NEEDED: Special brand of wisdom

James 1: [5] If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

[6] But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

Who does that remind you of? He's going to move on now to another issue. James reminds them in verses 3 and 4 about Abraham. He’s going to bring up people all the time from the Old Testament scriptures as illustrations, says Richard Jordan.

When it talks about faith and patience working, Abraham immediately comes to mind. When it says if any man lack wisdom let him ask God, who does that bring to mind? Solomon. The situation with Solomon is the same kind of situation that these people are going to be in.

The tribulation saints are going to need a special brand of wisdom. There are two very specific things that are described this way in Revelation. When it says “let him ask God,” it isn’t that this stuff’s just simply going to come floating out of the sky.

Revelation 13:18: [18] Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Isn’t that an interesting way to start that verse? Now, if I need wisdom and I go read in the Bible, and I read the scriptures, and it says, “Here’s wisdom,” I figure I found something that I need to be wise about, don’t you reckon?

The first thing the tribulation saint’s going to need is some wisdom about the Antichrist. Revelation 13’s talking about the miracles and the wonders that the false prophet does:

[14] 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.
[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.
[16] 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:

Special wisdom is going to be needed in perceiving the Antichrist and his program. Recognizing it and knowing what it is and saying, “Here, that system that says I can’t buy or sell unless I have the mark of the beast . . .”

This religious system that is honoring the Antichrist, exalting the Antichrist, putting his image and his mark—wisdom is going to be necessary to discern what’s going on there because all of that is designed to DECEIVE people.

In fact, II Thessalonians 2 says, [11] And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
[12] That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

How does God do that? He allows the Antichrist to come in. In Isaiah 10 He calls the Antichrist “the rod in mine hand; the rod of vengeance.” God literally uses the wrath of men and the wrath of Satan to praise Him.

God doesn’t cause everything to happen but, brother, He controls what goes on when it affects what He wants done. What He doesn’t rule, He overrules.

How do you not get deceived by the Antichrist? First, you’ve got to have wisdom and you’ve got to have a love for the truth, so he says to these people, “Hey, you guys are going to need patience to endure, but you also are going to need some wisdom. You’re going to need some enlightenment. You’re going to need to develop some sense of perception that understands where wisdom is.”

Daniel 11, in the middle of the tribulation: [32] And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
[33] And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.

There’s going to be some people there that have some wisdom.

Daniel 12:3: [3] And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

That’s Matthew 13. They shine out as stars in the kingdom when Christ comes. What are they going to need to be wise about? Stopping the Antichrist, not some cheap two-bit huckster. This guy’s going to be a real imitation.

Folks, the greatest imitation of Jesus Christ that the universe has ever seen is going to show up on this planet and if he stood here tonight before you on this platform . . . Jesus Christ stood on one side and the Antichrist stood on the other side, He’d deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. That's the saved people.

“If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask God,” and He’ll give it to you liberally. He’ll provide it for you. So, if somebody doesn’t have wisdom in the tribulation, what’s the problem? They don’t want it. It’s real clear.

Not only is there the religious program, there’s the governmental program. Not just the false religion, but the false government associated with the Antichrist.

Revelation 17:9: [9] And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

He goes on through there and describes the political setup of the Antichrist kingdom. They’re going to need to understand where his kingdom is and where it isn’t, and who it is and when it’s going to show up, and how to identify the establishing of it, and how to stand against it, and where to go in the time period.

They’re going to need wisdom and understanding about how to function in that 70^th Week of Daniel as they oppose the Antichrist and lift up a standard of righteousness as they’re persecuted by his government.

This thing in II Thessalonians 2 is going to be on in earnest and it won’t be a situation where you can just be deceived and say, “Well, that just didn’t work out too good, but everything else worked out okay.”

This thing here, when you get deceived, folks, you lose it all in one shot. You take the mark of the beast and you’re a goner. You refuse to take the mark of the beast and he whacks your head off.