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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Norman McNulty

When Protestant America Speaks as a Dragon

Father, we thank you for bringing us out this evening here in Loma Linda, and I thank you for Adam and Hope and for each person here.

And I pray that you would bless this message tonight and bless our time together this weekend, and thank you that we have the opportunity to study your words.

So bless us, I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

So the title for this evening's message is When Protestant America speaks as a dragon.

Now, if you kind of get where that's coming from, you'll understand that we're gonna be spending some time in Revelation 13 this evening.

Now, that may seem to some as a basic chapter, but 1 of the reasons why I'm revisiting this chapter in my own study is because A lot of people are talking about Revelation 13, and I believe it's important for us to see from the Bible what Revelation 13 is teaching.

Let the Bible interpret itself, and so we want to be clear about how we interpret it.

Now, here's a couple of introductory thoughts about Revelation 13.

Revelation 13 somehow is probably the best-known chapter in the book of Revelation among Seventh-day Adventists.

Revelation 13 has the 2 beasts, the beast that comes up from the sea and the beast that comes up from the earth.

And going back to the Protestant reformers, including Martin Luther, you can identify this power as the Antichrist power.

Now Martin Luther especially saw that from the book of Daniel, but then as Seventh-day Adventists we come along and identify this as the Antichrist power.

The book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Revelation chapter 13, and you could say chapter 17, is the revelation of Antichrist because it's showing the deception at the end of time.

Now as Seventh-day Adventists, we tend to like to focus on the deception and the bad players and the great controversy, and we often don't focus as much about how Christ reveals himself through the book of Revelation.

And so I mention that because I realize we are gonna do a study on Revelation 13, And I don't actually give a lot of presentations on Revelation 13.

So this is kind of a fresh thing that I've been doing in the last couple of months at some churches and just finding that this is a need that even though Adventists historically claim to understand Revelation 13, sometimes we don't understand it perhaps as well as we think.

I was talking to a colleague today here at Loma Linda who knows some people who question the entire interpretation.

So it's good to go back and look at this.

But what I want to do before we get into Revelation 13, and to look at the Antichrist power, and then to look at the second beast which speaks as a dragon, And just so you know where we're going, what we're going to focus in on specifically is looking at the Bible and what it means when a beast speaks as a dragon.

That's what we're going to look at specifically.

So when you leave the presentation this evening, and I realize this isn't a class you're gonna be graded on, my hope is, is that you'll be able to show from the Bible what it means to speak as a dragon.

But before we get there, I am going to give you a bit of a big picture overview to help you understand why Revelation 13 is so important.

Because what sometimes happens, and I've dealt with this recently with people that are coming into the faith is all they know about Adam's is like you have some weird conspiracy idea about a Sunday law and you don't like this power and this that and the other and you haven't even taught them the big picture of Revelation.

So we're going to look at that real quick, and then we'll get into Revelation 13.

So Revelation 13, again, is the revelation of Antichrist, but Christ reveals himself many times through the book of Revelation before you get to chapter 13.

How does Christ reveal himself through the book of Revelation?

Well, if you look at the book of Revelation, you can really divide it into 2 halves, where Revelation 12 is the fulcrum point describing the Great Controversy, but in the first 11 chapters you have the first half of the book.

And in the first half of the book you have 7 churches, 7 seals, and 7 trumpets.

And what happens in the 7 churches, the 7 seals, and the 7 trumpets is that Christ reveals himself.

So for example, he is the son of man to the 7 churches and the lamb who had been slain in the seals, and he is represented as the high priest as an intercessor at the beginning of the 7 trumpets.

And so you see the plan of salvation through all of that, where he's the son of man in the midst of the candlesticks, seeking to save those who are lost, because he's the lamb who was slain that can bring salvation and he's our high priest, he's our intercessor, whoever lives to make intercession for us.

So we see that in the churches, seals, and trumpets.

But then you see that all of those titles, as Christ reveals himself, has behind it a purpose for how he will work with his people.

And those illustrations of who Christ is describes his work in the holy place, but then he moves into the most holy place.

So in the churches, he moves into the most holy place and he's the son of man, but then he becomes the faithful and true witness, giving a testimony in court to his judgment our people of who they really are.

And then in the the seals, he is described as the first begotten of the dead because when he finishes his work in the most holy place after the seals are finished, the dead will be raised, the dead in Christ will be raised in the first resurrection.

And then in the trumpets he is described as the prince of the kings of the earth because when the work of the trumpets finishes he comes back as king of kings and Lord of lords.

But what is he doing in the most holy place?

Well he's working to produce a people because in the 7 churches, you come to the Laodicean church and Christ is seeking to save as many as he can in the churches, he's in the midst of the churches, and you come to the Laodicean church and the church is so bad that it makes Christ wanna vomit.

And he says, you think you're good, but you're actually a rich miserable poor blind and naked.

And just looking at the big picture, this is what happens.

You're like, wow, the last day church looks terrible, but Christ says, let me come in.

And if you let me come in, you will overcome as I overcame.

So the question is what happens to God's last day church?

And this is again from the most holy place.

Christ stands at the door knocking in the most holy place.

You come to the seals and you find that from God's last day church, the 144, 000 are sealed.

So somehow this church that made Christ wanna throw up, Christ finds a people, the 144, 000 that he seals, and then you come to the trumpets, and in the trumpets, in the seventh trumpet, we see that the purpose is for the mystery of God to be finished, Colossians 127, Christ in you the hope of glory.

When that work is finished, then the trumpets will finish.

And so here's what we see then, just looking at a big picture, what's this all about?

That's the first half of the book of Revelation.

Sometimes your eyes might glaze over like, oh man, 7 churches, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, and I don't know what this is talking about.

Here's the big picture of what it's talking about.

Christ is working to develop a people, especially when he moves into the most holy place, where he says, let me come in.

When we let him come in, he then can seal us because the mystery of God will be finished.

And so Christ then has produced a revelation of himself.

That's in the first half of the book and that's what Christ is announcing that he's going to do.

He says this is what I'm going to do before I come back from the most holy place.

I will have a people that are like me in character through my power and grace alone that are a revelation to the world of what I can do when they let me come in.

And so this is the revelation of Jesus Christ that then culminates in Revelation 18 where an angel comes down from heaven having great power, great authority.

The earth is illuminated with its glory because the world not only hears the 3 angels' messages and of the gospel, they see a demonstration through the lives of God's people.

So the first 11 chapters is Christ saying, this is what I'm going to do before I come back.

But obviously Satan's not gonna go down without a fight.

So Revelation chapter 12 is the great controversy chapter where you have this woman and she's clothed with the sun upon her head, moon under her feet, crown of 12 stars, and then she brings forth a child which represents Christ.

So the Christian Church births Christ, and then Christ is caught up to God in his throne, and then the woman flees into the wilderness.

That's the church fleeing into the wilderness, and the dragon goes after the woman.

And then ultimately there's a remnant that's left and the dragon goes after the woman who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

So God says, I'm going to have a people that will be like me, but then you see that the people that God is working to develop are constantly under siege by Satan.

Now, sometimes you may wonder, we're gonna keep this practical where we can, sometimes you may wonder, Why is my life so hard?

Why is my life harder than the unbeliever out there?

Just remember, the devil is after God's people.

We're not guaranteed a life free from trial, but we can have confidence that we can hang on to the Lord through those trials, knowing that, yes, the devil may be going after us, but God is with us through it.

By the way, a trial, and I've said this 100 times, but I'll say it here to you tonight.

Oh man, like I wasn't sure what was gonna happen for 5 minutes at work and then everything worked out.

And so you come to the end of Revelation 12, that's the great controversy chapter.

So God is gonna have a people in the first 11 chapters that he produces that will be like him.

And then you see this great controversy struggle that starts in heaven, comes to this earth, and God's people, the ones that God is working to produce that will be like him, become the target of Satan's attacks.

Specifically those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy.

It's not a coincidence that the concept of obedience empowered by grace is under attack in the church, as well as the concept that there is the prophetic gift at the end of time.

So then you come to chapter 13, because Chapter 12 shows you that there's this attack.

And when it says the dragon makes war with a woman, that word war is palaimos, which means it's a war of words.

Then chapter 13 is Satan's strategy to prevent Christ from producing the people that will be like him.

When Protestant America Speaks as a Dragon

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