©1998 Larry Huntsperger
Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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9/20/98
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Revelation Conclusion
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9/20/98 Revelation Conclusion
Vacations are dangerous things,
especially vacations that involve
dropping off your only child at college
for the first time our lives.
Last week when Shari Sanders came in
she took out a $1.00 bill,
gave it to me,
and told me it was a contribution towards
our phone bill now that Joni was gone.
After this past week
I've given serious thought to placing
a second basket in back of the church
for any of the rest of you
who might feel lead to also contribute
to this worthy and needy cause.
Thinking is very hard work for me.
It's satisfying work,
it's work I enjoy,
but its hard work.
When I go on vacation
one of the first things I do
is to give myself permission not to think.
Occasionally a significant thought
will attempt to creep in,
but as soon as I recognize it
I grab it and tuck it away
and tell it not to reappear
until I return to real life.
When Sandee and I go on vacation
the most meaningful issues we want to wrestle
with are
whether we want to lay in the sun
or in the shade,
and which restaurant we want to select
for our next meal.
Since returning this past week
I have gradually forced myself
to reenter the world
of duties and responsibilities
and have begun to formulate some direction for our
teaching throughout the fall.
Almost exactly a year ago,
on October 5, 1997,
we began a "brief" series
on the end times
and specifically on the Book of
Revelation.
Like most of my "brief" series,
a year later we have still not completed it.
I have some other things in mind of us
during the next few months,
but before we get into them
I want us to take this morning
to bring that series on Revelation
to some sort of conclusion.
Obviously we are not going to return
to a verse-by-verse approach
on the passages in Revelation
we have not yet touched on.
We had made it almost to
the beginning of Revelation chapter 14,
and the passage that begins with this:
Rev. 14:1 Then I looked, and behold, the
Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, ...
It is the point at which
the events take place during the hours
immediately surrounding
the physical, personal return of Jesus
Christ to this earth.
The chapters that follow
describe the rapid judgment
and execution of the forces
that had been warring against Christ
during the time of the Great Tribulation.
It's not all pleasant reading,
but neither is it all that difficult to understand.
It describes for us
Christ's personal return,
the removal of all those who had resisted
Him,
the chaining of Satan,
and the establishment of the
Kingdom of Christ
on this physical earth
for a period of 1000 years,
after which this earth,
and in fact this entire physical creation
is disposed of by God,
and a new, perfect, eternal world is created
in which God's people will then live with Him
forever.
I would strongly encourage you
to read those final chapters of Revelation on your
own.
Don't be afraid of them.
They will serve as a great encouragement for
you, especially if your current view toward the
future
fills you with anxiety.
But there are a few specifics I do want us to touch on
together this morning
before we end this series.
Because of the tremendous amount of
speculation and sensationalism
that has surrounded the Bible's teaching
on the mark of the beast,
I want to make just a few comments
about that specific topic.
Then, I also want to touch on one current event in
the light of Biblical prophecy -
the Y2K problem,
mostly because it is getting to be
such a huge area of focus
among many of the mass media preachers.
For those of you who are new with us,
or who are new to the study of Biblical
prophecy,
or to the study of the Bible,
let me offer a little explanation for what's
happening here.
When Peter began his second letter to Christians
he opened with these words:
2 Pet. 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to
you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus
our Lord;
2 Pet. 1:3 seeing that His divine power has
granted to us everything pertaining to life
and godliness, through the true knowledge
of Him who called us by His own glory and
excellence.
In that statement
he tells us that it was God's intention
that the Bible would provide us
with a clear,
accurate,
and complete presentation
of the truth we need for life.
And that is exactly what He does.
He tells us about ourselves -
where we came from,
why we were created,
how we became separated from our Creator
through our willful sin against Him,
how God then bridged our separation
from Him through Jesus Christ,
and provided a way
for us to return to an eternal love
union with Him.
He tells us about our past,
He tells us about our present life,
and then He also tells us a little bit about
both our own future,
and about the future of our physical world.
Those passages that talk about the future
are what we call "Biblical prophecy".
And it is important to remember
that Biblical prophecy
is not just a guess or a hope
about how things might turn out.
Biblical prophecy is simply
future history revealed to us
before it actually takes place.
If I could offer you one word of advice
in your own reading,
not just of Biblical prophecy,
but of all of Scripture,
it would be this:
focus on the things you do understand,
and set the other things aside.
I've told you in the past
that every time I read a passage of Scripture
I find in it things I do not understand.
But I also find things I do understand.
I believe that will be the experience
of every growing Christian
who honestly interacts with Scripture
for as long as we live.
And what that means
is that every time we read the Word
or study it together
we are faced with a choice -
will I focus on the things I don't understand,
or will I accept and grow through
the things I do understand?
If you take me up
on me suggestion to read
the last nine chapters
of the Book of Revelation
you will find many things there
that seem strange,
even confusing.
But you will also see some things
with absolute clarity.
Among them will be these:
1. Jesus Christ will physically return to this world
with absolute power,
total authority,
and complete victory
over all those who have fought
against Him.
2. He will establish a world-wide kingdom
and rule it perfectly.
3. His people will share in that victory
and that future forever.
If that is all we understand from prophecy
then that's enough.
Our future does not depend upon the stock market,
or the Russian economy,
or the moral sewage being pumped out of our
nation's capital.
Our future depends upon
the mighty hand of our God
and the endless and abundant grace
He offers His people.
And now for a few words
about the three areas I mentioned earlier.
1st, a word about this mark of the beast thing.
The 13th chapter of Revelation
focuses on the Anti-Christ
who will establish himself as a world ruler
just prior to the return of Christ.
He is in power for seven years,
he is empowered by Satan,
and he is Satan's great false Messiah
who promises to unite the world
and bring in endless happiness and
prosperity.
In that 13th chapter
we are told that he has a side-kick,
a powerful magician
who works all sorts of wonders,
even creating a massive statue of the anti-christ,
even causing it to apparently come to life.
At the end of that anti-christ chapter
we read these words:
Rev. 13:16 And he causes all, the small
and the great, and the rich and the poor,
and the free men and the slaves, to be
given a mark on their right hand or on
their forehead,
Rev. 13:17 and he provides that no one
will be able to buy or to sell, except the
one who has the mark, either the name of
the beast or the number of his name.
Rev. 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him who
has understanding calculate the number of
the beast, for the number is that of a man;
and his number is six hundred and sixty
six.
Immediately following this 13th chapter
in which the forces of evil are described,
John then goes on to describe
some of the tools by which
God will resist and war against the kingdom
of the anti-christ during its brief existence.
These are described in the first part
of Rev. 14 and include:
the 144,000 Jewish evangelists,
and 3 angels continuously circling the glob
each proclaiming a clear, specific message
to the world.
I want to read the message being proclaimed by the
3rd angel
because it has a direct baring
on this mark of the beast thing.
It is recorded in Rev. 14:9-12.
Rev. 14:9 ¶ Then another angel, a third
one, followed them, saying with a loud
voice, "If anyone worships the beast and
his image, and receives a mark on his
forehead or on his hand,
Rev. 14:10 he also will drink of the wine of
the wrath of God, which is mixed in full
strength in the cup of His anger; and he
will be tormented with fire and brimstone in
the presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of the Lamb.
Rev. 14:11 "And the smoke of their torment
goes up forever and ever; they have no rest
day and night, those who worship the beast
and his image, and whoever receives the
mark of his name."
Rev. 14:12 Here is the perseverance of the
saints who keep the commandments of God
and their faith in Jesus.
Now, these passages about this mark
on the forehead or the hand
has lead to endless speculation on the part of
Christians
for the past 2000 years.
All I want to do here
is to state what is obvious from Scripture about
this mark,
but seems to have escaped the notice
of many of those who speculate about
this mark.
And let me just list what is clearly stated here.
1. Chronologically the mark of the beast will enter
human history after the anti-christ has established
his world-wide empire.
2. Chronologically it will take place
after the anti-christ's magician/partner
has displayed his powers
and created his image of the anti-christ.
3. The primary purpose of the mark
is not economic,
it is political -
it is the means by which
each of those who accept the mark
acknowledge their submission
and allegiance to the anti-christ.
Now it is true that the anti-christ
uses economics
to encourage his people
to quickly take the mark.
But the purpose of the mark
is not primarily economic,
it is political.
4. The mark is not OUR number,
it is HIS number.
It apparently will take two forms,
either the name of the beast or the number
of his name.
It is not our social security number,
or our VISA number,
or our driver's license number.
It is not OUR number at all.
It is HIS number,
and just so that there is no misunderstanding,
we are told what the number is: 666.
You see, there is no mystery here.
There is no hidden meaning in the numbers.
The anti-christ will use that number
to identify those who are submitted to him.
6. And finally, and most important,
it will be impossible
for any human being to take the mark of the
beast
without understanding fully and completely
that doing so is an act of rejection of Christ
and acceptance of and submission to the
anti-christ.
And we know that because we are told
that at the time this mark is being given
God in his mercy
will assign an angel to continually
broadcast to every human being in the world
the full and complete consequences
of taking that mark.
It will be impossible for any human being
to be tricked
or deceived into taking the mark.
Those six points are obvious from Scripture,
and I mention them so that you have a basis for
testing
any mark-of-the-beast scenario
you might hear being batted around.
2. I want to make just a brief comment
about the Y2K thing,
not because it directly correlates with
anything specifically I'm aware of
in Biblical prophecy,
but simply because it has become
a huge issue nationally
and in the Christian community
and because I have become deeply
concerned
with the way I see it being handled
by some prominent church personalities.
I'm assuming you all have
some knowledge of the Y2K problem.
Y2K is an abbreviation for the year 2000.
To oversimplify the problem,
most computer programs
have some aspect of their system
software that uses dates
to handle and process information.
Many of those programs were designed
using only a two digit dating system -
instead of 1998,
the computer uses simply "98".
When we reach the year 2000
many of those programs
will not know how to correctly relate
to the two digit date "00".
The concern is that this will cause massive computer
malfunctions.
Sandee and I were talking with my parents
when we are on vacation
and they happened to mention
several Christian TV programs
that have made this Y2K thing
a major theme in their programming.
Of course I recognize that this Y2K problem is
something
that our nation needs to address
and work diligently to correct.
But at the same time
I would just like to interject a few words of
Biblical sanity
and a couple of warnings
into this whole discussion.
The principles that govern our relationship with
Christ
will not change at the stroke of midnight
on January 1st 2000.
Early in his public ministry our God
offered us these words:
Matt. 6:25 ¶ "For this reason I say to you,
do not be worried about your life, as to
what you will eat or what you will drink;
nor for your body, as to what you will put
on. Is not life more than food, and the
body more than clothing?
Matt. 6:26 "Look at the birds of the air,
that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather
into barns, and yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not worth much more
than they?
Matt. 6:27 "And who of you by being
worried can add a single hour to his life?
Matt. 6:28 "And why are you worried
about clothing? Observe how the lilies of
the field grow; they do not toil nor do they
spin,
Matt. 6:29 yet I say to you that not even
Solomon in all his glory clothed himself
like one of these.
Matt. 6:30 "But if God so clothes the grass
of the field, which is alive today and
tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will
He not much more clothe you? You of little
faith!
Matt. 6:31 "Do not worry then, saying,
'What will we eat?' or 'What will we
drink?' or 'What will we wear for
clothing?'
Matt. 6:32 "For the Gentiles eagerly seek
all these things; for your heavenly Father
knows that you need all these things.
Matt. 6:33 "But seek first His kingdom
and His righteousness, and all these things
will be added to you.
God's care and provision for His people
never has been
and never will be dependant
upon the proper functioning
of anyone's computer.
If it would have been
we would all have died years ago.
And then just one word of warning:
if any so-called "Christian"
ever tries to use fear motivation
to get you to send them money
or buy something
know with certainty
that it is not of God,
and not from God.
It is nothing more than a religious con man
using his pulpit
to scam God's people.
I have heard of Religious programs
telling Christians that only gold will have any
value in the year 2000
and then they flash up the 800 number
where you can send money
and get gold.
If only gold will be of value,
why do they want to accept your worthless
money
in exchange for their gold?
And others are saying
you have to have this special food
stocked on your shelves
so that you can survive
when the world collapses
in January 2000.
And of course they have the magic food
if you'll call right now.
David said it so much better than I ever could:
Ps. 37:25 I have been young and now I am
old, Yet I have not seen the righteous
forsaken Or his descendants begging bread.