09-16-12 The Key Players Pt. 2

We started something last week

and then I got side-tracked

and we didn’t even come close to finishing it.

So today we’re going to drop back

into our Revelation study

right where we stepped out of it last week.

If you were here

you will remember that we were in

a nine chapter section of the Revelation

that began with Rev. 8 and went through the end of chapter 16.

It is a section that does two things for us.

It presents an overview

of the final collision of the forces of good and evil here on the earth

just prior to the return of Christ.

Then it gives us close-up snapshots

of the eight individuals

or groups of individuals

who play the major roles

in those events.

Last week we looked at the first group of two individuals

given to us in Revelation 11:3-13,

the two Witnesses

appointed by God

for a powerful prophetic role

during the reign of the Anti-Christ.

I started to tell you

what we know

and what we don’t know

about these two men.

• We know that they come on the scene at some point during the final seven years immediately preceding Christ’s return.

• We know their prophetic ministry lasts 1260 days, or 3 1/2 years.

• We know they possess supernatural power far beyond that of any other prophets in history.

They can stop the rain at will.

They can consume people with fire that pours out of their mouth.

They can turn water into blood.

They can bring all manner of plagues on the people they prophecy to.

• They powerfully confront the people of the world with their rebellion against God,

they are hated because of it,

and their death brings world-wide rejoicing.

That’s what we know.

There are also some things we don’t know.

• We don’t know who they are,

but every evidence supports the belief

that they are simply two Christians alive at that time chosen by God for that role.

• We also don’t know whether they prophecy during the first half or the second half of the 7 year reign of the Anti-Christ.

The kind of destruction they seem to leave in their wake

might possibly put them

into the last half of that 7 years,

but since it is not specifically stated by John,

I’m free once again to guess,

and I personally believe

they do their thing during the first half of Anti-Christ’s reign.

I think they are given to serve as a sort of conscience for a world that has

chosen to give itself over to evil.

My main reason for believing this

is because of that comment

in Rev. 11:7-10.

Rev. 11:7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.

Rev. 11:8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

Rev. 11:10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

This huge, world-wide celebration

sounds to me like something that would take place

when the world is still living in the illusion

that everything is going to be OK

now that these two thorns in the flesh of the world have finally been removed.

Now that the teacher has finally left the room

we can party big time.

Now, the next 7 close-ups

are given to us in Revelation chapters 12 & 13.

They are presented in a special format.

God puts on a symbolic play

for John in these two chapters.

It is a play designed to give John

a concise, powerful overview

of the central players in history.

The play has seven players in it.

The identities of each of them

are either stated directly within the text

or are obvious from their part in the play.

And just to give us a taste

for what’s happening here

I want to read the first few verses

of Revelation 12.

Rev. 12:1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;

Rev. 12:2 and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

Rev. 12:3 And another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.

Rev. 12:4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

Rev. 12:5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

Rev. 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Rev. 12:7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels waged war,

Rev. 12:8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.

Now, those 8 verses

present and identify 5 key players

in the great drama:

1. There is the Woman with a crown of 12 stars

who gives birth to the Man-Child.

We know with certainty

who she is when we are told

who her son is.

2. The Man-Child is the one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

Who will rule all nations with a rod of iron?

Who was caught up to God and to His throne?

Obviously, Jesus Christ.

So, who is the woman? - The nation of Israel.

3. Then there is the Dragon.

We are told in verse 9 that the dragon

is Satan.

4. Then there is Michael - who plays himself, the head of the angelic forces of heaven.

5. Then in 12:17 there is one final group of players introduced in this 12^th chapter:

Rev. 12:17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

These are the offspring of Israel

who come to Christ.

In the most narrow sense

they are Christian Jews,

but in the broadest sense

they are all Christians

because we are told in Romans 11

that when we come to Christ

we are grafted into Israel.

So, in this first part of the drama

what John sees is this:

God uses the Nation of Israel

to give birth to Christ.

Satan attempts to destroy Christ

when He is here on earth.

Christ escapes and is caught up to heaven.

Satan then turns his rage

on the people of God

and seeks to destroy them.

The drama then continues

in chapter 13.

And this part of the drama

takes us right up to the time

of the Great Tribulation

and introduces the final two players

in the great drama.

These two players

are the two individuals Satan enlists

as his key tools

in his final great effort

to destroy the people of God.

But if you are new to the study of Biblical prophecy

I need to give you a little background

to help you understand what’s happening here.

Some of what we see here

can only be understood

through knowledge of prophetic passages in the Old Testament book of Daniel.

If you want to do some reading on your own,

I would encourage you to read the 7^th chapter of the Book of Daniel.

In that chapter Daniel is given a vision

in which God reveals to Daniel

an overview of the entire future of the human race

from the time of Daniel

up to the second coming of Christ.

He sees a vision in which it is revealed to him

that there would be a total of four world Empires from his time

until the end of the age.

The first of the four was in existence

at the time Daniel lived - it was the Babylonian Empire.

Following the Babylonian Empire

came the Persian Empire,

followed by the Greek Empire

and then finally the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire was never conquered

by another world Empire.

It rotted from within

and gradually fell apart.

I bring this up because there is a fascinating aspect of that fourth Empire,

the Roman Empire,

revealed to us in that Daniel prophecy.

And without that background

these two chapters in Revelation

will not make sense.

So I want to read the section of that 7^th chapter of Daniel

in which Daniel asks for

and receives the interpretation

for the meaning of the part of the vision that represents the Roman Empire.

This is Daniel 7:23-25,

and in verse 23 it says,

"Thus he said: 'The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it.

That is a prophetic description

of the Roman Empire in its glory -

a huge, crushing, military machine

that subdued the Entire known world.

But the vision of this 4^th beast

did not stop there.

The beast Daniel saw in the vision

had 10 horns

and then another smaller horn

that grew and devoured 3 of the existing horns.

The angel goes on to offer

the following interpretation:

Dan. 7:24 'As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.

Dan. 7:25 'And he will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

So what do we know from this?

1. We know that the last great world Empire in history will be the Roman Empire.

2. We know that when it first comes on the scene

the Roman Empire will be one massive

crushing, devouring machine

that conquers the known world.

This was the Roman Empire

into which Christ was born.

3. We know that out of that Roman Empire

will come ten nations

and then an 11^th power will come on the scene

and conquer 3 of those 10 nations.

Now, with that as background

let’s return to Rev. 13.

The drama continues

with the dragon on the seashore:

Rev. 13:1 And he stood on the sand of the seashore. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.

Rev. 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.

Rev. 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;

With these verses we are right back with

the vision given to Daniel 700 years earlier.

We have the same beast

with the same horns.

But we also have some added information-

we are told that this 4^th beast

receives a deadly head wound,

and then that it miraculously recovers

and its recovery amazes the world.

Satan then gives this restored head

tremendous power

that enables him to once again

establish his rule over all the world.

This, of course, is the Empire of the Anti-Christ.

So what do we know?

1. We know that the power base of the Anti-Christ will grow out of the Roman Empire.

2. We know that before that happens

the Roman Empire will take on the form of 10 united kingdoms.

3. We know that the Anti-Christ

will establish his dominance

by either conquering

or in some other way bringing 3 of those ten nations under his control.

Nearly 1600 hundred years ago

the Roman Empire ceased to exist.

Dozens of little people-groups

and nations grew up out of its ruins,

but all efforts to attempt to reunite it by force have always met

with disastrous consequences.

Napoleon tried it and failed,

the Kaiser tried it and failed,

Hitler tried it and failed.

But for several decades now

students of Bible prophecy

have been fascinated to watch

the gradual but ever growing

political and economic unity

that has been developing in Europe.

For more than a decade now,

for the first time since the Roman Empire existed,

Europe now shares a common currency.

Now, there is obviously some additional political maneuvering

that must take place,

but when the world sees three European nations somehow united

or dominated by one charismatic leader

we have our Anti-Christ.

And just a comment about that head-wound thing.

I am aware of two suggestions for what that may mean.

1. There are many who believe

that it is a prophecy that the Anti-Christ himself will sustain a deadly head wound

and then miraculously recover from it.

2. There are also students of Bible prophecy

who feel that the head being referred to

is the actual political head of the Roman government,

and that the deadly head wound being referred to

is the apparent death of the Roman Empire 1600 years ago,

and that the prophecy of recovery

from that head wound

will be fulfilled when the old Roman Empire is resurrected

and reunited under the Anti-Christ.

The final key personality presented in these two chapters

is the Beast out of the Earth

talked about in the last half of chapter 13.

He is a satanic prophet/magician

who works with the Anti-Christ

to help keep him in power.

So where does all of this leave us?

It leaves us with some solid places

and a whole bunch of guesses

and yet-to-be-answered questions.

But most of all

it leaves us with the knowledge

that we have a God who,

nearly 2700 years ago, revealed to Daniel what would be taking place

in Europe in 1998 A.D. with the reunification of Europe.

You all know that I strongly resist

the hype approach to Biblical prophecy.

But at the same time

it is impossible to look seriously

at what God has told us about the future

without recognizing

the huge pieces of the puzzle

that are clunking into place

in our generation.

And of course we cannot stop for the morning

without bringing these truths about our God

a whole lot closer to home.

What we’ve seen during the past few minutes

is a tiny glimpse into the careful working of God

as He holds the past, present, and future of the human race in His hands,

directing events exactly as He wants them to go.

There is a fascinating statement in Proverbs 21:1.

In that verse it says,

The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.

Solomon is certainly not saying that our world rulers do not have free will,

nor is he saying

that they do not at times make deeply immoral choices

that have devastating consequences for those under their care.

But He is saying that no man ever has or ever will have

the ability to overthrow God’s purpose and direction for the human race.

And exactly the same truth about our God

that we have displayed for us in world events

that stretch out over several thousand years

is just as true about His involvement

in the lives of each of His children.

Just as He holds nations and empires in His hands,

so He holds your life and your future in His hands.

There is another fascinating statement in the book of Proverb

that will help us here as well.

In Pro 16:9 Solomon says, The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.

We make our plans,

sometimes with clear, certain longing to know and follow the Spirit’s leading in our life,

and sometimes out of a confused, mixed muddle of flesh and spirit and emotion.

But underlying all of our choices

there is the mind and heart and hand of our God,

holding us,

keeping us always with Him,

and moving us in the ways that will make it the easiest

for us to discover new depths of His love, His grace, His kindness and compassion.

I can say it more simply.

If He has had no problem co-ordinating the intricate details of world events for thousands of years

to bring those events perfectly in line with His plan,

don’t you think He is able to hold your life in His hands

and guide you into the future and purpose he knows is right for you?

When we chose to do business with the Creator God

at that point when we placed our lives into His hands,

what we got in the bargain was just that - The Creator God,

the only One who has all the power and all the resources necessary

to hold you close to Himself

right up until He brings you into His presence forever.

Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.