End of Life, End of Times: The Rise and Fall of the Satanic One world Rule Various Texts

What we have seen with the spread of the corona virus over the last several months is how small of a world that we live in.

It has not always been this way. There are several changes in the modern world that have made life so much different.

At one point in history if one were to travel across the ocean it would take months.

Missionaries who went to the field only a couple hundred years ago had no communication with their homeland.

Even travel in your own country took a long time. I remember visiting Thomas Jefferson's home

Monticello in Virginia. In the present day Monticello which is located in Charlottesville is a two hour drive to Washington D .C.

The tour guide told us that in Jefferson's day in the late 17 and early 1800s it took several days to travel from his home by carriage to the nation's capital.

Transportation has changed everything. One can drive in a vehicle to a location in a matter of a few hours instead of days.

One can fly from Minneapolis to London in England in a little over nine hours.

You can fly from one point on our planet to another in less than a day. What we have seen with this virus is that the earth is small.

It started in China and then spread all across the world in very little time as these fast modes of transportation have led to this spread.

Not only does transportation make the world small but so does the media.

News that used to take days to reach one now takes minutes. We might think this is a good thing and in many ways it is but I submit to you that the speed with which the news has traveled with this virus is not good.

Too much news too quick leads to panic among the general population. The speed of our media makes the world small and we see the problems with this.

The Spanish flu of 100 years ago in Europe was bigger than the coronavirus.

Estimates say that about 100 million people died but people did not know how bad it was until years later.

The medical technology of the time did not know that this one virus was causing all of this death and the news in that day traveled slowly.

But the medical technology of our day tells us that this one virus is causing most of the sickness all around the world and the media grabs a hold of this with hourly updates and people are terrified.

Our world is small and this can be a blessing but this can also be a very bad thing.

Now you might be wondering what does everything I just said have to do with our sermon series end of life end of times.

Let me explain to you why a small world is a bad thing and how it sets the stage for the very end of the world as we know it.

What the Bible teaches is that a ruler is going to come on the stage who is going to unite the world and everyone is going to love him.

He is going to step in at a time when the world is vulnerable and everyone is looking for someone to believe in.

Someone to carry the world through difficult times to brighter days. This man will be the most evil human who has ever lived.

But at first many will not know it. He is going to fool almost everyone.

This is a very interesting thought to ponder as we look at the world right now. More than ever we can see how this is going to play out.

What we see right now is that people are afraid and when people are afraid where do they put their hope?

For Christians the answer is obvious. We put our hope in God. We know that we must trust him and he will bring us through troubled times.

But what about the world? The world has nothing to stand on. If your trust is not in God then your trust is in man.

We even can see that with the coronavirus right now. We see people putting their trust in man with this virus.

Putting their trust in the scientists and in the politicians. And they say that these people are going to save us.

And they're saying that the scientists are going to save us with a vaccine and certainly that'll help. But who is the world going to trust the day of their death when no man can offer help of any kind?

And what man is going to save this world from extinction when God brings it to an end? The secular world puts their trust in man during times of trouble.

We see that now and we can see how this is going to happen in the end times.

A one world ruler whom we best know as the Antichrist is going to step in and calm people's fears for a short time before he shows his true colors.

The Bible describes him in several places and we will look at his rise and fall this morning.

The Bible also predicts a religious ruler who is going to point everyone to worship this one world ruler and away from the one true

God. Two weeks ago we saw that Daniel 927 predicts a final seven years.

And what I showed you last week, in fact two weeks ago, is that the church will be delivered by Christ when the

Antichrist and false prophet arrive on the scene. We won't be here to experience that.

But there will be many people on the world who will. Now the sermon this morning is titled

The Rise and Fall of the Satanic One World Rule. The Rise and Fall of the

Satanic One World Rule. And here's our big idea. Under God's hand,

Satan will make his greatest advancement in world history through two men that ultimately will fail.

Under God's hand, Satan will make his greatest advancement in world history through two men that will ultimately fail.

We will spend most of our time in this sermon looking at the Antichrist. He is much more of a central focus of scripture than the false prophet.

However, we will spend a little time discussing the false prophet as well. The Antichrist would not be able to do what he does without the help of this other wicked man.

And as we read this, as we do with all the prophecy of scripture, may we be amazed that God is telling us these details of these two men long before they are even born.

How wonderful God is to tell us history beforehand.

So let's begin by looking at this description of the Antichrist. Like every sermon in this series,

I'm going to close by telling you what we should take away from this. But right now, let's dig in to see who these two men are and what they are going to do to this world.

This Antichrist figure is first described in the Old Testament.

The book that mentions him is the book of Daniel. We saw this two Sundays ago when we looked at Daniel's 70 weeks.

In that passage, he's referred to as the Prince who is to come. What we saw is that shortly after his rise to power, he is going to make a peace treaty with Israel.

This is going to kick off the final seven year tribulation. The implication in Daniel's 70 weeks is that he is going to let the

Jewish people build a temple. We know this because chapter 9 verse 27 says, he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week.

And for half of the week, he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And what I mentioned two weeks ago is that there are talks about that right now in Israel.

They have this great hope that a future temple will be rebuilt.

The mention of sacrifices in Jerusalem tells us that this temple will be built in the future.

We can see how he is going to pull off this treaty with them. If he lets the people of Israel build their temple, he will have authority over them without receiving opposition from them.

What the rest of verse 27 says is that he will no longer let them use the temple and then he will cause desolation upon the

Jewish people. So two weeks ago, we already saw some of his deception and ruthless activity.

But the mention of him as the Prince who is to come is not the first time he is mentioned in the book of Daniel.

The other title that this world ruler goes by in Daniel is the little horn.

And this obviously might bruise his ego a little bit, but that's what the text says. He is referred to as the little horn.

So let's take a look at what Daniel says about this man known as the little horn. In Daniel chapter 7 verses 7 and 8.

After this, I saw in the last night vision and behold a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong.

It had great iron teeth. It devoured and broken pieces and stamped what was left with its feet.

It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I considered the horns and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots.

And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things.

So what we see in this passage is that he rises out of the fourth kingdom.

As I mentioned a few weeks back, this is the Roman Empire. And when he rises up, he will have a mouth speaking great things.

Then this little horn, who we better know as the Antichrist, is described in more detail in chapter 7 verses 23 through 26.

So let me read that right now. As for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth and trample it down and break it to pieces.

As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them.

He shall be different from the former ones and shall put down three kings. He shall speak words against the

Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law.

And they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end.

So what we just read is there will be a coalition of ten kingdoms.

And what is going to happen is another leader, the Antichrist, is going to put down three of those kingdoms and give himself the most power.

He is going to speak words against the Most High, that is God. He is going to wear out the saints, believers.

And this will be mostly Israel at this time, but there will also be Gentile believers, too, who he is going to wear out.

And what the text also says is that he's going to change the world by changing the calendar and the law.

This is interesting as we think about this. Our present calendar, known as the

Gregorian calendar, has been deeply influenced by Christianity. The words

BC mean before Christ, and the words AD means

Anno Domini, which is Latin. In English, that is translated the year of our

Lord, the time that Jesus was born. Even unbelievers must acknowledge that our calendar is very

Christian, and this is the calendar the Antichrist is going to go after. He hates

God. He hates Christ. And he is going to try to change everything during his rule.

He is going to change the law, of course. He has a completely different morality than God. Instead of the law of the whole world coming from God, it's going to come from the

Antichrist. People are going to have to pay allegiance to him. But just as we saw in Daniel 9 .27,

in Daniel's 70 weeks, he is going to cause desolation. But his hold on power will only be for a short time, seven years.

That is a short time. And this will mark his end.

As 7 .26 says, his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end.

So as we have seen, this is the Old Testament witness to this awful man in Daniel, known as the little horn, who will rise to power in the future.

But what is fascinating is that these prophecies of this figure, who is still yet to come, were predicted over 2500 years ago.

And yet, he is still not yet on the scene. The Bible truly is an extraordinary book that tells the future so precisely.

Now let's turn to the Old Testament. The Antichrist is described in five books,

Matthew, Mark, 2 Thessalonians, 1 John, and of course, Revelation, where we will spend most of our time.

Let's see how he is described in each of these places. As I've mentioned already, the title that we are most familiar with this man,

I think maybe because it's cultural, is the Antichrist. He's only referred to this once in the

Bible, and that is in 1 John 2 .18. In that verse, the

Apostle John writes, children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard, that Antichrist is coming.

So now, many Antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour.

So this verse makes a distinction between the Antichrist and Antichrists, plural.

The plural version of this, Antichrists, are those who hang around the church but teach false things.

What John is saying is that in his time, in the late first century, they were already teaching false doctrine.

And there are heretics in the church all down through church history. Pick a time, you will find heretics.

We have many Antichrists among us in the global church today. People who some think are believers, when really they're not.

They're teaching false things. They're leading people away. And so we have to be discerning as we look at the teachers of the

Bible, the teachers in Christianity. Who are the true ones? Who are the false ones?

There's Antichrists all over the place. These are false

Christians who teach false things. These many Antichrists are a precursor to the

Antichrist, as he will come to the earth in the future, as John writes in verse 18.

What this future Antichrist will have in common with these many Antichrists is that he will blaspheme

God. He will attack God saying false things about him. But this one

Antichrist is different from the many in that he will have tremendous power as we have seen.

And this will make him much more destructive than those who have foreshadowed him.

Matthew and Mark describe him and his actions in the same manner. So I'm going to take us to Matthew 24 15 where Jesus quotes the book of Daniel.

What Jesus said is when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet

Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand.

As we have seen, Daniel 9 27 refers to the Antichrist and his works in this way.

On the wing of abomination shall come one who makes desolate. Jesus shortens this in the

Olivet Discourse in the Gospels by calling him the abomination of desolation.

Then Jesus says let the reader understand. Now this is fascinating.

Jesus knew that the apostles were going to write down his teachings. He knew that they would write down what he said about the

Antichrist to warn the generation alive at that time about this horrible man who would rise to power.

As I have already mentioned, this is most relevant to those who will be alive during the tribulation.

I mentioned this a couple weeks ago. Jews and other believers who come to faith during this time, the church won't be there, but the believers who are, the

Olivet Discourse is mostly for them because these are the ones who are going to be there when

Matthew 24 and Mark 13 describe those events. His war will be on these people and so he is called the abomination of desolation.

Now at this time, let's turn to the book of the Bible that is most known for its prophecy and the most detailed description of this

Antichrist comes from Revelation 13. In verses 1 -10.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to read a brief summary of who he is and what he is going to do and then

I will explain what we need to see here. So this is what the

Apostle John wrote in these verses. And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words and it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months.

It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is those who dwell in heaven.

Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. An authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation and all who dwell on earth will worship it.

Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who was slain.

If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes.

If anyone is to be slain with a sword, with a sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

That is quite a reading. That is quite a reading of scripture. So to summarize, what we see is that the beast rises up out of the sea.

When we see this we are not talking about the Mediterranean Sea. Sea here is figurative.

What it symbolizes is the rebellion of humanity. Humanity has been rebellious against God since Adam and Eve sinned and the beast represents this rebellion more than anyone.

What we read is that the dragon gives the beast its power. You maybe can guess who this dragon is.

It is obvious. It is referring to Satan. What scripture says in 1

John 5 .19 is that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. He has power right now in this world and he is going to give this power to the antichrist.

What we must understand is that God has more power than anyone. He has infinitely more power than anyone.

Everyone has limitations in their power including Satan who has a lot of it. But Satan has more power than any human and he is going to empower the beast to be the ruler of the whole world.

We know that he is going to rule the whole world because the text that I just read says authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation.

This leader will have absolute authority and it will be a dictatorship.

We have seen evil regimes throughout world history. The most recent one that sticks in people's minds is the rule of Adolf Hitler in Germany in the 1940's during World War II.

How does one man do so much evil in such a short period of time? Not only

Hitler but other figures throughout history. Hitler wanted to rule the world and thankfully that fell short as the allies defeated him and his armies.

But how does one man get so evil? I had a professor in seminary who said something very interesting about that question.

About these world figures throughout history who had tremendous power and who were very evil.

Now what I'm about to say is speculation but I think it may very well be true.

What my professor said is that Satan does not know the future which is true. Only God knows the future.

But Satan knows the Bible and the Bible tells the future. He knows the

Bible better than any of us. The devil does. He has been reading it for thousands of years.

What he knows is there will be a future figure who rules the world. And he likes these prophecies in scripture about a godless man rising up because Satan wants to dethrone

God. And Satan is so irrational that he thinks he might be able to do it.

Sin makes people irrational. You ever wonder why people believe bizarre things? It's because of sin.

It's because of the hardness of their heart. And Satan has the hardest heart of all and so he thinks he can win.

That's irrational. His power is limited but God's is infinite.

So throughout history what Satan has done is possess different world rulers thinking that that particular man might be the final one world ruler.

And Hitler is an obvious example of this because he ruled within the confines of the

Roman Empire. Both the group of people and the area from which the Antichrist will come.

Hitler slaughtered, as is well documented in history, he slaughtered six million

Jews and the Jews are the people of God, the ancient people of God.

He hated them more than anybody. This was a very evil man and the future

Antichrist will be worse than him which is difficult to imagine.

So in other words, based on what I just said, Satan was wrong by possessing

Hitler and thinking that this was the end. And now he's going to possess someone in the future and at some point it's going to be right.

It's going to be the end as the Bible has predicted. Now going back to the passage of Revelation 13, the beast will rise to power for a period of 42 months.

This fits the prophecy of Daniel's 70 weeks. The beast breaks his covenant with Israel halfway through the 70th week, which is halfway through the seven year tribulation, the final seven year tribulation.

The last three and a half years is when this beast is going to enforce all of his destructive power.

This will be a dictatorship on steroids. What the text says is that he is going to blaspheme

God, his people who are already in heaven. And he is also going to make war on the saints who are on the earth.

And what I told you is that his tyranny will be directed against Israel. But he will also go after any follower of Christ at this time, the

Gentiles who believe, as many, many will be martyred. Anyone who is not a believer in Christ will worship the beast.

The whole world will. And we can see how this would be. These are going to be very troubled times.

And people are going to look for someone to step in, as I mentioned in the intro. And people are going to put their trust in this beast to take care of them.

And he is going to demand worship. And they will have no choice but to worship him.

Some will gladly worship him as they will be fooled and admire him. And others will have no choice.

But what the end of this section says in verse 10 is, here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

God calls believers during the tribulation to endure. And those who are truly saved will endure as God keeps his own to the end.

So that is a detailed description of the Antichrist, known in Revelation as the Beast.

He is appropriately named this because of the havoc he is going to cause at this end point in the history of our world.

But he also has a sidekick. And he won't be able to get where he gets without this sidekick, known as the

False Prophet. This world that we live in is very religious.

And in order to get everyone to follow the beast, the world needs a religious leader to influence the world in that direction.

So let's read about the second beast in chapter 13, verses 11 through 18.

And by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.

Also, it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark that is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

This calls for wisdom. Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

So as we see, this second beast is going to be a great deceiver.

It has been said, and rightly I might add, that there are two religions in the world,

Biblical Christianity and everything else. Do you notice all of these efforts in our society about diversity and tolerance, and which religion is left out?

Which religion is seen as the problem? You guessed it, Biblical Christianity.

Every other religion in this world has been inspired by Satan, and every religion is a combination of inspired by Satan and man -made.

It should be no surprise in the future when all of these religions coalesce as one.

And what's going to happen is the false prophet is going to say, no longer worship these gods you've always worshipped, but worship this man.

Worship the beast, the Antichrist. And in a sense, every false religion is the same.

Every religion besides Biblical Christianity is a spiritual effort to do enough good deeds to earn their

God's favor and get into heaven. And what if a religious leader comes who is a pluralist, or what we might call an inclusivist, who teaches all roads lead to the same destination?

This is fast becoming the mainstream belief of our world. And you know what's funny?

Brianne and I, we watched Left Behind this week. We're really in the mood with The End Times.

I'm preaching through it. The world kind of feels that way right now, and this is a birth pain that we're experiencing.

And so we watched the Left Behind series with Kirk Cameron from the 1990s, three movies.

And you know what the Antichrist was doing? He was getting people to believe that Biblical Christianity was evil, and that people needed to practice tolerance.

That there needed to be a one -world religion. And the word that they said was tolerance.

And I'm thinking, in the 1990s, that was a small thing that was taking place.

I was a child in the 1990s. I don't remember it being around much. We're in 2020.

And think how much that has advanced. We are moving closer to the end.

We must see this. And what will happen is that everyone will follow this religious leader.

And this religious leader is going to call everyone to follow the first beast, the

Antichrist. As we just read, he will make the inhabitants of the earth worship the beast.

The text we just read is that what's going to happen is a miraculous event. A mortal wound is going to lead to healing, and we can see how this might take place.

There's going to be a false resurrection. Only God can raise people from the dead. But they're going to make it look like he's dead.

And then they're going to supposedly bring this beast back to life.

And the world's going to be amazed. And what the second beast, the false prophet, is going to say is everybody worship the

Antichrist. He's not going to call him the Antichrist, but that's what Scripture calls him.

And this prophet is going to be able to do miracles. Of course, Satan has supernatural power.

He can do certain miracles. And he's going to deceive people to worship the beast by worshipping an image that is erected for the beast.

And this is the essence of idolatry, worshipping an image. What is also strange is that this image that is created is able to miraculously come alive.

And those who do not worship the image will be put to death. The false prophet will also make it that no one will be able to buy or sell unless he or she has the name of the beast or the mark of the beast, which is the number 666 placed on a person's right hand or forehead.

As we think about this, maybe at no time in world history has anyone seen the importance of buying and selling than what we are seeing right now with this

COVID -19 crisis. People are rushing to stores to buy things.

The shelves are empty. People are stocking up. And of course, Nate, if you're listening to this, hello, you know exactly what

I'm talking about. These shelves are cleared out. It's hard to keep up with stocking everything.

And this is not just going on here. It's going on everywhere in the world. Can you imagine a day when a mark on your forehead or wrist is needed to go to the store and buy?

And there is global government personnel there to detain anyone who does not have the mark of the beast.

Right now, it is hard for everyone to buy and sell because people are worried about the virus and the food you want to buy might not be available and the supplies you want might not be available.

Of course, toilet paper has been kind of a funny thing that people have laughed about. But this is what's going to happen.

In the second half of the tribulation, the option to buy and sell will not be available for the believer.

Not even an option. If you do it, you will die. If you go to the store without the mark, they will detain you and you will die.

Believers will not be able to have a normal life. Life, indeed, will be underground.

They will experience a persecution unlike any other. We have seen in this chapter that these two world leaders, one a leader of government, the

Antichrist, and the other a religious leader, the false prophet, they are going to make war on the saints.

And earlier I mentioned, by the way, that Satan wants power.

He wants to rule the world. He wants to have the most authority. And he's trying to take it away from God.

And what's interesting is that the devil will possess the Antichrist and the false prophet will point everyone to worship the

Antichrist. How many are there? There are three of them. So this is what we would call the unholy trinity, the evil trinity,

Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet, which is a dark reflection of the beautiful trinity, the

God that we worship, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. And what this evil trinity is going to do is make war on the saints.

But as we saw in Revelation 13 .10, God's plea to His people during this time will be to endure.

Just endure. If you stand firm for Christ to the end, even if they put you to death, the person who endures will show him or herself to be authentic, and that person will enter

God's glory forever. As Jesus said in Matthew 10 .28, Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.

Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. That verse is a call to faithfulness.

If you persevere, God is going to take care of you. The worst that the Antichrist and the false prophet will be able to do is to kill a believer.

Then the Lord will take that person to heaven. So what we just saw was a look at Revelation 13 about these two figures.

Now, there is one other book where the Antichrist is mentioned. And we go there last because this passage describes his defeat, his end.

And he will be removed from power and defeated by our

King, King Jesus, the true ruler of the world.

Let's read this marvelous passage in 2 Thessalonians 3, verses 3 -12.

For that day will not come, the day of the Lord, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so -called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be

God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things?

And you know what is restraining him now, so that he may be revealed in his time.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth, and to bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

What we see in this passage is that the Antichrist is going to show his true colors. He is possessed by Satan, and the reason

Satan was banished from heaven in the first place is because he desired to be God, as I've already mentioned, and Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 describe this.

He was not content with his place as a prominent angel in God's heavenly courts, so God sent him down to the earth, forever to be banished from his presence.

In Luke 10, verse 18, Jesus said, He saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Satan has not changed. At the end of the age, his goal at becoming

God will be prominent. The passage that we just read says that he will stand in the temple, proclaiming himself to be

God, but Jesus is going to show Satan who truly is in charge.

He is going to show him how much stronger God is than him. This passage emphasizes how easily

Jesus kills him. He is going to kill him with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

The book of Revelation also describes the defeat of the Antichrist and the false prophet.

Revelation chapter 19, verses 11 through 21, is the most glorious picture of the return of Christ in the

Bible. The apostle

John wrote, We are following him on white horses.

We gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.

And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who is sitting on the horse and against his army.

And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet, who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image.

These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse.

And all the birds were gorged with their flesh. So what we just read is glorious news.

The defeat of the Antichrist. And this defeat is going to happen at the end of the tribulation when

Jesus returns. And what this text tells us is the lake of fire, which is this end times hell.

Anybody who dies now who's not a believer, who goes to hell, doesn't go to the lake of fire. The lake of fire comes after the future judgment.

People go to a temporary place of suffering, and then they'll be given bodies in the future, and then they will be sent to the lake of fire.

But the first occupants of the lake of fire are the Antichrist and the false prophet.

And they are going to be sent there when Jesus Christ returns after the tribulation.

To conclude, this is our big idea. Under God's hand, Satan will make his greatest advancement in world history through two men that ultimately will fail.

That is what we have seen in this sermon. They rise to power, and things look very bleak for the world, but as quickly as they rose to power, their end will come as they will be destroyed by Christ, and in that, we rejoice.

Everyone who belongs to Christ is a victor along with Him. The tribulation is going to be the wildest time in world history.

And we're going to see that, especially over the next two weeks when we look at the wrath of God that is going to be poured out on the earth.

And during this wild time, everyone who has been raptured before the tribulation will be in heaven.

And that is glorious news for you. Since you have believed in Christ in your life, and you're following Him now, you will not be here for what we looked at today with the

Antichrist and the false prophet rising to power. You will be in heaven in pure and full joy with the

Lord. And that is glorious news. And we should rejoice at what the

Bible teaches about the future of us, His church. And may we long for His return.

And may we be so grateful that we will not be there. 1 Thessalonians 5 -9 tells us that we will not face the wrath of that period.

This sermon, like all in the sermon series, calls anyone who does not have a relationship with Christ to put their trust in Him.

You are a sinner, and He is the only Savior. And if you've never believed in Christ, I encourage you today to believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ. He went to the cross to bear the punishment that you deserve.

And if you believe in Him and find your refuge in Him, then you have nothing to fear. You will be secure forever.

You will have eternal life. You will never face God's wrath. You will never face the tyranny of the devil and His Antichrist and false prophet in the future.

So I call you to trust in Him this day. Now, as I mentioned, next

Sunday we are going to look at the other major event that is taking place during the

Tribulation, and that is the other wrath upon the earth. This morning we saw the wrath of the

Antichrist, but next week we will see God's wrath poured out on the unbelieving world.

And Lord willing, I think we'll be back on Facebook Live, and so I look forward to seeing you, and we will be looking at this destruction over the next two

Sundays. At this time, let's pray together. Father in Heaven, I thank

You for Jesus Christ. I thank You, Lord, that He defeats this Antichrist. I thank You, Lord, that as Your church,

You have told us that we will be caught together with You in the air. And as Jesus says in John 14, in my

Father's house are many rooms, and I have gone to prepare a place for You.

And I will come back again, that where I am, You may be also. And Lord, may that hope be instilled in us this day.

May we live with more earnestness for You. May we live with more love for You, as we realize that You could return at any time.

But thank You, Lord, that You have spared us from these two wicked world rulers who will come upon the earth.

And I pray, Lord, that anyone who doesn't know Christ, that they would believe in the Lord Jesus this day and be saved.