The Coming Kingdom of Christ - part 6
Hello everyone. Let’s commence our study where we left off yesterday. The true church is in heaven celebrating with the Lord Jesus Christ. God has his witnesses here on earth spreading the gospel even as He pours out wrath, justly, upon all unbelieving earth dwellers living in this wicked and evil world. The antichrist and false prophet have captivated the world, and everyone falls for this devil in disguise.
Everyone falls for this one man? Yes, everyone except those that believe the testimony of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses and the two Jewish witness in Jerusalem and those that believe their testimonies. A very small number.
1 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. 2 Now the beast (antichrist) 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 (devil) gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. 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 and followed the beast. 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?”
5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months (3 ½ years). 6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 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. 8 ALL WHO DWELL ON THE EARTH WILL WORSHIP HIM (the antichrist), whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:1-8
Okay, so let me help you understand this passage.
Then I stood. Most manuscripts read “he stood,” referring again to the dragon who is Satan. He takes a position in the midst of the nations of his world (yes, the world belongs to Satan. That’s why there is so much chaos and evil), represented by the sand of the sea.
John then sees a beast. Literally meaning “a monster”, which describes a vicious, killing animal. This is from God’s point of view but to the people on the earth, the beast is a man of great wisdom, military excellence, handsome, and wealthy. However, in this context, beasts represents both a person (Antichrist) and his demonic system (the world). The final satanic world empire will be inseparable from the demon-possessed man who leads it.
What is this “rising up out of the sea.”? The sea represents the abyss or bottomless pit, which is located in the center of the earth, the realm of imprisoned demons (see Rev. 11:7; 17:8; 20:1; Luke 8:31). The picture is of Satan summoning a powerful demon from the abyss, who then activates and controls the beast (Antichrist) and his empire. The seven heads and ten horns are a description like that of Satan as seen in Rev. 12:3. This means that the demon that possesses the antichrist is Satan most powerful demon ally. The heads represent the successive world empires again from God’s point of view as these nations interact with His ultimate plan for the earth and His people Israel. No, the church did not replace Israel and no God is not finished with the Jews. Remember, the Father has promised Jesus that He will sit on the throne of David on this earth and rule over it from Jerusalem forever. How can that be fulfilled if every Jew is dead? That’s not going to happen if God’s word is true, and it is.
Now back to the seven nations, they are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the final kingdom of Antichrist. The antichrist kingdom will be made up of all the kingdoms represented by the horns which are kings (people who are in authority). These kings are sub-rulers under the Antichrist, whose empire will be divided into 10 administrative districts. Don’t ask me about the boundaries of the 10 administrative districts because I do not know. I can only relay to you what the Bible declares. I do my best to not include speculation or opinions in my writings. They are of no benefit to anyone, especially the Lord.
In biblical terminology, ten is a number that symbolizes the totality of human military and political power assisting the beast (Antichrist) as he controls the world. Horns always represent power or authority, as in the animal kingdom—both offensive power (attack) and defensive power (protection). Daniel shows that the human Antichrist will arise from amongst these 10 kings (Dan. 7:16–24). John picks up the numerical imagery of Dan. 2:41, 42, which refers to the 10 toes on the statue’s clay and iron feet. John further sees the beast as the final world government—the anti-Christ, anti-God coalition—headed by a revived Roman Empire, having the strengths of various world powers, yet mixed with weakness and ultimately crushed when Jesus returns to the earth. (see Dan. 2:32–45; 7:7, 8, 19–25; Rev. 19).
The crowns show the imperial dominion of this confederate kingdom. They will act in unison with demons controlling everything from behind the hidden spiritual wall. Throughout history, there has been many men that have claimed to be deity. Each time one of these monarchs identified himself as a god, he has blasphemed the true God. Each ruler who contributes to the beast’s final coalition has an identity, wears a crown, exerts dominion and power, and therefore blasphemes God. They will appear like lambs but will devour the people like lions.
The dragon (Satan) gives the antichrist the same power he offered to Jesus which our Lord turned down. The antichrist will say yes. Now notice that ALL THE WORLD MARVELED AND FOLLOWED THE BEAST.
I know, I know, some you are already cussing at me saying you would never follow the antichrist. Yeah, right. The only problem with that is the word of God says that ALL THE UNBELIEVERS WILL FOLLOW THE ANTICHRIST.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who 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. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Did you read that? “God will send them (unbelievers) strong delusion, that they (unbelievers) should believe the lie (of the antichrist and false prophet). I think I’ll go with God’s word on this one, sorry.
With the antichrist comes the false prophet.
11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb (the religious person over the false church) and spoke like a dragon (demon). 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 HE CAUSES ALL, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. Revelation 13:11-18
We will discuss the 666 number later.
Let’s return to the wrath of God and the trumpet judgments.
1. Trumpet 6 – when the sixth trumpet sounds the prayers from every believer from Adam to the last tribulation martyr is answer, “how long O Lord, before you avenge our blood upon the heads of the unbelievers”.
You say, saints don’t cry out for vengeance.
They do when they are in heaven because they are now one with Christ and in the perfect will of God.
The Lord releases another wave of demons that were in prisoned beneath the Euphrates River and they will kill 1/3 of everyone that remains upon the face of the earth. With approximately 3.5 billion people remaining on the earth, these demons will kill another 1.2 billion people. This 1.2 billion people die within 1 year!!! There is no way to bury that many people in that timeframe. Can you smell the stench from the rotting carcasses, pollution, dead animals, and fish? Wow!
3 Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. 19 For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm. Revelation 9:13-19
One would think that after all these horrible things that the people on the earth would fall on their knees and cry out to God in repentance to at least stop the carnage. If that’s what you would think, we would both be wrong. Listen to their response to all these things. This reveals just how evil the heart of man is without God.
20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. Revelation 9:20-21
They refuse to turn to God. Unbelievable!
Now you say, if that was me, I would have repented and asked Jesus to forgive my sins. OOOkayyy, yet to this day, you haven’t repented and accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. You want me to believe that you will repent and ask Christ to save you when the penalty for doing so is GETTING YOUR HEAD CHOPPED OFF! Right. Moving on.
Before the 7th trumpet sound, the antichrist kills the two witnesses live on tv in the streets Jerusalem.
3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. 6 These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.
7 When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
11 Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13 In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly. Revelation 11:3-14
I am not going to speculate on who these two witnesses are, so don’t ask.
2. Trumpet 7 – There is more praise going on in heaven as God begins to close out His plan of redemption and restoration of Israel. You can read Zechariah chapters 12 thru 14 for all the details.
15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying: “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned. 18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.” 19 Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. Revelation 11:15-19
We have now entered the final year of the great tribulation and the Lord destroys the false church. She’s the mother of all false religions. With the true church taken to heaven, all the religions of the world unite in the name of “god” to worship someone. The Bible said they worship the devil and demons but they don’t believe that.
And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. 5 And on her forehead a name was written:
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS
OF THE EARTH.
6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. Revelation 17:3-6
God uses the antichrist to kill the false church.
15 Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.” Revelation 17:15-18
Next comes the destruction of the world’s economic system called Babylon the great. The Bible calls it materialism or idolatry. The pursuit of stuff that will perish and lost at death in lieu of true riches, which is God who is eternal.
9 “The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, 10 standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’
11 “And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore: 12 merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; 13 and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men. 14 The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all. 15 The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! 17 For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.’ Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance 18 and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What is like this great city?’
19 “They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate.’
20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her!” Revelation 18:9-20
The unbelieving earth dwellers mourn but the saints and angels rejoice in heaven, then worship God for destroying her.
Now we enter the final months of the great tribulation.
1. Bowl 1 – Loathsome funky sores on all unbelievers on the earth. God shows the unbeliever how they look in His eyes. Do you think He will receive worship from them? Not a chance.
2 So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Revelation 16:2
Then we enter the final two weeks of the great tribulation.
You ask, how do you know that?
Because God poisons the remaining drinking water and food sources. How long do you think people will live without those two?
2. Bowl 2 – Seas and oceans turns to blood and everything in them dies.
3 Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died. Revelation 16:3
3. Bowl 3 – All fresh water supplies turn to blood. There is no drinking water to be found on the earth.
4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying:
“You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was and who is to be, Because You have judged these things. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, And You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.” 7 And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.” Revelation 16:4-7
4. Bowl 4 – Men are scorched by the sun. No amount of sunscreen will protect them.
8 Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory. Revelation 16:8-9
5. Bowl 5 – Darkness that can be felt befalls them immediately after the sun scorches them.
10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. 11 They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores and did not repent of their deeds. Revelation 16:10-11
Did you notice that the people still will not repent!
6. Bowl 6 – The Lord dries up the polluted Euphrates River with the scorching of the sun. The devil then prepares the world for battle. He calls forth men under the influence of demons.
12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 15 “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” 16 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon. Revelation 16:12-16
7. Bowl 7 – The wrath of God is completed.
17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. 19 Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. 20 Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great. Revelation 16:17-21
After this, Jesus returns to destroy all the armies of the antichrist. The antichrist and false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire and the devil is locked in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years.
Jesus begins His rule on the earth for 1,000 years.
Whew! That was fun. That is the quick overview of the book of Revelation and a preview of what is coming. I know that most of you will doubt everything that was written but it is straight out of the word of God. If you repent now and ask Jesus to save you from the penalty of sin, you can avoid this disaster as it can happen in our lifetime. Don’t delay any longer.
Until this weekend. Take care.