The End of the Church Age...and After

    The Bible discloses the fact that following the season of the early Pentecostal rain (the church age), which has brought in the harvest of the firstfruits, there would be a time of a spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God. This would also be a time of judgment on the churches. This time symbolically would be three and a half years in duration. It is called the time of Great Tribulation. This time of Great Tribulation will be immediately followed by the return of Christ and the end of the world. We read in Matthew 24:21:

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

    This Great Tribulation period is not only described in Matthew 24 and mark 13, but it also described in the language of Revelation 13, Daniel 7, Daniel 8, and many other Scriptures.

    It is typified by the seventy year period beginning with the death of King Josiah in 609 B.C. and ending with the conquering of Babylon by the Medes and Persians in 539 B.C.

    It is a time typified by God bringing judgment upon Judah because they refused to remove the high places where heathen gods were worshipped. God warned in Leviticus 26:30:

And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

And say, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the

rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before you idols.

    The character of the events occurring in the seventy year period from 609 B.C. to 539 B.C. was the total rule of Babylon over Israel. When the Israelites were taken captive into Babylon they had no temple, no holy city, and no priesthood. They were entirely separated from Jerusalem and all the sacred activity that had previously been taken place there.

    Likewise, the character of the Great Tribulation spoke of in Matthew 24 is that Satan has occupied the churches and has become victorious the saints. In Revelation 13:7, we read:

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most high, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.

    These passages clearly show that the time was to come that God would give Satan the victory over the churches and congregations. This is the end of the church age, when Satan is given complete victory over the external church.

    When we understand that Satan is given victory over the external church which consists of all the local congregations, we wonder how this can be. Don’t we read in Revelation 20:2,3:

And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nation no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

    We do know that Satan was bound in the sense that he could no longer frustrate the purpose of the Gospel to save people. During the ministry of Jesus, virtually no one became saved. On the one hand, the Holy Spirit was not at work applying the preached Word of God to the lives of those who were to be saved. And on the other hand, Satan appeared to be present almost everywhere Jesus preached. As Luke 8:12 indicates, the devil took the Word out of the hearts of those who heard the Word lest they should believe and be saved.

    The fact that about 3,000 were saved seven weeks after the time of the cross indicates that this was the dominant meaning of the truth that Satan had been bound. It was at the cross that Satan was given the death blow and was bound so that he could no longer deceive the nations. Beginning at the time he was bound and all through the church age, people all over the world did become saved.

    We must, therefore, ask the question: How is it possible that Satan is able to gain victory over the churches during the Great Tribulation? Did he finally figure out a plan whereby he could do this? The answer is, No! It is God who loosed Satan as a judgment upon the churches. We read about his loosing of Satan in Revelation 9:1-4:

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green things, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

    The star that fell from heaven can only be Christ. He alone has the key that opens and shuts (Revelation 3:7). Very deliberately Christ loosed Satan in the sense that He again allowed Satan to frustrate the preached Word so that it could not save. The time was coincidental with the withdrawal of the Holy Spirit from the churches. Once he was loosed, Satan, as the constant enemy of Christ, of course could be expected to immediately attack the body of Christ which was found in the local churches all over the world.

    Thus, we can know that it is only because God is orchestrating the details of the Great Tribulation and the end of the world that Satan can become so victorious during the time of Great Tribulation.

The Two Witnesses

    When we look at the sending forth of the Gospel during the church age, we must take note of the two witnesses of Revelation 11. These two witnesses represent the true believers. Initially, they identify with the true believers in the churches during the church age. The command to go into all the world with the Gospel had been given at the beginning of the church age. The carrying of this command was typified by the two witnesses of which the Bible speaks in Revelation 11. Revelation 11:3,4 declares:

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive threes, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

    The two witnesses are identified in Revelation 11:4 as two olive trees and two candlesticks. The two olive trees identify with the olive tree of Romans 11:16-24. This underscores that these two witnesses represent true believers.

    The two witnesses identify with the two candlesticks. This immediately identifies with the church age. Revelation 1:20 and Revelation 2:1 teaches us that symbolically, each church is represented by a candlestick amongst which Christ walks. The candlestick represents the light of the Gospel as it is sent out into the world during the church age by the churches and during the latter rain by the true believers who are altogether outside of the churches.

    The number two (two witnesses, two olive tree, two candlesticks), identifies with true believers who faithfully bring the Gospel. Remember Jesus sent the twelve disciples out two and two (Mark 6:7) and the seventy two and two (Luke 10:1).

    We see the end of the church age in the death of these two witnesses, as we read Revelation 11:7, which declares:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the best that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome then, and kill them.

    The death of the two witnesses identifies with the destruction of the church. Satan is loosed at the beginning of the Great Tribulation and is allowed by God to destroy the churches.

The Churches Will Be Judged

    Even as God finally destroyed Judah and Jerusalem in 587 B.C. because they had not removed the high places, God indicates that the church, too, will be destroyed because it does not remove the high places. Remember we read in II Corinthians 10:4-6:

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

    As we learned earlier, the high places of the church are the doctrines held and taught by the church which are not true to the Bible. Some of these are imbedded in the Confessions but additional wrong doctrines are also taught. Divorce for fornication is an example of such a perversion of the law of God.

    Even as Israel refused to permanently destroy its high places, so, too, the churches and denominations of our day refuse to remove form their Confessions and from other teachings those doctrines which are not true to the Bible. As we learned earlier, this refusal to remove wrong doctrines from their Confessions and other doctrinal teachings of the church may be a result of the false notion that the church is the pillar and ground of truth. Later in our study, we will learn that only God can be the pillar and ground of truth.

    Thus, both Revelation 11:7 and II Corinthians 10:4-6 teach that there comes a time when the work of the church is finished (Revelation 11:2), its obedience has been fulfilled (II Corinthians 10:6), and then follows judgment

    upon the church. This is so even as God’s judgment came upon Old Testament Israel and Judah.

    It is true that during the 322 year duration of Judah from the death of Solomon in 931 B.C. until the death of Josiah in 609 B.C., God tolerated and overlooked the high places.

    Likewise, throughout the New Testament era, God has overlooked and tolerated the high places in the churches. Even though many churches and denominations insist that the Bible is the only infallible Word of God, they cling to a number of doctrines of men rather than submit entirely to the truth of the Bible. We have learned that these doctrines are equivalent to the high places of ancient Judah.

    As we have seen, the Great Tribulation of Matthew 24 was typified by the destruction of Jerusalem in the period 609 B.C. to 587 B.C. Therefore, we can expect that even as Judah and Israel were destroyed because they would not remove their high places, so, too, the New Testament Israel, because high places are found in the churches and congregations throughout the world, will also be destroyed during the Great Tribulation.

    The destruction of the churches is not a physical literal destruction as was the situation in 587 B.C. Instead, it is a spiritual destruction as God allows the true believers to be driven out. The churches become spiritually desolate because as we will learn later in this study, the Holy Spirit no longer works in the churches and Satan rules in them.

    This destruction of the churches is made evident by the declaration of Revelation 11:7:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God

sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

    All of these passages tell us in different ways that the end of the church age will come. We see the believers in the churches killed in Revelation 11:7. God will “revenge” the disobedience of the churches after their work is done. The phrase “when your obedience is fulfilled” matches Revelation 11:7, which says, “when they shall have finished their testimony.”

    The II Thessalonians 2 passage tells us the death of the churches comes with Satan ruling in the churches. So, all of these passages are telling us the same thing, namely, that the end of the church age will come at some point. As we will see in this study, that time is now.

The Beast that Comes from the sea

    Let us examine some verses in Revelation 13 to better understand this Great Tribulation time and the end of the church age. We will start with verses 1-3:

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all of the world wondered after the beast.

    This beast is a representation of Satan. But it is looking particularly at the rule of Satan over all of the unsaved during the Great Tribulation of our day. We know this can be so for at least two reasons. The first is that he comes out of the sea. In the Bible, the sea frequently represents hell. Remember that Satan was cast into hell (he became eternally subject to the wrath of God), at the cross. But remember, too, that Revelation 20 teaches that just before the end, Satan would be loosed from his prison so that he would go out to deceive the nations of the world (Revelation 20:7,8). That is why

    This beast has seven heads and ten horns but the ten horns are crowned. This indicates the rule of Satan during the Great Tribulation period. In Revelation 17:12, we read:

And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

    We will discover later on that the phrase “one hour” or “one day” refers very particularly to the entire time of the Great Tribulation period. (See Appendix A.)

    Returning to Revelation 13:2, we read that this beast, who we now know represents the rule of Satan during the Great Tribulation, was like a leopard, a bear, and a lion. It is a picture of Satan coming as a savage wild beast to destroy. Verses 4 and 5 continue:

And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

    The unsaved all over the world worship Satan during this time of Great Tribulation. It might be noted that in our day, the intense interest in the occult and in days like Halloween indicates the enormous adulation that Satan is receiving. Verses 6 and 7 state:

And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindred, and tongues, and nations.

    Because he had been loosed by God and again deceive the nations, his chief attack is against the believers in Christ. This is so because they are the body of Christ and Christ is the chief enemy of Satan whom he wishes to destroy.

    God has loosed Satan to prepare the world for the judgment of the last day. But in God’s divine arrangement, judgment is to begin at the house of

They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

    During the Great Tribulation, as we will presently see, Satan will be ruling in the congregations, and the true believers will be killed (driven out of the churches). This identifies with Revelation 11:7:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

    Thus, during the Great Tribulation, except for the true believers who no longer are a part of the churches and congregations, Satan will rule over all, both in the churches and outside of the churches. Satan ruling in the churches corresponds with the end of the church age, God is no longer using the churches to evangelize the world.

    Thus far we have learned that the beast that comes out of the sea represents Satan as he rules during the Great Tribulation period of our day.

    Continuing with Revelation 13, we read in verses 11,12:

And I behold another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

    God now is speaking of a beast coming out the earth. We know that this beast also is Satan. However, Satan now is presented as antichrist, that is, he looks and acts like Christ. He has two horns like a lamb (that is, like Christ the Lamb of God). Yet we are not to be deceived, “he spake as a dragon.” It is Satan masquerading as Christ as he takes over the rulership of the churches and congregations during the Great Tribulation of our day. This identifies with the language of II Thessalonians 2:3,4:

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

    The temple of God is the churches and congregations. But during the Great Tribulation, Satan will be sitting (that is, ruling) in these churches. God the Holy Spirit will no longer be in the midst of the congregations. Satan has overcome the true believers by driving them out of (they are killed), and now he is free to rule as he pleases. Those who remain in these churches think they are worshipping God, but in actuality, they are worshipping Satan. Thus, this beast that comes out of the earth also represents Satan. More particularly, it represents Satan as he rules in the churches and congregations during the Great Tribulation period of our day. Later on, in Revelation 19:20, he is called the false prophet. He is called the false prophet because it is Satan ruling in the churches and congregations.

Fire from Heaven

    Returning to Revelation 13, we next read, in verses 13,14:

And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had

power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

    We read here in Revelation 13:13-14 that Satan will be calling down fire from heaven. However, as we study the Bible, we learn that Satan cannot literally call down fire form heaven. This is proven by the contest between the 450 prophets of Baal, who were Satan’s emissaries, and Elijah. We can read about this in I Kings 18. But God gave Satan a demonstration that showed that causing someone to fall backward was equivalent to calling down fire from heaven.

    In Number 16 we read of the rebellion against Moses that was led by three men, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. We read in Numbers 16:2-3:

And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among the: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregations of the LORD?

    The consequences of this rebellion were that the earth opened up and swallowed the families of the three men and the destruction by fire of the 250 men who rebelled. Numbers 16:35: “And there came out a fire from the incense.” The next day the Israelites complained. Numbers 16:41: “But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD.” As a result of this added rebellion on the part of Israel, God sent a plague into Israel that began to kill the Israelites in great numbers. Only the timely intervention of Aaron in making an atonement for Israel kept God form killing all of Israel. We read of this terrible judgment and its remedy in Numbers 16:45-48:

Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the

LORD; the plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.

    In this account, the rebellious Israel representative of mankind who has rebelled against God. The plague that killed a great many of the Israelites and the fire that came down and destroyed the 250 men point to the judgment of God that will destroy all of the unsaved. The atonement offered by Aaron as well as Aaron himself, as he stood between the dead and the living, represent Christ who stopped the wrath of God from falling on all those for whom He made atonement. Thus, we see much of the Gospel of salvation in this account.

Does Satan Make Fire Come from Heaven?

    We read again in Revelation 13:13, that the beast “maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.” Does this mean that at some point in time, Satan will be able to literally make fire come down from heaven? Actually, we can see that this phenomenon is presently happening worldwide, but it is not a literal fire, it is an activity that is the equivalent of calling down fire from heaven. Let us search the Bible to see how this can be.

    In two outstanding examples in which Satan, through his emissaries, threatened believers, fire came down from heaven to destroy the wicked ones.

    In II Kings 1, we read of the wicked king of Israel sending a captain with fifty men to take Elijah. In the face of Satan’s open assault on believers, Elijah, who represents believers, called down fire from heaven and the captain and fifty men were destroyed.

    In Revelation 20, we read of Satan assaulting the camp of the saints by means of the nations from the four corners of the earth, and fire came down from heaven to destroy these nations.

    There was another time when Satan assaulted the kingdom of God and fire should have been called down from heaven to destroy him. Instead, a different action was taken to show that Satan could have been destroyed by fire. That action, therefore, became the equivalent of calling down fire from heaven.

    The event was when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, and Judah and the temple soldiers came to take Jesus. Satan himself was there, because a bit earlier, he had entered into Judas (Luke 22:3). Satan was so much a part of what followed that Christ called Judas a “devil” (John 6:70-71). Jesus asked Judas and the temple soldiers, “Whom see ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus then answered, “I am” (John 18:4-5).

    At that moment, following the action of Elijah as recorded in II Kings 1, and the action against the forces of evil as recorded in Revelation 20, Jesus should have called down fire from heaven to destroy the enemies who would bind Him, but Jesus could not take this action. He declared to the temple soldiers, “this is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53). Christ could not destroy these enemies because it was necessary that He be bound and go to the cross to pay for our sins. Only then could He be our Savior.

    Jesus showed the He was willingly being bound and that it was God’s will that He be taken, but Christ could have destroyed these enemies. Instead of bringing fire from heaven, when Jesus said, “I am,” He caused them to reel backward and fall to the ground (John 18:6). This was a substitute action to show that He had the power to destroy them.

    We learned from Revelation 13:13 that Satan will cause fire to come down from heaven, but the Bible also instructs us that Satan cannot make fire come down from heaven. Do you recall the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18)? The 450 prophets of Baal, whose head is Satan, tried all day to cause fire to come down to the altar they had made. But they failed totally to accomplish this. Elijah, on the other hand, prayed that God would send fire on the altar that Elijah had built, and fire came down and consumed the offering, the wood, and even the stones of the altar.

    Therefore, Satan cannot literally call down fire from heaven. Satan was present when Jesus caused those who came to take Him to fall backward as substitute for calling down fire form heaven (John 18). This is the solution to the prophecy that Satan would call down fire from heaven: He causes people to fall backward to the ground under some supernatural power as the equivalent of calling fire from heaven. Thus, this could be the manner through which Revelation 13:13 finds it fulfillment. Among the false

    gospels of our day, there is an extensive phenomenon going on in which many people fall backward by some supernatural power. Among some, this is called “being slain in the spirit.” Since Satan himself cannot literally call down fire from heaven, he follows the lead of Jesus and causes people to fall backward, which is a substitute for calling down fire from heaven.

Falling Backward Equals Fire from Heaven

    Thus, this miracle of people falling backward to the ground which is occurring all over the world is clear evidence that we are now in the Great Tribulation period of Revelation 13 and Matthew 24. This supernatural activity is one of the sings Satan employs to assure those in these churches that Christ is still active within these churches. Satan wishes to be like God. God is the judge of all the earth. God shows His right and ability to judge by calling down fire to destroy the one being judged. Satan is not the judge in any sense, but he tries to show he is judge by causing people to fall backward. That is why the churches in which he does this speak of it as being “slain in the spirit.” Additionally, other supernatural activities, such as Satan giving messages to people in many churches by means of visions and the supernatural activity of tongues, are given by Satan to try to assure those in these churches that Christ is still ruling there.

    In these verses, God tells us that Satan, as he comes as the beast out of the earth or as the false prophet, causes those who dwell on the earth to “make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live” (Revelation 13:14). That is, to make an image of Satan. Furthermore, concerning this image, we read in Revelation 13, verse 15:

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

    How are we to understand this image of Satan to which life has been given? This is a very important question because in Revelation 14:9, we read about those who worship his image. And remember in Revelation 14:7 we read the warning that we are to worship only God the Creator.

The Image of the Beast

    Making an image is the same as making a likeness of an entity. The image or likeness is not the entity but it represents the entity. The true

believer, for example, has become the image of Christ. We read in II Corinthians 3:18:

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like a corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

    Studying these verses assures us that the image of God is the true believers. The image of Satan is all the unsaved. This agrees with Jesus’ assessment of the Israel of His day. He declares in John 8:44:

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

    Thus, we can understand that the image of Satan consists of the unsaved within the churches. They have been given life only in the sense that they have contact with the supernatural as they receive messages by means of tongues or voices or visions. They have contact with the supernatural by falling backwards. Of course, it is false life, but to those who experience these things, the experiences assure them that they must be alive in Christ.

    What then could the Bible mean when it speaks about worshipping the image of the beast? We worship the one who is our master, the one we look to as our authority. To worship means to bow down before the one to whom we have surrendered our will. Thus, as true believers, our will has been surrendered to Christ because we worship Him as our Lord and our God.

    The question must be posed: In any church or congregation, who is the authority that should rule our life. Is it the Bible, the Bible alone? Or is it the

theologians and the Bible teachers of the denomination to which we belong.

    In any conservative church of today, the answer comes very quickly. The Bible alone is our authority. But is that really so! Who developed doctrines such as the one that we must accept Christ to become saved, or that we must be baptized in water as a condition for salvation, or that faith is an instrument God gives us so we might become saved, or that water baptism seals us in some way, or that one can divorce an adulterous husband, etc. Since these doctrines did not come form God, they could only have come from the minds of men.

    Some or all of these doctrines are adhered to and effectively obeyed in virtually every church and congregation of our day.

    If these doctrines come form the minds of men, the lofty thinking of theologians, they did not come from God. The very fact that they dare to hold these doctrines as truth when they are not truth means that they are trusting a life. That in turn means that ultimately, they are worshipping the father or lies, who is Satan. And they themselves are the image of Satan.

    We must remember, of course, that throughout the history of the New Testament church, many of these false doctrines existed in churches that God used to further the great commission of evangelizing the world. However, we must also remember God is a long-suffering God. He has tolerated these New Testament high places for a long, long time. We have seen that same patience of God as He tolerated the high places of Israel and Judah for hundreds of years.

    But there is an end to God’s patience. He has decreed there would come a time when He would destroy the high places. He did this by destroying Israel in 709 B.C. and Judah in 587 B.C. He did this by loosing Satan so that he would rule in the temple, in the churches and congregations of our day.

    Significantly, in virtually every church that exists anywhere in the world, the image of the beast is worshipped. That is, doctrines developed out of the minds of men are regarded as God’s truth.

    Fact is, this matter of regarding any doctrines spawned by the thinking of theologians as God’s truth betrays the mentality that the corporate church effectively rules over the Bible. Protestants fault the Roman Catholics

because they plainly contend that the church rules over the Bible. The reality is that the same condition prevails in the Protestant churches. This is another way of saying that the image of Satan, that is, the minds of corruptible man is being worshipped.

Worship the Image of the Beast or Be Killed

    Remember we read in Revelation 13:15, “that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” The evidence of the reality of this statement is seen in a startling fashion in our day. In any conservative church of our day, which we may have always considered to be most faithful to the Bible, if we try to remain there as a member but take serious issue with statements of the confessions of that denomination, statements that can e shown to be in violation of the Bible, take issue with that church’s stand on marriage and divorce, ordinarily, such action will cause that individual to be driven out. Spiritually, he will be killed. If a pastor of such a church begins to object to the doctrines his church olds, and which he can show to be in violation of the Bible, he will be driven out of that denomination. Spiritually, he will be killed.

    Returning to Revelation 14:7, now we can understand why God is warning that the Gospel we are to proclaim during the latter rain should emphasize that we are to worship God who “made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Trusting our church, our theologians, or any entity of any kind rather than God the Creator will no longer be tolerated by God.

    In fact, this is a solemn warning to a ministry like Family Radio, that we better be sure that the doctrines we bring to the world are as Biblical as possible. As we have already learned, we are to be especially concerned that the salvation message does not in the slightest way teach that any work that we do assisted in our salvation.

    Continuing a bit longer in Revelation 13, we read in verses 16 and 17:

And he cuaseth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

    These two verses introduce more questions. What is signified by the mark of the beast? What does it mean to buy or sell?

    Satan ruling in the temple, that is, ruling in the churches and congregations during the Great Tribulation, causes everyone present there to receive Satan’s mark. We must understand this to simply mean that those who are not saved carry the ownership brand of Satan. Like a cattleman puts his ownership brand on his cattle so there is no question about who owns the cattle, so Satan spiritually has his mark or brand on those who worship him or his image.

    Similarly, we read in Revelation 14:1 that the 144,000, who are the complete fullness of all who became saved during the church age, have an identification mark on them. They have their Father’s name written on their forehead. We know, of course, that a name is not literally placed on each believer’s forehead. Rather, it is language to show that these 144,000 are eternally owned by God and they are citizens of His kingdom. Later in our study, we will look again at these 144,000.

What Does Buy or Sell Mean?

    But what does the phrase “buy or sell” signify?

    This is a crucial question because verse 17 declares that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark of the beast.

    When we search the Bible to help us understand the phrase “buy or sell,” we find that God employs language that identifies Jesus as a merchant. In Matthew 13:45, 46 we read:

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

    The merchant in this parable can only be Christ. The pearl is the kingdom of God. Christ sold all that he had, that is, He emptied Himself of His glory and became the suffering servant in order to obtain the kingdom of God.

    In Isaiah 55:1 we read:

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

    This language is also the language of a merchant who has the Gospel for sale. It is a Gospel that can be bought without money and without price. In other references, the sending forth of the Gospel is typified by merchant

ships (for example, the ships of Tarshish) that bring to Jerusalem gold, silver, and all manner of precious things.

    The virtuous woman of Proverbs 31:18, “perceiveth that her merchandise is good,” and Proverbs 31:14 says, “She is like the merchants’ ship.” Proverbs 31:24, “She maketh fine linen, and selleth it.” She can be shown to be a picture of the believers as we buy without money the Gospel and sell it to others who buy form us without money. Thus, buying and selling has entirely to do with sending forth the Gospel.

    Returning to Revelation 13:17, we read that in the churches and congregations that have come under the rule of Satan, no one can buy or sell; that is, no one can bring the Gospel there unless they have the mark of the beast.

    What terrible information that is. Effectively, God is saying that in these churches and congregations where Satan now rules, no one can preach or teach there unless they are not saved. What is even worse is that, since everyone in the congregation believes they have a prophetic office to declare the Word of God based upon passages like Acts 2:17, the ominous warning of Revelation 13:17 in principle can apply to everyone in the congregation.

    This information dramatically increases the problem that pastors and Bible teachers in churches face. It cannot mean that each and every pastor ministering in any church is automatically proven to be unsaved. But it does mean when a pastor or any believer within that church is faced with the Biblical information concerning the Great Tribulation and then insists that this is not the time to flee from his church, or if he insists that somehow his church is the exception and he can continue to minister in this congregation, or if he offers any other rationale as to why he should not leave, the serious question much be raised, “How then does this pastor or believer answer to this terrible warning of Revelation 13:17?” Indeed, these are extremely serious verses. The serious nature of these warnings is further set forth in Revelation 14:9-11:

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his

image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

    These verses are so clear they need no further explanation.

    As we have studied these verses in Revelation 13, we have seen more and more evidence that the beginning of the Great Tribulation spoken of in Matthew 24 corresponds with the end of the church age. Revelation 13 shows that during the Great Tribulation, the churches will be under God’s judgment and that God has given the churches over to Satan. With the churches under God’s wrath and under Satan’s rulership, we can see clear proof that the beginning of the Great Tribulation signifies that we are at the end of the church age.