THE ANTICHRIST IS HERE!
Kevin D. Paulson
Tonight we address ourselves to an extremely sensitive topic.
We haven't hesitated thus far in these meetings to handle controversial issues. But tonight, the potential for misunderstanding rises considerably.
Some might even call me a bigot after what I say tonight. But before I say anything, I want to make one point as clear as I can. Whatever is said this evening about any religious system is NOT intended to deny the reality or sincerity of anyone's salvation or walk with God.
John 1:9:
"That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."
Rom. 2:14-16:
"For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
"Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;
"In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel."
What does God say about those who sin ignorantly?
Acts 17:30:
"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent."
James 4:17:
"Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."
But even though sinning ignorantly, or ignorantly believing a lie, will not cost us salvation, it is still our responsibility to seek and accept further light.
Prov. 4:18:
"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
Heb. 2:3:
"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?"
I. The Antichrist in Scripture
The word “anti” means not only “against,” but also “in place of,” as it is used in the original language of the New Testament.
Two passages in Scripture actually use this word:
I John 4:3:
“And very spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that spirit of antichrist.”
II John 7:
“For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver, and an antichrist.”
But another passage describes a power that will come in the future, that will stand up against God, and seek to take His place:
II Thess. 2:3-4:
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (Jesus’ coming) shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.
“Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”
Who or what does the Antichrist of Bible prophecy represent?
Communism?
Henry Kissinger?
Bill Clinton?
Barack Obama?
Burea of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms?
United Nations?
Osama bin Laden?
Nicolae Carpathia?
All of the above have been suggested, at one time or another. But what does the Bible say?
II. The Rise and Fall of Nations
Dan. 2:37-41:
“Thou, O king, art a king of kings, for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
“And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
“And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
“And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
“And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.”
Dan. 7:2-7:
“Daniel spake and said, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea.
“And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
“The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
“And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it: and they said unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
“After this I beheld, and lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads, and dominion was given to it.
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it; and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.”
Kings, in this chapter, are the same as kingdoms.
Dan. 7:17:
“These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
Dan. 7:23:
“The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth.”
Dan. 7:24:
“And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings, that shall arise.”
Dan. 8:3-8:
“Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other; and the higher came up last.
“I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward, so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.
“And as I was considering, behold, an he-goat came from the west, on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.
“And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.
“And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns, and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him; and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
“Therefore the he-goat waxed very great; and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable horns toward the four winds of heaven.”
But the prophecy doesn’t stop here.
III. The Little Horn
Dan. 7:8:
"I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things."
Now we’re going to review nine facts about this Little Horn, Antichrist power:
1. It uproots three of the ten barbarian kingdoms who conquered Rome.
2. Thus Rome not only came to power after Greece, but found a way to extend its power beyond the barbarian conquest.
Dan. 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 for a time and times and the dividing of time."
3. It would speak great words against God.
4. It would make war with the saints.
5. It would think to change times and laws.
6. It would rule for 3 1/2 times.
a. A "time" in prophecy is another term for a year (see Dan. 4:23,32).
b. The Jewish year consists of 360 days, with each month containing 30 days, thus making 3 1/2 years the same as 42 months, or 1,260 days.
c. Let's remember that in Bible prophecy, a day stands for a year (Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6).
IV. The Composite Beast
We need to study Daniel and Revelation together. Because the symbols used are the same. The need to compare Scripture with Scripture (I Cor. 2:12-14) becomes very critical here.
Rev. 13:1-3,5-7,10:
"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
"And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
"And I saw one of its heads as it were wounded to death: and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. . . .
"And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given him to continue forty and two months.
"And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
"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. . . .
"He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints."
Notice how the same language describing this power is used in Daniel 7 to describe the little horn.
- He speaks great things against God.
- He continues 42 months (3 ½ years, 1,260 days).
- He makes war with the saints.
So now we come to the seventh fact about the Little Horn:
7. It would suffer a deadly wound which would eventually be healed.
V. The Scarlet Woman
Rev. 17:1-4,6:
"And there came one the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.
"With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
"So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
"And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. . . .
"And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus."
Rev. 17:9,18:
"And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. . . .
"And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."
Now we see the eighth and ninth facts about this power:
8. It would sit on seven mountains.
9. It would carry the name of a great city.
In the Bible a woman is a symbol of the church.
Jer. 6:2:
"I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman."
II Cor. 11:2:
"For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you s a chaste virgin to Christ."
Rev. 19:7-8:
"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.
"And to her it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints."
White represents righteousness (Rev. 19:8). But the woman of Revelation 17 is dressed in scarlet. What does scarlet represent?
Isa. 1:18:
"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
More than this, the woman of Revelation 17 is called a whore. How did God in the Old Testament describe His people when they went astray?
Isa. 1:21:
"How is the faithful city become an harlot!"
Jer. 3:1:
"Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers."
Hosea 4:15:
"Though thou, Israel, play the harlot."
In other words, the book of Revelation is giving us a contrast between two churches. One is a pure virgin, dressed in white, the garments of righteousness. The other is a whore, dressed in scarlet, the garments of sin.
VI. Identity of the Mysterious Beast, or Antichrist
What, according to the evidence of both Scripture and history, fulfills all these qualifications?
Let's go through each of the points we discovered, and check the evidence:
1. It would extend its power beyond the barbarian conquest.
"With the breakup of the Roman bureaucracy the structure of daily life was threatened with disintegration. The only trace left of the Roman organism was the Catholic Church, and the only men with administrative experience were the bishops."
Katharine Scherman, The Birth of France: Warriors, Bishops, and Long-Haired Kings (New York: Random House, 1987), p. 25.
"When Christianity conquered Rome the ecclesiastical structure of the pagan church, the title and vestments of the pontifex maximus, the worship of the Great Mother and a multitude of comforting divinities, the sense of supersensible presences everywhere, the joy or solemnity of old festivals, and the pageantry of immemorial ceremony, passed like maternal blood into the new religion, and captive Rome captured her conqueror. The reins and skills of government were handed down by a dying empire to a virile papacy; the lost power of the broken sword was rewon by the magic of the consoling word; the armies of the state were replaced by the missionaries of the Church moving in all directions along the Roman roads, and the revolted provinces, accepting Christianity, again acknowledged the sovereignty of Rome."
Will Durant, Caesar and Christ (New York: MJF Books, 1944), pp. 671-672.
2. It would uproot three of the ten barbarian kingdoms that conquered Rome.
Let's review the ten kingdoms which conquered Rome:
Remember, these are the ten toes of the image of Daniel 2 and the ten horns of the fourth beast in Daniel 7.
Alemani (Germany)
Ostrogoths—destroyed
Visigoths (Spain)
Franks (France)
Vandals—destroyed
Suevi (Portugal)
Heruli—destroyed
Burgundians (Switzerland)
Anglo-Saxons (England)
Lombards (Italy)
Dan. 7:8:
“three of the first horns plucked up by the roots”
Dan. 7:24:
“he shall subdue three things”
The kingdom of the Heruli in Italy disappeared from history during the sixth century A.D.
The most recent edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, describes the aftermath of their defeat by the third-century Roman Emperor, Claudius II:
“From then until the mid-6th century, when they vanished from history, their fortunes varied.”
“Heruli,” Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 5 (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica Inc, 2002), p. 893.
The Vandals were destroyed by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 534.
"After a swift reconnaissance, Belisarius attacked the Vandal camp. Gelimer did not attempt to defend it, but fled westward into Numidia. The rest of his army followed their king's example, abandoning their families and all their possessions. The Vandal force no longer existed. Indeed the Vandals as a people vanished from the face of the earth."
Robert Browning, Justinian & Theodora (New York: Thames & Hudson, 1987), p. 98.
The Ostrogoths were the last of the three to be destroyed.
"In 535 Belisairus recovered Sicily, and in 536 all Italy south of Rome fell to him. He entered Rome in December 536, withstanding the enemy's siege until it was raised in March 538."
"Belisarius," Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 3 (Danbury, CT: Grolier Inc, 2006), p. 502.
Robert Browning describes the re-taking of Rome from the Ostrogoths in 538 (Justinian & Theodora, p. 111), and states that shortly thereafter, "the Ostrogothic kingdom had ceased to exist" (p. 114).
"The Church, with the shadow of the ancient authority behind it, was the only symbol left of imperial Rome, and its bishop, the Pope, was the city's only recourse for leadership and protection. . . . The Roman empire in Europe would be replaced by the spiritual empire--which came to be temporal as well--whose reigning seigneur was the bishop of Rome.
"As for the Ostrogoths, with the defeat and dethronement of their leader and the destruction of their army, they passed out of Italian history; in fact, out of history altogether."
Scherman, The Birth of France, pp. 164-165.
3. It would rule for 1,260 years.
We have already seen what happened in 538--the establishment of papal power in Europe.
What happened 1,260 years later, in 1798?
"In 1798 the French occupied Rome and established a republic. The pope fled and, though extremely ill, was obliged to move to France."
"Pius VI," Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 22 (Danbury, CT: Grolier Inc, 2001), p. 160.
Rev. 13:10:
"He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity."
Listen to this statement from Malachi Martin's 1990 book, The Keys of This Blood, which deals with the growing power of the papacy in today's world:
"From the first moments of his pontificate, it was John Paul's purpose to free the papacy from the straitjacket of inactivity in world affairs imposed upon it by the major secular powers for 200 years."
Malachi Martin, The Keys of This Blood: The Struggle for World Dominion Between Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the Capitalist West (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), front inside flap.
Why 200 years?
Obviously Martin is referring to the collapse of papal power at the end of the 1700s, which is the end of the 1,260-year prophecy.
4. It would suffer a deadly wound, which would eventually be healed.
This wound was inflicted when the Pope was taken captive in 1798.
The healing of this wound began in earnest in 1929, when Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty with Pope Pius XI and created Vatican City as an independent state.
World headlines greeted this event as follows:
“Mussolini, Gasparri Sign Roman Pact: Heal Wound of Many Years”
San Francisco Chronicle (cover headline), Feb. 12, 1929
5. It would make war with the saints.
Rev. 13:7:
“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints.”
"Compared with the persecution of heresy in Europe from 1227 to 1492, the persecution of Christians by Romans in the first three centuries after Christ was a mild and humane procedure. Making every allowance required of an historian and permitted to a Christian, we must rank the Inquisition, along with the wars and persecutions of our time, as among the darkest blots on the record of mankind, revealing a ferocity unknown in any beast."
Will Durant, The Age of Faith (New York: MJF Books, 1950), p. 784.
Regarding the persecution of the French Protestants under Louis XIV in 1685, Will Durant writes:
"This holy terror of 1685 . . . was far worse than the Revolutionary terror of 1793."
Will & Ariel Durant, The Age of Louis XIV (New York: MJF Books, 1963), p. 73.
The persecution of Protestants in France did not cease until 1787, two years before the French Revolution and eleven years before the dismantling of papal power by Napoleon in 1798. It was in 1787 that Louis XVI signed an edit restoring once and for all the civil rights of French Protestants
"A century after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the Huguenots had at last become civil persons once again."
Simon Schama, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989), p. 257.
6. It would sit on seven mountains.
Rev. 17:9:
“And here is the mind which hath wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.”
"The seven original hills of Rome were the Palatine, Capitoline, Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal."
Encyclopedia Americana (2006 edition), vol. 23, p. 686.
" . . . the famous seven hills on which ancient Rome was built--the Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal, and Viminal hills."
The World Book Encyclopedia (2006 edition), vol. 16, p. 429.
- It would carry the name of a great city.
Rev. 17:18:
“And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”
It should be obvious which city this is.
We’ve covered a difficult topic this evening. We have searched the facts of Scripture and the facts of history. I pray the truth has been spoken in love. This isn’t hate speech you’ve been hearing. It’s love speech. It was Christ Himself who said:
Rev. 3:19:
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”