Welcome to the Hackberry House of Chosun. My name is Bob and today reading from my commentary on the book of Revelation. Today we're going into chapter 12. Chapter 12 of the Revelation we'll be talking about a woman and her children and a dragon. So, Jerusalem has a Jewish temple, and I think perhaps a Gentile population during this time. That part's my speculation. But God has a witness represented well by two Elijah-like prophets we talked about. So what else is going on for these 1,260 days? Chapter 12 is given to show us just that. I believe we've seen this woman picture before in chapter 7. I want you to look there again. More details are given here in chapter 12, but the overall pattern is the same. First there's something very Jewish that appears in the chapter, the 144,000 there. the woman that's clothed with the sun and moon and stars here. Both of those are Israel, right, one way or another. She must be the same as what Joseph saw and related to his family way back in Genesis 37. You know, this is Israel. The woman is Israel. In chapter 7, Israelites from every tribe are sealed, protected, Later in this chapter, Israel is flown to the wilderness for that same protection. Two pictures, same event. Now, later in both chapters is seen another group, the rest of her offspring, who keep the commands of God and have the testimony of Jesus, and who washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. That other child certainly matches every description of the church available to us. And here in chapter 12, we see more of the church's washing process and how they come out of the great tribulation through untold suffering. And didn't we see this in chapter 7 also? Yes, we did. Nothing new here except for the details to paint the picture more vividly. Daniel's prophecies are like this, you may recall. There's that huge statue prophecy of Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 2 that matches with the animal's prophecy of chapter 7. With the animals, more necessary clues as to interpretation can be extracted. Here's the first introduction to the source of all the Jewish and Christian trouble described in the book, a fiery red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. We know that neither the woman or the dragon here are to be taken as literal, but every piece of information given stands for a literal being. The seven heads and ten horns will be fully explained in chapter 17 and will be seen again as a part of the beast known as Antichrist in chapter 13. But the identity of this chapter's monster is spelled out for us. There's no problem here. In verse 9, this is Satan. Now, one is tempted to see Jesus and Mary in the beginning of the passage, but the imagery will not work for the latter portion of the chapter. The woman, after giving birth, flees into the wilderness and is seen later as the mother of others who follow Jesus. This doesn't fit the reality of Mary's life, but does describe Israel, who first brought Jesus into the world and then an elect people, the church. The continued hatred of Satan for Israel through the centuries is documented history. Interpretation so far, Satan tries to devour Jesus. That's through King Herod. But the king is going to be born anyway. I'm in verse 5. And that same Satan tries during the tribulation to devour the elect Israelites. Verse 15, the suffering saints of verses 7 to 12 overcome this assault by being faithful to the death. No rapture, no rapture is hinted at here. And so, war in heaven, conflict on earth. The man of sin is released from his place in the pit, and Satan, cast to the ground, uses him to rise to power here, having lost it in heaven. Israel is protected, experiencing Christ for the first time. The other saints are scattered, defeated, because they're ready to go and be with Jesus. In the telling of the story, behind the scenes truths come out. So we're going to go verse by verse to see what we've left out. Verse 1, Israel, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet. How many have seen pictures like that? And all of them supposed to be Mary. This is what comes from surface reading of scripture and eisegesis. A doctrine is formed outside the text, and we force the Bible to agree with what we already believe. And then verse 2, the pre-birth, though the image is Israel and not Mary. It was the Israelite, Jewish Mary, who gave birth to Jesus. So this first part of the vision is indeed a picture of that birth. Verse three, the dragon. More about these heads and horns later. For now, they stand for world empires and a final empire yet to come. It's always been the desire of Satan to control the earth from his forays in the garden and in the wilderness with Jesus and through dictators of east and west through the centuries. Verse four, Satan is down now. Interwoven into the discussion is the fall of Satan. It's mentioned in verse 4, and one-third of the angelic host is thrown to the earth. This is further explained in chapter 12, verses 7 to 9. There is a heavenly battle between the good and evil angels, and the evil ones lose and are cast out of the heavenly realm. Now, there is a question, and we talked about it through the years, as to the timing of Satan's downfall. Jesus spoke of it as though it were past in his lifetime. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. But Jesus could easily have been speaking of a vision that occurred to him about a future event. Daniel sees a vision wherein Satan seems to be cast out around the time of the end when the daily sacrifices are being taken away. In that vision, the little horn, also known as the man of sin, grows up to the host of heaven and is able to bring stars, remember that's a biblical symbol for angels, to the ground. Here it seems that upon being cast out, he appears immediately inside of Herod to devour Jesus at birth. Now doesn't Ezekiel weigh in to the question by stating that the anointed cherub was perfect until iniquity was found in him? Satan appears on earth in Eden and before Job. neither time is he necessarily a citizen of heaven. When did the fall take place, is what I'm getting at. I have to leave it alone to some degree, simply say that it did take place, perhaps in degrees. First, out of the splendor of heaven itself to the atmosphere around the earth, making him the prince of the power of the air, as he is. Later, In the times that we're talking about now, tribulation confined to the earth itself, hence the wording of this chapter. By the tribulation time, he is down and soon to be out. His last play for power is through the man of sin that we will meet shortly. Verse five, Jesus is born. We're still safe in referring all of these verses to the birth of Jesus and his coming from Israel. But look at verse six now, Israel flees. Here, we lose all necessity of referring to Mary, for the events of these verses never happened to her, but they did happen to her people. I believe one need look no further than Matthew 24 for the fulfillment. When the abomination of desolation happens, Israel is told to flee. Here we are told where they will be running to. Historically, we know that in A.D. 70 many were able to escape to Petra, but in my opinion, The calamity of AD 70 is not what Jesus was talking about. I believe they're going to be running again, just as this vision here portrays. She'll be in this wilderness with Jesus for 1,260 days, three and a half years. This is restated later in the chapter. And as I stated above, it's compatible with chapter seven, the sealing of the 144,000. Is this the first three and a half years or the second? Verse 7, War in Heaven, the archangel Michael is seen in Daniel's prophecies, accompanied by Gabriel. In chapter 12 of that book, Michael stands up, and when he does, the tribulation breaks out. Could it be that John is picking up on that same vision here as Michael and Satan fight it out? Is the fight in heaven parallel to the fight on earth for those three and a half years? Oh, that we could see what is going on behind the scenes even now as we seemingly are settling things on earth from time to time, things going on. The real battles, though, are being fought and won elsewhere, with only our prayers making any real differences. Chapter 12, verses 8 and 9, the cast away. I reiterate here that I believe this particular casting brings Satan to earth as opposed to his position in any of the heavenly realms, even the atmosphere. The reaction of heaven is my clue. Verse 10, Thy kingdom come. Heaven is saying that this final casting out of Satan means the kingdom of God is nearly here. Now will be brought to pass the saying we often quote in hard times where we say it's always darkest before dawn. About the accuser, Satan and his accomplices, we are told, use the mechanism of accusation against us daily. We see this working itself out in the life of Job. We know that it has a reality that we must also confront. He accuses us because he himself is guilty. So, when he comes to earth, his desire to hurt the people of God is foremost on his mind. Verse 11, the defense of the believer. What Jesus did for us on the cross and our constant talking about it and our seeking first his kingdom until the day we die, that is the victory. Verse 12, such hatred stored up for such quantities of time is lethal. Satan has more than Christians to overcome in his short time. He has to unravel the predetermined will of God in three and a half short years. He knows God has never been wrong about anything he has predicted, but in his great pride he's hoping for one exception to the rule. Notice again his time is short. From the time he is cast out until the time he is finished, it's a short time. Verses 13 and 14, his first task is to go after Israel, the apple of God's eye, the heart of his plans for humanity. The special 144,000, as noted in chapter 7, are lured away to the wilderness, loved by Jesus and protected by him. They're taken to a place seemingly by airlift, where they cannot be touched by Satan's rage. How long? Three and a half years, the entire length of the Great Tribulation. Read again those tender words of Hosea in chapter 2 verses 14 to 23. Now desperate, frustrated, in verses 15 and 16, the enemy takes measures to flood, literally, the hiding place of the Jews. This could well be what is going on in Turkey and Iraq and Syria with the control of water for that Tigris-Euphrates thing or some such vast water supply. But by an earthquake or another natural phenomenon, supernaturally timed, water meant to flood the wilderness retreat will be diverted. We've seen this possibly in the sixth trumpet. We'll see the Euphrates again in the sixth bowl. Verse 17, description of the believer, just like the Antiochus of ancient history, an angry, frustrated, God-hater, We'll find someone else upon whom to vent his fury, the church. Like the true Jew, we are those who keep God's commandments, as John loved to point out in his epistle. We are also those who have the testimony of Jesus Christ. This is no end-time faction called Tribulation Saint. This is me. This is you. This is the church of God. The demise of the saints, as we have noted, is foretold in Daniel 7, and we've covered it in this book also in chapter 7. More is about to come. Here's another close-up now coming right up, the man of sin and his helper. I'm in chapter 13, verse 1, Satan's means. Immediately after John has seen the source of the trouble on earth, he's given a vision of the one who will be overwhelmed spiritually by that force. Recall that Satan is bound to earth. He must now use a man to do his bidding, and he will incarnate that man. One can imagine all he wants here, but I will stay with the literal when I can. When it talks about the sea, the sea in Bible books is almost always the Mediterranean. I believe it's important to see a world power rising from that body of water, the beast. And perhaps the most obvious of the long-term background descriptions is the one regarding Antichrist. It's proper so to refer to him, but John never does in Revelation. He calls him here the beast, an animal. In Daniel 7, he's the little horn on the final of a series of animals in his prophecy. That horn rises up to supplant some of the ten horns originally on the beast. It is this conquering horn that makes war against the saints and prevails against them. He controls the beast of which he is a part. This is Antichrist. Look in Daniel 7, 20 and 25, how that animal matches this one in terms of the blasphemies he speaks. His very name is blasphemous, perhaps our first clue to 666. We'll talk about it later. In Revelation 13, 2 here, the same man is described in terms of all the animals in Daniel's vision. He's especially reminiscent of the ferocious fourth beast. Notice that both the Revelator here and Daniel see ten horns, and they both see seven heads. In Revelation, the seven heads are on one creature. In Daniel, it takes four creatures. The lion has one, the bear has one, the leopard has four, and the fourth creature has one. Seven heads. Note also that John says the beast is like a lion, like a bear, and like a leopard. That is, he is like the three beasts of Daniel. Verses 3 and 4, here is introduced the notion that there is a death and a resurrection. More of this in chapter 17, where serious mysteries are made clear. For now, note that we are talking about a man, not just an empire. A man dies. A man comes back from the grave. And because the man comes back from the grave, the world is in awe and realizes it cannot come against such a man. The man becomes an object of worship. Place here in your thinking the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2. He says, the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. In many ways, he will try to mimic Christ. This is one of the ways, resurrection, a sudden appearing, taking authority over all. Then there's the mouth that's given to him, as in Daniel 7 and several verses. He continues 42 months, in 13.5, paralleling Daniel's time, times and half a time. He overcomes the saints in both descriptions, Daniel 7, Revelation 8, and he receives worship There's no question that both visions speak of the same offender. He sits in the temple, claiming to be God, according to Paul. 2 Thessalonians 2. Daniel 8.11. also discusses the way a certain prince, not necessarily the final world ruler, will take away the daily sacrifice. That is, break the covenant with Israel, as in Daniel 9.27. In the middle of the week, the seven-year period, he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And then after that man comes another man who makes desolate. It seems in that Daniel passage that the man of sin picks up where the prince leaves off. We conclude from his aversion to worship rituals that from then on, worship is to be centered on Satan's man only, much like in the days of the Roman emperors. In Revelation 13, worship of the beast is seen, and by 1315, it is required by law. In Daniel 8, he is a latter-day outgrowth of one of the four successors of Alexander the Great. This means that he can only come from somewhere within the ancient Greek Empire, either southeastern Europe, the Middle East, northern Africa. Now, that's a most impressive clue. Paul knows him as the man of sin. Once more, it's easy to get carried away with imagery and history, much of which can fit. But when it's all over, this man and his partner are thrown into a lake of fire, a literal lake, a literal man, a literal partner with him. In Scripture, it's nearly always better to take the word as it is. A close study of Daniel in 2 Thessalonians reveals that only one man is being talked about here. His profile is laid out so clearly that no end time saint will have any trouble recognizing him. Yes, previews have shown up in men like Hitler and a number of popes, but one man is still to come. Let no one write him off before his time. Everything written about him will be fulfilled. Now, what of the numbers describing the beast from the sea? Seven and ten. The seven seems to be world empires and or mountains, as in chapter 17, where the same beast is described in his relationship to Mystery Babylon. Traditionally, Christian scholarship has pointed to Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and revived Rome as the empires that have ruled mankind with their severe politicians and religious poison. A closer look at Daniel 7 reveals another possibility, and we'll look at that shortly. Whoever the past kings and kingdoms are, this person represents them all in one man, one final rule. The ten corresponds to Daniel's ten toes and the ten horns of the beast of Daniel 7, and the ten horns of John's later revelation in chapter 17. Again, general agreement that there is a ten-nation confederation, perhaps akin to the common market nations, that holds the final rule of this planet with the beast. He appears following a falling away from the faith, a time when the world will easily believe anyone who will save it from its mess. It's quite possible that his rising will instigate that falling away, as Roman persecutors in the first centuries of the church scared many believers out of Christendom altogether. He is Satan-inspired, as Christ was Spirit-inspired. He dies, but he's resurrected, as was Christ. The world accepts him as its own, anticipating Christ's reception when he returns. As to the blasphemies that are said to come out of his mouth, this point is underscored in Daniel 7. verses 8, 11, and 25, and chapter 11, 36 to 37. Paul makes note of it in 2 Thessalonians 2. His persecutions are successful and are the reason for a great populating of heaven during this 42-month period. We've read about it already in chapter 7. He not only has authority over the world, but over the saints. This too is borne out in Daniel 8.24. He will be the object of worship, as stated above, aided by a false prophet described in 13.11. All will be commanded to make an image of the beast, perhaps something as simple as watching him on television or the internet. Those who do not worship his image must die. Perhaps by then, your TV or computer will have become fully interactive, and legally so, where you will have to interact with it. I now move to chapter 17 temporarily. We've got to skip real quickly to chapter 17 where this beast is talked about again. Verse 7 to begin with. He was and he is not. In John's time, A.D. 90 plus, he wasn't present. Somewhere in the past, from John's viewpoint, he was. Here's a crowning mystery explained to us by John's accompanying angel in chapter 17. For although chapter 17 is often considered to be all about Babylon, a full nine verses and parts of three others concern the beast by which Babylon is supported, the very beast introduced in chapter 13. The Revelation 17 beast is full of names of blasphemy. 17.3, having seven heads and ten horns. This corresponds exactly to 13.1. It is the same man of sin and his domain, in case you have any doubt. Notice that he supports Babylon until nearly the end, when, perhaps out of jealousy, he destroys her with fire. He wants all worship to center on himself. Again, more on Babylon later. The truly enigmatic portions of this passage begin in 17.8. I want you to listen and watch very carefully. I do hope you're opening your Bible each time. You know I'm not reading entire verses, so you need to read them yourself to be sure that I'm saying what it says. I think I am. 17.8. Please look there now. That verse, paraphrased, could read this. The beast, this animal you're looking at, once existed, but he's not among us right now. But he will someday ascend out of the bottomless pit. In my opinion, this is a perfect fit with 2 Thessalonians 2, 7, that says the mystery of lawlessness is already in Paul's day at work. Only he who is restraining, says Paul, that is, I believe, the angel of the bottomless pit, as in Revelation 9, will do so until he's taken out of the way. Then the lawless one will be revealed, and his coming is according to the working of Satan. That is, we will have to have a full-scale resurrection from the dead. God will send delusion on the world so that they truly understand the importance of this historical figure, and they see him resurrected and believe he is from God. John says it like this, those who dwell on earth will marvel whose names are not written in the Book of Life. Revelation says it that way. Well, He was in John's day. He is not in John's day, yet He is. He lived. He's not with us now. He's waiting somewhere under restraint. Paul says the mystery of iniquity is already working. That means the person had already died in Paul's day. In New Testament days, he's already died. He's waiting to be revealed. Clear analysis of the text frustrates the notion of a modern man rising to power, being shot, coming back to earth immediately. You can't rule that out, but that seems unlikely to me. 13.3 mentions a head wound that is healed. But read more carefully. It says, one of his heads. This is not talking about the man of sin's head, but one of the heads of the seven-headed beast, which are just figures. There doesn't have to be a literal man there. This is a picture. The animal is not a real animal. The sword wound, perhaps, is not a real sword wound. All are pictures. Yes, these are kings that have lived in history, and one of them dies, but not necessarily by a sword or bullet to the head. But in fairness, I've got to say that one of those rulers that we could look at, Tiglath-Pileser, did die by a sword wound. If the seven heads are literally seven heads of empires of the past, who might be the candidate for a resurrected and returned Antichrist? Nimrod of Babylonia? Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria? Nebuchadnezzar of Neo-Babylonia? Antiochus Epiphanes from Greek descent? Who will rise from the dead? Well, back to chapter 17 and the mystery that's unfolding. Verse 10 says there are seven kings. I just listed some possibilities. Heads of empires of the past, five of them already dead, passed on. The one that is, the sixth, must mean the head of the Roman Empire in John's day. That would be Domitian. The one who has not come, the seventh, listen carefully, that's in verse 10 of 17, refers, I believe, to a prince that Daniel saw in Daniel 9, taking the world by storm in his 70 weeks prophecy. Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy, who may be the conquering white horse figure of seal one, I'm just saying maybe, but not the Antichrist. Why? I believe this coming leader rules over a revived Roman Empire for a short time, perhaps the first half. of the tribulation. Then comes the resurrection of someone, the beast, the antichrist, the man of sin, the little horn. Notice what it says in verse 11. He is the eighth. Well, wait a minute. I thought there were only seven. Well, there are. There are only seven heads. Look at it. He is the eighth, but he is one of the seven. What does that tell you? He's really one of the first five, since in John's day, it is said that he was. And he'll go back to perdition when he has played his role. You get it? This Antichrist is the eighth of seven rulers. But really, he's one of the seven. So that in fact, there really are only seven. One of them gets to rule twice. Note again that the earth population of these last days in the tribulation time, including most of the professing church, has fallen from the Lord and from strict adherence to and belief in his word. The world can therefore easily be deceived. A world ruler arises and unites the earth. There's peace and safety. But then another ruler arises and takes his place. This latter ruler comes from the pit as a resurrected king of antiquity. The world believes in him. He proceeds to suppress and wear out the church, nearly to extinction. He demands that all worship him. He is a blasphemer. In John's day, he was. In John's day, he is not. But he will be. Again, from somewhere before John, a world ruler arises and takes the apostate world by storm. For me, one plausible answer to all of the above, I didn't say necessary, but definitely plausible, lies back in Daniel's prophecy, chapter 11. There, a very strange construction of sentences makes one wonder what happened to Daniel's otherwise right-on reporting of history. All the way to Daniel 11.35 from verse 21, Daniel tells the future career of Alexander's successors, and a man named Antiochus Epiphanes in particular. So well that the critics call Daniel a forgery. Prophecy just couldn't be that perfect, they argue. But though the story continues in verse 36 and seems to be carrying on the same history of the same man to its finish, there are no known facts of Antiochus's life that match with the rest of Daniel 11. In fact, the text flows right on into chapter 12, which is the great tribulation and the end of the world. Well, the critics conclude, well, the author of Daniel is not really Daniel, but someone who lived during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, and he just guessed, and he didn't guess too well the end of his life. Whoa, Daniel, slow down. What happened here? You skipped thousands of years of history. Couldn't it be that this strange reporting is nothing more than the spirit's way of identifying the one who will indeed pick up where he left off in the second century before Christ? Is he not waiting even now to be released at a time when the political situation in the Middle East is similar to those ancient days, and he'll have a chance to finish what he started? This would all seem to fit with the 666 mystery. It must, you know, be the number of a man's name. I'm in chapter 13 now. I'm skipping all over. trying to keep one subject at a time. I'm quoting from the Last Trumpet website, an article entitled, The Numeric Value of the Greek Alphabet. Revelation 13, 18 gives us the number of the name of the Antichrist. There's a lot of speculation today about exactly what this means and how to arrive at a number for a given name. When the New Testament was written, this was no mystery at all to the readers of Revelation. This is because the Greek language had no numerals. The letters of the alphabet each had a numeric value. In Greek, every word had a numeric value, which was understood by adding up the value of all the letters. In the text of Revelation 13, 18, the oldest manuscripts do not spell out the number 666, but simply have three Greek letters. The first letter equals 600, the second letter equals 60, and the third letter equals 6. The fact that three letters were used in the oldest manuscripts, rather than spelling out the names of the numbers, as some later manuscripts do, indicates that the name of the Antichrist should be calculated by simply adding up the letters of his name in Greek. And so in reality, not only does this passage tell us the value of his name, it also illustrates the correct procedure for calculating his name. And so, I believe It is a Greek name that we're looking for. Now it is true that Antiochus Epiphanes does not add up to 666 by this method, although Epiphanes itself is pretty close. But it is quite possible that he will go by a shortened form of that name, or a different name, that everyone can understand easily. And perhaps it's worth our while to consider that Epiphanes, a name given to several rulers of that time, but especially meaningful to the man of sin, means a manifestation, especially of a divine being. Epiphanin in the Greek means to manifest, to show. And in 1 Timothy 3.16 Paul says that God was manifest in the flesh through Jesus. John in 1 John 3.8 says that the Son of God was manifested Antichrist will want to show the world that he, not Jesus, is God, manifest in the flesh. His first name, Antiochus, and not surprisingly means withstander, according to Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Well, how will the world know that the resurrected one is truly Antiochus? And why will they even know who Antiochus is historically? I speculate here. But it seems to me that a media campaign can handle that quite easily on a population that has become scripture-less and therefore gullible. Think of the hoaxes of men like Geraldo Rivera. And who knew about Osama bin Laden before his big event? But what nation of the world does not know of that infamous Osama now? It's possible the beast from the pit will rise on live worldwide television, immediately take his place with the greats of earth soon thereafter. And who'd be able to make war with a resurrected king? Only the Lamb. In 2 Thessalonians 2, he's called the son of perdition or destruction. Daniel sees one such man given to the burning flames as his body is being destroyed in Daniel 7. Twice John says that this blasphemous character is going to perdition eternal loss. We see this promise fulfilled in Daniel's picture repeated in Revelation 19, where the beast is captured, thrown into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone, and thus being consigned to eternal death. After arising from the dead, Antiochus becomes a forerunner of those who are damned. All men exist forever, some as saved, some as damned. Jesus and John both describe a resurrection of glory and a resurrection of damnation. But the resurrected damned are fit only for a lake of fire. The Antichrist will be raised from the pit in a new body, thinking he is all-powerful, energized by Lucifer. But after a short strut across the stage, he'll go back directly to his eternal loss. By the way, only one other man is called the son of perdition in Scripture. Jesus gives this title to Judas, the betrayer, in John 17, 12. I wonder, is there a connection between the two in the spirit world? It doesn't seem to me now that Judas and the coming man of sin should be identified as one, but the allusion to such a one by Jesus is certainly worth looking at. We'll talk more about the man of sin when we come to chapter 17 officially a little later on. Back to chapter 13, verse 10. Chapter 13's discussion of him ends with a warning, but also, I believe, an encouragement to the saints now living. Whatever antichrist is doing to you right now is going to be done to him. One day he'll be captured and cast alive into the lake of fire, the second death. Take heart. Saints of God, be patient. Hang on to the end. We win. He loses. Now what about this false prophet in verses 11 to 18? Aiding and abetting, the political ruler will be a false religious ruler, equal in authority, with great power in his words, and yet seeming to be as meek as a lamb. He's a miracle worker. He uses this power from the spirit world to force all to follow the man of sin. There seems at first glance to be little scriptural support for an assistant world power in the last days. Perhaps only John sees this detail, we think. But then we remember that the book we study often tells the same story in two different ways. Why could this false prophet not be equal to Babylon? the great world religion described in chapter 17. That would mean that religious power will ride the political power to world authority. A woman rides the beast. A false prophet assists the beast. Two ways to say the same thing? Consider, it was Rome's brand of religion that supported Charlemagne. and the entire Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages. Later, that same group, by its silence and the signing of concordats, gave its strength to Hitler and Mussolini, hoping that their historical territory would be restored for Papa's purposes. Yes, in hopes of world recognition and acceptance, popes and cardinals, representatives of the false prophecy known as Romanism, rode the back of the beasts of their day. It's quite possible that this associate dictator is none other than the head of the harlot church, so graphically portrayed later. If this were true, chapters 13 and 17 would be companion pieces. The only difference in the two chapters would be that in 13, Antichrist is mentioned first, followed by the religious element, and then in 17, the order is reversed. Another key to understanding the co-rulers is the description of their origin. The first beast rises out of the sea. corresponding to Daniel's very words in Daniel 7, where winds are stirring over the Mediterranean Sea, out of which his animals arise. Could it be that this suggests an origin in the pit as opposed to kingdoms that are earth-based? The second beast arises from the earth. His power is also demonic, but is tied to the established religion of earth from the days of Nimrod. That which rises fresh from the pit now gives added impetus to the Babylonian mysteries here for so long. Some miscellaneous notes on chapter 13. Let's look at five and seven. Important to see here that everything Satan does is given to him. As Jesus says to Pilate, you could have no power at all against me unless it had been given to you from above. The church in the tribulation will need to keep remembering this. What is happening all around us is all a part of the plan. So be encouraged, hang on. Verse 7, the universality of the Antichrist kingdom. We tend to think in terms of a revived Roman Empire, maybe we should, but that Roman entity will only be the base of the kingdom, and from this base, this one satanic man will rule, or at least attempt to rule, the entire planet. Verse 9, a special word to the saints who will hear. This unique arrangement of words, if anyone has an ear, let him hear, is used only in reference to the church. Other than in those church letters of chapters 2 and 3, this is the only place in the book where this particular formula is used. It seems the Spirit is especially eager for God's people to understand the issue of identifying clearly the man of sin so as not to be found in any allegiance with him. Verse 13, signs and wonders, people, watch out. The Antichrist's right-hand man will be a miracle worker. Genuine signs and wonders. Those who are caught up in such things today exclusively will find some familiar things going on when the man of sin is in charge. Be grounded in the word, folks, not just in the signs and wonders. Verses 14 and 15, the living and speaking image of the beast can be a statue, as historically thought, But technology of our day opens wide the door of speculation. Is this a hologram? Is this a projected image on a public square? Is this interactive television? Is this the internet? And look again at the construction of verse 15. It seems to say, that the image itself will cause death to those who do not worship it. So you turn on the TV to worship at your designated time. All well and good unless you forget your time and you, well, your TV just might turn itself on and deal severely with you. Just saying. Verse 16, many translations follow up on the shocking interpretation of verse 15 with another shock here, and the Greek can support it, but does not demand it. It can also be the causative factor for the mark of the beast. That is, supposing, for example, that interactive TV is the means of worship, it can also be the method by which a person will be marked No need to travel anywhere or do much at all to get hooked up to the flow of the world. Just turn on your set or your computer, push the right buttons, and you can have all of this superhero that you want, including his very personal ID tag lasered right onto your skin. Your Visa or MasterCard will be billed, of course. Equally certain, if you do not submit to all of this, you will be executed. Those monitoring your house via TV will know of your rejection. You can expect a knock on the door soon after, or a beam of light from your computer blinding you for life. Here before us, then, is a wicked scenario. Mankind has found its idol, a man who comes in with great ideas, sweeping solutions, miraculous beginnings, actually. Israel is in the beginning at peace, Jerusalem an international city, the temple sacrifices are re-established, but somewhere At the beginning of this three and one half year period or the beginning of the seven, all is changed as the daily sacrifice is taken away. The fragile situation of the Middle East is disrupted and bombs begin to drop. Elect Jews run for cover and are airlifted to a place of protection. The world ruler tries to kill them but is repulsed and takes out his vengeance on the church. He's successful in killing not only many Christians but two mighty prophets of God who preach throughout this period a message of repentance. He raises a worldwide consciousness of himself, does the Antichrist through the media, and demands worship of all. So have you counted the cost lately of service to Jesus? Well, as to that last verse and the 666 calculation, we did kind of cover it above. I believe that the obvious interpretation is still the best. And when the time comes, this man's name in Greek letters, I believe, will equal 666. The biblically ignorant world will not see this or care. No Bibles anywhere. The saints will be confirming their own convictions, the ones who know their God. That's all we have time for this time around. Next time we'll talk about another close-up and we're going to see the 144,000 with Jesus, with Jesus. Incredible times coming. Thank you for being here. This is a message that I am very intent on disseminating to the people of God as we move into these times that could be the end. And this is the Hackberry House of Chosun, and Lord willing, we're gonna talk again real soon. Bye-bye.