Antichrist’s Arrogance (Rev. 13:5-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/26/2015 8:44 AM

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  Antichrist’s Arrogance

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Rev. 13:5-6

            Message of the verses:  “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.”

            I want to quote a paragraph from my Spiritual Diary from August 18, 2005, and this quote is not totally about all of these two verses but it does bring up a point as to perhaps when the timing would be when Satan is kicked out of heaven, something we have written about in an earlier SD.  “Again it is good to be reminded that all of these things will happen in the second half of the tribulation, or the “Great Tribulation,” and also after Satan is expelled from heaven.  I would like to go back to a statement that Dr. Wiersbe made concerning the possibility of Satan being in heaven when the “Judgment Seat of Christ” was going on, as he would be accusing the brethren at that event.  If you couple that with a phrase in verse six, “Blaspheme…those who dwell in heaven,” this all begins to make more sense, for if Satan was at the Judgment Seat of Christ accusing the brethren and was then kicked out of heaven after that event then it would make sense that he would be blaspheming those who were at that event because his accusations did no good.”  We will not move on to the arrogance of the Antichrist.

            Let us begin with a quote from John MacArthur:  “Like his master, Satan, Antichrist will be an arrogant blasphemer.  Blasphemy will not be incidental but central to his operations.  The phrase ‘there was given to him’ refers to God’s sovereign control of events (6:4, 8; 7:2; 9:5; cf. Dan. 4:17, 25, 32).  God will allow Antichrist to blaspheme to give full expression to the satanic wickedness that will cover the earth at that time.  He will exhibit a total disregard for the true God by continually ‘speaking arrogant words and blasphemies.’  Antichrist’s blasphemy will not be subtle, but open, outrageous, and monstrous—even to the point that he ‘takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God’ (2 Thess. 2:4).  This is reminiscent of Satan’s original desire when he fell from heaven and holiness.  He said in his heart ‘I will make myself like the Most High’ (Isa. 14:14).”

            More from the OT book of Daniel to show the arrogance of Antichrist as we look at Daniel 7:8 “"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.”  A similar statement is repeated in Daniel 7:20 as Daniel explains his vision.  “"Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire (Daniel 7:11).”  Daniel speaks that Antichrist will speak against the Most High:  “’He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.”  Notice the time limit he has, which is the same as in Revel 13:5 but written in a different way.  “"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 (Daniel 11:36).”

            Antichrist’s arrogance will be greater than any other human being that has ever lived, as he is empowered by Satan to which gives him this ability.  I remember Proverbs 16:18 which states “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.”  “First pride, then the crash—the bigger the ego, the harder the fall (Message).”

            We see as we continue to look at our text for today that his blasphemies will be against God, His name and His tabernacle, and also those who dwell in heaven.  God’s name is representative of who He is, which is all of His attributes combined or the summation of His attributes, and the tabernacle is God’s home in heaven, and he even blasphemes those in heaven, perhaps those who have been raptured before the beginning of the Tribulation Period, and it might even include God’s holy angels of which Satan was once one of them.

            Again we look at the length of his activity and it is only for 42 months or three and a half years, or as Daniel says for 1260 days (Dan. 9:24).  MacArthur concludes “Antichrist and Satan will be allowed to operate only within the time limit set for them by the true Ruler of the universe.  But for a few years, they will dominate the world.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I want to go back to Ec. 3:1 “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven-“  There is a time for evil to run rampant in the world, and then there is a time when the Lord will stop this evil when He returns as seen in Revelation 19.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To trust the Lord to give me a clear conscience.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Nicodemus” (John 3:9).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where had the Ethiopian eunuch gone to worship?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/26/2015 9:24 AM

 

 

           

Antichrist’s Adoration (Rev. 13:4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/25/2015 9:19 AM

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  Antichrist’s Adoration

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Revelation 13:4

            Message of the verse:  “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?"”

            I thought that it would be a good idea to give you the definition of the word “beast” as found in my Greek/English dictionary that I have on my Online Bible program:  “1) an animal 2) a wild animal, wild beast, beast 3) metaph. a brutal, bestial man, savage, ferocious.”  I think that the last definition fits the Antichrist.

            As the world around us gets smaller and smaller, that is because of the technology that seems to be growing by the day, and as global problems seem to also grow very rapidly, the world is ripe for a dictator, and Antichrist will be the one that will fulfill this role.  We see in verse four that the world’s fascination with Antichrist will quickly turn to the worship of him.  Verse four says that Satan is the one being worshiped but we know also that his Antichrist will also be worshiped in a similar way.  Nebuchadnezzar was worshiped as seen in the third chapter of the book of Daniel when they made a great statute of him and all had to bow down and worship him.  Let us look at 2 Thessalonians 2:4 “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.”  This is what Paul wrote about the Antichrist and it is believed that this will happen during or just past the midpoint of the Tribulation Period.  Now just like in Nebuchadnezzar’s time and also in the time of the Roman when it started out to be kind of a way to give a worship that really did not mean as much as it became later when it came to the point where Christians who did not worship the Emperor that they would be killed.  John MacArthur writes “Antichrist will seek adoration; not content with respect, he will require reverence; not content with being hailed and heralded, he will demand to be worshiped.  And those who ‘did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved’ (2 Thess. 2:10) will be deceived into worshiping him.  That deception will be fostered by the Antichrist’s associate, the false prophet, who ‘makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast [Antichrist], whose fatal wound was healed’ (Rev. 13:12).

            So we see the role of Antichrist changed from the time he first came on the scene.  Did it change on his own or because Satan caused it to change by having him possessed with a powerful demon.  Was he kind of like Judas whom Satan used to betray Jesus?  My guess is that he had aspirations of leading the world in his own mind and then when Satan has him possessed by the powerful demon he enjoys the power given to him.  When I think of Antichrist I sometimes think of a verse where Jesus states “"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26).”  This is exactly what will happen to Antichrist.

            As I stated to write, the people of the earth will not only worship the Antichrist but they will also be worshiping Satan, now I don’t know if they will be doing this willingly or unwittingly, but they will be worshiping the devil one way or the other.  Satan worship is something that has grown over the years so it may be that they will know what they are doing, but perhaps some will not realize that is what they are doing.  Paul writes in 1 Corn. 10:20 “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.”  These people believed they were worshiping a god to whom they were sacrificing things to were actually worshiping demons.  So it will be with the unbelievers in the Tribulation period who are worshiping the Antichrist.

            As we look at the end of verse four we read “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?"”  Let’s look at the first of the Ten Commandments “2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”  I suppose what we see with the unbelievers in the Tribulation Period is the blind leading the blind.  Now as far as the question in the last part of verse four we know who it is who will wage war against him and also defeat him, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.  However I don’t think that the people who are saying this are talking about the Lord defeating him but other political leaders who will be taken out if they try and defeat him.  The question is meant to be a rhetorical question.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is easy to get taken advantage of if you are not careful in this world.  Most every day I ask the Lord for wisdom and my prayer goes like this:  “Wisdom:  I Pray that the Lord will give our pastors, and myself wisdom in all of the decisions that we have to make today.  Proverbs 3:5-6 says “5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”   “I’m putting on the belt of truth.  I ask You to make it very clear to me what I am to accept into my life and what I am to reject.  Help me to see clearly the motives of others as they deal with me and converse with me.  Let me walk in Your truth, making decisions and choices according to Your plans and purposes for my life.”  The quote comes from a book I read written by Charles Stanley.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am struggling with a problem that came up yesterday and I need wisdom from the Lord to care for it.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘How can these things be’?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/25/2015 10:03 AM

  

 

Antichrist’s Acclaim (Rev. 13:3)

 SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/24/2015 8:38 AM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  Antichrist’s Acclaim

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  Rev. 13:3

            Message of the verse:  “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;”

            Now as I looked at this verse there was only one person that I have ever though that this verse is about and that person is the Antichrist.  We will come back to that in a moment as this SD will not be a very long one.

            In reading the commentary that John MacArthur has on this verse I learned some things that others thought about what it meant, things that I have never heard before.  I will briefly share some of these views that others though that this verse means.  There are actually some commentators that believe that what John is writing here is the revival of the Roman Empire, but there are many problems with that view.  For one thing John is speaking of a person and not an empire for the passage says “I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain.”  (Italics added).  Let’s look at Revelation 5:6 a verse that speaks of the Lord Jesus “And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.”  Notice the portion that I have highlighted. 

            Some commentators have said that it is a person, and that that person is Judas Iscariot.  Now they do have reasons for this so let’s look at the Scriptures that they use “"While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled (John 17:12).”  Now we will look at 2 Thessalonians 2:3 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition (AV).”

            Now some other commentators have stated that they believe that this is a person and that he is Nero.  Nero committed suicide in 68 AD and there was some that believed that he would be resurrected from the dead.  There is a problem when we look at Revelation 13:14 “And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.”  We see that this verse is talking of the Antichrist and that he had been wounded by a sword, while Nero had committed suicide.

            There is only one person who John is writing about and that person is the future Antichrist.  Now the next problem we will address is whether or not he really died or did he fake his death.  Let’s look at Revelation 13:14, and then 2 Thess. 2:9 “And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.”  “That is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders.”  I suppose the real question is whether or not Satan can raise someone from the dead.  That is a question that we may not know the answer to, but my views that if the Antichrist is actually raised from the dead that even if Satan does this it has to be that God allows it.  Satan tries to imitate God, and it was God who raised up the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and so I believe that this is something that Satan wants the world to believe that he can raise the Antichrist from the dead.  Whether or not this really happens or not, for it could be a fake resurrection, the world will believe that it is real and as we see at the end of this verse “the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can only say this that when the plain sense of Scripture makes sense seek no other sense.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to live in His love doing things that He would do if on the earth.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Macedonians, Achaians (1 Thessalonians 1:7).

Today’s Bible question:  “What song did the angels sing at the birth of Christ?”

Answer in our next SD.

6/24/2015 9:24 AM

 

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