So Brevin, I'm going to ask you to turn to Daniel chapter 9 for me.
Please take your Bibles and turn to Daniel chapter 9.
And while you're turning there, I'm going to read to you from 1 John chapter 2 verse 18.
You go to Daniel 9, I'll read to you from 1 John chapter 2 verse 18.
The Bible reads,
Little children, it is the last time.
And as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come,
even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time.
The Bible tells us here that in the last time, or if you want to put it into the last days,
there will be an Antichrist that shall come.
In fact, the title for the sermon this afternoon is Antichrist Shall Come.
Antichrist shall come, but not only will an Antichrist come in the future,
but many Antichrists are here today.
And those Antichrists are people who are against Christ or in the place of Christ,
and they're trying to turn your hearts and minds away from the God of the Bible.
And so we're continuing our end time series, okay?
And for the brethren down in Sydney, if you're listening to this,
I would really encourage you to please go to the YouTube playlist on our church channel,
New Life Baptist Church, and look up end times.
And I'm not sure how many sermons there are right now.
I think it's about eight or nine sermons.
And it would be great if you can go through those sermons
and get up to speed where we're at in this series, okay?
So listen to it now, but go back please and get up to speed
so everything can come together for you a lot nicer.
But we're talking about the Antichrist today.
I'll be preaching about the Antichrist.
Now, when it comes to the Christian world,
and even outside of the Christian world,
when you use the term Antichrist,
a lot of people know what you're talking about.
We're talking about that guy that comes in that final seven year period
who exalts himself and desires to be worshipped,
calls himself a god.
But this is the name that's given to this person in 1 John 2 verse 18,
the Antichrist.
But more often than not, the term that the Bible uses
to describe this person is the beast.
And of course, I'm glad that it uses the term the beast
because a beast is an animal.
And this man is an animal.
This man is lower than a human being as far as God is concerned.
This is why the term beast is used in the book of Revelation.
But some other names that are given to this man is the man of sin.
And the son of perdition.
Sometimes king or prince as well is used to describe this man.
And of course, we're speaking of that man
that comes on that final seven year period.
Now, when he first comes onto the scene,
you know, we're talking about this seven year period to come.
When he first comes to the scene,
the Bible tells us, you're in Daniel chapter nine,
look at verse number 27.
It says, and he, that he's referring to this Antichrist,
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.
Let's stop there.
That one week is a seven year period.
This Antichrist comes at the beginning of the seven year period
and brings in this covenant, the covenant.
Now the covenant, a covenant is another way
of saying a agreement, okay?
And what we'll soon see is that he comes conquering nations.
He comes trying to amass power unto himself.
He comes trying to cause people
to seek after his guidance and his direction.
And so this is what I believe the covenant is referring to,
that he comes and we'll soon look at this
in the book of Revelation, but he comes to conquer nations.
And one way to conquer nations, yes, is by war.
You know, that is surely one way to conquer a nation.
Another way to conquer a nation is simply by diplomacy,
simply by, you know, making arrangements
where that nation is in servitude to another nation.
And so let's keep reading there.
It says in verse number 27,
and in the midst, so midst is the middle,
in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice
and the oblation to cease.
And for the overspreading of abominations,
he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation,
and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
So what we have here is there comes a point
in the midst of the week where he brings in
this abomination of desolation, okay?
And this is what Jesus Christ speaks to us about
in Matthew 24, I'll go to that shortly,
but you can please, please go to Matthew 24 for me,
go to Matthew 24, and I'll just quickly show you
that this first three and a half years,
which we saw called the beginning of sorrows,
is the Antichrist coming to conquer the nations,
coming to amass power unto himself.
And we see this play out in Revelation chapter six
with the first four seals.
And those first four seals are of course
described to us as four horses.
And let me just go to that first seal
in Revelation chapter six, verse two.
And it says, and I saw and behold a white horse,
and he that sat on him had a bow,
and a crown was given unto him,
and he went forth conquering and to conquer.
So this is a picture of the Antichrist
coming on a white horse, kind of picturing Jesus Christ
when he comes in Revelation 19, Christ comes,
he comes riding on a white horse.
Well, this Antichrist comes with that same imagery.
He wants to be seen as a savior, okay?
And he comes, but he comes conquering nations.
Now notice that he has a bow.
And that's of course a weapon of warfare,
one that you can shoot from a long distance,
you know, coming with that bow.
And I've heard people say, well, you know,
he comes with a bow but without arrows.
Therefore he comes in peace.
Wait a minute, does the Bible have to say
that he has or doesn't have arrows?
The fact that he has a bow should automatically tell you,
hey, he's coming to use that weapon.
And it's kind of like saying, hey, you know,
the Antichrist comes with a gun,
but you know, we forget to mention the bullets.
Therefore he's coming in peace.
He's not planning to shoot that weapon,
he's coming in peace.
No, of course, if he comes with a gun,
you're expecting the bullets to come with that gun.
And so when the Bible says that he comes with a bow,
hey, he comes with, he's coming with arrows.
That's what he's going to use on that bow.
We don't need the Bible to tell us
whether there's arrows or not.
The fact that he has the bow is sufficient to tell us
that's a weapon, that's a flex of his muscles
that he's going to show in order to conquer these nations.
It also says that a crown was given unto him.
So of course that crown represents authority and power.
And I've heard some people say,
well, this coronavirus that we're going through,
you know, corona means crown.
And could this be, you know, coronavirus,
could this be the first seal of the book of Revelation?
Absolutely not.
We don't see anything like that.
In fact, we see pestilences come into play
later during this time.
But if we drop down to verse number four,
I'll read to you Revelation six, verse four,
and it says, and there went out another horse that was red,
and power was given unto him that sat thereon
to take peace from the earth,
and that they should kill one another,
and there was given unto him a great sword.
So instead of a bow, which is a long distance weapon,
now he's given a great sword, you know,
and that's a weapon of close combat, okay?
And of course, this is now taking power
in direct close combat warfare,
not just diplomacy, not just conquering nations
by flex of muscles, but going to war.
And of course, if any man is trying to amass power,
any man is trying to conquer nations,
you know, people are gonna get upset,
government authorities are gonna get upset,
nations are gonna get upset,
and so we see a rise of, you know,
nations coming out against him.
This is a world war that takes place.
And of course, these are, you know,
what I'm telling you here,
this is the first three and a half years
as the Antichrist tries to amass power.
But then we have the Black Horse,
and that Black Horse, if you remember,
is a representation of famine,
or also hyperinflation of currency,
you know, where currency collapses
and just doesn't have the purchasing power
to buy the items of necessity anymore,
and that becomes important,
because you need to understand
that the Antichrist will play into this fact
that the currency has collapsed.
And then we have the Pale Horse,
the fourth horse is the Pale Horse,
and of course that represents the pestilences,
plus an accumulation of all the other three horses
and the events that are taking place during this time.
Jesus Christ calls all of this the beginning of sorrows.
But Brevin, I'm here to tell you that
when we're in the beginning of sorrows,
if we're that generation to go through this time,
we won't necessarily know
that we're in that beginning of sorrows period,
because there's always been wars,
there's always been famines,
there's always been pestilences, okay?
And they're probably, we have pestilences now, right?
We have this pestilence, this coronavirus, COVID-19.
But what the Bible tells us is that
there are certain things that come into play
which has an effect, a domino effect as it were,
through these four horsemen.
And then Jesus Christ says during Matthew 24,
look at verse number 15,
these are the words of Jesus Christ.
And of course when it comes to this warfare and this famine,
the Antichrist doesn't only just come causing problems,
he will come with a solution, okay?
And when he has that solution,
that's when people will come and say,
wow, this man, this is the one that we need to follow,
this is the one that we need to obey.
And Jesus Christ says in Matthew 24 verse 15,
when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place,
who so readeth, let him understand.
And so Jesus Christ says, look,
when ye shall see the abomination of desolation,
this takes place in the midst of the week,
after the beginning of sorrows,
that's when Jesus says we're going to know
that that's the Antichrist, okay?
The abomination of desolation
is when the Antichrist exalts himself,
lifts himself up as a God.
And so what I'm trying to say to you, brethren,
is once we know, once we see, according to Jesus,
that event take place,
then we'll know we're in this time period,
we're in this final seven year period,
but we're already halfway into it, okay?
Three and a half years has already taken place.
Now, I said that the title for this sermon
is Antichrist Shall Come.
And there comes a point when the Antichrist is revealed.
Please go to 2 Thessalonians chapter two.
2 Thessalonians chapter two
speaks a lot about the Antichrist,
and it tells us about his revealing, okay?
As I said, we're not going to know
at the beginning of those seven years that he's revealed.
No, we're not going to know that till the midpoint.
And 2 Thessalonians chapter two
is perfectly consistent with this.
2 Thessalonians chapter two verse one reads,
Now we beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and by our gathering together unto him,
that ye be not soon shaken in mind,
or be troubled,
neither by spirit, nor by word,
nor by letter, as from us,
as the day of Christ is at hand.
The day of Christ is the day of the gathering unto him,
the rapture.
Look at verse number three.
Let no man deceive you by any means,
for that day shall not come, what day?
The day of the rapture shall not come,
except there come a falling away first,
and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.
And so two things have to take place, the falling away.
Now I'll get into this on Wednesday,
what I believe this is about.
But this is apostasy.
This is the people falling away from the truth,
but not only that should happen,
but the man of sin be revealed.
And notice that it says that he's going to be revealed,
but notice the next words, the son of perdition.
I want you to remember that phrase, the son of perdition.
Perdition means damnation.
This is a title that's given to the Antichrist.
But verse number four shows us how he's revealed.
It keeps going.
Notice that at the end of verse number three,
the sentence continues, okay?
Verse number four.
Who opposeth and exalteth himself
above all that is called God, or that is worshiped,
so that he as God siteth in the temple of God,
showing himself that he is God.
So the Antichrist, when he reveals himself,
is when he announces, you know,
self proclaims himself as God.
Jesus Christ calls this the abomination of desolation,
when he seeks others to worship him.
Now just remember, the revealing is also
when he's given that title, the son of perdition.
So let's understand this.
The first three and a half years, he's conquering nations.
A lot of turmoil in the world.
At the midpoint, we enter that abomination of desolation.
The Antichrist reveals himself, exalts himself
to be a God and to be worshiped.
And the Bible then calls him at this point
the son of perdition.
This is important for you to remember.
Now when we look at the abomination of desolation,
please go, and I probably should have told you
to stay in Daniel, but go to Daniel chapter 11.
I guess the benefit here with using the technology
is you can pause it and get to Daniel 11.
But Daniel 11 verse 36.
Daniel 11 verse 36.
Let's have a look at the abomination of desolation
as described by the prophet Daniel.
It says here in verse number 36,
and the king, and the king here is the Antichrist.
The king shall do according to his will,
and he shall exalt himself,
and magnify himself above every god,
and shall speak marvelous things against the God of God.
So if you're speaking against God,
the Bible calls this blasphemy.
When you're speaking out against the God of the Bible.
And shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished,
for that that is determined shall be done.
Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers.
I'll stop there.
Now a lot of people believe the Antichrist will be a Jew.
Because when it comes to the Israelites,
when it comes to the Jewish people,
God was able to reveal to them himself,
he used that nation in the Old Testament.
Many of the prophets of course came from that nation,
and they wrote the Bible for us,
by the movement of the Holy Ghost.
And so the fact that it says,
neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,
he's not regarding the true God of the Bible,
may very well point to the fact that this is a Jewish man.
He's not following in the footsteps of his forefathers,
who worshiped God in the Old Testament.
But notice what else it says here,
nor the desire of women.
So he has no desire for women,
nor regard any god,
for he shall magnify himself above all.
Now, some people believe with that notion
that it says that he has no desire of women,
that he would be a homosexual.
That he would be a man lusting after other men.
And I think that is a possibility,
I think that is a legitimate explanation of that passage.
But I'll give you two thoughts
why I actually believe a little bit differently.
I believe this man, this Antichrist,
is coming to be like Jesus Christ,
coming to be like God,
trying to mimic Christ as much as he can.
And the fact, when we think of Jesus Christ,
Jesus Christ came, he was never married,
he never had children, nothing like that.
And I think by the Antichrist having no desire of women,
is the fact that he is trying to imitate Jesus Christ
in that sense.
The other reason I don't believe necessarily
that this is about homosexuality,
is because the passage that speaks most about homosexuals,
or explains their mindset,
is Romans chapter one,
and I'll just read it to you.
Romans chapter one verse 26, which reads,
for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections,
for even their women did change the natural use
into that which is against nature.
And then it says in verse number 27,
and likewise also the men,
so notice the men here,
leaving the natural use of the woman,
burned in their lust one toward another,
men with men work in that which is unseemly,
and receiving in themselves
that recompense of their error which was meet.
And so what we see in the homosexual,
is they do have a natural desire for women,
they do have the natural use of a woman,
but they leave that and they lust after men.
So it's not, sometimes we've been programmed by this world,
and this world will tell you,
homosexuals they don't care for women,
they only care for men.
But what we see in the Bible,
is that homosexuals they were using the women,
they did lust and desire women,
but they also go after men.
And so, I don't believe we can be 100% certain
that the Antichrist will be a homosexual,
but what's for certain is he has no desire for women.
And I think he's trying to do that,
to follow after Christ,
who obviously was never married
and never had any children.
But if we keep reading verse number 38,
it says, but in his estate,
shall he honor the God of forces.
So this God of forces,
I believe is a reference to the dragon,
because as we're gonna look at later on
in the book of Revelation,
we see that not only does he desire people
to worship him as God,
but he desires for people to worship the dragon, the devil.
And it keeps going,
and a God whom his fathers knew not
shall he honor with gold and silver
and with precious stones and pleasant things.
Thus shall he do in the most strongholds
with a strange God,
whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory,
and he shall cause them to rule over many
and shall divide the land for gain.
And so we see that he desires people to,
or he gives honor to the God of forces,
a God that his fathers knew not, all right.
So remember, I told you,
keep in mind that the Antichrist,
one of the titles that he's given is the son of perdition.
And that title is given to him after he is revealed.
Now, there is one other person in the Bible
who is called the son of perdition.
And I'll read to you from John 17, verse 12,
words of Jesus Christ.
He says, while I was with them in the world,
I kept them in thy name.
Those that thou gavest me, I have kept,
and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition.
So the son of perdition is lost,
that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And of course, we know that the son of perdition
is Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus Christ.
You know, one who Satan actually enters and betrays Christ.
And so when we look at the Antichrist, we could say,
you know, not only is he speaking blasphemy against God,
he's betraying God, he's betraying Jesus Christ.
He's turning the hearts and minds of the people
away from the God of the Bible and onto himself
and onto the dragon.
Now, if you're a Christian,
the dragon.
Now, if you can please go to Revelation chapter 17 for me,
we are gonna spend most of our time
in the book of Revelation now.
So go to Revelation chapter 17.
Remember that title, the son of perdition.
I want you to keep that in mind
because I wanna show you how consistent the Bible is.
And remember, the rapture, the day of Christ
cannot happen until the man of sin is revealed,
the son of perdition, okay?
And if you go to Revelation 17, verse eight,
notice what it says here.
It says, the beast, and this is of course the name
given to the Antichrist,
the beast that thou sawest was and is not.
Now let's stop there.
So he was, what the Bible is saying is,
he was living, but then is not.
So he was alive, but then he passes away.
But notice, let's keep reading.
And shall ascend out of the bottomless pit
and go into perdition.
So he's resurrected from this death
and the Bible says he goes into perdition.
So this is his consistency.
He dies, comes back to life.
This is the point that he goes into perdition.
This is the point that he is revealed.
And then it says, and they that dwell on the earth
shall wonder whose names were not written
in the book of life from the foundation of the world
when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is.
Once again, was alive, is not, died, and yet is.
He's come back to life.
Drop down to verse number 11 for me now.
Drop verse number 11.
Notice the consistency.
And the beast that was and is not,
even he is the eighth and is of the seven
and goeth into perdition.
Again, he was alive and is not, is died.
Okay, but he's back.
Then he goes into perdition.
The consistency of the Bible there.
So this is important.
If he's called the man of sin, the son of perdition,
2 Thessalonians chapter two is speaking about this event
when he dies and comes back to life.
And now if you can go to Revelation 13,
let's tie this in together.
Revelation chapter 13 verse three.
And remember how it said the world won the wrath of the beast.
He comes back to life and the world is like, wow,
look at him, look what he's able to accomplish.
He came back to life.
And of course, when we speak about one who has died
and come back to life, we often think about Jesus Christ.
And so this beast is mimicking the actions of Christ
in many, many ways.
Now, what I do want to say though,
is that I'll give you my beliefs
and then I'll show this to you in the Bible.
For those first three and a half years,
we have the Antichrist.
He's a regular man, just a standard man,
a man who wants power, a man who wants authority,
no different to other men in the world,
like a Napoleon or a Hitler.
You know, people that have tried to amass power
unto themselves, you know, great kingdoms.
But then he dies, somehow he dies.
And when he comes back to life,
and of course, listen, once a man is dead,
the Bible tells us after that's the judgment.
You know, he's gonna face the judgment of God.
And so what I believe takes place is,
and we'll soon see this, is the drag and the devil
gives him the power to come back to life.
And so it is the same body, but a different consciousness.
You know, that man who died, you know,
he's been judged by God, but then he's brought back to life
by the power of the dragon.
And so it's the same body, yet different.
You know, he was and yet is.
Now, if you look at Revelation chapter 13, verse three,
let's have a look at the reaction of the world about this.
In Revelation chapter 13, verse three,
we see that there is a positive reaction
by most of the people in this world,
and they seek to worship the beast
when he comes back to life.
In Revelation 13, verse three,
and I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death,
and his deadly wound was healed.
So he's wounded to death, and it's healed.
And all the world wondered after the beast,
and they worshiped, look at this, the dragon.
Notice the next words, which gave power unto the beast.
So after his deadly wound is healed,
the dragon gives power unto the beast.
But notice, it's not that people just worship the beast,
no, they also worship the dragon, they worship the devil.
And then it says, and they worshiped the beast,
saying, who is like unto the beast,
and is able to make war with him?
Oh man, look at him, he's come back to life,
he's so great, he's so powerful.
Who can, you know, go to war against him?
Verse number five, and there was given unto him
a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies.
What's blasphemy?
Blasphemy is when you speak against
the true God of the Bible.
And power was given unto him to continue 40 and two months.
So now we have a timeframe,
40 and two months is three and a half years.
So this is the second half,
we saw at the midst of the week,
this is when he exalts himself,
this is when he magnifies,
he speaks blasphemy against God,
and this period that he's going to rule in this state
as the one that goes into perdition,
the man of, the son of perdition, is 40 and two months.
42 months, three and a half years
that is allowed to have this power and rule.
This is the second half of that seven year period.
Look at verse number five,
and there was given unto him a mouth
speaking great things and blasphemies,
and power was given unto him to continue,
40 and two months, I read that already.
Verse number six,
and he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God
to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle
and them that dwell in heaven.
Not only does he blaspheme God,
but he blasphemes those that are already in heaven,
the saints that are already in heaven with the Lord God.
So he's blaspheming all the Old Testament prophets,
all the New Testament saints
that we read about in the Bible.
He's speaking blasphemies and harmful things
about God and God's people.
Now, I'm going to read to you a negative reaction.
Notice that people say,
who can make war against the beast?
And the reason they say this
is because in Daniel chapter 11,
we see that not only do some,
many, most people worship and wonder after the beast,
but there also is a resistance.
There will be powers on this earth
that will resist the Antichrist,
not only during the beginning of sorrows,
the first three and a half years,
but also into that period when he amasses a lot of power.
It says in Daniel chapter 11, verse 40,
and at that time of the end
shall the king of the south push at him,
that's push like against the Antichrist,
and the king of the north shall come against him
like a whirlwind with chariots
and with horsemen and with many ships,
and he shall enter into the countries,
notice this, and shall overflow and pass over,
he shall enter also into the glorious land,
and I believe that glorious land
is speaking of the holy land,
the land of Israel, or Palestine as we know it today,
and many countries shall be overthrown,
but these shall escape out of his hand,
even Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon.
And so what I believe is being explained here
is that many people here will resist him,
some nations will resist him,
try to take back their sovereignty,
but the Antichrist is going to overthrow those countries,
but some shall escape out of his hand
and give some examples of those
that will not give into the power there.
So this one makes perfect sense
because don't forget, this last three and a half years,
we have 144,000, I haven't really taught on this,
but 140,000 Israelites, 12,000 from each tribe of Israel
that is a witness of God.
And we also have two witnesses,
many people believe to be Moses and Elijah in Jerusalem,
witnessing of the Lord God.
And so of course, if they're witnessing,
there are people that are getting saved,
there are people that are resisting the Antichrist,
they're not taking the mark of the beast.
Okay, so it's not that the whole world is wicked,
most of the world is wicked,
but like always, there's always gonna be a remnant
of those that believe on Jesus Christ.
And so what this leads into Brethren
is once the Antichrist reveals himself
to be a god and demands worship,
this is when he brings in the mark of the beast,
this is where the great tribulation takes place.
After the midst of the week, we have the great tribulation.
And if you're in Revelation 13, look at verse number seven,
and you see the consistency of the Bible.
And it was given unto him to make war with the saints
and to overcome them.
And power was given him over all kindreds
and tongues and nations.
So the great tribulation is when the Antichrist
persecutes the people of God, okay, brings great,
and is able to overcome them, according to the Bible.
He has victory, he does defeat the people of God
to some measure.
And so, you know, I don't wanna go too much into this,
I plan on Wednesday to go into, you know,
if we are that final generation,
how Christians need to,
how Christians ought to respond
in light of this tribulation, okay?
So I'll get onto that on Wednesday,
but look at verse number eight.
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,
whose names are not written in the book
of the life of the Lamb,
slain from the foundation of the world.
Now this is such an important verse,
I want you to really focus in on this, okay?
Because the Antichrist will demand worship, right?
Do you think true Christians,
I'm not using the word Christian in a general sense,
I'm talking about true, born again, saved believers,
do you think they will truly worship the beast?
Do you think they will take the mark of the beast?
You know, there are some people that say,
well, what if we take the mark of the beast?
What's gonna happen?
You're not gonna take the mark of the beast.
If you're a believer of Christ, it's not going to happen.
In fact, this verse definitely confirms
it's impossible for us to even desire that.
Look at verse number eight once again.
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him.
Ah, see, it's all, well, hold on.
It clarifies who they are,
whose names are not written in the book of life, okay?
Now as a believer,
is your name written in the book of life?
Of course.
If your name is written in the book of life
and you're saved, it's once saved, always saved,
eternal security, Jesus Christ has paid for all our sins.
If our names are in the book of life,
are we gonna worship the dragon?
No.
Okay, it's those whose names
are not written in the book of life.
You know, we would call this a reprobate.
Someone who has rejected God, God has rejected them.
They then desire to worship the antichrist.
You know, this time period is a period
where there's gonna be a great number
of reprobates upon the earth, okay?
So it's impossible for us
to even take the mark of the beast.
We can't build doctrine on things the Bible doesn't say.
We have to build doctrine
on the things that the Bible does say.
And the Bible says, if your name is in the book of life,
you cannot take the mark of the beast.
You will not worship the beast, okay?
It's only those whose names are not in the book of life.
Now look at verse number,
if you can drop down to verse number 11,
because there's a second beast that comes on the scene.
It's not just the antichrist,
but there's the false prophet that appears on the scene.
Verse number 11,
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth,
and he had two horns like a lamb,
and he spake as a dragon.
Okay, so there's a second beast.
Another person, that's the false prophet.
He comes and he has a horns like a lamb.
So he comes like, you know, representing Christ.
You know, someone that is innocent.
You know, Christ is referred to as the lamb of God.
You know, he was meek and mild,
and this false prophet is going to appear that way.
But then it says he spake as a dragon.
So that dragon is of course Satan.
So what he says are satanic things.
He points people to the devil.
Look at verse number 12.
And he exercised of all the power
of the first beast before him,
and cause of the earth and them that dwell therein
to worship the first beast,
whose deadly wound was healed.
So there's the worship.
You know, this takes place after that midpoint.
After he's revealed, he dies, he comes back to life.
He claims to be God.
Then this false prophet causes the world to worship him.
Verse number 13.
And he doeth great wonders,
so that he make a fire come down from heaven
on the earth in the sight of men.
Look at verse 14.
And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth
by the means of those miracles
which he had power 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
which had the wound by a sword and did live.
So this false prophet will do these amazing miracles.
You know, even the devil, what we learn here,
the devil is able to perform miracles.
You know, when people say, oh man, look at this,
look at this preacher.
He's doing these amazing miracles
as they claim a lot of these charismatics, you know.
Well, the devil can perform miracles.
Okay, that's not amazing.
You know, this false prophet is bringing down a fire
from the sky onto the earth, from heaven onto the earth.
I mean, these are amazing miracles.
And look what they're saying in verse number 14.
And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth.
Listen, he's going to deceive people.
You know, the deception is so great
that those that are without Christ,
you know, those that become reprobate
because they reject God,
they're just going to easily worship the beast
and worship the dragon.
They're going to be deceived.
It's a deception.
People worship the beast.
People take the mark of the beast because they are deceived.
Now, this is a second reason why believers
will not take the mark of the beast.
If I can just read to you, you stay there,
but I'll just read to you, Matthew 24, verse 23.
Jesus says, then if any man shall say unto you,
lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not.
So the false prophet's going to come.
Hey, here's Christ, you know, pointing to that first beast.
Jesus says, don't believe it, believe it not.
Verse number 24, for there shall arise false Christs
and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders.
Wow, you know, look at all these signs and wonders.
Again, he deceives the world, but notice what Jesus says,
insomuch that if it were possible,
if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Now, the elect are the believers.
Are the believers or the elect going to be deceived?
No.
If it were possible, but what I was saying is,
it's not possible, okay?
It's not possible for believers to be deceived.
So who worships the beast?
Who takes the mark?
Those that are deceived.
Are believers going to be deceived?
No, so they're not going to take the mark of the beast.
Okay, again, we build our doctrines
on the things the Bible says.
We don't see anywhere in the Bible
where believers are taking the mark of the beast, okay?
Whoever's going around telling you,
well, what if believers take the mark of the beast?
They're stupid, okay?
There's nothing like that in the word of God.
And so they're trying to come up with some,
you know, hypothetical thing that will never happen,
you know, to trick you into believing their false doctrines.
Okay, we need to build our doctrine
on the word of God.
Now you're still there in Revelation chapter 13.
Let's keep going, verse number 15.
Verse number 15.
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast,
that the image of the beast should both speak
and cause that as many as would not worship
the image of the beast should be killed.
So this image, this idol, he's going to give,
you know, the false prophet's going to make it talk somehow.
Some miracle's going to take place.
And if you don't worship the beast or the image,
he's going to cause those that don't do that to be killed.
Okay, so this ties in with the great tribulation,
where the saints of God are not worshiping, you know,
obviously the saints of God worship God,
not the devil, not the beast.
And so they're going to be persecuted,
they're going to be sought to be put to death.
Verse number 16.
And he calls of all, both small and great,
rich and poor, free and bond,
to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads.
So this mark is going to be the new financial system.
Okay, we'll soon have a look at this,
this mark that people take in verse number 17.
That no man might buy or sell,
save he had the mark or the name of the beast
or the number of his name.
So there's come a time where you will not be able
to go to the shops and buy or sell,
unless you take that mark of the beast.
But you just, you can't just take the mark, okay?
You also have to be a worshiper of the beast,
a worshiper of the dragon,
and believers will not be doing that, okay?
Because our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Look at verse number 18, let's not forget the wisdom.
It says here, here is wisdom.
Let him that hath understanding
count the number of the beast,
for it is the number of a man,
and his number is 600, three score and six.
So 600, three score, 60 and six,
666 is the number of the mark or the name of the beast, okay?
Now, will this be a cashless society?
Absolutely, okay?
So instead of you taking your cash,
your coins and your notes and making payment,
or your gold and your silver and making payment,
no, now, in this time, you're gonna need a mark
in your hand or in your forehead.
And so that's how, you know,
I don't know if it's some type of scanner, scans,
takes money out of your bank account,
that's how you buy and sell.
Now, in saying this, you know,
there's been some talk about this coronavirus,
how it may force in a cashless society.
You know, people are talking about how cash is dirty
and it spreads disease and these kinds of things.
Look, in this scenario that we're in,
we may very well enter into a cashless society, okay?
Now, some people are gonna, would panic about that
and go, oh, it's the mark of the beast.
Listen, there is wisdom.
You know, God says there's wisdom here.
We'll know when it's the mark.
It's when that mark or that number of the beast
is given that number of 666.
Now, I can't explain that to you perfectly today, okay?
What I'm saying is at this point in time
when this takes place and believers see this mark come in,
they will know because the number will be 666.
Those believers that go through this time
will be able to identify this is that mark of the beast.
This is that cashless society that we read about
in the book of Revelation.
But for now, we know this is coming,
but we don't know exactly what that would look like,
what this number specifically means
in relation to this new cashless society.
So of course, brethren, you know, we need to understand
that, you know, with this coronavirus, with this epidemic,
I'm sure there are forces at work.
I'm sure there are dark forces at work.
We'll have a look at this later even, you know,
that are trying to bring in a one-world government,
trying to bring in a single currency,
but we're still a while away.
You know, this is still a future event to come
with the beginning of sorrows,
which then leads into that great tribulation,
this man being resurrected from the dead, you know,
and making people to take the mark of the beast.
So, you know, the time is not now.
This is still a future event to come, all right?
Now, if you can please go to Revelation chapter 19.
Revelation chapter 19.
Remember that the Bible told us that this man of sin,
this antichrist, will be, sorry,
will be reigning for 42 months, for three and a half years.
So there's gonna come an end of that time.
And in Daniel chapter 11, verse 44, the Bible reads,
"'But tidings out of the east and out of the north
"'shall trouble him.
"'Therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy,
"'and utterly to make, to make away many.'"
Now notice this.
"'And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace
"'between the seas in the glorious holy mountain,
"'yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.'"
Okay, so the beast, the antichrist,
is going to come to an end.
He's been given 42 months to reign on the earth, okay?
He's been given that time,
but that time is going to come to an end.
And the Bible says, none shall help him.
Say, well, why will none help him?
Well, I'll tell you why.
Go to Revelation 19 and look at verse number 11.
Revelation 19 and verse number 11.
And these are great words that we're about to read.
It says here, "'And I saw heaven opened,
"'and behold, a white horse.'"
Well, who was on that white horse this time?
Well, we saw initially it was the antichrist,
but this one coming on the white horse,
this is now Jesus Christ.
"'And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True,
"'and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.'"
Man, you see, Jesus Christ coming in power,
ready to make war against the beast.
Look at verse number 15.
What weapon does God use?
What weapon does Jesus use in this battle?
Verse number 15.
"'And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword,
"'that with it he should smite the nations,
"'and he shall rule them with a rod of iron,
"'and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness
"'and wrath of Almighty God.'"
So when Christ is coming on that white horse,
he's coming in the fullness of the wrath of God,
and his weapon of choice is that sword
which proceeds out of his mouth.
Let's drop down to verse number 19.
"'And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth,
"'and their armies gathered together
"'to make war against him that sat on the horse
"'and against his army.'"
Look at this.
"'And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet,
"'that wrought miracles before him
"'with which he deceived them
"'that had received the mark of the beast,
"'and them that worshiped his image,
"'these both were cast alive into a lake of fire,
"'burning with brimstone.'"
So you notice there that Jesus Christ,
with the sword that proceeds out of his mouth,
he takes them and he casts them immediately
into the lake of fire.
Look, most people do not go to the lake of fire.
I mean, you know, when God, on his great white throne,
this is still a thousand years away.
God is so full of wrath that he takes these two individuals
and they're thrown alive, okay, into this lake of fire.
That's where they perish.
And then look at verse number 21.
"'And the remnant were slain with the sword of him
"'that sat upon the horse,
"'which sword proceedeth out of his mouth,
"'and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.'"
All right, so we see once again the antichrist
and the false prophet cast into the lake of fire.
Now, you know, when they're thrown into the lake of fire,
this is eternal torment.
It's not annihilation.
It's not that they're thrown in there
and that they're destroyed once and for all
and they no longer cease to exist.
No, they continue to exist.
Please go to Revelation chapter 20.
And Revelation chapter 20, verse number seven.
Let's have a read of it.
Revelation chapter 20, verse seven.
"'And when the thousand years are expired,
"'Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.'"
So now we have a thousand years that take place.
Of course, that's the millennial reign of Christ
when Christ is ruling and reigning on this earth.
We're gonna be ruling and reigning with Christ, of course.
But when that thousand years is expired,
drop down to verse number 10, it says here,
"'And the devil that deceived them
"'was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.'"
Notice the next words.
"'Where the beast and the false prophet are
"'and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.'"
So a thousand years later,
the beast and the false prophet are still there
and they're being tormented day and night forever and ever.
That's their end.
That's their destruction.
So Brethren, if it gives you some fear,
if this sermon gives you fear,
thinking about this antichrist
and the fact that he's going to persecute the people of God,
well, don't forget his end.
His end is to be thrown alive into the lake of fire
and he'll be tormented.
I mean, he and the false prophet
will be in the deepest places of the lake of fire,
perishing God's wrath upon them, burning forever and ever.
So God will bring swift judgment upon these evil people.
Now, in conclusion,
if you can please go to 2 Thessalonians chapter two.
Please go to 2 Thessalonians two.
And if you can, put a finger there
and also go to Psalm chapter two.
I want to tie these two things together.
Psalm chapter two and also 2 Thessalonians chapter two.
2 Thessalonians chapter two and verse number seven reads,
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work.
Only he who now leteth will let
until he be taken out of the way.
Brethren, the mystery of iniquity is already at work.
This is first century.
You know, Paul, the apostle Paul is writing this
to the Thessalonian church in the first century.
And he says, the mystery of iniquity
that will cause this wicked to be revealed,
I should have read that in verse number eight,
I'll show you that soon,
is already at work in Paul's time.
You see, our governments, you know,
the corrupt politicians,
the Satan worshipers that are there,
you know, the devil who's behind the scenes
is already, in Paul's day,
was already causing the events to occur
in order for this wicked one,
this Antichrist to be revealed and to be worshiped
and for the dragon to be worshiped.
It was already at work.
And so when we look at the events now of this coronavirus,
how churches are banned to be gathered,
you know, banned from gathering together,
and you know, there's a lot of conspiracy theories out there.
There's a lot of things, well, you know,
what if the governments do this?
What if they amass more power than they are?
What if they strip more rights away from the people
than they are?
What if they force, you know, vaccinations
and these kinds of things?
You know, you know, should we panic?
Should we be worried?
Well, no, we shouldn't be worried as Christians.
We should never be worried
because we already read about this in the word of God.
The mystery of iniquity is already at work
and it's at work today.
It's at work now, okay?
So, you know, if this coronavirus leads
to a cashless society,
if it leads to some type of one world government,
hey, all it is is one step further
into the plans of the devil.
All it leads is one step further
for us to be caught up together in the clouds
with the Lord in the air
and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
It's only one step further
in what is already prophesied in the Bible,
the word of God.
And so if we see these things take place,
we should be, we should take comfort.
We should be full of zeal and full of boldness
because God has already revealed this to us in His word.
And so the one who's watching,
the one who's overseeing these things is the Lord God.
He knows what's going to take place
and He knows the kinds of difficulties
His people are going to go through
and He's going to provide the comfort we need
to go through these times.
But again, I guess we'll cover this on Wednesday
when I talk about the Christian response to the Antichrist.
And notice it's also said at the end of verse number seven,
only he who now lets a fool let
until he be taken out of the way.
Now, when it talks about the letter fear,
this is an old English way of saying restricting, okay?
There is something or someone that's restricting,
restricting what?
Someone's got to be taken out of the way.
Look at verse number eight,
and then shall the wicked be revealed.
Hey, when is the son of perdition revealed?
At the midpoint, after his death,
his burial or his death and his resurrection,
when he comes back to life, that's when he's revealed.
And then shall that wicked be revealed,
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth
and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
So again, we have confirmation that when Christ comes,
He's going to destroy the Antichrist
by the spirit of his mouth.
And we saw in Revelation 19,
that's the sword that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Of course, the word of God is the sword of the spirit.
And so when Christ speaks, He speaks the word of God,
the sword of the spirit,
that's how this Antichrist is destroyed.
But notice again, in verse number eight at the beginning,
and then shall the wicked be revealed, okay?
So again, you've got regular Joe Blow, Antichrist,
trying to take power, okay?
But then he has to be taken out of the way.
He has to be taken away, we see that he dies.
Then the dragon, the devil gives him power,
he's resurrected, the devil uses his body somehow.
That's when the wicked is revealed.
That's when he speaks blasphemies
against the God of the Bible.
That's when he seeks to be worshiped.
He points people to worship to the dragon.
The false prophet comes along, does amazing miracles,
deceives the world into worshiping the beast and the dragon.
And the beast then enforces everybody
to take the mark of the beast in order to buy and sell.
And of course, believers will not be taking that mark.
That's what brings in that great tribulation
where the Antichrist and his armies,
obviously persecute the people of God.
Now, you also have a finger in Psalm chapter two.
Please go to Psalm two and verse number two.
And I want to give you comfort, brethren.
And I want you to think how God sees these events.
Are these wicked people? Of course.
Are a lot of our governments, are they abusing their power?
Absolutely.
Are they trying to bring in this one world government?
Absolutely.
Are they trying to bring in this mark of the beast
in the future?
Absolutely.
All these things are going to come to pass 100%
confirmed for us in the Bible.
So should we try to stop that?
Should we try to go and make war
and prevent these things from happening?
How you're wasting your time.
Our work is to preach the gospel of peace,
to preach the gospel, the good news of salvation
through Jesus Christ.
And so in Psalm chapter two, verse two,
we see the minds of these wicked kings,
the minds of these wicked governments
trying to bring in this wicked one.
It says here, the kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord
and against his anointed.
That's the Christ, that's Jesus Christ saying.
So notice what they do.
They come together, they take counsel together.
And when they come together to talk about war events,
they're trying to turn away from the Lord God.
Look at verse number three.
Let us break their bands asunder
and cast away their cords from us.
You know, they do not want to be restricted
by the law of God.
They do not want to be restricted by the power
that God gives them.
They want more.
They don't want to follow the law of God.
They want to bring in their own laws.
They want to turn away from the Lord God.
So how does God respond to this?
Look at verse number four.
He that siteth in the heavens shall laugh.
The Lord shall have them in the region.
Listen, when the Lord God of heaven,
when your God, when your heavenly father sees them
with these evil plans, you know,
to bring in this wicked one, this one world government,
the Bible says that he laughs.
He laughs in heaven.
And so how should we respond then?
Well, if God's laughing, I'm going to laugh.
Okay, I'm not going to get worried.
I'm not going to get upset.
I'm not going to become frustrated, you know,
by these evil people trying to bring in
this one world government.
I'm going to laugh.
I'm going to rejoice knowing that we're coming closer
to the end.
And if God can laugh, I'm going to laugh.
I'm going to stand where God stands on this.
I'm going to laugh and mock the efforts
of these rulers trying to bring in the wicked one.
Hey, if I lose my life in that coming tribulation,
so be it, you know, I'll do it for the name of Christ.
And I know I'll be greatly rewarded for that,
but we're going to look about that.
I don't want to go into my Wednesday sermon
too much right now.
All right, brethren, I hope that's a blessing for you.
God bless.