2/4/18 – Eph 6:11,
The Angelic Conflict, Pt. 13, The Enemy, Pt 10, The Antichrist, Pt. 1. Lesson #18-014
Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard
Stand in Warfare –
Eph 6:10-20.
Outline of Eph
6 :10-24
1. The Empowerment, vs. 10.
2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12.
3. The Equipment, vs. 13-17.
4. The Energy, vs. 18-20.
5. The Encouragement, vs. 21-24.
2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12.
Eph 6:11, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you
will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”
Satan has a false or counterfeit
plan and strategy to offset the Plan of God, where man seeks the approbation of
God or the gods, led by false teachers. Satan’s
false or counterfeit plan includes a false:
1. Gospel, 2 Cor 4:3-4.
2. Ministers, Jer 14:14; Mat 24:24; 2
Cor 11:13-15; 2 Tim 3:13; 2 Peter 2:1-3, 18; Jude 4, 8; 1 John 2:18; 4:1-3.
a. These false ministers
have a phony, hypocritical facade. They are bleeding heart do gooders, who
“love” everyone, being all things to all men apart from any standards based on
Bible doctrine, Mat 7:15. They seek to stimulate your ego, Rom 16:18, “For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of
their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the
hearts of the unsuspecting.”
b. They use human public
relations systems, legalistic flirtation, and activism to court believers, Gal 4:17 18; 2 Tim 3:5 8.
c. They appeal to human
ego, arrogance, and pride to distract believers from grace, 2 Cor 10:12. They use mutual admiration
society ideas. They love to counsel others to promote their arrogance.
d. They promote idolatry
as a part of Satan’s communion table, Hab
2:18-19.
e. They promote legalism
as a system of pseudo spirituality, 1
Tim 1:7-8. They encourage people to gossip to keep others “in-line.”
f. They possess a false
spirit, 1 John 4:1-3. They are
inspirational but do not function by the power of the Holy Spirit.
3. Doctrine, 1 Tim 4:1-7; 2
Tim 4:1-4.
4. Communion table, 1 Cor
10:19-21.
5. Spirituality, Gal 3:2-3.
6. Righteousness, Mat 19:16-28.
7. Self-righteousness, Mat 23:13-36.
8. Power and dynamics (e.g., miracles, healing, tongues), 2 Thes 2:8-10.
9. System of gods, Rom 1:21-23; 2 Thes
2:3-4.
Believers are warned to not fall
for any of the counterfeits of Satan that may give him a chance or opportunity
to exert his influence over your life and spiritual walk, Eph 4:27.
The ultimate counterfeit will be
the coming Antichrist, whose activities will be in accord with Satan and who
will pawn off on mankind “the lie,” 2
Thes 2:3, 7-11; Cf. 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7.
1 John 2:18, “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that
antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know
that it is the last hour.”
1 John 2:22, “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the
Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.”
The Scriptures anticipate the
coming of a superman who will serve as Satan’s counterfeit of the King of kings
and Lord of lords. Prophecy anticipates the coming of one outstanding false
Christ among the very many that have been predicted. An “antichrist” is one who
opposes and counterfeits Christ primarily through deception, 2 John 7; Psa 2:1-3; Mat 24:4-5, 23-24;
John 5:43; 2 Thes 2:3-4; Rev 13.
The specific term “antichrist”
occurs only in John’s letters, referring to both the man coming in the future
and false teachers / witnesses throughout the Church Age, 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7. The concept of “antichrist”
appears in both the OT and NT, and also in the intertestamental literature.
The Greek preposition “anti” has a
dual connotation. First, it means “against,” and then “instead of” or “in place
of.” Both are applicable regarding the “Antichrist” who is in opposition to
Christ and wants to be worshipped instead of or in the place of Christ. Jesus
said in John 5:43 that the
Antichrist would, “come in his own
name.”
The personal Antichrist of the end
times is a prophetical figure who will be empowered and controlled by Satan, Rev 13:2, 4, to oppose Christ and
usurps His place among mankind here on earth. He is the individual culmination
of many antichrists that have already arisen, 1 John 2:18; cf. 4:3; 2 Thes 2:3, 7-8. He will deceive humanity
with false teaching, signs, and wonders, 2
Thes 2:9, in order to obtain allegiance that only Christ deserves. He
opposes Christ and persecutes Christians who maintain their proper allegiance
to Christ alone.
He appears in the future
Tribulation period as a world ruler with his empire possibly centered in a
restored form of the Roman Empire, 1
John 2:18; Rev 13; 17:7-18; cf. Dan
7:23-25.
The Antichrist has been identified
by a number of titles that tell us about his career here on earth:
1. “The little horn” of the “king
of fierce countenance,” Dan 7:8-9,
19-26, 24-25; 8:23-25.
2. “The prince who is to come,” Dan 9:26-27.
3. “The willful king.” Dan 11:36-45.
4. “The abomination of desolation,”
Dan 12:11; cf. Mat 24:15, (a statue of him will be put up in the temple at Jerusalem, a sign for all
believers to flee to the mountains.)
5. “The man of sin / lawlessness, 2 Thes 2:3-4, 8-10; cf. Dan 7:25.
6. “The son of destruction
(perdition),” 2 Thes 2:3; cf. John 17:12.
7. “The beast who comes out from
the sea,” Rev 13:1-10; 11:7; 17:1-18;
19:19-21; 20:10.
Though the titles differ, they all
seem to be none other than the one who will federate kingdoms here on earth
during the Tribulation, but will be destroyed at the coming of Christ.
There are basically three major
prophecies of the Antichrist, three scriptural portraits from which the larger
picture of the Antichrist is drawn, Dan
7-12; 2 Thes 2; Rev 13-19.
The Book of Revelation refers back to the Book of Daniel. The description of
the beast in Revelation exactly
corresponds with the portrayal of the fourth beast and the little horn in Dan 7, with the addition of important
details. This mighty ruler figures largely in Revelation 13-19. John sees him as the first rider upon a white
horse, Rev 6:2, and the “beast risen
up out of the sea,” Rev 13:1-8.
In Rev 13:11-18, it also says that another beast, “the false prophet,”
receives his power and authority from “the first beast” in the same way as the
Antichrist, (the first beast), gets his power from Satan.
The late John F. Walvoord, former
President of Dallas Theological Seminary, in his book “The Revelation of Jesus
Christ,” copyrighted in 1966, stated the following regarding Rev 13:15, “And it was given to him,
(the false prophet), to give breath
to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and
cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”
“Expositors
usually hold that the extraordinary powers given by Satan to the false prophet
do not extend to giving life to that which does not possess life, because this
is a prerogative of God alone. The intent of the passage seems to be that the
image has the appearance of life manifested in breathing, but actually it may
be no more than a robot. The image is further described as being able to
speak, a faculty easily accomplished by mechanical means. In ancient times
religious ventriloquism was sometimes used to give the impression of supernatural
speech, a practice confirmed by archaeological excavations in Corinth. In Acts 16:16 the slave girl possessed of
a demon was able to bring gain to her masters by soothsaying. She also
supernaturally recognized Paul and his companions as “servants of the most high
God, which shew unto us the way of salvation” (Acts 16:17). Her power of speech
was under demonic control. Whether completely natural in its explanation, or
whether some supernatural power is used to create the impression of life, the image
apparently is quite convincing to the mass of humanity and helps to turn them
to a worship of the first beast as their god.”
This is a very interesting comment
in light of the video noted above of Prof. Yuval Harari, regarding the future
direction of world progress at the 2018 World Economic Forum, where he stated
that in a generation or two, there could be a hybrid species of man and
computer automation. This could be a potential robot in humanoid likeness being
the image of the Antichrist. Another image that comes to mind is the “Great Oz”
from the Wizard of Oz. But regardless, in whatever form, the image of the
“beast,” the Antichrist, is going to be able to deceive many.
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