Let us turn in the Word of God to the book of the Revelation, please. Today we are going to read Revelation chapter 13. And I must say that Revelation chapter 13 is not an easy chapter to deal with. And having listening and reading many who thought on that chapter, I have discovered that there are various views and various ways to look at this chapter. But I would share with you what, by the grace of God, I have the understanding from that chapter, Revelation chapter 13. Let me first of all, read this chapter so we can have that text before us. I begin from verse 1. We read: 1. "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns; and upon his horns ten crowns; and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

1. "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard; and his feet were as the feet of a bear; and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority. 2. "And I saw one of his head; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast. 3. And they worshipped the dragon, which gave power unto the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" 3. "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

4. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 5. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. 5. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose name are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 6. If any man have an ear, let him hear; he that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity; he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword.

7. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. 7. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 8. And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wounds were healed. 8. And he doth great wonders, so that he makes fire come out from heaven on the earth, in the sight of man. 9. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, 9.

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, 10. And cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 10. And he caused all, small and great, rich and poor, free and bound, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead. 11. And no man might buy or sell, save he that hath the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 11. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

What a chapter to read. When you read such a chapter, you are automatically kind of wondering, what is it in this chapter? What is going on here in this chapter? What does the Spirit of God is trying to convey, or seeking to convey, through the apostle John, to those of us today who are believers in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah? Let me just, first of all, set things in order that we will know where we are here at chapter 13 of the book of the Revelation. First of all, remember that when we have studied chapter 1, 2, and 3 of Revelation, we saw the church age. We have looked already at the church age, chapter 1, John received a vision on the island of Patmos, chapter 2 and chapter 3.

We see the seven churches that are found in Asia Minor, which represent the church age, from Ephesus to Laodicea, from the beginning of the church age till the time where the church, the rapture of the church, the believers are going to be taken out of here. Because in chapter 4, we see John is being called "Come up hither." And by the call of John, and by what we see in Revelation 4 and 5, we see the heavenly company, represented by the 24 elders, are seen around the throne, around the Lamb, around Yeshua the Messiah in glory. In other words, those of us who understand the scripture in the way that we have looked at that so far, the church is already in heaven by the end of chapter 3, I would say, by the beginning of chapter 4.

We, who are part of the heavenly company, Jewish and non-Jewish, who believe in Yeshua the Messiah, are already taken to heaven. But then we begin from chapter 6 on, and we saw that the Lamb that was on the throne in chapter 5, there was a book that was given unto him, and that scroll, he had to unfold, to unloose, because it was sealed with seven seals. And no one was worthy to open this scroll, neither to look upon. John wept, we read, if you remember. And as John was weeping, somebody says, "Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah." He has prevailed. The Root of David, the Root of Jesse, he has prevailed.

He is able to loose the seven seals of that scroll. And that scroll, as we have already looked at, is the title deed to this universe, which men under Adam have lost because of sin. And now God can give it back on the basis of the new man, or the last Adam, the second man, the one that came from heaven, Yeshua the Messiah. And he could loose the seven seals. And as you remember, as he is opening one seal at a time, every seal represents a judgment. And we have looked at those seven judgments in the earlier chapter of the book of the Revelation. And so, by the time Yeshua had opened the seventh seal, there was given a trumpet sound of seven angels who would give a sound of the trumpet.

And every trumpet that would be sounded by the angel represented another series of judgment. Trumpet one, trumpet two, trumpet three. And we saw the sound of the trumpet. And we have already covered judgment after judgment after judgment will fall upon the face of this earth. We covered this already by chapters eight and nine. Then, from chapter 10 on, actually all the way to chapter 14, we are right in the middle of the tribulation period. We are looking now, we are actually in our studies, we are in the middle of the tribulation. And if you remember, dear beloved brothers and sisters, in our last chapter, in chapter 12, what we saw that can happen during the middle of the tribulation?

Satan had been cast down. You remember we read chapter 12, and I'll read it again for you. It says in verse 7, And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought against his angels, and he prevailed not. Neither was their place found anymore in heaven. And verse 9 says, And the great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world. He was cast out into the earth. And his angels were cast out with him. Now we are in the middle of the tribulation period. You know that the tribulation period is seven years.

And in the middle of the tribulation, Satan is going to be cast into this universe. It says here, into this earth. Now can you imagine, beloved brothers and sisters, what will happen when Satan is going to be cast into this earth? This earth is going to be what we call hell on earth. Hell will break loose, if you will. Satan himself, knowing that he has very limited time here on earth, he will seek to destroy our own nation, Israel. He will seek to destroy men in this world. He will seek to take a place of God just like he wanted to take in the past.

And he will do anything and everything to seek to bring destruction upon God's nation, Israel, and upon the nations of this world. So when we turn to chapter 13, which I have just read at this moment, what we really have here in chapter 13, we have the triune, counterfeit Godhead presented before us here in chapter 13. In fact, I want you just to turn the pages for a moment to chapter 16, if you will. And you notice how it is very real represented for us in chapter 16 and verse 13, where it says, And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon. This is Satan.

And out of the mouth of the beast. This is the first beast of Revelation 13. Revelation 13. And out of the mouth of the false prophet. This is the second beast of Revelation chapter 13, which we are going to be discussing shortly. What we really see, beloved brothers and sisters, is the counterfeit Godhead that is now is being presented for us here in chapter 13 of the book of the Revelation. You will see them as I'm going to read for a moment. Look at this. And I am reading again the first verse of chapter 13. Verse 13. And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rise out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the names of blasphemy.

Now, just move a little bit further down. And notice what it says in verse 2. And the beast which I saw like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority. Now, if you go down to verse 11, you see the third person in the counterfeit Godhead. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth. What we see here in Revelation chapter 13, the dragon, namely Satan. The first beast, namely the beast that rise out of the sea, this is what you call the political ruler of the future day, the revived, if you will, Roman Empire, or the revived world, united world that will go against God.

And then, ultimately, the third person is the second beast that rise out of the earth. And he is called in the scripture, the false prophet. Now, let me just put it a little bit together for you that we don't get all mixed up. It's not easy to put these things together. Now, I don't have to tell you, if you just read Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel chapter 28, you will find out that Satan, all along, wanted to take the place of God. If you remember, in Isaiah chapter 14, we read these words, and I have to read them in order to bring it to your attention here. It says in verse 12, How art thou fallen from heaven, all Lucifer?

Son of the morning, how art thou cut down to the ground, which did waken the nations? For thou had said in your heart, I will ascend unto heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the highest of the clouds. I will be like the most high. You see, Satan, all along, as a created angel, a very beautiful and attractive angel, all along, wanted to take the place of God. It was he who sought, he said, I will be like the most high. In other words, he wanted to dethrone God and take the place of God.

And God had to cast him down. And God judged him by casting him down. In fact, it was he who came in the garden of Eden, entered into the serpent and went and beguiled Eve, if you remember. And he said to Eve, has God really said? And he's the one who allowed, in other words, who tempted Eve, who were beguiled by the serpent, by Satan himself, who entered into the serpent and used the occasion to lead Eve to disobey the word of God. And Eve gave the fruit to her husband, her husband did eat and plunged the human race into sin. And you remember what God said to Satan in this chapter three of the book of Genesis.

Genesis, he said to Satan, when he punished Adam, Eve and Satan as well, the serpent there, he said to him in chapter three and verse 14, the Lord said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed above all the cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shall thou go, and dust shall thou eat all the days of thy life. And then in verse 15, he gives us something that is very unique. He says, I will put enmity between thee, that is Satan, and the woman, and between thy seed, Satan's seed, and the seed of the woman. See, God said to the serpent already there, to Satan already in the garden of Eden, that there will be an enmity between the seed of the woman.

This is the birth of the Messiah Yeshua, Israel Messiah, and the seed of Satan. In other words, someone will have a satanic origin. In other words, as we have a supernatural birth of the Messiah, there will be one who will have a supernatural origin of the one that we know today as the Antichrist or the counterfeit Messiah, who will be following Satan and will be led by him to seek to take the place of Yeshua, the Messiah. So, as we begin now, in our chapter 13, look, let us take it verse by verse, so we'll see how we can understand this chapter. First of all, in the first 10 verses, verses 1 to 10, we have the rise of the beast, or the rise of the counterfeit Messiah, out of the sea.

Look, it says in verse 1, as I have already read, and I stood upon the sand of the sea. By the way, the word for I here, in verse 1, some manuscript, it does not say I, some manuscript says he. Why it says he? Because of the previous chapter 12, speaking about Satan being cast down, and he knowing that he doesn't have much time, and it was he is the one, in a sense, that was allowed to raise that first beast in Revelation chapter 13 and verse 1. Now, here's where it's getting a little bit technical, and I'm sure I will not going to convey all what I have in my mind.

And if you remember, we read Daniel chapter 7 today in our reading. And there was a reason that we read Daniel chapter 7, because in Daniel chapter 7, Daniel saw many visions. And one of the visions that he had seen, he was very troubled with. He saw beasts rising up. He saw those four beasts, if you remember, in Daniel chapter 7. He saw those beasts, and he was really troubled, not so much with the first one, or the second one, or the third one. He was really troubled with the fourth beast. And that's the one that we are really speaking about. In the beast of Revelation chapter 13, verse 1, is the fourth beast that Daniel had seen in the vision in Daniel chapter 7.

The fourth beast was the fourth beast. All the four beasts representing kingdoms. The first beast represents the Babylonian kingdom. Then Babylonian was taken over by the Middle Persian. That's the second beast. The third beast was the Grecians. And the Grecians have taken over the second kingdom. And the third kingdom became the Grecian kingdom. And the fourth kingdom was the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was the fourth kingdom that ruled upon the face of this earth. If you remember, when Yeshua the Messiah came to this world, Israel was under Roman authority, Roman rule. Years before, they were under Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king. Then later on, under the Middle Persian, the Persian rule.

Even under the Grecians. And by the time that the Messiah was born into this world, Israel, were under the authority of the fourth kingdom that somehow were scattered. They were not totally destroyed, but they were diverse. And they were, for a while, as if we were not completely erased, but in the European area, they were kind of spread and melted for a while. Until there will be a rise of this Roman Empire again in the coming days. So in chapter 13, we can see now, we are in the middle of the tribulation, that we see that this beast rise out of the sea. The sea, the sea represents always in the scripture, the nations.

Every time you read in the scripture, the sea, the troubled seas, always represent the nations that are around us. The multitude of nations and countries and peoples of this universe. To us, to me, and to those that understand it in the same way, it really shows us that this beast is a Gentile ruler who is going to rise out of the nations in the coming day, in the tribulation period. And then it says that he has seven heads, and he has ten horns, and upon his horn were ten crowns. Now that is also a little bit difficult to explain, but other passages, like Revelation chapter 17, explain to us those ten horns represent ten kings.

In the beginning of the tribulation, the antichrist, or the ruler of the future kingdom, will rule over those ten kings. The revived Roman Empire will be divided into ten kingdoms, or ten kings, who will rule over this world. But then later on, the future false messiah will seek to destroy some of the kings. He will kill three of them, and eventually he will seek to take his place in the future kingdom, in the tribulation period. So, in verse 1, we see that he has ten horns, which are ten kings, or ten kingdoms, that will rise in the beginning of the tribulation. And somewhere later on, that beast, that false Christ, false messiah, will seek to take over, to be the total, single ruler over this world.

In verse 2, the first part, look what we read about him. It says in verse 2a, that the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth is as the mouth of a lion. If you just look back at what we read in Daniel chapter 7, those three animals, the leopard, the bear, and the lion are representing those earlier kingdoms that led and ruled this world. The lion represented the Babylonian, the bear represented the Medo-Persian, and the leopard represented the Greeks. So, what we see, that this future beast, he's a man, but the man that will rule this world, that will rise out of the sea, he has characteristics in him, that will come out of all these kingdoms, the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, and the Grecian.

He will adapt into his character and lifestyle all what was already passed before. The Babylonian ways of dealing with men, the Medo-Persian way of dealing with men, and the Grecian's way of dealing with men. And all that which will characterize those kingdoms in the past. And it says here also, in verse 2b, that the beast will be empowered by Satan. It says at the end of verse 2, and the dragon, you know, the dragon, sometimes we do not know who is that dragon. But just look back in chapter 12, in verse 9, and you can see. That great dragon was cast out, the old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceived the whole world.

That dragon is none else by Satan himself. So, that beast will be empowered by Satan. This man is going to be empowered by Satan. It says here that he gave him power, and he gave him his seat, and he gave him great authority. Now, this is also extremely interesting, because you remember what I said earlier, that in this chapter we have the counterfeit Godhead, the false Godhead. Because what Satan is doing is exactly seeking to convey exactly what God has been doing all through the history of humanity. The Father loved the Son. The Spirit of God direct attention to the Son. And the Son was the one that was sent to this world.

Well, you can see here, the Lord Jesus said all authority was given unto me from my Father. In Matthew chapter 28, he says all power and authority was given unto me. Well, here we can see that the authority and the power that that beast received is from the dragon, is from Satan. He received a satanic authority and power to use here in this world against man. In order that he will take his power here in this world. So, he received from the dragon power and his seat and great authority. Now, here's the third verse that is also extremely interesting, brothers and sisters. And I know that people are divided on that.

And I just want to tell you what I glean from that, from listening to many who have taught on that. Look what it says here in verse 3. In verse 3, we see the death and the healing of that beast. Look what it says in verse 3. I saw one of his heads, as it were, wounded to death. And his deadly wound was healed. And all the world wondered after the beast. This is very interesting. An expression here that he says he was wounded to death. And then his deadly wound was healed. And all the world wondered after that beast. This is a way of speaking of death and resurrection.

Now again, brothers and sisters, bear with me on that. We know that Satan does not have the power to give life. But what we see here in this verse 3. That there is an illusion or like telling us. That here again, this beast seeking to take the place of the Messiah. And becoming like a counterfeit Messiah. The appearance of what happened to the Messiah. What happened to Yeshua, the Messiah? He died. He was buried. And he rose from among the dead. He was raised by the glory of the Father. Here we see very similar. The thought here we see that one of his heads, as it were, were wounded unto death.

And his deadly wound was healed. Now it is mentioning in this chapter three times. Not without any reason. Look at verse 12. And he exercised power as the first beast before him. And he causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. Look at verse 14. And he deceived them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image unto the beast, listen, which had his wound by sword and did live. Apparently, that beast had died and was resurrected.

And apparently it says that his wound was by sword. Now, again, you don't have to come to a conclusion. You have to pray about it. But the point is, as far as my understanding from this text is, we see a counterfeit Godhead. Satan wants to take the place of God the Father. The first beast seeks to take the place of God the Son, the Messiah, Yeshua. And the second beast, which we're going to talk about him in a moment, is seeking to take the place of God, the Holy Spirit. All counterfeit false Godhead are represented here in Revelation chapter 13. And now it says here at the end of verse 3, that the whole world is wondered after the beast.

The world was so influenced by the activity of this beast, of this man who rose out of the nations of the world. And can you imagine what's going to happen in the middle of the tribulation? That the whole world will follow this false Messiah, will follow after him. There will be wondering, amazement at what he can do and what he has done. And so it says here in the next verse 4 that they really worshipped that beast. They worshipped the beast, it says in verse 4. And they worshipped the dragon that gave power unto the beast. And they worshipped the beast. And they said, who is like unto the beast?

And who is able to make war with him and against him? The world is going to be fascinated by that man. And really the world is waiting for this kind of a man today. They are looking all over this world. Trying to find out some person in this world that will settle all the problems. That will meet their need. And they can worship him and adore him. And look to him for settling all their problems. To worship that false Messiah. To worship that dragon, Satan. The whole world will be wondering after the beast. And they will say, who is able to make war with him?

That is the situation that will exist here in the middle of the tribulation. We talk about worship. You remember what Satan said to the Yeshua the Messiah. When he took him to the mountain in Jerusalem in Israel. He took him to the pinnacle of the temple. And he said to him, you are the son of God. You know you can jump from here. Or you can worship me. And I am going to give you all the kingdoms of this world. Satan said to him. Satan always sought for worship for men. Always sought to take the place of God. And here we see. You know he had very little time.

He gets what he wishes for. Because in verse 4. They worshipped the dragon. And they worshipped the beast. That rose out of the nations of the world. Now notice now. The sum of the activities. And the actions of that beast. In verses 5, 6 and 7. Look what he was doing. This beast. Actually it says four times the word. It was given unto him. Look at it. First of all in verse 5. There was given unto him a mouse speaking great things of blasphemy. And you notice that he was speaking. He was blaspheming God and the people of God. That's what this beast was doing. And it says that it was given unto him.

In other words, God had allowed him in this period of time to do what he wishes. Look at the second thing that he says in verse 5b. Again, and power was given unto him to continue for forty and two months. In other words, God had allowed him and given him power, the ability to continue in such a way, in such an activity for forty-two months. Forty-two months is three and a half years. It is the second half of the tribulation period. He will be allowed to do that. Thirdly, notice it says in verse 6 and 7. He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God. To blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven.

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. Again, this is the third thing that we see here in these verses. These verses that this beast, the counterfeit Mashiach, was given by God the ability to make war against the saints. Now, a lot of people have a problem when you read the word saints. They say, ah, ah, you see, here is the church in the tribulation period. But dear brothers and sisters, we have already discussed the fact that the church saints are not here. You and I who belong to Yeshua the Messiah, who have accepted him during this present day of his rejection, are seen in glory in heaven.

It is the saints that will exist here on earth. It is the Jewish saints. It is the Israeli saints, the Hebrew saints, and other saints in this world that will come to faith in the Messiah during the tribulation period. These are tribulation saints. This is not church saints. But he will allow, it will be given unto him to make war against the saints and to overcome them. Do you remember when we studied earlier in chapter 6 that there were some who were crying and says, how long, Lord? You are not dealing with those that are coming against your people. They were praying in a sense. They were around the Lamb in glory and asked for how long?

And many of these saints, tribulation saints, died during the tribulation. Why? Because they were persecuted by this beast, the false Messiah, who made war against the people of God. And it is amazing to see that in connection with other passages that we have in the book of Revelation, in the earlier chapter that we have already discussed before. And look at the four things that he was allowed to do. Again, it used the word, it was given unto him. It says at the end of verse 7, it says, And it was given him to have power over all kinders and tongues and nations. This beast, false Mashiach, was allowed by God to have power over all nations, over all tongues, over all kinders.

God has given to him the ability to do that. Now you and I might ask, why did God allow him to have that? Well, God have allowed him to have it because the tribulation period is a time to show us that men who rejected the Messiah will experience the judgment of God during the tribulation period. Those who refuse to accept the grace of God during these days of grace, they will experience trials like never have happened before. And that will happen during those seven years of the tribulation period. And so we can see what his activities in verse 5 and verse 6 and verse 7. And then we find out in verse 8 that all the dwellers on this earth will actually worship the beast.

But now it gives us an additional clue here that we also find it difficult to understand the time. It says that all the dwell upon the earth shall worship him. And then it says, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That statement also oftentimes causes us trouble and we don't understand what does he mean that the name is not written in the Lamb's book of life. Now, remember brothers and sisters, we have to realize that there are two books that we often mix them together. We should never mix the book of the living or the book of life with the Lamb's book of life.

There are two books that we are talking about in scripture. There is the book of the living or the book of life. And there is also the Lamb's book of life. Now, what is the difference? Here, definitely, it doesn't speak about the book of life, but it says the Lamb's book of life. Now, what is the difference between the book of life and the Lamb's book of life? The book of life is a book that God record every individual that was ever born into this world. Baby was born today in a certain time, his name is written in that book. Another minute another baby is born, his name is written in that book.

Another five minutes another baby is born, his name or her name is written in that book. This is the book of the living. This is a record that God has of all those that were ever born into this world. It clearly is seen in Psalm 139, where David says, "Your eyes did see my substance," in 139:16, "yet been unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuous were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." In other words, every person that is born into this world is registered in the book of the living. It's like going to any city, any city hall.

You go to the city hall in Yerushalayim, in Israel. You go to the city and you look for the name of a person. They're going to tell you this person was born on a certain date, a certain month, a certain year. In this city of Jerusalem, every baby is being recorded. But, now we are moving on to the next step. What happens if a person leaves this world without knowledge of sins forgiven? Well, you remember what we find out in other passages, is that people that rejected the offer of salvation by God in any generation, if they left this scene without salvation, their names are being erased from the book of life.

It was Moses who said in Exodus chapter 32, he prayed to God. If you remember what he said to God in Exodus 32 and verse 31 and 32, he said to God, look at this, "Blot me, I pray thee, from thy book which thou hast written." Moses asked God to blot his name from the book that he has written. But, of course, Moses was a child of God. His name could never be blotten out of the book of the living because he was a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His name could not be blotten out. But those that reject God, their name will be blotten out of the book of the living.

Let me just give you another verse so we will get this clear. In Psalm 69 and verse 28, "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous," David said, about the enemies of God. The enemies of God, their name that David said, it's like a prayer. It was under the law. David said, "Let their name be blotted out of the book of life which you have written." David wrote it and prayed this to God. It was because he was under the law. He would pray such a prayer as this. In Revelation chapter 3 and verse 5, look what the Lord Jesus said to John.

In Revelation chapter 3 and verse 5, "He that overcometh the same shall be clothed with white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels." Look, Yeshua said, "Any overcomer, a true believer, I am not going to blot his name out of the book of life." So, we know from that dear brothers and sisters and other verses, that there is the book of the living. And a person who rejects God, his name is no longer is going to be retained in the book of life, but erased from the book of life.

But what happened to a believer? When a person becomes a believer in Yeshua the Messiah, in addition to the fact that his name is retained in the book of life, his name is also, in addition to that, is being written in the Lamb's book of life. And that we can see in other passages, and I'll just give you a verse in Revelation 21 and verse 27, many, many verses to look at. And after he said, "And there shall in no wise enter into it," speaking about the holy city of Jerusalem, "anything that defileth, either whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." We have to distinguish between the book of life and the Lamb's book of life.

In the book of life, every person who was born's name is there. If he left this world without faith in God, in the Messiah, without salvation, his name is being erased, or her name is being erased. If he or she have accepted God's way of salvation, in addition to their name being retained in the book of life, their names are also added to the Lamb's book of life. Well, this is verse 8. Verse 8 tells us that all the earth and all the dwellers on this earth will worship the beast. And why they will do so? Because it says, "whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of this world." They will worship that false Messiah.

They will follow after him. They will seek to have him as the one that will answer their need. But here we have in verses 9 and 10, the encouragement that God gives to the saints here on earth. When the false Messiah receives worship by the dwellers upon this earth, by unbelievers, the saints need an encouragement because they are being persecuted, they are suffering, they are fleeing, they are running away, they are finding without all the privileges that others have. It says in verse 9, "If any man have an ear, let him heal. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity. He that killeth with a sword must be killed by the sword." In other words, God is saying through John to the saints of the tribulation, "Listen, don't you worry.

The one that lead others to slavery and captivity, they will be led into that judgment. The one that killing with a sword, he will ultimately will pay for what he have done. He will receive the very same judgment that he poured upon someone else." At the end of verse 9, he says, "Here is the patience and the faith of the saints." The saints of the tribulation period will have to look to the Lord and to get encouragement from him and they will be encouraged. God will tell them, "Listen, I'm going to deal with everyone." Those that cause persecution, they will be persecuted. Those that killed, they ultimately are going to be killed themselves.

Judgment will come upon everyone that have gone in the ways of the beast, the counterfeit Messiah that went against God. Well, this is the difficult passage, and please forgive me for being so much inadequate in trying to share with you this passage. But let's quickly move on to the next verses. And look what happened. And here it helped us to see the counterfeit Godhead. The false Godhead. Look what we see here in the next verses. In verse 11, we see another beast now. It says, "And I beheld another beast coming this time out of the earth. And he had two horns like a lamb, and he speak as a dragon." So here's a second beast.

Now this time, this beast does not rise out of the seas, the nations, the multitude, but he rises out of the earth. And some suggest that perhaps because he's rising out of the earth, this man might be part of the nation of Israel. Maybe a Jewish man. Maybe a Jewish man who will collaborate with the Gentile man who will rise up out of the seas. That's some of the suggestion we can take from here. But he has two horns like a lamb, but he speaks like a dragon. You know, lamb speaks of the humility and meekness, but dragon speaks of the one that we have already looked in chapter 12 and verse 9.

He speaks of him as a vicious individual. He will appear to be religious, but he will be extremely vicious. And what he's going to do, it says in verse 12, that he's going to cause all the earth to worship, not himself. Now notice that, brothers and sisters, not himself, but the first beast. Look at this. Verse 12, "And he exercises all the power of the first beast that was before him, and he causes," that's by force, "he causes the earth and them which were therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." Now that is a good point to look at, because notice he doesn't direct worship to himself, but he directs worship to the first beast.

Now that tells us a lot. You remember what Yeshua the Messiah said to the Hebrew disciples in the upper room? He says, "I'm going to send you another comforter." And he says, "The Holy Spirit." And he says, "He will not speak of himself, but he will take of mine, and he will show it unto you." In other words, what we also know as believers, that the ministry of Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, is not to talk about himself, but to talk about the person of Yeshua the Messiah. That's the ministry of the Spirit of God. You know, how do we know if somebody is speaking the power of the Spirit of God?

That person will direct the attention to the lovely person of Yeshua the Messiah, the true Mashiach, the true Son of God. But here, this second beast looks like a lamb, but vicious like a dragon. What he will do? He has power. He exercises power because, again, he is part of the counterfeit false Godhead. So he has power, but he direct worship, not to himself, but to the counterfeit Messiah, to the first beast. And that will be the ministry that he will do here. In fact, in the Bible, the second beast is called the false prophet. Again, please turn to chapter 16 one more time. Let me reread verse 13 once again.

Chapter 16, verse 13. Verse 13. I saw three unclean spirits. A triune. Like frogs come out of the mouth of number one, the dragon. That's Satan. Came forth also out of the beast. This is the first beast from the sea. This is the Antichrist or the counterfeit Messiah. And thirdly, out of the mouth of the false prophet. That's the second beast that come out of the earth. He is called three times the false prophet. In Revelation 16, 13. In Revelation 19, 20. And in Revelation 20, 10. He is called the false prophet. And his ministry is going to be false. His job will be falsely to lead the nation after the false Messiah. That's what he's going to do.

He is just as much a counterfeit or against the Messiah like the first beast. Both of them are against the true Messiah. But together with the dragon, with Satan, they will form what is known as the false counterfeit Godhead. Look what it says in verse 13. It says, "And he does great wonders so that he makes fire come out from heaven on earth in the sight of man." He will do miracles. You know, sometimes we don't realize. But I know, unfortunately, in the church today, there are many places that look for miracles all over again. Miracles, miracles. Well, let me tell you. Some miracles are satanic.

Not everything that we see is coming from God. Because Satan is allowed by God to use certain powers. And he used them against man in false miracles. Look what he does. He does in verse 13. He makes fire come down from heaven on earth in the sight of man. And everybody says, "Wow! Wow! Look at this!" But it is satanic. It is deceiving. It is false. It's not right. It's not that which is from God. In verse 14 and 15, beloved brothers and sisters, he is assisting or committing that which is called the abomination of desolation. Look what it says in verse 14 and 15. "And he deceives them that dwell on earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast." This is the first beast.

"And he say to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image of the beast." This is the first beast. Again, notice. "Which has the wounds by sword and did live." Again, he is emphasizing the death and the healing. You want to call it resurrection or not? The death and the healing. Or the false resurrection. Whatever you want to call it. And he actually in verses 14 and 15, seeking and making and causing to make an image of the beast. Now, please put for a moment on your head your thinking cap with me. You remember when we looked in the past at Daniel chapter 9.

Now, do me a favor. Bear with me. Go to Daniel 9 with me for a moment. Long time ago, God gave to the man of God, Daniel, this Hebrew man, that vision concerning the dealing of God with our nation Israel. And he said to him in Daniel chapter 9 from verse 24 to the end of the chapter, verse 27. He says that 70 weeks are determined upon your people. This is Israel. Daniel, there are 490 years that are determined upon Israel your people. And then he divided those 490 years. How they are going to come about those 490 years in order to restore Israel because of sin, because of iniquity. In order to restore the nation.

In order to restore the nation. And so what does he do? He says to them, listen. In verse 25. Therefore, know and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince shall be seven weeks. This is 49 years. And threescore and two weeks. This is 434 years. Together, 483 years. Then there are seven years left. And that's why he said to him in verse 26, he says, after the 483 years, Messiah shall die. But not for himself. Cut off. Not for himself. And the people. Notice that. The people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

Who are the people of the Prince that shall come? The people are the Romans. And the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. And they will have a Prince that will rise. That's the Antichrist that we are talking about. That's the beast of Revelation 13 and verse 1. That's the one that we are talking. He's called the son of perdition. He's called various names in the Bible, in the scripture. And he says here in verse 27, this counterfeit Mashiach, false Messiah, arising from the revived Roman Empire of the future day. He will make a covenant with the many in Israel for seven years.

This is verse 27. And in the middle of the week, this is in the middle of the week, that is three and a half years. After three and a half years, he's going to break the covenant. And what he's going to do, it says, he shall cause the sanctuary and oblation to stop. He's going to say to Israel, Israel, you are no longer going to burn sacrifices to your God. That's it. I'm stopping the covenant. I'm breaking the covenant. And now what he's going to do, brothers and sisters, he's going to situate himself in the middle of the seven years in the temple in Jerusalem, claiming that he's God.

He's going to commit what is known here at the end of verse 27, the abomination, which bring desolation. Look, verse 27b, it says, and for the overspreading of abomination, he shall make it desolate. In other words, he will make an abomination, which will bring a desolation by breaking the covenant and by committing himself to sit there in the temple claiming to be God. Now, please, again, turn with me to 2 Thessalonians quickly, chapter 2. Look at this to connect with this immediately. I have to finalize this together if we want to have the whole picture here. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verses 3. 2 Thessalonians 2, 3. Let no man deceive you by any means.

For the day shall not come except there come a falling away, apostasy first. And that man of sin, see he's called man of sin here, be revealed the son of perdition, who opposes and exaltes himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped. So that he, listen, he is God, sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. You see? So what we learn, beloved brothers and sisters, that the first stage in the abomination of desolation is Satan himself allowing this man of sin, this prince that will rise out of the Roman Empire, to break the covenant and to sit in the temple of God in the city of Jerusalem, claiming to be God and seeking worship from mankind.

After all, that's what we just read in Revelation chapter 13, that this second beast will lead the whole world to worship that beast, and men will worship him. But now, we're getting to the second step in the abomination of desolation. We're going to first of all set himself in the temple and seek worship for men, but by the time we get to this passage here, in verse 14 and 15, he's now, he's not going to stay always in Jerusalem, but he will desire to have an image of himself in the temple in Jerusalem. And we can see the second step of the abomination of desolation is found here in verses 14 and 15.

So, he deceived them that dwell on the earth, and by mean of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying unto them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by the sword and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast. And the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast, they will be killed. So, the first thing this false messiah is going to do, he's going to situate himself, breaking the covenant, sitting himself in the temple, seeking worship, making himself God.

And then what is going to happen when he needs to be away, as it were, the second beast, the false prophet, is going to make an image. And he's going to place the image there in the city of Jerusalem, in the temple, and look at this image. He has power to give ability to the image to speak. Now, I was thinking about that. If you read Psalm 115, God of Israel said, the psalmist says, idols cannot speak, idols cannot see, they have eyes they cannot see, they have ears they cannot hear, they have mouths they cannot speak. But the God of Israel, he can see, he can speak, he can do all things.

What we see here is that we can see how vicious and wicked that's going to happen here in the middle of the tribulation, that the second beast, the false prophet, has power to give life unto that image. That the image would even speak. Can you imagine that? That satanic influence, satanic power, satanic forces here in the middle of the tribulation period. Well, look, we're going to close as we move on to the end. In verses 16 and 17, again, it uses the word causes. It says, he causes all men to receive the mark of the beast. Verse 16, again, the word causes. You notice that? He doesn't ask them, will you please take the mark of the beast, please?

You know, he's causing. There's not a chance. You either worship him or you die. You either take the mark of the beast or you are killed. He doesn't ask them, will you please? He's doing it by force. He's doing it by satanic power. He doesn't give a choice to anyone. It says, in verse 16, he says, he causes all, now notice, small and great. A person might have an important position or small. It's not an important place in this world at that time. Rich and poor. A person might be very rich and others might not be as rich. And then he says, free and bond. Those who are more free and those slaves behave, all will have to take the mark of the beast in their right hand or in their forehead.

That will be a compulsory in verse 16. Verse 17 says, and no man might buy or sell except he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. You know, during the tribulation period, if a person will want to buy, to have a business, to buy or sell something, he could not just go any place and buy and sell. He will have to have the mark of the beast on his forehead or in his right hand. He will have to have that mark. Now, I know there's all kind of speculation. What about this mark and so on? But let me just suggest, it's not the credit card.

You know, people say, well, now everybody have the credit card, they have my number and they have his number, you know. But, you know, there will not be different numbers. There will be one number for all that dwell upon the face of this earth. The very same number. You either have that number or you don't have that number. And you notice at the end, it's closing at the end in verse 18, and that's the last verse of this chapter. It says here that the number of the beast is 666. It says here, notice that. Here is wisdom. Let him that has an understanding count the number of the beast.

For it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. Now, it is also amazing here, because in the Greek, as well as in our language, Hebrew, every number or every letter is equivalent to a number. The letter Aleph is 1. The letter Bet is 2. The letter Gimel is 3. The letter Daled is 4. He is 5. In other words, every number in the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet is equivalent to a letter. So, for example, if we want to take somebody's name, let's take, for example, Brother Yaakov here. His name is Yaakov, and I actually can give you this. I put these numbers here. Every number, Yaakov's name, for example, is 182.

It's not even close to 666. Take my name, Gidon, or Gideon, Gimel, Dalet, Ain, Vav, Nun, it's equivalent to a number 133. In other words, every letter is equivalent to a number. So, the number of this man will come to the number 666. There are many names. I can take any one of your names. Specifically, if it is a Hebrew name, it's easier to take those numbers. But every name has, every letter has a number. And if it rises up to 666, that will be the number of the beast. And that's what we learn here from this last verse of this chapter. And by the way, the number 6 is always, in Scripture, shows us, it's short of number 7.

Man was created on the 6th day. There's 12 months in a year, 2 times 6. And so on. The whole world is kind of divided in such a way that the number 6 is prevalent. But 6 is not the number 7. 7 is the number of the fullness, the completeness. It's God, the number of God. And man cannot rise up to whom God is. And that what this man will seek to take, the place of the Messiah, the place of the true Son of God, the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. Well, brothers and sisters, there's so much that can be said here. And I feel that I didn't do justice to this chapter.

And just to conclude with this thought, over the years in the study of the book of Daniel and Revelation, I know that some suggest that the false Messiah, or the word Antichrist, is really not the political ruler, but the religious ruler. Namely, that he may be Jewish. Why? Because there are verses in Scripture that says, for example, in John 5 and Daniel 11, that speaks of the fact that the Jewish people will not accept someone to come to sit in the temple unless he is Jewish. While it is true that the Jewish people will not accept someone to come to sit in the temple unless he is a Hebrew, an Israeli, a Jewish man.

But let me say that. From Revelation chapter 13, we don't see here that the Jewish people inviting him to come. What we see here is that he is by force placing himself in the temple. He is doing it by force. He is not doing it. He doesn't ask Israel, will you please accept me as your Messiah? He doesn't tell this to them. In fact, what he is telling them, he is making a covenant, he is promising to them that they can do their worship to their God, but in the middle of the seven years, he is breaking that covenant, and he sits himself by force. He doesn't ask the Hebrews, will you like me to sit there?

He is forcing them to worship him. The false prophet forcing the rest of the nations of the world to worship this first beast. And therefore, from my understanding, this man is definitely rising up from the revival Roman Empire. He is not Hebrew. He is a Gentile man who will end up to force the world to seek to worship him. He is the one that he has spoken about here in Revelation chapter 13. May God bless his word. Let's pray together.