The Antichrist Revealed: What Revelation 13 Really Says

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Again, good to have everybody back. I see you all had your coffee and your cookies and what have you. And now for you watching on television, we just want to welcome you and ask that you sit down and study with us, compare Scripture with Scripture. And again, we have no ax to grind. We are not trying to trumpet one group over another. All we try to do is get folk to understand what the Bible really says. And I think a lot of times we've got an idea that it says something that it doesn't say, which I've often told my classes is just as important as missing what it does say. So anyway, we're going to continue on now with our study of Revelation. And again, we always like to remind those that are just now tuning in that all our past lessons or programs, whatever you want to call them, are available on videotape. If you would just call us on the 800 number or drop us a line, we'll make them available to you. And book number three is just about ready to come off the press, so be contacting us concerning that. All right, now then, let's get right back to Revelation. And remember the last program, we were talking about the 144,000 who will be ministering the gospel of the kingdom around the world. Now, let's back up again to the first opening days of the tribulation in Revelation 13. And here we have yet another introduction of the man Antichrist. Now, we talk a lot about the Antichrist, because after all, he is the central figure in these seven years. He is the very emissary of Satan. He is going to finally, at the end of the seven years, actually try to make war against the coming Christ. And so I think it's apropos that we get a complete understanding of who he is, what he is, and what are we seeing on the scene tonight that indicates that the time is not too far away. All right, so in Revelation chapter 13, beginning of verse 1, John says, And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads, ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his head is the name of blasphemy. Now, we have to be careful. I'm sure you've all seen brochures and posters and books with all of these humongous, different looking animals. And artists have conjured up all sorts of things with all these horns and heads and what have you. But remember, we're not talking about a beast per se. We're talking about a government. And I've been trying to stress that ever since we came out of the book of Daniel, that Daniel and Ezekiel and Revelation, remember, write in symbolic language. But you have to search the Scriptures in order to reduce these symbolisms to a literal thing. And so we're not talking about some eerie looking creature. We're talking about a government. But it's going to be a government, of course, headed up again by the one man, the Antichrist. Now, the beast then, here in chapter 13, is first and foremost the revival of the old ancient Roman Empire. And the reason it's referred to as a beast in this particular instance, as well as in Daniel, is that the government will be so bestial in its operation. They're going to have no concern about human rights. They're having no concern about the individual. And consequently, it is referred to as a beast. But it's a government. That's all it is. And then the seven heads and the ten horns and the horns of ten crowns and so on and so forth, this again is a twofold picture, I think, because a lot of times Satan is referred to as the seven heads and so on and so forth, referring, I think, to his power and his authority. But usually we think of the seven heads and the ten horns as the revived Roman Empire, which will be a consortium of ten nations coming out of the old Roman Empire territory, which I think we are seeing come on the scene, even in Europe tonight, as the common market or the European community. And I've told my classes over the years, and I think I've stressed it even on the television program, this number may vary. It started out back in the 70s with seven, and then it got to ten. And I remember the news magazines all during the 70s would constantly refer to these nations as the ten. Now I think tonight it's up to twelve. It may go to fourteen, fifteen. But by the time all of this comes down to the signing of the seven-year treaty, it'll be back at ten. And we'll be showing that as we come on through our study of Revelation. So anyway, he sees come on the sand of the sea. Now the sea, in symbolic language here, is just simply the sea of humanity, the masses of people around the globe. And remember, the world is getting global. That's the word you hear and see all the time lately. It's just becoming smaller and smaller. And so out of this mass of humanity will come this empire that has been dead, as we'll see a little further on. And it's going to be headed up by this one man of sin. All right, now then verse two. "...the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard. His feet were as the feet of a bear, his mouth as the mouth of a lion, and the dragon..." That's Satan, always in Scripture. "...and so Satan gave him his power, his throne, and his authority." So the whole thing is just the culmination now of satanic power. Now let's come back. Keep your hand in Revelation. We'll be back here shortly. We'll go all the way back again to Daniel chapter 7. Now when we were studying Daniel several months ago, I stressed then that when we study Daniel, we have to look at Revelation, as well as Matthew 24 and 25, and vice versa. If we're going to study Revelation, we just have to go back to Daniel. Now that, of course, mandates a lot of repetition. But as I've learned over the years, repetition is the mother of learning, and that's the way it finally soaks in. Daniel chapter 7, and now Daniel is describing a vision that he has had, which, of course, is looking forward down the times of coming historical events. And he uses practically the same language. Daniel chapter 7, and verse 2, Daniel spake and said, "...I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of the heavens strove upon the great sea." There's that imagery again, or symbolism, of the mass of humanity. And out of that sea of humanity, four great beasts came up. Now see, those aren't animals. Those aren't creatures. These are empires. These are governments. The first was like a lion. Now we know that, of course, that was Babylon. Come down to verse 5, "...and another beast, like to a bear..." That was the Median Persian empire. And then verse 6, "...after that I beheld, and lo, another, like a leopard..." And that was the Greek empire, under Alexander the Great. And then you come down to verse 7, and he says, "...then after that empire passed, I saw in the night visions a fourth beast," or a fourth empire, "...dreadful and terrible." Now he doesn't associate it with a particular beast, like a bear or a leopard, but he just associates it with something that's rather ferocious. Well, that was the Roman empire. Now we know the Roman empire was noble in some aspects, but it was bestial in many others. It had, again, no concern for the lower classes. They had no concern for the people whom they had overrun militarily. They threw them to the lions and so forth and thought nothing of it. They also became, with all of their pomp and their success and their circumstance, they became grossly immoral. And consequently, if you've ever read the book, The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, history authenticates the fact that they had just literally deteriorated morally. The Romans had absolutely no moral compunctions left. They were wicked. They were evil. And consequently, of course, the empire finally fell in. It imploded, I guess we could say. It just fell in on itself. Well now, if you'll compare the language then of Revelation 13, you'll find that John does not list the Roman beast, the Roman empire, but he begins with the Greek, the leopard. Now I'm back in Revelation 13. Now we're going to flip back and forth. Go back to Revelation 13 again. He starts with the leopard because he's speaking from the time when the Roman empire is already back on the scene. So he doesn't have to list that one. But within this revived Roman empire, you're going to see all of the residue of the previous three great world empires. Now if you're in Revelation 13, verse 2, he goes to the second empire going backwards. He goes to the Greek, that is from the Roman, then to the Greek, the leopard, and then back to the Median and Persian, the bear, and then to the Babylonian empire, the lion. Now those four empires are the ones that the Bible concerns itself with as the times of the Gentiles. Now, when you come back to Daniel chapter 7 then, now come back into verse 7. Now we come to the reappearance of that empire that faded off the scene. It fell in on itself. The ancient Roman empire, but now we're seeing it come back on the scene. In verse 7, After this I saw in the night vision, behold, a fourth beast, or fourth empire, dreadful and terrible, strong exceeding, iron teeth, and it was diverse from all the empires or beasts that were before it, and it had, what, ten horns. Now come back again to Revelation. That's why I just like to have you keep something in there so you can just flip back and forth. Now come back to Revelation. Now come down to verse 3. I'm going to try to take this slowly enough so that we don't lose the overall picture. We have the ancient Babylonian, the ancient Median, Persian, and Greek and Roman empire. Now Daniel sees all the residue of those empires coming back together in the revival of that fourth dreadful and terrible empire, which was, of course, the Roman. Verse 3, And I saw one of his heads, as it were, wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after this beast, this empire. Now, let's bring it right up to our present time. Western Europe is coming together, more and more as the United States of Europe. Tonight, I think they're back at the number 10, like I said, or maybe they're 12. I believe they are. They may go to 14, 15, but whatever may transpire, we know they're going to drop back to 10. Now then, since this is a revival of that empire that existed, what, almost 2,000 years ago, it was dead, it was off the scene seemingly, and yet here it is, coming back full force, and the world is wondering. The world is just amazed. How can all these things be? Here they were ravaged, what, 50 years ago, World War II. All the great cities of Europe were nothing but heaps of rubble. All of their industry had been destroyed, and yet where are they tonight? They are not only our competitors anymore, they are almost looking down on us. And I've said for years, ever since I was a young man, that it almost seemed as though there was a conspiracy to destroy our United States of America, and I still think it is. Because you see, right after World War II, when we had utterly demolished our enemies, the Marshall Plan came on the scene, and we just literally rebuilt Europe with American dollars, didn't we? Ever since then, we have seen all of our industry leaving. We've got all the oil resources we could ever need, but where do we get our oil? From foreign suppliers. We're seeing so much of our industry just simply farmed out to Japan and Mexico, and the steel business has almost gone to nothing. And it just seems as though, best word I can find, it's a conspiracy to just bleed our beloved America dry. And all of it to enhance the revival of this ancient Roman Empire, or what we now call the 10 nations of the European community. But nevertheless, this is all in the end time picture. And in this revived Roman Empire, in this United States of Europe, which is, in the first part, the beast of this, there's going to come this leader, this man, this human, who is the other aspect of the beast, and so you almost use the term synonymously. Now verse 4, And they, the whole world, worshipped the dragon, or Satan, who gave power to the beast, that is, to the man antichrist, as well as to that empire over which he is now ruling. And they worshipped the beast, in this case it'd be the man, and they're going to say, who is like unto him, who is able to make war with him? Because he's going to have all of the economic and the military clout at his disposal. Now verse 5, And there was given unto him, by a sovereign God, of course, there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. Now you remember what Daniel said, that he would worship only the God of forces, and that he is going to blaspheme God? Well, here we have it, even in Revelation. And then power was given unto him to, Now I think the key word here is continue. So what we find in this verse is that this man and this empire make its appearance at the signing of that seven-year treaty that we saw back in Daniel chapter 9. In fact, I think we better go look at that right now, so that we don't take anything on face value. We got to see what the book says. Daniel chapter 9 now. Daniel chapter 9, and coming down to verse 27. Daniel 9, verse 27, where Daniel now writes that he, the Antichrist, or this prince that shall come, up in verse 26, he shall confirm or make or sign a covenant with many, Israel, for one week, which is seven years, of course, in Bible language. And in the middle of the week, or at the end of three and a half years, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease or to stop, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it, that is, the temple, desolate, even unto the consummation, that is, until the end of the seven years, and all that's determined shall poured out upon the desolator, or upon this man Antichrist. In other words, everything that prophecy has declared will happen, will happen. It's going to come. The scoffers can say what they want, but the book has declared it, and we can rest on it, that it's going to happen. So now, this is the seven-year period that all of Revelation is dealing with. And in the middle of it, that's why I've stressed all the time, as we teach the Revelation, you have to get what happens at the beginning, what happens in the middle, what happens at the end. All right, now then, coming back to Revelation, where we just left off, 13, verse 5 again, he makes his appearance at the beginning of the seven years, and then in this verse 5, it says that power is given unto him to continue. Now, what does that mean? To carry on. How long? Three-and-a-half years, 42 months. So how far does this verse bring us? To the midpoint of the tribulation. We are now brought to the midpoint, and he's going to be given power to continue on for another three-and-a-half years. So I'm going to stop there in this portion concerning the Antichrist. We'll come back to it in another lesson. Now, I'd like to have you just drop down to verse 11. Now, I think a couple weeks ago we made mention of the fact that during the tribulation, there's going to be an unholy trinity, a counterfeit trinity, with Satan as the counterfeit of God the Father, with the Antichrist as the counterfeit of God the Son, and the false prophet, the religious leader, as we're going to see now in verse 11, is a counterfeit of the Holy Spirit. Not so much in his makeup, but in his operation. All right, verse 11. Now, not the same, but another beast. Now, this again is a man, but it's also a system. Not a government, not a political government, but a religious system. And it's put together, it's called a beast. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth. Now, I've got to stop a minute. The Antichrist is described as having come up out of the sea, and since the book of Revelation is dealing almost exclusively, I said almost exclusively, with the nation of Israel, or maybe I should use the word primarily. The book of Revelation is dealing primarily with the nation of Israel. It's God dealing now with his covenant people, once again, in preparation for his return. Naturally, all the Gentile nations are going to be affected by it, but it's Israel's seven -year treaty that concerns itself with the time factor and everything that's taking place here. So, I have to feel, since Israel will be so quick to accept the Antichrist and his treaty and his offers of protection, and he's going to let them have the temple worship, I don't say it in order to look down on the Jew in the slightest way at all, but I kind of have to feel that this man Antichrist will be a Jew, an apostate Jew to be sure. But otherwise, I can't see Israel so readily accepting his offers of all that he's going to make to them. Now then, in verse 11, quite a few commentaries, and again, I would be thinking along those same lines. That's why I checked on it again in this past week. Whenever the Bible refers to the land, or in this case, the word is up out of the earth, there's only one part of the earth, there's only one land that God concerns himself with, and what is it? Israel, Palestine. So, I would like to think that even this false prophet will be an apostate Jew. Now, wait a minute, lest that just makes you say, no way, lest you're out in left field. How many times haven't we seen Jews come right up to the very throne room of Gentile empires? Moses. How high did Moses ascend among the pharaohs of Egypt? Right up next to him. He, in fact, had as much power as the pharaoh, if not more, but of course, he was second in command. Daniel. Out in pagan Babylon, how high did Daniel go? He was practically the ruler of the kingdom. Babylon fell, and where does Daniel end up next? In the next empire, the Median Persian. Where is he? Right up next to the top. Gentile, pagan empires, but here are these Jewish men. Bring it up to contemporary history. What was Karl Marx? A Jew. What were some of the top leaders of communism? They were Jews. What were some of the top men even in Hitler's Reich? Apostate Jews. Bring it right down into our own American government. What have many of our top political leaders been? Jews. Now, I'm not saying that as any derision whatsoever. They've had that ability, they have that talent, and so I think we're not demeaning the race one bit. If we can understand that this, even this false prophet, this great religious leader of the tribulation, will quite possibly be an apostate Jew. All right, let's go on. Verse 12, And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast. Now you see, I've got to come back to Moses and Daniel, because how far up the ladder did they go? Right next to the seat of power. And this man's going to do the same thing. He's going to exercise almost as much power as the political leader, the one who came up in verse 1. But this fellow is not a political leader. He's not an emperor. He is a religious leader. He's going to head up a global religion. All right, verse 12, then reading on, He exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him. Now here's where he plays the role. Now I emphasize the word plays. Here's where he plays the role of the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit points mankind today to God the Son, so this false prophet will point men of that day to the Antichrist, the counterfeit God the Son. All right? And so he causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast. Now you get the picture? He's going to have a great religious organization at his disposal. And he is literally going to have enough power to convince those people under his religious umbrella to worship not the God of creation, but the Antichrist, the counterfeit. All right? And they're going to worship the first beast, or that empire again, whose deadly wound was healed. Now here again, I have to come back to the Roman empire as being the beast that's healed as against an individual. And then verse 13, this false prophet, this religious leader, is going to do great wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. In other words, what's he going to do? He's going to use miracles and power to convince the human race of who he is. He's a counterfeit, of course, but he's going to convince that he is the truth. Now verse 14, and he, what's the next word? Deceiveth, see? He's a deceiver. And he deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles, see? Now don't ever forget that Satan has power to perform miracles. Pharaoh's magicians in Egypt did it. Others throughout the Old Testament economy were able to do it, and they're going to do it again in the tribulation. And they receive their power from Satan. And so he had power to give life to the image of the beast. Well, I got to go back up to verse 14. I'm sorry, I skipped that. And he deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles, which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, that is the Antichrist, the emperor of the revived Roman Empire. And he will say to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image, see, a likeness to the beast, to the emperor of that Roman Empire. And it's going to be, I think, an image or an idol. And I'm not sure whether it's just going to be one or whether they're going to have several, but the whole world is going to worship that image of the Antichrist. We'll pick it up next week. Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported. And your gift is appreciated. Thank you. And be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.