Revelation 13 Accept No Limitations

You're listening to the podcast of the Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsex preaches through his series, Thy Kingdom Come, taking us through the book of Revelation. Let's listen in.

Just to kind of set the stage for the next couple of weeks, on July 17th at the family meeting, those family meetings are held every other month on Sunday night, down at our meeting room. You go out on the main road that's just right out front of the parking lot, and down there on the left is our office space.

We've got a meeting room there. And on July 17th, we're going to be having a vote that, the ballots are going to be due that evening for a bylaw revision, a revision of our Constitution. Now, some of you are like, bylaws, Constitution, what is all of that?

That is just the guiding document that shows us kind of what to do and outlines the organization, the pathways of accountability and relationship and membership and all of that kind of stuff. And so, we'll be going through a revision of that.

We have been going through a revision of that, thanks to Bruce French, who has taken the.

Lead on that.

Bruce, if you want to wave there, one of our elders. He's been heading that up, and it's been, I don't know, has it been, it hasn't been a year, but it's probably been about eight to nine month process that we've been in this.

So kind of giving birth to new bylaws, if you will. But, I encourage you, we don't have that document ready for you today, but we will have it as when the eCast goes out this week. So if you receive that email, pay special attention to that.

You can look at that document there. We will have them available for the next two Sundays, with a ballot in the event that you can't make it on the 17th, that way you've got a couple weeks to look at it, to check it out, to ask questions.

Any questions that you have about it can go to Bruce, me, or any of the other elders.

All the elders, just raise your hand, those that are here.

So you can come to one of us and ask us about what's going on there, any changes that you're concerned about or have questions about. But again, the votes will be due at 8pm on July 17th, and direct any questions to us.

So appreciate that.

Worship Is More Than Singing Songs

With that all out of the way, this morning, I'm going to introduce the text of Scripture just like I usually do, and then read it before the band comes to lead us in worship. I want to explain why I do this.

I know that I do this, and those of us that have been here for years or been around for a while, you kind of get used to it, but I don't know if you've noticed that other churches don't necessarily do that.

They usually just do a bunch of songs and then a longer sermon, and I break that down to do a little bit of an introduction first. Some people see the singing, and I often did in my life in the past, and at other churches I've been to, they see the singing as preparation for preparing our hearts to listen to the Word of God.

Have you ever thought that way, or have you ever perceived it that way, that the songs are getting you ready? Well, I want to suggest to you that we sing songs for a different reason than just getting.

Ready.

It's not just preparation, but the songs are a pretty important part of what we do. They are valuable, and they're valuable, but I think that it's kind of a flip side of that. I think the Word gets us prepared to worship.

I think the Word gets our heart ready in the right frame of mind to be able to worship God as He is, because we cannot worship God, we cannot worship God. Well if we don't have.

An accurate view of who He is.

We can be worshiping, and we can be singing songs, but if we don't have an accurate view of who He is, then we aren't worshiping Him, we're worshiping something that we've made up in our minds, and we can be guilty of that, and we can get off track, and moment by moment day by day, we've got to keep coming back to the Word of God and seeing Him as He is.

We can't have an accurate view of who He is unless we know what He has stated about Himself, and the only place we can turn to find out what He's stated about Himself is in His Word and Scripture. And I want to point out also that so then all of that is leading us towards worship, and worship is more than just singing songs, right?

Did you know that? Worship is a lot more than just singing songs. It's the way that we discharge our duties at work. It's the way that we act as children towards our parents. It's the way that we parent our children.

It's the way we act as spouses.

It's the way we act as friends, neighbors. The way that we interact in all of our life can be rendered as worship to our great God, and He's worthy of everything being turned back towards a focus on Him, doing what we do for His honor and for His glory.

So much more than just singing songs. But how many of you like singing songs? Do you enjoy that some? I know I do. I enjoy that, and there's an aspect of that that's powerful in our gathering. But I'm gonna encourage us and challenge us this morning to worship God by recognizing a couple of different things, by recognizing His rightful rule in your life, by talking.

Him up.

Think about how worship is really kind of ascribing worth to God, and sometimes that's with our mouth, sometimes that's in a workplace, sometimes that's with our family. Some of you, how many of you are gonna get together with family over the next week, around.

The fourth?

Are some of you gonna hang out with some other people that you don't see on a regular basis, and you get a chance to interact with people? And talking God up and letting others know how awesome He has been to you this last year in your life, and then ultimately by depending on Him day by day, by depending on God.

Satan’s Imitations and the Call to Steadfast Faithfulness

In our text, we're gonna see a little bit of a strange sermon this morning. It really is looking, again, like we did last week, a little bit at Satan, but particularly towards his schemes here at the end of time.

And the schemes of Satan involve, all of them involve imitation. They are all a mockery, or a falsifying of something, or faking something. God's name is to be held in honor, so here in our text, we see Satan seeking honor for his name.

God commands worship, so here at the end, Satan commands worship. God offers provision for His people, so Satan says, I'll provide for my people, watch me provide for my people, and do things that they want me to do for them.

And though, and throughout this pretty strange text this morning, we're gonna see a challenge for each of us to consider where our own lives fall in regard to the imitations and the cheap knockoffs that Satan is peddling on every street corner.

There's a lot of imitations out there, aren't there? There's a lot of the false stuff that we encounter every day that Satan says, hey, follow me in this. Well, Satan has created something good, and he's marred it, or broken it, and wants us to follow him down his pathway, the cheap knockoffs.

He's the master of deception, and he's the father of lies, scripture says. And the way that he rolls down through the ages and down through history is just straight up deception, just straight up lies.

And he will hit the world hard in the end to trick them into kicking against the Almighty.

God.

But what we see of Satan in this text at the end times is not new, it's not like, oh, that's the way he's going to roll at the end, that's the way that he's going to respond then, but it's the same thing that he does in our lives, and the same thing he does here in America day in and day out.

It's not like these strategies are, oh, this end times, but they're what he does now. And his defeat, this is important to get at the outset before we read this text, remember that the defeat of Satan is already assured by the blood of Jesus Christ.

So as we talk about his deception, as we talk about his strategies, as we talk about his imitations, as we think about the way that he seeks to win us to a different side, tries to pull people down to where he is, remember that his defeat is assured.

It's a done deal, and it's just a matter of it actually coming to pass. And the call for each one of us that we're going to see very clearly in this text is come what may, God is asking for each one of his children, each person who would seek to follow him, to honor him, and would desire to be with him to the end and for eternity, he just is asking us for steadfast faithfulness.

Stick with him.

Stick with his ways.

Of course, that entails and requires us to know his ways, to follow him and to stay hard after him, to follow right on his heels. If he turns left, we turn left. If he turns right, if he stops, we stop.

If he advances faster, we go faster, too.

Follow our God.

So let's open our Bibles to Revelation chapter 13. If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand.

We've got a couple guys back here with Bibles.

We just want everybody to have a copy of God's word on their lap so that you can follow along and see that the things that I'm reading are coming from the pages of Scripture. Again, it's going to be Revelation chapter 13, way at the back of the book, and follow along, recast as I read God's very words of self-disclosure of what he desires for you and I here in Matawan, Michigan in 2017.

He desires us to know this. And I, remember this is the author John speaking, John the Apostle, and I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns, and blasphemous names on its heads.

And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like bears, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power, and his throne, and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.

And they worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it? 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.

And authority was given it over every tribe, and people, and language, and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship it. Everyone whose name was not, who 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 he must be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all authority of the first beast in its presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose mortal wound was healed.

It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people. 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 on 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. Let's pray as we come to worship this morning. Father, we encounter a text this morning that can be kind of creepy to read.

It can be a little bit strange to read about this beast, this leopard, bear, lion beast that comes out of the sea. This beast that rises up out of the land. And Father, just this picture that we have of Antichrist and false prophet.

These who will, in the end, seek to deceive many. And Father, yet I confess that I have, at times in my life and even this week and maybe even this morning, accepted cheap rip-offs and knock-offs of the real thing.

Father, I pray that you would protect us as your people, that you would guide us and direct us towards what is true and what is right and what is good. Father, that we would not accept the substitutes, that we would accept no imitations.

But Father, that we would come to you and drink deeply from the well of the water of salvation that you provide for us. I thank you so much for the cross of Christ, which is the real deal,.

Which is the real hope, that we are deeply loved,.

We are certainly broken, we are certainly fallen, we have messed up and we are jacked up through and through and yet you have loved us and won us over by your great sacrifice on the cross. And so, Father, I pray that we would worship as a people who are free, not under the bondage of the evil one, not under his sway, not under his control, but as people who have been set free by the blood of Jesus Christ.

And it's in his name that I pray. I encourage you to get comfortable and make sure you keep your Bibles open to Revelation chapter 13. Again, just as we walk through the book of Revelation, a pretty interesting passage, one that has a multitude of different interpretations for it.

But I want you to have your Bibles open so you can kind of see that the things that I'm talking about are being pulled from the pages and from the verses in this chapter. And so, remember that if at any time you need to get more coffee or juice or donuts, if there's any left, take advantage of that or get up and stretch out in the back.

But our focus really, I hope, for the next half an hour or so is to keep our attention on God's Word and to really hear from Him and that I would actually be able to explain this text to you in a way that has an impact on your life.

That's ultimately the goal every time. My heart's cry, my prayer desperately every week is that God would speak to you, that you wouldn't just hear my voice, but that you would hear from God and be empowered to go out and live closer to Him as a result of encountering His Word.

This morning we're in a passage. I want to remind you at the start that we're in a passage intended for the church to read. In our era, this is intended for us. And I've mentioned a couple of times, and I think some of these texts need more reminder than others, that this is not a book.

Revelation was not meant, chapter 13 was not meant to be locked away under glass with a little hammer that says, in case of apocalypse, break glass and read this book. But I think that a lot of people have had that kind of interpretation, that kind of understanding.

What does this have to do with me in 2016? Certainly if these kind of global events begin to happen and I begin to see A, B, or C happen, or the Antichrist identifies himself, or 666 is being put on people's foreheads and hands, then I'm going to wake up, then I'm going to pay attention, then I'm going to read this book, then it will have meaning to me.

But aside from that, well, it's just confusing and nobody can get anything out of this. I hope that that's not the case as we've been going through this series. I hope you've been motivated, been moved, been encouraged to take your faith seriously, to take sin seriously, to recognize that he has something to communicate to us today through Revelation chapter 13.

It is not merely a chapter, not merely a book for the end times. This text had meaning when the ancient church of Ephesus read it. It has meaning when the modern church in Matawan, Michigan reads it. And it will certainly have meaning as well when it is read by believers in that final three and a half year conclusion.

To the Great Tribulation.

It will have significant meaning to them then as well. But last week, let me set the stage again to remember where we've been. Last week we saw Satan hungry to kill Jesus, but Jesus was rescued from his grip.

The resurrection, he was brought to heaven and set up on a throne. Jesus was rescued from the plot and plan of the evil one. We saw Satan then in turn pursue the Jewish believers, but they were rescued.

So at the end of the text, it was declared that Satan set his sights on believers who had trusted in the testimony of Jesus during that Great Tribulation time. And at the end of our text, we saw that the very end of last chapter left Satan standing on the shore of the sea, the great dragon on the shore of the sea,.

Ready to hatch a plot,.

Ready to bring his focus and attention toward the church during that era to bring about their demise.

That is his goal.

The Beast from the Sea and the Anti-Christ

And the structure of our text this morning is that we're going to see Satan call forth two beasts. Now these are not literal beasts. They are figurative in the sense that they are a sign. They are symbols.

The description of them is all symbolic. One of them comes from the sea. One of them arises out of the land. And these three, the dragon, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the land will all form a mockery of the Holy Trinity.

And it's very clear in the things that these three do that they are mocking, they are imitating the Trinity. The words and actions of each will mimic the actions of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And it's not mere coincidence that Satan follows that pattern.

The beast from the sea, I believe, will be a world ruler,.

A real person.

It's possible that it is a world government, but we're going to see that the imagery shifts a little bit as we go through it, and I'll kind of walk us through that, where we kind of start with this seven-headed beast.

By the end, we're talking about this one as one entity. But we start with kind of this notion that it has seven heads, just like the dragon, which ties it closely, ties this beast out of the sea closely with Satan himself.

It has ten horns, the horns of power, a symbol always of power. And each crown has on it, or each horn, rather, has on it a crown, a diadem, a crown of authority, demonstrating that each one of these seven heads has some kind of power.

And written on each head, something a little bit different from the dragon, each head has written on it a name of blasphemy, a blasphemous name. Now, blasphemy is not a word that you probably use on a regular basis.

It's not a routine word. You recognize it as a religious word, but I would dare say that your mouth did not utter the word blasphemy at any point during this past week. And so, it's one that we're not very familiar with.

We probably have some fuzzy notions. Those of you that are raised in church probably have some kind of an understanding of what it might be. You recognize that Jesus was accused of blasphemy. Why did the Jews accuse him of blasphemy?

Because he equated himself with God. Now, there's another form of blasphemy. It is a mockery or a dismissal of the authority of God when it is seen, when it is present. When Jesus performed his miracles and they attributed it to Satan, that was considered a form of blasphemy as well.

And so, there's multiple ways to blaspheme, but it always has to do with either minimizing God and in some way exalting the self. That's always the notion of it and it's generally spoken or written. So, that's what we're dealing with here in this text.

And I believe that these names written on the heads of this beast are not like, God is bad or God is weak. The types of names that I think are there on the head of this beast that John doesn't share with us but are blasphemous are things like King of Kings.

Who is this beast?

Oh, he's King of Kings.

He is the Almighty.

He is the Lord of all Lords. It's that kind of name that this beast is taking for himself.

It is blasphemy.

It is to take upon himself more glory and more authority and more power than is rightfully his. It is an imitation authority. It is an imitation power. It is not the real thing. The beast is tattooed with titles that declare his own authority, his own power, his own supremacy.

In other words,.

It's quite simply.

This first beast is confident in himself. He is not struggling with self-esteem issues. Okay, he's pretty confident.

That he doesn't need to be reminded of how good he is.

And how much he himself is worthy of worship. He's okay receiving the accolades of all. He thinks that he's worthy of that. This beast, according to the text, is like a leopard, has a mouth like a lion, walks on paws like a bear.

And people have worked hard to identify this beast to kind of like, well, okay, leopard, lion,.

Paws of a bear,.

Like what is all of that about?

And they say, you know, Russia. Russia's the great bear, right?

So, I mean,.

That's always the imagery.

Is always Russia is.

And then the lion and the panther, they've used various Eastern European countries to say some kind of coalition of this or something like that.

And I'm just over here.

Wanting to point out that two-thirds of the analogy, two-thirds of the symbolism used for this beast is simply cats. Okay, that's kind of.

What I wanted you to see.

From this.

So, Antichrist.

Is represented by.

Cats.

Now, some of you saw that coming. You knew that.

Before you ever even.

Read this passage.

I've always kind of,.

You know,.

Thought that cats.

Were not to be trusted.

Now I think I have.

Biblical evidence.

You've got, you've got the lion,.

You've got the panther, they're right in there. Some of you don't have,.

You're like,.

Cats are pretty cool.

It's a joke, people. It's a joke, okay?

Dog lovers are all getting a kick out of it. But what's most important.

Is that this beast,.

Though, as we dig in, I'm not going to be able to identify why the panther,.

Why the bear.

I think they're just symbols. Again, sometimes I think.

That the picture,.

The imagery is meant.

To be pictured.

Like, you're supposed.

To picture a panther, bear, lion thing. And if you have the right picture in your mind,.

Then it's scary.

It's intimidating.

It's, it's,.

I often thought,.

And I mean,.

I don't want to push.

This cat thing too far, but I've actually thought,.

I really believe,.

Okay, I don't own a cat, my kids own a cat. I want to be clear.

About that.

But I think that that cat, if it was big enough,.

Would kill us all.

I really do. And I think it would.

Play with us first. Like, and so,.

I mean, I don't know, the fear,.

The thought of, like, take the personality.

Of your house cat.

And make it as big as a lion. And it would own you, right? Would it own you?

Would it be like, oh, it's a curl up.

And you'd be able.

To sleep on it? No, no,.

It would just bat you.

Around for a while.

And then take you out. And, and that's an intimidating picture.

And if you ever.

Just thought,.

Like, it's a little bit freaky the thought.

Of a large cat.

Is that a little bit,.

A little bit intimidating?

Lions,.

A little bit intimidating? Tigers, a little bit intimidating?

Like, that,.

The imagery is supposed to press on your mind fear,.

Not. What country is this?

Hmm, I wonder,.

Is this the,.

Is this,.

You know,.

Is this Russia with the bear paws.

And all of that?

Now, there could be.

Symbolism in there that I'm not able.

To attain,.

That I'm not able.

To pull out,.

But I'm just telling you that anybody who identifies these with any assurance, anybody who tells you.

Definitively,.

I've unlocked the code.

To all of the symbolism.

Is kind of just guessing.

At the end of the day. No matter how confident they sound, no matter how much.

Bravado they give it, no matter how much authority they stand,.

It's,.

In the text it just isn't that clear.

So we have to hold.

These things loosely and I just kind of say, I'm not sure.

That that's that.

Significant a point.

Other than to say.

This is a terrifying person, this is a terrifying entity.

That will be there.

In the end. And,.

Again,.

What I think is most important.

In this text.

Is that this beast.

Is Satan's beast. It belongs to him.

He gives the beast his power.

He gives the beast.

His throne.

He gives to this beast his great authority.

And once again.

I want to point out the similarity.

To the father.

Bringing forth a man and giving him power and giving that man.

A throne.

And giving that man his great authority.

God,.

At the fullness.

Of time.

Brought forth his Christ.

And Satan at the end of time will bring forth.

His anti-Christ.

That's what.

We're seeing here. This is the anti-Christ.

In chapter 17.

We find out that the seven heads represent seven rulers and one of them.

Will have.

A mortal wound.

To his head.

The terminology here in Greek.

Is that death.

Has occurred.

I want to be clear.

This is not just a significant wound. This is not a man in critical condition but this man died of a sword wound.

To the head.

According to the.

Greek language here. And I mention a sword wound because in verse 14 even though it doesn't say it right here in this point.

That we're at.

In verse 14.

It makes it clear how he received.

This wound. It was a sword wound. And now the imagery could be a bit confusing and this is where I think the image.

Shifts a little bit.

We have one beast seven heads and the heads.