D-Day, you know what it means, don't you? It's a label that emerges from a military context, marking the day on which a major military offensive is launched. D-Day. Now, there are some of you here this morning who possess an appetite for American history, and because of that, one date in particular always leaves to mind when you hear mention of D-Day. The year was 1944. The Russians were pushing on Poland. The Americans had cleaned out North Africa. The Allies were beginning to fight their way up the boot of Italy. All of it paved the way for June 6, 1944, the invasion of Europe. Some of you have seen the movie, Saving Private Ryan, or you've read the Stephen Ambrose Book Band of Brothers. Some of you may have had a father there, or a grandfather. It proved to be the decisive moment in World War II, the determinative battle. Within three days, 1.1 million men landed on the shores of Normandy, the most massive invasion in the history of warfare, accompanied by hundreds of thousands of tons of material and ammunition, 150,000 armed vehicles. When those beaches were finally taken, it was as clear as a bell. The Adolf Hitler, in principle, was a defeated foe. That there was no longer any real question as to whose side was going to win. Now, at that particular point, did Hitler run up the white flag and say, OK, we're done, let's go home. Not hardly. Next came the Battle of the Bulge. Germany sent its Panzer divisions through the Ardennes and a surprise attack, so significant it rivaled out of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Allied armies were pushed back and back, forced to retreat, and for a short while, some began to wonder if the Germans would once again make it all the way back to the sea. They didn't. Montgomery held in the north, patent held in the south. While entirely surrounded in the city of Bastone, in one particular commanding general was invited by his German counterpart to surrender. His reply, it wasn't anything erudite, but it was clear into the point. To the German commander, surrender, knots. When asked by his superior to describe his current situation, he responded, there are Germans to the north, there are Germans to the south, there are Germans to the west, there are Germans to the east, we are attacking. And in the providence of God, so overpowering did the sheer pressure of those massive numbers and superior resources proved to be that in just a few months, the Allies crossed the Rhine River into Germany. D-Day, June 6, 1944, in principle, it marked the moment of Germany's defeat. The E-Day, however, the day when all German hostilities ceased, it didn't come for another year, May 8, 1945. Two days, both vitally essential to the establishment of a comprehensive victory, D-Day, victory inaugurated, V-E-Day, victory consummated. And what about the time in between those two days? Were they marked by a reduction of hostilities? Quite to the contrary, they were characterized by the most violent exacerbation of them. We have 11, this is precisely the situation before us here in Revelation 13. We find ourselves in between the days. What has occurred in the prior chapter? D-Day. The decisive conflict, waged in one, recall, remember? The woman's child snatched victoriously into heaven and seated on his kingly throne. To what consequence? The great red dragon, Satan himself, is thrown out of heaven. He is disbarred from God's courtroom, in that the blood of the Lamb has invalidated the ground of his accusations against God's people. Jesus Christ has proven himself to be the dragon slayer. To say it in a different way, the ancient serpent has been defanged. And as such, he can read the writing on the wall. He knows in principle he is a foe already defeated, so what does he do? String up the white sheet and say, OK, I know I've lost. I give up. I'll go home. To the contrary, do you remember? John says he is filled with fury precisely because he knows his time is short. It's the nature you see of unbridled evil. It does what is evil because it is evil. And if it's time is short, it does concentrate at evil. It doesn't quit. It intensifies. Like the last bit of desperate energy on the part of a losing team trying to overcome the deficit and points as the final seconds on the game clock tick away, D-Day has occurred. As such, V-E-Day has been suckured. But this has not brought an end to all intervening hostilities. It's fueled them, intensified them. And so throughout this epic between the days, Satan directs all his vehemence toward the woman. It was hinted at in chapter 12, verse 6, more explicitly set forth in chapter 12, verses 13 through 17. We saw it last Lord's day. With all of his wicked rage incited by his decisive defeat, the dragon goes after the church, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus. How he does this is what is now set before us in chapter 13. He employs two agents, doesn't he? The beast out of the sea, verses 1 through 10, also known as Antichrist, and the beast out of the earth, verses 11 through 18, also known as the false prophet. Together, these three form an unholy Trinity that seeks to counterfeit the Godhead itself. In fact, throughout the revelation now, we will begin to see the repeated recycling of these three enemies. For example, in chapter 16, John writes, and I saw three foul spirits like frogs. We'll get there. Coming from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast, that's the first beast of chapter 13, and from the mouth of the false prophet. That's the second beast in chapter 13. Here they are, you see, this unholy Trinity mentioned together in their evil workings. Chapter 20 says regarding their destiny, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were. Here it is again, you see, this triumvirant of evil, the dragon that is the devil, the first beast, antichrist, and the second beast, the false prophet. So what's the relationship between these three? Chapter 19 gives us a hint, listen, and the beast was captured. And with it, the false prophet who had performed in its presence, or on its behalf, the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast. Now, beloved, you see, it is an explicit reverence to something we've already read this morning. Introduce firstly here in chapter 13. What is the task of the second beast? Look at verse 12. It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound has been healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven. In other words, the second beast performs miracles, so as to persuade people to worship the first beast who in turn, as we will see, leads people to the worship of the dragon himself. Does this ring any bells in your thinking? Do any striking parallels come to mind? Which New Testament writer, beloved, more than any other sets forth? The specific role distinctions between God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit, that in time come to formulate in church history the doctrine we refer to as the Trinity. The same writer is this revelation, the Apostle John, and what does the Apostle John tell us in his gospel that the Father sends the Son? The Father commissions the Son, the Father insists it all onto the Son, and so the Son goes, the Son obeys, the Son does all that has given him to do in the name of the Father. And then, when the Son completes his task and returns to the glory he shared with the Father before the world began, what does he do? He sends the Holy Spirit, and what is the Spirit's task, to use his power, to bring glory to the Son, and in bringing glory to the Son, the Son himself insists, glory is brought to his Father. Now, what do we have here? The dragon's sending forth the first beast who has given the dragon's own power and authority. And the second beast comes on the scene. He uses his power to glorify the first beast, to convince people they should worship the first beast, all to what end, that in worshiping the first beast, they will find themselves ultimately glorifying Satan himself. It's not coincidental, friends, it's intentional. John casts this in terms that characterize the ambition as of Satan, as nothing less than an unholy aping of God himself, the dragon and his two beasts, as a counterfeit trinity seeking to destroy the Church of Jesus Christ. Moreover beloved, for how long will he attempt to come at us via these two beasts? According to verse 5, these two beasts exercise their attack against the Church for 42 months. Ah, does that time period by any chance sound familiar to you? Also defined as 1,260 days, three and a half years, time times and half a time. What have we learned about this designated period of time in this apocalyptic book? Well, according to chapter 12, it's the time during which God assures as people of spiritual protection. Correspondingly, according to chapter 11, it's the time during which the Church encounters persecution. Why? Because according to chapter 11, it's the time during which the Church has given the responsibility of witnessing to Jesus Christ. So what is this designated period of time? Beloved, we've seen it again and again and again. It is the epoch between the first and second comings of Jesus Christ, the epoch of tribulation. Or in keeping with the imagery we've used this morning, it's the time between the two great days, D-Day, V-E-Day. Here in verse 5, it's defined as the period of time during which the beast will exercise the authority granted him by the dragon, which all by itself, it seems to me, ought to tell you something about this beast. Now, what I would like to do this morning is to provide you with four observations from this text regarding the beast. Here's the first. Observation number one, the beast bears the image of the dragon. The beast bears the image of the dragon. Let's watch this open up for us, shall we? Verse 18 of chapter 12, which is really better suited to what follows. Then the dragon took his stand on the sand of the seashore. He is standing at a place where the sea and the land meet. And where have we most recently heard of the sea and the land? Chapter 12, verse 12. Rejoice then you heavens and those who dwell in them but wall to the earth and the sea where the devil has come down to you with great wrath. Having been expelled from heaven as the accuser of God's people, the dragon's authority is now restricted to the land in the sea. And from each of these two realms he calls forth a specific instrument of persecution. He himself remains very much in the background, not because he's modest, but because he is very cunning. The dragon you see does not perform his work openly as though he were to say, here I am, the great red dragon ready to devour you. He's much more insidious in that he works through people. And what is it that emerges out of the water before the dragon? A symbol-laden monster. Now without much effort, beloved, you can imagine this scene in your mind's eye. As this beast ever so gradually rises up out of the water, firstly breaking the surface of the sea, John sees the horns of this beast. He notes there are ten of them covered with kingly crowns, diadems. Then the heads follow. This monster has seven. And written on these seven heads are names of blasphemy. That does not mean dirty names that insult God, but names taken by a person claiming to be God. Then the body itself comes into view. Firstly he says, it's like a leopard stressing the swiftness with which it springs upon its prey. As this beast steps out of the water, John takes note of its feet, like those of a bear stressing the strength with which to hold its victims. Surely John mentions the mouth of this horrible beast, like that of a lion, a ravenous appetite for devouring. Well, it's right about now that you're probably asking, what in the world are we seeing here? It's the question I find myself asking every week. So let me remind you, beloved, of the proper starting point. It's this question. What would this have meant to John's original readers? How would they have taken this? To begin with, they had a distinct advantage over us in that they were very familiar with the apocalyptic genre, the apocalyptic style, so the talk of beasts and dragons and horns would have sounded not nearly as strange to them as it does to us. Secondly, friends, I think we have to admit that they were much better acquainted with the Old Testament than are we. When they heard these images mentioned by John, their minds would have immediately taken them back to the Old Testament's great apocalyptic book, the book of Daniel. Because so much of this chapter builds upon the imagery of Daniel, chapter 7. It's there in Daniel 7 that we read of four beasts that emerge from the sea. And in the context of Daniel 7, it's very clear what's in view. Four political empires, four totalitarian states, each of which, to one degree or another, are of to persecute God's people, the Babylonian Empire, the Medieval Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire. As Daniel records it, they all emerge from the sea as does this beast here. Because the sea is often pictured in the Old Testament as the source of evil and chaos, the place of unrest, a symbol of the world and its chaos and its rebellion against God. Isaiah writes, for example, but the wicked are like the tossing sea that cannot keep still, its waters toss up myer and mud. Perhaps you remember from a couple of weeks ago, it is the sea out of which Leviathan comes. The dragon comes up out of the sea. It's interesting to note that in chapter 11, the beast is said to come up from the abyss, the bottomless pit, the domain of the devil and his demons. Here the beast emerges from the sea. Now is that contradictory? Not at all. The abyss of the sea are used interchangeably, both referring you see to the home of uncleanness and hostility toward God. Which is why, by the way, when John provides us with a vision of the new heaven and new earth, he says in chapter 21, and the sea was no more. It's not a statement about the hydrology of the new creation. It's a way of saying that the source of all that is unclean and rebellious toward God will never threaten the home of eternal righteousness. So John draws upon this imagery of Daniel, beast out of the sea, totalitarian governments in opposition to God and his people. But now more precisely speaking, beloved John transcends Daniel. John goes beyond Daniel because it's his burden now to say something more than Daniel says. Here John takes the features of each of Daniel's four beasts and combines them into one. In other words, this beast is a composite beast. Which as we will come to see, it will prove to be a trans-historical beast. The Babylonian Empire, the Medieval Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire, as it were all rolled into one super beast, or to say it a bit differently. Like the Babylonian Empire, the resemblance to the lion, but more than the Babylonian Empire. Like the Medieval Persian Empire, the resemblance to a bear, but more than the Medieval Persian Empire. Like the Greek Empire, the resemblance to a leopard, but more than the Greek Empire. Like the Roman Empire, the mention of Ten Horns, suggesting a perfection of power, but more than the Roman Empire. It's interesting to note that this beast here has seven heads, the combined total of Daniel's four beasts. You see beloved, while those beasts to be sure were paradigmatic of this beast, this beast is infinitely more, more in what sense, more primarily, in that this beast endures for the duration of the church age. He tells us in verse 5, it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. So what is this beast? Not one specific historical person. Not one specific historical regime. It is greater than anyone historical person or expression. It is rather an abiding principle or force at work in this world generated by the hidden power of the dragon that recurs again and again and again in concrete historical manifestations of God opposing Christ hating church, persecuting governmental power. The kind of governmental power that exalts itself to a position reserved only for God, that is a deified state demanding allegiance from its people that is deserved only by God. That's why John sees it wearing blasphemous names, assuming the titles that belong only to God. Most importantly, you must see this beast for what it is, the image bearer of the dragon himself. We're told in verse 1 that he has seven heads and ten horns. Where have we seen that before? Chapter 12, verse 3, then another portant appeared in heaven, a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. Most beloved is the dragon's image bearer. He is the exact representation of the dragon. Now, of course, there is a subtle difference here. Maybe you noticed it. In the case of the beast, his horns are crowned, while the dragon wears crowns on his head. This I think tells us two things. Number one, that the dragon in the end has ultimate rule and two, that the beast wields his authority, symbolized by the crowns through the means of brute force, symbolized by the horns, a standard apocalyptic symbol for power and strength. You'll notice, beloved, that this beast possesses all the delegated resources of the dragon, and the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority. It's what I hinted at earlier. The beast is to the dragon? Jesus is to God. The beast is the visible manifestation of the dragon. The beast is the devil's son, the devil's Messiah, the devil's incarnation. The beast bears the image of the dragon. Observation number two, the beast imitates the victory of the lamb. The beast imitates the victory of the lamb. The beast, beloved, is not just an image bearer of the dragon, but an imitation of the lamb. Verse three, one of its heads seemed to have received a death blow, but its mortal wound had been healed. What we discover later on in the chapter is the beast dies. Now, you may not get this in your English translation, but there is in the original language a very definitive parallel here with chapter five, verse six, where we read of the lamb standing as if slain, here the very same language is used regarding the head of the beast. Literally, it reads as if slain, the connection is unmistakable. Moreover, while chapter two tells us that Jesus would dead and subsequently lived, notice the exact same language in verse 14. The false prophet tells them to make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived. In other words, my friends, this beast is a counterfeit expression of the lamb, and this idea ripples then throughout the remainder of this paragraph. Like the lamb, who is the consummate image bearer of the one who sent him, so too we see here, the beast who is the image bearer of the one who commissioned him. Like the lamb who is the bearer of many diadams, chapter 19, so too here we see that the beast is the bearer of many crowns. Like the lamb who has been made a recipient of God's power, chapter five, God's throne, chapter three, God's authority, chapter 12, so too we see here that the beast is the recipient of the dragon's power authority and throne. Like the lamb who will be the object of universal worship, chapter five and seven, so too we see here that the beast is worshiped by the whole world. Like the death and resurrection of the lamb, which becomes the principal feature we set before people so as to compel their faith and worship, so too we see here that the beast suffers a fatal wound and is resurrected so as to attract the worship of his followers. His head is struck, the beast dies, it comes back to life. One writer I think with bitter irony has said it like this, a cult, a cult which has to use borrowed material is only an imitation, it is not genuine religion. That's what this is. Satan's intention is at the beast function as a counterfeit lamb, a replacement for Jesus Christ, and this beloved at the end of the day is what the concept of antichrist is. Now, I readily acknowledge we do not see the term antichrist in this text after all, it only appears five times in the New Testament, only in the epistles of John. Nevertheless, the concept of antichrist is at the very heart of this text. The fact is the preposition on T can mean that which is against or that which stands in four. Antichrist always seeks to stand over against Christ, but he often attempts to do so by seeking to stand in his stead. That is to say, to occupy the ultimate allegiance of people by whatever means possible. And we need to remember that beloved. Our mistake is we've taken one concept of the antichrist and made it into a grid through which we think about every mention of antichrist. The problem is antichrist in the New Testament is not a monolithic thing. We tend to think of antichrist exclusively as a person, one person. Like this is certainly not the most common idea of antichrist. First John speaks of antichrist as a spirit that seeks to deny Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. That's antichrist, John says. First John refers to antichrist's plural as people who are false teachers. Here the concept of antichrist is illustrated as a beast, a satanically engineered spirit that expresses itself in specific historical manifestations of governments that oppose the gospel in God's people. He said, oh, hard, what about a specific individual, the antichrist? Well let me ask you, who always stands at the head of a totalitarian government, a totalitarian ruler? Think of the last 50 or 60 years. Get off Hitler in Germany, Joseph Stalin in Russia, Mao Zetong in China, Pol Pot in Cambodia, Fidel Castro in Cuba, even more contemporary, Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Moreover beloved, I certainly believe that the New Testament indicates there will be a final and ultimate expression of the beast. We'll see that we saw that in chapter 11 with a final antichrist to lead it. This, however, is not the primary emphasis of this passage. It is inclusive of it, but it's not focused upon it. Here rather as we have discovered, this is a composite beast, a trans-historical beast that is transcending its specific historical expressions and enduring for the totality of the church age as a rival to the lamb competing for the allegiance of human beings. And how does it do this? By mimicking the redemptive victory of the lamb, by existing as a caricature of the lamb. In this sense, beloved is contemporary to every generation of Christians. It's contemporaneous to us right now. This doesn't preclude a final antichrist, but antichrist is present in every generation of the Christian church because though the beast is killed, it comes back to life again. Another place, another form, another expression for these Christians to be sure it was Rome. But Rome died in the fifth century, didn't it? Here's the problem with people when they studied his text, beloved. They reserve it to something altogether devoted to the past, or something altogether devoted to the future. And the point is, it's inclusive of all of it, 42 months, the entirety of the church age. From died in the fifth century, but has the spirit of totalitarianism passed off the scene? Have Christians around the world ceased living in fear of persecution from hostile governments? Rome was the paradigm. I grant you the expression of the beast contemporary to these Christians, but the beast is much bigger than Rome. It may come in the form of fascism. It may come in the form of communism. It may even emerge in the context of a democratic state, which is why in the end the church must never drape itself into flag. The church has ceased functioning as the church when she surrenders herself to the authority of the state rather than holding her position as a prophetic voice to the state and at times against the state. The beast is the image bearer of the dragon and the imitator of the lamb. He seeks to imitate the lamb's victory. So what end? Observation number three. The beast receives the allegiance of the world. The beast receives the allegiance of the world in amazement. The whole earth followed the beast. Oh, beloved, there is nothing quite so convincing as success. Exercise is a great allure, doesn't it? Where the world becomes the church of the Antichrist. They worship the dragon for he had given his authority to the beast. Not friends, I think that this does not mean that the unbelieving world actually worships Satan directly, especially given the fact that they are said to worship the dragon because of the manifestation of his power expressed through the beast. In fact, in the very next line, we're told that they worship the beast, right? And they worship the beast, and again, in verse eight, all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, that is, the beast. The idea, rather, is that ultimately and finally, the people of the world indirectly worship Satan by virtue of the fact that they have pledged their direct allegiance to his agent, the beast. They worship the beast in the sense that they yield to the beast. They submit to the sovereignty of the beast. They obey the beast. They follow the beast. Every allegiance is secondary to their allegiance to the beast. In other words, beloved, when secular power is deified, when we expect the government to be God, and a person submits to it in a way that one should only submit to God the dragon becomes the object of worship. See my friends, the world does not merely worship the gods they think they worship, but also the dragon that stands behind them. Look at what they say. Who is like the beast and who can fight against it? Now, this is incredibly telling. The beast isn't worshiped here because of its moral greatness, because of its compelling beauty and surpassing glory, rather because of its apparent invincibility. It's an expression, my friends, of both awe and despair. What other alternative do we have? When Pastor Martin Nemolar, one of a few hundred German pastors to publicly stand against Hitler from the pulpit was imprisoned. A shocked chaplain asked what he was doing in prison to which Nemolar replied, and brother wire you not in prison? You've read accounts of World War II? You've read the books, you've seen movies? The disposition of the people? What can we do? Who are we? How can we stop Hitler? How can we refuse Stalin? These regimes are invincible, better to go along with it, not cause any ripples. It's the philosophy of Nietzsche realized, might makes right, and it's the idea here. There's no alternative to capitulation, we must yield, which is precisely what the dragon desires. You see, beloved, he doesn't care if the devotion is forced, coerced or manipulated. In any way he can get it, he seeks to divert the allegiance of people away from God to himself. And in so far as the unbelieving world is concerned, he meets with very little resistance. The beast receives the allegiance of the world, but that brings us to a final observation. What about the church? What about the people of God? What about the one group of people the beast cannot force into submission? The beast is the repudiation of their ultimate allegiance to Christ, even in the face of threats from oppressive governments. Because after all, isn't this the issue of this text? That the beast is one of the primary agents employed by the dragon to persecute the church? Remember, it's how he goes after the woman? What about the church? Here now is observation number four. The beast operates according to the constraints of God's providence. The beast operates according to the constraints of God's providence. As we read this earlier, beloved, did you notice the terrible things done by the beast? Look at it. Firstly, it speaks of haughty blasphemies in that it exalts itself as God. The beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous word. Secondly, it exercises its evil authority through the entirety of the church age 42 months speaking against God and his people. It was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. It opened its mouth to what are blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Thirdly, the beast fights against the saints and conquers them, persecuting them unto death for seven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. Fourthly, the beast possesses dominion over all the unredeemed people of the world who in turn worship him. It was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it. Everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the land that was slaughtered. Its beast, its so strong, its so powerful, its influences so vast, maybe the beast can win, it's not even close. Did you notice something in the way I marked out these four nefarious and evil operations of the beast? Each one of them beloved is immediately preceded by the same Greek verb in the passive voice translated for us, either it was given or it was allowed. Look at verse five, the beast was given a mouth-uddering, hot, and blasphemous words. It was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months, verse seven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints. It was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation. And he has, has been given to him by whom? What have we learned about passive verbs in the revelation that when no subject is mentioned performing the action, they are to be understood as divine passives, meaning what? This beast does what he does, to whom he does it, and for as long as he does it, according to the sovereign decree of God. Luther is precisely right, my friends, when he tells us that even when the devil works his worst, he is still God's devil. Yes, he is God's enemy, but he is not God's rival. He is God's servant, always in and every way fulfilling God's purpose. And of course never was this more true than at that moment of the devil's greatest wickedness, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And here now in like manner, his chief representative, the son who bears his image, his Messiah in this world, he does not do one thing, except that which perfectly conforms to the constraints of God's providence. But what does that mean for us? What does that mean for the church? After all, she's the target of the beast's assaults. What does it mean for us that the beast operates according to the constraints of God's providence? It means two things, firstly, it means that God has ordained our every experience of persecution. But love of the beast can do nothing to you, that God himself has not decreed. The sufferings we endure for the sake of the gospel are never haphazard. Not a wonderful thing to say to the believers in Nigeria. Those sufferings and persecutions are never random, never coincidental, never accidental. They may come at us from the wickedness of the beast, incited by the violent hatred of the dragon himself, but standing behind all of it is divine purpose and meaning. Watch beloved now how John illustrates this, verse 9. Let anyone who has an ear listen if you are to be taken captive into captivity, you will go. You know what he's saying? You can't escape the predestinating purpose of God. If you're destined to be taken captive, then that's precisely what will happen to you. After over, if you kill with the sword, with the sword, you must be killed. Or I think according to another set of manuscript evidence, a better way of saying this, and certainly more in keeping with the context, if you are to be killed with the sword, then with the sword, you must be killed. These are not contrasting statements, beloved, they are complementary. If you are destined to be taken captive, then in the captivity, you will go. If you are destined to be killed with the sword, then with the sword, you will be killed. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the same. It's another way of what John has taught us elsewhere. This is what it means to overcome. To maintain your faith to the very end, embracing persecution up to and including death itself if necessary, keeping in mind that whatever you endure at the hand of the beast, it is in reality at the end of the day God's ordained purpose. Knowing this and owning this will enable you to endure, and to miss this is to live a life of despair because it's to grant to the devil too much power. Secondly, this beast confined constrained according to the providence of God, it means that no experience of persecution can ever threaten our eternal reward. It means that no experience of persecution can ever threaten our eternal reward, beloved at best Satan is a dog on a leash. The beast for all of his malevolence cannot jeopardize the eternal standing of the people of God. We get that idea, per se. In all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the land that was slaughtered. Now there are two groups of people here. One mentioned explicitly the other by implication. We read about a group of people whose names are not written in the book of life. What does that imply? A group of people whose names are written in the book of life. So what characterizes the people whose names are not written in the book of life? What does it say? They worship the beast. Do they suffer persecution at the hand of the beast? Of course not. So what is it by implication that characterizes the people whose names are written in the book of life? They don't worship the beast. Do they suffer persecution at his hand? Of course they do. What the point is, those who refuse to worship the beast and suffer the consequences do so because they belong to God's elect, you say, well, from where do you get that idea? When were their names written in the book of life, from the foundation of the world where I grew up going to church the pastor would say every Sunday, if you received Jesus today, the recording angel in heaven will inscribe your name in the Lamb's book of life. Now I know he meant well, and it is a pretty image, but it is fundamentally flawed because that roster that includes the names of the people who enter the New Jerusalem was put together before the world ever began, meaning what? Despite all the opposition that may come at us from the beast, no experience of persecution can ever threaten our eternal reward. To be sure we must endure, here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints, but what you must always remember, beloved, always, is that your eternity was secured in the pages of the book of Jesus Christ before anything ever existed that might undo it. Have I confused you this morning? All you need to do really is remember one thing. This is why preachers tell you this at the end of the sermon, because you wouldn't listen if I told you right up front, you wouldn't listen to the rest, and I've got to earn my living somehow. One thing, one thing, one thing you need to remember, you never, ever, ever have to fear the beast if you belong to the Lamb. He is the image bearer of God. His victory is no imitation, but the real thing. He is the object of universal worship, and everything the beast ever does always serves his providential purpose. You never have to fear the wicked beast if you belong to the slaughtered Lamb. It's this symbol. If you've experienced the benefits of D-Day, you'll be certain of the experience of D-Day, praise be to God for that. Would you bow your heads with me, please? Would you take a moment? If you are a Christian, and right where you see me.