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Muskegon SDA Church

Keys of Revelation

Kameron DeVasher

1. The Next World Superpower

2. Watch Out!

3. Did God Make the Devil?

4. God on Trial

5. Your Two Biggest Problems

6. Antichrist Evidence- Part 1

7. Antichrist Evidence- Part 2

8. Blood in God’s Tent

10-1. The Prayer God Interrupted

10-2. The Prayer God Interrupted

11. Sin Is A Four Letter Word

12. Satanic Amnesia

13. The Antichrist’s Accomplice

14. The Mark of the Beast

9. The Prophecy No One Understood

15. The Return of the King

16. The Day the Devil Dies

17. What Happens When I Die

18. The Good News About Hell

19. The Last Faithful Daughter

20. The Testimony of Jesus- Part A&B

21. Burying the Dead

22. Opening Lazarus’ Tomb

This view of the coming of Jesus, the soon coming of Jesus, the culminating hope of all faith found in God's Word, is not just the hope of the book of Revelation and of Scripture itself, but also the book of Daniel as we've been studying through.

There's a consistent eye towards the future and particularly the very end of future will Jesus will set up his kingdom which is an everlasting kingdom.

If you've been with us for multiple nights you've probably heard the following sequence before.

Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, divided Rome, little horn, judgment scene, second coming.

How many of you show of hands is that now familiar to you?

If it's not familiar to you yet, you've got some listening to do on the CDs.

But we saw in Daniel chapter 2 that this sequence of 4 empires followed by the coming of Christ was the focus of Daniel chapter 2.

And if you recall, it was the vision that Nebuchadnezzar was given of the great statue with the head of gold and the chest of silver and on and on down to the body.

The same sequence was seen again in Daniel chapter 7.

This time instead of a single body with different body segments he saw a sequence of 4 beasts, but each 1 representing kingdoms, yes?

And then we saw in Daniel chapter 8 further repetition of this same sequence.

Well, first of all, as we've mentioned, the book of Daniel is the corresponding book of Scripture to the book of Revelation.

Daniel and Revelation fit together like hand and glove.

In fact, there's many places where the book of Daniel goes right up to a point, and the book of Revelation will take the baton and go from there.

Tonight we're going to see 1 of those examples.

We go over the sequence so that you'll have the history that leads up to the very end time events just talked about in the book of Revelation.

But before we begin tonight's study, we of course need to begin with a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for such a beautiful day.

Thank you so much that you've given us life at all and that we can spend these moments together here tonight.

But even more than the Christian fellowship that we enjoy and the company that we keep here, Lord, we ask to commune with the Holy Spirit this evening.

Send your spirit to us, not just in a general sense, but very specifically, Lord, to each person here.

Help us to think the thoughts that you want us to think and Lord help our hearts to be receptive to your truth as you bring it home to us tonight for we pray it in Jesus name.

Let's turn to the book of Revelation, this time to chapter 13.

Revelation chapter 13, of course, the book of Revelation, written by the apostle John on the island of Patmos.

And we read in verse 1 of Revelation chapter 13, then I stood on the sand of the what?

He's standing looking out over the waters of a great sea and he sees a beast rising from the sea.

Does this sound like anything we've seen before?

If you recall, he was standing looking out over the great sea and the 4 winds of heaven were churning up the sea, and out come a sequence of 4 beasts.

But Daniel here, I mean, John here, does not see a sequence of 4 beasts.

Again, verse 1, then I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having 7 heads and 10 horns.

Now let me ask you a question, has Daniel ever seen a beast with 7 heads?

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.

Now there are some striking similarities to Daniel's visionary experience to what John sees here, but there are some clear contrasts as well.

Again, both of them are standing on the beach, looking out over the sea.

Both of them see beasts, except John only sees the 1 beast, where Daniel sees 4.

And the number of the heads is not quite, something's a little off, but it's very similar.

Notice it says, the beast which I saw was like a leopard.

So it's hard to say that this is a single looking beast when it's a compilation of several different beasts put together.

Now what's fascinating is what beasts comprise the singular beast.

Notice it's a nondescript beast made up of all different parts of other beasts, but his body was like a leopard, his feet were like a bear, and his mouth was like a lion.

Have we seen nondescript beast and leopard, bear, and lion before?

If you recall in Daniel chapter 7, in fact put your finger right here in Revelation 13 and let's compare scripture with scripture.

Daniel chapter 7, we'll notice the similarities.

Notice what scripture records the prophet Daniel says about his own vision experience in Daniel chapter 7 and compare that with what John sees in Revelation 13.

Daniel spoke, saying, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the 4 winds of heaven were stirring up the great what?

And 4 great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other.

The first in verse 4 was like a lion, it had eagle's wings and other attributes.

Now look at verse 5, and suddenly another beast, a second like a bear.

Verse 6, after this I looked and there was another like a leopard.

And then in verse 7, after this in the night visions and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong.

So he sees 4 beasts that go in order, lion, bear, leopard, than just this undescribed terrible beast.

In fact, theologians often call it the terrible beast.

But notice the sequence, Lion, bear, leopard, terrible beast.

Well because they represent a sequence of kingdoms that will come on the earth.

We've gone through this over and over and over.

Daniel saw this in Daniel chapter 2, and when he sees this again in chapter 7, it's very clear.

And just in case it's not, the angel interpreter tells him, these 4 beasts are 4 kingdoms that shall arise on the earth.

Now, from Daniel's perspective, they go that way, because he's living in the time of which empire?

He receives his vision while he's living in the time of the lion if you will Babylon and The next thing that comes up is Medo-Persia the bear then Greece the leopard and then after that Rome the terrible beast Babylon Medo-Persia Greece and Rome in that order in that direction.

So what Daniel is seeing here, of course, in picture language, is just history unfolding, or in fact, the future as it will unfold from his perspective.

So he's looking down the chain of history, Babylon he's in, then Medo-Persia, Greece, and way down there is Rome, and all the things at the end of Rome are way, way, way far away.

Was the Apostle John, when he was on the island of Patmos, was he still inside the empire of Babylon?

Series

Keys of Revelation

13. The Antichrist’s Accomplice

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Attachments

Ivor Myers: Star Wars Crusade

Star Wars Crusade, Part 16: The Mark of the Beast

1h 15m

The Dragon’s Voice

53m

Unlocking Prophecy

23. The Seal of God

55m

The Three Angels' Message for the Millennial Generation

5. Mark of the Beast and Seal of the Living God

1h 16m

Studies in the Book of Revelation

Revelation 14, Part 2

1h

Apologetics

Sunday Law and the Mark of the Beast

1h 10m

Last Day Events

The Mark of the Beast and the Sunday Law Explained

1h 6m

Keys of Revelation

7. Antichrist Evidence- Part 2

1h 16m

A God Worth Knowing

14 The Coming Crisis

1h 3m

Babylon, America, and Bible Prophecy

08 Judgment in the Most Holy Place: God on Trial

1h 26m

The Mark of the Beast in Scripture

37m

Prophecies of Hope

19 The Abomination of Desolation

59m

Sound Doctrine