Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday March 13, 2015
WHERE some of the prophecies are that God predicted in the Old Testament.
The prophecy that the prophet Daniel, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the apostle Paul, gave us concerning what is known as the abomination of desolation.
There are times that God will use evil to accomplish His will.
Pharaoh hardened his own heart ten times and then our Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart ten times after that, ten being the number of completion.
"So, you want to harden your own heart against Me and My servant Moses, then I will also hardened your heart," and He did so in the last five Egyptian plagues.
Both the OT and NT reveal how there are times that will use that which is considered evil to reveal His power as He will in 2TH 2:11 during the Tribulation period.
2TH 2:11 And for this reason [in context because they have rejected the truth] God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false,
The lies of the Antichrist will be ultimately revealed when he stands in the holy temple of God and sets himself up through an image to be worshipped as God.
An image will be set up in God's rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and could be what Paul actually refers to as the Antichrist actually being seated there not only in person at times but also by a representative image to be worshipped.
There will be an individual known as the Antichrist, who three and a half years into the tribulation period, will take a place in God's rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and say to the world that he is God and must be worshipped as God.
When that occurs, the real Creator will respond to the challenge and will ultimately and eternally destroy the Antichrist; (REV 19:20).
REV 19:20 And the beast [Antichrist] was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.
The unholy trinity concept comes from Revelation 12 and 13, which describes three evil beings who will deceive many in the end times = Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet.
Satan is a mimic and an impersonator and one way he deceives people is by putting forward inferior copies of the real thing.
Counterfeit Gospel, GAL 1:6; Counterfeit doctrine, 1TI 4:1; Counterfeit God; 2TH 2:4; Counterfeit Jesus, 2CO 11:3; Counterfeit Spirit, 2CO 11:3; Counterfeit communion table; 1CO 10:21; Counterfeit believers; MAT 7:21-23; Counterfeit righteousness; Mat 23.
He will play the part of God the Father; the Antichrist will stand in for the Son, even to the point of being healed of a "mortal wound" (REV 13:3); and the False Prophet will take the role of the Holy Spirit, glorifying the Antichrist.
Satan has always wanted to be "like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:14), and this false godhead is another attempt to fabricate godhood for himself.
The Antichrist is also discussed in Rev 12 and 13, but there he is pictured as the first of two beasts; the Antichrist is "the beast" that comes "out of the sea." The name "Antichrist" is only used by the apostle John in 1Jo and 2Jo.
1. The Antichrist is coming: 1JO 2:18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour.
2. The Antichrist denies the Father and the Son: 1JO 2:22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
3. The spirit of the Antichrist denies Jesus is from God: 1JO 4:3 Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
4. The Antichrist denies Jesus came in a physical body: 2JO 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
PHI 2:12b "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling;"
2CO 13:5 "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!"
GAL 6:4a "But let each one examine his own work,"
PRO 13:20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm.
1CO 15:33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
REV 13:1-8 describe the Antichrist's activities:
In Daniel chapter 7:2-3, the sea represents the nations of the world.
DAN 7:2-3, "Daniel said, "I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.
In Daniel the sea represents the nations of the world. The sea being stirred up refers to the fact that the sea may be calm or it may be stormy, which is a picture of the interaction of nations in human history.
First, he is demon-possessed to the maximum in the cosmic system.
His rise is based upon his advance into evil in the cosmic system.
He is also under demon influence and demon telepathy which is transference of thought from Satan to this dictator.
Secondly, this dictator uses to the maximum the power of evil.
The power of evil can never penetrate a group apart from that group’s consent or apart from that group’s characteristic of evil.
If, instead of the power of evil, there is the power of doctrine, there is the power of a pivot, there is the power of the Word of God, then the power of evil simply cannot make any inroads at all.
The power of evil belongs to Satan but the power of evil is delegated in various components of strength to those who live in the cosmic system, and Satan uses believers and unbelievers in the function of the power of evil.
They will come in very subtly and malign and gossip and question and produce doubts and make their infiltration into any organization of any kind.
Roman empire = Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Bavaria, England, Holland, Belgium, West Germany, Yugoslavia, Greece,
Romania, Bulgaria, Libya, Egypt, Western Turkey, Syria, Lebanon.
Nations definitely not involved: East Germany, Russia, Iran, the USA, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China.
In verse 5, during a 42-month period (half of the future seven-year Tribulation period), this Antichrist will serve as a global leader who blasphemes God, blasphemes His name, and also blasphemes heaven.
Empowered by Satan himself, the antichrist will also persecute the "saints" (the people who turn to Christ during the tribulation period) and "conquer" them (resulting in the deaths of many believers).
Not only will He rule the earth, but he will also demand that every person worship him.
Now, the False Prophet is the "second beast" which rises "out of the earth" and he is analogous to the Holy Spirit in the unholy trinity.
This False Prophet will appear to be gentle (like a lamb) but will speak evil (like a dragon).
ACT 9:31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and, going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.
JOH 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
He will force people worship the Antichrist by performing great signs as the fallen angels can compared to the human race.
The antichrist and the false prophet will require all people to obtain some sort of a mark on the right hand or forehead. Without this mark, people will be unable to buy or sell anything.
This unholy trinity—Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet—is the opposite of the true Triune God consisting of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
At the end of their rule, Jesus will return in victory and ultimately establish a new heaven and new earth. All evil will be removed, and God will dwell with His people forever (LUK 1:32-33; ISA 60:21).
As LUK 1:31-33 prophesied about our Lord when he was born coming in the future "And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
LUK 1:32-33, "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end. "
ISA 60:21 "Then all your people will be righteous; They will possess the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified.