The following sermon is from this new series - Only the last half of the series in online. The first half can be downloaded above.
The Antichrist – Satan’s Superman
Rev. 13:1-10
A quote to ponder:
“The streets of our country are in turmoil. The universities are full of students rebelling and rioting. Communists are seeking to destroy our country and the republic is in danger…yes, danger from within, and danger from without. We need law and order. Without law and order, our nation cannot survive!”
Was it Trump? No. Sounds like a presidential election in the 60’s…but Kennedy did not say that. Maybe it was some college fanatics after some street rioting in the 80s?
No, it was Adolf Hitler in 1932. You see, dictators rarely take over by brute force. Political problems / economic problems pave the way for dictators. In the 30’s, Germany’s economy was in shambles, people were starving, inflation was severe, and communists stirred up riots in the streets and on university campuses. Germany was in turmoil and confusion…on the verge of collapse. And no one was able to create order out of the confusion…and then he appeared…Hitler! A voice of authority in the midst of chaos. He was viewed as a Savior…because the rioting stopped, men started working, people were eating…there was a new sense of national pride.
You and I know the final result in hindsight, as people turned admiration into worship, and Hitler turned out to be a demon-possessed monster.
By the way, Hitler called for a ‘cleansing’ of the Jews, and now liberals are calling for a ‘cleansing’ of Trump voters. Hmmm…
Yet as bad as that was, Hitler couldn’t even play 3rd string compared to the antichrist.
v. 1-10 This is the antichrist. The last world-wide dictator. Sometimes called the man of sin/son of perdition…here he is called the beast out of the sea.
(evolutionists say we came from a beast, we know we’re headed that way!)
Let’s see 5 things about this beast:
v. 1 What is this sea representing?
Isaiah 17:12
Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
Revelation 17:15
And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest...are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
The sea represents all of humanity, the nations of the world. During the trib…they will be in mass confusion/turmoil…don’t forget what has already happened up to this point
Waters turned to blood/fresh water poisoned/famine on a world-wide scale/chaos reigns…like the raging sea during a storm, the nations will be churning, seething, tossed in all directions!
And 1 man will come on the scene and make it all better!
And when, in the tribulation, the world is looking for answers during the greatest turmoil of all human history, the beast will rise up out of the sea!
(Emperor worship in the early centuries A.D., they had to say, Caesar is Lord, or be thrown to the Lions, people cheered, for they believed he was Lord!)
dictatorship of the beast…
1, 2 If ever there were a child of the devil, the spawn of Satan…here he is! His ancestry goes all the way back to Lucifer. "Ye are of your father, the devil."
[chart of Western European Union]
Back to 13:2—“like unto”…all 3 animals! He’s a composite of all the world dictators which have ever served under Satan. All the Caesars/napoleons/hitlers/stalins/khomenis/nebuchadnezzars/Alexander the greats/saddam husseins/Khadafis…all rolled into 1!
John 5:43
I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
His family likeness/lineage…he is just like those that have gone before him!
2 Thessalonians 2:9
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
Is the antichrist alive today on earth? Where is he, if so? Why doesn’t he take over?
II Thess. 2 talks about this, revealing there’s a restraining force in place holding him back…it’s the Holy Spirit in our hearts…but once the salt is removed (rapture), he will be free…no more preservation!
We’ve seen his dictatorship (rising up out of an angry sea w/ 7 heads and 10 crowns)
…his description: family likeness, lineage, legacy
Why would the people of the world follow a man like this? What’s his appeal?
v. 3 Interesting…the antichrist will be very popular, for many reasons…not the least of which will be his imitation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ! He will receive some kind of mortal wound to the head, appear to die, and then appear to resurrect. Another Satanic counterfeit!
Down to v. 12 (talking of 2nd beast…the false prophet)
Then v. 14 3 times this mortal wound is mentioned in ch. 13…it must be significant!
Here’s what we don’t know about it:
Whether actual or simulated (v. 3 “as it were” [as if])
We do know:
It will gain him great popularity (v. 3—all the world wondered after…)
His desirability is great…don’t get off track because he’s called the beast…that’s a reference to his character, not his appearance. Even Satan is called a Dragon, but he’s an angel of light in appearance!
Practical application: Here’s what we can learn from this that will apply to us…
The devil has always been an imitator (Martin Luther called him God’s ape!)
His last words before falling from heaven… “I will be like the most high…”
He’s a master-counterfeiter!
Examples: counterfeit Christians—matt. 13:38-? Tares mixed into the wheat! Profession w/out possession. Initially you cannot tell…but eventually their true colors show!
10 virgins—matt. 24—all had lamps, but only 5 had oil
II Cor. 11:13—counterfeit ministers—all over America today they stand behind pulpits, but do not believe the Bible/virgin birth/sinless life/resurrection/hell/absolutes…strive to be politically correct/take polls…go w/ flow…and they need to leave the pulpits and get an honest job! [I am a counterfeit if I judge another to be a counterfeit for any reason other than doctrinal -- I reveal my personal envy or disdain if I don't view them as a team member]
Gal. 1—counterfeit gospel—it’s how some live decades, even a whole lifetime, believing good people go to heaven and bad to hell!
Satan has always been a counterfeiter…and the same will be true in the tribulation! He’ll imitate the resurrection.
3 things he’ll be determined to do:
v. 4 worshipped the beast…he wants that!
II Thess. 2: 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
It’s already happened dozens of times, at least:
Didn’t China think mao-se-tung was God?/Germany-Hitler/South America—Jim Jones/Texas—David Koresh/Russia—Vladimir Lenin has been dead for years, still his body is encased in state under glass, multitudes pass by it all the time, except for when they wash him in formaldehyde … because they don’t want to wash their dirty Linen in public!
Blasphemes God/name of God/tabernacle (heaven)/those that dwell there (us!)
He hates us, and will try to convince the world that we who were raptured are missing because of a great judgment of God against us!
Sound crazy? The Bible says it’s a lie so clever that even the elect would believe it if it were possible!
Blasphemy will spew out of his mouth like sewage!
Ironic that Jesus was always accused of blasphemy…then was rejected
But the antichrist will be blindly accepted, though he blaspheme!
v. 7 this is not us…it’s in the trib. This is not the millennium either! (it’s verses like this that make some think the church will go thru the trib.)
But these are they that are saved during the trib. by the witness of the 144k! (see ch. 7)
The antichrist will try to rid the earth of every last believer: they will face guillotines/firing squads/gas chambers/concentration camps/torture!
Why do some say they’ll wait to get saved [see if it all really happens]? Bible promises they won’t (if not now when it is easy, will they when all is working for them?)
(II Thess. 2 also says God will send strong delusion to them which have rejected Christ today) [want to go that direction and follow him…ok, I’ll give you a shove!]
determination…
v. 11—His agent of deception—the false prophet—the beast out of the earth [sinister minister]
(next time)
Years ago a man lived on long island/always wanted a barometer to put on mantle/saved $ and got a nice one delivered to his home/took out of box, noticed needle pointed toward sector indicating a hurricane on the way/assumed it must be broken…shook it, tried to adjust it to the kind of day it was/kept pointing to hurricane/just set it on the mantle/went to work in the city/wrote scathing letter to company he bought it from/ “you’d think for that kind of money it would work!”/got home late that evening and the barometer was gone…so was the house--the great hurricane of 1938 had swept thru!
The barometer didn’t need adjusting at all, it just needed believing!
The Bible tells of a spiritual hurricane of judgment which is on the way as we speak! It doesn’t need to be adjusted, just believed!
No need to face antichrist if you accept Jesus Christ today!