About the Antichrist — David Guzik

Tonight, we're going to be studying about this very important person, popularly known in the Bible as the Antichrist. And there are many different passages of scripture that we could go to. The Antichrist is spoken about in many, many passages.

First and second Thessalonians, Matthew chapter 24, Daniel chapter 9. Many different passages speak about the Antichrist. But we're going to spend tonight focused on the most important, the central passage in the Bible that gives us the most detail about this very important world leader to come.

And that's Revelation chapter 13. So turn to Revelation 13 in your Bibles with me right now. Right here, when we come to Revelation chapter 13, we come to one of the most famous chapters in the book of the Bible, in any book of the Bible, because it describes for us a very well-known person that that many people call today the Antichrist.

Let's just jump right in it. Revelation chapter 13, verse one. And I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns and on his horns, ten crowns and on his heads a blasphemous name.

Now, continuing from the context of Revelation chapter 12, we understand that God is speaking to and through the apostle John through signs. In other words, the earth will not see this terrible beast coming up with seven heads and ten horns.

Now, this is a representation of something real on the earth, but God has expressed it to John in a sign to communicate some of it. Let's say if God were to just show John a mugshot of who this person is going to be and he looks at the fellow and there he is, you know, he's got his haircut and his glasses or no glasses, whatever you want to say, whatever he looks like, that wouldn't tell him a whole lot.

He might be able to pick him out of a police lineup, but John isn't concerned with picking him up out of a police lineup. John wants to know something about this and God wants him to communicate something about this person and so he expresses him in a way far more vivid than just an actual photograph.

He expresses him in an image that shows the nature and the character of this person. John stood on the sand of the sea and now as he sees this, he sees a beast rising up out of the sea. Many people today have a romantic love of the sea.

When we think of the sea, we think of going to the beach and having fun or we think of a couple taking a romantic stroll down the seashore. The ancient Israelites, the ancient Jewish people did not have this kind of view of the sea.

To them, the ocean was a foreign, hostile, turbulent, unpredictable place. The people of Israel in their ancient days were not a seagoing people. I find it very interesting that about the only time we know that ancient Israel had a navy was under the time of Solomon.

First Kings chapter nine describes the navy under Solomon, but it was staffed with sailors from Hiram, the king of Tyre. It wasn't staffed with Israeli sailors and because the Jewish people were just not an ocean going people.

Now, because ancient Israel was wary of the sea, it was a figure of evil and chaos that seemed to resist God, even though the resistance is unsuccessful. There are several passages in the Old Testament that communicate this idea of the sea being hostile to God and his purposes and God subduing the sea.

So it's very significant that this beast comes forth from the sea. You see, from this place identified with evil and chaos and resisting God, a beast comes forth. Now, this ancient Greek word translated beast here, it has the idea of a wild, dangerous animal.

John does not call him a dragon, as he did the representation of Satan in Revelation chapter 12. This creature represents someone distinct from Satan who was represented by that dragon. But what's interesting about it is that if you look at the description again in verse one, it says, having seven heads and ten horns, though this beast is distinct from the dragon of Revelation chapter 12, he's still closely identified with him.

Look at Revelation chapter 11, verse three. Excuse me, I meant Revelation chapter 12, verse three. Where it says, and another sign appeared in heaven, behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns.

Isn't that interesting? The dragon has seven heads and ten horns, and so does this beast. They're different creatures. They represent different people. But yet there's an obvious similarity between the two.

Now, any creature with seven heads would be pretty powerful. Again, think of it in the conception that somebody would think of it, especially in the ancient world. This would be a creature hard to kill, because if you wounded one head, six would still remain.

And in biblical imagery, horns represent strength and power. I mean, a bull that has two horns is a powerful creature. But a beast with ten horns has that much more power, just like the dragon of Revelation chapter 12, verse three.

Now, this likeness to Satan, we might almost say that this beast is the Dragon Junior. And this likeness to Satan and the dragon is just one of the things that identifies this beast of Revelation 13, one with the one popularly known as the Antichrist.

Now, the word Antichrist only appears in the Bible five times in four verses and every one of them in First John and then one mentioned in Second John. First John 2 18 is a good example of this. And let me read this to you.

John writes, Little children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard, the Antichrist is coming with this. John refers to an individual who's really captured the imagination of a lot of people, even people who don't know anything more about the Antichrist than what they see on movies.

Right. The Omen or any such movies like that, where a very shadowy, mysterious, fearful man walks around and he has a funny tattoo somewhere, you know, with the six six six on it and all that kind of intrigue and all that kind of boulder.

Oh, I think we've got a much better place for understanding the Antichrist. And that's the pages of scripture. We can just begin with the name the title Antichrist means something that prefixed anti and then put together with Christ.

It can mean one of two things. It can mean the opposite Christ. That's the way most people think of it, the opposite Christ. But actually, there's a better understanding of that term anti. It can also mean the instead of Jesus.

Now, he is the opposite Jesus, but he's more importantly and more vividly the instead of Christ. You see, many people have focused on the idea of the Antichrist being the opposite Jesus. That's how he looks in those movies that Hollywood likes to make.

In other words, where they have an idea that the Antichrist will appear as a supremely evil person. Now, just as much as Jesus went around doing good, the Antichrist is going to go around and do bad. Just as much as Jesus's character and personality was beautiful and attractive, the Antichrist personality will be ugly and repulsive.

I mean, just as much as Jesus went around and only spoke truth, the Antichrist is going to go around and only speak lies. Right. Because he's the opposite of Jesus. No, that's not how it's going to be.

No, the emphasis instead should be on the idea that the Antichrist is the instead of Jesus. He's going to look wonderful. He'll be charming and successful. He'll look like the ultimate winner. Or, as Paul describes it, one place in his description of Satan as an angel of light.

It's in this sense that the Antichrist will be a satanic messiah instead of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Friends, the Antichrist is going to look like a messiah, like a winner. I find it also very interesting that in 1 John, chapter two, verse 18, John also speaks of the Antichrist and many Antichrist in the plural.

You see, there's a spirit of Antichrist and the spirit of Antichrist will one day find its fulfillment in this man who will be raised up and he'll lead humanity in an end times rebellion against God. In other words, the world still awaits the ultimate revelation of this Antichrist.

But we see little previews of him and his mission. You might say those are Antichrist with a little a. And we commonly call this man the Antichrist. I would say biblically speaking, it may not even be the best title for him because the Bible gives him many names, many titles.

He's known as the little horn in Daniel, chapter seven, verse eight. Daniel 823 calls him the king of fierce countenance. Daniel 926 calls him the prince that shall come. Daniel 1136 calls him the willful king in John, chapter five.

Jesus called him the one who comes in his own name, whom Israel will receive. And then in Second Thessalonians, chapter two, Paul calls him the son of perdition, the man of sin and the lawless one. This man has many different titles throughout the scriptures and Antichrist may not be the best title for him, but it's the one that is stuck in the popular imagination.

If you notice the description here in verse one, John sees this beast rising up out of the sea and he says, I saw having seven heads and ten horns and on his horns, ten crowns. Now, this is something different about the beast compared to the dragon of Revelation, chapter 12, verse three.

If you notice Revelation, chapter 12, verse three, it says a fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns were on track there. Right. But look at the next phrase and seven diadems on his head. The dragon has seven crowns, by the way, it's the same word for crowns there in the ancient Greek language between chapter 12 and chapter 13.

The dragon has seven crowns. The beast has ten crowns. Well, what's the difference there? I think we'd have to say that in Revelation, chapter 12, the seven crowns of the dragon expresses strength and power because seven is a number in the Bible associated with strength and completeness.

But the ten crowns of the beast in Revelation, chapter 13, express his rule over a group of ten nations. We'll talk more about those ten nations as we make our way through the book of Revelation. Now, you can talk all day long about how these different crowns are distributed on the different ten heads, you know, and the horns and all that.

But what's interesting is this has a lot of ties back to Daniel, chapter seven, verse seven. In all of Daniel, chapter seven, he gives an amazingly majestic viewpoint of four successive world empires that will come.

And the fourth empire that he describes is just like the beast that excuse me, that John describes right here. And in Daniel's vision, the ten horns on the beast that he sees specifically represent ten kingdoms that the final world dictator has authority over.

In John's vision, the ten crowns emphasize the idea that the ten horns are ten kingdoms. See, the visions of Daniel, chapter seven and Daniel, chapter two, also connect the government represented by the ten crowns with the ancient Roman Empire.

These are two amazing visions. I'm strongly tempted to say, let's take a break right now and go back to Daniel, chapter two and Daniel, chapter seven, because you know how it is when you're dealing with these subjects of prophecy, it's fascinating to go from one connection to another connection to another connection and sort of make a beautiful trail through the scriptures.

We're going to try to discipline ourselves and stick to Revelation, chapter 13. But let me give you just sort of the idea here of the visions in Daniel, chapter seven and in Daniel, chapter two. In those visions, Daniel saw three successive world empires and each one of the three, the third was always succeeded by a fourth.

And in the context, the fourth empire is always plainly the Roman Empire. Well, in the days of the fourth empire, it says that the Messiah will come, destroy all earthly rule and reign over the earth.

Now, friends, here's the difficulty with this. We don't see Jesus reigning on the earth the way it says that he would in Daniel. And since we do not see the reign of Jesus on the earth in the way that Daniel prophesied, we can see that the Roman Empire will resume or be revived in some way expressed by this collection of ten crowns.

There will be a new Roman Empire and friends that may exist on the earth right now, because many people, myself included, believe that the European community, the European Union is a strong candidate to be this exact successor.

European community has amazing potential. Right now, it's just sort of sorting itself out and putting itself together. But the unity expressed in that European Union is fascinating, especially the monetary union that they have with the introduction of the euro, or they call it sometimes the euro dollar, the euro for short.

Many people thought that when the euro was introduced a short while ago, that it would totally dominate the world markets and the dollar, the American dollar, would just shift down and down and down and promise.

It hasn't happened yet. The euro has not done that well. Just wait. When the time is right, that will consolidate a strength that will dwarf the United States. When you combine the economic capacities and the social and the cultural capacities of the European Union, it dwarfs the United States.

It has the potential to be an absolutely world dominating federation of nations. And some people want to say, well, wait a minute, the problem here is that there are more than 10 nations in the European Union.

You know, it's fascinating if you're like me and have been a Christian for a while through the years, you've seen how these things have tracked. And for many years, there were fewer than 10 nations in the European Union.

And with great anticipation, well, when will it reach 10? And when it reaches 10, that's when you really got to watch out for it. Well, now not only has it reached 10, it surpassed it. And so people ask, well, how are you going to get the 10 nations?

And the answer, I don't know, it'll work out. Who knows? Maybe some will consolidate. Maybe some will be absorbed into others. Maybe some will drop out. Maybe some will come in. I don't know. It'll happen.

But this heir to the Roman Empire, this this European based, I should say, world dominating confederation of nations is predicted for us in the book of Revelation and Daniel and several other places. And it will be that world dominating confederation of nations through the Antichrist, through which the Antichrist expresses his power.

Not only that, we notice also in verse one of Revelation 13, we saw the beast rising up out of the sea, the seven heads, 10 horns and on his horns, 10 crowns. We've got all that. But then it also says and on his head, a blasphemous name.

In other words, everything about this beast is blasphemous against God. It speaks more about than just the beast message. It speaks of his character. He's a blasphemer. He speaks against God. Let's see more about this beast.

Verse two. Now, the beast which I saw was like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of a bear and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power, his throne and great authority.

You know, as we're just sharing this, it occurs to me that as you read this, you can't help but try to picture this. Right. And might I suggest to you, this is one of the places in the Bible where I would recommend don't try to picture it.

Now, many times in the Bible, I would say, hey, picture what's going on. Try to get a vision, try to get an idea of what's happening. Set the scene up in your mind. It'll help you understand how things happen.

But I would say not here, because when you try to construct this beast in your mind with an image, I think you can only get hung up on the wrong things. Once you think about something, Ramon, it would have been possible for God, difficult, but possible if he wanted to.

He could have told John to sketch this out and just have manuscript scribes sketch it out for us through history. It's where we have a drawing of this beast. Friends, the verbal communication of the image in words is quite enough for us.

And that's what's emphasized here. Now, what's the verbal communication? Tell us. First of all, the beast that he saw is like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of a bear and the mouth like the mouth of a lion.

We see these three animals somehow combined in the fearsome characteristics of this beast. What, again, is fascinating about this is God is using the exact images from Daniel's vision in Daniel chapter seven to communicate the identity and the nature of this beast to John and to us.

You see, the vision that Daniel had in Daniel chapter seven used four animals, four beasts to describe the course of human government from Daniel's day until the ultimate reign of Jesus Christ on this earth.

Now, the first three world empires were represented by three animals. First, the lion. The lion was an emblem or a picture of the Babylonian empire. Then that was succeeded by a bear. A bear was a representation of the Medo-Persian empire.

And then there was a leopard, which was a picture, a representation of the Greek empire. But then in Daniel chapter seven, especially verses seven and eight, he describes the fourth animal and the fourth animal was a dreadful, indescribable beast that shared the most terrifying characteristics of the previous beast.

Yet he represented the final world empire under the leadership of a satanic dictator. Now, John presents this beast as the extension of the fourth beast of Daniel chapter seven. He connects this empire with the characteristics of the great empires of the past.

So this final world empire will have the catlike vigilance of the leopard. It'll have the slow and crushing power of a bear. You'll have the authority and the ferociousness of a lion. Now, I think this is very interesting here in Daniel chapter seven.

Those beasts represented empires, not a specific man. Therefore, some people have said, and this is not an uncommon approach to this, some people say that the beast that John describes here in Revelation chapter 13 is not a person.

Rather, they see him as a government or an empire, as a cultural system. Many people believe that the beast is a broad picture of totalitarian governments in the 20th century. For example, one commentator named Mounts, he writes and he says that the beast has always been and always will be in a final, intensified manifestation, the deification of secular authority.

He means a government that demands worship. But other people see the beast as a person, specifically the Antichrist. And friends, I believe that's very definitely the teaching here, and we'll get into it a little bit later for the exact reasons why.

I think there's something that we have to understand here. Though this beast in Revelation chapter 13 is a person, he's closely identified with the totalitarian government. He's closely identified with a world dominating empire.

Matter of fact, he's the only leader this world dominating empire ever has, because this world dominating empire lasts a whole of seven years or so. That's about it. It may begin a little bit earlier than the Daniel 70th week, but not much.

So it only lasts about seven years. He's the only leader it ever has. I want you to think in terms of, for example, the ancient Roman empire compared to the Third Reich of Germany. Okay, when you think of the ancient Roman empire, you've got 20, 30, 40 different emperors that you could come forth.

It's hard to identify the ancient Roman empire with one man, because it went over thousands of years, and there were many, many different emperors. However, when you talk about the Third Reich of Germany in the 20th century, when you talk about Nazi Germany, you think of one man, the only leader it ever had, Adolf Hitler.

And so in that sense, when we think of Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, the figures of Hitler as an individual and Nazi Germany as a state, they're virtually the same. It's going to be the same kind of dynamic.

Yes, there will be a totalitarian state, but yet for many good reasons, and we'll show you them shortly in Revelation chapter 13. I think it's very clear that this beast is an individual. Well, let's discuss some of the reasons why.

Well, first of all, the beast is going to be worshipped as a god. Now, this is very common throughout all human history. At one time or another, you've had kings or leaders or potentates that have demanded worship from the people.

But nations or empires, they don't demand worship. They center it upon a man. Another indication from this chapter is that an image is set up of the beast, and the whole world is commanded to worship it.

Now, how do you set up an image of an empire or government and have the whole world worship it? It just doesn't work. I mean, you could say you have a national image, like the Eiffel Tower is the national image of France.

Well, friends, you're not going to get the whole world to bow down and worship the Eiffel Tower. But people will bow down and worship before a statue of a man, of a representation, and prove it time and time again.

The beast also has a proper name, a name that expresses a particular number, as we're going to see this. And Revelation chapter 13 tells us specifically that it's the number of a man, not the number of an empire.

We also know, perhaps this is most conclusive, Revelation chapter 17, Revelation chapter 20 tells us that the beast is finally damned. He goes to perdition into the lake of fire, where he continues to exist and suffer.

And after that, or after he has passed from the earthly scene, God isn't going to do that to a system of government, but he'll do it to an individual. You go on again. The Antichrist is also called the son of perdition.

Now, there was one other individual in the Bible known as the son of perdition. Do you know who that was? Judas. Judas was not a system. Judas was not a government. And so it follows that the Antichrist will also be a man, not a system or a government.

So friends, I think we're making a big mistake from the scriptures when we say that the beast is an empire or a government. No, it's a man who's closely associated with an empire or a government. But notice this, the connection that he has, verse two, and the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and his great authority.

This world leader is really empowered and supported by Satan. Through this man, Satan will express his own desire and his own authority. In this, the beast will take the offer that Jesus refused. You remember in the temptation of Jesus, how Jesus was offered all the kingdoms of the world and all the governments and all their glory and authority.

If he would only bow down and worship Satan. Jesus refused. It may be that Satan strikes a similar deal with this man and he accepts and he becomes an emissary, a representative of Satan, his power, his throne, his great authority comes from the dragon.

Friends, we need to understand this, that the beast is not an ordinary man. Revelation chapter 11 and Revelation chapter 17 calls him the beast that ascends from the bottomless pit. Ordinary men do not come from there.

Anybody who comes from that place of the dead, they must be either. Well, some commentators say either a dead man brought up again from the dead. That was a very common understanding, I should say, in the early church.

I don't agree with it. But one of the most common understandings in the early church is that the Antichrist would be Nero resurrected. That Caesar Nero, one of the most terrible persecutors of the early church, that he would come back in a resurrected form and he would be the Antichrist.

I think instead of him being a man back from the dead, I think that, again, he is a man uniquely possessed by Satan, not by a demon, but by Satan himself. By the way, we have another example of this. Judas, according to John chapter 13, was specifically possessed by Satan, not by a junior demon, not by somebody under Satan, but by Satan himself.

And I believe it will be the same case with this Antichrist. Look at as it continues here in verse three, it says,. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded and his deadly wound was healed and all the world marveled and followed the beast.

You got the picture here, right? You've got this world dominating leader, fearsome and mighty. He has his authority and his power from Satan himself. And then one of his head is wounded. It's a mortal wound.

It's not a superficial injury. Look at it says in verse three, he's mortally wounded and it's a deadly wound. This man is seriously injured. Perhaps he was injured in some expression of God's judgment against the beast.

But the bottom line is that his deadly wound was healed. And the recovery of the beast only increases his fame and authority. It says there in verse three that all the world marveled and followed the beast.

I find it fascinating that twice later in Revelation chapter 13, the recovery is mentioned in connection to the world's worship and devotion to the beast. Let me show you what I mean. Look at verse 12 in this chapter, and he exercises all the authority of the first business presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.

See, isn't that interesting phrase to throw in there? And then look at verse 14 of this chapter. It says at the end of the verse, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.

Friends, it's very possible that this world leader will have a dramatic assassination attempt against him. And he will miraculously recover, might I say, as if he is risen from the dead. Wouldn't that be amazing?

A world leader. Everybody has their eyes on him. He's the hope of the world. He's a dashing, amazingly competent, good, wonderful man, cut down by an assassin's attack and then experiencing a miraculous recovery.

I'm right. I've heard so much that people say he's been raised from the dead. He would have all that much more authority, all that much more say and power in the affairs of the earth. So, friends, do you see this?

Do you see how he'd be wounded and then healed? And the world will believe it and will submit to his power. Look at it here. Verse four. So they worship the dragon who gave authority to the beast and they worship the beast saying who is like the beast and who is able to make war with him?

You see, as people worship this beast and bow down before the government, they are really bowing down to who? Look at it there in verse four. They worship the dragon who gave authority to the beast. They may not know that they're actually bowing down to Satan himself, but it's worship of Satan nonetheless.

They clearly worship both the beast and the dragon, but their worship of the dragon may be unknowing. You know, we find so many opposite parallels between the relationship between Jesus and his father and the relationship between the beast and the dragon that it's striking.

Remember when Jesus said, if you honor me, you honor my father. What's the same way when you express your devotion to this beast, to this political leader, you're really honoring his father, who is who?

Satan himself. Now, many people doubt this. How can? Come on, the whole world worshiping Satan. Look what it says there in verse four. So they worship the dragon. Yes, the whole world worshiping Satan.

Yeah, right. Friends, let's face it. There are not many open Satan worshipers in the world today. Though Satan worship becomes more and more popular each year, it's still only a tiny fraction of people on this earth who openly worship Satan.

But this is because most people expect Satan to appear with ugliness and horror. They think of a grotesque figure, the beat red face and the beady eyes and the horns coming forth and the angry, grotesque mouth and all of that.

That's wrong, isn't it? You remember what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians chapter 11? He said Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, Paul wrote, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness whose end will be according to their works.

Friends, there's something, if anything, I could communicate to you about this beast, about this Antichrist is that he will appear as the ultimate winner. He will be the absolute picture of success. When people look at him, they won't think evil.

They'll think success. Matter of fact, so success. We'll look at it here in verse four. They worship to be saying, look at it here. First of all, Americans could be saying this. Who is like the beast?

Who's able to make war with him? He's number one. That's why we worship him. Who can challenge him? He's so mighty that he cannot be conquered. And so when he blasphemes Jesus, when he persecutes God's people, they will appear to be the complete losers for a short time.

They worship the beast and the dragon behind the beast simply because the beast is so mighty. He's so successful. He appears to be such a winner. Friends, I trust that every one of us have given our lives to Jesus Christ.

That you're born again by the spirit of God, that you're abiding in Jesus. And that you won't be here on this earth to see the rise of this Antichrist, that you'll be watching it from a stadium seat in heaven.

Might I say for those who are left behind on this earth, or for those who say, I'll wait until another time to get right with Jesus Christ, because I'll just wait until after the rapture and I see the Antichrist come up and then I'll know and then I'll be careful and I'll change my ways then.

You don't understand what it will be like during the Great Tribulation. The Antichrist will look like such a complete winner, like such a complete success. And Christians will seem like such a despised, a downtrodden, absolutely worthless minority, that it's going to be very likely that you're not going to want to join with the losers.

You're going to want to join with the winners. When you do that, you'll take the mark of the beast. We'll see more about that in this chapter. Check this out what it says in verse five. He was given a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies, and was given authority to continue for 42 months.

Then he opened his mouth and blasphemy against God, so blasphemy his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. Now again, I think it's fascinating that he gives this authority to continue for 42 months.

The beast continues without restraint by God for a period of 42 months. That's that familiar time frame of three and a half years again. And the time frame referred to here is the first three and a half years of that period.

Then in the second three and a half years, God starts wailing on the beast, and on his empire, and on the world. My friends, here he's speaking these great blasphemies, and seeming no trouble for it, nothing but success.

But look at who he blasphemes against in verse six. Did you notice that? He blasphemes against God, right? We can understand that. Blaspheme his name, his tabernacle. Interesting. You wonder if that isn't a reference to a rebuilt temple upon earth.

Although it seems that at least in the first three and a half years, the Antichrist would be friendly towards the temple. So it may mean something else. It may mean the tabernacle of God in heaven, the true worship of God represented by that.

I think it's very interesting at the end of verse six, it says that the beast also blasphemes those who dwell in heaven. And what's that a reference to? I think it's nothing else than those who were taken up in the rapture.

He castigates them. His public proclamations. Yes, we've gotten rid of those troublemakers. Isn't it good that they've been taken away? Is that alien abduction came and eliminated them? Or our world program to eliminate the troublemakers in this world.

We got rid of them. And he blasphemes those who dwell in heaven. Though he does that against those who dwell in heaven, look at what he does against those who come to Christ on the earth. Verse seven.

And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Revelation chapter 12 described the broad phenomenon of satanic persecution during the tribulation period. And here the main instrument of that persecution is revealed. The main instrument of persecution during the great tribulation will be the government of the Antichrist.

He will persecute and kill all those who do not bow down and worship to the beast. And he will seemingly look at it there, overcome them, as it says. And in verse seven, it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.

I don't think that this means that the beast can overcome the faith of the saints, but that he can destroy their physical lives. And by all appearances, he'll defeat the cause of God's people on this earth.

Friends, there will be martyrdoms by the thousands, by the tens of thousands, perhaps by the hundreds of thousands. As the Antichrist continues this amazing campaign of persecution against God's people.

It's not really overcoming. Let's remember that Jesus said that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against the church. And if this group of saints is overcome by Satan, and perhaps they're not the same New Testament church that Jesus spoke of.

Rather, the group here during the great tribulation, not completely overcome, beat up on pretty bad during this terrible time of persecution. But did you notice what it says there in verse eight? And all who dwell on the earth will worship him.

This final world dictator will demand and receive worship from the whole earth. But those who worship him will pay the price. You see, those who worship the beast are also those, look in verse eight, those who have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

Now, again, many people scratch their head. Well, they're incredulous when it says the whole earth will worship a man. Haven't we gone beyond that? Well, no, we really haven't. See, friends, it'll probably be after the pattern of the worship demanded by the Roman emperors in the days of the early church.

There were times in the early church when all residents of the Roman empire were required to burn a pinch of incense before a Roman government official. And there was a whole ceremony behind it. You went to the government office.

There was a little statue of Caesar. You walked up to it. There's a little fire burning on a little altar before the statue of Caesar. You took a pinch of incense. You burned it. The smoke went up. And you said, Caesar is Lord.

The government official was standing there. He said, OK, you said it. They wrote your name on a certificate. They gave you a certificate and you went your way. Christians wouldn't do it. Christians would not say Caesar is Lord.