(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

And so we're here in Revelation chapter 6, and last week we talked about the beginning of sorrows, okay? Now Revelation chapter 6, we have three different sermons because this is kind of the big chapter within the first 11 chapters. All the seals are being released, and you could quickly read over this and go from the fourth seal to the fifth seal, but in between that time period something major is actually happening, okay? Now one reminder is that with the book of Revelation, the first 11 chapters basically tell the story, and in the second 11 chapters, 12 through 22, they basically tell the same story, but they go in more detail to certain points, okay? Now in Revelation chapter 13, there's a sermon that basically really goes on the abomination of desolation. That's the big thing it talks about in Revelation chapter 13. Now in Revelation chapter 6, the abomination of desolation is taking place, but the Bible does not really highlight that. And so in Revelation chapter 13, we're kind of looking at the religious rise of the Antichrist, and so tonight's sermon is this, the political rise of the Antichrist, because the Antichrist had to rise in two different ways. We think of religiously a lot because we think of how the Muslims and Catholics and Buddhists and Hindus and all the Christians and Catholics have to get on board with this system, but politically, people had to back the Antichrist as well. We saw the beginning of sorrows last week, we saw the turmoil and everything going on, and that leads to the Antichrist basically taking over, okay? Notice what it says in Revelation chapter 6 verse 9. So in verse number 9, it talks about people specifically being killed because of the word of God and for the testimony which they held. This is a big change from the fourth seal. In the fifth seal, it's all about the persecution of Christians. You don't really see that in the fourth seal, but in the fifth seal, it's completely directed towards the Christians. Why? Because three and a half years into the seven year period is the abomination of desolation, where the Antichrist declares himself to be God, and they have the image to worship, and he rises up, he says he's God, and you have the desolation of Jerusalem, and it's trodden underfoot of the Gentiles. That happens midway through, which is after the fourth seal and right before the fifth seal. The fifth seal, then you're going to have the mark of the beast, you're going to have the abomination of desolation that's taking place, and they're going to specifically target and kill Christians as we see in verse 9. Go back to verse number 7. As we mentioned last week, in verse 8, it says power was given on to them. That's the first time you really see this global system that is all on board with one another, and that is the moment when the world is ready both politically and religiously to embrace the Antichrist. So that's when he declares himself to be God, you have the abomination of desolation, and then it's an all-out persecution on believers, which we're going to see next week, the Great Tribulation. Why? Because they're fully on board for this system, and then the Antichrist is going to run that system. Now go back to verse number 1. See, there's a big change from Revelation 6 verse 9 to the beginning of the chapter, because at the beginning of the chapter, we see the Antichrist in verse number 1 and verse number 2, but the world's not ready for him at this time. He that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given on to him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer. So in verse number 2, as we talked about last week, the rider on the white horse is the Antichrist, but he's not basically out in the open at this time. He's not ruling the world at this time. It says he's conquering with a bow, which is indicating basically a long-range conquest. They don't know who he is, okay? He's not running this global system in verses 1 and 2. What we're going to find out tonight and see in the book of Daniel is that when the Antichrist comes on the scene, the world rejects him as the leader at the beginning. They're not ready for him to take over. He actually has opposition before he takes over. We're going to see that in the book of Daniel. And so in Revelation chapter 6 in verses 1 and 2, you have the Antichrist, but the world is not ready at that time to embrace him. The reason why they reach the point where they want to embrace him is because of the beginning of sorrows. And the world gets thrown into chaos, and then they're ready to embrace him. The religions of the world will embrace him, and we're going to talk about that in Revelation chapter 13. And then politically, people are ready for him. Go back to Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. And so look, I'm not trying to downgrade the abomination of desolation because oftentimes we focus on the religious aspect of this. That the world religiously will basically worship the Antichrist. Christians will be raptured, and the religions of the world, they're waiting for the return of their Messiah or Christ. And in a lot of these religions, their Messiah is coming on a white horse. And it's like, there's the Antichrist on a white horse before Jesus in Revelation 19 is on a white horse. The religions of the world, they're waiting for their coming Messiah or Christ or whatever they call it. And in reality, when they describe it, it sounds a lot like the Antichrist. A man's going to come and bring peace to the earth and bring everybody together. That's exactly what the Antichrist is going to do. But it's not just a religious rise of the Antichrist. There is also of necessity a political rise of the Antichrist. Acts chapter 1 verse 6. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him saying, Lord, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. And so you see, he's just risen again, and they're immediately wondering, are you coming back now? Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Because look, when it comes to the end times, the Jews and Israel and Jerusalem, they play a major part during the end times. Now, the Antichrist is going to turn on the Jews at the midway point of the tribulation, of the midway point of the seven years. And Jerusalem is going to be trodden underfoot on the Gentiles. But this is the area of the world where this is taking place. This is over towards Jerusalem. So they're wondering here in verse number 6, are you going to restore the kingdom at this time to Israel? What does he say in verse number 7? He says, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons. Verse number 8, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses on me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and onto the uttermost part of the earth. What he tells them is not just here at Jerusalem, but I eventually want churches started everywhere. You say, why? Because he wasn't planning on coming back anytime soon. There's no point of starting a church if his return is right around the corner, okay? But his return was not around the corner. He says, no, you need to reach Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and all of the earth is what he's saying, okay? Now go back to Daniel chapter 7, Daniel chapter 7. And we're going to be in the book of Daniel for the rest of this sermon because in Revelation chapter 6, it doesn't really speak about this event that much, but you have to understand there's a major shift midway through the chapter, and we need to understand what is taking place. So we need to understand about the Antichrist, okay? And we need to understand that when the Antichrist comes here, the Bible's going to be very clear that he has opposition, and the world's not ready to embrace him because we saw in Revelation 6 verse 8 is when the global system is in place. That is when they're ready. They're not ready before that time period, okay? Daniel chapter 7 verse 1. And so this is the vision that you see in the book of Daniel multiple times, and basically the first beast is going to be describing Babylon, okay? The Chaldean Empire with Babylon as their chief city with Nebuchadnezzar as the ruler. After that, the Medes and the Persians take over. Persia was more powerful, but it's a dual monarchy, okay? And King Cyrus is basically the head man in the world at that time. But then eventually as you have a lot of power with the Persians, eventually their power goes down, and Alexander the Great and the Greek Empire or Macedonian Empire ends up taking over. And so Greece controls. But what the Bible speaks about is that Alexander the Great dies in a very short time. He died at roughly the age of, I don't know, a young 30s. You know, he lived a very wicked life, and wicked people shall not live out half their days. There's a leader in North Korea who that might be said about him here in another week, okay? And so wicked people, they often do die when they're young. So Alexander the Great died in his 30s, and then after him comes the Roman Empire. Now when Jesus was born and when the New Testament is written, who's in power? Rome's in power. And they're in power for a very long time. So this is the beast that's being described, but what it does is it transitions from the Roman Empire to the end times kingdom that's going to rule the world. Now you'll often see the word Babylon throughout the Bible, and Babylon lost their power very early, okay? They lost their power, and other empires took over, but what you're seeing is various kingdoms that rule the world, and there's this kind of spirit of Babylon, okay? And so you have Babylon, you have the Persians and Medes, you have the Greek Empire, you have the Romans, and you know, probably the United States of America when we actually get towards the very end could be the empire there. They're the ones that own the world right now. But it transitions here in Daniel chapter 7 as it talks about the end times kingdom. Verse number 7, Daniel 7 verse 7. And look, this is going to be a pretty deep sermon because we're going to be in the book of Daniel for the rest of this sermon, and you have to realize revelation sheds light on the book of Daniel. Revelation reveals kind of the dark sayings in the book of Daniel. Daniel said he didn't understand everything he was writing, okay? We can actually understand the book of Daniel better than Daniel could, as hard as that is to believe. I mean, that's pretty amazing. We can look at the end of the matter and we can understand the first four kingdoms. There's plenty in the Bible to tell us that, okay? Now, I do believe that if we last 100 more years on earth, we're not going to fully grasp all of the end times things like they will 100 years from now. You say, why? Because some of those things you have to kind of see play out before you can understand. Daniel didn't understand Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire and these things that took place, okay? We can understand that because we're after the matter. But we're going to go back to Daniel and see some of these things that we can understand. Verse 7, after this I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly. And it had great iron teeth. It devoured and break in pieces and stamped the residue with the teeth of it. And it was diverse, which means different. It was diverse from all the beasts that were before it and it had ten horns. Now, if you remember, we saw four different beasts. And when you looked at these various beasts, those represented kingdoms. The first one was not Nebuchadnezzar. It was the Babylonian Empire, which was ruled by Nebuchadnezzar. The second was the Medes and Persians with King Cyrus in control for part of it. And then you have Ahasuerus and other leaders. Then you have the Greek Empire, which Alexander the Great was a ruler for part of it. But it's actually the Greek Empire, Macedonian Empire it's representing. Then you have the Roman Empire and Rome's had a lot of different leaders. So when it says beast and it transitions to the end times, that's not referring to the Antichrist when it says beast. It's referring to that kingdom that's going to rule during the end times. The Bible does describe the Antichrist as a beast. It uses that terminology. But here it's referring to the kingdom itself. And that kind of makes sense because you can think of the kingdom of King Henry VIII was the same thing as saying the Kingdom of England. You look at King Henry VIII as the one that's running it. So it's representing this kingdom. And then the Antichrist is going to be the one running this kingdom. What it said at the end of verse 7 is this. It was diverse from all the beasts that were before it. And it had ten horns. What we're going to see in this chapter is these ten horns are basically ten kings. It's ten branches off of this kingdom. Ten different horns. Verse number 8, I considered the horns and behold up there came up among them another little horn. So the Antichrist is going to come up after these ten horns. So you're going to have this end times empire with basically ten kings, ten branches of it. And then it's going to rise up somebody else that's not one of those ten horns. And that's going to be the Antichrist. Then it says this, I considered the horns and behold there came up among them another little horn. Before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots. You say, what is that saying? What that's saying is the Antichrist will pluck up three of those horns by the roots. He's going to get rid of three of those horns. So the Antichrist when he comes, he doesn't just come and everyone's like, okay, we just want you to be the ruler right now. No, he actually has opposition. And this makes sense because do you really believe that you could sit down and have a meeting with Russia and North Korea and China and the US and then everyone's like, yeah, we'll let you rule the world. No, they're not going to do that. The world is not at that point now where someone could step in and they say, we want you to be the ruler of the world. It has to become a global empire first. And when this global empire starts, it has ten branches on it, ten horns. And when the Antichrist comes, they're not ready to embrace him as the leader. Okay, it says he's going to pluck up three horns by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man and a mouth speaking great things. You say, brother Psyche, I think verse eight is pretty vague. I'm not sure if I see that. We'll go down to verse 19 because this is going to be repeated three times in three different ways in Daniel 7. And there can be no doubt that when the Antichrist is here, he has opposition from three different rulers. Daniel 7 verse 19. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of brass, which devoured, break in pieces and stamped the residue with his feet. So it's describing this last beast and it transitions from basically Rome to this end times kingdom. What you're going to see with this beast, though, it's kind of a combination of all of those empires. Okay, it's a combination of Babylon, the Medes and Persians, Greece, Rome. It's kind of the best of all worlds. Okay, you know, when you think of the Greek Empire, what the Bible speaks about is it describes it as a leopard. And basically it says, I think it says its feet touched not the ground. And what that's referencing is the fact that it took over very quickly. When Greece came, they just immediately annihilated and took over everything very quickly. And the end times empire is going to be very similar. It's going to be the best of all of these things put together because it's different from all beasts that were before it. Okay, and so in verse 19, Daniel wants to know more about this beast because it's different. He doesn't understand everything about it. And verse 20, and of the ten horns that were in his head and of the other which came up and before whom three fell. Okay, so he wants to know about this last beast and what it says here in verse 20 is that three of these horns fell. Okay, earlier in the chapter what it said was three of the horns were plucked up by the roots. Now it says that three of these horns are going to fall. What's that saying? It's saying three of those horns, three of those kings are gotten rid of. Okay, verse number 21, actually the end of verse 20. Even of that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spake very great things whose look was more stout than his fellows. Verse 21, I beheld and the same horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them. So in verse 21, this is talking about the antichrist. Why? The antichrist is the little horn that rises up. He's not one of the first ten horns. He is the little horn and this same horn that plucks up three horns by the roots that makes three horns fall, it says he's going to make war with the saints and prevail. He's going to win. What we talked about last week is there have to be saints or believers here when he comes. And so when he declares himself to be God, which is going to be midway through Daniel's 70th week, he's going to make war with the saints and he'll prevail against them. Many people will be killed. If we live during the end times, people in this room are probably going to die because of the antichrist. Now I hope to live through, if I'm during that time period, I hope I last to the end and get raptured and can go soul winning until the day I die. But the reality is a lot of people are going to be killed by the antichrist. Because if you don't take the mark of the beast in your hand or your head, you're not going to be able to buy or sell. Now we trust in God to provide for us with food. We're not going to starve to death, but we could die by having our heads chopped off. That's the reality during the end times. That is a possibility. And so the Bible says he's going to prevail against them. Verse 22, how long is he going to prevail for? Until the ancient of days came and judgment was given to the saints of the most high, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth and shall tread it down and break it in pieces. Now we're going to go a little bit more into detail here. Verse 24, and the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise. It's very clear in verse 24, these ten horns are ten kings. The ten horns we saw earlier of this end times kingdom are ten different kings. Now look, this could mean presidents, it could mean queens, basically ten world rulers. Because when this was written, if you're the head of a country, you're the king, basically. But ten kings, ten branches of this end times empire, it says. The ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise, and another shall arise after them. Who is that one where it says another shall rise after them? That is the antichrist. We've seen that many times in this chapter. There's ten horns, there's this end times empire, and then another one is going to rise. Look, this is taking place during the beginning of sorrows, I believe. Now it could be set up before the beginning of sorrows, but part of these events for sure are happening because this is leading right into when he rises to the top politically. We're not talking about religiously here. Politically he rises up to be that leader. This is happening, much of it, during the beginning of sorrows. Another shall rise after them, this is the antichrist, and he shall be diverse from the first. Notice this, and he shall subdue three kings. What does subdue mean? Subdue means this, according to online dictionaries, overcome, quiet, or bring under control. So basically he's going to come and he's going to take control of those three. Basically those three are opposing him and he takes command of them. He takes control of them. Subdue, to bring a country or people under control by force. Why does he have to do it by force? Because they don't just embrace him at the beginning. When you read what's taking place, when there's wars and rumors of wars, look, there's a lot of people that want to run the world. There's a lot of kings and empires that are trying to take control during the end times, and we're going to see here later on in Daniel 11 that there's all these kings going to battle and all these wars taking place, and eventually the antichrist arises from it, but they're not ready to embrace a world leader yet. Why? Everybody wants power. Eventually the beginning of sorrows, it leads to that point. You have a global system, you have this empire, and then the antichrist takes control of it, but not at first because it said three had to fall. He had to subdue three. He had to get rid of three. There were three that opposed him. They were fighting against him. They didn't want to embrace him as the leader. He ends up taking control. He shall subdue three kings. Verse 25, And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times in the dividing of time. And so basically he's going to persecute the saints, and he's going to kill a lot of saints, and he's going to wear us out, the Bible says. But when he first comes on the scene in Revelation chapter 6 verses 1 and 2, he's not ruling the world as the antichrist like we know him. We're not going to know who the antichrist is. If the beginning of sorrows takes place in ten years, we will not know who the antichrist is until the global system is ready, he declares himself to be God, the abomination of desolation, everybody has to worship the beast, then it's going to be pretty obvious. But not until that point, and he has opposition when he starts. Turn to Daniel 11. Now at first glance, that might seem surprising to people because people might think, well the antichrist will come and everyone will just immediately worship him, but that's not what the Bible teaches. And throughout history when you look at powerful world leaders, usually they're not embraced at the beginning. Julius Caesar, I mean if you've ever read biographies on Julius Caesar, and look, Julius Caesar was a wicked person, but he was a pretty interesting guy. He was killed in 44 BC, just 44 years before, you know, Christ. He was killed, I mean, shortly before. I mean, basically his successor after the battle takes place is the Caesar Augustus that's in control in the New Testament. Now when I was in school, history was very boring. But then once you're a Christian and you're applying it to the Bible, it's actually pretty interesting, okay? But Julius Caesar was killed in 44 BC, and when Julius Caesar came, when he was rising up, when he was young, he basically wanted to rule the world. His idol was Alexander the Great. And it's said that when he was Alexander the Great's age, at the age of 30, he was weeping at a statue of Alexander the Great. And the reason why he was weeping was, man, Alexander the Great, when he was 30, he ruled the world. What have I done with my life? He's like, I wanted to rule the world by the same age. That was like his hero. And he ends up rising up. He takes power. But, you know, it took a long process. They didn't embrace him. And there's the famous event where he had Mark Antony, who was basically his top guy beside him. And after Julius Caesar was killed, Mark Antony and Caesar Augustus were kind of the two main players to try to take over Rome and be the world ruler. But basically Mark Antony put a crown upon Julius Caesar's head. At the time, Rome did not want a king. They were a political system that did not have one man running it. Okay? Just kind of like you see with his end times kingdom, where they have ten kings, ten horns. When Julius Caesar was there, they didn't have one man in charge like a king. They rejected that. They didn't want that. So the reason why he puts the crown on Julius Caesar's head, and what Julius Caesar immediately does is he takes it off. He's like, I don't want to be the king. You say, why did he do that? The reason why he did that is he wanted to see the people's reaction. There's a crowd of thousands of people, and if people basically were cheering like, yes, we want you as the king, he had decided, I will become the king and basically take rule. He'll try to basically own the world. If the people basically booed because they liked their political system, well, he didn't want to embrace it anyway, because he took it off of his head. It was Mark Antony's idea. So it was basically a ploy by Julius Caesar to see, are the people willing to embrace me as the king and to rule this thing? Now, Rome didn't want him, but a lot of the people were starting to get behind him. And Julius Caesar kind of thought of himself almost like a god because usually leaders that are really powerful, they start to think that they're basically god on earth. Even going back to King Henry VIII, he basically figured, well, God has appointed me as king, so I'm almost like god on earth. That's what a lot of rulers end up believing. That's what Julius Caesar thought. Then he gets killed in 44 BC. You say, what's your point? My point is Julius Caesar is one of the most famous names and most powerful men who's ever lived. He's really the reason why you start having these Caesars that are like kings on earth right after him, right when he dies. And look, when he came on the scene, they did not want to embrace him like that. If you read biographies on him, he had to work his way to the top. And look, I'm not trying to endorse him. He was a wicked guy. I'm just saying, when he started, they didn't embrace him. It's not going to be different with the Antichrist. Why? Because that kingdom has ten horns to it. And then somebody comes along and says, I'm going to just run this whole thing. They're going to reject him at first. They're not ready yet for him. Eventually, they will be ready with him with the beginning of sorrows. Daniel chapter 11, let's look at verse 15. Daniel 11, verse 15. Now, Daniel chapter 11 is perhaps the most confusing chapter in the book of Daniel. And so it's really in-depth. And I understand we're going really in-depth tonight, but I think this is a point that a lot of times people don't think about with the Antichrist. We just kind of figure he's here, and then three and a half years in, he says, I'm God, and everybody's going to get on board with him. Look, if somebody stood up right now and said, I'm God on earth, are the Muslims and Buddhists and Hindus and everyone going to get behind him? No, because they're not ready for him. If somebody said, I'm going to be the political leader on earth, I'm going to rule the world. Russia, China, England, all the countries in the world just get behind me, all rule every... They're not going to accept that, okay? They're not at that point yet. And so it's important for us to understand, the Bible mentions many times, that when he first comes, he has opposition. Because the world is not ready for one person to rule it like that. Daniel 11, verse 15. Daniel 11, verse 15. So the king of the north shall come and cast up a mount and take the most fenced cities. And the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither has chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand. But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him, and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. So the king of the north is going to rise up and destroy the king of the south is what that's saying. The king of the north kills the king of the south. You say, who are those kings? I have no idea. We don't know who the king of the south is, we don't know who the king of the north is, we don't really know where they're coming from. But verse 17. He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him. Thus shall he do, and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her, but she shall not stand on his side, neither be formed. After this shall he turn his face unto the isles and shall take many, but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease. Without his own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon him. Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall and not be found. In verses 15 and 16, what we saw is the king of the north kills the king of the south. Then in verse 19, what happens to the king of the north? He stumbles and falls and he's not found. The king of the north is going to be destroyed. The king of the north kills the king of the south, and then later on the king of the north gets killed. I believe most of this is happening during the beginning of sorrows, if not all of it. But the king of the north kills the king of the south, and then eventually the king of the north stumbles and falls. Verse 20. I'm just trying to show you the verses leading up to the antichrist. Look, there's a lot of wars going on during the end times. The king of the north, the king of the south, they're both dead now. Somebody else is going to rise up, and he's going to die before we get to the antichrist. Verse 20. Then shall stand up in his estate a razor of taxes in the glory of the kingdom. The one who takes over that for the king of the north, it says, is a razor of taxes. Why is he basically making a lot of taxes? Well, probably if we're in the end times, aren't there famines? Look, when people lack money, do you know what the government does? Do they help the people, or do they raise taxes so they can get their money back? They raise taxes to get their money back. With there being wars and famines and a loss of money, a razor of taxes is going to come up for the king of the north. Then it says, but within few days, he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle. Basically, he ends up dying in a few days. Basically, the king of the south gets killed by the king of the north. Then the king of the north dies. It doesn't say a lot about it. A razor of taxes comes up. He takes control, dies within a few days, neither in anger nor in battle. I'm not quite sure, but he dies. Then notice verse 21. In his estate shall stand up a vile person. This is the antichrist. Look, if you're reading Daniel 11, it's pretty confusing. Some of these chapters, I'd actually recommend that you stop and kind of write down some notes because otherwise, you're going to miss what's going on because a lot of people are coming. They're dying. They're coming. They're dying. King of the north kills the king of the south. Razor of taxes comes up when the king of the north dies. Razor of taxes dies. Now we have a vile person in verse 21. In his estate shall stand up a vile person, but notice what it says after that. To whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom. Does it sound like they embrace the antichrist at first? They do not give him the honor of the kingdom. This is the antichrist. And when he comes, we saw in Daniel 7, he has opposition from three different kings. Three different branches of that end times empire. He rises up. They're not ready to embrace him. Here what it says is they do not give him the honor of the kingdom. When he comes on the scenes, they're not ready to embrace him as the leader. Now I'm not saying that nobody's willing to embrace him. I'm sure politically he has some power, but he does not have a universal power. And look, that makes sense. Because today, if Donald Trump said, you know what, I'm going to rule the world. I want Russia and China and North Korea. Just come behind me. You can be like the vice president. They're not going to go on board with that. I mean, they're the most powerful country in the world, but people aren't just going to bow down before them like that. That wouldn't take place. If the antichrist came tomorrow, they wouldn't be ready to embrace him. What's going to have to take place is a lot of events like we talked about last week. And look, when people are losing their money and there's wars and there's fear and all this stuff, that's when people usually want to rely on the government to kind of take over. That's when people are going to be willing to embrace a one-world system, a one-money system because they don't have their money, and then they have a person running that thing. But not at first. Why? Because the antichrist has to politically rise to power. He doesn't just become the ruler from day one. To whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom. You say, well, how does he take over? But he shall come in peaceably? So look, when he comes in, he doesn't really come in and say, I'm going to take over either. He comes in peaceably. Now, he has the intention to rule the world, but he doesn't come in and just say, I'm going to rule the world. He comes in peaceably. Then it says, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And isn't it true with reprobates, flattery is one of their biggest methods. They basically compliment everybody. He comes in peaceably. He's not trying to cause war. I'm just trying to bring everybody together. We got wars. We got famines. We got to all be on the same side. And by flatteries, he basically ends up taking the kingdom, the Bible says. But they're not ready to give him the honor of the kingdom at the beginning. So look, the antichrist is not going to be some conquering hero that everybody knows when he comes on the scenes. He's going to rise to power, but we're not going to know who he is at the beginning. Just like many world leaders, when they started, they didn't just get the keys of the kingdom from day one. A lot of the world leaders that took over, they were nobodies when they were younger, and they ended up rising to power. And that's what the antichrist is going to be. When he comes, they're not going to be willing to embrace him at first. Look, we can speculate about what are going to be the wars during the end times. I personally believe that the US and Israel are going to be fighting with the Arab countries, fighting with the Muslims, fighting with the Persians or Iran. I'm sure that will take place. Why? Well, if it happens in the next 50 years, look, America has been fighting Muslim countries for 50 years. It's just going to keep going, probably. I believe that there's going to be a lot of war going on in Israel, that part of the world. It's like a big battlefield with all the different religions there. I believe that's going to probably take place. We don't necessarily know for sure. But when you think about Judaism, Judaism will play a part during the end times. You say, why? Because this is happening over toward Jerusalem. And because of the fact, the antichrist is going to turn on Jerusalem midway through Daniel's 70th week. What's different about the Jews than Islam and Christianity and Buddhism and Hinduism is the Jews are not looking for a religious leader. They're looking for a political leader to give them power. That's what they're looking for. They're not going to embrace the antichrist because they think he's God. They're going to embrace the antichrist because they think he's going to help them rise to power. And he's going to appear to do that until midway through Daniel's 70th week. And the Bible says Jerusalem will be trodden underfoot of the Gentiles. So basically the antichrist, he turns on them. Look at the abomination of desolation, the religious rise of the antichrist. When he says he's God, all the Jews are going to be like, what? Because they're not looking for God to return. They're looking for a political leader. You can go on YouTube and listen to rabbis and Jews speak and they're going to talk about how their Messiah that's going to come is not necessarily a religious guy, he's a political guy. That's going to bring them to prosperity, bring them to power. This is what it says online about the Messiah they're looking for. Messiah in Judaism is a savior or liberator figure in Jewish eschatology. Eschatology is a fancy word for end time study. Eschatology, who is believed to be the future redeemer of the Jewish people. The concept of messianism originated in Judaism. And in the Hebrew Bible, a messiah is a king or high priest, traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil. However, messiahs were not exclusively Jewish as the Hebrew Bible refers to Cyrus the Great, king of Persia as a messiah, for his decree to rebuild the Jerusalem temple. So why do they say Cyrus was a messiah? Because he said we're going to rebuild the Jerusalem temple. So basically they're looking for some political leader that's going to basically bring them to power. But the antichrist is going to turn on them. Because there's not just a political rise to the antichrist, there's also going to be a religious rise where then he demands everybody worship him. Now the religions of the world are going to get on board with it by and large because they're looking for the exact person the antichrist is. Okay, we'll talk about that more in Revelation chapter 13 in several weeks. But look, there's a political rise to the antichrist. Look at verse number 31, verse 31. And I don't want to get into it because we'll go to a future sermon too much, but notice what it says in verse 31. An arm shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. So in verse 31 you see two things. It says he will take away the daily sacrifice and the abomination that maketh desolate. The abomination of desolation is where people have to worship the image of the beast. They must be willing to embrace the antichrist as the leader. But notice how it says he shall take away the daily sacrifice and shall take away the daily sacrifice. Look, the Jews are waiting so they can start sacrificing again, right? But then all of a sudden midway through he's going to take away the daily sacrifice. We'll talk about that more in I believe Revelation 13's sermon where we go back to other parts of Daniel where Antiochus Epiphanes was kind of a picture of the antichrist before even Jesus Christ, the abomination of desolation that it speaks about. But look, he's going to take away the daily sacrifice just like Antiochus Epiphanes did. The difference was when Antiochus Epiphanes did the abomination of desolation, that was before Jesus Christ so they actually were worshipping the correct God at the time. He was actually a very wicked person. The antichrist, he's going to take away the daily sacrifice and basically the Jews are going to get what's coming to them. I mean the arrogant Jews and look, not every Jew is like this. But let me tell you something because I've run into plenty of doors sowing where you run into a Jew. And anyway we talked to brother Jerry and I, we're just talking right before the sermon about how when you run into Jews door to door, they are the most arrogant people. I mean literally when you ask whatever question, oftentimes their answer is, I'm a Jew. That's literally what they say. It's like, I'm a Jew. And look, praise God for everyone who's raised Jewish that ends up getting saved because there are people out there. It's not like they're reprobates from birth. That's not what I'm saying. But here's what I'm saying. There's no worse religion on the planet than Judaism. That is what I'm saying. Say why? There's only religion out there that actively blasphemes Jesus Christ, that says Jesus Christ was a devil. I mean atheists mock Jesus Christ because they mock God in general. But Jews mock Jesus. There's a difference. They specifically mock Jesus. They say that Jesus was a bastard child because Mary hoard around. That's what they teach. That is what they teach in the Talmud. They teach that he's going to boil in hot excrement after he dies. That's what they teach. That's what Jesus is doing now, according to the Jews. They hate Jesus Christ. A lot of the celebrities that are actors and actresses, a lot of them are Jews. A lot of them have a lot of money. And you'll listen to them blaspheme Jesus Christ. They hate Jesus Christ. They mock Jesus Christ. And look, you know, it's coming from this religion. And guess what? They're going to get what's coming to them. They think, man, we're going to rule the world. But midway through at the abomination of desolation, they're going to get what's coming to them. I do wonder in the back of my head, I mean, are the Jews just going to get on board with it because they have no other option? Or, I mean, are some of them going to be receptive to the Gospel? I don't really know. I doubt they will be. I would hope that if anything would humble you, it's like, oh, man, the person we thought the Christians were right. It's like we just embraced the Antichrist. I would hope then when the wrath of God's upon them, they'd be willing to humble themselves. Maybe some will. I don't know. But basically, they're going to get on board with the Antichrist, and the Antichrist is going to turn on them. Now, the other religions are just going to stay on board, but the Jews are going to basically be turned on by the Antichrist. That's what we're seeing. Why? It says he's going to take away the daily sacrifice. Because the Antichrist is not trying to dual reign with the Jews. It's like, no, no, no, no. Once the abomination of desolation takes place, that's when he says, all right, we got this global system. Yes, I was part of this global system. Okay, now I'm running this global system. I'm the political leader. Why? Because I just rose again because I'm God in the flesh. That's what he's going to say, and they're going to be forced to worship him. And if they don't get on board with it or anybody doesn't get on board, they're going to be killed. Okay, that's what the Bible teaches. Verse 32. Verse 32. Notice what it says in verse 32. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries. There you go with using flattery. But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. And so the Bible says those that know their God, they're going to do exploits during this time period. This is a 75-day blitz after the abomination of desolation. 75 days left to serve God. And you know what's exciting is the Bible says those that know their God, they're going to do exploits. Basically, they're going to be doing amazing works for 75 days. I mean, the greatest, if this happens during our life, the greatest soul-wanting marathons we're ever going to have are going to be during those 75 days. I mean, you're going to be trying just to, I mean, we're going to rely on God to provide the food. We talked about that last week, even in the beginning of sorrows. We're going to have to rely on God. Why? We're not going to Robinson's grocery store to get groceries. Because we don't have that mark. I won't have that mark. Hopefully none of you guys will. I won't have that mark. Okay. Hopefully you're saved how to reprobate. Okay. But look, we're not, we're not going to be able to get groceries. We're not going to be able to get anything. We're going to be on the run. And look, who knows if those grocery stores will be in existence because who knows if there's electricity, there's bombs, there's wars, the world is in chaos. And because of the chaos, it causes people to be ready to get on board with somebody to run that system. Okay. That's what we're seeing. Then it says this, they're going to do exploits in verse 33, and they that understand among the people shall instruct many. Okay. Now look, who is it who understands among the people? Is that just save people in general? I don't think it's just save people. Okay. Because look, I don't think that the, the pre-tribbers are going to know what's going on. They're going to be confused. Right. I mean, they don't understand what's going on at this point because, because they know the Antichrist is going to reveal himself midway through Daniel's 70th week. So they're going to get that. I mean, they're saved. They got the Holy Spirit, these ones that believe on Jesus, but are pre-tribbed. But then they're going to be like, okay, what's going on now? I thought we were going to escape all this. I mean, I didn't think Christians were supposed to go through persecution. I thought, you know, we're God's people. No persecution. Right. It's like, you know, they don't, they don't understand these things at all. They're going to be confused. I think many of them are going to be the ones that get killed because I think God's going to spare the soul winners personally. Okay. For the most part. Okay. They're not going to know what's, what's going on. Are they going to instruct many during the great tribulation? I don't think so. They're certainly not going to instruct other believers because they don't know what's going on. Neither do the mid-tribbers or any of those people. Are they going to be doing a lot of soul winning? Well, I don't see pre-tribbers do a lot of soul winning right now. I'm just being honest. I mean, there are some pre-trib people that go soul winning, but not really a whole lot. Most of the soul winning that I see done in this world is from post-tribbers. Are there more pre-tribbers than post-tribbers? Yeah. There certainly seem to be a lot more pre-tribbers than post-tribbers out of Baptist, but not pre-trib soul winners. I mean, most of the soul winning I see done is from the post-tribbers. Look, I don't think they're going to be instructing many after the abomination of desolation. I'm not saying they're all bad. I mean, they're saved. There are brothers and sisters in Christ. They believe on Jesus. And look, there's a lot of them that love the Lord that are just confused and they just don't understand revelation. They don't understand Daniel. They don't understand the end times, but here's the reality. If they don't understand, they're not going to know what to do during the end times. They're going to be as confused as can be because look, they're expecting to be raptured before the seven years. And so they're going to understand, oh man, we're three and a half years in and we didn't get raptured. They're going to wonder, are we going to be here three and a half more years? They don't even know. Is there even a rapture in the Bible? It's like, I don't understand anything now. I thought there was a rapture. I mean, I don't understand anything. I mean, are we going to suffer God? They're not going to know during that time period. They're going to be confused during that time period. And look, I want you to understand, I believe you can learn the end times. I believe you can read Revelation and understand it and Daniel, but you know, here's the truth. I don't really think that in 75 days you can really have a deep understanding of Daniel and Revelation. Now, if you have godly sermons you can listen to, you can learn a lot of those things, but look, you're probably not going to be able to stop and listen to YouTube during the great tribulation. You're going to be on the run and if you have a Bible, you know, praise the Lord for that. Keep that Bible, hold it fast, you know, because you might not be able to rely with a Bible on your cell phone. This is going to be the most valuable thing to you during the great tribulation. If we live during that time, this is the number one most valuable thing to you. But look, I don't think they're going to be able to just open up Daniel and figure everything out. They're going to be confused as can be. Okay. Now I hope that they hate our movement so much that they've watched after the tribulation 20 times to try to disprove it. And so then maybe all of a sudden they're just like, all right, maybe those pastors were right. Maybe those people were right. Let me just, you know, what, what did it say in that? Okay. Maybe, maybe they'll be like, okay, maybe they'll understand. I don't know. But you know, the reality is that if you're not doing a whole lot of soul winning now, I don't really see you doing a whole lot of soul winning during the great tribulation. And the reality is that pre-trippers for the most part, they're not doing a whole lot of soul winning. The Bible says that those that are soul winners are wise. Okay. I don't think that's just that they're wise because they go soul winning. I think God gives them wisdom and they understand the Bible better. And the reality is that most people that are dedicated soul winners, they understand the basics of this. Now look, tonight's sermon is kind of in depth because we're going all the way back to Daniel and some of these chapters, it's pretty confusing. I mean, I read these chapters many times and I was looking at stuff to make sure I understood things like that. I'm not saying they understand everything, but look, you know, people that are soul winners, they understand the basic timing of the rapture. Okay. And so people that are pre-trib, mid-trib or have other weird views, they don't understand they're not going to be doing great exploits by and large. I hope some will join the party, but quite honestly, by and large, they're probably not going to. Okay. It says, and they that understand among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil many days. The Bible says during these 75 days, they're going to be killed by the sword. We're going to be murdered by people that are reprobates or part of this global system by flame, which means we're going to be burned to death by captivity, by spoil. And so, look, this is the reality during the great tribulation is going to be the greatest persecution that has ever existed for believers on earth. Now, there's been other times where there's been major persecution. I mean, if we live during the Spanish Inquisition, they would basically just come in here, interrupt the service, and basically I'd be tortured to death. And then all of you would be tortured to death unless you're willing to recant what you believe. If you're willing to say, you know what, I was wrong, then maybe they'll just cut off a finger. And that's not an exaggeration. That's the sort of stuff that took place during the Spanish Inquisition. The Catholics murdered, and look, have you ever seen those torture devices? There's a video online that someone had posted a while ago in our group chat, and I couldn't even get through the video. It was disgusting. And when I saw that video, they had the 10 most common torture techniques during the Spanish Inquisition from the Catholic Church, and there were only two of those torture techniques that I knew about. The other eight, I'd never thought about before. The only two that I knew about were, I'm trying to remember, one of them was being burned to death, because you've heard of people being burned to death, not born to death, burned to death. Okay? We've heard of people being burned to death. That's a way. And one of the other torture techniques to kill someone, I can't remember what it was. I just remember two of them were the only two that I had ever heard before. I think the other one might have been crucifixion. Those are terrible ways to die, especially when they would burn someone to death. What they would often do is use wet grass underneath them. So they didn't just burn up in, like, 30 minutes or 10 minutes or whatever. They burned up in, like, 15 hours. Okay? They literally would use wet grass, so they would slowly be heated up. Just like you're... It's like you're sitting above a boiling pot of water that's just... I mean, you've ever boiled water on the stove, and sometimes you put your hand to see how hot it is. You go a little bit too low. You're like, oh, man, that hurts. Right? That's what they did to basically torture people to death. Now, look, the only reason why those torture techniques don't feel that bad is because we're desensitized to it. We're used to that. We've heard of that. Those are terrible ways to die. But my point is this. The other eight torture techniques that were in that video, none of those things I'd ever heard about, and none of those things would have ever entered my mind. Like I couldn't even imagine them torturing someone in the way that they tortured them. And I didn't watch the full video because I couldn't. It was disgusting. And there is, like, live action almost kind of recreating it, even though they didn't show everything. But I read basically the 10 ones they were mentioning, and I'm reading about this. I'm like, you've got to be some sort of reprobate to even come up with these wicked things. And obviously the people that were doing that were a bunch of reprobates and wicked people. And they weren't just killing people. They were torturing them to death. Well, that was pretty bad. But the great tribulation is going to be worse, which is what we're going to talk about next week. When the Antichrist comes, though, it's going to take him a little while to politically rise to power. That's what we saw in Daniel 7. Look, I encourage you to go back to Daniel 7 and Daniel 11, because, look, when you're reading the book of Revelation, you wouldn't necessarily stop and say, oh, the Antichrist had any opposition. But if you pay attention to Daniel, he did. He subdued three kings, and at first they didn't give him the kingdom, but by flattery took control. Now, I mentioned to you earlier Julius Caesar, and he is someone who basically did not immediately get embraced. But let me name to you another world leader who's less than 100 years ago that was very famous. And when he first came, he was not embraced either, and that's Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler was basically a nobody when he was born. He wasn't some big, famous guy, because, you know, some of these leaders like the North Korean leader, like his dad owned North Korea before, right? His dad was the president or leader or whatever. And then before that, his granddad was a leader. Okay, so basically it's just the family lineage. You get to take over. But look, Adolf Hitler, he didn't start out that way. Let me read you a few things about Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler, he wanted to imitate Benito Mussolini's March on Rome, who's a very famous Italian leader who was a communist who basically took over the government in Italy. Okay. And basically Adolf Hitler tried to take over the government and he failed him and his men and he got arrested. Adolf Hitler was in jail for quite a bit of time here. When he was in jail, that is when he wrote the book Mein Kampf. And Mein Kampf is the famous Nazi book. I've actually read, you know, probably about half the book before out of curiosity. But basically he writes Mein Kampf when he's in prison. Okay. And he's come up and he's running. It's not like, you know, in the US or here in the Philippines, you know, you have Republicans, you have Democrats, they have a few debates. And then all of a sudden, no, I mean, Adolf Hitler tried to take over the government. He failed, he got arrested, and then he wrote Mein Kampf in jail. But when he wrote Mein Kampf, basically the people were able to end up reading it because it ended up getting out there. And look, people supported what he said. So they basically said, we don't like the government we're under. We actually like what this guy's saying. And so basically, when he started, he gets arrested, he doesn't take control. And so eventually he ends up becoming the leader. And in 1933, that's when he rises to power. After he rose to power, though, there was still a lot of opposition on the other side. Now I can't prove to you this next thing. This is what I've heard from conspiracy theorists and things like that. But four weeks after Adolf Hitler took over and he became the Chancellor, there was a famous building that was burned down. Okay, it was called the Reichstag fire. This was a very famous building in Berlin, Germany. Okay. Now, of course, Adolf Hitler and his men said the other side burned down our building because they're against us. Okay. What is probably more likely true is Adolf Hitler burned it down with his men. You say why? Because when they burned it down, people were so mad against that side that everybody embraced Adolf Hitler. Now, I don't know exactly what the Antichrist is going to do during the end times, but that sort of stuff happens all the time. The United States has had many things like that. Other countries have had things like that where basically they manufacture a disaster that they created and say, Well, see, look at what the enemy is doing. Then everybody supports them to go to war with these countries and things such as that. That's happened throughout history, various empires. That's probably what happened. I can't prove it because it's a conspiracy theory. You know, who really knows? But basically, when Adolf Hitler was here, they didn't support him at first. Now that was 1933. That is not that much before World War Two, where he's basically trying to take over the world. Five years later is when I think all of that started. So I want you to realize, like when Adolf Hitler came here, he was a nobody. They didn't support him. He rises to power. And then all of a sudden he almost rules the world, and the Antichrist is going to be the same way. This is actually very common from a lot of people that have ruled the world. Now, what can we take away from this as Christians? Because a lot of people see the political rise of the Antichrist, and they might have this attitude. Well, we got to find a way to stop this. You're not going to be able to stop this. This is going to happen. It's written down in the Bible. The Antichrist will rise to power. Governments are going to be wicked. You say, should we fight against it as Christians? And the answer to this is no. We're going to let it happen. For one, we can't stop it. And for two, this is God's choice. Who opens the seals to begin with? Is it the devil? It's God. The lamb opens the seals. And God said this is going to happen. God's allowing the Antichrist to rise to power. You don't fight against that wicked political system. What do you do? You just serve God, and you have to live and fight through it. And let me tell you something. Around the world right now, I understand people are losing freedoms, and they're forcing you to do all these things. Hey, just get on board with what they say. Now, if they tell you to stop reading the Bible, then don't listen to that. But look, if they ask you to just wear the shirt blue, they say you must wear the shirt blue when you're out in public. Wear a blue shirt. It's like it's not that big of a deal. I mean, just do those basic things. It's really not that big of a deal. Okay? You say, why? Look, God is a God of freedom. We get saved. We enter into that freedom. And whatever country you live in, God established government. Now, it doesn't mean the government's righteous. But look, when the people are righteous, God makes sure that the government gets on board. And the government doesn't oppress the people. When the people are wicked, you know what happens? The government oppresses the people. But you know what? God is allowing that to happen. Now, look, if the government fights against you for reading the Bible or praying, well, we know, then you don't go on board with that. But look, if the government just takes away some of your political rights, you just get on board with that. You say, why? Look, the Antichrist is going to rise to power. That's the way it is. And God never tells us to fight the government. You don't see that in the Bible. What we're told to do, look, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. And look, obviously, we want as many rights as we have. Obviously, there's things right now, I wish we had more rights. I wish things were done differently, but who cares? That's what they decided. We got on board with it. And the reason why we don't have these freedoms is because our country is wicked. That's the only reason why they're doing this. You say, well, how do you fix that? You don't fix that by fighting the government. You don't fix that by being political activists. You fix that by going down on your knees and praying for forgiveness from God because we're a wicked country that deserves to be judged. And let me tell you something. Right now, look, I understand we're frustrated. I am too. I wish the lockdown didn't happen. I wish everything didn't happen. If I ran the country, then I would have done things differently. But look, I don't run the country. I'm never going to run the country. And I'm never going to get involved in politics like that, because ultimately, God allows it to happen. And as Christians, you want to fix that instead of complaining and murmuring about it. You know what you do? You get down on your knees and beg God for forgiveness, because ultimately, those rights are not really coming from the government. Ultimately, they're coming from God, and God's the one allowing them to be taken away because you become wicked. This is all throughout the Bible. I mean, in Jeremiah, he says, you know what? You're going to have to go into Babylon. You need to just get on board with it and accept it because you're wicked. And you know, he tells them, you know, just get on board and it won't be too bad for you. And of course, people don't want to get on board. That's just the way it is. Okay. But you don't fight a fleshly battle or political battle. The Antichrist will politically rise to power. It's written in the Word of God, and you say, Well, maybe we can change the timing. The timing starts because God opens up the seals. That's when it's going to start. So look, I want you to realize us fighting against the government. It's not going to extend the time when God releases it, because the reason why God starts Daniel's 70th week is because the world is too wicked to survive. And he decides, I've got to destroy this place. The only way to prolong this time period so it wouldn't happen in our life is by becoming more godly. Now, we as God's people, we can only do so much because if the world gets wicked, it's going to be destroyed anyway. But look, if there's anything we want to do and I want to do, do as much soul winning as you can. Read the Bible as much as you can. Live godly, fear God, beg God for forgiveness. And what does the Bible say that if my people would call upon me, and I'm misquoting this, then I would heal their land. That's what the Bible says. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today, and I just ask you to help us apply the sermon to our lives and help us to have a better understanding of what is going to take place during the end times. Help us to understand the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation and the political rise of the Antichrist. And all the word of God is important, God, and it helps us have a better picture and understanding of what's going on in the world today and help us as God's people to focus though not on the political aspect of this. You know, we as Christians, we can only, you know, be involved in so many fights in our lives and obviously the most important fight we can be involved in is soul winning, getting churches started, preaching the truth, raising, you know, godly children, having a godly marriage and living for you, God. Help us do the best we can to live for you. And you know, obviously we ask for forgiveness. We ask you, God, to help in this lockdown sooner rather than later so we can get back to a regular schedule of working and soul winning and things such as that, God. But we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.