9. The Rise of the Antichrist
The word "Antichrist" is used seven times in the Bible (See 1 John 2:22). The Antichrist emerges from this alliance (Daniel 7:24; 9:26). The first Roman Empire destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD, so the Antichrist will likely come from a renewed Roman Empire. He will work together with the false prophet. The Bible does not explain how he will gain his leadership and power, but it does speak about the spirit and the person of the Antichrist, who is a biological male and not a super being or a demon (Daniel 11:37; 2 Thessalonians 2:3).
The Antichrist is known in the Bible primarily as the Beast (Revelation 11:7,13:1) as well as the "abomination of desolation" (Matthew 24:15), the bloody and deceitful man (Psalms 5:6), the Wicked One (Psalms 10:3-4), the Man of the Earth (Psalms 10:18), the Mighty Man (Psalms 52:1), the Enemy (Psalms 55:3), the Adversary (Psalm 74:10), the Spoiler (Isaiah 16:4), the Profane and Wicked Prince (Ezekiel 21:25), the Little Horn (Daniel 7:8), the Prince that shall come (Daniel 9:26), the Vile Person (Daniel 11:21), the Willful King (Daniel 11:36), the Man of Sin (2 Thessalonians 2:3), the Son of Perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3), and the Lawless One (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
When the seven-year Tribulation period begins, four horsemen will appear with the Antichrist riding a white horse carrying a bow without arrows and wearing a crown as a diplomatic conqueror (Revelation 6:1-2). He will work with a 'prophet' and perform public miracles by the power of the evil one, which will deceive the people of the Earth (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). He will bring peace and economic stability to the whole Earth unlike anyone has seen before for 42 months and appear to solve all the problems of the world, including allowing the Third Temple to be built in Jerusalem, and the people of the world will become united (Daniel 9:27,12:11; Matthew 21:21; 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12; Revelation 13:5-7,13,16-17). It will seem as if Heaven came to Earth.
At the end of the first 42 months begins the Great Tribulation, the Antichrist will have miraculous healing from a deadly wound and then claim to be God demanding to be worshipped as he actively and openly blasphemes the Creator of all things (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 13:6,12-4).
10. The False Prophet
The false prophet is called the "second beast" (Revelation 13:11-15,16:13,19:20,20:10). He joins the Antichrist, and the devil, who empowers both of them to become an unholy trinity. He will be an extraordinary speaker, and his mission will be to deceive all the people of the Earth, forcing them to worship the Antichrist (Revelation 12:9,12). He will use miraculous signs and wonders, including fire from the sky, to establish their credibility (Revelation 13:14). The people of the Earth will make an idol in the image of the Antichrist and worship it just as the people made a Golden Calf while Moses was with God on the mountain called Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:1-2; Revelation 13:15).
11. Mark of the Antichrist
At the beginning of the Great Tribulation period, people will be forced to take a 'mark' of the Antichrist, and those who do not will be persecuted and killed, which will make it known to everyone that he is the Anti-Christ Jesus warned of (Daniel 12:11; Matthew 21:21; Revelation 20:4). He will reveal his true arrogant self, and at the end of the Great Tribulation, will cause all of the armies of the Earth to fight against Jesus and His army, and defile the Third Temple (Revelation 19:19). However, they will lose the battle! (See Daniel 7:11; Psalm 2:1-5; Isaiah 45:9; Revelation 19:20-21).
Taking the 'mark' of the Antichrist is a reprehensible and blasphemous act of willful defiance against God, essentially worshipping satan (Revelation 13:15-16). The word "mark" in Greek is 'charágmatos' and comes from the word' charássœ,' which means to carve; to engrave, or sculpture something, an impression, inscription, or an etched, branded, mark, or symbol, as on an animal, coin, statue, or false idol (See Acts 17:29).
In antiquity, a 'mark' was branded on the right hand or the forehead, such as on an enslaved person, to show others they were their master's property and upon those who were willingly branded in a temple with the symbol of their deity. In Islam, the mark of the Antichrist (aka Bismillah) is a line drawn on the forehead and must be worn on the right arm/hand of every Muslim at Judgment and distinguishes them from non-believers (Tirmuthi 2369).
There is a growing belief that the "false Prophet" will be the 'Isa' of Islam. The final world empire will actually be the "Beast," which is the one who fills the office of the Caliph (Mahdi?) after a Caliphate comprised of 10 Islamic nations is established (See Daniel 7:11; Revelation 17:9-11; 19:20; Quran 27:82).
Those who take the mark will have chosen to serve satan, the god of this world, rather than obey God and receive Jesus as their personal Savior. When people make that decision during the Great Tribulation, God will grant their request to be eternally separated from Him. A Born-Again Christian could never take the Mark of the Beast because it would be blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (the unpardonable sin - See Mark 3:28-29).
The Unpardonable Sin
Jesus said concerning the Holy Spirit, "When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8 ESV). The Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the unpardonable sin of adamantly and willfully refusing to accept who Jesus is and what He had come to do and then intentionally choosing not to become Born-Again up until their death which ends all possible opportunities to do so (Hebrews 9:27). It is not some particularly grievous sin committed by a Born-Again Christian before or after accepting Christ, nor is it thinking or saying something terrible about the Holy Spirit that God would not forgive because that would be a direct contradiction of the truth that they always "have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" and He will not cast them out (Matthew 12:31; 1 John 2:1) as well as His eternal promise to never leave or forsake them (Hebrews 13:5).
Jesus said, "Whoever comes to me I will never drive away" (John 6:37 ESV). God is love. He is compassionate and merciful, super-abounding in grace. He desires that no one should be lost but that all should come to salvation through repentance and personal faith in Him as Savior and Lord (2 Peter 3:9; Acts 2:21). When a person makes the conscious decision to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, they are bought and paid for by His blood and becomes His possession and dwelling place; His Holy of Holies, and they are no longer their own but belong to Him (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Over 80 New Testament verses confirm that God is for the Born-Again Christian and was prepared to give them the Holy Spirit to guarantee salvation when they received Him as Lord and Savior. At that instant, they became predestined, called, chosen, and sealed for the day of redemption as a child of God and an heir with Christ for glorification in Heaven (Ephesians 1:11-13, 4:30; Romans 8:28-31; 2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5).
12. Persecution and the Great Falling Away
Jesus was asked by the disciples what the "sign of your coming and of the end of the age is?" He said, "See that no one leads you astray" (Matthew 24:3-4 ESV). The Bible tells us that there will be a time when some will "depart" from the "faith." Whenever a cataclysmic event, like a global pandemic, a new political administration, fires, floods, earthquakes, etc., the cry goes out - it may be the end of days. Therefore, you need to get your act together so that you don't miss the 'Rapture' or take the mark of the Beast (Revelation 16:2,19:20), which is currently conjectured to possibly be a computer chip inserted in the hand or forehead.
The Bible says some people will endure "for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises, they will "quickly fall away" because they have "no root in themselves" (Matthew 13:21 NIV; Mark 4:17 ESV). The words "fall away" is a translation of the Greek word 'skandalizó,' which means to entice to sin, to trip up, to entrap, and is where we get the word 'scandal.' Jesus promised that if His disciples understood what it means to be a genuine disciple, they would not be scandalized when persecuted.
The Bible also tells us, "the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared" (1 Timothy 4:1 ESV - also 2 Timothy 3:1-5). The word 'depart' is the Greek word 'aphistemi,' where the word 'apostasy' comes from. It means actively instigating revolt, cease, desert, defect, etc.
The departing "from the faith" is not just about less attendance in churches. It includes the falling away of people who are yet to be Born-Again by the truth of God's Word and falling into error by being led astray by teachings that have distorted and twisted the Bible from false teachers, pastors, and self-proclaimed apostles and prophets.
The Bible also says that it is "impossible" for " 'those who fall away" to "renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame" (Hebrews 6:6 ESV). Those who 'fall away' and "go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth," "there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries" because they have "trampled underfoot the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace" (Hebrews 10:26-30 ESV). This is an irredeemable willful act of defiance and rejection of Jesus as Lord and Savior. These people are a "bad tree" that only produces "bad fruit" and were never Born-Again because Jesus never knew them. Otherwise, they would have continued with Him (See Hebrews 6:4-6,27,10:26; Matthew 7:16,13:1-9,18-23; Romans 8:13; 1 John 2:19,3:7-10).
Jesus taught the Disciples, before the day of Pentecost when the new dispensation of salvation by grace began, the "world" would hate and persecute them as they hated and persecuted Him "without a cause" because they are "not of the world" (John 15:18-25 ESV). Jesus reminds them that when the "Helper" comes on that day, who is the "Spirit of truth, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning" (John 15:26-27 ESV). Jesus said to them, "I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away" (John 16:1 ESV).
13. The Taking Away of the Church
"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ESV)
Today, it is rare to talk about the taking away of the Church, commonly called the 'Rapture,' or the end of days, even though Christians are implored to encourage one another with those words (1 Thessalonians 4:18). I think that is most likely because 'prophecy experts' have given specific dates for the return of Jesus that have come and gone, like the ways of the dinosaur, over the years. Back in the '70s and '80s, thanks to such books as the "Late Great Planet Earth" by Hal Lindsay and the 'Left Behind" series of books by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B Jenkins, the dominant belief was that a Pre-Tribulation Rapture would take place. I remember a book written by a NASA engineer that was published called "88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Take Place In 1988." (January 1st, 1988) When it didn't happen, he published another book called "The Final Shout: Rapture Report 1989," which was essentially an '89 Reasons Why...' book.
There are four camps people fall into about the Rapture. The 'No-Trib' says there will be no 'taking away.' The 'Pre-Trib' says it will happen before the Tribulation period starts. The 'Mid-Trib' say it happens before the Great Tribulation begins at 43 months. The 'Post-Trib' says it will happen at the end of the Tribulation period, which was the dominant belief in the church up until the 20th century. Another small group of people are 'Pan-Trib' as they want to see how it will all pan out!
