Mark 13:19-23; John 5:43; Revelation 13:5-8, 11-18. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 27, 2020.
Being that this is the last sermon of this year, I felt it appropriate to examine the end-times battle that God has warned us is coming in His word, the Bible. It is the apex of the battle for the hearts and minds of humanity that has been going on ever since the fall of Satan from perfection into sin and destruction.
We know very little about that initial fall, though there are some hints here and there in Scripture. By pure logic, he appears to be the first being to fall through self-deception. All those who came behind him, both heavenly and earthly beings, have been deceived by him to some degree.
The Bible tells us that the critical victory in this battle was won by Jesus through the cross and his resurrection. However, it will not be completed until Jesus comes back and kicks out the usurpers, again, both heavenly and earthly. None of them deserve to rule over humanity, but Jesus alone is worthy to receive all power and rule.
If believers in Jesus are to resist the deceptions that are even now being cast before the world, then we will need to heed the warnings of Scripture, and recognize them as they materialize. Thus, the big-picture in the Bible must be recognized on the ground in our own life, or we will be deceived. Let’s look at our passages.
The passage in Mark that I have noted above comes at the end of a prophecy that Jesus gives concerning the period of time between his ascension into heaven and his return to earth. Towards the end of this period, Jesus warns about the Great Tribulation. Mark doesn’t use the word great like Matthew does, but the description is clear. This will be the worst time of trouble that the earth has ever seen in the past and will ever see in the future. It comes upon the world right before the Second Coming of Jesus. What makes this troubling time so bad is that God stops restraining Satan’s evil plans, and pours out His wrath upon a world that would choose to follow The Beast and reject the message of the Lamb of God, Jesus. Of course, I am using terms that the book of Revelation uses.
Jesus has already presented himself and his plan to the world. Christians are his emissaries continuing to plead with a world that has heard, and to give a hearing to those who have not. In a spiritual sense, Satan has been presenting his plan to the world as well. Yet, The Great Tribulation is a time when a particular being called The Beast will rise up with a plan for the world that is satanic in origin. John 5:43 reminds us that Jesus came representing God the Father and was rejected. However, another (christ-figure) will come in his own name, and the people will receive him. This is the overall state of the world. We will reject that which is good and innocent, and embrace that which is evil and guilty. Now, let’s go to Revelation 13.
The groundwork for Satan’s final kingdom has been laid down over the millennia. Every empire up to now has been prologue and perhaps trial runs, or war games that are done in preparation. Satan knows that God is partially restraining him, but he also knows that the restraint will one day cease. He is ready with his plan at all times.
However, it is worth taking a few moments to ask this question. Does his plan really involve helping or saving humanity? He continually deceives the world with the carrot of a path of salvation, a path of fixing the world, that does not depend upon the One True God. His plan tells man that there is an alternate way that does not involve following the God who actually created all things that exist.
Satan loves to project himself as the light-bringer who is only seeking to free humans from the tyranny of God. However, this is either a form of psychosis, or pure deception. He either really thinks that he can make something better than God, or he knows that he can’t, but wants to “stick it” to God anyway. It is highly doubtful that Satan actually wants to help mankind. We are simply a means to an end, useful idiots in a megalomaniacal plan that will destroy all those who participate in it.
Regardless of the true intentions of this being, one thing is absolutely clear from Scripture and from history. He cannot save humanity; or better, he is unable to save humanity. He is impotent, and powerless to stop the coming judgment day for himself or humanity. Thus, his plan is itself a dream world that can never truly be because it refuses to submit to reality, and the God who created it. Perhaps, this is why we see so many revolting against reality and seeking to make their own imaginations real and consequence-free.
Scripture warns us continually against trusting evil, fallen spirits and their propaganda. In the Old Testament, people were warned against seeking the wisdom, or the leading, of these spirits instead of God Himself. Leviticus 19:31 says, “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.” I could quote many others. It is generally presented as a loyalty issue in the Old Testament, but it does include a warning against deception. Deuteronomy 11:16 says, “Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them…”
Ultimately, the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that Satan and his spiritual cohorts are deceivers. In John 8:44, Jesus says, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Evolutionists and modernists love to present religions as the attempt of ancient man to explain the cosmos so that he wouldn’t be afraid of the dark, the unknown. This itself is a propaganda. Religions all have a spiritual origin. The false religions of the world and the twisting of true religion are all propaganda from evil spirits who are intent on separating mankind from its Creator. The doctrines and teachings of demons are more prevalent today than ever before. They have even infiltrated much of the Church, just as they had infiltrated the religion of Israel in the days of Jesus. Christians today must wake up to the spiritual deception that comes through secular and religious sources.
The Beast of Revelation is not Satan, but a representative of Satan (see 13:1-4) that comes on the scene with a global kingdom in the last days. The picture of the beast rising up from the waters is not what he actually looks like. Rather, it is a symbolic picture of his character, and the attempts at such a global kingdom by Satan. The origin and identity of this Beast is scattered throughout Revelation. However, it is in Revelation 17:8 where we are told, “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit, and go into destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.” This picture of beings coming out of the bottomless pit happens several times in Scripture. In Revelation 20, Satan himself is captured, chained, and locked up in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years and then is released at the end of the millennial reign of Christ. This makes it pretty clear that the bottomless pit is some kind of prison, or holding place, for spirit beings that God determines must be removed from His creation temporarily.
This is all tied to Revelation 9 and the sounding of the fifth trumpet. An angel with a key to the bottomless pit comes down and releases a locust hoard whose king or ruler is called The Destroyer (Abaddon in Hebrew, Apollyon in Greek). This is a key point in the end times. These are not actual locusts. However, the symbol of locusts describes the kind of voracious beings they are. They are destroyers by nature and leave everything wasted in their wake. Also, they are clearly spiritual beings who have been locked up in the bottomless pit for a long time (many connect these to the time before the flood). The king and leader of these spiritual locusts is The Destroyer, which is another name for The Beast. The beast is also a spiritual being that apparently tried to rule the earth in the past, and was judged, imprisoned, and will be released at the end of the age. This evil, spiritual being will come out of this prison with a pent-up rage. Yes, the world is going to embrace a global leader who is a psychotic prisoner of the spirit realm.
His plan requires: global political control of the nations (13:7), global religious control through worship (13:8,12), and global economic control through a mark of the beast (13:17). It will be touted as guaranteed security and peace for the world, but will lead to anything but. It will be tyranny over the masses of humanity. It would be a boot in the face of humanity forever, if God allowed it to continue. Those who reject this pledge of allegiance that is called the mark of the beast will be killed, and the world will buy the idea that it is for the sake of peace (they will be pictured as terrorists that are thwarting peace).
The plan of Satan and his Beast will end up leading humanity down a path that is away from God’s. God made mankind to be imagers of Him. However, Satan plans to deconstruct the mark of God or image of God that is upon us. The term “mark of the beast” can refer to a mark, but it can also refer to the fact that the taking of this thing marks us as something less than human. Of course, it will be marketed as a means of becoming something greater than human, breaking free from our human shackles, but this itself is a lie, which I will come back to in a bit.
We see a dehumanizing plan throughout the world today in a variety of ways. Our schools are wanting to teach our children that they are not bound by biological gender. Their sexual preference need not be limited, but can be fluid. We need not be accountable to our decisions because our technology allows us to have remake reality. We can have abortions or sterilize ourselves in order to embrace sexual immorality. In the end, we are being propagandized that reality itself is the enemy. Our biology is the enemy. We are being led down a path of hating the weakness and frailty of our humanity. Instead of waiting for the Creator to make us immortal, we will make ourselves gods, which is the original lie that Satan told Eve. “You will be like God.”
Why is Satan so bent on teaching us to destroy our humanity and to make ourselves over in an image of our own making? Is it just pure hatred against God and His Creation? Or, is something else going on? Hebrews 2:16 reminds us that God does not give help to angels, but does give help to the offspring of Abraham. Of course, we are told elsewhere that all who put their faith in Jesus become his, and, by definition, also become the offspring of Abraham. Redemption is not available for any beings, but humans. Think about that for a moment. Why would I make myself something other than human? That would disqualify me from being redeemable. It is a mark of a beast because, in taking it, we become something less than human. Thus, Revelation 14:9 and the following verses warn. Anyone who takes the mark will be doomed to the Lake of Fire, the second death, no option for redemption. Yes, the plan of Satan is to dehumanize humanity and thus damn us forever.
The plan of Christ requires us to be patient, and to embrace our weakness. We are to embrace our humanity as God created us instead of fighting against it. We are to live in loyalty to Jesus and die with faith in him and his plan. A plan in which Jesus will resurrect all who believe upon him to inherit immortality, and a place with him in a New Heavens and a New Earth.
Our weaknesses are not our problem. Our problem is that we are deceived into thinking that they are the things that hold us back from greatness. Our weakness is actually the greatest strength that we have. It is our weakness that allows us to be forgiven, redeemed, and resurrected.
Contrary to the motives of Satan and The Beast, Jesus has proven his intentions and ability. At the cross, Jesus shows the depths that he is willing to go to in order to save us, and he does just that. His resurrection proves to all time that he is the Lord of Life and is able to conquer death. Even if Satan intended to try and give to humanity what God is offering, he cannot deliver. Everything he would try would be a cheap imitation that leads to destruction in the end. Only Jesus is both worthy and able to raise humanity up out of its weak state and put us into a state of strength that is even greater than that of the angels.
What kind of heart do I have? One that wants to follow a crushing beast so that I can feel strong and powerful for a brief amount of time? Or, one that will follow a sacrificed lamb who trusts the plan of the Father, which feels weak and powerless to our flesh? You see our hearts and the choices we make are demonstrating to God whether he should give us true strength or not. Only those who can humble themselves and lean upon Him and His strength can receive the strength that He has offered us.
The Beast’s plan gets mankind to trade its freedom for security, but Jesus offers us true freedom, the freedom of the Sons of God. True freedom cannot be found in fighting creation and its Creator, fighting our nature and nature’s God. This only leads to self-tyranny, and ultimately to the tyranny of Satan as a useful idiot in his kingdom. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!” This is a true freedom where I am no longer a prisoner to sin and my own fallen flesh. It is a true freedom where I am no longer manipulable and easily duped through the baser desires of my flesh. It is a freedom in which I break free from my human condition by trusting in the God who loves us with a steadfast love, and mercies that are new every morning!
The plan of the Lamb does not reject and despise our humanity, but instead it capitalizes on the very reality of our humanity, even embracing it and joining us in our humanity. If we embrace our weakness and learn to lean upon God’s loving strength that He has promised to use on our behalf then we will rise triumphant in the end.
In the years ahead, depending on how much longer God allows this to go on, we will face a growing case that is being made for us to use technology to free ourselves from these human shackles. It is a deception and a lie. Even with our knowledge of DNA, we cannot genetically manipulate ourselves into godhood. We cannot seize the reins of our evolution and lead ourselves to a place that we’ve never been and by a being who is anything but God. No. His plan will make us beasts, irredeemable, and destroyed in the end. Trust the plan of God. This may not sound scientific, but it is actually created by the One who created all that we seek to understand through science. Think about that.