All right, so what do we see here? Those that are, you know, servants of Satan, they imitate. In 2 Thessalonians 2, which we've been looking at, we're going to look at verse nine. It says, "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."
But what do we see here? They're going to believe the lie that he is actually the Christ. He's the imitation. And this is an important thing because one of the things we have to understand is that in the Book of Revelation, we will see there is a false trinity: Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet. This mirrors the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There's an imitation trinity. We're also going to see that there's a false religion. In other words, Christ has a bride in His church, that He presents to Himself, "not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," but the Antichrist is going to have a false religion. Okay? So there are a lot of counterfeits going on here.
In other words, sometimes the way that it's thought of in Hollywood or, you know, in popular thought is that the Antichrist will be some kind of raving lunatic, that he will be like, you know, a demon with big leathery wings and these sorts of things. But yet, he's going to present himself as the true Christ, as the real Messiah, as the savior, as the one who's come down to rescue humanity. He's going to present himself as if he's the real thing. He's a counterfeit, but he's presenting himself as the real thing.
There were times when I worked retail years ago that we'd get a currency bill, and sometimes you'd get it and think, "you know, this doesn't seem quite right." And on one occasion, it was just a really old $50 bill. It didn't seem quite right, and this was before they had redesigned it a bunch of times like they have now. But the paper felt different, and so we actually called the police and said, "Will you look at this for us?" The police sent their counterfeiting expert up, and he looked at it and said, "Nope, this is just old. It's real, it's just old. You haven't seen one like this in a while. This one's like 30, 40 years old. And they have changed the way they've manufactured them a little, so that's why it feels different to you." Because when you handle money all day, after a while, you know what a real dollar bill feels like, or a real fifty feels like.
But there were other times we did get counterfeit money, and, you know, you're counting it, you get it, and you're like, "I don't think this is real." And you call the police, and they're like, "Yeah, that's counterfeit." But what is a counterfeit trying to do? You know, when I was in retail, people didn't come to me with Monopoly money and say, "Here's my yellow 50," or whatever color the 50 is in Monopoly—I don't play enough to remember what color it is. Blue, green, whatever color the Monopoly money is, right? It's not the color of a real dollar. It's a different size. It's got the Monopoly Man or whatever on it. And you know, it's clearly not real dollars. You're a really bad counterfeiter if you make counterfeit money that looks like Monopoly money. Right? See, for something to be counterfeit, it is trying to look as genuine as possible. That's what the Antichrist will be about.
The term "Antichrist" is used several ways in the New Testament. He's an end-times person. 1 John 2:18. We've gone through some Bible studies in 1 John, and we've looked at this verse: "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."
So what do we see here? The first part of the verse, 2:18a, says that "antichrist shall come." There is going to be an end-time person who is the Antichrist. Okay? However, there will be people with the characteristics of Antichrist that aren't the Antichrist, but they have the same spirit of antichrist. And that's exactly what the verse says, right? "even now are there many antichrists." In other words, there are plenty of people who have the spirit of Antichrist, who are opposed to Christ and are imitations of Christ. And we've seen this over time, right? How many times have we seen in history somebody saying that they're, you know, Jesus?
Sometimes it's rather ridiculous, but, you know, you go back, it's got to be what, 30 years now, right? David Koresh. Remember David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas? Well, David Koresh thought that he was Jesus. And I remember hearing an interview after the Branch Davidians—you know, they had some weapons that were not legal to own and didn't have the right paperwork and stuff for them. And the FBI and the ATF showed up to confiscate those weapons, and they opened up with machine-gun fire on the law enforcement, and it ended up being a whole mess. A lot of innocent people died, and it was bad. When I say innocent people, some of them were the cult members, but they weren't shooting at the police; they just got caught in the middle of the mess.
But David Koresh, he was the leader of the group. And, you know, they interviewed a guy in Waco who ran the bar down the road. He said, "Yeah, David Koresh used to come in here. He'd drive his truck about 100 miles an hour and come skidding into the parking lot, come in here, buy five or six beers and get drunk, and then, you know, drive back to the Branch Davidian compound." And he said, "I always thought that was pretty rowdy behavior for Jesus." Okay? For a guy who says he's Jesus. Now, he's not the Antichrist, but he has the spirit of antichrist. He's saying, "Hey, I'm Jesus." He's a false teacher. He was leading people astray.
The one who denies the Father and the Son. 1 John 2:22 says this: "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son." So anybody who denied that Jesus came in the flesh and that Jesus was the Messiah, that Jesus was the Son of God, a person who denies Jesus of the Father, is Antichrist. All right? So guess what the Antichrist is going to do. He's not going to say, "Oh, I'm not really Jesus." He's going to say, "I'm the real one."
A spirit that denies that Jesus is from God is Antichrist. 1 John 4, verse 3, says, "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." All right? The spirit of Antichrist is already here, a spirit that denies that Jesus is from God, that he was sent by God, that he came in the flesh. That spirit is Antichrist.
Deceivers who deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. 2 John 7. We're going over to the next book of John, and we're going to look at 2 John 7: "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." So, not confessing that Jesus came in the flesh. Now, this is funny because to us today, what people tend to question is whether or not Jesus is God, right? People say, "Well, he was a good teacher. He was a nice man. He was a rabbi, but he was just a man." That's what a lot of people would say today. In their day, what they were saying is, "Yeah, Jesus, he was the Messiah, but he didn't come in the flesh. He only looked like he had a body." Because in their day, according to Platonic (Plato's) thinking, the spirit is good and the material world, the body, is evil. And so if the material world's evil, how can Jesus, who's perfect, have a body? So he just seemed to have a body. So they were denying that he came in the flesh. And John is addressing that, and then he said, "That's Antichrist." So in other words, denying who Jesus is and that he came, is Antichrist.
Biblical Names for the Antichrist, All right? We see him called:
"Little Horn" in Daniel 7:8. Daniel has a lot of parallels to Revelation. Daniel chapter 7, verse 8 says, "I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." So we get introduced to this "little horn" who we learn, as we go through the chapter, is the Antichrist. Okay?
He's also called "the Prince" in Daniel 9:26. "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." All right? So the people of the prince, that's these people who are following the Antichrist, are going to come and destroy the city. They're going to attack Jerusalem. So the Antichrist is going to be anti-Israel eventually.
"The Willful King" in Daniel 11:36. "And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done." In other words, God's going to let him do this for a little while until his judgment comes, but he's going to speak things against God, and he's going to do whatever he wants. He's not worried about doing what God wants. He's willful.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, he's called "the Man of Sin" and "the Son of Perdition." "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." Perdition means condemnation.
"The Lawless One" (or "that Wicked") in 2 Thessalonians 2:8. He says, "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."
"The Antichrist," as we saw in 1 John 2:18. And in Revelation 13:1, we find him called "the Beast." "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." And we see in Revelation 19 that the Beast is there as well.
The Personality of the Antichrist. What's his personality going to be like? All right, I'm not talking about, we didn't have him take the Myers-Briggs test or something like that. We're talking about some characteristics that he has.
He will be different from other men. Daniel 7:24 says, "And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings." So he's going to be diverse. He shall be different. He'll be unique. He's not going to be just any old guy.
He will be a great orator. Daniel 7:8: "...and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." He'll be able to convince people with his words.
He will be a crafty politician. Revelation 13:7 says, "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." He gains a lot of political power.
He will be a military success. Daniel 7:24 again says, "...he shall subdue three kings." And Revelation 13:4, "...and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" In other words, nobody's got the military power to be able to challenge the beast.
He will be a world wonder. People will wonder at him. This is going to be, like, surprising. So that's where, you know, sometimes when I hear people say, "Oh, I think this person is the Antichrist, that person is the Antichrist," I think, you know, that person seems like he doesn't fit some of these personality descriptions. Like, is this person a great orator? Is he a successful and crafty politician? Does he seem like somebody who's going to be a military success?
The Moral Character of Antichrist. What is he? He's a blasphemer. Revelation 13:1 says upon his heads were the "name of blasphemy." Verse 6: "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God." Daniel 11:36: "...and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods." He's completely lawless. We saw this in 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 3 and 8. He's the "man of sin" and "that Wicked."
He's completely self-centered. Daniel 11:37: "Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all." And 2 Thessalonians 2:4: "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." You have to be pretty self-centered to say, "I'm God."
The Origin of the Antichrist. His political origin is restless humanity. Revelation 13:1, where does he come from? He "rise up out of the sea." In Daniel 7, the great beasts, representing kingdoms, also come up from the sea. He's going to come out of the restlessness of humanity, looking for that leader who will solve all our problems.
His national origin is Eschatological Rome. Daniel 7 describes a fourth beast, "dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth." This iron imagery ties back to Nebuchadnezzar's dream, where the fourth kingdom (Rome) was represented by legs of iron. The feet of iron and clay are seen as a revived Roman Empire. So, the idea is that in the end times, there will be a kingdom that is some sort of resurrection of the Roman Empire, whatever that looks like.
His spiritual origin is Satan. Genesis 3:15, the first gospel (the Protoevangelium), says, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Antichrist is in enmity with Christ. In Revelation 17:8, the beast "shall ascend out of the bottomless pit."
His providential origin is God. We looked at 2 Thessalonians 2 again, verse 11: "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." God is going to allow wicked people to be deceived by the Antichrist. Now, don't misunderstand this. We have to be very careful here, because we do not want to say that God is sending the Antichrist. There are things that God in his plan allows Satan to do, and he uses that for his plan. Just like he allowed Joseph's brothers to sell him into slavery. In Revelation 17:17, it says, "For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled." God is not the author of the Antichrist, but He will use Satan's plan of the Antichrist to accomplish God's own purposes.
The Career of the Antichrist. His Rise: He begins to rise shortly after the rapture of the church (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8). He begins his rise as a minor political figure, a "little horn" (Daniel 7:8). He makes a seven-year treaty with Israel (Daniel 9:27).
His Rule: He breaks his treaty with the Israelites and commits the "abomination of desolation." He kills God's two witnesses (Revelation 11). He stops temple worship and sets himself up for worship (2 Thessalonians 2:4, Revelation 13). He launches an intense persecution against Israel, which is called "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7).
His Power: He reaches the pinnacle of earthly power. Military Might: "Who is able to make war with him?" (Revelation 13:4). Religious Authority: "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him..." (Revelation 13:8). Economic Control: He causes all to receive a mark, and "no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (Revelation 13:16-17).
His End. His capital is destroyed (Revelation 16, 18). He launches an attack against God and Christ (Revelation 19:19).
He is defeated. Revelation 19:20 follows verse 19: "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him... These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." They don't get killed by Jesus in battle on the earth. Jesus just goes, grabs them, and throws them in the lake of fire. They go into the lake of fire. If you look at Revelation 20, verse 10, when the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, 1,000 years later, when Satan's thrown in there, they're still there. They don't get burned up in the lake of fire; they are tormented there for all eternity.
He's defeated and killed at Armageddon. 2 Thessalonians 2:8 says, "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."
So, the Antichrist is going to be terrible. I mean, he's going to force anybody who wants to worship Jesus, the one true living God, to be persecuted and killed. He's going to want control. It's going to be totalitarian. But he's going to seem like he's a great politician. He gives great speeches. He has military power. He promises to solve all the world's problems. But he sets himself up as God and causes all kinds of problems and persecutes the nation of Israel and then tries to stop Jesus from returning.
But what happens to him? He's defeated and cast alive into the lake of fire. His end is certain. And we can be thankful for that. You know, sometimes we hear things about what the Antichrist is going to be like, and it's scary, and it is. But the fact is, he just has a short time. And at the end of that short time, he's cast for all eternity into the lake of fire to be tormented. We're on the winning side as followers of Jesus. Amen. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is going to overthrow the Antichrist. And that's a wonderful thing we can take comfort in. In other words, we're looking forward to that return of Jesus. Let's pray.