CHAPTER 10
THE
ANTICHRIST
&
THE BEAST
By Doug Krieger
Pergamos Ministries
The Tribulation Network
www.the-tribulation-network.com
YOUR
COVENANT WITH DEATH AND YOUR AGREEMENT WITH HELL . . . The “Kings” of Revelation
17:10-11
It is no small thing that Israel (target of
Ezekiel 38-39 of the forces of Gog-Magog) and the forces of Antichrist/King of
Babylon—(target of the forces of both King of the North and King of the South in
Daniel 11) find that their "mutual concerns" against Gog-Magog—King of the
North/King of the South—could and should be strengthened.
Both Isaiah 28:15 and 18 and Daniel 9:27 speak
of an “agreement” and/or “a covenant” (not THE covenant) between “the coming
prince” (Daniel) and with “Sheol” (Isaiah). Whether the imposition of this
TREATY (which Antichrist will “cause to bear” upon Israel) is concluded just
prior to the Gog-Magog conflagration or as a result of that struggle seems
chronologically irrelevant.
Daniel’s contemplation, however, clearly
announces the commencement of his 70th Week; that final Seven-Year’s of the
Reign of Antichrist (the first 3 ½ years—the “beginning of sorrows” and Rise of
the Antichrist) and the Terror of the Beast (the final 3 ½ days/years or 42
months of Daniel’s 70th Week, when, at the commencement of the 70th Week “A
COVENANT WITH DEATH AND WITH SHEOL is CONFIRMED WITH THE MANY (i.e., Daniel’s
people, the Jews) FOR ONE WEEK” – only to be BROKEN in the midst of the Week
when the “abomination of desolation” takes place!
This is further confirmed from Revelation
17:8-11:
“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and
will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell
on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from
the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and
yet is. Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains
on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is,
and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short
time. The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of (or
“out of”) the seven, and is going to perdition.”
John’s writing of The Revelation places himself
within the “King” or “Kingdom” of the SIXTH KING—“ONE IS” (Rev. 17:10)—which is
the Roman Empire. The previous FIVE who HAVE FALLEN are five empires/kings
which have adversely affected ancient Israel—they are undoubtedly in this
order: Egypt, Assyria, Neo-Babylonia, Medo-Persia, and Greece (five in all who
have “fallen”). John states “there are also seven kings” – therefore, the
SEVENTH KING is referred to by John as “the other has not yet come . . . and
when he comes, he must continue a short time” (Rev. 17:10b).
It is impossible to disassociate the SEVENTH
KING from the EIGHTH KING—for immediately we read after the verse in Revelation
17:10, vs. 11: “The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the EIGHTH
(i.e., King/Kingdom; but the stress has moved to the PERSONIFICATION OF THE KING
OF BABYLON), AND IS OF THE SEVEN or “out of” THE SEVENTH KING!
Firstly, this SEVENTH KING has not yet come but,
when he comes, he must continue a short time. One would have to say that 3 ½
years is certainly “a short time.”
Secondly, it appears that the connectivity
between the SEVENTH and the EIGHTH KING is undeniable, given the context of the
passages and of the Greek language which confirms this connectivity. SOMETHING
HAS HAPPENED THAT HAS TERMINATED THE REIGN OF THE SEVENTH KING BUT HAS ALSO
CONNECTED THE SEVENTH KING TO THE EIGHTH KING!
Again, Barnhouse confirms our suspicions:
“The eleventh verse (i.e., Revelation 17:11)
introduces some of the details of that last empire revival. Many have found
this to be an enigma, but if we remember what we studied in the thirteenth
chapter, it will be simple. There we saw that the power rising out of the
nations was the last dictator who would arise with Rome (Note: Barnhouse, along
with numerous evangelicals of his time and before his time, saw “a revived Roman
Empire” as the “seat of Antichrist” and did not have an understanding of the
development of Western Civilization and of the “younger horn” who would indeed
arise from among the 10-nation confederation of the Last Days—i.e., America
primarily “came out of” Europe).
“To him Satan appears and to him the Satanic
rule is committed. The dragon endows him with his power, his throne and with
great authority (13:3). If we look upon the Roman dictator as being the
seventh, he becomes the eighth, the Antichrist at the time of the Satanic
incarnation, and thereby becomes an eighth (i.e., the Beast – note that the
Greek is not the eighth), who is thus out of the seven, since Satan is the cause
of all of the others. He now comes to his judgment, going down to perdition.”
(p. 330)
"Your Covenant with Death and your agreement
with Hell" ("The Covenant with the Many" wherein Antichrist underwrites Israel's
security in a Defense Pact), appears designed to unite the forces of both
Antichrist and Israel together against a common foe: Gog-Magog (King of the
North and King of the South).
Gog-Magog are NOT the forces of Antichrist;
neither (in spite of certain misconstrued chapter headlines placed by Bible
editors) is the conflagration of Daniel 11 pitting the King of the South against
the King of the North. I realize that the above is very difficult (at this
time) to understand (i.e., the relationship of the Gog-Magog War of Ezk. 38-39
and the conflict between the King of the North/King of the South and Antichrist
in Daniel 11); however, they are inseparably bound together and have now taken
on unbelievable significance as we face the countdown to the Gog-Magog War;
while American forces commence to light the fuse with the invasion and
occupation (a.k.a., democratization) of ancient Babylon (i.e., modern Iraq).
THE "GRECO-ROMAN" NATURE OF
ANTICHRIST—I BEG TO DIFFER: ANTICHRIST IS NOT A JEW!
Notwithstanding, the incredibly profound
interest we have in the above subject, because of the current drama now
unfolding in the Middle East, the main reason I have addressed the description
of the "Little Horn" of Daniel 7 and 8, is to draw attention to both his "Roman"
(Daniel 7) and his "Greco" (Daniel 8) nature. Antichrist, as King of Babylon,
is described by Daniel as both ROMAN and GREEK. Western Civilization has always
been referred to as the “Greco-Roman World.”
It is mandatory to understand that "The
Coming Prince" (the title of Sir Robert Anderson's classic, which delves
into Daniel's revelation of the Antichrist at great length and the arrival of
Messiah into Jerusalem
on Palm Sunday) is the leader of Western Civilization or, is "Greco-Roman" in
his essence.
Countless and well-meaning brethren have
ascribed “Jewishness” to the personage of either or both Antichrist and the
False Prophet—assuming that the Jews of Israel would only follow someone who was
Jewish as their False Messiah. However, the Scriptures are altogether
forthright on this subject: HE IS ABSOLUTELY A GENTILE!
In Pink’s otherwise excellent exegesis of the
Antichrist, he too falls into the notion of such a False Messiah must by
definition be Jewish—completely disregarding Daniel’s very clear descriptions of
Antichrist (i.e., the “little horns” of both Daniel 7 and 8 and/or the Roman and
Grecian characteristics of his origins); to wit:
“The Antichrist will be a lineal descendant of
Abraham, a Jew. . . suffice it now to say that none but a full-blooded Jew could
ever expect to palm himself off on the Jewish people as their long-expected
Messiah (Note: Somehow Pink utterly disregards that the “entire world” is
enraptured with Antichrist and that his “power base” is within the Gentile
World—hook, line and sinker!. Likewise, the arch-type of Antichrist in Daniel
is a Greek who attempted to Hellenize the Jews (Antiochus Epiphanes)). Here is
an argument that has never been met by those who believe that the pope is the
Man of Sin. So far as we are aware no Israelite has ever occupied the Papal
See—certainly no one has done so since the seventh century” (p. 31, The
Antichrist).
Notwithstanding, Pink’s emphatic presuppositions
concerning the Jewish character of Antichrist, he is obligated to “hedge his
bet” due to the total lack of solid Scriptural identification to the contrary;
to wit:
“The Antichrist will be a Jew, though his
connections, his governmental position, his sphere of dominion, will by no means
confine him to the Israelitish people. It should, however, be pointed out that
there is no express declaration of Scripture which says in so many words (Pink’s
emphasis) that this daring Rebel will be “a Jew”; nevertheless, the hints given
are so plain (if Pink had only read them!), the conclusions which must be drawn
from certain statements of Holy Writ are so obvious, and the requirements of the
case are so inevitable, that we are forced to believe he must be a Jew. To
these ‘hints’, ‘conclusions’ and ‘requirements’ we now turn.” (pp. 41-42).
From here Pink takes his readers on one of the
most convoluted journeys through Scripture imaginable—I am embarrassed to
recount his attempts to impersonate the Antichrist as a Jew and the Scriptures
used to confirm his otherwise self-confessed introduction that “there is no
express declaration of Scripture which says in so many words that this daring
Rebel will be ‘a Jew.” Frankly, Pink should have stopped right there because in
point of fact THERE IS NO SCRIPTURE that conclusively validates his
thesis—NONE!
To the contrary—there are a multitude of
Scriptures which delineate the Antichrist as totally Gentile, out from the
Gentiles, and the leader of the Western World—utterly contradicting the
frivolous conjectures of Pink’s otherwise brilliant thesis on the Antichrist.
Has not Pink read Daniel 9:26 which clearly
states:
“And the people of the prince who is to come
shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.”
Sir Robert Anderson clearly spells out that the
wording committed in Daniel 9:26 tells us that THE PEOPLE (of the prince who is
to come) would destroy the city and the sanctuary—which was done in 70 A.D.
under Titus of Rome (but Titus of Rome was not “the prince who is to come”).
Titus was among the “people of the prince” who were absolutely Roman and/or
Gentiles, who destroyed both Jerusalem and the Temple.
Again, the connectivity of THE PEOPLE with THE
PRINCE WHO IS TO COME is dramatic and incontrovertible. The original “people”
who destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple
ARE connected to “the coming prince.”
Likewise, “the prince who is to come” or “the coming prince” is, if you would,
OUT FROM THOSE SAME PEOPLE! And, just who were those “people?” They were 100%
Roman GENTILES! That “prince who is to come” is of the same Empire, of the
same Western Civilization that gave him birth. It was “his people” who
destroyed Jerusalem—and it will be that “coming prince” who will make such “a
covenant with the many” (i.e., Daniel’s people, the Jews) in the latter days.
Once
it is fully realized that this "Coming Prince" is so depicted in Daniel 7 and 8,
and that the description of him is both Roman and Greek—it can be easily
surmised that what we have here is a "progression" of not only the Gentile World
Powers (Babylon, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman), but of the "emergence" of
this end-times’ leader. The epitome of Western Civilization has been expanding
even 'till today where it has reached its final fruition in the American New
World Order System. What you are witnessing today, my friends, is the final form
of Western Civilization and of its singular leadership.
ANTICHRIST AND THE “ABOMINATION
OF DESOLATION” AND MISCONCEPTIONS OF WHO IS ANTICHRIST -
"John explains the 'abomination that causes
desolation' spoken of by Daniel and by Christ. The abomination will be an image
of the Beast that will be set up in the temple in Jerusalem (Rev.13:14-15). All
who refuse to worship this statue are executed . . . Just as Nebuchadnezzar put
his statue out on the plain of Dura and tested the loyalty of his subjects,
including Zedekiah, king of Judah, so will this future Antichrist erect some
sort of statue or image and demand that people pay homage to it. The penalty for
refusal? Death! . . . The world ruler (Antichrist) who will arise during the
final seven-year period will originate from somewhere within the territory
occupied
by the ancient Roman Empire. He will lead
a new ‘revived’ Roman Empire that will become the dominant power in the world"
(Excerpts from The Rise of Babylon, by Charles H. Dyer, Moody Bible
Institute).
Dyer’s Eighteenth/Nineteenth Century
understanding of both a Revived Roman Empire, centered in Western Europe, as the
base of Antichrist, is classical “Left Behind Series” evangelical eschatology—it
is outmoded, unbiblical, and fundamentally misstates or disregards the
PROGRESSION and very nature of Western Civilization—having reached its apex in
the American New World Order System (i.e., America’s military, economic,
cultural and even religious dominance is overwhelming compared to the ineptitude
and utter weakness of Western).
ANTICHRIST TURNS INTO THE BEAST
Now, when we contemplate the Beast (who,
according to Rev. 13:3, 12b, 14b is described as the one who had been mortally
wounded in the head by a sword and lived) we see the Dragon (i.e., Satan, that
old Serpent, the Devil) who gives authority to the first Beast (Rev. 13:4), and
that he (the first Beast) “was given a mouth speaking great things and
blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months” (Rev.
13:5).
The Antichrist is revealed when he commences the
70th Week of Daniel through the implementation of the infamous “Covenant with
Death and Hell” with Israel. This “defense pact” between Antichrist and Israel
underwrites Israel’s security and inaugurates the reinstitution of the
sacerdotal rites, and, undoubtedly the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple—for such
“rites” would be otherwise impermissible and without sanctification without such
a Temple.
However, in the “middle of the week he shall
bring an end to sacrifice and offering and on the wing of abominations shall be
one who makes desolate” (Daniel 9:27). They who postulate that this “he” refers
back to the Messiah—rather than to the “prince who is to come”—have attributed
the work of the Messiah, Jesus, to the work of Antichrist (a most egregious
error) and have confused THE COVENANT (i.e., the “New
Covenant”) with “a covenant” (one which is not eternal and
that will be “broken” by Antichrist). The Messiah established the New Covenant
in His blood at the “last supper/Passover”—the tenets of which neither have nor
ever will be broken by Him!
The Scriptures, when placed side by side,
confirm that “something has occurred” in the midst of the 70th Week of Daniel—it
is the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION. The Antichrist—precisely the “body or
temple
of Antichrist”
has been taken over by Satan himself! His title immediately changes to that of
the Beast who shall “tread the Holy City underfoot for
forty-two months” (Revelation 11:2)—for “When they (i.e., the TWO WITNESSES)
finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will
make war against them (i.e., the TWO WITNESSES—i.e., Israel and the Church),
overcome them, and kill them” (Revelation 11:7).
Furthermore, the Beast’s “Reign of Terror” is
“re-announced” in a more detailed description of his horror in Revelation 13:5
and 7: “And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he
was given authority to continue for forty-two months . . . it was granted to him
to make war with the saints and to overcome them . . . and authority was given
him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.” (my emphasis) – This is the same
forty-two month period of time announced in Revelation 11:2 and reveals that the
“saints” are the TWO WITNESSES (i.e., “the two Olive Trees—Israel” and “the two
Lampstands—the Church”). Time does not permit to go into detail as to the “War
Against the Saints” by the Beast who launches his world-wide prosecution of war
against all those who keep “the Commandments of God (Israel) and have the
Testimony of Jesus (the Church).”
The above is a full description of how
Antichrist turns into the Beast through receiving a mortal wound to the head and
"resurrecting." This is without question the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION spoken of
by Daniel and Jesus and alluded to by Paul to the Thessalonians (Dan. 12:11;
Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:14 & II Thess. 2:3; cf. John 17:12; Rev. 17:8 & 11).
Again, one of the above verses speaks of Judas
who betrayed Jesus as the "son of perdition" (John 17:12). He is called this
title in Luke 23:3 and John 13:27. Likewise, the "Man of Sin" spoken of by Paul
to the Thessalonians is called the "Son of Perdition." It is absolutely clear
that the title "Son of Perdition" is connected to the figure of the Beast when
the Antichrist is resurrected and when the Beast (who comes out of the sea)
enters into the Antichrist and he becomes "THE Son of Perdition." Likewise,
Revelation 17:8 and 11 clearly present the issue of “perdition” as the ultimate
destination of this Son of Perdition; to wit:
“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and
will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition . . . the beast that
was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going
to perdition.”
Once the “abomination of desolation” has been
committed—THERE IS NO TURNING BACK—the Beast is the Son of Perdition and to
Perdition he shall descend (Revelation 19:20—“Then the beast was captured, and
with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he
deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his
image. These two were casts alive into the lake of fire burning with
brimstone.”).
THE
TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM vs. THE TEMPLE OF MAN (Man's Nature: spirit, soul and body)
Now, we know how the falsification of the
resurrection of Christ in the person of the Antichrist/Beast takes place—but
just how does this happen or, how does Antichrist become the Beast or how does
he become "The Son of Perdition?"
Our understanding that man is created in the
image of God is mandatory at this juncture. Man is a tripartite being (i.e.,
body, soul and spirit). This understanding unlocks II Thess. 2:3-4 that states:
"Let
no man deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling
away comes first” (Note: This is NOT the rapture of the Church—it is the
APOSTASY of the Last days and involves believers who fall away from the faith
once delivered to the saints-again, please check
Dene McGriff’s material at
www.the-tribulation-network.com for more information regarding the “Apostasy of the Last
Days.”).
II Thessalonians continues . . . “The ‘Man of
Sin’ is revealed, the ‘Son of Perdition,’ who opposes and exalts himself above
all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the
temple (Grk. "naos") of God, showing himself that he is God."
The Son of Perdition (i.e., the Beast, who once
bore the singular title of “Antichrist”) “ascends from the abyss,” when Satan
enters into the body of Antichrist and sets himself up as god! To prove that
this is the case, let us turn to the following passages:
The same Greek word naos is used in I
Corinthians 3:16-17 and I Corinthians 6:19 where we read: "Do you not know that
you are the temple of God
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple
of God, God will destroy him. For the
temple of
God is holy, which temple you are" (both
corporately and individually and the Greek word here is naos).
Now, let's turn to the final confirmation that
the "temple" referred to here in II Thess. 2:3-4 is the "BODY OF A MAN" and not
the physical Temple in Jerusalem wherein the sacerdotal rites may be
inaugurated.
What we're trying to prove here is that Satan,
upon entering the mortally wounded body of Antichrist (half-way through the 70th
Week of Daniel) commits the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION and that this very act is
the DESECRATION of the human spirit wherein the Antichrist, like Judas who
became the son of perdition, shall become the very final days' Son of Perdition!
Just as the believer's body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and "that which is
born of the Spirit (Holy Spirit) is spirit (man's human spirit)" (John 3:6),
even so, that which counterfeits the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit,
through the DESECRATION of the spirit of Antichrist, causing him to become the
Son of Perdition (having no divine prerogative in ever becoming a child of God
through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit), will be the full manifestation of
the Antichrist; i.e., The Beast (forever assigned to destruction—without any
divine ability for regeneration and redemption).
The final confirmation of this discovery are the
words of Jesus Himself:
"And He found in the temple (Grk. hieron—i.e.,
the actual physical Temple of Jerusalem,
the Herodian Temple) those who sold oxen
and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a
whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple (hieron) (etc.)" (John
2:14-15a).
Now . . . Jesus changes from hieron to
naos in a most dramatic fashion regarding his resurrection:
"Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this
temple (naos), and in three days I will raise it up'" (John 2:19a). Also:
"But He was speaking of the temple (naos) of His body. Therefore, when He
had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them;
and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said" (John
2:21-22).
Likewise, in Matthew 24:15 Jesus says, when
giving his Olivet Discourse of the Last Days and the coming Abomination of
Desolation:
"Therefore, when you see the 'abomination of
desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place"
(whoever reads, let him understand)."
It would appear that Jesus' injunction, by
Matthew the writer, is meant to be UNDERSTOOD! And, just what is the "holy
place" if not the very place spoken of in II Thess. 2:3-4—i.e., the temple of
man, not the Temple in Jerusalem, in which "the man of sin is revealed, the son
of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or
that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple (i.e., the "holy place")
of God, showing himself that he is God."
THE OUTER COURT - HOLY PLACE -
HOLIEST OF ALL
Furthermore, just as the Tent of Meeting, the
Tabernacle, the Temple in Jerusalem consisted of the (1) Outer Court (a type of
the body of man); (2) the Holy Place (a type of the soul of man (mind, emotion,
will/intuition of a human being); and (3) the Holiest of All (a type of the
human spirit of man); even so, it is the very spirit of man which is born again
by the Spirit of God.
The "veil has been rent" (of the physical Temple
of Jerusalem) at the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus to attest to the fact that He
has offered up to the Father "the blood of the everlasting covenant" and now,
man's spirit can be indwelt by the Spirit of God "through a new and living way"
wherein: ". . . having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a
new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His
flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a
true heart in full assurance of faith . . . " (Heb. 10:19-22).
In Sum, the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION is the
counterfeit of the regeneration of the Holy Spirit and simply means that the
Antichrist, who receives a "mortal wound" will be "regenerated" by Satan
himself, just as he entered into Judas, who became a Son of Perdition; even so,
the Last Day's Son of Perdition, that Man of Sin, will so be revealed:
". . . what is restraining, that he may be
revealed in his own time. 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. 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. The coming of the
lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and
lying wonders" (II Thess. 2:6-9).
THE RESTRAINING WORK OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT & THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL
The RESTRAINER (i.e., the Holy Spirit) has, up
until this time, reserved the "spirit of man" for His regenerative purposes. "He
who restrains" will no longer do so when the Man of Sin is revealed, even THE
Son of Perdition, the BEAST! The restraining work of the Holy Spirit is directly
connected to the revealing of the Man of Sin, wherein Satan enters into the
Antichrist and counterfeits the resurrection.
The reservation and/or preservation of man’s
human spirit is what is at stake here—its desecration is an abomination! Now,
the casting out of heaven of the Dragon which appears in Revelation 12:7-9 . . .
“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his
angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they
did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the
great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who
deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out
with him.”
. . . announces Satan’s direct interjection into
the midst of the 70th Week of Daniel. In Daniel 12:1 Michael’s
militancy on behalf of Israel is announced, but is intrinsically united with the
aforementioned passage in Revelation 12:7-9:
“At that time Michael shall stand up, the great
prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time
of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And
at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in
the book.”
The “Time of Jacob’s Trouble” (of Israel’s final
conflict with the Antichrist/Beast and the Satanic forces which accompany his
casting out of the heavens via the Archangel Michael) occurs, in point of fact,
in the midst of Daniel’s 70th Week. Thus, the breaking of the
“Defense Pact” (“your covenant with death, your agreement with hell”), the final
42 months, 3 ½ years, 3 ½ days of Daniel’s concluding week, is committed. The
stage is set by Michael for the “Abomination of Desolation” but only the Holy
Spirit can permit the spirit of Antichrist to be so inhabited. All of these
events are cosmic and occur simultaneously in the midst of the 70th
Week.
The restraining work of the Holy Spirit has
NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH! It has everything to do
with the Man of Sin and the DESECRATION of the spirit of Antichrist!
Furthermore, this initial manifestation of the Man of Sin, the Beast (for
Antichrist has become "The Son of Perdition") is immediately followed (just as
the Resurrection of Christ was followed by the work of the Holy Spirit in
producing the IMAGE OF CHRIST, the Bride of Christ, the Church of the Living
God), by the "ministry" or "work" of the Second Beast, the False Prophet:
THE BEAST (the Satanic
Incarnated Antichrist) & THE SECOND BEAST vs. THE RESURRECTED CHRIST & THE HOLY
SPIRIT or “The Image of the Beast vs. the Image of Christ”
First, the Beast and Second Beast of Revelation
13 are directly connected to anti-types of both the Resurrected Christ and the
Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's ministry in preparing the Image of Christ, the
Bride of Christ. Here we have the absolute counterfeits of both the Glorified
Christ in Resurrection and the Comforter's ministry, wherein all true signs and
wonders, which confirm our Lord's identity, have and are being produced by God,
the Holy Spirit.
Today, the work of the Holy Spirit is to lead
believers in the worship of the Risen Christ—to draw full and uncompromising
attention to the Person and Work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
At the close of the Revelation we read: "And the
Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come!'" (Rev. 22:17); "Come, I will show you the
Bride (lit. “the Woman”), the Lamb's wife" (Rev. 21:9b). This is the same Spirit
wherein we repeatedly read in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3—"He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Likewise, this is the same
Holy Spirit Whose work is as follows: "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face,
beholding as a mirror (i.e., God's people are likened to a mirror that beholds
the Lord) the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same IMAGE from
glory to glory, just as by (from) the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians
3:17-18).
It is abundantly clear that the work of the Holy
Spirit today is to produce the IMAGE of Christ—the Bride of Christ. The above
text is addressed in the plural—WE ALL (yes, as individuals, but with a most
definite corporate aspect associated therewith). Also, it would be a full
manifestation of idolatry of the worst order if the Bride of Christ drew
attention to herself and not to the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the
world! No where in Scripture does it ever say that there is “the worship of the
Bride of Christ” nor of “The Woman” (as seen in Revelation 21:9).
Yet, Satan, the Dragon, whose nature is
“all-consuming”—for in him was “iniquity found”—demands that his “image” be
worshiped, for it is the very reflection of his SELF!
The False Prophet or Second Beast has arisen
from the earth “concurrently” with the manifestation of the Beast at the
commencement of the “abomination of desolation” wherein Antichrist has recovered
from what appears to be an “assassination” –
“And I saw one of his heads as if it had been
mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed . . . and all the world
marveled and followed the beast . . . so they worshiped the dragon (i.e., Satan)
who gave authority to the beast (i.e., the “resurrected” Antichrist, the BEAST),
saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”
It is the “work and ministry” of the False
Prophet/Second Beast—and his “religious duty” to falsify/counterfeit the work of
the Holy Spirit in creating the Image of the Beast (i.e., the counterfeit to the
Image of Christ, the Bride of Christ).
His eruption from the earth is descriptive of
this “Trinity of Evil” at work in the midst of the 70th Week of Daniel:
“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the
earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon” (Revelation
13:11).
This Second Beast is described as having TWO
HORNS (“two” is the number of witness and testimony throughout the Revelation
and elsewhere in Scripture). This “two” upon a lamb-like figure is akin to the
“witness of the Spirit” on behalf of the Lamb of God. Here we see in the “two”
the witness of the False Prophet/Second Beast to the Beast himself—the one on
whose behalf he testifies: “And he (the “two-horned” False Prophet) exercises
all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and
those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed”
(Revelation 13:12). The figures of the “lamb” and the speaking “like a dragon”
characterize the source of the False Prophet’s authority.
The “lamb” and the “dragon” clearly reveal the
counterfeit of the Lamb of God (the Son) and of the Father or stated another
way: The “false lamb” vs. the true Lamb of God and the “dragon” vs. the
Father—thus is the “Unholy Trinity” conveyed in Revelation 13:11.
THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST IS NOT A
PHYSICAL STATUE (Counterfeit of the Image of Christ)
"Then I saw another beast coming up out of the
earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he
exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the
earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound
was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from
heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the
earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast,
telling those who dwell on the earth to make an IMAGE to the beast who was
wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the IMAGE
of the beast, that the IMAGE of the beast should both speak and cause as many as
would not worship the IMAGE of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small
and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand
or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the
mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (Rev. 13:11-17).
What we have here is not some PHYSICAL STATUE
being erected in a rebuilt Jewish Temple (although I am not saying here that
there will not be such a temple built within the 70th Week of Daniel in
Jerusalem—I have spoken to this issue regarding the reinstitution of the
sacerdotal rites). No, the Second Beast, known as the False Prophet, is none
other than the one who comes from the earth as the full counterfeit of the Holy
Spirit, whose ministry descended at Pentecost before the world in tongues of
fire and which gave birth to the Church, the IMAGE OF CHRIST.
Even so, the dastardly work of the Second Beast
is to lead in the "Worship of the Beast" and to create the IMAGE OF THE
BEAST—that is, the MEMBERS OF THE BODY OF THE BEAST! This IMAGE will be none
other than the counterfeit of the BODY OF CHRIST. This "statue" spoken of by
scores of well-meaning, but “biblically confused” evangelical theologians, will
be none other than the counterfeit of the IMAGE OF CHRIST, the Bride of Christ.
THE WORSHIP OF THE IMAGE OF THE
BEAST (Prototype: Das Volk of Nazi Germany)
And, what's more and totally contrary to the
Bride of Christ/the Image of Christ, the Church, will be the WORSHIP OF THE
IMAGE OF THE BEAST (not “just” the “Worship of the Beast”).
The old beloved hymn of the faith that says:
"The Bride eyes not her garments but her dear
Bridegroom's face . . . I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of Grace."
Alas! Here we have the WORSHIP OF THE IMAGE OF
THE BEAST who, like Satan, must "stand in the temple and be worshiped as God."
Here we have not the Bride of Christ who only has eyes for the Lamb, her
husband, but we have the counterfeit that only has eyes for its own image! Let
me give you a most sinister example of the WORSHIP OF THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST in
the creation of Nazi Germany's DAS VOLK.
Hitler (one of the many Antichrists that are
come into the world, as Jesus said), was heralded by the False Prophet of the
Third Reich, Dr. Joseph Goebbels (Minister of Propaganda under Adolf Hitler). In
his classic propaganda piece, entitled: "Adolf Hitler," Goebbels clearly
articulates the WORSHIP OF THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST in the following:
"Herein
lies the secret of the indestructibility of Adolf Hitler and his work—the
guarantee that the road he has taken can not be altered. For it is no longer the
man Adolf Hitler, it is no longer his works and no longer the road he has taken
that expresses itself in him. It is the German nation itself that expresses
itself in him. IN HIM THE NATION LOVES ITSELF, in him it follows its most secret
desires, in him its most daring thoughts become reality. Every single person
feels this and because of it Adolf Hitler is a stranger to no one, and no one is
a stranger to the Fuhrer. Workers and farmers speak with him; Nobel prize
winners and artists, warriors and dreamers, happy men and despairing men speak
with him, and each and every one hears his own language, he understands and is
understood in return. Everything is natural and self-evident, and no one is shy
before this great man. No one is ordered to follow. No one is courted, but
everyone is called, just as one would be called by his own conscience. He has no
choice but to follow, should he not want to be guilty and unhappy in his own
heart. Thus, what must happen happens voluntarily, and no nation on the face of
this earth has more freedom than the Germans."
The creation of DAS VOLK meant that they had
become the very IMAGE OF THE BEAST (if you would) - the very BODY OF ADOLF
HITLER, the prototype of the Beast of Revelation. They beheld him (through the
assistance and "ministry" of Joseph Goebbels—a prototype of the Second Beast,
the False Prophet), and they REFLECTED him in all his hate, deception, and
ignobility.
THE MARK OF THE BEAST vs. THE
MARK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Likewise, the MARK OF THE BEAST counterfeits the
"sealing" ministry of the Holy Spirit wherein we have been "marked out" by the
Holy Spirit and have been given the "earnest" (i.e., the down payment) of the
same Holy Spirit. We are the "Lord's Possession." We belong to the Lord Jesus
Christ—just as those who have the Mark of the Beast belong to the Beast.
A concluding word here, just as Judas Iscariot
did not know that he would have Satan enter into him, neither will the
Antichrist know his identity, and it is certain, the Son of Perdition (i.e., the
Beast) will commence on the most horrific nightmare ever known to man! The
“Rise of Antichrist” both before the signing of the Defense Pact with Israel,
and throughout the first half of Daniel’s 70th Week is a contrast in
contestations: The Work/Rise of Antichrist throughout the earth vs. the
ministry of the Two Witnesses. But, then, there is War in Heaven, the Dragon
and his minions are cast out and down to the earth, the Beast from the Abyss
surfaces, the Abomination of Desolation takes place and the Antichrist is
thenceforth referred to as THE BEAST. Likewise, the “ministry” of the Second
Beast through the “Mark of the Beast” commences to create the “Image of the
Beast” as well as both the worship of the Beast and the “Worship of the Image of
the Beast.”
Yet, they who have the MARK OF GOD during the
70th Week of Daniel—and have refused the MARK OF THE BEAST—are clearly
represented by the 144,000 of Revelation Chapter 14:1:
“Then I looked, and behold a Lamb standing on
Mount Zion (Note: This is not, as some well-meaning evangelical eschatologists
claim, a “preview” of Christ’s reign on the earth prior to his actual dissension
from the heavens—Christ as the Lamb is STILL IN THE HEAVENS), and with Him one
hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their
foreheads”
(i.e., NOT the “Mark of the Beast on their
foreheads”).
TRIUMPHANT TESTIMONY
"GREATER IS HE THAT IS WITHIN YOU THAN HE THAT
IS IN THE WORLD"—we are fully assured that these Last Days will still be the
Church's greatest hour of testimony both against the forces of darkness of that
Great City, Babylon, and against the coming IMAGE of THE BEAST and the WORSHIP
OF THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST and of the rise of the Antichrist.
This in no way exhausts the description of this
DESPICABLE ONE—but it will at least register a vehement protest and warning to
an unsuspecting and ever-growing number who dismiss his soon-to-be occurrence
upon this earthly clod. And, NO, we who bear the Mark of God do NOT look
forward to Antichrist—we await the BLESSED HOPE and the “glorious appearing of
the Great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.”
“Then
one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘Who are these arrayed in white robes,
and where did they come from?’ And I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’ So he said
to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation
7:13-14).
“So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent
of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to
the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice
saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and
the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused
them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by
the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love
their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:9-11).
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