Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4

In the last two chapters we dealt with the two beasts that will deceive the whole world (those in rebellion against God). The antichrist is the personification of evil, the son of perdition and the personification of our rebellion against God. The end times both shows the full maturity of the seed that was sown in man in the garden. One shows perdition and the other shows glory. Because man chose to rebel against God by hearing the serpent, the seed of rebellion was sown in man but at the same time, God also sowed the seed of Christ in man. Thus the Lord spoke of the parable of the wheat and tares referring to these seeds sown in His field. Both will be gathered in the last days when everything that was sown will be harvested.

Just as there will be countries that will be destroyed during those days, there will also be countries that will be supernaturally protected from the reign of evil because these have turned to the light of the Gospel of the Lord. The Lord will increasingly make a difference between His people and the sons of Belial. Those who are protected will only be protected because of His grace just as He protected the whole nation of Israel during the judgments of Egypt when Moses asked for the freedom of Israel from Pharaoh.

The prevalence of fatal diseases these days are not a coincidence when viewed from the Scriptures because man will reap all the consequences of his decision from his fall in the garden. Man chose death over life so that as we near the end of this age, there will be a harvest of both good and evil. There will be a reaping of what was sown. Life too will be reaped because it was also sown in the garden, with God speaking hope to Adam and Eve. So, there will be a prevalence of death on one hand and life on the other.

There will be drug discoveries to heal these fatal sicknesses with Christians on the forefront of many researchers seeking to bring life on a dying world. Their resolve in the midst of chaos will be in such stark contrast with those who do not know God so that many of these will be won through their testimony. Likewise amidst all the destruction and cacophony, Christian leaders will arise and take charge to help direct even municipalities for a time when people will be cowering for fear of the signs in the heavens and signs on the earth that they could not explain or understand whether it is the end or not yet. Many of these proactive leaders will be like Daniel who will be praying and advising their leaders on what to do as disasters strike from one place to the other. Therefore the gift of prophecy and hearing the Lord’s voice will be very important during these days. Today if you hear His voice, do not attempt to harden your heart and ignore Him.

If it’s time to repent and you ignore His voice, you are choosing death over life. When the flood waters of crises strikes you and you have not made it, it may well be your last and there is no time to repent. It has been made abundantly clear, that God exists because He created the heavens and the earth, the seas, rivers and springs of water; nature obeys Him because they were framed by His word. We all must come to a point in time when we have to discover for ourselves who Jesus is and why we can rely and believe in Him without any doubts. That journey begins with a single step, receiving the Lord as our Savior and endeavoring every day to seek to do His will. This is what it means to enter His Kingdom and to seek His righteousness.

Eventually, there will come a time when Revelation 13 will become a reality and the son of perdition will be revealed to this world. Then the second beast will cause everyone in their dominion to be marked e.g. in their hands and forehead so that only those who have a mark placed upon them could buy, sell and trade. Regardless whether this comes in the form of implanted microchip on the right hand and on the forehead or a biometric stamp, those who will receive it will drink the wine of God’s wrath. Many Christians have researched about this mark so that they can avoid it. But the easiest way to not get the mark is to actually seek the mark of God.

The Lord is the good shepherd, He knows His sheep and His sheep knows Him. In fact He came to lay down His life for His flock and like any good shepherd, He knows each one of them. At the time of the greatest trouble, angels from the Lord will have sealed His own, “They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads” (Revelation 9:4).

The only way for us to not get the mark in whatever form it comes or has come is to not worship the beast. By discerning the nature of the beast, we can avoid not becoming a part of the throng of multitude that will be worshipping the beast. As mentioned in Revelation 13:11 this beast “comes up out of the earth” which speaks of being earthly minded. To be an earthly minded means being bound with materialism and humanism.

One can know an earthly minded person by the confession of his mouth; he will always run after what the world wants. His mind is set on the world like Lot’s wife. James define two kinds of wisdom, one from the Lord and the other from the world, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace”(James 3:13-18 NKJV).

The way of the world is to go and follow the wisdom that is essentially earthly, sensual and demonic, full of envy, self-seeking and every evil thing. However, the one that comes from above is always pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now if we practice this righteousness, then we will be far from becoming minions of the devil. We have to know the Lord as our Source so that even if we do not buy, sell or trade, we know that our God will amply provide for our needs. It is astonishing that as soon as the devil marks his own slaves, the Lord quickly comes and pours out His great wrath upon his kingdom.

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.

He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.” Revelation 14:9-11

As we read from above those who will take the mark of the beast will soon find out that what they traded for with their lives will be folly for they will suffer God’s wrath and their temporary relief will prove futile. The saints who by this time have been marked by God, those whose names are in the book of life will avoid taking the mark of the beast. They will resist the evil one even as he tries to force his mark on them.  These are the people who will not love their lives even to death. These are the sons of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They will choose death rather than compromise their devotion to Christ and these are the ones who have persevered to keep God’s commandment and remained faithful to Jesus Christ.

In Revelation 16:2 we find that the seven angels are commanded to go and pour out God’s wrath upon the earth so that ugly and painful boils and sores quickly broke out on those people with the mark of the beast. Those who chose the mark of the beast will rather, feel the pain quickly. Even the benefits of taking the mark will quickly vanish. For those who compromise and rationalize that “God will understand,” so therefore they will go and take the mark of the evil one, they would feel the pain, rather quickly but there will be no place of repentance. Their decision to reject the cross offered to them and their acceptance of the mark of the beast will lead them to suffer all the grueling judgment that was prepared beforehand for the beast and his lying prophet.

Then I saw  the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf.

With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. Revelation 19:19-21; 20:1-3

On one last attempt to fight God, Satan will try to muster a great army from multitudes of nations and with one last boast, will try to make their last stand agains Him. In the very place where they try to await the Lord to fight Him, the antichrist and his prophet will be suddenly seized and thrown into the lake of fire while the dragon will be thrown into the abyss and kept for 1,000 years. The rest of the armies of the world that participated in the fight will be destroyed by the Lord and their bodies given to the ravens and vultures. The Lord’s victory over Satan’s army will be swift and total.

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Revelation 20:4

The reward of obeying the Lord and worshipping Him alone will make any price well worth it. The Lord is a just master and He will pay His servants, He will give them rewards just as He had said in the parables and He coming quickly with His rewards for the righteous.

“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.

Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” Revelation 22:12-16