Each of the letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor bears its own unique features that distinguish it from all the others. At the same time, common to all of them is a recurring theme that concludes each one, a kind of conditional promise that serves to reveal the ultimate reason for John's writing. Do you remember what it is? To everyone who conquers Jesus promises the congregation in Ephesus, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life. To the Christians in Smirna, he says, whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death. Jesus promises the church in Pergamum. To everyone who conquers, I will give some of the hidden mana. To Fiatire, he concludes, to the one who conquers, I will give the morning star, and to Sardis, if you conquer, you will be clothed in white robes. He assures the church in Philadelphia, if you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God, and finally, to the Lyodocene Christians, he says, to the one who conquers, I will give a place with me on my throne. Again and again, the call to conquer. In the exceedingly meaningful language of the revelation, it means to maintain one's fidelity to the gospel despite every experience of opposition and hardship. Everything up to and including martyrdom itself. It's John's principal agenda in the writing of this apocalyptic letter. He made evident friends, not only in each one of these seven individual promises, but in their corresponding match that appears at the consummation of this book. When John sees the vision of the new heaven and the new earth, he hears a voice from the throne that says, see, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them, they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more for the first things have passed away. And then once again, John hears familiar words, only now this time spoken by God himself. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. The call to conquer, it's how the revelation begins, it's how the revelation ends, everything in between is an explanation then of what this conquering involves. But this begs the obvious question, doesn't it? Who are we to conquer? Conquering implies a conflict of some sort, doesn't it? But who is our enemy? For the first 11 chapters of this book, the verb to conquer is left intriguingly without an object. But when we come to chapter 12, the great unveiling takes place and our principal enemies are introduced. They comprise a counterfeit trinity, as it were, beginning with the great red dragon, Satan himself, the supernatural source of all opposition against God and his people. He enraged, as we discovered, because he has been defeated by the very child he himself sought to devour. Therefore he knows his time is short, his new target becomes the messianic community, the people of God, the church. Moreover, this dragon, as we discovered, does not operate in isolation, does he? To draw upon the peculiar apocalyptic imagery of the revelation, the dragon expresses his malevolence against God's people through the instrumentality of two beasts. Beasts that emerge again and again throughout the entirety of the church age in concrete historical forms. The first, we met last time in verses 1 through 10, the beast of the sea. And what is this beast? Not properly speaking, a particular personal or political regime, rather something much bigger than any single historical manifestation. It is, rather, a satanically inspired power at work in this world. That though struck from time to time with a fatal blow, resurfaces again and again and again in concrete historical manifestations throughout the entirety of this epic between the first and second advance of Jesus Christ. Its purpose to win universal adoration for itself, and ultimately the dragon who stands behind it. The aim to which it wickedly strives is allegiance that is absolutely comprehensive, which means that by necessity it will seek to eradicate the church of Jesus Christ. In fact, verse 7 was very interesting at this point. It's there where told that the beast will conquer Christians. You say, but wait a minute, or I thought the point of the revelation is that we are the conqueror. Maybe in reality is it that we win some victories and the beast wins some victories? Not quite. It's that the same event, the martyrdom of those who refuse to surrender their allegiance to the gospel is described as both the beast victory over Christians and the Christians victory over the beast. You say, but how can both be true? Both are defined as victories from two competing perspectives. From the perspective of this world, the martyrdom of Christians signifies the victory of the beast over Christians. From the perspective of heaven, the martyrdom of Christians signifies the victory of Christians over the beast. How do these competing perspectives reconcile? John has already pointed us beloved to the paradigm of the cross. What appears to the eyes of the world as Satan's victory over Jesus Christ, this becomes in reality the victory of Jesus Christ over Satan, that the head of the dragon was forever crushed in his very act of striking the heel of the child. And we follow the Lamb wherever he goes, remember? We remain faithful to the gospel and as such, the beast is given to conquer us. But in so doing, we repeat the conquest of Jesus Christ and inherit all of the glorious blessings of the new creation. Now my friends, of course, at the time of the writing of the revelation, the current manifestation of the beast of the sea was Rome. But given all that John tells us, we must not confine this beast to Rome. Remember, it is the composite beast of all the beasts from Daniel chapter 7. It is larger than Rome. It outstrips Rome. It transcends Rome. It is every anti-Christ that has ever existed. It is the ultimate anti-Christ yet to come. Now in verses 11 through 18, we are introduced to the second beast. What John refers to as the beast of the earth. And at first glance, it appears a beast much less gruesome than the first, less ferocious, less terrifying. But that's its very ploy, you see. It's what makes this second beast so effective. Upon closer inspection, you will discover that it's dangerous lies precisely in this. It's immense power to deceive. What is this second beast? Like the first beast, it is not merely a person, an organization, or a regime, rather like the first beast, it is a personification of a power. A saintly inspired power that expresses itself in real, historical manifestations that seek to deceive people into embracing lies over against the truth of God's gospel. At the risk of oversimplification, beloved, if the first beast is Satan's hand, the second beast is Satan's mind. If the first beast is the dragon's persecuting power, the second beast is the dragon's bigiling lies. If the first beast is a parody of Jesus Christ, as we clearly discovered that it was, then the second beast is now a parody of the Holy Spirit, whose ministry is to promote the truth of God and in so doing, draw people to Jesus Christ. In like manner, the task of this second beast to draw people to the first beast, how by convincing them that the falsehoods and fictions of secularism are viable substitutes for Jesus Christ. To use language borrowed from other portions of the New Testament, this beast is the personification of false teaching in all of its forms, religious, political, psychological, philosophical, sociological. Any ideology that gives breath to any human social structure organized independently autonomously of Jesus Christ. Now, some of you I know think that the worst thing that could ever happen to you as a Christian is if you suddenly found yourself living in a culture openly hostile to Christianity. I understand this, but let me tell you something, my friends, direct persecution is not the only form of attack that devil deploys. He may use seduction. He may use deception. The fact is in some cultures. The second beast may have far more play than the first beast. Have you ever had the opportunity of listening to testimonies from Christians who have lived under totalitarian regimes? Christians who have lived, for example, behind the iron curtain? Christians who have experienced the persecuting power of the first beast? So often they will speak amazingly to us about suffering as a means of grace, that God actually used the experience of persecution to deepen their intimacy within. What's even more amazing is when they tell us they pray for us because in their view, we face something even more difficult than the power of persecution, the devastating attacks of deception. You see, a lot of though physical persecution is always ugly, always costly, always painful, at least you can see who the enemy is. To the contrast, the very essence of deception is such that those who embrace it possess no cognizant of the fact that they have. The efficacy of deception is not only in getting people to believe the lie, but in persuading them that the lie is in fact the truth. Do you remember the movie The Sting? An experienced con artist, played by Paul Newman and Anavas, played by Robert Redford, plopped together to con a corrupt banker out of a large sum of money because he has killed one of their dearest friends. And while debating back and forth as to whether or not to do this, Paul Newman makes clear the ultimate objective. He says, you've got to keep his con even after you take his money, he can't know you took him. In other words, you've got to con him without him ever knowing he's been con. It's the strategy of the second beast. Now, for this morning, I'd like to show you three things about this particular beast that is about his method of approach, how he comes at us, followed by a concluding post script. Now, here is the first. The second beast, this second beast, employs the tactic of false teaching. He employs the tactic of false teaching. In his attempt to beguile people away from Jesus Christ, the second beast does not come against the church by way of blatant ridicule and overt persecution rather by the subtle deceit of false philosophy and man-made religion. Verse 11. Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. You'll notice a couple of distinctions between the first and second beasts. To begin with, the first beast rises out of the sea, whereas the second beast rises out of the earth. It reminds us of what we discovered back in chapter 12. Do you recall, verse 12, rejoiced in you heavens and those who dwell in them. What's the cause for this heavenly rejoicing? Satan has been thrown out of heaven, but then notice. But woe to the earth and the sea. For the devil has come down to you with great wrath. In other words, the entire earth, land, sea, all that is terrestrial has become his patch as it were the dragon's particular sphere of operations. So we're not surprised then when he calls forth these two beasts from both sea and land. But there was more here, friends. Do you recall how it is that the Old Testament frequently regarded the sea? We talked about this last time. Characterized as relentless chaos, erratic motion, incessantly tossing and turning the source of all evil and wickedness. Remember, the sea was used as a synonym for the abyss. Remember Isaiah 57? The wicked are like the tossing sea that cannot keep still its waters toss up myer and mud. By contrast then, the land seems a stable place. It's not coming in and going out with each tide. It conveys by way of contrast stability. A particularly appropriate symbol given the chief function of this second beast is to deceive. Have you noticed the second distinction between these two beasts? This second beast does not possess ten horns as does the first, but only two. Moreover, the idea here is not that of strength and power, which is usually the case when horns are used symbolically. Rather beloved, these are the two horns of a little land. This is a child's pet, gentle, harmless and cuddly. Not in the slightest way, threatening, who's afraid of a little study-horned land? But a profound contradiction exists between its appearance and reality made evident in this beast distinguishing characteristic, the content of its speech. It spoke like a dragon. Now friends, that does not suggest ferocity, but duplicity, not so much the manner of his speaking, but the content of his speaking. Of what have we already been reminded concerning this dragon? Back in chapter 12 verse 9, the great dragon, it was thrown down that ancient serpent, its imagery taken from the Garden of Eden, and the serpent who by his deceptive speech, not his ferocious speech, his deceptive speech, murdered the entire human race. Well, this second beast, different than the first, has thrown off the roar of the lion for the camouflage of a lamb. And yet if one listens closely and with discernment, its message gives it away every time. The content of what it says reveals its inner satanic nature. I would remind you below what we discovered last time, chapter 16, chapter 19, chapter 20, that this second beast throughout the remainder of the revelation is referred to repeatedly as the false prophet. The false prophet, it's the fulfillment of the very thing about which Jesus warned us, beware of false prophets who come to you announcing their deception, bearing their teeth. In sheep's clothing, but inwardly a ravenous wolves. What makes them so devastating is their power to deceive. Jesus says in Matthew 24, many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. That's what this beast is, a satanically inspired power expressing itself in real, concrete, historical manifestations that seek to deceive people into embracing the lies over against the truth of God's gospel. Notice what John adds. It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf. Don't be deceived by the subtlety of his approach, my friends. He is formidable in that he possesses all the authority of his predecessor. And it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose mortal wound had been healed. Now friends, all through this passage you must appreciate, John draws upon various manifestations of this second beast that were current in his own day and time. In each one of the seven Asia Minor cities, a temple had been erected to one of the Roman emperors, in some cases more than one. In some of those cities, worship of the emperor was regarded as compulsory. What's more, a specific priesthood had been set apart to promote that imperial cult. It was regarded as a way of unifying the empiresy. And they're approached when something like this, to worship the God of the Bible, as you Christians claim to do, is all good and fine. Proceed ahead, we have no desire to take that away from you. We only ask that you acknowledge the divinity of the emperor on one or two specifically set aside days each year. Just burn a little handful of incense on the fire of the altar in your local temple and say, Caesar is Lord, nothing else is required. And if you remember from chapters two and three, there were actually false teachers who had crept into the Asia Minor churches telling Christians that such a compromise was altogether legitimate. Go ahead! You have to live in society after all! We know they're not real gods anyway! This distinction, beloved between the first and the second beast, very much reminds me of a quote-unquote true-to-life cop shows that appear on television. You've seen them. When they apprehend a witness or a suspect of some kind and they go into that good cop bad cop routine, the first cop, the bad cop, is the uglier of the two. The short tempered one who threatens to beat the suspect around if he doesn't cooperate. The second cop, the good cop, his approach is much softer. In fact, at times he seems almost to intercede for the suspect. He'll say to his nearly out of control partner, hey back off for a minute, will ya? This fella's gonna help us out? Let me get you a cup of coffee, huh? Cream and sugar? He's much more caring, much more gentle, and by his way of approach, he seeks to win the confidence of the one being interrogated. I can't help you against this brood unless you give me something for him. Now, friends, Mike Tagler, notwithstanding and Victor and all the other law enforcement people here, if you ever get arrested for doing something terrible, like robbing a bank or something, the point to remember about the good cop bad cop routine is that both cops are after the same thing. In the first beast, second beast routine, both beasts are after the same thing. To direct a person's allegiance away from Jesus Christ and the gospel. Now, one may employ the tactic of persecution, frighten someone to death and get what he wants. Christians who throw off the gospel. While the other deceptively appears to be open-minded and sympathetic and caring, but both are after the same thing. Both want the worship of the first beast who was ultimately the puppet of Satan himself, and if a person does not recognize this for what it is, he'll get seduced, snuckered by the good cop. Now, this work of the second beast manifests itself in false religion. It manifests itself in the counterfeit Christianity of the cults. In our day in time, in our culture, it manifests itself most prominently in various philosophies and worldviews. Let me mention a couple of them that dominate the world of deception in the West here. How about naturalism? It's becoming huge in our day. It's the philosophy. The outlook that teaches that the natural world is the ultimate world. But this is all there is. God is not external to the created realm, a ruling-de-created realm, directing the created realm. The one to whom the created realm is accountable. God is the created realm. One of the children in our church was asked by his teacher. Who is the smartest person in the whole world? And this little fellow raised his hand and said, God is the smartest person in the whole world. To which the teacher replied, no, the world is God. This kind of thinking beloved is pervading Western culture, not a providential view of life, but a naturalistic view of life. By the ancient Hebrews, you see, they were not as unscientific as we tend to think. They understood, for example, the water cycle, how water comes to us, read the book of ecclesiasties, but they preferred to say, God sends the rain. That's a providential view of life. And such was the predominant philosophy of the Western world up until about 150 years ago. Even non-Christians acknowledged the reality of divine providence. But the false prophet has shown his seeds of deception, you see, so that no longer can we assume that people outside the Christian community acknowledge the existence of a divine being. The fact is, sad to say, a great number of confessing evangelicals have no place in their thinking for a God who rules providentially. The second beast has done his job, you see, and therefore, since I have no place in my thinking for a God who determines the very numbers of hairs on my head, I have to depend on the care of the government, the power of technology, the genius of medical science, my financial portfolio, whatever it is that finally becomes the object of your trust. And here's where it becomes real beloved to people like us. How do we call people to a saving relationship to Jesus Christ when they no longer possess the categories for believing in the existence of a divine being? Now the second beast has done his job. Here's another contemporary ideology that reflects the deception of the second beast, the assumption of human goodness. In the United States, this republic was founded on the assumption of human depravity. You realize this? Now there were other assumptions as well, but this was one of them. One of the principal reasons the early Americans chose the form of government we now experience is because they believed fundamentally that human beings were evil. Now that's not to say all of these people were Christians, we must not revise history, many were deists, but they were a part of a generation that possessed a morbidly informed worldview. As such, they wanted a clearly divine division of political power. One block in the Congress, legislative branch, one block in the presidency, the executive branch, one block in the court, the judicial branch, precisely because they didn't want too much power to rest on one person or body. In Great Britain, a hundred years ago, it was Lord Acton who uttered the decree, all power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The assumption is you don't give too much power to anybody because everybody's wicked. Now let me ask you, do you know anybody in public life today in the Western world who defines and defends the world? Because democracy on the grounds that it is the best form of government, because people are so evil, Winston Churchill said that democracy is the worst form of government except all other kinds. And why did he say that? Because he was of a generation that possessed a worldview which acknowledged the inherent fallenness of men and women. But all that has changed now, you see, hasn't it? Today, when people, aren't we? Which has had a monumental impact on our ability to do evangelism. How do we call people to the gospel of Jesus Christ when they don't believe their sinners? Who had that experience yet? Everything going along very fine until you mention sin, the second beast has done his job, and beloved, what about postmodernism? To my way of thinking, it is the deception permeating the Western world, certainly the United States. Turn on the television and you'll see it within five minutes. You step on the university campus and you'll hear it in English 101. Now the essence of modernism was that there was such a thing as absolute truth, somewhere out there, though it could never ever really be known. Postmodernism since only about the mid 1970s has taken us one step further. There is no such thing as absolute truth, which means then tolerance is enthroned as the new God. But tolerance now defined in an altogether new way. Tolerance used to mean, I will not allow my deep convictions to determine the manner in which I treat you. Today, tolerance means I will have no deep convictions, which practically speaking then leaves us to this kind of attitude. I'm glad that Christianity has helped you Hinduism has worked wonders for me. Since there was no such thing as absolute truth, pragmatism alone becomes the determiner of what is good for any particular person. How then do we call people to Jesus Christ, daring to declare him as the exclusive way to eternal salvation and peace with God? You talk that way and you'll get a response like this. Oh, you're nothing but a 19th century obscurantist. You're a right-wing big and narrow-minded, trying to force upon me the message of your interpretive community.
The second beast has done his job. He employs the tactic of false teaching. Beloved, it is all around us. We could talk about this for another hour. Secondly, then his strategy employs the tactic of supernatural power. His strategy employs the tactic of supernatural power. Not just false teaching, this beast has power, friends. Verse 13, it performs great signs. Even making fire come down from heaven to earth and to sight of all. And by the signs that it is allowed to perform on behalf of the beast, it deceives the inhabitants of the earth. Telling them to make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived, and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast could even speak. Now, again, friends, it is essential we understand this in John's own context. Magic was a pervasive phenomenon in the Greco-Roman world, particularly in the religious temples dedicated to the imperial cult, and even in the courts of the emperors themselves. All of the writings of the first century and even prior to that make this very clear. There was in fact a specific branch of magic known as Theorgy that specialized in animating statues so they could be made to speak, so they could be made to move, so they could be made to weep. Every so often on the front cover of the national inquire, you'll see a statue from a Roman Catholic church with tears running down its cheeks and the headlines. Has God done this? It's as old as the first century. Even older, you remember Simon Magus? All we need to do, but let us read the book of Acts. He was referred to as the great power of God. He was reputed to have been brought statues to life. Or what about Alimus, a false prophet in a magician who sought to keep the governmental official from embracing the gospel, a sorcerer? Beloved, way back in Deuteronomy, chapter 13, verse 1 and 2, Moses warned the people of this religious false prophets who would come on the scene performing supernatural miracles. Jesus himself said, false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens to lead astray of possible even the elect. Yes, they can perform supernatural miracles, which reminds us of something very important that displays of power all by themselves tell us nothing. That's something we must learn, unless we fall prey to the deception of the second beast. We tend to think that power reveals everything. It tells us nothing. What's the purpose of all of this business? The text is clear, don't you think? To deceive the inhabitants of earth. In this context, to drive people to the worship of the emperor in whose image the statutes had been made. You say, well, what was going on here? Was this real supernatural power? About 10 years ago, there was an exposé done on television of a healing preacher by the name of Peter Popoff. He drew great crowds of people, especially here in California, no surprise. It was noted by Bill Moyers that Popoff wore a healing aid, a hearing aid, which to me seemed strange for a healer. Now, Popoff had seen had a peculiar ability. In the vast crowds that he drew, he would often pause and say something like this. The Lord is telling me that there is a Mrs. Smith sitting up there in aisle 17, seat B. And you have the disease of such and such, the Lord command you to be healed. And moment to hold it was Mrs. Smith. And she did have this pain and she would come forward and Popoff was press his hands on her and she would shake and fall down and great healings were claimed. Some people were a little bit suspicious about that hearing aid. And so a television crew went in surreptitiously with a radio scanner. A radio scanner sweeps through the spectrum on which radio signals are given and locks in on the strongest signal. Well, it turned out that Mrs. Popoff, when people came into the meeting and were asked to fill out prayer cards if they had any physical needs, would take these cards and read through them for appropriate healing prospects. Of course, never anybody in the final stages of terminal cancer. Back pain works very nicely. And then she would spot the place where the prospects took their respective scenes. She would go into a room with a little microphone and tell Popoff where a certain person was sitting, what her name was and her specific prayer request. Now the radio scanner picked up this signal and recorded all of it. So that eventually, by and by on national television, they played the first version you get when the camera is only on Popoff. And then secondly, they played the version you get when you add in the quote from the scanner. Needless to say, the top was popped off Popoff. Now, friends, that's charlatanism. Okay? Hustorism, shistorism, pure and simple. Is that what's going on here? Slight of hand. The skilled employment of the arts of illusion. Or is this occult collusion with the demonic world? Real power? I don't know. And frankly, I don't care. It makes no difference.
The damage it does either way is that serves to divert people away from the centrality of the cross of Jesus Christ. You understand, beloved, again, that displays of power all by themselves mean nothing, just ask Moses. He turned water into blood. And so did the magicians from Pharaoh's court. Slight of hand or demonic power. I don't know. I don't care. The point is, whatever the source, it's a satanic deception when it leads people away from Jesus Christ, which was the sad thing you see about this healing preacher. The majority of people who were going to see him were confessing evangelicals looking for power, not for Jesus Christ. It's all part of the strategy of the second beast, the tactic of false teaching, the tactic of supernatural power. Thirdly and very briefly, he employs the tactic of forced conformity. He employs the tactic of forced conformity. Verse 15, he causes those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. Also, it causes all both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave. He couples these opposites to stress the totality of human society, to be marked on the right hand of the forehead so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark. That is the name of the beast or the number of its name. It's all very simple. You see, if you will not forsake your allegiance to Jesus Christ and conform to the spirit of the age, whatever it happens to be, you may face very serious reprisals. Number one, you may face death as some of the Asia Minor Christians had experience. Or you may face the reality of economic boycott. This beast, either way, will not tolerate dissent. Conformity is forced. Now, friends, it may be that what's in view here is the fact that many of the Roman coins were stamped with the imprint of the Emperor's face, which in and of itself, of course, is not a problem. However, very often, imprinted above the Emperor's face were titles that asserted his deity. Savior, Lord and God, the divine one, because of this, many Christians refused to transact business with these coins, which in turn served to mark them out as those who refused to yield their allegiance to Rome. It resulted in being severed from the economic life of the community, which at the end of the day is what this mark of the beast is all about. We have got so much strange superstition related to this business, friends. But if you've read the book of Revelation with us up until this point, you recognize this for what it is. It is yet another expression of counterfeit religion. You remember chapter 7? What an encouragement that is. Who has given a mark on their foreheads? The people of God. What did it signify? The fact that they belonged to God and would be protected by Him, exempted from the wrath He was about to pull out on the world. And you know what? We'll get to chapter 14. We'll see the very same group of people. Once again, marked out with God's name, all their foreheads belonging to Him, exempted from His wrath. Now I ask you, as I asked you when we were in Revelation 7, is this a literal mark? Can you see mine? Nor can I see yours. It's imagery borrowed from Ezekiel 9, which speaks about God marking out those He is going to protect from His judgment, marked out by God to be exempted from His wrath. And that you see is precisely what this beast has done here. He has taken that imagery and counterfeited it. Those belonging to the beast, they are given His mark and thus, exempted from His wrath. Now beloved, pull all these concepts together and what do you discover? You take the mark of the God, you take the mark of God, you escape the wrath of God but you face the wrath of the beast. You take the mark of the beast, you escape the wrath of the beast but you face the wrath of God. It's just as simple. This is the point of the Revelation. The mark you were will determine the wrath you endure. The fact that it will appear on the right hand or the forehead suggests conspicuousness. In other words, beloved, it's simply a symbolic way of suggesting the obviousness of the one to whom you belong and thus whose wrath you will endure. By the way, a brief yet important sidebar. How long is the duration of the first beast's existence? Verse 5. 42 months. The symbolic representation of the age of tribulation between the two comings of Jesus Christ. Well, since the second beast seeks to serve the first beast, for how long might we safely assume is the duration of the second beast's existence? For as long as that of the first beast, the totality of the church age. All of which means what? That we're not waiting for the mark of the beast to appear sometime off in the distant future when technology gets sophisticated enough to place a computer chip underneath the skin of a human hand or in its forehead. The mark of the beast is present right now wherever and whenever the beast appears, you will find his mark. It's been displayed all over the world since the writing of the Revelation. You find it on people whose ultimate trust rests upon anything or any one other than Jesus Christ, which brings us then to the concluding post script. This calls for wisdom that anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast for. It is the number of a person. It's number is 666. Here are the various suggestions I've come across. 666 stands for Neuropheuser, Titus Vespasian, Caligula, Domitian, Flavius Josephus, Plato, Muhammad, the Roman Catholic Church, the Papal Office, Martin Luther, Napoleon, Louis XV, and a Hitler, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, Hillary Clinton, George Walker Bush Jr., Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Barney the Purple Dinosaur, why so many different suggestions? Because many people think that John is trying to get us play the ancient number game, Gometria, a game in which each letter has an assigned number. Therefore, if you figure out the code known only to the initiated few, you can figure out the specific individual being referred to. The problem with that beloved is that John is not inviting us here to play Gometria. This is not the number of a person. It's the number of the beast. You say, well, aren't right here in my translation. John refers to this as the number of a person. Why does he do that? Beloved the Greek actually reads, this is the number of man, or better yet, this is the number of humanity. Why does John add this as an explanation of it being the number of the beast? To remind us that the historical manifestations of the beast, which will seek to destroy the Church of Jesus Christ, express themselves through the agency of fallen people. You say, so who is this? Wrong question. Let's allow John to interpret John, shall we? How does John employ numbers all through this book? He uses numbers to symbolize spiritual realities. 12,000 people from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. The totality of the people of God, we saw that. The New Jerusalem, with a measurement of 12,000 times 12,000 times 12,000, a perfect cube denoting, the Holy of Holies, the fullness of God's presence in the eternal state. Two witnesses as representations of the Church, why? Because every fact is established on the basis of two witnesses. Ten horns, fullness of power, three and a half years, the days of persecution of the Jewish people by Antichrist epiphanies, numbers, numbers, all of which are filled with symbolic meaning. And Beloved, it's how we need to read this number as well. Oh, let's die forget. There is one remaining important number with great symbolic meaning. Isn't there? Seven churches. Seven stars. Seven lamp stands. Seven spirit, seven horn, seven eye, seven angel, seven seals, seven trumpet, seven ball, seven, seven throughout the Old Testament in New, the number used to symbolize completion. A concept taken from the very first chapter in the Bible, the completed creation in seven days. So what's six? One short of seven. Almost, but not quite, incomplete, less than perfect. The Mark missed. Why three times? To intensify the sense of incompleteness, but most importantly to represent each of the three members of this satanic trinity. The dragon, six. The beast from the sea, six. The beast of the land, six. An almost perfect counterfeit that seeks to take the place of God. But nevertheless falls short and thus proves inadequate. A fallen imitation of the one who is seven, seven, seven. And so John wants this people to understand. He wants us to understand for all of the beast's power, for all of its apparent success, notwithstanding all of the people yielding their allegiance to the beast, see the beast for what it is. Not God, not the Lamb, not the Spirit, and therefore to abandon the gospel and to grant the beast's ultimate allegiance is the epitome of foolishness, the very end to which the dragon aims. Don't give into persecuting power. Don't succumb to the giling lies, displays of the supernatural. Don't forsake the gospel for anything. Endure the beast's wrath. Conquer him by being willing to be conquered by him, let goods and kindred go. This mortal life also, the body they may kill, God's truth, the bite of still, his kingdom is forever. Would you bow your heads with me, please?