So why is the Antichrist (or the Beast, as he's actually called in the Bible) such a big deal? In other words, why are so many Christians so obsessed with "figuring out" who he will be?
Truthfully, we shouldn't be. We are given certain signs to look for (like the passage in Daniel, and the passages we're going to look at in this post), but they aren't given so that we can try and decipher any particular hidden code. The signs are given to us so that, as Jesus put it, we can watch and be ready. In other words, it's not about predicting, but recognizing. And why should we be able to recognize him? Two reasons: first, be ready for the Return of Christ. Secondly, it's so we can point to events and certain signs in order to share the Gospel. The key to that, of course, is pointing to the actual signs, not our interpretations of those signs.
Which brings me to one of my all-time favorite examples of interpretation gone awry. I saw a video on Youtube several months ago that claimed that Jesus Himself gave us the name of the coming Beast. It cited Luke 10:18: "He [Jesus] replied, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.'" Now, I'm going to go through their argument the way they went through it, as if it were undeniable truth. I must admit, it's a convincing argument. But only up to a point, which I will deconstruct after I've presented their case.
So here's what they point out. Luke was written in Greek, but Jesus would not have been speaking Greek, right? He was a Jew. Greek was reserved for conversations with the Romans and other Gentiles, but Jesus would not have been speaking to His disciples in Greek; we need to look at the Hebrew meaning of the words, not the Greek.
In Hebrew, the word for lightning is baraq. Now, the word for "heaven" is a little more difficult, because there are two Hebrew words that can be translated "heaven," but only one word in Greek. In Greek, ouranos can refer to one of two "heavens": the sky and the universe (the domain of Satan, as Paul calls them in Ephesians 2); or Heaven, where God's throne is located. Now, in Hebrew, the word for "sky" is shamayim, but the word for High Places or highest heavens is . . . ready? Bama. Now, as in most other languages, the word we translate as "like" can also be translated as "as." So Jesus is saying, in Hebrew, that He sees Satan falling "as Baraq Bama."
Jesus named our current president as the future embodiment of Satan. Mind blown, right?
And the wording is solid; you can look it up yourselves. The Hebrew is absolutely accurate here. Which is the problem, because Jesus wouldn't have been speaking Hebrew. The language in that region at that time was Aramaic, which, while related to Hebrew, is different enough that baraq bama becomes birqunn shamaya. Not exactly our President's name, is it?
Secondly, even if He were speaking Hebrew, we would have no idea which word for "heaven" He is using. It could be bama, but not necessarily. Of course, it doesn't really matter, because, as I noted a second ago, the verse would have been in Aramaic. Either way, bama is thrown out the window, too.
Lastly, within the context of the Scripture, Jesus' naming of the Beast makes no sense. At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus sends out seventy-two disciples to go to the villages and towns and proclaim the Gospel. They return, excited and amazed, because not only did people accept the Gospel, but the disciples saw people healed in Jesus' name, and, more amazing to them, they inform Him that, "'Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your Name'" (10:17), to which Jesus replies, "'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.'" He continues, "'I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven'" (10:19-20).
In context, the way it is translated, the passage makes sense. "Man, Jesus, even demons submit to us in Your Name!"
"Satan will even fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to proclaim My Gospel, and nothing can harm you without My permission. But you should really be more excited that you are Mine, than that you have authority over demons."
Makes sense. The way this video interprets it, though, makes no sense at all. Check it out:
"Man, Jesus, even demons submit to us in Your Name!"
"Satan will embody someone named Barak Obama. I have given you authority to proclaim My Gospel, and nothing can harm you without My permission. But you should really be more excited that you are Mine, than that you have authority over demons." Okay, I admit that Jesus could be cryptic at times, but that's just bizarre - the interpretation, when put in context, makes no sense.
Do you see what I mean about interpretation gone awry? We must always, always put passages within their context. I'm not against speculation, but speculation that removes and ignores Scripture is both wrong and, potentially, dangerous. As I said before, I will say again: we must always put passages within their context.
Which is why I spent the last post of this series looking at the dragon, because Satan has a direct influence on the man we call the Antichrist. After chasing "the woman" (12:17), he goes "to make war against the rest of her offspring - those who obey God's commandments and hold tot he testimony of Jesus," but John tells us that first, "the dragon stood on the shore of the sea" (13:1). In the very next verse, John sees "a beast coming out of the sea," a beast who will be "given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them" (13:7).
So let's catch up briefly (if you haven't read the first part of this, I strongly suggest you do so):
- Satan attempts to "devour" Christ, but fails (12:4-5)
- There is a war in heaven, and Satan and his followers are evicted (12:4, 7-12)
- Satan pursues Israel, but she is supernaturally (?) protected for 3 1/2 years (12:6, 14-16)
- Satan stands on the shore of the sea and waits for "the beast" (13:1)
- "The beast" will wage war against, and conquer, Christians (12:17, 13:7)
So let's take a look at this "beast," and see what kinds of things we should look for. And I'll try and keep wild speculation to a minimum, though I make no concrete promises. Alright, Revelation 13:
And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.
And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?" (13:1-4).
Okay, so we need to look at this for a moment. John is directly referring to Daniel's vision of the beasts in Daniel 7. We have two statements that lend to this interpretation: first, the numerology of "ten horns." In Daniel's vision, he sees "a fourth beast - terrifying and frightening and very powerful . . . it was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns" (7:7). I do not believe this to be a coincidence.
Secondly, John gives us a very bizarre description of this beast, that its body is like a leopard's, its feet are like a bear's, and it's mouth/head is like a lion's. Really weird, but for a Jew familiar with the prophets of the Old Testament, this would make sense, particularly in light of the ten horns. In Daniel 7, Daniel sees a total of four beasts, and while the fourth one has ten horns, the first one is "like a lion," the second is "like a bear," and the third is "like a leopard" (7:4,5,6). While this is speculation of sorts, John truly appears to be referencing Daniel 7. Coupled with the angel's admonition that all of this "concerns the distant future" (Daniel 8:26), and we have a pretty good idea that what John saw here is the same person and events that Daniel saw in Daniel 7 and 8. Beyond this, the meanings of John's symbols are sort of up in the air.
I have a theory that the different parts of the body of the Beast indicate some sort of characteristic. In Daniel's vision, each beast represented an empire: the lion was Babylon, the bear was the Medo-Persian empire, and the leopard was Greece. In John's vision, therefore, I wonder if it's possible that each part of the beast was derived from some aspect of each empire. The "mouth like that of a lion," for example, would indicate perhaps a language or teaching derived from Babylonian influence. What, exactly, would that mean? No idea. "Feet like those of a bear"; no clue what an empire with "Medo-Persian Feet" would look like. Right? Like I said, this is a theory (and not a particularly fleshed-out theory, at that). Please, do not go looking for the rise of a Babylonian-speaking, Medo-Persian culture with a government based on the Greeks - I'm not claiming that! It's just a matter of curiosity for me.
Here's what we can say, however. The ten horns refer to the ten nations from which this Beast derives his political power. Now, as a quick comment, many eschatologists assert that the Beast restructures the earth into ten kingdoms, but this is not supported by the Scriptures. You can look up the passage in Daniel yourself, but it clearly states that the fourth beast has ten horns, and then another smaller horn grows up among the ten horns, uprooting three of the other ten horns in the process. In other words, don't look for a world leader to restructure the planet, and then say, "Ah ha! It's HIM!" That's not the timeline Daniel gives.
Anyhow, the ten horns represent ten leaders. I can say this with authority, because we're told what they represent in Revelation 17: 12-14:
The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the Beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the Beast. They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings - and with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers.
The main takeaway here - and this sets up the rest of the chapter - is that the world not only follows this guy, but they worship both him, and Satan. Listen to me: this is not speculation. This is not a conspiracy theory. This is stated Biblical truth.
The world will turn to Satanism.
They will worship the Antichrist, but they will also worship Satan, who gives the Antichrist his power. Revelation 13:4: "Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast. . . ." There will come a time when atheism dies. There will come a time when all world religions die. There will only be two types of people: those who follow Christ, and those who worship Satan.
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies [another reference to Daniel?] and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander His name and His dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast - all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.
He who has an ear, let him hear.
If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
with the sword he will be killed.
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints . . .
. . . I was greatly astonished. Then the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? . . . the Beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the Beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come (13:5-10; 17:6-7; 8).
Many of you will notice I skipped over quite a bit of Scripture. We will get to those verses, because they involve more detail about the religion set up during this time. For now, I want to wrap this up and leave you with something very important. First, this Beast is resurrected. There aren't too many other ways to interpret this. We're told four times that he was dead, and has come back to life. We're told in 13:3 that one of his heads had a fatal wound, but it was healed, we're told in 13:12, 14 that he had a fatal wound to the head, and that it was inflicted by a sword, and in 17, the angel who is describing everything to John tells him twice that this Beast "once was, now is not, and yet will come" (17:8).
I want to pause and look at verse 8 for a second, because it's interesting. Notice that John is watching the Beast utterly destroy Christians, and the angel tells him that the Beast "now is not." To what, exactly, does the "now" refer? Obviously not the events that John is watching. That leaves one possibility: the "now" refers to John's real-time life. As in, "The Beast isn't on earth yet." That would mean . . . wait for it . . . that the "once was" refers to someone who lived prior to John. I recognize this isn't the traditional interpretation of the Antichrist. Most eschatologists believe that someone will show up on the scene, be killed, resurrect (most likely on the third day, in an obscene mockery of Christ), and then unleash Hell on earth. Maybe - maybe - that view is correct. I'm not trying to undo traditional interpretation, I'm just commenting on what the Scriptures actually say. The Beast arises out of ten kings - kings John is seeing at that moment, but who "have not yet received a kingdom" (17:12); the kings are present in John's vision, but future for John's life. John then sees the Beast, who is present in the vision, but "once was, now is not, and yet will come" for John's life. Again, I know this flies in the face of popular theology, but this seems to indicate that the Satanically indwelt ruler has already lived, and one day, we will see him live again.
This is why I'm not quick to jump on the "Obama is the Antichrist" bandwagon. Nor have I jumped on the slightly less popular but rapidly growing "Pope Francis is the Antichrist" bandwagon. Now, if either of these men is killed by a sword (beheaded by ISIS, perhaps?), I'll start keeping a closer eye on their bodies. Until then, I'm not going to worry too much about it.
And here's why:
They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them
because He is Lord of lords and King of kings - and with Him will be His
called, chosen and faithful followers (17:14). Jesus is still Lord. He wins. He is God. Whether the Beast is alive now, whether he lived three-thousand years ago, whether his return is around the corner or fifteen years from now, it doesn't matter for me. I recognize that I'm a miserable sinner who has nothing to offer God but the very Grace He gives me. Without Him, I would be one of those people who follow the Beast. Without the work of Jesus on the cross, I would be deceived by Satan, too. There is no strength, no goodness, no righteousness within me. Anything good in me is Jesus manifesting Himself in my life.
And while my steps are not always in line, while my desires are not always faithful, He has called me, and I trust in Him. If you are in this same position, then there is nothing that this world can throw at us that will compare to the riches that are in Jesus Christ our Lord.
If you're on the fence, choose a side and be done with it. Stop being indecisive.
If you've set your face against Jesus, the good news is that the Beast isn't here yet, so you can repent. You can turn from your self-worship (which is, ultimately, Satan-worship) and worship the God Who loves you even though you don't deserve it, the God who came here and became one of us in order to make us more like Him.
Decide today. We may have fifteen years, fifteen days, or fifteen minutes. But whether you fight against Jesus for the next fifteen minutes, fifteen days, or fifteen years . . . it doesn't matter, because you're fighting for something that is temporal and will all be destroyed, anyway. Seems rather silly, doesn't it?
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