The nation of Israel had a great empire. Syria had a great empire. The Greeks had a great empire under Alexander the Great. The Romans had a great empire. Napoleon tried to rule the entire world. Hitler thought he could rule the entire world. None of these empires succeeded in ruling the entire world. The Bible tells us of a time when a great world dictator will succeed in ruling the entire earth. He will be the embodiment of Satan. He will be evil, intelligent and possess supernatural powers. He is known as the Antichrist. God presented His man – Jesus Christ – to the world. Now Satan is going to present his man to the world – the Antichrist. See 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12.

1 – His personhood (vs. 1-2)

Notice two things:-

• He is a real person – For Satan to be really effective on the earth he needs to take possession of a human body. This is what Satan did with Judas. See Luke 22:3. The Antichrist will get his power from the Devil.

1. He will be an intellectual genius of the highest order.
2. He will be an oratorical genius. People will hang upon his words.
3. He will be a political genius. He will win the cooperation of all the nations.
4. He will be a commercial genius. He will nationalise everything. No one can buy or sell without his permission.

• He is a representative person

1. He has seven heads and ten horns. See Revelation 17. The seven heads represent seven geographical regions and the ten horns represent the heads of ten nations.
2. The world will be looking for a great leader because of the devastation and upheaval of the Tribulation period. He will bring peace to the Middle East – although a false peace. Daniel had a great vision of all the great world empires. See Daniel 7. Lion – Nebuchadnezzar. Bear – Cyrus. Leopard – Alexander the Great.
3. The Fourth Empire – This is the revived Roman Empire led by the Antichrist. The Antichrist has characteristics of all of these world rulers. All of these characteristics are combined in this one human personality.

2 – His power (vs. 3)

The Devil and the Antichrist are described as one and the same. See Revelation 12:3 for example. The Devil completely takes over this person.

• He will be the object of wonder (vs. 3) – He had a deadly wound and it is healed. Many see this and wonder after the Beast. Will he be resurrected from the dead? It seems from the Bible that only God is able to raise people from the dead. Many people have been trying to put the pieces of the Roman Empire back together again. This man will be able to do it.
• He will be the object of worship (vs. 4) – This is what Satan has been wanting all along. He wants this for himself. This is why he got kicked out of Heaven! Jesus wouldn’t worship him. There will be those who will be deceived and worship Satan through the Antichrist. Why do they worship the Antichrist? The world is a disaster with war and millions dead. The Antichrist brings stability and seemingly the answer to all their problems. They will be worshipping the wrong man!

3 – His appearance (vs. 5-10)

There are three purposes for the appearance of Satan’s superman.

• To defy God (vs. 5-6) – He uses his mouth to blaspheme God. The tongue is powerful. See Proverbs 18:21. People will be mesmerised by the oratory skills of the Antichrist.
• To destroy the saints (vs. 7) – He wants to get rid with the people of God. The Devil has always wanted to overcome the saints of God. Theses saints have refused to take the mark of the Beast. He may overcome them physically but he will not be able to affect them spiritually. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. See Romans 8:38.
• To dominate the world (vs. 8-10) – The Roman Empire is not enough. He wants to rule the whole world. See Revelation 13:7. The Antichrist is imitating Christ as the Messiah. There are many similarities but they are totally different in nature. The Antichrist comes from below but Christ comes from above. The Antichrist lifts himself up but Christ humbles Himself. The Antichrist will rule for a short time but Christ will rule forever. The power of the Antichrist will only last for three and a half years and then God will take it away and give all power to Jesus forever and ever. Amen!

Categories: Revelation