“[The angel said to me,
“John,] The [great
red dragon] beast, which you
saw [cast out of Heaven
in Revelation 12: 7-9], once
was [in Heaven], now is
not [in Heaven because he was
cast into the Abyss], and [at
the appointed time, he] will
come out of the Abyss [e.g.,
the spirit realm where he has
been confined] and [after
a great display of authority and
force for about a year will] 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 [actually]
see the [great
red dragon] beast, because he
once was [a glorious angel in
Heaven], now [is confined
to the Abyss and] is not [visible
to human beings], and yet [during
the fifth trumpet] will [be
permitted to] come [out of
hiding and masquerade as Almighty
God. He will astonish the wicked
with incredible glory,
counterfeit wonders and
miracles!]…. The [great
red dragon] beast who once was
[in Heaven], and now is
not [in Heaven], is an
eighth king. [The stern-faced
king is called an eighth king
because he will rule over the
seven heads as the eighth horn
ruled over the seven horns in
Daniel 7.] He [the great
red dragon] belongs to the
seven [heads because he
opposes God’s authority and
truth. The great red dragon is
the dreaded anti-Christ] and [even
though he will appear to be
invincible for a while, you can
be sure that he] is going to
his destruction.” (Revelation
17: 8, 11, emphasis and
insertions mine)
Last month’s
segment examined the identity of
the composite beast in Revelation
13. This composite beast
represents “a crisis
authority” that will form
shortly after the Great
Tribulation begins and it will
impose itself upon the nations of
Earth with increasing authority
during a period of 42 months.
(Revelation 11:2) The composite
beast has seven blasphemous heads
(representing the seven religious
systems of the world) and it also
has ten horns (representing ten
future kings who the devil
himself will appoint as
“taskmasters” over the
human race). When it first
appears, the composite beast will
function as a religious authority.
It will represent all mankind
and its objective will be to
appease an angry God. Recorded
history affirms over and over
that force is always the last
resort of false religion, and
history will clearly be repeated
during the Great Tribulation. The
composite beast will also use
force to accomplish its purpose.
It will force the inhabitants of
Earth to “repent” and
worship according to its
dictates. If people dare to
oppose its laws, harsh penalties
will be enforced. Eventually, the
devil will cause the composite
beast to morph into a global
church/state.
Three key points
were discussed in the last
segment and a short review of
these points should make this
concluding study a little easier
to understand. (1) Bible prophecy
indicates that God’s
patience with mankind’s
degeneracy and decadence will
soon end. He will surprise the
nations of the Earth with four
trumpet-judgments. (Revelation 8:
2-13) Thousands of wicked cities
will be destroyed and one fourth
of Earth’s population will
perish when God’s wrath is
released. (Revelation 6:8) (2)
The first four trumpet-judgments
will come as a complete surprise
for most people. (1 Thessalonians
5:3) The enormity and universal
scope of God’s wrath will
exceed human calculation. Global
terror will evoke a global
response from mankind, and
religious and political leaders
of the world will humbly unite.
Together, they will form a crisis
authority to appease God’s
wrath that would be otherwise
unthinkable. Since it is likely
that the first four
trumpet-judgments will destroy
places that are widely known for
sinful behavior, repentance and
worship will become matters of
paramount importance during the
Great Tribulation. (Revelation
13: 7, 8) (3) God’s anger
will be widely evident all over
the world. Political leaders will
meekly subjugate their
legislative powers to the demands
of religious leaders who will
claim to have the solution for
appeasing God’s anger.
Actually, the religious leaders
of the world will know nothing
about God’s plans. They will
only make matters worse by
demanding an ever-increasing
number of “sin-less
laws-thinking these laws will
appease God and stop His
judgments. The composite beast
will not displace nations’
governments that are in place
when the first four
trumpet-judgments occur. Instead,
it will direct the political
leaders of each nation to enact
and enforce numerous
“sin-less” laws in an
effort to keep people from
sinning. Thus, they reason,
God’s wrath will cease.
Obviously, after
the horrific destruction caused
by the first four
trumpet-judgments, martial law
will be implemented. Political
leaders will readily violate the
constitution of their nation to
comply with the religious demands
of their clergy- and who will
complain? Fearing that God’s
anger could flare up again and
cause more destruction, political
leaders will have no choice! Man’s
response to God’s wrath
explains how worship will become
a matter of persecution. Laws
will be enacted in every nation
declaring a day of worship.
People who observe the Ten
Commandments will be persecuted
because the fourth commandment
declares the seventh day of the
week is God’s holy
day. The composite beast (the
crisis government) will mirror
the ancient government of
Babylon, both in arrogance and
ignorance. It will “set up
an image” and blaspheme God
by usurping His Prerogatives.
This is why the book of
Revelation calls the composite
beast “Babylon.”
The
Appearing of the Antichrist
I assume you are
acquainted with the physical
appearing of the devil (the
Antichrist) during the fifth
trumpet-judgment. (Revelation 9:
1-11) If not, please continue
reading in the reading room,
on the first page in our site
about the appearing of the
devil. About 890 days after
the censer is cast down
(Revelation 8:5), the devil will
physically appear. This is the
fifth trumpet-judgment. He will
claim to be Almighty God, Ruler
of Earth, but in fact, he is the
Antichrist. At first, attempting
to disarm the world’s
skepticism, he will speak kind
words, perform wonderful miracles
and offer hope to a world in
utter despair. However, as time
passes, the devil’s charade
will fail. He will prove to be
the meanest and cruelest
taskmaster the world has ever
known. The devil will take
control of the composite beast
(the crisis government) and
through it; he will impose even
greater suffering upon humanity.
Two statements about this
terrifying event are necessary
because the devil and the
composite beast will work
together like a “hand in a
glove.”
Several passages
in the Bible describe the
physical appearing of the devil.
Tragically, very few people
understand the seriousness and
enormity of this event because
these passages are usually
misdirected and/or
misinterpreted. For example, the
man of sin or lawlessness
mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2,
the horn power/stern/faced king
in Daniel 8, the king of the
north in Daniel 11: 36-45, the
two-horned beast ascending out of
the Earth in Revelation 13:11,
and the beast ascending from the
Abyss in Revelation 11 and 17 are
all descriptions of the physical
appearing of the devil. The world
has not witnessed anything
comparable to the physical
appearing of the devil and this
is why the Bible has so much to
say about it! This compelling
event is described in diverse
ways in the Bible because there
are numerous issues involved with
the physical appearing of Lucifer
who is the Antichrist.
Surprising, as it
may seem, Lucifer’s
activities will cause greater
destruction and suffering that
that caused by the first four
trumpets. The devil will inflict
irreparable destruction on three
fronts. First, he will destroy
the governments of all the
nations. Second, he will destroy
all of the religious systems of
the world. Third, he will destroy
one-third of mankind (the
non-religious wicked and many of
the saints). This is why the
devil’s name in both Hebrew
and Greek is Abaddon and
Apollyon, which means
destroyer.
It is impossible
to describe the agony and
suffering that will be caused by
Lucifer, so think about his
actions for a moment. Once the
devil gloriously appears,
attended by his 200 million
fallen angel followers
(Revelation 9:16), the usual
order of world governance (our
political and religious systems)
will be useless. The devil,
masquerading as Almighty God,
will perform incredible miracles
such as calling fire down out of
Heaven perhaps destroying
rebellious cities. Billions of
people will either be intimidated
or deceived into believing that
God Himself lives among men.
Ultimately, the devil will demand
that all religious diversity be
eliminated-and naturally so. The
devil will proclaim himself to be
God, and, as such, his word is the
law. The Bible predicts the
devil will terminate the seven
religions of the world by setting
up a new one-world religion. This
new religion is called “an
image” or likeness of the
composite beast in the book of
Revelation. In other words, the
composite beast will be modified
so that there will be “one
Lord, one faith, one
baptism” instead of seven
opposing religions claiming to
have the truth about God.
The Bible also
predicts the devil will eliminate
the governments of Earth. He will
do this to gain absolute control
over mankind. Consider this: When
the devil first appears, he will
lead the world to believe that he
(as God) has come to establish a
thousand years of peace on Earth
and all of the destruction caused
by the first four trumpets must
be rebuilt or repaired. Like
Pharaoh of old, everyone will be
forced to work hard to speed
Earth’s recovery. (Of
course, the devil knows there
will be no recovery from
God’s destruction, he just
uses this false hope to
“wear out” and torment
the people of Earth.) The devil
will divide Earth into ten
sectors and will appoint ten
kings as “taskmasters”
to oversee Earth’s
reconstruction. Make no mistake.
Lucifer will not be a benevolent
king. All who stand in opposition
to the devil’s heavy and
harsh demands will be targeted
for elimination. On the other
hand, everyone who believes the
devil is God will be treated as a
slave. By the time the seventh
trumpet sounds, the great red
dragon, the eighth king, will
reign over Earth as “King of
kings (politics), and Lord of
lords (religion).” The
government will rest on his
shoulders and Lucifer will
“sit in the heart of the
seas,” an ancient phrase
that means ‘ruler of all
nations.” (Ezekiel 28:2)
God permits the
devil to physically appear for
several reasons. Here are two:
(1) The devil is not allowed to
physically appear until the work
of the 144,000 stalls. (See 2
Thessalonians 2: 10, 11) In other
words, most of the people of
Earth will have heard the gospel
and made their decision about
whom they will worship before the
devil is allowed to physically
appear. After the devil is
released from the Abyss, and
people begin to discern the true
character of Satan, God extends a
final offer for the wicked to
reconsider their decision. As
people observe the torture that
Lucifer and his angels inflict on
human beings during the fifth and
sixth trumpets, perhaps some of
the wicked will repent of their
rebellion reject the lies and
authority of the devil and submit
to the joy of serving Jesus
Christ, “whose yoke is easy
and burden is light.” (2)
Lucifer is permitted to
physically appear to the
inhabitants of Earth so that
Earth’s religious gridlock
can be eliminated. Because
religion is a highly sensitive
matter involving personal
persuasion and cultural heritage,
it is impossible for one
religious person to convince
another person from a different
religious system that his
understanding of God is better
and more comprehensive. God
understands this gridlock. (It
has been said that less than 5%
of the world’s population
change religious systems.)
Therefore, God allows the devil
to physically appear so that the
many religious systems existing
throughout the world can be
eliminated. Suddenly, the
religious wicked will discover a
great void and this void will
enable many to thoughtfully and
intelligently consider the true
gospel of Jesus Christ for the
fist time. But wait! It only gets
worse. The devil will demand the
death penalty for anyone who
refuses to participate in his one
world religion and this decree
will force everyone onto one of
two camps: worship the devil and
live or worship Jesus and be
killed. This will be the ultimate
test. “He [the devil]
was given power [authority
from God] to give breath [life]
to the image [the
one-world religion] of the
first beast [composite
beast], so that it could speak
[make laws] and cause all
who refused to worship [according
to the demands of] the image
to be killed.” (Revelation
13:15)
Remember, the
Bible predicts the devil will
divide the world into ten sectors
and place ten
“taskmasters” kings
over these sectors. Since the
Bible does not reveal the
geographical boundaries of these
ten sectors, they may conform to
general geographical and cultural
boundaries. For example, the ten
sectors could be (1) North
America, (2) Central and South
America, (3) Africa, (4) Europe,
(5) China, (6) India, (7) Russia,
(8) Asia and the Middle East, (9)
Australia, and (10) The Pacific
Nations. Of course, time will
tell how the world is divided.
Those who love truth will be
despised. It is ironic that the
world will end just like sin
began; believing the devil’s
lies. “[John,] The ten
horns you saw are ten kings [these
kings are also represented by the
toes of the metal man in Daniel
2] who have not yet received
as kingdom, but for one hour
[Greek syntax: for one hour
does not mean 60 minutes, but an
appointed hour] will receive
authority as kings along with the
[great red dragon] beast. [As
taskmasters of mankind] They
have one purpose and will give
their power and authority to the [great
red dragon] beast. [At the
Second Coming] They [the
ten kings] will make war
against the Lamb [as did
Lucifer and his angels thousands
of years ago] but the Lamb
will overcome them because he is [the
true] Lord of lords and King
of kings-and with him will be his
called, chosen and faithful
followers.” (Revelations
17: 12-14, insertions mine)
