Who Are The 2 Beasts?
Summary
TLDRIn this sermon, Pastor Victor delves into the Book of Revelation, exploring the symbolic figures of the Beasts from the Sea and Earth. He discusses the historical and cultural significance of these beasts, drawing parallels to political powers opposing God's kingdom. Victor emphasizes the importance of discerning deceptive forces in our lives, whether blatant or subtle, and the need to align our hearts with Jesus rather than seeking fulfillment in worldly pursuits or political solutions. He challenges the congregation to seek a genuine relationship with God, beyond mere religious practices, and to resist the counterfeit allure of worldly power and idols.
Takeaways
- đ The sermon focuses on the Book of Revelation, specifically chapters 12 and 13, discussing the symbolism of the dragon and the two beasts.
- đ The dragon is identified as the devil, Satan, and is seen as a mobilizing force for the two beasts, often referred to as 'Wild Thing One' and 'Wild Thing Two'.
- đ The Beast of the Sea is likened to a sea monster, resonating with Jewish mythology and theology, often associated with dark forces.
- đŸ The Beast of the Earth is compared to the Behemoth, a creature from Job 40 and 41, symbolizing a powerful, earthly force.
- đŠ The first Beast is described with characteristics of a leopard, bear, and lion, amalgamating various Old Testament beasts to represent political power opposing God's kingdom.
- đ„ The Beast's healing of a mortal wound and the subsequent marveling of the earth is seen as a symbol of the resilience of powers against God's kingdom.
- đïž The sermon emphasizes the need for a healthy suspicion towards political institutions and warns against reducing Jesus' kingdom to a set of policies or political actions.
- đ The text discusses recent events, such as Pride parades and pro-Palestine protests, highlighting the clash of ideologies and the challenge of finding unity in diversity.
- đ€ The sermon challenges the congregation to consider whether their faith is genuine or if they are deceived by hollow idols, urging introspection and a return to a deeper relationship with Jesus.
- đą The number 666 is discussed as a symbol of incompleteness and failure, contrasting the counterfeit nature of the Beast with the completeness of God.
- đ The call to action is for the church to discern their own hearts, recognizing where they may have been deceived and to align themselves fully with Jesus, rejecting the hollow promises of the world.
Q & A
What is the main theme of the sermon based on the Book of Revelation?
-The main theme of the sermon is the exploration of the figures described in the Book of Revelation, specifically the dragon and the two beasts, which are interpreted as symbols of political powers opposing God's kingdom.
Who is the figure referred to as the dragon in Revelation 12:9?
-The dragon in Revelation 12:9 is identified as the devil, Satan, or the serpent of old.
What is the significance of the Beast of the Sea and the Beast of the Earth in the sermon?
-The Beast of the Sea and the Beast of the Earth represent political powers that are mobilized by the dragon to do his bidding, symbolizing opposition to God's kingdom throughout history.
How does the sermon relate the imagery of the beasts to the original audience's understanding?
-The sermon connects the imagery of the beasts to the original audience's understanding by referencing Jewish mythology and theology, where sea monsters were believed to represent dark forces.
What is the interpretation of the Beast having a mortal wound that was healed?
-The healed mortal wound of the Beast symbolizes the resilience of political powers opposing God's kingdom, which have historically recovered from downfalls to continue exerting influence.
What is the role of the second Beast, described as rising over the Earth with two horns like a lamb?
-The second Beast, also known as the Beast of the Earth, is about propaganda and deception, using signs and authority to lead people to worship the first Beast and follow its teachings.
What does the number 666 signify in the context of the sermon?
-The number 666 signifies an incomplete or counterfeit power, representing the Beast as a failed imitation of God's completeness and authority.
How does the sermon relate the political powers described in Revelation to the modern context?
-The sermon draws parallels between the historical political powers and modern ideologies, suggesting that the same spirit of opposition to God's kingdom manifests in various forms throughout history.
What is the sermon's stance on the role of political institutions in solving moral and social issues?
-The sermon encourages a healthy suspicion towards political institutions, suggesting that they cannot solve the moral disorder of the world and that the Church, not the White House, is the hope of the world.
What is the warning against in the sermon regarding personal faith and beliefs?
-The sermon warns against the deception that can lead individuals to place their faith in things other than Jesus, whether blatantly or subtly, and emphasizes the importance of genuine knowledge and relationship with God.
What does the sermon suggest as the appropriate response to the understanding of the Beasts in Revelation?
-The sermon suggests that the appropriate response is to be discerning, to recognize and resist deceptive forces, and to align one's allegiance with Jesus, the true and complete source of life and righteousness.
Outlines
đ Introduction to Revelation's Beasts
In this opening segment, Pastor Victor welcomes the congregation and dives into the Book of Revelation, focusing on the introduction of two beasts mobilized by the dragon, symbolizing the devil. He references the cultural significance of sea monsters in Jewish theology and biblical stories where Jesus encounters and subdues demonic forces. The pastor provides a detailed reading of Revelation 13:1-8, describing the Beast of the Sea with its ten horns and seven heads, and its miraculous healing that leads to global admiration and worship. The passage is interpreted as a symbol of political power opposing God's kingdom.
đ Political Power and its Opposition to God
This paragraph explores the symbolism behind the Beast of Revelation, drawing parallels with Old Testament imagery to suggest the Beast represents a composite of political powers throughout history that oppose God's kingdom. The pastor discusses how different figures have been historically identified with the Beast, but emphasizes the idea that it represents a recurring type of political power rather than a specific individual. He also touches on the resilience of such powers and the need for a healthy skepticism towards political institutions, warning against reducing Christianity to a set of political policies.
đ The Clash of Ideologies and the Role of the Church
In this section, the pastor discusses the recent events surrounding Pride parades and the pro-Palestine protests, highlighting the clash of ideologies and the resulting confusion and violence. He contrasts this with 'queers for Palestine' parades, showing solidarity across communities. The pastor challenges the idea that political solutions can bring about moral order, asserting that the church, not the White House, is the hope of the world. He encourages discernment, recognizing that political power can often be opposed to Christ's work.
đ Reflections on Personal Deception and Allegiance to Christ
The pastor delves into the individual's struggle with self-deception and the tendency to justify sinful habits. He warns against the human heart's inclination to seek the center of life while being aware of its own mortality. Using personal anecdotes, he illustrates how pressures can reveal our true character and the areas that need work. The message encourages embracing reality, recognizing the beastly aspects of our hearts, and seeking God's transformative power to mold us into the image of His son.
đș The Deceptive Power of the Second Beast
This paragraph describes the second Beast, which rises over the Earth with horns like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. This Beast performs great signs, including making fire come down from heaven, deceiving people into worshiping the first Beast. The pastor emphasizes the concern for deception in faith over physical suffering, as seen in the testimonies of believers from persecuted churches who hold their lives loosely and see a natural death as a loss. The passage serves as a warning against the deceptive forces that seek to draw worship away from Jesus.
đïž The Danger of Idolatry and the Pursuit of True Worship
The pastor discusses the concept of idolatry, not only in the form of blatant worship of other things over Jesus but also in the subtle form of self-deception where one believes they are good with God when they are not. He uses examples from the Old Testament and the teachings of CS Lewis to illustrate how people avoid true faith and genuine relationship with God. The message calls for self-examination and a return to genuine worship of Jesus, the only one worthy of all praise, life, and worship.
âïž The Mark of the Beast and the Call for Discernment
In this segment, the pastor interprets the mark of the Beast, the number 666, as a symbol of an incomplete allegiance, contrasting with the completeness represented by the number seven. The Beasts are seen as counterfeits, parodies of God's true kingdom. The pastor warns against settling for anything less than Jesus, who offers abundant life, and calls for discernment to avoid being deceived by the hollow promises of the world.
đ Closing Prayer and Invitation to Connect with the Church
The service concludes with a prayer for discernment and alignment with God's will, followed by an invitation for the congregation to connect with Village Church, either in person or through financial support. The pastor expresses gratitude for the generosity of the community and highlights the impact it has on the church's ministries and programs for the next generation.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄRevelation
đĄDragon
đĄBeast of the Sea
đĄPolitical Power
đĄDeception
đĄWorship
đĄMortally Wounded Beast
đĄPropaganda
đĄ666
đĄDiscernment
đĄKingdom of God
Highlights
Introduction to the Book of Revelation and the role of the dragon as the devil.
Chapter 13 focuses on the dragon mobilizing two beasts, referred to as Wild Thing One and Wild Thing Two.
The Beast of the Sea and the Beast of the Earth are introduced, drawing parallels with biblical creatures like Leviathan and Behemoth.
Jesus' calming of the storm is discussed as a metaphor for spiritual resistance against his ministry.
Description of the first Beast with seven heads, ten horns, and blasphemous names, drawing from Daniel 7.
The Beast's healing of a mortal wound and the subsequent global marveling at its power.
The Beast's authority for 42 months and its war against the Saints, highlighting the resilience of opposing powers.
The need for a healthy suspicion towards political institutions and the limitations of political solutions to moral disorder.
The contrast between the church as the hope of the world and the limitations of the White House.
The deceptive nature of political power, drawing parallels with historical figures like Napoleon and Ronald Reagan.
The role of the second Beast in performing great signs and deceiving people into worshipping the first Beast.
The significance of the number 666 in representing an incomplete allegiance to the Beast, contrasting with the completeness of God.
The call to discernment in recognizing deceptive forces in our lives and the importance of aligning with Jesus.
The challenge of maintaining faith in the face of global deception and the importance of knowing God personally.
The contrast between the deceptive promises of the world and the abundant life offered by Jesus.
The invitation to connect with Village Church and the importance of financial investment in the mission.
Transcripts
[Music]
[Music]
good morning Village Church how we doing
this morning yeah there we go welcome
well we are back at the Book of
Revelation of Jesus Christ my name is
Victor so excited to be with you one of
the pastors here on staff uh if you're
here last week uh you heard an amazing
sermon by Pastor fenu and it was all on
chapter 12 chapter 12 things start
unfolding pretty drastically we now see
this figure come on the scene and we
know that figure is the dragon John
makes that clear in chap 12: 9 this
dragon is the devil the Satan The
Serpent of old so cards are now on the
table and what we are now investigating
in Chapter 13 we'll spend all our time
there is this dragon now
mobilizes these two beasts he sends them
to do his bidding and these two beasts
with Scott mcnight calls Wild Thing One
and Wild Thing Two probably a little too
cute for what they actually do on the
Earth but this is the Beast of the Sea
and the Beast of the Earth Earth now
this wouldn't have been like unfamiliar
language for the original audience uh
job 40 and uh chapter 41 as well we see
descriptions of the leviathon this sea
monster and this beast of the Earth the
Behemoth and especially that first one
the idea of a sea monster would have
resonated with the original audience
quite a bit through Jewish mythology or
even theology it was often believed that
dark force
resided deep in the sea when you hear
stories like when Jesus casts out demons
and he casts out a whole bunch of demons
out of one man and they don't know where
to go and Jesus commands them to go into
a group of pigs this a really strange
story and these pigs then immediately go
straight off a cliff into the deep
Waters there's another story also with
um Jesus a very popular story you've
probably heard before of Jesus falling
asleep in a boat and you have these
disciples who are trained professional
fishermen crossing the waters they would
understood weather they would have
understood the waters would understood
like times when to go in the day and
they are in the midst of now a storm
that they can't even handle so much so
that they wake Jesus up and they say do
you even care we are going to die and
Jesus does if you know the story he
stands up and he rebukes the wind and he
rebukes the waves
and the whole thing goes calm what
commentators think that they think
there's actually more at work in that
story that Jesus and his disciples are
going to new territory in their Ministry
that they have not yet gone before and
potentially there is
resistance spiritual resistance to Jesus
moving into that territory so what he is
silencing is maybe more than just the
wind and the waves there and so for a
sea monster to come out of the ocean is
pretty on brand with what they would
expected dark Forces to come from so
let's read about our first
Beast verse one all the way to verse 8
and I saw a beast rising out of the sea
with 10 horns and seven heads with 10
dims on its horns and blasphemous names
on its heads and the Beast that I saw
was like a leopard its feet were like
bears and its mouth was like a lion's
mouth
and to the dragon gave his power and his
throne and great Authority one of his
heads seemed to have oh this is great
this is like perfectly in time you're
going to see this verse probably verse
you've never read before in your life
you're going to see it plastered all
over social media right now thinking
this is probably speaking about Donald
Trump's assassination attempt one of its
heads seemed to have a mortal wound but
its mortal wound was healed and the
whole earth marveled as they followed
the Beast there you go and Time stuff
guys um and they worshiped the Dragon
for he had given his authority to the
Beast and they worshiped the Beast
saying who is like the Beast and who can
fight against him and the Beast was
given a mouth uttering hottie and
blasphemous words and it was allowed to
exercise Authority for 42 months what's
a presidential term know I'm just
kidding um it opened its mouth to other
blasphemies against God blasphemy his
name and his dwelling that is those who
dwell in in heaven last bit here and
also it was allowed to make war on the
Saints and to conquer them and author
was given it over every tribe and people
and language and nation and all who
dwell on Earth will worship it everyone
whose name has not been written before
the foundation of the world in the book
of the life of that was cut off there of
the slain
lamb all right so a lot of texts there
describing this Beast remember what
we've already learned in the book of
Revelation is these images are rarely
literal they are describing something
deeper they're pointer to something more
profound there are usually cultural and
political images in that culture to
explain something more vast and complex
and this isn't foreign to us we do this
all the time we have political satire
cultural Sal satire to explain what is
happening in our world we have our own
beasts what would you would see here is$
dogs circling each other with blue FS on
their tails or maybe a beast in the
ground for someone 500 years ago they
look at these images and like they'd
have no idea what they're what they're
seeing some beast in the ground with his
nose coming out looks like a temple in
the front of a government building they
wouldn't know but for us if we look long
enough we can catch the message of what
these images are saying to us and so
what is this Beast then about what is it
pointing to well it use interesting
language to describe the Beast it's a
beast that I saw was like a leopard its
feet were like a bear and its mouth were
like a lion's mouth this is all pointers
to the Old Testament to Daniel 7
specifically Daniel has a vision in
chapter 7 of four beasts that literally
exact same saying four beasts came out
of the sea one was a leopard
representing Greece one was a lion
represent Babylon and a bear Persia and
a Roman Empire these four beasts
represent political power and what
Revelation is trying to do in this
picture of the beast it's an
amalgamation of these four creatures all
rolled into one representing political
power opposing God's kingdom now all
throughout history people and Scholars
have tried to point fingers to who this
actual Beast is Napoleon got thrown some
shade U Martin Luther even or the pope
depending what side of the debate you
were on were thought to be the beasts
Ronald Reagan was thought to be the
Beast as well simply because his first
middle and last name all had six letters
in it six six six you see um yeah you
got to think ahead um but maybe it's
less about a distinct moment and a
distinct figure and it's more because
the clues were given here of this using
Babylonian imagery using Greek using
Persian imagery and pulling that from
the Old Testament tells us it's more
probably like a type of political power
that pokes its head up every once in a
while throughout history and is
resilient the text we read one of its
heads seemed to have mortal wound but
the Mortal wound was healed and the
whole earth marveled as they followed
the Beast that speaks about the
resilience of these powers that are
against God's kingdom like the these
aren't even Theologian just secular
artists can pick up on those notes that
you pull down a dictator and what
happens another dictator comes up right
behind it these powers are resilient
that are opposing God and his kingdom
what Daryl Johnson says when just when
Nazism gets knocked off communism rears
its head up just when communism gets
knocked off nationalism rears its head
up leopard bear or lion over and over
again and I think here in this complex
text here here here's probably two
things that I think applies to us today
the first one catch this is I think we
need to have a healthy suspicion towards
political institutions Even in our own
Western Democratic
backyard now here what I'm saying on
that keyword healthy I'm not talking
about like wikileak links and like going
deep Dives and like Area 51 stuff that's
not what we're saying here I think it's
much more are you convinced that the
in-breaking of jesus' Kingdom will come
through blank
party or when you think of jesus'
kingdom when you watch your own self in
your own heart have you reduced jesus'
Kingdom to a set of policies on major
issues and your
participation isn't evangelism isn't
prayer isn't Jus work Justice work or
anything like that no you're only
Christian work is to vote
right like is that the sum tool of your
Christian walk is to allow politicians
to do the heavy lifting for you to bring
about what Jesus has for this world and
I get it these are confusing and
challenging Waters that we are treading
lately just coming out of June as you
guys know there was obviously been many
Pride parades all throughout the US and
Canada and what's interesting and what
was actually quite unexpected for this
year is in some cities like Victoria
Toronto and then the states Washington
DC Philadelphia and other cities there
has been these massive blockades of pro
Palestine protesters trying to stop the
LGBT Pride parades you saw all over the
news
and the once journalism actually found
out what were the reasons for why they
were block a because they believed many
of the corporate Pride sponsors were
also Zionist supporters so they are
actually against the pride parades and
it actually blew up into some violent
moments where they were push back Pride
Parade was pushing against the blockade
what's fascinating is these young people
many years ago or even months ago
perhaps saw the pride parade as virtuous
as something to push for something to
Advocate now see it as oppressive
something to stop and some places
actually broke into violence but
simultaneously what's happened in other
places in the US and Canada in this
month we saw uh parades that were queers
for Palestine parades all throughout
cities like Los Angeles and New
York people that came around the pro uh
Palestine um and were waving Palestinian
Flags find soless in these communities
that feel unheard feel unseen and
actually were Binding
Together and so what we're seeing before
even comenting any one of those parties
or positions simply if anyone anyone
were to pull back and just look at the
Baseline reality and recognize that
these are two examples of many heated
and
inconsistent ideologies that have
saturated the
West at times are clashing with each
other but each believing they have the
corner on Justice truth and
goodness and here's the challenge you
and I or anyone really we look at
something like this and we see these
examples and we genuinely believe it can
all come together it can all be solved
it can all become peaceful if we just
just vote for the right
party if you think about just getting
the right guy or gal in the chair and
John in this textt is calling you
out that your your imagination is too
narrow to what God is doing you you
simply put God into the place of
politics being the vehicle that will
solve all moral disorder in the world it
might clean up the streets but it cannot
clean up the hearts of men and women the
church is the hope of the world not the
White
House but we're all reading the
teleprompter
we all get caught up in the same thing
if you watched the presidential debate a
couple weeks ago um I think most people
thought it'd be way more heated than it
was it was actually quite subdued and I
think a lot of people thought the impact
of the debate would have been way more
catastrophic like there was literal
Civil War talk not like fun like hashtag
like there was conversation around what
potentially could happen the right and
the left leaning further into their
categories cementing position the center
dissolving the idea of who really
actually thinks they have the corner and
what the US is and what was interesting
was the consensus through the news and
media was the nation after the debate it
was way more subdued and
deflated I think because most Americans
recognized their options were quite
Bleak there was a massive uh hashtag
that remember on Twitter called it was
con man versus old man those were the
options because they put all their hope
of all the moral disorder all the things
that are pushing up against them as
Citizens they put all of that hope of
solving that in a president and now they
are feeling
hopeless do we vote of course do we stay
informed yes do we write to our MPS if
you want
to however I think the Book of
Revelation reminds us to be
Scrappy knowing that more times than not
political power can be opposed to
Christ's work not for it so we have to
be Discerning knowing our Allegiance
isn't to a political party isn't even to
a world view but is to Jesus the slain
lamb and so the second thing that I
think is important that we can pull from
this is it's easy to look at a text like
this easy to look at the description of
a beast describing arrogant Kings
Emperors parties all through history
that went the way of the beast in
scripture we see that King of Babylon in
Isaiah 14 king of Ty Ezekiel 28 even
Pharaoh in Ezekiel 29 gets described
Pharaoh king of Egypt you great monster
lying among your streams it's almost
like he's this described as a giant
serpent resting on the N River and even
in history demission Kula Nero all
exalted themselves as king all exalted
themselves to be like God they took the
way the Beast it's easy to point fingers
at people and figures like this but this
is what one commentator says but what
should frighten us even more is that the
same Spirit of self-defined Emperor
remains in every human heart that seeks
to make itself the center of Life while
bearing thoughts of its own mortality
you and I we have the same compulsion in
US potentially the only difference
between Nero or any of these figures is
these guys just had the resources to do
it like I'm a I'm a pretty relaxed guy
uh if you know me I'm pretty easygoing
it takes a lot to get me flustered uh
until I had children um they do that
they have that ability to do that for
you uh what surprised me a bit if I'm
honest is my anger and impatience kind
of rose to the surface more than I was
probably comfortable with uh it's not
like these were new sins that just out
of nowhere just clinged on to me and
were just foreign things it's that the
right pressures brought out brought to
the top was always been deep and dormant
below an unsanctified area of impatience
when it got squeezed out I recognized
needed work I needed Jesus to actually
mold and form that area of my life you
see just because you are poor doesn't
mean you don't have greed lurking deep
below just because you have no Authority
at your work doesn't mean you have a
don't have a twisted view of power deep
down below in pastoral meetings when
I've met with you know a handful of
people I remember just when one guy like
just talking about his weekend and just
he just got drunk he got hammered he's
talking about man I just I don't know
what came over me and I just had this
moment of weakness and they often use
disassociation language if you notice
that if you're Consulting with a friend
they'll say things like I feel like I
was a different person that night that's
so unlike me I'm not acting myself these
days and it's tempting especially as a
pastor to to empathize with them and say
like yeah man like that's not you you're
better than that and there's maybe some
truth to that but in all reality when
new pressures emerge for any of us
whether it be a wild party where
everyone's
drinking whether that girl or that guy
that's leaning in a little heavier late
at night that huge paycheck that comes
with some pretty shady strings attached
like these moments squeeze out not some
disassociated person that makes a
reckless decision no no no they squeeze
out the truest person in you your true
and actual character the reason you rush
to a shady paycheck with two extra zeros
on it money you've never seen in your
life it's not because you were now
greedy is because you always have
been and now you just have the
opportunity to act on
it there are things blow in deep layers
in our hearts that always don't get
attention so our job is not to deflect
using disassociation language but to
embrace our reality that there's still
work to do in all of us we recognize
there's something
beastly in our heart Hearts like pharaoh
and Nero and all the way back to Adam
who bit the fruit that we need God to
graciously and lovingly go to the
deepest undisturbed layers and put the
Beast out of its misery to chip away
those areas of our life that need work
and to make us into the image of his son
that is the work that he lays out for us
you know when you look at the second
beast the first Beast is all about power
and the second beast
sorry starting at verse
11 this is how the second beast is
described then I saw another Beast
rising over the Earth and had two horns
like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon
it exorcise all the authority of the
first beast and in its presence and
makes the earth and its inhabitants
worship the first Beast whose mortal
wound was
healed it performs Great Signs even
making Fire come down from Heaven to
Earth in front of people and by the
signs that it is allowed to work in the
presence of the Beast it deceives those
who dwell on Earth telling them to make
an image for the Beast that was wounded
By The Sword and yet
lived and it was allowed to give breath
to the image of the Beast so that the
image of the Beast might even speak and
might cause those who would not worship
the image of the Beast to be slain also
it uh also course of course of all it
both small U and great both rich and
poor both free and slave to be marked
on the right hand of the forehead or the
forehead so that no one can buy or sell
unless he has the mark that is the name
of the beast of the number of its uh
sorry name of the Beast or the number of
its name this calls for wisdom let the
one who has understanding calculate the
number of the Beast for it is the number
of a man and it and his number is
666 there's a familiar passage to many
of us so we see Wild Thing One is all
about power and Wild Thing Two the Beast
of the earth is about propaganda another
way commentators say this is about
politics and religion power propped up
by belief and when we read a chapter
like this I think honestly many of us
are most concerned about the first Beast
why because verse six says it was
allowed to make war on the Saints and
conquer them bring about suffering death
of Believers see you and I are
self-preserving creatures to we want to
squeeze out as many days as we can in
this
world yet what we see in verse six is
all across the world the Beast is doing
just that he's terrorizing he's
oppressing Believers and even the past
Century there's reports of Christians in
places like Sudan where Christians are
being enslaved and even crucified uh
Korean Christians World War II were in
prison and tortured when they refused to
bow down to Shinto shrines Chinese
imprisonment George Chen famously was
forced to work all day deep in a
cesspool filled with human waste but he
was rejoiced because the odor kept
others away all him to pray and sing as
he worked all day and while he was in
prison the church he planted Grew From
300 people to 5,000 people one of his
converts was released shortly after the
conversion and went back to evangelize
to his unreached tribal groups in one
month winning five villages with over
750 people missionary after missionary
believer after believer being pressed
under the claws of the Beast suffering
oppression death death and yet what's
the consensus of these missionaries you
and I we pity them and for Frank and
honest we don't want their lives we want
a comfortable life but hearing from them
hearing their testimonies how do they
talk about these things there's one
witness who is in a persecuted Church in
Iran who looks to the West he looks to
you and I and he said it's a shame for a
Believer to die of natural causes
wow what we see is a WI
to see our great grandkids to outlive
that to retire in the beaches of Miami
to die in warm beds these men and women
see as a
loss that's
interesting they almost pity the thing
we strive so hard to gain a quiet and
comfortable
death they hold their lives Loosely and
I think that resonates with the teaching
of Jes Jesus Matthew 10:28 and do not
fear Those Who Kill the body but cannot
kill the soul rather feel fear Him who
can destroy both Body Soul in put uh
sorry destroy both soul and Body in hell
in other words I think we should be much
more concerned about the second beast
why look what verse 14 says in the
presence of the Beast it deceives those
who dwell on Earth telling them to make
an image for the Beast that was wounded
did By The Sword and yet lived you're
aren't going to find many
passages about Jesus concerned for our
physical bodies you'll find some they're
there but you will find a library of
passages concerned about your deception
of your faith there's a parable in
Matthew 25 about these virgins and it's
actually pointing to this scene here it
says at that time it's talking about
this time the kingdom of heaven will be
like 10 virgins who took their lamps and
went out to meet the bridegroom talking
about Jesus five of them were foolish
and five of them were wise why well the
foolish ones didn't have enough oil and
so they waited and waited for the
bridegroom to show up and their lamps
actually went out and so they had to go
hustle they had to run and go to Walmart
whatever get enough oil to make it back
in time before the bridegroom showed up
they didn't want to miss it they were
unprepared and while they're over at
Walmart the bridegroom does show up the
wedding Bank starts and the doors are
shut you see these people rush back
these virgins rush back who are
unprepared and they're banging the door
please let us in the bridegroom Jesus
comes out and he says truly I tell you
it wasn't that he says you didn't hustle
enough or that you should have done more
Ministry or that you should have given
more to the poor no no the reason you
weren't allowed in is I do not know
you and to be honest The Guiding
questions in our lives that keep us off
and up at night are my kids going to be
okay did I do taxes right did I vote
right will this relationship lead to
marriage and all that's important but I
think what scripture pushes on the most
important question which often doesn't
get attention in our lives is do I know
God because there are real beastly
forces out there trying to mislead you
on the regular
like this this idea of these two beasts
of politics and religion power and
belief being ined together isn't A New
Concept during the time when John was
writing this the Roman Empire was a
fierce political force and what came
from that is Emperor Cults that
worshiped the power of Caesar worshiped
the power of government and these local
priests from these Emperor Cults were
called aarcs Acts 19 Paul is actually
advised steer clear of these guys they
are vicious do not go in their
theaters their job was literally just as
John says to said about the Beast to
deceive people and to worship it
performs Great Signs even making Fire
come down from Heaven to Earth in front
of people these guys would get buy in
for worship with trickery well one
commentator says they use hidden pulley
literally they use hidden pulleys for
example to cause statues to move they
made use of ventriloquism to make people
think statues or Idols spoke this is
literally like Disneyland stuff I don't
even been like the tiki hut I was there
with the kids this is what's happening
these priests deceive people into
worship using Hollow spectacles of
deflecting mirrors pulley and smoke all
to pull at the hearts of men and women
providing alluring Promises of power of
pleasure and security like do you see
it like nothing has
changed porn alcohol drugs career power
money all deceive our hearts to worship
them with shiny spectacles and Promises
of the good life and are always Hollow
Idols with ropes and py they always
overpromise and underd deliver leaving
us worse off than we started I remember
a couple weeks ago I shared about this
idea of like can we even recognize the
resistance in our city are we in tune as
we drive down into our neighborhoods do
we know what people put their hope into
but I think we need to even take one
step back this morning
and not just assessing and Discerning
our city but Discerning our own
Hearts do we know where we've been
deceived do we know where we put false
hope in what has got me off course from
actually knowing god you might rush to
like yeah yeah that's fine I know God
but
actually actually take a
minute do you
because you know what we don't see much
of in this chapter is the
devil the devil from the last chapter
sends these two puppets Beast one and
Beast two working behind the scenes not
needing to be celebrated worshiped or
recognized as long as Jesus isn't verse
four talks about the worship moving from
the dragon to the Beast and he is fine
with that well one commentary says the
devil can tolerate Buddha Muhammad and
the whole Pantheon and Hindu gods but
not Jesus
In This Moment the devil puts forward
two impressive and Powerful entities to
draw all the worship due to Jesus onto
these beasts without anyone knowing he
is pulling the levers behind the
curtain and here's how I think this
plays out for you and I in this
room knowing the force of deception is
always at work in our
lives you might fit into one of two
camps the first one is for some of you
might liter
know you're throwing yourself at the
thrs of worshiping other things it's
obvious it wouldn't take long to do some
inventory to recognize I put my trust in
something else other than Jesus massive
compromise of your faith to gain power
pleasure meaning in other things at the
end of the day you may not fully admit
to this out loud but you believe X
whatever that thing is is better than
Jesus it's more pleasurable it's more
powerful it gives me more meaning it's
more obvious it's more outright but it's
deception
nonetheless like the reason you work
crazy amount of hours trying to make
more sales trying to make more money so
you can have that luxury vacation for
the family that you've neglected all
year
round it's not a lack of discipline it's
not a lack of boundaries in your life
but it's a belief
issue like let's be honest here you
believe Jesus call to Sabbath rest is a
joke it's for weak people you have this
stupid like alpha male thing about you
where you think I just need to grind
harder I need to work harder I need to
never show weakness I need to never rest
because that's for weak people can't
move forward you find meaning in work
that's a belief
issue the reason you can't break a cycle
of pornography in your life of course
there's so many factors to that
neurological Pathways that get formed
that are hard to break practical steps
to attack addiction there's I'm not
downplaying but the root thing there
that you keeps tripping you up is
ultimately a belief issue your heart
ultimately believes in that moment of
weakness of clicking of scrolling of
looking you will find more pleasure here
than any framework of sexuality Jesus
calls you to you're just not
convinced what ultimately propels Us in
life all of us is
belief so it's the one thing the devil
wants to twist and derail all the
time it's for some of you it's blatant
it's obvious you could point it out
right now what the thing is you find
more affection more love more purpose
than Jesus and for others potentially
more concerning the second Camp it's
more
subtle when you believe you are good
with God when you potentially
aren't if we learn anything in the Old
Testament from from the people of God if
we learn anything from these people over
and over again there's something in the
human heart that rushes towards
justifying our own sinful habits and
covering them up like Jeremiah amongst
many prophets push on the people of God
all the time and he calls out a nation
and I think this speaks to our hearts as
well saying peace peace when there is no
peace you do all the right things you
serve you give you attend church you
tenic community group all these exterior
efforts to make you feel like you're
measuring up but there is something
below the surface that you do not want
to draw attention to you don't want to
be o honest with that thing the real
question you're avoiding do I actually
know
him do I have any substance of Faith or
is it just Hollow is it just my parents
faith if I just been doing this forever
I don't even know why anymore and you
spend your en energ deflecting by just
doing more stuff what CS Lewis says how
to avoid God here you go avoid silence
avoid Solitude avoid any train of
thought that leads off the Beaten Track
concentrate on money sex status health
and above all your own grievances keep
the radio on live in crowds use plenty
of
sedation so whether you are blatantly
have thrown your heart into worshiping
other things or having real realize your
heart has subtly moved on from
worshiping Jesus the weapon of choice of
the devil is the same it's
deception and here's where we close in
this passage here what I think actually
this whole chapter is getting at is that
by doing that we are missing out on
something
beautiful verse 16 says also causes all
both small and great both rich and poor
both free and a slave to be marked on
the right hand the forehead so that no
one can buy or sell any unless you have
the mark that is the name of the beast
of the number of its uh name this calls
for wisdom let the one who has
understanding calculate the number of
the Beast for it is the number of man
and his number is 666 so we can rush to
implications um trying real world
examples of what that 666 means but
let's not miss the overarching message
of what that number represents it's less
about a literal thing it's more about a
symbolic of an allegiance we have six is
one less than complete seven is the
number of complete we see that all over
scripture almost there but Falling short
rabbis thought six was the number of
incompleteness why 3 six is 666 because
three is also the number of completeness
so the message here is these three sixes
imply the Beast is completely
incomplete or commentator says failure
upon failure upon failure which speaks
to the whole scene in Chapter 13 the
dragon these two beasts are a parody
they are a counterfeit and they a failed
and Hollow imitation of God look at this
the description of the Dragon Revelation
12 mimics the description of the father
and four the description of the beast of
the sea in Revelation 13:7 mimics the
description of Jesus in Revelation
59 the description of the beast of the
Earth in Revelation 131 to18 maybe it's
the description of the work of the
spirit in chapter
11 it's a counterfeit it's mimic it's
trying to be a parody of the true an
actual thing I don't know if you've ever
seen those shows of the auction houses
or the pawn shop things there's always
one customer there's always like the
Highlight person that they interview
beforehand before it gets into the
actual examining the product this young
lady or whatever who who has like this
Medallion from the war that's been
passed from generation to generation or
generation or like the first draft or
some of Sherlock Holmes novel or
something and she knows this thing is
worth hundreds of thousands potentially
millions of dollars is like a
one-of-a-kind thing and they interview
this this woman before she goes and
actually gets an exam and you can see
the tension in her because it's this
thing's been passed through the family
generation after generation it's sacred
it's valuable in their family she
doesn't want to give it up but she also
has dreams of what she wants to do with
her life she wants to buy home for her
family she wants to whatever start a
business with her husband and she's
pulled in both ways but she thinks the
right mood because she can have this
whole life ahead of her if she actually
sells this thing and so she goes to the
auction house and she goes in with this
little Medallion or whatever the item is
and there's always the The Twist we've
seen it before where they set this thing
up and then the guy actually examines
with his monocle thing and he's looking
at the thing he's like oh yeah this is
like 20 years old there's like a hundred
of these I'll give you 20 bucks for it
your grandma lied to you and and you see
her face just
drop when she realized she put the whole
weight of her life on something that's
counterfeit and there are people in our
cities that are doing that every
day that are putting all their faith all
their worship all their affection on
something incomplete something less
something counterfeit that will never me
measure up to what is Holy what is good
what is righteous the one and true
God and if we can just end I think the
call is to for
us to check ourselves and not settle for
anything less than King
Jesus not only because he is the only
one wor worthy of all our praise our
life our worship but because even though
deceptive forces offer us all the sweet
flavors of the world he is the only one
that can give us life in life abundant
and so father as a
church who lives in the west who lives
in Canadian
culture there are deceptive forces at
work some of those forces are just Ling
us to sleep with comfort and pleasure
especially in Vancouver it's just a
recre
City and we can become irrelevant and
useless to the kingdom because we've
just made our
priorities pleasure making sure our
family is all set up perfectly making
sure our marriage is perfect making sure
we have perfect plans for the weekend we
ball the toys and everything that our
our garage is filled with all the fun
things to hit up whatever the mountains
for snow all those are fun and well but
they can also be distraction from the
real thing they can catch our heart off
guard and we can find ourselves
worshiping the wrong thing so Jesus
we spend a moment here and
now holy spirit I pray you would do the
work of revealing the deepest layers of
our
heart that are
undisturbed that are misaligned with
you that maybe have beastly nature to
them even ourselves wanting to go the
way of the Beast being p hold into that
making our world ourselves making
ourselves God in our own
Universe Lord help us be a church right
now this moment that could just put all
that before
you and help us get a glimpse once again
that you are superior you are better you
are richer you're more
beautiful you're more
Majestic than anything count fit this
world has to offer we pray that in your
name
amen thank you so much for joining us
online we really hope you were
encouraged as Pastor Victor reminded us
that we can't look to political powers
to solve The World's problems but it's
actually through Jesus and his church
that real change comes about we would
love for you to get connected with us at
Village Church and there's two quick
ways I want to let you know on how you
can do that uh the first one is by
attending a service with us in person
you know if you live close to any of our
locations across Canada we would love
for you to join us in person for one of
our services uh the second way is by
investing in the mission through your
finances if you're watching this and
you're already giving to Village Church
I just want to say thank you so much for
your generosity you know as the student
and young adults Pastor I get a front
row seat each and every week seeing the
amazing things that God is doing through
our next Generation you know and there's
so many Ministries and programs that
we're running and it's because of your
generosity and your giving giving that
we're able to do any of that so I just
want to say thank you so much uh with
all that being said uh thank you so much
for joining us and we hope to see you
again next time
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