THE ANTI-CHRIST
Added to this web site 6/1/2001
(Please print out the study guide
that goes with this study. It’s on this
web site and is a must for this study)
In my opinion The
Anti-Christ is one of those topics that brings to mind about as many different
ideas as the subject of salvation. Many
Christians believe that Roman Catholicism is the antichrist. And this thought is very popular among some
Bible Students.
In January 1999,
the media gave extensive coverage to Pope John Paul's visit to Mexico and the
United states. They showed pictures of multitudes gathered to welcome him and
it seemed to me, from the expressions on their faces, that many were
worshipping the Pope.
(Read Yellow Box on Study Guide)
Nearly everyone these days has some knowledge or opinion
as to who or what the antichrist is. And, I think the majority of us, and I am
certainly no exception myself, base our opinions on someone else's ideas.
To illustrate, in
March of 1916, B.H. Barton, a well
known Bible Scholar in his day, wrote a letter on the subject of a personal
antichrist to the editor of a world-wide Christian publication. In his letter, Brother Barton suggested that
the antichrist would one day be Satan himself manifested in the flesh. It's hard to imagine anyone back in 1916
believing Satan would ever become flesh.
The editor had a
personal belief that Roman Catholicism was the antichrist and was therefore not
receptive to the Barton idea. But he published the letter anyway. By doing this
the editor preserved that letter for anyone to read in reprints of his
writings. (5865)
And now here we
are nearly 100 years later about to re-think the matter and once again consider
whether the Bible says that Satan will someday take on a body of flesh and
claim to be the returned Christ. After
all the Bible is God's letter to all of His children.
To begin let me
remind you of our Lord's references to "false Christ's" from Matthew
24. Please keep in mind who comes
first Christ or Antichrist!
(Someone Read Matt 24:5 and continue with 23-24)
Keep in mind who comes first Christ or Antichrist!
Matt. 24:5.
"For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive
many."
Matt.
24:23-24): "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or
there; believe it not. (24) For there shall arise false Christ's, and false
prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were
possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
OK let us get
right down to it! One of the many
titles given to antichrist is "The Abomination of Desolation." In
Daniel Chapter 12 the prophet makes reference to an abomination that maketh
desolate being set up. OK let's
read verse 11: (Someone Read)
DAN 12:11 KJV
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the
abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred
and ninety days.
There are only
seven words we want to look at right now, the rest deal with a time frame
and that's another study altogether. Those seven words are: "the
abomination that maketh desolate set up."
Those 7 words say that something abominable to God...something
terrible... something WORSE than most people can imagine, will be SET UP. And this abominable thing, whatever it is,
will make for desolation.
Now, this by
itself tells us very little...but Daniel clearly states that something
ABOMINABLE to God is going to be put in place, or set in motion.
And we find our
Lord Jesus Christ supporting Daniel's words.
Let's look now at Matthew 24.
Verse 15!
(Someone Read)
MAT 24:15 KJV
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel
the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Since in Matthew
24 our Lord quoted Daniel, we know for sure that this abominable thing, whatever
it is, is clearly associated with end times and our Lord told us that this
abominable thing, whatever it is, stands in the holy place. Let's keep in mind that the Holy
place is Jerusalem NOT Rome. And
the words "whoso readeth, let him understand..." imply there is a great mystery to be
solved. So our job is to try and unravel
this big mystery!
Let me ask a question. What is the most abominable
thing you can imagine? Maybe some are thinking that multitudes of
Christians worshipping the Pope is the most abominable thing imaginable. But,
maybe there's something worse.
Brother Barton
reasoned that the most abominable thing to God would be for Satan himself to be
sitting on a throne in a new temple in Jerusalem claiming to be the returned
Christ and the Jews believing their Messiah, has finally arrived. Is that abominable?
But, wait, let's
add some 21st century reasoning of our own.
What if the Jews are NOT the only ones to believe this. What if the majority of the world; millions
of Christians (including Catholics) as well as millions of NON
believers, atheists, agnostics; believe it too? Is that abominable or is that ABOMINABLE?
But, as we said,
for centuries many Christians have believed that the Roman Catholic
system is the Abomination of Desolation.
Some have envisioned the Pope as sitting on a world throne claiming to
be the vicar of God and millions believing he is the only means of salvation.
Yet we have to
keep one thing in mind. The world at
large will have to believe the antichrist is the returned Christ. But, most of the people in the world do not believe Roman Catholicism
or the Pope is anything more than just another, very powerful, world wide religious denomination. And don't forget those millions of
Catholics! They don't believe their
church system or their Pope
is the antichrist. So this hasn't
fooled the world at large very much up to now.
On the other
hand, the real antichrist will fool the majority
of earth's inhabitants including many Christians. And for this reason the
abominable aspects of brother Barton's notion of Satan himself manifested
in the flesh claiming to be the returned Christ makes the Roman Catholic system
seem like a harmless Sunday School Picnic by comparison. It may turn out that Roman
Catholicism is a type of the
real antichrist. Who can
say? We will have to wait and see about
that.
Some of you may
be saying, "That's interesting, but what about some proofs."
OK, fair
enough! The word antichrist appears in
the Bible only 5 times in 4 verses and 4 of those are in 1 John and the other
one is in 2 John. Let's read all four.
(Someone Read)
1. (1JO 2:18
KJV) Little children, it is the last
time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are
there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
(Someone
Read)
2. (1JO 2:22 KJV)
Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist,
that denieth the Father and the Son.
(Someone
Read)
3. (1JO 4:3
KJV) And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that
spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and
even now already is it in the world.
(Someone Read)
4. (2JO
1:7 KJV) For many deceivers are entered
into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is
a deceiver and an antichrist.
Before going on
we need to deal with one Scripture which is sometimes quoted to say that
antichrist has already come.
Please listen again to I John 4:3.
(1JO 4:3
KJV) And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that
SPIRIT of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and
even now already is it in the world.
Notice that John
says the SPIRIT of antichrist shall come...and then he says IT, meaning the SPIRIT, is already in
the world.
The word Spirit
is the key and the reference is to the Spirit of Antichrist. There is no question that the SPIRIT
of antichrist was already in the world in John's day.
Now as for THE
ANTICHRIST himself, we are told in
verse 18 that "ANTICHRIST shall come." So that makes it future.
Then John pointed out that even in THAT day there were many
antichrists. Let's read I John 2:18 again.
(Someone Read)
Little
children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist
shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it
is the last time.
And again in
verses 22 and 23 John defines antichrists. John says: And I'll read I John
2:22-23:
(22) Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus
is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. (23) Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not
the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
Question....what group of people in John's day and very
well known to John, denied that Jesus is the Christ? Would you agree
that the Jews denied that Jesus was the Christ? John said "he is antichrist who denieth the Son for in so
doing he denieth both the Father and the Son."
Now we are NOT saying that the Jews
are THE antichrist! Not at all. However,
according to our under-standing, the Jews have the SPIRIT of antichrist as defined by the
Apostle John.
Keep in mind that
Jesus said in Luke 9:50, "He that is NOT against us is for
us." Jesus was saying that anyone
not for him is against Him or opposed to Him or ANTI-Him or to say it bluntly Anti-Christ.
But, the
information that really opened my eyes is when I learned that the GREEK
preposition ANTI has a double meaning.
According to the noted Bible Scholar William Barclay, the Greek word
"ANTI" can mean:
(Please read the purple box bottom of column 1)
(1) An opponent or against. And
(2) Instead of or in place of; a
substitute! Did you hear that…a
substitute or in place of.
Now we all know
that our Lord Jesus Christ had a pre human existence, but when He was made
flesh and dwelt among us, He was not accepted by the Jews as their Messiah and
the son of God.
So the questions we need to ask are, (1) "Would Satan, who also had a pre
human existence, be a logical candidate for THE antichrist if he should
become flesh? (2) What if this happened at a time when Christians in general are looking for Christ
to return? And (3) what would happen if
Satan did appear in the flesh claiming to be the returned Christ?
Another question! Would the Jews, who did not accept
Christ as their messiah 2000 years ago, accept someone now who claimed to be
THE MESSIAH?
More questions!
What if the WORLD, now that it has come together as a "new
order", perceived such a person to be the World's Savior, a universal
leader? What if they believed he could
straighten out the mess the world is in?
What would the Jews say? What
would the Arabs say? The Chinese, the
Russians or even Christendom?
If the world at
large believed this person to be an all encompassing Buddha, Mohammed, Christ,
God, Jehovah, and all else, would the Jews dare to argue with the world and
miss out on a second chance to claim their Messiah had finally arrived? I don't think so!
What if this
powerful man actually claimed to be a descendant of King David? Would they say, "Here is our Lord, we
have WAITED for him?" Would they build a new temple for him in Jerusalem
and invite him to sit on David's throne?
But, like me you
may be wondering what could trigger all this. Or to paraphrase Daniel's words,
"what might set up this abomination that makes desolate?"
Could worldwide
problems become serious enough to bring this about? What if all the nations of the world peacefully surrender their
sovereignty to the new world order making the United Nations the world's
government? Suppose energy prices go
sky high? What if UN forces attempt to
confiscate all privately owned firearms?
What if world currency is replaced by digits in a computer causing the
world to become a cashless society?
Would the unarmed people of the world grab their baseball bats and pitch
forks and try to re-capture their governments or would they blame each other
and attack neighbors and friends for the predicament they find themselves in?
Or would they accept serfdom and just go into a peaceful shell? Question!
Who is naive enough to believe that none of this is happening as we
speak?
I believe they
would accept serfdom, just rolling over and becoming complacent. Let me suggest an analogy. It's a known fact that if one puts a live
frog into a pot of warm water and gradually raises the temperature, the frog
will be boiled alive although he could have jumped out at any time.
And this gradual
increase in the temperature of freedoms lost has been going on for several
decades now.
Who will have an
answer? Suppose someone suddenly
appeared with answers that would excite the worlds slaves to believe a
liberator had finally arrived. Supposed
this person claimed to be the returned Christ, would they worship him? Suppose he claimed he could fix world
problems by changing times or laws. Someone please look up Daniel
7:25: It not in your study guide:
And he shall
speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the
most High, and think to change
times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and
times and the dividing of time.
How do you change
times? You change History, you rewrite
the books. Are history books being
rewritten?
But, wait, let us
slow down a bit and look at all this a different way. People all over the world
have been looking for something to happen that will signal better times. For some it's democracy. For many, it's the New World Order with a
one-world government, a one-world currency, and a one-world religion; in short
a powerful United Nations in full control of all the nations of the earth.
For some
Christians, it's the expected return of Jesus Christ. All down through the gospel age, each generation has felt that
Christ would return during his lifetime.
They felt that way in Paul's day and many, including me, feel that way
today.
No matter how one
may look at it, the whole world is in constant expectation of something to
happen, be it good or bad, that will signal change.
Questions!
Yet, as we look
back over the past 75 years or so, the facts of today are these: Israel was
made a nation, when
(in 1948.) There have been two world
wars, many smaller wars, the discovery of atomic energy, radio, (and what else can you think
of?) television, jet air travel, computers, space exploration, the
reunification of Germany, formation of the European community, the collapse of
the Soviet Union and now a one world system known as the "New World
Order."
Some think Christianity is spreading in the world. I used to hear ministers talk about a moral
majority. But lately many are saying
there is no moral majority, there is only a moral MINORITY. In reality,
political correctness helps proves the point. Today a very popular common belief is, "It's OK to talk about God, because God can be anything man wants
Him to be. But, don't mention Jesus
Christ.
Then there are
those who believe God is Allah.
Others believe God is Buddha.
Some have recently decided that God is Sophia and still others
believe they themselves are god. In this day and time it's politically
correct to respect all of these beliefs including the right to believe
someone else is god.
Since god can be
anything man can conceive of, there is emerging in the world a one world
religion which is starting to say that god is a figment of man's imagination.
In this our day it seems that it is politically correct to say that god is he
or she or whatever else.
But what is fast
becoming NOT OK in our day is to mention Christ or Jesus or Christians
or Christianity. Although still legal, any endearing term referring to Christ
is NOT politically correct.
QUESTION! Will these things and this kind of thinking pave the way
for the empowerment of a FALSE CHRIST; an ANTICHRIST, who is in reality a
substitute Christ, an impersonator, a false Christ? Will the temperature of the
water be raised more and more until the abomination of desolation is put in
place?
Question! Will peace talks in
the middle east somehow allow the Jews
to rebuild the temple at or near the original place where
it was?
If the Jews do in
fact build a third temple, then this
temple would most likely share the Holy Place with "The Dome of the Rock" (Islam)
and with "The Church of the Holy Sepulcher" (Catholic). Then the new temple would enable all three of the dominant
religions of the world to be represented in Jerusalem.
And because of
the similarities of these beliefs, it might be possible for the antichrist to
"stand in the Holy Place" claiming to be the Messiah for ALL.
In order to be
acceptable to the general Catholic system, he could claim to be either Christ
or God. Either term would be OK for
them. For the Jews he could
claim to be their long awaited Messiah.
They might reason, "It doesn't matter if we were wrong the first
time, but no way are we gonna miss it this time. This has to be Him. Lo we have
waited for him."
And antichrist
could claim to be either Allah or Mohammed for the Arabs. Either name might get their attention.
But antichrist
can't leave out the atheists and agnostics. To be acceptable to the whole
WORLD, he has to please them too. Our
thought is that he could use humanism and say that each person on earth is a
god, but that he is god of god's, the leader of all people. In other words, since god is becoming a
universal term, he could be all things to all people. In just a short time from now this kind of thing might fool a lot
of people who are being conditioned for it even as we speak.
Could something
like this happen? We've tried to think of the most abominable thing
imaginable. And the icing on the cake
is that if this antichrist, who claimed to be the world's Messiah, turned out
to be Satan himself in a body of flesh with world wide acclaim and a one‑world
government worshipping the adversary of both God and man, then that's the
pinnacle of abomination. If this
happens, it should bring on the day of God's wrath. But, praise the Lord, the elect of God would not be fooled by any
of this.
Now to seriously
consider that Satan might be made flesh and appear on this planet requires
Scriptural proof. So let's go now to our Bibles and find some of these
Scriptures that suggest that Satan will become flesh. We will start with Rev. chapter 12 verse 9.
(Someone Read)
And the great
dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which
deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were
cast out with him.
This says that
Satan was cast out of heaven and into the earth. Let's not forget that Satan has been in and out of heaven all
during the age just as it says in the book of Job. But this casting out is permanent. He will never again go back into heaven.
Let's look at
another verse. Rev. 12:12:
(Someone Read)
Therefore
rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the
earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath,
because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Here the
Scriptures tell us that Heaven can rejoice because the Devil is no longer
there. But a warning is issued to the
EARTH...it says the DEVIL has come down to YOU and he is full of wrath knowing
that his time is short.
That's two
scriptures. Now let's look at Rev.
12:13:
(Someone Read)
And when the
dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which
brought forth the man child.
Remember,
"the dragon" was defined as the Devil and Satan in verse 9. And here in verse 13 it says, that the
dragon (which is to say Satan) SAW that he was cast into the earth. Apparently, it will happen suddenly and he
will not be expecting it at that exact moment.
He saw, which is to say, he realized where he was and what had happened
to him.
Now, some may be
saying, "What's the big deal? We
have known that for years." The
big deal is that he was cast out of heaven and into the earth. Now if you are saying to me, "This does
not prove that he was made flesh."
I would have to say that I completely agree with you. And to prove the point we will look
elsewhere.
Now let me
explain Charlie's law which is that if you know what you're looking for
then you will recognize it when you find it.
So we are looking for Scriptures that suggest that Satan will become
flesh.
Next, let's turn
to Isaiah chapter 14 verse 12.
This talks about Lucifer, and I
know most of you are familiar with this verse for it's often quoted. It says: (Someone Read)
(KJV 12) How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,
son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
OK hold it right
there for a moment. Notice the word
ground. It says "How are thou cut
down to the ground..." Please
continue with verses 13-15:
(13) For thou
hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in
the sides of the north:
(14) I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
(15) Yet thou
shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
It seems clear
that the angelic being who fell from heaven in verse 12 and who would exalt his
throne above the throne of God in verse 13, is none other than the adversary of
God and man, Satan himself. And verse 15 talks of his demise. But, the key verse is verse 16. And this is the main one we want to
consider. Someone please read verses 16 and 17:
(KJV 16) They that see thee shall
narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth
to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
(17) That made
the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not
the house of his prisoners?
"They that
SEE THEE." Think about that,
"they that see thee". To be
seen, requires visibility. This Scripture tells us that when Satan is brought
down to the sides of the pit, that he will be visible and those who see him
will look upon him and say, "Is this the MAN that made the earth to
tremble." Since Satan is referred
to as a MAN and it says he can be seen, what conclusions may we draw? It seems clear to me that see means see
and look means look and man means man.
Now let's look at
Ezekiel 28:12. God is telling Ezekiel
to take up a lamentation upon the King of Tyrus. Who is the King of Tyrus? And what is going to happen to him? Someone read verses 12 and 13:
EZE 28:12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the
king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the
sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
EZE 28:13 Thou
hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the
sardius, topaz, etc....
I think the big
clue here is the reference to the Garden of Eden. This scripture tells us that this King of Tyrus was there. And we know that the only created beings in
Eden were Adam, Eve, and Satan. Therefore,
this scripture clearly defines the King of Tyrus as Satan. So with that thought in mind let's read
further. Please continue reading Verses 14-17:
(14) Thou art
the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the
holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones
of fire.
(15) Thou wast
perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was
found in thee.
(16) By the
multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence,
and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain
of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the
stones of fire.
(17) Thine
heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by
reason of thy brightness: I
will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they
may behold thee.
Hey, listen to
that again...."I WILL CAST THEE TO THE GROUND...." Where?
"To the ground." And
what else does it say...? It says,
"I will lay thee before kings..."
And where are kings? Kings are
on the earth. And what will the kings do when Satan is cast to the ground
before these kings? The scripture says,
"They will behold thee."
They, the kings of the earth, will SEE him...and in order for earthly
beings to see someone, he has to be in the same physical realm where they
are. He has to be fleshly as they are.
Does this say in
no uncertain terms that Satan will be made flesh? I think so! And when
Satan becomes flesh Rev. 20:2 says he is bound for 1,000 years. And we think he is bound in a body of
flesh…bound in the physical realm.
And the Scripture
goes on: Please read verse 18:
(18) Thou hast
defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity
of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it
shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight
of all them that behold thee.
This King of
Tyrus, this Satan, is to be devoured by a fire emanating from his own midst and
it will happen in the SIGHT of all them that behold him. In other words the destruction of Satan will
take place in plain sight right here on the earth...and in the sight of all
those who see him. Is this clear or is
this clear?
And please read verse 19:
(19) All they
that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a
terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
That is the
lamentation God told Ezekiel to give for the King of Tyrus...Satan...the Devil.
For many students
of the Bible this is more than ample proof that Satan will someday be made
flesh and dwell on planet earth.
Let's conclude
with a make believe scenario. Remember, this is only a figment of our
imagination.
The time is Twenty
something or other...and the Networks are reporting to the world the coronation
of a new King in Jerusalem. We switch
now to Dan Brokenjaw in Jerusalem and we imagine him to be saying something
like this.
"You have
just seen our World Leader and god officially seated on David's throne in the
ancient Holy Place. At this time there remain only a few skeptics
throughout the entire world. Some
thought that it would be difficult to convince the religious leadership of the
Jews. But that seemingly impossible hurdle was quickly and easily overcome when
it was proved that this new world leader...the Messiah, was linked by blood to
King David of the Old Testament.
"That
lineage was obvious when it was recognized that this NEW Ethiopian King of all
the earth is a descendant of Haile Selassie who goes back to David and
Bathsheba through their son Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. No doubt many are living today who remember
the "Lion's Mane" Haile Selassie wore on his colorful head dress
indicating that he is truly 'The Lion of the tribe of Judah.' Now, we can
surely have real peace in the world...yes, peace and safety. And we can all join in with the Jewish
people and say, "Here is our Messiah...lo we have waited for
him." This is Dan Brokenjaw in
Jerusalem...back to our headquarters in New York."
Can this happen?
Will something similar to this happen? Will the world one day rally
around the prince of darkness while seeking god in human form?
Please listen
carefully to 2 Thes. 2:3-12: I'll be reading from the New King James for it's a
little clearer than the Old King James.
The Apostle Paul said, and you can follow along with your study guide:
2TH 2:3 (NKJ) Let
no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling
away comes first, and the man of sin (another name for antichrist) is revealed,
the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and
exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he
sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
5 Do you not
remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
6 And now you
know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.
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 And then the
lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His
mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
9 The coming of
the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs,
and lying wonders,
10 and with all
unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the
love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this
reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
12 that they all
may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.
Any discussion?
Let's conclude
just as we started. Let's take another
look at the words of our Lord in Mat 24:24:
MAT
24:24 KJV For there shall arise false Christ's, and false prophets, and shall
shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall
deceive the very elect.
Brethren we
should get on out knees and praise the Lord that deception of the elect is NOT
POSSIBLE. We must teach this to our
children and loved ones, our families and friends. And no matter what the
devil does, or even what the world does,
neither we nor our families will
be deceived thereby. (End of study)
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