The Book of Revelation Series Part 9 – The Antichrist

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Most certainly a major part John’s oracle is given over to the subject of the Antichrist or Beast. He is a dominant player in understanding end time truth and most certainly the world awaits his arrival but thankfully, he is finally overcome and destroyed by Christ at His revelation or second coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 19:20). In fact scripture tells us that many antichrists have come and consequently the people of God through the centuries have had to stand up to the challenge that these represent (1 John 2:18). In many cases, as with the early Church of the first and second centuries, the only way to resist him was to lay down one’s life! (Revelation 12:11). Much of the western Church today is not ready or even capable of facing such a challenge and yet the book of Revelation warns that it is coming and may just be around the corner.

Indeed, we would do well to prepare ourselves by building a solid relationship with Jesus by prayer, the in depth study of God’s word, fellowship with God’s people and a willingness to serve the interests of the Kingdom of God in the world. Scripture clearly warns that the final Antichrist, who will step onto the stage of history, will be evil beyond anything we have seen before! He will achieve what no leader has ever done in that he will rule the world and thus, every nation will submit to his totalitarian regime. Great and mighty warriors of old attempted to achieve this goal and failed, but this soon to appear Beast will finally bring satanic governance to the world! We ignore the book of Revelation to our peril.

The concept of Antichrist

Surprisingly for some the Bible affirms that the Beast or Antichrist operates within the boundaries of the sovereignty of God in that he, confirms the world to the judgement of God and purifies the Church in regard to its commitment to truth. We find this concept spelled out, as it were, in Deuteronomy 13:1-3:

“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he
gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to
pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods –
which you have not known-and let us serve them”, you shall not
listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the
Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

People are easily duped by the supernatural and sadly a test is going to befall the Church in this regard. Will it surrender “the love of the truth” in its pursuit of supernatural signs and wonders? Scripture affirms that it will and that consequently it will embrace the deception of Antichrist and fall away from the faith. Paul warned the Church at Thessaloniki about this danger:

“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume
with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His
coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of
Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous
deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the
love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will
send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all
may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.”
2 Thessalonians 2:8-12

It is to be noted that the God of the Bible allows the delusion of Antichrist to enter the world and that this delusion, unleashed on the world, and sadly the Church, will be strong, We have been warned! Also, the rise of this Beast in scripture is couched in religious/political sophistication in that he is “another christ” and will be presented as a loving true shepherd of the world. This deception will be backed up by amazing signs and wonders and these we are told are perpetrated by his cohort who scripture calls the, “False Prophet” ( Revelation 13:11-14). Many, not a few, will fall for it! He will bring harmony to the chaos of the world and solve the Middle East conflict between Israel, the Arab world and the Palestinians. The whole world will follow him and rejoice in his arrival and so this will constitute a huge test to the Church of Jesus Christ in that she will have to reject the Beast and thereby become “the odd man out”. This will in turn unleash a vicious persecution against the Church by which it will be purified and it will confirm that God’s coming judgement of the world is correct and just. (Revelation 13:7)

The nature of Antichrist

The final Antichrist of history will be unique in that he will achieve world dominion in that all nations will surrender their sovereignty to him and this means that, if he is to have real power, he must take control of the global financial system (Revelation 13:7). This process is unfolding before us now and is at the root of the present troubles facing the USA. There can be no global financial system if the world’s strongest financial nation is not brought into this coming New World Order. It is no coincidence then that the “2030 United Nations Agenda” affirms that the troubles of the world can only be solved if the present global financial system is swept away and replaced with a new one. Donald Trump is standing in the way of this plan and must be removed. Revelation 13 however confirms that at some point even the USA will surrender to the Beast kingdom ( Revelation 17:17).

This coming global government will use sophisticated technology to track its citizens by way of a mark or implant that will demonstrate their allegiance to the Beast and allow them to buy and sell and engage in economic activity (Revelation 13:16-17). The “mark” will then be more than a “super credit card”, as it were, but a symbol of religious commitment to the Beast. For this reason the Church of the Living God is warned against taking it. Those who do, will end up in Hell (Revelation 14:9-10). Please note that this verse underlines the fact that the “mark” is more than just a financial mechanism in that its reception involves worshipping the Beast.

The identity of the Antichrist

Many have speculated as to the identity of this individual and in most cases they have failed because they have not understood the Bible’s teaching in this regard. Revelation twelve ends with a record of a coming war in the unseen world whereby the Devil and his hordes are dislodged from their sphere of abode and forced onto the earth (Revelation 12:12). They have a final “ace” to play in that they must destroy Israel and eradicate the Church since these will facilitate the coming of the true Messiah and thereby their destruction (Revelation 12:17). This is a final desperate attempt by demonic powers to resist the second coming or revelation of Christ.

The “ace” then that Devil plays is to produce a Demonoid, half demon/half man. That is, this individual will not be demon possessed but in fact constitutionally a demon man! This is why scripture affirms that he arises out of the “bottomless pit” (Revelation 11:7; Revelation 17:8). He will thus be a hybrid having unusual and immense demonic power by which he will gain control of the earth (Revelation 13:4). The truth about him is this; that he has been here before and is thus recognizable to the world in that he once lived as a dictator, was assassinated, and then returns as a more formidable individual (Revelation 13:2-4). This is the clear teaching of the book of Revelation (Revelation 17:8-11). So, he will lead a final global kingdom and is one of the seven previous kingdoms of the world. According to John, one that is the sixth “now is”, meaning Rome of his day and then there will be a final seventh, for a short time, and finally an eighth that was previously part of the seven! The Antichrist has been here before with all his hatred for the Jews and the true Church and this is why the peoples of the earth marvel.

Finally, Jesus said that as it was in the time of Noah so will it be in the days just prior to His second coming (Luke 17:26). In Noah’s day demons descended onto the earth, had sex with women, and produced a hybrid demonic race of giants that threatened the survival of the human race (Genesis 6:1-5). It was for this reason chiefly that God judged the earth with a flood. The Devil is about to do this again hence the arrival of the Beast. The UFO phenomenon is tied into this in that the fact that we are being visited by “something extraterrestrial” is beyond dispute. At a recent meeting of NATO Defense Ministers the Canadian Minister of Defense openly acknowledged that UFOs had been tracked by the security apparatus of the alliance. The Russians, by the way, have also acknowledged this.

Consequently, thousands of people, all over the world, have given testimony to abduction experiences at the hands of these beings that most always resulted in their sperm or ovaries being harvested! This is exactly what happened in Noah’s day. A hybrid race is again in the process of being produced and out of this race one will appear to rule the world. We have been warned by Jesus and the Book of Revelation. He will be an “abomination of desolation”, given to great blasphemy in that he will declare himself to be god (2 Thessalonians 2:4). Jesus will destroy him by His glorious revelation.

Malcolm Hedding

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