Forecasting Hope 9: Prophecies of the Anti-Christ

Thank you guys for coming.

This, believe it or not, we're on night number,

session number nine here.

And we're almost, we're coming down to the end.

Because we're gonna have Thursday night,

we're gonna have Friday night,

and then we're gonna have Saturday morning once again.

And then, then you can enjoy your evenings again

and rest a little bit.

But we do have one question,

and then we'll dive in tonight

to our prophecies of the Antichrist.

So last night as we were talking about

what happens after somebody dies,

the question was what about Philippians 1.23?

So let's look at Philippians 1.23,

and we'll actually go back and look at

a verse or two right before that as well.

So Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, chapter one,

and verse 23, but we're gonna start in verse 21.

So Paul is writing here, that's key,

because we're gonna look at some things that Paul says.

So Paul says here, for to me, to live is Christ,

and to die is gain.

But then he says, but if I live on in the flesh,

this will mean fruit from my labor,

yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.

And then this is the verse that was questioned here.

For I am hard pressed between the two,

having a desire to depart and be with Christ,

which is far better.

And so the question that sometimes people have

is Paul saying that if I die, I'm gonna be with Christ.

Now we said the other day that death is like what?

We used the phrase sleep that Jesus used.

So I'm gonna just throw it out there

that Paul does not contradict himself.

So let's stay here in Philippians,

and let's go to Philippians chapter three,

just a page over maybe, Philippians chapter three,

and verse 20.

Philippians three and verse 20.

Paul writes here, he says, for to me,

he says, for our citizenship is in heaven,

from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior,

the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then he says in verse 21,

who will transform our lowly body

that it may be conformed to his glorious body

according to the working by which he is able even

to subdue all things to himself.

And so Paul says, we're gonna wait eagerly

for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then he says, as we wait for Jesus,

he's going to transform our lowly body.

And we read a verse several times,

so we won't take the time to look it up,

but in 1 Thessalonians chapter four,

around verses 16, 17, and 18,

it says, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven

with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,

with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ

are raised first and then we who are alive and remain

shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air.

Now keep that in mind,

but let's go over to 1 Corinthians 15.

We've mentioned this, but I don't think we've looked it up.

1 Corinthians 15, anybody know who wrote 1 Corinthians 15?

Also written by Paul, 1 Corinthians 15,

we're gonna look at verse 51.

It says, behold, I tell you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep, we shall not all die,

but we shall all be changed.

When are we gonna be changed?

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,

at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound

and the dead will be raised incorruptible

and we shall be changed.

And then it goes a few verses later and it says,

oh death, where is your sting?

And so forth.

Let's look at one more.

Let's go to 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy, also written by Paul,

2 Timothy 4, and 2 Timothy is the last book

that Paul wrote before his death.

And in this little section here, it kind of hints at that.

2 Timothy chapter 4, we're gonna start in verse 6,

2 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

but we'll be looking at verse 8 here,

but verse 6 says, for I am already being poured out

as a drink offering.

He's close to dying.

And the time of my departure is at hand.

And then Paul says, I have fought the good fight,

I have finished the race, I have kept the faith,

and then he says, finally there is laid up for me

the crown of righteousness, which the Lord,

the righteous judge, will give me on that day.

And not to me only, but also to all who love his appearing.

So keeping all those things in mind,

Philippians 1 that we started at,

Philippians 1, 23, having a desire to depart

and be with Christ, which is better.

So Paul's saying that our sinful world that we live in

versus eternity with heaven,

which of those is gonna be better?

That perfect world where there's no more sin

and no more pain and no more suffering.

And so Paul is saying that if he were to die

as he's being imprisoned and beaten and whatnot,

he's not gonna have any more pain.

He's not gonna have any more prison, any more temptation.

And for him, the very next thing would be,

he would be waking up and seeing the face of Jesus.

No time would be passing,

he would be sleeping in the grave.

And so we've seen several passages here by Paul,

from Paul, saying that there is gonna come a better day,

there is gonna come a better time,

and it's when Jesus comes to reward, to change and so forth.

So if you have any questions,

please write those on the back of your card.

Did we pass out new cards?

I was looking at Sarah

because she's usually the one who's done that,

but I did not tell her to do that.

So usually she just does that.

So thank you very much, Sarah.

And as she's getting those response cards for questions,

for prayer requests as we've been praying,

remember last night we offered a book.

And if you would like this book, just write free book.

It's a book called, When God Says Remember.

And it's a little bit more about the Sabbath issue

that we've talked about a couple times.

We'll let those cards get passed out there.

So if you have any questions, any prayer requests,

or if you would like a book there.

So let's bow our heads for a word of prayer

and we'll dive right in here to our topic.

Dear God, we just wanna praise you.

We thank you for all that you have done for us.

You've safely brought us through a day

and what a glorious day it was as the sun was shining.

It wasn't too hot, it wasn't too cold.

Lord, we've read different prayer requests

on the back of these cards for friends, for family,

for people looking for homes, for sicknesses,

for so many different situations.

And we just lift all of those things up to you.

And be with each one of us as we open up your word tonight.

In your name we pray, amen.

So our topic of this evening is called,

The Prophecies of Antichrist.

And it seems like in the world today,

I'm gonna step down here

cause I forgot to get my little clicker.

It seems like in the world today that so many people

have so many different ideas about Bible prophecy.

And sometimes they're, you know, kind of unique ideas.

Sometimes they're popular ideas.

Sometimes they're not very popular.

And Daniel and Revelation are very unique books

because they're different than most of the rest of scripture

because they've got symbols, they've got imagery,

and people aren't always quite sure what to do with them.

And there's even been people who said,

oh, let's not worry about that.

It's too confusing.

Don't take the time to study it.

And believe it or not, even sometimes pastors will say,

don't worry about that.

It's just too confusing.

So don't even take the time to do that.

But the book of Revelation itself actually promises

a blessing for those like us, like you guys,

who take the time to study.

So let's go to Revelation chapter one, right?

In the very first book of Revelation,

we remember that the very first verse

talks about the revelation of Jesus Christ.

And now we're gonna read the third verse

because here is a blessing

for people who are studying God's word.

It says, blessed is he or she who reads

and those who hear the words of this prophecy

and keep those things which are written in it

for the time is near.

And so there's really three things that are mentioned there,

those who read, those who hear,

and then finally, those who keep.

And so I think it's kind of saying

that we need to pay attention to what Revelation says.

And if God gives us a blessing,

if we're reading, if we're hearing, if we're keeping,

then I think we could be assured

that God is gonna send his spirit to guide us

as we take the time and the energy

to study these prophecies.

So before we get into the topic,

we've got to do a little vocab word.

I'm sorry, I know school is next week for some.

Some have been on fall break and school maybe starts back up.

But the word anti.

If we're talking about anti-Christ,

anti is the prefix for that.

And it actually has a couple different meanings.

The meaning that we often associate with it is against.

If someone is anti-war, then they would be against war.

But the word anti also has the meaning of in place of,

or instead of taking the place of.

And so if we think about that as a possibility,

then it could be that the anti-Christ

is not some atheistic power

which is fighting directly against God,

but could it be that it is something

that is wanting to insert itself

to take the place of God on earth?

And so we are looking for something, I think,

and we'll flesh this out,

that is looking to take the place of God,

to usurp, if we can use a kingly word there,

to usurp his authority

and is wanting to take the place of Christ.

And so as we get started here,

we've got to think of what we're talking about.

Because we're talking about the anti-Christ,

often referred to in scripture as well as the beast.

And so the question is, who or what is this beast power

or this anti-Christ power?

And again, people have had many, many different ideas

and different interpretations.

During World War II, people thought,

well, perhaps Adolf Hitler was the beast,

was the anti-Christ because he murdered six million Jews,

or in more recent times, maybe Saddam Hussein,

who was a leader in the Middle East in Iraq,

which happened to be where ancient Babylon was as well.

And so many different ideas, even more recent,

not Saddam Hussein, but maybe Osama Bin Laden,

or even sometimes people think maybe one of the presidents

of the United States, maybe President Obama,

maybe President Trump, who knows?

And in the 80s, some of you may remember,

people were sure that it had to be Ronald Reagan.

Why?

Well, because his three names, Ronald, Wilson, Reagan,

each of those names have six letters.

So 666, surely Ronald Reagan was the beast,

but I don't think that turned out to be the case.

And others think, well, maybe it's some sort of organization,

like a political organization like the United Nations,

or maybe a secret society,

like the Illuminati is one that we sometimes hear.

And then people get very worried about certain numbers,

like we just mentioned, 666.

If anything, if they see anything that looks like sixes

or 666, then that can be very distressing.

Even if your Taco Bell order comes out to $6.66,

I'm just gonna give you seven, keep the change.

So people get concerned about different things.

But we want to take the time tonight

to look and see what the Bible says,

not traditions, not speculation, not Hollywood,

see what the scripture says.

And so we're gonna look at primarily

two different chapters tonight.

We're eventually gonna get to Daniel chapter seven,

but we're gonna start in Revelation chapter 13.

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

So turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 13.

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

But eventually, as I've said,

we're going to get to Revelation chapter seven.

So what we're gonna do, we're actually gonna read

about the first nine verses or so.

I'm just gonna read through it.

And then we're gonna come back,

and we're going to see if we can summarize,

and see if we can find some clues

that the scripture tells us about who or what

this beast power is.

So let's dive in here to Revelation chapter 13.

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

We're gonna start in verse one.

It says, then I stood on the sand of the sea,

and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea,

having seven heads and 10 horns,

and on his head a blasphemous name.

Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard.

His feet were like the feet of a bear,

his mouth like the mouth of a lion.

The dragon gave him his power,

his throne, and great authority.

And I saw one of his heads as if it had been

mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed,

and all the world marveled and followed the beast.

And so they worshiped the dragon,

who gave authority to the beast,

and they worshiped the beast saying,

who is like the beast?

Who is able to make war with him?

So picking up in verse five, it says,

and he was given a mouth speaking blasphemies,

and he was given authority to continue for 42 months,

and then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,

to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle,

and those who dwell in heaven.

Verse eight, all who dwell on the earth will worship him,

whose names have not been written in the book of,

verse seven, excuse me, I skipped that.

It granted him to make war with the saints

and to overcome them, and authority was given him

over every tribe, tongue, and nation.

All who dwell on the earth will worship him,

whose names have not been written in the book of life

of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

If anyone has an ear, let him hear.

Okay, we got through that.

I skipped a verse there in the middle.

That's a pretty vivid description.

And so now we have to figure out what is going on here,

because we see, it starts off this animal, this beast,

and it's got parts like a leopard, part feet like a bear,

it's got parts like a lion, it's all these different things.

And so we can wonder, is this something we'll be able

to go see at the zoo, or is this something different?

So we have to figure out from scripture,

what does a beast represent in Bible prophecy?

What does a beast represent?

Because that's the very first thing, I saw a beast.

So we're gonna come right back to Revelation 13.

So keep your finger there.

But we're gonna go for just a moment to Daniel chapter seven.

And I told you we're going to Daniel seven.

We're gonna go there for a longer period,

but we're gonna look at one verse to see how scripture,

how the angel of the vision tells us what a beast is.

Because it's in Daniel chapter seven and verse 23.

Daniel has a vision with many beasts.

These beasts here on this picture.

And we're gonna see that in just a moment.

But Daniel 723, it says,

Thus he said, the fourth beast shall be a fourth,

what's it say?

A fourth kingdom.

And so when we're looking at Bible prophecy,

a beast represents a kingdom or a nation on earth.

And this is important for what we're looking at.

Because we're seeing in Revelation 13

that this is a beast power, this anti-Christ power.

And so this beast is a kingdom or a nation on earth

that seeks to place itself in the role of Christ.

And so it can't be one man, it can't be a person,

as sometimes people think,

because we see right here from scripture

that a beast represents a kingdom in Bible prophecy.

And so with that in mind, let's go back to Revelation 13.

And we're gonna put on the screen here

a bunch of different clues.

And as we read through them,

I want you to confirm with me

that these are what we just read here

through these nine verses.

So here's some clues of what we just read from Revelation 13.

This beast rises from the sea, correct?

Did we see that in verse one?

I saw a beast rising out of the sea.

Okay, so what does that mean?

Well, we're gonna stay in Revelation,

but we're gonna let the Bible interpret that.

Let's go to Revelation chapter 17,

Revelation 17 · chapter mention

so just a page over maybe.

Revelation 17 and verse 15,

we're gonna let the scripture interpret that for us.

Revelation 17, 15.

It says, then he said to me,

the waters which you saw where the harlot sits

are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.

So we can bring that idea from here in Revelation

from this interpretation and bring it back

and we can see that where there's waters,

where there's sea in Bible prophecy,

it symbolizes lots of people, multitudes of people.

And so if we see the beast rising up out of the sea,

then that can tell us that this beast,

which is a kingdom, is coming up out of a place

where there's a lot of people,

where there's a great population.

So that's an important clue for us.

So this beast in Revelation 13,

we saw that it has seven heads and 10 horns.

It's made up of different animal parts.

We see here that the dragon gives it its power.

Now, what does the dragon represent?

We've talked about that before.

The dragon represents Satan.

It tells us that in chapter 12 and verse nine,

the dragon represents Satan.

So Satan is responsible for this beast

giving it a power to influence the world.

And then this beast in verse three,

it has a deadly wound and that deadly wound is then healed.

So at some point, apparently it's going to lose power.

It's gonna regain some power.

And then it says multiple times in verse five and six

that it's gonna blaspheme God.

It's gonna speak against God.

And then it says it's going to have power for 42 months.

Now, what does it mean?

Let's talk about the blaspheming first.

I kind of skipped over that.

What does that mean to blaspheme God?

That means that it's going to speak against God

or again, try to take the role,

try to take the place of God.

And we'll look that up in a few more minutes.

And then it says it's going to rule.

It's gonna continue for 42 months.

Now, what is that about?

42 months.

We're gonna take another little detour here

to look at some interpretation in scripture.

And what we're gonna discover is something called

the year day principle, a day for a year.

Now this is in Bible prophecy.

This isn't throughout scripture.

If the Bible says that King David ruled for 31 years,

that's talking about 31 years.

But when you see different time periods in Bible prophecy,

we can see that one day represents one year.

Let's look at a couple of verses.

We don't have time to dig into these stories totally,

but the first story has to do with when the children

of Israel were approaching the promised land

for the first time and Moses sent spies

into the promised land.

And they went into the promised land

and it was a wonderful land.

It had beautiful fruit.

It had so many things.

And it also had something a little bit scary.

There was giants in those hills

and they didn't want to fight against them

and they didn't trust that God would give them that land.

And so in Numbers chapter 14,

Numbers 14 · chapter mention

I'm just gonna read it off the screen here.

God says, according to the number of days

in which you spied out the land, 40 days,

the spies were there 40 days,

for each day you shall bear your guilt one year,

namely 40 years and you shall know my rejection.

So for each day the spies were spying,

they were gonna be punished.

They had to wander in the wilderness

for one year for each day, 40 days, 40 years.

So here in this prophecy as God is looking ahead,

he's saying one day equals one year.

There's another verse we can look at, the prophet Ezekiel.

Ezekiel had a rough time as a prophet.

God had him do some very weird things.

I'll just say that, unique things.

And because the children of Israel were disobeying God,

Ezekiel had to lay on his side for a certain number of time.

And we see here in Ezekiel 4, 6,

God says to Ezekiel, when you have completed them,

lie again on your right side

and then you shall bear the iniquity

of the house of Judah 40 days.

I have laid on you a day for each year.

The children of Israel had been disobedient for 40 years.

So Ezekiel had to lay to symbolize this for 40 days,

a day for a year.

And so if we bring that back to 42 months,

we can do a little calculation.

Again, I'm sorry for the math.

I know it's not school time.

But if there's 42 months that Revelation mentions here,

and in the biblical calendar, there's 30 days per month.

Well, that equals 1,260 days,

or since this is prophecy, 1,260 years.

And we're actually gonna see this number

pop up several times listed in a couple of different ways

in both Revelation and in Daniel.

So 42 months equals 1,260 prophetic days

or 1,260 prophetic years.

And so this says that this beast is going to rule,

it's gonna have authority for 42 months.

And so as I read that, I would say that that, again,

shows us that can't be an individual person

because nobody's gonna live for 1,260 years.

So it has to be something else

because this beast is a kingdom,

it's ruling for so long, and all of these different things.

And again, as I said, we're gonna see this figure

in the book of Daniel.

And finally, the final clue here,

it has power for 42 months,

and then this beast is gonna persecute God's people.

So there's our clues from Revelation.

And you might be able to shout out and tell me what that is,

but does Revelation 13 come out and tell us

who or what this beast power, this antichrist power is?

It doesn't tell us exactly, but it gives us some hints.

It gives us some clues.

But let's take the opportunity here.

Let's go back to Daniel chapter seven,

because Daniel and Revelation are companion books.

And many times, if there's something

you can't understand in Daniel,

you can find some help in Revelation and vice versa as well.

So in Daniel chapter seven, Daniel has a vision,

and it's a vision of four beasts, four beasts.

And it actually parallels this vision

that King Nebuchadnezzar had in Daniel chapter two

that we talked about several nights ago.

Anybody remember what these kingdoms were?

The head of gold was Babylon,

and then the silver was the Medes and the Persians.

Then we got the Greeks and the legs of iron,

the Roman Empire.

We're gonna see that in Daniel seven,

we're gonna see a parallel idea here,

a parallel to this image in Daniel chapter two.

And there's four beasts,

but then Daniel seven expands a little bit

from Daniel chapter two,

because it goes into something else,

and it talks about a little horn power,

a little horn power, and it gets into some detail there.

So let's, we're gonna dive in here,

but we're gonna go a little rapidly

over the first three beasts,

because we're trying to get to the fourth beast

and the horn that's there.

So we're gonna pick up reading here

in Daniel seven and verse two.

Daniel seven and verse two.

It says, Daniel spoke, saying,

I saw in my vision by night,

and behold, the four winds of heaven

were stirring up the great sea.

And the four great beasts came up from the sea,

each different from the other.

So he sees four beasts.

Beasts are what?

Kingdoms.

They're coming up from the sea,

so from a populated area,

and then he begins to describe these beasts.

So verse four, it goes on.

It says, the first was like a lion

and had eagle's wings.

I watched till its wings were plucked off,

and it was lifted up from the earth

and made to stand on two feet like a man,

and a man's heart was given to it.

You can see the lion right there as well.

And so this beast, this kingdom,

is representing the kingdom of Babylon.

In scripture, God used a lion to describe Babylon.

He described a lion, if Jerusalem continued to disobey,

then a lion was gonna come and destroy the city.

Well, who destroyed Jerusalem?

That was Babylon.

We can also look at archeology,

because as they've excavated Babylon,

the symbol, the image of Babylon was lions,

winged lions.

This was the symbol from scripture,

the symbol from Babylon.

So let's go on here.

We're going rapidly through these first ones.

Verse five, it says, suddenly another beast,

a second like a bear.

It was raised up on one side,

and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth,

and they said, thus to it arise and devour much flesh.

And there's the beast there with some ribs in its mouth.

Now, what was the second kingdom?

The Medes and the Persians.

And so that was two kingdoms that came together.

One was stronger than the other,

and so this bear is raised up on one side.

And what does it have in its mouth?

Ribs.

So it's conquered something.

It's eaten something else,

some other beast, some other kingdom.

Well, when the Medes and the Persians rose to power,

they actually conquered three other kingdoms.

They conquered Babylon, they conquered Lydia,

and they conquered Egypt.

And so it's devouring the prey there.

And so this is fitting exactly what happened in history.

So let's go to the third in verse six.

Verse six, it says, after this I looked,

and there was another like a leopard,

which had on its back four wings of a bird.

The beast also had four heads,

and dominion was given to it.

So just like the belly and thighs of bronze,

we've got this flying leopard with four heads,

and that represents the kingdom of Greece.

So a leopard is one of the fastest mammals

that's on the planet, land mammals,

and it's got wings,

so it looks like it's even going faster,

but it's got four heads.

That's kind of a weird description for a leopard.

Well, we've talked about it before,

but Alexander the Great was the leader of Greece,

and Greece conquered so much territory so fast,

and then Alexander died at the age of about 33.

And when he died, his kingdom was divided up

among his four generals.

Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus,

just as this leopard has four heads.

It's pretty incredible to see history

following exactly what Bible prophecy said.

But then we come to this fourth beast,

and we're gonna slow down a little bit here,

because this is the one that we're focusing on here,

and the little horn that comes after.

So verse seven, it says,

After this I saw in the night visions,

and behold, a fourth beast,

dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong.

It had huge iron teeth.

It was devouring, breaking in pieces,

and trampling the residue with its feet.

It was different from all the beasts that were before it,

and it had 10 horns.

So like the legs of iron,

this beast has teeth of iron,

and so we see that it represents the next kingdom

to come along, the kingdom of Rome.

And Daniel describes this,

it doesn't even really tell us what kind of animal it is,

just that it's dreadful, it's terrible,

it's eating everything.

It's got these iron teeth,

and it says it's different from other beasts.

And it's this kingdom of Rome,

just as over here we've got the iron legs of Rome.

And Daniel now slows down,

because he begins to see something else

with this particular fourth beast that caught his attention,

and we see it in verse eight.

Daniel says, as I was considering the horns,

there was another horn,

a little one coming up among them,

before whom three of the first horns

were plucked out by the roots.

And there in this horn were eyes,

like the eyes of a man,

and a mouth speaking pompous words,

or some versions say blasphemous words,

kind of echoing revelation there.

And so Daniel sees,

he's watching this fourth beast that has 10 horns,

and suddenly among these 10 horns,

here comes another little horn.

And as it's coming up, it pushes out three horns,

it uproots them completely,

and then this horn, bizarreingly, gets eyes and a mouth,

and it begins to speak blasphemous things.

And you can understand why this caught Daniel's attention.

And we'll discover in just a moment

that this little horn power is what we refer to

as the Antichrist power, or this beast power,

that we've seen in Revelation 13.

Revelation said it was a beast,

Daniel describes it as a little horn.

And Daniel didn't understand exactly what was happening.

And so an angel came and interpreted things for him.

And so we're gonna skip down to verse 23,

verse 23 in the same chapter here,

and we're gonna see what the angel said.

We've already read one of these verses, verse 23,

thus the angel messenger said,

the fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth,

which shall be different from all other kingdoms,

and shall devour the whole earth,

trample it, and break it in pieces.

And we've already discovered the parallel

that this is Rome.

And then verse 24 says the 10 horns are 10 kings,

or 10 kingdoms, who shall arise from this kingdom,

and another shall arise after them,

and he shall be different from the first ones,

and shall subdue three kings.

He shall speak pompous words against the most high,

and shall intend to change times and laws.

Then the saints shall be given into his hand

for a time, times, and half a time.

Okay, so now we've seen some clues here.

We saw clues in Revelation 13,

and now here's some things that we've learned

from reading Daniel 7.

The fourth beast is a kingdom.

It clearly says that.

The 10 horns, they're also kings and kingdoms.

So we talked about this when Rome was conquered,

when Rome was defeated,

it wasn't conquered by another empire,

but there were different tribes, barbarian tribes,

which came in and piece by piece overcame,

overruled the Roman Empire.

We talked about that the other night.

And so these different tribes became

the nations of Western Europe.

The Franks became the French.

The Anglo-Saxons became the English.

But then something happened,

and you can see it on the screen

that three of these kingdoms ceased to exist.

Three of these kingdoms went away.

The Hyruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths.

Well, what happened?

They don't exist anymore.

Why?

Because they were exterminated.

And what did we see here?

That the little horn, this kingdom uproots

these other three horns, these other three kingdoms.

And so as we look at these clues,

we go on and we see that this little horn,

as it uprooted three kingdoms,

then it would persecute God's people in verse 25.

And we've looked at this before.

It would think or intend to change God's times

and God's law.

And then it says it would rule,

and it gives a kind of a bizarre time period there.

It says a time, times, and half a time.

Now we're not gonna take the time to look up these verses,

but you can write them down

because in Revelation 12, verses six, and verse 14,

those two verses say practically the same thing,

and yet they're interchangeable.

They're using 1,260 days,

and a time, times, and half a time.

One verse says one, the other verse says the same thing,

but the context, it's practically the same thing.

So what does this mean?

Time, times, and half a time.

Well, let's look.

I'm sorry, some more math here.

A time is one year,

so in the biblical calendar of 30 days a month,

so 360 days.

Times, well, that's plural, so that's two years.

And then half a time, well, that's half of a year,

so 180 days.

So if you add that up, sure enough,

you get a very familiar number that we've seen, 1,260 days.

And if one day equals a year,

then that is 1,260 prophetic days

would represent 1,260 years,

the exact same number that we saw with the 42 months,

the exact same number that we see in Revelation.

So the time, times, and half a time

is 1,260 days or years is 42 months.

It all wraps up.

And so we can see that this little horn

is the same as the beast of Revelation 13.

So together, we have discovered,

we have examined 13 different things

that give us the identification of Antichrist.

We're gonna go through them very quickly

because I want you to confirm,

did I make these up, are these in scripture?

So the little horn is gonna come out

of the fourth beast of Rome.

We saw that in Daniel chapter seven.

We know Rome was in Western Europe,

so that gives us a geographical location.

The little horn was gonna come up after Rome.

Now history tells us that Rome fell in 476 AD.

And so this power would have to arise

sometime after 476.

We see this kingdom is represented as a little horn.

So it's not large, it's small, it's a little kingdom.

And we see that this little horn

would conquer three other kingdoms that came out of Rome.

And we even could name those,

the Hyruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths.

We see that this little horn had eyes and a mouth,

and it could speak the eyes of a man

and the mouth of a man.

And so it appears that some kind of human,

some kind of person would be representing

this kingdom to the world.

It says that this little horn would be different.

And so there's something unique,

something different about the Antichrist kingdom

from other kingdoms.

And then we see that the little horn

would speak these great words,

or these blasphemies against God.

So let's pause there for just a moment.

We mentioned it earlier, but what is blasphemy?

Blasphemy is when someone wants to take the role of God,

take the place of God.

And there's two stories in the New Testament

where people accuse someone else,

accuse Jesus of speaking blasphemy or doing blasphemy.

One time Jesus claims to be God on earth.

And the people say, wait a second, you can't do that.

Man can't claim to be God.

Only Jesus could do that.

But the people didn't believe that he was God.

They accused him of blasphemy

because he was claiming to be God.

And then in Luke chapter five,

that's the story where they let the man down

through the roof and Jesus told him

his sins were forgiven.

And then he said, well, let's see,

is it easier to heal someone or to forgive their sins?

And they said, hold on, you can't forgive sins.

Only God can forgive sins.

And that's true, only God can forgive sins.

They just didn't believe that Jesus was God.

And so they claimed that Jesus was speaking blasphemy

because he was saying that he had power to forgive sins.

And so we see that somehow this beast power,

this anti-Christ power would claim to do that.

And then the little horn we saw in Daniel seven

would make war against the saints,

would persecute God's true followers.

It would seek to change God's laws, God's times.

We saw that.

And then number 10, the little horn would rule

for a specific point in time, a period of time,

a time, times and half a time or 1,260 years.

Number 11, the beast in Revelation

was going to have some kind of deadly wound

and then it would be healed.

It would lose its power and regain that.

People would follow, people would worship this beast power.

And so this seems to maybe indicate why it's different.

It's not only a political kingdom,

but it's also a religious kingdom.

And then the final one had to do

with having a certain number, the number of his name.

And so we're gonna look in Revelation chapter 13,

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

just to remind us of what this said in Revelation 13

in verse 17, it says, or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom.

Let him who has understanding calculate

the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man

and his number is 666.

And so this beast, the final clue is represented

by a number, a particular number,

and it's the number of a man and the number of a name.

So did I make these up?

That we read these, right?

These are what we saw, these are what was there.

The verses are there.

So 13 different clues.

And there's only one kingdom, there's only one power

that fulfills 13 different things.

There's been kingdoms, there's been governments

that maybe have done some of these,

or three or four or five, but only one

fulfills all 13 of these.

And so I'm gonna say what I've said before,

but as we're talking about this,

we're not talking about individuals,

we're not talking about people,

but we're talking about a system,

not individuals, but a system.

And the only kingdom, the only power

that can fulfill all of those things

is what we would refer to as the papacy,

Vatican City, the Church of Rome,

it's got many different names.

Now again, we're not talking about people,

we're talking about a religious political kingdom

that arose in the Middle Ages

when church and state united.

That's what Bible prophecy is pointing to.

And this church and state union

would allow people to lock up the Bible,

to chain a Bible to a church,

to take people that wanted to follow the Bible

and persecute them or kill them.

But this is a system, this is not individuals,

this is not talking about people today,

people that you may know, people that I know.

We're not pointing fingers at people

who are following the light that they have

and desiring to follow Jesus and to seek God.

We need to understand that God doesn't want us

attacking people, but we're talking about

a geopolitical religious kingdom

that God was trying to warn his church about.

And that's important to understand.

God knew that his church was gonna face different things

and so he warned them that this beast would rise up,

that church and state would be united

and he wanted them to be prepared and to be protected.

So since I made such a drastic claim,

let's look and see if it adds up.

The Vatican, does it fulfill these 13 points?

So the little horn was supposed to rise out

of Rome, that's what happened.

The papacy rose out of the Roman Empire in Western Europe.

You can read any history book from 10th grade

and it'll tell you the same thing.

The little horn came to power after 476

when the Roman Empire collapsed.

Because the papacy received its power in 538

when Emperor Justinian, who was living in Constantinople,

he said, you know what, we need some power over here

back in the other part of the empire,

so we're gonna give political power

to the leader of the church, to the pope

and so church and state united at that time.

And so the little horn was to be a little kingdom.

It was a little horn.

Well guess what, this kingdom is the smallest kingdom

in Western Europe, about 121 acres

and yet it is tiny and small but it's wealthy,

it's powerful, it's influential in the world.

This little horn would uproot three other kingdoms

that had come from Rome.

And if you again look at history books,

it was the armies of the church

that conquered those three kingdoms.

They wiped them out because they had different beliefs,

differing understandings about what the Bible taught.

The little horn had eyes like a man and a mouth that speaks.

Well this institution, this system has a person,

has a human that speaks for it

and represents it for the world.

The next clue said that it would be different

from other kingdoms.

Well this kingdom is certainly different

because it's not just a government,

but it's also a religious system.

It's unique in all of Western Europe.

This little horn would speak words of blasphemy.

Remember what we said blasphemy was?

A man claiming to be God

and man claiming to have the power to forgive sin

and to wipe it off the books of heaven.

Is that something that occurred in the Middle Ages?

It sure is.

I'm gonna read some,

we're gonna put some things on the screen here.

It's some crazy words when you read them out.

It says the pope is of so great dignity and so exalted

that he is not a man but as it were,

God and the vicar of God.

The pope is called most holy

because he is rightfully presumed to be such.

Hence the pope is crowned with a triple crown

as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions.

Moreover, the superiority and the power of the Roman pontiff

by no means pertain only to earthly things

and to things under the earth

but are even over the angels than whom he is greater

so that if it were possible

that the angels might err in faith

or might think contrary to the faith,

the angels could be judged and excommunicated by the pope.

The pope alone is deservedly called by the name most holy

because he alone is the vicar of Christ.

The pope is as it were, God on earth,

the sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ,

the chief king of kings.

So the Bible prophecy calling this role, this office,

is not just speaking specifically about a person,

one person in history, but it's this system,

this kingdom that's been set up

where the office at the head of that kingdom

can take these claims,

can claim to take the place of God on earth.

Here's another one.

It says what about forgiving sin?

That was the other thing that we said.

Seek where you will throughout heaven and earth,

you will find but one created being

who can forgive the sinner,

who can free him from the chains of hell

and that extraordinary being is the priest,

the Catholic priest.

The priest not only declares that the sinner is forgiven,

but he really forgives him.

The priest raises his hand

and pronounces the words of absolution

and in an instant, quick as a flash of light,

the chains of hell are burst asunder

and the sinner becomes a child of God.

So great is the power of the priest

that the judgments of heaven itself

are subject to his decision.

So these are some incredible statements

and these are just some,

but this is how the Bible defines blasphemy.

And so this institution is fulfilling these prophecies

during this time of the Middle Ages,

beginning at that time of the Middle Ages.

And then the eighth clue says that the little horn power

would make war against the saints.

Again, if you read history books about inquisitions

and different things like that,

there were thousands and thousands

and probably a million people who were martyred

during the dark ages and during the days of the Reformation.

This is just one of the sad facts of history.

And then the little horn would think to change God's times

and God's law.

Did that happen?

We've studied this on a previous night.

God's laws were wiped away.

God's laws were done away with.

We remember we put up the 10 Commandments

and we saw how the second commandment

about graven images just kind of disappeared.

Why?

Well, because they want to have images

that they can pray to, that they can receive grace from.

But here's some quotes as well.

It says that the Pope is of great authority and power,

so great authority that he is able to modify, declare,

modify, declare, or interpret even divine laws.

The Pope can modify divine law

since his power is not of man but of God

and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth.

So this institution claimed to have the power

to change God's laws.

And that is why the leaders during the Reformation

were so uncomfortable because they saw this union

of church and state.

They saw a person who claimed to have the power of God,

who claimed that they could forgive sins.

And when Martin Luther and others began to study the word,

they recognized that this power

looked very much like this beast of Revelation 13.

We saw that with the second commandment.

We saw that just more recently the other night

as we talked about the Sabbath.

And we recognized that those catechisms,

they said, which day is the Sabbath day?

Well, the seventh day is the Sabbath day.

We read that and then the next one said,

well, why do we observe Sunday instead of Sabbath?

Well, because the Catholic church changed

from Saturday to Sunday.

And so they claim to utilize their authority

to change what is there.

In fact, here's another quote along that same line.

It's from Cardinal Gibbon who wrote a book

called The Faith of Our Fathers.

Notice what he says.

He says, you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation

and you will not find a single line

authorizing the sanctification of Sunday

in Genesis to Revelation in scripture.

He says the scriptures enforce

the religious observance of Saturday,

a day which we never sanctify.

So what's he saying here?

He's saying that the church didn't do that.

He's saying that scripture has no reason

to switch that day.

So he's being honest.

I appreciate that.

I disagree with his theology,

but what he's doing here, he's challenging people.

Because there's some who say, oh,

like from the time of the Reformation,

we go by sola scriptura, the Bible,

and the Bible only.

But Cardinal Gibbon is saying, you really don't.

Because in the Bible, it doesn't say that.

He's saying that the church can change it.

And so as you're still honoring a different day,

you're actually not honoring sola scriptura anymore.

He's challenging Protestants.

And he's making a pretty good point

that if you're gonna follow the Bible and the Bible only,

then what are you doing with this memorial of creation?

So the next point here, number nine,

it says the little horn would seek

to change God's times and laws.

And we saw that.

Number 10, the little horn would have power

for 1,260 years.

And that's exactly what happened.

This church and state union went from 538

when Emperor Justinian gave power down to 1798.

In 1798, 1,260 years later,

Napoleon sent his general Berthier into Rome

to arrest the Pope and to cease for a time,

cease that power, cease that union of church and state.

And as we saw, the papal kingdom received a deadly wound.

And that went from 538 to 1798.

That deadly wound was given,

that power, that authority was taken away.

But we saw that there would be a deadly wound

and it would be healed.

And it was after this, a little over 100 years,

a little bit after the time of the First World War

that the papacy received its kingdom back.

Mussolini, the leader of Italy,

signed a treaty called the Lateran Treaty

and the papacy received its kingdom once again.

And in fact, in 1929, in the San Francisco paper,

there's an interesting article

because it uses almost biblical language.

It says, the Roman question tonight was a thing of the past

and the Vatican was at peace with Italy.

In affixing the autographs to the memorable document,

the treaty, healing, the memorable document,

healing the wound, extreme cordiality

was displayed on both sides.

So it's using biblical language,

may or may not realize it,

when it's talking about healing the wound.

And so, that's exactly what happened.

And then the 12th point says that this would be

a religious power that was followed and worshiped.

And today, this system of religion

is probably the most widespread throughout the world

with millions and millions,

maybe a billion people following it.

And governments of many, many nations

are influenced by its leader.

And then finally, the final point,

the beast would have a number 666,

which is the number of a man and the number of his name.

What is this about?

Remember, this is just one of the clues

that we've been talking about here.

If this was the only one, I would say, maybe not,

because the title of the papacy, the Pope's title,

one of the titles that he has is Vicarious Filii Dei,

which means Vicar of the Son of God.

And if you take Roman numerals,

you remember back elementary school math,

Roman numerals have value.

And if you take those values of these letters

and add them up, as you see on the screen,

it comes to 666.

Now, like I said, if this was the only clue,

we could throw that out,

because there's many people's names that you could add up.

And there's a possibility that it would go to 666.

But when you have this one and then 12 others,

it seems to be clear that this kingdom is the one

that fulfills the prophecies of Daniel 7

and Revelation 13.

And people may say, well, this is weird,

I've never heard this before.

But let me assure you that this is not something

that I have invented, that I have come up with.

This is not something that a denomination

or a church has come up with.

This understanding is over 500 years old.

If you are a part of a Protestant church,

this is part of your heritage.

Because the reason that Protestant churches exist

was because they were protesting

what was happening in the Church of Rome.

And as they protested these things,

they said, you know what, we're reading Revelation 13,

we're reading Daniel 7,

and they saw how the Bible was kept from people.

They saw how grace was forbidden for people.

They saw how people could be considered a heretic

because they were following the Word of God.

And they began to say, Rome is the beast.

Rome is the little horn.

And so if you are part of a Protestant church,

this is why your church exists today.

It doesn't matter if you're Episcopalian or Baptist

or Lutheran or whatever it is,

the reason that those churches protested

is because they saw this

and they recognized these prophecies.

But the fact is that many churches

have forgotten that heritage.

And many churches have forgotten

what was their part of understanding what was happening.

And a new interpretation has come around

and it's the interpretation that the Antichrist power

is something, someone, something off in the future.

And that interpretation is only about 150 or 200 years old.

And one of the reasons that came about

even a little bit before that

was because the Church of Rome began to say,

wait a second, people are calling us the beast.

We need to come up with something different.

We need to take the heat off of us.

And so they commissioned scholars

and some of the scholars said,

oh, all those prophecies,

they took place back in the 600 BC.

Those all already happened.

And then some of those scholars said,

oh no, that's not Rome

because that's all something off in the future.

And many churches today have adopted that understanding

and neglected the heritage of their Protestant background

that they were protesting against this church in Rome.

Now God was warning his church

about what was gonna happen in the Middle Ages.

But we need to be really careful

that we're not pointing fingers

and say how dare those people,

or this isn't talking about anybody today,

but from an ancient time,

how dare those Middle Ages people,

in the Middle Ages, they did that.

God's not honored when we talk about people, individuals.

God's not honored when we speak negatively about people.

And the fact is that every church

has made mistakes in their background

and mistakes in their history.

But I think that the main reason

why we can't attack people for this

is because who started the Reformation?

Who was it that started the Reformation?

It was Catholics.

Catholics started the Reformation.

Those early reformers were Catholic leaders,

were Catholic priests, were Catholic teachers.

And as they studied scripture,

they saw what was happening in the church

and they said this is not right.

And they tried to reform the church,

but when the church would not change,

they recognized that they had to depart,

they had to step away.

But those who began the Reformation were Catholics.

They were individuals who loved God

with all of their heart, with all of their soul.

And they wanted to put truth above tradition.

And that's what God is looking for.

God is looking for people who want to put

the Word of God above anything else.

And so we could ask ourselves as we're about to close here,

what does this have to do with me?

This was a long time ago.

What does this have to do with my life and our world today?

Well, God in these prophecies is giving us a picture

of what happened in the Middle Ages

because another prophecy that we're gonna look at

on Thursday night indicates that this same thing,

these same concepts are gonna happen again at the end times

as we continue studying Revelation 13 and other prophecies,

that Revelation's final events tell us that history

is going to repeat itself,

that this beast power will rise again,

that church and state will unite

and we are gonna have to make the same choice

as the people in the Middle Ages.

Are we gonna stand for Jesus?

If we're gonna stand for Jesus at the end times,

we need to be standing for Jesus in these times.

If we're gonna stand for Jesus when the pressure is on,

then we need to stand for Jesus when we have freedom.

We have to ask, am I following Jesus?

So some questions to just consider in your own heart.

Am I following Jesus above everything else?

Am I following His word above everything else

in the world today?

Am I giving my allegiance to the commandments of God?

Now we've been talking a lot about the antichrist,

but I don't want to end tonight talking about the antichrist.

We're gonna end talking about Jesus Christ.

So let's go back to Daniel chapter seven

and this is where we're gonna close, Daniel chapter seven.

We're gonna look at just a few verses in this same prophecy.

Daniel seven, starting in verse nine.

Notice what the Bible says,

"'I watched till thrones were put in place

"'and the ancient of days was seated.

"'His garment was white as snow

"'and the hair of His head was like pure wool.

"'His throne was a fiery flame.

"'Its wheels a burning fire.

"'A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him.

"'A thousand thousands ministered to Him.

"'Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.

"'The court was seated and the books were opened.'"

Daniel here is seeing a heavenly courtroom scene.

He sees the ancient of days, God the Father,

sitting on His throne.

He's surrounded by thousands and thousands,

10,000 times 10,000, a million angels, angelic beings,

and the books were open.

This is a scene of judgment

when God looks through the record of our lives

just before Jesus comes

and this little horn power is about to be judged.

But before I worry about the little horn,

I need to be concerned about myself.

Because when God looks at the record of my life,

I can look at my life

and I can see lots and lots of mistakes.

I can see lots and lots of sins.

And the question that I have to ask myself

is do I have Jesus as my savior?

Have I allowed His righteous life to cover mine?

Because that's the only way

that I can make it through this judgment.

And the focus of this vision isn't on Antichrist,

but it's on Jesus Christ.

Notice verse 13 here of Daniel 7.

It says, I was watching in the night visions

and behold, one like the Son of Man

coming with the clouds of heaven.

He came to the ancient of days

and they brought Him near before Him.

So this one like the Son of Man, Jesus,

enters the courtroom.

Jesus who is the mediator between God and man.

And when God is looking at my record,

Jesus can stand up and say,

oh yeah, Greg, He made some mistakes.

He made some sins in His life,

but He accepted me as His savior.

And I died on the cross of Calvary.

And because of that,

I've wrapped my robe of righteousness upon Him.

And so when the ancient of days looks at my life

or looks at your life,

He's not gonna see the mistakes,

but He's gonna see the perfect life of Jesus

because you have Jesus as your savior

and His perfect life can cover you.

And you can be saved, not because you're good,

but because Jesus is good.

And you can go to heaven,

not because you have done anything to deserve it,

but because Jesus died on Calvary.

And that is why you are able to go.

And so in the Middle Ages,

the little horn tried to hide Jesus from the people

and people lost sight of God.

But in the last days, today,

it's time to turn and look at Jesus.

It's time to turn our eyes upon Him

because Jesus is the only one that can save us.

Jesus is the only one we should worship.

Jesus is the only one who can make us clean.

So I hope that will be the commitment of each one of us,

that we will keep our eyes

and keep our focus upon Jesus.

I'm gonna close with a prayer.

And then there's a little chorus that I'm gonna sing.

And I hope that you will join me in singing

just that little chorus,

turn your eyes upon Jesus.

Let's bow our heads for prayer.

Dear God, what a story,

what a prophecy.

You've laid things out and it may be new for some,

but it's good news as we see not an antichrist power

that is stronger than you,

but we see a savior who forgives and gives us grace.

We see a Jesus who is promising to come soon

and take us to heaven.

And Lord, it's my prayer that each one of us here,

tonight and tomorrow and every day,

will just keep our mind and keep our focus upon you.

In your name we pray, amen.