Sermon Quotes: "The Evils of the Beast and the Song of the Redeemed"

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:15

“This symbolism is meant to describe the repeated historical manifestations of this monster. He emerges in a Nero, in the Roman Emperor, in a Hitler. In every case, the monster is cut down. Many people think that evil in its worst form has finally been destroyed. The thousand-year Reich lasts a decade and a half: surely this was the war to end all wars. Then the genocide starts again-in the Eastern bloc, in China, in Cambodia…The beast receives a fatal wound, but always the beast comes back to life.” D.A. Carson

“The chief opponent of Christ cannot be limited to one historical person or epoch. That is, just as the rule of Christ spans the whole church age, so the evil activities of His ultimate counterpart, the devil and his servants, span the same time. This analysis leaves open the possibility of an antichrist figure who comes at the very end of history and incarnates the devil in a greater way than ever before. Whether this consummate expression of evil will be manifested in an individual or an institution is hard to say. Probably, as throughout history, so at the end the individual tyrant is not to be distinguished from the kingdom or institution he represents (as in Dan. 7:17,23).” Greg Beale

“John wants this little handful of persecuted Christians to see that the thing that matters is the sovereignty of God, not the power of evil. When a man’s name is written in the book of life he will not be forgotten. His place is secure.” Leon Morris

“Symbolically, 666 is probably best understood as a parody of perfection, which would be 777.” Michael Gorman

“The admonition here is wisdom teaches that believers are to be aware of compromise, not just with a historical individual such as Nero but with all the facets of the state throughout the course of history, insofar as it colludes with religious, economic, and social aspects of the idolatrous culture, all of which epitomize fallen humanity.” Greg Beale

“The purpose of this secrecy is not to keep God’s glory veiled but to symbolize the astonishing truth that sinful people redeemed by the Lamb are qualified by that experience of salvation to extol him in a way that even the purest angel cannot. Into the mystery of our salvation even angels long to look (1 Peter 1:12).” Dennis Johnson