This is a chapter that culminates ultimately in the second coming of Jesus Christ, where he sets up his rule and reign, which will eventually last forever. And in Daniel 7.13, we see that Daniel, if you look there, Daniel 7.13, Daniel says, I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient of Days. and they brought him near before Him. Then in verse 14, then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples and nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away. And His kingdom the one which shall not, the only one, which shall not be destroyed. Every other kingdom will be destroyed. The message of the second coming of Jesus Christ is what is in front of us here in these verses and it's in the Bible in so many places. If you're not familiar with how much prophecy is in the Bible, let me just acquaint you up front with somewhat of what is here. Prophecy occupies approximately one-fifth of Scripture. Approximately one-fifth. The second coming of Jesus Christ occupies one-third of that amount. There are, in the New Testament, to go to the New Testament, there are 7959 verses in the New Testament. 330 of them are about the second coming of Jesus Christ. That's one in every 25 verses, if you average it out. Speaks of the second coming of Jesus Christ. Next to the subject of faith, no subject is more discussed than the second coming of Jesus Christ. And if you look at the New Testament, for every time His first coming is mentioned, His second coming is mentioned eight times. Each time the atonement is mentioned, for each time the atonement is mentioned, the second coming is mentioned twice. Jesus personally referred to his return 21 times. Over 50 times we are told to be ready for it. So you see it's everywhere, and then you see over 50 times we are told to be ready. So it's not like we're not informed. It's not like the information isn't there. So 50 times on top of that, told to be ready for it, and yet there are always scoffers, aren't there? Peter in 2nd Peter said in chapter 3 verse 3, knowing this that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts. You notice how that goes hand in hand? They scoff because they live according to their sinful desires. And so they've got to do something, but it also speaks of the corrupting influence of giving in to living after your sinful desires instead of living for the Lord. All you have left is to scoff. Scoffers walking after their own lusts will come in the last days. in verse 4 of 2 Peter 3 and saying, where is the promise of His coming? Now, here are people that have knowledge of the Bible that Peter's talking about. It's a giveaway right here. Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. You see how much light is packed in to the mind of the scoffers who walk according to their own lust. Have you ever noticed that before? We just tend to think people come along and scoff at what we believe in. No, these are people that have so much light packed in, and they're living according to their own sinful desires, and out of that comes the scoffing and the turning away from the Lord. I think that's important to see that, because there's something absolutely for certain, and that is that their scoffing does not change the reality one bit. He is still going to come back just as He said. He doesn't care if you scoff. He's still coming. What He cares about is that you would repent of your scoffing, repent of walking after your own sinful desires, get right with Him, make sure that you know Him so that you can be ready for His second coming or even be a part of it. Because if you go on the rapture, you will be a part of it when He returns. So history will culminate in the return of Jesus Christ. Daniel is given the vision here in chapter seven over 2,500 years ago. Long time ago. The main desire I have here today is to make sense of what is in front of us. Because normally I go verse by verse by verse by verse by verse. But this chapter tends to jump all around. So rather than going verse by verse through it, which in the time frame we have would only serve to confuse you. Rather than do that, or it would end up making me sound like a read and ramble teacher, which I really don't care for. So rather than doing that, I'm gonna gather together the verses. We're gonna go theme by theme. Does that make sense? Simply so we can understand the chapter. And that is the goal then. The goal then is to understand, when we're done, what's going on here. So the nature of the message then is explanatory. Explanatory. I gave you an outline in our last study together of what's in the chapter and it's threefold. There are the similar kingdoms, there is the subsequent kingdom, and then there is the supernatural kingdom. Last time we were together in Daniel, it's been a little while so we'll have a little review here, we saw the similar kingdoms. And the similar kingdoms are three. If you look at Daniel 7, 4, we read, The first was like a lion, and it had eagle's wings. And I watched till its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it. so as we got into that we checked it all out we came to understand that that was a reference obviously to Nebuchadnezzar and obviously then the first kingdom here this first beast represents the kingdom of Babylon the first one is like a lion And that was a symbol of Babylon and archaeologists have verified that with the uncovering of the gates of Babylon and the entrance and there are lions with wings on them right there in the main entrance. So the first beast was like a lion. The second beast was like a bear and that was the Medo-Persian Empire. The third in verse 6 was like a leopard and we identified that as the Grecian Empire and that's because of the speed that was involved. Alexander the Great conquered the known world at lightning speed like nothing that had ever been seen before. And then there were four heads and we saw that those were the four generals that led Alexander's troops. They were then divided and given their own separate territories. Cassander had the area of Greece given to him in Macedonia. Lysimachus had the area of Thrace in Asia given to him, Asia Minor. is General Seleucus took Syria and the Middle East from which we have the Seleucids that have come down from there. And Ptolemy, the fourth general, was given Egypt. So that takes the mystery out of a very initially mysterious section. And we took our time with that one whole message. That brings us then from the similar kingdoms to the fourth one that's in the passage that we are calling the subsequent kingdom. The subsequent kingdom. Now there are five main elements to this kingdom which occur in sequence. And following all of that will then come the supernatural kingdom of our Lord. So let's look at these elements. First of all, as we come to Daniel 7, we come to the final kingdom. We saw the other three. We come to the final kingdom, and that is a fourth beast. It's identified as that in Daniel 7. Let's read it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible and exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth. It was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different. from all the beasts that were before it and it had 10 horns. Very much like the 10 toes in the vision of Nebuchadnezzar where there were the four main kingdoms that dominate world history and at the very bottom there was after the solid iron there was the clay mixed with iron in the feet and the 10 toes. Very much like the 10 toes here. It's interesting here that This beast is not identified. The other three, the similar kingdoms, were each identified, right? The lion, the bear, and the leopard. There is no name given to this one because it's different. This kingdom is different than the others. And yet it has some very distinct characteristics. Look down at Daniel 7, 19. Then I wish to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from the others. exceedingly dreadful with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze which devoured and broken pieces and trampled the residue with its feet." In Daniel 7 we saw the iron teeth which is a dead giveaway that it's the Roman Empire. The bottom of the statue in the vision of Nebuchadnezzar was iron. And so when we deal with the iron, we're dealing with the Roman Empire. It's a dead giveaway that we're back to that. The great characteristics that we have just read over are dreadful in character, exceedingly strong, huge iron teeth, and they stamped residue with its feet. In other words, if ever there was anything to characterize the crushing character of the Roman legions that marched across the world, this is it. And we don't have to go to the Bible to realize that. History bears that out with all kinds of clarity. Do you know that how long the longest empire lasted before the Roman Empire? 200 years. Do you know how long the Roman Empire lasted? 1,500 years. 1,500 years. The dominion of Rome began with the conquering of Sicily in 241 BC. That's where it all began as a result of a victory there in the Mediterranean. From there the Roman Empire was not finally and completely put aside until 1,400 AD. So for over 1500 years that powerful empire ruled. So we see there is a final kingdom, which is the Roman Empire, because what we're looking at with the four different beasts in Daniel 7 are the same basic kingdoms that we saw in chapter 2, where Nebuchadnezzar saw it all glorious from a human standpoint, this glorious statue, the gold, the silver, the bronze and the iron, the Babylonian kingdom, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Grecian Empire in the bronze and then the iron being the Roman Empire. Here we're looking at it from a different perspective which is God's and he sees it more as beast-like. God's perspective on things on planet Earth is always different than man's perspective. especially when it comes to man, looking at man and evaluating himself. Never forget that. It's just a side thought. That part was for free. So, here is the final kingdom, the Roman Empire, that is listed here. Before Jesus Christ comes again, there is going to be, however, a final form of this empire. The final form, it comes out to us in a significant word, which is the word different, which is used more than once. A final form, look at verse 7. It says, in verse 7, that this kingdom was different. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, in that it had ten horns. now look down at verse 23 thus he said the fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth which shall be different here it comes from all other kingdoms and here's something totally new it shall devour the whole earth and trample it and break it in pieces So there is something different about this kingdom. We've identified the kingdom as Rome from different angles, but there's a difference here. And that difference is that there are two phases to this kingdom. Can you guess what phase one was? Phase one was the fact that it existed longer than any other kingdom, any other empire. 1,500 years. Phase 2 is the fact that comes across to us in the word different. Phase 2 is that there is a revival of the Roman Empire in kingdoms that are listed here as 10 kingdoms that cover the same territory. So the difference is the Roman Empire exists longer than any empire that ever existed. The remnants continue on throughout many societies of the world. You look in the languages and all, we could cite many, many things, but ultimately there's going to be a revival of that in a ten kingdom monarchy. That's the ten horns that we see here. 10 horns. In scripture, a horn refers to, if you can remember this, it's a pretty simple thought. When you're dealing with prophecy, it refers in the most simple sense to power, authority, or a king. If you look at verse 24, look down to verse 24 of Daniel 7. Here are the 10 horns. And we see the ten horns are, what does it say? Ten kings who shall arise, see that word, arise? From what kingdom? this kingdom. There is the revival of the Roman Empire right there. A ten king confederacy occupying substantially the same territory once dominated by Rome and so what we have in this vision is very much like what we have in the beast in the revelation in chapter 13 of the revelation. Can you turn in your Bible? Revelation chapter 30 5 Turn to Revelation 13 1 Which also refers to the revived Roman Empire ruled by the Antichrist And we're going to run right into the ten horns Such a huge span of time between Daniel and John and But God exists outside of time. And His plan does not change as He reveals it to John, He reveals it as He did to Daniel. It's almost the same, identical words even. Imagery slightly different, same meaning. In verse 1 of Revelation 13, Then I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw the beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads, ten horns. You see it? 10 horns, and on his horns were 10 crowns, and on his head was a blasphemous name. If you want the details on all of that, you can get the Revelation series. In verse 2, now the beast which I saw, which was like a leopard, its feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth was like the mouth of a lion, basically having all the attributes of the other kingdoms, but there's something more. And here it comes, and the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. So, Revelation 13, speaking of the revived Roman Empire, led by the Antichrist, the main difference being the leader of all of this is energized in a way that is unparalleled previously in human history energized by Satan himself. He is Satan's man. Go to the right in Revelation to chapter 17. It also speaks of the revived Roman Empire and again we come to the same 10 horns. Revelation 17, 12. And the 10 horns which you saw are what? 10 kings who have received no kingdom notice as yet. Future. But they receive authority for one hour as the kings with the beast. So this is the future. We're looking at a statement here that speaks of the revived Roman Empire headed up by the Antichrist working with these 10 nations. Now, most scholars agree that this is what we see today is the European community. And so the question comes up immediately, well wait a minute, we're dealing with more than 10 nations. That's a very easy question to answer. The 10 nations are the ruling nations. of the alliance. You understand? That's not rocket science. Well, you've got ten kings. They have the power. There may be other nations involved, but they're not the ones with the power. And we even are going to see within our text that there are three that are even more powerful than the rest of the ten. So, the European community that we see today is sitting on the territory of the old Roman Empire. So, most scholars agree today that the revived Roman Empire, fulfilling Daniel's prophecy, fulfilling the prophecy of Revelation, is in fact the European community. So before Jesus Christ sets up a supernatural kingdom, there's going to be a final kingdom. That's the Roman Empire. Then there is going to be a revival of that kingdom and that final form of that kingdom may very possibly be what we see as a European community today. I think most of us feel that way. And we could be absolutely right, or if time goes by, we could be absolutely wrong. But it certainly looks like it, doesn't it? Especially if you take a two dollar euro coin and you flip it over and you see on the back of it the woman riding the beast. That's enough for me. When I held one of those on a Mediterranean cruise, Footsteps of the Apostle cruise, that was enough for me. It was a Euro coin. So that's my opinion. You go home, take your Bible, sort this all out, be good Bereans, and you'll come up with your conclusion as well. So what we have then is a final kingdom, a final form of that kingdom, that leads us to another thing in verse 8 of Daniel 7, and that is a final ruler. A final ruler over that kingdom. and it's going to surface in the form of a horn, which is not going to be mysterious to us now. Number of statements concerning this horn. We see it first of all, Daniel 7, 8. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn. a little one coming up among them before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots." Sounds gross, doesn't it? And there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking pompous words. Now go down to verse 20. We're going to put these verses together in chapter 7. Go to verse 20. And about the ten horns that were on its head, and about the other horn which came up, before which the three fell, namely that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows. Now go to verse 24. And the ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom and another shall arise after them. He shall be different from the first ones and shall subdue three kings. Most likely the most powerful three of the ten. Verse 25, it narrows and narrows and narrows until it's just focusing on an individual. Verse 25, he shall speak pompous words, a running theme throughout all the verses we read. He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and, here's a bizarre thing, intend to change times and law. Then the saint shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time." Who is this person? The Antichrist, if you haven't guessed by now. It's the Antichrist. In these four verses, there is the constant thought that there will arise a king out of the ten. He will subdue three of the most powerful ones. He will then ultimately take over and rule them all. And in the process, He will try to change times. Now that's one of those things when reading the Bible, you just blur along. It doesn't even register. You think, what's he going to do? Turn the clock back, you know, a different time during the year or, you know, change to military time and we're all... What's he going to do? And then you just move on. I think that that's a significant statement he's going to try to change the times and the law. I'll tell you why. Because who set the time that is being talked about in this passage? And what time is being talked about right in this passage? Move from verse 25 where it says you'll try to change the times to in verse 25, you don't have to move from there at all, just go to the end. The saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time. What he's got here is a period of three and a half years. Three and a half years. A time is a year. Times is two years. Half a time is half a year. Three and a half years. You say, where do you get this stuff? Well, try Daniel 12.11. Can you turn there? I try never to say things in the pulpit that I make up. Out of the pulpit is a different story, but that's only in playful communication. So, Daniel 12, 11 tells us from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, it's given a name, the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. That's three and a half years. The abomination of desolation, we know, is the Antichrist. Halfway through the seven-year period, we know, as a tribulation in the Bible, the Jews have rebuilt their temple. They've restored their sacrifices, their religion, and all of that. The Antichrist has helped them do that. And Jesus said, when the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, Jesus himself validated Daniel 12 11 and in doing so validated the 1290 days with three and a half years. The three and a half years are the last three and a half years of the last seven year period of man as he knows it, as he knows life on planet earth. So, it's kind of peaceful going into it, and then you hit the last three and a half years of man's history on earth, and the Antichrist commits the abomination of desolation, where he sets himself up to be worshipped as God, and everything changes from that point. and there's a marker point on time right there, 1290 days times, times and half a time. So when you read in Daniel 7.25 that he's gonna try to change times and law, what do you think he's gonna try to change? Who is driving this man, this Antichrist? Satan. We studied in the book of Revelation, if you were with us, the fact that something about Satan is that there's no truth in him. He has the entire Bible. He knows it better than probably any Christian. I would say that would be a certainty. He's been around since the beginning. So he has the Bible. He knows what's in the Bible. And yet, why does he keep trying? If he knows he's going to be thrown in the lake of fire at the end of the book, why not just give up? The reason, and we studied this in detail in Revelation, this is just a quick refresher, the reason he doesn't give up is because he may be able to see the truth on the page, but because Jesus said there's no truth in him, that means that all truth in his mind is twisted truth. You with me? Therefore, he does not believe he's going to lose. That's why he doesn't give up. Why doesn't Satan quit and go home and leave us all alone? Why doesn't all the spiritual warfare go away? Why does it get more intense as we go further into the last days, as you go further into Christ, as you go further into making a difference? Because the one behind all the spiritual warfare doesn't believe he's going to be thrown into the lake of fire or he would quit. He believes he can change all of this and win. You say, you're putting thoughts into Satan's head. No, I'm not. Satan was once one of the highest, if not the highest, glorious angel. the thought came into his head, I was nowhere around, that he could overthrow God and become God himself. So powerful was this belief within him that he was able to deceive one third of the holy angels, right? And he led them in a rebellion against God himself. How'd that work out for him? He was thrown down and he went from being a holy angel, probably one of the archangels like Michael. And Gabriel, he was thrown down with his third that were in the rebellion and they became demons and he became the devil instead of Lucifer, the son of the morning that covereth probably the leader of worship in heaven. He was cast down to be the evil devil that he is now. And so all of that is to say this. He believed he could overthrow God. And he was so convinced of it that he was able to convince one third of the holy angels that they could overthrow God with him. So it's no shocking thing that he would believe that he can change this allotted amount of time that when God says, all you're going to have left at this point is three and a half years. It's no shocking point that his man is going to have the same attitude that says, no, I'm going to change all that. And that's going to be part of what drives the Antichrist so powerfully. He's fully possessed by Satan himself. And so as Satan's man, he's going to try to change all this. But something about the Word of God, you cannot change it. You cannot change it and you cannot change him. So the Antichrist, He's going to try to change the times because the devil doesn't believe he's on the losing side. He believes he's going to win. And the Antichrist is going to be the same way. Mark it. That's why you see the atrocities come forth from that man's life. The Antichrist. Let's talk about him particularly just for a little bit here. Do you know in 1 John, Chapter 2, verse 18, we read, little children, you have heard the Antichrist is coming. He just kind of spins it out there all casual. Little children, you've heard the Antichrist is coming. How could he say that? How could he just be writing an epistle and just spin it out there? Little children, you've heard the Antichrist is coming. What does that tell us? It tells us that somebody had been teaching them about the Antichrist. Little children you've heard, you have heard. In other words someone must have been teaching them the book of Daniel. I can say that because Paul taught about the Antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2 3 Paul wrote, let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and that man of sin is revealed the son of perdition. That's a reference to the Antichrist. What was the primary source of Paul's teaching? What was Paul's Bible? The Old Testament. So where did Paul get that? Understanding what Daniel was writing about? I find it fascinating, and I already alluded to it, that Matthew 24, it's written and read in your Bible. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. So John says, you've heard about the Antichrist. Why? Because people were teaching Daniel. Paul talks about the Antichrist. Why? Because he understood Daniel. Jesus taught about the Antichrist. He validated Daniel publicly. Do not underestimate the power of the book of Daniel, the importance of the book of Daniel, and the detailed revelation about the Antichrist, the man who's coming to this world and may be alive right now somewhere on this earth. Don't underestimate any of this because it's all true. So the final ruler discussed in the book of Daniel is discussed in several ways. For example, in chapter 7 he's called the little horn and we've seen that. He arises up. Chapter 8, he's called the king of fierce countenance. Chapter 9, the prince that shall come. Chapter 11, a willful king. But it all refers to the same individual. He's the final ruler of the final form of the final kingdom of the Gentiles on planet Earth. Let's talk about the activity of this man. He overcomes three dominating powers. Look at verse 8 in Daniel 7. Let's touch on this because we've already been by it there. Daniel 7, 8. I was considering the horns and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots and there In this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, a mouse speaking pompous words. Three dominating kings, triad, triumphant, whatever you want to call it. We can't know the details but they are the more powerful ones and he overpowers them. So what happens is he starts small and he starts to get more powerful. So that a little one coming up verse 8 says. Always pay attention to words in the verses of the Bible as you read. A little one coming up. He starts out small under the radar by stealth. But then he starts to come up. And if you look at Daniel 7 20, it says his appearance was greater than his fellows. Wait a minute. He was small. Well, he's come up and now his appearance is greater than his fellows. The word greater coming out of the original language means abundant in size, rank, or it can mean a captain, a chief or a lord. The point is he starts little and he moves to the place of dominance. and apparently overpowers this triumphant of ruling powers and rises to the head of the whole scene. And that leads us then to the characteristics of this man. In other words, how does he do it? What are the characteristics that would enable him to do this? Well, let me give you six characteristics. We're just going to go right through them. Six characteristics. How could he rise up like this and take over? Well, because, number one, he's a political genius. In verse 8, I was considering the horns, and there was a little one coming up from among them, before whom the three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots, and there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, a mouth speaking pompous words. You see the phrase plucked up by the roots? Sounds so violent, doesn't it? But the original, rather than suggesting necessarily violence, suggests a pushing out. A pushing out. A gradual replacement of the new pushing out the old as it gradually fades away. This is not a catastrophe. This is a progressive thing. The means that this individual is so subtle in is his political genius. Without upheaval, without revolution, he subtly moves himself up the ladder into dominance. Let me ask you a question. What about the United States of America right now? Has it been uprooted from its foundations? Is it anything at all like it was in the beginning? No. And how did that change occur? Gradually through politics, right? And that's what he does. He's a political genius. You look at the changes that have happened in America in just the last few decades, we would have never, those of us that are older, with white hair, gray hair, bald, those of us that have been around for a while, would have never dreamed America would be the country, the vile, wicked country that it is today. It's all happened through politics. He's a political mastermind. Let's go further. That goes hand-in-glove with the second characteristic. He's an intellectual genius. That's in verse 80. He has eyes like the eyes of a man. And verse 20, he mentions the eyes again. The eyes refer to the insight, the intellectual ability. He's clever. He's shrewd. He's knowledgeable. And he is able to put things together and solve problems. And the thing is, the world today is looking for a man who is the ultimate problem solver, because the entire world is a mess. Some of us were born right around or after World War II. And at that point, things were pretty calm. But at this point, I was born seven years after the end of the war. So pretty nice golden era of America. Pretty peaceful time. At this point in time, the entire world is at war. the entire world. Nation has risen against nation and then you back off from that and look at the whole terrorism thing. The whole world is at war. So we have come to a point in time where the entire world is looking for someone to solve all the problems. It's going to take political genius, it's going to take intellectual genius, And it's going to take something else he has which is oratorical genius. He's going to be able to articulate things in order to do this his way with a mouth that verse 8 says has pompous words. Literally it means huge domineering words. The old King James reads great things. Verse 25 of Daniel 7 says he will speak pompous words against the Most High God. He has a satanically energized ability to speak publicly and create a hypnotic sway over the people that listen to him. Just out of curiosity, the other day I went on YouTube to listen to and watch Hitler in one of his speeches. and to see the reaction of the crowds and the devotion that they gave to this man. And I thought about the different famous orators across the history and then I'm staring at Hitler and he's in a frenzy. He's angry and yet, and he's evil. And yet, you see the soldiers marching with the Gustav, the famous Nazi march. You see the people in the stands. It's like mass hypnosis. They are totally devoted to this man who is up there giving this angry, powerful speech. And they're all completely mesmerized, so much so that they all followed him. And that's how Hitler became Hitler and World War II became World War II. And it started out with political genius, intellectual genius, or rhetorical genius that came really to Hitler, in that case, from Satan. So we've seen it happen before. We're going to see it happen again right here with the Antichrist on a much, much higher scale. But the world has seen it before, so it won't be new. Political genius, intellectual genius, oratorical genius, and then he will have military genius. Daniel 7.23 says he will devour the whole earth, trample it, and break it in pieces. So, we read also in Revelation that he gets to the point where people say, who is able to make war with him? And it's granted to him to be able to make war and to overcome. So what have we seen so far about the Antichrist? What are going to be the main characteristics? Political genius, intellectual genius, oratorical genius, military genius, and commercial genius. He's going to solve the world economic problems. Turn in your Bible to Revelation chapter 13, verse 16. Revelation 13, 16. If we keep flying along like this, we just might finish. Revelation 13, 16, commercial genius to solve world economic problems. In verse 16, he calls us all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, everybody, to receive a mark on their right hand and on their foreheads. And without that, no man can buy or sell, verse 17, except the one who has the mark or the name of the beast, it's synonymous, or the number of his name. Verse 18, herein is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is six, six, six. Seven is God's number of completion. Six is the number of man. Three times that is man, man, man. He is not God, God, God. He is man, man, man. He is the very worst of what man is supposed to be the ultimate extreme. Makes sense. God is holy, holy, holy. He is man, man, man. Makes sense that that number would be used. How it all flushes out, we don't know, but we do know that all the technology is in place for this to happen. No one who takes a mark of the beast will be saved. You're aware of that, right? And if you miss a rapture and you're around when all this happens, you're already in big trouble. Because you only have seven years left on planet Earth before Jesus Christ returns. That's seven years to get your life completely turned around in a way that you never wanted to in your whole entire lifetime. What would make anything different to you to get it together in the first three and a half years? Is it going to be the peaceful ones? Why would you give your life to get to Christ after if you've missed the rapture? If you never wanted to your whole life and you heard all about it and you still rejected, what's going to be any different? Men tend to die as they've lived. Anything else is a divine intervention and a gigantic miracle. So anybody here within the sound of my voice, and you watching on the internet as well, all of us need to know that if you miss the rapture, the likelihood of you coming to Christ is not very great. And the likelihood of you taking the mark because you got a growling stomach and you're hungry is very great. And no one who takes the mark of the beast will be saved. So he's going to come up, Revelation 18 indicates a worldwide economic system. He's going to come up as a commercial genius. And you know, I remember studying this when I first came to the Lord and there was no internet. Think about that. And we were looking at this, figuring out how it was all gonna work. I remember, I remember when there were not credit cards, there were checks. Then credit cards were amazing. And then I remember in the context of prophecy and messages and all this, I remember when the debit cards came out. And everybody was freaking out. Debit cards! The next thing is the mark! That was a shout among all evangelical Christians. Oh, I remember all that. I remember buying food, standing there with my mom or my dad at the market, and the cashier actually had to plunk away like a typewriter. Remember? Yeah, some of you nodding, you were there. Okay. One can of soup at a time. One bag of donuts at a time. And so on. Is it like that anymore? What's it like now? Beep! Beep! You guys made the sound already. Why am I... You can do the sound effects. I'll do the sermon. So, now it's like, guess what? If they can scan a barcode and it runs through the entire system of all the inventory in that building and all the inventory across the entire system. Let's take Walmart. all around the world, that barcode scan right there linked to all the computers runs through the whole world and all the inventory everywhere in the system. If you think you can hide from the Antichrist after you've taken the mark, you're kidding yourself. And if you think the technology isn't here right now to have a mark that could scan you, you're kidding yourself. A satellite 24,000 miles out in space could scan your eyelashes right now. So, all of that is to say, the time is coming, if the Lord carries, When it'll be beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. And you'll just go, thanks. And you'll walk out of the store. Why? Because a satellite 24,000 miles in space will scan the mark wherever it is on your body. It doesn't have to be some clunky looking thing in front of you. Hold still like you're getting your picture taken at the DMV. Oh my gosh, this technology is going to lead us to the Antichrist. Oh no, we're so far beyond that, folks. It could be a scan from outer space. They listen to your conversations every day, so keep them clean on your cell phones. Our government listens to every single conversation. I'm getting off now, aren't I? It's OK, because we're almost done. And then there was the end. I'm going to quit the ministry and get a job in those advertisements where they talk real fast and they end up with all the disclaimers as to why you really shouldn't buy the product. He's a religious genius, that's why he's the anti-Christ. He links up with the false prophet, who's gonna be like one of these guys that are really famous in the world today that makes it the business of their ministry to take the Bible out of churches in some kind of smooth, acceptable way. He's gonna link up with somebody like that, and then he's gonna get rid of him, and then he's gonna set himself up as God, and he's going to show his his amazing religious genius and get the whole world to worship Him. And Revelation 13, 8 says, "...and all who dwell on the earth will worship Him." Final Kingdom of the Nations, Rome. Final form of the Kingdom of the Nations could be the European community right now. Final leader, the Antichrist. Final persecution, all those that come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you want all that detail, you can go through the 44 messages we did in Revelation and get it. But let's just wrap this up because I want to end right on time. And so he's going to make war with the saints, that's in verse 21, prevailing against them. Anyone who comes to the Lord will have their head cut off during the tribulation by the Antichrist. Take the mark or get your head cut off. Hunted down by the satellite in space. You can't run through the cities. The cameras are everywhere. We see that on TV shows and movies. That technology is all in place as well. And then will come the final judgment on the Antichrist. I want to read through these verses. In verse 9, I watched till thrones were put in place and the Ancient of Days was seated. His garment was white as snow and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame. Its wheels were like burning fire. It was just the glory of his throne. In Daniel 7.10, A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. That's the judgment of God coming out. The court was seated. The books were opened. What books? The books that God keeps as a record of every single life on earth? God keeps a record of every single thing about your life on earth. And in verse 11, I watched then, because the sound of the pompous words of the horn which was speaking, I watched till the beast was slain, his body destroyed and thrown into the burning flame. That's when he's cast into the lake of fire. And all the rest, whose lives were prolonged for a season at a time, they get judged too. The scene involves the judgment of the nations. which is spoken of by Jesus when he will separate the sheep from the goats. At the end of the three and a half years, the last three and a half years, there is another figure given that is about 30 days from the one I gave you earlier, which is the three year period and the number of days. And in that 30 days, he's going to be separating out the sheep from the goats. Who goes into the millennium and who doesn't? And so we come to the end of man's day, and we come to Christ's supernatural kingdom in verse 27. Then the kingdom, the dominion, the greatness of the kingdoms under heaven shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him. Down in verse 22, And I watched until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High. And the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. So what side are we on? If there's two teams here, which team are we on? God's side, which is the winning team? Knowing these things should affect our lives. Peter said so. Peter said, if you know these things, what manner of men ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness? He said, if you know these things, it should have a radical effect on your life. I thank God for the Bible. I thank God for prophecy. I thank God for all of this. And I thank God that we made it as far as we did in the time that we had in front of us so I can stop right now, and you'll still like me. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Your word is sure. Your word is true. And we thank you for the prophecies that validate the Bible as being true from cover to cover. And we thank you, Jesus, that you've been gracious to come and die on the cross for our sins and rise again that we could have Forever in heaven with you in your victorious kingdom. No wonder we're going to sing forever Because we're never going to get it out of our holy glorified system the gratitude for the salvation You have given us in Christ In Jesus name we pray amen