so many different things come to mind. It doesn't
seem like you can avoid it in so many ways, whether it's a notification on your phone or you
turn on the news. They're constantly talking about the issues and the problems, the problems with
the economy, the problems with national GDP. And then you hear this report about one thing, and
then this report on the other hand, and they're conflicting. Well is this fake news, or is that
fake news, or what is real? And then there are the challenges with peoples' jobs, and of course the
pandemic. I think it just continues to point to the fact that we live in such a time of confusion
and trouble and this unsurety that we face. And then it's always interesting to hear a
little story here or there that tries to relate these things to the Bible. Have you heard some of
those things? And most oftentimes, where do they direct their attention when it comes to these
times of trouble and confusion and the Bible? It seems they always go to Revelation, don't
they? They seem to go to Revelation, and you hear different stories about
different things. And then there's this mark of the beast thing, and there's this beast
that's going to be out there, and then watch out, because there's the coronavirus. And
somehow they're all intersecting. And so when you begin to think about that, how
do you sort that out? Because it's interesting the connections that people try to make. And
sometimes I think we forget the overall picture. When you really get down to it, what are we
really fighting against? I mean, it's the greatest villain of all time. I mean, if you had to pick,
who's the greatest evil beast of the whole Bible, well, that's an easy one,
right? It's got to be Satan. It's got to be Satan the devil. We know the story.
We know that time and time ago he rebelled against God, and he took a third of the angels with
him. And that rebellion has intensified more and more and continues right to this
day. He deceived the first man and woman, and we know he is the most subtle, deceitful,
shrewd, cunning creature that there is. And so over and over again he slanders God. He
blasphemes. He tries to undermine His people. And he tries to undermine the plan of God and the plan
of salvation, what God's purpose is all about. And in all of that, if you had to describe what is
his goal, what would it be? What is Satan's goal? I mean, ultimately, he wants to be sovereign.
He wants to be God. He wants to be in charge. Now, do you think he knows that that's not
going to happen? Or is he just totally ignorant? I mean, we know that demons can
know scripture, right? He knows. He knows God's got it in for him and this is not
going to work. And so what's his reaction to that? I mean, realizing he can't replace God, he'll
never be God, he wants to try to undermine God's purpose, His plan of redemption, salvation itself,
and destroy us, destroy God's people. And in the meantime, what does he really want? If we break it
all down, the bottom line, what does Satan want? He wants to be worshipped, doesn't he? He
wants to get the glory. He wants the honor. He wants the adulations. He wants
to be adored. He wants to be loved. So how in the world is that going to happen? He wants to realize that through human
beings, through people, he can make it happen. And so through human beings, he wants
that honor, and that love, and that recognition. And so when you look at Revelation, it
speaks over and over and over about how they will come about. Revelation 13 begins that
story showing how Satan will manipulate people to bring about his honor. So take a look at
Revelation 13. Probably a familiar story because it begins with a key concept that we have to keep
in mind. As we face all of the information that's out there and misinformation, news and fake news,
true biblical things, and the phonies, the fakes, the counterfeits that are out there, keeping the
overriding theme in mind will definitely help us. So what's the theme as we look
at Revelation 13 and beyond? Well the central idea when it comes
to the beast, the number, his name, the mark, all of those things, it takes
us back to worshipping the leader. Emperor worship, worshipping the king, absolute
devotion to the leader is really what it comes down to. So Revelation 13 begins there. Now, this
just lies ahead of us, and it describes the beast. What is the beast? Well this end-time beast,
is it a person, or is it a government? Yes, it is. It's both. The beast is a person.
It's an individual. It's a ruler. It's a king. But it's also a government. It's also this
geopolitical system. You could say it's a confederation of nations that are working
together. So we've got the government and its leader being described in chapter 13.
So look at verse 1. John stands on the sea, on the sand at the seashore, and what does
he see? “A beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads, ten horns, horns on
ten crowns… heads… and on his heads a blasphemous name.” So you can see how he's
insulting God, cursing all, speaking evil. And where is that all coming from? Well, it's not just from the person. It's not just
from this governmental system. We see verse 4. “They worshiped the dragon who gave authority to
the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, ‘Who's like the beast? Who is
able to make war with him?’” And so we have this coming government system with
its leader that gets its authority from where? From Satan. The dragon gave him his power. We see
that in verse 2, verse 4. It's repeated over and over. Now is that something new? Is this something
that's, like, never happened before in history? This isn't new. Go back to Babylon. Go back to
the first world-ruling empire, you might say. Who's the power behind the power there? Satan. Did
Satan use Nimrod to go against God? Absolutely. Did he use Babylon in that way? No doubt.
And so we begin to see that really clearly that Satan has used kings and emperors and
governments to help him achieve his goals. And it's no different as we look just down the
line. And behind it, all, remember his goal? I mean, we see it right here. Look at verse 8,
“All who dwell on the earth will worship him.” Not just the king, not just the system, but the
power behind the king, the dragon, Satan himself. Verse 12 says the same thing. At the end of verse
12, “all who dwell in it worship the first beast,” because that's his goal. And in fact, even when a
second beast comes along that's mentioned in verse 11, they work in tandem. They work together.
And this second beast isn't a government. It's not just an individual. But we find a cohort
here. Let's notice what it says in verse 11, another beast coming out of the earth.
So this one is not in the sea. This one comes out of the earth. We see it's a little bit
different in that way. And what about this one? Well, “he had two horns like a
lamb and spoke like a dragon.” What could be harmful about a little
lamb, right? It's not even a sheep, right? It's this nice little fluffy
little lamb. Seems innocent, seems nice. What could be harmful about that? That's what
it seems like. But what's the reality behind this power? Same. Same thing. Dragon is
behind this one. Satan is behind this one. So what we find is this beast, this individual,
also known as the false prophet, also known as the one who is the man of sin, the son of perdition.
The Bible has lots of names for this beast because this individual causes people to worship
the king, the emperor. And so here we find the government and religion working together,
working together to deceive the people. Now has that ever happened before in history?
Absolutely. Church and state working together. It's the story of Europe. And it's
happened time and time and time again. And so it's the same old story, different
players, but the same power behind what's going on. And so we find this individual,
this beast, this man of sin, this false prophet imitates Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the
Lamb of God, so this one looks like a lamb but is not a lamb. This is the power of Satan
the devil working through the false prophet. And so even though it looks good,
it looks right, it's imitating and faking and counterfeiting the true Lamb
of God, and gets its power from the devil. And of course, as we being to think about
that we can see how this power is defined. And something that comes into play that maybe
we haven't really considered as we think about these things coming down the line, maybe
sooner than later, and I think we can find an interesting insight. Hold your place here in
Revelation 13, and take a look at 1 John 4. 1 John 4, right near the beginning of that chapter,
we'll look at verse 2. As John talks about false prophets certainly harkens to this time that lies
ahead when the false prophet will be on the scene, but he makes an interesting statement in verse 2.
He says this. "By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh is of God." Okay. What is that referring to then? Well, it's not just saying, okay, I believe
in Jesus. It's not just saying that, but it's recognizing something special
here. It's recognizing the fact that Jesus Christ was Emmanuel. He was God in the
flesh. He wasn't just a great prophet. He wasn't just a great rabbi. Not just an interesting
teacher. But He was God in the flesh. And you live your life according to the teachings of Jesus
Christ. That's what that's recognizing. So when we recognize Christ has come, well that talks about
the plan of God. I have a Savior. I have a Messiah who died for me. God died for me that I might
have life, eternal life in the Kingdom of God, in His family. That's the plan. That's the
purpose kind of all in a little nutshell there. But on the other hand, look at verse 3.
"Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of
God. And this is the spirit of Antichrist, which you have heard was coming,
and is now already in the world." Now sometimes this false prophet
is referred to as the Antichrist, or sometimes even the beast, the emperor,
the king is referred to as the Antichrist. And if we put this section of scripture and
connect it to what we're reading in Revelation 13, I think it throws an interesting light on
what they could be teaching and saying. Consider. Will the Antichrist, will this system,
will the beast, the emperor, the false prophet proclaim that Jesus Christ has not come? “That
guy you heard about, that's not the real deal. We're the real deal. You've heard of
the two witnesses. Well, here we are. Don't fall for that phony story about
Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. That hasn't happened yet.” So when we read
Revelation we certainly find a self-proclaimed prophet that's come among us that is the new
messiah, the new savior, the one that will bring us peace, the one that will bring us prosperity,
the one that will bring hope to mankind. He'll appear on the scene, and
what will happen to this messiah? He's going to be worshipped.
He's going to be worshipped like he is God in the flesh even though it's just
all a ruse. It's all fake. It's all phony. And when we talk about worshipping Revelation
13, we read that word "worshipped." Proskuneo is the Greek word. Yeah, it literally
means you bow down. You get down on your knees. You are prostrate before this
individual. You're doing obeisance because they are the great one. They are the
ruler. They are the leaders. And so you pay homage to them. That's what this worshipping
is all about. In fact, that word also carries another very… I find it so very interesting.
When you get into some of the wording, this Greek word proskuneo, yes, it can mean
to lay down on your hands and knees and touch the head to the ground in showing reverence. Of
course, that's what Satan wants. That's what the beast wants. That's what the emperor wants. That's
what the false prophet is encouraging. Absolutely. But that word can also mean to kiss the hand. To
kiss the hand. Have you ever seen people that are paying homage to others, and they go up and they
kiss their hand or they kiss the ring? Yeah, we've seen things like that, showing respect in that
way. And in fact, it's not just something that's going to be encouraged. It's more than that. In
fact, if you're still there in Revelation 13, notice verse 15. This shows the severity of the
expectation when it comes to showing reverence to the king and the power. Revelation 13:15. It
says “He was granted the power to give breath to the image of the beast,” of course this is
the false prophet, “that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not
worship the image of the beast to be killed.” So it's not just a nice idea that you worship the
king. You do this or die. That's going to be the option in the future. And so the false prophet is
going to work in coalition with the beast power to have the king worshipped. And so the
world will be forced to worship the beast who's ultimately energized by Satan the devil. And
if you don't you'll be killed. We see that happen. We fast forward, if we would, Revelation 11 talks
about the two witnesses that are killed. God's witnesses, God's representatives are killed
because they won't bow down. They won't pay respect. They won't do homage, and so they are
killed. And so could the beast deceive the world into believing they're the witnesses,
and the real witnesses are the phonies? And so when we recognize that I think it
begins to set the frame for how we view this entire section of scripture because it's not
only worship and be killed. There's something else that's connected to that just a couple of verses
later. Take a look at verse 16, Revelation 13:16. Yes, you have to worship the king and the
beast. You have to pay homage or be killed. But then verse 16 talks about another aspect.
It says “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a
mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except
one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
Verse 18. “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate,” literally count “the
number of the beast, for it's the number of a man: His number is 666.” Probably the most infamous
number in all history right there, 666. Have you heard any speculation about
this particular mark or this number? Probably. There's a lot going around right now
about what that might mean. Now if you look in the Greek, this is charagma. Charagma is
a stamp, literally a stamp or a brand, or it could be connected to an etching. That's
the literal meaning of the word. And of course, that brings to mind, especially when
we take the context of Scripture here, slaves in ancient Babylon were marked.
They were branded or tattooed on their face or on the back of their hands. History
has shown us that is certainly the case. Now is there a connection to ancient Babylon
and this beast system that lies ahead? Well of course there is. Of course, there is. We
recognize that Satan has worked through these various systems throughout time, and these
different world-ruling empires have been influenced by Satan the devil. And so we know that
when this next resurrection of this empire comes, there's a parallel here. There's a
connection here between that first beast of Babylon and the last one, this
last Roman beast that's on the way. And so we see this literal
mark somehow translates to today, and some kind of connection is made
here. So what is it? Some try to connect the coronavirus to 666, that it must be the
mark of the beast, or maybe the vaccine, the immunization that they're working on.
That's going to be the mark of the beast. And the number is obvious, right?
How about corona itself? C-O-R-O-N-A. Six. There's your first six. And of course, if
you're into numerology, what does that, where you assign a number to every letter of the alphabet,
right? A would be 1, B would be 2, C 3, O 15, R 18, back to O again, 15, N 14, A 1. Add it
all up. Sixty-six. So you have corona, 6, and 66. Obviously, this is the number of the beast, right?
Really? All right, we're going to talk about that in a moment. But you probably heard things like
that. They're out there. They're out there. What we tend to forget is what this book of
Revelation is all about. It's a book of revealing. It's to reveal God's plan, to reveal His purpose,
not to hide it or shroud it in some talk that maybe it could be this or that, or we'd better
watch out. You see, who was this letter written to initially? Yes, it's written to us by extension,
no doubt about that. There are wonderful things that apply to now and things that lie just ahead
of us. But don't forget this letter was written at the end of the first century. And who was it
written to? It was written to the seven churches. They're described at the end of chapter 2 and
chapter 3, those seven churches in Asia Minor. And so if we forget the context of this letter,
we're going to forget how we interpret it. And what's on God's mind as He reveals? Worship. You see, at that time,
the way of worship was the Roman imperial cult. That was worship of the day. And
if you study history, I know you have, maybe you haven't thought about it for a while, but what
did they like to do with the Roman emperors who died? Other than bury them, other than that.
Well, they would deify them, wouldn't they? They would be gods. And so oftentimes after they
died, a Caesar would then be worshipped as a god, and the Roman citizens would honor
him and worship him. Good example: Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar died. What happened
afterward? They deified him. Caesar is now a god. And so they put him in the whole pantheon
of gods and worshipped him too. And of course, the son comes along, Augustus. Guess what title
he took? Son of god. Augustus was son of god. Now study history. It's interesting. Many Greeks,
especially when you get to the eastern parts of the Roman Empire, they got ahead of the game
a little bit. And so instead of waiting, they began worshipping the emperor
before he died. While he was still alive, many of those individuals would worship the king,
worship Caesar, worship the emperor. You know that to be true. Just read the book of Ephesus.
When you read the book of Ephesus, Ephesians, Ephesus worshipped the Roman imperial cult.
They worshipped Caesar. It was a problem in Ephesus. It wasn't any different in Smyrna.
It wasn't any different in Pergamum. In fact, the other seven churches, pretty
much the same. They had that issue. And of course, the real tyrannical emperors, the
really oppressive ones, they didn't wait for the Greeks to worship them. They demanded it while
they were still alive. A good example of that: Nero and the man who followed him, Domitian. They
demanded worship while they were still alive. In fact, Domitian demanded to be addressed as
both lord and god. Do you think they were serious about this cult? Absolutely. It was
all wrapped around worshipping the emperor. Now we read about the mark of the
beast. What's connected to that? Worship. Worship is connected to that.
Worshipping, in this case, the beast's image, and by extension the beast, and then by further
extension, the dragon, Satan. And so put yourself in first-century Rome. Do you think Caesar's
image was anywhere to be found? If you've ever seen pictures or ever visited Italy, wow. You
got statues everywhere, busts of Caesar here and there. Then you got the coins. Whose face was
on the coin? Well, even Christ drew attention to that, right? It was Caesar's image right
there on the coins. It was everywhere. And not just the image but the whole claim to divinity.
Claiming to be a god was right there before them. And of course even back in that day, if you
wanted to go to the agora, in Greek it would be the marketplace, the forum. You want to go to
the forum. You want to buy and sell your goods in the marketplace. Well, they had various guilds.
So might be of the leather guild so you could sell your tents and leather goods. Or you might
be a fisherman, and you're of the fishing guild, and you come and bring your goods to the
forum where you can sell them to the people. Well in order to do that, you had to be a part
of the trade guild. You had to be a part of the group, a part of the organization, in other words. And oftentimes these organizations had special
celebrations. If you wanted to be in the guild, you wanted to be in the gang, you
had to participate in these feasts, in these celebrations. And what
do you think they were honoring? Well, pagan gods. And who do you
think would be right among them? Caesar. The emperor would be right
there. So if you wanted to buy or sell, you'd better worship the emperor.
You'd better honor the king. And so when we read that in Revelation 13:17,
this wouldn't be a shock to a first-century reader. Well yeah, this makes sense.
When it talks about buying and selling, literally what that's saying in the Greek is
going to market. You want to go to market? You want to go to Walmart? You want to
go to Meijer? You want to go to Kroger? What's the delineating
factor? Worship. It's worship. First-century people took the mark of the
beast by participating in the economy, buying and selling. And so your relationship
to the imperial cult and worshipping the king impacted your ability to take part
in buying and selling, in the economy, right? You couldn't trade. You couldn't redeem. So it's
really interesting how that is all impacted. So if you wanted to be a good citizen, just
curse Christ, accept Caesar. Well, in fact, you don't even have to exclusively worship
Caesar. You could just include him in all the rest of the gods. If you want to throw
Christ in there, that'd be okay too, but just make sure you're worshipping
Caesar, worshipping the other gods, and it's okay. So sometimes it wasn't exclusivity
either. Just throw Christ in with the other gods, and that'll be okay. Well, you can't do
that as a Christian, and that's the key. That's the key is participating in the economy, in
buying and selling at the expense of your faith, giving up your faith in God, giving
up trusting Jesus Christ. And so we see that happening throughout the empire.
That's what the context was all about. And it won't be any different in the future. In
the future, it will come down to worshipping the king, the emperor, the president, the leader, or
you can't shop, you can't barter, you can't sell, you can't buy what you need. You're going to
need that proof to engage in business. Now, okay, could it be a literal stamp, a
literal mark? Possibly. But it seems to indicate something more figurative, a
counterfeit, a manipulation, a mental stamp of ownership. Who owns you? Does the king own you?
Does the system own you? Or do you belong to God? That's the question. And I can't help but think
of that old political saying from a number of years ago. Do you remember? It was the statement
of the election. "It's the economy, stupid." Remember that phrase? Yeah, that's what it comes
down to. Worship the beast, worship the king, or you won't be able to participate in
the economy. You can't be a part of it. And it's interesting how in this section
of scripture it includes body parts to identify how this mark is received. And of course
here, what does it say? In your hand and head. Figuratively you hand your actions, your head.
Well, that's where I think, in my thought and my deeds. It's reflected in what I think and what
I do. Where's my loyalty? Where am I thinking my loyalty is? If it's to God the Father and
Jesus Christ, it'd better show in my actions. That's the identifying factor. So this sign
identifies you as who you already are, really. So are you a person of the dragon or a child
of God? That's what it's going to come down to. And of course, people want to try to get it right
down to the exact. Well, what exactly, when you get right down to it, what is it? Okay, that's
where we have a tendency to get off base just a little bit because there are endless, it seems,
speculations. And one of the challenges is it brings fear. We worry about these things. I mean,
for those of you who have been around for a while, do you remember a time that it was thought
that if you accepted a government-mandated social security number, that was the equivalent
of taking the mark of the beast? Does anybody remember hearing that? Yeah,
that was out there at one time. Today, it's the Corona vaccine. They're going to
give you this vaccine. I've heard, well, maybe there will even be a chip in that vaccine. It'll
just be right there inserted under your hand. Really? Is that it? Or is it a tattoo? Or
other chip implant? Or maybe it's a SIM card? I've even heard people speculate it's
masks. Masks are the mark of the beast. No. None of those things are the mark of the
beast. You have to remember the context of the book. If we get away from the context, we're
going to misunderstand. Now could they be used in connection to the mark of the beast? Well, yeah,
that could be. But the mark means I forsake God. I turn my back on God, and I reject
faith in Jesus Christ. So if I have to do that to get the vaccine, well maybe there's a
connection there, but of itself, it's nothing. When we look at the context biblically speaking,
the mark of the beast has to be tied to worship. Period. That's it. So could
I get tricked into the mark? No. You can't get tricked into it. Look at the
biblical context. When we see what the Bible says, it doesn't allow us to think that the mark of the
beast is something that I could just accidentally fall into. Not going to be an accident because
what is this a mark of? It's a mark of loyalty. It's a mark showing honor. It's a mark that shows
worship, either false worship or true worship. So if you're worshipping, that's
something that requires thinking, doesn't it? You have to be involved in that. It
requires that you're fully cognizant of what's happening, that you have a heartfelt awareness
of what you're doing because if you don't, can you call that worship? If you're not
really in the moment knowing, recognizing, praising, honoring? Yeah, you have to know it.
So this mark requires full cognizance to take. And so when you recognize that, when this thing
comes along, you're going to know exactly what you're doing. There's no doubt about it. You're
going to know it. You're going to know whether you're honoring God or you're cursing God, cursing
Christ. Whether you're pledging devotion and continued honor to God or pledging devotion to His
enemy, you're going to know. You're going to know. And, in fact, when you recognize this, I
think we begin to see how true worship can't be excluded from this whole equation. It has to
be a part of things. In fact, if you turn the page to Revelation 14, it mentions this mark once
again. Don't forget emperor worship. Don't forget leader worship. Don't forget this Roman imperial
cult that is going to be brought back to life once again. Revelation 14 speaks of that. Look at verse
9. Verse 9 it says, “a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships
the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand,’" okay,
we just read about that in chapter 13. What about somebody that does that? Verse 10,
"he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength
into the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone and the presence
of holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb." That's not good. Not a good
thing to pay homage to the king, to the beast, to the emperor. This is bad.
To receive that mark and worship his image, it's bad news. It also goes on to say,
verse 11, "The smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; they have no rest day
or night, who worship the beast in his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name." Now
that's an interesting comment. They have no rest. They have no rest. What is that talking about?
In fact, they reference that again in verse 12, or a little bit later in verse 13.
Look at verse 12. We'll read on. "Here is the patience of the saints." So here
we have this compare and contrast. We have those who will be evil, who will worship the
beast, worship the dragon. On the other hand, God's people. All right? What about the patience
of the saints? "Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."
Is this about worship or not? Absolutely it is, isn't it? It's about worshipping God
and obeying God, following His way. Verse 13. "I heard a voice from heaven saying to
me, ‘Write: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘that
they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.’" So we have another reference
to resting, and specifically resting from labors. So interesting. On one hand,
we have those that worship the beast, worship the king, and yes, it could mean they
literally bow down to an image, to a statue, to maybe a giant statue. Has
that ever happened before? Yeah. Remember the time in Daniel? Go back to
Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Remember after Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar his dream? What does he do?
He builds a giant statue and says, "Everybody bow down when you hear the music play." Yeah, that's
happened before. So it certainly could be that. Representing the fact if you don't bow down and
worship, you're not buying and selling. Certainly, that could be the case. But I think when you look
into the context that there's even more here, especially when you look at the Greek words
and the construction, the way this is laid out. There's something else that seems to be a part
of what's going on, something in addition to just bowing down and worshipping that's connected
here, because what is being worshipped here? Well, they're worshipping this statue,
this image, this ikon is the Greek word, the ikon which is representative
of Caesar, the king, the president, whatever it is via the beast, the dragon.
Yes, that's true. They're worshipping that. But when we read this section of
Scripture, it also seems to be connected to how you worship and when we worship because
of this word, rest, resting from our labors. And I think here is where obedience
to God and keeping His Commandments, and of course there is that Fourth Commandment
that is involved with resting from your labors, isn't it? Six days you have to do all
your work, all your labor. And what's the seventh day? It's the Sabbath. You rest
from your… What is Sabbath observance anyway? It's an act of obedience, isn't it? It's an act
of honor and worship. And we can go all the way back to the beginning of the book in the book of
Genesis. It tells us there the Sabbath is a sign. It's a sign between God and His people because the Sabbath is certainly how
true Christians worship the true God. And so what we find here, there's a direct
correlation between worshipping God, the true God and the true way, and your ability to buy things
and sell things. So when we read in verse 11, "There is no rest day or night for those
who receive the mark of the beast," all right, does that mean they're just going
to be tortured, and they're going to die, and that's it? I think it could mean that, but I think in reading exactly what it
says, they have no rest day or night, interesting wording here. In
the Greek, this word for rest is not talking about a Sabbath rest,
per se, but it's ceasing from work, a cessation of labor or business. Yet they have
no break from work. They have no day of rest, do they? They have no day of rest. It's all about
the economy, right? That's what it's all about. It's all about the boss. It's all about
the king. It's all about the system. So could it be that those who
do accept the mark of the beast don't have a day of rest? In fact, in verse
12 I think it reinforces that concept there that when we stand against the mark of the beast,
we take a stand for the commandments of God, not just the Sabbath but all of the commandments
of God. So that's why we see that mentioned right here. Here are those who keep the
commandments of God. That's what verse 12 says. We keep the commandments of God. And when
God's people obey and keep His commandments, whether they're facing persecution, whether
they're facing struggle, the pressure, we're going to keep the Sabbath. We're going to
obey. And as a result, well it says some will die. Some will be persecuted. Some will be martyred.
It says that very clearly. They will die. And then verse 13, “they may rest from their
labors,” yeah, I think that could definitely be pointing to dying and you rest in the grave,
no doubt. But remember, I think there is this connection how and when we worship as well here
because the Greek would certainly allow this to be understand as, take a look at verse
13, “that they may rest from their labor.” It could allow to be understood as they kept
the Sabbath as a day of rest from their labors because ultimately that's why they're martyred.
So then their obedience and their good works follow them to the grave. Their works follow
them to the grave. And so when we recognize that, we see the beast usurping the authority of God,
the First Commandment. You worship the king, worship the beast? The Second Commandment,
worshipping icons and idols? Are you crazy? The Third Commandment, the Fourth
Commandment, they all tie together. And so the Sabbath is the command that puts it
all together, not only showing how we worship, when we worship, but also identifying who we
worship. It's a sign between God and us. We worship the true Creator, God. No wonder
the beast is going to hate the saints, because we know the truth, and we live the
truth, and we practice the truth. And doing that will help us to escape the ultimate deception. And so all of this, I believe, is truly important
to us. Anybody think we're not edging closer to this time? Do you think that things are
pushing on? Any doubt that we're in the midst of prophecy being fulfilled and a step
closer to this time of the end? I think the elements are in place. We see
them all around us. Yet, we have some time. We have some time. And that's the good
news. That's the good news. We have time, and we need to make sure that we have the right
mark, or sometimes the Bible calls it a seal, “the seal of God.” We have the seal
of God as His people, as his servants. You might just write down Ezekiel 9. It talks
about a time where God's people who were sighing and crying over the abominations of the world at
that time in Jerusalem were sealed by God. They had that mark on their foreheads, and that
mark is certainly shown by how we worship in spirit and in truth. John 4:21 reminds us of
that very fact, that we are the true disciples of Christ who worship and praise and honor God
in the way that He wants to be honored. And so we have time. We have time. And if we've
found that we've kind of slipped away, that we haven't been doing what we need to be
doing, now is the time to repent. Now is the time to change. Now is the time to recognize we can’t,
we can't step back. We have to step forward. Look at Revelation 18:4, just a couple of
pages further on. It's a good reminder that we have such a wonderful, awesome Creator
who's on our side, who wants the best for us. And what's so wonderful about
this? We see this very clearly. Revelation 18:4, "I heard
another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her
sins, lest you receive her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered
her iniquities.’" And so that's a reminder. God is on our side, and we don't have to be
overly anxious and let fear take over during these times. We know this is just the beginning
of things that will certainly get much worse. But among all that, we don't have to listen to
the fearmongers. We don't have to be worried. We don't have to worry that somehow this is going
to take me by surprise, and I won't know it's even happening, and somehow I'll accidentally
turn from… That's not going to happen. Don't get taken in by those wrong ideas of
what the Bible really says. God says don't worry about this coming power. Don't worry
about one-world government. Don't worry, God is on our side. He's with us. He'll never
leave us or forsake us. So let's make sure we're fine-tuning our relationship with God, that
we love Him more than ever, that we listen to Him more than ever and read His Word, and we live
His truth, and we pray, and we talk to God. We're not sidetracked, because Satan would love
to sidetrack us about fighting over silly things like masks. This is not the time to do anything
like that. This is not the time to fight about masks. It's not the time to think somehow the
next political candidate is going to save us. Boy, if we elect the wrong person we're all… Come on. Human beings are not going to save
this world. We are in the hands of Almighty God, and we'd better stay there and not fall for
the deception, not fall for the trickery of the coming beast power and the power behind
it, Satan the devil. We can't do that. And I think at this time, we
cannot forsake assembling together. Hebrews talks about that, and some of us have.
We've forsaken assembling together. We can't do that. I'm not saying to be unwise.
Certainly, during this time there are those that have underlying health conditions,
and that doesn't allow them to meet together, but many are not in that position. Have you
gone to the store? Have you gone to work? If you've gone to the store and you've gone
to work, what's keeping you from church? It shouldn't be like that.
What's most important to you? Is something like a mask or the coronavirus,
is that going to sidetrack our faith? If we've done those everyday things and
we've been out there, we should be here. Now I'm not saying if you got a health
problem that you come to church. That's a legitimate reason not to.
But we can't allow staying home to feel so comfortable that we forsake assembling
together. This is a commanded assembly of God. It shows who our true King is, where our loyalty
really lies. Now, of course, we obey Caesar when it doesn't violate God's commands. So when
Caesar says wear a mask, all right. I'll wear a mask. That doesn't violate God's commands. But if
they say don't keep the Sabbath, sorry. We got to keep the Sabbath. We've got to obey God rather
than man. And don't get those two confused. And so let's assemble together. Let's be wise.
Let's keep a safe distance, certainly. Okay, wear a mask. But don't give up assembling
together. That's proclaiming who our Lord and Master really is. And now is not the time to
worry about vaccines and what that might mean and all of that type of thing because it all brings
us back to what it is the time for. It's the time for spiritual action, that we obey ever more
closely to our great God than ever before, and that we rely on His spiritual direction.
We rely on His help that much more fully than ever. And so God wants to give us the help to
do just that. He's given us His Spirit. So by the power of God's Spirit, we can be completely
and absolutely loyal followers of Jesus Christ. So let's make ourselves ready. That's an
indication of who God's people are. They made themselves ready. Let's have that
urgency. Let's watch and pray always. And let's get our spiritual house in order.
We know that with God's help we can certainly do that. And through Jesus Christ, there is no
doubt. We can overcome the beast and its mark.
