Well it would hardly seem appropriate during this Christmas season to engage on a study of the Antichrist in Revelation 13 but if you think about it, the angels when Jesus was born, declared peace on earth and that is exactly what the Antichrist will promise and fulfill it for a very short time before the world sees what he really is like. There was an article in Time Magazine way back in 1979. It's funny to talk about that year as way back but the article was "Inflation: Who is Hurt the Worst?" and it said Arthur Garcia, 43, who supports a wife and five children on a $19,000 yearly wage as a worker in the U.S. Steel south Chicago mill says, "You really want to revolt but what can you do? I keep waiting for a miracle, some guy who isn't born yet and when he comes we'll follow him like he's John the Baptist." Now that's probably just the frustration of a worker who is having a tough time making ends meet but one day that will become the cry of the world. Where is the guy--is he born yet--who will solve problems? For the past several years, there has been a lot of talk about this New World Order. And that's talked about more and more isn't it? Because people are sort of tired of the Old World Order, the old government. It seems strange to talk about a new world order when you couldn't get ten people in one room to agree on the same thing, how would you get the whole world? But there is this growing apathy toward present-day government. The idea that previous government structures in a democracy haven't worked, as revealed in the last election, only 49% of Americans showed up to vote. An all time low. A general apathy that the old world order just isn't working. We need something new. But what form would this new world order take? What would the players be? Who would be in charge? Who would be involved? What would it look like? Revelation 13 talks about some of those questions and we are now introduced to one of the main characters on the stage during the great tribulation period. We call him the Antichrist. Actually, he goes by 50 different names, just about, in the Bible. John calls him the Antichrist in 1 John 2: little children, you know that it is the last hour and that the Antichrist is coming and even now there are many Antichrists who have come into the world whereby we know it is the last hour. So the Antichrist shows up. He is called the beast here in Revelation chapter 13 verse one.

When some people hear the term the Antichrist they sort of snicker or give this kind of pseudo-intellectual grin like, oh how naïve, they would put him on the same par as Satan Claus or the Easter Bunny. Or they would see the Antichrist as simply a biblical description of a non-descript example or essence of evil. Or many Americans would simply think in terms of Hollywood's depiction of the Antichrist in movies like Rosemary's Baby or The Omen. The idea of this sinister, dark, eccentric, evil person that anybody would shy away from when the truth of the matter is he will come on the scene very suave and polished like John Wayne or a Charlton Heston. And people will say, oh, this is the good guy, not the bad guy. That's part and parcel of his deception. Throughout history, many have tried to identify the Antichrist. It's become a preoccupation of believers through the ages, guessing who the Antichrist is going to be. I think it's futile to do so. I'm not looking for the Antichrist. I'm waiting for Jesus Christ to come. But way back in 37 AD, some thought it was Caligula because he said he would put an image of himself in the temple. In 57 AD, Christians thought it was Caesar Nero because he persecuted Christians and they called him the beast. That was his nickname. He hated God's people. In the 12th century a guy by the name of Joachim of Fiore predicted the third age of the Holy Spirit and that Frederick the Second, the great emperor, was the Antichrist. Others have guessed, the Protestants have traditionally said it's the popes, like Pope Boniface VIII or John XXII. Other guesses at the Antichrist have included Adolph Hitler, Moshe Diane, JFK, Henry Kissinger, and Mikhail Gorbachev. And they'll continue, no doubt.

We were given, not too long ago, some of you on the windshields of your car, I don't know by whom, but people see a parking lot and think, hey, a parking lot, I can pass my stuff out--and they do. And on the windshield of the car, I have a copy of it; it says that the worship of the Antichrist is the Internet, the World Wide Web, and that the Antichrist is identified by this person. The paper said, "The Antichrist will be a Rothschild and will look like a young version of Abraham Lincoln." How'd you get that?! So watch for promotional information about Abraham Lincoln. So don't you know there's going to be some people, if there's a special about the history of Abraham Lincoln, see it's fulfilled! Well let's read the text. Verse 1 Revelation 13: "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?" And of course he'll find out. "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 ear. 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."

This coming world global leader, what he will be like? Six things characterize him in chapter 13 verses 1 through 10. There are more. We could have taken this and gone through every reference in the Bible, but I figure since this is our 25th study already in Revelation, I'd spare you and I'd move a little more rapidly. And so we'll just kind of highlight what the book of Revelation, comparing it with what Daniel says about him. The first mark that I think will mark him is what I call wickedness. Verse 1 he is given the name the beast: "I saw a beast rising up out of the sea". John, standing on the beach in Patmos in this vision, sees this monstrous, weird-looking thing, seven heads, ten horns, ten crowns, or authorities, and it's a monstrous combination of three animals: a leopard, a bear, and a lion. The beast, the image, I think is simply how God sees him. Just as we have the description of Satan as the dragon rather than as the angel of light. It's always characteristic of God to dig beneath the surface, to peel away the veneer of reputation, and get to the fabric of character. This is his character. The term in Greek beast is the Greek word therion, a wild, venomous beast, a monster. This is not a zoo animal, this is not a household pet, there's only one fitting description: a venomous, wild beast. Paul calls him in Thessalonians a man of sin. He calls him the son of perdition and the lawless one. He rebels against God. As to his character and nature, he is a beast. He will come on the scene much like the angels at Christmas. Peace on earth. He will seem benevolent. He will come with a plan of peace; Daniel said it's a seven-year peace plan, a seven-year covenant. He will seemingly bring peace to the earth. At the beginning of the tribulation period--the beginning of the seven years. But it will not be long-lasting. In Revelation chapter 6, as the tribulation opens, we see this guy coming as the rider on the white horse. He has a bow but no arrows. He comes as a peaceful dictator: very, very benevolent. Underneath the veneer, however, is a beast and midway in the tribulation period, in what Jesus and Daniel call the abomination of desolation, his true character will be revealed.

He is a beast like the dragon, the devil, is a beast in character and nature. You know, it's been said that 70% of Americans believe in the devil yet half of those who say they do call the devil, not a person, but a force. It's sort of this non-descript force of evil. That's not what it is. He is a beast, the Antichrist, who will serve the dragon, Satan, and that's where it all comes from, this influence of this malevolent spiritual being which will be evident in the world. So wickedness, first of all. The second characteristic: world dominance. Notice it says in verse 1 that he has seven heads, he has ten horns, he has ten crowns, in verse 2, the beast which I saw was like a leopard, feet like a bear, mouth like a lion, the dragon, that is, the devil, gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. Look over at verse 7: "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." Worldwide dominance will characterize this guy's reign. And the vision that John sees is very much like the vision Daniel saw 600 years before this. Daniel, you remember, had a vision of four beasts, separate beasts, and God said to Daniel, the beasts that you saw represent world governing empires. The first beast that Daniel saw was like a lion and the second one was like a bear. The third one was like a leopard and then the fourth beast that Daniel saw was a weird beast. And Daniel wondered after it because it had ten horns and it had crowns. It was a weird, weird beast. In wondering what they meant, God tells him what they meant. The first beast which you saw, Daniel, the one that looks like a lion, that's the kingdom of Babylon. And Babylon was depicted as a lion because it's the king of the jungle and Babylon was the king of the world at that time. The bear represented Medo-Persia, God said to Daniel, because the bear is strong and massive and the Medo-Persians could amass an army greater than anyone else and they were very, very strong. No one could withstand them. The leopard, God said, would represent the Macedonian Kingdom, or Greece, because like a leopard it would swiftly take over the world. Alexander the Great and his conquests bear witness to that. Now here's John. He sees a beast, a single beast, but with all of the characters of these beasts that Daniel saw. And as Daniel saw first a lion, and then a bear, then a leopard, because he's looking at it from behind looking to the future, John sees it in reverse order. Those kingdoms have already happened. But now he sees this final kingdom, seven heads, ten horns, which represent nations because God said to Daniel, well, what are those ten horns mean and God said they represent individual nations that will come at the end of times in a confederacy together. God told that to the prophet Daniel. So world dominance.

Notice the beast rises from the sea. This dominating, rapid forced system comes from the sea. What does that mean? Well, it could mean from the Gentile nations, that's how the word sea is used in Revelation 17, a woman sits on many waters which are tribes and nations of the earth. Or it could mean the Mediterranean Sea, that out of the Mediterranean world, which was close at hand at that time, will come this world ruler. There's a point that underlies all this. Seven heads, ten horns, great authority. This ruler will have a global influence, a global, a new world order kind of an influence. In Daniel 7:23 speaking of him it says he shall devour the whole earth. He shall trample it and break it in pieces. The term globalism is used by politicians more now than ever before. Global village, the global economy, everything's global now and everybody's talking about how we live in such a small world and we realize that since it's so small, we ought to see ourselves as world citizens not as individual citizens of nations, tear down borders economically, tear down borders politically, militarily, culturally, spiritually, and become a world citizen. One planet, one people, please, as the bumper sticker reads. That is an old concept. It's not from the 1970's, 80's, or 90's, but way back in the 1950's this was espoused. In fact, in the Intelligence International Report it says, "As far back as 1950, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations told the U.S. Senate Committee, "We shall have world government whether we like it or not by consent or by conquest." Now why such a push in this generation for globalism? For a global economy, for a global village? One word: peace. Peace. What could we do to bring peace to the earth? And the idea is this is the solution--the global outlook is the solution. If you have access to the internet, which is the worship of the beast according to the guy who put the thing on your car, and you type in globalism or one worldism or one world government or things that relate and notice the hits that come back. It's endless! It's all over the net. One particular site that has gained a lot of attention, I found it on the internet, and it's the Constitution for the Federation of the Earth. It's not a Star Trek movie. It's a real group of people with real leaders and here's part of their constitution that they would like to see passed: "Realizing that humanity today has come to a turning point in history, that we're on the threshold of a new world order which promises to usher in an era of peace and prosperity and harmony, conscious of the obligation to save humanity from imminent and total annihilation and conscious that humanity is one despite the existence of diverse nations, races, creeds, ideologies, cultures, that the principal of unity in diversity is the basis of a new age when war will be outlawed and peace shall prevail, conscious of the inescapable reality that the greatest hope for the survival of life on earth is the establishment of a democratic one world government, we the citizens of the world hereby resolve to establish a world federation to be governed in accordance with the constitution for the federation of the earth." The constitution this group of people said it should be headed up by what they call the world executive. And the world executive, they say, should be a presidium of five leaders that represent the five continental structures of the globe. There will be one singular president and four vice presidents that would aid him. And these rulers, this executive world executive, would control it all. Now as the world gets worse, and it will I believe get worse and worse and worse, till the time of the rapture, there will be such a cry for peace that any solution at all, any confederation, that would bring peace on earth will be sought after in a global kind of a way. And people are now looking at Europe, this emergent super state of Europe, with these nations who have Euro currency and they're Euro citizens, and they've broken down cultural and economic walls that have sort of become the model of the world. See what we can do! See what the world can do if we drop barriers, borders? There can be global peace. And the Antichrist will promise this and he will have global dominion. Now this global outlook you are noticing does not only come these days from politicians but educators, schools. The NEA, the National Education Association, said, "It is with sobering awareness that we set about to change the course of American education for the 21st century but embracing the ideals of the global community, the equality and interdependence of all people's nations and education as a tool to bring about global world peace." Now that sounds good. Everybody wants world peace but one of the essentials in all of the literature and all that you talk to, the strategists, the planners of this program, one key element is the removal of absolutes. It has to happen or you can't have a global thing happen. In the book The Closing of the American Mind by Alan Bloom, he said you must eliminate any system of absolutes for globalism to work. In other words, nothing is right, and if nothing is right absolutely then you don't have the right to say you're right. And that's how we're all going to get along. Linda Faulkinstein, of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory said, "Black and white answers probably never really existed but the time has long passed when even the myth can endure. Competent world citizens must act in the large zones of greys where absolutes are absent." The planners of this realize you must eliminate religious beliefs that tend to divide people because those religious beliefs would be deemed as close-minded, prejudiced, and intolerant. Right now it is unacceptable to teach religion in the schools, as you know, but it's very acceptable to teach comparative religions. Everybody has a facet of the truth and no one's really right. It doesn't matter which religion you choose because God's in all of them and the way's in all of them and it's one big superhighway to heaven. There are no absolutes. So globalism will eliminate dogmatism which will eliminate truth and you have this massive truth vacuum in the world.

So what characterizes him? Wickedness, world dominance, and then thirdly, wonder, verse 3: "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," or as one translation says, "wondered after him and followed the beast." Wonder. This guy will be Satan's masterpiece. The six million dollar man. Well, the 666 million dollar man. He'll be engineered by the devil, he'll be possessed by the devil, controlled by the devil, and his power comes from the dragon. He will be everything the world is looking for embodied in one person. It says the world will marvel after him. The word marvel means greatly admired, be stunned, to wonder. Words like wow, awesome, magnificent, will be the words that the world will use to describe this ruler. Marvel is the first step toward worship. A 17-year-old student, high school student, from Los Angeles, California, Wilson Mattea said, "I often think of Satan as a cool dude." Now of all the ways that I could think of describing the devil, cool dude doesn't come to mind for me. But it does for Wilson. "I often think of Satan as a cool dude since he controls one part of the supernatural, he tends to let you be on your own to do whatever you want whereas God wants to put you in a jail cell." Well truth during the tribulation with the Antichrist will be eliminated and the devil will gladly fill the void with his own brand. Notice the world will marvel after him--why? Probably because he rises to prominence so quickly and because he has a deadly wound that is healed. Now what does that mean? One of its heads is wounded. It could be that it's referring to a revived Roman Empire. The Roman Empire's dead, this guy takes a ten nation confederacy, revives the old Roman Empire, single-handedly is the designated world executive, and the world marvels that this guy could do this thing so quickly, so magnificently, let's give him the rest of the world. And he's proven himself. But down in verse 12 it seems that the deadly wound is on a more personal level. Notice it says, and we'll skip ahead, "And he exercises all the authority of the first beast," we'll read about this character next time, "in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell on it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." The word deadly wound, the word slain, that is used in the first part is the same word used of Jesus Christ, the Lamb, when in John chapter 5, John turns and sees the Lamb as though it had been slain. Same word. And so some scholars believe that this Antichrist will have some fake kind of a resurrection. I don't believe the devil can manufacture an actual resurrection but some sign or wonder, a wound that would be mortal but he's healed from it, like a resurrection and the world will marvel after him.

Let's look at another characteristic of him and it follows--that is worship. Verse 4: "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?" Verse 8: "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." The fascination will blossom into full-fledged worship, worship of the beast, the Antichrist, worship of the devil. That's what Satan has always wanted, right? Since he tried to usurp his authority, the Bible says, he wanted to be like the Most High, he wanted to be worshiped. He didn't want a little bit of notoriety. He wanted to be numero uno but he was numero uno minus uno and that bugged him and so he created this whole rebellion. And now the world worships the beast. It's like, I've finally got what I want! The dragon is worshiped. Some people see, and it's possible, that the Antichrist will be the incarnation of Satan much as Jesus was the incarnation of God. And that what you have here is a satanic trinity. What's interesting is that the world will worship the Antichrist; the Antichrist is given power by Satan so he causes the world to worship Satan, and a false prophet we'll read about next week comes and causes the world to worship the first beast, the Antichrist. Just like the Holy Spirit points to Jesus and Jesus points to the Father. A satanic, mocking, mimicking trinity of worship goes on.

By the way, the term Antichrist, though it's not here it is written in the Bible in the New Testament John uses it, the word Anti doesn't just mean against. Most people think, well, Antichrist, he's against Christ. The word Anti is also a Greek prefix that means instead of Christ. That's the whole idea, folks. That he will come and be Christ instead of the Christ that has been traditionally worshiped. He is the new Christ, the great Christ-mind. 2 Thessalonians 2:4 Paul said he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. And Paul went on to say the world will believe the lie. Ever wonder what is the lie? We know Satan is a liar period. He was a liar from the beginning. He lies to you about you, about God, about the origin of the earth, about your future. But there is the lie and I think the lie is what he's perpetrated since the beginning of creation with Adam and Eve as Eve was in the Garden and the devil came and said, eat this. Doesn't matter what God said. God knows if you eat it you'll be just like God. The whole idea that you will be like God, that you have a Christ-consciousness, a higher mind; you'll be like God if you do this. That's what he also wanted--to be like God, to be worshiped as God. Notice what they say about this beast, this worship. Verse 4: "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?" this sounds so much like how Christians would worship God. In fact, in the Old Testament one of the common phrases the Hebrews would use to worship God is by asking the question, who's like our God? A few examples. Exodus 15:11 they said, who is like, O Lord, among the gods, who is like You glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. He just destroyed the Egyptians when they sang that. Psalm 35:10 Lord who is like You? Isaiah 40:18, to whom then will you liken God or what likeness will you compare to Him? Isaiah 46:5 God says, to whom will you liken Me and make Me equal and compare Me that we should be alike? The prophet Micah in chapter 7, who is a god like You? So this is mocking language in Revelation 13. When they say, "Who is like the beast?" In other words, you are god, you take over for God, who is like the beast and able to make war with him? Satan's always tried to masquerade God and the dragon will try to masquerade God the Father, the Antichrist will try to masquerade the Son.

Daniel, the prophet, peering into the future like John did, gave us some insight into the personality of the Antichrist in wanting to be worshiped. This is what he said. He will not regard any god for he shall magnify himself above them all. This earth is very multi-cultural and multi-spiritual and there are many gods that people worship. Well the Antichrist will exalt himself above all of the gods on the earth. John Phillips put it this way, he will appear as the Messiah as the Jews, the Madi of the Muslims, the Krishna of the Hindus, he will be the ideal of the humanists, he will be the Christ of the apostate Christendom, the mantra of the eastern mystics and a war-weary, famine-ravished, disease-ridden, plague-infested, panic-stricken world will hail him. It's possible that this deadly wound that was healed, this fake resurrection, is the key to this whole deception. This mortal wound and he's healed and he's back again, that he'd make the claim that he is the Christ-spirit reincarnated. Now if you wanted to come up with something that would touch most of the world's religions, it would be reincarnation. Most of the world believes in reincarnation, not resurrection. The Bible doesn't teach it but the world believes it and if you wanted to dupe the world, touch on the idea of reincarnation. Oh the Christ-spirit--reincarnated! And the world will hail him. And there will be a worship system going on as well as this world dominance in a political way.

And now at this point in the tribulation period, all of the dreams that people have had for a one world religion, for a common church, will all be fulfilled. But it will be demonic. It will be blasphemous. And the world council of churches will no doubt applaud as the Antichrist takes over. The world council of churches, if you don't know, is a very apostate group that sees truth in nothing and tries to bring all the world religions together. So what characterizes him? Wickedness, world dominance, wonder, worship, and there's a fifth one, words. Words. Verse 5: "And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months," or as we saw last time, 1,260 days, or as we've seen before, 3 ½ years, or as we've seen before, a time a times and a half a time, all referring to the same period. "Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven." It's true that almost every dictator who has risen to prominence and power does so by the persuasive use of words--speech. The ability to sway a crowd. Adolph Hitler was able to mesmerize throngs of people in Germany. It is said that when he began a speech, those who would listen to him, he started in a beguiling whisper, a man of peace. And then his tone would rise into a rage and then he would banter around like an animal, an insane man, shouting, and the throngs would respond, "Heil, Hitler! Heil, Hitler!" And it'd get louder and louder and he'd incite them into a riot. Persuasive speech. This man will be persuasive, promise a covenant of peace, it says in Daniel 9, he'll be wanted by the world, he will not be rejected, they will invite him in, and he will be very, very appealing to the world. He'll come on, as we said, suave. He'll be the consummate politician. He'll know just how to say things and get on the camera, now this guy's awesome, they'll wonder after him.

One commentator said he'll have the oratorical skill of a John Kennedy, the inspirational power of a Winston Churchill. And one of the reasons I think people will flock to him is not only his words, but his words will exude self-determination, self-confidence, which is the one characteristic that people admire. The world loves self-confidence. Public enemy number one is low self-esteem these days. And the Antichrist will have no low self-esteem. On the contrary, he'll be very confident. Peaceful, but very engaging and the world will wonder after him. His enticing speech turns to blasphemous speech. It's against God. "He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven." Could be that after the rapture of the church, the Antichrist will be quickly on the scene to explain to the world what has happened, why these people are missing, the great deception that they were under and now we're under one new world order or whatever his spiel. And he will blaspheme the tabernacle. That could be heaven or it could be the tabernacle in Jerusalem, the temple that is set up again, that the abomination of desolation in the half-mark point of the tribulation, is what is referred to here. There is a sixth thing that marks him and we'll close with this and that is, war. War. Look at verse 7: "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."

Remember a few chapters ago there's a whole group of people crying out. They were called souls under the altar. They were asking God for vengeance. They had been killed because they were Christians in the tribulation period. They were martyrs and they kept saying how long, O Lord, until You do something about the wickedness on the earth? Because some of them will be captured as it says here, some of them will be martyred as we read last week, they did not love their lives to the death, they suffered the ultimate witness, the penalty of death standing up for Jesus Christ, and the chief persecutor will be the Antichrist. Jesus predicted this in Matthew 24 when He said they will deliver you up to tribulation, they will kill you, you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. Daniel predicted this. He, the Antichrist, will persecute the saints of the Most High and the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and a half a time. When Jesus said they will deliver you, He meant in a political manner. It means to be delivered to the authorities, like the military police. It will become politically correct to hand over Christians, or people who would call upon the name of God in the tribulation period, to the political powers that be for the persecution of God's people. I heard about three guys; they were talking about their professions, which was the oldest profession. There was a surgeon, there was an engineer, and there was a politician. And the surgeon said, well, my profession is older than all you guys. Remember in the Bible God, to make Eve, carved a rib out of Adam, so surgeon's the oldest profession. The engineer said, not so for God created the earth before that and He took chaos and He created order out of it and that's an engineer's job. To take order from chaos. And the politician said, ah, but who created the chaos? Inferring the politicians.

It will be so chaotic as this man is in charge, turns on the covenant he makes with Israel, starts out with peace, now he's making war against the saints who are delivered up for death. It's important to compare verse 7 with something Jesus said. Verse 7 says that he will overcome the saints. That should bother some of us because we remember what Jesus said. Upon this rock I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Well here's a promise the gates of hell won't prevail against it and here you have hell giving power to a man who overcomes the saints. The point is this: this is not the church. These are tribulation saints. Don't think that every time you see the word saint that it means you. That'd be a little arrogant. Saints can refer to tribulation saints after the rapture, they can refer to Old Testament saints, there are lots of peoples of God that are under that title saints. The church will be taken off the earth, the Antichrist prevails against them, overcomes them, for a short period of time and they suffer the death, a martyr's death. Also look at verse 9: "If anyone has an ear, let him hear." That should sound familiar to you by know. In Revelation 2 and 3, the seven letters to the seven churches all ended with this--sort of. There was an added phrase: He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. But here what the Spirit says to the churches is removed. It's just he who has an ear let him hear. Why is that phrase removed? Because the church is removed. These are tribulation saints, the souls under the altar, the ones who suffer the martyr's death during that time, a horrible, horrible time as the beast makes war against them.

Now keep in mind in all of this description of this coming global leader. The basic root issue is pride. He wants to be in charge. The dragon, Satan, wants to be worshiped. It's a rebellion against God in pride. It's exalting of self. It's the throwing off of God. Pride is the national religion of hell and anyone who walks in pride and rejects God's solution of Jesus Christ is walking in the same path as the devil that started the whole business from the beginning. A person who would say, I don't want Jesus Christ in my life as Lord, that's exactly what the devil would smile at, exactly what he wants the world to say. That's the path that he has chosen for himself. Many people have an idol in their lives, the idol is themselves. What's in it for me? What about me? Make me feel good! If that idol is you, remove it and make Jesus Christ your Lord. Verse 8 I want to just glance at as we close: "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." The Antichrist has a wound, a slaying, that is healed. Jesus Christ was the Lamb predicted slain from the foundation of the earth. He came and He died and He rose again from the dead. The slaying of the Antichrist is meant to deceive the world. The slaying of Jesus Christ was meant to save the world. It's as if there is a description, a contrast, of both of these slayings, both of these persons. The Antichrist starts out as a lamb but he's revealed as a beast. Jesus, the Lamb, will come again and He will slay the beast with the brightness of His coming, the Bible says. With the Word that comes forth from His mouth. So people will be worshiping the Antichrist who has a certain end, or you can worship Jesus Christ. But the point is, don't mistake, as the world will, a dead Antichrist for a living Jesus Christ. I heard a story about a woman who traveled. She went to her destination and as the luggage was coming off the racks in the airport, the luggage handlers found the little animal carrier where people carry dogs, cats, rodents, whatever they carry when they travel. And she had a dog that she was traveling with and as the carriers saw the cage there was a dead dog in it. And they thought, oh man, lawsuit. They told the woman, we don't have your dog, it was shipped to another destination but we'll get it and we'll take it to your house. Give us your address. So she went home and they scrambled to find a dog to replace the dead one. Same size, gender, same kind of breed. They found a dog, put it in the cage, took it to her house, thinking she'd never know the difference. She opened the door, looked in the cage, said, that's not my dog. My dog's dead. I was bringing him home for burial. Oops. When Jesus returns, the slain Lamb, who becomes the King of the earth permanently, when He comes back the world will find itself in the same position as that woman found herself in. The world will say to Jesus Christ, that's not my lord, that's not my god, mine's dead. I worshiped him, I've been duped by him, and he's a dead ruler, a dead dictator. He was slain by this One. This is not mine. I wonder if you're still looking for a fix-it man like that guy at the beginning that we read about from Chicago. I'm waiting for some guy; I'll follow him like John the Baptist. Some guy who hasn't been born yet. You'll never find him. I wonder if you're looking for Jesus Christ, the One who can fix your life right now. He's gonna fix the whole earth; He'll overthrow this guy. He'll set up His new world order, the order under the millennial King of Jesus Christ. But He can fix your life now--today--if you'd surrender your life to Him. No matter what depression you find yourself in, situation, sin, habit. He's in the business of fixing and restoring that which is broken.