In Scott Brown's sermon titled 'The Mark of the Beast', the focus is on Revelation 13, which describes two beasts, their characteristics, and their roles as agents of the dragon in a spiritual warfare against those who keep God's commandments. The first beast, the sea beast, represents the brutality of the secular state, while the second, the land beast, symbolizes worldly religious philosophies. The sermon emphasizes the mark of the beast not as a technological sign but as a representation of one's allegiance to worldly philosophies over divine truth. The Antichrist is discussed not as a single individual but as the embodiment of ideologies and systems that reject Christ. Christians are encouraged to prepare for the realities of spiritual warfare by understanding these scriptural truths and living in a manner that reflects Christ's teachings. Brown warns against syncretism and the allure of worldly propositions, urging believers to set their minds on heavenly things and renounce worldly entertainments. The sermon concludes with a contrast between the marks of spiritual life and death, urging listeners to examine their hearts for true allegiance to Christ.

Please open your Bibles to Revelation 13, although we will actually begin in the last verse of the previous chapter, chapter 12. This is the inerrant, sufficient, sweeter than honey word of truth, Revelation 12, 17. This picks up the context of the flow here, which just continues to flow. These are not separate sections And the dragon was enraged with the woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Chapter 13 verse 1, then I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.

The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed and all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast and they worshiped the beast saying who is like the beast who is able to make war with him. And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and he was given authority to continue for 42 months then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was given him over every tribe tongue and nation all who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity. He who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.

And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he has was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or 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 it is the number of a man. His number is 666. Would you pray with me? Father, we thank you for your words that tell us the way things really are and will be.

We're so grateful for the warnings. We're so amazed that you would be so kind to us to speak to us about things that are real and I pray now that you would take all these things and burn them deeply within our hearts so that we might obey them amen please be seated passages like this are helpful to the church to mature her to prepare her to give her a realistic view of the world, to set expectations. John is doing that in Revelation. He is setting expectations. He is declaring that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Every word in Revelation is designed to cause us to praise the power and the might of Jesus Christ. But when things start turning bad, you don't wanna be frantically flipping around in the Bible desperately trying to find an answer for something. It's kind of like trying to search around for the owner's manual when your refrigerator is leaking. That's not the time. You need to be prepared.

And texts like this are very preparatory for us. You remember the lack of preparation of the 10 virgins. They had no oil. It was too late to how to think about it and what to do about it. Even when Nebuchadnezzar demanded that Daniel and the Hebrew children eat his food, they were prepared.

They had already determined in their hearts what they would do. They were prepared. And I praise the Lord for passages like this that prepare us for the realities of the world. Now, beware of the mark of the world. In this chapter, we find two beasts, two totalitarian political, philosophical, moral, religious regimes.

And these are the helpers of the dragon. By the way, I hope the children noticed all the imagery here. This is doctrine in pictures. This is pictorial theology. These pictures are designed to connect you to sound doctrine so they're just fantastic.

I hope every child under sees these images and connects them with the truth about them. But these beasts are the enemies of those who keep the commandments of God. That's very clear. Those whose names were written in the book of life. And in contrast there are those who are marked by another mark.

It's the mark of the beast. And what is the mark of the beast? Well we'll talk about that in greater detail later. But look not first to technology. Look to the Bible, because the Bible actually gives us clues for what the mark of the beast is, which is really the mark of the world, mark of love for the world, seeking the things of the world, not on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

So, look at the characters. These characters are riveting, they're amazing. They really represent two forces that are always waging war against those who love the word of God and who are called according to his purpose. And these enemies are portrayed in symbols of two beasts. I read someone who connected these with Leviathan and Behemoth in the book of Job, but these are two, because in Job you have a sea beast and a land beast, and perhaps these are connected, but they are remarkable.

The sea beast is a picture of the brutality of the secular state. The second beast, the land beast, as you can see this chapter is divided into two halves, the sea beast first and then the land beast is a picture of worldly religious philosophies kind of a softer version of the hatred of Christ possibly False religion and other compelling philosophies ridiculous things that people believe that make them feel good for the moment. So these beasts are waging war against those who keep God's commandments. That's why I read verse 17 first. Let's look at that again.

And the dragon was enraged with a woman and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So you have these two beasts, You have those who have names that are written in the book of life and those are not written in the book of life You have those who bear the mark of the beast and you have those who bear the mark of Jesus Christ. That's in verse 16. So, you know, what's behind this spiritual warfare that the church faces is the secular state and the worldly propositions. These are just expressions of the spirit of the Antichrist and the church has always existed in the midst of these two threats.

It exists now just as it always has And what has always happened in history is that the secular state is always wanting to force you into its mold through its false teaching from various streams of political and religious and moral philosophy. So this chapter is explaining the challenges of the Church of Jesus Christ as was spoken of in Revelation 2.13 where Satan's throne is and the churches that follow up to the time of the second coming. So that's the picture that we have here. I think Revelation 13 explains what John said in 1 John 5 19, The whole world lies in the power of the evil one. That's just the reality.

It shouldn't be surprising. It shouldn't be disturbing to us so much because we have been warned. And you find this pattern of brutal kings. This is the normal pattern of history. Good kings are an exception in the world.

So let's jump into the text. The first beast, the sea beast, Maybe it's Leviathan in Job, but the imagery is he, you read these words, and then I stood on the sand of the sea. The dragon in chapter 12, the devil himself calls up these beasts from the sea. They are his partners in their crime. And the sea in the Bible very often is a picture of chaos and disorder from which rebellion arises.

I think that's why we have this. And this is symbolic of nations. The dragon of chapter 12 is the mentor and this beast and the next beast are the students. They are expressions of the dragon. They are image bearers of the dragon, as one commentator stated.

Notice that the beast is standing on the sand. That's interesting. Remember in the previous chapter where Christ was standing with one foot on the sea and one feet on the land. In other words, he's proclaiming his absolute sovereignty over land and sea and over the whole earth. Here This beast is standing on the sand and he will be washed away.

Joe Beeke in his commentator makes mention that the dragon is frustrated with his failures in chapter 12. If you remember when we were in chapter 12, the devil keeps getting turned around by God. He gets put back on his heels at each phase of the narrative in Revelation chapter 12. So he's frustrated with this reversal that God is always working through Jesus Christ. And then he deploys his underlings.

That's how Joe Beeke describes this, his partners, his friends. And this is the one through which blasphemy and authority flow at the same time. You get that in the last part of verse one, having seven heads and 10 horns, and on his horns, 10 crowns, and on his heads, a blasphemous name. Now remember, so you have these descriptions of these beasts. Now remember this principle in Revelation.

When you see pictures of Jesus where you have a sword coming out of his mouth, that's not what he looks like. That's what he is like. And the images speak of what these images are, these people are like. And that's, and the same here. These seven heads and ten horns and all the things that flow from it.

They're telling you what he is like. And that's why I think this is so helpful to children, to see what the devil is like. And, but these pictures are so remarkable. And I think the beast is a composite of the beasts that we read about in Daniel chapter 7. I was so grateful that Trent read the entire chapter of Daniel 7.

We won't reread it now, but these beasts are composites of the beast in Daniel chapter seven. They're very, very helpful. This beast is also a reflection of Daniel chapter four, which are descriptive of four successive empires that flow out. But again, this is not what he looks like, it's what he is like. And the beast is an embodiment of all four of these nations in chapter four of Daniel.

So all these characteristics are collected up and combined as a personification of the multiple beasts and heads that will arise throughout world history. You know, Is the beast a single individual? Well, it could be. This is where one has to come to the text with great humility, it could be. I think that these are pictures of realities.

These are figurative images of what happens between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the second coming of Jesus Christ But here I I'm gonna I'm gonna say that these are the beasts concentrated into one this image paints a thousand words that is described by the activities of many. So I believe that that these beasts are the embodiment of people and philosophies and moralities and bureaucracies and businesses that reflect the hatred of Christ and his church. And today, you know, these are operative all over the world. They're operative in America in different ways. I'm going to say we have persecution light in America, very, very, very, very light.

But if you go to Afghanistan and China and North Korea and Russia and Iran and Pakistan and India and Indonesia and Turkey, it's not light. Now notice the brutal animalistic characteristics of this beast, verse two. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, in other words, speed to rush on you. And then his feet were like the feet of a bear, power to overcome you. And then his mouth was like the mouth of a lion with a vicious ability just to tear you in pieces and then you see that these powers that he has are delegated at the end of verse 2.

The dragon gave him his power, his throne and his authority. There's a there's kind of a structure of the demonic powers. There's an actual authority among the demons and the dragon in chapter 12 gives the power to these beasts. It's a delegated authority through a hierarchical structure. You know All authorities are derived authorities in the word of God.

All authority is given by God and is meted out. Now, people often, I think rightly, liken this beast to the Antichrist. The word Antichrist never appears in the book of Revelation It does appear five times in first John and of course John is writing the book of Revelation. He wrote first second and third John First John 2 22 who is the liar that he who denies that Jesus Christ, Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the father and the son.

So the Antichrist is not just a person. It's a person. It's all people who do certain things They deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in first John 4 3 We read in every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard would come into the world. In 2 John, verse seven, for many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Christ as coming in the flesh.

This is a deceiver and an antichrist, an antichrist, which I think gives us a clarity that there are many antichrists. 2nd Thessalonians 2 I believe speaks of this same kind of person. In our day, in our day, of course it's very easy to identify the spirit of the Antichrist, those who deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, but there's a lot that flows from that. In our day the leaders and the followers from every tongue and tribe and nation, rich, poor, slave or free. All of those who embrace the doctrines of the demons of the LGBTQ movement, of the caliphate, Darwinism, the social justice movement, Pelagianism, Antinomianism, communism, abortion, the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum, these are the rejectors of Jesus Christ.

The United States government and mostly has rejected Jesus Christ. This is the spirit of Antichrist, it were, and we shouldn't be surprised when we see it. I believe he's speaking about those who embrace the worldviews. And notice in verse three, he's risen from the dead. This is astounding.

How do you explain this? And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded and his deadly wound was healed and all the world marveled and followed the beast. Now the word wound in verse 3 is, it's rendered plague everywhere else in Revelation and here it's rendered wound. It could be a punishment inflicted by God, perhaps a recovery from a disease. It's hard to know, but he appears to come back to life.

He's a miracle. Some say he's like Nero, where there was kind of a fake resurrection. Apparently he died and then apparently he came back. I don't know if that's it. But there's something very interesting here.

His being slain, the word slain, is the exact same word that John uses in Revelation 5-6, the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. And then, and also came to life. This is the same word that John uses in Revelation 2 verse 8, where Jesus, these things says the first and the last who was dead and came to life. Now you find this, you find this mimicking this paralleling of the ministry of Christ all over the book of Revelation. The devil is, mimics Christ.

The devil fabricates Christ. He does the same things, but very, very poorly. And he's a caricature, a mimicry. He's a parody of Jesus Christ. But then notice the response of the people to his coming to life.

Well, you would expect this in verse four. So they worship the dragon who gave authority to the beast, and they worship the beast saying, who is like the beast and who is able to make war with him. In other words he has such authority that you know people are compelled to follow. Great leaders cause great followings. They have tremendous energy, They spread their messages far and wide.

They have the resources to dominate the ears of the people, the communication systems of the world. And He's too strong to overcome. And they say, we must follow him. Who's able to make war with him? Don't try to make war with him.

He will run right over you. He will run right over you. It's very interesting. It just hit me our our president said that he was going to run over any governor That defied his order on vaccines. I thought that was very interesting, but he's too strong to overcome You know who's like the beast to solve our problems to keep us fed to to fix our economy No one is like him who can do it.

He's the only one that has enough power and His message verses 5 and 6 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. And he was given authority to continue for 42 months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme, notice three things, his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. He's blaspheming those three things. His name, that's the character of God himself.

His slanderous message is against everything that is of God. And his tabernacle, here he's blaspheming the worship of God and the holy people, the worship of God in his church, in the tabernacle, and also those who are in heaven, those who have already gone to heaven. By the way, when we turn the page in the next chapter you'll see a picture of those who are in heaven. He's blaspheming those who are in heaven. He cannot get to them anymore.

All he can do is blaspheme them because they're God. But in the meantime, he blasphemes God, he blasphemes the church and the worship of God, and he also blasphemes those that he can't get his hands on anymore in heaven. And you see the scope of his authority. This is astounding. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them and authority was given to him.

Listen to this, over every tribe, tongue, and nation, he has global authority. This is so remarkable. And have we seen global authority? Well, we have seen global authority of the doctrines of demons take over the nations. We've definitely seen that.

But you see an international scale to this beast. We've all often wondered how it has happened that the entire world has come into a state of recognizing global propositions about a virus and the economy and things like that. How has that happened? Well, only God can do this. Only God can do such a global panic as we have today.

And then you find the response of the world, this is the response of the worldly in verse eight, look at verse eight. And all who dwell on the earth, stop right there, those who dwell on the earth in Revelation is always code for unbelievers, got that? That's the code. Those who dwell on the earth, that's code for unbelievers. Will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world." So these are unbelievers and their names have not been written in the book of life.

Names not written in the book of life. Now Jesus speaks, John speaks of those names who are written in the book of life in Revelation. I'll just read one of them in Revelation 312. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, Which comes down out of heaven from my God and I will write on him my new name Now this is equivalent to names written in heaven in the book of life. You find the same thing in Revelation 7 verse 3 Revelation 14 verse one and 22 verse four.

And then you've, John issues this final appeal in verse nine and 10. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity. He who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Now he's talking about the worldlings.

You need to understand what's going to happen to those who do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. They will be killed by the sword. And I think that's probably figurative too, as well. Here's what this means. What goes around comes around.

This mirrors the language of Jeremiah 15 two and Jeremiah 43 11. The people who persecute the Church of God during the age of the Church will experience the same things that the Israelites experienced at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. And I think that's the principle. You know, I was reading in the book of Proverbs this week in Proverbs 21, over and over again, you find this principle.

I'll just read one of these examples in Proverbs 21, seven. The violence of the wicked will destroy them because they refuse to do justice. And then verse nine, here is the patience and faith of the saints. So he shifts and talks about the saints. And there's this passionate appeal here, the patience and faith that faith of the saints for the way that believers respond when When believers are treated wrongly, it's easy to hit back wrongly.

And believers display the patience and faith of the saints when they are arrested, when they're led into captivity. You know, I did a podcast with some guys, with a guy who had been arrested a couple of months ago. And we did this podcast on what do you do when you're arrested under false pretenses. But what the saints do is that they're patient. They're like lambs led to the slaughter.

Sometimes the saints get really frustrated and they react with insurrection and things like that. But that's not the picture that you see in the Bible. The saints respond with faith and with patience. That's how they respond. And There's just such a danger for Christians to get so fed up that they just overreact and do things that actually dishonor the name of Christ.

So, but this is like the Lord Jesus Christ in 1 Peter 2, 23. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. So, okay, so we conclude the first beast here. He's overt, he's coercive, he's brutal, he's deceiving, and he speaks blasphemies. And then the land beast, we shift over to the next beast in verse 11 to the end of the chapter.

This beast is different. He's a lot nicer. He's like a pet. He's like a lamb. There's nothing more compelling and tender than a lamb.

Well, that's how he appears. But the words that he speaks are like the words of the devil. He's so smooth, but he's deadly. He looks like a lamb, but his words are not like a lamb at all. And again, you see these descriptors.

He has two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. Now, it's interesting. He says this is another beast. The word that John uses is the word another of the same kind. There are a couple of different words for another in the Greek language.

One is another of a different kind and then there's another of the same kind. This is another of the same kind. The Lord Jesus Christ used the same terminology when he said, I will send you another helper, another of the same kind. This is another beast of the same kind as the first. He's an accomplice, but he's more accessible.

He's more human. He's nicer. He looks like a lamb. He's a dragon in lambs clothing and he's a wolf in sheep's clothing. He's a whitewashed tomb and he has a...

I think this is a picture of a winsome communicator, a smooth talker. Smooth words, smooth troubled consciousness. And give a conscience peace when there should be no peace. In Daniel 11 you find this statement, those who do wickedly against the covenant shall corrupt with flattery. Corrupt with flattery.

Tell you everything's okay with you. Go be yourself. Be who you really are. Find your truth. It's okay.

Be comfortable with yourself. Find yourself. It sounds it sounds so good. It's just nothing but flattery. Daniel continues on the statement.

He talks about the corrupt who try to lure you in with flattery, But then he says, but the people who know their God shall be strong and shall carry out exploits. There's a great difference. So you have this compelling communicator. I think he's connected to the false prophet in Revelation 19 and 16 and 20. And so you have this mix, smooth words, government power, coercive power, but said in such a winsome way.

His authority, verse 12. And he exercises all authority, all the authority of the first beast. So you still have this totalitarian state regime or philosophical regime or bureaucratic regime and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed so he's a helper he's an ambassador of the first beast he's a little He's a little bit like John the Baptist, the way that John the Baptist pointed to Christ. Here, the second beast points back to the first beast who points back to the dragon. That's the chain of command.

And he promotes the previous beast. His deadly wound was healed. I don't know exactly what that means. There are several ways to think of it. Scholars have come up with a number of ways to try to understand it.

I don't know for sure. It could refer just to the common occurrence of kings. And what happens to kings is that they're either assassinated or they die or another rises up in their place. This is the way it is. You know, this was the case of the Roman emperors between 27 BC and 395.

It was the most dangerous job you could get. And they died violent deaths. 37% were assassinated, 12% were killed in battle, 11% were executed, 8% were forced into suicide, and 3% were poisoned. And only two retired voluntarily, Diocletian and Vettriano. So, you know, being this kind of beast is really not, is really a bad job.

You might lose your head over it. And, but this beast was wounded and healed. Now his activities, he performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of it. He performs signs. By the way, signs, again, John uses the exact same word that is used of Jesus' signs.

The first sign in Matthew chapter 2 is, you know, at the wedding of Cana. This is the beginning of signs. This is the beginning of signs. Again, we find the same language here. Again, I think this is the mimicry, the patterning, the deception of the beast.

Now, how is he performing signs? Well, there are actually in Scripture a number of places where the devil and his friends perform signs. In Job, the book of Job, the devil was given the freedom from God to bring fire down on his whole family and burned up their house, his children's homes. And even Pharaoh's magicians performed signs. And he, this is deception, verse 14.

He deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. Now is he doing real miracles? Probably Satanists are able to perform miracles And Moses warns about this in Deuteronomy 13, where he says, if there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or a wonder comes to pass, which he spoke to you by saying, let us go after other gods, don't listen to him. In other words, Moses is saying there will arise people who do wondrous things, but don't follow after them. It might be alluded to in 2 Thessalonians 2, 9 where the lawlessness, the lawless one is under the influence of Satan who performs, get this, lying wonders, lying wonders.

In St. Timothy Paul speaks of perilous times where there are perilous men, they have a form of godliness, denying its power. And you get to chapter three, he talks of Janus and Jambres. These were the Egyptian magicians who withstood Moses bringing signs. You remember Moses' rod turns into a snake.

Their rod turns into a snake and then Moses' snake eats their snake. They mimicked the water and the blood and the frogs, but they could not mimic any of the other signs that Moses performed in Egypt. So, in verse 15, he was granted power to give breath to the beast and bring him back to life. That's so remarkable. The image of the beast, by the way, image of the beast is mentioned 10 times in Revelation.

And don't think of a statue. The statue is just a symbol of the reality. Just like in Israel, people weren't gathering around worshiping statues. They were worshiping the sexuality and the debauchery. That's what they were worshiping.

That's why they went to the high places, is to see naked people. That's why they went. It wasn't the statue that made them want to come. It was what happened around the statue that made them want to come. But then in verse 16 and 17, he restricts buying and selling.

Not just buying, but buying and selling. He causes all both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Notice the mark or the name or the number. So there's this constellation of connections that are listed here. And this speaks of just the control over all classes of people, small, great, rich, poor, free, and slave.

And they cannot buy or sell. The word mark is the word kharagma, kharagma, in Greek, and what is it? I mean, today, people would say it's a computer chip. It's a barcode. It's a global satellite tracking device numbering system.

It's a cashless financial system, you know. It's the secret chip that was injected to you, you know Please reject that idea by the vaccine But the the Hebrew word for sign which appears 79 times Means sign The word for mark is the word sign. And what's the criteria for buying and selling? You must bear this mark, this constellation of characteristics. I mean, you just might think about what it would be like if you couldn't buy food.

But even more than that, if you couldn't sell anything to make money to buy food. That's sort of the double trap that the devil sets. He doesn't just set one trap that you can skate out of, he sets a double trap in this case here. But the name always represents something better, greater. The mark represents something else.

And here's some clues to the identity of the mark of the beast that comes from scripture, not technology. I think we have remarkable technology that allows this kind of thing, but think about what being marked was spoken of in the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy six, that famous passage, it says, these things shall be a sign on your hand and shall be on your forehead, like frontlets between your eyes. And you know, the idea there is that it's not literal. It's not like it's a sign on your hand.

It's like The love of God is in everything that you do with your hands. And on your forehead, the love of God is everything that you have going on in your mind. You're governed by the love of God in your mind and your hands are reflective. It's a sign on your head and on your hand. It's not a visible mark.

Orthodox Jews made it a visible mark, but it was far deeper than that. There's something about a person that identifies them, and it's the way they think and it's what they do. It's like the seal of the spirit. It's an invisible mark, but the Spirit of God manifests itself in really particular ways in love and joy and peace and patience. I think he's talking about identification and belonging.

Mark distinguishes you. Now, the number 666, just Google it and find the 400 different explanations of it. Does it mean that at some point the number 666 are going to appear on your head and now everyone will know who you are. I kinda doubt that because of what the Bible says about marking in other places. Hey, all of us are marked in certain ways.

We have in our whole lives, we have social security numbers. The government gives social security numbers for our children. We have driver's license numbers, marriage licenses, tax ID numbers, TSA traveler numbers. If you're building a house, you're going to get a permit number. You have an address.

And by the way, the government can hit your doorstep because they have already marked your doorstep with a GPS coordinate. Okay so there are all kinds of marks that we've already received and so it Amazon can find you okay if Amazon can find you anybody can find you So this is a way of marking people, their identity, and where they live and everything. Now, this language of marking first appears in Genesis with the mark of Cain in Genesis 4 15. Was the mark of Cain necessarily a physical mark? Well whatever it was, people shied away from trying to kill him.

They just couldn't get it up to kill him. In Exodus 13, the observance of the Passover was a sign. It was a sign that you worshiped God. In Ezekiel chapter nine, verse four, the idea of a mark appears. And the mark was given to those who do things in the dark.

The leaders of Israel, the 70 leaders of Israel who were doing things in the dark, and they were marked on the forehead because of their abominable behavior in private, what they did at night. Read Ezekiel chapter 9, it's absolutely astounding. And they were weeping, they were weeping over this ridiculous myth of Tammuz. And they were engaging in abominable things, probably sexual things, probably like watching pornography in the night. It's probably what they were kind of what they were doing.

They had these secret immoral lives. They really loved the world. That's where they wanted to go. They opened up their computers and they just went to go get more worldly things. And what we read here is Ezekiel writes, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.

So the idea is that you're marked by who you are. In Revelation chapter 7 verses 1 through 8 you have the mark of those who are sealed of the 144, 000 in the next chapter the mark of the beast identifies those who will drink the wine of God's wrath in Revelation 16 1 & 2 the wrath of God is poured out on all those who identify with the philosophy of the beast. In Revelation 19, verse 20, all the members of this Holy Trinity, the beast, the false prophet, and the harlot, and their followers are cast into the lake of fire they're identified by something in Revelation 20 those who do not have the mark of the beast who have been beheaded for their witness they will reign with Christ so I I I think that the mark of the beast isn't necessarily the numbers 666 that are gonna appear on your head. I don't think it's necessarily your credit card number or anything like that. I think it's just a sign of your submission to a worldview.

It's a worldly philosophy, worldly thinking. And John is telling us that your ticket to freedom and prosperity and privileges granted is by embracing that world philosophy. That's your ticket for provision. And, you know, It's the ethical propositions of the world. You know, we are always being confronted and brought up by the world.

Somebody said that the world is always catechizing us to its way of thinking. And when you become a Christian, you spend the whole rest of your life trying to wash your mind of all that catechism because you've had so many catechisms drilled into your head, particularly through the entertainment industry, particularly through the silliness of the cartoons and the movies and the songs of this world. That's how you get catechized. And by the way, your children are always getting catechized by whatever you give them. Don't catechize them in silliness.

Catechize them in the things that really are true and beautiful. But God marks his people and God's people are identified by their obedience to God and that's what that's the whole matter that's here. So there are the pictures, sound doctrine in pictures. You can see it with your eyes what's really true about the world and the brutality of the totalitarian state and the smooth words of those who look like a lamb and you can pet them but when they speak they speak blasphemy against God And that's what Christians have to be careful of. Syncretism is always the greatest danger to the church.

And that's the danger that we see presented here. Now if you're looking at your outline you'll see my final point. I'd like to conclude with this. The marks of spiritual death and spiritual life. The marks of Christ and the marks of the beast.

A few years ago, Richard Owen Roberts preached a sermon at Christ Church in New Albany where our friend John Snyder is the pastor and he gave 12 marks of spiritual death out of that sermon. John sent me the notes from this sermon. And these are the marks of the beast or the marks of Christ. And I just want to throw them out to us all to consider them. They're 12.

They're derived from Ephesians 2, 1 through 3. He speaks of the marks of spiritual death, and I'm going to read those marks of spiritual death but I'm also I'm going to turn them around positively to marks of spiritual life. Okay here we go number one marks of the beast to be unaffected by God's sovereign rights in your life or in the world, or to delight in God's sovereign rights in your life. Number two, a carelessness or indifference about the state of one's own soul, or on the other hand, the mark of Christ. To be careful to know the state of your soul.

Number three, the mark of the beast. To sin freely without any powerful conviction of sin. And then the mark of Christ. To hate the idea of sinning and to be convinced by the slightest worldliness. Number four, the mark of the beast.

To have no dread of hell or the propriety of God to send you there. The mark of Christ. To embrace God's right to send you to hell because of your sin, yet for his mercy alone he would not. Number five, the mark of the beast to be unchanged by what you know and confess to believe about Jesus Christ, the mark of Christ, to be changed by what you know about Christ. Number six, the mark of the beast to be Pharisee-like with an interest in forms of religion rather than the truth of heartfelt religion.

The mark of Christ to guard your heart not just your duties. Number seven, the mark of the beast to be indifferent to the means of grace, the mark of Christ to love the means of grace of preaching and singing and prayer and fellowship in the Lord's Supper. Number eight, the mark of the beast. To want enough religion to be free from the penalty of sin but not its power. The mark of Christ.

To desire every area of your life to be under the power of the Spirit of God. Number nine, the mark of the beast. To be recognized by the world as one of its own. The mark of Christ. To be recognized as a follower of Christ.

Number ten, the mark of the beast. To fail to love God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, the mark of Christ. To desire with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength to love God. Number 11, the mark of the beast to be uncaring concerning the glory of God and the spread of his kingdom throughout the world, the mark of Christ, to care about the spread of the gospel throughout the world. Number 12, the mark of the beast to be earthly minded instead of heavenly minded.

The mark of Christ to set your mind on the things above not on the things on the earth. So consider the marks of the beast. They really are simply marks of spiritual life or spiritual death. Don't wait for a mark to show up. You are already marked and beware of the marks of the world in your life.

Renounce the world. Renounce the world's entertainments and the things that disfigure your soul. So what is the mark of the beast? Look not first to technology. Look in your heart because that's what makes you who you really are.

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it. Would you pray with me? Father, thank you for these remarkable pictures to help us to understand your ways in the world until you come again. We're just so thankful that you write the names of sinners into your book and mark them forever. Amen.