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"Here as in Heaven."
For more information visit : garden.church
Welcome to Garden Church Podcast. We're in a series in the book of Revelation. We're gonna spend the next 26 weeks doing a deep dive into both how to read and how to interpret this amazing book. Enjoy.
Darren Rouanzoin:Grab a seat. Thank you, 10 AM. So grateful. Thank you. I made some edits between the two services.
Darren Rouanzoin:You're glad you're at the 10, let's say that. Hopefully. I have a lot on my heart today, and I was processing in between services. Because what happened in the first service was okay. If you're new, we have a bunch of services here, and every single one is different.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I was texting my wife who's out of town on a girl's weekend getaway. So I had all the kids by myself this week. So you can pray for that. Had had, you know, highs and lows all week long. You know, I feel like preaching this if we're in a series called revelation, and it is heavy.
Darren Rouanzoin:Anyone else feel, like, the weightiness of the text? And, but it's also exciting. But I was texting her in between. I'm like she's like, how did it go? And I was like, it was terrible.
Darren Rouanzoin:I was distracted and all this stuff, and I was feeling all sorts of things. And one of the things she said was just, hey, you've been running a marathon for years. And, you need to give yourself a break. So just be present to the rest of the church. I'm like, okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's good. But one so I'm gonna be present. Let you know that I'm tired. But it's not like tired from a weekend. It's like something else.
Darren Rouanzoin:And it this weekend week is a reminder. We're right now, one of our our members of Garden, who's been with us for 10 years, is dying in the hospital. And we've been walking with him him and his family, Jim Eaton. And I think they're live streaming as a family right now. And I thought we, as a 10 AM family, could just pray for Jim and his family.
Darren Rouanzoin:10 years ago, our elders and our staff met with Jim, to help bring organizational clarity to the chaos that our church was at the time. He ran a business that helped CEOs and organizations become, better at what they do. He's a very successful CEO. But he's always he's been a good friend to us. And, I was with him in the hospital Friday, and Jim was saying all sorts of nice things about the garden.
Darren Rouanzoin:He said the garden changed his life. And that he, the Jesus that he met here and, changed his life. And he went on trips to India with us. And, and right now he's about to meet with Jesus. And, so, Sherry, I know you're there and the family and Jim, I just wanna let you know we're gonna pray.
Darren Rouanzoin:Can we all just pray for Jim and the Eaton family? Lord, thank you for your faithful servant, Jim, and all the ways he gave his life away. Gave his intelligence and his skill and his money and his resources and his time to extend your kingdom. He loved you well, and we are better for it. And I pray for everyone in the hospital room and all the family that's coming to say goodbye today, that you would comfort them as they walk in the shadow of death.
Darren Rouanzoin:And pray for Jim that you would fear not this next journey, but celebrate it as you walk to be with Jesus. And the promise is true that he is risen. I said he is risen. He is risen indeed. And it is with that that death doesn't have the sting because it's been swallowed up in victory because of Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:So with our hope fixed on you, Christ, may your glory be revealed in that hospital room. And we bless our brother, and we will miss him. And we celebrate him in Jesus' name. Amen. Is this not what it means to be church?
Darren Rouanzoin:15 people got baptized last Sunday. And and I know Christmas is such a joyful experience for so many people. And it's also a time of remembering all the people we're missing. All the things that were we wish we could hold dear. The friends, the sons, the daughters, the moms, the dads, the uncles, the grandmas, the people in our life that we might not have relationship with.
Darren Rouanzoin:So what for whatever reason, this this holiday in particular season has this unique ability to bring out the best and the joy and this the the the life, the spirit, and the pain and the death and the brokenness and the longing. And that's true. And so we, as followers of Jesus, we live in that tension of the tension of the now kingdom coming and not yet and not yet fully realized. And so as disciples, we are taught by Paul to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. So thank you for recognizing, that that's where we're at, but that's where we are.
Darren Rouanzoin:So I'm just trying to process publicly right now what I'm witnessing. But I have a sermon, and it will probably be the most interesting one. And in the first service, I was, like, surprised by the lack of response, but it's the 8 AM. They're less caffeinated. So, but the 10 AM, I'm expecting more from you.
Darren Rouanzoin:So let me read this, and then we'll jump in. And I'll I'm gonna pray for the text after it. Remind me to pray for the text because last service, I forgot. And I think the enemy tried to get in. Just kidding.
Darren Rouanzoin:Verse 11. Do you have your bibles? Will you hold your bibles up? Let me see how how I'm grading every best one yet, 10 AM. Well done.
Darren Rouanzoin:You get an extra star in that crown, an extra an extra diamond for some of you, platinum crown, bedazzled. At the end of the day, you're just giving it back to Jesus. Don't don't get too excited. If it's your first time, I've been hearing all these people. They're like, oh, I'm inviting so and so.
Darren Rouanzoin:My friends that have never been. I'm like, I hope they like this one. So come back next week. Verse 11, then I saw a second beast. Sorry, I'm not laughing.
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm, then I saw a second beast coming out of the Earth. It had 2 horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose fatal wound had been healed. And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of all the people. Because of the great signs, it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast.
Darren Rouanzoin:It deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the first beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast so that the image could speak and cause all who refuse to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let the person who has insight calculate the number of beast of the beast. For it is the number of a man, that number is 666. The word of the lord. Why is that funny? One of the most serious text in the new testament, most confused.
Darren Rouanzoin:I was talking to, after the first service some people, and and one of the worship leaders said, I was raised Catholic but watch TV. So I was terrified of because I watched Left Behind. I was so scared of 666. Don't worry. We're gonna answer these questions today.
Darren Rouanzoin:Ready? Number 1, this is what we're gonna do. What is the beast of the earth? Pray for the tanks. Let's go.
Darren Rouanzoin:Who said that? Oh, let's go. Oh, thank you. Alright. I'm gonna pray for the text.
Darren Rouanzoin:Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for my fellow saint who remembered her pastor on this last day of preaching. May no one else forget. But lord, we ask that your holy spirit would fill us right now. Pray Jesus that we would receive your word. Lord, illuminate our hearts.
Darren Rouanzoin:Animate the sermon from ideas to living, breathing incarnational word. May you dwell in our midst, Jesus Christ, the lamb of God. May you be encountered, Lord. I pray for my friends that are guests. They're a first time.
Darren Rouanzoin:I pray that they would wake up to the Holy Spirit right now. That the things that they've longed for would come alive because of their relationship to you, Jesus Christ. I pray in the midst of preaching about beasts from the sea and beasts from the earth, that, lord, you would heal bodies because you are the king who gives good gifts. I pray, lord, that you would set captives free because you are still delivering us, Lord, from those things that hold us in bondage. Lord, I pray that our lives would be set before you and we would follow you not just with Sunday gatherings or or midweek or tithes, but we'd follow you with our resources, our hearts, our lives, our minds, our our relationships.
Darren Rouanzoin:Lord, every inch of our soul would be dedicated to you and as an instrument of righteousness for your purpose and glory. Lord, may there be a harvest. May there be a glory in your name, in honor of your name in the churches of Southern California that people cannot deny your power, Lord. We pray for revival. We pray for renewal.
Darren Rouanzoin:We pray for a reformation, Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So you get when someone remembers. You get prayers.
Darren Rouanzoin:Okay. Here's where we're going. What is the beast of the earth? What is the mark of the beast? What does 666 mean?
Darren Rouanzoin:And how do I resist the beast? Those are the 4 things I'm gonna answer today. Let's dive in. Quick review, if you haven't been paying attention, this is what's been going on in the book of Revelation. Number 1, there is an unseen cosmic battle going on in the heavenly realms that, my notes are messed up.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is great. It's okay. I'm gonna switch over. I got another set here. There is an unseen cosmic battle going on, in the heavenly realms that impacts your life on earth.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's team dragon versus team land. Here's the image to show you what Revelation is trying to get you to see. There is cosmic forces at war right now that's been going on. A couple weeks ago, we talked about the dragon who is Satan, the ancient serpent, and the devil masquerading as this cosmic evil beast that is working against god's creation. And at first, he wages war against the woman and her baby.
Darren Rouanzoin:The baby is Jesus and he loses at the cross. Right? Remember that the dragon will lose the war at the cross, but he becomes furious. He still has power, and he wages war against the church. If you this doesn't make sense, just listen to the last couple of weeks.
Darren Rouanzoin:Don't worry. I'll catch you up. The dragon will use the beast of the sea, to bring a war against the church. What's the beast of the sea? The beast of the sea is the dragon manipulated political powers that are present through all time.
Darren Rouanzoin:So we know that at the time that the book of Revelation was written, Rome was the empire that dominated the world. So we know that the dragon uses the beast, Rome, to influence and use his power to affect his will on earth against god's people. But the beast is also manifest as we'll see in Revelation as Egypt or Babylon or Syria or Greece or any other future empire that displaces god. In the words of the force awakens from Maz Kanata, in her observation of the recurring nature of evil across time and empire, she says, through the ages, I've seen evil take many forms. The Sith, the empire.
Darren Rouanzoin:Today, it's the first order. Different names, same face. That's all that Revelation is trying to teach you about the beast. You with me? I told you.
Darren Rouanzoin:Star Wars is the best allegory for the book of Revelation. There you go. Are you with me? That's all review. So what is the beast from the earth?
Darren Rouanzoin:And what's the role that it plays? Let's look at this. It says, then I saw the 2nd beast coming out of the earth. It had 2 horns like the lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. How many horns did Jesus have, when we read about Jesus a few weeks ago?
Darren Rouanzoin:Do you guys remember? Seven horns. So it's it's saying it looks like, the lamb of god. So it but it's not the lamb of god. It's actually it speaks like the dragon.
Darren Rouanzoin:And then it exercises the authority of the first beast and and begins to deceive people with these great signs. Now what I wanna let you know is the role of the beast from the earth is that it leads through deceptive mimicry. Now pay attention. I need you to come in. We're gonna talk like this is gonna feel like a bible study, and I know you can handle it.
Darren Rouanzoin:So listen. The beast from the earth looks like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon. He mimics the work and ministry of Jesus and the church and the people of god throughout history. Right? So it says, he mimics signs work.
Darren Rouanzoin:That these these great signs. Now anytime we read revelation, we have to look at what's being said through the lens of the old testament. And that's a reference to 2 types of people that had great signs. 1st, the signs of Moses found in Exodus. And second, the fire that came down from heaven, that's a reference to Elijah in 1st kings and 2nd kings.
Darren Rouanzoin:Now what you need to know is we've already talked about the witnesses and the role of the holy spirit within the church to bear witness to the world. And and pastor Ramin talked about the 2 witnesses that's talked about in chapter 11 of this book represent Moses and the law and Elijah and the prophets that we are to bear witness of God's law and redemptive purposes of covenant and the power and signs and wonders. So what this, beast does is he mimics the role of the holy spirit, which we'll get to in a second. But what you have to see is that the beast from the earth uses deceptive ministry of the spectacular to get you to worship the dragon. So where Jesus is tempted by Satan to be spectacular without obedience to the father.
Darren Rouanzoin:In the great temptation narrative of Matthew 4, Satan says, if you are the son of god, throw yourself down for it is written. He will command his angels concerning you and lift you up in their hands. He, he he's trying to get Jesus to operate for his own purpose and glory outside of doing the will of the father. So ministry that the beast will do will operate in a similar method of Jesus in the church, but not be in the power of the spirit. How we doing?
Darren Rouanzoin:I'm gonna check-in regularly on this sermon because there's gonna be a lot. Just wait. The beast will use signs and wonders and the authority of the first beast to deceive people into idolizing worldly systems. It's religious propaganda that validates corrupt political power. So if the beast from the sea as we talked about last week is dragon manipulated political power and institutions, then the beast from the earth, the second beast, the land beast is dragon manipulated religious powers and institutions.
Darren Rouanzoin:What is being revealed in the book of John I'm sorry, in the book of Revelation by John is another unseen reality that's present. Political power can undermine your discipleship to Jesus, But religion can pose the same threat. So the the second point I wanna make is the beast from the earth represents false religion and the spread of deceptive religious propaganda. What what John is doing is trying to get you to see what was happening in the 1st century, what happens throughout history, and what will happen in his future into our present moment at any given time. That there will be what will what I will call unholy spirited marketing department of the team dragon present in the church.
Darren Rouanzoin:The earth of the beast sorry. The earth's beast, his role is primarily a religious role. So John will call this beast that we're referring to later on in the book of Revelation a false prophet. K? John warns his disciples, the followers of Jesus, that the beast from the earth, this dragon manipulated religious power represents false prophets throughout history.
Darren Rouanzoin:Now here's the definition. A true prophet leads people to worship the one true living god. And a false prophets false prophet leads people to worship the state, corporation, business, or the wrong version of God. It idles. So true prophets lead people back to the sacramental lifestyle of Jesus, the way of Jesus, while false prophets lead people to self focus habits and consumerism of religious goods.
Darren Rouanzoin:Jesus warns us all over the place about false prophets. We don't talk about it very often here. So if you're hearing this for the first time, it's probably the first time I've ever preached on false prophets. Mark chapter 13 talks about in Matthew chapter 7, Jesus says that false prophets will be beastly. It says look at it.
Darren Rouanzoin:Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly, they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit, you will recognize them. They devoured unity of the church. They devour I'm speaking to the church, by the way.
Darren Rouanzoin:John's fear, although it represented something contextually, his fear and and, influence for the church to to read and understand what this beast does is that the false prophets come into the church. That's what my primary focus for you as before I depart is to think about the modern day false prophets that might mark you rather than the real Jesus. Let's get to that in a moment. Let's keep going. So Jesus says, you will know them by their fruit, by the outcome of their life.
Darren Rouanzoin:Not by their clever, 140 character TikTok videos. I'm so surprised by how much of our theology today is shaped by social media, not by the scripture, not by the history, the catalog of church fathers and mothers, and great theology for that for throughout the last 2000 years. We are, anemic in our appetite. We are weak in our capacity to dig deep into the things that are eternal. You know, people think I'm trying to get you to read scriptures so that you can do more for Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:No. I'm trying to help form your heart to follow the one true king. In a world that's forming you in another way, you have to combat counterform yourself in the power of the Holy Spirit against the propaganda of the religious moment. I'm glad 3 of us think so. It's okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is for me. I got one I got this and one more, and I'm gone. Acts 20, when Paul writes to the when he speaks to the church in Ephesus. These are the elders in Ephesus. He warns them.
Darren Rouanzoin:This is his final word to a church. The the church that he spent more time with than any other church in the new testament. It says he he he taught them day night with tears. He warned them day night about what would happen. He says to the the leaders, and if you're a leader in our church, if you're a volunteer leader, a worship leader, a house church leader, whatever you do, work with kids in our community, youth.
Darren Rouanzoin:I wanna speak this to you. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the holy spirit has made you overseer. Be shepherds of the church of God, not because it's convenient, which because he bought it with his own blood. And he and look at what Paul says. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
Darren Rouanzoin:It will be in the church that acts beastly. It will be the the seed of the false prophets whisper into your head and heart that leads you astray and become about your ministry versus his ministry. That will get you to do it your way, the right way versus the catalog of 2000 years of orthodoxy. He'll he'll whisper the seed of this is compassion. Meanwhile, if you forget righteousness and holiness, you've idolized this word compassion.
Darren Rouanzoin:And you'll you'll compromise conviction because a whisper that starts with yourself, that starts with the way culture has formed you to make you a satellite for self promotion, rather than die to yourself. That's the false prophecy we face today. The false prophets of our day make it a me centric gospel, where you read scripture and all you see is me. It's not about you. It's about Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's not about what Jesus wants to do with your life. It's about how your life surrenders to him. You see, the false prophets of our day wanna make you a consumer of religious goods, wants to take words that don't mean anything to you so you can make it simple, make it easy, make it convenient rather than resurrendering every day you wake up to the will of the father. You haven't been trained to hear god's voice in the church. You've been trained to give money and do programs.
Darren Rouanzoin:Hear his voice. I'm not calling you to be a part of the church. I'm calling you to be a part of his movement, which is the greatest movement in history. Because it's the only one that sets captives free, that heals the sick, that actually has good news. And at the end of the day, salvation is real, because Jesus is our truth.
Darren Rouanzoin:And so in a world that's been deceived by all this false propaganda, John is trying to get you to see that the second beast will do whatever he takes, whatever it takes to manipulate you to trust and follow ideologies of human systems that have moved out from under god's divine purpose. As Eugene Peterson says, religion divorced from god becomes a tool for tyranny, persuading people to give their worship to anything but the living God. So I believe the threat is within the church. And here's here's the primary way. Our communities can have a kind of spiritual life that promises fruit of the kingdom without submission to the king.
Darren Rouanzoin:You want all the benefits that come with the kingdom of god, but you won't submit to the king. You want all the benefits that Jesus will give you without the cross as the pathway. You want my my best life now without surrendering to the Christ who was crucified. And that way of life is not, oh, just bring your family to church. It's a laying down of your life on the cross daily and seeing him pour out his love on you.
Darren Rouanzoin:The way we subvert the empire of the beast is self sacrificial love. That is the way of Jesus. It's not victory over the powers that be with the powers of the world. It's victory over the powers of the world through self sacrificial surrender. He is this lamb who was slain, slaughtered.
Darren Rouanzoin:Not the lamb with a, you know, a a sword that's gonna conquer our enemies politically. That's the wrong messiah. That is the antichrist spirit that's in our church. Are we alright? Gets worse.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's keep reading. Verse 15, it says the second beast was given power to give pneuma. Listen to what John's saying. Look. There's something going on in the world.
Darren Rouanzoin:The first beast is this political power that has the ability to act like God and woo the nations and get people to worship him. And then there's this other beast, this beast from the earth that's different. It's it's smaller. It's it's localized. And that actually, fuels the 1st beast worship by the spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:The same word for breath is the word spirit that we use for holy spirit. That word pneuma, wind, spirit. And now what John's saying is the things out there that you think are like neutral machinery are actually energized by demonic spirits. Well, let me just John is saying there's another spirit at work in the systems of the world. There's a counterfeit spirit that works in the systems of the world that bears life into moments.
Darren Rouanzoin:And if there's never been a clear text for what we've experienced the last 4 years. I'm gonna offend a ton of people for a moment, but I wanna paint a picture of what happens. You see, we lived and witnessed as a people an energy that carried a momentum that caused us to react and participate and live in a way that was reacting to ideas that became ideologies that became a form of religion. Yeah? Can I go a little further on that?
Darren Rouanzoin:Like, for example, there were tragic events that took place in 2020 that moved the United States to seek justice and challenge injust systems and structures that needed to be reformed. But what began as a maybe cry and ache of awareness and healing and a move to reconciliation was swept away by a political spirit. And that political spirit became militant. That political spirit became militant and produced religious followers that lost the plot of its own movement. And what happened was if you didn't participate in the in the current of that movement, you were it resulted in your ridicule, and your cancellation or persecution in our context.
Darren Rouanzoin:Do you have eyes to see? Yes. I remember when that movement started, and I was like, this is heartbreaking. We need to participate. And the lord spoke to me on a drive home from Zion because it happened when I was I was in Zion on a camping trip.
Darren Rouanzoin:He said, don't participate publicly. Invest in it personally. Deal with this in personally. Don't jump into the bandwagon of, of a, a a virtue signaling moment for the culture. Because it it it's you watch it.
Darren Rouanzoin:And I watched it and it was this thing that just took over. Do you know what I'm talking about? I don't have to say it. You can't get it? It's happening all the time though.
Darren Rouanzoin:It happens on that side and it happens on this side. And you have to have eyes to see. That what you reject on this side as the beast, you become if it's anything outside of the resurrected cruciform vision of Jesus. Right? Yes.
Darren Rouanzoin:So on this side, when our guy wins and that gal loses, and now you use all the power of the world to try to reform your belief systems in a structure that is not honoring god, you become the beast. That's the that's the warning. What do we do? Are you okay? I'm hitting everyone today.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's go. Some of you are like, I have no idea what you're talking about. I was I was in 3rd grade in 2020. I loved it. Because it caused all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
Darren Rouanzoin:Now this is happening in 1st century Rome. Listen, the idolatry of the political realm, the idolatry of Caesar didn't start with Caesar or the politics of Rome. It was first supported by local religious establishments in context. So historians and archaeologists have discovered this. The Roman empire sorry.
Darren Rouanzoin:The Roman emperor did not initiate emperor worship. It was done by the local leaders of local cities and towns. George Cade says, it would never have occurred to Caesar Augustus to claim divinity in the parts of the empire, accustomed as they were to worship their rulers. I'm sorry. Let me rephrase this.
Darren Rouanzoin:It would never have occurred to Caesar to claim divinity, if the parts of the empire, accustomed as they were to worship their rulers, had not raised the possibility. So the local communities worship their leaders. And it was the local leadership that John's writing about as far as the mark of this I'm sorry, as the beast from the earth. Though the beast from the earth were local communities pushing people to worship Caesar, enforcing worship of Caesar. So it's in Ephesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:The local leaders were the ones persecuting people, and they weren't able to buy and sell goods in the marketplace unless they worship Caesar as god before they walked in and got a mark on their hand or forehead in order to sell their goods. It was the local it would be like school boards today enforcing ideologies from Washington DC that don't represent the community of the local people. Can I say that? Yeah. Like, imagine, like, local communities being obsessed with ideologies that don't represent the masses, but enforcing it like a religious practice.
Darren Rouanzoin:Are you guys okay? Do you see what's going on? You don't know how I'm gonna end, so you're all, like, confused even more. I said last week, you're gonna wish that the the, you know, the the sea the beast from the sea was a literal dragon coming out of the sea. Because what I'm gonna preach is far more scarier.
Darren Rouanzoin:Same here. Just wait. So what is the mark of the beast? It says that it also forced all people great and small, rich and poor, free and slave to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads so that they could not buy or sell unless they could they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. He's like, alright.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's like, lean in because you're you're listening to this being read out loud in in Asia Minor as a church in houses. He writes this under the leadership of the Roman Empire. So someone's gonna read this letter. So he has to write in code in some ways to So he's like, alright. Lean in.
Darren Rouanzoin:This calls for wisdom, church. And then he says, let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast. For it's it is the number of a man. That translation is not helpful. We'll we'll define that in a second.
Darren Rouanzoin:That number is 666. Okay. So I know so many of you are obsessed with this. Right? Do we take this literally?
Darren Rouanzoin:Is it this? Will you put that picture of that first? Is this the mark of the beast? Or the neural link app? Maybe more appropriate for us, it might be this.
Darren Rouanzoin:I mean, just look at how if the beast is forming your identity and mindset and causing you to behave and vote and think and consume a certain way, what has been more influential than perhaps that? Could you imagine living in a time when your capacity or ability to buy or sell something was dependent upon the way you participated in a political system? Like, I I mean, it takes a lot for us to make that leap 2000 years ago. Imagine living in a moment. Now, we can joke I'll I'll get to this in a second.
Darren Rouanzoin:Actually, I'm gonna pause that. So what is the mark of the beast? Well, few weeks ago, we talked about the seal of the lamb that those who have the seal will make it through the tribulation. And the seal is similar word to the word mark, and that is used throughout the scripture to define what is the seal. It's the holy spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:Now the counterfeit version of god, remember there's an unholy trinity, the dragon, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the earth. The beast from the earth mimics the Holy Spirit. He mimics the role of the Holy Spirit. And so he has a mark, and the Holy Spirit has a seal. And so as we interpret this, we're like, okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's this counter image that John is using. He's trying to get you to see. There's this counterfeit way. There's the true way. Okay.
Darren Rouanzoin:But more than that, remember, when you read scripture, you ask the question, when was this first mentioned? Now stay with me. I'm gonna go deep dive. Okay? But that's okay because I'm gonna talk about 666, and I know you're fascinated.
Darren Rouanzoin:So here we go. When you make an interpretation, if you went to our, bible class that I taught how to read scripture, I mentioned something called the principle of first mention. So when you come to this phrase that comes together, like a hand and a forehead together, like, is there any reference to that earlier in the scripture? Maybe the principle first mention is when was it first mentioned? So the Hebrews, when you would interpret scripture, as they began to interpret future texts, they'll go to the first mention.
Darren Rouanzoin:So for example, what's the greatest definition of love? What's the first time love is ever mentioned in the scriptures? When is it mentioned? Abraham's love for Isaac. So a father's love for a son becomes the archetype for love.
Darren Rouanzoin:The greatest love, in fact, that any human could have is the father's love for a son according to the principle of first mention. That becomes the archetype, which is interesting because you get to John 316, god so loved who what does he love the most? His son, but he loved the world that he gave his son. Do you see the dimensions? I could do 8 week series on John 316.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's this principle of first mention. So where is the first mention of hand and forehead? It's in Deuteronomy. Now here's what's interesting. Deuteronomy is a very unique book.
Darren Rouanzoin:K? So as a book, it was written by Moses for the people of god to, prepare for a new season. So they were in the wilderness, and he's writing them, kind of like a pastoral epistle, I suppose, for how to interpret the law. His whole purpose is for the people of god Israel to have god's law on their heart. To be formed by god's law so that it shapes how they behave in a land of abundance.
Darren Rouanzoin:And he says over and over again, remember. Remember. Because the threat for them was that if they forget that they were freed by god, if they forget that they came out of slavery, and if they forget who God is, then they will go into a land of abundance, and they will become like Egypt, an empire. So he says, remember. So when someone wants to give you or ask to borrow from you, don't have a hard heart to them.
Darren Rouanzoin:Ding, ding, ding. Who had a hard heart in Exodus? Pharoah. If you have a hard heart towards people asking something from you, you will become like pharoah. Therefore, you will become as Israel, the new Egypt.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's a warning to protect your heart and guide it. And how will you protect your heart? Well, the primary way was something called the Shema, Deuteronomy 64. The most important verse in all of the Hebrew scripture. It is the pledge of allegiance for them.
Darren Rouanzoin:It is the the summary of 613 commands. It is one saint sentence in Deuteronomy 6 verse 4. Hear, oh, Israel. The lord our god, the lord is 1. That one verse represents all of the covenant being fulfilled in one moment.
Darren Rouanzoin:They would say day night, night and day, let incense rise. They would say they would write it on the doorpost to do but it goes on. It says, this is the key. Love the lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all of your energy, with all of the atoms, with all of your muchness, strength. And then he goes on to say, these commands I give you today to be on your hearts.
Darren Rouanzoin:There it is again. Impress them on your kids. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and you get up. So live this out. The love of God is not an idea.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's to be expressed as a symbol of how you relate to the world. And then he says, tie them as symbols on your hand, and bind them on your forehead. There it is. Principle of first mention. Take what God wants you to be formed in in your heart, and let them be symbolic in how you think and how you behave in your relationships to one another and the rest of the world.
Darren Rouanzoin:What is the mark of the beast? Is it a counterfeit mark of the Shema? Listen. The Shema is first a symbol of your of it's it's it's a visible expression of your mind and behavior that flows from the heart formed by the law. Go to number 3.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's an observable allegiance to, to god that's displayed in your relationship with others. And it is a marker of your belonging to god's community, hashtag team lamb. So the Shema, which represents, if you are reading this for the first time and you saw in in the 1st century, this idea of the mark being on your hand or forehead, it would immediately bring you back to the old testament. It will bring you back to this idea of what covenantal faithfulness looks like. Something that as a Hebrew boy or girl, you would say all day long.
Darren Rouanzoin:Here, oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is 1. You would sense it was it wasn't just what you said. Keep that up. That what you said was a symbol of your thinking, of your lifestyle habits, personified and embodied in the way you live in the world that others could observe, knowing that you were set apart from all other communities because you had covenant with God. The mark of the beast is borrowing that imagery and saying that the way of the world has a religious practice that is symbolic, that is a mind and behavior that flows from the heart that's been formed by a false belief or false religion.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's observable allegiance to human systems and false religions primarily displayed by how you consume, buy and sell in the marketplace, and is a marker of your belonging to the dragon community. So here's what Eugene Peterson says to summarize everything I just said. When the summary creed mark of the land beast replaces the on foreheads and hands, religion becomes consumption. People become gross parodies of the gospel. Buying all they can to show they are blessed by God.
Darren Rouanzoin:Bowing down before every display of success. The buying and selling of religion is the mark of the beast. Jesus would flip the tables of commerce in the church today to say that's not my way. That's not the mark of the land. The seal of the land.
Darren Rouanzoin:That's the mark of the beast. Now I want you to just imagine for a moment before we talk about 666. You guys okay? Go a little deeper on this for one second. Imagine if we lived in a time where your ability to buy and sell was dependent upon a system that you participated in that was a false religion.
Darren Rouanzoin:Like, for example, World War 2. You lived in Germany. You in order to participate in the buying and selling of normal goods, you had to prove to your to your community that you were not Jewish. USSR, at that time, there were ways of being controlled and manipulated to not be able to afford things or buy things based on your allegiance to a party. Right?
Darren Rouanzoin:In current China, there are restrictions on your capacity to travel based on your social capital. Right? It's not farfetched to imagine a time where you have to take on a mark of an ideology you don't agree with, of a a system you don't agree with because, yeah, that's the only way to participate in the economic system of the day. Like, if perhaps companies represented evil, but they were the only company to produce the product that you would want, as a follower of Jesus, will you buy the product and be part of the beast, or will you opt out to remain faithful to the lamb? That's the question.
Darren Rouanzoin:This calls for wisdom. Some of you are like, well, is the vaccination a mark of the beast? Because you could put it all together. Right? There was this there's there was this ideology that became a religion that forced and mandated people to participate.
Darren Rouanzoin:In order to go to restaurants, you're like, oh, this fits. This is it. This is it. You had to prove that you were part of the system. And then and then all those people that participated hated everyone else because they were told they were killing family members, and there was a spirit in the air.
Darren Rouanzoin:Some of you are saying amen. Meanwhile, some people are like, the government was doing the best that it could with the pandemic that no one went through. This wasn't, like, the the evil spirit, but it could have been corrupt. But it was this good thing. And what we wanna do, we just wanna put that side as evil and this side as evil, and that's not what's going on.
Darren Rouanzoin:The point is, how are you marked? Is what you're doing with your life with Jesus being formed by the world's values or by the lamb's values? Have you defined discipleship to how much you consume, by how much spinning podcasts you have, or how much you do for the kingdom, or have you learned union? You know, the thing about false prophets of our day, if I was to name 1, it would be the consumer, cultural, Christianity that's comfortable. The the idol of our day is comfortable cultural Christianity.
Darren Rouanzoin:That is a false god, a false prophet that leads you towards hell, not Jesus. What does that mean to be a consumer Christian? It means living in Orange County, living in Southern California, and living like Southern California, and not being defined by the blood of Christ in every inch of your life. It's just stamping Jesus on the end of all of your decisions going, well, I'll pray about it. I felt peace in my heart, not submitting to the lamb's way.
Darren Rouanzoin:Your relationship looks nothing like Jesus when you're dating people, because you're doing the same things when you date that you should be saving for marriage. That you're though you're you're some of you are like, well, I give and it's a percentage. Well, is it his wealth that's been given to you or is it your wealth? You see, when you become a disciple of Jesus, a a servant to the lamb, when you've been sealed, all of life is grace. You don't walk into a room entitled.
Darren Rouanzoin:You have nothing to be entitled for. You've been saved by grace. But in the world of religion, because it's me centric, because it's a gospel of self help, a gospel of self project, everything you read is about you having a better life. So I wanna do spiritual practices to get me better at my life versus I wanna become formed like Jesus. Because the way I'm going right now as a father, if I keep it up, I'm gonna mess up my kids.
Darren Rouanzoin:Unless I have Jesus in my life to help me today be the dad for Ezra and Amos. Do you understand what I'm talking about? It's a complete upside down baptism. And this is the thing. It's easier to say, well, I hope it's the symbol 666 in the future, because right now, I ain't got no literal mark on my hand.
Darren Rouanzoin:As Christians, it's a way out. No responsibility for what John's saying. John's saying the beast is present right now. Don't wait for the future. He's manipulating you right now, thinking that your complacency, your little Enneagram type that becomes your god so you don't engage in any relationship outside of your little core group.
Darren Rouanzoin:That is a lie. He says practice hospitality. Welcome the outsiders. Lay down your comfort for Jesus. Do you see how it's easier to preach about some future event than it is to say maybe you've been seduced by the false prophet of our day?
Darren Rouanzoin:Alright. What's the meaning of 666? Is it mark of the beast? It's not about computer chips on your wrist. It's not about barcodes or vaccines.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's not about it's about a heart being deformed by the systems of the world. It's that it's about you finally realizing that you thought you were walking towards heaven, but you were being formed not by neutral concepts like scrolling social media, mindless consumerism, or brand loyalty, or endless entertainment. In fact, you were being groomed by demonic spirits driving you to the road to hell. I'll say that another time later. You can save it.
Darren Rouanzoin:So do you carry the mark of the beast or do you have the seal of the lamb? Let's just end with this quick definition of terms. What is the meaning of 666? I know you've been waiting for this moment. Let me give it to you.
Darren Rouanzoin:There's a lot of ways to interpret this, and there's a lot of scholarship out there that can make sense. One of one of the ways you can interpret this is through the what's called gematria, which is a, way of assigning numerical values of letters to the, of the alphabet. So the first nine letters of the alphabet were single digits. The second represented tens, and the third were the 100ths place. So here's what it would look like in our alphabet.
Darren Rouanzoin:So you'd add up the numb the the individual letters to give meaning to a number. So we have archaeologists that have discovered in a cave in Pompeii, a teenager probably wrote this on a wall. He wrote, I love her whose number is 545. So some kid, make I don't know who it is, but someone wrote this phrase. This is outside of the Bible.
Darren Rouanzoin:It was using to to name a person without naming them, giving them symbolic meaning. So my name, close to 6, it's 1660. If you add up Darren Rounds in, I was like, thank goodness it wasn't 1666 because I would be done. So here's it. If the letters for the Greek word beast and Nero Caesar are transliterated, so you take it from Greek to Hebrew, they're calculated numerically.
Darren Rouanzoin:They add up to 666. So that's showing the true character. As John says, this calls for wisdom. Let the person, have insight and calculate the number of the beast and the number of a man. So you have this way of trying to navigate the meaning and calculating.
Darren Rouanzoin:Now people get obsessed with this. There's such an obsession with this. Right? Where it takes you taking a Greek phrase, translating it back to Hebrew, and doing this. So there's a way you can make sense that John possibly wrote this at the time when Nero was Caesar, and his nickname was the beast.
Darren Rouanzoin:So there is evidence to say that's what he's referring to, this mark that makes a lot of sense. But I would say, if you've been with us for the last several weeks as we've talked about this, a lot of what apocalyptic language and writing is is symbolic. And a more appropriate way is to take the symbolic approach to what does he mean by 666. And I'm gonna argue for that because actually in the Greek, the way this was written, the the phrase, the number of the beast for it is the number of a man is actually not a number of a man. In the Greek, he doesn't have the the letter a.
Darren Rouanzoin:It wouldn't be there. The article a is not there. So what he actually literally says is a number of man. It's a number of man. He doesn't use the article a.
Darren Rouanzoin:He doesn't say the number of a man. He's not saying a number of a specific human, but a human number. And if you study Hebrew, you know that there is a human number. And when the human number is used throughout the old testament, which I'll get to in a second, it represents incomplete. So what he's saying symbolically is the beast is 666.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's one less than 7. It's not complete. It promises you completion, but it leaves you incomplete, completely incomplete. So when you follow the systems or the religious ways, you will always fall short because it will never measure up. If there's a way to calculate on a scale from 1 to 7, the best the beast can do is a 6.
Darren Rouanzoin:So the best that your yoga practice can do is a 6. The best that your self help protocol can do is a 6. The best that the world can give you with technology and pleasure is a 6, but Jesus is a 7. The spirit is a 7. If you want life, stop searching for other religions.
Darren Rouanzoin:It's in Christ. He is our 777. That's the point. In a world of endless possible idols, the best the idols can give you is a 6 out of 7. This makes more sense when you look at the old testament and the use of 666.
Darren Rouanzoin:Look at it. I don't have time to go in there. Solomon's wealth, he had immense wealth in first kings, and the number of daily provision was written in the old testament at 666. It's a drift towards idolatry, materialism, and political allegiances. Goliath's height has to do with 6 or 66, and his armor is god's enemy.
Darren Rouanzoin:Nebuchadnezzar's golden image is 60 times 6, which is a Hebrew way of saying this is idolatry. And the demand to worship Nebuchadnezzar's image resulted in death if you didn't. So in a world that's marked by false counterfeits, worship the one true God. That's what's going on with the symbolism of 666. The best seculars secularism can give you a 6.
Darren Rouanzoin:The best you can get from all these other religions is a 6. I just wanna say something prophetically perhaps for someone. I was yesterday, I was with our a group of families. We were passing out, gifts to, families in Long Beach, and we were outside of a Jehovah's Witness Hall. And I don't know why, but I've always had compassion on Jehovah's Witnesses because it is a cult.
Darren Rouanzoin:It is a false religion that mixes truth of Jesus and and the gospel into a false ideology. And nothing is more depressing than Jehovah's Witness theology of how they make it to salvation. They have to do all this stuff to get there. And if they don't do this stuff, they're not gonna make it in the end. And and it's twisted and it's manipulated, but that's the truth for all the other religions.
Darren Rouanzoin:All the other false religions, you have to prop up with all this extra energy. And the truth is we live by a different energy. We live by the energy of the 7 fold spirit of God. That means our truth who is Jesus just has to stand there. We don't have to defend him.
Darren Rouanzoin:You don't have to defend truth. It's just out in the open. Because at the end of the day, truth will prevail. Jesus will prevail. Alright.
Darren Rouanzoin:How do I I went long, but forgive me. How do I resist the beast? Three things I'll just end. Number 1, live without compromise and guard against the false prophets of our day. We're entering into a moment of time where the beast will wanna get you to compromise your faith by aligning your heart with cultural, political, and religious systems that are mimicking the kingdom of god.
Darren Rouanzoin:Know what's true and live the truth. Stop compromising your faith. There's a list of things I'm not gonna give you. Number 2, if the mark of the beast is the symbol of the era of the time, the zygotes of this moment, the seal of the spirit is what we need more than anything else. You need the holy spirit.
Darren Rouanzoin:So many of you keep coming to our church. We talk about the holy spirit. You like that we pray, but you never opened your heart and said, I want more of the holy spirit. There is no Christian life that's not animated by the presence of God through this holy spirit. You can't practice your way there.
Darren Rouanzoin:You can't earn your way there. You can't form yourself. It's the presence of God, the sanctifying work of the holy spirit that transform you to look like Jesus. My heart's cry. These last two things I'm gonna say.
Darren Rouanzoin:The first is live without compromise. The second is to be filled with the holy spirit. This is the last word I have for you for the next 3 months. The last word I have for you as we end, or as we end this break and we pick up part 2 is to remind you that the whole book of revelation is about discipleship to Jesus. It's about getting you to see in the spiritual realm, there's a battle going on.
Darren Rouanzoin:At the end of the day, there's only one thing you need to do that will prevent all this stuff from happening. All this stuff of being manipulated by the sea beast. All this stuff of carrying on the mark of the beast. There's one way you can combat all of it that will help you in everything. It's this simple.
Darren Rouanzoin:Love Jesus. To to not be like the Ephesian church that does all this great stuff, but for forgets its first love. You see, this book begins with a vision of Jesus. He is the alpha and the omega. He is the beginning and the end.
Darren Rouanzoin:He is before all things. He is above all things. And through him, all things were created and are held together. We follow a lamb of God who was not resuscitated, but resurrected. He was killed for your iniquity.
Darren Rouanzoin:He was slain for your forgiveness. He is the one who conquers the dragon, not through a sword, but being swallowed by the beast. He goes right into the belly of death and conquers the tyranny of God's creation, death itself. So that we can say to our brother, Jim, I'll see you soon. At the end of the day, Jesus is lord of lords, king of kings.
Darren Rouanzoin:He is not an accessory. He is not an addition. He's not a subscription service. He's not a Postmate app that delivers you blessings everywhere, every once in a while. He is the meal.
Darren Rouanzoin:He's the meal we consume that gives life. He's the water that brings our, satisfy satisfies our thirst. He is our prayer. He is our bread. He is our light.
Darren Rouanzoin:He is our peace. He is our Sabbath's rest. He is our shepherd. He is our true vine. He is our Lord and savior.
Darren Rouanzoin:And at the end of the day, here's what you need to know. You might know that, and you might even say, Lord, Lord. But he might say to you, I never knew you. You might perform prophecies. You might drive out demons in his name and perform miracles, but all I'm asking you as a follower of Jesus is to get to know him, to love him with everything you have, and lay down your life and follow the real Jesus.
Darren Rouanzoin:Let's pray.
Intro/Outro:Thank you so much for listening. For more information, please visit us at garden.church.