Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Nero Reborn was a legend.
[00:00:06] It was a story, a myth that after committing suicide in private in 68 AD, the Emperor Nero was not really dead.
[00:00:18] He was escaping justice for a time.
[00:00:21] And there was a belief that he was hidden in a nearby city, a nearby town, Parthia, and that he would soon return again from the east, from Parthia with Parthian soldiers to take over Rome again.
[00:00:39] And this legend, this myth, took root in Rome and throughout Rome. And many feared that this would happen, that Nero would return. Many of the tyrants in power feared the that one day he would return to rule. And over time, there were three imposter Neros that did come to Rome, and all of them were killed and run out of or run out of town. And so this was a real threat among the people.
[00:01:13] And you might say they were often seeing the ghost of Nero because they lived in fear of this myth that was out there that was going to return and take over. And it paralyzed many people in fear and anxiety.
[00:01:31] Now, Nero Reborn is very similar, in my opinion, to so many of the conspiracies about the Antichrist that we believe it is the content of myths and legends, fears that distract us and cause us to live in fear.
[00:01:54] And so right off the bat, should we expect one worldwide figure who will rise up as the Antichrist?
[00:02:03] I think so, probably.
[00:02:06] We were in first and second Thessalonians. We talked about the man of lawlessness.
[00:02:12] I believe toward the end, there could be a worldwide public figure that we could label as the Antichrist, but that often distracts us from what's happening right in front of us.
[00:02:27] We are thinking in our minds of stories, myths, legends, conspiracies out there about who is the Antichrist, where will he come from?
[00:02:38] And we fail to realize what John told us in First John, chapter three.
[00:02:43] He would write to the church and he would say, you've heard that the Antichrist is coming, but there are many Antichrists who are already here, and we so often forget that part.
[00:02:59] We are distracted by this legend, this myth, and we can't figure it out. And we're often trying, like investigators, to figure out who it is, where it's going to come from.
[00:03:11] And we don't realize there is an Antichrist rule that is in the world right now and. And has always has been. It's always been there, and we do not understand it. And so often we are deceived by it.
[00:03:30] In chapters 12 and 13 of Revelation, John tells us from where this Antichrist spirit, and eventually the Antichrist will come from.
[00:03:41] In chapters 12 and 13, he introduces us to a counterfeit, a unholy trinity.
[00:03:49] Last week we talked about the dragon, who is Satan. Today we're going to talk about the Beast. Now, many say this is the Antichrist, but in Revelation, he's never referred to as the Antichrist, but he is, as we'll see today, an Antichrist figure.
[00:04:08] He is an Antichrist counterfeit in the world. And next week we're going to talk about the second beast, who is called the false prophet, which we would say is a counterfeit spirit of this Antichrist in the world. And so we have the unholy trinity, the dragon, the beast, first beast, Antichrist spirit, second beast, the spirit or false prophet, the second beast that we'll talk about next week. And they have always been at work in the world, and they are at work in the world right now.
[00:04:42] And we can't miss it.
[00:04:45] As we think about what the future might look like, we have to be engaged in the present.
[00:04:52] And so what does this Antichrist spirit, the rule of this unholy trinity, what does it look like in the world right now? Well, in verse one, we see, first of all, it is an expression of rage, specifically rage against the church. Remember last week, Satan was defeated at the cross, has no place in heaven anymore, is cast out of heaven, is given for a time, temporary rule in the world.
[00:05:23] And we saw as the chapter ended, Satan, this dragon is pictured on a seashore and he is fuming.
[00:05:33] And who is he fuming against?
[00:05:35] The church. Because the church is a reminder that he has been defeated, that he has doom that is in store, as we will see later, in the lake of fire. And so he stands there fuming. But notice verse one. And I saw a beast rising out of the sea. And so Satan isn't done yet. He stands there on this seashore and he brings forth and this beast into the world.
[00:06:08] Now, we'll see later in Revelation 20 that in heaven, the kingdom, there is no sea.
[00:06:15] And it seems as though this sea is a place of evil and wicked. And so what is Satan done in the world? He has. He has raised up this beast from the place of evil, the depths of evil, and he has summoned it to. To wreak havoc on the world. As an expression of his rage, John sees all of this imagery, this vision, this apocalyptic vision, to help us understand what is real and what is active in the work of Satan in the world right now.
[00:06:52] Don't let the imagery fool you into thinking this is a cartoon or a myth. It is reality. And this beast coming from the Sea is a reality, it is an expression of rage, but it is personified in government.
[00:07:08] Notice as we continue verse one, this beast with ten horns and seven heads, remember last week, this is the same authority as the dragon. So Satan has created a beast in his image and given this image the same power that he has in the world. Remember the ten horns and seven heads that represents the government and rule Egypt, Assyria, the Babylonians, these rules that Satan uses in the world to persecute the saints. And notice with 10 horns and seven heads, with 10 diadems, we're going to see in chapters 19 or chapter 19, verse 12, that it is Christ who wears a crown with diadems. And so what is being communicated here, this beast is a parody of Christ. It is a counterfeit. Satan is raising up counterfeit Christ in the world through the activity of this beast.
[00:08:16] And notice we continue on these crowns. He has these, the diadems and blasphemous names on its head, and so names that profane the name of God. And if we think about that this beast is using government rulers, the people who originally received this letter, and we can never take revelation outside of the context of the people it was originally written to, who are they going to immediately think about the rulers of their day?
[00:08:51] Augustus, who called himself the son of God.
[00:08:56] Nero, who forced the declaration. Caesar himself is Lord Domitian, who wrote into law that he must be called Lord, Lord and God. And so the people receive this letter and they hear these things and they see this vision in John's writing.
[00:09:16] And they are to understand that these rulers who are oppressing you, they are a personification of this beast, of the evil one, of what Satan has brought into the world now in your midst.
[00:09:31] And notice the description of this rule. These rules are continued here in verse two. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, and its feet like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth.
[00:09:48] And to the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. And so here we see again, Satan gives the beast his power in the same way the Father gives the Son the kingdom and authority. Here Satan has created another force.
[00:10:10] He is brought into the world, this fierce beast, this spirit. And it has his power. But notice the power how is described here. A leopard, a bear, a lion. And we're to immediately think about Daniel 7, where there were these four beasts that Daniel saw and interprets this dream of four beasts, and one of them was a lion. And we read the book of Daniel, we eventually find out that this lion was the rule of Babylon. And in Daniel, this dream that he interprets, it is. He also sees a bear. And eventually we see that that is the rule of the Medes and Persians.
[00:10:56] And in Daniel, he. He interprets this dream, and he. He interprets this dream with this kingdom that is like a leopard. And we eventually find out that this is the rule of Greece and Alexander the Great.
[00:11:09] But in the book of Daniel, the fourth kingdom is never identified.
[00:11:15] It's left open to what kingdom this would be.
[00:11:19] And so, as John sees this vision of all of this, this fierce, these fierce ravaging beasts that are personified in rules, who is he thinking about?
[00:11:33] Rome.
[00:11:34] Rome is the fourth beast.
[00:11:37] And Daniel describes it as a beast that is fierce, that is destructive, that tramples the earth with iron teeth and claws of bronze.
[00:11:52] The writers here would eventually thought this was Rome. But notice what John does here. He combines all of these characteristics into one kingdom.
[00:12:03] And what he is saying to the believers who get this letter is, the kingdom that you are being oppressed by is a combination of all the tyrannical rule that you've ever known on the planet.
[00:12:17] Why is it so hard and difficult? Why are we suffering in this way? Why is the oppression so. So ruthless? Why is there something called a Roman cross of execution for those who violate Rome's authority?
[00:12:35] Because you are dealing with the greatest beast of all up until that time, Rome, who is seeking to devour you, who has Satan's power and is seeking to destroy. Remember the Church. And this rule at the time seems unstoppable. And so the recipients would have thought Rome, yes, Rome at that time is a personification of the beast authority, this Antichrist spirit. And it seems unstoppable. Notice verse three.
[00:13:06] One of its head seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed. Remember a counterfeit Christ.
[00:13:17] The spirit poses as a counterfeit messiah. A messiah that was slain, a lamb that was slain, that is ruling. Well, this Christ, this Antichrist figure has a mortal wound but has been healed. And because of this sort of resurrection, here the whole earth marvels as they followed the beast.
[00:13:44] Now, we could go back to the story of Nero.
[00:13:47] Many who would have read that would have thought he's talking about Nero returning again.
[00:13:53] Nero is coming back.
[00:13:55] But what I believe is that he's simply referring to the defeat of Satan at the cross.
[00:14:02] In Isaiah, chapter 27, verse 1, we see that the Lord of hosts will kill Leviathan, this serpent dragon with the sword.
[00:14:13] And if we look down at verse 14, we see that that defeat is described with the execution of a sword.
[00:14:24] And so I think even there, he's talking about when Satan at the cross, when Jesus is bruised but the head of the serpent is. Is crushed that we talked about last week. It seemed as though at the cross and in the resurrection, Satan received a mortal wound. But for a time, God has allowed that to be healed. He's allowed him to have rule on the earth, even though he has no power. His greatest weapon, sin and death have been taken. It just seems to the world that this beast has come back, that this serpent has come back.
[00:15:00] And it's personified in the fact that Rome just keeps seemingly coming back from the dead, ruler after ruler. And yet Rome just comes back again and again. And it is a picture of how evil just comes back over and over and over again.
[00:15:18] Tyrannical rule in the world.
[00:15:21] You'll never wipe it out until Jesus comes.
[00:15:26] It will seem as though over and over again, Satan and the beast and his antichrist will receive wounds. And they are defeated. And yet they pop up again and again and again. And this will happen until Jesus comes.
[00:15:42] But note we see next that this spirit, this rule of the beast, this antichrist movement, is expressed in idolatry.
[00:15:54] Notice. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast. This is emphasized over and over.
[00:16:01] But here we see in the last verse that they are marveling at this power that seems to come back over and over again. And in verse four, it's sort of this climax of worship.
[00:16:15] They worship the dragon. Well, I thought we were talking about the beast. No, the dragon had given the beast its power.
[00:16:22] And so in worshiping the beast, these rulers, they are actually worshiping Satan. And so John is saying to the readers, as you go to the temple and you throw incense on the fire and you say, caesar is Lord, you're worshiping Satan.
[00:16:39] Satan through Rome, through this antichrist spirit is engendering idolatry in the world. Notice.
[00:16:48] And they worship the beast. And they're saying, who is like the beast? Who can fight against it? This is a direct quote from Exodus 15:11. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods, who can fight against the beast?
[00:17:06] This power of Satan in the world.
[00:17:09] And we see how this works out, not just in Rome.
[00:17:12] We read our history books and we see how tyrants replace God with government and themselves, as if they are the only ones who can take care of their people.
[00:17:24] And you see propaganda all over the place in these countries. And under this rule, where the tyrant is, is worshiped, it is idolatry is expressed in idolatry toward a person, which is ultimately the beast and the dragon.
[00:17:40] But notice we continue, it continues to heighten here the characteristics of this kingdom.
[00:17:47] This spirit hates God, verse 5.
[00:17:52] And the beast was given a mouth, uttering haughty and blasphemous words. This idea of blasphemy, it means to profane.
[00:18:00] It means to make unholy what God has said is holy.
[00:18:05] The goal of Satan and the beast and this Antichrist spirit is to make what is holy unholy. And it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. And we've talked about these three and a half year periods throughout Revelation. I think he's just talking about the age of the Church, where the Church endures persecution. And during this time, where does this persecution comes from? It comes from the Antichrist, who hates God and hates the Church because the Church is pure and holy before God.
[00:18:37] As we see here in verse 6, it opens its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheme his name and his dwelling place. And notice that is those who dwell in heaven. Remember we talked about the temple of God being the Church.
[00:18:52] And so what does the beast do? What does the Antichrist do? What is Satan's goal? It is to blaspheme God by destroying the Church.
[00:19:02] Now, we've seen pictures of that throughout history.
[00:19:05] Daniel even prophesied of this one who would come and magnify himself above every God and shall speak astonishing things against the God of Gods.
[00:19:17] Think about Antiochus Epiphany, who sacrificed a pig on the altar of God to Zeus and offered pagan sacrifices in the Holy of holies. That was a concrete picture of what Satan wants to do through the beast. The Antichrist profane what is holy, even the temple of God. In 39 AD, Caligula attempted to erect a statue of himself in the temple. In 70 AD, after the temple was destroyed, there were Roman flags lifted all throughout Jerusalem.
[00:19:52] And so we've seen throughout history how Satan works through these flags, rules government figures to profane what is holy, the literal temple of God. But ultimately his goal is to destroy the temple of God, the Church.
[00:20:08] He hates God. He utters blasphemy against God. And as we see, he hates the church.
[00:20:15] Notice verse 7.
[00:20:17] Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.
[00:20:23] Now, who gives the beast this allowance, this authority? Well, we would say Satan. But as we talked about last week, Satan's authority comes from God.
[00:20:34] And so we see for a time the Church is allowed to go through persecution. And we're going to talk about why in just a moment. But he makes war against the saints.
[00:20:44] And up until 313 A.D. rome ruled what was seemingly the world.
[00:20:53] And it's one of its main goals was to oppose Christianity and the Church. Christians were used as street lights as they were burned in the dark at the Emperor's parties, they were used as torches.
[00:21:09] They were fed to wild beasts.
[00:21:12] And so the recipients of this letter, they are to think about all of these things that they are experiencing and will experience. And they are to know that they there is an evil force in the world through Satan, the beast and this Antichrist spirit that is seeking to destroy them. And notice again, the counterfeit. Here it was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation.
[00:21:37] Again, he's referring to Rome, who was said to have ruled the world at that time.
[00:21:43] This is this Antichrist spirit that the beast has brought about through, through this rule in the world. It is counterfeit, but its ultimate goal is to destroy the church.
[00:21:54] And so the satanic beast is continually raised up through worldly governments to destroy the church over and over and over again. Should we expect one figure to come that is known worldwide seeking to destroy the church?
[00:22:11] Probably, but we see it all the time.
[00:22:15] We've seen it in Nazi Germany, North Korea, China, the Soviet Union, Islamic terror states that we see right now. We see godless ideologies that are used through governments to replace God and to replace Christ with tyranny, a tyranny that hates the church.
[00:22:36] And I do want to go on record in saying something here today about our own country.
[00:22:42] The founders of our country, while not all Christians, understood the necessity of protecting government from this kind of beastly satanic power.
[00:22:55] We live in a democratic republic.
[00:22:59] We the people, hold the power.
[00:23:02] We elect representatives who act accordingly to the Constitution for the common good, which does protect against godless ideology that eventually will come from for the church that you can see throughout history.
[00:23:18] The founders of our country knew better and they established our country differently.
[00:23:29] And you should care about politics.
[00:23:31] There, I said it.
[00:23:35] You should care.
[00:23:36] There are a lot of reasons you should care about politics.
[00:23:41] We care about life.
[00:23:43] We care about the sanctity of marriage.
[00:23:47] We care about caring for the least of these.
[00:23:51] But we all chose to care about politics because we understand the beast hates the the church and he hates a free, thriving church.
[00:24:04] And so we should engage against the beast, against the work of Satan in making sure that the church is protected. We should care about those things.
[00:24:18] And y' all don't say Amen around here anymore. So there's a group that's saying amen right now.
[00:24:24] We should care, but we should be careful.
[00:24:28] Did you notice as we went through the text, the tendency toward idolatry?
[00:24:34] That's how Satan gets us.
[00:24:36] And it is very easy in our country to drift into an idolization of politics.
[00:24:44] We are to use government for the sake of the church, but as the Church, we're not to be used by government. And we have to keep those things in perspective. Because ultimately, as we see in the text, moves on. Our hope is not in government.
[00:25:03] The hope of the church is in the grace of God and the perseverance of God that we see in the church. This is what gives us hope. This is what gives us courage. Notice as the text continues, we are protected by grace.
[00:25:18] You see the beast coming from the sea of wickedness, and you understand there is a dragon behind it all and there is destruction that just continues to rage and rage and rage against the church in the world.
[00:25:34] So what is our hope?
[00:25:38] What is our hope?
[00:25:40] First of all, grace. Notice verse 8.
[00:25:43] And all who dwell on the earth worship it.
[00:25:46] That seems hopeless that those remember in Revelation, earth dwellers, those who reject Christ, they are given over to this idolatry.
[00:26:00] They give into it. They serve this antichrist spirit. And that seems hopeless.
[00:26:07] But notice God's plans haven't failed everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
[00:26:20] When you see beast worshipers, when you see those who are given over to such idolatry following after godlessness, you're not to think that God's plans have failed.
[00:26:33] Notice here there is a plan from the foundation of the world.
[00:26:37] And those who are worshiping the beast, what they prove, as we see in Revelation, that they're not those who are sealed by God, we'll talk about next week. They are those who are sealed by the dragon. 666, the mark of the beast is written on their head. But we've seen in Revelation that it is God's name that is written on his people. And here we see that his people are identified from the foundation of the world and in this book of life.
[00:27:06] Now, if eschatology hadn't made a lot of you uncomfortable, I know a lot of you are very uncomfortable right now because we're touching up against the mystery of God's sovereignty in man's responsibility.
[00:27:20] And I want to go on record again to say both are true.
[00:27:25] God is absolutely sovereign and we have no hope if he is not.
[00:27:31] And for those in Christ, we are secure in him.
[00:27:34] But man is absolutely responsible before God. We must preach, we must believe, we must choose Christ. And so there's that. Y' all can debate that at BFG today.
[00:27:46] Actually, don't do that at bfg, because that's going to be given over to politics today.
[00:27:51] Just wait till later in the week at Purdy's, the bcm. Y' all can debate all of that.
[00:27:57] Because I want to get to the point.
[00:27:59] There's a lot of room for mystery there, a lot of room for different opinions here at this church.
[00:28:06] The point is this.
[00:28:08] When you see the world going to hell, you're not to think God's plan has failed. And I didn't mean to rhyme that. It just did.
[00:28:21] When the world is devolved into idolatry and pagan worship and given over to the beast, and government is oppressing the church and folks are given over to it, they're deceived and delusional. You're not to think that somehow God's plan in the world has failed because God doesn't lose to the beast, and he will not lose anyone who is sealed to the beast. The question when you read that is not how does all of that work?
[00:28:53] It's why would my name be written in the book at all?
[00:28:58] Why would anyone's name be written in the book?
[00:29:01] Because justice is this.
[00:29:04] We have sinned against a holy God. We are idolaters by nature.
[00:29:10] And what God should allow is for everyone to be given over to the beast, everyone to be given over to blasphemy, everyone be given over to idolatry, everyone. And for you to not see that it is happening around you, for you to not be clinging to Christ and worshiping Christ as others fall away. So as you see the Antichrist desires fulfilled in worship of the beast, what you are to think about is grace.
[00:29:38] That is how you will be preserved in the last day. Grace. Mercy of God, that he has a plan. And I may not understand it all, but. But I'm standing here in Christ by grace. And as you see the world fall apart, you're not to think. Not me, because I was raised different.
[00:29:57] Not me because I'm just more intellectual than other people.
[00:30:02] Not me because I'm morally superior. No, no, no, no.
[00:30:07] You're to look at the world right now and say grace.
[00:30:10] It's grace that I'm seated here today in these chairs.
[00:30:14] It's grace that I'm singing this song, worshiping Christ as so many are given over to the antichrist we are protected by grace. God will seal you. He will protect you by grace in the last days. But we also see here that the plan is to defeat the beast in perseverance. Notice verse 9.
[00:30:35] If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
[00:30:38] Now we're to think about Jesus, who often taught in parables.
[00:30:44] And he would throw out truths about the kingdom, and his disciples would be there and they would go, okay, that makes sense to me because he's talking about the kingdom of God that's coming to the earth. But there would be those who were not disciples who opposed Christ.
[00:31:00] And often in the parable, he is indicting them, and they didn't get it. And it was a form of judgment.
[00:31:07] Here John's doing the same thing, and he says, you want to know what's going on in the world? I'm going to. I'm going to put it this way. It's like a parable, and if you understand, you'll get it.
[00:31:21] And he quotes from Jeremiah, two verses that refer to the exile of Israel. And he says in verse 10, if anyone is taken captive to captivity, he goes, if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword, he must be slain.
[00:31:38] And so what is the mysterious truth there?
[00:31:41] When you see the sword, when you see captivity, it's God's plan.
[00:31:50] What you're going through right now to the Church in Rome is God's plan.
[00:31:56] You got to see it that way.
[00:31:58] You got to see the mystery, that God is doing something through your perseverance. Notice what he describes Next in verse 10.
[00:32:08] Here is a call for, and I want you to pick up on this phrase, the endurance and faith. Here is a call to the endurance and faith. To endure means to hold up under stress.
[00:32:23] So God's plan is that there's going to be suffering.
[00:32:27] And when I describe this suffering, I want you to understand that you're called to endurance. You're called to hold up under the stress of persecution. That's what God has called you to himself for. That's what he's designed you for.
[00:32:41] And notice, faith. This refers to faithfulness or loyalty to Christ, no matter what. And he says, the endurance of the faith of the saints, the people of God. If you put all this together, he's talking about the perseverance of the saints.
[00:32:56] This is how the beast is defeated in the world. But I want you to notice something. This perseverance is what defines the saints.
[00:33:06] God's perseverance. The plan is perseverance. How do we defeat the beast? The Antichrist spirit You persevere.
[00:33:15] You hold up.
[00:33:17] You don't give in.
[00:33:19] You continue out of loyalty and faithfulness to Christ, to continue to follow him through. But I want you to know the endurance and the faith. When John began the letter, he said he called himself the Church's brother in the patient endurance. The patient endurance in faithfulness to Christ, it is the endurance. What do we mean by that?
[00:33:44] Well, if we were talking to an athlete or someone who's competing, we would say, you have to have the discipline of an athlete.
[00:33:55] Or if we were talking to a soldier, we would say, you have to have the courage of a soldier. What he's saying here is endurance and faith is what defines being a Christian.
[00:34:10] It is the perseverance of the Christian.
[00:34:14] This is what we are defined by when we follow Christ.
[00:34:19] If I went to some of you teachers today and I said, to be a teacher, you're going to have to have patience, and you would say, no, no, no.
[00:34:28] To be a teacher, you're called to patience. That's what defines the job. Patience as a Christian. What defines us right now is perseverance, is that we endure this world cursed with sin and death. We hold up and we remain faithful to Christ.
[00:34:47] This is the mark of Christianity in the world right now. The suffering is designed by God. It is planned. And it is the perseverance of the cry of the Christian that is what defeats the beast in the world right now.
[00:35:04] You know, we're called to believe in Jesus alone for salvation, that his death on the cross paid the penalty for our sin.
[00:35:14] We're called to believe that his righteous life by faith is credited to our account before God, and we're accepted in him alone.
[00:35:23] Our only hope is because he was raised from the dead. We will be raised from the dead.
[00:35:28] But when you align with that message in the world, you better get ready to endure.
[00:35:34] You better get ready to be faithful. You better get ready for the plan, which is perseverance.
[00:35:41] And this isn't just generic resistance, just kind of making it through. What have we talked about throughout Revelation? How our responsibility is summed up in two things, worship and witness.
[00:35:55] And this is how Satan is defeated in the world right now, as the Christian worships and as the Christian witnesses, no matter what, this is the way God has designed it. Perseverance is the plan.
[00:36:11] Some of you will be denied tenure.
[00:36:13] Perseverance is the plan.
[00:36:16] Some of you will be scolded for sharing the gospel with students.
[00:36:21] Perseverance is the plan.
[00:36:24] It is the perseverance of the Christian that you are to display that defeats the serpent.
[00:36:31] Some of you will lose your seat at the table because you are Christians.
[00:36:38] Perseverance is the plan.
[00:36:41] God designed that perseverance for you right in front of you right now, that situation. He designed it for you to display the worth of his kingdom. So that in those moments you would worship Jesus and you would declare, no, Jesus is king. To those who oppose you, you're not king. Jesus is king. And he is worth it. He's worth the cost, whatever it costs. You are to display the worth of the treasure of Jesus even as you suffer and you cling to him. And you have to let go of the things of this world because you know all Satan can offer you right now through the beast, through this antichrist spirit is this world.
[00:37:24] That's all he can offer you is now.
[00:37:28] But what does Jesus say?
[00:37:30] Oh, woe to him who can gain the whole world and yet lose his soul.
[00:37:34] And so you let go of things to prove Jesus is worth.
[00:37:40] This is how the serpent is defeated.
[00:37:43] You see, the reality is God doesn't defeat the serpent.
[00:37:50] Sin and death overthrow the beast and then the second beast and take us to heaven immediately.
[00:37:58] You ever struggle with that, God? Why am I still here?
[00:38:06] Why are we still here?
[00:38:09] Just be honest.
[00:38:11] It would be a lot easier for you to take us all to heaven right now.
[00:38:15] Why are we still here?
[00:38:18] Because God is intent on proving something to the serpent and all who oppose him, that he is better than anything.
[00:38:28] That's why we're still here.
[00:38:30] It's through our perseverance to show the power of the kingdom. It is on display as we persevere, we display the power of a king who did not use his rule for rage.
[00:38:43] He didn't use his rule for exaltation, but. But humiliation. We show the power in that. As we persevere, we display a power that not even the Roman cross could defeat.
[00:38:58] And the Roman cross in defeating our king actually freed us from sin and death.
[00:39:06] When he raised from the dead, the Roman cross could not defeat it. That is the power that we show in the world right now.
[00:39:17] And so we don't shirk away.
[00:39:20] We don't think God's plan is off course, off the tracks. No, we lean in and say, no, no, I'm going to continue to be faithful to Christ no matter what.
[00:39:31] Because that displays the power of the kingdom that is present in me.
[00:39:35] The power of grace to persevere us when the world is drawn away.
[00:39:43] The power of people who are not scared of sin and death.
[00:39:49] That's what God is doing right now defeats sin and death, and then says, and I'm going to show you the power of a people who really believe that as they overcome Satan, the serpent, the beast, the Antichrist, day in and day out, a people who are not scared of ghosts, but who are looking for a king from the east, and his name is Jesus.
