JCLSK #87 Jesus And Satan's Counterfeits - Revelation 13-14

 

JCLSK #87 Jesus And The Counterfeits 

Revelation 13-14

Introduction:

Lucifer, the fallen archangel and in the Book of Revelation the Great Dragon can perform wonders and miracles that amplify nature or even countermand the law of physics, but he rarely needs to do this. It is as a deceiver that Satan is most successful as the antagonist of God. In the garden, Satan did not need a miracle to plunge mankind into sin, it was deception that caused Eve to exchange immortality for a one time taste of good and evil. That deception brought sin, pain, sorrow and death into the world and into the DNA of all mankind.

Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Weren’t we all shocked this past week when you woke up and saw the outcome of the midterm elections, especially in Texas? I was, I truly couldn’t believe it. I still can’t really believe it. How did that happen? How did so many obviously immoral, corrupt and unamerican candidates get elected? The news analysts will have all kinds of reasons why from the man’s physical eyes but those who have eyes to see and ears to hear spiritual truth know there is a deeper, much darker reason. As Paul said, Satan’s ministers are transformed into ministers of righteousness. And our country and so many in our state willingly believe the deception, the rejoice in the lies. They can’t tell truth from lie so, they can’t recognize Satan’s counterfeits when they run for office and claim to be Christians or pastors. I hope things get better. I pray to the Lord above, that things will be okay for us and our families, but in Revelation’s end of days, it won’t be Democrats who are elected as Satan’s ministers, it will literally be Demon and Dragons.

These counterfeits of Satan, are the deadliest, and most damnable of lies. Like a bottle of Tylenol that turns out to be strychnine, or an apple containing a razor blade, Satan’s counterfeits have been planted like landmines in order to eternally and spiritually kill as many of the human race as he can.

That plan of action comes to full fruition here in Revelation 13. The last apostle John writing like a spy behind enemy lines, warns the nation of Israel and the other believers, about the counterfeits that are coming when Satan wages war against The Lamb of God.

There are two great counterfeits during the Last Days, Look at the first counterfeit in Revelation 13 vss 1-10 The Beast

The Beast from the Sea - Revelation 13:1

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

The Counterfeit Christ

Now we meet “The Beast”, the counterfeit Christ. The word for beast here is not at all the same word as the beasts or creatures in the opening scenes of the throne room. That was word was the Greek work, Zoa, from which we get our word, zoo and zoology. That word means a created thing. But this word “beast” truly fits the beast of Revelation. This is the word therion, and if means a wild beast, a poisonous, dangerous beast, a dangerous monster. John sees the anti-Christ, Satan’s counterfeit of the Messiah and he warns the future generations. Here is his warning. John tells us that …

He rises Out of the Sea: The sea, used here in this symbolic passage, is the sea of humankind. We can see this from Revelation 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. The sea is mankind especially the  nations of the Gentiles.

From this we know that the therion is human. He is not a demon, nor he is not supernatural. He is a man empowered and willfully possessed by Satan.

His Description: John sees Seven Heads. This is the same as the Dragon who gives him his power. The seven heads stands for the seven Gentile kingdoms that have ruled the world and Israel. Now let’s take a moment here for some historical theology.

Many scholars count these kingdoms from Egypt to the revived Roman Empire of and it fits that number, but I think it should start not from Egypt but from Babylon, just at Daniel’s vision.

Here is how those kingdoms would breakdown is we started with Egypt.

Egypt – Assyria – Babylon – Greece – Roman – Revived Roman (Tribulation) – Anti-Christ.

But I think there is a better interpretation of these heads. Look at Revelation 17:10–13 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. 12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast

Ten Horns with Ten Crowns all titled blasphemy. This is the Revived Roman Empire that will be in play just as the Tribulation begins. They are part of Satan’s kingdom and are first foretold in Daniel 2:42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

Daniel 2: Daniel’s Image of the Gentile Kingdoms

John in Revelation is seeing the time of the 10 Kingdoms, the Revived Roman Empire, which will be in place before the Tribulation and will be seized by the Antichrist, the Beast.

Daniel 7 Daniel foresees more of the Revived Roman empire and the beast in Daniel 7:7-8 (Here the anti-Christ is called the “little horn) After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

So, it seems the anti-Christ rises to power as one of the 10 Kings part of a federation of kingdom, the same federation as the 10 toes of Daniel’s vision in chapter 2. These 10 seem to be from the countries of the old Roman Empire. The Beast destroys or takes power of three of those kingdoms, probably by the wars that we saw all the way back in the opening of the first four Seven Seals, as the riders on the white horse and the red horse.

Revelation 6:2-4 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

Next John’s description of the Counterfeit Christ tells us that he had the characteristics of a Leopard, bear, lion with the dragon power.

Revelation 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

These are all descriptions from Daniel 7 of the empires of the world. So, the anti-Christ will incorporate all the worst of those pagan powers, Babylon, Persia and Greece into his kingdom.

 And very importantly, John says that one of the 10 heads is wounded as it were to death. Revelation 13:3-4 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

This fatal wound is healed and the Beast continues for 42 months, 3 ½ years, the last half of the Tribulation. Now he is given power to prevail against God’s people. This is when the 2 witnesses are killed. He is then worshipped by all kindreds, tongues and nation whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb.

Something happens to the Beast, perhaps an assassination, perhaps a death in war, it seems he dies and John says he goes into the abyss, but after death he returns. He rises from the abyss, and when he comes back, no one can stand against him. Now all the world believes that the counterfeit Christ, has power over death, so he must be the great hope for mankind.

Delusion: Paul may have been thinking about the anti-Christ, perhaps even this very even when he wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

The world without faith in Jesus will be utterly deceived. They will be true believers, the faithful flock of the most deadly counterfeit Satan ever created.

Primed For the Anti-Christ

We told you that Satan has been playing the long game, a war of attrition, attacking the creation of God bit by bit, people by people, nation by nation.

As part of that war, he has used counterfeits throughout history. Satan doesn’t know when Jesus is coming back and so he has had to have a potential anti-Christ ready at all times. I think it makes sense to see Hitler as one of Satan's counterfeits, a potential Beast. He fit all the prophecies, from the revived roman empire to the nations he invaded to come to power, to saying great things and making war on the people of God. He wasn’t the anti-Christ, but what is truly sobering is that Satan has another Hitler ready to put into that anti-Christ role right now, today. He always has. This is what John warned about in…

1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

This world is primed for the big lie of the Counterfeit Christ. Just look at what they believe when it comes to our elected leaders..

When we see that the world believes in the lie of evolution not the truth of creation. That man exists by random chance not by the direct creative act of God.

In 1933 The Humanist Manifesto was written to declare that man didn’t need a make-believe God, miracles, a savior or a heaven. Humanists regard the universe as self-existing not created. Humanism believes that man is a part of nature and that he has emerged as a result of a continuous process. Today most people in our world are humanists and see the world as devoid of God.

By reason of humanism, they have rejected almost all moral and ethnic teachings and law from God’ Word. Therefore, in today’s world, the abortion of an innocent baby in the womb is not murder, while the actually murder of an individual is not punished by taking the life of the murderer. The most innocent among us are given death while the most guilty are given life.

Our society believes that homosexuality is not sin and that you can reject the way God created you and choose your own gender. The AMA recently called for gender to be removed from birth certificates, saying it has no basis in science. States like CA and NY have already taken gender off birth certificates.

In our own nation we see that riots are called peaceful demonstrations, while peaceful demonstrations are called attempted coups. In our society, anarchy is order, chaos is Freedom, and the most sickening sin is holy. In our world today, churches are evil, Christians are haters and God Himself is the real monster.

We are primed for the anti-Christ, all it will take is the right event and the right man and Satan already has that man ready to go.

The Beast from the Earth – Revelation 13:11-15

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

The Counterfeit Forerunner.

The second beast is called the False Prophet. He will be the anti-forerunner, the false John The Baptist to the False Christ of the Tribulation.

He arises from the earth and has 2 horns like a lamb but the voice of a dragon. He will perform miracles and as the forerunner to the Beast will cause people to worship the Beast. He will even create an image of the beast that comes to life. And force the deceived people of earth to worship this false image of a false Messiah or be killed.

This image is referred to by Jesus in Matthew 24:15-22 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. … For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved…

The false prophet will put that image in the Temple and that will be the clearly understood sign to the Jewish people that this cannot be their Messiah and they must run and they must hide.

Mark of the Beast The other significant thing that John tells us the False Prophet, the counterfeit forerunner, does in in Revelation 13:16–17 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

However, this mark is put on or in people, they can only buy or sale anything if they have the mark of the Beast. It could be as simple as a tattoo, it could be a RFID chip embedded in your hand, it could be an ultraviolet tattoo scan code that will only show under a black light. It doesn’t matter how its done, only that it will force the world to do what the Beast and the False Prophet tell them to do or die.

Does this sound farfetched? How could anyone in their right mind believe that such a thing would be okay? Well, all you have to do is remember the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 and how many in this land of the free were calling for a vaccine mandate and a vaccine passport or a useless mask or you wouldn’t be allowed to buy food. Yes, we have been  primed for the anti-christ. 

Remember what we said about Satan always have a man to step in and be the anti-Christ and only needing the right event to put him in place? Covid-19 wasn’t that event, but it will be an event or crisis like that. And when it happens, we as a society have already been primed for deception and the majority will say, “Sign me up. Put that beautiful mark of the counterfeit Christ right here in my forehead.”

The Counterfeit Trinity. Final note about the False Prophet and the 666 mark

Here is John’s final warning about the mark of the beast. In vs. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Six is the number of man. Man was made on the sixth day of creation, his number is 6. The mark of the beast will be 666. Now everything in this passage today has been symbolic and so I don’t think the mark will actually be the numbers 666 but whatever the mark is it will be an affirmation of man as elevated to the place of godhood. When they worship the beast or the image of the beast they are worshipping themselves, so why would they mind a reminder of that final ascending truth on their forehead or in their right hand. As Humanism’s creed shouts, “Man is the measure of all things!”

This is the last move in Satan’s great strategy. He will use the Beast and the False prophet to imitate the messiah and the forerunner. He will try and replace the True Trinity with a Counterfeit Trinity. This is why the number 6 is repeated three times. 666, the mark of the beast, is the symbol of the Unholy Trinity, The Dragon’s Trinity. It will bring to Satan what he has always desired.

Isaiah 14:13-14 I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High!

This is the ultimate goal of humanism, it will appeal to those upon the earth who so deeply and devotedly hate God. To worship the Dragon and the Beast is to worship themselves as beings freed from the power, authority and judgment of God.

This moment in the tribulation, when the Beast arises and the false prophet places that living image, that clone or robot in the most Holy Place of the Temple. Will be the darkest time the world has ever known. It will look like the Satan, Great Dragon, will finally have won. He along with the Unholy Trinity have achieved godhood and are being worshipped by all the world. God’s highest creation man has given themselves fully over to Lucifer and those who won’t worship are being killed by the millions upon millions or running and hiding for their life. To these refugees and fugitives the world has become one vast wasteland of Satanic wrath.

How can those people hope to beat Satan and his masterpieces of Counterfeiting? How in our own time can we hope to stop the humanism, the anarchy, the immorality, the delusional that makes people believe a lie and put the counterfeits in power?

Do you know how they train Treasury agents to spot counterfeit money? They don’t show them thousands and thousands of flawed counterfeits and have them identify each mistake. No that would be an impossible task. Instead, the agents are shown real money, true currency. They are taught about every colored thread, every watermark, every invisible writing and how the ink and the paper and the engraving points prove its true.

How do we convince the world about the counterfeits. How do God’s people recognize the Antichrists of this present world? In the same way as the Treasury agents, by looking at the true Christ. By know Jesus, the Son of God, God in the flesh. When we fully see Him in His word, and we behold His glory, we see something that cannot be obscured or hidden by even Satan’s most cunning counterfeit.

And that is what happens next in the Epistle of Jesus, Revelation chapter 14. We are only going to touch on it this morning, but look what we see. Not the Beast from the sea, not the Beast from the earth, oh no now we see….

The Best from Mount Zion – Revelation 14

Revelation 14 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

The Lamb Stands

When it seems Satan has won, when it seems the people of God have lost and are reduced to hiding in fear for their lives. When it is the darkest day that the world has ever known…Jesus Stands Up.

Jesus Stands Up for his people. Jesus Stands up for Israel. Jesus Stands Up for battle against the Unholy Trinity. Hallelujah, Jesus Stands Up!

The Lamb of God stands on Mount Zion, he is not seen in the Temple now but outside on the mount of God and with him the 144,000 that have given their lives in service to Him. Their forehead also has a mark, but it the mark of God the father and they stand in honor with Jesus for the great sacrifice they made. They stand in anticipation as if to say, “Jesus is coming, we are coming and Heaven is coming with us!”

And heaven recognizes the significance of this moment for another of the great songs of Heavenly Zion breaks forth in Revelation 14:2–3 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

What a moment, what glory to be there and hear that song played on the harps of heaven as they accompany the song of the 144,000, the heroes of the Lamb.

Conclusion

This Present Dark World

This world isn’t as dark as it will be during the Tribulation, but it is dark. The anti-Christ has not seized power but as John said, “today there are many little anti-Christ’s.” It may seem impossible to see our way to victory, to turn our family, friends and communities, our nation to the Truth. It may seem a lost cause to pray for a nation that has believed such great delusions and lies of Satan.

It may seem that way but rather than despair, complain and retreat, what we should do now is what we see in Revelation 14. Look to heaven, look to Mt Zion. Look and see, for Jesus stands for us. Put our eyes on Him, put our faith in Him, put our hope on his strong shoulders.

Do you need to see past the darkness, the lies, the deception and the counterfeits of the Satan the Great Dragon? Then look to the shining truth of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Hebrews 12

Let’s let Paul close the service today, Listen to what he told the persecuted Hebrew Christians in Hebrews 12

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. …consider him! 22-29 …ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant… Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.