No Time to Assimilate with the World
Identification of the antichrist is a subject we need to understand. If we do not know who the antichrist is, we will end up being joined to the antichrist. Ellen White says, “The enemy’s last great conflict will be a most determined one. It will be the last battle between the powers of darkness and the powers of light. Every true child of God will fight bravely on the side of Christ. Those who, in this great crisis, allow themselves to be more on the side of the world than of God, will eventually place themselves wholly on the side of the world. Those who become confused in their understanding of the Word, who fail to see the meaning of antichrist, will surely place themselves on the side of antichrist. There is no time for us to assimilate with the world. Daniel is standing in his lot and in his place.” Pamphlets, 68, 135, 139.
If we become confused in our thinking, so that we do not understand who the antichrist is, if we do not understand what the spirit of antichrist is, we will end up being joined with antichrist. We will not even know what we have done because we will think that we are having a great reformation and revival and a wonderful Christian experience.
When you get deep into the prophecies in Revelation, you begin to see that, at the end of the world, the people who are lost are going to be very confident that they will have eternal life. They are going to think that they are having the most wonderful spiritual experience that they have ever had. Let me tell you, the devil is determined that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is going to have the same wonderful experience that these other churches are having.
He is trying to get our church to unite with the fallen churches of Babylon. He is trying to obliterate the line of demarcation between the remnant church and the churches of Babylon. He wants to get us aligned with them so we stop preaching the Second Angel’s Message. Let me tell you, the spirit of hostility which is developing in the Seventh-day Adventist Church against the Three Angels’ Messages is frightful.
It has been going on for much longer than most people realize. When I attended Andrews University and the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary in the mid- sixties, I took a class in evangelism. The students were each required to preach an evangelistic sermon, listened to by the teacher and the rest of the class. I decided if I was going to preach an evangelistic sermon, I was going to preach the Third Angel’s Message. So I did.
Nobody could say it was heretical, at that time at least, because it was exactly what Ellen White taught in The Great Controversy and what was in Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith. At that time the Seventh-day Adventist Church had been teaching that message for over a hundred years. But every single person in that class, except one, opposed my sermon. Is that not an interesting state of affairs? Here was a Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary and the students there did not believe that you should preach the Third Angel’s Message in an evangelistic sermon.
What kind of evangelism are you going to do? To what are you going to convert the people? What are they going to believe when you get done preaching?
The Third Angel’s Message is about the antichrist, because the beast power of Revelation 13:1–10, is the antichrist. So the mark of the beast is the mark of antichrist, and the worship of the beast is the worship of antichrist.
A Millennium of Peace?
According to Revelation 13:8, everybody in the world, except the saved, is going to worship antichrist. Everyone whose name is not in the Book of Life is going to worship him. It is going to be universal, and these people are going to think that they are having the most wonderful revival and reformation of their lives. They are going to feel so wonderful.
It is going to be very religious. It will apparently be the most successful religious revival of all times. According to Revelation 18, the kings of the earth and the various government leaders all over the world will be involved. The legislatures, the courts, the church leaders, the thought leaders, the civil
leaders, the professional people, the moneyed people will all be involved. When you get all those people involved, the great mass of humanity is going to fall right in behind, and say, This is the most wonderful thing.
Ellen White says that they are going to come to our people and they will say, Angels are among us and miracles are among us. And this is the millennium of peace for which we have been hoping so long. Everything in the world is at peace. (See Maranatha, 209.)
Of course, they are not going to know that Armageddon is right around the corner. Right now, Christians all over the world are praying that the Lord will bring peace to the world, and the devil is going to make it look like God has answered their prayers. Then they will say, Angels are among us and miracles are among us and the whole world is at peace, and if you people who are so stubborn would only go along with this movement and be in harmony with the Sunday Law, then the whole world would be at rest.
Ellen White said that she saw our people in great distress during this time. She said they had taken away our resources so that we could not buy or sell, and they mocked the smallness of our numbers. Ibid. Now, we are going to be a very large number, but we are going to be scattered all over the world. We do not know the exact number, but if you took 144,000 people today and scattered them evenly across the world’s area, in proportion to the world’s population, I figured out that in Wichita there would be between 10 and 20 people. And Wichita is the biggest city in Kansas!
Twenty people scattered over the greater Wichita area, most of them in prison somewhere, would look like a pretty small group, would it not? It would look like you were all alone. The world has always been impressed by numbers, and when they see the smallness of our numbers, they are going to laugh.
Who or What is the Antichrist?
Mrs. White said they are also going to mock our poverty. Of course, you are poor if you cannot buy or sell, and you will be poor in that day. If you had a million dollars, it would not matter. What are you going to do then? If you do not know for sure what you believe, you are not going to make it. If you do not know absolutely for sure the truthfulness of the Three Angels’ Messages, you will not be able to stand against the rest of the world. So you need to know who is antichrist.
The mark of the beast is the mark of antichrist, because the beast is antichrist. As I keep studying this subject, the number of descriptive things I find as identifying marks of the antichrist, gets larger and larger.
You need to know how to identify, absolutely for sure, who the antichrist is, because almost the whole Christian world today, even many Seventh-day Adventists, are confused about this issue.
If you do not understand this, you cannot proclaim the Three Angels’ Messages with power. You cannot! This is a vital, important subject for Seventh-day Adventists. God has put us here for this time and place to be able to explain this to the world, so let us look at the first detailed description about the antichrist power, given in Daniel 7.
How do we know that this is talking about the antichrist? Daniel 7:25 says, “He shall speak”—great thing [words] against the Most High, and wear out [persecute] the saints of the Most High.” Is it the antichrist power that speaks great words against the Most High? By definition that would be an antichrist power. You do not need any other text to show it. You know that whoever it is talking about in this text, is an antichrist power. So let us find out who is this antichrist power.
Has the Antichrist Come?
I like to begin at Daniel 7 to identify the antichrist, because there are certain major identifying marks there that are not found anywhere else in the Bible. Daniel 7 gives us absolutely, indisputable evidence as to the time and place where the antichrist power would arise. That is important to understand, because some people think that the antichrist has not even come yet.
Some people think that the antichrist power is still in the future, and some believe that the antichrist power appeared sometime before the time of Christ. But Daniel 7 puts dates and places in your mind so you have some anchor points regarding time and place, and that is important.
Daniel 7 records a vision about four beasts, which represent four empires, or kingdoms, that were going to rule the world.
Rome Identified
We know from Daniel 2 that there were only four kingdoms that would be worldwide in authority, and Daniel 7:23 says, “The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth, Which shall be different from all other kingdoms, And shall devour the whole earth, Trample it and break it in pieces.” This fourth kingdom was not to be superceded by another kingdom, but it was to be divided into ten kingdoms. (See verses 7, 8.)
It is the fourth beast, the fourth kingdom, that would rule over the whole earth. We know that the fourth beast in Daniel 7 is the same as the fourth kingdom in Daniel 2, which is Rome. The third beast was Greece, the second Medo-Persia, and the first was Babylon.
Rome was to be divided up. Notice what it says in verse 7. “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it.…”
This fourth kingdom, we are told in the last part of verse 7, had ten horns. Then it says in verse 8, “‘I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots.’” Notice the explanation of this in verse 24. “‘The ten horns are ten kings Who shall arise from this kingdom [out of the Roman Empire]. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, And shall subdue three kings.’”
Now this other one that would arise after them is the little horn power described first in Daniel 7:8, referred to again in verses 20 and 21, and now referred to again in verses 24 and 25. Notice several things about this little horn power, this antichrist power.
First of all, look at the place where the antichrist arose.
The Ten Divisions
Scripture gives us a geographical place where the antichrist was to arise. The antichrist was to arise among the ten divisions of the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire was divided into the following ten divisions between 351 ad and 476 ad:
- Anglo Saxons (Great Britain)
- Alamanni (Germany)
- Franks (France)
- Burgundians (Southern France and the area of Switzerland.)
- Visigoths (The Westgoths of Spain)
- Ostrogoths (The Eastgoths were driven out of Rome in 538 ad, and were later destroyed and disappeared.)
- Vandals (Northern Africa, they were destroyed in 534 ad and disappeared.)
- The Heruli (Odoacer’s kingdom, were driven out and destroyed in 493 ad.)
- The Suevi (Portugal)
- The Lombards (Northern Italy)
Identifying Marks of the Antichrist
The prophet clearly says, in verse 8, that this little horn power, the antichrist power, is to arise among these 10 tribes. So if you want to know where the antichrist power would arise, you have to look at that area of Europe where those ten kingdoms were divided from the Roman Empire. It has to occur in that geographical place. It cannot be anywhere else.
A power that arose in Africa, in Israel, in South America, in North America, in India or in China would not qualify. The place has to be among the divisions of these 10 kingdoms. In Daniel 7:24, it says, “And another shall rise after them.” (After the ten kings.) The ten kings divided up the Roman Empire between 351ad and 476ad, which means this little horn power would have to appear after 476ad. Now remember, it is called a horn, which means that it was a king, because these horns were called kings. (See verse 24.)
This little horn, the antichrist power, was “another” one, or “another” kingdom. (Verse 8, 24.) In other words, it was not one of the European nations. It was not France or England or Germany. It was in addition to the first ten kingdoms.
It was “a little horn.” (Chapter 7:8.) In fact, in size, it was so little that it was smaller than any of the other ten nations of Europe. It would arise as a horn, or as a kingdom, after the ten horns, divisions, of the Roman Empire.
In the process of arising, it would uproot three of the first ten kingdoms. We already saw the three that were uprooted were, the Heruli in 493 ad, the Vandals in 534 ad, the Ostrogoths in 538 ad, for the first time. The earliest date that could be given, according to this prophecy of Daniel 7, when the little horn power would appear or have independent authority, is 538 ad.
The little horn power existed before 538 ad, but the earliest time it had independent civil authority as a kingdom, was at this time. It arose to independent political power between 493 ad and 538 ad. Before that, it was always subservient to another power, and that is why the Ostrogoths, the Vandals and the Heruli were driven out. The little horn power could not have independent authority as long as they were around.
Daniel 7 tells us that this little horn had eyes like the eyes of a man. That is a very significant statement. If you have a Strong’s Concordance, look up the word eye, eyes of man, and the eyes of the Lord. You will find out some very interesting things.
This little horn power, this antichrist, had a mouth speaking great things. The claims made by this power are very, very easy to document. This power claims to hold, on earth, the place of God Almighty.
Daniel 7:20 says, “whose appearance was greater than his fellows.” In other words, this horn became more prominent. Some people say, Oh, that was Antiochus Epiphanies. Daniel 7:20 says that his appearance was more stout, or more formidable than was his fellows. That means that this power was greater than the British Empire, the French Empire, the German Empire, or any of the nations of Europe. Now that puts a little qualification on who this could be. This could not be just anybody. This is a power that is greater than any of the nations of Western Europe, which, in the last 1,500 years of history, have been the greatest nations of the world. This is a very qualifying statement.
The antichrist power, according to Daniel 7:21, would make war with the saints and prevail against them.
It says, again, in verse 24, that this antichrist power would be different than the first ten divisions of the Roman Empire. In what way would it be different? The difference is that this little horn would be a religious power and the 10 kingdoms were simply civil powers.
One of the key identifying marks of the antichrist in Bible prophecy is that it “shall intend to change times and law.” (Verse 25.) Notice, it is not talking about something that just happens, it is talking about a deliberate, intentional change of times and law.
The Picture Gets Clearer
“The saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.” (Verse 25.) We have not yet exhausted Daniel 7, but we are going to go to the second passage of Scripture that talks in detail about the antichrist power, and that is in 2 Thessalonians 2:4. We know this is the antichrist power, because it says he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshipped. So this is obviously an antichrist power or an antigod.
First of all we see that the antichrist will be revealed before Jesus comes. This is a very important point, because there are many people today who believe the rapture is going to come and steal the saints out of the world, then the antichrist is going to come.
Notice what Scripture says.
“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him [that is what some people call the rapture], we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.” 2 Thessalonians 2:1–3.
So the antichrist is to come before Christ comes. In fact, not only does the antichrist come before Christ, but also the antichrist will not appear after Christ comes, because this Scripture plainly tells you that Jesus is going to destroy the antichrist. Anything that the antichrist does to the world is going to be finished before Christ comes. This is a very powerful Scripture if you are helping somebody who is really looking for the truth.
The Antichrist Described
The appearance of the antichrist will occur as a result of a great apostasy in Christendom. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:3.)
The antichrist is called “the man of sin” and the “son of destruction.” (Verse 3.)
It says that he opposes all that is called God or worshipped. So we know that he is antichrist, because he opposes all that is called God. He is opposed to Christ because Christ is worshipped. (Verse 4.)
He “exalts himself above all that is called God.” Verse 4 tells us, “He sits as God.” In other words, the antichrist accepts worship.
It says that “he sits as God, in the temple of God.” This is a most revealing and significant statement about the antichrist. During the third and fourth centuries, a man called John Chrysostom was preaching. I do not know whether John Chrysostom was a Sabbath-keeper or not, but he understood something about the antichrist. John Chrysostom studied Matthew 24 and he studied 2 Thessalonians 2, and he knew about the antichrist appearing “as God in the temple of God.” Where is the temple of God? By that time Jerusalem had already been destroyed, so he knew that it was not Jerusalem. You see, some people today are confused. They think the antichrist is going to be some atheist who appears in Jerusalem at the end of time. But the temple had already been destroyed long before the fourth century. In Ephesians 2:19–22, Paul says the temple of God is the church. The house of God, the temple of God, is the church, and John Chrysostom told the people, The antichrist is going to appear in the church. Is that true? Yes, it is. Scripture says, “in the temple of God,” and the temple of God in this world is the church. So this passage of Scripture shows us that the antichrist is going to sit as God in the Christian church. But then it says, in the last part of verse 4, that he is “showing himself that he is God.” In other words, he is taking the place of God on earth and accepting worship from people.
“Now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.” Verse 6 reveals to us that the spirit of the antichrist was being restrained in Paul’s time. It was already here.
The spirit of antichrist was already at work even though it was being restrained. Notice what it says in verse 7: “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.” So the spirit of antichrist was already present in Paul’s day. Daniel 7 shows that the antichrist would not be revealed as a kingdom until after the fall of the Roman Empire, but Paul says the spirit of antichrist, the spirit of lawlessness, is already at work. In other words, the antichrist power has roots that go all the way back to the time of the apostles. It was restrained then; it could not be manifested then, but its roots were there.
And then it says, it is called “the mystery of lawlessness.” That is an interesting expression. If you want to do some research sometime, the New Testament speaks of seven mysteries. This is one of the seven, the mystery of lawlessness. Why is it “the mystery of lawlessness?” Because, “the mystery of lawlessness“ is a system where people think they are keeping the law when they are actually breaking it. It is an amazing thing.
Paul says exactly the same thing as Daniel. He says it is already at work, but it is being restrained right now. But then he says that after the one who restrains it is taken out of the way, the antichrist power would be revealed. “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.” (Verse 7.)
Who is the one that, at that time, was restraining the mystery of lawlessness? It was the Roman Empire, the Roman Caesar. You see, the Roman Caesar claimed to be the incarnate god of the sun, that is, the sun god in the flesh. The Roman Caesar demanded worship, so the antichrist power could not be revealed. It was restrained by this pagan power that had control of the world, so the spirit, the mystery of lawlessness, the antichrist power could not be revealed. But Paul said, After the one who is presently restraining him is taken out of the way, then it will be revealed. The Roman Empire was taken out of the way between 351 ad and 476 ad
This antichrist power is called the lawless one in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, 9.
This antichrist power is going to come with deceptive signs. (See verse 9.) He is going to come according to “the working of Satan.”
He is going to come “with all power.” All power is talking about all satanic power. When you realize that, then you understand why Ellen White says unless we are continually under the jurisdiction and control of the Holy Spirit, we will be deceived. (See The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 2, 831.) Unless we are protected by the Holy Spirit, we will be deceived. Every morning, before we even get out of bed or talk to anybody, we should be committing our life to the Lord, asking that His Holy Spirit will be in charge of our minds and not allow us to come under the deceptive power of the antichrist. The deceptive power, today, is getting much, much worse than it has ever been in the past.
It is going to come with “lying wonders.” The world today does not believe the Bible, but if there is an apparition of the Virgin Mary somewhere, they will travel half-way around the world to see it, and they do not even know at what they are looking. Talk about superstitious! We are as superstitious as the ancient people were. And when you have all these lying wonders that are going to be manifested, what do you expect is going to happen? The whole world is going to be deceived, except those whose lives are committed to Jesus. Those who are converted, who are obeying and following Him, the Holy Spirit will enable to tell the difference between the false and the true. And it will take the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, because Ellen White says that the path of error and the path of truth will be so close together that without the Holy Spirit, you will not be able to tell the difference. (See Testimonies, vol. 8, 290.) That is why we need to be praying for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, day by day.
Pray that the Holy Spirit will be in control of your mind and help you not to offend God by sinning in thought, word or action. The commission of a known sin silences the voice of the Holy Spirit, and then you are vulnerable. The devil knows that. That is why he is always trying to entice God’s people to sin, so he can get at them to destroy them.
Verse 10 says the coming will be with all “unrighteous deception.” Everyone who does not love the truth is going to be deceived by the antichrist.
The antichrist is going to come with “the lie.” (See verse 11.) What is “the lie”? Satan coming as Christ. (See Ellen G. Comments, Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 911.)
Revelation 13:1–10 talks about the antichrist power, the very same power that we have just been studying in 2 Thessalonians 2 and Daniel 7. “Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.” (Verse 6.) So we know that this is talking about the antichrist power. Now who is this beast, this antichrist power that is described in Revelation 13? It says that this is the beast that rises up out of the sea, from among many people. Seventh-day Adventists know what it means for a beast to rise up out of the earth (“where the population is sparse”) and out of the sea (“where there are multitudes of peoples.”) (See Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 816.)
This antichrist power has seven heads and ten horns. This antichrist power has ten crowns, or diadems, on his ten horns. This antichrist power has a blasphemous name. All those descriptions are given in Revelation 13:1.
Verse 2 tells us that this antichrist power is “like a leopard.” It is a beast, and a beast represents a power. (See Daniel 7:17). This is a composite beast. Notice part of it is like a bear, part of it is like a lion and so forth, and “the dragon gave him his power.” The dragon also gave him his throne, that is, his seat of government, and also gave him great authority.
One very significant identifying mark is given in verse 3. One of his heads received a deadly wound. Now let us just think through for a moment what is the deadly wound. To understand what the deadly wound is, you have to understand the genius of the papacy.
A Civil-Religious Power, with the Church in Control
What the papacy is, in its central essence, is the union of the power of the church and state all in one, with the power of the church on top. That is a very important concept to understand. If you do not understand that, you have no comprehension of what the papacy is all about. The papacy is a union of the church with the state, but the church is in control. So the church uses the state for its own purposes and its own ends.
The spirit of lawlessness (the papacy) goes clear back to Paul’s time, but the actual union with the church-controlled state, did not occur for the first time until 538 ad. If you were to destroy one of those, you would not have to destroy the church. The church has never been destroyed. It has existed continuously since then. But if the church and the state were not united with the authority of the church in control, you would have destroyed the essential character of the papacy. That is what the deadly wound was all about.
All through the Dark Ages the pope had controlled what was called the papal state in Italy, but in 1798 the Catholic Church did not cease to exist, but its civil power was removed for the first time since 538 ad. When they elected a new pope in 1800, he had no civil authority, and from then on the pope had no civil authority; no kingdom. That deadly wound was healed in 1929, when the papacy was given territory where they, again, had their own government on one of the seven hills in Rome. The hill on which their kingdom sits, where their government is located, is Vatican Hill, or the Vatican.
The deadly wound has been healed. There is again a union of church and state, with the church in control. That is the reason given in the public press, why President Reagan sent an Ambassador to the Vatican. Since 1867, the United States had refused to send an Ambassador to the Vatican. However, because it was said, this man is not just the head of the church, he has a state government; he is the head of a state; a king of a state, as well as the head of a church, so it is right that he should have a representative from all governments of the world. The deadly wound was healed, but after the deadly wound was healed, he blasphemed those who dwell in heaven. (See Revelation 13:6.)
A Worldwide Super Power
“It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.” This again is a very conclusive identifying mark. It says in Revelation 13:7, “Authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.” Revelation 13:7.
So this is a super power, with authority worldwide. This again is a very conclusive identifying mark. That could never apply to Communism, because Communism has never had authority over every tribe, tongue, people and nation. They tried, but they did not make it.
“All who dwell on the earth will worship him.” (Verse 8.) Again, it shows the antichrist is a religion.
The number of this beast, this antichrist power, “is the number of a man,” and the number is 666.
The Weight of Evidence Points to the Papacy
There are a few other marks of the antichrist power in 1 John 2 and 1 John 4, and also some about the future in 2 Thessalonians 2, that we did not cover. But if you put all of these things together, the antichrist power can only be one thing. It could not apply to anything else. This one power meets every one of the over 60 descriptions and identifying marks given in this article, and that power is the papacy.
Even though Jesus said, “‘Judge not, that ye be not judged,’” Matthew 7:6, we are living in a time when world governments want to do this very thing. They pass legislation against hate crimes, because the devil is trying to make it so that you and I cannot tell people who is the antichrist power. That is the devil’s goal, to make it impossible for us to get out the word.
That is why, friends, we need to pray and ask the Lord to help us quickly get out the word about who the antichrist power is, because very soon we are not going to be able to do it. Our Bibles will be taken away from us. We are not going to be able to distribute The Great Controversy. It is going to be impossible to send out The National Sunday Law books, or any books that tell the truth about the antichrist
The Lord has held things open for the people of this world to find out these things for many years. But the time is coming when the Lord is going to allow our religious liberties to be taken away, and right at the end, we will not have religious liberty. Right now if you know somebody who is deceived, confused, or does not know the truth, you need to help them find the truth about who the antichrist is, because if they worship it, or if they receive its mark, they are going to receive the plagues. And, friends, the plagues could be coming sooner than we realize.
We are living in the last days. Things are winding up. When I was a boy I was told that these things would happen, but it was way down in the future. It is happening right now! You need to not only know who the antichrist is, but you need to prepare to answer in a court, or tell your neighbor or anyone who is looking for truth.
Are you ready? We are on the winning side, even though it is not going to look like it for a little while. Ellen White says, in the book Adventist Apocalypse, that for a little while it is going to look like Satan has won the great controversy. But he is not going to win; truth in righteousness is going to triumph. And if you stay with the Three Angels’ Messages, when the Three Angels’ Messages triumph, you will triumph with them.
Part II