The Beast & It’s Mark // Reflecting on Revelation - Chapter 13-14

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Well good morning everyone.

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My name is Nic

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and, it is great to be here.

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And for those of you

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who are having journey with us

the last few weeks,

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we are going through the book

of Revelation and it's been exciting.

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Has it not been exciting?

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And every single week we meet new people

who are coming and visiting.

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And, I kind of got to preface

what we're going through because,

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the Book of Revelation is a crazy book,

is it not?

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You know, it's it's it's

meant to kind of shock us

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and stir us and go, what the is going on?

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And, as I say, almost every week,

when we open the Bible

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and try and figure out what it says,

we are unapologetically unashamed,

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about trying to work

through this ancient book.

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Right.

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And we know most of us know that this book

is not just one book is a book of books.

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You know, there's 50 odd books in here

that spans thousands of years, that speak

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to different types of people

and different kinds

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of situations in different ethnic groups.

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It uses multiple languages.

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It uses different genres. Right.

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And so there's a great kind of that quote

that says the Bible wasn't

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written to us, but it was written for us.

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You know what we think?

What does that mean?

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But it kind of means that now

these, books within this book

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were written to an original group

of people in the ancient world, right?

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And God was moving amongst us.

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And so part of our kind of job and role

and, privilege is to wrestle

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with these texts to see how God can speak

to us afresh today through that.

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And so, as we jump in today, today

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we're jumping into some pretty crazy,

scripture.

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So, buckle up.

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If you don't have a seat belt, put it on

and there might be

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some crazy things in there,

which is again, it is fine.

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We're going to walk through it

and see what it has to say to us today.

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I'm going to ask Kadri up here,

and she's going to read the reading

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for this morning.

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And, I hope you find it stimulating.

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In fact, let me just pray,

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father God, we, come before

your scriptures, your holy scriptures.

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You set apart scriptures,

and we declare that,

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the Bible has a wisdom and an authority

like no other.

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And though at times

it can be confronting, confusing,

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frustrating, offensive,

we want to see it humbly before this.

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We don't want to be reactive,

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but we want to be reflective

and see what you have to say.

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For us today, knowing that

people have wrestled with these scriptures

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for thousands and thousands

and thousands of years,

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that people have found life and wholeness,

Nations have been transformed

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for the good because of these

very scriptures that we are about to read.

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So we pray that for us a day today, afresh

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we pray, Holy Spirit, that you are with us

the same spirit

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that was present back then,

that you would make things clear to us,

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to what we need to hear today

and what we need to apply in our lives.

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And everybody said Amen.

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Thanks, Kadri.

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This morning's reading

comes from revelations 13,

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verses 1 to 7,

and then we call five to 11 to 16.

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Verse one.

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And the dragon stood

on the shore of the sea.

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I saw a beast coming

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out of the sea and had ten horns,

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seven heads with ten crowns on his horns,

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and on each head blasphemous names

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the beast I saw resembled a leopard,

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and his feet like a bear,

and a mouth like rain.

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And the dragon gave the beast

his power and his throne.

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And his great authority.

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One of the heads of the beast

seemed to have a fatal wound,

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but the wound had healed.

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The whole world was astonished,

and followed the beast

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man and worship the dragon,

because he was given authority to.

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He had given authority to the base.

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They also worship the beast and asked,

who is like the beast?

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Who can make war against him?

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The bass was given a mouth and asked

words,

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blasphemy, words of blasphemy.

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And to exercise his authority

for 42 months

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he opened his mouth to blaspheme

God and to slander the names.

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Who lived in heaven.

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He was given power to make war or war

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against the saints

and to come and conquer them.

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And he was given authority over

every pride,

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pride, people, language, a nation.

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All the inhabitants of the earth

will worship the beast,

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all whose names have not been written

in the Book of life,

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belonging to the lamb that was slain

from the creation of the world.

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And now we go from 11.

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Then another beast saw coming

out of the earth two horns like a lamb.

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And he spoke like a dragon.

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He exercised all the authority

of the first days

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on his behalf, and made the

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on behalf, and made the earth

and its inhabitants worship

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the first beast

whose fatal wound had been healed.

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He performed great and miraculous signs,

even causing

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fire to come down from the earth

in full view of men.

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Because of the signs,

he was given power on behalf of the first

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be based, and he had to save

the inhabitants of the earth.

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He ordered them to set up an image

in honour

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of the beast who wounded it,

was wounded by a sword, and yet

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it was given power to

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give breath to the image

and the first space, so that it could

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speak, and cause all who refused

to worship the image to be killed.

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He forced everyone small,

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great, rich, poor, free, and slave

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to receive a mark on his right

hand and his forehead.

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This is the word of the Lord. Amen, Amen.

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Thanks, Kadri. That was epic.

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Welcome to church, everybody.

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Another week of crazy

reading in the Bible and

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we are jumping into a text that is

ancient, written in the first century.

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And, as we've said, every single week,

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this book of revelation is,

is what's called apocalyptic literature,

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which is a kind of genre of communication

that we don't really have today.

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I mean, the closest thing

could be a mixture between sci fi horror,

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you know, psychological thriller

and meme culture mixed all together.

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Right.

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This idea that, in the first century,

people will communicate by this kind of

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literature through using crazy

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images to explain things

that can't be explained.

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And you have these grandiose images

of monsters and beasts and serpents

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and everything in between.

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And so it's been quite interesting

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journeying

through this, has it, has it not?

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And I thought it was add to title

this series is this the end?

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Because, you know, when you look on our TV

and you look across what's happening

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in our world, it seems like there's crisis

upon crisis upon crisis, right?

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The environment is in decay.

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The geopolitical, situation

is deteriorating

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more than we've seen in recent memory.

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The financial markets are collapsing,

right?

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Some would say that

moral decay in the West is happening,

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and it seems like one thing

on top of the other.

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And yeah, the word is poly crisis

that our social commentators are using.

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And so it is a natural

feeling to feel like,

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is this like the end of the world

as we know it?

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Right.

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This kind of idea

of some sort of apocalyptic

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Armageddon scenario seems to be coming.

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And, if you are human, you're feeling

that whether you go to church or not,

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I would want to say that

that's a very normal thing to feel.

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And people have felt this

since we've been writing history books

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because, as we said, almost every week,

almost every generation,

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bar a few generations throughout history

has thought that the world

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was about to end,

that things were getting really crazy,

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you know, and people, often

well-meaning people, have predicted

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the end of the world

for thousands and thousands of years.

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And, today we are in a time and space

where this is present as well.

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Now, what I'm not saying as a, as a,

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as someone who's reading the Bible

is that the world won't end as we know it.

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In fact, as we read through this, this,

this book, it talks about

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what will happen at the end of history

and the last few weeks.

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We've talked about that

there will be a time when Jesus returns.

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You know, we celebrate Christmas,

the first coming of Jesus, but

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we're celebrating and recognising

now the second coming of Jesus.

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And it will be terrifying,

but also beautiful

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and restorative, where

there'll be no more war, no more hunger.

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Every team will be wiped away

from people's eyes.

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And rather than being the world

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being burnt up and destroyed,

we actually see a restoration.

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A new heaven and a new earth being here,

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not somewhere up in the clouds.

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And so that's kind of a potted kind of,

I guess.

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Look at where

we've been over the last few weeks.

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And so as we jump in to this,

we see that there's

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this commentary of this spiritual world,

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you be

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you may not be surprised to know

that we are spiritual beings.

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We're physical beings.

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We have a physical sense of self,

but we're also spiritual as well.

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There's been,

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heaps of studies about people's

spirituality over the last few decades.

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Just recently, about five years ago,

there was a mass UK, Europe,

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actually European study

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about people's spiritual experiences

where they're religious or not.

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And, it was pretty far reaching,

but it turns out, around two thirds of

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people, irrespective of their background,

will have some sort of,

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significant spiritual experience

or encounter that they can't explain.

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Another study

in Australia taken during Covid,

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suggests that around 50% of

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Australians would consider themselves

to be spiritual and particularly doing

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during the time of Covid,

when things lockdown was happening

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and things were getting rough

and uncertain,

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people became even more spiritual.

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And so over half of Australians

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consider themselves

to have a sense of the spirit world.

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Right.

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And I guess that that level,

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the Bible and,

it would kind of be in line with that,

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that there actually is a spiritual realm

and a physical realm.

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Right.

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But the Bible would also suggest

that, like, we see conflict in this world,

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like we see good and evil,

light and darkness,

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a whole lot of stuff, you know, bad stuff

that's happening in this world.

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The spiritual road realm is the same

as well as that, that there's good

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and bad, that there's light and darkness,

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that there's hope and despair.

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And so we see in the person of Jesus,

who is fully man and fully

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God, him restoring both the physical world

and the spiritual world.

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And so revelation is a picture of that

when everything is kind of being restored.

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Right?

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There's a lot of theology

that I was just explaining right there.

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But do you follow that right.

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So we are in a spiritual world,

but also a physical world,

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but it's not the spiritual world

that many of us might be used to.

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The spiritual world of, you know, just,

you know, praying some sort of mantra

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or just practising yoga

or finding a sense of peace.

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David, talk about peace before,

which is a good thing, right?

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The spiritual world is not just that.

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It's actually connected to allegiance,

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that there is a dark side

to the spiritual realm.

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It's not just like a smorgasbord

where we can just tap into something

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unbeknown just to make us feel better

so that that may happen,

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that the book of revelation

particularly talks about.

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There are dark forces in the world

that aren't human.

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Right?

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Which sounds sci fi and crazy right to us.

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But John, the author of revelation

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here is speaking to a community,

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a whole bunch of churches who are doing it

pretty tough under the Roman Empire.

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And he is pulling back the veil,

which apocalyptic literature

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does of what is actually going on.

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This finding it really tough.

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And he's saying to them, listen,

there's a whole spiritual,

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interplay going on here

that you don't actually see straight on

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and that you are holding on to your faith.

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You were trying to be love

like Jesus to the people around you,

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and that is really important.

And it's really hard.

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And some of you being killed for that,

you need to keep on going

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because there's a spiritual battle battle

going on, and you are part of that battle

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and you need to know that Jesus wins

and you are on the winning team.

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And so that's kind of the big picture

of the book of revelation.

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And so the next two weeks,

we are looking at this middle section

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through chapters 13 to 15.

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And then next

week I'll look at chapter 17.

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And we are looking at

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the different characters

in, revelation in this book.

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And so we've come to the two

great monsters,

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the two beasts in our upbringing,

our culture.

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We used beasts all the time. Right.

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You can look at those,

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and I'm sure you can identify

or relate to a couple of those.

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Right?

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I remember growing up,

you know, being terrified of Voldemort.

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You know, I said his name,

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I love where the Wild Things Are, right?

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They're not they're not too scary. Right.

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But the images of base, right.

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The personification of something

that is bigger than the physical world

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to communicate something.

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We use this kind of imagery all the time

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to explain and to tell certain narratives

about different things.

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And you can see that

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there's some monsters are good

and some monsters are pretty bad.

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Right?

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And so when we get to

this part of revelation, John

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is not talking about some sort

of make believe monster

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for the sake of make believe.

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He is using crazy, grandiose,

scary, terrifying images

00:14:46:16 - 00:14:49:17

to point to a big, terrifying

00:14:49:17 - 00:14:53:01

spiritual evil, right?

00:14:53:03 - 00:14:56:09

And so we're going to jump

through the handful of characters

00:14:56:09 - 00:15:00:03

there's there's kind of 4 or 5

main characters that we're going to be

00:15:00:03 - 00:15:03:06

that we've looked at from last week over

and this week and next week,

00:15:03:12 - 00:15:05:02

and I'm just going to quickly

go through them

00:15:05:02 - 00:15:09:00

because they kind of introduced,

they're introduced today.

00:15:09:00 - 00:15:10:10

We've got the two beasts.

00:15:10:10 - 00:15:13:18

And we talked about the dragon,

the devil last week.

00:15:13:18 - 00:15:15:03

I'm going to touch on that again.

00:15:15:03 - 00:15:16:23

So if you'd indulge me, we're going

00:15:16:23 - 00:15:20:19

to look through these kind of characters,

this kind of a character plot,

00:15:20:21 - 00:15:23:23

so we can identify,

what we're reading about.

00:15:23:23 - 00:15:25:16

And so

00:15:25:18 - 00:15:27:12

the, the, the first character

00:15:27:12 - 00:15:31:22

which Luke touched on last week

is the dragon.

00:15:31:24 - 00:15:33:24

The dragon stood on the shore of the sea.

00:15:33:24 - 00:15:37:22

And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.

00:15:37:24 - 00:15:40:08

The dragon gave the beast his power

00:15:40:08 - 00:15:43:08

and his throne and great authority.

00:15:43:11 - 00:15:48:06

We spoke last week that John is actually

explicit in other parts of of revelation.

00:15:48:06 - 00:15:51:21

He says the beast is actually Satan,

right?

00:15:51:21 - 00:15:57:04

And again, Satan is this crazy,

you know, psychedelic idea,

00:15:57:06 - 00:15:59:20

that there is actually an evil

00:15:59:20 - 00:16:02:20

outside of us as human beings.

00:16:03:00 - 00:16:07:01

And the Bible talks extensively about this

00:16:07:06 - 00:16:12:15

kind of spiritual being,

this personification of evil.

00:16:12:17 - 00:16:16:10

This, this,

that the words that are related to Satan,

00:16:16:10 - 00:16:21:03

the deceiver, the accuser, the destroyer,

the father of lies,

00:16:21:05 - 00:16:24:05

the evil one, the tempter, the tempter

00:16:24:06 - 00:16:28:01

raging around like a lion, a serpent,

00:16:28:03 - 00:16:32:04

looking to devour and destroy

00:16:32:06 - 00:16:35:19

people and God's earth basically standing

00:16:35:24 - 00:16:39:13

against anything that is opposed to God.

00:16:39:13 - 00:16:39:21

Right.

00:16:39:21 - 00:16:42:22

And that should sound crazy

and terrifying, right?

00:16:42:22 - 00:16:48:04

Because I guess in some ways, well,

in every way it is right.

00:16:48:06 - 00:16:52:24

And so we see this picture

last week of this drag,

00:16:52:24 - 00:16:56:21

this image of a dragon,

being really angry with the birth of baby,

00:16:56:23 - 00:17:01:18

of baby Jesus through this crazy picture

of revelation in the Christmas story.

00:17:01:20 - 00:17:05:23

But now it jumps into another gear where

00:17:06:00 - 00:17:09:14

the dragon, releases these beasts

00:17:09:14 - 00:17:14:14

into the world again

and make it a crazy movie.

00:17:14:16 - 00:17:15:16

Right.

00:17:15:16 - 00:17:19:11

When we think again of Satan,

we normally think of some red

00:17:19:13 - 00:17:24:02

kind of devilish creature with with pitch,

you know, pitchforks and horns.

00:17:24:04 - 00:17:27:12

If you're older, as old as I am.

00:17:27:14 - 00:17:29:16

You might remember South Park.

00:17:29:16 - 00:17:34:04

There's this crazy image where,

you know, Satan has this fighting match

00:17:34:04 - 00:17:37:17

with Jesus and like,

you know, Satan's jacked up and buff,

00:17:37:23 - 00:17:42:08

and then Jesus is, like, all scrawny

and like, he just doesn't stand a chance.

00:17:42:10 - 00:17:42:24

Right?

00:17:42:24 - 00:17:47:07

And so there's kind of this cultural

interpretation of of this idea of Satan.

00:17:47:07 - 00:17:47:19

Right.

00:17:47:19 - 00:17:51:07

And again, like if you Google image,

you know, what does it look like?

00:17:51:07 - 00:17:54:06

You see this kind of red devil with horns.

00:17:54:06 - 00:17:54:24

Right.

00:17:54:24 - 00:17:58:03

And, and I got to say that's,

that's an interpretation

00:17:58:03 - 00:18:00:17

from the 12th century

from Dante's Inferno.

00:18:00:17 - 00:18:03:13

Right where there's this idea

that, you know,

00:18:03:13 - 00:18:06:24

Satan is like the king of of hell

or whatever.

00:18:06:24 - 00:18:07:24

He's like the Lord of hell.

00:18:07:24 - 00:18:10:08

And he's like, he's like,

welcome to my lair.

00:18:10:08 - 00:18:13:14

And like, you know, invites people down

and stuff like that.

00:18:13:18 - 00:18:18:24

But the Bible tells a very different story

about, what Satan looks like.

00:18:18:24 - 00:18:21:08

Right. And where he is destined for to.

00:18:21:08 - 00:18:24:08

In fact, the scripture passage

we read last week

00:18:24:11 - 00:18:30:06

talks about Satan actually

being defeated and subject to hell right.

00:18:30:08 - 00:18:30:22

And so this

00:18:30:22 - 00:18:34:05

idea that Satan is filled with fury,

00:18:34:05 - 00:18:38:22

this evil spiritual force,

because he knows his time is short,

00:18:38:24 - 00:18:41:24

that Satan is not,

you know, has dominion over,

00:18:42:03 - 00:18:45:00

over hell and,

you know, eternity away from God.

00:18:45:00 - 00:18:47:21

But actually, he's subject to that.

00:18:47:21 - 00:18:50:08

Right? That's a very key thing.

00:18:50:08 - 00:18:53:08

And then that Satan

takes on very different forms.

00:18:53:13 - 00:18:56:18

The personification of evil

is not necessarily

00:18:56:18 - 00:19:01:21

some ruthless dictator

that causes great atrocities and harm.

00:19:01:21 - 00:19:05:23

That that may be the case,

but actually some something that is,

00:19:06:00 - 00:19:10:12

smooth and elusive

00:19:10:14 - 00:19:13:05

and, and, and sweet talking

00:19:13:05 - 00:19:16:19

and kind of lose people in weight.

00:19:16:20 - 00:19:20:05

We looked at at the start of the year,

the book of Genesis in Genesis three.

00:19:20:05 - 00:19:24:18

And Satan is personified

as a snake asking questions.

00:19:24:20 - 00:19:26:04

Right.

00:19:26:06 - 00:19:27:06

And so, there's

00:19:27:06 - 00:19:31:12

a really good quote that I reckon,

is really, really great when we think

00:19:31:12 - 00:19:37:15

about, Satan, when Satan reminds you

of your past, remind him about his future.

00:19:37:17 - 00:19:42:19

And so the book of revelation talks about,

actually, that because of Jesus dying

00:19:42:19 - 00:19:48:20

on the cross, there is this final battle

where Satan is put in his place.

00:19:48:20 - 00:19:52:17

Evil is finally dealt with.

00:19:52:19 - 00:19:55:19

And so this is the idea of Satan.

00:19:55:19 - 00:19:57:16

So say he's a counterfeit God.

00:19:57:16 - 00:19:58:19

He corrupts worship.

00:19:58:19 - 00:20:02:12

He compromises, faith, and he destroys

00:20:02:12 - 00:20:06:19

God's good earth

and who he created his people.

00:20:06:21 - 00:20:11:04

And again, that might be the first time

you're thinking about this in this way.

00:20:11:06 - 00:20:14:07

Can I encourage you not to cancel it out,

but actually

00:20:14:07 - 00:20:17:07

sit with that and reflect on that?

00:20:17:11 - 00:20:21:20

That is, there is a spiritual realm

that's not neutral.

00:20:21:22 - 00:20:25:05

The evil that we are actually seeing

in the world, though,

00:20:25:05 - 00:20:27:03

we have volition and free will.

00:20:27:03 - 00:20:31:00

There's a spiritual dimension

to that on top of that as well.

00:20:31:02 - 00:20:36:01

So that's the dragon

you see with me, character number one.

00:20:36:03 - 00:20:37:11

All right.

00:20:37:11 - 00:20:43:12

Character

number two is the beast from the sea.

00:20:43:14 - 00:20:45:00

And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.

00:20:45:00 - 00:20:48:09

You'd had ten horns and seven heads

with ten crowns on its horns.

00:20:48:12 - 00:20:51:03

And on each head a blasphemous name.

00:20:51:03 - 00:20:55:02

The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but

it had feet like those of a bear, mouth

00:20:55:08 - 00:20:56:13

like that of a lion.

00:20:56:13 - 00:21:02:09

The dragon gave the beast his power

and his throne and great authority.

00:21:02:11 - 00:21:04:01

The dragon is giving out.

00:21:04:01 - 00:21:07:05

Satan is giving power

to these crazy beasts.

00:21:07:05 - 00:21:12:08

And in the ancient world, anything that

came from the sea was terrifying, right?

00:21:12:08 - 00:21:15:02

If you look through the Old Testament

scriptures in the Bible,

00:21:15:02 - 00:21:18:06

you have the great sea

monster Leviathan, right?

00:21:18:09 - 00:21:22:05

And so most people couldn't

swim in the ancient world, right?

00:21:22:07 - 00:21:25:20

So anything in the sea was dark,

ghostly and terrifying.

00:21:25:20 - 00:21:27:09

So it makes a lot of sense. Right?

00:21:27:09 - 00:21:31:03

So a lot of the ancient imagery are

these are of these sea

00:21:31:03 - 00:21:34:06

bass coming out of the ocean.

00:21:34:10 - 00:21:38:03

And so John is painting a picture

of the first beast

00:21:38:04 - 00:21:41:07

coming out of the dragon,

and it's a beast from the sea,

00:21:41:11 - 00:21:45:04

and quite explicitly in chapter 17,

which will be reading next week,

00:21:45:06 - 00:21:49:23

I he interprets what that beast is

meant to be, and it talks about the beast

00:21:49:23 - 00:21:54:03

being the city on Seven Hills,

which again for us doesn't mean

00:21:54:07 - 00:21:58:02

anything that in first century

the city on Seven Hills

00:21:58:05 - 00:22:02:14

was the slogan for the Roman Empire,

for the Rome city itself.

00:22:02:16 - 00:22:06:18

It's like if you and I were going to talk

about going to the Big Apple, right?

00:22:06:18 - 00:22:08:10

If you talk to someone 2000 years

00:22:08:10 - 00:22:10:04

from now and said,

hey, I'm just going to the Big Apple Mac.

00:22:10:04 - 00:22:12:21

What are you talking about?

There's a big Apple.

00:22:12:21 - 00:22:14:22

You know exactly what I'm talking about,

right?

00:22:14:22 - 00:22:17:20

You're going to New York City, right?

00:22:17:20 - 00:22:18:21

Like that.

00:22:18:21 - 00:22:24:15

The city of Seven Hills was a phrase

that was known and used all the time.

00:22:24:17 - 00:22:28:19

And so he, John, is kind of interpreting

what this beast is.

00:22:28:21 - 00:22:31:06

And over the last few weeks

we've been talking about the Roman Empire.

00:22:31:06 - 00:22:34:14

The Roman Empire

was one of the great Roman great empires.

00:22:34:14 - 00:22:39:16

By great I don't mean cool and fantastic

and good by great, I mean domineering

00:22:39:16 - 00:22:44:05

and doing, things, like conquest.

00:22:44:07 - 00:22:45:20

Like we cannot imagine, right?

00:22:45:20 - 00:22:49:03

Like there's a few, empires in history,

00:22:49:03 - 00:22:52:08

and Rome is up there

with one of the great empires.

00:22:52:08 - 00:22:57:13

And so Rome was across the waters

to these churches who are based in Turkey.

00:22:57:13 - 00:23:01:07

So this idea that a beast

coming out of the sea also connects

00:23:01:07 - 00:23:06:19

with this foreign empire

that has come in and overseen things.

00:23:06:21 - 00:23:10:06

And so what do we see the beast doing?

00:23:10:08 - 00:23:15:01

We see the beast claiming ultimate power.

00:23:15:03 - 00:23:19:04

It seems to claim that it is

the divine right.

00:23:19:04 - 00:23:22:16

It is God so separates himself

00:23:22:16 - 00:23:26:04

from the true God,

but says the divine is God.

00:23:26:04 - 00:23:29:24

And we know this through

all of our history that talks about

00:23:29:24 - 00:23:35:05

emperors being talked about lords and gods

and coming back from the dead.

00:23:35:09 - 00:23:39:09

In fact, a lot of the slogans

are very similar to the Bible slogans.

00:23:39:09 - 00:23:39:24

Right?

00:23:39:24 - 00:23:43:10

There is no Lord but Caesar, right?

00:23:43:12 - 00:23:46:16

How great is our, Lord Emperor?

00:23:46:16 - 00:23:47:07

So you just.

00:23:47:07 - 00:23:50:15

If you Google

that, that'll come up all the time.

00:23:50:17 - 00:23:52:02

We see

00:23:52:02 - 00:23:57:09

in the scripture that Kadri just read out

that everybody is in awe by the power

00:23:57:14 - 00:24:02:23

and might of,

this beast, the Roman Empire.

00:24:03:01 - 00:24:06:09

And they say, who is like the beast?

00:24:06:11 - 00:24:10:17

There is no one like the basis

that language sound familiar?

00:24:10:22 - 00:24:16:24

They are captivated by the mouth,

the minds of this empire.

00:24:17:01 - 00:24:21:00

And we know as well

that anyone who goes against the Empire

00:24:21:00 - 00:24:25:20

gets destroyed and killed right?

00:24:25:22 - 00:24:29:10

About 5 to 10 million people are estimated

00:24:29:12 - 00:24:32:18

to have lost their lives

through because of the Roman Empire.

00:24:32:22 - 00:24:36:16

The Roman Empire was absolutely ruthless.

00:24:36:18 - 00:24:39:21

It's the Roman Empire that hung

Jesus on a cross, crucified, right?

00:24:40:02 - 00:24:41:13

But Jesus wasn't unique to that.

00:24:41:13 - 00:24:45:00

People were getting crucified

all throughout the Roman Empire.

00:24:45:03 - 00:24:49:07

In fact, to make an example of that,

they would hang crosses on the way

00:24:49:07 - 00:24:53:20

to Roman cities with people and corpses

hanging on a cross

00:24:53:20 - 00:24:59:17

to show you that this is what happens

when you mess with the Roman Empire,

00:24:59:19 - 00:25:04:22

ultimate power

personified in Imperial rule.

00:25:04:24 - 00:25:07:24

This is the first

00:25:08:05 - 00:25:11:23

beast exercising power.

00:25:12:00 - 00:25:16:00

We're also told that it reigns

for 42 months, which is symbolic, right?

00:25:16:00 - 00:25:17:14

We don't need

to get into all of that. But.

00:25:17:14 - 00:25:18:07

But basically,

00:25:18:07 - 00:25:23:03

it means that there's a certain period

of time that this is going to happen form.

00:25:23:03 - 00:25:25:22

And we know that that

in the first century, the Roman Empire

00:25:25:22 - 00:25:29:16

eventually, well, in the third century,

the Roman Empire, or even more.

00:25:29:16 - 00:25:30:00

Yeah.

00:25:30:00 - 00:25:33:18

Anyways,

the Roman Empire eventually collapsed.

00:25:33:20 - 00:25:37:12

We see that it did not last forever.

00:25:37:14 - 00:25:38:12

And this is a picture.

00:25:38:12 - 00:25:42:07

What happens when absolute power becomes

00:25:42:07 - 00:25:47:13

corrupt and people turn into pawns

because they don't assimilate

00:25:47:13 - 00:25:51:13

to the regime of the power of of power.

00:25:51:15 - 00:25:54:23

And we've seen this happen

throughout history, have we not?

00:25:55:00 - 00:25:56:22

We've seen this happen time

and time again.

00:25:56:22 - 00:26:00:10

I love this quote from William

Stringfellow, who's an American

00:26:00:16 - 00:26:02:07

theologian and activist.

00:26:02:07 - 00:26:05:13

He said the moral pretences

of imperial Rome,

00:26:05:13 - 00:26:09:06

the millennial claims of Nazi ism,

the arrogance of Marxist dogma,

00:26:09:11 - 00:26:13:09

the anxious insistence

that America is, is to be number

00:26:13:09 - 00:26:17:16

one are all versions of Babylonian

idolatry.

00:26:17:16 - 00:26:18:24

Babylon. We're talking about that.

00:26:18:24 - 00:26:24:13

Next week is another image for,

power and corruption, right?

00:26:24:15 - 00:26:28:02

All throughout history,

we've seen the abuse of power

00:26:28:07 - 00:26:31:21

in government structures

that have done horrific things.

00:26:31:23 - 00:26:35:18

A few weeks ago, I was talking about,

Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge

00:26:35:18 - 00:26:41:11

where people were being killed,

because of a socialist view of

00:26:41:14 - 00:26:47:05

and a socialist, totally and total

totalitarian government view of the world.

00:26:47:07 - 00:26:50:07

And no doubt this is happening right now,

00:26:50:13 - 00:26:52:23

even if we know it or not.

00:26:52:23 - 00:26:56:02

And so here is a warning, a warning sign

00:26:56:07 - 00:26:59:07

to when total power is used.

00:26:59:13 - 00:27:01:11

It can be absolutely devastating.

00:27:01:11 - 00:27:05:10

And it is devilish and beastly

00:27:05:12 - 00:27:09:04

and not of God.

00:27:09:06 - 00:27:10:05

Richard Bolcom,

00:27:10:05 - 00:27:15:15

the revelation scholar says absolute

power on earth is satanic in inspiration,

00:27:15:15 - 00:27:19:07

destructive

in its effects, idolatrous in its claims

00:27:19:07 - 00:27:23:05

to ultimate loyalty.

00:27:23:07 - 00:27:26:04

And so whenever political

or any other power demands

00:27:26:04 - 00:27:30:24

ultimate allegiance, it becomes easily.

00:27:31:01 - 00:27:34:01

And so here John is warning

00:27:34:07 - 00:27:37:13

and almost affirming

that the context of the original here is.

00:27:37:18 - 00:27:40:18

But it says a warning to us, does it not?

00:27:40:18 - 00:27:45:13

It says a warning to us

00:27:45:15 - 00:27:50:01

that when we get into bed

with political power

00:27:50:03 - 00:27:53:20

that claims

some sort of ultimate godlike status.

00:27:53:22 - 00:27:56:22

We are actually getting into bed

with the base.

00:27:57:01 - 00:28:01:00

I mean, we we look today

writing and national

00:28:01:02 - 00:28:05:15

Christian nationalism in particular,

any kind of religious nationalism is rife.

00:28:05:16 - 00:28:07:11

Is it not

00:28:07:11 - 00:28:09:12

to conflating with belief

00:28:09:12 - 00:28:14:17

in God and divine and some sort of

political party and ideology?

00:28:14:19 - 00:28:15:20

20 years ago, we'd have

00:28:15:20 - 00:28:18:20

thought this would never happen

in the Western world.

00:28:18:22 - 00:28:20:24

But here we are,

00:28:20:24 - 00:28:26:03

ancient truths playing out today,

00:28:26:05 - 00:28:29:05

whether it's a Christian belief

or another belief system,

00:28:29:10 - 00:28:34:11

anything that mixes as total authority

and claiming to be the people of God

00:28:34:11 - 00:28:39:06

and some sort of governmental structure

is not biblical.

00:28:39:08 - 00:28:41:20

He's not of God.

00:28:41:20 - 00:28:44:20

That might be challenging for

some of us to take in.

00:28:44:22 - 00:28:47:07

We just don't see that

affirmed in the Bible.

00:28:47:07 - 00:28:49:15

We just don't see it.

00:28:49:15 - 00:28:52:18

And so if we hear that, if we see that,

if we see this

00:28:52:18 - 00:28:56:11

mixing, particularly in church world,

which starts to happen,

00:28:56:13 - 00:29:00:08

our red flags should be going ding

ding ding ding ding.

00:29:00:10 - 00:29:03:01

That's a beastly thing happening

00:29:03:01 - 00:29:05:10

on a more localised level

in terms of power.

00:29:05:10 - 00:29:07:14

We have, we see abuse of power

everywhere, don't we?

00:29:07:14 - 00:29:13:06

In our workplace,

in our homes, in our social circles,

00:29:13:08 - 00:29:16:17

often abuse of power

is because is caused by some sort of,

00:29:16:19 - 00:29:21:01

self-aggrandisement

by one person, or insecurity or both.

00:29:21:01 - 00:29:22:21

A mixture of both.

00:29:22:21 - 00:29:27:02

We are all had a really bad boss

00:29:27:04 - 00:29:31:09

that uses power, unwisely.

00:29:31:11 - 00:29:33:21

So it's, it's more of a, it's another

kind of take home for us.

00:29:33:21 - 00:29:38:11

How do we use power in our sphere here

and now for the good of others?

00:29:38:13 - 00:29:40:01

How do we steward power?

00:29:40:01 - 00:29:42:23

Well, that's the first beast.

00:29:42:23 - 00:29:47:08

The second beast.

00:29:47:10 - 00:29:48:21

I Google image like,

00:29:48:21 - 00:29:51:21

image is the second base

and this is the best one that came up.

00:29:51:21 - 00:29:54:18

So I do apologise.

00:29:54:18 - 00:29:57:21

The second base is a beast of the land,

which is similar to the first base

00:29:57:21 - 00:29:59:07

coming from the dragon.

00:29:59:07 - 00:30:01:09

But then I saw a second base

coming out of the earth.

00:30:01:09 - 00:30:05:23

It had two horns like a lamb,

but it spoke like a dragon.

00:30:06:00 - 00:30:09:11

It exercised all the authority

of the first base and on its behalf,

00:30:09:11 - 00:30:12:16

and made the earth and its inhabitants

worshipped the first beasts,

00:30:12:18 - 00:30:16:06

and performed great signs,

even causing fire to come down from heaven

00:30:16:08 - 00:30:19:18

to earth to the earth

in full view of the people.

00:30:19:20 - 00:30:22:17

So we have this picture of a second beast.

00:30:22:17 - 00:30:25:05

It's the first piece was about, raw

00:30:25:05 - 00:30:28:15

power and dominance,

the second beast coming from the dragon.

00:30:28:15 - 00:30:32:16

Sorry, not the lamb,

but the dragon is is is kind of using,

00:30:32:18 - 00:30:36:22

imagery and propaganda to manipulate

00:30:36:24 - 00:30:40:14

and to persuade and eventually control

00:30:40:16 - 00:30:41:13

people.

00:30:41:13 - 00:30:44:11

We see this second beast calling

00:30:44:11 - 00:30:48:06

fire from heaven,

doing these great miraculous things

00:30:48:06 - 00:30:52:24

and people going, oh my gosh,

there must be some truth to this.

00:30:53:01 - 00:30:54:22

The passage also talks about,

00:30:54:22 - 00:30:58:24

the beast creates this image and starts

and starts to make it talk.

00:30:59:05 - 00:31:02:13

You know, you know, I think of this kind

of joint ventriloquist doll or something.

00:31:02:13 - 00:31:07:12

I don't know who knows, but the ability

to have these power to persuade

00:31:07:14 - 00:31:13:08

and propagate,

a lie and convince people or force people

00:31:13:10 - 00:31:19:00

into what the reality of the situation is.

00:31:19:02 - 00:31:22:02

The tools of this beast,

00:31:22:05 - 00:31:23:18

manufactured images,

00:31:23:18 - 00:31:27:05

spectacle, economic pressure,

00:31:27:07 - 00:31:29:20

and the mark of the beast is connected to,

00:31:29:20 - 00:31:34:23

limiting people to buy and sell

particular goods and is propaganda

00:31:34:23 - 00:31:41:08

is reshaping imagination,

redefining words and reframing reality.

00:31:41:10 - 00:31:44:06

Now, again, people in the past

have interpreted

00:31:44:06 - 00:31:47:23

interpreted

this poorly in many different ways.

00:31:48:00 - 00:31:52:18

It does not mean that, you know,

anyone who's fire breathing and performing

00:31:52:23 - 00:31:53:21

is of the beast.

00:31:53:21 - 00:31:57:04

Actually, that can be quite entertaining

and that's a great art.

00:31:57:06 - 00:31:59:19

It's talking about something

far more greater and

00:31:59:19 - 00:32:04:03

and far reaching than that is talking

about some sort of propaganda machine

00:32:04:05 - 00:32:07:11

that is communicating a lie

00:32:07:17 - 00:32:11:08

to everybody's detriment.

00:32:11:10 - 00:32:15:03

And this is what the ancient

Roman world was doing.

00:32:15:05 - 00:32:18:05

People were forced to worship

00:32:18:07 - 00:32:21:13

and to bow down and play and pay respects

00:32:21:15 - 00:32:26:08

and give offerings to the Roman deities

all the time.

00:32:26:10 - 00:32:30:09

There were times in when you go

and watch some sort of sporting event,

00:32:30:09 - 00:32:34:12

you know, at the at the arena,

you'd watch athletics or whatever,

00:32:34:17 - 00:32:38:11

and you'd have to stand up

and pledge allegiance to the Emperor.

00:32:38:13 - 00:32:39:03

Right?

00:32:39:03 - 00:32:43:05

There was, you know, in situations

where they would tell good stories,

00:32:43:05 - 00:32:46:22

favourable stories about the emperor

and mixed kind of the truth

00:32:46:24 - 00:32:51:11

between, the divine status of the emperor

and what was actually going on.

00:32:51:11 - 00:32:55:15

It was this kind

of proper propaganda machine.

00:32:55:17 - 00:32:57:00

And I just what made me think, you know,

00:32:57:00 - 00:32:59:07

do we have these kinds of propaganda

images today?

00:32:59:07 - 00:33:02:03

You know,

00:33:02:03 - 00:33:05:20

do we have kind of things

on our feeds and messages

00:33:06:00 - 00:33:11:07

that blur the lines between what is true

and what is fake?

00:33:11:09 - 00:33:13:13

I don't know if you heard the latest

scoop, but,

00:33:13:13 - 00:33:17:22

Taytay and Kim Jong UN are an item now,

00:33:17:24 - 00:33:19:16

the photo verifies.

00:33:19:16 - 00:33:23:23

It looks pretty real to me.

00:33:24:00 - 00:33:25:24

We may not be living under

00:33:25:24 - 00:33:28:16

an explicit lead, you know,

00:33:28:16 - 00:33:31:20

spoken about totalitarian empire

00:33:31:20 - 00:33:34:20

that spans beyond countries

like the Roman Empire.

00:33:34:20 - 00:33:38:03

But we are fed messages and images

00:33:38:05 - 00:33:41:12

and memes and articles and podcasts

00:33:41:16 - 00:33:45:15

every single day that blur the lines

between what is true and what is false.

00:33:45:15 - 00:33:47:15

Is it not?

00:33:47:17 - 00:33:48:09

We can't trust

00:33:48:09 - 00:33:52:06

anything anymore that comes our way.

00:33:52:08 - 00:33:54:02

This is the world that we are stepping

00:33:54:02 - 00:33:57:02

into, into the next few decades.

00:33:57:04 - 00:33:57:12

You know?

00:33:57:12 - 00:34:00:01

And as a parent, I'm terrified about that.

00:34:00:01 - 00:34:03:06

How do we equip our kids in literacy

in this space?

00:34:03:06 - 00:34:06:13

And discernment, spiritual discernment.

00:34:06:15 - 00:34:07:23

Right.

00:34:07:23 - 00:34:10:17

We live in a world

where the propaganda machine,

00:34:10:17 - 00:34:14:14

whatever it is, you know, pick your tribe,

you know, points

00:34:14:19 - 00:34:18:21

your tribe is being the people who know it

all and paints

00:34:18:21 - 00:34:23:02

a dark picture on the enemy

Dehumanises the others.

00:34:23:04 - 00:34:28:07

Right now that's propaganda 101 Dehumanise

the people who are opposed to you,

00:34:28:09 - 00:34:32:10

and then ramp it

up, their motives and actions,

00:34:32:12 - 00:34:35:06

and we'll see what happens.

00:34:35:06 - 00:34:39:17

So I would say, yes,

we are in a world today where we need

00:34:39:17 - 00:34:44:10

to actually be discerning at what around

what we are feeding ourselves.

00:34:44:10 - 00:34:46:07

What lies have we been feeding ourselves?

00:34:46:07 - 00:34:51:12

What are we kind of buying into that

we shouldn't be?

00:34:51:14 - 00:34:55:02

And that causes us to be discerning,

00:34:55:04 - 00:34:58:04

have an attitude of scepticism,

00:34:58:09 - 00:35:01:18

and faithfulness in God.

00:35:01:20 - 00:35:04:11

And so I'd like to first centre

where John is warning

00:35:04:11 - 00:35:07:22

the first churches to be wary of this

00:35:07:24 - 00:35:11:02

just because it's smoke and mirrors

and something looks amazing and awesome

00:35:11:02 - 00:35:15:15

before your eyes doesn't necessarily mean

it's speaking truth or is true.

00:35:15:17 - 00:35:19:09

And that's the warning for us.

00:35:19:11 - 00:35:23:20

And then we get to

the great mark of the beast,

00:35:23:22 - 00:35:27:13

which I know we're all waiting to hear.

00:35:27:15 - 00:35:28:16

These calls for wisdom.

00:35:28:16 - 00:35:32:13

Let the person who has insight calculate

the number of the beast,

00:35:32:15 - 00:35:35:07

for this is the number of man.

00:35:35:07 - 00:35:38:07

The number is six, six, six.

00:35:38:07 - 00:35:40:07

Q lightning and thunder.

00:35:40:07 - 00:35:44:15

Background music now background sounds.

00:35:44:17 - 00:35:47:04

This is probably

one of the most misinterpreted

00:35:47:04 - 00:35:50:17

and superstitious numbers

in the whole of the Bible.

00:35:50:19 - 00:35:54:15

Maybe in our Western culture as well.

00:35:54:17 - 00:35:57:03

We have obsessed over

00:35:57:03 - 00:36:01:01

this number

six, six, six, the Mark of the beast.

00:36:01:03 - 00:36:04:00

A lot of people connect it

to the Antichrist, which actually the

00:36:04:00 - 00:36:06:24

the word Antichrist doesn't

turn up in the book of Revelation at all.

00:36:06:24 - 00:36:10:00

It's, reference

to previous books in one and two.

00:36:10:00 - 00:36:10:19

John.

00:36:10:19 - 00:36:14:18

So basically this, this idea,

this kind of truth that John

00:36:14:18 - 00:36:18:15

is talking about is there is this mark

that is on the mark of the forehead

00:36:18:21 - 00:36:22:19

and the wrist or the hand of people

who follow the beast.

00:36:22:23 - 00:36:25:11

And that mark is six, six, six.

00:36:25:11 - 00:36:27:09

There is explicitly,

00:36:27:09 - 00:36:31:06

allusion to that connected to the buying

and selling of goods.

00:36:31:08 - 00:36:33:15

Particularly in the first century. Right.

00:36:33:15 - 00:36:34:23

And this is quite fascinating. Right?

00:36:34:23 - 00:36:36:14

This is what conspiracy,

00:36:36:14 - 00:36:39:19

you know, conspiracy

theories and stories are made of,

00:36:39:21 - 00:36:43:12

you know, there's some sort of Illuminati

that's going on in the background, right?

00:36:43:12 - 00:36:46:24

That's today, you know, it's connected

to the Catholic Church or whatever.

00:36:47:01 - 00:36:50:01

And like predicting the end of the world.

00:36:50:07 - 00:36:53:23

People have been predicting

what the Mark of the beast is

00:36:54:00 - 00:36:56:13

since we've been writing books.

00:36:56:15 - 00:36:57:07

In fact,

00:36:57:07 - 00:37:01:19

in the 1700s, Luther and Calvin

were quick to

00:37:01:24 - 00:37:07:17

to call out the popes, the Catholic popes,

of having the mark of the beast.

00:37:07:19 - 00:37:10:19

Almost every

00:37:11:00 - 00:37:15:21

every Australian, every Australian,

every American president has been called

00:37:15:23 - 00:37:20:07

have it called out of being the Antichrist

or having the mark of,

00:37:20:09 - 00:37:23:09

the beast.

00:37:23:10 - 00:37:25:07

You know, in fact,

you know, people thought, you know,

00:37:25:07 - 00:37:27:14

Joe Biden was the beast to carry the mark.

00:37:27:14 - 00:37:29:23

Now people think Donald Trump

is the beast.

00:37:29:23 - 00:37:31:08

They thought Mikhail Gorbachev,

00:37:31:08 - 00:37:35:14

because he had a big birthmark on

his face, had a mark on the beast.

00:37:35:16 - 00:37:37:05

Again, you look it up on Google it.

00:37:37:05 - 00:37:38:13

It's quite interesting.

00:37:38:13 - 00:37:39:21

Even ideas of certain

00:37:39:21 - 00:37:44:20

organisations of the beast,

the European Union is is the beast.

00:37:44:22 - 00:37:47:07

World Health Organisation,

00:37:47:07 - 00:37:50:08

you know, is

is propagating for the beast.

00:37:50:12 - 00:37:53:06

Now I want to say, from the,

from the get go.

00:37:53:06 - 00:37:54:22

It doesn't mean that these people,

00:37:54:22 - 00:37:58:02

organisations don't have concerns

that we should be discerning about.

00:37:58:04 - 00:37:59:22

Absolutely. Right.

00:37:59:22 - 00:38:02:07

But we are very quick to label

00:38:02:07 - 00:38:05:07

all these things that often we don't like

00:38:05:07 - 00:38:09:07

as being people of the Antichrist

and the Mark of the beast.

00:38:09:09 - 00:38:10:22

There's also technology as well, right?

00:38:10:22 - 00:38:12:06

The introduction to credit cards.

00:38:12:06 - 00:38:15:06

People thought that was

the mark of is a beast.

00:38:15:10 - 00:38:17:16

Now trading in Bitcoin.

00:38:17:16 - 00:38:21:18

You know,

that potentially could be that as well.

00:38:21:20 - 00:38:23:19

Barcodes when they came in.

00:38:23:19 - 00:38:27:03

You know that was a superstition of around

this is the mark of the beast.

00:38:27:03 - 00:38:30:10

It's buying and selling and trading right.

00:38:30:12 - 00:38:33:08

And too often in our past

00:38:33:08 - 00:38:37:24

we've tried to get put, you know,

two and two together to make six,

00:38:38:01 - 00:38:42:09

and we try and paint people

and demonise them, which I don't think

00:38:42:09 - 00:38:46:06

this is what the Scripture

and passage is actually

00:38:46:08 - 00:38:48:24

talking about.

00:38:48:24 - 00:38:53:11

Because there are there are probably

two things going on here.

00:38:53:13 - 00:38:57:04

The first one, as we've talked about in

previous weeks, is the use of numbers.

00:38:57:04 - 00:38:59:13

And numbers are symbolic in the Bible.

00:38:59:13 - 00:39:01:14

The number seven is the number four.

00:39:01:14 - 00:39:03:19

If you've been listening.

00:39:03:19 - 00:39:06:19

So God and perfection and wholeness,

right.

00:39:06:21 - 00:39:10:03

Reason being the number seven,

like we would say, that's a perfect ten.

00:39:10:05 - 00:39:12:09

You know, that person has performed

a perfect ten, right?

00:39:12:09 - 00:39:14:16

They they've done a complete performance.

00:39:14:16 - 00:39:16:23

The number seven is a complete number.

00:39:16:23 - 00:39:17:19

It's wholeness.

00:39:17:19 - 00:39:21:04

It harks back to creation,

the seven days of creation

00:39:21:09 - 00:39:25:11

when God created the world, said, it's

very good, very, very good.

00:39:25:13 - 00:39:26:21

Right.

00:39:26:23 - 00:39:27:24

And so this

00:39:27:24 - 00:39:30:24

is actually a play on that imagery.

00:39:31:00 - 00:39:35:21

If the number of God is seven,

imperfection,

00:39:35:23 - 00:39:38:24

the number of man is six, right.

00:39:38:24 - 00:39:41:24

And on the sixth day in Genesis,

00:39:41:24 - 00:39:44:15

men and women were created. Were they not?

00:39:44:15 - 00:39:48:20

And it's almost

this kind of disparity of the situation

00:39:48:22 - 00:39:51:18

that John is saying, like, no,

no matter how many times you write

00:39:51:18 - 00:39:56:23

the number six or affirm the number six,

the number of man, it will never be seven,

00:39:57:00 - 00:39:58:20

six will never be seven.

00:39:58:20 - 00:40:01:04

Said it.

00:40:01:04 - 00:40:04:12

Yeah, yeah, it is affirmation.

00:40:04:14 - 00:40:07:24

It is affirmation that no matter

how many times you say

00:40:07:24 - 00:40:13:03

the word six, six, six, six, six, six,

it never equates to God.

00:40:13:05 - 00:40:15:11

It's a confusion of categories.

00:40:15:11 - 00:40:21:06

There is no way some dictators, empire,

no matter how good they claim to be.

00:40:21:06 - 00:40:25:24

And how godly they claim to be,

can ever fit into a godlike status.

00:40:25:24 - 00:40:27:18

The true God.

00:40:27:18 - 00:40:29:19

It's a confusion of categories.

00:40:29:19 - 00:40:33:09

It's a teeny version

of what God should be.

00:40:33:11 - 00:40:34:23

Right?

00:40:34:23 - 00:40:39:07

There's that being a kind of picture here

that's going on, that no matter

00:40:39:07 - 00:40:42:10

how much we as humans try to put ourselves

00:40:42:14 - 00:40:45:14

in godlike status, we will never do it.

00:40:45:15 - 00:40:46:11

We will never do it.

00:40:46:11 - 00:40:48:15

Every time

it's six, six, six, it falls short.

00:40:48:15 - 00:40:50:24

Every single time.

00:40:50:24 - 00:40:55:10

So there's that kind of bigger picture

going on there, right?

00:40:55:12 - 00:40:57:22

The second thing

is quite interesting as well,

00:40:57:22 - 00:41:00:09

and that is the decoding of numbers.

00:41:00:09 - 00:41:03:23

There is an ancient decoding language

00:41:04:03 - 00:41:07:23

and approach to turning numbers

00:41:07:23 - 00:41:11:21

into letters of the alphabet,

called gematria.

00:41:11:23 - 00:41:16:24

And so in the Hebrew, in the Greek,

and also in the Latin,

00:41:17:02 - 00:41:20:23

you turn numbers, letters, the alphabet

into their corresponding numbers.

00:41:21:00 - 00:41:22:08

And guess what?

00:41:22:08 - 00:41:25:08

If you do that for six,

six, six, and even 616 as well.

00:41:25:08 - 00:41:26:22

So some of the early manuscripts,

00:41:26:22 - 00:41:29:24

don't actually have the number

six, six, six start a bishop.

00:41:29:24 - 00:41:31:20

They have 616 as well.

00:41:31:20 - 00:41:33:12

So there's a bit of confusion there.

00:41:33:12 - 00:41:36:05

But either way,

the point is still the same.

00:41:36:05 - 00:41:40:04

When you turn those numbers

into letters of the ancient alphabets,

00:41:40:04 - 00:41:43:18

they do spell the beast,

but they also spell Nero.

00:41:43:20 - 00:41:48:09

Emperor Nero,

one of the ancient Roman emperors.

00:41:48:11 - 00:41:51:01

So it's

quite clear that John is actually speaking

00:41:51:01 - 00:41:55:00

potentially in code

about a first century emperor.

00:41:55:02 - 00:41:56:03

And again

00:41:56:03 - 00:41:59:11

today we've tried to crack the code

and figure out if we can fit Hitler's

00:41:59:11 - 00:42:02:11

name into there, or Saddam Hussein's,

or pick your political opponent

00:42:02:16 - 00:42:03:17

and put it in there.

00:42:03:17 - 00:42:07:03

But that is not the point of the passage.

00:42:07:05 - 00:42:09:18

That is not the point of this.

00:42:09:18 - 00:42:12:03

The point is not us trying to figure out

00:42:12:03 - 00:42:15:12

who is who holds the mark of the beast.

00:42:15:14 - 00:42:19:11

The point is, is are we doing things

00:42:19:15 - 00:42:23:09

that Marcus is being not with God,

00:42:23:11 - 00:42:28:01

going against God?

00:42:28:03 - 00:42:30:19

We kind of miss the forest

through the trees,

00:42:30:19 - 00:42:33:19

and we focus on the wrong things when we,

00:42:33:24 - 00:42:36:17

connecting with this passage,

00:42:36:17 - 00:42:40:24

the mark is about formation

and allegiance, not superstition.

00:42:41:01 - 00:42:42:03

I know it's a few of us, right?

00:42:42:03 - 00:42:43:18

When we're talking about a church holiday

00:42:43:18 - 00:42:47:18

being on Friday the 13th, I myself

had a bit of a check mark.

00:42:47:20 - 00:42:49:02

How did we get that wrong?

00:42:49:02 - 00:42:50:10

We did our church holiday Friday

00:42:50:10 - 00:42:54:21

the 13th, and I had to remind myself

we're not a superstitious people,

00:42:54:23 - 00:42:55:21

right?

00:42:55:21 - 00:42:57:06

We have believe in superstition.

00:42:57:06 - 00:42:59:17

We're not controlled by those things

00:42:59:17 - 00:43:02:01

similar to six, six, six.

00:43:02:01 - 00:43:04:08

It's not a superstitious thing

00:43:04:08 - 00:43:05:12

that makes you a superstition

00:43:05:12 - 00:43:09:04

with your faith in God

to send you to crazy, wacky places.

00:43:09:06 - 00:43:12:16

The mark is about formation allegiance,

not superstition.

00:43:12:18 - 00:43:15:05

The beast mocks us when our identity

00:43:15:05 - 00:43:18:05

is defined by consumption.

00:43:18:09 - 00:43:21:09

Like in the first century,

our hope rests on politics.

00:43:21:14 - 00:43:25:12

Our imagination is shaped

more by culture than Scripture.

00:43:25:14 - 00:43:29:20

Our ethics bend to convenience

rather than the land.

00:43:29:22 - 00:43:31:06

They are the mark of the beast.

00:43:31:06 - 00:43:33:00

And you know these things here.

00:43:33:00 - 00:43:34:18

They're all actually good things,

00:43:34:18 - 00:43:38:20

like the consumption of goods

and services is a good thing.

00:43:38:22 - 00:43:40:16

It's not a bad evil thing.

00:43:40:16 - 00:43:43:05

Politics is not a bad thing.

00:43:43:05 - 00:43:47:11

It just when it turns into a God thing,

that's when it becomes dangerous.

00:43:47:13 - 00:43:50:02

Culture is not a bad thing,

00:43:50:04 - 00:43:52:02

but they can be ultimate things

00:43:52:02 - 00:43:57:05

that control us

and mark us in unhuman ways.

00:43:57:07 - 00:44:00:21

So that's the second beast,

the beast of propaganda

00:44:00:21 - 00:44:05:04

and manipulation, fuelled by the dragon.

00:44:05:06 - 00:44:08:24

And then we come to our next character,

which we've been talking about

00:44:09:01 - 00:44:11:15

and focusing on over the last few weeks.

00:44:11:15 - 00:44:15:08

And we come to the lamb, and I tried

to find the cutest lamb picture for you

00:44:15:10 - 00:44:19:16

to, to build a contrast,

because this is what John is doing.

00:44:19:18 - 00:44:21:13

You read through the whole book

of revelation.

00:44:21:13 - 00:44:26:23

And yes, it's wacky and crazy,

but he's deliberately drawing a contrast

00:44:27:00 - 00:44:30:00

between The Way of the lamb,

which is a metaphor for

00:44:30:00 - 00:44:34:13

Jesus was singing about that before

the lamb was sacrificed.

00:44:34:14 - 00:44:38:05

It was a sacrifice for humanity

to save the world.

00:44:38:07 - 00:44:41:15

It's a contrast

between that and the beast and the end.

00:44:41:15 - 00:44:46:06

The devils of the world of evil itself.

00:44:46:08 - 00:44:47:02

And so

00:44:47:02 - 00:44:51:00

chapter 14 is actually

meant to be read right next to chapter 13.

00:44:51:00 - 00:44:51:24

And there's a contrast.

00:44:51:24 - 00:44:55:04

Then I looked up, and there before me

was the lamb standing on Mt.

00:44:55:04 - 00:44:57:24

Zion. The contrast.

There could not be any different.

00:44:57:24 - 00:45:00:16

You have these bees

coming out of the earth, in the sea,

00:45:00:16 - 00:45:02:23

right, doing ghastly evil things.

00:45:02:23 - 00:45:07:14

But then you have the lamb coming from

above Mount Zion.

00:45:07:14 - 00:45:09:13

This heavenly place, the heavenly Israel.

00:45:09:13 - 00:45:12:13

The imagery is really important here,

00:45:12:13 - 00:45:16:22

not necessarily literal, but it's it's

actually telling us something.

00:45:16:22 - 00:45:19:22

The difference, the stark difference.

00:45:20:00 - 00:45:23:10

And we see from there that the people

00:45:23:12 - 00:45:26:22

who are following the lamb,

they have a mark on their heads, too.

00:45:26:22 - 00:45:28:20

But it's not the mark of humans.

00:45:28:20 - 00:45:33:04

Six, six, six is the mark of the lamb.

00:45:33:06 - 00:45:35:01

And here we see the contrast,

00:45:35:01 - 00:45:39:01

contrast of how the lamb conducts things.

00:45:39:03 - 00:45:43:16

Jesus wins the victory over Satan shares

that victory not by raw power,

00:45:43:18 - 00:45:48:08

but by the power of the cross, sacrificial

love laying down his life for others.

00:45:48:14 - 00:45:52:04

And he gives and he gives

not just something to applaud,

00:45:52:04 - 00:45:55:04

but an example to follow.

00:45:55:08 - 00:45:57:24

We see the contrast

of the operation of the lamb,

00:45:57:24 - 00:46:04:00

the Lamb of God, not coercing

and controlling or using brute power,

00:46:04:02 - 00:46:08:14

but actually

using brute love and sacrifice.

00:46:08:16 - 00:46:10:06

This is a this is a contrast

00:46:10:06 - 00:46:15:07

that John is deliberately

trying to set up.

00:46:15:09 - 00:46:16:22

The beast demands.

00:46:16:22 - 00:46:21:15

The beast demands

so early when I did this,

00:46:21:17 - 00:46:24:17

the the beast demands a a fierce loyalty.

00:46:24:21 - 00:46:30:13

The lamb forms character through sacrificial love and invites sinners to turn back.

00:46:30:15 - 00:46:32:07

And all throughout the Book of Revelation,

00:46:32:07 - 00:46:36:11

we see this happening, that the invitation

for people to turn to God,

00:46:36:13 - 00:46:40:00

giving people volition free will,

00:46:40:02 - 00:46:42:17

consent to choose God

00:46:42:17 - 00:46:47:03

or to reject him

every single time, not forcing it on them.

00:46:47:05 - 00:46:50:11

And he's doing that

through dying on a cross

00:46:50:13 - 00:46:53:10

as an act of sacrificial love,

00:46:53:10 - 00:46:57:10

not trying to control and dominate people

like the beasts,

00:46:57:12 - 00:47:00:24

like the the evil empire peak empire.

00:47:00:24 - 00:47:02:22

Throughout history.

00:47:02:22 - 00:47:04:16

And so this is the picture of the lamb.

00:47:04:16 - 00:47:08:24

This is this is what we praise and worship

every Sunday.

00:47:08:24 - 00:47:12:11

A sacrificial God

who loves us through dying.

00:47:12:13 - 00:47:15:09

We see you, Jesus, on the cross,

00:47:15:09 - 00:47:16:19

and I'm finishing right now.

00:47:16:19 - 00:47:18:06

I realise we've been in here for a while.

00:47:18:06 - 00:47:25:10

The last characters,

the faithful witnesses, the people.

00:47:25:12 - 00:47:27:23

There's this really interesting

and challenging kind of refrain

00:47:27:23 - 00:47:30:23

that happens in chapter 13,

which I don't think we read out, but

00:47:31:02 - 00:47:32:16

it says, whoever has ears, let them hear.

00:47:32:16 - 00:47:36:03

If anyone is to go into captivity,

into captivity, they will go.

00:47:36:03 - 00:47:39:18

If anyone is to be killed with the sword,

with the sword, they will be killed.

00:47:39:20 - 00:47:44:07

These cords of patience, endurance

and faithfulness part of God's people.

00:47:44:09 - 00:47:47:07

This is a picture

of the first century churches

00:47:47:07 - 00:47:50:07

who are literally being killed

for their faith,

00:47:50:07 - 00:47:53:08

who are literally having people

draw them out

00:47:53:08 - 00:47:54:18

because of their belief systems,

00:47:54:18 - 00:47:59:12

and then being crucified

and killed in all different ways.

00:47:59:14 - 00:48:04:00

And John here is saying some pretty,

pretty tough things.

00:48:04:02 - 00:48:07:24

He's saying actually standing for God

and being love

00:48:07:24 - 00:48:11:17

manifest to other people

is going to be costly.

00:48:11:19 - 00:48:15:22

It might send you into captivity,

it might get you killed.

00:48:15:24 - 00:48:17:24

But the call is for patient

00:48:17:24 - 00:48:22:03

endurance, faithfulness.

00:48:22:05 - 00:48:23:19

And this kind of is in line

00:48:23:19 - 00:48:27:07

with the picture of faithful people

trying to respond to God.

00:48:27:07 - 00:48:29:07

All throughout revelation.

00:48:29:07 - 00:48:31:02

They are vulnerable.

00:48:31:02 - 00:48:34:01

They face persecution and suffering,

00:48:34:01 - 00:48:37:02

but they are true and loving and,

00:48:37:02 - 00:48:42:24

emblematic of the sacrificial love

and death of Jesus.

00:48:43:01 - 00:48:44:16

Often we think of pain and suffering

00:48:44:16 - 00:48:48:10

we want to avoid at all costs,

which is a natural human thing, right?

00:48:48:12 - 00:48:52:05

But we see all throughout the scriptures

that, yes, God wants to end

00:48:52:05 - 00:48:56:00

pain or suffering and causes us

to be people of compassion for that,

00:48:56:02 - 00:48:58:20

but actually pain and suffering

is part of life.

00:48:58:20 - 00:49:02:11

And following Christ is not a cakewalk,

but it's actually hard

00:49:02:13 - 00:49:07:20

and it could be forced you to hard places.

00:49:07:22 - 00:49:10:09

And we see this all throughout this book,

00:49:10:09 - 00:49:13:12

that the people of God who is standing for

what is right,

00:49:13:14 - 00:49:18:07

standing for true, pure,

sacrificial love for the sake of others,

00:49:18:09 - 00:49:21:05

are actually facing horrific events

00:49:21:05 - 00:49:24:14

to themselves.

00:49:24:16 - 00:49:27:08

Chapter 14 goes on and says,

then I looked, and there before me

00:49:27:08 - 00:49:32:09

was the lamb standing on the Mount

Zion with him 144,000 people.

00:49:32:09 - 00:49:35:02

That's the number of perfection.

Again, it's a total picture.

00:49:35:02 - 00:49:37:14

It's a multiple of seven

if you work it out.

00:49:37:14 - 00:49:41:01

Had his name on his father's,

who had his name

00:49:41:01 - 00:49:43:03

and his father's name

written on their foreheads

00:49:43:03 - 00:49:45:22

as the mark of the lamb,

not the mark of the beast.

00:49:45:22 - 00:49:47:22

And they sang a new song

before the throne.

00:49:47:22 - 00:49:50:22

No one could learn the song except 144,000

00:49:51:03 - 00:49:55:07

who had been redeemed from the earth.

00:49:55:09 - 00:49:55:17

This is

00:49:55:17 - 00:49:58:17

an invitation, friends,

to stand for the things of God,

00:49:58:17 - 00:50:01:13

even when things get tough

like the first century.

00:50:01:13 - 00:50:04:08

Here is reading this

00:50:04:08 - 00:50:08:03

God doesn't call us to a life of comfort,

00:50:08:05 - 00:50:09:20

but he calls us to a life of meaning

00:50:09:20 - 00:50:13:06

and purpose, truth and wholeness.

00:50:13:08 - 00:50:15:21

And this is an, as you know,

an end of life,

00:50:15:21 - 00:50:18:10

you know, security insurance program.

00:50:18:10 - 00:50:21:21

This is an opportunity to step in

and trust God

00:50:22:01 - 00:50:26:14

for the sake of the world.

00:50:26:16 - 00:50:29:16

We see the witnesses

in the book of revelation

00:50:29:20 - 00:50:33:23

actually being sacrificial

love to the people around them,

00:50:34:00 - 00:50:35:20

not just being the frozen chosen

00:50:35:20 - 00:50:39:01

doomsday preppers

getting ready for the end of the world,

00:50:39:03 - 00:50:43:20

but actually being the sacrificial hands

and feet of Jesus of the lamb.

00:50:43:22 - 00:50:47:23

To people who don't know him yet.

00:50:48:00 - 00:50:51:07

This is the picture of the church today.

00:50:51:09 - 00:50:54:09

This is the invitation for us

00:50:54:13 - 00:50:58:09

to embrace the mark of the lamb,

00:50:58:11 - 00:51:01:05

to share God's love and truth with others

00:51:01:05 - 00:51:04:21

for their sake, not for our sake.

00:51:04:23 - 00:51:10:00

To be Jesus's hands and feet.

00:51:10:02 - 00:51:12:04

As we finish now, I just want to you

00:51:12:04 - 00:51:16:16

to kind of reflect

on these three questions.

00:51:16:18 - 00:51:18:03

What does faithful denial

00:51:18:03 - 00:51:21:21

look like in a culture of self-fulfilment?

00:51:21:23 - 00:51:23:10

What does practising

00:51:23:10 - 00:51:26:10

and following the way of the lamb

00:51:26:12 - 00:51:30:00

look like

in a way of perceived self-indulgence

00:51:30:00 - 00:51:33:00

and propaganda, saying that we can have

whatever we want, be whoever we are,

00:51:33:05 - 00:51:37:00

take whatever we want at any time,

which is absolute bollocks.

00:51:37:02 - 00:51:39:08

We know that's a lie.

00:51:39:08 - 00:51:41:01

What does it look like to stand firm

00:51:41:01 - 00:51:44:06

as Christ, to be loved to others,

to be sacrificial to others?

00:51:44:06 - 00:51:46:14

To deny ourselves

00:51:46:16 - 00:51:48:23

like Jesus denied himself?

00:51:48:23 - 00:51:51:06

What does it look like

to be to have faithful suffering?

00:51:51:06 - 00:51:51:20

Witness.

00:51:51:20 - 00:51:55:09

What does it look like in a pain

avoidant world?

00:51:55:11 - 00:51:58:16

Where might Jesus

be calling me to resist the beast?

00:51:58:16 - 00:52:04:13

Seductions, power, comfort, fear,

and following the Lamb's way instead?

00:52:04:15 - 00:52:07:02

You may not be walking

into some sort of war zone

00:52:07:02 - 00:52:11:15

or empirical oversight tomorrow,

00:52:11:17 - 00:52:14:13

but you are stepping into a place

00:52:14:13 - 00:52:17:01

where God needs to be.

00:52:17:01 - 00:52:21:07

But you need to be sacrificial love

which will cost you,

00:52:21:09 - 00:52:23:10

which may not be comfortable,

00:52:23:10 - 00:52:26:20

which may cause some form of persecution.

00:52:26:20 - 00:52:29:11

I use that word, advises,

00:52:29:11 - 00:52:31:21

but you need to show Jesus lamb

00:52:31:21 - 00:52:35:08

like love to people

who may not even think they need it.

00:52:35:08 - 00:52:37:04

On one.

00:52:37:04 - 00:52:39:24

That's the core for the church today.

00:52:39:24 - 00:52:40:23

That's what we're called.

00:52:40:23 - 00:52:43:13

And that's the challenge for all of us.

00:52:43:13 - 00:52:47:10

So, in closing, we're going to have

some reflection time now.

00:52:47:15 - 00:52:52:09

And so I want to invite you

to participate in this.

00:52:52:11 - 00:52:54:00

Maybe something jumped out at you.

00:52:54:00 - 00:52:55:16

Maybe something was stirring

inside of you.

00:52:55:16 - 00:52:57:09

Maybe you're confused, frustrated, angry.

00:52:57:09 - 00:52:58:20

All of the above.

00:52:58:20 - 00:53:03:01

Can I encourage you to give that to God

now, in a moment of reflection,

00:53:03:03 - 00:53:07:08

and if you are a new and checking out

faith, I just want to invite you to

00:53:07:08 - 00:53:11:17

maybe this is an opportunity

for you to say I'm interested in learning

00:53:11:17 - 00:53:16:00

more about the Lamb of God, or yes,

I want to say yes to the lamb.

00:53:16:02 - 00:53:19:02

This is an opportunity for all of us and

00:53:19:07 - 00:53:20:24

so let's reflect together.