Revelation 13 - Antichrist

This chapter is about the Antichrist and False Prophet. This is about a time when Satan establishes a kingdom on earth. Satan is given a chance to rule the world.

Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. – 1 John 2:18

Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. – 1 John 4:3

The word antichrist does not appear in Revelation. The reference is “the beast”. Interestingly, I was at an Advisory Council meeting for Radio 4VEH this past week and Brett Bundy, the field director for OMS, was there. He was telling me of a story where he was speaking in English and had a Creole interpreter. (He said even if you can speak the two languages, its really hard to interpret for yourself and keep a consistent message.) He was referring to his kids and how when they become a teenager they are “a different animal altogether”. We here in America understand the reference. They change and are different than when they were children, but they are hard to understand. However, in Creole it translates into “they are a beast”. In Haiti, a beast is less than man, and someone less than a beast is less than a slave, under all. Of course, Brett, upon hearing the Creole interpretation, immediately had to embarrassingly correct the reference. I shared this story so we might could get a feel for what the term “beast” might have in other cultures and can grab the term as it relates in value to everything else. Here in our society, beast is simply another word for animal, but meaning a savage one. I don’t think we give it a place below man, below domestic animals, below slaves.

In Daniel 7:8 the antichrist is called the little horn. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8 refers to him as the lawless one or man of sin. And 1 John and 2 John refers to it as the antichrist.

The word antichrist means “one who is against Christ” or “one who is in the place of Christ”. We will see that both of these are true. The beast is the anti-Messiah and he will attempt to replace the true Christ.

The idea or concept of antichrist has many faces in the Bible:

1. An evil empire or political power.
2. A past and present impersonal force, presence, or spirit; the evil spirit of this age.
3. Literal persons who are forerunners of the final antichrist.
4. The final and climactic embodiment of satanic power and opposition to God in a person.

There is overlap in these in Revelation. The beast and the antichrist will seem to be both a political empire and a person. However, this is not entirely new to us. When we think of Nazi Germany we think of Hitler. In much the same manner, the political empire that the beast will establish will have a person at its head and that person will in the end demand worship.

Throughout history many people have been said to have been the antichrist. Bernard McGinn wrote a book entitled, Antichrist: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil and it lists much of the history of people who where thought to be antichrist. Among the many, Old Testament types such as Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and the Antiochus Epiphanes are discussed. Other notable suggestions include Nero, Martin Luther, Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler, Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Saddam Hussein, and numerous popes. In fact, Luther, Calvin, John Wesley, and other well known Christian saints of the past have all named popes as antichrists.

One thing is certain, everyone in the past who has made a specific identification of the Antichrist has been wrong. That fact alone should give us some hesitation in following in their footsteps. Rather than focus on what the political power and person the Antichrist is, I think we should focus on what they do and how they work. In this manner, we can recognize the characteristics in others so that we do not follow anyone who would lead us away from our Christ.

While we have touched on how there can be a powerful person who is supported by a powerful nation, we will also see a third part of the evil work described to be in the spiritual realm.

As an example of how the church can be used as a worship of evil, there is a voodoo “celebration” in northern Haiti at Plaine-du-Nord every July. It happens to be on the same days as the Catholic festival of Our Lady of Carmel. People combine their worship for the Virgin Our Lady of Carmel and the voodoo spirit Erzuilie. Here, there is a large mud pit where worshippers throw in rum, flowers, candles, or meat. Often, the blood from slain bulls, goats, or chickens is also put into the mud pit. Those who bathe in it are expecting a miracle. This is near the St. James Catholic Cathedral and it is the center of voodoo worship. Many people of Haiti consider the Catholic saints to be the same as their voodoo spirits, they just have different names. 

Here in chapter 13 we will see Satan's view of a one-world order and one-world religion.