Revelation 12: The Final Antichrist and Some of His History

Let’s learn a little more about the Last Days; after all, we may be in it!

I say that because II Thessalonians 2:1-3 says it, for those genuine Christians at that time:

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ² not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled…. as though the day of Christ had come.³ 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

Paul is introducing this thought—and chapter--by saying….“concerning the coming of…Christ”  The word “coming” is the Greek word “parousia,” so he means the rapture. They were troubled, thinking they had missed it, which a fake letter said. He reassures them by saying that they had not missed the rapture, called here the “day of Christ.” The rapture will not come until the “man of sin, the son of perdition”-–the antichrist is “revealed.”

But Daniel 9:27 clearly says that that man makes a covenant with the Jews, of 7 years, and in the middle he reveals who he really is—a Jew-hater and Christian-hater.  That clearly says there is no rapture before the 7 years.  At best, it is in the middle, after 3-1/2 years.  Much suffering already at that point.  (I believe it’s at the end, and have 3 blogs, upcoming, to continue to prove it).

There are those who assert that the day of Christ is not referred to here, but the Day of the Lord—which is not the rapture, but the “third” appearance by the Lord at the end of the 7 years, is implied.  Of course, Christ doesn’t come three times (Incarnation, the “rapture,” the “kingdom” return).  Scripture only refers to one “return” of the Lord.  This is false doctrine, comforting but untrue.

Now let’s return to our main thoughts.  Jesus’ Olivet message, Matthew 24, is His final message on the end of the world.   It is comprehensive—it draws from almost every portion of Old and New Testament. I can’t cover all of that in this blog, but I will focus on Revelation 12, on the same subject, which is particularly difficult to interpret. Satan is a big player in Revelation 12, so let’s focus a little on his origin in here too.

As the end of the world gets closer, the world gets darker. As Jesus says in Matthew 24:12, “lawlessness will abound, and the love of many will grow cold.”

I Timothy 4:1 tells us that at the end of days, people will be so far from the Lord that….

…in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons

“Some will depart from the faith” says that people who believe they are saved and are Christian will abandon it under persecution pressure.  How can they do this?  They lose heaven, as Scripture clearly points out. Yet evil forces will deceive them.  Evil forces rule the world.  1 John 5:19:

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one

But God is sovereign, and His plan will carry out.  Do you feel that the “whole world lies in the path of the evil one?”  If not, then you are not sensitive to how God grieves over our sin.  Sins are now on display in society today. The real meaning of “love,” particularly love  to God, is lost to most. Too many couples have no idea of faithfulness, and get divorces.  It’s almost impossible to watch new movies without hearing an abundance of language blaspheming God. The media is no help:  Women danced nearly nude at the recent Grammies. At a Barnes and Noble store recently, a group of students came by just to browse, but their attention became focused on a wall full of occult phenomena books.  They have an attraction for the unexplained powers—but not for the supernatural in the Bible, which they just dismiss as fantasy.  Well, demons will fill their interest, since the Bible says there will  miraculous powers by people sold out to Satan. As Matthew 24:24 says:

…false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

They are controlled by demons; their purpose is, by showing off mysterious powers, people will question their faith in the real God, and follow these miracle workers.  As a result, they might abandon their faith in Christ as Savior.  Remember, all the powers in this universe, apart from the true and living God, are from the devil.

Let’s go back to where the battle between God and the devil and his demons first began.  Starting in Revelation 12:3, 4, and 13 we see the reason why Satan, in the last days, increased his hate and persecution of the Jews:

…a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. ⁴ His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child…

The dragon is the serpent, the devil--Satan—which means Adversary.    From the garden of Eden to the Book of Job, to the one trying to make Jesus throw Himself down, it’s the same person.  The dragon used to be a favorite angel of God; he was the supreme angel of light.  He was called Lucifer, which means light-bearer. The “stars” refer to angels.

All the angels were created before mankind was created. Job 38:4, 7 proves that.  God is “dressing down” Job, and says:

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding…When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

The ”stars” and  “sons of God” refer to angels. They saw, and rejoiced over, the creation in Genesis 1-2. But God gave them a choice to choose Him or be an adversary.  So this particular angel, Lucifer, chose evil.  He developed pride. From Isaiah 12:12ff:

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’

That’s when he became Satan.  He was kicked out of heaven for his pride.  But Satan still had access to God, which he turned to his new self-appointed position as accuser of the brethren before God.  In Job 1 he tells God that Job is weak; he only “loves” God because Job was wealthy.  So God let Satan take away Job’s worldly pleasures—and we read that despite his questions and lack of understanding, he refused to blaspheme God.  Here are Job 1:6-10:

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. ⁷ And the Lord said to Satan,  “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” ⁹ So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰ Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. ¹¹ But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”

Satan’s challenge was a failure, since Job never gave up God.  But he keeps trying, because he is at war.  He knew he needed help.  So he convinced one-third of the angels to follow his rebellious plan against God. That’s what’s happening in the “tail” action in Revelation 12:4 above. These bad angels became demons. His goal was to kill the Child (Jesus Christ),  since he knew Jesus was God.  Even better, he wanted to “get him" in advance, by obliterating the Jewish race or Christ’s lineage, since Scripture says His incarnation would come from the Jews (Genesis 49:10).  That’s why he “persecuted the woman” in Rev. 12:4 above, since she, representing Israel, will produce the Child, which is Jesus the Son of God.  But that early effort to kill Jesus’ forebears  failed, since God always protected a remnant of Jews; so Jesus was born through them.  Though he saw to it that Jesus was killed, His death was turned to the good by paying for our sins, so that we who obey Him can have access to heaven, despite our sin.  And Jesus surprised Satan with His resurrection.  Then after 40 days on earth, He then went to be with His Father.

In end times, Satan will be removed totally from his access to God and thrown to earth, as you see in Revelation 12:4 above, and in vv7-9, which is also foretelling this in the future:

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, ⁸ but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. ⁹ So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him…..for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

Satan knows that, after “being fired” a second time, kicked out of his “accuser access,” that will be his signal that the end is near, so he will fix his base on earth, to torture mankind more intensively than ever before—Jews first.  His first well-known act in end times will be to introduce to the world, the Antichrist.  This man will be possessed of Satan so much, that he knows full well of Satan’s thoughts, his great desire to lie and kill. So all of Satan will be in him.  He makes friends with the Jews first, deceiving them, promising to bring them peace, making a 7-year covenant.  That 7 years, however, is known as the Great Tribulation, spoken of in great detail in Revelation 6.  But in the middle, after 3-1/2 years, he surprise-attacks Jerusalem, killing as many of the Jews as he will find.  But God has warned the Jews in Scripture (see Matthew 24), so some will be given a way of escape for the second-half 3-1/2 years while the antichrist begins torturing and killing them unmercifully.  This false covenant and persecution was also predicted in Daniel 9:27:

He will confirm a covenant for the many during one seven. In the middle of the seven, he will cause sacrifice and offering to cease. On the wing of abominations is one who causes desolation, until the decreed end is poured out on the one who causes desolation.

“He” is Satan in the form of the antichrist. “The many” is Israel.  The “seven” in this verse, is the length of the Great Tribulation, 7 years. In the “middle,” after 3-1/2 years of peace to Israel, he shows who he really is—a hater of God and of His holy place, which will be restored in Jerusalem. He will enter the holy of holies and blaspheme it, perhaps with an idol of himself, causing its desolation.

Satan has tried many ways to kill the woman (the state of Israel, the Jews); but despite an intensified effort in the upcoming day of the antichrist, in the last days, it is prophesied, that God will allow many of the nation of Israel to escape and hide, as I mentioned above. Here is Revelation 12:3-6, summarizing this. The 1260 days is 3-1/2 years.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. ⁵ She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. ⁶ Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

But he has failed, and will fail to totally obliterate Israel--or the Jew in “diaspora” (separated from the land).

Failing to kill all the Jews,  he changes his strategy by renewing his attacks on Israel’s “offspring,” the Christians. In Revelation 12:13:

And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Now the focus of his intense persecution will be on us—the Gentiles.  Can we take it and be faithful to our Lord?  Considering His sacrifice for our sin, placing some of us in God’s family,  that is the least that we can do.  May God help us, if those last days are in our lifetimes, that we will, in times of chaos and confusion, seek Thy Word as the only source of truth and knowledge.  We must endure to the end, depending only on our God, to make it to heaven.