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I'll be reading from Isaiah chapter 45, beginning in verse 18. Isaiah 45, beginning in verse 18. For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, he is the God who formed the earth and made it. He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited.

I am the Lord, and there is no else. I have not spoken in secret in some dark land. I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, seek me in a waste place. I, the Lord, speak righteousness, declaring things that are upright. Gather yourselves and come. Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations.

They have no knowledge, who carry about their wooden idol and pray to a God who cannot save. Declare, set forth your case. Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides me, a righteous God and a Savior.

There is none except me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God. And there is no other. I have sworn by myself, the word has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness and will not turn back. That to me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.

They will say of me, only in the Lord are righteousness and strength. Men will come to him, and all who were angry at him will be put to shame. In the Lord, all the offspring of Israel will be justified and will glory. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we see in this passage your goodness.

We see your goodness in creation, that you have created a wonderful place, not a wasteland. You did not speak in some quiet place, but you have announced boldly and openly and clearly through all generations who you are and your goodness. Father, you created a wonderful place, a place to be inhabited, a place that should commend us just by creation alone, to seek you, to find you, and to see your goodness.

Father, but it is the vain pursuits of our hearts, the idols that we have made, work of our own hands, that we have bowed down and worshipped that which is false and replaced that which is true. Father, but we see also your generous invitation, though we We have defected and gone our own way, yet, Father, you still in love pursued us.

Father, it was you who strive with us. It is you who love humanity. It is you who are true and good and thoroughly good. And it is you who are generous in your invitation to come. And you seek those to worship you from all nations. And it's our privilege, Lord, though we are here on the ends of the earth that we seek you.

We've taken you up on your invitation to come before you and present ourselves to you. And Father, it is because of your righteous blood that was shed for us and your life-giving spirit that awakens us and applies the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Father, you have changed us, you have transformed us on the inside.

And it is because of that that we give thanks to you, that we want to live our lives for you, that we ask forgiveness when we fail you. And so this morning, Lord, it's in knowing who you are, your goodness, your mercy, and the adequacy and sufficiency of your sacrifice for us and your advocacy on our behalf that we come and present ourselves before you.

We sing before you. We celebrate before you in truth and in spirit this morning. For such is what you desire. Father, be exalted here. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, once again, good morning. And please turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 13. Revelation chapter 13. I'll be reading from verses 11 through 18.

Revelation 13, beginning in verse 11. Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns, like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose fatal wound was healed.

He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak. And causes many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead.

And he provides that no one will be able to buy or sell except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man, and his number is 666.

Well, happy Father's Day. Well, Father's Day is a good time to reflect upon lasting legacies, lasting impressions. It's what fatherhood is about, isn't it? About being about that which is lasting and that which leaves an eternal legacy. Our text this morning is really about two empires: an empire that's going to last and an empire that has a very short span of time.

In fact, as we've already read, we're making our way through the Book of Revelation, the heyday of this final empire is 42 months. That's when it's at its peak, a 42-month reign. But contrasting with that, as we're working our way through Revelation, we're also recognizing that there is another reign of another king that is eternal.

You know, there's something fundamentally flawed about a 42-month reign. Why can't it endure? Why can it only last 42 months? There's something fundamentally flawed. And so, as we turn our attention back to chapter 13 of Revelation, we are again reminded of this final earthly empire and the religion that supports it and the temporariness of it and its inability to stand even a short period of time in human history.

Well, just to review where we've been in chapter 13, there are three major players. There are three major players in chapter 13. There is the dragon, there is the beast from the sea. We looked at him last time. That we were together on this text. He is the beast from the sea, and then there is the beast of the earth.

The dragon, the beast of the sea, and the beast of the earth. Many refer to this as the unholy trinity. The dragon, who is the mind behind this final empire. He is a distorted imitation of God. There is the beast of the sea, which is the distorted image of the incarnation of God, the Antichrist.

And then there is the beast from the earth, which we'll look at today, which is the false prophet, so-called in chapter 16, verse 13 and other places. He is the distorted imitation of the Holy Spirit. And what you end up with at this final worldwide empire is a church, religion, government.

Nothing new under the sun happening here. You're just going to see the culmination of it all. In fact, as we go through, you'll see many of these themes have already been laid out in human history. The working of evil, it's one heart, coming out of the personification of evil, the dragon here, the devil, Satan, accuser of the brethren, all these names.

His persona operates the same. He is a liar, he is a murderer. He seeks to control humanity, and he does it through governmental institution and false religion. And many times, in fact, most of the time, as you see this through history, these two are married: church, state, false religion, and state.

If you're going to control people, you've got to do more than just control the political institutions. You've got to control the thinking, which is fundamentally religious in nature. And so, throughout time, this concept of religion, state, has been prevalent. Nothing new. There's going to be a time when, again, you see this empire and religion, false religion, come together in a unity to accomplish what the dragon has in his heart.

We already saw in chapter 12 the woman, the dragon, and the child. There is a hatred on the part of the dragon toward the woman, but more specifically, toward the child who is going to reign forever and ever. And so this is the. Basic conflict, Satan, Christ. And he can't destroy the child.

He's frustrated there. Child is caught up into heaven. Goes after the woman, frustrated there, launches an attack against heaven, cannot do anything there. It's kicked out by Michael and his angels. And so you have in chapter 13 the expression of the rage. There's nothing left. He can't attack heaven.

He can't even do away with this woman. And so he takes out his hatred as it says, verse 17. So the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her children who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus Christ.

And so his hatred is going to be expressed through a political empire and a false religion coming together. Orchestrating all of this is the dragon. This worldwide Antichrist government and religion comes together. Control, the political and the religious. But as we've already seen, it's going to be short-lived.

Contrasting with the eternal king is this temporary expression of hatred toward God and toward his Christ and those who follow his Christ. So it's going to be this expression of hatred, this final kingdom. And it's largely emotional. It's not so much calculated as to victory. He already has been cast out of heaven.

But it's more of an emotional rage. And so it's temporary. Why is it temporary? It's temporary because it's flawed. It's flawed. And this morning I want you to see four flaws of Satan's final empire so that you will certainly not be afraid of it and that you would be active in doing what God has called you to do in your place and time.

Well, the first fundamental flaw is that it exalts fallen man. And this is what false religion does: it exalts fallen man. Look at verse 11. Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon.

You remember the first beast coming out? Saul back in chapter 13 and verse 1. Then I saw a beast coming out of the sea, having ten horns, seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.

This is a hideous creature coming up out of the sea, seeing the horns first, and then the heads, and the body, and all that. It's a grotesque figure that John sees. But then he sees another beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, like a little nubs of a lamb.

Now, lambs are cute. They're unassuming, approachable, seemingly guileless, innocent. The previous beast was horrifying, and this second beast is the opposite. And yet, his speech is consistent with the dragon. Had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. He's serpent-like, unassuming, lamb-like, but dragon-like. You can see how false religion works.

But it's fundamental flaws, it's going to exalt fallen man. Look back at verse 12. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose fatal wound was healed. So notice where his authority comes from.

This lamb has authority. It comes from the head of the state, the head of the state or the empire. That's where his power comes from. His authority. He exercises all of the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast.

Worship, the idea to bow down, to admire, or certainly to obey, to fall in line. So his purpose is to help out, to strengthen the first beast. Get people to admire this head of state, this political leader. And there's a distinguishing mark. It's a fatal wound. Literally, the wound that killed him, whose wound, whose fatal wound was healed.

Fatal means killed. Whose wound that killed him was healed. It's some sort of imitation resurrection. You're going to see a lot of imitation things happening throughout this chapter. But here's the problem: is that anything that exalts fallen man is flawed at the core, and it's going to pass.

For a legacy to be enduring, it needs to exalt the king of kings. Not fallen man, even the best of men, even the highest of men. No, anything to be lasting from your life or my life is to be that which exalts the true king. So the problem with false religion is that it exalts fallen man.

Proverbs 16:18 says, Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling. You know, as many as you know, June has been set aside by many in our society to be pride month. I'm very surprised that we seem to have become a culture that hasn't learned anything from the Bible.

Even the most basic concept in the Bible is that pride goes before destruction. All kinds of pride, all manifestations of pride. If there's anything we can learn from the Bible, it's that we are to be humble before God. The very last thing we are to be is proud.

Proud about anything, immoral pride, religious pride, self-righteous pride, self-pride, whatever form you put in there, is going to meet with the frown of God. Self-exaltation ultimately ends in ruin, whatever form that may be. And certainly, that is the persona. Of the dragon, the beast, the false prophet. They're all about fallen man, pride of earth, manifest, organized, and tyrannical.

And we can understand this even as when these events take place. And I know there are many that may put these events in the past. I see them in the future. Some see them as ongoing. But certainly there's a lesson here for us. Anything that exalts itself is sure to meet the frown of God.

You're not going to leave a lasting legacy. You want to bring your family under the judgment of God? Be proud. Dad, be proud. Mom, be proud. Children, be proud. You want to bring destruction upon your family? Give a license to self-exaltation or exalt fallen humanity. The first thing we are to do, and especially fathers, the first thing we are to do is to humble ourselves.

Be the first in your family to show what true humility looks like. Humility is necessary for a lasting legacy. You want to leave anything good for your kids? Let them understand that you are a man who walks in humility, that you humbled yourself before Almighty God. If they don't see you doing that, don't expect them to learn it from anyone else.

A humble dad is the strength of any home. Humility is the basis for any lasting legacy. Putting God where God is or deserves, recognizing, bowing down before Him. So, Satan's final empire, it's all about fallen man, exalting fallen man. Fatal flaw. It will come to ruin. And that's why, even in its strength and heyday, there's only 42 months assigned to it.

It's flawed fundamentally. Second flaw of Satan's final empire is it has to deceive people. It has to deceive people. It has to rely on deception instead of truth. Look at verse 13. He performs great signs, speaking of this lamb-like, dragon-like person. He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of man.

So he is a great miracle worker. And he's even able to make fire come down from heaven. You remember what's happening in chapter 11? You got two witnesses, and guess what they have the power to do? Bring fire down from heaven, legitimate fire from heaven. You remember Elijah?

So here you have these, you remember the magicians in Egypt? You see this pattern. Satan always mimics that which is true and authentic. So you have at the same time, 42-month period, you have the witnesses there in Jerusalem. And God is leaving even this dark time, in this dark time, witnesses to truth, evidence of his heart, for the nations, keep calling the nations to turn.

But notice he is a great miracle worker, but he has deception in his heart. Look back at verse 14. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

Think about, so he's a deceitful. He's using his miracles to deceive. Now, there's two aspects at which these deception, you can think about deception on two kinds of level. Number one, the first deals with the miracles themselves. Are the miracles themselves fabrications? Are they authentic? Are they true?

Or are they false? The second deals with idolatry and the wrong object of worship. What is the authenticity of these miracles? He may be doing like the magicians. At some point, they were able to copy, but then at some point they couldn't copy. Well, there's nothing in the text that says these miracles are not authentic or real.

So they may be, they may not be. But one thing is evident: what he does with the miracles is he deceives people into worshiping that which is not God. So even if the miracles were authentic, they lead people to worship a false God, to make an image, make an image to the beast.

So you can see the outcome of his. Efforts is this false image of worship and probably set up in the temple. Probably, that's where the focal point. When you get to chapter 11, your attention is taken to Jerusalem. You've got the ministry of the two witnesses happening there.

And you have this beast come out, beast of the sea, and now you have this false prophet making an image of worship. What does that image look like? It probably looks just like the man, the beast. He's so intoxicated with himself. And we've seen this in history. You know, you've seen people making an image to themselves, calling on people to bow down and worship it.

You see that with even in the temple. You see Antiochus Epiphanes putting an idol there to Zeus. So doing this even in the temple is not something we haven't seen before, but it's all going to come together. And you can also, it's not difficult for us to understand that this individual is speaking of this lamb-like, dragon-like individual, is like the head of a priesthood.

We'd probably call him something like an archbishop. He's not just He's not operating in isolation. In fact, he's probably the head of a whole bunch of false priests. Worshiping a false God takes a lot of administration. It takes a lot of people. And so you see this. You saw that with Jezebel and all of her priestesses and priests of Baal and the numbers involved.

So it takes, in fact, in John's time, remember this book is first written to a bunch of people in Asia Minor. We've read those churches there in Asia Minor, and they were very familiar with this emperor worship. You remember Pergamum, the seat of the worship cult for the emperor, for the imperial worship.

In fact, in John's time, there was this collection or this council called the Commune of Asia. And the chairman of this council was called the Asiarch. And so you think about this, and what they're doing is promoting emperor worship. So you've got in John's time, so the original recipients of this would quickly identify: yeah, there's an emperor.

Cult. Here's the council that is promoting the emperor worship, and the chairman or the president of that is called the Asiarch, and he's the one primarily responsible for promoting emperor worship. In fact, you really see this amp up during Domitian's reign towards the very end of the first century.

In fact, Domitian, his name, even in Latin, he had a name given to himself or assumed the name that was promoted called, basically, I'll translate it, Domitian, our Lord and our God. And that was who he claimed. So you can see this self-exaltation of the political leader, the emperor.

You can see that there. Very much alive. Now, it's, but you can imagine, okay, this isn't hard to understand. You've got this political figure that's already on the scene, and then at this current juncture in time, he takes a greater authority and then comes in the worship of this.

He gets elevated, promoted to deity status. He's got this false prophet who's performing all these kinds of miracles and is deceiving. People. In fact, one commentator refers to him, this false prophet, as the minister of propaganda to elevate. We've seen this before in history. A minister who's exalting the worship of the state or the head of the state.

And people, fundamentally, if you're going to control, they understand, rulers have understood this history. If you're going to rule, if you're going to govern, you've got to have your finger on the, or you have to have your hand around the throat of religion. You have to be able to control the head of religion.

And so here you have this coming together. But the point of this, you certainly see in this text, is that it's a time of great deception. And Jesus spoke of this time. The Mount of Olives sermon at the Olivet Discourse, after in Matthew 24, after the abomination of desolation has taken his place and is standing where he should not be, or certainly his image standing where it should not be, then in verse 23, Jesus says, Then, if anyone says to you, Behold, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe him.

For false Christ and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, even calling fire out of heaven, even in. Apparent resurrection from the dead, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. So the deception will be so profound, so real, that it would deceive the whole world, and if possible, even the elect.

So they said, and so Jesus said, Behold, I've told you everything in advance. So if they say to you, Behold, he is in the wilderness, do not go out. Behold, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe them. For just as lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Any kingdom that has to deceive its people in order to exist is fundamentally flawed. And it's going to have a short shelf life because the truth is going to come out. You can see that in relationships, can't you? You can see that in a home. You can see that in any kind of institution.

Look, if you have to build your life upon deceit, deceiving others, keeping other people in the dark, your legacy is not going to last, or it's certainly not going to be a good one. You may be remembered of. What not to do may become a living monument of what not to do, but not what to do or what not to be.

Proverbs says this: 29:14: If a king judges the poor with truth, his throne will be established forever. Why? Because truth is forever. Truth doesn't change. Any kingdom that has to base itself upon deception is flawed. It's like a house of cards. Truth is going to come out, it will come down.

Psalm 119:160 says this: The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous ordinances is everlasting. Lies are temporary, truth is everlasting. Therefore, walk in truth. If you want to leave a meaningful legacy, an eternal legacy, walk in truth. Build your life upon the truth.

Communicate truth. Walk in truth. Encourage your kids to walk in truth. Dads, that's the best thing we can pass on: a love for the truth. Well, there's a third flaw to Satan's final empire. It's built upon compulsion. It's built upon compulsion. Of its constituents rather than a loving obedience of its constituents.

It's really not an empire that's even loved, not even by its constituents. Look at verse 15. You can see this compulsion in that it is completely intolerant of non-conformists. If you don't conform, it's not going to go well. Look at verse 15. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

So this here's the here's the image. You're to bow down and worship. You're to follow it. If you don't, you're killed. Well, that's happened in history, hasn't it? Remember Daniel chapter 3? You remember Nebuchadnezzar? After Daniel says, I see this great statue in Daniel chapter 2 and the very next thing.

And Nebuchadnezzar's like, yeah, I like that idea of being the head of gold. In fact, I'm going to make this big statue, and then I want everybody to bow down and worship to him because I'm at the top of that thing. Yeah, we've seen this, these Gentile kings that exalt themselves.

They get intoxicated with themselves. This final king of this final kingdom of Antichrist, this imperial ruler, is a really A man who's in love with himself because the persona of the one who energizes him is absolutely in love with himself, and that is the very spirit of evil.

One thing about Satan is he loves himself, he's intoxicated with himself. We're to understand the difference between good and evil, and it has to do with this self-love, and that is at the core of who he is, and so it's going to show up. Satan's final empire. And if you don't conform, away with you.

But also look at this compulsion. It's not only that he's intolerant of non-conformists, but he wants everyone to wear a mark of allegiance. Look at verse 16. And he causes all, this is the false prophet, this lamb-like, dragon-like, he causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the freemen and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead.

Be given a mark. So it's everybody. I mean, there's no one getting out of this. They're all to come under his allegiance. He controls them all. And one of the ways he's going to control them is he wants them to have a mark of allegiance. He wants them to declare that.

Allegiance cannot be silent. And they want you to, he wants this mark to be visible from a distance. He wants their allegiance to be clear. The word for mark is the idea of an imprint, an engraving, etching, a branding, all this. But it's a mark of ownership. What's interesting is you again see this imitation.

Remember in Deuteronomy 6:8, here, O Israel, the Lord is one. You're walking through that passage. And in Deuteronomy 6, 8, God says, These words are to be on your hand or on your forehead. You are to bind them. The words of this law are to characterize you. And so here you see this name of this false God is put upon hands and forehead.

Now this is also something that has happened in history. In the third book of the Maccabees, apocryphal, chapter 2 and verse 28 records an event where in 217 BC, where the Egyptian Jews were Jews had to register their names and then they were branded with an ivy leaf, which was the sign of Dionysus.

So if they were going to be able to survive in that empire, this is the Ptolemy dynasty, after the Greek Empire comes down, they were branded with a leaf of Dionysus to show, and they were to take that. If they weren't, they were killed. But you also see this imitation taking place.

There are those that God has sealed. He has sealed his own. It's God who seals them. The 144,000, they are sealed. And now here you see another sealing that is taking place. But it's clear that what he's after, what Satan is after, is a clear mark of allegiance, clearly identifiable from a distance.

I thought it was funny during the time of masks when they were first introduced during the COVID and airline people. You could see from a distance those who are fine with it, happy with it, and those who just didn't like it. You could just even watch where they're.

Commotion was happening in the plane, and you could see, okay, yeah, that person's got their mask over here. They wouldn't take the. It was clear. It was clear. It was that kind of a, he wants something as clear as that from a distance you can see whether a person is going with the program or not going with the program.

And so that's, and his control, the marking is just part of his control to control individuals, their thinking, but also commerce, the world commerce. Look back at verse 17. And he provides that no one will be able to buy or sell except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

So this individual, he's expecting people to put his name or the number of his name. The name for the word for number is arithmetic, or we get our word arithmetic, the number, arithmetic of his name. But this individual is relying upon compulsion because people aren't willingly coming. He has to.

To put them under compulsion. He really isn't loved. He's just hated less than Christ. These people have already refused to repent after everything that's happened on planet Earth with the trumpets, with the seal judgments. You've seen multitudes coming to Christ, multitudes, great multitude coming to Christ, and people coming from all walks of life and all different nations, seeing the signs, understanding what's taking place, and turning to God.

And then there gets to be a point in Revelation where people just stop repenting and their hearts are like, we recognize the day of the Lord is at hand, but we are not going to bow to God. We hate him. And then on comes the scene of this religious, this political and religious figure that they feel that they can stand.

They're deceived to believe that he can stand against God. And since they hate God more than this individual, they rally behind him. So Antichrist's kingdom is not about what they are for. It's about who they're against. And an ally that's just, you just share the same enemy isn't the same as if you share the same love.

The reason why Christ's kingdom is going to endure forever is because he is truly loved by his people. And he is loved by his people because he first loved them. And he is brought about because of the worthiness of his deed, because of the love that he has for his people and the self-sacrifice, and because of the clean spirit that has transformed these hearts.

They serve him out of loving obedience as opposed to compulsion. And so, but here's the point: it's very clear here: that he controls commerce in order to compel people to worship him. You want to eat, you worship me. That's the idea. And certainly, in this context of Revelation, first century, we spent all last summer looking at these seven churches of Asia Minor, and they were very much involved in the trade guilds.

There were a lot of things going on that compelled them to, they would understand the pressure. They were already under the pressure. And being excommunicated and cut out of these ability to buy and sell. And so you can see how this too is not new. But that one day all of this is going to come together.

All of these inclinations of humanity are going to come together in one organized political figure who is going to exalt himself and be worshipped as God or set himself up to be. But there's a fourth flaw. So Satan's final empire has got several flaws. First of all, it exalts fallen man.

Second, it has to deceive people. Third, it is built upon compulsion. But in the end, it's inadequate. It's short. Verse 18: Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast. For the number is that of a man, and his number is 666. You can imagine there are many speculations about the number 666.

Many ideas. But just looking at this, there are some things that are evident. First of all, the word for number again is this idea of arithmetic. It's the only command in this: here is wisdom. The one who has wisdom, he is to calculate, or he must calculate, do the arithmetic of the beast.

In fact, in Pompeii, there was an inscription. That was discovered that said, I'm in love with 545. What is that? I'm in love with the person 545. And the idea is that there is this common in the day, this idea or this thought called gematria, and it's pronounced different ways, but gematria, what it would do is you had to assign, because many languages didn't have numbers, they would assign numbers to letters.

And some, the first nine letters, were the numerous one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and that kind of thing. So there was this whole way of calculating, and this would have been familiar of the day, this gematria of the numbers and having values, even Roman numerals, though it doesn't follow this path exactly, is a letter-based numeral system.

But the idea is that if you, and many have looked at this and have speculated that what's that the very, if you take the letters and you can assign some sort of numerical number to it, that it would add up to 666. And there have been many speculations through the ages.

If you take Ronald Wilson Reagan's name and spell out his middle name, you can come up with 666. Henry Kissinger, if you follow the same rule, you could come up with 666. And some say that even Adolf Hitler's, you can get some kind of variation of that and get that one to work.

There was early on in the first century this idea that Nero was going to come back to life, that he killed himself with the sword by stabbing himself, and then that people thought, well, it's too good to be true that he's gone. We just know he's going to come back.

And so they were thinking that at some point he may come back. And that there are some that point to the fact that you could take Nero's name, put Caesar's name with it, Caesar Nero, and you can, by Gematria, come up with 666. And so many point to that this was Nero.

Problem with that is that it's a Greek, it's based upon a Greek rendering of a Latin name and title. So take the Latin name and title, transliterate that into Greek, and then translate that into Hebrew and add a word, misspell it just a little bit, and you can get 666.

And so that's how some would point back to Nero. The problem is, if you've got a mind to make something fit, you can get there. Another thought on this is that it's unrevealed at the present time, that this will make complete sense to the generation that is going through this, that it will be obvious, whether there's some sort of an AI component, some sort of component, that this is going to make a whole lot of sense.

It's going to be very evident. And certainly, I would say it's in that zone. I don't have the mind, I'll confess to you. Let him who has mind, that's the idea, the one having the mind, or the one who has understanding, I think it's best to say it's either a future generation will be able to make sense out of this, connect it easily.

But I do think it is possible that it could be as bold as a number, plain old number, 666. But the point is that it will be something evident, and it is easy. And you might say, well, why in the world would he do? Why would he be so bold as to put something 666 or something so close that it just stands out and pops?

Well, keep in mind what Satan is doing, he's discrediting the whole of Scripture. He is bold in taking on Christ. And so the lie could very easily be, yeah, 666, and I'm demonstrating that I am superior and that the whole Bible is not true. And for a world that is deceived, following his may make perfect sense.

But one thing I can, so there's any number of understanding of what 6-6, it's a word we get hexacon, it's hexagonal in meaning. But one phrase here that I think makes this thing clear is that it is the number of a man. The number of the beast is the number of a man.

666 falls short. It's the number of a man with all of his limitations. It's inadequate, short, falls short. He's limited in power. Limited in wisdom, limited knowledge versus the God who is Christ, who is infinite in power, infinite in goodness, infinite in wisdom. It's an inadequate empire because it is based upon a man.

Inadequate in that it's not, in that it exalts man. It's inadequate, we've already seen. It's inadequate in that it's not based upon the truth. It's inadequate in that it has to be built upon compulsion instead of love from the heart of those who are being governed, who truly see the wisdom of it.

It's inadequate in that it's temporary, 42 months versus Christ's kingdom, which is eternal. But ultimately, it's inadequate because it does not reflect the image of God. The one thing that's clear from Scripture is that God loves people, even his enemies. And one thing that we've learned throughout our study in Revelation this far is that Satan has no love for humanity, even his own, even those who worship him.

And that's because he hates the image of God. John 3:16 tells us, but God. Loved the world. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God loves people. He's not some egocentric maniac.

He loves people. He uses his strength to serve people, to do good. Even his enemies, he causes the sun to rise upon. Isaiah, we read it earlier, 45, 22. Why does God wait? It says in verse 22, turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is no other.

That's his heart. Turn to me and be saved. It's the exact opposite of this persona that arises during this final empire, and the world is going to get enough of him. And eventually, as God has said, I have sworn by myself, the word has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and will not turn back, that to me every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear allegiance.

They will say of me, only in the Lord are righteousness and strength. Men will come to him, and all who were angry at him will be put to shame. Satan's empire is coming to an end. It isn't eternal. It is not eternal. Even the best expression of it, when all of its cylinders are running as best as it possibly can, it is fundamentally flawed, and so will pass off the scene.

And as we leave here, recognizing that these events are ahead may not involve us, let us understand and take away that it is futile to exalt ourselves. Let us be a people who exalt God, not ourselves. Let us leave here with a commitment to walk in humility. Let us leave here with a commitment to walk in truth, recognizing that truth is what endures.

It is good to grow in truth. And let us walk in love for God and for others. Let us seek to lovingly submit to God more and more of ourselves. For as we put our hands and put our lives and we think about the influence that we want to leave behind, may the people who come behind us recognize that we were people who walked in humility, that we walked in truth, and that we walked in love and Devotion to God and exhibited that love for others.

You do that. You will leave something lasting and eternal behind. And especially today, as I'm preaching to myself, a Father, that is what I want to leave behind: humility, truth, love for God, and love for others. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for these words. Thank you for this glimpse ahead.

Father, we have nothing to be afraid of. We see, even as we look around in our world today, many of these components and these dispositions within humanity to stand against you, to assault and attack on many different levels. Father, we recognize that all this must pass. It must pass because it's built upon man and man's reasoning and man's darkened heart.

It exalts self. But we know that that can't last. We know that things that are built on lies cannot endure forever. And so, Father, we can rejoice today and take courage in our future, no matter what it may hold. Father, let us leave here today just recognizing that you have placed before us good.

Works to walk in, to grow in truth, to humble ourselves before you, to walk in love for one another and for you. So, Father, encourage us, strengthen us, and raise up here at this church, we pray men after your own heart, fathers, men, and everyone who would walk in such a manner of life.

It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.