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When as a young man I studied the great image Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream (Dan. 2:28-35), I became fully convinced that the Bible is a divinely inspired book. The parts of the great image — the head, the breast and arms, the belly and thighs, and the legs with the ten toes — match the development of the worldly powers throughout the centuries. Besides God Himself, who could have given us such an illustration? We must believe that God has been and still is sovereign over all the world powers, having sovereignly prepared them in a certain way. How wonderful it is to see the world powers represented by the image of a human body. It is foolish not to believe that the Bible is a divine book. If we would understand the prophecies of this book, we must have divine wisdom. The more wisdom we have and the more we get into these prophecies, the more nourishment we shall derive from them.
There is rich nourishment to be gained from the prophecies in the Bible. However, many studies of prophecy merely touch things such as the seven heads, the ten horns, the ten toes, the three and a half years, the forty-two months, and the twelve hundred sixty days. This is like being given a bowl of chicken bones without any meat. But we should receive nourishment from the divine Word. To say that all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16) means every line of the Bible is the breath of God. In every line of Scripture, including these portions that are prophecies, there is some life element, some living nourishment. When we study prophecy, we should have meat as well as the bones.
We have seen seven significant aspects of Antichrist: the fourth beast, the little horn, the prince, the king, the all-inclusive beast, the angel of the abyss, and the man of sin. Now in this message we need to consider several other important aspects of this extraordinary figure.
Antichrist will have the power and authority of Satan. Revelation 13:2 says, “The dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.” In verses 4 and 5 we see that the dragon “gave authority to the beast” and that “authority was given to him to act forty-two months.” That the dragon gives his power, his throne, and great authority to the beast indicates that he makes the beast one with him. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was tempted in the wilderness by the Devil. Matthew 4:8 and 9 say, “Again, the Devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, All these will I give You if You will fall down and worship me.” The Lord Jesus refused, saying, “Go, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve” (Matt. 4:10). Since that day, Satan has been looking for someone to whom he could give all the power, authority, and glory of his satanic kingdom. He will find the one he has been seeking in the person of Antichrist. What the Lord Jesus rejected, Antichrist will receive.
Because Satan will give his power and authority to Antichrist, Antichrist will become an extraordinary person. His personality and character will be exceedingly strong.
Antichrist will be killed and resuscitated. Revelation 13:3 says, “And one of his heads was as if it had been slain to death, and his death stroke was healed.” Verse 12 says that his “death stroke was healed,” and verse 14 says that the beast “had the stroke of the sword and lived.” “One of his heads” refers to one of the Caesars who will be slain and resuscitated. The word about the healing of his death stroke refers to his resuscitation. After he has been resuscitated, the whole earth will marvel after him. Antichrist will probably be slain in the middle of the last seven years, perhaps about the same time Satan is cast down from heaven to earth. I say this because, according to Revelation 9:1, the angel of the abyss emerges shortly after Satan, as the star, falls from heaven to earth. About this time, the seventh Caesar of the Roman Empire will be killed.
When Satan is cast down, the spirit of Caesar Nero will be released from the abyss and enter into the body of the slain seventh Caesar to resuscitate his corpse and to make him the eighth Caesar. This eighth Caesar will have the body of the seventh Caesar and the spirit of the fifth. This resuscitation will be a counterfeit of Christ’s resurrection. Anyone who does not have the faith of Christ will certainly be attracted by this miraculous occurrence. During the first half of the last seven years, the seventh Caesar will appear. After he has been slain and resuscitated, which will take place near the middle of these seven years, he will become the eighth Caesar. Hence, during the first three and a half years, he will be the seventh Caesar, and during the last three and a half years, he, as the resuscitated Antichrist, will be the eighth Caesar. The seventh Caesar will confirm a covenant with the Jews for seven years, and the eighth Caesar will persecute the Jews and exalt himself to be God. Thus the death and resuscitation of Antichrist will mark a great turn. In principle, it will almost be the same as with the death and resurrection of Christ. Before His death and resurrection, Christ was limited in His flesh, but after His death and resurrection, He was given all authority and power (Matt. 28:18). Satan will attempt to counterfeit this in order to prove to the world that his Antichrist is the same as Christ. Therefore, Antichrist will be two persons. During the time of his being the seventh Caesar, he will not be that marvelous, charming, and deceiving. But after his assassination and resuscitation, he will become a marvelous character. He will be charming, deceiving, alluring, and captivating. Only the saints who have the faith of Christ will be able to withstand his charm and deceitfulness. After his resuscitation, being indwelt by the spirit of Caesar Nero, he will become all the more capable, intelligent, and powerful.
We have seen that the slain and resuscitated Antichrist will have the name Caesar Nero. The false prophet will cause “all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead” (13:16), and no one will be able to buy or sell unless he has “the mark, the name of the beast or the number of his name” (13:17). Revelation 13:18 says, “Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.” The false prophet will induce people to worship Antichrist. At the same time, he will devise a way to mark them either with the name of Antichrist or with the number of his name. This mark will be placed either on the forehead or on the right hand. Some students of the Bible have suggested that probably the men will be marked on their forehead and the women will be marked on their right hand. This mark will be the indication that the people bearing it belong to Caesar Nero. The number of the beast is “the number of a man,” Caesar Nero, the coming Antichrist. (See note Rev. 13:182, Recovery Version.) Because the book of Revelation was written during the time of the Roman Empire, John did not mention the name of Nero, but indicated it with a number. Therefore, there is the need of wisdom to understand it. With the wisdom given by God we can determine that the number six hundred sixty-six denotes Caesar Nero. No other name gives us the exact number of six hundred sixty-six.
While the unbelievers will bear the name of Nero on their forehead or on their hand, testifying that they belong to him, all the overcomers will have on their forehead the name of the Lamb and of the Father (14:1). There will be no neutrality. Either you will bear the name of God or the name of Caesar Nero, the embodiment of Satan. To bear the name of Caesar Nero means to belong to Satan, and to bear the name of God means to belong to God.
Anyone without the mark of the beast upon him will not be able to buy or sell. This will make it impossible to live. Conditions in some Communist countries today are heading in this direction. You must have a permit to buy things because the economy is under strict governmental control. During the kingdom of the eighth Caesar, everyone must bear the name of Antichrist as the permit to buy and sell. In today’s world situation the way is being prepared more and more for Antichrist. Five hundred years ago, the students of the Bible could not understand these things as easily as we can today. But recent world events have made it easier to understand what the prophecies are talking about.
Satan probably will give his power and authority to Antichrist before he is slain. But it may only be after Antichrist is assassinated and resuscitated that the ten kings will give their power, authority, and kingdom to Antichrist (17:12-13, 17). Then every power and authority will be concentrated in one person.
Revelation 13:5 says, “Authority was given to him to act forty-two months.” Forty-two months here and in 11:2 are the three and a half years in 12:14 and the thousand two hundred and sixty days in 11:3 and 12:6, which will be the time of the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21). At the end of this age Antichrist will make a covenant with the nation of Israel for seven years (Dan. 9:27). Three and a half years after the covenant is made, he will break it, terminate all Jewish worship and service to God (Dan. 9:27), persecute the saints (13:7), and destroy the holy city (11:2) for three and a half years. Once again, I say strongly that, contrary to what many think, the great tribulation will not last seven years; it will be three and a half years, or forty-two months, or twelve hundred sixty days. In these three and a half years Antichrist will do many things.
Revelation 13:5 says, “And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies,” and verse 6 says, “And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle and those who tabernacle in heaven.” I do not know what great things Antichrist will utter. Undoubtedly, he will speak things that no one has ever imagined, things that will surprise people. He will blaspheme God, God’s tabernacle, and those who tabernacle in heaven. I believe that “those who tabernacle in heaven” are the overcomers who will be raptured to the tabernacle of God in heaven. Although I do not know what great things Antichrist will speak, in principle he probably will say, “You have heard that the so-called God has done this and that. Now let me tell you that I can do greater things than He.” In this way he will utter great things to blaspheme and insult God. At that time, probably a good number of the worldly people will know that the overcoming Christians have been raptured, for this will certainly be on the front page of the newspapers. Many will be saying things like, “My cousin has suddenly disappeared”; “My wife has been taken away”; or “My roommate was there last night, but when I woke up this morning he was gone.” Furthermore, the Christians remaining on earth will begin to preach. Antichrist may then rise up and use the mass media to give a lecture in which he will claim to do something greater. He may say, “Listen to me. I will do greater things than this.” It may be that he will use space technology to do certain outstanding things.
To repeat, before Antichrist is slain and resuscitated, the overcomers will be raptured to the heavens. When they arrive, they will command Satan to be cast down to earth. As soon as this word is pronounced, the archangel Michael will take the lead to fight against Satan. About this time, the seventh Caesar, Antichrist, will be slain. When Satan descends to earth, the spirit of Nero will be released from the abyss and enter into the assassinated seventh Caesar, resuscitating him to be the eighth. While all this is taking place, everyone on earth will be talking about the rapture, and the Christians still on earth will testify about it. Then this resuscitated eighth Caesar will speak great things to deceive the earth dwellers, promising to do greater things than those God has done. This will be the blasphemy he will utter against God, His dwelling place, and the overcomers who have been raptured to God’s dwelling place.
If the Christians remaining on earth during this time know about all these things, they will be greatly helped. If any of us are still on earth after the rapture of the overcomers, we would never be cheated by Antichrist. Perhaps we would recall what we have read in these life-study messages. These messages can help us become the firstfruits. But those who are not the firstfruits will not be left in darkness. After reading these messages, we are no longer in darkness about Antichrist. We surely have seen the light.
Revelation 13:7 says, “And it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.” The saints here are the rest of the woman’s seed in 12:17, which consists of the God-fearing Jews and of the believers in Christ. This proves that in the great tribulation some believers will still be on the earth. Antichrist will persecute the God-fearing Jews and the Christ-believing Christians. He will war against God’s people on earth and overcome them. As chapters fifteen and twenty indicate, many will be martyred during this time.
Antichrist will also fight and kill the two witnesses (11:7). Our God knows the weakness of His people. Hence, during the last three and a half years, after the rapture of the overcomers, God will send back Moses and Elijah to strengthen His persecuted people. Antichrist will fight against these two witnesses and kill them. But, as 11:11 reveals, after three and a half days the two witnesses will be resurrected and raptured to the heavens.
Revelation 13:7 also says, “Authority was given to him over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.” Because Antichrist will receive the power and authority of Satan as well as the power, authority, and kingdom of the ten kings, he will certainly have the full authority to rule over every tribe, people, tongue, and nation.
Revelation 13:3 says, “And the whole earth marveled after the beast,” and 17:8 says, “And they who dwell on the earth, whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life, shall marvel when they see the beast, how that he was, and is not, and shall be present.” Due to the healing of his “death stroke,” the whole world will marvel after the beast. Only those whose names have been written in the book of life before the foundation of the world will not marvel after him. All true Christians remaining on earth will have the faith within them. Many of them will receive the light from these printed messages, understand the features of Antichrist, and realize that they must not worship him. But “all those dwelling on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name has not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (13:8). (“From the foundation of the world” may modify both “whose name has not been written” and “the Lamb slain.”) As we shall see in the next message, the false prophet will compel those who dwell on earth “to make an image of the beast” and to worship it.
Antichrist will also turn his back on the Roman Church, hate her, and make her desolate. Revelation 17:16 says that the ten horns, which are the ten kings, will hate the prostitute and “make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and shall burn her utterly with fire.” After Antichrist has been resuscitated, he will persecute every kind of religion, including Judaism and Catholicism.
Ultimately, Antichrist will fight against the Lord and be defeated by Him. The Lord Jesus will destroy him and cast him into the lake of fire (Rev. 17:14; 19:19-21; 20:10). In the war at Armageddon Antichrist and his followers will fight directly against Christ, and Christ and His overcomers, the ones chosen to be His army, will fight directly against Antichrist. This will be an unprecedented war, a war in which Christ and Antichrist confront each other. We shall see more of this when we come to chapter nineteen. In the war at Armageddon, Christ will defeat Antichrist and the false prophet and will cast them alive into the lake of fire. That will be the final destiny of Antichrist.
