John is doing better. We thank the Lord for that.
If he was doing worse, I don't know what I'd
do. I'm sure Merity doesn't either. Would you
open your Bible, please, to 1 John chapter 2
as we look tonight at the theme, Satan's Masterpiece,
The Antichrist. In 1 John 2, 18 we read, Children,
it is the last hour. And just as you heard that
Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists
have arisen. From this we know that it is the
last hour. And every spirit that does not confess
Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit
of the antichrist of which you have heard that
it is coming and now it is already in the world."
This term antichrist seems to be used in three
slightly different ways as John pins these words.
He is certainly thinking of that antichrist who
is coming yet. whom we will be focusing on tonight
in this message. But he tells us that even now,
in this age, there are many antichrists in the
world. And he is referring to those who deny
Jesus Christ as deity, those who deny the Father
and the Son. They are antichrists, he says, of
a sort. Not the antichrists, you see, but antichrists
in their teaching. And then he uses the term
in the sense of a spirit in this age. And behind
that attitude or that spirit of Antichrist, there
is the energy force of the demonic world. The
teachings that deny Jesus Christ as God, which
deny the Father and the Son in their unique relationship.
That teaching is energized and promoted by Satan
and his demonic spirits. And so that seems to
be what he has in mind when he speaks of the
spirit of Antichrist. Would you turn with me
now, please, to Revelation chapter 13, where
we have a number of verses regarding the same
historical figure. That we mentioned who is the
coming Antichrist as John put it Here he is not
named Antichrist But we know him to be the same
person John says and he stood on the sand of
the seashore question who is he? To find the
answer we have to back into the last verse of
chapter 12 where the dragon is the one who has
spoken about. The dragon is Satan. And so he
is speaking here about Satan, or the dragon who
stood on the sand of the seashore. And I, John
says, 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. 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.
And 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. And they worshipped the dragon, because
he gave his authority to the beast. And they
worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like the
beast? And who is able to wage war with him?
And there was given to him a mouth, speaking
arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority
to act for forty -two months was given to him.
And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against
God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle,
that is, those who dwell in heaven. And it was
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. And all who dwell on the earth will worship
him, every one whose name has not been written
from the foundation of the world. in the book
of life of the Lamb who has been slain. If anyone
has an ear, let him hear. 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. What verse 10 seems to be saying
is that God has ordained justice so that those
who are persecuted The saints who are overcome,
as it says here, will know during that period
of time that those who persecute them and who
afflict them will be dealt with by God. And that
assurance of ultimate justice, it says, is their
perseverance and their faith. We will not read
it, but the rest of the chapter deals with another
beast, and I want to note that because we will
refer to him. at the close of the message tonight.
The spirit of Antichrist is present during this
entire age. But that spirit will be focused upon
and personified in one particular person who
will arise out of the mass of the Western powers.
The Bible seems to describe this individual as
a very charismatic person, a dynamic individual.
whose charm, intellect, and leadership will enthrall
a desperate world, a world that will be hungry
for someone to lead it out of its difficulties.
He will be a man stronger than Hitler, who was
able to take a crushed Germany in the 1930s and
bring it to a world power. This man will unite
the Western powers behind him in order to provide
a political and military base from which he will
launch into the Mideast. And to some extent,
and to a great extent it would seem, he will
have power over a great deal of the world at
that time. This man, whom we call the Antichrist,
will be the embodiment of evil. He will be a
puppet of Satan and a masterpiece of deception.
Before we begin looking further at this subject,
I'd like for you to bow with me in prayer. Father,
I pray tonight as we look at this individual
who will be Satan's masterpiece of deception,
that you would protect us from interference,
that you will enable us to concentrate upon the
Word of God. I pray that the Holy Spirit would
be our teacher. We know that our enemy would
like us to remain as ignorant as possible of
his plans. Thank you for exposing them to us.
And we pray tonight that our hearts will be drawn
to our Savior, who is the real thing. And who
is the Lord? And who is the King who will one
day rule rightly in truth and justice over the
whole earth? And it's in His name that we pray
and for His blessing that we come to you. Amen.
I'd like for us to think tonight about the Antichrist
in several respects. First of all, would you
think with me about the person of the Antichrist?
It is important to understand that Antichrist
is not merely a spirit, though it is that. Antichrist
is not just a system, but Antichrist will be
a man who will head a system. There are many
names given to him in the Bible. We have looked
at two thus far. Antichrist means not just that
he is in contrast to Christ. But it means more
than that. It means that he is in opposition
to Christ, actively so. He is opposed to the
work of God in the world. And it will be his
intention to mimic and imitate Jesus Christ so
that he, Antichrist, will assume a messianic
kind of a figure in the world. He is called in
Revelation 13, the Beast. That seems to say to
us that he will be a man untamed, a man without
principle morally. While he will have a certain
facade at least for a time, presenting himself
as a man of peace, a uniter of nations, a great
statesman and leader, he will in fact in his
heart be a man of lawlessness and wickedness.
A man who will step on any body and anything
that gets in his way. He will ravage and victimize
the nations. And thus he is called a beast. He
will be a wild man. Other names given to him
in the Bible include the son of perdition, the
man of sin, That wicked one or that lawless one
The prince that shall come a name that we looked
at in Daniel 9 26 a couple of weeks ago But I'd
like for you to turn with me to find another
name in the Old Testament in the book of Daniel
And would you turn there please to the seventh
chapter? In Daniel chapter 7, we have the record
of a vision which was given to Daniel by the
Lord. He gives details about it in verse 1, and
then he says in verse 2, I was looking in my
vision by night, and behold, the four winds of
heaven were stirring up the great sea. The sea
in the Bible, typically, refers to the Gentile
nations of the world. You will notice that in
Revelation 13, Satan stands upon the sands of
the sea, and it is out of that sea of the Gentile
world that this beast comes forth to him, whom
he empowers and uses. And here again, in this
vision, we see the great sea. And the four winds
of heaven are blowing upon it. It's in tumult.
And then Daniel says, four great beasts were
coming up from the sea, different from one another.
And so in his vision, he sees four beasts come
out of this tumultuous ocean. The first one was
like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. A
lion speaking of strength. majesty, of sovereignty,
royalty, and an eagle that which is swift to
its prey. This first beast we know from Scripture
refers to the historical empire of Babylon. That
was the empire which Daniel, as he saw this vision,
was serving under, as it says in verse 1, Belshazzar.
And behold another beast, a second one resembling
a bear. A bear, a strong animal, a ferocious
animal. The bear follows this first beast and
historically has been fulfilled already in the
empire that arose after Babylon, indeed which
destroyed Babylon, conquered Babylon. That's
the empire of the Medes and the Persians. They
were a ferocious people in their battle against
their enemies, much like a bear is ferocious.
After this I kept looking, behold another one,
like a leopard which had on its back four wings
of a bird. Here we see a beast that is marked
for its swiftness. Again, historically, this
third beast followed the second one. It was fulfilled
in the empire of Alexander the Great in Greece.
Alexander was noted for the fastness by which
his armies moved, which would correlate with
the swiftness of this beast that is seen in verse
6. And then in verse 7, and 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. And
so Daniel sees another empire arise, controlling
the Gentile world as it was at that time. This
is an empire that follows Greece and again historically
it has been at least partially fulfilled in the
Roman Empire which crushed its enemies and enlarged
its borders. Rome was a terrifying enemy as the
beast is described here. Daniel is not given
in his vision understanding that there is a time
lapse involved in the fulfillment of this fourth
beast. He sees it all coming together. But from
the perspective where we are today, we understand
that this vision of a fourth beast has a certain
time element that is built into it by God. What
I mean is, that this fourth empire, the Roman
Empire, was never completely destroyed. It morally
corrupted and fell apart on its own. But it was
never conquered. And when he says it had ten
horns, comparing Scripture with Scripture, what
Daniel is talking about there is the bringing
together and the reviving of this Roman Empire
in the last days, being composed of ten nations.
A horn symbolically speaks of a power or authority
or a nation. Daniel is saying that he saw this
fourth beast as composed of ten powers or ten
entities, ten countries, ten nations. And as
we look in the book of Revelation we see that
that part of it has yet to be fulfilled in the
last days. Those days that are a part of the
tribulation which we studied our last time together.
Now we need to go on to verse 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." And so Daniel sees a very peculiar
thing. These ten horns have another horn that
seems to come up among them and causes three
of them to fall over, to be uprooted. And he
says that this horn has some characteristics
not just of a nation, but of a man. For he says,
the eyes of a man and the mouth uttering great
boasts. What we have here in this little horn
is Antichrist, as Daniel sees him arise from
the revived Roman Empire of the last days. I'll
turn over a few verses with me, maybe a page
or two in your Bible. to where Daniel says more
about this particular beast. Look at verse 23.
And he will be different from the previous ones
and will subdue three kings. So there are the
uprooting of the three horns. And 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. We do not know
fully what Daniel is told here. We do not understand
that from our perspective today. I have no doubt.
that as history unfolds and indeed as these days
come upon the earth that believers in those days
looking at the book of Daniel will say yes that's
exactly what it means here what's happening right
now it is interesting that with prophecy as the
times unfold additional understanding is gained
into ancient prophecies and that will continue
to be true apparently Antichrist will seek in
some way to alter the times, the calendar. And
he will also seek to change law. And it says
that these will be given into his hand for a
time, times, and half a time. That is an expression
that we referred to in the last message. It is
three and one half years. A time is one year,
times... at least two, and it is two, and a half
a time is a half of a year. You add that together,
it's three and a half years. And that is the
same as the 42 months that we read in Revelation
chapter 13. But it says the court will sit for
judgment. What court is this? This is God's court.
This is justice. And his dominion, antichrist
dominion, will be taken away, annihilated, and
destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, the
dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms
under the whole heaven will be given to the people
of the saints of the highest one. That is, God's
people will reign. His kingdom, Christ's kingdom,
will be an everlasting kingdom. And all the dominions
will serve and obey Him. At this point, the revelation
ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly
alarming me, and my face grew pale, but I kept
the matter to myself. I think we can understand
how Daniel must have felt at that time, more
than 500 years before Christ, as he was given
understanding of things that were to come upon
the earth. Antichrist is seen here in his person.
as a powerful political figure who will arise
out of the revived Roman Empire by overthrowing
part of that empire and apparently the rest then
giving themselves to him. That will then be his
power base from which he will make his additional
moves in the tribulation period. And God allows
him to have his way for a period of time. Satan
is able to give to this man what he offered to
Christ, but Christ refused in the temptation.
Satan will give to this man all of the kingdoms
of the earth, because this man will fall down
and worship him. Our Savior is a lamb. This one
is a beast. Our Savior is the truth. This man
will be the personification of the lie. Our Savior
is today in heaven building a heavenly New Jerusalem,
but this man will build an earthly Babylon which
is described in the 17th and 18th chapters of
the book of the Revelation. Our Savior is the
seed of the woman who has come to redeem the
lost, but this man will be the seed of the serpent.
Now there have been those who have conjectured
that Antichrist might be a Jew because he is
able to cause the Jewish people to follow him
for the first three and a half years. You recall
last time we saw that he would make a covenant
with the Jewish people for seven years and in
the middle of that covenant period he will break
the covenant by establishing an idol to himself
in the Jewish temple that will be constructed
in that day. And so some have felt that in order
for him to gain the loyalty of the Jewish people,
he must be a Jew. I think that that is not the
case, because we see him arising out of the Gentile
nations. But he will in fact deceive the Jews,
and he will guarantee to them the peace that
they long for so much tonight. He will be able
to secure for them, temporarily, a time when
they will have peace and safety as a nation.
But he will turn on them and begin to persecute
the Jews such as they have never been persecuted
up to this point, even by Hitler himself. Now
having thought about the person of Antichrist,
let's think for a moment about the power of Antichrist.
To do this, would you turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
in the New Testament. We look in 2 Thessalonians
at the second chapter. What we are told here
as Paul begins this chapter is that the day of
the Lord a biblical term that refers to that
period of judgment that is coming, the tribulation
period, but also the kingdom following. The Day
of the Lord is an eschatological or prophetic
term that is very broad, embracing first the
judgment at the end of this age, which then leads
to the blessing and prosperity of the millennial
reign of Christ. Now he says that that day will
not come until there is first a great apostasy.
Well, frankly, folks, I believe we're living
in that day when the apostasy is taking place.
That is, when many who name the name of Christ
are naming that name deceitfully and do not,
in fact, believe the truth about Him that He
is God and the only Savior of the world and that
His payment at the cross is the only payment,
the only provision that God has made for sin.
There are those who call themselves Christians.
They are part of large denominations. And yet
they are a part of the apostasy, sadly, for they
are falling away from the truth as God has revealed
it to us in His Word. Now he goes on to say,
in the second part of verse 3, the man of lawlessness
is revealed in that day, the son of destruction
or perdition, 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. Now this is
that abomination of desolations that we looked
at a couple of weeks ago in Daniel chapter 9.
The beast will have a partner in accomplishing
all of this, and that is that second beast that
we did not read about in Revelation chapter 13.
He is sometimes called the false prophet. But
whereas the beast is a political and military
figure, the false prophet, the second beast,
is a religious leader. His job seems to be to
bring worship to the first beast. And so he is
the one who arranges some kind of an idol. in
the temple in Jerusalem, which will speak and
from which amazing things will take place, which
will deceive the world and draw people after
Antichrist. Antichrist, as it is suggested in
Revelation 13, will apparently, at some point,
suffer a wound. A wound that should be fatal.
But he is resuscitated from that in an imitation
of a resurrection. And the suggestion seems to
be that it will be said that he was, in fact,
raised from the dead. And that will be his credentials
to claim that he is the Messiah, the Christ.
You remember we read in Revelation 13 about his
fatal wound which was healed. Now all of that
will cause this man to gain a larger than life
He will appear to be more than just a man. He
will in fact appear to be God and many will follow
him as God. He will establish himself as God
as it is said here. And then Paul goes on to
say in verse 6, and you know what restrains him
now so that in his time he may be revealed. It
would seem as though Satan would like to have
brought forth his antichrist long before this,
but he has been restrained. What is the restrainer?
Well, we've talked about that before, but I believe
that the restrainer is, in fact, the Holy Spirit
as he is working in and residing in the Church,
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I
who know and love the Lord who are part of the
body of Christ are handicapped to Satan. We are
a restraining force in this world so that Satan
is not able to move as quickly as he is determined
to move. So what is it that has hindered Satan
from bringing forth this Antichrist? Up to this
point it's been the Restrainer. Paul goes on
to say in verse 7, the mystery of lawlessness
is already at work even in his day. Only he who
now restrains will do so until he is taken out
of the way. And I believe that that will occur
at the rapture. Until that moment that we are
called out from the world, we are a restraining
force. But when we are gone, when we are gone,
may I say all hell will break loose upon the
earth. For then Satan will be able to freely
bring to pass the wicked and evil plans which
have been percolating in his mind, which have
been laid out carefully and schemed by him for
hundreds and hundreds of years. He will not delay,
in my opinion, in quickly bringing to pass the
coming of Antichrist once the rapture occurs.
Now that would suggest, to me at least, that
probably we will not know who Antichrist is before
we leave the earth. I have seen tracks written
about Henry Kissinger, about John Kennedy being
raised from the grave, and Hitler being... Either
raised or that he never died in that bunker and
somehow he's going to appear again And I think
all of those really are Well, they are speculation,
but I think they're more than that. I think they're
they're wrong. I Believe that this man has not
yet been upon the earth Perhaps he is alive today
That may well be but he has not been revealed
as the person that he is and will become as far
as becoming a national or international figure.
And I'm not sure that we will know who he is
before we depart. And frankly, I don't care about
that detail. Now it says in verse 8, and then,
that is, when we are taken out of the way, 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. That
is, The one who's coming is in accord with the
activity of Satan, with all power and signs and
false wonders. And I say it again, though I have
said it many times, that just because there are
signs and wonders and miracles, it does not mean
something is of God. It does not. For we learn
here that Satan is able, through his power and
activity, to bring forth exactly the same things.
And it says, 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. For
this reason, God will send upon them a deluding
influence so that they might believe what is
false, in order that they all may be judged who
did not believe the truth but took pleasure in
wickedness. I think that those three verses are
among the most solemn in the whole Bible. For
what I honestly believe they are teaching is
that those who in this age, at this time, reject
knowingly, willfully reject the gospel of Jesus
Christ and take pleasure in wickedness, that
they cannot be saved following the rapture of
the church. That their day of grace is now. that
once the rapture has taken place God is going
to send them as it says here a deception so that
they will not receive the love of the truth.
Now we might think that those that we are witnessing
to and pleading to come to Christ and be saved
will surely wake up once the rapture has occurred
and they will then trust the Lord if they don't
do it before. The fact is If I understand this
scripture correctly, that they will not trust
the Savior afterward. But because they rejected
the love of the truth, they will be turned to
believe what is false, and that is the lie of
Antichrist. Because they did not believe in the
truth, therefore they will believe a lie in that
day. that those who are saved in the tribulation
period, and there will be millions, as I've said
before, if the book of Revelation can be trusted,
and it can of course, then there will be millions
saved in the tribulation period. But they will
be those who have not heard, who have not heard
in this age of grace. And so the power of Antichrist
comes from Satan. And he will be given to do
miracles. including his own so -called resurrection.
Let me summarize and say that he will control
at least the Western world at that time, the
revived Roman Empire, through covenants. Then
it seems he will extend control over most of
the rest of the world. We have talked about the
covenant he will make with Israel. We have talked
about him establishing himself as God. and the
accompanying false prophet who will set up the
image of him in the temple. Arnold Toynbee the
historian said, we are ripe for the deifying
of any new Caesar who might succeed in giving
the world unity and peace. And he is absolutely
right. And a Christ will be given power to persecute
the elect that is the believers during the tribulation
and particularly it would seem those who are
Jews and who believe. He will inaugurate a worldwide
reign of terror, murder, and blasphemy directed
primarily against the people of God. Thirdly,
I'd like to talk about the punishment of Antichrist
and I think that's important to do because every
place, note this, every place in the New Testament
which speaks of him also speaks of His ultimate
punishment and His judgment. There is no exception
to that. Every passage that speaks of Him also
points to His ultimate doom. We see it here where
it is said that the Lord will destroy Him, verse
8, will slay Him with the breath of His mouth
and will bring to an end this man by the appearance
of His coming. Now, to see that more fully, turn
with me and we turn finally now to Revelation
chapter 19. We have here a prophetic view of
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as He returns
to the earth. It is a glorious picture as He
comes with His armies to subdue the armies of
Antichrist. And now it says in verse 19, And
I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and
their armies assemble to make war against him
who sat upon the horse and against his army.
That is Christ. And the beast was seized and
with him the false prophet. who performed the
signs in his presence, by which he deceived those
who had received the mark of the beast. We did
not talk about that, but that is that figure
666, which is mysterious to us today in its meaning,
but which again, I believe fully, will be understood
by those who are living in that day. And those
who worship the image, and it says these two
were thrown alive, into the lake of fire which
burns with brimstone. And so we have here a view
of that ultimate, awful, eternal place of punishment
for those who reject God. It is called the lake
of fire which burns with brimstone. Can you imagine
the horror and the terror of such a sight? as
a lake, a large body of fire. And the first two
inhabitants of that eternal lake of fire are
the beast and the false prophet. We see a little
bit later in chapter 20 a word regarding something
that will happen in the last days after that,
a thousand years later after that, after the
reign of Christ. when the devil is dealt with.
Notice what it says here. And the devil who deceived
them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone.
So he is number three going to that place. And
it says, where the beast and the false prophet
are also. And they will be tormented day and
night forever and ever. None of us can take joy
at those words. They are terrifying words. They're
horrible words. But what it says is that these
three, and as it goes on in the rest of these
verses in the chapter, all of the lost will inhabit
that place of punishment forever and forever.
And I want you to notice that a thousand years
later, after they were cast into the lake of
fire, they are still there. They were not annihilated.
They were not cast into the lake of fire and
burned up and that was it. But a thousand years
later they are there and they will be forever
and forever. The earth, the world as we know
it, is facing the most terrible time that will
ever come upon this globe. And part of the terror
of that time will be the Antichrist whom we have
studied tonight. It is futile for us to spend
time trying to guess who he is. What we need
to be doing is to be busy serving our master,
winning people to Christ so that they will not
have to spend eternity in hell and so that they
will not have to be upon the earth during this
reign of the lawless one. You say, well, I'll
tell you one thing. I am opposed to Antichrist,
and I am against anything Antichrist stands for.
And I say, amen to that. But folks, we've got
to be careful, because when you and I allow the
world system out there to control us and to dominate
us, we are cooperating with the very system that
will bring him forth and over which he will rule.
And so let us live godly and holy lives separated
from that world system. Let us not live for what
the world system tells us to live for. Let's
not be motivated by it. Let's not allow ourselves
to think like it thinks or to be propagandized
by its television and its other sources of media
into thinking like it wants us to think. Paul
said, don't let the world system squeeze you
into its mold. And let's not do that, but let's
be renewed in our minds by the Word of God and
live for Jesus Christ faithfully. As I look at
this powerful figure who's going to come upon
the earth, I'm glad to remember that greater
is he who is in me than he who is in the world
who is going to bring forth this, his masterpiece.
Let's sing about that in closing. Number 100.
Oh, my book closed on me, so I'll have to look
it up again. It is number 97. Greater is he that
is in me greater is he that is in me than he
that is in the world.