They are allowed. to do miracles by God And just because a miracle takes place doesn't mean it is from God. What is the testimony that goes with it? What is the preaching that accompanies it? This is the whole point of Deuteronomy 13, where God says, if a prophet rises up and he has dreams and he tells you things, they come true, but he leads you from me, he's a false prophet.
That's why they couldn't pin it on Christ as being a false prophet because he did the miracles, but everything he preached was consistent with Scripture. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Ricky is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the last book of the Bible, Revelation. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Revelation, chapter 13, with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio.
Well, this is the false prophet. He's named that elsewhere in Revelation 16:19 and And twenty The great tribulation converts, when this is going to happen, in the days that it is actually taking place, they're going to have a great appreciation for this revelation. I think more so than us. And uh they'll know what's coming. They'll know how to handle it.
The eleventh verse, Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. and he had two horns like a lamb, and spoke like a dragon.
Well, the two beasts have Distinct backgrounds. And that's part of what's being taught by one coming from the sea, the other emerging out of the earth. Uh yet. It is important to understand that neither come from heaven or the abyss.
So they're human beings, they're not spiritual beings. The first one that comes in shows up in chapter one of verse thirteen. of chapter 13, verse 1, chapter 13. He washes ashore in troublesome times, and the sea speaks of the trouffl troubling times in the world.
Well, the second one emerges And together Combined They Speak of a devil that is abusing the planet. A planet in turmoil. Because It has rejected Jesus Christ. Revelation 12, looking backwards, we read: Woe to the inhabitants of the earth. And the C.
For the devil has come down to you. having great wrath, because he knows that He has a short time. And so, this is the next phase. It's unfolding. The devil from the abyss, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the earth.
Global tribulation and chaos.
Well, that's why it's called the Great Tribulation because these characters. have a lot of authority. to hurt people. And it says in verse eleven, And he had two horns like a lamb. This is the only place in the book of Revelation where a Lamb does not refer to Jesus Christ, and the context makes that very easy for us to identify.
The false prophet, the second beast, Evidently as a gentle, Demeanor. He's like a lamb, but he's not harmless. And rams don't have horns like Oxen or bulls or anything like that. But they can still ram into things. and uh do some damage.
He is no match For the Antichrist. That means he's not a rival of the Antichrist. He's not viewed that way, and that allows Antichrist to embrace him. And Exploit him. And he's going to love it.
They're going to be in cahoots together.
So, this is what is coming to the world, and these are the kind of things that. Those living at the time that are paying attention to the scripture and are honest, they're going to pick up. that the Bible has warned them about this. And he spoke like a dragon. the chilling voice of Satan And of course he incorporates humanism and the occult together, He's preaching lies.
In his propaganda. Not all propaganda is false. During the Second World War, there were a lot of propaganda films coming out of England and the United States, mainly. And they certainly portrayed the Nazis as fanatical. heartless murderers.
They were. And that was propaganda, but it was right. And of course there is such thing as a false propaganda that You don't have to look far to find either. Anyway, He's speaking like the serpent spoke to Eve. Challenging.
God's authority and honesty. Lying about God's words. Using the news media to do it, of course, and the Internet. Associated Press and Reuters and Course. the Communist News Network, CNN, they will be at his fingertips, at his beck and his call.
We've already seen their penchant for bias and dishonesty. And anyway, looking at all of this, Did you ever stop to think? Don't answer. Out loud. Prayer will not help the tribulation converts.
From escaping these monsters. Their fate on earth is pretty much Clear.
Some will. We're going to get to a big surprise towards the end of this. They will accept their doom, they will retain or gain their salvation in the midst of all these things. Prayer will be useful for They're sharing the gospel. This time in Revelation, my approach is.
Well, I've discovered that there's so much evangelical work going on during this period, and I can't wait to get to the part that ties into Matthew 25, because I think it's going to be a surprise. Don't look ahead. Anyway, I'll be checking. Verse 12: 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.
Well, he returns uh John does, as he's seeing this happen, to the assassin apparent assassination attempt on the Antichrist. That the Antichrist survives. Again, three times it is mentioned in this chapter, in verse 3, here in verse 12, and again in verse 14. It's that big of a deal, it has that much to do. with his rise to power.
enshrining him in his position of global authority. And as the Holy Spirit centers our attention on Christ. The beast from the earth will center humanity's attention. On the Antichrist, the beast from the sea. And so they're going to take advantage of this survival, I mean, this assassination attempt and his survival.
Verse 13, he performs great signs.
So that even He even makes fire come down from heaven. on the earth in the sight of men.
Now this Thirteenth verse is the Antichrist. performing on behalf Behalf of the Antichrist. Impressing Everyone lacking spiritual discernment, impressing those who belong to the religions of the world but terrifying or Those who do gain discernment and begin to see what is going on, they're going to be very unsettled by this. and and looking for the scriptures. 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul wrote, The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders.
There's no coincidence here. They're called lying wonders because They are used to move people away from Christ. That's the lying wonder part. They are wonders, there's no question about that. They are miraculous.
They are allowed to do miracles by God And just because a miracle takes place doesn't mean it is from God. What is the testimony that goes with it? What is the preaching that accompanies it? And this is the whole point of Deuteronomy 13, where God says: if a prophet rises up and he has dreams and he tells you things, they come true, but he leads you from me, he's a false prophet. That's why they couldn't pin it on Christ as being a false prophet because he did the miracles, but everything he preached was consistent with Scripture.
So here in 13, verse 13, so that even. He even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth. Inside of Men. It's not an illusion. It's real.
Satan is permitted physical attacks.
Well, where is where else is that in the Bible?
Well, Job. Satan was permitted to use Parts of creation to harm Job's family. to move people to steal Job's wealth. And so that was no illusion. Why would we question it?
And a lot of Bible commentators, they don't want to admit that these are real powers. Permitted To the enemy. Uh but I don't see a way around it. Uh the rod of Aaron did not swallow up holograms. They swallowed up the serpents of Pharaoh's magicians that were real serpents.
This will, of course. Eclipse The signs and wonders of evil in the past. This is on a whole another level and it is global and the whole world can see it. How will anyone No. That A miracle is from God or from hell, is by what they preach.
And how they Perform In light of their preaching, 2 Thessalonians again, chapter 2, verses 10 and 11. With all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive. The love of the truth, that they might be saved. Very simple, very simple formula of God. Trust him, believe him.
And he continues, And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie. And the lie is going to be is Christ is not real. The Creator is not real. It's the power of that Antichrist and the Beast. That's what's real.
That's the delusion they're going to sell. And people are going to love it. They are going to adore it So that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.
Well, he can Cause lightning. I don't think he's using um Weaponizing, well, he probably may be, but this is not talking about weaponizing satellites. These are miraculous powers. And so they these Two the beast From the sea and from the earth, they remain evil. They are unrighteous.
They are immoral. They are championing causes that the Bible condemns. It is going to be very easy to pick them out if you side with Christ. And if you're against Christ, then you're just going to drink the Kool-Aid. And you're going to lock step.
with evil to the point of no return. And so it always comes down. as the Scripture has said. Truth Is what matters. And unfortunately, many in Christianity have made truth secondary to other things, whether it's to music, whether it's to, you know.
Shivering in front of everybody and acting like you've got the Holy Spirit, but you really don't know anything else, just drawing attention to yourself. What about the scripture, all the scripture?
So Comes down to what we believe. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 7: Therefore, by their fruits you shall know them.
Well, how will you know how to identify those fruits if you do not have? Scriptural education. Paul said it this way, very powerful. In Galatians 1. Even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you.
than what we have preached to you Let him be anathema. That means a curse to hell. Then he continues in this next verse. He wants to reinforce what he just said. And we have said before, as we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
No matter what kind of miracles, signs, and wonders, if they're preaching any other gospel. They're not from heaven. It's not the Holy Spirit, it's an evil spirit. And Satan, having lost Access to heaven. to get permission to harm.
He has been cast out of heaven, but he has a budget of evil. There's a fixed amount of evil that he can employ, and he's going to exhaust that budget before Christ returns. Verse 14. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth. By those signs which 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. A world ripe for the world. For super lies. spiritual lies.
and all of it characterized by deception, This Antichrist Of course, he's going to make a covenant with Israel. And he's going to honor he's going to make a seven-year covenant. Honor it for three and a half years, and then he's going to break it. And what gets Israel into a covenant with him is that. They're just, they continue with this desire to be delivered, Israel.
from the hostilities against them. In the days of Christ, they wanted the Messiah to deliver them from Rome. And when they realized that wasn't gonna happen, They turned on him.
Well, in the tribulation era, Israel will look for someone to deliver them from anti-Semitism. Like we're seeing today. An Antichrist is going to promise that. And they will get that. As said for three and a half years, which is emphasized in Revelation, spoken of in Daniel and of course by the Lord And then, of course, he's going to break that covenant.
Well, in between the covenant, the peaceful time that Israel has with Antichrist, there's still going to be all sorts of. Catastrophes happening on earth, the church, well, the church won't be here, but believers will be persecuted. And Israel will be pretty fine with that. as they were in the days of the early church, When Rome realized that the church was Not part of the Jewish religion? The Rome persecuted the Christians and the Jews didn't protest.
They didn't like the Christians either.
Well, that's going to repeat itself nothing new under the sun. But also At the end of that, then the Jews will realize they were wrong. About Antichrist, about Jesus Christ, and about the believers in Christ, and they will, of course. Be persecuted also.
So he says here by those signs which he was granted, I mean, verse 14. to do in the sight of the beast, Well, again, signs without truth, that's critical. These sorcerers, these wizards are totally against God, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast.
Now we're getting closer to what Satan really wants. He wants to be worshipped. He wants to be received as God. He tried to get Jesus to worship him in the wilderness. I will exalt my stars above the heavens, like the Most High.
The prophets tell us. And so here he wants his little protege to be adored. Add the Christ hater. wants to be loved. By the masses.
And many will. This reminds us where it tells us here in verse 14, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast. This is the Antichrist's false prophet. His false prophet is telling the world to worship the Antichrist. And this reminds us of Daniel 3.
Where Daniel tells us that Nebuchadnezzar made a statue 90 feet high. A gold statue. and commanded all to bow and worship it, And Hananiah and Mishael and Azariah said, We'll have no parts of that. You can throw us in the furnace if you want. We're not going to bow down to you.
Well so Precedence means something. This has happened before. It's not a stretch of the imagination to see this happen again. And if you say, well, those ancient folks were crude. The beast is going to have a statue made.
Idolatry is alive even in a technological age. Visual idolatry.
Now, in Western civilizations dominated by mental idolatry, where people make up things in their minds about God that are false. But historically, they've also fashioned Idols. And they're not through yet. Who was wounded with the sword and lived again, the assassination? First mentioned in verse three.
And Man has an idolatrous heart. Always ready to bow down to the wrong thing. How many people do you know bow down to the wrong things with no evidence, no basis, no background? But they'd rather do that than listen to the truth and the facts about Jesus Christ. If he materialized in front of them, They still would complain.
That is not enough proof. Their hearts are hardened, Well, not all the time, or else no one would get converted, but much of the time that is the case.
So this global awe. They profusely pour. Pour out. On the Antichrist. Unprecedented, Jesus said in Matthew 24, 25 concerning the end time, See, I told you beforehand, I'm telling you now.
These things are going to happen. And since the world has been and civila civilizations have been No one. has managed to have global adoration. They've always had some force resisting. Napoleon had Wellington and the Brits and all of that.
There's always been an opposing force. Genghis Khan, as much havoc as he reaped and as much as he conquered, there were opposing forces. And Alexander the Great, he conquered much of the world, but not all of it. And had he tried, he would have had opposing forces. But Antichrist is going to, for a short period of time, not have any of that.
And so, having rejected Christ. Creationism and truth. there's nothing left for men to believe but lies. You're going to believe something. Was it true what if it's true or not?
That's the question. And how do you know if it's true or not? And that's why Jesus said. I've told you beforehand, which is also to say. I'm not This moment is not the only moment that I've told you beforehand.
Just search the prophets to see if these things are true. Verse 15, 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.
Well This worship is you can't factor out. How great of a crime it is. And also, it goes it can't be separated from the mark of the beast. The mark and the worship of the beast go together. And I'll get to that in a minute.
But let's get back to he was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast. For channeling is real. Uh years ago, there was this kooky lady that They called Rampha because she was able to channel Information from some ancient Uh, spirit was this demon possession, is what it was, and people were just lapping it up, paying big bucks to come. hear this gibberish from hell.
Well, it's never going to go away until Christ returns. But the word breath here in the This fifteenth verse is very true to the Greek.
So if you go to get your tires rotated, the Technician or the mechanic? I prefer mechanic. I think it's more honorable for that trade. Anyway, Uh To take off the lug nuts, you'll hear him use a pneumatic wrench. And it's called Pneuma.
Because of that, spirit, that that air, that compressed air that's pushing through the hose and into the wrench, and that gives it the necessary torque to take the bolts off or put them on. And when I use those tools in construction and The compressor wasn't on, you would say. The line is dead.
So, you'd have to give life to it by turning the compressor on. And this language is significant. Because Antichrist is not giving life to the image. He's animating it. That's why I went with the whole pneuma and the animation and thing is dead.
The other Greek words. There are other Greek words that would be used. For the breath of life. as in Revelation 11, 11.
So, that distinction is important because what we're looking at here is not. creation of life, but the animation of an inanimate object. And of course, AI is going to fit nicely into this.
So he will be doing miracles, but he also will be doing Other stuff. That aren't so miraculous, but the people won't see it that way. And that's how I see it here.
Now, you may agree, disagree, and that's fine. These are not issues of salvation. But I have a lot more stuff coming that you might disagree with. And I get a kick out of that. No, I don't.
No, I don't. I want everybody to agree with me all the time. And you do too.
So, again, the original language. Buy that. We know that here is not a genuine miracle mixed in with the other ones. It's creating the perception. Yeah.
equal power with God, creative power with God. uh powers granted by God without representing God. As in Job. The devil can use creation. but only to a point.
And that's one of the main lessons doctrinally out of the story of Job. Is that Satan is restricted? He has to get permission, and he never can outdo God. He is not sovereign. He is not the counterpart to God.
He is a created being, he is a fallen being, and he is inferior. In fact, one of the other lessons out of the book of Job is that Satan was wrong. He thought Job was going to curse God to his face, and Job never did. And so the lesson is: see, that guy's not always right. He's always evil.
is not always right. He's an accuser of the brethren. He's not always right. Mm-hmm. Uh This has been Cross Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston.
This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand. Just visit us online at crossreference radio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings. While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube. There's also an interviews tab where you can learn more about Pastor Rick's heart for ministry.
Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Hello. I didn't run up to the bottom of the city.
