Amazing Facts

Doug Batchelor: And our amazing fact today takes us to Rome. The subject, of course, is the Antichrist beast. And the Amazing Facts is dealing with Vatican City. A lot of people wonder, is the Roman church such a prominent power in the world today, religious power, is it in any way connected with these final events? Well, we'll find out what the Bible says as we go along. But there is an amazing fact regarding this.

Vatican City is technically an independent country and the smallest country in the world. In 1929, under the terms of the Lateran Treaty, Vatican City, also known as the Holy See, was established as an independent state of 109 acres. It's a significant world power. The Vatican hosts 84 embassies of the world's top nations.

Less than 800 people live in this tiny country, which is governed by the Pope, who holds absolute executive, legislative, and judicial powers. Furthermore, the Vatican City has its own postal system, its own currency, the world's smallest railroad system, about a thousand feet of track and one station, and the city also features a press to publish a daily newspaper, a radio station, its own phone and internet service, and the famous Swiss Guard serve as police, army, and secret service for the Pope.

A couple of years ago, Karen and I and Pastor Ross and his wife Ruth, we were in Rome and took a tour of the Vatican. Boy, I'll tell you, that's a very impressive city and building, and it is an independent country. They've got ambassadors; the U.S. has an ambassador to the Vatican. When you think about that, 109 acres and the impact is global.

How is that? Why is that? Now, we're going to get right into our study dealing with the subject of the Antichrist. What is the Antichrist in the last days? Is he or it in the world today? As we often like to do, we want to go out onto the streets and find out what some people think. What are their ideas about the Antichrist? This should be fun.

Guest (Female): To me, it is someone who is not Christian, meaning not faithful, not a good person, personified as the devil.

Guest (Female): You don't believe in Christ.

Guest (Male): Against, against Christ.

Guest (Male): Against, against all that is good, all that is God, probably.

Guest (Male): It's like not believing in God, like not believing in churches or anything.

Guest (Male): Absolutely. I see more and more people varying away from religion. Religion is morality. Ten Commandments are all about being a good person, and we're straying too far away from that.

Guest (Female): Maybe. Sure.

Guest (Male): He probably lives in everyone. Yeah, kind of evil, evil always lurking.

Guest (Female): I just think he is the devil doing his thing and he's trying to get everybody to divide against each other.

Guest (Female): Yes, definitely. We could tell, well, just from the world conditions, because from our study of the Bible, I believe that the Antichrist is someone who doesn't believe that the Christ existed.

Guest (Male): Well, I mean, I have a theory that there's a couple of different theories. They say that the Antichrist is born on the day after the winter solstice, which would be December 22nd, which is my birthday, believe it or not.

Guest (Male): I don't think an Antichrist exists. I don't think it's a real thing. If I had to answer that in terms of who's the biggest risk to our world right now, Vladimir Putin.

Doug Batchelor: Some people say Prince Charles, some people said Ronald Reagan because he had six letters in all three of his names. There have been all kinds of theories about what is the beast and who is the Antichrist. I don't know if any of you remember years ago, they had a great big computer in Brussels they called "The Beast." All the Christians said, "That is the Antichrist."

When I was early in my Christian experience, when I was converted and I studied with my friends, the barcode began to appear on products and people said, "That is the mark of the beast. Don't buy anything that has a barcode on it." All those friends died a long time ago from starvation.

Then, I don't know if some of you remember, Procter and Gamble had a very interesting logo that looked like 6-6-6 and people said, "Don't use Pampers." There have been so many theories out there about what is the beast and what is the Antichrist. Where do we go for the answer? The Bible.

We're going to find out what the Bible says about this. Fair enough? So number one, who is going to stand on the sea of glass? You read in Revelation chapter 15, these are the redeemed, those who have victory over the beast, over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name. Standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. These are the overcomers. They are going to be in the kingdom. So you want to avoid the mark of the beast and the image. They've got the victory over it. That's good news; you can have the victory over it.

Number two, what are the three angel messages that go to the world before Christ comes? In Revelation 14, Jesus comes, but these messages go global. What are those messages of Revelation 14? Start with Revelation 14 verse 6, looking here at verse 7: "Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come." Now, there is a judgment that takes place before Jesus comes. Judgment must begin at the house of God.

Some of you remember in the Bible when those religious leaders caught that woman in the act of adultery, they drug her to the temple, they threw her down at the feet of Jesus, and they began to suggest that she should be stoned. Christ ignored them and he began to write on the dust of the temple floor. One by one, beginning at the eldest even to the least, they went out because he was writing down their sins. He was writing down the laws they had broken. The finger of God writes the law of God.

Judgment in the house of God against professed believers. If you look in Ezekiel 9, it says there's a judgment that comes and a mark is placed on the forehead of those who are saved. He said, "Begin with the ancient men in my sanctuary." A judgment that begins at the house of God. Now why is that? When the Lord comes, he says, "I will reward everyone according to his work." I think it's clear to everybody that when he comes, God is not going to start rubbing his beard saying, "I wonder who's going to make it." He already knows. So some investigation takes place before he comes. We are living in that age now.

Second angel's message, Revelation 14:8: "And another angel followed saying, 'Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city because she...'" We're going to read about Babylon. Stay here in chapter 14, you're going to now read more about Babylon in chapter 17. I told you Revelation repeats and overlaps, so we don't misunderstand. "...because she has made all nations drunk with the wine of the wrath of her fornication." The pure new wine is the gospel of Jesus. The intoxicating wine confuses people; it's the confusion of Babylon. It's the false teachings of Babylon.

Number three, third angel's message: "Third angel followed them saying with a loud voice..." By the way, that word "loud voice" is *megaphono*. "...saying, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or his hand, he himself will drink of the wine of the wrath of God that is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.'" So, immediately prior to Jesus returning, you see this message of Revelation 14, these three angel messages go to the world to warn people about the beast, the Antichrist, same creature, and his mark, and the number of his name, and what his image is, so they do not worship, so they're not confused by the false counterfeit worship. For every truth of God, the devil has a counterfeit. So you need to know what the truth is and you won't be confused about the counterfeit.

Number three, what is a beast or what does a beast represent in prophecy? When some people hear about the mark of the beast and the beast in the last days, they picture some alien-like creature with lots of eyes and heads and horns. In the Bible, a beast simply means an animal and it represents a kingdom. Let me show you from Scripture. Daniel 7:17, there's a vision of these beasts that come up out of the earth; one's like a lion and one's like a bear and one's like a leopard. "Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings." And it doesn't mean just kings; it means kings or kingdoms because look at verse 23, Daniel 7:23: "The fourth beast will be the fourth kingdom."

So the beast in Revelation 13 is one of many beasts in the Bible, in prophecy. So it's not the only one. But it's the big finale for the devil, so we're all very interested in that Antichrist beast. But you've got many beasts in the prophecies that represent different powers that are usually opposing and persecuting God's people.

Look in Daniel chapter 8: "And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece." So it's comparing a kingdom of Greece and it says, "the first horn between his eyes represents its first primary king," which we learned was Alexander the Great. Then he ends up with four horns, and it's the four divisions of that empire. Even in our country, when you think of the bald eagle, what country do you think of? America. You know, I was where was I? I think I was in St. Paul's Church this week and they had the old seal of the United States and it was a turkey. Benjamin Franklin wanted to use the turkey as our national animal. If I mentioned to you the bear, what country comes to mind? Russia. And if I say the dragon? China. The lion? Great Britain, England. Right? And so all these different countries, they often have beasts. This is nothing new and should not surprise you.

Question number four, now we've got a very interesting beast we're going to be studying. How does the Bible identify the beast? Now we're talking about the beast of Revelation 13. I want you to take your Bibles because there's actually a couple of beasts in Revelation 13. Turn to Revelation 13, we're going to go to verse 1: "Then I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns." Now that beast may join us right now. We see this beast appears several times in Bible prophecy.

And if you're driving down the road in Alaska, you might see a sign and it's got a moose on it. It says, "Beware, moose crossing." One of the principal ways people die driving in Canada is they hit a moose. Hitting a moose is worse than hitting a deer, or a squirrel, or a skunk. It'll look like a moose. You've never seen a crossing sign that's got a beast with seven heads and ten horns. This is obviously a symbolic beast. This beast in Revelation 17 has a woman sitting on it with seven heads and ten horns. And now here we are in Revelation chapter 13, and we've got this beast again and it's got seven heads and ten horns. Now would you all say that they're related? Because how many beasts are there running around with seven heads and ten horns? So there's a comparison.

But it's different in Revelation 13. It draws back to Daniel chapter 7 that leads us to the Antichrist beast. Let me show you. It says having seven heads, ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns. Later in Revelation, these horns do not have crowns. You know, a lot of the empires in Europe used to have monarchies; they don't have monarchies anymore. So things have changed. "Now the beast I saw was like a leopard." I thought it was a dragon. Well, you read in Daniel 7, it says there's a beast like a leopard. "And his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth was like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority."

When you look in Daniel chapter 7 and you're looking at this composite of a beast, the lion is Babylon, the bear is Medo-Persia, the leopard is Greece. Then you've got this other beast with iron teeth; we learned the iron is Rome. That is a nondescript beast that crushes and devours. Now it's interesting, in Revelation, it's exactly reversed. Instead of going lion, bear, leopard, it goes leopard, bear, lion. Why? Daniel is looking forward to these kingdoms; John is looking and now they're behind him. So the biblical perspective is so perfect; it's absolutely amazing.

So there's a little difference between the beast that you see here in Revelation chapter 13. It is the same beast that is now being ruled by Rome, but it's being influenced. You realize the Roman Empire is being influenced by the kingdom of Greece, and Babylon, and Persia. Matter of fact, we talk about Greco-Roman architecture and the governments and the math that they got from Babylon, and things we've got from the Persians in the alphabet, and then the Greeks adopted some of that and expanded, and these four empires basically have affected the whole world, not just the Mediterranean. What calendar does the whole world follow? It's a Roman calendar. That's right, a solar calendar. And even the months around the world and the days of the week, well, they actually date to the Bible, but the names for them. And so the governments of the world that use a senate and a congress and a parliament and a lot of these things, they drew from these governments and they built on them. A lot of the educational aspects.

So, all right, let me finish reading here chapter 13: "...and his mouth was like the mouth of a dragon." Go to verse 3: "And I saw one of his heads as it had been mortally wounded. Looks like a deadly wound, but the deadly wound was healed and all the world marveled and followed the beast." Looks like a resurrection. "So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast and they worshiped the beast saying, 'Who is like the beast? And who is able to make war with him?' And he was given him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he's given authority to continue for 42 months. And he opens his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And it was granted him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given to him over every tribe, tongue, and nation, and all who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

And then it goes on and it talks about another beast that comes up, but that's going to be a study for another day. I'll tell you what, I'm going to stop there. We're going to span a bit, then we're going to go to Revelation 17. We want to identify who is this beast. And it ends up telling us that whoever does not have the number or worship that beast in his name and his number can't buy or sell, and they end up getting to the point where there's a death decree.

All right, so we realize that the beast with the seven heads and ten horns is not looking quite as much like a dragon, but it is still being empowered by the dragon of Rome that we see in chapter 12 and also in chapter 17. Look at the characteristics, let's identify them. And if we go through these clues, we'll eventually be able to figure out who this power is.

All right, for one thing, one, it rises up out of the sea. Two, it receives its power, seat, and authority from the dragon. Three, it becomes a worldwide power. Four, it's guilty of blasphemy. Five, it rules for 42 prophetic months. Six, it receives a deadly wound that heals. Seven, it's clearly a religious power because it involves worship. Eight, it persecutes God's saints. Nine, it has a mysterious number connected with the name: 6-6-6. 10, it is led by a supreme man; it says for it is the number of a man. All right, does that sound fair? This is the evidence we just read about in chapter 13. Let's find out what this beast power is that is going to play a prominent role in the last days.

Number five, this beast arises from the sea. What does sea or water symbolize? Now you've got to go to Revelation chapter 17. The angel tells John, John the Apostle writes the book of Revelation, he's in vision, and he says that there's a woman that sits on a beast coming up out of the water, and he's wondering what does the water mean. And the angel tells him, so you don't need to wonder. "The waters that you saw are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues." And it's interesting that whereas you had the kingdoms of Babylon and Persia and Greece, they kind of went from the Mediterranean eastward, the kingdom of Rome almost completely surrounded the Mediterranean and it rose up from a peninsula in the very middle of it all, but it tells us that it's highly populated empire, so it comes up from that place. So I think one thing we're going to learn is that all roads lead to Rome. The Romans actually built some of the most sophisticated road systems in the world in antiquity.

Question number six, who gives the beast its power and its position? Answer: "The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority." All right, I need to just pause here and take a breath, say something as carefully as I can. Quick little prayer. There are two beasts in Revelation 13. The first beast I believe is speaking of what we would call the Papacy based in Rome. The second beast is dealing with Protestantism based in North America. I don't want to be unkind. You know, I consider myself a Protestant and I went to two different Catholic schools. Let me say right here at the outset, I expect to see millions of Protestants and Catholics in heaven. You all with me? But you want me to tell you what the prophecies say. Hear me out, friends watching, those listening, do yourself a favor, hear me out. If it's not biblical, don't believe it. But if it's going with the Bible, you want to go by the word of God. Amen? Does that sound fair? I am not talking against any individuals, I'm talking about what does the scripture and the prophecy say you need to know because these things are going to have a dramatic effect on the last days and on you if you're living in the last days.

Tells us that Rome once ruled the world. We all agree Rome was that fourth kingdom in Daniel's image. Rome was the power that was in supremacy when Jesus was born. They seemed like they were ruling the whole Mediterranean, certainly occupying God's people during that time. But the Roman Empire began to crumble and about the same time it began to crumble, Christianity in Rome became legal and ascended. And this is now the Bible was written over a period of 1500 years. The last book of the Bible, Revelation, John died about 90 AD. So now as we look for the fulfillment of Revelation in the future, you can't go to the Bible; you've got to go to history because the last book of the Bible's written 100 AD.

So now let's find out what happened historically that fulfilled those prophecies. Does that make sense? All right. Constantine was the first Roman emperor, and when we were in Rome, we saw his picture everywhere. He's considered a hero. He finally legalized Christianity; he made it a legal religion. He established Sunday as a day of worship. And all of a sudden, it became very popular to be a Christian because now the emperor said it was legal, his mother converted to Christianity, and there was a great movement, but there's a lot of compromise that took place. Because with the conversion of Constantine, up until that point, paganism, which was a combination of the Roman gods and the Greek gods, and they had idols everywhere in the empire. Someone said they had more idols in Rome than tiles on the roof. Everywhere you went, they had little statuettes and idols, and they said, "These are very important works of art. What do we do?" And, you know, some of the devout Bible believers they said, "It's idolatry, don't pray to idols, it's forbidden in the second commandment." And others, they said, "Well, look, if we compromise a little, look at all the pagans that'll join the church." So they said, "Don't make them throw away their idols, just tell them it's not really a god, and give them biblical names. It's not, you know, Jupiter, Zeus, Apollo, it's Peter, James, and John. Or it's not Diana of the Ephesians, it's Mary."

And they began to rename their idols. Do you know that the statue of Saint Peter in the Vatican predates the Vatican? It was once called the statue of Jupiter and they moved it into the Vatican and renamed it. And they have kissed the foot off that statue several times so it's had to be replaced. Literally, people go there and they kiss the foot and they've worn it off, they have to rebuild it, they kiss it off again. That's called idolatry; not supposed to do that.

Whom did pagan Rome give her authority to? Now I'm reading from Adolf Harnack, *What is Christianity?*, a history book. He's not writing for my church. To whom did pagan Rome give her authority and capital city? History is clear that pagan Rome, when I say pagan Rome, it's Rome ruled by Caesars. Pagan Rome turned over its power and capital to the church of Rome. They moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople, now known as Istanbul, and they told the bishop of Rome, "You're now the leader of the church." They gave their power, seat, and authority, which is exactly what Revelation 13 said the dragon would give him his power, seat, and authority. The dragon in Revelation 12, Herod working for the Romans, tried to devour the baby, remember? As the Roman Empire. Now gives its power, seat, and authority to the church of Rome. When the devil could not destroy the church from the outside, he decided to go in through compromise. That's what began to happen historically. Instead of the church being a movement of the heart, it became a political institution with an army compelling people to believe. Did Jesus ever say, "If you don't believe me, I'm going to torture you"? No, that's not how Jesus spread his religion.

You know, Jesus came into our world for three reasons. First of all, he came as our example to live a life that we might follow his steps. He came to show us the Father. He said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." And then he came as our sacrifice. He died on the cross as a substitute for all our sins, but we must come to him. We repent of our sins, we confess, he'll receive us with loving arms. Why don't you ask him now?

Hi friends, I trust you've been blessed by what you're watching. If you want to be doubly blessed, then you're going to want to get the Prophecy Odyssey study guides that go along with these presentations. There's 15 study guides, they're beautifully illustrated, and they will greatly enhance your Bible comprehension. So if you'd like to get them, simply follow the instructions that you see on the screen. You'll be glad you did.

Today you've learned the stunning truth about Revelation's Antichrist beast power. But you may have more questions about this important but very deep topic. If so, I'd like to invite you to request a copy of *The Mark of the Beast*. This Amazing Facts study guide reveals much more about this last-day power and how you can avoid its deceptions. To get yours, simply follow the instructions on your screen and we'll send it to you quickly and free of charge.

What you've seen just now is only part one in this presentation. Make sure and join us for part two in our next broadcast for some of the most important points on this topic and to complete the corresponding study guides. Until then, God bless.

Voiceover: This presentation was brought to you by the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry. Coming to you from New York City at the historic Manhattan Center with your host Doug Batchelor. Join this exciting journey of discovery as we learn the truth about Bible prophecy. Explore the timeless wisdom of God's word and see how it relates to our lives today. Stay tuned; your Amazing Facts adventure begins now.

Doug Batchelor: This presentation was brought to you by the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry.