Revelation Lesson 33: Blasphemy, War,  Persecution & the Antichrist

Chapter 13: 5- 10

“And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”

We live in perilous times. Death is all around us, and the preciousness of life has never been so great. As people who believe the Bible and trust in the person of Jesus as our ONLY HOPE, we are considered to be intolerant and divisive. The truth is hard on those who have lived only in lies. First of all, it is at odds with all that they know; and then, truth calls for change. Humans are not good at change.

The work of the Kingdom of Darkness is all around us, and there are people being prepared who will follow the Antichrist – hook, line and sinker into Hell. Their minds are being prepared to accept absolute lies as truth, their frame of thinking is being framed to come to erroneous conclusions, and their perception of self is being bred to worship the biggest narcissist to ever walk the planet.

When I grew up, second place was nice but not the goal. But in our modern times we have made everybody winners, and that is not real life either here or in the spiritual world. Satan is not going to come in second; God is actually going to ‘red card’ him and kick him off the field of play completely. Yet, the whole world, many of whom have access to the Bible where his demise is clearly explained, will still follow Satan willingly into Hell.

Let that sink in. Are you following Satan willingly into Hell? Or, have you trusted in Jesus as Savior? You must answer these two questions; your eternity depends on it.

One of the most important things to understand about the Tribulation is that of command and control. I bring you once again to the title of the book, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. We spent a significant amount of time talking about the dragon and the beast and the catastrophes of the time, but the Tribulation is about Jesus. Jesus!  Keep this in mind.

Notice in chapter 13:5 that the Antichrist is given (by God) a limited time of power, some 42 months. God has complete command and control of the Tribulation; Satan is not ever in control, not even for one millisecond. If we keep this in mind, then we will have a proper view of the book and the events that happen. God allows things to happen for a certain time, for a certain purpose and outcome. God is meticulously overseeing all that goes on, and He is never caught off guard. This is hard to see from our limited point of view here on earth, but the Bible clearly teaches that God is All-Knowing and nothing is a surprise to Him.

Be comforted in whatever circumstances you find yourself in today; the Lord knows where you are, and He is there with you.

Psalm 147:5 “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.”

Isaiah 40:28 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.”

Isaiah 46: 9-10 “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’”

Blasphemy, verse 6

Blasphemy is defined as the “act of speaking sacrilegiously about God.” Another clearer definition that was given is this: “the act of insulting or showing contempt or a lack of respect for God.” This last definition is more of what we see today, and it is preparing the world of the Antichrist.

Most people, and maybe even Christians do not have a genuine ‘fear’ of God – a genuine respect for the position and the power of God. The world around us and, sadly, many of the churches around us have mistaken the grace of God for weakness, they have mistaken the meekness of Jesus for weakness, and they have mistaken the forgiveness of God for apathy to sin. This idea that masculinity is toxic is an affront to the Lord God. God is identified in the entire Bible as a He! He shows himself to us as masculine. Jesus came as a man and is a man. The apostles were men. God calls men to lead their homes and their churches. He calls men to stand and be accountable to Him.

I just saw an interview where a religious leader was touting that his denomination was going to rewrite the Bible and make it more inclusive, removing the ‘He’ attributes of God. We have the ‘Queen James Bible’ available at Amazon. Many times, Jesus is portrayed as somewhat effeminate. One previous President of the USA, one who claims to be saved and is a Sunday school teacher in the church he attends, recently claimed that God would be okay with abortion and with same-sex marriage. Folks, this is blasphemy. This is a lack of reverential fear for the Lord God. The youth of today are being prepared for the Antichrist with the irreverent shows, music and speakers.

I recently heard that a prominent preacher made an illusion to the Ten Commandments being outdated. Righteousness is never outdated. It is funny how Jesus referred to the Ten Commandments in the New Testament, validating them into the operation of the New Testament church. Jesus talked about adultery, murder, honoring your parents, loving God wholeheartedly, coveting, and on and on.

It is sad when these things happen. But we can see that the blasphemy is coming even from inside what appears to be a part of the New Testament church. In complete opposition to what this ‘pastor’ says, we see these words from Jesus in Matthew 5: 17-19:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

What a contrast to what we hear from mere men! Jesus tells us that He did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to establish them. There is such a push in the New Testament church to ‘love your neighbor’ that they forget the ‘love the Lord your God’ part. You can only love your neighbor to the extent that you love God. Commandments 1-4 are the call to love God wholeheartedly, and Commandments 6-10 show us how to love our neighbor, beginning with our parents. The two are complimentary and cannot be separated.

Be wary of those that blasphemy God, whether they claim to be Christians or if they are atheists. A lack of proper reverence and respect for God leads to open rebellion against God. People begin to speak lies about God and nasty things about God, questioning His goodness and His rightful place as our Creator to whom we will have to answer.

War, verse 7

Within the permission of God, the Antichrist is allowed to make war with the saints in the Tribulation. People from every nation and language on earth will worship the Antichrist, and he will make life very hard for those who claim that Jesus is God.

As we see here, clearly there will be redemption in the Tribulation because there are enough saints to warrant a war against them. Of course, there will be millions of Jews that repent and call on Jesus; there may be some Gentiles who trust Jesus as Savior as well. It is with these that the Antichrist begins to make war. He will be ruthless and pitiless. They will have nowhere on earth to hide. He will make their lives a living hell. Torture, imprisonment and the like will go on, and there will be no safe places. In Matthew 24:9-10, we see these dire warnings:

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.”

In Luke 21:16, we see this sad state of affairs in the last days: “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death.”

One’s own family will be so beguiled by the Antichrist that they will betray them to the authorities, knowing full well that they will be tortured and/or killed.

Even now, the war on Christianity is on and in full swing. There is a hatred for Christians that is so tangible that you almost taste it in the air. People who have swallowed the lies, hate the truth. And we, God’s people, are seen as the enemy because we believe and teach the truth. It is so amazing that in the Western world we have made the truth illegal. There was a time when telling lies was illegal.

We have celebrities like Celine Dion pushing the transgendered agenda with her new baby clothing line. You do not have a choice as to which gender you are; God makes you as either a male or a female. You don’t get to choose. You simply are. Man is trying to be God, trying to rewrite the rules that have governed us for 6,000 years and trying to change the fundamental principles of Creation. Lies, no matter how big or how frequently told, will never become the truth. So, the best way to keep a lie is to eradicate the truth tellers; that is us—the Christians, and our Bible talk.

The war is on, and you are in it if you are a child of God. Too many churches and pastors are not preparing the new converts or the seasoned Christians for the escalation of persecution. It is on, and will continue into the Tribulation. The Antichrist will be worshipped by ALL the lost and despised by the saved. He will demand loyalty or death. There will be no in-between.

Control, verse 9-10

God is in control. I need not say anymore, but I will. Some will go into captivity and some to death, but all under the watchful eye of the Lord who is in complete control. This is hard for us to understand. Why would God let this happen? He has a plan and a goal. Our job is to submit. We are called to patience and faith; trust the Lord and His plan even if it means death and imprisonment.

Surely, God will intervene and we will not be harmed; look at the three Hebrew men in Daniel 3. Or Daniel in the Den of Lions, Daniel 6. But we should not depend on this. I know there are songs and movies, and we love the idea of the Hero coming to save us. I love that too. But we are clearly told in the New Testament by Jesus that we will suffer. Too many are looking for the abundant life void of suffering, but Jesus promises us the abundant life in spite of suffering. In John 16:33, we see this clearly spoken:

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

You will have tribulation – simply put, trouble in this life – but we are encouraged to “take heart,” be faithful and patient. The Lord is with us and in control even when we are being harmed and/or killed. God is in control. I cannot say this enough.

Look, folks; let’s be real. I do not want to see my wife and daughters raped or hurt or killed; I do not want to be hurt or killed. No one is signing up for that. BUT if this is the will of God for us and for His glory, we will have to put our trust in Him and His plan and be patient and faithful in these trials. We forget that the three Hebrew boys did not know if God would save them. They knew He could, but were not sure that He would; yet, they determined to obey God.

Daniel 3:16-18 “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Sadly, we are here at this time. We are like the three Hebrew men/boys, and the idols are the gay agenda and the gender agenda; and we are called to bow down and toe the line. But, we must stand for God’s truth. And for that, some of us are going to die. Be patient and be faithful; God is in control.

Missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

 

 

 

Revelation Chapter 13: 1-4

“Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?’”

I pray that you all had a wonderful time of celebration with your families as you recalled the birth of our Lord and Saviour. I know that many do not celebrate Christmas, and I respect that. I grew up in a culture that only focused on His birth; there were no mentions of paganism or any other rituals, only Jesus. I guess I was blessed to have that kind of upbringing. To us it was simply a time set aside to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, no setting of dates and no pretense.

We will turn our attention back to the book of The Revelation of Jesus once again. Over the two weeks that we took a break, a lot has happened in the area of prophecy. The most attention-getting one for me was the announcement that the US would be pulling out of Syria. At this current time, Russia is entrenched in Ukraine and expanding its influence into the area that would include Syria, Lebanon, Iran and into the Middle East, and there are relationships with Turkey that will begin to forge the foundations of the armies from Ezekiel that will attack Israel in the last days.

The return of our Lord is clearly on the horizon; the church age is rapidly coming to an end. The culture of the West and US is also on the way out. I saw a short video yesterday that talked about the rise of effeminate men in the fall of all major societies of the past. This speaker, Camille Paglia, made the point that the rise of homosexuality and then men becoming more effeminate was the precursor to the fall of many societies; in particular she mentioned the fall of the Roman culture. This was echoed by Roberto Di Mattei, a Roman Catholic historian who found the same thing in the course of his research.

If this is the case, the end of the Western culture is at hand. From the shores of Western Europe to the shores of the “New World,” we are seeing the end of the West as we know it; the church is not far behind. There is a consistent rise of very effeminate-looking pastors coming into the modern churches. Their preaching is not full of fire and brimstone; there is no power in their delivery of the truth. They water down everything so as not to offend, and as such, not to cause any lasting effect in the life of the listener.

Many of our churches are concerned with your feelings rather than your growth in the Lord. This is the world that will breed room for the rise of the anti-Christ and his ways. This is the stage that is set for the rise of the man of sin. The acceptance and, more accurately, the pushing of the homosexual agenda is flat out killing us; it is destroying all of us in the name of progress. But if history is true, then we are not progressing at all; we are in a state of fall.

Romans 1:22 states that when a people turn against God, they will think they are wise; pride kills; and in fact they are fools. In Romans 1:32, it tells us that they will suffer the judgment of God. They cannot escape, our culture cannot escape, and the fall is imminent.

An Amalgamation of past Regimes, Revelation 13:1-2

This beast that John sees rising out of the sea (referring to people) is the final earthly kingdom of the anti-Christ headed by a very powerful man. This beast is an amalgamation of the previous empires that ruled the world: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and now the final empire. This final empire will be made up of parts of the Greek, Medo-Persian and Babylonian Empires as we see described here. Of course, all of these empires also ruled in Babylon at one time or another.

Now I must interject here a bit of an observation; the Roman Empire never really went out of existence. It is here among us in the Vatican City under the guise of the Roman Catholic Church, taking in billions of dollars per year in revenues for the past 1,000 years. That Roman Empire has reaches to the far corners of the earth; they are accepted in the UN, in governments all around the world and, for the most part, have envoys in just about every nation. The RC churches certainly have power in the Muslim world and in the European world; they have established avenues for the ruling of the world right now.

Just as an aside, the Muslim and Catholic religions control close to 50% of the world population and many of the governments already. This should be alarming to many, but too many are blind to the signs of the times that are upon us.

This beast, this final beast, has “great authority” and power bestowed upon him by the Dragon, whom we know to be Satan. This is the final push of the battle that began in the Garden of Eden when we sinned in Adam. Satan has worked and worked to get the earth to this point, beginning with the tower of Babel and on to where we are now. In the process of history, he has tried to kill off the Jews, even focusing on Jesus at his very birth, as we were told in the last chapter. This final kingdom is fierce and ruthless. There is no compassion and no pity for mankind. There is no concern for “collateral damage” – the cost of ruling is simply worth it – kill all that get in the way and all that refuse to submit.

We have seen movies about this for decades, and we/I have been entertained, not even once thinking that this could become truth. There will be no place to hide, nowhere to run and no opportunity to plead your case.

I was just talking to a man who is involved in construction here in the Toronto area; he was telling me of a community that is beginning to be built, an investment of some $20 Billion. One of the tech giants has signed on and invested; I will not say that company. This development will include housing, malls and industry, but the most interesting thing is that there will be an area where you can charge your phone simply by walking in that area. The man in me goes wow! But the Christian in me goes, oh my! They will know where you are all the time. All of the technology that we use every day will be used against us in the future, and what was once a convenience will become our worst enemy.

We are told in the book of Daniel, chapter 2:41-42 about the 10 toes of the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream. They are made of clay and iron; they are together but the alliance is not strong. In Daniel 7:19-20 we see this prophecy:

“Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet; and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.”

This is fulfilled here in Revelation 13. This beast with the ten (10) horns on its head signifying kingdoms is “exceedingly dreadful” and pompous. Very full of itself. The anti-Christ will be full of pride, and so will his earthly kingdom. Recall from Revelation chapter 12 that this is all for show on earth. Satan was permanently kicked out of heaven and can never ascend to the throne of God or be like the Highest. This is simply the death throes of his kingdom, and he intends to take as many as he can with him. His rage is obviously not a righteous rage but that of a defeated combatant who cannot accept defeat.

Sadly, the men and women on the earth who worship Satan, the beast or any of his cohorts are so blind that they cannot see that they are worshipping dead and defeated powers. Those of us who are saved know that Satan was defeated before the fight started, and his demise was made complete 2,000 years ago when Jesus arose from the grave after three days and nights.

An Apparent Resurrection, Revelation 13: 3-4

We are told in verse 3 that the beast is mortally wounded and then appears to come back to life; after this the world “marveled” and then followed the beast. We are told in Daniel 8:23-25:

“And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise, having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes. His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; He shall destroy fearfully, and shall prosper and thrive; He shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people. Through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule; and he shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without human means.”

This prophecy tells us some interesting things about the anti-Christ; he will be able to understand “sinister schemes” (verse 23); he will use “cunning” to cause deceit and prosper.

I have read a few ideas about the apparent resurrection, and it would appear that this is some kind of misdirection or deception. This man, the beast, will be able to deceive people right to their faces and will fool the whole world into thinking that he too has the power of resurrection. Satan will try to mimic Jesus at every turn, but this is just a trick. Only Jesus has the power to lay down His life and then take it up again. It is amazing that the world will find this resurrection plausible, but they daily deny Jesus’ resurrection.

This will only solidify his place on the earth’s stage at the time, and the people will fall for the act, then worship him. They will grant him the honor of omnipotence, a blasphemous act on the part of the people. A defiant fist shaking in the face of God. “Who is able to make war with him?” The answer is Jesus. But even before that, Michael, one of the Arch Angels, was able to kick Satan out of Heaven. My, oh my! He could not even defeat Michael, but now the earth thinks he is god and not even the Highest can make war with the beast. There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.

Every day I read comments from people that claim to be atheists but talk about God all the time. They just can’t shut up about Him. They love to make fun of Christians and, in the act of doing so, always have to mention God or Jesus. These people know that God is real, and they think that if they keep telling the lie long enough it will become true and God will stop existing. HA!  Fools! This is what the Bible calls them. These are the same fools who will worship the beast and give him power to conduct his rampage here on earth. A defeated beast who is masking his defeat by putting on a show for the mere humans on earth who deny the God that the beast knows face to face. He is truly the master of lies.

Jesus is coming to make war with the beast (Revelation 19:11). Satan will be defeated and imprisoned for 1,000 years. Today, we offer people all around the world the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus. He died for your sins—the innocent dying for the guilty; He was resurrected from the dead and is ready, willing and able to grant you salvation and eternal life. Trust in Jesus today! You are a sinner and you need a Saviour. Jesus is the ONLY WAY!

2 Corinthians 6:2 “For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’”

Missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca