Survives not dies

One of the unique traits which reveals Antichrist

[Continuing excerpts from chapter three of my new book - First Sign: beginning of the end- available on Amazon.com.

Popular Christian theology is driven by exaggeration and opinion. Most prophecy books portray the Antichrist as a hybrid of superman and a rock star. Authors and speakers believe that they can identify the Antichrist just from a few simple hints in the Bible.

As we investigate what Scriptures actually say about the Antichrist, we learn that he is more difficult to understand than a popular politician. We learn where he comes from, how God reveals him and what happens to him.]

We have studied the unique characteristics of the antichrist. The Bible reveals him as a fallen angel (or demon) following Satan’s commands. But what happens that reveals his identity to believers on earth? Everyone acknowledges and admires him after he recovers from a fatal wound:

I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” (Revelation 13:3-4)

People from around the world will praise him (and Satan) when they realize “he was and is not and will come” (Revelation 17:8). Only Christians will see him as the antichrist while false prophet causes the rest to worship him:

He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed (Revelation 13:12)

The same event leads to different results depending on one’s point of view.

Slide 66 Revealing the antichrist

John repeats this point three times in Revelation 13 as three witnesses:

And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. (Revelation 13:14)

But what does this have to do with the antichrist’s essence as a demon? I believe that he possesses the dying (or dead) body of a popular, powerful human politician. He animates this corpse and deceives people into thinking that a human being came back to life from the dead. The unsaved worship him for this miraculous feat. Of course, they worship Satan.

I have struggled with this miraculous recovery over many years. I believe that Satan has the power to inflict disease based on the example in Job 2. Jesus also blames Satan for one disease (Luke 13:11-16) and of course we see all sorts of mental and physical problems caused by demonic possession in the Gospels. I would tend to shy away from acknowledging Satan’s power to heal except for what we see in these verses about the antichrist. I absolutely reject the notion that Satan can raise the dead (i.e. retrieve a person’s soul and fuse them to their body again).

Please understand that if Satan could truly resurrect the dead, then Christians might want to consider switching sides. After all, Satan offers a life free of rules. He promises unending pleasure both now and for eternity. (Of course, these are lies, but just go with it so I can make a bigger point). But only God can raise the dead to life because only God – the Creator – can give life (John 5:21, Romans 4:17; 8:11). The Lord can remake an entire human body and fuse the spirit (or soul) back to its own body.

Instead of giving life, Satan’s only power comes from his ability to take life (Hebrews 2:14). He isn’t the “angel of death” in the sense that he wanders the countryside separating body from soul. His power comes from sin which kills its victims. Satan tempts others to break God’s law which leads to sin and death. The resurrection spells ultimate defeat for Satan because Christ frees us from the law, sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). Until then, Satan threatens to destroy all creation and kill those who oppose him.

Slide 67 Recovering the antichrist

I reconcile the healing of the antichrist as a demonic animation of a corpse. This means that the soul of the human host isn’t in his body anymore. I realize that others might take the same facts and reach another legitimate solution. With that caveat, let’s examine what we know. First, the antichrist isn’t human, but a fallen angel who currently exists in the abyss. So, either he can take human form, or he possesses a human being. I doubt anyone would trust a person who suddenly appears during the locust plague without explanation or history. Instead of taking human form during the locust plague, I believe the antichrist possesses a human body and takes over that person’s identity. He may take credit for stopping the locusts by his new power over death.

Second, Satan can cause disease and take a life by God’s divine permission but cannot raise to life. The Bible never says for certain but leaves open the possibility that Satan could heal. After all, human doctors can repair damage and keep a body functioning long after the brain ceases to function.

Third, only God can truly raise the dead. So, I assume the antichrist’s recovery springs from some form of deception. Perhaps, the antichrist observes the person he will possess (he has five months during the locust plague) so that he can successfully impersonate him after he dies.

Fourth, false prophet gives life to the image of the beast (Revelation 13:14-15). Fifty years ago, we might have passed this off as robotics (mechanics and artificial intelligence). Today, we acknowledge this as something more given the advancement of technology – life-like robots exist as prototypes. In a few years, they may become so common that they fail to impress anyone. If false prophet can give the appearance of life to an inert man-made device, why not assume the antichrist can animate a corpse?

Figure 3 Antichrist timeline

Finally, Jesus doesn’t cast out the antichrist demon from its human host. Instead, he casts the antichrist physically into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20). This leads me to believe that the human host has already left his body, or the antichrist has taken the form of a human by his own abilities.

Since we know how long the plague of locusts lasts, we can assume that Michael throws Satan down to earth at least five months before God reveals the antichrist through the healing of the fatal wound. I assume the antichrist will desecrate the temple and set up the Abomination of Desolation (AoD) about the same time as he comes back to life. He will reign for three-and-a-half years. All these events place the fall of Satan and the start of the fifth trumpet about four years before Jesus returns.

Keep the biblical durations firm in your mind, but realize that additional time might expire between events, so we still won’t know the day or hour of Jesus’ return until it happens. All these things serve as public notice to believers concerning the identity of the antichrist and signal us as to the coming of Jesus.