Highlight points for Sinclair Ferguson’s The War Against Christ video above [square brackets, emboldening and colored text are mine]:
- Revelation 12 and 13 is the context; he explains it via Romans briefly
- A brief analogy to secular movies to explain the techniques seen in John’s writing
- Quick / brief survey of Rev. 1-11
- 12, 13: the relevance of the time frame given by John
- The time frame in which the Church of Jesus Christ has its present existence
- The seals…of God’s judgment upon the world
- 3 points of our focus: 1) the big picture, 2), what might be the message of the details of this big picture, and 3), what is its message
- The big picture: similar characteristics with the book of Daniel and of Job
- How many beasts are present?
- 1) The Dragon, 2), the sea beast, 3), the earth beast
- Out of these 3 monsters, a great city emerges – Babylon
- The 3 beasts are a picture of the unholy trinity of the powers of darkness; they array themselves against the holy Triune God and the church He’s building
- The Red Dragon; his beast-like son, who has been wounded; and the son’s servant who will glorify him before men
- The dark, unholy trinity, who builds its city in the face of the holy trinity, is about destroying the work of the holy trinity
- The unholy trinity has created a movement towards ungodliness / rebellion against God
- Question 2: What is the dark trinity doing; what is the present activity of each beast?
- The Great Dragon, Satan, is deceiving the whole world (the woman, her son, etc., explained)
- Satan sought to destroy the Son via Herod, temptations in the wilderness, death/cross, Judas, Pilate, high priests, the people calling out “crucify Him”
- Recalled Genesis 3:15, the conflict between the Seed of the woman and the serpent
- Because the Dragon couldn’t destroy the Son, he seeks to destroy covenant people of God of all ages (whom the woman symbolizes)
- That is, the life of the Christian / church is one of warfare, as the Dragon wants to destroy God’s church and His people [the idea of having one’s best life now is totally unbiblical]
- The child was protected by God’s providence, as God protected His people in the wilderness, the Red Sea…
- The Sea Beast: errors about this text briefly stated
- 13:4 Who can stand against the Beast? That is a reference to the world set apart from God that Christians are pressured to become part of, to imbibe
- This beast seeks world-wide dominance [One world movement]
- The earth beast that bears witness to the sea beast; it has two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon; that is, it looked like a lamb, but was not
- One of the Dragon’s greatest tactics is to have the appearance of godliness; Christians must live in such a way that they do not trust their eyesight, but trust what God has written.
- Christians must navigate through this world via what their ears have heard in God’s word: examples wherein Eve and King David failed to do so
- We are so easily deceived by Satan because we trust our eyes; what it is to do otherwise explained
- Spiritual warfare explained briefly
- The number of the beast 666: the # of man
- Herein, the number of man is opposed to the number of God, 777 (Father, Son, Holy Spirit); 7 is a number of perfection; the number 6 is short of that in each case above
- Chapter 12 is a picture book version of Matthew 16:18 regarding the “gates of hell” and their failure to prevail against Christ’s church
- 13 is pictured in Romans 1:21-23, man in his rebellion against God, refusing to believe truth, believing in lies and going his own way; the way of 666
- APPLICATION:
- They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimonies, they loved not their lives even unto death
- How do I know that I can overcome?
- 4 clues:
- 1), We need to learn how to unmask his true identity, because he is by nature a deceiver of the brethren: he will NOT appear like a dragon, but like a lamb, to entice. We need to listen with biblically cleansed ear drums to his words that we might see through his schemes; Key – I’ve hid your word in my heart…
- 2), what is his characteristic activity? To accuse the brethren. To make much of your sin and guilt and to hide the cross from you
- Like the pilgrim in Pilgrim’s Progress: “These are not the thoughts I want” (explained)
- 3), We want an easier way to overcome; that is, we do not want to surrender totally, but to retain some of our own lives for personal, selfish…reasons. We are only SAFE in Him when we are all in Him. Then He is all ours
- We do not rest in our own observations, discernments; but in Christ’s victory; only in Him is our hope found
- The above is either true or it is nonsense to us; if you believe, then it is a glorious truth
- No one who has fully surrendered has regretted that decision
- Concluding prayer nicely ties the above together
Link to 46 min. sermon: [I am still not able to upload videos, even those with no moving objects?]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d1U4rFS0Ws
Christian Sermons and Audio Books: the following link is to this site video library:
https://www.youtube.com/c/stack45ny/videos
The following points are notes below the video we just heard:
Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. (Revelation 11:19)
Apocalypse Now: The War Against Christ – Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=…
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▶️My WordPress blog: https://sermonsandsongsdotorg.com/ Sinclair Ferguson (born 1948) is a Scottish theologian known in Reformed Christian circles for his teaching, writing, and editorial work. He is currently a professor at Redeemer Seminary in Dallas.
He received his Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen and was a minister in the Church of Scotland from 1971 to 2005, when he transferred to the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, serving as the Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, South Carolina. He has served as an editor with the Banner of Truth Trust, worked as a minister at St George’s-Tron Church, Glasgow, and a Council member of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.
He is the Senior Minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina. He is also a Professor of Systematic Theology at Redeemer Seminary in Dallas, prior to which he held the Charles Krahe Chair for Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is also a council member of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.
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Please watch: ”
A Call to Separation – A. W. Pink Christian Audio Books / Don’t be Unequally Yoked / Be Ye Separate” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBDg7…
For similar posts in this blog, see Categories: Spiritual Warfare