In the chaotic times of confusion, uncertainty, and unrest that will prevail during the Tribulation, the world will long for a leader. People will be desperately hoping for someone powerful and influential to unite the divided and contentious nations of the world. The powerful leader people desire will come and unify the world under his rule. He will appear at first to be everything people thought they were looking for. But he will turn out to be far more than the world bargained for. This man, often called the Antichrist, will be the culmination of a long line of would-be world conquerors. Just as the Antichrist will be the culmination of a long line of political rulers, so also will he be the ultimate false religious leader. The original source of the biblical teaching about the Antichrist is the book of Daniel. Daniel ch. 7 pictures the Antichrist as a little horn arising from the ten horns of the fourth beast of Daniel’s vision. Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks describes Antichrist as “the prince who is to come” (Dan (;26). Antichrist will make a pact with Israel for seven years. Halfway through that seven-year period, however, he will break that covenant and attack the Jewish people. His plan will be to wipe them out, so that GODs promised kingdom cannot come. According to this prophecy, Antichrist will have absolute power, he will do as he pleases. As the leader of a worldwide false religion he will exal and magnify himself above every god. Like his evil master, satan, Antichrist will be blasphemous, profane, and proud. But also like his master, he will come to his end and no one will help him.
As a spirit being, satan depends on humans to carry out his evil plans on earth. he controls all unbelievers; since they are “of their father the devil, and want to do the desires of their father” (John 8:44). To lead his last, desperat onslaught against GOD, satan will empower his final Antichrist. The opening verses of this chapter reveal seven features of his ancestry, authority, acclaim, adoration, arrogance, activity, and admirers.
Ch 13:1 — His Ancestry: The imagery of the sand of the seashore depicts the nations of the world. Satan takes his place dominantly in their midst. As John’s vision unfolded, the dragon (satan) summoned the Antichrist, described as ‘a beast coming up out of the sea’. The beast must be understood as representing both a kingdom and a person. The beast must represent a kingdom because of the complex description of him in the latter half of verse 1. Yet the beast must also represent a person, since he is always described with personal pronouns. It is best to equate the ‘sea’ with the abyss. The Old Testament also uses the metaphor of the sea to picture the realm of satanic activity (Job 26:12, Isa 27:1).
The Antichrist will be man (2Thess2:4) but at some point in his life, he will be indwelt by a powerful demon from the abyss. This demon-possessed man will be a gifted orator, and intellectual genius, possess great charm and charisma, and have immense leadership power. While all unbelievers are children of satan (John 8:44), no one in human history will be more completely the devil’s child than the Antichrist. His family likeness to satan becomes strikingly apparent from John’s description of him as having ten horns and seven heads on his horns were ten diadems.
Horns in Scripture symbolize strength and power. In this passage, they will represent the great power of the kings who will rule under Antichrist’s absolute authority. The final world empire will be in some sense a revival of the Roman Empire (statue in Daniel 2), but will bar exceed ti both in power and extent. It will be much more than a European confederacy; it will cover the entire world. In addition to his ten horns, the beast is described by John as having seven heads. Those seven heads represent seven successive world empires: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and Antichrist’s final world kingdom. The ten diadems (royal crowns) indicate the horns’ regal authority and victorious power.
Ch 13:2 — His Authority: The leopard, bear, and lion were well-known in Palestine. They dramatically emphasize the characteristics of the nations they represent. The lion–the Babylonian Empire; the bear–the Medo-Persian Empire; the leopard–the Greek Empire. John lists the three animals in reverse order from Daniel, since he was looking backward in time. Because GODs supernatural restraint of the Antichrist will be removed (2Thess 2:7) that will allow Antichrist to rise to power at GODs appointed time, and will temporarily let sin run its course. The Antichrist will share satan’s throne just as Christ shares His Father’s throne.
Ch 13:3 — His Acclaim: The head whose fatal wound will be healed can only be the future Antichrist. Whether his death is real or fake is not clear. Antichrist’s alleged death and resurrection will be a counterfeit of Christ’s death and resurrection, staged, as one of the “lying wonders” perpetrated by the false prophet (ch 13:12-15; 2Thess 2:9 ). Whatever actually happens, the people of the world will believe that Antichrist, already popular because of his great powers, has also transcended death.
Ch 13:4 — His Adoration: The world’s fascination with Antichrist will quickly become worship. He will encourage and demand that worship by “exalting himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of GOD, displaying himself as being GOD. (2Thess 2:4). And those who did not receive the truth so as to be saved will be deceived into worshiping him. By worshiping the Antichrist, unbelievers will actually be worshiping satan, the real power behind him. as the people of the world worship Antichrist they will cry out in awe. In the political, military, and religious realms, Antichrist will reign supreme and unchallenged by earth and hell.
Ch 13:5-6 — His Arrogance: The phrase ‘there was given to him’ refers to GODs sovereign control of events. GOD will allow Antichrist to blaspheme to give full expression to the satanic wickedness that will cover the earth at that time. Antichrist’s arrogance will surpass that of anyone else in human history. He will be satan’s mouthpiece, voicing his master’s frustrated rage against GOD. GOD will grant Antichrist authority to act for 3 1/2 years.
Ch 13:7 — His Activity: Antichrist will make war with the saints and overcome them; believers in the true GOD will bear the brunt of his murderous fury. He will perceive them as a threat to his authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation, which again was temporarily given to him by GOD.
Ch 13:8-10 — His Admirers: The phrase ‘all who dwell on the earth” is used throughout Revelation to describe unbelievers. Unbelievers, those whose names are not recorded in the book of life will perish. Believers are doubly secure, because the book of life belongs to the Lamb who has been slain (Christ Jesus). This astounding vision of the beast from the sea concludes with a call for spiritual understanding. The warning ‘if anyone has an ear, let him hear’ is used sixteen times in the New Testament to emphasize a particularly important truth. Here the phrase introduces a proverb that concludes this passage: “if anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints”. This proverb contains important practical truth for those believers alive at the time of Antichrist’s persecution. They are to depend on GODs providence and not take matters into their own hands. Those believers destined by GODs sovereign plan for captivity (imprisonment) are to accept that incarceration as GODs will. They are not to resist or fight against Antichrist. GODs people must not retaliate against their persecutors; there is no place now, and there will be no place then, for militant, aggressive, violent believers terrorizing their persecutors.
The major weapon in satan’s arsenal is deception. From his first appearance on earth in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:2-6) until his final appearance at the end of the Millennium (Rev 20:7-8), satan is a liar and a deceiver. He constantly seeks to confuse people , blinging the minds of the unbelieving. Since satan is a deceiver, it follows that his agents (both human and demonic) are also deceivers. The final false prophet will be satan’s last and most powerful lying deceiver. Along with satan, the counterfeit of the Father and Antichrist, the counterfeit of Jesus Christ, the false prophet will for the satanic false trinity. He will be the counterfeit of the Holy Spirit. While Antichrist will be primarily a political and military ruler, he will also claim to be GOD. The fales prophet will be his high priest, the religious leader who will lead people into the satanic religion of worshiping Antichrist. The false prophet will convice the unbelieving world that Antichrist is the solution to the world’s pressing problems. At the midpoint of the Tribulation Antichrist will destroy the false religious system and institute the worship of himself, the abomination of desolation in Dan 9:27. The worship of Antichrist will become the only religion tolerated. John’s vision of the false prophet reveals three key elements : his person, power, and program.
Ch 13:11 — His Person: In contrast to the first beast, who will come up out of the sea, the second beast will come up out of the earth. Like Antichrist, the false prophet will be indwelt by a demon out of the abyss. Despite his deceptively mild appearance, the false prophet is not less a child of hell than the Antichrist. This is evident because he spoke ‘as a dragon’. The false prophet, like Antichrist, will be the dragon’s (satan’s) mouth piece.
Ch 13:12-14 — His Power: the false prophet will exercise the same kind of demonic power and authority as the Antichrist does, since both are empowered by the same hellish source. That he exercises his authority in Antichrist’s presence implies that Antichrist will have delegated that authority to him. He will lead the worldwide cult of Antichrist worship. Amazingly, the false prophet, imitating the two witnesses even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth. The false prophet will succeed dramatically in his efforts to deceive those who dwell on the earth. As the power of Antichrist and the persuasiveness of the false prophet grow, satan will escalate the false world religion of Antichrist worship. It will be a tribute to the awesome power of Antichrist, “who had the wound of the sword and who has come to life”
Ch 13:15-18 –His Program: The idolatrous image of the Antichrist will be different from any other idol in human history. In another display of his power to deceive, the false prophet will ‘give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak.” As part of his plan to enforce the worship of Antichrist, the false prophet will require all categories of unbelievers, summarized as ‘the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slave, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead’.
In the ancient world, such marks (tattoos or brands) were commonly given to slaves, soldiers, and devotees of religious cults. GOD sealed, with a mark on the forehead, the 144,000 to preserve them from His wrath against the unbelieving world. The false prophet marks the unsaved to preserve them from Antichrist’s wrath against GODs people. Besides the constant threat of death, refusing to take the mark of the beast will have dire practical consequences in daily living. No one will be able to buy, or to sell, except the one who has the mark. Currency will probably vanich, to be replaced by controlled credit. Instead of a credit card which can be lost, people will have a mark in their forehead or hand.
Further describing the mark, John notes that it will consist of either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Antichrist will have a universal designation, his name within a numbering system. The exact identification of that phrase is unclear. What is clear is that everyone will be required to have the identifying mark or suffer the consequences.
The exclamation, “here is wisdom” is a warning to those alive at that time to be wise and discerning. They will need to recognize what is happening and understand the significance of the number connected with Antichrist’s name. The precise significance of the number 666 awaits the future time of the Antichrist, but it is noteworthy that the number is that of a man. Seven, the number of perfection, is GODs number. Since man falls short of perfection, his number is six. Man was created on the sixth day (Gen 1:26-31). Repeating the number three times emphasizes that this is a man’s number just as the thrice-repeated statement “holy, holy, holy” stresses GODs absolute holiness. (Isa 6:3). Most people will follow the seemingly safe and prudent course, worshiping the Antichrist, and receiving his mark. but that is a tragic mistake with disastrous consequences. Those who persist in worshiping the beast will face the wrath of GOD.
