the Spirit of God, those who have their lives submissive to the Savior, those who have ears to hear, let them hear. Verse 10. If any man is for captivity, into captivity, He, Goethe, if any man shall kill with the sword. With the sword must he be killed? Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. What kind of patience do you have in the midst of affliction? What kind of faith do you have in the midst of affliction? Well, the patience of the saints is that they believe that if any man is for captivity, into captivity he goeth. If God has ordained that, this shall be your lot in life. And who are you to resist the ordinance of God? If any man is for captivity, into captivity he goeth. Paul willingly went into captivity for the sake of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. If God has ordained it, can you take it peacefully, submissively? Can you say, I know that this affliction is but for the greater weight of glory that shall be revealed in me in the final day. Can you say that this, in fact will be used by God? He'll honor my faithfulness. Even if he doesn't preserve my life, he'll honor my faithfulness. You may have to make that kind of decision. You may have to make that kind of decision in terms of affliction you'll face in interpersonal relationships, in terms of your family rejecting you, in terms of losing your job, in terms of the state not being willing to put up with your obedience. It may come to just outward persecution and physical assault upon Christians. And will you be able to say, in all patience, if any man is for captivity, into captivity he goeth. But I'm going to be faithful to the Lord. Well, here's the faith of the saints. If any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword shall he be killed. And God doesn't just, you see, play one side of the ledger. He says, of course, you must be patient and submissive and willing to. To live according to my will and to accept whatever my will is for your life. But on the other hand, those who are killed with the sword should have the faith to know that I will vindicate their lives. Any man who kills with the sword, with the sword shall he be killed. And so the Roman Empire, with all its great might and wrath and all of its tyrannical authority, eventually fell under the might of the Goths and the Vandals, eventually fell in the same way that it came to power. Those who rule in terms of might makes right will find out that their right is eventually overturned for the might of another. And if any man kills with the sword, you can be very sure that God shall see to it that that man reaps the consequences. And don't be deceived. God's not mocked Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. So Jesus tells the church, there's going to be this resistance, there's going to be this oppression, and you need to be equipped for it with the patience and the faith of the saints. Chapter 13, verse 8 says of those who resist, and all that dwell on the earth shall worship him. Every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world. In the Book of Life, of the land that has been slain, John says the resisters are those who have their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. The Bible teaches that God has a register of his people in Deuteronomy, chapter 32, verses 32 and 33. We read about that in the Old Testament, the Song of Moses, that God has a book, and in his book are the names of his saints. In Philippians, the fourth chapter, verse three, Paul speaks of our names being written in the Book of Life. And In Revelation, chapter 3 and chapter 17, 20 and 21, John constantly comes back to that biblical theme of the Book of Life. And the reason it's called the Lamb's Book of Life is because life is only possible through the sacrifice of that Lamb. Revelation 5, verses 9 and 10. And they sang a new song, saying, worthy art thou to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom of priests. And they reign upon the earth. Christ shed his blood, and for that reason we have life. And so those who will resist the state are those who have their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And it says here that the writing of our names in the Lamb's Book of Life didn't occur when we signed a decision card at an evangelistic rally, but God wrote our names in His Book of Life at the foundation of the world. Matthew 25, verse 34. Look at that very quickly. Matthew 25:34. Jesus, speaking of the final judgment, says that the sheep will be set on the right hand of the Savior and the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto them, on his right hand, come, ye, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. That's really thrilling, isn't it? Think about a man running across an open field with men pursuing him. Hound dogs, you see? And they're after him, and they're shooting after him, and he knows that they want to kill him. And he needs to find some place of comfort and safety. So he's running and running and running. Finally sees a farmhouse over on the horizon. And he runs and runs to see. Saved his life. And he finally gets into that farmhouse and he locks the door behind him and he falls down on the floor just trying to catch his breath and says, I'm saved. Then after he catches his breath and his sight begins to clear up and he looks around. Boy, this is not just any ordinary farmhouse. This is a bomb shelter. Look at the way this thing is built, man. This thing's laid with foundations that are incredible. It has bulletproof glass in the windows. And he goes on and on and on to find out that lo and behold, what he thought was just his last ditch effort and chance turns out to have been prepared with that very thing in mind. Jesus says those of us who enter the kingdom should realize that that kingdom was prepared for us from the foundation of the world. And so it may be that we do go to evangelistic rallies and we may find decision cards, all well and good, but when you start to look around at that kingdom God's put you into, lo and behold, you'll find out that your name was written from the foundation of the world. And God prepared a kingdom for you from the foundation of the world, as Paul himself says in Ephesians the first chapter at verse 4. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him. Even as he chose us in him he chose us. He established the kingdom and he wrote our names in his book of life. Well, if that doesn't get across to you the biblical message that God loves us before we love him, then nothing will. Well, that's the nature of the struggle that we've been looking at between the beast and the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We've seen the resisters, those who have their names written in the Lamb's book of life and the foundation of the world, those who are the saints, those who have the testimony of Jesus and the law of God. We know that their destiny is going to be martyrdom. And yet their patience in their faith is that God will vindicate them and will bring victory to his kingdom. Nonetheless, God will soon turn the tables. Well, in five minutes, you think we can decide who the beast is? Now we know what the struggle is and we know who the resisters are. What do we know about the Beast? Well, when we come back next week, I'll read to you from a few commentators on the Beast. And read to you what a number of commentators have said about the mark of the beast, and we'll know something of the historical background and some of the things that have been done with this interesting passage of Scripture. But before we break, rather than bring the blackboard in again next week, let me explain for you very quickly. Verse 18. Well, verse 17 and 18. People can't buy or sell unless they have the mark. Even the name of the beast, which is to say the number of his name. The number of his name. The ancient world numbers were written as letters of the Alphabet, and therefore you could take any word or any name and compute its numerical equivalent. There's interesting graffiti on the wall of Pompeii that has been uncovered. Graffiti that says, I love her, whose name is 545. Sounds like something from a computer society, but that's actually from the ancient world in John's own day. I love her, whose name is 5:45. You see, that's a way of expressing your love but not being too committal, because then you have to compute, well, now, what names fit 545. Well, now, John's writing from Patmos, isn't he? I think he. You think he put his letter in a bottle and tossed it out to the ocean in hopes that it might float into shore. He had to get to shore somehow. It had to be transported by the Roman system of mail. And John knew very well that the Roman Empire was quite sensitive, as you might expect from what we've read about it, very sensitive about those who resisted it. And so John wasn't about to say, this monster I've been talking about in this grand apocalyptic language. It's Nero sitting over there on the throne. That's who it is. And then the Roman carrier says, well, now, who's this letter to? This letter to this church and this church and this church, Obviously, they're part of the subversive plan to kill the emperor. And so the church is wiped out in Asia Minor. John was much more intelligent than that. I mean, being in the spirit didn't mean he was out of his mind. And so John says, here's wisdom. You want to know who I'm talking about? I'll give you the number of his name. It's 666. All right. Now, John also was a Jew whose native language was Aramaic, writing to very likely Jews, or at least those who would have Jews and know the Jewish background in the church. And so I just want to give you a name in Hebrew here for a minute. And have you read it. Running out of room. Can Hebrew scholars see that? Let's do it again down here. Let me help you. Hebrew guys, you read this way, remember? Okay. Nun resh vav fresh. Okay. N R O N. Resh Kaiser. Kaiser Caesar Nero Caesar. Now that would be the Jewish spelling of the title of the emperor of the Roman Empire in the day that I'm going to maintain. And it was written that is the way Nero's name is written in the Talmud. That's the way Nero's name is written in other rabbinic writings. That's the way his name appears in the Aramaic document of Murabba which was discovered in the 1940s. This well, 1940s and turns out that this is the spelling that we find in Aramaic for it as well. Neron Kaizron. By the way, that Muraba' at document has been dated in the second year of Nero's reign. So I mean it's as authentic as you can ask for in terms of this being the way that the Christian Jews would have referred to him. Alright, now let's do some numerical equivalence here in terms of I love her, whose name is 545. John's not saying he loves this person by any means, but the nun in Hebrew has the equivalent of 50, the resh 200. The bav is the six. That's because the first nine letters of the Hebrew Alphabet are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. The next nine letters are the 10, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. And on so he goes in series of nine. Bav being the sixth letter is just regular six. Newness is already is 50. Okay, 100 is 60 and the rest is 200. Okay, here are the numerical equivalents of the Roman Emperor in the day that I maintain the book was written. Neron Kaizron. 50 and 200 makes 250. 50 more makes 300, 400, 500, 660 and 6. Here's the mind that has wisdom. John says the mark of the beast is the number of a name. And that number is 666. Let's pray. Our Lord and our God, we pray that you would forgive us for our faithlessness to you and our lack of patience with you and for your plans. And we pray Father, that you would show us that your plan has been from the very foundation of the world to love us, to set your love upon us and to save us and redeem us, to draw us to yourself and put us into a kingdom that's unshakable. Lord, we pray that you would make us so faithful that we'd be willing to give up our own earthly lives for the sake of your kingdom and Son, knowing that indeed we are more than conquerors in him. Lord, give us the face and the patience that you gave your people many years ago to resist with might and main the authority of a tyrant. Give us a faithfulness and loyalty to you that will say that we shall indeed call all men liars if they disagree with your word. Lord, teach us to think and to do, to operate in this world in terms of your law. Teach us to put Christ above all in our lives, to be faithful to him, no matter what the opposition may be. Lord, we pray that if you bless such patience and such faith that you would give victory to your church on earth this day, that you'd hasten the day in which the kingdoms of this world shall bow in humble submission to your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Hasten that day when those kingdoms shall be his kingdom. For we pray these things in his name and for his glory. Amen.