Someday the mark of
the beast, when it comes,
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will be very popular.
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But why?
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Well, we've been
studying Revelation 12 and 13,
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and these three
great powers that show up;
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pagan Rome, and then papal
Rome inherits the power and
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authority of ancient pagan
Rome, and then we see this beast
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from the earth
with his lamb-like horns
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and then speaks like a dragon.
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It makes an image
to this leopard beast
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and forces the world.
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And then we talked
about 666 and the struggle
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not only of Christianity,
but of ancient Israel
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to not compromise with the
paganistic powers of the world.
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We've seen how
Christianity has been enveloped,
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how the papal
power has been enveloped
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with a lot of compromise
with the Babylonian systems
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and the paganism, and how 666 is
the number of ancient paganism,
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Babylonian paganism, and became
the number of all those powers
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that persecute God's people, and
put together church and state
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and persecute God's people.
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We saw it in ancient Babylon
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with Daniel and
his three friends.
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And now we're coming down again
to what is the actual mark.
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So we've talked about
the number of his name
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and what that stands
for, this persecuting power.
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But what is the
mark of the beast?
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Now there's been
all kinds of wild ideas.
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But you've got to
remember, context is everything.
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And so we want to go
right to the Scripture again
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and take a look at this.
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Now the Bible says
in Revelation 13:16-17,
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some very well
known parts of Scripture,
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"He causes all..."
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That's this
beast from the earth.
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"...causes all, both
small and great, rich and poor,
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free and slave, to receive
a mark on their right hand
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or in their forehead..."
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So it's an economic issue that
is going to play a big deal.
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Persuasion is
going to be a big deal.
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"...that no man
may buy or sell..."
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Economics are
going to be a huge deal.
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"...except one who
has the mark of the beast,
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or the number of his name."
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Now this takes some wisdom.
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The Bible says to use wisdom.
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To think about
this a little bit.
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But it doesn't mean
that it's not knowable.
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There's many counterfeits,
as I've mentioned before.
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But the Scripture
is its own interpreter.
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And I want to underline that.
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The Bible will interpret
itself if we allow it to.
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Because its real Author
is not the men who wrote it,
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but the Holy Spirit who
inspired them to write it
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and gave them the truth.
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So we want to let the
Scripture interpret itself.
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Now as I mentioned, there
are many, many counterfeits.
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But there's a connection
here between Revelation 6 and 7
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that pictures the
end of the seven seals
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and the coming of Jesus,
and a countless number of people
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that say, "Who
will be able to stand?"
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And then you find chapter
7 answering that question.
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And chapter 7
answers that question
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with those angels who are
holding back the winds of strife
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until something
very special can happen.
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It's called the sealing.
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And this angel
comes with a seal,
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and he seals God's
people in their foreheads.
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We're going to
come back to that.
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So in the end of time the
world is going to be brought
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to a final test.
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A test that is going to
make people make a decision
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whether they're going to
trust Jesus and the Bible
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with their life or
whether they're going to trust
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the forces of economics
and the mark of the beast.
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That's why the mark of
the beast is going to be
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pretty popular
in the end of time.
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It's going to look like a
solution to the world's ills.
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A solution to economics,
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a solution to some other
things I'm going to talk about.
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And that's why it's
going to be popular.
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That's why people
are going to buy into it.
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It looks like it's
going to be able to solve
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their earthly problems.
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But it doesn't solve
their earthly problems
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because the truth is
they end up crying for the
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rocks and the
mountains to fall on them
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and to hide them from
the face of the coming Lord.
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But those who have not
received the mark of the beast
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and are sealed
with the seal of God,
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they're ready for Jesus to come.
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And we want to be
ready for Jesus to come.
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So this test of the mark of the
beast will decide the destiny
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of every human being who
is alive when Jesus comes.
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And there's going to
be a lot of people alive
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when He comes in
the clouds of glory.
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Now the three angels'
messages found in Revelation 14
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kind of repeat
and enlarge the issues
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that we find in
Revelation 12 and 13.
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And we want to hear this third
angel, there's three angels,
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but we're going to
focus on the third one.
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We want to hear this
third one and what he says
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about the mark of the beast.
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Revelation 14:9-11
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"Then a third angel followed
them, saying with a loud voice,
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'If any man...'" And
there's that word again.
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Worships.
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"If any man worships
the beast or his image,
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and receives his mark on
his forehead or on his hand,
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the same shall drink of the
wine of the wrath of God..."
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Now it doesn't mean that
God is just off the rails
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angry kind of
thing, but God is just.
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He's the judge of the universe.
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And He's coming back in justice.
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I mentioned this
before, a lot of people have...
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And I do, I'm looking
forward to the coming of Jesus.
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He's going to put an end
to all this whole sin problem
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and the misery and
the mess that's here.
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And I'm grateful for that.
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He comes to rescue His
people that are faithful,
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but He also comes with justice.
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Justice against those who
try to destroy His people.
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And as the Bible says,
and to destroy the earth.
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Well, let's go on here.
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Worshiping is a main issue.
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And the way you worship the
beast is by receiving his mark
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or serving him.
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Remember, worship
and serving go together.
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You can't separate the two.
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So the Revelation
is a book of contrasts.
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And let me give you
some of those contrasts
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just to refresh our memory.
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There are two
women in Revelation:
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the woman of Revelation 12
clothed with the stars of heaven
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and the sun and the moon,
and the woman of Revelation 17
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clothed with all
of her jewels, etc.
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Scarlet and purple; you
can read the description there.
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And then there's
the great red dragon
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with seven heads and ten
horns contrasted by the lamb
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with seven horns and seven eyes.
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And then there's
the New Jerusalem
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that's pictured in the Bible,
but it is contrast to Babylon,
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that great city that
the whole world embraces
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and loves in the end of time.
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We'll talk more about this
Babylon before we're done here.
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And then, of course,
there's the holy Godhead:
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the Father, Son,
and the Holy Spirit.
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And it's contrasted by the
false trinity, if you please:
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that of the dragon, the
beast, and the false prophet.
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And in contrast to
those who worship the beast
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and receive his
mark, in Revelation 14:12
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it goes on to say this, "Here
is the patience of the saints;
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here are they who keep
the commandments of God
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and the faith of Jesus."
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These saints have patience.
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They wait on the Lord.
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And waiting
sometimes is so hard.
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But they have patience.
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They've trusted their lives with
God, and they're waiting on Him.
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And they do something.
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They keep the
commandments of God
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and they have
the faith of Jesus.
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Now the key to discovering
what the mark of the beast is
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is found in the text itself.
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The mark of the
beast then is in opposition
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to something found in
the commandments of God.
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So that third angel says,
"Here are they that receive
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the mark of the beast
and worship the image,"
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and then contrast the saints
who keep the commandments of God
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and the faith of Jesus.
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So what that means is
that there's something in the
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commandments of God
that's the genuine mark
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or seal, if you please,
that's being counterfeited
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by this image to the beast.
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So we need to take a
look then, of course,
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at the Ten Commandments.
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If we find the genuine,
we shouldn't have any problem
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finding the counterfeit.
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So this opposition
to this seal of God
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is like the antichrist,
which means, in place of.
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The mark of the beast is
substituted for something
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in the Ten Commandments.
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It's in place of.
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The name, antichrist,
also indicates a substitution.
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I've mentioned this before.
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In English we
usually think of, "anti,"
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as being simply, "against."
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But in the Greek it's
often used as, "in place of."
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Now it can be in
place of hostile, because it
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wants whatever its got.
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But that's what
it really means here.
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It's a substitution
for something that's good
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that's not good.
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Okay, it could be someone
who falsely claims to be Christ,
00:10:04.50\00:10:08.84
but it can also be a
false christ promoted by others
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in place of the real one.
00:10:13.64\00:10:16.64
Now this is what the explanation
of the Baltimore Catechism
00:10:17.75\00:10:20.85
on page 130 says.
00:10:20.88\00:10:23.05
This is a very
fascinating thing.
00:10:23.08\00:10:24.42
What is says, and we've
identified this leopard beast
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that the other beast makes
an image to, we've identified
00:10:28.86\00:10:33.80
that as the papacy and the
popes during the Dark Ages.
00:10:34.26\00:10:39.00
And we're going to find
here this very fascinating quote
00:10:39.20\00:10:41.77
from the Baltimore
Catechism, page 130.
00:10:41.80\00:10:44.21
"Our holy father, the
pope, the bishop of Rome,
00:10:44.24\00:10:48.61
is the vicar of Christ on earth,
the visible head of the church."
00:10:48.64\00:10:54.12
"'Vicar;' that is, one
who holds another's place
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and acts in his name."
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That is amazing, isn't it?
00:11:00.39\00:11:01.72
In other words,
he's saying the papacy
00:11:02.76\00:11:05.26
acts in place
of Christ on earth.
00:11:05.29\00:11:10.20
So this substituted
power has something to do with
00:11:11.30\00:11:15.77
the worship of the Creator, and
of course the Ten Commandments.
00:11:15.80\00:11:19.81
That's clear from the context.
00:11:19.84\00:11:21.48
Now some people may say,
I've had some people tell me,
00:11:21.51\00:11:24.05
"Well it's just talking
about the commandments of God.
00:11:24.08\00:11:25.68
And that could be, you
know, 'Love your neighbor
00:11:25.71\00:11:27.92
as yourself,' or
something like that."
00:11:27.95\00:11:29.28
But wait a minute.
Context is everything.
00:11:29.32\00:11:32.25
You can't pull it
out of the context.
00:11:32.49\00:11:34.79
If I cherry pick
this, and cherry pick this,
00:11:34.82\00:11:36.79
and take them out of
context, I can make people say
00:11:36.83\00:11:38.99
anything in the world.
00:11:39.03\00:11:40.40
But the context is
the ark of the covenant.
00:11:40.50\00:11:44.30
And listen to Revelation
11:19 as it opens up the verse
00:11:44.33\00:11:49.47
just before we get the
opening to Revelation 12 and 13
00:11:49.50\00:11:53.61
and the final
events of earth's history.
00:11:53.64\00:11:55.68
And Jesus is moving
through that heavenly Sanctuary.
00:11:56.21\00:11:58.85
He's moving into
the time of the end,
00:11:58.88\00:12:01.05
and He moves into
the Holy of Holies.
00:12:01.08\00:12:02.78
And this is where the
ark of the covenant is.
00:12:02.82\00:12:04.99
This is what it
says, "The temple of God
00:12:05.09\00:12:08.26
was opened in heaven,
and the ark of His covenant
00:12:08.29\00:12:11.63
was seen in His temple."
00:12:11.66\00:12:12.99
The ark of the
covenant contained nothing less
00:12:13.03\00:12:16.10
than the Ten Commandments.
00:12:16.60\00:12:18.50
The Ten Commandments.
00:12:18.93\00:12:20.57
And that's the context.
00:12:20.80\00:12:22.60
Those that keep
the commandments of God
00:12:22.64\00:12:24.31
in chapter 12, and those that
keep the commandments of God
00:12:24.34\00:12:27.94
in chapter 14, it's talking
about the Ten Commandments.
00:12:27.98\00:12:31.48
Because that's the context.
00:12:31.75\00:12:33.25
Is there a mark
or some equivalent
00:12:33.88\00:12:36.58
in the Ten Commandments?
00:12:36.82\00:12:38.49
If there is, then we
have found the truth about
00:12:38.65\00:12:42.16
the mark of the beast,
00:12:42.19\00:12:43.63
and the Scripture
has interpreted itself.
00:12:43.96\00:12:46.49
So let's see if we
can find something that,
00:12:47.10\00:12:50.07
like the mark of the beast, that
would go something like this:
00:12:50.90\00:12:54.27
the mark of the beast
received in the forehead
00:12:54.30\00:12:56.64
verses "blank" of God
received in the forehead.
00:12:56.67\00:13:01.21
If you go to
Revelation 7, in the end of time
00:13:01.31\00:13:04.65
describing those
people who are able to stand.
00:13:05.05\00:13:07.95
So they're going to be
equivalent to those, of course,
00:13:08.12\00:13:09.88
that are going
through the mark of the beast.
00:13:09.92\00:13:11.25
It's just
another recaption of it.
00:13:11.29\00:13:12.95
And it says, "And after these
things," in Revelation 7:1-3,
00:13:13.52\00:13:17.63
"after these things I
saw four angels standing
00:13:17.66\00:13:21.33
at the four
corners of the earth..."
00:13:21.36\00:13:23.87
Why are they standing at
the four corners of the earth?
00:13:24.07\00:13:26.60
What is the reason here?
00:13:26.70\00:13:28.60
Well the
Scripture is very clear.
00:13:28.64\00:13:30.41
They're holding back
these winds of strife
00:13:30.44\00:13:33.61
in order that this
mighty angel with God's seal
00:13:33.64\00:13:37.25
can come and seal His
people, seal His saints,
00:13:37.28\00:13:43.22
with the seal of the living God.
00:13:43.25\00:13:46.42