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Here meet the second of six entities accounted for in the final two chapters of John's Revelation. Revelation Chapters 13 and 17 present the AntiChrist, 2nd member of the unholy satanic trinity. Trace this doomed but powerful entity's rise and certain demise.
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XXXI: ANTICHRIST–CRISIS OVERLOAD
In which we see AntiChrist rise, reign, rant, rage and roast
A Production of
the skOG
Workshop
Here find slide set devoted to Revelation’s portrayal of
the AntiChrist. He is the second in a list of six
protagonists who populate the Tribulational landscape.
In truth, I could have made a list of seven protagonists by
including the Harlot. In fact, I’ve devoted a large part of
one slide set (#27 in this series) to her activities and to
the two chapters of Revelation that feature her.
But here find the AntiChrist, aka: The Beast or Daniel’s Despicable Person.
“Lo, his doom is sure.” Never lose sight of that
I’m just filler . . . you know, ‘No hyperlinks
for you till Slide 4!” Lenny would have linked to Set #27 in
the previous slide, but, oh well . . .
EMAIL: [email protected]
TITLE PICTURE: gaza-strip-war, google images labeled for reuse
Basic InformationLICENSING: I grant a Creative Commons license made of the following elements: You may freely share and adapt this work provided you 1) give me credit–(website info fine!), 2) your efforts have no commercial application and 3) you share extracted/redacted work with others. God bless and have fun!
VISIT: skOG Workshop Headquarters at www.lennyhoy.com for other items of prophetical interest.Slide Array Table of Contents
IMAGES:
By Subscription: http://www.instonebrewer.com/bpg2009/frames.htm?members/member_page.php
By Permission: Creative Commons Licensing as noted (see TITLE PICTURE at right for instance)
HE’S SURROUNDED BY THE SUPERNATURAL
His origins/natureHis powerHis resurrectionHis authorityHis time spanHis helperHis followersHis end
ANTICHRIST: Scattered References
Daniel 2:40-45
Zech 11:15-17 (?)
Daniel 9: 27
Daniel 11:21-45
Matthew 24:15-22
Mark 13:14-20
II Thess 2:1-12
Rev 13(Our Core Text)
Rev 17:8-18
Relevant Texts
SATAN SEEKS A COUNTERFEIT TRINITY
DRAGON/SATAN: Plays the role of God the Father:
1. The source of all power (Rev 13:2)
2. The ultimate focus of worship (Rev 13:4)
3. Invisible presence (Rev 13-by implication)
SATAN SEEKS A COUNTERFEIT TRINITY
ANTICHRIST: Plays the role of God the Son:
1. Killed and Resurrected (Rev 13:3)
2. The visible member of the unholy trinity
3. Incites worship (Rev 13:4,12)
4. Speaks the ‘words‘ of his ‘father’, Satan (Rev 13-by implication)
5. Accepts worship (Rev 13:4,12)
SATAN SEEKS A COUNTERFEIT TRINITY
FALSE PROPHET: Plays the role of God the Holy Spirit:
1. Magnifies Satan’s ‘son’s’ influence and words like the Holy Spirit (Rev 13:12 / John 14:26, 16:5)
2. Directs worship to the ‘son’/‘beast’ (Rev 13:12 / John 14:13+14 )
3. Associated with miracles (Rev 13:13 / I Cor 12-14)
4. Fabricates a HS-like ‘sealing’ with his “Mark of the Beast”– (Rev 13:16 vs. Eph 1:13, 4:30)
SEVEN HEADS, TEN HORNSAnd One Man’s Understanding of Them
THE BEAST: PERSISTENTLY DESCRIBED AS SEVEN-HEADED,TEN HORNED.
Revelation 13:1 Introduces him as seven headed, ten horned
Revelation 17:3 Refers to him as seven headed, ten horned
Revelation 13:7 Explains the meaning of the seven heads, ten horns
THE SEVEN HEADS ARE . . . (PER REV 13:9)
SEVEN MOUNTAINS ON WHICH THE WOMAN (His Religious Ally) SITS
City of Rome has (and quite famously has) 7 hills–does this mean that Babylon the Harlot situates itself in Rome?
The City of Constantinople has (a less well known) set of 7 hills-does the Harlot reside there?
Historic Babylon incorporated pyramid-shaped ziggurats as worship sites? Could this be the residence of the Harlot?
THE SEVEN HEADS ARE . . . (PER REV 13:9)
SEVEN MOUNTAINS ON WHICH THE WOMAN (His Religious Ally) SITS
City of Rome has (and quite famously has) 7 hills–does this mean that Babylon the Harlot situates itself in Rome?
The City of Constantinople has (a less well known) set of 7 hills-does the Harlot reside there?
Historic Babylon incorporated pyramid-shaped ziggurats as worship sites? Could this be the residence of the Harlot?
I will not even pretend to resolve this mystery. My personal choice, however, is Historic Babylon.
(Refer to Zechariah 5:5 ?)
THE SEVEN HEADS ARE ALSO. . . (PER REV 13:9)
SEVEN KINGS: FIVE HAVE FALLEN, ONE IS, AND THE OTHER HAS YET TO COME . . . .
FIVE HAVE FALLEN: Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian and Greek Empires
ONE IS (from John’s time perspective?): Roman Empire
OTHER YET TO COME: The AntiChrist’s ten-nation alliance/empire of the End-Times
THE BEAST: REV 17:8WAS, IS NOT AND WILL COME
FIRST POSSIBLE INTERPRETATION:
THE PHRASE HAS A TIME REFERENCE:
The Beast ‘is not’ at the time of John’s vision (Rev 17:8a) (“The beast that you saw is not . . .”). But it did indeed exist at that time–Rome
The Beast ‘is not’ when end-times people view him (Rev 17:8b) But it will exist then-the AntiChrist.
Therefore, this theory does not easily compute logically. What else could this phrase connote?
THE BEAST: REV 17:8WAS, IS NOT AND WILL COME
SECOND POSSIBLE INTERPRETATION:
THE PHRASE WORKS AS A DESCRIPTIVE TITLE:
WAS: Existed in partial manifestation through six Kingdoms (Egypt-Rome)
WAS NOT: Had no manifestation from Rome to the 70th Week
WILL COME: Re-emerges in the 70th Week in full, final and unrestrained power in AntiChrist
AND ALL WHO DWELL ON THE EARTH WILL WONDER . . .
. . . . WHEN THEY ‘SEE’ THE BEAST, THAT HE WAS AND IS NOT AND WILL COME :
The lost will wonder at the resurrected Prince Who Is To Come when they come to ‘see’ that he manifests a long-lived spiritual entity worthy of the descriptive title:
THE BEAST WHO WAS, IS NOT AND WILL COME!
His power, resurrection and authority impress the lost, certainly, and cause them to fear.
But his credentials as the most recent manifestation of a millennia old, world-changing spiritual entity cause them to wonder and worship!
The False Prophet most likely leads them to ‘see’ or understand the Beast for who he really is: a timeless spiritual manifestation of Satan himself.
Believers won’t wonder; they/we will take fresh stock of our challenge, our role, our destiny and God’s omnipotent predictive power.
THE BEAST: REV 17:11ONE OF THE 7, ALSO AN 8TH
STRESSES THE BEAST’S UNIQUE, TWO-PHASE ROLE
ONE OF THE SEVEN: RESTRAINED–Originally, AntiChrist appears as yet another human antagonist of the Jews, just like Nebuchadnezzar or Antiochus Epiphanes. Horrible servants of Satan, but restrained by The Restrainer nonetheless (II Thessalonians 2:6)
AN EIGHTH: UNRESTRAINED–Resurrected, unrestrained and supernatural in power, our Prince Who Is To Come now appears as THE ANTICHRIST!
THE BEAST:WE LEARN THAT HE EXISTS AS
A UNIFIED SPIRITUAL ENTITY (The ‘BEAST’ exists spiritually independent of any of its many separate historical manifestations.)
A BEING WITH DISTINCT HISTORICAL IMPERIAL MANIFESTATIONS, (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome)
A FINAL PERSONAL MANIFESTATION (AntiChrist)
AND ONE FINAL IMPERIAL MANIFESTATION: (10 political allies and a religious ally, the Harlot of: Rome? Constantinople? Babylon?)
THE BEAST:HAS A FINAL DESTINY!
. . .and he goes to destruction (Rev 17:11)
. . .and The Lamb will overcome them (Rev 17:14)
. . . seized . . . . and thrown alive into the Lake of Fire
which burns with brimstone (Rev 19:20)
. . .yet he will come to his end and no one will help him. (Dan 11:45)
Get set to look at Revelation 13 with two competing mindsets: Pessimism and Fear
VERSUSCourageous Steadfast Hope
Get set to look at Revelation 13 with two competing mindsets: God enables believers
to beat the odds! Right? The bigger they are . . .
Pessimism and Fear VERSUS
Courageous Steadfast Hope
REVELATION 13AntiChrist: The Case For Fear
The AntiChrist: World Savior?
Smooth and Skillful Politician: The political figure who will become the AntiChrist has a measure of irresistible charm and a scheming mind that make him more than a match for mere mortals. Can he be the one to bring order out of chaos? One can only hope!
Capacity for intrigue: (Daniel 11:21)
A deceiver: (Daniel 11: 23)
A schemer: (Daniel 11:24)
Starts as a commoner (11:21), mysteriously winds up a king (11:27)
The AntiChrist: Infinite Power?
Empowered by Satan Himself: The ‘Dragon’ gives the Beast his power and authority. (Rev 13:2) This accounts for his early successes!
Vigorous Successful Warrior: Daniel 11:21-45 depicts the AntiChrist/Beast/Despicable Person as a powerful, actively engaged warrior in battle after battle.
Capable Administrator: Once he conquers a land, he passes out fiefdoms to his cronies to cement their loyalty and encourage newbies to cooperate (Daniel 11:24)
The AntiChrist: Unstoppable Power?
Resurrected! He receives a ‘fatal’ head wound and, for all anyone can tell, he dies! But . . .
He comes back to life!!! (13:3) A resurrection?!?!?!?
He now thinks he’s God! Who can blame him???
The ‘world’ now stands ready to worship him as God! Well, duh!
Powerfully Blasphemous: His words and gestures blaspheme Almighty God–and he seems to get away with it! His uncorrected boldness further incites fear and a tendency to worship this man as God!
The AntiChrist: Your Worst Nightmare?
Vengeful and Aggressive! AntiChrist needs followers, not friends, and he tolerates no opposition .
Brutalizes the resistant Saints
Pummels the resistant Jews
Attacks religious ‘Babylon’, his own ally, the Harlot, in a fit of jealousy (IMO)
Kills the Two Witnesses
Wages war with his neighbors almost constantly
REVELATION 13Mindset 2: The Case For Hope and Courage
ANTICHRIST:A figure of iron and clay-(a la Nebuchadnezzar’s great statue!) All his assets fail to combine in any effective way and he falls short of his aspirations over and over.
Falls short of world domination:
Satan gives him Satan’s power-it’s not enough (Rev 12:11+14).
Satan gives him authority to rule the world-AntiChrist can’t exercise it effectively (Dan 11:29)
His ten nation coalition (iron and clay) proves a weak foundation for exercising full world domination. (Dan 11:40)
ANTICHRIST:
Frustrated at every turn, beset by frequent refusal to
bend the knee to his authority and power.
Economically Limited: No one buys or sells without the Mark? Apparently not a world wide issue, for Sheep/Goat nations (Matt 25:31) survive without it as do many Saints (Rev 14) and Jews (Zech 14)
Spiritually Thwarted:
Never cracks Saints’ devotion to Christ (Rev
12:11) Believers refuse him worship.
Suffers From Reverse Tinker-bell Effect: Refuse to clap and his strength fails.
ANTICHRIST: His assumption of supreme authority has a thin and desperate edge to it, if you know where to look.
Constantly Humiliated:
Two Witnesses operate with impunity in the very midst of his empire. (Rev 11)
God rains down plague after plague on his kingdom and he cannot stop the rain.
Only the terminally deluded (II Thess 2:11) follow his lead.
Harlot of Babylon slow to acknowledge his supremacy after his resurrection. (Rev 17:16)
ANTICHRIST: His assumption of supreme authority has a thin and desperate edge to it, if you know where to look.
Pesky Jews Elude His Authority and Control In Spite of Everything He Can Do:
God protects a Jewish segment miraculously (Rev 12:6, 16)
144K witness thrive under God’s protection (Rev 7/Daniel 11:33, 39)
Orthodox Jewish zealots hold out to the end. (Zech 14)
ANTICHRIST: Not all we crack him up to be in our imagination.
He has serious military challenges to his authority.
Geopolitical Forces Fight Back:
‘Ships from Kittim’* disturb him (Dan 11:30)
Kings of North and South fight him (Daniel 11:40)
He must appeal to the nations of the world for support at the end. (Rev 16:13 )
ANTICHRIST: Not all we crack him up to be in our imagination.
He has serious military challenges to his authority.
Geopolitical Forces Fight Back:
‘Ships from Kittim’* disturb him (Dan 11:30)
Kings of North and South fight him (Daniel 11:40)
He must appeal to the nations of the world for support at the end. (Rev 16:13 )
Historically fulfilled, yes, by Roman navy. Double
fulfillment a la John in Matt 17: 11+12? I think so.
I’ve always wondered if this doesn’t reference the US Navy!!
Sorry. Can’t help myself
IN THE END. . . . . HE HAS ONLY FEAR
Daniel 11:40+ details the AntiChrist’s final days, days in which his neighbors attack him violently, rumors from the East disturb him. He becomes a whirlwind of destruction but Daniel’s narrative carries with it a sense of AntiChrist’s desperation as he flails about him. He fills with fear!
IN THE END. . . . . HE HAS ONLY FEAR
Daniel 11:40+ details the AntiChrist’s final days, days in which his neighbors attack him violently, rumors from the East disturb him. He becomes a whirlwind of destruction but Daniel’s narrative carries with it a sense of AntiChrist’s desperation as he flails about him. He fills with fear!
REVELATION 13Relevance for ‘Everyday’ Christian Living
The kingdom of the world
becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ . . .
Rev 11:15
The kingdom of the world
becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ . . .
Rev 11:15
The brethren overcome Satan
because of the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony and they
did not love their life to the death. Rev 12:11
Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Eph 6:13
Therefore, take up the full armor of God . . .
resist . . . stand firm . . .
Gird your loins with truth
Put on breastplate of righteousness
Shod your feet with the gospel of peace
Take up the shield of faith
Put on the helmet of salvation
Take up the sword of the Spirit-Word of
God Ephesians 6:14-17
Get a spiritual spine. Pursue Godliness and the love of the brethren. Prune your character; weed your thoughts; sharpen your knowledge of the Word. Crave holiness.
Do these things and you’ll be ready for anything!
We are indwelt with all the Light we’ll ever need to deal triumphantly with all the darkness evil can bring to bear-
Now, tomorrow or whenever!
OUR NEXT FOCUS . . .
Next: XXXII: The Saints
OUR NEXT FOCUS . . .
The believers of the 70th Week, commonly called ‘Tribulation Saints’, have a
high calling if we reckon with Revelation’s full treatment of them. God calls
on the Tribulation Saints to overcome, not merely survive. God places a
measure of responsibility on their shoulders which no other group of Saints
has ever aspired to. Their’s is the margin of victory in the Battle of the Ages.
Next: XXXII: The Saints
OUR NEXT FOCUS . . .
The believers of the 70th Week, commonly called ‘Tribulation Saints’, have a
high calling if we reckon with Revelation’s full treatment of them. God calls
on the Tribulation Saints to overcome, not merely survive. God places a
measure of responsibility on their shoulders which no other group of Saints
has ever aspired to. Their’s is the margin of victory in the Battle of the Ages.
Come meet these believers!
Next: XXXII: The Saints
OUR NEXT FOCUS . . .
The believers of the 70th Week, commonly called ‘Tribulation Saints’, have a
high calling if we reckon with Revelation’s full treatment of them. God calls
on the Tribulation Saints to overcome, not merely survive. God places a
measure of responsibility on their shoulders which no other group of Saints
has ever aspired to. Their’s is the margin of victory in the Battle of the Ages.
Come meet these believers!
Next: XXXII: The Saints
Search the Table of Contents for Other Offerings In This Series