Now we come to Revelation 13:11-18 and one of the most studied and famous passages in Revelation about “the mark of the beast.” I ask you to read this passage before we dig into what it means and how it may apply to us today.

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.

He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first...

         Now we come to Revelation 13:1-10. I will share comments after each part:

And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.

         Of course, the dragon is the devil, and he stands at the edge of the sea until a beast comes up out of the sea. As we see in Isaiah 17 and later in this prophecy, the sea represents the multitudes—the peoples...

         Now we come to Revelation 12:13-17:

When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 

But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to...

         In the last few weeks, we have focused on the power that enables God’s people to not only overcome the events of the last days— the events in this unfolding vision—but in all of life. Many people’s worst Armageddon will come in the form of an accident or other tragedies and disasters. The principles we’re studying here apply to all of life, not just the events outlined in Revelation.

         The next thing said about those who overcome by the blood of the Lamb is that they added to this “the word of their testimony” (see Revelation12:11). How does...

         Robin McMillan and I get together a couple of times a week just to talk, and some really profound revelations come from these times. He made a great point recently when he shared how in Christ, we become members of the lineage of Christ—the noblest lineage on earth. Now consider this­: Adam and Eve sinned; Noah got drunk; Abraham and Isaac were willing to give their wives to heathens to protect themselves; Jacob lied, cheated, schemed, and stole. Moses was a murderer, Rahab was a harlot, King David was a murderer and adulterer, and the list goes on. This...