169 The Revelation of Jesus Christ see demonstrated before their eyes powers that are super human, and all for the purpose of leading them to give heart and mind allegiance to the devil's man, which allegiance they have refused to give to Christ. The setting up of the image of the beast is evidently what the Lord Jesus had in mind when He said in His Olivet Dis course: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of des olation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place ... Then let them which be in Judea flee into the moun- tains ... For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall .. b e. The Apostle Paul evidently had the same in mind when he wrote in II Thess. 2 :4: "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." Through the working of these miracles, the Roman world will acclaim the "man of sin" as a God-man, their eyes having been blinded to the fact that it is the "dragon" that has given to him his great power, his throne, and his authority. "THE MARK OF THE BEAST" Terrible will be the persecution in those days against all who refuse him allegiance. This persecution will be directed mainly against the godly remnant of Israel, who will then be in the land of Palestine, and who will repudiate the ungodly pretentions of this world-emperor. "And he causeth 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" (Rev. 13:16, 17). From these verses we learn that in the reign of the "man of Sin" there will be neither buying nor se!Jing unless there is the wearing of some outward sign called· the "mark of the beast," the sign which signifies that the would~be purchaser has ~iven absolute allegiance of soul, body, and affections to the ' man of sin." . . During the World War, we had a little suggestion of that
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