Antichrist’s Authority (Rev. 13:2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/23/2015 9:55 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  Antichrist’s Authority

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 13:2

            Message of the verses:  “2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.”

            In our study of Revelation at this point we are looking as similar things that the prophet Daniel had to say about Antichrist and so we want to look at Daniel 7:3-7 which shows the different animals that Antichrist will be like as in this section of Daniel he is describing different kingdoms that will arise by using animal descriptions of them so what we can conclude from this is that the Antichrist will have these same characteristics that these kingdoms had. 

“3 “And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. 4 “The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it. 5 “And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, ’Arise, devour much meat!’ 6  "After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. 7 “After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.”

The animal that Daniel uses to describe these different kingdoms were well know in Palestine, so it was natural for Daniel to use them in his description of these empires that will arise.  The lion represented the Babylonian empire.  It seems that I read somewhere that there were statutes of lions in the city of Babylon.  Medo-Persia was represented by the bear, and then the leopard represented the Grecian Empire for they moved with great speed.  Alexander the Great was the first ruler of this empire and he developed a new system of attacking called the phalanx system and it was very successful by Alexander as he conquered the known world using it.  Now we come to the last beast and this of course represents the Roman empire and Daniel does not use animals to describe it. 

John MacArthur writes “Like the indescribable fourth beast of Daniel 7:7, which represents the Roman Empire, Antichrist’s final empire will be a composite of the empires that preceded it.  It will incorporate all the ferocity, viciousness, swiftness, and strength of the other world empires.  This powerful empire, unparalleled in human history, will be Satan’s last and greatest attempt to stop the reign of Christ.  But, like all Satan’s other attempts to thwart God’s purposes, it will ultimately fail.”

            “And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.”  We see here that Satan is giving the power to the beast (Antichrist) so no human agency will be able to stop it, but we know from the 19^th chapter of Revelation that Jesus Christ will return from heaven with His saints and will stop this empire with the sword of His mouth.  God’s holy angels will not interfere in the destruction of Antichrist because of God’s supernatural restraint to the power will be removed as seen in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.”  If you want more detail on this verse look at my SD from October 14, 2014.  This restraining will allow the Antichrist to rise to power, and it is believed that this will happen in the middle of the Tribulation Period as that is when he will get his power from Satan.  Some believe that this restraint is the Rapture of the Church which will happen before the Tribulation Period begins. 

            Now we have seen pictures of what will happen is a much smaller way throughout history as we have witnessed Hitler’s power during the 2^nd world war, and then Stalin had great power during that time and after that time too, but this will happen on a global scale and some think that this will be hard to pull off, but remember that God is in control and the Holy Spirit restrains the activity of Satan from accomplishing this to happen at this time in history, but the Word of God cannot lie and since it says this will happen it will happen.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This comes from 2 Thessalonians 2: 13 “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.”  Because of this truth all believers in the Church Age will not have to go through the times we’re discussing at this time.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in the love of Christ.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Every son was thrown into the river” (Exodus 1:22).

Today’s Bible question:  “To whom did the Thessalonians become examples to?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/23/2015 10:34 AM

 

Antichrist’s Ancestry PT-2 (Rev. 13:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/22/2015 9:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Antichrist’s Ancestry PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 13:1

            Message of the verse:  “1 And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.”

            We continue to look at the ancestry of the Antichrist in this SD.  We have looked at chapter six in the book of Revelation earlier this year and we stated that the rider of the first horse represented peace as it showed a rider on it with a bow, but with no arrows to shoot.  We also stated that the man who would do this would be Antichrist, so from that lesson we know that he is a man, but during the middle of the Tribulation Period he will go into the temple and commit a great blasphemy against the Lord and this will begin all of the troubles for the Jews and also for those who are true believers.  What caused this great change in him?  He will be possessed by a very strong and powerful demon which comes up out of the abyss is the answer that John MacArthur gives.  Some think that he will be possessed by Satan, but more likely by one of Satan’s powerful demons who up until that time has been kept in the abyss.  Now we have also learned that this man will be a very gifted orator, similar by more effective than even Hitler was, and he will not need a teleprompter to aid him with his speeches.  As far as him being possessed by a demon let’s look at Daniel 8:24 “"His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree And prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and the holy people.”  Now let’s look at verse 25 “"And through his shrewdness He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; And he will magnify himself in his heart, And he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, But he will be broken without human agency.”

            According to John 8:44 which states “"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies,” we see that those who have not accepted the forgiveness that Jesus Christ offers are children of Satan, but not all are like Satan even though they are lost and under his kingdom.  However the Antichrist will be Satan’s complete child that is he will do Satan’s bidding on earth more than any other person in history.  We can see his family likeness when we compare the what we read in verse one of chapter thirteen with Rev. 12:3 which reads “Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.”  Both the Antichrist and Satan have similar descriptions. 

            In our last SD when I quoted from a SD that I did in August of 2005 I stated that horns symbolize power.  Now we see that he has ten horns and this fits the imagery of the fourth beast in Daniel 7:7, 24 “"After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.”  “’As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.”  Now I have always been taught that these ten horns are ten kingdoms and many believe that they are from Europe, for Europe is where the old Roman Empire was and many believe that Europe will be from where the Antichrist comes from.  The reason for this is what we read in Daniel chapter 9: 26  "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.”  We see in this verse that the prince to come is the Antichrist and he will come from the people who destroyed the city and the temple and that was Titus who eventually became the emperor of the Roman Empire.  Now while listening to a sermon by John MacArthur from this section from the early 1990’s he stated that the world could be divided up into ten different regions and I have heard this before too, but not sure if this is what this text means.  I lean more on the revived Roman Empire which will somehow have ten nations involved in it and this is where the Antichrist will come out of.  Now the Roman Empire actually circled the Mediterranean Sea so there is a large part of the world that he could come out of.  As far as the seven heads these represent seven different empires and we will look at this again when we get to Revelation 17.

            John MacArthur writes “Daniel described this final coalition, headed by Antichrist, in Daniel 2:41-44, ‘41  "In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. 42 “As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. 43  "And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. 44  "In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.”   This section of Daniel chapter two is the interpretation of a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had in which Daniel interpreted it for him, and in the dream Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the statute that he saw was actually different empires that would come into the world and this part speaks of the last empire which will be headed up by the Antichrist.  This final kingdom will be crushed by the Lord Jesus Christ as seen in verse 34 and also 45, “"You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.”  The stone here is the Lord Jesus Christ who will crush his empire when He returns from heaven as described in Revelation 19.

            John MacArthur concludes by writing “The ten diadems (royal crowns) indicate the horns’ regal authority and victorious power.  John also noted that on the beast’s heads were blasphemous names.  Like many of the Roman emperors and other monarchs before them, these rulers will blasphemously arrogate divine names and titles to themselves that dishonor the true and living God.  They will follow the pattern of their master, Antichrist, ‘who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God’ (2 Thess. 2:4).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to live and act like my Savior who is indeed the opposite of what we have been talking about in this SD.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in the love of the Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Approximately 1600 years”

Today’s Bible question:  “When the midwives failed to do as he directed, what did Pharaoh decree?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/22/2015 10:36 AM

Antichrist’s Ancestry PT-1 (Rev. 13:1)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/21/2015 10:53 PM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Antichrist’s Ancestry PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Revelation 13:1

            Message of the verse:  “1 And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.”

            The first thing that I want to mention is that in the KJV of the Bible we see the following, verse one is translated:  “1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”  This is a very big difference, but from what I learned about this is that the newer translations like the NASB, NIV, and others were using older manuscripts than what the KJV used and so it is believed that the correct way this verse should go is the way that I have it quoted from the NASB.

            John MacArthur writes the following “The first sentence of this chapter belongs as the last sentence of chapter 12, since it concludes the account of ‘the dragon’ (Satan; cf. 12:9) and his war against God and His people.”  He then goes on to explain what I wrote above about the different manuscripts.  Let us look at how this would look if verse one of chapter 13 were added to verse 17 of chapter 12:  ¹⁷ So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.”

            John speaks of how Satan summoned the Antichrist, which is described as “a beast coming up out of the sea.”  MacArthur writes “Therion (beast) is also used to describe Antichrist in 11:7.  It does not refer to a domesticated animal, but to a wild, savage, vicious monster, thus describing Antichrist as a ferocious and rapacious personality.”  We have to understand that the beast is described as both a person and also a kingdom.  MacArthur explains “The beast must represent a kingdom, because of the complex description of him in the latter half of verse 1.  Yet the beast must also represent a person, since he is always described with personal pronouns (e. g. , ‘his,’ ‘him,’ ‘he’; cf. vv. 1-8; 14:9, 11; 15:2; 16:2, 10).  Daniel (Dan. 7:25; 8:24-25; 11:36-45) and Paul (2 Thess. 2:4) also describe the Antichrist as a person.  In this manner, Scripture views the final world empire as inseparable from its ruler, much as Hitler is inseparably linked to the Third Reich.”

            Some have said that the “sea” which is mentioned in our verse represents the “nations,” however it is possible that it could represent the “abyss.”  In certain verses from the Old Testament the sea is equated or pictured as the realm of satanic activity.  We will look at a couple of verses on this subject:  Job 26:12 says “"He quieted the sea with His power, And by His understanding He shattered Rahab.”  Next look at Psalm 74:13-14 “You divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.  You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.”  Isaiah 27:1 says “In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, With His fierce and great and mighty sword, Even Leviathan the twisted serpent; And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.”  We have also learned that some of the demons are at this time incarcerated in the abyss as seen in Revelation 9:1-11.  We also know from the end of Revelation, chapter 20:1-3 that Satan will be put into the Abyss for 1000 years.  I have to say that it is entirely possible that the “sea” pictures the nations too.  My SD from 8/13/2005 has the following to say on this subject:  “The “sea” in many parts of the Scriptures means the nations or the Gentile nations as in a sea of humanity.  The next part of this verse speaks of a beast coming up out of the sea so this would mean that this beast is coming up out of the Gentile nations, and because he is described as a beast he cannot be a nice person, for this is the description of Antichrist.  This beast is described to have ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns.  Horns usually represent power, political power, when used in the Bible and this person will have very much power.  These ten horns represent ten nations, and most feel this is speaking of a re-built Roman Empire.  I believe that the seven heads represent seven nations, for when antichrist comes into power three of the nations will not want him as their leader but he will force them to come under his power.  There are ten crowns on his horns that represent the ten rulers. As this vision of the beast, (antichrist) continues in the later verses of this chapter it will become clearer.”

 

            We will continue looking at Antichrist’s Ancestry in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that God has promised that we who are in the church age will not have to see the Antichrist, or live under his power.  I am looking for Christ and not Antichrist.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Proverbs 4:23 says “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Paul” (Acts 23:11).

Today’s Bible question:  “How many years did it take to write the Bible?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/21/2015 11:30 PM

Third Look at Antichrist (Rev. 13:1-10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/20/2015 10:27 AM

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  Third Look at Antichrist

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Rev. 13:1-10

            Message of the verses:  “1 Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns. And written on each head were names that blasphemed God. 2 This beast looked like a leopard, but it had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion! And the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority. 3 I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery-but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast. 4 They worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. “Who is as great as the beast? ‘they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?’’  5 Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months. 6 And he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and his temple-that is, those who live in heaven. 7 And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation. 8 And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made-the Book that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered. 9 Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. 10 Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword. This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful (NLT).”

            We will look at the last of three introductions to both chapter 13:1-10 of Revelation and these introductions have shown us a preview of who the Antichrist is by looking at, in the last two Spiritual Diaries verses from the OT prophet Daniel, but in today’s SD we will look at verses from the pen of both Paul and John and who also were describing the Antichrist in their letters they wrote.  We will also look at what our Lord said in His Olivet Discourse from Matthew 24:15-16:  “15  "Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16  then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.”  Jesus is quoting the prophet Daniel in this section, and what He is quoting happens when the Antichrist goes into the temple and blasphemes God there by declaring himself as God, so Jesus is saying when you see this to leave Jerusalem for this will be the beginning of great trouble for the Jews.

            We will now look at a rather long passage from the pen of Paul to the Thessalonians from 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10.  Just a bit of background on this section and that is there were some false prophets who either sent letters to the Thessalonians of spoke to them saying that “The Day of the Lord” was happening at that moment.  Paul’s refute of this is that if this were the case then the Antichrist would be in power and then he goes on to explain some things about the Antichrist to his readers.  “  3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4  who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? 6 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.”  We see in this section of Scripture that Paul describes his character “man of lawlessness” and the “son of destruction.”  We also see his career described “takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”  This means that he will break is covenant with Israel, the covenant that put the seven year Tribulation into motion.  We also see how he is destroyed by the Lord at His second coming, something we will look at in chapter 19 of Revelation. 

            We have said that this is the most detailed description of Antichrist found in the Word of God in Revelation chapter thirteen we have also seen glimpses of him in earlier chapters.  “When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them (Rev. 11:7).”  In chapter twelve we saw recorded the beginnings of Satan’s long war which is against God and also His people, and so chapter 13 logically follows which records that war’s culmination.  Chapter 12 shows Satan thrown out of heaven and chapter 13 he is described as beginning his massive effort on the earth to try and defeat God and His purposes of caring for His people so that there will be a millennial kingdom, for if Satan destroys all of God’s people then there will be no millennial kingdom.

            Sometimes we forget that Satan is a spirit and no a man running around in a red suit with horns on his head and a pitchfork in his hand.  By being a spirit he depends on man to work his dirty work on this earth.  All we have to do is look at some of the world leaders from the past and we can see how Satan used them against God’s people by having many of them killed.  In the last century between Hitler, Stalin and some of the other dictators they had around one hundred million people killed and it does not take too great of an imagination to understand that Satan was behind all of those killings.  This information, at least part of it came from a book that I am reading by Dr. David Jeremiah “I Never Thought I Would See the Day.”

            Not all of Satan’s people are possessed by demons, but some are and for sure the Antichrist will be possessed by a very powerful demon as we will learn later on in this chapter, but we have explained that there are only two types of people on earth, those that belong to Satan and those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, so Satan has many people to work with. 

            In Luke 22:3 we read these words “And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve.”  Satan used Judas to betray our Lord as this verse says that he entered into Judas to accomplish this.  Satan is no match for our Lord Jesus Christ as seen when He was on earth for we see in the gospels that Jesus cast on many demons from people who were demon possessed and according to Mark 3:14-15 He gave this power to His disciples “14 And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, 15 and to have authority to cast out the demons.  

            John MacArthur ends his introductory commentary with the following paragraph:  “Having been cast permanently from heaven (12:9), Satan will know that the time remaining to him is brief (12:12).  To lead his last, desperate onslaught against God, he will empower his final Antichrist.  The opening verses of this chapter reveal seven features of this ultimate dictator: his ancestry, authority, acclaim, adoration, arrogance, activity, and admirers.”  This gives us an idea of what we will be looking at in our next Spiritual Diaries. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have mentioned a book that I have read sometime back written by Warren Wiersbe entitled “The Strategy of Satan,” and in that book we see ways that Satan works in the lives of people.  We see how Satan will work in the lives of people during the Tribulation Period and we can learn from both sources so that we can avoid those ways in our lives.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to live in the love of Christ today.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Mesopotamia” (Acts 7:2-3).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was told that he must witness in Rome?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/20/2015 11:12 AM

           

PT-2 of Introduction to Rev. 13 (Rev. 13:1-10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/19/2015 8:55 AM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-2 of Introduction to Rev. 13

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:    Revelation 13:1-10

            Message of the verses:  “1 And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. 2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. 3 I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; 4 they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?" 5 There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. 9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.”

            We continue to look at who the Antichrist is by looking at different verses from the book of Daniel.  We will begin this SD by looking at Daniel 8:23b-25 which gives us another glimpse of the Antichrist and his reign of terror:  “A king will arise, Insolent and skilled in intrigue. 24 “His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree And prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and the holy people. 25 “And through his shrewdness He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; And he will magnify himself in his heart, And he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, But he will be broken without human agency.”  We can see the character of the Antichrist in these verses, but we must remember that this happens “not by his own power” as stated in verse 24, for his power comes from Satan.  We also see his doom when we read that he will “oppose the Prince of princes” which is the Lord Jesus Christ and when this happens we read that “he will be broken without human agency.”  The Lord will take care of his demise. 

            Next we will look at Daniel 9:26 which speaks of the 70 week prophecy or as we have mentioned before the verse means seventy sevens so that makes the total prophecy 490 years, and in verse twenty-six we will see that the Antichrist is the “prince” to come.  “"Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.”  Let us also look at verse 27 “"And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."”  This shows that Antichrist is the prince to come and that he will make a covenant with Israel for seven years (one week) and in the middle of the week, or after three and a half years he will then begin to show his true colors and that portion is called the “Great Tribulation.”  It begins with him going into the rebuilt Jewish temple and actually will go into the “Holy of holies” and perhaps will sacrifice a pig of something showing that he believes himself to be God.

            Now we have to look at another important passage from the book of Daniel and it is perhaps the most difficult chapter to understand, that is chapter eleven, but we will look at verses 36-45 “36 “Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. 37 “He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all. 38 “But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures. 39 “He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price. 40 “At the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through. 41 “He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. 42 “Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. 43 "But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels. 44 “But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. 45 “He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.”  My Spiritual Diaries on this section can be found by looking at Jan. 7, and Jan. 9, 2014.

            John MacArthur writes the following “According to this prophecy, Antichrist will have absolute power; he ‘will do as he pleases.’  As the leader of the worldwide false religion, he ‘will exalt and magnify himself above every god…He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers…nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all’ (vv. 36-37).  Worse, his arrogant pride will lead him to blasphemy, and he ‘will speak monstrous things against the God of gods.’  Like his evil master, Satan, Antichrist will be blasphemous, profane, and proud.  But also like his master, ‘he will come to his end, and no one will help him.’”

            We have more places to look in the Bible about descriptions of Antichrist and we will do that in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that the Lord has shown us in different places about who the Antichrist is and also what he will be doing, but most of all I am thankful for the promise that the church will not have to go through the time when he rules as we will be in heaven.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in the love of the Lord by showing mercy to others, who like me do not deserve it.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Joshua” (Joshua 6:26).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did Stephen say Abraham was when God called him?”  I will give you a hint by saying that the meaning of the answer is “land between the rivers.”

Answer in our next SD.

6/19/2015 9:36 AM 

Introduction to Revelation Chapter Thirteen

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/18/2015 8:41 AM

My Worship Time                                         Focus:  Introduction to Revelation Chapter Thirteen

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:

            Message of the verses:  We will begin to look at the introduction to the 13^th chapter of the book of Revelation, remembering what we stated earlier about chapters 12-14 that they go back and look at the Tribulation Period through the moving of the Antichrist as the first eleven chapters were seen from the prospective of God.

            I want to copy and paste the first ten verses of chapter thirteen:  “1 And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. 2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. 3 I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; 4 they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?" 5 There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. 9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.”

            As we look at the world today we see that the darkness is growing ever so much darker.  When the things begin to happen that we have learned about in the Tribulation Period people will want to find a leader to lead them through those terrible times and a leader will emerge, a leader that we know as the antichrist.  The Bible has much to say about the antichrist from the writings of Daniel in the Old Testament to the writings of Paul and John in the New Testament, but in chapter 13 we see the most information given about this man that is given in one place in all of the Bible.  They say that you had better make sure what you wish for is what you truly want for there are times when you get what you wish for and then you wish you hadn’t gotten it and that will be the case with the antichrist a man that we saw who was riding the white horse that represented peace in the first seal judgment, but will change his spots when we look at him in this chapter and other chapters we will go over too.  John MacArthur writes “This man, often called the Antichrist, will be the culmination of a long line of would-be world conquerors.  What men like Alexander the Great and the Roman emperors in ancient times and Hitler and Stalin in modern times only dreamed of doing, the Antichrist actually will do—he will rule the entire world and receive its worship”

            What is an antichrist?  Well in the broadest sense anyone who opposes God can be called an antichrist.  “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22).”  When you think about that along with what is written in John 3:36, “"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him,’” you can say that the world is divided up between two types of people, those who obey the Son by accepting Him as their Savior and Lord, and those who do not accept Him.  Believers are for Christ and non-believers are against Christ.  Jesus told the Pharisees that they were like their father the devil and we can also divide the world up by saying that those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord are children of God the Father, while those who don’t have Satan as their father.  Now I am not saying that all non believers are possessed by demons or Satan, but that they belong to him.  His kingdom is darkness as Eph 5:8 says “for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.”

            John MacArthur writes that “The astounding description of the Antichrist presented in the opening verses of this chapter is the most gripping, thorough, and dramatic one in all of Scripture.  However, it was not new teaching to John’s readers.  John wrote in the first epistle that his readers had ‘heard that antichrist is coming’ (1 John 2:18).  After describing Antichrist and his activity, the apostle Paul reminded the Thessalonians, ‘Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?’ (2 Thess. 2:5).  Those passages indicate that the truth about Antichrist was common knowledge in the New Testament times.”   Now if they were known in the New Testament times we can be sure that the writes of the New Testament who wrote about Antichrist got their information from Daniel, a book that we have already studied a few years back. 

            We will not begin to look back at some of the verses from the book of Daniel to help us better understand who the Antichrist is.  We begin with Daniel 7:8 which reads “"While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.”  I wrote the following from my Spiritual Diary on September 7, 2014 “Now back to the subject of the “little horn.”  Dr. Wiersbe explains that this little horn is none other than antichrist and then goes on to say:  “The Greek prefix anti can mean ‘against’ and ‘instead of.’  The final world ruler will be both a counterfeit Christ and an enemy who is against Christ.  John described the appearance of this ‘man of sin’ (2Thess. 2:3) in Revelation 13:1-10.” 

“John MacArthur describes the antichrist in five ways:  1. He is a political genius as seen in Daniel 7:8.  2. He is an intellectual genius, he is brilliant.  Look again at verse eight and in verse twenty where we see Daniel speaks about his eyes and MacArthur says that “his eyes refers to insight.  They refer to intelligence, mental ability.”  3. He will be an oratorical genius.  As we look back at Hitler we know that people would just sit around and listen to him speak for he had this type of oratorical genius, but antichrist will have even more of it.  We have been fooled in this country by a man who reads a good speech on a teleprompter.  4. Antichrist will be a military genius as seen in verse twenty-three.  He will end up devouring the entire earth, and we can think of what Jesus said about what profit a man would have if he inherited the whole earth, but lost his soul.  This will surely be true of antichrist. 5. Antichrist is a commercial genius.  In Revelation chapter eighteen we can see the kind of economic system he set up from Babylon as all the peoples of the earth are crying at its destruction.  6. The last thing MacArthur has to say about antichrist is that he is a religious genius.  Remember we have been reading about him as having a mouth that speaks boastfully, well he will eventually destroy the religious system that is on the earth and has been on the earth since Cain brought his wrong offering to the Lord, (a man centered religion), and will make himself out to be god and all of the people of the earth will believe that he is god, except those who do not receive the mark of the beast, for they will have the mark of God.”  This has given us a bit more insight into who the Antichrist is.  We know that the Antichrist will persecute the people of God as we have seen in chapter 12 of Revelation, but there is more to him than that as he will also be a religious genius, that he will make up his own religion so that all the world will worship him.  Of course this religion will be a false one, but we will learn that Satan, who is behind this world ruler has always wanted to be worshiped and so he will have his day in the sun when all the world worships the Antichrist.  Daniel 11:36-37 says “36  "Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. 37 “He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all.”  2 Thessalonians 2:4 says “who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”  Antichrist will not be alone in doing all of these things, but when we look at Revelation 13:11-18 we will see that he will have a partner in crime one who is called the false prophet.

We will continue looking at the Antichrist in our introduction to chapter thirteen of Revelation in our next SD.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When I first became a believer and began to go to a Bible believing church my pastor said that he was not looking for the Antichrist, but he was looking for Jesus Christ.  I have to agree with that statement, but nevertheless we need to know about the Antichrist which is what we will be doing as we study this 13^th chapter of Revelation.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in the love of Christ by showing mercy and love to those who are in need of it.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “At the receipt of custom or toll” or at the tax payer’s booth.  (Matthew 9:9).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho’?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/18/2015 9:48 AM

  

 

 

Satan’s Third Attack (Rev. 12:17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/17/2015 10:41 PM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:    Satan’s Third Attack

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Rev. 12:17

            Message of the verses:  “17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” 

            We began looking at this 12^th chapter of Revelation on the 30^th of May so that makes today’s lesson day number nineteen.  This has truly been an interesting chapter to study as I have learned many things and while listening to the first message from John MacArthur on the 13^th chapter of Revelation he mentioned that it would have been better if this last verse, verse 17 would have been in the 13^th chapter, so we will have to keep that in mind when we begin looking at that chapter soon.

            As we begin to look at verse 17 we once again have to mention how mad Satan will be when it gets to this portion of the Tribulation Period.  His anger comes because of his inability to do harm to the children of Israel who have been hidden by the Lord in a place where He will not allow Satan to get to them.  Perhaps when we read “the rest of her children” that that would mean the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, but we don’t know that for sure.  Now it can also mean the Gentile believers for all true believers are the spiritual children of Abraham, and not just the physical relatives of Abraham.  What we can do is to take this statement and believe that it is an all inclusive phrase that refers to all believers.

            John MacArthur writes the following about the word “commandments:”  “Entolas (commandments) is a word used frequently in John’s writings to refer to New Testaments commands (e. g., 14:12; John 14:15, 21; 1 John 2:3-4; 3:22-24; 5:2-3).  The ‘testimony of Jesus’ is not testimony about Him, but the testimony He gave, the truths He taught that are revealed in the New Testament.  These persecuted believers will give further evidence that their salvation is real by their obedience to the truth of Scripture.”

            We have mentioned that the first two attacks that Satan has made on God’s people will fail, and so will this third attack fail too.  We have mentioned that it is Satan’s priority to stop the promises of God to be fulfilled in the Tribulation Period and also in the Millennial Kingdom, but he will not succeeded in his efforts even though many people will lose their lives who name the name of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

            John MacArthur finishes his commentary on this section by writing “For the long-suffering people of Israel, the darkest hour lies ahead.  But it will be followed by a glorious dawn.  The elect remnant of Israel, having survived the most savage persecution in the nation’s long history, will be saved and enjoy the bliss of the millennial kingdom, ‘and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written’ (Rom. 11:26).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the things that I have learned from this 12 chapter of Revelation, especially the fact that Satan will not succeed in stopping the plans of God.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to show mercy.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The high calling of God” (Philippians 3:14).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where was Matthew sitting when Jesus called him to be a disciple”

Answer in our next SD.

6/17/2015 11:10 PM