Revelation 13 - Battle Ready Believers

I'm going to invite you to Revelation chapter 13 is where we're at together today. Revelation chapter 13, as we really follow a chapter that's a continuation of chapter 12, we're still focusing on the idea of this dragon and what it represents in the book of Revelation. And if you remember, if you were here for chapter 12 we saw this picture of this dragon whose desire is to destroy originally the Messiah. He wanted to thwart the plan of the Messiah, but was unsuccessful in doing that. And now his desire is to destroy the children of the Messiah, meaning he. We saw in chapter 12 there was this woman who was painted as the one who would bring about the ultimate deliverer, the Messiah. And Satan's desire was to devour her and the Messiah. But because he wasn't, he was unable to thwart the plan. Now he knows he's been defeated and he desires to destroy the children of the Messiah. And so you see that as the very last phrase in verse, in chapter 12, verse 17, his intentions have now turned, knowing that he couldn't stop the messianic plan. And so now he pursues God's people, which is now represented as you and me. And so when you read Revelation chapter 12, what you discover is really it's the gospel story being told, God's redemptive story throughout history, being made known that God was faithful to fulfill what he promised by bringing us Jesus, who would ultimately bring deliverance for all of us.

And there has been an enemy who has been opposed to his plan, and that enemy is still at work. And in chapter 12, we looked at a few conceptual ideas of how that enemy desires to work. He wants to deceive and he wants to accuse. So the way that Satan works against us, that dragon is Satan is he desires to deceive us. He desires to accuse us. Those are important things for us to consider as we walk through life knowing if we ever feel accusation or we're getting a false message that can be leaning into the hand of the enemy. But one thing that I think is important now as we look into Transitioning further into chapter 13 is those ideas of deception and accusation are conceptual and what we should be asking then is how does that tangibly look in our world? Right. It's nice to know what the enemy might use against us, but what does that look like fleshed out in day to day life? Because most of us, hopefully all of us, we didn't wake up today and Satan appeared to us and says, I'm here to deceive you and accuse you. Stand back. Right? Like that's not typically how it operates. If you think you saw Satan this morning and that was the message he told you, let me just tell you after service, you should probably come talk to me, right? But rather he employs certain tangible ways of demonstrating these concepts, these ideas.

And so how does that enemy work in our life? This is what Revelation chapter 13 helps us begin to understand, so that you and me as God's people, we have a way that we can respond in light of the tactics of the enemy. And in fact, that's what we're going to talk about today in Revelation chapter 13, being battle ready believers. What is what does this look like for us to be able to fight the adversary and more importantly, live for the glory of God in this world, knowing his desire is to destroy you and me. Let me give you a point. Number one in the notes. And then we're going to walk through this passage together. But point number one is this Satan seeks to challenge you through worldly power. Satan seeks to challenge you through worldly power. And one of the reasons I want us to highlight worldly power. There's a few things. One is this idea that, there's two kingdoms presented in Revelation. There's God's kingdom, and then there's the fallen Babylonian kingdom. The fallen Babylonian kingdom is representative of one that's led by the dragon or Satan. And so there's this decision over your life of what kingdom you're going to live for. And the way it represents itself, for the kingdom of darkness is through worldly power, Right.

The other thing, when we as we begin to read Revelation chapter 13, we're going to see that he's specifically talking about political power. But here's what I want you to know. It's important to see we want to be true to the passage of Scripture that he's talking here about political power. There's a reason for that, as we will start to unfold it here. But I want you to know, to not just get enamored by the idea of political power right now, Satan can certainly use political power, right? Politicians can be in the hands of the enemy. But here's more importantly, what I want you to know when we talk about worldly power is that God has given all of us a power in some way. All of us have certain abilities, and what your life is surrendered to will be determined by how that power then is employed or deployed. Right. So what you're what your life is given over to will then determine how that power is exercised. So in a in a broader sense when it comes to worldly power, this can include everyone, right? What kingdom your heart belongs to will then demonstrate why the power that you have, or how the power that you have is leverage. What? What it's truly trying to honor. And so we can take the power God has given us and use it for his glory to the blessing of others.

Or we can take the power God has given us and use it for our glory, to the detriment of others. And this is what we see represented through Satan's kingdom. And he's using this illustration through political power and this force or this use of power then brings about certain things that we need to be aware of as God's people and how we navigate in this world. But let me just show you in Revelation chapter 13, verse one. I'm just going to work through these first four verses and just explain to you why John is saying what he says, because this is a rather interesting way of saying it. But in verse one he says, and I saw a beast rising out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its head. We've already read a little bit about the idea of horns and heads and no doubt this is an interesting illustration, is it not? You ever imagined seeing this in your life? The natural result is it's okay if you pass out and pee your pants. Either of those things is completely acceptable. If you were to see this. Right. But what John is doing is he's illustrating for us a greater picture. And so when he's talking about this beast, what's what's important to recognize is that Revelation chapter 13 is really presenting to us an unholy trinity.

I've told you that Satan has this way of mimicking everything that God does. And one of the ways he's mimicking is we're going to find in Revelation 13 is this picture of a holy trinity. You're going to see in verses one to ten, talking about a first beast, and then verse 11 to 18 talking about a second beast. And the one that's employing these two beasts is the dragon. So when we think about how the dragon is tangibly operating, operating in this world, He picks two henchmen henchmen to exercise these ideas of deception and accusation, right? The first beast representing the first henchman. The second beast represents the second henchman. Henchman. This dragon demonstrates God the Father in a way. The first beast represents Jesus in a way, and we'll see this as the passage unfolds. And the Last beast represents the Holy Spirit in an unholy trinity. And when this beast comes to into the story, it tells us it's risen out of the sea. And this is important because you're going to read it at the very end of Revelation that God does away with the sea. Now, some people can take that literal and think, well, what God's saying is, there's no water ever. Like you'll never have to drink again, which means you'll never have to pee again, I guess. But some people take that very literally, right? But what's more important is to understand how the Hebrews understood the idea of what water was.

And from the beginning of Genesis, they had this concept of water that was played out where oftentimes water represented chaos, this place of orderliness. And so this beast is arising out of the water to demonstrate chaos. And when you get to the end of Revelation, the reason that God says there is no more water is to demonstrate God has brought order or shalom back to life. Peace. But here's this beast rising out. His intentions are chaotic towards us. And then you see these ten horns and seven heads. And you'll read more about this in Revelation 17, where it specifically tells us the ten horns are represented leaders, political leaders, and then the seven heads represent seven hills. And the city of Rome was known as the City of Seven Hills. And so John is pointing to this idea of Roman Empire, because the Roman Empire is oppressing God's people, and the rulers are being leveraged for Satan's purposes rather than God. And it's weighing on God's people. Now, some people, when they look at these ten, these idea of these ten horns that represent power and specifically political power rulers. They typically try to figure out what ten rulers are we specifically talking about here? But rather I think the idea of ten represents that when power is given, people can leverage that to the detriment of others.

And here political leaders are doing this. And you see that through the diadems representing these, the idea of crowns and its horns and blasphemous names on its head. So it's saying they're leveraging their power, certainly for their glory rather than God's, because the idea of blasphemy is going against the Lord. And then, as it describes this piece, look at this, it says, and the beast that I saw was like a leopard. Only it wasn't. Its feet were like a bear. Only it wasn't really fully a leopard or a bear. Its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads, when you read the rest, one of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its wounds was healed, and the whole earth marveled at the that followed the beast. And then verse four, and they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like the beast? And who can fight against it? So as John is describing for us this beast, he says something very interesting in verse two that this person is very good at breeding interesting animals together. Right. We know that this is not a possibility, but rather what John is saying to us is he wants us to understand the idea of these political powers and what they represented in the past.

In fact, when John is quoting here, what he's actually doing is quoting from the book of Daniel chapter seven, and in Daniel chapter seven, God has given a prophecy to his people, and he's reminding them of the world empires that are to come that will be oppressive. They'll use their power and abandoning God, blasphemous, blasphemy, and living for the kingdom of darkness. And in Daniel chapter seven, these different political powers are represented by animals. The first, the First Empire is represented by a leopard. The Second Empire is represented by a bear and the third represented by a lion. And now Daniel is saying, really? That's been empires throughout the ages, that when you think about how this has played out, that empires have come and gone and they continue to perpetuate themselves, and they will often leverage their power to the detriment of others. And so John wants us to be aware that this has happened. This is continuing to happen. And then he even uses this illustration of a mortal wound that you might think the empires are passing away, but they keep getting resurrected over and over again. And in this particular illustration, John is borrowing imagery from an individual known as Nero. Nero was an emperor during the days of the Apostle Paul and Peter. It's believed that when Peter and Paul were martyred, it was under the reign of Nero.

Nero was such a tyrannical ruler against Christians that he blamed Christians at one point for a fire that broke out in a room. And in order to punish Christians, though, it wasn't their fault. Some people think Nero actually started the fire. He took Christians and he tortured them. He killed them. He used their bodies to illuminate his gardens. At night when he would throw extravagant parties. They were used as torches. And so Nero was looked at as this figure that ultimately represented what the beast was about. In fact, Nero sometimes was referred to as the beast because Nero was such a vicious ruler. At one point he even killed his mother in order to cling to his power. He thought she was a threat to him. Nero was a very dark ruler, using his power to oppress people. And so John is taking this as an illustration of the example of power unchecked, not bent to the Lord, but rather for self is to the detriment of others. And the ultimate culmination of that is seen when political leaders use their power to leverage against others. Now, this doesn't mean you need to go obsess about every political leader looking for corruption in this world. It's certainly their right. And it doesn't mean to get Uber fixated on this avenue, but rather understand how power is leveraged. And the way that power is used to accomplish Satan's purposes.

This these beasts becomes this instrument for Satan's glory to the point that you see in verse four the question that people are asking here, who is like the beast and who can fight against it? I mean, the people have gotten to this place where either they recognize the beast has this power and therefore might as well give over to it. Or they've gotten sort of to this fatalist mentality where they're like, what can we possibly do? And because they can't find a solution, they think to themselves rather than war against it and find ourselves the enemy of this beast. We'd rather join with him because we can't stand against him. We're too weak. But the question we should ask ourselves is personally, who can stand against it? And can I just tell you? The answer is you can, you can. And the greater question maybe we should ask in light of that is. But how? How can we stand against this beast? You know, we don't want to certainly go out and just start attacking people like, oh, this beast is at work. So let's just let's just start fighting, everybody. Let's get this beast out of here. That's not that's not the answer to the to the problem here. But I want you to know that from Genesis, the book of Genesis, the Bible has made it very clear that there are two forces at work all the way from the very beginning.

There's God, who created all of his creation for his purposes. Right. A light to live for his glory, his kingdom. But then in the in the Garden of Eden, you also were introduced to Satan and darkness and using things for his glory and in his purpose to the destruction of others. I mean, that's the intention of the serpent. That's what he made known to us all through the last chapter. And you know what's interesting? When God created everything for his glory, for his purposes, the Bible tells us on the last day of his creative work that the crown of his creation was you and me. Right? And it tells you a little bit further that you're also made in the image of God in Genesis 126 and 27, meaning the tangible way in which God's glory is made known in this world is through his representatives. And you and I are made in the image of God to represent him. We're sort of, in that sense, priestly representatives of the Lord in this world. And when our hearts are given over to him, we live for that. For that reason, we live for that purpose. Meaning, a lot of times in life we might be praying for God to give an answer here. God, do something here. Not sometimes recognizing that the answer has already been given, which is you.

God made you to be the expression demonstration of his image and glory in this world. You're his mouthpiece. Your. You're his hands and feet. The expression of the Lord made known in life. And as we consider our position and the sacred gift that it is to represent the Lord, we also recognize there is an enemy. And let me just tell you, when we when we recognize this, how important it is for us to act, to do, to honor God in the way that we live our lives. Because if you don't, Satan will. I mean, you think all the way back from the story of Eden with Adam and Eve, when the serpent tempts Eve, the Bible tells us that Adam is standing right beside of her. And when he didn't act using his power, God given power for God's glory. He rather responded selfishly, and he handed things over to the enemy. When we don't act, Satan will. Satan seeks to challenge us through worldly power. But there's two key truths that John also wants to remind us of. And he shows us this in verse 6 to 11, these two key truths. Excuse me. Verse 5 to 11, these two key truths. And I want you to see verse five. He says it like this. And the beast was given a mouth, uttering haughty and blasphemous words, using his power for his glory. And it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months.

First thing that he wants us to recognize is Satan's tactics are temporary. Satan's tactics are temporary. He shows us this in verse five by reminding us that yes, yes, he is at work, but there is an end to his rule and authority. And he does this by talking about 42 months. And we've discussed this for the last few weeks. What? 42 months represents. And if you if you weren't here, let me just remind you, if you've forgotten, let me remind you. This comes from the book of Daniel, chapter nine, specifically verse 24 to 27. And if you remember in the book of Daniel, God's people during this time are in captivity and they're wondering, is God forgotten them? Or God's promise is going to be faithful? Will he carry out what he said he would carry out? And in those questions, God responds by telling them a prophecy about 70 weeks. And each one of those weeks represents seven years. So it's 490 years, and it's laying out this timeline for Israel, showing them the promises that are to be delivered, the Messiah that's come, and God bringing ultimate jubilee, ultimate peace, ultimate Shalom for them that 490 years, every 49 years they would celebrate a jubilee, 490 years is times ten. So it's this ultimate jubilee, the restoring of all things. And so when you when you watch Daniel's prophecy unfold, it's a prophecy of when they'll return from captivity.

It's a prophecy when the Messiah will come. It's a prophecy when all things will culminate in him bringing peace. But when you read about this Daniel's prophecy, you see that the last week of the prophecy, the final part of that prophecy has not been fulfilled. And finally, what you see in the book of Revelation is those final moments of those prophecy is now coming to culmination. It's going to be fulfilled that Satan's power, Satan's authority, it has an end in mind. And this becomes important for you and me to consider, because when we feel like we've been attacked by an enemy, sometimes the weight of the adversary can feel so great that we get to that place where we're asking the question, who can stand against it? I might as well give in, because what I feel right now is hopeless, and I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. And verse five is that reminder that while you can't see the light, there is one who does, and who is that light? And rather than look in your own strength, the key for us as God's people is to recognize the power has never been in us, but rather in the one who's been victorious. When you feel the oppression of life, can I just tell you that we find ourselves in those moments, often susceptible to the way of the enemy? But what is important to remind ourselves is that the enemy's power is temporal.

And in verse six, it goes on, and it opened its mouth to utter blasphemous blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. And it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them, and authority was given it over every tribe and people, and language and nation, and all the people who dwell on the earth will worship everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world and the book of Life of the lamb who was slain. Let me read these last few verses here. Verse nine. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to be taken captive to captivity, he goes. If anyone is to be slain with the sword. With the sword, must he be slain? Here is a call for the endurance of the faith of the saints. Here you see the enemy's tactic of oppression. We recognize it's temporal. But it's important to recognize what Satan desires to do with his power is oppress you. And the reason he wants to oppress you is because it brings us to this place of desperation. And in desperation, we often feel defeated. Some of the most foolish decisions we make in our life come from places of desperation, wanting to seek a solution because we need temporal relief.

If we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. So rather than continue to move forward, we give in and we give up. The enemy loves to use power to discourage and defeat. And here in this passage, it's certainly playing out in the way that he works. I was I've been reminded a few times, as I've traveled the world in certain situations where the depravity screamed at me so much that just seeing the hands of the enemy. It's a couple of events have happened in my life where I just I churn it constantly that when I, when I move in this world, I try to figure out how can God use me to leverage the power he has given me for his glory rather than for the enemy, knowing his time is temporal. I remember there was one time, and I won't tell you what country I was in, but I remember I was visiting a particular country and in this country I came across a woman who was holding a baby, it looked like at first. And the child was in such a difficult state, it was severely emaciated. It was barely clinging on to life. And it took everything within me not to just want to give her all I had in that moment. Like, I don't know, whatever, we need to change this. You can have everything in my wallet. It's all yours, right? It's a terrible situation.

And then as I looked at the child a little bit closer, I realized that child was not a baby. It was somewhere. It was old enough to be in elementary school, but it had been so emaciated, emaciated, it was difficult to tell at what age the child might be. But it was definitely an older child. And then as I was there with a friend, the friend began to highlight for me what was exactly happening, happening in that situation. They said it would not be wise to give any money to this person. And then they told me why, that it's likely this individual is standing on the side of the street being pimped out. The mafia is using this person and somewhere around us there's someone watching her, along with other ladies down the street. And as soon as someone gives them something, they go and take it and they just hand them back. A little bit of change and it's a possibility. This child is not even her child, that it might be a child that somehow she was able to get her hands on. And she has the means to provide more for this child, but she's not giving anything to the child in order to make the child look as desperate as possible to get money from you and to help the situation is actually it's not helpful to give money. In fact, what you're doing is enhancing the problem.

You're perpetuating the issue. It is. It is wild to think about when human beings feel desperate, how far we're willing to go. And it's also worth considering that sometimes what I immediately think is the best solution isn't helpful to the circumstance. And what really needs to take place in a situation like that is for someone to step into the oppression to leverage their strength, not just money, but to leverage their strength to help a circumstance of many desperate people. And it's the same thing for you and for me. I'm glad if in your heart there is this desire to serve Jesus. But let me just encourage you to think about the way that the enemy wants to work. Because if you don't stand, he will. And it's more than just throwing a dollar at something. But how can God intentionally use me to make a difference in this world, and the way that I am faithful to what he has called me to? You can't solve every problem, but God can use you, certainly to do something. And when we get to that place of desperation, when we feel hopeless because we feel oppressed by power above us, we can. It can lead us down to all sorts of paths into the hand of the enemy, whether we're doing this by omission or commission, intentionally or not, we can just despair and give up. But he wants to remind us that the enemy's ways are just temporal.

And when you look throughout Scripture, you find examples of times where God's people, in desperation, gave in to the enemy, like in Genesis chapter 25. When Esau sold his birthright because he was hungry, he thought he was starving. A moment of desperation led to vulnerability, and he made a poor decision. Or when Moses thought he could rescue Israel in his own hands because he knew he was to be a deliverer. And so what he does at the age of 40 is he attacks an Egyptian soldier and kills him, thinking that he is the answer to God's people. But instead Pharaoh finds out about it. And Moses has to spend the next 40 years of his life in hiding this place of desperation. Saul who was king in first Samuel chapter 13, he, rather than wait for Samuel to show up, to make a sacrifice before they went into battle, Saul, the king, took things, matters into his own hands, and sacrificed against the Lord's will. And because of that he was deposed from being king. And out of desperation. Judas, when he looked at Jesus, thought Jesus wasn't the true Messiah because he wasn't doing what the Messiah he thought the Messiah should do. And so in Matthew chapter 27, he betrays the Messiah and it tells you in verse three he regretted it deeply. He tried to return the money, and then he runs and he hangs himself.

He makes a long term decision off of a short term problem. Desperation has this way of putting us in that place by filling oppressed by the enemy. But what's important to remind us is that his power is limited. His serving is just temporal. So that point number two, we also step into this. We prepare with faithful endurance. We prepare with faithful endurance. Don't let desperation make you a pawn for the enemy. And we get to that place where we ask the question, who can fight against it? And desperation, though, is not our destiny. It's not who God calls us to be, but rather to remember the hope that we have in the gospel. It may be true that you've been victim of the enemy and you've made you've made terrible decisions and you've leveraged things for his glory rather than God's. But just because that doesn't mean we have to say, oh well, as a fatalist and just throw our hands up and say, whatever will be will be. This is just how it's been. So I might as well stay here. Who can stay against the enemy? But rather remind ourselves that in Christ the hope and the future is always for us a brighter light because of he who works within us, the enemy. It may war against us, but the Bible tells you in second Timothy one seven that he doesn't work with fear, but rather the way of God is power, love, and a sound mind.

And so, rather than to step into that, it's to remind ourselves to be faithful and endurance. And this is what he says at the very end, right? He says, he who has an ear to hear, let him hear. Verse nine, he's saying, look, wake yourself up to this. This is this is the tactic of the enemy. When you're despairing, you're vulnerable. And if you're vulnerable. This is exactly how he likes to work in your life. But rather than put your focus on the darkness, remember he is he is temporal and his power and the greater light has come. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear. Look at the very end of verse ten. He says, here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints. What he's saying is, root yourself deeply in the truth of who God is, not necessarily in your power, but rather in God's power. And sometimes we might be taking those steps and we just say to the Lord God, I'm not seeing the fruit yet, but God reminds us, stay faithful because the fruit is coming. In fact, in Galatians chapter six verse verse eight nine, it says this the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. Faithful endurance. God's kingdom will prevail. So one way Satan likes to work is through power. Political power we see here, but broadly through power. He accuses you through power. He makes us feel powerless. He can. That is one of the tactics. But you are not powerless in Christ. But the other one he uses. Point number two Satan seeks to deceive you through false religion. False religion. We looked at the idea of deception in verse 12, but the means he uses through this practically is false religion. Now I want you to know this can be specific religion or just this could be the general idea of a belief that what we believe determines what we do as people. And if our believing is wrong, our actions will certainly be wrong. It could be actions led through a structured religion, or it can be an in structured, unstructured religion. Either way, this is what he's saying. This is the enemy's tactics. And he goes on and he says to us, verse 11, then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon, and its exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence.

It makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose mortal wound was healed. So here it is, like you see these beasts playing as the Holy Spirit and Jesus. Jesus is the one who died and rose again. And this beast, the first beast, had a mortal wound and was resurrected. And the second beast is glorifying the first beast, which is the whole role of the Holy Spirit to make much of Jesus in your life. Verse 13, it performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to the earth in front of the people, and by the signs that is allowed to work in the presence of the beast and deceives those who dwell in the earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the of the beast might even speak, and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also, it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand and on the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark that is the name of the beast, or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is six, six, six.

Now what does that mean, right? Wouldn't we all like to know what six, six, six means? Well, let me just say a few things as we look at this. You see, you're seeing the unholy trinity unfold here. But there are two key truths that are important to understand in this tactic of the enemy. The first is this Satan disguises himself as a false Christ. I don't think Satan has a problem with the with the name of Jesus, because there are a lot of people walking in this world talking about Jesus, but it's not the biblical Jesus, and therefore that Jesus has no power. It's a made up Jesus, and Satan disguises himself as a false Jesus. You see this as Satan continuing to mimic the things of God and the place. You see it as in verse 11 when you read in verse 11, look at this. It's very interesting when it describes this beast. It describes the beast as a lamb, but speaks like a dragon. It looks like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon. What an interesting way to talk about Satan's tactic. It looks good, but it will destroy your life, right? It looks good, but it's the thing that it says that gives itself away. And this is important for you and me to understand. Because when it comes to darkness in this world, the way that darkness often appears is a false light, a false hope.

And then when you put your trust in it, what you find out is it cannot deliver. And now you've given yourself over to it. And so this is what it's saying about Satan is it looks good. It looks like the lamb. But what it says, it speaks like the dragon. And this is what it's saying to you and to me, how important it is to know the voice of God. How important it is to get to know your God. Because in knowing your God, you're going to understand that when any other message comes against you or comes to you, whether or not it's a voice from the Lord or not, because the way you begin to recognize your God, you know his voice and you know what he says because you know His Word and therefore you're able to decipher, is this truly a message of the Lord, or is this a message of the enemy? And so the way Satan likes to disguise himself as is one who is a false Christ, and the way that we identify him is through recognizing really the Word of God. Lord, who are you and what is it you desire for your people? And how do I begin to understand that? And the way he's playing this out, for us to understand the significance of this is through this idea of six, six, six.

Now, what is six, six, six? I'll tell you, it was the Covid vaccine. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. It's not. That's not it. That's not true. That's not true. If that if that hurt your feelings. I'm sorry. You can find a different church. I'm just kidding. I'm sorry. Listen, don't do that. But. But let me just say this. Six, six, six is important to understand, okay? For the Hebrew people, this is what makes it important. Hebrew people practice what's called gematria. Okay? I don't know that. They say, okay, now we're practicing gematria. This is our way. We summarize it, but in English we have letters for the alphabet. And then we have symbols for numbers. Right. And so depending on what you're talking about, that's what you go to your numbers or your letters. Hebrews don't have that. What they have is letters. And then they ascribe value to each of their letters. So sometimes their letters can represent numbers and sometimes their letters represent letters. But in any case, you always see a letter, and it's either a number or a letter depending on what they're using it for. And that's what's happening in this story. This idea is 666 is representative of the beast, not just the beast. It's actually Nero Caesar. If you take Nero Caesar's name in Hebrew and you take the word beast in Hebrew, both of them equate to 666 and the number, if you remember, in studying in revelation number seven, is the number of God.

It's the number of completeness. Number six when God created in the beginning, he made in seven days. Number six is the number of man, and the number of man is an imperfect number. And so what he's saying is they've given themselves over to imperfection, rulers of this world that will not deliver what has been promised. And so we have this tendency as people to trust in things we were never intended for. So therefore here's another response. Number two. Therefore I Therefore, I will deepen my heart in godly wisdom. I will deepen my heart in godly wisdom. This is. This is what it says at the very end in verse 18. This calls for wisdom. Knowing the way that the enemy wants to work in your life. What is important for you and for me is to seek wisdom. And wisdom is more than just knowledge, right? It's to understand what is true, but allow that truth to travel to my heart to then be applied to my life. Wisdom is the practical outworking of knowledge. And so, God, I want to know your truth, but I also want to live it my life because I'm surrendered to you rather than the enemy. And he paints this picture of Phylactery. So we're like, if you read in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy chapter six, Deuteronomy chapter 11, the Jewish people were told to bind God's word to your head and to your forehead, and it shows what their heart is truly surrendered to.

Their life for the Lord. But now, here in this story, rather than surrender to the Lord, their minds and their hands are bound to Satan, to the to the dragon to serve the beast, and therefore for his glory. And so he's saying, look, you need to understand that what God wants to do is take his truth in your life, that you could apply it as wisdom for living, that you could defeat the enemy. To know that when he speaks, though he may look like a lamb, he is truly a dragon, and you therefore will know what to follow to allow the truth of God not only in your mind, but to let it churn within your soul, that you live for his glory, because the enemy's days are numbered, and therefore you have the opportunity to walk in victory. You think in terms of what wisdom is for us. The people in this story are certainly applying foolishness rather than wisdom. Foolishness carries the idea of taking the temporal pleasure and forsaking the long term gain. Wisdom is denying the temporal pleasure. For the glory that is to become. Wisdom thinks long term. God, what is your plan? Because I know the enemy is just temporal.

And if I stay faithful, there will be a fruit. God, help me to stay faithful as I learn your word. As I know you more. The enemy's desires to defeat. But we see that his plan is through, is through power. We see his plan is through deception, false teaching. But for us as God's people is to remember his plan is just temporal. And therefore we have an opportunity in these moments to stand. Because if we don't, the enemy will. But if we stand in the Word of God, that God will bring harvest on the back end for you and for me. You know, it's interesting when you study this idea and I need to close with this a couple of things here. When you study this idea in Scripture, what's interesting is when God created us in Genesis chapter one, verse 26 and 27, he said, his desire for you and for me was to rule over rule over the beasts of the field. But when we denied God. Rather than rule over the beast, we became like the beast. And in so doing, the beast began to rule over us. God's desire for us, rather than let that beast have victory, is to walk in the victory of him. There is this man by the name of William Cowper. William William Cowper was an individual who famous in church history last couple couple centuries. But growing up as a young man, he suffered tremendously.

At five years old, his mother passed away and his older brother abused him severely for several years. He ended up when he became of age. He went on to school, became a lawyer, and when he began to practice law very early in his law practice, he had a nervous breakdown and quit. And in that despairing moment of his life, he happened to come across a across a friend and that friend's name was John Newton. And if you know anything about John Newton, he was the writer of Amazing Grace. He was a slave trader that gave his life to Jesus, and that becoming a pastor became a great hymn writer. He met William Cowper, who was struggling. He was a shell of a man, in fact. I mean, you look at this picture and be like, yeah, he got something. Something's a little different here because he decided to get a picture painted of himself and paid someone to paint this picture with his nightcap on, like, you got to sit there a long time to get your picture, and you're like, I know I'll do it in my nightcap, right? But when you look at this guy's photos that he had painted of him in history, you find that this is probably one of his better ones. So he's an interesting character. But here's what I want you to know about him is he also struggled throughout his life.

And when he met John Newton, John Newton knew he had a brilliant mind and encouraged him to write hymns. And he wrote hymns that Christians still sing today. One is there is a fountain filled with blood. And it sounds like an interesting title, but it's a it's a it's a famous hymn that's been an encouragement to saints throughout the years. But the reason I bring this up is to say this. Sometimes the path in life we have walked is hard. And sometimes what it looks for us to walk in strength might be different than someone else. But there is a point to recognize. We do need each other. And when we give ourselves over to the glory of God, God can take the brokenness of our life and do a beautiful thing. You know William Cowper, he still struggled throughout his life, but the Lord still used him. In fact, we can even say today that the things that he did for the Lord people still see as encouragement for their own soul. And the same is true for you and for me. The enemy may have inflicted damage upon us, but he doesn't get the victory. And the way that we refuse to allow him to have it is remember, his power is but temporal. And what you have in Christ is forever.