internet as well. And if we would turn tonight to Revelation chapter 6 as we are getting back into the line of our study in the book of the Revelation after our break through the Christmas holiday. Amen. All right, let's have prayer and we'll read some verses from Revelation chapter 6. Our Father and our God, we thank you for the promise that you leave us in the book, in your blessed book, the Bible, that you're coming again. Your Son is coming again to take us. You said that you would come again, that where you are, that we will be there also. And we thank you for that blessed promise, Lord, but we understand that it's all because of our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, that he saved us and one day he's coming to get us and we thank you for that. And Father, we just pray you'd help us now by your grace to live for you in these days and Earth's little while, realizing, Lord, that we're nothing. but a firebrand plucked from the burning. And Father, we just pray that you'd help us now to serve you and live for you in this new year that you've given us. And Father, we pray you'd help us to be what you want us to be. And Father, I pray tonight for this preacher that you'd so fill me to the uttermost. and use these words for your honor, for your glory. And we pray in Christ's name for his sake. Amen. Amen. We're going to read, begin reading again in verse one and read down through verse six. John said, and I saw when the lamb opened one of the seals and I heard as it were the noise of thunder. one of the four beasts saying, come and see. And I saw and behold a white horse and he that sat on him had a bow and a crown was given unto him and he went forth conquering and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red, and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. And there was given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo, a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny. and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." Reading the first six verses. I want to speak to you again on this, leading up again for the subject that we had this morning. You remember I started out by saying that it was in 1973 that Andrew Lloyd Webber, brought the Broadway play, Jesus Christ Superstar. And then, of course, that was made into a movie later on, but nothing could be more degrading to our Lord Jesus Christ than any time that Hollywood in any way gets a hold of the Bible and tries to illustrate it. But I wanna see tonight the second part of Antichrist Superstar. It's what we're looking at tonight, Antichrist Superstar. With Revelation chapter 6 and the beginning of the opening of these seven judgment seals, we have that introduction of the one who is viewed as having the solution to the world's problems, all the world's problems, Satan's superstar, the Antichrist. The false Christ, the antichrist will come on the scene bringing a false peace. We saw that in verse 2. And I saw and beheld a white horse and he had a bow. It said on him had a bow and a crown was given to him. Notice there's a bow but no arrow. And so it seems that this would be the setting of a false peace. So we would see that, but he says he goes, he's conquering, he goes forth conquering and to conquer, so he will have to do something to maintain his peace. We understand that. But then we got to chapter, to verse 3 and 4, and the world peace and harmony that had been brought in at first, in these first two verses, has now vanquished as the second horse and the rider appear on the scene. With the lamb breaking the second seal, John heard the second living creature summoning the second horseman saying, come and see. Here again, come and see. And immediately the red horse went out. The symbolism, of course, of this fiery red horse, of this red horse, has been traditionally And so you see that when peace was taken from the earth, then what would follow would be war and bloodshed. It actually said in there, in those verse, verse 4, that they would kill one another. And the word kill there actually means slaughter. There would be a terrible time of war and slaughter and bloodshed. And so you see that when peace was taken from the earth, then Now, it's possible the writer here is the same as the one in the first seal judgment. The coming world ruler will arise in an atmosphere proclaiming peace, but he will soon take that peace from the earth. Wars will increase before the end of human history as we know it. According to Matthew chapter 24, verse 6 and verse 7 says that you'll hear of wars and rumors of wars and nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. But it appears that just prior to the return of Christ... Now, when we say the return of Christ, we have to remember this is the return of Christ in judgment, not the rapture. The rapture will have taken place at this point. And we mentioned that and saw that this morning. But it appears that just prior to the return of Christ, wars among the people of the world will intensify along with cries for peace. Apart from the return of Christ, Jesus Christ, to this earth, there appears to be no way to stop this constant fighting among the nations of the world. Senseless, bloody conflicts take place every day in some part of the world. You cannot read any form of media, news media, without hearing somehow of some war somewhere. But this senseless, bloody conflicts take place somewhere every day in the world. We've become so used to that, that the news of war, used to that, that we really grow weary of those reports, don't we? We just kind of say, oh, well, they're just disagreeing about something, and we just go on and don't think much about it. We are desensitized to it. I'm not so sure that that's not part of the plot here. But the horse, this red horse, this fiery red horse here, we cannot help but relating it to the description that's given to us of Satan in chapter 12 and verse 3 where he's called the great fiery red dragon. And Satan is behind the wars and struggles on planet earth but he himself one day will be the conquered enemy. Now by the way, he's behind those wars and those disturbances and those conflicts because God allows him to do so. He's still operating under the sovereign hand of God. We have to understand that. Because God one day is bringing this whole thing to an end. Now, concerning the writer, John first notes this, that to him, it was granted to take peace from the earth. And all that happens, as I said, will be under God's control. He allows this false peace, and he ends it by bringing war on the earth. Contrary to the teaching of some, the judgments of the tribulation do not reflect the wrath of God. of humanity or the wrath of Satan. They express God's wrath poured out on a world that's lost its way, describing this time, as Jesus said, again, in Matthew 24, 6 and 7, that, and you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. Nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. Now, God's plan for the human history is being worked out. according to the divine schedule. The divine schedule, not a satanic calendar. We have to understand that. So now we get to verse 5 and 6. We covered the first 3 and 4 this morning and 1 and 2 really down to 4 this morning. But let's look at this. The third seal is open. When the lamb breaks this third seal, the mighty voice of the third living creature proclaims the coming of the black horse rider. John is startled by the rider's appearance. And since famine is a logical consequence to worldwide war, As food supplies are destroyed, Jesus also depicted this future famine in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 7 in the Olivet Discourse where he says, and there shall be famines and pestilences. There have been famines on a small scale, but in In that day, bread will be meted out by measure, and a measure is just sufficient for one meal. Notice it says, a measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny. Now, a penny in that day was a day's wages. A measure was sufficient wheat or barley for one meal. So in that day, the famine will be on such a scale that it will take a day's wages to get sufficient wheat to furnish one meal for someone. If a person is to subsist on barley, which, by the way, barley is inferior to wheat in food value. then he will be able to get three meals for one day's wages. Actually, wheat and barley are the foods of the common people. And basically, too, much of barley is more given to animals than to people. But it's food for the common people who eat in barley. And you'll notice that the voice in the midst of the four living creatures said this, "'See thou hurt not the oil and the wine.'" You have to be careful here, especially when we live in a day when oil seems to be on everybody's mind. But this is not petrol. This would be basically olive oil is what this is. But notice oil and wine really are luxuries of the rich, and it appears that the judgment connected with the openness of the third seal does not affect the rich man. I think it was, if I'm not mistaken, it was McGee that said, Vernon McGee that had said, he gave an illustration when there was a great rationing of food that he was talking to a very rich man, and the man said, it didn't bother me, I was able to get T-bone steak whenever I wanted it. And so you see, the common man is the one that's going to be affected basically with all this. But never fear. Their judgment will come later on, those. Go to now, James said this, go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. People labor to be rich, but they don't understand the burden and the misery that will come upon them one day. Their judgment may be a bit delayed, but it will come for sure. We can understand that according to the Word of God. However, the famine which follows the opening of this third seal will evidently be a famine that will affect the working class in particular. That would affect you and me if we were here. I don't plan to be here because I've trusted Christ as my Savior, and I won't be here during this time. But notice the color of the horse. Black pictures death resulting from the famine and starvation. Notice the book of the Lamentations says this, in Lamentations 4, 8 and 9, speaks of the appearance of Now, this has nothing to do with the pigmentation of the skin. I read a book years ago on fasting, written by a man, a comedian, Dick Gregory was his name. I think he's dead now, but he was a black man. But he wrote a book on fasting, and he fasted for a period of time. He fasted for a period of time. Now, I don't purport to follow him, but I'm saying if you ever saw him, you'd notice near the end of his life, he was emaciated. I mean, you know, he was just almost a skeleton because he would do these 40-day fasts. But he said this in the book that, you know, he said, he said, it was not unusual for him to take three, four, and five baths a day, that you could take a clean rag and run it across your skin on a 40-day fast and you'd get these toxins or dirt that would come through the skin pores. And so that's where this comes from. You see, long before Dick Gregory ever did that, God knew that. And here he says that those in appearance of a famine-stricken people were a bit blacker than coal. Famine usually follows war and bloodshed. Anyone who has witnessed the scenes of famine on the continent of Africa, for instance, if you've seen it in books or seen it first class, you're aware of the terrible tragedy that literally devastates the population and destroys the will and the strength of the people. Notice in this regard what Lamentation goes on to say, what Jeremiah goes on to say in the Lamentation. Lamentation 5, verse 7, he said, "'Our fathers have sinned and leer not, and we have borne their iniquities. Servants have ruled over us. There is none that doeth deliver us out of their hand. We got our bread with peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. So you see, John is describing here in the book of Revelation the results of that great war and destruction that we read about in verse 3 and 4. Now, God has used famine as a means of judgment in the past. However, this will be the most devastating famine in all of human history. Now, there's some tragic conditions that this horseman brings. First of all, we see, we would read in this, that the prices are going to change. Notice a pair, it says a pair, there's a pair of balances. That suggests that the economic balance of things is going to be altered. I remember in Not too long ago, well, probably, what was it, 20 years ago now? That you could get so many gallons of gas. Remember, we had the gas wars when everything was short. Well, that was during the Gulf War, was it? Whatever it was. Well, no, it's been later than that. I mean, earlier than that. Because it's been within the last 20 years. And gas went on up to almost $10 a gallon, you remember, in some places. Now, by the way, we were going through some of my mother's belongings after she passed, and we found a book of gas ration stamps that was used during the Great Depression. And so you could only get so much gas so much and just use those stamps to do it. But apparently the economic inflation will occur affecting the balance between necessities and luxury items. But then the second thing that will happen, this tragic thing that this horseman will bring will be that the food prices will rise dramatically. Notice the Roman denarius was equal, as I said, to a normal day's wage. In the coming tribulation, inflation will cause food prices to rise so high that the whole day's earnings will be required just to purchase enough wheat for one meal or maybe for an average family. Then the third thing would be the quality of food will change because of the inflation. As I said, barley is the food for animals. Families will turn to this kind of food in order to survive. Three meals a day could be provided from barley, whereas only one meal could be produced from wheat. Then the fourth thing that he will bring will be the luxury items will not be affected by inflation. Oil and wine are the items used in the homes of the rich and that are consumed in meals as well as in moments of pleasure and leisure. With the prevalence of current famine conditions around the globe at this time, and the abundant consumption of alcoholic beverages, one could easily see how this predicted world condition could become reality within months. And you can, by the way, you want to start a war, Just take people's booze away from them. You want to start another war? Take their football away from them. So if these football players don't have the strength to play football, somebody's going to be mad. Now, how easy it is for us in the Western world, the Western affluent culture that we know, to ignore some of these harsh realities around the world. We're but a step away, folks, from this happening right now. Did you realize that? step away from this black horse thing. Now, as I said this morning, someone has said that all great events cast their shadow before them like a mighty tree. So even though we won't be here as Christians and as a church, it does not mean that the shadow of this that is happening here will not begin to take place before we are raptured and taken out. Now, the superstar of Satan, the Antichrist, This human figure of Satan will rise up at the end to lead his kingdom of rebellion against God. In Daniel chapter 8, let's go over to Daniel chapter 8 if you would. Daniel chapter 8. Daniel reveals a great deal in verse 23. in his prophecy that came to him. Notice it says in Daniel 8, 23, And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding, dark sentences shall stand up. This is the Antichrist who will come when the transgressors are come to the full. When it's enough, when God says, that's all, no more. When God says, I'm up to here with you. I don't know why he hasn't already said that about us. But anyway, he will be, the antichrist will be a fierce king, will be a king of fierce countenance, if you notice, and understanding dark sentences, and he shall stand up. He'll be crafty. The people won't know really what's going on, and he'll be so deceitful. He will say one thing and do another, most likely. Then in verse 24, notice it says that his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power. This is the Antichrist. It's by the power of Satan. And notice he goes on to say, and he shall destroy wonderfully, which the word wonderfully there means to a great extent, extraordinarily. He will destroy things. So the antichrist comes as a man of peace and he winds up with extraordinary destruction. Notice also in verse 24, and shall prosper and practice and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. Then in verse 25 of Daniel 8, and through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand. The feature that's most important is that he's a deceiver. That's what we have to understand. Remember, he's antichrist. That means he's against Christ, but he's also in place of Christ. So we understand that. So he's, the most important feature is that he's a deceiver. He's a fraud. He's a liar and he's shrewd at his deception. Shrewd enough basically to deceive the whole world. In verse 25 again, notice this, he will magnify himself in his heart and he will destroy many while they are at ease. He's going to go after the people who are not causing any resistance. There will be people who resist him, and they will also be destroyed. He'll destroy them. There will be people who do not resist him openly, and he'll destroy them. He shall also stand up against the princes, but he shall be broken without hand Eventually he will go He'll be foolish enough and crazy enough and stupid enough to think that he can go against Christ himself and he'll be destroyed and he'll be thrown into the lake of fire according to Revelation 20 and verse 10. He will fight against those who assault him and he will kill those who are at ease and people who are not, who are no threat overtly to him. He'll just attack them for no reason. These will be bully attacks, but he'll know everything about them. This is what brings it out. He'll know everything about them. He'll have astonishing knowledge. Actually, we live in a nation where those who are supposed to be in charge of our security and safety spy on us all the time and know everything about us. Their greatest effort is to drive everyone to the Internet, if they can. The pandemic was a part of that. Destroy as many small businesses as you can, and that's how to destroy a free enterprise. The effort seems to be to crash the entire dollar-based economy by massive, massive printing of money until the whole financial system crashes. And they can shift to a digital currency then, and you won't be able to access any of that if you don't have the number that you need to get into it. And if you don't have the access code to the internet, you can't buy food, and you can't pay your bills, and you can't buy gasoline, you can't heat your home, and you can't make phone calls, and they know everything about you. This is the antichrist and his world, folks. This is what's going to happen. We're already near that in this world now. Of course, thank God, as we believe according to the Scripture, we will be gone as Christians. Daniel chapter 11, notice Daniel says this, and the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every God, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished. For that that is determined shall be done. He will be a blasphemer. He will prosper until the indignation is finished, until God ends his tolerance, and then that which is decreed will be done. Then in verse 37, we see we're in Daniel. We go to Daniel 11 and see in verse 37, neither shall he regard the God of his fathers. He'll have no reverence. for tradition or traditional religion. And it goes on and says, or desire, have the desire of woman. He very likely could be a homosexual. It is very likely as well that he will not regard the desire of a woman, which the desire of a woman in that day of the Jewish society would be that her desire would be to bring forth the Messiah. He won't care about that. You see, he's going to, he will even throw out all of the false gods and demand that he be worshiped as the supreme God. He may be a homosexual, I don't know, but notice he said, nor regard any God, for he shall magnify himself above all. That means he will, all the gods of this world, he will do away with them and he will set himself up as God. Verse 38 of Daniel 11, but in his estate shall he honor the God of forces. the force be with you." All of you people that are sucked in by that stuff. He will honor the God of forces and a God whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold and silver and with precious stones and pleasant things. In other words, he will have to engage in taxation. fortify his defenses. You go on to Daniel 11, verse 39. Notice the Word of God says, "'Thus shall he do in the most strongholds with a strange God, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory, and he shall cause them to rule over many and shall divide the land for gain.'" He will take over everything. This government, this is government ownership of everything. This is what's going to happen here. We see in the book of the Revelation that's going to happen when this one comes on the scene. So he's riding high now and he's powerful. He will build a global economy. I'm going to read to you an article from Imprimis, I-M-P-R-I-M-I-S, which is a speech magazine from Hillsdale College. This is the article that's by the title of Drain the Swamp by Larry P. Arnn, A-R-N-N, Arnn, and I quote, Look what has been done to America since the swamp began to fill. By the way, this is in the middle of the article. So look what has been done to America since the swamp began to fill in the 1930s and especially since the 1960s. In 1930, government consumed 12% of the gross domestic product of the nation. That was about how it had been from the beginning. Today, government handles a little over 50% of the nation's wealth. This is a gigantic transfer of resources from the private to the public sector, which defies the meaning of a free society. You see, the transfer of wealth is what he's talking about. And we'll go on quoting. He said, to quote again Churchill, a champion of the free society, money should fructify or bear fruit in the pockets of the people. Here in the United States, between the presidencies of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the government owned the biggest asset any government ever owned, the Western lands. most of the area of the western lands, most of the area of the country. The Homestead Act, signed by Lincoln in 1862, gave away 10% of the land of the United States to anyone who would live on it and work it. That is the spirit of free government at its best. Over the past century, the transfer of assets has been moving the other way. Somehow, we have come to think that the fruited plains bear more fruit when the government owns them. Certainly, we should have national and state parks and open expanses. But to enjoy them, we must make a living. We must farm, mine, travel, and work as we please. We must act on our own initiative and by our own efforts. We need resources to live on and use readily available to anyone who wants to work. Anyone who wants to work. anyone who wants to work. That is the spirit of a free people. Another significant change has been the centralization of government. In 1930, more than 60% of the money in government was raised and spent in counties, cities, and towns. The public money was held near the people who contributed it. The federal government controlled less than 20%. Now those numbers are reversed. Through a long and steady process, we have moved money out of the pockets of the people into a treasury far, far away. Back to the God of forces in a land far, far away. That's no charge for that. Okay, back quoted again, we have converted America from a bottom-up to a top-down country. Rules proliferate. Expenses pile up. Anything dependent upon the government moves like molasses on a winter day, except when the interest of the government is at stake. How we allowed this to happen is a very long story. Early progressive policies were presented as common sense adjustments to a government that needed no revolution but reform. Increasingly, problems were presented as emergencies that had to be fixed no matter what, like no child left behind. Then the news was orchestrated to produce new emergencies requiring new regulations to solve them and new agencies to manage and to enforce the regulations. Each step increased the size and reach of government." End quote. Folks, that's a perfect description of really what's going to happen here in Revelation chapter 6 under this regime of the Antichrist. The Antichrist economy will be a global economy. By the way, in Revelation 18, we have the prophecies of its demise, but Revelation 18 characterizes his worldwide system. Then we come to Daniel chapter 11 and verse 40, the most toughest battle to start here. Notice what it says in Daniel chapter 11 verse 40. And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships and he shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over." There's an effort today, by the way, to have a one-world government, one global government to section the world into regions. That's the agenda of the World Economic Forum. They want to break down national barriers, That's why that they won't open borders. That's why they hate nationalism. That's why they resent and will do anything they can to stop anybody who wants to do right or make America great again. Because what they want to do is to have one global economy without borders, and they have control over everything. They want to segment the world into those sections over which they can rule. Even in this, there still will be rulers in these sections. And in verse 40 of Daniel chapter 11, the king of the south, some coalition of the south, and then A coalition of the north mentioned here could be confederacies of the Arab and the Muslim nations. Notice it says, they shall come against him in a whirlwind with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships, and he shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over. This is ancient language for a the force of warfare. He will enter countries, overflow them, and pass through them, wipe them out, ravage them as he goes through. And he will be victorious. He won't be able to, and they won't be able to dethrone this Antichrist. But Jesus Christ offers real peace to the world. He offers a real peace, not the world's kind of peace, merely suggesting a cessation of hostilities. You see, that's what the government thinks that real peace is, the cessation of hostilities. But he offers real peace, and not merely that cessation of hostilities, a signing of a paper to lay down arms for a time. The peace that Jesus offers is the peace of the heart. No matter what goes on all around us. He said in John chapter 14, verse 27, my peace I give thee, my peace I leave thee. And then in John 16, 33, this peace settles the greatest hostility. And the greatest hostility is the hostility between ourselves and God? Should there be anybody listening by way of the internet or in this building, in this auditorium that doesn't know Jesus Christ? Your greatest hostility is between yourself and God. God offers peace through Jesus Christ. Do you know him? Have you made peace with him? As I said this morning, the Bible speaks of the peace of God which passeth all understanding, all understanding. I don't see how you Christians can face some of the things that you face and you still have victory in your life because we have the peace of God that passeth all understanding. That's how we do it. It's not our peace, it's the peace of God that passes understanding. A peace that will keep, he says in Philippians 4 and verse 7, the peace that will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. May God help us to be aware of all that's going on around us. And we've seen here what's going to happen when that false peace is done away with, war and destruction comes, and then the great famine would come And the government there begins to move and regulate really against the people. Thank God this Bible teaches us that the church will be gone. We'll be out of here. We'll be away. Thank God for that. And I'm gonna ask you, do you know Christ as your savior? If you don't know him, you need to come to know him tonight. You never know when life will end. You never know when the last breath will be drawn. You never know when the last heartbeat will thump. Do you know him as your Savior? That's the greatest knowledge you could know. Our Heavenly Father, we're so thankful for this day you've given us and for this time together. And Father, we pray that you'd help us by your grace to read, to know the Word of God. Father, the greatest knowledge we could ever know is to know Jesus Christ as our Savior. And, Father, we realize that we have the assurance from the Word of God that the church will not be here in any part of the tribulation. We understand that. We trust the Word of God. But, Lord, we do know that there are those who will go through this great time, a terrible time. Help us, Lord, to be about the master's business, to witness to the lost and get people to Christ, to give them the true gospel, of salvation by grace through faith alone, apart from any works. Help us, Lord, to reach the lost in earth's little while, I pray. Forgive us, Lord, where we failed you and help us as we go forward to live for you day by day and to know Christ and to make him known. We pray in his great name, amen.