Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: Just days before Jesus returned to heaven, he gathered his disciples on the Mount of Olives overlooking the old city of Jerusalem and taught about things to come. Frankly, it shocked the disciples, just as it does us. In what is often called the Olivet Discourse, Jesus explained a prophecy of what will occur during the Great Tribulation and which was first talked about more than 500 years earlier by the prophet Daniel. Jesus called it the "abomination of desolation."

But what does it mean? Well, in this study of Revelation chapter 13, our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee sheds some light on it. And by the way, this chapter focuses on two beasts who are antichrists. We've already been introduced to the beast that will come from the sea, but now we're going to look at the second beast who will come from the earth.

As the Bible Bus continues through Revelation, the last book in our five-year journey through the whole Word of God, don't think that it's coming to an end. Because on April 3, we're going to start all over again with Dr. McGee's prelude to Genesis that he called "Guidelines for Understanding Scripture." Now, this will launch our 12th five-year journey through the whole Word of God. Isn't that amazing?

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And of course, if you're more comfortable leaving a voicemail on our listener line, well, just call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. We can't wait to hear from you, so don't wait. Get in touch today if you can. Now, let's pray together before we turn to God's Word. Heavenly Father, thank you for your creativity in bringing us your Word. Please give us ears to hear it. We invite your Spirit to teach us more about Jesus. In his name we pray, amen. Now we're off to Revelation 13 on Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, this is a real kettle of fish that we have here today. We're in the 13th chapter of the book of Revelation. Now let me read here verses 9 and 10, which deal with the first wild beast. He says, "If any man hath an ear, let him hear. If anyone is for captivity, that is bring together captives, if anyone is for captivity, into captivity he goeth. If any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword must he be killed. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints."

And this is without a doubt, to my judgment, one of the most awe-inspiring statements in the Word of God. Now he says here, "If any man," and he says it here three times. And it's an invitation to the ear of man, in fact, the ear of anyone, to hear the Word of God at any time in any age. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. And it's "if any man hath an ear, let him hear." That's the way it begins. "If any man hath an ear."

Here is again the wedding of free will and election. If any man, now any man means any man. But if any man hath an ear, well, doesn't everybody have ears? Yes, there are some people that don't hear though they have ears. There are people that just don't listen at all. They don't hear. I had a neighbor, he was retired and he worked around the house a great deal and his wife was a very wonderful person, but she talked a great deal.

And when he'd get outside to work, he would lift that hearing aid out of his ear. And he did it, I discovered, for a purpose. I remember he was pruning a tree one day and she came out and she was just talking a blue streak to him for about five minutes. And all of a sudden she noticed he didn't have his hearing aid and she says, "You haven't heard a word I've said." He just kept on sawing and she turned around and went back in the house.

And I discovered that's exactly what he wanted. He was out there to prune the trees and not carry on a conversation. There are a great many people though that don't have a hearing aid to hear the Word of God. They don't want to hear it to begin with. Now we want to make it possible for every person to study the Word of God in the next five-year program, but if you think that I have any dream that everybody in the country is going to be studying the Word of God, I do not have the wildest dream that that could come to pass at all.

And I know that it's confined to those that have an ear, an ear to hear the Word of God. But "any man," that's free will. But you've got to have the ear, that's election. And that's the way God weds them together. Now what he's saying here is something that's not for you and me, at least I hope it's not for you. I know it's not for me. I trust it's not for you because we have already made the determination that beginning at chapter 4, we were dealing with future things that were beyond the church and that the church was no longer in the world.

And in this section, John has made it clear that we're in the Great Tribulation period. So that we know where we are. And the thing that makes these two verses here so awe-inspiring is this: that he says to God's saints at that time, there will be Israel and Gentiles and multitudes in the world. There will be ruling, as we have seen in this chapter, an Antichrist, a ruler who is a world dictator. And I mean a world dictator.

Men are not going to buy or sell, as we shall see, without his permission. They'll not be able to travel without his permission. He'll rule the world as no one has ever ruled in the past. Now why is God permitting this? Well, God is saying to those that are his own, don't resist him. To begin with, it wouldn't do you any good. And the second thing is, this is the patience and the faith of the saints of that time.

If you're in the world during the Great Tribulation, then you're going to have to bear with patience and faith the awful trial that will be coming even on God's children. And so God has apparently withdrawn from the world and he's now turned it over to Satan. You see today, the Holy Spirit is in the world and he curtails, he smothers resistance. He today is holding back evil. Now it doesn't look that way, but just think what it'll be when he is removed from that office and evil is permitted to have its day.

And evil men and the Satan will have full sway. And as we've said before, this actually is poetic justice. The devil and his minions of evil and lost mankind will never be able to say to God, "You never gave us a chance. If you'd just have given us a chance, why, we would have been able to work things out." Well, God's going to give them a chance. A brief period, but if it was not a brief period, there'd be no flesh left here, the Lord Jesus said.

Now that brings us to the second wild beast. And he comes out of the earth and he's a religious leader. The other one, as we've seen, is a political ruler and a political power and a person. In fact, the power will become worldwide. Now we have his description given first and I'm reading from my translation. "And I saw another wild beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb and he was speaking as a dragon."

Now this wild beast, I think, is easier to identify than was the first because after you establish who the first beast is, I don't think there's too much trouble to identify the second one. Now the first beast comes out of the sea. And this second one, you will note, he comes up out of the earth. Now what is the difference? Well, as we saw, the sea represents the peoples of the world. They're like the surging and restless sea, the great mob of mankind today.

And that's always been true. But the earth here refers to the land of Israel. And I think that that can be established. The earth from which this second beast arises is symbolic of Palestine. And it is naturally assumed that the second beast comes from Israel. To begin with, he is a Messiah, and Israel would not accept him unless he had come from their land and was one of them.

Now we're told here, "And he had two horns like a lamb." Now that suggests, does it not, his imitation of Christ. The first beast is opposed to Christ. He's Antichrist, opposed to Christ. This beast imitates Christ. He is Antichrist in that respect, instead of. He poses as Christ. And he has two horns though like a lamb, but he's a wolf in sheep's clothing. And he imitates the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, only this pseudo lamb does not subtract sin, but he adds and multiplies it in the world.

He does not come to do his own will, but the will of the first beast. He's a counterfeit Christ. And he'll do a lot of talking about loving everyone, but underneath he's a dangerous beast, just as the first one was, deceiving the whole world. Now in Matthew 7:15, the Lord Jesus said, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." They're wild beasts.

And that is pictured this way. He's the epitome of all of them and he is an Antichrist. So actually, it takes two men to fulfill the position that Christ fulfills. And of course they don't fulfill it, but there has to be two men. And again, the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 24:24, "For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and they shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."

Now the false prophet is the John the Baptist to the first beast. And some identify him as King Saul or Judas, and may I say that's mere assumption. That could not be proved. Now notice his delegated authority. And I'm reading verse 12. "He exerciseth all the authority of the first wild beast in his presence. And he maketh the earth and the dwellers therein to worship the first wild beast whose wound of death was healed."

Now he has a delegated authority from the first wild beast which actually makes him subservient to him, but he also is on a par with him. He has the same power. Now he leads in a movement to exterminate the harlot of Revelation 17. That's the false church that will go into the Great Tribulation and John doesn't even dignify that church by the name church because it's not a church. The true church left and it's called a harlot.

The church is called a bride of Christ. And here you have the last vestige of an apostate church with all of its humanism. We'll see that in the 17th chapter. Then the false prophet will offer the world something new to worship: the first wild beast, the willful king, the man of sin, the last world dictator. Now I'm not going to take time to go to scripture references, but those of you that have been with us know that we've picked this up back in Daniel the 11th chapter, verse 36 and 39, Matthew 24:24, which I just quoted, and 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and 10.

Here is presented this terrible second beast that is going to exalt the first beast to the place of worship, whose wound of death was healed. And that reveals that both the first and the second beasts are faith healers and miracle workers. This is the big lie and the strong delusion that's going to come to the world. Now I want to read verses 13 and 14. "And he doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven into the earth in the sight of men, and he deceiveth the dwellers on the earth through the signs which it was given him to do in the presence of the wild beast, saying to the dwellers on the earth that they should make an image (that's an icon, that's the Greek word, an image, an icon) to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and liveth."

Now this false prophet is a worker of signs and miracles. We're told that. Our Lord said that. Our Lord warned against this false prophet. His deception is that he apes Elijah in bringing fire down from heaven. And he's a combination of Jannes and Jambres down in Egypt. We're told that then Pharaoh also called the wise men and sorcerers. Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod and they became serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

In other words, they were good magicians. And I think they had a satanic power then. This one will in the end time. And we read in Matthew 3:11, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance," and this is John the Baptist, "but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." And you remember John the Baptist had nothing to do with fire.

But this false prophet is going to imitate that. But the fire of course is actually the Lord Jesus baptizing today with water, but in that day it will be fire, and that's judgment of course. Now the false prophet plays with fire until he's cast into the lake of fire, as we'll see later. Now the world is taken in by this deception with the exception of course of God's elect. Those that are his, they cannot be deceived.

Now the false prophet shows his hand by causing to be made an image of the man of sin. The word for image is icon, which means likeness. The big production is a likeness that emphasizes the wound of death that was healed. It's interesting to note that the Lord Jesus did not permit anything connected with his physical appearance to survive. But the likeness of the Antichrist will evidently be placed in the temple at Jerusalem.

And I believe it is the abomination of desolation to which our Lord referred when he said in Matthew 24:15, "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." Now I'm not going to turn to these scriptures, but Daniel 12:11, 11:31, 9:27, and this is the abomination of desolation that is to appear. And what it is, we can't be dogmatic, but we believe it'll be that image of Antichrist, the first wild beast.

Now we see the delusion is perpetrated in the world, and I'm reading now verses 15 through 17 in my translation, which I cannot recommend. "It was given to him to give breath to the image of the wild beast, that the image of the wild beast should both speak and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the slave, that there be given them a mark on their right hand or upon their forehead, and that no one should be able to buy or sell except one having the mark, even the name of the beast or the number of his name."

And believe me, has there been a lot of guesswork about this number that he puts and the mark of the beast. Well, first of all, let's note it was given to him to give breath to the image of the wild beast. And I want to tell you that that's going to be a different idol up to the present. You remember Isaiah mentions it, in fact all the prophets do, that idols can't speak. And Paul mentions it, but believe me, here is one that does speak.

And I think they'll call the scientists of the world in to look over this image. And I think they'll all give a report they don't understand it. They can't explain it. This is a miracle. And this is something that'll cause the whole world to turn and worship the beast. And he's wedding now religion and business, you see. You've got to have the mark of the beast to do business.

Well, in John's day, soldiers were branded by their commanders, slaves were branded by their masters, and those attached to certain pagan temples were branded by the mark of the god or goddess they served. Ptolemy Philopater had all Jews in Alexandria marked with the ivy leaf. That was the symbol of Dionysus. But in our day, a newspaper columnist who wrote an article entitled "Living by the Numbers," he deplored the fact that we have to carry so many different cards in our wallets and concluded with this paragraph.

Listen to this: "It would simplify matters if the government would assign each of us a single, all-purpose number which we could have tattooed across the forehead to spare us the trouble of carrying all these cards." That's an interesting comment. Now don't misunderstand me, this is not the fulfillment of prophecy today, but it sure shows you how it can come to pass. But what is the mark of the beast? Well, it's not given us to know. We're not told that. But that hasn't kept many expositors from telling us what it is.

Now will you notice verse 18. "Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast, for it's the number of man, and his number is six hundred and sixty and six." Well, "here is wisdom." I think this is a rather ironic declaration when we consider the maze of speculation accumulated through the centuries on this verse. And you talk about the numbers racket, here it is. In the Greek there is a very beautiful arrangement of this number. It's *hexakosioi hexēkonta hex*, 600, 60, 6.

Now numerical values are attached to each letter for sure. But we must let it stand there for the visible number of the beast, and its meaning awaits the day of his manifestation. That may be a nice little jigsaw puzzle for a lot of people to play at these numbers. But my friend, you'll not know till you get to the Great Tribulation period. And I would suggest that you try take your mind off of that. Present Jesus Christ today that we might reduce the population of those that have to go through the Great Tribulation and will know what the number of the beast is.

Now I'm not anxious to know the number of the beast and after I have read this, may I say that I am thankful today I'll not have to live in that period. I'm very thankful today that I know Jesus Christ as my Savior. But instead of spending time with Antichrist, I want to know Christ. I can say with Paul, "That I might know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death."

And it also tells me not to trust man. It was Jeremiah that said in the 17th chapter, verse 5, "Thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm." And again he says, "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is." And this passage doesn't interest me a bit as to what the number of the beast is or who he is or anything about it. It makes me want to know Jesus Christ more because my plan is to be with him, not because of who I am or what I've done, but because Jesus Christ died for me on the cross. And by his grace I'll go in his presence. And I'm thankful for that today. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: I'm grateful for that too. Here at Thru the Bible, we thank God every day for the privilege of telling the world about Jesus and about his death on the cross that makes a life with God possible. If you know Jesus as your Savior, be sure to express your love and gratitude for the wonderful gift that you've been given. And if you don't know the Lord yet, well, don't let the day end without facing your need and then asking God to show you the way to know him.

For help in understanding God's plan, you can click on "How Can I Know God?" in our app or at ttb.org. There you'll find several of Dr. McGee's most popular booklets and sermons, all for free download and all designed to help you realize God's great love for you and what Dr. McGee meant when he said he's going into his presence. Again, click on "How Can I Know God?" in our app or at ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE and we'll drop a few resources in the mail too.

Now for those of you who want to spend more personal time in this study of Revelation, be sure to download our Bible Companion for Revelation. It's really the perfect way to take the highlights of Dr. McGee's teaching with you on the go, share it with a friend, or even use it as a guide for discussion groups. So go ahead and get our app or visit ttb.org and download your copy of our Revelation Bible Companion.

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Well, in chapter 7 of Revelation, we learned about the 144,000 Jews who were sealed by God. Next time, we'll find them standing on Mount Zion with the Lamb. Join us and find out why they're there and what they're doing. I'm Steve Schwetz, grateful for your company on the Bible Bus and your partnership in taking God's whole Word to his whole world.