Meet the Opposition (Part I, audio)

I want you to take your Bibles this morning and open them to 1 John.

! And our text for this morning, and actually I'll go ahead and tell you our text for the next couple of Sunday mornings, next two, counting this one, will be chapter 2, verses 18 through 23.

So I want you to follow along in your Bibles, if you will, as I read, verses 18 through 23. John begins this way, little children.

It is the last hour. And as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.

They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be manifest that none of them were of us.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I've not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son.

Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. All right, so marvelous passage of Scripture.

And I would say to you that John's subject in this passage is somewhat of a continuation of the subject of the previous passage that we looked at last week.

There is a recognizable kind of flow of thought. There are some key things that he says. It tells us that he's just kind of transitioning, moving forward.

And so there is a logical flow here. If you will remember, and you can see there in your Bibles, in verse 17, John writes, and the world is passing away, and the things in it.

And then here in verse 18, John writes, little children, it is the last hour. So that's kind of a clue that he is, in some sense, going to move to a little different subject.

It's actually, it's a kind of progression to another subject. And yet there is a sense in which it is still the same subject. There's coming an end to this world as we know it.

We know that, don't we? If we believe the Bible, we know that and understand that. There's coming an end to it. Not just to the end of our part in it, because, you know, one day I'm going to die, you're going to die.

Right, Jesus doesn't come first. But we're talking about the world as we know it is going to come to an end. This is what John says. And we're living, then, in the last hour.

That, too, is what he says. So that kind of ties the two passages together, what we looked at last week to what we're going to be looking at for now the next two weeks. And so this is part of why John commanded us in verse 15, remember, as we look back again.

He said, do not love the world, this world, as it is now. Do not love it or the things in the world. That explains why he said that.

Now, we talked about that last week. Remember? Verse 16, if we might just review a little bit. Verse 16, for all that is in the world.

It is this world as we know it. I would go ahead and say it this way, this present age in which we live.

What's in it? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. That's what drives the world in which we live. Right? And John says, it's not of the Father, but it's of the world.

And, you know, every evil thing in this world can be traced back to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. A life that does not need God, does not want God.

A life that is actually hostile to God and His Word and His people. Right? And that explains a whole lot about this world, doesn't it? And the challenge, of course, for us as believers is not to be a part of it.

And it is a challenge. Because, you know, we all struggle with the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. We all still struggle with that and that unredeemed part of us, our flesh.

And so we're not to love it, not to embrace it, not commit ourselves to it. These things that are part of this world that are not of God.

It's a challenge for us. And so this is very serious, isn't it? Do not love the world or the things in the world. This world is passing away along with the lust of it.

And John says, it is the last hour. It is the last hour. So he kind of connects those two things together. What he's about to say connects it with what he has already said.

All right. So that brings us then to our text for this morning. And it is, for a number of reasons, a very important passage of Scripture. And for that reason, I want us to take a little time with it.

And there are three parts to it. I'll go ahead and give them to you now on the front end. First, the age we must realize. We must realize this age in which we live.

We must realize it, what it is. And second, the antichrists we must recognize because they are in the world. We must recognize them.

And third, the anointing we must reemphasize. Those three things in this passage that I want us to consider and understand. And this morning, I will cover point one and half of point two.

Okay. And then we'll look at the rest of it next time. All right. So here we go. First of all, the age we must realize. And this we really need to kind of look at so that we can understand what John's talking about here.

Before we really get into some of the substance of it and the points that he's wanting to make. John says in verse 18, as he addresses those he's writing to, he says, little children.

Little children. It is the word paideon in the Greek and it means a young child. Young child. All right. Now, he's not then therefore writing to children that are young.

He's writing to Christians. So the reference here is to true believers. And yet believers who are still children in terms of their spiritual maturity.

This is who John is writing to and to some degree or another, that includes all of us. We are children in the sense of believers and we are little children in the sense of we're still maturing.

We're still not understanding everything. And so he's writing to all of us and he says it is the last hour. You need to realize it's the last hour.

And in the Greek text, it's eschatai, eschatai, hora. Eschatai is or eschatosis from which we get our word eschatology.

You've heard me use that word. You've heard of that word. Eschatology is simply the study of end things or last things. A lot of people in our day are excited about that kind of study.

You know, we kind of get wrapped up to it. Some of us, most of us are novices when it comes to eschatology. And then there are others who would claim to be experts in the field of eschatology. And we hear about this stuff all the time.

I mean, there are entire books and bookshelves in the bookstores are full of books on eschatology. The, you know, talking about end things, last things.

And some of those books are wacko. And some of them are very serious works on eschatology. And we need to really be discerning on which one we pick as our book to read and compare it to the Bible.

Because some of them say, you know, the end things, that's right now. It's here now. And Jesus is coming at any moment. Some have even gone so far as to name a time, set a date.

But this is what John's talking about when he uses the word eschaté. He's talking about last things, end things. So he says, the last hour.

Horah. You can even kind of imagine how our word hour came from that Greek word horah. Horah. Now, King James, if you have a King James Bible and you were reading along, you might notice that there it's translated time.

The last time. It is the last time. And actually, I would say that that's a better translation. At least it's more descriptive for us. Because the word here, as John uses it, refers to a certain period of time.

Not a time on the clock, but a certain period of time. Or a, we could even say a season of time that has been fixed.

Its boundaries have been fixed. Now, we don't know the boundaries. But God has because he set this time. This season of time. This period of time. The best word would be the word age.

An age. So, John is not talking about a point in time on, say, God's eschatological clock. Like we might think of it in those terms.

John's not saying like, you know, we sometimes say and we hear people saying, you know, it's the eleventh hour. That is, you know, we're coming to the end of it.

We are close to the end of it. Don't you hear people saying that all the time in terms of the times and the coming of the Lord? John is not really saying that here.

We, on the other hand, we love to talk in these terms. This terminology. We love to speculate on this. And we say, you know, surely the last hour.

So, when we read what John says, that's kind of the way our mental processes go. Surely it's the last hour. It's the eleventh hour. It's the time of Jesus' return. It's very soon. And it may be.

We like to talk of it in those terms. Think of it in and hope in those terms. We say it surely cannot be very much longer. Haven't you heard people say that?

Haven't you said that? Haven't I said that? If you haven't heard me say it, I've certainly thought it. I mean, it can't be much longer. Based upon what?

Well, a lot of things. And we like to speak in those terms. And we might even make the erroneous assumption that that's what John is doing here.

That what John is saying. Not just John, but other Bible writers who have used similar terminology, you know, when they talk about the end, you know. But he, and so we think, you know, he didn't know the time of Christ's return like we don't know it.

And therefore, he must have been, you know, reading the papers and listening to the news and maybe getting the latest and reading the latest books written on the signs of the times.

And, you know, listening to all the prophetic gurus, prophecy gurus that are out there. Maybe John was just kind of tuning in on some of those things. And so he has come to the conclusion that the time is at hand.

I mean, it's the last hour. It's the 11th hour. But those are the things we do. That's not what John means here. We need to understand that.

Now, Jesus may come today. All right. He might. His return is always imminent. That means at any moment he can come and no one knows the day or the hour.

Right. And so, you know, I might make this big deal about, be careful about thinking that it's, you know, it's time, it's the 11th hour.

And maybe it is the 11th hour. But I don't know that and you don't know that. And what's more important is this is not what John is talking about. I mean, you know, it has been 2,000 years plus since John wrote this.

And so how could John, if that's what he meant, how could John have been so wrong about that? Hmm? So we know that's not what he's talking about.

John is under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as he's writing. He's not just kind of writing his feelings, his assumptions. He is guided by the Holy Spirit, empowered and inspired of the Holy Spirit.

So he's writing without error. And, by the way, he's being very emphatic in what he writes here. And it's not as easy to maybe notice that in our English text.

But in the Greek text, it's very clear because the Greeks, when they wanted to emphasize something as being very important, they would always change the word order to kind of convey that idea.

And in the Greek text, it reads this way. Last hour it is. Kind of being like Yoda, you know, Star Wars. This is what they did to emphasize something.

And so he's making an emphasis here. Last hour it is. And again, he's not being wishful about it.

This is not wishful thinking. He, you know, he's not, you know, just speculating based upon some of the things going on in his life around him. He's not, this is not hopeful anticipation.

The last hour or time here refers to this present age.

This present age. And I say this present age. It's the same age that John was living in when he wrote this. Same age we're living in still today.

Sometimes we refer to it as the age of the Gentiles. God's program concerning the Gentile nations.

Or sometimes the age of the church. Sometimes it's referred to that way. I think the best way to identify it is the present evil age.

This present evil age. Not everyone agrees with my eschatology. But I believe that it is one of two evil ages.

The Old Testament time from Adam on. The fall of man up to the coming of Christ. And then this present age. Which will be followed by.

The Bible uses the word age to come. Though it's really quite different. It's not an age of evil. But an age of glory. And it's an age that will have no end to it.

It's eternal. The Bible speaks of that in Ephesians 1.21. And Hebrews 6.5. And a few other places. Which I believe is the millennial kingdom of our Lord and King.

Which will be. That will be the first part of it. But it is an age that will never end. So John's last hour. The last time of which he speaks.

Designates a period of time between the two comings of Christ. Over 2,000 years. A time period that has lasted over 2,000 years.

And it's still counting. Because Jesus has not returned yet. All of those years. From the coming. The first coming. To the second coming.

That is what's included in this last hour. The last hour. And so John is pointing. To this present evil age.

Verse 18. John points to the proof of it. And he says in verse 18. As you have heard. That the Antichrist is coming. We'll get to him in just a moment.

Even now many Antichrists. Plural. Have come. By which. Now notice what he says there in verse 18. By which we know.

That it is the last hour. The last hour. See Antichrists. Antichrists. Those against Christ. Opposed Jesus at his first coming.

time. Behemently opposed him. Antichrists. Antichrists. Were present. In the. First. Centuries. The earliest centuries.

Of the. Christian church. Of Christ's church. Trying to undermine. The apostles. To begin with. And teaching. Infiltrating the church. And teaching false. Doctrine.

In the church. And causing disunity. And dysfunction. And division. And so forth. Those. Antichrists. Exist. Existed. In John's day. John addresses.

Those antichrists. Here in his letter. And antichrists. Have been doing. Their devilish work. Throughout the history. Of the Christian church. From its very beginning.

And still working today. In fact. Working overtime today. All right. So that. That's the age. Age we must realize. That age.

That we're living in. And I don't think any of us. Are blind to that. We see that. We know that. That's not. Revelation to us. But since second.

Second. I want you to see the antichrists. We must recognize. So the age. We must realize. This present evil age.

And now the antichrists. We must recognize. And we'll spend. A little extra time. On this subject. And it's interesting. I think.

To note. That John. Apparently. Coined. This word. Antichrist. Antichristos. He coined it. Because it doesn't appear.

Anywhere else. In the New Testament. In its singular form. Plural forms. Both of which appear. In the very. Very passage. We're looking at. But also appear.

A little bit later. In this first. Letter of John. And appear again. In. John's second letter. The only place. It appears. In all of the New Testament.

So John. Coined. This terminology. That doesn't mean. That the. New Testament. Writers. None of the other. New Testament. Writers. Wrote about him. Or spoke of him. They certainly did. In fact. Jesus did. Jesus referred.

To the antichrist. But he used the terms. False Christs. And false prophets. They were. Antichrist. Right.

Anti. Means against. Of course. You know that. So Jesus. Referred. To the many. That would come. False Christs.

Anti. Christ. Or excuse me. False prophets. False Christs. And then Paul. Referred to the antichrist. That person.

That will one day come. And he used the terms. Man of lawlessness. Second Corinthians chapter two. In fact. He used three terms. Different.

Terminology. To describe this. One. Who would come. At the end of the age. The man of lawlessness. The man of sin.

And also the. Son of perdition. That's how it's translated. In the King James. And. New King James. It's really talking about. The one who's doomed. To destruction. And he is.

All right. So now. John. Here in verse 18. Uses the word twice. Actually more than twice. I think. But. Two different forms. First. In its singular form. To refer to the antichrist.

So it appears. In a singular form. He's talking about. A certain person. Who will be coming. The antichrist. He says. And you. As you have heard.

That the antichrist. Is coming. And then. Second. In the plural forms. To refer to the countless people. Who have come.

And for us. Are still coming. That oppose Christ. And his church. And he says there. In verse 18. Even now. Many antichrists. Have come.

By which we know. That it is the last hour. The present age. The present age of evil. So the presence. Of antichrists. In the world.

And in the church. That's what characterizes. This present evil age. And will. The church in the evil age. And will continue to do so.

Until Jesus comes. Again. Comes a second time. Now. For the remainder of our time. This morning. I want to focus. On the antichrist.

The antichrist. That person. The one Paul talks about. By the way. In 2 Thessalonians. Chapter 2. Verse 3. And following. And just listen. To what Paul wrote.

Let no one deceive you. By any means. For that day. Will not come. What day is that? The coming of the Lord. That day will not come.

Unless. That is. Some things have to happen first. The falling away. Comes first. And. Here it is. The man of sin. Is revealed.

The son of perdition. Who opposes. And exalts himself. Above all that is called God. Or that is worshipped. So that he sits as God.

In the temple of God. Showing himself. That he is God. Verse 9. The coming of the lawless one. There is. Paul's reference.

To the same person. The antichrist. The coming of the lawless one. Is according to the working of Satan. With all power. Signs. And lying wonders.

And with all unrighteous. Deception. Among those who perish. Deception. Among those who perish. Who are they? The unregenerate. Unbelieving. Unsaved. Because.

Why? Because they did not receive. The love of the truth. That they might be saved. And so back in our passage. For this morning. John says to his first readers.

You've heard this. Haven't you? You've heard of this person. You've heard that the antichrist. Is coming. That he's one day. Coming. Now when had they heard. Had they heard that.

Or better yet. From whom had they heard this? Well. Primarily from their prophets. Their prophets. And I would say. Prophet Daniel.

Primarily. And we find him. Explicitly. Referring. In prophecy. To the antichrist.

In Daniel chapter 7. 8. 9. And also chapter 11. That would be great. If we could go back. And look at all of those.

We don't have time. To look at all of those references. And if you really want. To hear what I have to say. About Daniel. Then if you're not a regular. Attender on Wednesday night. Some months back.

I preached. Or taught through. The book of Daniel. You can get that on our website. But I do want us to. Look at just one of those prophecies. Spend the rest of our time.

Doing that actually. It's Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7. Which is really a prophetic. Vision. Or even a dream. A kind of a dreamy vision.

And I want you to follow along. As I walk through this passage. And so turn to Daniel chapter 7. We're not going to look at every single verse in the chapter. We don't have time to do that.

But what I want to do. Is have us see. The prophecy concerning. This one. John said. His readers had heard.

Was coming. And that we know. Is coming. One day. We shouldn't worry about it. Or fear it. And there are a lot of reasons why we shouldn't.

But this is the Antichrist. The Antichrist. Not Antichrists. Those who have been in the church. From the very beginning. Opposing Christ. And in the world.

Opposing Christ. But the man. The Antichrist. Now. So. I want you to follow along. If you would turn in your Bibles. To Daniel chapter 7. Now.

I will say this. That Daniel 7. Is a very key chapter in the book. Because it marks the. Kind of literary transition. From. What.

Basically. History. Historical narratives. First six chapters of Daniel. Are just historical narratives. Things that have. Have happened.

That. And then. From chapter 7. All the way to the end of the book. We have prophetic visions. Things that are yet to happen. They are.

Apocalyptic. Apocalyptic. Just simply means. Unveiling. Or revealing. So these are things that. Are revealed to Daniel. Through visions.

Dreams. And so forth. Their prophecy. They're. Yet to happen. And. The things that Daniel. Is allowed to see. In chapter 7. Through 12.

Are things that are going to happen. In the next few decades. Next few centuries. Next few millennia. On. Into eternity. So it's amazing. And.

That's why Daniel. Is such a key. Book. In. Book of prophecy. In the Bible. And so. The first thing. Is. Let's just understand. The historical setting. Here. And Daniel.

Gives us the information. About that. Verse 1. Of Daniel 7. In the first year. Of Belshazzar. King of Babylon. You know.

We always think. Of Nebuchadnezzar. Don't we. When we think. Of Babylon. And indeed. He was the first king. Great king. He was the one that took. The people of Judah. God's people. Into captivity. He's the one that took.

Daniel. And his friends. Into captivity. And even into his very palace. But Nebuchadnezzar. Is dead. He's been dead. For some nine years. When this happens. And so.

This is the first year. Of Belshazzar. The most wicked. Of all of the Babylonian kings. And by the way. The last one. And so. In that year.

Daniel. Had a dream. And visions. Of his head. Or in his mind. While on his bed. So these are kind of. Dreamy visions. All right.

So this is the setting. He's in Babylon. Belshazzar is the king. And by the way. Very shortly. In a few years. From this time. Belshazzar. Will also be dead.

And the Babylonian empire. Will be over. And the Persians. Will take its place. The Medo-Persian empire. So this is the historical.

Setting. But now let's just. Read on. And see this vision. This vision. That's going to. Eventually. Reveal to us.

The very man. Of lawlessness. That Paul was talking about. Who is to come. The antichrist. That John refers to. Here in our passage.

And so let's see the. This vision. This horrifying. Vision. And so verse one says. Then he. That's Daniel. Wrote down the dream.

Telling the main facts. And what did he see? Verse two. Daniel spoke saying. I saw in my vision. By night. And behold. The four winds of heaven. Were stirring up.

The great sea. Now we don't need to. Spend a lot of time. Talking about that. It's a reference. To this world. This world. That is stirred up. By sin.

And so forth. The stormy waves. And the striving winds. Are. These are descriptions. Of this world. So in the prophetic vision.

He's seeing the world. Kind of as a whole. This sinful world. And then he sees. These beasts. Strange beasts.

Coming out of the sea. Verse three. And four great beasts. Came up from the sea. Each different from the other. Each different. All right. So these.

Strange. In. Especially the fourth one. Hideous. Beasts. That are coming up. Out of this turbulent world. That's. This vision.

And these. These. Beasts. Represent. Four kingdoms. That will. Rule. Successively.

In this world. The first one. Will be the Babylonian. Empire. The second one. Babylonian. Empire. Will be followed by.

The Medo-Persian. Empire. The Medo-Persian. Empire. Will be followed by. The Greek. Empire. And the Greek. Empire. Of course. Conquered. And followed by.

The Roman Empire. Four. Beasts. Four. Great. Nations. Say. How do we know this? Well the angel. In verse 17. And you can. Skip ahead. The angel. Explains the vision.

And in verse 17. The angel confirms. That these. Those great beasts. Which are four. Are four kings. Which. Arise. Out of the earth.

And then getting back. Verse 3. Each. Was different. From the other. And as the next. Several verses. That we're not going to look at.

This morning. Describe. Because in the vision. Dan. Or as he wrote it down. He described. What each of these. Four beasts. Look like. And it's kind of strange.

Descriptions. And they're all symbolic. Of certain. Features. Or aspects. Of the kingdoms. That will. Rule the world. Over the next. Several centuries. And millennia.

But since the prophetic vision. Is progressive. All right. So we're not talking about. Four kingdoms. Ruling at the same time. We're talking about. Four kingdoms. That will rule. Successfully.

One will be conquered. By the second. And the third. And then finally the fourth. And so. Since it's progressive. I. And since we're. Wanting to. Cut to the quick here. And see what Daniel says.

About the antichrist. I want us to consider. The fourth beast. Verse seven. After this. I saw. In the night visions. And behold.

A fourth beast. Dreadful. And terrible. Exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth. It was devouring.

Breaking in pieces. I mean. What a description. And trampling the residue. With its feet. It was different from all. The beasts. That were before it. And it had ten.

Horns. Now let's just think about this description. In the first place. I would note. That. This fourth beast. To Daniel. This fourth beast. Was indefinable.

He couldn't define this thing. I mean. You can go back and look at the description. Of the other beast. The first beast. Looked like a lion. The second beast. Looked like. A bear. The third beast. Looked like a leopard.

But unlike the previous three beasts. No animal name. Was given. Because. It didn't. It didn't. Look like anything.

On this planet. And that's why. The reason why this fourth beast. Was indescribable. He couldn't describe it. In earthly terms. It. It defied all earthly description.

But Daniel did note. That this fourth beast. Was. Undesirable. I mean. It was. A horrific. Beast. In its description.

And according to Daniel. It was dreadful. It was. Terrible. That it would strike. Terror. In the hearts. Of people. It had. Huge. Iron.

Teeth. Iron. Teeth. You know. Chew up. Not just flesh. But bone. And even the hardest. Of substances. Think of. Of what. What this beast.

Might have represented. And it. And Daniel said. It was devouring. And breaking. In pieces. That is. To completely consume. Its prey.

And. It. Was. Trampling. The residue. With its feet. This is how Daniel. Described it. That is. It's pulverizing. Under its feet. Everything. In its past.

And it had. Ten horns. A beast. With ten horns. That's why. Daniel. Couldn't name this one. I mean. There aren't any. Any. Any. Natural beasts. In our world.

Today. That have ten horns. Had ten horns. And that is to gore to death. Its victims. Of course. And the angel. A little bit later. Later. Who gives a. A little bit more description.

Of this beast. It had nails. Or claws. Of bronze. So that it could grab. And hold. And lacerate. Its victims.

I mean. Think of what he saw here. This would. This would be frightening. You're talking about a nightmare. To see this beast. And this is what Daniel saw. Concerning. The fourth beast.

And the angel said. That fourth beast. Is a kingdom. A kingdom. That is to come. But to Daniel. This fourth beast. Was.

Indiscernible. He. He couldn't peg it. He couldn't name it. Just like he couldn't. Name. What this beast. Looked like. In the vision. He couldn't name. What kingdom.

It could have possibly been. It was indiscernible. To him. That's why. Daniel said. Then I wish to know. The truth. About the fourth beast. Which was different.

From all the others. And it certainly was. Now. Daniel knew. About the first two. Kingdoms. I mean. He was living in.

One of them. And actually. He would live. For a short time. In the second kingdom. Represented. By the first two beasts. The Babylonian empire. The first beast.

The. The. Medo-Persian empire. The second beast. I said. Daniel knew about them. And I would even suggest. To you. That Daniel. Could imagine. The rise.

Of a Greek empire. He knew. They were very strong. Though they had not. Come to power yet. But they did exist. The Greeks. Did exist. And. And. They.

It would be conceivable. To him. That the Greeks. Could dominate. The world. Even though. That would not come. For another 70 or 80 years. After Daniel died. But the fourth beast.

Daniel. Could not. Have imagined. The identity. Of that fourth beast. Couldn't have even imagined it. Or. An empire.

That by the way. Would not come. To power. For over 300 years. After Daniel died. There was no way Daniel. They didn't exist. There wasn't any way.

He could understand that. And Daniel could. Also. Never imagine. An empire. As savage. And as strong. And as large. As that empire. Represented. By the fourth beast.

And so Daniel. Had to ask about it. He said. I wish to know the truth. About this false. Or fourth beast. Tell me the truth about it. One thing he learned.

Was that. This fourth beast. Was indestructible. Indestructible. At least from any. Earthly. Perspective. Again. Verse 7. It was different. From all the beasts.

That were before it. And then. We take in the whole scope. Of the prophets. Who understand. That it. Really didn't come to an end. For.

For many millennia. Daniel couldn't. Conceive of that. An empire. That was indestructible. An empire. That could be that strong.

And that savage. And no one could conquer it. Indestructible. And. Seemingly. No world power. Could conquer.

This empire. Which again. Is the Roman Empire. In fact. Historically. The Roman Empire. Never was destroyed. Never was defeated.

It never. Never was. It never was conquered. What happened to it? It became. Christianized. By Constantine. And ultimately.

Became. The Holy Roman Empire. And in some lesser degree today. Still exists. Today. And one day.

Will be revived. Now what did Daniel. See concerning this fourth beast. Well verses seven and eight. It had ten horns. As I've already said.

It was. I was considering. Daniel said. I was considering the horns. These ten horns. And what did he see? There was another horn.

A little horn. Coming up. Among them. Before whom. Before whom. Three of the first. Horns. Were plucked out. By the roots.

There. In. This horn. Were. Eyes. Many eyes. Like the eyes. Of man. Now by the way. Saying it just had two eyes.

Like man have. It had. Multiple eyes. Many eyes. But they're eyes. Like you would see in a man. So it identifies. Something ordinary.

In that this. This. Horn is actually a person. A man. But also emphasize. Something extraordinary. Mary. Mary. And so.

Had. Eyes. Were. Eyes. Like the eyes. Of a man. And a mouth. Speaking. Speaking. What? Pompous. Things. Pompous.

Words. Words. Now. The ten horns. Represent. Ten rulers. Ten rulers.

Now we're still. Talking about. One beast. One empire. But within that empire. A coalition of ten rulers. Or kingdoms. That form this.

This fourth kingdom. The world. The little horn. Represents. The rise of another king. Another ruler. Horn.

You see. Symbolizes power. That. That's what we understand. It's symbolic of power. And it refers to. Ruling. A ruler. A king. The word little.

Refers to its size. At the beginning. It started little. And then it got bigger. And so coming up. Among them. Signifies.

This. Rulers. Rise to power. And when it says. Three of the first horns. Were plucked out. By the roots. It predicts.

That this new. Ruler. Will become. Ultimately. More powerful. Than the original ten. Rulers. Most powerful. Of them.

And this is further. Verified. In verse 20. He. Was greater. Than his fellows. His fellow. Rulers. And when it says. In verse 8. If you're looking.

At the text. Plucked out. By the roots. It pictures. A violent. Coming to power. A violent. Overthrow. Of those other. Three kingdoms. Or rulers.

And eventually. The empire. Symbolized. By the ten horns. Does come. Under the full. Control. Of the little horn. The little horn.

Now what does the prophecy. Tell us about this. Ruler. This little horn. Well two things. He has eyes. Like the eyes. Of a man. Which is symbolic.

A symbolic. Reference. To. This powerful. Ruler's. Intelligence. His abilities. His. Wisdom. Symbolic.

Of that. God. And he has. A mouth. Speaking. Pompous words. Which is a reference. To this. Ruler's. Arrogance. And.

In his. Boastful words. And we can skip ahead. Again. In verse 25. We're told. That this ruler. Will speak. Pompous. Words.

Against. The most high. That's a reference. To God. Of course. Now who is this person? We know him. Don't we? He's Antichrist.

The Antichrist. See listen. The fourth beast. Is prophetic. Of the Roman Empire. Not as it exists today. But it will come out of that. The Roman Empire.

An empire. That never was defeated. Never conquered. Never totally went away. And it will be revived. And therefore. The ten horns. Will be a confederation. Of rulers.

Or kings. That will rule. Under the revived. Kind of the umbrella. Of the revived Roman Empire. When. Which will one day.

Come out of the old. Roman Empire. And preceding. The return of Christ. A ruler will arise. Who will rule.

Over this coalition. Of kings. The Roman Empire. And he will be brilliant. He will be wise. Eyes like a man. He will be arrogant.

Speaking pompous words. Against God. And he will gain. Absolute control. Over a coalition. Of nations. That will form. The revived.

Roman Empire. At the end. Of this age. Daniel chapter 11. Verses 36 and 37. Also speaks of him. Listen to it.

The king will do. As he pleases. He's talking about this. New king. This ruler. The Antichrist. He will do as he pleases. He will exalt. And magnify himself.

Above every god. And will say. Unheard of things. Against. The god of gods. He will be successful. Until the time. Of wrath. Is completed. I think that's a reference.

To the great tribulation. For what has been determined. Must take place. He will show no regard. For the gods. Of his ancestors. Or for the one. Desired by women.

That's a reference to. In the first place. The god of his ancestors. It is not the god. Of his fathers. You're not going to have any regard. To them. And it's interesting. This one. Desired by women.

That's a reference. Kind of a veil reference. To Jesus Christ. He will have no regard. For them. Nor will he regard. Any god. Not only the gods. He was brought up with. And not certainly the god.

The true god. He will have regard. For no. Will have any regard. For any god. But will exalt himself. Above all. What a description. Of the antichrist.

That is. Coming. I've already read. The passage. That refers to him. In 2nd Thessalonians. Chapter 2. So I won't read it again. But he's also found.

In Revelation. Chapter 13. Verses 5 and 6. And he was given a mouth. Speaking great things. And blasphemies. Just like Daniel prophesied. In chapter 7.

And he was given authority. To continue for 42 months. That's three and a half years. Then he opened his mouth. In blasphemy. Against God. To blaspheme his name.

His tabernacle. And those who dwell in heaven. This is the antichrist. The person who will come.

And we need to recognize him. Now he's not here yet. And there are a lot of reasons why. Again we should not fear him. And by the way.

As I kind of close here. This morning. You might have noticed. That there is no fifth beast. There's no fifth beast.

Daniel doesn't see five beasts. He sees only four. Which means that the Roman Empire. The one out of which. The antichrist will come.

I'm not talking about he's. Going to be the Pope. Or anything like that. We're not talking about the Roman Empire. The church of Rome. Is that exists today. Though it will become this. This Roman Empire.

Revived one. The Roman Empire. Will be the last. Earthly kingdom. To rule. In this present. Evil age. The last one.

There's not a fifth one. That's interesting. Isn't it? Now. You know. That doesn't mean. That. You know.

That. The end of everything. Is going to happen. Today. Or tomorrow. The next month. The next year. Maybe another. Decade. A hundred. Or more years. A thousand. Who knows? But we know.

Prophetically. There is no. Fifth. Beast. No. Fifth. Empire. To rule. Over this. Present. Evil. Age.

And yet. I would tell you. That Daniel. Does speak. Of. A fifth. Kingdom. A fifth. Kingdom. Not a fifth. Beast.

But a fifth. Kingdom. And it does represent. A kingdom. That will rule. But not in this. Present. Age. But in the. Age to come. Come. And it's the kingdom.

Of our Lord. He does mention that here. If you look at verse 26. Of Daniel. Daniel's vision. But the court. Shall be seated.

He's talking about. After all these things happen. A court shall be seated. And they shall take away. His. That's antichrist. Christ's dominion. To consume.

And destroy it. Forever. That makes an end. To this present. Evil age. And then you read on. Then the kingdom. And dominion. And the greatness.

Of the kingdoms. Under the whole heaven. Shall be given. To the people. The saints. Of the most high. That's. Us. We shall rule with him.

His kingdom. Is an everlasting kingdom. And all dominions. Shall serve. And obey him. Isn't that exciting?

When will this happen? When will this come to pass? Well let me tell you. I don't know. I don't know.

And. If you think you do. You're wrong. And all those. Who are writing today. And setting dates. And making speculations. They're wrong.

They don't know. We just need to be ready. We need to. Recognize. The antichrist. We need to know.

Who he is. Now next week. We're going to look. At the antichrists. That we need to recognize. Those guys. And gals.

We need to pay attention to. We need to recognize them. For who they are. We'll talk about that. Next time. They're living with us. Right now. Among us.

The antichrist. Hasn't come yet. Hasn't been revealed. Yet anyway. But the antichrists. Are all around us. We need to recognize them. So we'll talk about that.

Next week. Thank you.