THE ANTICHRIST & HIS MARK
Bible prophecy tells us that in the last days, just before the return of Jesus Christ, the Antichrist will come. He will pose as Christ himself. He will do mighty miracles and deceive millions into accepting the claim that he is the real Jesus Christ, God in human flesh! The Antichrist is known by various names and descriptions. They are:
The Bible gives us many clues concerning the identity of the Antichrist. Six clues are briefly considered below:
CLUE No. 1 ... The Antichrist is the 'Lawless One'
| 2 Thessalonians 2: | 3: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; |
He is called the man of sin ( another word for lawlessness ) because he vainly thinks that he can change the law of the Almighty God. According to the prophet Daniel the particular commandments the Antichrist vainly imagines he can change are the ones which deal with the element of time. In other words the Sabbath commandments; for they alone deal with the element of time.
| Daniel 7: | 25: And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: |
The Aramaic word sh@na' {shen-aw'} means to change, transform, frustrate. And the Aramaic word z@man {zem-awn'} means a set time or season. In other words the Antichrist would attempt to change, transform and frustrate the Almighty's set or appointed times in God's law. And that is exactly what the Lawless One has tried to do by introducing all these pagan festivals.
CLUE No. 2 ... The Antichrist lived before the year AD 96.
When the prophecy of the Revelation was being given ( about AD
96 ) the Antichrist, the Beast was, to all intents and purposes
- dead!
| Revelation 17: | 8: The beast that thou sawest was, and is not... |
CLUE No. 3 ... The Antichrist will rise to life from out of the
Bottomless Pit.
| Revelation 11: | 7: And when they shall have finished their testimony,
the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make
war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. |
| Revelation 17: | 8: The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition… |
What is the Bottomless Pit? Where is the Bottomless Pit?
According to Strong's Bible Dictionary the Greek word abussos {ab'-us-sos} translated 'Bottomless Pit' is the bottomless, unbounded abyss: a pit of immeasurable depth: a very deep gulf or chasm in the lowest parts of the earth used as the common receptacle of the dead and especially as the abode of demons
In the Gospel of Luke we read how evil angels in times past begged Jesus not to order them to the deep,' the abussos,the Bottomless Pit, the Abyss, the angel penitentiary where the Beast is being held captive.
| Luke 8: | 31: And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. |
| 2 Peter 2: | 4: For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. |
| Jude 6 | And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. |
CLUE No. 4 ... When the Antichrist rises from the Abyss
he will reveal himself to mankind and claim to be God!
| Revelation 17: | 8: The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. |
| 2 Thessalonians 2: | 3: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that
day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and
that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4: Who 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. |
CLUE No. 5 ... The Antichrist will reign for three and a half
years ( 42 months ).
After being released from the Abyss the Antichrist will begin
a world-wide reign of terror which is scheduled to last three
and a half years or 42 months. During this period virtually
every person on earth will worship the Antichrist as God!
| Daniel 7: | 25: And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. |
This makes a total of three and a half years or 42 months.
| Revelation 13: | 5: And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great
things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue
forty and two months. 6: And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7: And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8: And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. |
CLUE No. 6 ... Antichrist will attack the armies of heaven and
challenge Jesus Christ at his coming.
According to the prophecy of Daniel 8 the Little Horn will attack
the army of heaven, enter the heavenly Temple and cast
many of God's holy angels to the earth. He will even dare to
challenge Jesus Christ, the Prince of the heavenly host and will
marshal the armies of earth to fight the Saviour at his second
coming.
| Daniel 8: | 10: And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven;
and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground,
and stamped upon them. 11: Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. |
| Revelation 19: | 19: And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth,
and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that
sat on the horse, and against his army. 20: And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. |
POPULAR OPINIONS ABOUT ANTICHRIST
Incredible as it may seem, not one of the popular opinions about the Antichrist which are circulating Christendom today fits these six scriptural clues. Let us now list some of the popular opinions concerning the Antichrist:
If you compare each of these entities with those six clues you'll soon see that not one of them can possibly be the Antichrist. Most do not fit even two clues, let alone all six. To find out the answers, see: Who/What is the Antichrist? What is his Mark?
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