What are the characteristics of the Anti-christ?
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But we know the Anti-christ is going to come on the scene, and he will be born of woman, flesh and blood. He will be much like Judas and will be used of Satan to fulfill Satan’s aspirations. He will come on the scene as a tremendous political manipulator. He will be a charismatic type individual. He will be able to walk into any kind of summit meeting and command attention. They will listen to him, and, consequently, he will bring himself to a place of having the power of making that peace treaty with Israel as we referred to earlier.
The opening of the seven years will not only reveal the Anti-christ, but also his letting the Nation of Israel resume their Temple worship, with their animal sacrifices, and other Law-related rituals. We know that, even as we speak, the Nation of Israel has everything ready to resume Temple worship. However don’t have the place where the Temple must be built. But they will have when the right time comes. It may take an act of war or nature for the Mosque of Omar to be destroyed. But we do know that Israel will have Temple worship for the first 3 1/2 years, all with the approval of this man Anti-christ. So today, this is Israel’s anticipation, that they will have their Messiah and their Temple worship. But remember, Israel is looking for their Messiah to come the first time, because they don’t recognize that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.
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Revelation 13:5
“…and power was given unto him to continue (which means to carry on. How long?) forty and two months (or 3 1/2 years).”
So how far does this verse bring us? To the mid-point of the Tribulation. I’m going to stop there in this portion concerning the Anti-christ. Now let’s drop down to verse 11. A couple of lessons ago I mentioned the fact that during the Tribulation there would be an unholy trinity. A counterfeit trinity, with Satan as the counterfeit of God the Father, with the Anti-christ as the counterfeit God the Son, and with the False Prophet, the religious leader as we will see here in verse 11, the counterfeit of the Holy Spirit. Not so much in his make-up, but in his operations.
Revelation 13:11
“And I beheld another beast (this also is a man, but it is also a system. Not a government but a religious system) coming up out of the earth; …”
Stop a minute. The Anti-christ is described as coming up out of the sea, and since the Book of Revelation is dealing almost exclusively, or primarily with the Nation of Israel, it’s God dealing with His Covenant people once again, in preparation for His return. Naturally all the Gentile nations are going to be affected by it, but it’s Israel’s seven-year treaty that concerns itself with the time factor and everything that is taking place here. Israel will be so quick to accept the Anti-christ and his treaty, his offers of protection, and the Temple worship. I don’t say it to look down on the Jew in the least bit, but I feel that this man, Anti-christ, will be a Jew. An Apostate Jew to be sure. Otherwise I can’t see Israel so readily accepting his offers that he will make to them.
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Matthew 24:3-5
“And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, `Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming (in other words, the setting up of your kingdom); and the end of the world (as we know it)?’ And Jesus answered and said unto them, `Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ;…'”
Or “I am the Messiah.” Now stop a minute. Are we already seeing that? Sure we are. But to no extent that it will after that seven years has begun. And remember that just as soon as the Anti-christ signs that seven-year treaty with the nation of Israel, this seven-year Tribulation period is going to tick off, month by month, and day by day. And it will end exactly at the end of the seven years. Now someone asked the question at break, “Well, what will the Anti-christ offer the nation of Israel, that they will sign the seven-year treaty?” Well, what is Israel most hungry for tonight? Peace. They want peace with their neighbors. They want to be accepted into the family of nations of the world. And they have to maintain their defense structure. They have to keep their people taxed to death just to keep their enemies at bay. So if this man comes in, and I think he’ll come out of the European Community with the power of N.A.T.O. behind him. And I think he’ll come in and offer the nation of Israel absolute protection and a sovereignty that no one can approach. He’ll say, “I guarantee your borders. You can dismantle you armed forces. I’ll protect you.” And Israel is going to fall for that, hook, line and sinker. And on top of that, he’s going to give them permission to have their Temple worship. And he’s going to guarantee them freedom in that.
And so they’re going to have no qualms about signing this seven-year treaty. Because like I said a few lessons ago, they’ll almost think he’s the Christ, if they don’t indeed. But as we see Jesus unfold the events of the Tribulation, remember this: even though we are seeing the beginnings of it; we are seeing the great increase in earthquakes; we’re already seeing the potential of famine; and we are seeing famine in some places. Yet it’s nothing compared to what it will be when these seven years begin to unfold.
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Matthew 24:3
“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately (just the Twelve), saying, `Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming (remember in I Corinthians 1:22, the Jew requires a sign. They wanted to know when His Kingdom would be set up), and of the end of the world?'”
Jesus now begins to lay out the events of the seven years. It begins from the appearance of the white horse in Revelation 6 – the Man of Sin, the counterfeit christ, the Anti-christ.
Matthew 24:4,5
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, `Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, `I am Christ;…'”
Do you see that? That’s the white horse. He’s will come on the scene and practically convince the world that he is Christ. He’s what the world is looking for. And we are already seeing people like that. Sigma Moon from Korea, about 15 years ago, tried to tell the world that he was the Christ. And we’ve had others, and we will have still more. But it’s going to be culminated by the real counterfeiter, the real Anti-christ, and he’s going to convince the world that he is the Christ and he shall deceive many. Going back to Revelation, stop at I John, Chapter 2 for a moment. This is the same writer who wrote the Book of Revelation. Now let’s drop down to verse 18. And here again, as I have stressed before, is the one place where this Man of Sin is actually called the Anti-christ.
I John 2:18
“Little children, it is the last time (these writers of Scriptures had no idea there was going to be 1900 + years before this would happen. They thought it would be coming in a relatively short time): and as ye have heard that antichrist (here John is speaking of the real Anti-christ) shall come, even now are there many antichrists;…”
Of course there are. But they can’t hold a candle to the one that is coming. Now let’s go back to Revelation Chapter 6. So we see this Man of Sin comes on the scene and he begins to conquer and overtake nations. He is setting up his power base.
Book 15 LESSON THREE * PART IV
We are still at the mid-point here and Satan indwells the man Anti-christ. Think back a moment, when did Satan indwell Judas? It was in the upper room at the last supper, Matthew 26:25, “Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, `Master, is it I?’ He said unto him, `Thou hast said.'” That’s when Satan entered into Judas. From that moment on Judas became an instrument of Satan. As a result, Judas was able to betray Christ in the garden. But when Judas tried to resist the power of Satan and throw the silver at the feet of the priests there at the Temple, what happened? The language is kind of confusing. In one Scripture it says Judas hung himself, and in another it says that Judas fell head-long and his bowels burst forth. In reality both are correct. There are no contradictions in Scripture. When he tried to rebel against Satan, Judas’s body almost exploded with the power of Satan. As he was catapulted, Judas’ body burst asunder, and at the same time he hanged himself on a pole as the result of the catapulting. We will try to cover that before we go into the Book of Acts. So Satan is going to indwell the man Anti-christ, and from that point on everything the Anti-christ says and does will be a word and act of Satan himself.
Book 12 LESSON ONE * PART IV
Revelation 17:14-16
“These (all these nations under the headship of the Anti-christ and the false prophet) shall make war with the Lamb (Christ), and the Lamb shall overcome them (at Christ’s Second Coming): for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” You and I are the ones that will be coming with him.
“And he saith unto me, `The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth (in other words, where this great religious system is operating), are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues,…'” It’s a world wide religious system. Verse 16:
“And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these (now all of a sudden you have a change in language so watch it. Remember in verse 7 this religious system is riding on the back of the beast but now) shall hate the whore (or religious system), and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.”
That again is symbolic language. What is the Anti-christ going to do with the religious system? He’s going to destroy it. Why? We must come back to II Thessalonians as we must compare Scripture with Scripture. We can also go all the way back to the Book of Daniel.
II Thessalonians 2:4
“Who (the Anti-christ) 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.”
He’s going to set himself up as God and won’t let the world religion have anything to do with him anymore. He’s going to take absolute control himself. And since he is going to sit in the temple of God, we know that Israel will rebuild her temple and it will be in Jerusalem. In Daniel Chapter 9 we find out what this fellow will do at the mid-point of the Tribulation. We find he’s going to move into the temple in Jerusalem. He then will defile it. Verse 27, where the prince that shall come in verse 26 shall:
Daniel 9:27
“And he shall confirm the covenant with many (the Jews) for one week; (seven years) and in the midst of the week (at the end of 3 1/2 years) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,…”
In order for temple worship to cease, it has to be going. So it stands to reason that if the Anti-christ is going to go into the temple in the middle of the Tribulation, then the temple must be operating. So that tells us the Nation of Israel will get her temple rebuilt, and we know she is ready for it, even as I speak. So at the mid-point of the Tribulation the Anti-christ will go into the temple and suddenly turn on the Jew. And he will set himself up as God and force the Jew to worship him rather than the God of the Old Testament which they think that they worship. Just because Israel gets her temple back at the beginning of the Tribulation doesn’t mean that God will be working in their lives. It will be much the same kind of religion as Judaism was during Christ’s earthly ministry. They had the temple, the priest, the sacrifices. Was God in it? No. They were still practicing a religion. And so it will be again in those 3 1/2 years. Because they are still denying the Christ that died for them. Now back to Revelation Chapter 17:
Revelation 17:17,18
“For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast (the Anti-christ), until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” In other words, when the seven years will have finally come to its end. Then verse 18:
“And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” Now there is a lot of speculation as to what city that is. Personally, I think by this time it will be Jerusalem.
Book 14 LESSON THREE * PART II
Psalms 2:4
“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.”
That is where we are tonight. The nations think they are in control, but we know they’re not. The world is falling apart completely, and I see no hope of the world returning to a stable condition. I’m not a pessimist, but rather an optimist; but on the other hand I see things that are going on in our beloved nation that we are no longer able to turn around. We are past that point of no return. So that tells me we are that much closer to the end and the calling out of the Body of Christ at the Rapture. I have a Jewish gentleman that lives in Hollywood, California, that watches the program, and we share with each other quite often. He’s not a Christian Jew. He’s an Orthodox Judaistic Jew. Anyway, he called so excited the other morning, and reported that He had just returned from a seminar of rabbis. He said the rabbis are all excited because they are convinced that we are right at the coming of the Messiah. He said they realized that they had some tough times ahead during the Tribulation. I always remind him that everything they are looking for in their Messiah coming the first time, is really the Anti-christ. And it is. The Jew is blind to that and they will accept Anti-christ. Remember Jesus said in 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.”