The Antichrist

THE DAILY WORD
By Jim Seekamp

Thursday November 6, 2008

I've had people ask me why I don't mention Matthew 24 or the other end time references in the Gospels when explaining the rapture and the Day Of The Lord. The answer is very simple.

The four Gospels were written in Old Testament times, and everything that happened in them was under Old Testament law until Jesus arose from the dead. Jesus spoke to his disciples as JEWS, not as Christians, since there were no Christians when Jesus walked the earth before his death and resurrection. Jesus' explanations of the end times to his disciples come from a Jewish perspective, as his disciples always questioned Him from the perspective. The disciples were looking for a Messiah who would save ISRAEL.

The epistles, on the other hand, were written by Christians, to Christians, and for Christians. A Christian's perspective of the end times should therefore be gleaned from the New Testament epistles!! (And Revelation, of course.)

Since there is so much interest in the subject, and since I hear some people even wondering whether Obama is the antichrist, let's see what the BIBLE says about the antichrist:

1 John 2:18,19 (NIV)
18. Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

The prefix "anti-" generally means "the opposite of". An "anti-" something is a completely opposite substitute. John tells us that there have already been many "antichrists"-- people who have taken their stand against Jesus Christ.

Notice that these antichrists "went out from" the early church!! In other words, they were part of the church, and then they left, because they never really "belonged"!!

From that we can glean that the antichrist beast will have been part of a church that is recognized as Christian (although the world will find out later that he was never a Christian, and never belonged to the Body Of Christ).

1 John 2:22 (NIV)
Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist-- he denies the Father and the Son.

Here we see that an "antichrist", although he associates with a church, is NOT a Christian. He was never born again by confessing Jesus as Lord and believing thet God raised Jesus from the dead. (Romans 10:9)

There are many such "antichrists" right here in our nation, and although Obama does fit the description in some ways, it would be wrong to just say that he is the "antichrist" beast mentioned in Revelation because he roughly fits a couple of the descriptions in the Bible.

Revelation 13:1 (NIV)
1. And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.

The Bible tells us that this beast will set himself up in direct opposition to Christ, giving a false promise Israel to give them the land, and bringing peace for the first three and a half years of the tribulation period.

Revelations 13:2-9 (NIV)
2. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3. ne of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.
4. Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?" 5. The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months.
6. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7. He was given power to make war against the saints (those who turned to Christ after the rapture) and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.
8. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast-- all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.

The description of the beast - especially the ten horns and seven heads - leads us to believe he is a political leader. He will achieve worldwide control through his plan for peace. This ruler will be in this position for the entire seven year tribulation period.

The "fatal wound" that has been healed is also mentioned later on in the chapter, where it is said that he was "wounded by the sword and yet lived".

There is a second beast, a "false prophet", who will assume a place of leadership in the religious community.

Revelation 13:11-18 (NIV)
11. Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. 12. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13. And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men.
14. Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17. so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
18. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666.

Having two horns like a lamb but spoke like a dragon signifies his role in a religion. The word "dragon" is used for satan in Revelation, so the False Prophet basically "looks like a lamb" (Christ), but speaks like a dragon (Satan). The role of this second beast is to support the first beast - the political leader. The authority that this False Prophet has is given to him by Satan through the political leader (the antichrist). His role is to cause the inhabitants of the earth to worship the antichrist, fulfilling the third part of a "false trinity".

It is easy to speculate that Islam's "12th Imam", who they are globally declaring to be on the verge of appearing, is either the false prophet or the antichrist himself. The "12th Imam" is the muslim messiah, who is supposed to be the second coming of Mohammed. If you read up on the history of Mohammed, the "prophet" of Islam, you'll find he was a very violent man, who killed, raped, and plundered: the eact opposite of Jesus Christ.

(To be continued)

PRAYER
Thank You Father for Your perfect love for me. Help me to reflect that love to others by being like You and not keeping a record of wrongs others have done. Help me reflect Your patience and kindness to the world.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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