The Conquering Horn

RV165-01

We have seen that the apostle John has been given a vision dealing with the middle of the future tribulation period when all nations will be united into a world government. Today, this concept of unity and a world government is known as the New World Order. This world government will be administered by a satanically empowered man that the Bible calls the antichrist. The antichrist will come to political power as the ruler of a union of ten nations from the land area of the ancient Roman Empire. John sees this confederacy of ten nations portrayed as a beast out of the sea with ten horns, each of which wears an imperial crown. The beast also has seven heads representing world empires of history, symbolizing that the empire that John sees as the beast is the beneficiary of preceding world empires. This tribulation union of ten gentile nations is described by names of blasphemy showing contempt and rebellion toward God.

The mid-tribulation empire of the antichrist, which John sees, is part of an historical progression of gentile world domination. The prophet Daniel, we have shown you, was shown the progression of four gentile world empires through the image which was seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream. Daniel later was himself personally given a vision of the progression of these world empires under the symbols of four animals. These animals symbolize the same four world empires as were portrayed by Nebuchadnezzar's statue in his dream.

The times of the gentiles refers to this period from Babylon to the Second Coming of Christ. The empires were Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. The statue and the animals represent the same four empires. The animals and Daniel 7 that we reviewed were: a lion with eagle's wings; a bear with one shoulder higher; and, a leopard with four birdlike wings and four heads. Finally, there was a mongrel beast, the Roman Empire, which is not found in nature. The final form of this mongrel animal will be a world government under the antichrist.

Daniel himself was greatly disturbed by the vision of the four animals that he saw. Part of his disturbance was because, as has been pointed out to us, Daniel had the gift of interpreting dreams and visions. In his day, God spoke to people through dreams and visions. He doesn't do that anymore, because we now have the written Scriptures as the anchor point and the foundation of all truth. It is the frame of reference by which we judge what is true or not true spiritually. We do not judge spiritual truth by our experience, nor do we judge what is true by how we feel about it. The Bible is the objective standard. But in Daniel's day, the Bible was not complete, and therefore, God spoke directly, and it disturbed Daniel considerably that he, who had the gift of being able to interpret dreams and visions, could not make heads or tails of this forth monstrous animal that he saw in his dream.

The Fourth Beast

In Daniel 7:15-18, Daniel receives an explanation of what he has seen. Daniel 7:15: "As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me." The night vision disturbed Daniel. He felt that he had experienced some kind of a frightening nightmare. He could not interpret the vision, but because he had the gift of interpreting dreams, he knew that he had been given a vision that really meant something in terms of tremendous events which were to come in the future.

The Human Spirit

So, Daniel, in his vision, turned to someone who was standing nearby the scene, and he asks him the meaning of the beast. Verse 16: "I approached one of those who were standing by, and began asking him the exact meaning of all this." He is probably speaking here to the angel Gabriel. In Daniel 8:16 and Daniel 9:21, you will see that the angel Gabriel is the point of communication. He is the messenger. So, perhaps this was Gabriel who was standing by that Daniel turns to and speaks to: "So, he told me, and made known to me, the interpretation of these things. These great beasts (which are four in number) are four kings who will arise from the earth." Daniel was told that the four beasts that he saw represent four worldwide kingdoms on the earth with their reigning monarchs. I remind you again that king and kingdom are joining together. What is said about the king is true of the kingdom. What is said about the kingdom is also true of the king. As you read Revelation 13, you will see how the information bounces back and forth between the two.

Here, he says that these kings represent four kingdoms. We know now that they were Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. In verse 18 we read, "But the saints of the Highest One (that is, of God) will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever for all ages to come." And I want you to notice that verse 18 is very careful to say that the saints of the Highest One (believers) will receive from God a kingdom. So, we are not talking about a condition that exists today where there are many kingdoms, but a condition where there is only one kingdom – the world government of the antichrist.

"It is at that time that He will possess the kingdom forever for all ages to come," which means that there's not going to be any kingdom to follow this one. With the destruction of the fourth beast (Rome), the saints of God are going to receive a world kingdom. These saints that he speaks of here in verse 18, you should understand, are born-again Jews, not the church. The church is never promised a kingdom. The church is not bringing in the kingdom. The church is not operating in the kingdom. The only relationship we have to the kingdom of God on this earth is that we are going to be the bride of Christ ruling over the kingdom. But the kingdom belongs to the Jewish people, and that is consistent in Scripture.

The Abrahamic Covenant

The Davidic Covenant

You have to have this in your understanding so that you can interpret these passages in the New Testament. As a matter of fact, it is this very passage that you must have an understanding of so that you can understand what Gabriel was saying to Mary when he was telling her that she was going to bear the Messiah, and that he was going to rule over his father David's kingdom, forever – over the house of Jacob, the Jewish people. The amillennialists make a senseless remark out of that. They convert it all up to heaven. They say that the throne is up there; that the people of Jacob are the Christians; and, that the believers are the people of God, and they completely bypass all meaning of words. But when you understand Old Testament Scripture, you understand the frame of reference of the angel's announcement, and you will not fall into the trap which millions of your fellow Christians have fallen into: either into postmillennialism – that the world is going to get better, and then Jesus is going to return; or, amillennialism – that there's never going to be a kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth, and the only kingdom is in heaven. Both of those are satanic delusions.

The background of 2 Samuel 7:8 is that David has wanted to build a temple for God. God said, "No, David, you're not going to build a temple. Your son Solomon will do that for Me. But let Me tell you what I'm going to do for you, David: "Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David." Nathan the prophet is sent to deliver this message: "Thus says the Lord of hosts (the Lord of armies): I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be ruler over My people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. I will also appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may live in their own place, and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them anymore as formerly."

It is quite easy for all of you to read that passage and to understand: "David, I'm going to establish a kingdom for you. I'm going to establish your people, the Jewish people. You yourself are going to become a great man. Your name will be remembered, and the Jewish people are going to be given a piece of territory (a piece of real estate) on the Mediterranean Sea. It will be their particular land. I've promised it to them. They will possess that land forever, and they will dwell in it in peace." Do you think that that's true today? Do you think that God, when He uses words like "forever," means "until I can't do it anymore?"

Verse 11: "Even from this day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. Now, David, I am going to make a kingdom for you. When your days are complete, and you lie down with your fathers (when you die) I will raise up your descendants after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever (speaking of Solomon). He will build My temple, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom, the throne which he inherited from David, forever."

You cannot play fast and loose with the Word of God, and take the word "forever," and give it a limitation. Almighty God, who is always true, says, "I'm going to establish a Jewish kingdom which will be on this earth, and it will last forever, and all of its enemies will be defeated, and the Jew will never have to be afraid again." That time is coming. It certainly has not happened yet.

Verse 14: "I will be a Father to him (to Solomon), and he will be a son to Me. When he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men, and the strokes of the sons of men." And, oh, how that has happened to the Jewish people! When Solomon was disobedient, then God brought human beings, enemies, and military forces in to harass; to conquer; to defeat; and, to bring misery to the people. That is certainly what God has done to the Jewish people since then, because of their rejection of Christ.

Verse 15: "But (what a critical word), having said that I'm going to really punish them if they disobey Me," here He tells them what He will not do. But my loving kindness (the Old Testament word for 'grace') shall not depart from him as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you." Aha! Saul's dynasty came to an end. David's dynasty never will come to an end, no matter how rebellious the Jewish people become, and no matter how vile and how sinful. All you have to do is read Jeremiah and Ezekiel to see how absolutely unbelievably coarse and vile the Jewish people became in spiritual things, in their worship of the pagan gods, and how they loved to sit on those high places with their phallic cult worship, and with their images of males that they could have sex with that they would create. And there before God, on the highest hill they could find, would say, "Here, God, take a look at this. We're worshiping the real gods that are out here in the Canaanite world about us."

He made it very clear that they were going to go really low. But He also made it clear: "My promises are once-and-for-all. My promises are not a double-cross because you make me so impatient. I will keep My Word."

Verse 16: "And your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever. Your throne shall be established forever." Do you want to count the number of times that the word "forever" is used in that verse, and what they're attributed to? "Your house (the Jewish people) and your kingdom (your political authority) is going to endure before Me forever. Your throne (your reign) over this people will be established forever, in accordance with all these words and all this vision. So, Nathan spoke to David."

Now the Jews have been promised a kingdom. And when we come to the book of Daniel, we see that that is the background of what God has promised. Daniel knows what God has promised. Daniel also knows that when he has had this vision of the four beasts, he is now like 68 years old, and he has been figuring the timetable, and he says, "Hey, we're only supposed to be here in punishment in Babylon for 70 years, and it's almost over." That's why he goes to God, and asks Him what's next?" That's when he gets the great and final timetable: 490 more prophetic years is all the history that's left for Israel. And, boy, it clicked off right down to Palm Sunday, and then it stopped. When they turned their back on Jesus, on that final day, God stopped dealing with him. Everybody who follows the official chronology knows that it happened right down to the last day. I suspect that it was right down to the last minute. It was over. The full expanse of those 483 years was committed. Seven years is what is left. That's what we call the tribulation. That's what is still in the future. God has to do that to fulfill His promise of dealing with the Jewish people.

So, Daniel asks, "What does this mean?" And the angel (or whoever is speaking with him) says that these beasts represent four worldwide kingdoms. And at the destruction of the fourth beast, the promises to Abraham and to David of a worldwide kingdom of the Jewish people under Jesus Christ, over the whole world, will be fulfilled. The Jews will then possess the kingdom of God forever. That is going to begin with the millennial phase, the 1,000 years on this earth, and then it will go off into eternity in the eternal rule which follows.

In verse 19-28, this whole vision is clarified. Daniel seems to grasp the meaning of the first three beasts, but he's confused about the fourth one, because there's no such animal in nature. Verse 19: "Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others; exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet." The fourth beast was different from the others. It was a mongrel beast of different parts of other animals put together. It had teeth of iron, and it had claws of bronze with which it devoured; it trampled down; and, crushed its victims. Daniel was curious about the meaning, particularly of the ten horns.

The Conquering Horn

We're told that this conquering horn has eyes, which means that he's very smart. I remind you that what we're talking about here in this conquering horn is the antichrist. I will remind you, too, that he is empowered by Satan, and Satan is the smartest creature in the universe today. This man will have an enormous IQ, and he has a boastful mouth because he has big ambitions, and he grows (in terms of his power) in size so that he dominates all ten horns. Daniel this horn begin to persecute believers, and to overpower them.

Verse 21: "I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints, and overpowering them." If I asked you who the saints are here, you should now understand that you're following an Old Testament progression. This is the Jews. This is not the Christians. He is overpowering the Jewish believers in the tribulation. The reason I say that is because those who are the post-millennial and amillennial camps try to find places in history where all these things have happened. They all say that after 70 A.D., all of the book of the Revelation was fulfilled, and that there's nothing more to come. They look for times when Christians were persecuted by this Muslim group, or this pagan group, and they say, "See, that's what he's talking about there." Well, you can see the nonsense of that.

The little horn persecution of the Jews is finally stopped by God the Father and the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Verse 22 says, "I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints, overpowering them until the Ancient of Days (God the Father) came, and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the Kingdom." Notice that that is singular. The single world government kingdom of the antichrist is now taken over. This is fantastic – that the Word of God is so explicit. And when you get the information of the New Testament, let alone what is happening in our day, it just stands out there in such crystal clarity.

Isn't it sad that Christians are sitting in churches all over this country, and all over this metroplex, without the foggiest notion of what is happening, and what is taking place, in their very day, and how short the time is to get with it, and to make your life finally count? And when you know what is coming, that's the point of prophecy – to alert you to what is ahead so that you know how to act. This is why the Word of God stresses not losing your life as a Christian by investing it in the things of this world only, and not investing it for eternity.

Every time I walk over here from the parsonage, I go by the nursery. When you're dismissed today, go out there and take a look at that tree that's sitting in the corner of this tree. ... Here is that tree. It doesn't have a leaf on it, nor a bud. All the narrow branches are going in all directions. There it is – dead as a doornail. Walk across the road and look at the tree that's just across the driveway. And there's this magnificent, round, well-structured tree filled out with beautiful leaves all over it. And there's the contrast. I looked at that tree, and I think, "There's the Christian who is making his life fruitful for eternity." There's the Christian who's alive; who's living; and who is saving his life, and is going to look back for all eternity and said, "I'm sure glad that I was on that side of the driveway, and not on the other side with the dead ones."

The Word of God is telling us where history is moving. Count yourself privileged for some reason that God gave you the sense to be here today, and the capacity and the means, and that He is giving you the information to alert you to the fact that I don't care what problems you have, they're trivial compared to the great things that are immediately upon us, and the eternity that you will enjoy. Only you can make it a much more enriched eternity.

So, God, as the Ancient of Days, judges the antichrist for persecution of the Jews. The Jews thus will be delivered from the oppression of the antichrist. They will receive the Messianic Kingdom of Jesus Christ here on this earth. This rescue of Israel will come at the end of the tribulation with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. That's the time when the Jews finally come to their senses, and they realize that Christ was the Messiah.

In verses 23-25, the fourth beast is particularly explained to Daniel. The fourth kingdom will also be on the earth, but it will be much more ruthless than all previous empires. Thus he said: "The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth, and tread it down, and crush it." The reason I stress to you that the fourth kingdom is going to be on this earth is because, in Nebuchadnezzar image, we saw that the kingdoms were crushed by this stone out of the mountain, which was supernaturally brought to destroy these kingdoms of man. Then this stone fill the whole what? Heaven? No. It filled the whole earth. It is the symbol of the Kingdom of God, the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ on this earth. That is what is represented by that stone. And where is it? It is on the earth. It's not so hard to interpret and understand the Scriptures if you put pieces together, and you let it say what it says – literal interpretation. The distortion comes when you just don't want to believe that, so you want to twist it off into something else.

So, the fourth empire is going to dominate the whole earth. This refers to a new world order of a one-world government under a supreme dictator, this little horn that arises. The ten horns are ten nations united, of which three are conquered by the little horn, the antichrist.

Verse 24: "As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom, ten kings will arise, and another will arise after them. He will be different from the previous ones, and will subdue three kings."

Verse 25 says that this one who subdues the three, and then takes over, which Daniel was told would be an eighth head, in effect. This is the union of ten nations, but now ruled by the antichrist. This antichrist is the one that is in view here in verse 25. Here again, he is moving back and forth between speaking about the king and his kingdom, viewing them as one and the same. Here it is focusing specifically on the king, the antichrist: "He will speak out against the Most High." The political dictator of the world will oppose the Creator God: "And he will wear down the saints of the Highest One." He will oppress every believer in God. These will not be Christians, because they will be gone, but it will be the believing Jews and the believing gentiles.

"And he will intend to make alterations in times and in the laws." He will change traditions, particularly religious traditions, and he will set up his own system of law, which is not based on biblical morality or biblical principles, which is exactly what people are trying to do today in government areas – to create new conditions and new laws that are not based upon the restrictions of our Constitution, which has been based upon the principles of the Word of God. And he will be persecuting the Jewish people particularly, for it says, "And they (the Jewish people – the Jewish believers) will be given into his hand for a time, times, and a-half time." And we have previously gone through and explain to you how this technical phrase (time, times, and a-half time) means three-and-a-half years, the last part of the tribulation.

In verse 26-28, we have the divine destruction of this fourth empire beast: "But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated, and destroyed forever." Here we're told that God the Father is going to convene a heavenly court to judge the antichrist and his kingdom. And we are told that the kingdom of the antichrist is condemned by this court, and it is destroyed, and it's removed from power.

This is what Revelation 19:20 refers to – the very thing that Daniel is describing. In Revelation 19:20: "And the beast was seized, and with him, the false prophet (his religious leader) who performed the signs in his presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone." These two human beings come into the place that God prepared for Satan and his angels. This is at the start of the millennium. The antichrist and his religious leader are removed from the face of the earth verse.

Daniel 7:27: "Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One (to the Jewish people). His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him." So, God finally fulfills the promise that He made first to Abraham, and then expanded to Davis, which we read to you in the previous session. The Son of Man (the technical phrase for the Lord Jesus Christ, indicating deity combined with humanity) will be given absolute authority over all nations on earth. He will be there to rule as the King of the Jews with the nation Israel as the leading kingdom. This millennial kingdom will then extend into eternity.

With the establishment of God's kingdom on this earth, all mankind will then serve God. They will live by His laws, not the laws that the antichrist tried to create. They will live by His standards of righteousness, not the ones that 51% of mankind tries to create. Righteousness is going to be exalted. You're going to be proud to do what is right. You will have shame to do what is wrong.

In the entertainment industry today, they cannot exercise enough vileness. They cannot show how shameless they are. Each one tries to be more shameless than the next one. The things that you would never have said about yourself a few years ago, they now want to publicly portray about themselves in order to let all the world know how corrupt and morally vile they are. Well, that is going to come to an end. You can imagine how many things are going to change on the surface of this earth, and in human society, once Jesus Christ takes over, and we begin executing His orders of cleanup. There will simply be no more scum balls given public prominence, admiration, and power. And that's what's happening now. The greater scum ball you are: the greater prominence you have in our society; the more influence you have; the more people want to imitate you; the more they want to know about you; and, the more they want to listen to you. You have to ask yourself: what's wrong with people? What is wrong with people is that they have a vile sin nature. So, what is evil is portrayed as good.

The Donahue program this week had some fundamentalist Mormons on it. They had a man there with his four or five wives, and another man with his three wives, with their samples of the multiplicity of their children. One of these Mormon men was telling the audience that this is the most normal, natural way of living in the world. Well, that's what the old song said: "Doing what comes naturally." Well, where does "Doing what comes naturally" come from (naturally). Naturally, it comes from the sin nature, and from the lust patterns of the sin nature. I thought it interesting, as they asked one of the older teenage sons: "Do you want to grow up and had this lifestyle where you have several wives, and you go from house-to-house?" He said, "I don't know. I'm still thinking about it." And you could just see that the kid was reticent. He must have had some sensitivity and quality such that he realized that his father has created his own brothel. His father has created his own house of prostitution, and he's describing it as being obedient to the Word of God.

I wondered to myself, "What Word of God?" Unfortunately, as always, on Donahue, there is never anybody to bring in the opposite picture on an issue that is really important. Somebody needed to be there to say, "Does it disturb you that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when dealing with this issue of marriage, said that God has created one man for one woman for a lifetime relationship. Jesus said, 'That started in the Garden of Eden,' and it is very clear that that's how it was, and that that's God's intent." And the people said to Jesus, "Well, Moses gave us the right to divorce." And Jesus, "Yes, he did, but he did that because of your sin nature, in order to get some controls and some order within a society that was determined to live by sin."

Don't we do the same thing? We are people who are determined to steal. We have people who are determined to murder. What do we do? We have to make rules by which we deal with this determined evil. Here were these two men who were very vocal; very vociferous; and, very determined, trying to tell all the world that this ugly situation that they live in is the will of God. This is changing the laws of God for the laws of man. That was just one little microcosm example of what takes place in our society all the time. And when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, all of that is what is going to be changed. It is going to be a very dramatic difference.

Daniel then adds a postscript to his written vision, which he recorded immediately after he came back to his conscious senses. He was in shock; his face was pale; and, for the moment, he decided to keep this to himself.

Verse 28: "At this point, the revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me, and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself." So ends one of the most dramatic chapters in the Bible, written and experienced when? In the sixth century B.C. This was 600 years before Jesus Christ comes along to see that. It is very important that you remember that this panoramic preview of future events in human history, all the way to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, began in the sixth century B.C. Is it any wonder that the liberals foam at the mouth when you say that this was written by the Daniel who lived in the sixth century B.C.? They say, "There's no way that anybody living in the sixth century B.C. could have written these things with that precision and that exact progression of world empires. He had to do it after the event, when he could look back and pretend that he was giving you prophecy." It is well-established that there can be no challenge to the fact that Daniel of the sixth century B.C. wrote this book. And he wrote it because God gave him the information.

The fourth beast, then, with this background, he is the one that now makes sense to us when, we read Revelation 13:2, because that is the background of this verse: "And the beast which I saw was like a leopard." This word "beast" here refers to both the empire and its reigning monarch. It is the fourth empire of Nebuchadnezzar's statue that is in view here, in its ten-nation confederacy form under the antichrist. John sees this beast, and he saw that he was like something. The empire king that John sees has characteristics like those found in certain animals. This "like" is a comparison word. These same animals were portrayed as empire kings in Daniel 7:17. So, John sees the fourth world emperor of Rome as incorporating features of the previous three empires of history.

Therefore, he says, "The beast which I saw (which he had described in verse 1 – and it is the ten-nation confederacy form) had the characteristics of a leopard." That connotes swiftness of movement, which was characteristic of Alexander the Great and his conquest in the Greek empire. When the Roman army moved in a campaign, it was characterized by swiftness of movement. This also had the feet like those of a bear, and this portrayed the Medo-Persian Empire which had the crushing power of a bears' claws. Certainly this was true of the Roman Empire. When it struck its enemies, it did so without mercy, like the crushing of a bear's paw. And it had the mouth like a lion. And this portrayed the empire of Babylon in its lion-like rapaciousness. It had great speed, and it greedily devoured whatever came across its way. So, its mouth is what is stressed, because the lion will eat you up. That's what Rome was known for – devouring people in its conquest. It did not care what the culture was. It did not say, "What is nice and good and valuable about your culture?" When Rome conquered a people, it gobbled them up, and said, "Get out of the way. You've got nothing good to offer the world." It was like Hitler. It was the same principle from Satan: "You shouldn't even exist. You're just in the way of the people who are really the super people.

So, the empire that John sees existing here, at the middle of the tribulation, as a ten nation union of nations over which the antichrist now reigns, has the previous qualities from empires which have gone in the past. This different mongrel animal symbolized what Daniel 7:7 and Daniel 7:23 we're talking about. John sees the Roman Empire with these animal qualities. The mongrel animal represents not only the political entity, but the ruler as well. The antichrist himself is the epitome of bestial opposition to the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ. The empire of the antichrist is so evil, and it will be so vile that believers will not be deceived, and they will not conform themselves to his authority. That's why there will be so many believers who will be killed.

This kingdom and ruler of Revelation 13:2, as the future ten-nation confederacy form of the empire, is seen as the ten horns of Revelation 17:12. Let me read that for you. We have this repeatedly identified for us. The empire of the antichrist is the ten-nation union: "And the ten horns, which you saw, are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they will receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour," meaning for a short period of time.

So, this is the seventh head on the beast of Revelation 13:1. The seventh head empire becomes, in effect, an eighth head when the antichrist takes it over. Daniel 7:24 predicted that. The antichrist's ten-nation empire will be more cruel, tyrannical, powerful, and blasphemous than the previous world empires.

Then at the end of verse two, John concludes. He points again to that "drakon" in in the Greek. We have found from Revelation 12:9 that this is a symbol for Satan. Revelation 12:3 says, "The dragon (or Satan) has seven heads and ten horns, with crowns on those horns," which in Revelation 13:1 is attributed to the beast out of the sea. Notice the connection. Revelation 12:3: "And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon (Satan) having seven heads and ten horns, and on heads were seven diadems." Coming over to Revelation 13:1, we have the same picture: ten horns; seven heads; and, diadems. Here the diadems are on the horns. In Revelation 12, they're on the heads. But the items include rulership (authority).

So, there's a close connection between the dragon (Satan) and the beast out of the sea. The beast represents both the Roman Empire, in its tribulation, ten-nation form, and the ruler, the antichrist. The symbols apply to both ruler and empire. This confederacy beast is controlled and empowered by the dragon Satan, because he controls a political ruler, the antichrist.

So, here, on the one hand, these symbols are on Satan. On the other hand, they are on antichrist and his kingdom, because the two are the same: Satan; and, the antichrist's kingdom. Satan is actually indwelling the antichrist. The dragon Satan and the ten-nation confederacy under the antichrist are one and the same shape. It's Satan's show all the way.

Here's what happens. Satan gave him (the antichrist) his power. This world "power" is a word I should show you. It's the Greek word "dunamis." This is the Greek word for power which is residing in one as a potential force. We call it inherent capacity. It is power that's not in motion (not being used), but it's there waiting – capacity to be used. It is giving the antichrist great super human capacity from Satan. This power now opens up some very fantastic capabilities for this man.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:9, we're told of the same thing: "This is the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan (the antichrist), with all power, signs, and wonders. The antichrist will exercise the enormous powers of the occult world that Satan will give to the antichrist. Satan's power is going to enable the antichrist to perform (notice) signs and false wonders. Satan's power is going to enable him to perform the miraculous in order to confirm his claims to the divine power of God.

Do you realize that there are Christians today who have never made the connection that Satan, when it says, "That he gives power to the antichrist," he gives power to Satan first, then Satan gives power to the antichrist? Satan has the power to perform miracles, and Satan gives antichrist power to perform miracles. Satan gives the false prophet (the antichrist's religious leader) the power to perform miracles. The antichrist is going to produce wonders which will cause people to stand in awe of him, and to believe his lies. Those who base their spiritual beliefs on experience instead of on doctrine are going to be sitting ducks for Satan's deception.

This is illustrated today by the charismatic movement. Oral Roberts is organizing a great conference (a great convention), in which he is bringing people from all over the great charismatic world together to what? His advertisement says, "To find your miracle." Are they going to get a miracle? Yes, they're going to get one. The devil is sitting there rubbing his hands. He can't wait for convention day to begin. In Matthew 7:21-23, we see that deception where they claim, "We are associated with you, Lord, because we perform miracles." And Jesus said, "Get away from me. I never knew you." Why can people be deceived? Because they think they have seen a miracle. Their experience tells them that God is speaking. No. The Bible tells you what God is saying.

Satan will try, through the antichrist, to counterfeit the work of Jesus in these same words. Once more, I want you to make this connection. In 2 Thessalonians 2:9, the words are power, signs, and false wonders. Satan is the great counterfeiter's. Why is he going to do this specifically? Because he wants to imitate Jesus Christ.

Acts 2:22: "Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs." The very same three words in the Greek language are used to describe the identifying confirmation of Jesus Christ as the one from God performed before them to confirm His Words, are the signs that Satan is going to use to confirm his false Christ. Isn't that's something? That's why Satan so cleverly uses those three factors in those three specific words.

Furthermore, the true people of God were confirmed by these three specific words. Hebrews 2:4: "God, also bearing witness with them, both by signs, wonders, and various miracles. Those are the same three Greek words that you have in 2 Thessalonians and in Acts 2. God is bearing them witness by signs, wonders, and various miracles by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

So, the antichrist is going to do exactly what Jesus did in trying to confirm Himself as the voice of God. This Confederacy is going to possess enormous, superhuman power. This is no small thing, in Revelation 13:2, when it says, "That the dragon gave him his power." This is the power that Satan that will propel the antichrist to his worldwide dominion over nations. At that time, true, all of humanity is going to be so desperate that they're going to want somebody to help them out of their mess.

He also gives them a throne; that is, his political position of power. During the last three-and-a-half years, it will be extended over all the earth. This is the same offer that Jesus rejected in Luke 4:5-8. He will give him authority, which means the right to exercise power. The antichrist will be given superhuman powers. He will be everything. He will be a magnificent, great dictator. He will answer to no one. He will be Satan's last hurrah. After the antichrist, there'll never be another absolute ruler on the face of this earth except the Lord Jesus Christ.

I need not tell you that the world today is very rapidly being prepared for the reign of the antichrist.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1990

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