Allen Jackson - The Overthrow of the Antichrist (02/08/2026)
The preacher calls believers to recognize the deepening shadow of the spirit of antichrist in our nation through lawlessness, ungodly leadership, and rejection of biblical truth, yet assures that this spirit will ultimately be overthrown by Jesus, the Lamb who triumphs as King. Drawing from Revelation 19, he urges laying down our lives in surrender to God's purposes rather than resisting evil through hatred or force, closing with communion to receive Christ's redemptive strength for the pressures ahead.
Honoring Veterans and the Call to Fast and Pray
We're going to do an offertory prayer. Late adopters. Now, it's Veterans Day week, and we took some time through the weekend to acknowledge our veterans and say thank you to them. It seemed appropriate. We didn't want to just drop it tonight. Freedom's not free. It's almost a cliché, but it is also the truth. And we are most grateful for those men and women who have served on our behalf. And we will say thank you.
You know, a little handful of knuckleheads drowned out the gratitude and appreciation of millions of people. It's not fashionable right now to say thank you to law enforcement or first responders or military, but nobody's ever accused me of being fashionable. So I'm going to maintain my trajectory in that direction. So I hope you'll join me.
I've invited you for a few weeks to fast and pray on a regular basis. We didn't dictate only one day to do that, but I have invited you towards Wednesdays because we're together on Wednesday night, and I like to be able to pray when I'm fasting. If fasting is a new idea to you, go back a couple of sessions ago. You can find it on the website or YouTube or wherever you get your content. Listen to the message. It'll give you enough of an explanation to know the why.
There are very few things in my life the Lord has honored more consistently than when I'm willing to fast and pray. And the corporate fasting and prayer of God's people can change the destiny of nations.
Small Group Prayer Assignment for Families, Nation, and Church
So I'm going to give you a little bit of an assignment for offertory prayer. I'm going to ask you to get in groups of five or six. I don't really want the groups to get bigger than that because I need you to introduce yourself, just your first name. And then you have three options for a prayer request.
Because some of us can't give a prayer request briefly. Some of us need to give like the genealogy of everybody involved in what's being requested. And I appreciate the great breadth of understanding you have, but we have a limited time, and I don't want us to miss the opportunity to pray.
So it's holiday season. That's part of what prompted this. We'll be gathering with family and friends over these next few weeks. And every family tree has a few fruits and nuts. You know, and some of them, it's probably us. So... But our families need God's help.
So if your prayer is for your family, you can simply say family. If your prayer is for our veterans, or if it's for our nation, you can just simply say our nation. Or if it's for our congregation, it may be somebody here that you worship with, and you've got... I'm quite confident God would know the details in this case.
So you've got three options, or you can do one or all three. You can say, my family tree is filled with stuff, and our nation needs God's help, and pray for our congregation. I'm okay with that.
But if you'll do that, and then if you've introduced yourselves, you've got a handful of people, two or three of you say a prayer. All right? Do you understand the assignment?
And don't just pray with the people that came in your car to campus. Okay? They've heard you pray before. And if they've never heard you pray, they'll be so shocked it won't help much tonight.
Okay? How many of you were fasting today? That's awesome. Good for you. Okay? You go. You've got five minutes. I'll call you back. All right. All right. You've got about 60 seconds. Can you land the plane?
Corporate Prayer for Families, Nation, and Congregation
Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the prayers of your people. I thank you that you hear our prayers, and you respond to our prayers. And for your great power and presence in our midst, we are grateful. We thank you for it.
Lord, we pray for those issues in our families. Lord, as we look to the holidays, and... Lord, none of the details are hidden from you. And we ask you into the midst of those circumstances. Lord, give us the wisdom we need to respond in ways that will bring your very best.
Where there's been hurt and division, I pray you'll bring forgiveness and unity. Where there has been loss, Lord, I pray that you will bind up broken hearts, and the grief will diminish, and the joy will come. I thank you, Father, that you are well able to meet our needs.
We pray for our nation. We're a nation in need of mercy. May your people across our land, Father, humble themselves and turn their faces to you in repentance. May we say no to ungodliness and yes to godliness in unprecedented ways.
Lord, I pray for our congregation that you would give us the wisdom to encourage one another and strengthen one another and stand together, that the name of Jesus might be lifted up in this community and beyond.
Lord, I thank you that you're the head of the church and that we serve at your pleasure. May we serve with a courage and a boldness that is pleasing to you. In Jesus' name, amen.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God is moving in the earth. Have you heard that? Yes. If you haven't, you're a visitor, but we're glad you're here. Because God is moving in the earth.
Transition to Communion and the Spirit of Antichrist
If you're on campus, you should have received an outline when you came into the sanctuary and the elements of communion. If you're not with us on campus, you can download those same outlines from the websites or the app. You cannot download communion. But you can go to the kitchen and get a glass of water and a saltine cracker and we'll let you in. Ours are not unique.
I want to pick up a theme that we've been working on. It's actually a statement I made last week in another setting and it's kept kind of reverberating within me. And I mentioned it over the weekend and I'd like to look at it a little bit more.
It had to do with the antichrist. What I said after the elections a week ago was that it felt to me as if the shadow of the spirit of antichrist had deepened across our nation. And that's... I don't intend that to be... I don't... It's not a political statement.
I think elections are far more indicative of the heart condition of the people than they are the strength of political parties. I look forward to the day where we can choose between multiple candidates who share biblical worldviews and have different opinions on how they should be implemented. That isn't the place where we typically find ourselves these days.
And I think what we are witnessing is a realization that we have a heart problem. The immorality and the ungodliness and the lawlessness, the list of things that we're familiar with, as I've said to you many times, I don't understand them to be fundamentally political issues. I think they're spiritual issues.
And I do believe that. I believe the spirit of antichrist is exerting greater influence across our nation than any time in my lifetime. I can speak to that with some experience and authority.
Signs of the Spirit of Antichrist in Our Nation
I'll give you some simple examples. I mean, New York City elected a mayor who is Muslim. Muslim and Socialist. That's different. Muslim being... Socialism and Islam are two ideologies, two political ideologies that primarily are in favor of the diminishment, if not the dismantling, of the United States. And they are aggressively, assertively have been anti-Christian.
So over the largest American city, we chose leadership that embraces those positions. But I don't say that to pick on Mom Donnie. It isn't about a person. It's about the ideologies that he very much gives voice to and the spirit that he's embraced and that he would bring to leadership over that city.
But I don't think New York is unique. If you look across our country, major American cities, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, the list could go on and on. They all reflect a refusal to cooperate with federal law while they demand federal dollars, while they impede federal law enforcement.
New York is by no means separate or isolated. That's a very, very, very unsettling trend. And it isn't removed from us very far. The trajectory in middle Tennessee of Nashville is such that if there's not a dramatic change, it will take its place with that litany and that lineup of spirits in major American cities.
So I think we're left to decide whether we ignore it. And I have many, many associates and many acquaintances who are desperately trying not to notice. I understand that temptation. It's so much simpler to just, let's just do a Bible study. than it is to try to engage the world we live in with biblical truth.
But I'd like to take this session and talk to you about the overthrow of the spirit of Antichrist because he will ultimately, that spirit will ultimately be defeated in planet earth.
And I intend... I intend not to spend my life or take my time celebrating the expressions of wickedness and ungodliness. I want to do everything in my power to lift up the name of Jesus. And I will focus my attention on what the spirit of God is doing in the earth and invite whomever, wherever, to join me in that enterprise. And I'm honored to be able to serve with you.
So that is the target of this bit of a session.
Understanding Antichrist: Spirit, Many, and the Final One
We'll start with this notion of the overthrow of the Antichrist and his forces. I think there's a lot of misunderstanding. You know, it comes to us from the book of Revelation. And I think big picture, I get the better outcomes if I can maintain the bigger picture.
You know, Stephen Covey wrote rather famously some time ago now, the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. He got paid very well for that line. And when we talk about this, the last book of the Bible is this description of this great conflict between the lamb and the beast. We're going to talk about it in more detail.
You know, and ultimately, our Lord is triumphant. And you need to keep that in mind. But it is going to march towards this conflict. And you may not like that. You may think, well, I don't like to think about that. Okay, but it's a description of the end of the age.
And if that conflict is going to intensify, we want to understand everything we can about it. And I don't think escapist theology is helpful. If your attitude is, I'm going to be raptured out of here. It doesn't matter to me. Okay. I mean, I went out of here on the first load up. I'm not arguing for the privilege of tribulating.
Having said that, the Scripture gives us a lot of information. And if we're given the information, I think it might be in our benefit to understand it.
So, I'm going to walk through. I have very little imagination that I'll finish your outline. I'm not even going to try. But I wasn't exactly sure how far I would get. So, I just put some stuff in there. And if I get there, we'll call it bonus. Okay. God willing, I'll be back to the platform. And we'll work on this some more.
But let's start with the spirit of Antichrist, mini Antichrist, and the Antichrist. Because that's what the Bible describes. It's a bit more complicated. It says that the spirit of Antichrist has gone into the world. And you can see that through the pages of Scripture. And you can see that through the pages of history.
I believe when the Egyptians were murdering the babies of the Hebrew slaves, it was an expression of the spirit of Antichrist. I think Satan knew very well what God had intended. Because that announcement was made in the garden. When God said to Satan that he would bruise the heel of Adam's descendants, but they would crush his head.
The understanding of what was going to unfold in human history is consistent. I think that same spirit stalked the streets of Bethlehem when they killed all the male babies in Bethlehem after Jesus was born.
I think there are many places in Scripture where you can see the spirit of Antichrist when they stood in the streets of Jerusalem and screamed crucify him when Pontius Pilate put the option forward to release Jesus or Barabbas.
I think you can see it across the history of the church. I think you can see it through human history with anti-Semitism and the hatred of the Jewish people.
The spirit of Antichrist is not... Anti carries with it two meanings. This might help a bit. One means against and the other would mean in place of. So when you think about the spirit that opposes the true Christ, it first and foremost would like the place of Christ. It would like to be worshipped.
It's the bargain that Satan put before Jesus when he tempted him in the wilderness after Jesus' baptism. He said, if you'll just bow down and worship me, I'll give you the authorities over all the kingdoms of the earth.
I believe Satan lost his place in heaven. Some of this is my opinion. Some of it's built on Scripture. But I think he lost his place in heaven because he wanted the place Jesus had. And in his pride, he led a rebellion and he was kicked out of heaven.
And so when we talk about the spirit of Antichrist, one expression of that is it wants to be worshipped in the place of Christ. The other expression, and there are two sides of the same coin, is it is opposed to Christ. It wants to diminish, limit, eliminate. And therefore, it'll do anything it can to stop the unfolding purposes of the redemptive work of Jesus.
Historical and Modern Expressions of Antichrist Spirit
If he could stop his birth, if he could... whatever it might be, stop his ministry, impede it. If you follow Jesus through the Gospels, there's some circumstances that I think can best be understood as satanic opposition to Jesus' life and ministry.
The frequency of the storms he was caught in, the opposition he had. Expressions of the spirit of Antichrist. And that spirit is at work in the earth.
Why else would a nation with a Judeo-Christian heritage such as we have? Our legal system is built from that. Our educational system was built from that. It brought prosperity and blessings and opportunity. unprecedented in the history of human civilization.
There's never been a nation like ours. It was a nation of immigrants where people have come from multiple nations with different languages and ethnicities and appearances. And what bound us together was not our accent. It was a worldview. And it brought the blessing of God.
And yet a people with that heritage have spent several decades now, four or five at least, doing everything in our power to deny that heritage and to strip it from our public education and the public square.
You can teach almost any religion you want to in our public schools except the Christian religion. You can talk about religions from antiquity. I go to public schools and I walk through and they have all sorts of Egyptian religions. I mean, they have world religions on the walls and teaching the kids. It's okay with me. But they have banished the Christian faith. It's the spirit of Antichrist.
I don't think it's accidental that in our leading seminaries for several decades, we've been training leaders of the church not to believe in the authority of Scripture. It's the spirit.
There are some exceptions to that. But in typically the most celebrated, the most academically revered theological institutions, we have diminished the authority of Scripture. We'll talk about myth. We'll talk about all sorts of things, deconstructionist, all sorts of critical theory applied to the biblical studies that leave us with a greatly diminished approach to the Bible. It's not a supernatural book. It's not an inspired book. It's the spirit of Antichrist.
We have churches that will argue cessationism, that the supernatural aspects of our Bible no longer happen. Well, if you want to render a church impotent, convince them to believe in something that is inert.
There are many expressions. The spirit of Antichrist is flourishing in the earth. So don't get overly heated up about New York City, but understand the significance of what is happening.
The major American cities are far more welcoming of ungodly spirits and idolatrous spirits than they are the spirit of Almighty God. Imagine if a 34-year-old, Pentecostal, born-again, spirit-filled, Christ-follower had been elected to the mayor of New York. We would be losing our minds. And that would be far more in keeping with our heritage as a people.
Then the Bible says there are many Antichrists. There have been many individuals that have stepped onto the stage of human history that were something of an embodiment of the spirit of Antichrist. Not the Antichrist. Not the individual of the book of Revelation. But they give you just a glimpse, a sampling of the beastly nature of that spirit.
I mean, we can take the last century. I mean, Stalin or Lenin or... You don't have to look very far through human history to find leaders who, when they were managed to consolidate power, behaved in a beastly way.
More than 100 million people died in the last century as the result of communism. And I think many or several of those leaders were a pretty profound... We won't have to limit it to that, but that's a pretty significant example of that spirit of Antichrist in those positions of power and authority.
The Final Antichrist and the Choice Humanity Faces
And then the Bible describes at the culmination of this age the individual that will take the bargain that Jesus rejected. He'll worship Satan and be given the authority over the kingdoms of the world. And he's going to be a very religious character. His sidekick, his strong right arm will be a false prophet. A very supernatural fellow.
There'll be miracles and attestations and there'll be all sorts of religious language. There'll be all sorts of ecclesiastical ceremony. And he will come with the solutions to the problems of the planet. And we'll be desperate enough that we will cede authority to him.
And after he has gained that authority, he will prove to be the most beastly leader our world has ever known. There have been a lot of Antichrist through history. I gave you the communists, but in 130 A.D. there was a Jewish figure that claimed to be Messiah, Bar Kokhba.
And he led the rebellion that caused the Romans to finally be done with the Jews in Jerusalem. The whole Palestinian debate comes from that period of time. The Romans were so frustrated with the Jews and their rebellions that they wanted to separate the Jewish people from the land of Israel.
So they relabeled it in a corruption of the Philistines, Philistia, which is the coastal area where Gaza is today. And on their maps, they labeled the area Palestine. It was about a region. It wasn't about a people. There were Jews and whomever that lived there. But it was as a result of Bar Kokhba. It was the Jewish final revolt against Rome. And it was brutally suppressed.
Jesus told us it would happen. He said, many will come in my name, saying, I'm the Messiah. But the Revelation, the book of Revelation gives us this window, this three and a half years when he'll be the most brutal dictator our world has ever known.
What I would, what I would, I think is worth acknowledging is God will permit this. He has given us a choice. It's not some takeover strategy from the kingdom of darkness. The nature of the bargain is God will look at humanity and say, you have rejected me. You have rejected my son. You may have what you ask for.
That's what's happening. It's not some covert operation on behalf of darkness. You see, we have to be more astute. It's why we have to use our voices. It's why we have to have more determination.
When we refuse to stand up, when we capitulate in the face of darkness and refuse to identify with Jesus, we are yielding the field. We will either serve the true Christ in righteousness and holiness and share in his kingdom or we will serve the false Christ, ultimately the antichrist. Those are the options.
It's uncomfortable and we don't like to think about it and couldn't we talk about what we're going to do on the weekend? But I put a paragraph in your notes because I knew I was going to read it to you and I didn't want to forget it.
But God does not teach us theoretical truth. When we have a revelation of God's truth, he gives each of us an opportunity to live through it. The point of the revelation is that we can give expression to living in the light of that truth.
Smoking is harmful for you. Now we have a choice. Will we live in the light of that truth or will we ignore it? Well, God gives us revelations of his truth and then we have to make a decision. Will we live through that truth or will we catalog it? Will we put it on the shelf? Will we decide to set it aside? What will we do with it?
You see, we gain trust and confidence in the faithfulness of God when we cooperate with his truth. We learn to depend upon his character and his power to sustain us. If you're ignoring his truth, if you're not paying attention, if you're not implementing it, you don't gain that confidence.
We have to learn to say no to our carnal, earthly self and say yes to godliness. Now that isn't typical. The majority of your peer group probably won't do that. I'd be surprised if your business associates, the majority of them, are willing to do that.
It's going to make you an outlier. At times it will make you seem vulnerable. It'll make it... You'll feel as if you aren't planning for the future adequately. Not because you're failing to plan, but you're basing your choices on a different set of principles than the secular people around you.
You'll invest your time differently. You'll invest your energy differently. You'll invest your dollars differently. And as candidly as I know how to be, what I'm submitting to you, what I'm describing to you is not an easy class to be enrolled in. It isn't. It's worthwhile. The benefits are otherworldly. But I'm not telling you it's simple.
The Ultimate Defeat of Antichrist in Revelation 19
The reality that the book of Revelation gives us is that all humanity will receive the most terrible lesson ever demonstrated on the earth. It'll be the most brutal lesson humanity will ever learn.
Pontius Pilate gave the Jewish people a choice. Do you remember? They presented Jesus to him. They're asking that he be crucified. Pilate knows he's innocent. He's looking for a political solution. Politics is about negotiation and compromise, and Pilate's willing.
So he takes the worst of the prisoners and he says, you know, it's my habit at the time of the feast to release the prisoner to you. He thinks it's a slam dunk. The people will choose Jesus, the healer, the winemaker, the water Walker, not the murderous insurrectionist.
Who would you like me to release, Jesus or Barabbas? And the people said, we have no king but Caesar. What spirit is that? The spirit of Antichrist. Give us Barabbas.
And you may or may not know, but for more than 19 centuries, the Jewish people have been ruled by the Caesars. And there has been a lengthy list of Barabbases who have been turned loose on them.
Now there will be a change in that, and we may get to that in your outline, if not in this session. But what I would submit to you is that it's something of a paradigm for us. God will give all humanity that choice except the Messiah and his kingdom or serve the Antichrist.
There's a decision to be made. The consequence of rejecting God will be horrific. It's not God's fault. In our rebellion and our self-absorption, we tend to blame God for our own choices.
Those of us who choose Jesus will be under his government. Those who reject Jesus will be under the government of the Antichrist. If you want a motivation for evangelism, that's not a bad one.
You want the people you know, the people you care about, the people that you respect, the people... You want to tell them who Jesus is so they can serve him.
Revelation 19 gives us a pretty graphic presentation of the defeat of Antichrist. Verse 11, I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice, he judges and makes war.
Do you have room for... for Jesus in that role? It's very fashionable to say Jesus is all about love and unity and peace. And those things are true. He is about love and he is about unity and he is about peace. But that's not the whole story.
When he comes back to the earth, it says in the plainest of language that with justice he will judge and make war and his eyes are like blazing fire and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.
He's dressed in a robe dipped in blood and his name is the word of God. And the armies of heaven were following him riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen and white and clean and out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.
He will rule them with an iron scepter. And he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. And on his robe and on his thigh he has this name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Amen.
Now I believe there's some life lessons for us in what we know of Jesus in the book of Revelation and I'm going to give you the overview just for the sake of time we don't win ultimately the victory by violence or by hatred or by being tough and rugged.
I understand in this particular scenario it's as if the book of Revelation is a presentation it's like they've taped Polaroids into a book and you see these scenes but it isn't written or presented to us as this one continuous unfolding narrative.
And there's another scene that we've seen before we see Jesus on the white horse we see this the scene is of the throne room of God and John is weeping because there's a scroll that contains the end of the story which John is sharing with us by not Revelation 19 but the message is there's no one worthy to open the scroll and John begins to weep.
And one of the elders says don't weep the lion of the tribe of Judah has triumphed he is worthy to open the scroll. And John turns to look at the throne to see the lion of the tribe of Judah.
Remember what it says? He saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain.
So I believe the message for you and me the life lesson for you and me is we win by laying our life down as Jesus did. Not by being tough.
See, I don't think you and I are going to overcome the spirit of Antichrist with our rugged individualism because we embrace the spirit of American manifest destiny. They probably don't even teach that anymore but they used to.
You know, it's not our fierce determination to armor up and I believe in doing that but the victory will come to us by laying down our lives. And it's a change in me because there was a big season of my life where I imagine the laying down my life was a description of saying no to sinful behavior.
I'll say no to sin and yes to God. I'm going to lay down my carnal nature. I understand that differently. I'm not saying that's wrong. I think that's incomplete.
At this season of my life I understand laying down my life is yielding my choices to the purposes of God's kingdom as opposed to choosing to serve my own self-gratification. That's very different.
because I can't describe every expression of just selfish desires for gratification as being wicked or overtly sinful. But they often won't bring me to the full purposes of God.
And I have to say Lord I'll follow you. Suppose David when he heard Goliath bellow his challenge he just thought to himself I think I'll have lunch. It's safer.
After all I've never killed the giant. My brothers will not appreciate my attitude. I mean he had every reason to have not paid attention. And he had a whole list of reasons why it wasn't prudent to say I can do this.
And I find that same tension in my own life not to be David and face Goliath but in saying yes to the purposes of God. There's usually a multitude of reasons why I could find justification for being quiet.
And I can find typically a rather lengthy litany of reasons why there seems to be vulnerability that comes with saying I'm for Jesus. but I want to be on record as being for Jesus. And I would invite you to that.
Lay down your life for the Lord. I'm not talking about your conversion. I'm not talking if you're engaged in overt immorality and ungodliness it will destroy you. Repent and choose a new way.
But beyond that if you're living in the land of ambivalence. neutrality you're a negotiator. you're a kingdom mediator. I would invite you to lay down the comfort of that space and say Lord I want to push all my chips into the middle of the table.
I would remind you that Jesus is still the Lion of the tribe of Judah. That my Lord and King Jesus of Nazareth today is a Jewish man. He's identified with the tribe of Judah for all of time and all of eternity.
And when you hate the Jews. you are hating the brothers and sisters of Jesus. and if you'll allow me I would tread very lightly there. That's not a social political statement. That has to do with how you treat the Jewish people.
The Lamb vs. the Beast: Our Alignment in the End Times
Revelation 19 and verse 19 John said then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army.
But the beast was captured and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf and with these signs he deluded those who had received the Mark of the beast and worshipped his image.
The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur and the rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse and the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
You know I meet people and say they don't like to read the Old Testament because it's so harsh. and I'm like wow have you read the whole New Testament? there's some kind of awkward moments there.
There's two characters presented in this chapter and they're in opposition to one another. The lamb. and that reference occurs more than 28 times in Revelation and the beast that occurs more than 30 times as a reference to the Antichrist.
The end time conflict that's described in our Bibles is between the lamb and the beast with which are you aligned.
Revelation 13 describes this Mark of the beast that you have come under willingly purposefully intentionally under the authority of the beast.
Chapter 13 and verse 16 he said he forced everyone small and great forced is an interesting word we need to take note of what we've been given. It's going to be a difficult decision. There'll be enormous pressure.
That means we've lived through some seasons lately when there was enormous pressure to make decisions and I'm not drawing any parallels between those events and the Antichrist but there's been pressure to take a vaccine.
Pressure to not pray in the name of Jesus. Pressure to not talk about current events. Well, I think all of those are just shadows of a much, much, much, much greater pressure that's in our future and we need to begin to cultivate, develop, exercise our muscles of saying yes to godliness and no to ungodliness.
He forced everyone small and great rich and poor free and slave to receive a Mark on his right hand or on his forehead so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the Mark. which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
You can't... but you're going to be shut out. You'll be cut out of the global economy. There's a lot of lines I hear these days. Well, Pastor, you know, if I stood up that'll have consequences for my business partners or it'll have an impact on my children or my grandchildren. or...
oftentimes you're very astute. Your analysis is correct. I would just submit to you it's a worthwhile bargain. because those pressures will intensify.
The characteristics being described are of a global economy, a centralized money system, of universal control. You know, there was a time in my life when I was younger and I would hear ministers or people talk about that or teach from these verses and that seemed so fanciful that when they tried to describe it, you know, you had to believe in the Jetsons.
I mean, it really wasn't... I remember the first time I went to a grocery store that used a barcode scanner. I was in college. There were still dinosaurs in Middle Tennessee. It wasn't here.
But you know what? My friends in college, you know what we called the place? We called the grocery store the beast. We were clever enough to understand that there was at least some foreshadowing of far greater control and awareness and connectivity because, you know, they'd say to us, we can manage our whole inventory by what we scan when you're checking out.
Some of you are old enough to remember when you bought groceries, there used to be somebody at a register that punched in the amount of every item you picked up. It was slower than traffic in Murfreesboro. But we actually did that.
but those things described now in that book are... they seem very close at hand, the ability to track everyone. And they don't have to put anything under your skin. You'll volunteer to carry that thing around.
In fact, if you separate yourself from it, you lose all peace. Well, what if somebody was trying to get in touch with me? Just... there was a time. when you had to be at home. to take a call.
I know, long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. But now, at any moment, there could be a call from the White House. From Elon. We need to... I mean, if we just lose connectivity, we get anxious.
Folks, they're not going to force the ability to track it. You volunteer. They'll incentivize it. There'll be a discount. Amazon will deliver more quickly.
Revelation presumes a global economy. That used to seem bizarre. Nationalism was transcendent. Not anymore. Our most powerful. corporate entities betray our national interest on a daily basis. And we invest in them.
A centralized monetary system. How many places do you go now that they don't even want cash? They won't take it. It's like, is that all you've got? No, I've got some live chickens in the trunk of my car.
Revelation assumes the ability to monitor communication. or close markets. It used to seem impossible. And now we accept it as a part of our life. We follow some little voice that says, go to the next stop sign and turn right.
And you tell me you're not sure you believe in the voice of the Spirit of God. But you'll follow Siri over a cliff.
Revelation says we'll be shut out of commerce. The more digital we become, the more easily controlled we are.
Israel's Role and Rising Anti-Semitism
I've got a couple of minutes. I'll give you one more... What I did was build an outline of several components that are characteristic of the end of the age. I didn't arrange them in an order or a sequence of unfolding because I don't know. I have some opinions but they are opinions.
I don't think there is. an unchallengeable sequential presentation. I don't have a chart. I'm not opposed to them. I'm bemused by some.
But there's another component that is in the future and that's Israel coming back into the center of history. So in one way, while I'm surprised at the depth and how rapidly anti-Semitism is growing. across a much broader ideological spectrum, from a biblical perspective, I have to say I should have anticipated it because Israel gaining a larger role in the awareness of the nations isn't most likely going to be with applause.
At the center of Scripture, Israel returned to the center of history for the climax of the age. So I think those discussions will grow. You'll have to decide.
I continue to have conversations with my friends across a pretty broad spectrum to not make a decision about the nation of Israel based on social or political concerns that begin your decision-making with a biblical understanding. on the role and the purpose of the Jewish people and our relationship with them.
In Romans 11, and just a reminder, the book of Romans was written to Gentile believers, non-Jewish believers. I don't want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, that you may not be conceited.
You know what conceit is? Inordinate pride, self-importance. So he's writing to a group of non-Jews and he says, I don't want you to have. an inappropriate sense of self-importance.
Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved as it is written, the Deliverer will come from Zion. He will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
This is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Just a couple of observations. It says there will be a hardening in part until. It's a timing word. It's not forever.
God will institute a change in the hearts of the Jewish people. It describes a great harvest ahead when millions of people will come into the kingdom of God.
The phrase is there that causes some confusion that all Israel will be saved. I don't believe that means that every Israeli that's alive will be saved. Look at Romans 9, 27. Isaiah cries out concerning Israel though the number of Israelites be like the sand by the sea only the remnant will be saved for the Lord will carry out his sentence on the earth with speed and finality.
The remnant are those who God has known and chosen for himself. That is all Israel. I believe I don't have the time to do it in more detail we can another time.
So when you see the hatred for the Jewish people escalating. and calls to denounce them and people saying I don't ever want to mention the name of Israel again and you see the divide it's bringing what do you imagine the spirit behind that might be? The spirit of Antichrist.
You know when we read our Bibles systematically and consistently it's not just an expression of discipline so we can check a box and feel morally superior. The purpose is to become increasingly aware of God's character his intent and his purposes and that is absolutely necessary to interpret what's happening in our world.
The pressures will increase. The resistance to the purposes of God will increase. The dark will become more brazen and more bold. And for those who are willing to see them the expressions of God moving in the earth will become more dramatic.
And we'll have to decide where we will focus our attention and our effort and our time how we will train our children do we want them to become increasingly godly are we going to put them in the camouflage of a secular culture and hope they can blend in.
It's an exciting time. it's not a time. void of drama. we're not in one of those seasons where God's not up to anything. and we have to guard our hearts because I think there's a significant. tendency just to desperately wish that things wouldn't change we've kind of liked it.
And God is re-bringing realignment. He is shaking the earth. He is.
Communion: Receiving Christ's Strength for the Days Ahead
So I want to close with communion. Jesus had communion with his disciples just a matter of minutes or short hours before he would be betrayed and begin his passion.
If you didn't get the communion elements when you came in, raise a hand. The ushers will share. If you're at home, this is your cue. Go get your glass of water and a saltine.
But Jesus put communion in place just before the disciples were going to have one of the most terrifying nights of their entire lives. Remember? They're going to go from the upper room to Gethsemane where he'll be arrested.
And Peter is going to, in a mistaken attempt to defend Jesus, cut off an ear. But before they leave Gethsemane, the disciples are all going to flee. And they're going to stand in the shadows until they're questioned.
And those that are questioned will deny any affiliation with Jesus. While they watch him be accused, condemned, tortured, crucified.
The women seem more bold than the men. They seem to be standing closer to the cross. John was there with the women, but it wasn't like the whole crew was.
And what Jesus gave them immediately prior to that pressure was, This is my body. Broken for you.
I believe we need to understand the redemptive work of Jesus for us to flourish in the season that's ahead of us. So communion is not some empty ritual in the church.
We need to know what happened on the cross and what the outcomes of that are for our lives and how to receive by faith the provision Jesus has made for us.
We've quibbled for too long around God's activity in our lives as if we had the luxury of debating those things. We will want to know, we will need to know how to cooperate as fully as possible with everything that Jesus has made available to us.
And this is a good night to take a step. So we come as disciples to receive the bread and the cup, a reminder of what Jesus has done for us.
That he exhausted the curse of sin, ours, so that we might receive the fullness of his blessing. That's not about ease and comfort. That's about the strength and the power and the discernment of God to lead triumphant lives in the face of evil. Understand the difference?
So Jesus himself took bread and said, this bread is my body, broken for you. As often as you eat this, do this in remembrance of me. Let's receive together.
Then he took a cup, and he said, this cup is a new covenant, sealed with my own blood. As often as you drink it, you proclaim my death until you see me again. Let's receive.
Will you stand with me for a prayer? I'd like to join hands. We don't need a circle, I just prefer you not be alone. You know, this Christianity thing is a team sport. It is. We need one another.
Maybe you look at the person on your right and say, I'm going to need your help. Not look at the person on your left and go, you're on your own. It's not true. Not true.
Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for your word and its truth and its authority and our power in our lives. I thank you that in your great love for us that you sent your son.
And Lord Jesus, we praise you that you offered yourself as a living sacrifice. And as we have received the bread and the cup tonight, we receive your life into our lives.
Bring health to our bodies and peace to our minds, forgiveness to our lives. We forgive those who have sinned against us.
I praise you that the one who watches over us never slumbers nor sleeps. That you are well able to deliver, to restore, to renew, to heal. We praise you for it tonight.
That you secure our future, that you're our hope, that we have a living hope as a secure anchor for our future. We praise you for it tonight.
We turn our attention to you, grateful, with hearts overflowing, with appreciation for your great love for us. In Jesus' name, amen.