His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Coming up today on His Perfect Love, we learn more about the coming antichrist.

Matt VanderVen: The world is going to look for this political savior, this antichrist. And one of the things that's going to turn the tide here, okay, is popularity. It's going to be that something significant is going to happen like this wound. People are going to look at it and they're going to say I can get behind this guy. He's dead. Clearly, there's something supernatural and they're going to actually ascribe to him, as we know, Jesus is certainly allowing these things to happen, not asking for these things to happen. He's allowing them to happen. But we know that many will turn around and ascribe messiahship to him.

Even the Jewish people because they will believe he's their messiah and he will establish a peace treaty with them for 3 and 1/2 years.

Guest (Male): It is time once again for His Perfect Love with Pastor Matt Vanderven online at His Perfect Love .org. Glad you joined us today as we pick up where we left off in our study of Revelation. Recently on the program, we've been getting to know the coming antichrist and today we'll focus primarily on his authority and popularity. The world will be amazed by his power and the fact that he survived a mortal head wound. Let's join Pastor Matt and hear more about this beast that rises out of the sea.

Matt VanderVen: Uh last week, we talked about the beast from the sea. We know that being the antichrist. We went back and spent some time in Daniel. Uh looked in Daniel to understand a little bit more about what it's going to be like. Um specifically how the nations and the surrounding nations around us are going to interpret that. So it's very interesting to me in that most of the most of those I think will not be looking for the kind of leader the antichrist actually is. I think they're going to be looking for the you know, not necessarily charismatic, necessarily very likable, very uh genuine to some extent except obviously we know he has an alternate agenda.

And so next we read here as we're going to continue on more about the authority and the popularity of this antichrist, this beast from the sea. And then we're going to make our way into if time permits uh the beast from the earth. And that same Greek word is the word that is used the same for beast. So it's not as though you can differentiate from the word are we talking about the same beast even though it's coming off the sea and the land or is it talking about two different characters? And I think that's the important part of what we need to make our way through this morning here and to get a proper understanding.

Again, for those of you that may have not been with us, I see some new faces, please do know if you're a born again believer in Christ here this morning, you will not be going through the great tribulation. This is for people that are Christ rejecting. The great tribulation is really a form of Well, it's not a form. It is judgment. It's chastisement to a lost and dying world that has chosen to worship anyone or anything but Jesus Christ. And the goal of even the great tribulation is difficult and terrible as it will be on this earth for 7 years is ultimately to bring about reconciliation.

For the Jewish people, uh the people that have walked contrary as the chosen people of God to the scriptures, but also to the Gentile nations. And so that is the work of the great tribulation to bring judgment. And then finally end all evil. There will not be no longer evil on this earth once the millennial reign Jesus Christ second coming happens to this earth, okay? So long as we keep that in perspective, that's what we're reading about this morning. That's what God is going to do. That's his plan. But God wants to save. Amen? Well, please look at uh verse 4 with me, but again, I'm going to start at chapter 13 verse 1 and then I'll pick up with verse 4 here.

Then I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea having seven head and 10 horns and on the 10 on his horns 10 crowns and on his head blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard. 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 throat and his authority. We talked about that. That's Satan that's basically either going to demon possess this antichrist uh minimally or if nothing else, he's going to give him his throne, his power, supernatural ability of these things.

And he said as I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wound, talking about something that's going to happen to antichrist. He's He's obviously going to take some kind of head wound that the whole world will be able to see and from all intents and purposes, he should be dead. There's no way that anybody could survive that kind of a head wound. It's a mortal wound. It says it very clear here even in the Greek. It's not the kind of wound that just passes through the ear, passes by the head. This is something that is going to absolutely hit some vital portion of the brain or some vital portion of the head uh that no one would ever No scientist, no doctor, no one Everybody would say this man is dead.

And then what's going to happen is he says and his deadly wound is healed. So supernaturally Satan which can open doors and close doors as well. Sometimes I think we forget that there is a spiritual battle afoot. He is going to somehow supernaturally heal this man and this man is going to stand on his feet uh and he is from this point certainly going to look to bring uh tremendous pain and suffering to the Jewish people in Jerusalem that are still alive and any of the Gentiles that would even help the Jewish people or a Christian that gets saved, he wants to destroy them.

And I don't just mean physically. He wants to torment them as the scripture says. He says and all the world marveled and followed the beast. So this is sort of this turning point. Uh and I think we were already being conditioned as I mentioned last week. We saw that even our current president had a situation where his poll numbers were not uh doing as well as they were. Uh certainly after a tragic event, no one, no matter where you come at on your uh political spectrum, should ever uh have an assassination attempt. That That's ridiculous.

We should all be able to disagree and discuss our feelings and emotions and you know, political views without wanting to necessarily harm someone else, right? I think everybody across all political lines agrees on that. This is wrong. And when that assassination attempt happened on President Trump, you'll maybe you are watching. There are people that have gone back, um sociologists that study these things, human behavior as well as political uh scientists, and they saw an immediate uptick in his I guess you would call it poll uh numbers. Uh and I think it's sort of a conditioning.

It's something about being able to look at it because he said fight and you know, keep going on. There's something very American that we all get behind when we see somebody that looks like they're fighting through something, you know, we root for them. I don't know about you, but a lot of times I watch movies. How many remember the movie Rudy? You know, um it's an older movie of football movie and it's young man that just comes onto a football team. And significantly he's the underdog. And I I don't know who you are by the end of the movie, though.

I think almost everybody's sitting on the edge of the seat going Rudy. You know, you just want to see this young man overcome. And there's something I think very beautiful about that in all of us as human beings. We want to see people overcome. And so this is a conditioning. We have to understand that and see it for what it is. I think people maybe sometimes can miss these little details, but when you add them together, they mean something. And so the world is going to look for this political savior, this antichrist. And one of the things that's going to turn the tide here, okay, is popularity.

It's going to be that something significant is going to happen like this wound. People are going to look at it and they're going to say I can get behind this guy. He's dead. Clearly, there's something supernatural and they're going to actually ascribe him, as we know, Jesus is certainly allowing these things to happen, not asking for these things to happen. He's allowing them to happen. But we know that many will turn around and ascribe messiahship to him. Even the Jewish people because they will believe he's their messiah and he will establish a peace treaty with them for 3 and 1/2 years before antichrist breaks it.

So look at verse 4. So they worship the dragon who gave authority to the beast and they worship the beast saying who is like the beast and who is able to make war with him? So the first thing we need to see here is really the authority and popularity of this beast. And again, these are things we can warn people today that it's going to happen. It's coming, okay? These are the things we ought to be looking for. So many talking heads. Hey, what's happening in Israel? What's going on here? And those things are important, certainly, but we have the word of God.

And he's telling us these are the things I want you as a Christian and those that don't know Jesus to see when it does happen, to believe, to know that God has called his play like we talked about on Wednesday. You know, I do that. Everybody knows who my who my mimicking. You know, especially if I had a baseball bat, I'm mimicking baby or you know, he's calling his play. Jesus Christ is calling prophetically his plan here. And so he says who is who is like this beast and who's able to make war with him?

So they worship the dragon. Really that's what this is going to come down to. They're going to worship Satan himself who gives authority to this antichrist and they worship this beast, this antichrist, and look and say what can we do? We can't even come against this guy. Nobody can kill him. Somebody literally tried to or an assassination attempt or something happens with a mortal wound. Nobody can take this man out. So if we can't beat him, we ought to join him. And that's exactly what happens. And so people start to worship this beast. They actually bow down before him and his government.

And it may be that they don't know they're bowing down to Satan himself. We don't really get that detail yet in this passage. They will by chapter uh 15 and 16 they'll certainly know. Um but at this point they they may not know that Satan is behind the antichrist, this man. But they're going to worship Satan nonetheless, okay? So clearly they worship both the beast and the dragon, but their worship of the dragon again we can all acknowledge and something we would tell people it's unknowing. People do not are not necessarily intending to engage in satanic worship.

Now satanic worship I think in our day we would I don't know maybe 20 30 years ago you think well what are we what are we talking about? You know, we don't see people do that. I remember years ago we had the Jubilee right here in Mechanicsburg, not too far away. And I remember we set up a tent and we were handing out waters and doing some things and wanting to hand out the tracts and tell people a little bit about Jesus. And we had some of our younger people and they said do you know Jesus?

And you know, some of the people walking by would say no. And I remember my son Logan at the time a lot younger, he came up because dad, how how could they not know about Jesus? He's Everybody knows Jesus or at least heard of his name. He said I didn't even heard of his name. And I said there's a lot of work to be done in this city, son. There's a lot This is wonderful. There's a lot of work to be done in this city. We wish you didn't It's not wonderful that he didn't know him, but it's wonderful that the Lord has called us and we have certainly a calling and a mission.

Everyone of us in this area. But right kitty corner from where we were set up, I couldn't believe it. We walked through and there was an actual tent set up for a satanic club. And they had all kinds of things written on it that were blasphemous and blasphemies. And I thought to myself well, maybe let's go over and talk to them, you know, maybe see if we can't lead them to Christ. Um prayed for the open door for that. But it's not just that Jubilee. Some of you know even just as recent as a couple of years ago uh I was called by um someone that knows of the fellowship in our area knows that we handle the word of God and uh was very um lives in Dillsburg, was in their backyard, so to speak.

And they called up frantic and they said Pastor we're concerned. It looks like Northern High School maybe uh having their backs push up against the wall. And I asked what do you mean? And he said well, basically according to the law, if you are going to allow entities to use your space or you rent your space to different people, you really can't um discriminate, so to speak. And a Satanist club had actually approached uh Northern right here in Dillsburg. I mean this is very close to us. And said we'd like to use your facility to have uh Satan club.

And we we want to do an after school program. And then we also want to do an event. And as you can imagine, this was going before the school board and there was a whole lot that was getting involved in this because there's a real legal aspect to this that if you say no, but then you'd say okay to the Christians we can have an after school Bible club, uh you can see why they would open themselves up to a lawsuit. And so um they wanted to use their facilities. Praise God. Ultimately the request was denied, but it didn't stop them from trying.

And I guess that's the point is it's even in our days it's very blatant. It's not like it used to be where it was sort of hidden as a hidden agenda. No, they're they're very adamant now. I mean we see um pagan statues in New York City being erected and or being brought over and people looking at those things and it's striking. I never thought we would see that um you know, in scripture it says Satan appears as a certainly an angel of light, right? He doesn't show up like a demon. As a matter of fact, in that passage in Isaiah well which we'll be covering even just this next Wednesday coming uh in 14 chapter 14 we're going to be there if we the Lord the Holy Spirit if God tarries.

It's interesting because I often talk about that passage where they look at Satan when he's in uh he's fallen and you know, eventually we'll be in hell. And they look and say you like you're the one that stumbled the whole earth and everything in it. And I think but we there's interesting language there in the Hebrew. One of the things that's brought out, I believe, in the original language is specifically the beauty. When they just look at him, it's not like hey you're this little guy and oh by the way we thought you'd be this mammoth giant.

No, it's almost like you're not at all what I thought you'd look like. You're beautiful like beyond beautiful beautiful, brilliant, gorgeous like like you had everything. But isn't that what we read of in Ezekiel 28 said he was the most beautiful of the cherubim. He was a worship leader. He stood in front of the throne of God and and led worship in all of heaven. And so so often I think even in in Hollywood or different things that are going on movies, so often I think we're looking for the devil with the pitchfork, you know, or we're looking for And I think many even Christians I think we're going we're shocked when we find out that he appears as an angel of light and who we thought was speaking to us.

That's why God says test the spirits. If it was that easy and you could just simply look and reckon it, don't forget he's a liar and the father of all lies. He wants to deceive. He hates every one of you. He hates every one of you. He hates us. So I think it's interesting that we're seeing it come on the scene. Well, it's going to be on steroids in the great tribulation is the point, okay? It's nothing as 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 14 and 15 tells us it is nothing for the enemy, the demons, the the principalities and powers for them to transform themselves into what would appear to be ministers of righteousness whose end will be according to what Some of you know this passage.

Their works. That's how you ultimately will know, but you don't know initially. You You just can't recognize it initially because it's not that right in your face. So we read who is like the beast and who is able to make war with him? You know, the world's going to be amazed with the power of this this man. They're going to think he's so mighty. He can't be conquered. And from that time the beast is going to look like a tremendous winner. You know, anybody that's going to go against this guy you're going to be you're going to be questioned.

What are you thinking? He is a scientific marvel, his mind technologically. All of these things it's going to appear that this guy he's the he's the literally he is the best negotiator. He is the one that'll bring in and and be able to do these things that no other human being on this earth has been able to do. As a matter of fact, you know and I know just looking at history in our own lifetime, how many presidents have we had that have gone in been some way part of a Middle East peace negotiation or con you know, conversation?

All of us in this room, every one of you that are alive have witnessed including the last 100 years a president that in some way or another has gone to establish a peace treaty with the Middle East where you would take the Arab and the Jew and bring peace to an Iran, you know, the surrounding area, Iraq, Syria, Damascus cuz Damascus is hot on the scene because we know they're going to fall eventually as armies from the East make their way over. They'll do it through Damascus. I know we're not in these passages. We will get there when the Lord tarries and we've get in the book of Ezekiel.

I'll bring up a map. It's very easy to see this is what's going to happen. We know where it's coming from. I mean it's There's five surrounding nations. They're almost all Muslim but one uh currently that is. So we we understand where these things are going to fall and how but it's interesting because no one's been successful. No human being. I mean even with the Abrahamic Accord just in our last presidency or two uh three actually, we if you count him running twice and and serving twice, we know that that even that we have seen some things in Israel change, but truly we know that there's still bombings and war in Gaza and there's still this whole area which by the way Gaza the Philistine you know, Philistines occupied that area.

So it's interesting that that's always the area that we see a lot of fighting going because it's it's it's one of those symbolic things in scripture, right? The Philistines and constantly against Israel and making war and the fighting going on. It's as old as time, right? As as old as our historically our Bible. So it's interesting, but the reality is he is going to be able to do what no other human being did. He is going to be able to negotiate a peace treaty where the Israelites the Jewish people are going to say yes and amen.

And even the Arabs and the surrounding nations are going to look and say yes and amen. Nobody on this earth has been able to do anything like that, but we need to keep this in mind. It's only for a short time. You remember that time period, right? 3 and 1/2 years. So if we look back here in verse 5 and he was given a mouth speaking. Okay, so this is what the antichrist is going to be propelling out of his mouth or propaganda um speaking great things and blasphemies. So how many people next necessarily look away when somebody's speaking great things even if they sound great to you?

Most people champion that, right? Not a pessimist, you're an optimist, right? We We kind of all like that optimism, right? Unless some of you are pessimist that are sick and tired of optimists, I don't know, but but most of us kind of like that, you know, optimism. We want things to be better and whatever picture that gets painted for us. But there's something that he says here and they use the word kai in the Greek. That's a conjunction. It means and. And he says not or. He says and blasphemy. So what's going to be tied to these great things are going to directly blaspheme God or his word.

So the great things he's going to propel and put on the world stage cuz we're talking about the world stage at this point. It is going to be something that all people say yes this is great. And oh by the way it's going to be a I I forget even what the young people call it anymore when you you give a sort of a a compliment, but an underhanded slight at the same time. There's a word for it. I forgive me. Um but they're going to do something like that where there's this compliment going forward.

There's this wow this is a great thing, but oh by the way Jesus isn't Lord. See this is this is how he's going to This is how he's going to do it. And he was given authority to continue. Now again, this is really really important. God is allowing all this because this is the wrath of Jesus Christ. It is not the wrath of Satan. Now he's going to have anger and he's going to express his wrath against the Jewish people to try to exterminate them. Please understand that. But this is Jesus Christ judgment that's going forward to a Christ rejecting world.

And this pressure he's God can work through all things. He can even work through evil kings. He can work even through the evil work that Satan tries to do. God can use it and twi and bring it around about for good. That's really important. God's sovereign. He's in control. And so he's given authority to and it tells us exactly it's got an expiration date here. Lo keeps going back to this 42 months, 3 and 1/2 years. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name. So when this happens, one of the things if you have prodigals, even if they're not believers right now, you could say look you'll be able to clearly identify the antichrist in the great tribulation.

Honey just remember I'm telling you these words. If I'm not here and you see the Christians not on this earth, I want you to remember a couple things that are very very important. When you see a man that rises up who looks like he's you know, the guy and everybody loves him and and be a little weary. Just remember my words. Be a little weary when he's brilliant and he can speak such great things, but then he's going to tie things maybe even you believe right now because you're a prodigal and you don't believe in Jesus Christ.

He's going to say things that are going to specifically target God, Jesus Christ. That's clearly who's in his crosshairs. If he was so great, why does he have to knock somebody that is God, right? Because he's he clearly Satan isn't allowing. Say honey, remember when you see this. That's the antichrist. And also if you find yourself in that state, what's it going to take for you to believe because now you're seeing the word of God come true right before your very eyes. You know, I would be having those conversations with every prodigal even maybe making a little sticky uh getting it laminated, put it in.

Hey look I know you think you know uncle Matt's crazy or you think you know your brother Matt's crazy or you know whatever or you know you hand that out and you just give it to him. And you say there's going to come a day. I'm not going to be here. I want you to hold this. And if these things come true, you know this is true. We already know it's true, but now you'll know it's true. What do you do if you're alive at that point? What are you waiting to give your life to Jesus Christ?

Cuz he's going to come real soon. You can make it 3 and 1/2 years, 42 months. You You understand how important this is? This is why he's given it to us now.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Pastor Matt Vanderven on His Perfect Love. You can hear the study from Revelation again when you visit His Perfect Love .org. That's His Perfect Love .org. We've expanded our podcast, too. Look for us on oneplace.com and most of the major podcast platforms. The Calvary Chapel Harrisburg mobile app is another great way to listen to Pastor Matt's messages shortly after they're delivered. We can help you get started when you visit His Perfect Love .org. We're thankful for the listeners that come alongside of us with their prayers and financial support. If you're interested in supporting this radio ministry, there's a place to do that at His Perfect Love .org.

Together we can reach people with the love and truth of God in these last days. Pastor Matt loves to hear from his listeners. Even just a quick hello telling him where you hear the program and how you're blessed by it means a lot. Email us there at the website His Perfect Love .org. And whether you live in or around Mechanicsburg, PA or will be visiting the area soon, we'd love to have you join us for a service at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg Westshore. Sunday morning services begin at 8:30 and 10:30. We have a midweek service, too, Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m.

You'll find us at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg, PA. Go to ccharisburg.org for more information. Well, that'll do it for today, but come back next time when Pastor Matt will again study the book of Revelation with us here on His Perfect Love.

Matt VanderVen: His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg Westshore.