Full Transcript for Unveiled: Decoding 666

face is on the billboard. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:06.800 And then there are the one, there's the one who actually decides what's going to happen. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:12.240 And if you spend all of your energy fighting the guy on the billboard, you can win. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:20.240 You can absolutely take him down and discover that nothing changed because he was never the one making the calls. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:21.920 He was just the guy out front. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:27.519 So I want to tell you guys right now, the beast is not the villain of Revelation. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:31.439 The beast is an employee of the great villain. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:39.439 And one more verse before we move on, because everything else gets answered by it, um, is chapter 12, verse 11. 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:51.279 Okay, so if you go into chapter 12, verse 11, it says, And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives even unto death. 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:51.680 Okay. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:55.680 Now I want you to flag that and write it down because we're going to come back at the end. 00:05:55.839 --> 00:06:01.439 And when we do, it's going to be the entire answer to everything this chapter is about to throw at you. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:01.839 Okay. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:05.680 Now, now let's step into chapter 13, verse 1. 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:06.079 Okay. 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:08.560 This is what chapter 13, verse 1 says. 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:14.720 It says, And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea with 10 horns and seven heads. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:21.920 And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet was like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:22.399 Okay. 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:24.399 So we've got some animals here. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:26.959 We've got a leopard, we've got a bear, we've got a lion. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:33.120 Now, if you have the key that we that I gave you in week one, you already know where we are. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:33.920 You ready? 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.079 Daniel chapter seven. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:41.920 Daniel sees four beasts coming out of the sea: a lion, a bear, a leopard, and guess what? 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:46.480 Listen, and a fourth one so terrible he doesn't even have an animal for it. 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:51.199 So there's four beasts, and those four beasts represent four kingdoms. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:56.319 So John takes Daniel's four and then he welds them into one. 00:06:56.560 --> 00:06:56.879 Okay. 00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:00.480 Now, I'm gonna give you an illustration of what's happening here. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:08.800 There's this thing that photographers do where they take a stack of portraits and they layer them on top of each other until you get one face. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:15.360 And that face that comes out isn't any of the individual people, it's all of them at once. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:16.560 It's the type. 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:22.399 You look at it and you're not looking at a person, you're looking at what they all have in common. 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:24.639 See, friend, that's the beast. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:26.959 John isn't describing an animal. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:29.040 He isn't describing one man. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:36.160 He's showing you every empire that Daniel ever saw layered into one being, into one face. 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:38.000 And notice where it comes from. 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:40.879 This beast comes up from the sea. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:47.920 So in the Hebrew imagery, the sea is chaos, the deep, the churning, the unstable, dangerous place. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:50.959 Empires come up out of chaos. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:08:00.000 So I want you to keep that in your pocket because next week we get into Revelation 21, and the very first thing it says is the sea was no more. 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:00.560 Okay. 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:02.399 This is really powerful, man. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:09.199 I I wish I would have known this when I first was born again because Revelation scared the mess out of me. 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:12.800 And now as I begin to read this, there's so much understanding to it. 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:17.600 So now, okay, two details that almost everybody reads straight past. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:18.079 Okay. 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:23.120 One is in verse five, talking about the number 42 months. 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:24.240 Now, this is big. 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:26.480 42 months is three and a half years. 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:31.439 It's the same figure as the 1260 days elsewhere in this book. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:36.159 And it's the same as Daniel's time, times, and a half of time. 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:36.480 Okay. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:38.080 And here's what it's made of. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:50.399 Okay, we all know that seven in the scripture, in the Bible's number, um, in biblical numerology, seven is for completeness, for wholeness, for the finished thing. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:50.879 Okay. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:54.080 So what does three and a half mean? 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:57.039 Well, three and a half is seven broken in half. 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:02.399 So it's not a calendar, it's really a way of saying two things at once. 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:09.039 So what John is saying is this is real suffering, but this is not the whole story. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:13.600 So it's a broken seven, cut off, incomplete by design. 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:17.600 So 42 months isn't a countdown. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:23.039 It's God's way of saying this is real and it is not forever. 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:24.080 Okay. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:28.559 Second point, and this is this one's really like buried in the grammar. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:32.240 Verse five says, authority was given to it. 00:09:32.399 -->

00:09:35.440 Verse seven says it was allowed to make war. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:40.639 Verse seven again, authority was given to it over every tribe and people. 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:45.200 So this is written in a passive voice over and over in this chapter. 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:47.360 Was given, was allowed. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:47.840 Okay. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:49.759 But given by whom? 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:50.799 That's the question. 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:54.320 Well, John never spells it out, and he doesn't have to. 00:09:54.559 --> 00:10:01.519 There's only one answer available in a book that spent all of chapter four establishing who is on the throne. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:07.519 See, friend, the beast is terrifying, and yet the beast is on a leash. 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:13.039 Friend, I know you've walked past a fence where something enormous came at you. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:16.399 The noise, the impact on the boards, the whole fence moving. 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:17.759 And what does your body do? 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:20.159 It reacts before your brain does every time. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:22.080 So you'll flinch or whatever. 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:26.320 And then your brain catches up and tells you the thing that you already knew. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:28.240 There's a chain on that dog. 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:37.679 And friend, it didn't get quieter, it didn't get smaller, but the size of it and the reach of it turn out to be two completely different questions. 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:38.240 Okay. 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:40.960 And one last thing in this chapter, verse three. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:46.559 One of the heads has a mortal wound that has been healed. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:49.840 So a death and then a coming back. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:51.279 Do you see what that is? 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:54.159 Friend, that's a counterfeit resurrection. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:11:02.240 So put the dragon, the beast, and the second beast together, and you've got a parody, uh, you've got a how do I say it? 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:03.759 A parody trinity. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:04.159 Okay. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:08.720 So everything, single thing that the beast has, it's imitating. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:10.960 It has no original material. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:13.360 It's a knockoff all the way down. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:17.039 Now, one for the comments here because I love hearing from you guys. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:22.080 Had you ever been told that Revelation 13 is built out of Daniel 7? 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:22.960 Yes or no? 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:23.840 Keep it simple. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:25.440 I just want to see where you're at. 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:26.399 All right. 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:29.519 Now, this is the part that you came for. 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:35.679 So let's do it carefully because precision matters here more than anywhere else in this series. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:38.240 So let's start with something we've lost. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:38.720 Okay. 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:44.799 Ancient languages didn't have a separate set of numerals the way that we do. 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:45.200 Okay. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:47.919 The letters were the numbers. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:52.159 Hebrew did it, Greek did it, alpha was one, beta was two, and so on. 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:52.559 Okay. 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:57.440 Which means every single name had a number automatically. 00:11:57.600 --> 00:11:59.360 You didn't have to do anything with it. 00:11:59.519 --> 00:11:59.840 Okay. 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:02.720 And people played with this constantly. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:09.039 There's graffiti preserved literally preserved from Pompeii, buried in 79 AD. 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:16.799 So this is the exact world that we're talking about, where somebody scratched a message about a girl and gave her number instead of her name. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:21.600 See, friend, that's a first century teenager flirting in code. 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:25.039 And everybody reading that wall knew exactly what was happening. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:33.279 So when John says calculate the number, nobody in those seven churches thought, what a strange and impossible instruction. 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:35.600 They thought, oh, it's one of those. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:36.799 Now let's run it. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:37.200 Okay. 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:40.639 Take the name Neron Caesar, okay? 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:41.679 The Emperor Nero. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:42.159 Okay. 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:47.039 Written the way that it was commonly written, transliterated into Hebrew letters. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:56.799 If you add the values up, it would be 50 plus 200 plus 6 plus 50 plus 100 plus 60 plus 200. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:58.000 What does that equal? 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:00.320 666. 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:05.600 Now, here's the part that almost nobody in your audience has ever heard. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:06.480 I guarantee it. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:12.639 And where you go to church or whatever audience maybe you preach to or teach to, and it's the strongest card in the deck. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:13.039 Okay. 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:20.240 Some of the oldest surviving manuscripts of Revelation don't actually say 666. 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:23.759 They say 616. 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:29.600 Now, normally, okay, a variant like that is a problem for a theory. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:31.840 Here, it's actually the opposite. 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:36.080 Here it's really the fingerprint because watch what happens. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:43.279 The Hebrew spelling of Neron ends with a letter called none, and none is worth 50. 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:46.480 So spell the name the Latin way instead. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:47.440 Guess what? 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:48.159 Nero. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:52.799 Without that final N, which is exactly how a Latin speaker

would write it. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:54.320 And you drop that letter. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:54.720 Okay. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:58.799 666 minus 50 equals what? 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:01.120 616. 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:01.919 Okay. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:11.519 Listen, two different spellings of the same name, both preserved in the manuscript tradition, both landing exactly where you'd expect it. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:17.279 Friend, there's an ancient copy of Revelation that says 616 instead of 666. 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:20.320 Friend, that's not a mistake in the text. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:25.759 That's the same name, one spelled in Latin instead of Hebrew. 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:26.159 Okay. 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:29.679 So now let me be honest about how hard I'll push this. 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:30.080 Okay. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:34.879 This is the majority view among scholars who work on Revelation. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:40.240 And I think it's the best explanation available by a wide margin. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:40.639 Okay. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:44.399 So I'm not going to tell you it's mathematically proven. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:45.600 I'll tell you this. 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:49.519 The riddle had a first century answer. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:53.759 It was a first century answer that the first readers could solve. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:57.679 And the best candidate we have is Nero. 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:03.440 Now, let's talk about the mark itself because this is where I believe the pastoral work is. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:15.039 So if you're going to look in verses 16 and 17, again, we're in chapter 13, a mark on the right hand or the forehead, and without it you can't buy or sell. 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:24.480 Now, put that beside chapter 7, verse 3, and chapter 14, verse 1, where the servants of God are sealed on the forehead. 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:24.960 Okay. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:30.960 So two marks, same locations, one from the beast and one from the lamb. 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:34.320 Friend, this is not about technology. 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:37.440 This is the language of ownership. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:39.919 Whose name is on you? 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:41.600 Whose are you? 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:46.799 Who you'll bow to in order to keep your shop open. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:49.919 Now think about what it means when somebody's wearing a jersey. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:50.240 Okay. 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:52.799 Nobody thinks the fabric is magic. 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:55.360 Nobody thinks the logo has power in it. 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:58.240 The jersey isn't doing anything to them. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:00.799 What it's doing is announcing something. 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:02.559 It says, I'm with them. 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:05.039 When they win, I win. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:06.320 Put me in the column. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:06.720 Okay. 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:07.919 That's the mark. 00:16:08.080 -->

00:16:09.039 It was never a chip. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:10.480 It was never a barcode. 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:11.600 It's a jersey. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:18.320 It's a declaration of who you belong to in a world that makes your ability to eat depend on that answer. 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:23.759 And here's why I want you to hear this clearly today, because I think people have lost sleep over it for decades. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:25.759 Listen, write this down. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:34.960 The mark of the beast was never about technology, it's about who owns you, and you cannot get it by accident. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:40.879 So stop with this fear-mongering, talking about the mark of the beast and connecting it to technology. 00:16:41.039 --> 00:16:42.240 It's nonsense. 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:47.519 Nobody has ever stumbled into the mark of the beast at a checkout counter. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:53.120 The pressure John's readers faced was economic and social and completely legible. 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:53.600 Okay. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:59.360 So go along, say the words, burn the pinch of incense, keep your business. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:01.519 That's what was happening in that day. 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:04.160 Who, who, who's who is your God? 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:06.079 Who whose jersey do you have on? 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:08.400 Who's got the mark on your hand in the forehead? 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:09.599 Are you going to go along with it? 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:10.640 Are you going to say the words? 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:16.000 You're going to go through the ritual, you're going to use the burn the pinch of incense and keep your business open? 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:21.039 Friends, Christians have faced that in every century since, including this one. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:24.319 It's never once required a chip. 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:27.599 This is talking about who owns you. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:28.319 Okay. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:34.160 Now, if we go look into chapter 17, okay, let's move on from chapter 13. 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:35.920 Let's move into chapter 17. 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:38.160 Okay, here's another symbol. 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:43.759 There's a woman on a scarlet beast dressed in purple, holding a golden cup. 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:46.559 And John does the thing that he does. 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:50.480 He's going to tell you, quit trying to miss make this mystical. 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:56.240 He's going to tell you, verse 9, the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:03.279 Verse 18, the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the entire earth. 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:10.079 So every single person in that empire reading that sentence knew what city sets on seven hills. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:11.519 This was not subtle. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:14.160 This was about as subtle as it could safely be. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:16.000 So why not just say Rome? 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:16.960 Two reasons. 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:17.359 Okay. 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:18.960 The first one's practical. 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:21.519 John is a prisoner on Patmos. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:27.680 He's writing to churches inside an empire that executes people over exactly this question. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:31.359 I want to tell you about something that we call the family table. 00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:34.480 Almost everything we make here, we give away. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:41.279 The teaching, the resources, the tools that we put in the hands of pastors and church leaders who are running on empty. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:43.920 It's free because we believe it should be free. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:48.240 And it's free because a group of people quietly decided to pay for it. 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:50.319 Friend, that's the family table. 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:57.920 Monthly partners who fund this work so that somebody who could never afford it can walk in wholeness, anyways. 00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:00.000 Your giving does three things. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:04.240 It gets free resources into the hands of individuals and churches. 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:08.160 It plants family table communities all across the country. 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:14.640 And it helps pastors and church leaders find the wholeness that they've been handing to everybody but themselves. 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:30.480 Friend, family table members get exclusive content, early access to new resources, and a monthly Zoom call with me and my wife, a real one where we talk about what we're actually doing, a little behind the scenes and casting vision for the future. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:41.519 So if that's you, you want to be a part of the family table, want you to go to marcasto.co backslash donate, set up your recurring gift, and we'll send you the details shortly. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:44.799 We'd love to have you at the family table. 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:49.440 Guys, you know how people write when the letter is going to be read by somebody else first. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:20:00.319 So you write about the weather, you mention Aunt Rose, you say something that means one thing to the censor and something completely to your family, completely different to your family. 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:00.720 Okay. 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:03.039 So that's a riddle with a purpose. 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:06.319 John isn't being mysterious for the fun of it. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:12.000 He's writing so that the churches understand and the empire doesn't have a sentence to hang him with. 00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:16.480 And the second reason I think is bigger, and it's the one that matters for you and I. 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:16.880 Okay. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:22.240 He calls it Babylon because Babylon already meant something. 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:24.400 Jeremiah wrote against Babylon. 00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:26.720 Isaiah

wrote against Babylon. 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:36.799 Centuries before John, there were whole oracles about a city that gathered the world's wealth and crushed the world's people and thought it would stand forever. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:37.279 Okay. 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:43.519 So when John looks at Rome and calls it Babylon, he is saying, this is the same thing. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:47.599 This is Rome is Babylon, but it's just wearing new clothes. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:49.920 So, friend, I hope you understand by now. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:51.200 Babylon's not a place. 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:55.119 Yes, it was at one point a physical place, but but you got to hear this. 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:56.640 Babylon's not a place. 00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:58.720 Babylon is a spirit. 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:03.519 Babylon is a costume that gets handed down through the generations. 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:05.920 So now get to chapter 18. 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:12.880 The merchants lament, and I want you to hear the whole list because this list is the sermon. 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:13.200 Okay. 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:38.319 Cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet, all kinds of scented wood, ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron, marble, cinnamon, spice, um, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, chariots, listen to this, and slaves. 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:41.519 That is human souls. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:44.079 So that's the last item. 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:50.960 After the cinnamon, after the horses, same list, same manifest, same counter. 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:51.440 Okay? 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.559 So nobody in that supply chain thought of themselves as evil. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.279 They were merchants, they were moving product. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:09.359 The product at the bottom of the invoice was people, and the system that had gotten so used to it that it didn't even require a separate page. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:12.160 Friend, if you're taking notes, write this down. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:16.400 The cargo list ends with human souls right after the sentiment. 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:21.119 That's the whole indictment of the empire in one line. 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:28.400 That's the reason why God hates Babylon, because it has reduced people down to money. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:32.400 And then look at why the merchants are weeping in chapters 18. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:33.039 Read it. 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:34.720 It's not grief. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:38.960 Nobody's mourning a person, they're mourning the market. 00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:42.640 Verse 11 says, No one buys their cargo anymore. 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:44.720 That's a revenue statement. 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:47.680 And into that, verse 4. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:51.519 God says, Come out of her, my people. 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:53.519 Friend, that's not geography. 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:55.359 Nobody's being told to move. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:57.440 He's talking about allegiance. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:02.079 Come out from under what it wants from you and be mine. 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:02.799 Okay? 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:08.400 Now, let me put my position on the table in one breath. 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:10.559 No hedging here, okay? 00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:17.039 This had a first century address, and it has a permanent pattern. 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:18.160 So I want you to hear this. 00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:21.839 The book of Revelation has a first century meaning. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:24.160 That's why I say first century address. 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:29.920 But also with it is an unfolding permanent pattern. 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:37.680 So John was writing about Rome, and John was not only writing about Rome, here's why it has to be both. 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:38.160 Okay. 00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:47.599 If it were only about Rome, then this book died somewhere in the second century, and we're reading somebody else's mail for no reason at all. 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:54.400 So a historical curiosity with a blessing attached for some reason doesn't really make sense. 00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:59.680 But if it were only about the future, then this is just cruel. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:03.599 Useless to the very people who were bleeding when it was written. 00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:12.640 Imagine handing a church under persecution a coded document about events 2,000 years away and calling that pastoral care. 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:20.880 Friend, the book of Revelation was written as both a real empire and the shape that empire always takes. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:21.359 Okay? 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:25.119 And the shape is remarkably consistent. 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:27.920 Empire always demands worship. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:32.799 In some form, one way or another, an empire always demands worship. 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:36.640 It always attaches that worship to your ability to eat. 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:42.559 It always turns people into inventory somewhere in the supply chain and then calls it something else. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:46.400 It always looks unbeatable from underneath. 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:50.720 And it always, always has a mortal wound. 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:58.799 Now, here's where I'm going to do something that you might not have expected when you clicked on this video with a 666 in the title. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:24:59.279 Okay. 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:03.200 I am not going to tell you who the beast is today. 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:11.279 And I want to be clear that it's not because I'm nervous or because I'm scared, and it's not because I don't have opinions about the world. 00:25:11.519 --> 00:25:15.519 It's because I believe naming the beast is the trap. 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:19.920 Why don't you think about what we what we've done for 150 years? 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:35.359 Every generation

has confidently identified him: Napoleon, the Kaiser, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, a Pope, a president, a Secretary of State, sincere people every time with charts and verses and real convictions. 00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:36.480 And guess what? 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:40.880 With all of those real convictions, every generation was wrong. 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:43.680 But here's the part that actually costs something. 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:44.160 Okay. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:49.279 It isn't just that the answers were wrong, it's what the searching does to you. 00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:58.480 So while you're scanning the headlines for the Antichrist, you stop examining what you're actually being asked to bow to. 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:05.359 And listen, I know what I did in module three was satisfying: a riddle, a calculation, a manuscript variant, a name. 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:06.079 That clicks. 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:08.480 It feels like mastery, okay? 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:12.559 And that feeling is exactly what got sold to all of us. 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:16.160 The decoder ring is the product. 00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:24.640 If all I've done today is hand you a better decoder ring, I've failed because I taught you the same habit with more accurate answers. 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:28.559 Here's the difference that I want in teaching you the book of Revelation. 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:42.079 You spent a long time at the window watching, scanning the street, trying to work out which one of them it is and who's the beast, who's the false prophet, who's the Antichrist, who's the dragon, and whether it's started yet. 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:48.480 Friend, and this text walks over, closes the blind, and hands you a mirror. 00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:54.559 Not to condemn you, to ask you the only question that was ever actually on the table. 00:26:54.880 --> 00:26:59.119 What are you bowing to in order to keep buying and selling? 00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:02.640 Now, friend, I understand that's not a comfortable question. 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:06.240 It's a much better one than who is he? 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:07.839 And you have to admit that. 00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:13.279 The beast isn't a prediction that you decode, it's a mirror that you check. 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:14.720 Do you get that? 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:22.559 Like we're looking at the problems instead of the mirror, going, Do I have the mark on my forehead and on my wrist? 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:27.279 Do I have allegiance to the beast or to the lamb? 00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:30.640 Okay, now, chapter 12, verse 11. 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:34.880 Let's go back for a second, the verse I told you to flag at the very beginning. 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:36.160 This is what it says. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:37.759 Most of you can quote it. 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:46.960 And they overcame him, and they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives even unto death. 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:50.240 Now, I want you to look at what the saints are not given. 00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:51.839 They're not given an army. 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:52.240 Okay. 00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:54.319 I hope you're tracking here with this. 00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:56.960 They are not given an army, okay? 00:27:57.279 --> 00:27:59.440 That's not, that's not what they were given here. 00:27:59.599 --> 00:27:59.920 Okay. 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:01.920 They're not given an army. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:05.200 There's no army anywhere in this book on our side of it. 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:07.119 They're not given an escape plan. 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:09.680 Nobody's getting evacuated in chapter 13. 00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:13.039 They're not given a date, not a single one. 00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:19.680 What they're given is the blood of the lamb, which we did two weeks ago, and it's the finished work. 00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:21.279 It's not their performance. 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:23.359 It was never about their performance. 00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:30.319 And the word of their testimony, which means a faithful witness, out loud, and there's a cost attached to that. 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:31.200 That's it. 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:34.880 That's the whole strategy the church has ever been issued. 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:38.880 And I want you to notice it's the same way the Lamb won. 00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:44.559 He didn't outpower anybody, he testified, and it cost him everything. 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:47.200 And that actually turned out to be a victory. 00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:48.640 And guess what, friend? 00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:52.160 The saints just do what he did. 00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:57.119 Friend, I'm going to say this to you, and this is going to help you with the book of Revelation. 00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:04.640 Every generation gets a beast, and every generation gets the same solution. 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:05.200 Okay. 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:09.039 And Rome fell, not to an army of Christians. 00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:10.160 There wasn't one. 00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:12.319 It fell the way they all fall. 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:18.400 And the church had no army, no escape plan, no date that was there. 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:24.880 But they were still telling the truth out loud, and we're still telling the truth out loud 2,000 years later. 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:28.160 So again, here's another one for the comments. 00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:30.319 And I want you to take this very seriously. 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:32.559 Forget the headlines for a second, okay? 00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:42.559 What's the thing in your actual life that's asking you to bow a little to keep things comfortable? 00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:44.880 You don't have to name it specifically. 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:47.200 Just say that you know what it is. 00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:47.599 Okay? 00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:49.440 I want to see that in the comments. 00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:55.039 Okay, now in closing, 666 was a riddle. 00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:56.799 It had an answer. 00:29:57.119 --> 00:30:00.960 The the the first people to read this book could solve it. 00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:04.240 And most likely his name was Nero. 00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:07.440 And he's been dead for nearly 2,000 years. 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:08.720 But guess what? 00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:11.119 The pattern outlived him. 00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:13.759 Babylon is just a costume, okay? 00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:18.559 And it keeps getting handed down, and every generation meets it wearing something new. 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:22.640 And the answer has not changed once in 2,000 years. 00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:25.680 Not an army, not a bunker, not a date. 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:36.160 The blood of the lamb, the word of your testimony, and a people who love the truth more than they love being comfortable. 00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:46.480 Now, friend, next week is the last part of this series that we've done called Unveiled, helping you understand how to read the book of Revelation. 00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:49.200 And guys, we're going to read the ending. 00:30:49.279 --> 00:30:53.279 And I'm telling you right now, it is not the world burning down. 00:30:53.440 --> 00:30:54.640 I want you to hear this. 00:30:54.880 --> 00:31:01.440 It's a city coming down and a river running out of the throne and gates that never close. 00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:05.200 Friend, stop looking out the window looking for the crisis. 00:31:05.359 --> 00:31:09.920 Stop looking out the window looking to interpret end time events. 00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:11.680 Go look in the mirror. 00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:13.599 Be honest with yourself. 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:18.000 Ask who's my allegiance to? 00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:20.240 Tell yourself the truth. 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:21.680 I'll see you next week.