There is a Holy Trinity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is also an unholy trinity: Satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet. You can read more about the unholy trinity in Revelation chapters 12 and 13. Today, I want to bring you a study on the doom of the Antichrist. I believe this is an appropriate time to bring this study because with the way the world is going, we must be getting close to the Rapture, Great Tribulation and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, we study "The Doom of the Antichrist or The Battle of Armageddon" and we will see how it ends for Satan's son.
Part 1: Setting the Stage
The stage for the final battle of Armageddon is found in the first book of the Bible. Genesis 3:15 reads: "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." The final doom of the Antichrist is revealed, "It (the Seed of the woman--Christ) shall bruise thy head (the seed of the serpent--the Antichrist)." On the cross Satan bruised the heel of our blessed Lord, but He came out victorious in His battle for the souls of men, and said, "Fear not, little flock; I have overcome the world." The Lord Jesus Christ tasted death for every believer that He might destroy the works of Satan. Satan was conquered at the cross, and he will finally meet his doom.
We know that after the Lord Jesus Christ returns for His church and the believers are raptured from the earth, Antichrist will appear. The Antichrist will come on the scene, according to Revelation 6: 2 as a warlord, and he will win his way over the nations by flattery (Daniel 11:21). He will slowly rise to power because of the miracles that he will perform. He will head the world churches a religious leader, and then later on according to Revelation 17: 16, he will turn on this world church called, "the great whore, and "make her desolate and naked." The Antichrist will turn on her "and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire." The Lord God of heaven will allow the Antichrist to turn on the Christless world church and unmask it, and through him He will bring judgment upon the Christless, professed Christendom.
Revelation 3: 16 states: "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." The means God is going to use to accomplish this is to put into the heart of the Antichrist to turn on the godless worldly church. The Antichrist will burn up her chapels, destroy her books and her rituals and golden altars, her magnificent temples and cathedrals, and put to death her ministers and priests. Read about it in Revelation 17: 16 ("shall make her desolate, and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire"). God hates this empty religious profession which is so prevalent today. If you have an empty form of religion without Christ today, know that God's wrath abides upon you. It is only His mercy and grace that prevents you from sliding into hell before you finish reding this lesson.
Part 2: Antichrist as an Imitator
The Antichrist will head the political world powers, and by his shrewdness, wisdom, power, and authority, he will bring the world under his feet. In the midst of this world rule as religious and political leader, he will be slain in battle with the sword or be assassinated according to Revelation 13:3. "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death." Revelation 13:14 says, "which had the wound by a sword." In the midst of his reign, he will be killed with the sword, but to the amazement, and no doubt to the surprise of everyone, he will be raised from the dead, according to Revelation 13:14: "which had the wound by a sword, and did live." The Antichrist will imitate the Lord Jesus Christ by being raised from the dead. To make the imitation exact, he will have to be killed, and buried, and rise again the third day.
When he raised from the dead, the world will accept him as God, and when they do, he will set himself up in the temple at Jerusalem as God. This is the "abomination of desolation" spoken of by Daniel. He will make war with the saints, and overcome them and put them to death. The Antichrist will receive power from his father Satan and will have the ability to perform miracles, power to heal, and the power to do signs and wonders. How can you tell the difference between the true ministry of God and the false ministry of the Antichrist?
Bible repentance is the difference. Present day preaching does not include the call to repent. The average church member does not want to repent. The only thing he wants is to be saved from the penalty of his sins but he wants to continue sinning. He is willing to make a decision for Christ, a profession of faith, or even join a church, but he wants to hold onto his sin. Listen carefully to ministers and pastors. Do you hear them calling people to repentance? If not, they are most likely under the influence of the spirit of the Antichrist.
Section 3: Antichrist Leads the Rebellion
The Antichrist will lead the world rebellion against the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 13: 6 states: "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven." Consider and ponder that verse. The Antichrist will speak horrific awful words against our Lord Jesus Christ. We see the beginnings of that rebellion today. True Christians are persecuted today even in America. Make a stand for God and the "woke" movement will do its best to cancel you and destroy your business and life. God's name is blasphemed today as never before. The name of "Jesus" has been humanized as you rarely hear about the Lord Jesus Christ.
When the Antichrist is raised from the dead, he will have some idea of when Christ will return. Revelation 13: 5 reads: "And power was given unto him to continue forty and two months" that is three and a half years. The Antichrist will begin to marshal his forces and lead them to Jerusalem to prevent, if possible, the Lord Jesus Christ from returning. The Antichrist hopes he can stop Christ from returning to the earth. You might ask, "How will he be able to bring about such a world revolt against Christ?" First, the human heart by nature hates Christ. Second, the human heart loves sin and hates holiness and the righteousness of Christ. The world so hates Christ that they will only need a leader to lead them into a fight against Christ.
Now, we look at the method Antichrist will use to marshal the forces of the world to their death against the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 16: 13 reads: "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of demons working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon" or the place of slaughter.
The Antichrist will send forth three demon-possessed men as ambassadors to the courts of the kings of the earth with their miracle-working powers. The Antichrist will succeed in bringing millions of men into the land of Palestine with every type of implement of war to prevent, if possible, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. There will be a world movement toward Palestine.
Section 4: The Return of the Lord Jesus Christ
All over the world will be the slogan, "Down with Jesus Christ." The day has arrived. Scattered over the plains of the land of Palestine will be millions of soldiers. They will have every weapon known to man, from nuclear to conventional. The lost will believe they have a chance to stop our Lord. This will be an awful scene of world rebellion against our God.
Without any warning, suddenly the heavens will open and He'll "come as a thief " in the night (Revelations 16: 15). There He will come sitting on a white horse. He will be called "Faithful and True (Rev. 19:11)". He will judge and make war. His eyes are as a flame of fire, on His head a crown with many crowns (Rev. 19:12). His clothing is dipped in blood and His name is called "The Word of God." (Rev. 19: 13) Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword (Rev. 19: 15) and on His clothes will be the words, "KING OF KINGS< AND LORD OF LORDS." The world fires no shots. His feet touch the Mount of Olives from whence He went away over 2000 years ago. The Lord Jesus Christ will take the Antichrist and the False Prophet and will cast them into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Not a gun is fired. Rev 19:21 says that "And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that say upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth. The blood will be so deep that it will be 200 miles up to a horse's bridle.
That will be the doom of the Antichrist. I want to be in that army that comes with the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you? Have you been born again? Are you saved?
Next week a new series begins on faith: "What is Saving Faith?"
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