Antichrist;
Tyranny and Slavery Rev. 6:1-2; Rev. 13
The end time is characterised by the culmination of all of these hopes
and dreams of fallen man against the plan of God. It is that time in history
when God is going to pull back all restraint on man’s hopes to establish
himself independently from God, and in that process of pulling back those
restraints we are going to see the culmination of the failures of all of the
systems of what the Bible calls worldly thinking to demonstrate that man on his
own can never achieve peace, stability, happiness, real joy and success, and
that ultimately all the human systems which have been designed to try to bring
any sort of stability to the world are doomed to failure. This becomes very
clear in the first four judgments in Revelation chapter six.
Revelation 6:2 NASB “I looked, and behold, a white horse, and
he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out
conquering and to conquer.” That last phrase should be “he went out conquering
in order to conquer”; it is a purpose clause. It reveals that the purpose of
this final judgment is to allow one to go forth who will execute a conquest in
the attempt to unify the kingdom of man. This he will come close to doing by
the mid-point of the Tribulation where he will institute a global government.
As we look at the first seal judgment the emphasis is on this world
leader that will arise and form his kingdom. Understanding what the Bible
teaches about the Antichrist is important because of much of Revelation and the
events of Revelation are stimulated by his leadership and his attempt to unify
the kingdom of man over against God. What is meant by the kingdom of man? This
idea can trace itself back to the period after the Noahic flood, the time of
the
In Revelation chapter thirteen the Antichrist is referred to as a beast,
and this has its foundation in Daniel chapter seven. Revelation 13:1 NASB
“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.” This shows that
the devil is behind the kingdom of man, and the leader of the kingdom of man in
the end tomes will be the Antichrist. This is the first of two beasts. The
first beast is the Antichrist; the second is the false prophet. The ten horns
represent ten kingdoms. [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.” This
fits exactly with what is seen in Daniel chapter seven which speaks of the
beast which comes out of the sea. The sea is a picture of the Gentile nations.
So the imagery here in Revelation 13 comes right out of Daniel 7. The end times
kingdom is going to pull together all of the strength and characteristics of
these earlier manifestations of various kingdoms. [4] “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?’”
So we learn that the Antichrist himself, the beast, is empowered by the dragon.
Cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10 NASB “{that is,} the one whose coming is
in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false
wonders,
Daniel 11:36 NASB “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.” So he is hostile to God, and
that hostility to God is going to bleed over into a hostility to those whose
allegiance is to God, those who worship God. As we will see, this leads to the
Antichrist making war against the saints. Revelation 13:7 NASB “It
was also 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.”
He will amass world-wide power and authority and will make war against the
saints. Daniel 7:25 NASB “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.” So what happens in the end times is that the
Antichrist will begin to make war against all who worship the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, the God of the Bible. As we will see in the fifth seal in
Revelation chapter six this will result in the mass execution and martyrdom of
millions of Christians.
In the Tribulation some will turn to God but the vast majority are going
to turn against God and lift up their fists, shake then in His face, and they
are going to blame God for everything that is happening, and begin to blame all
of the believers for what is happening. In that process, once they begin to
blame the believers, then they will begin to persecute and imprison them and
execute them. We already see trends of this type taking place in different
western nations in our time. It is done under the guise of laws to prohibit
hate speech, and as such anyone who wants to say that certain minorities such
as, for example, homosexuals are
committing a sin and that homosexuality is prohibited by God, is considered to
be as heinous as any Nazi who committed genocide against the Jews in WW 2.
In Revelation 13:13, 14 we go on to see that when the Antichrist comes
into power his claims to power will be validated by various miracles. NASB
“He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to
the earth in the presence of men.
Finally, what we see in Revelation 13 is that the Antichrist will have
control of the global economy: vv. 16, 17 NASB “And he causes all,
the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the
slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,
When we look at these things we realise that the basic problem is a
complete rejection of the five divine institutions that God established in the
creation of man. This is the key to being able to make good decisions on
anything and to think through current events. The five divine institutions are:
a) individual responsibility. There are consequences to bad decisions and no
government or anybody else can come in and take away these negative
consequences; there is no safety net. This goes all the way through the Mosaic
Law. The principles that we find in a free market economy are embedded in the
Scripture; marriage—between one man and one woman. You don’t try to get around
it by this subterfuge of civil union. God established these institutions for
believers and unbelievers alike. It is the way He made creation. Attempting to
get around it means that everything will eventually fall apart; c) family—the
real school, the training ground for future generations; d) human government.
The role of human government is to protect us from evil, criminality inside the
state, to execute justice and righteousness, and national distinctions. When we
forget these things everything else falls apart.
Deuteronomy 8:18-20 NASB
“But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power
to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your
fathers, as {it is} this day.