How can we identify the Antichrist?

4beasts

The first thing we need to consider is that there are quite a number of scriptures that talk about the Antichrist, and many different prophecies that give us information whereby we can identify this man.

Just like all doctrine in the scriptures, we can't just look at one scripture and expect to understand. We have to put all of the scriptures together to paint the full picture.

So I'm going to walk you through the many scriptures that give us ways to identify him and where he comes from, and what he, or it, is.

I say "it" because he's represented as a "beast" in some places, and a man in others, so we must understand the difference of representation and the reason for using those words.

Before we go into all the identifying information, let's examine the definition of the man and the beast.

Scriptures that show us where Antichrist is a man:

Daniel 7:21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

Some say that the Antichrist will be a system, not a man. This passage alone is enough to prove that he is definitely a man. He shall subdue three kings. He shall speak great words against the most High. He shall wear out the saints of the most High and will make war against the saints. He is definitely a man. He will be the ruler of the one world government.

Daniel 11:37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.

He's not the devil himself as some teach, but he is definitely a man who has "fathers". The devil does not have "fathers", nor does a "system".

Revelation 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Revelation 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Revelation 19 and 20 above show that the Antichrist and False Prophet are both cast alive into the lake of fire, but Satan is bound and thrown into the bottomless pit. This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Antichrist is not Satan but is a man along with the False Prophet. Satan may possess the Antichrist after Satan is cast to the earth (discussed in chapters 6 and 10), but the Antichrist is not the devil, he is a man.

Daniel 7:11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.

This passage says that the 4th beast, the representation of the Antichrist (the little horn), is slain and his BODY destroyed. This is the same declaration we see in Rev 19 where the Antichrist and False Prophet are cast into the lake of fire.

He is most definitely a man.

So this man of sin, who sits in the temple as I will show you shortly, is an actual physical man.

When he sits in the temple claiming to be god, that's when we will know for sure who he is.

And, when we're told that his number will be 666, we see that he is a man, specifically, not a system or the devil or anything else, he's a man.

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

It is the number of a man... he is a man!

When the "beast" is mentioned in Revelation 13 and other places, it is referring to this man, but also referring to his kingdom, much as Daniel 7 defines "beasts" but we're shown that these beasts represent kingdoms and the rulers of those kingdoms.

Daniel 7 that we just read, shows "beasts" that arise, and we're told very clearly that these beasts are "kings"...

Daniel 7:17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.

Just as the 10 horns all represent kings as we read in Daniel 7:24 above, and the little horn that rises among them as well. These 10 kings are represented in Daniel 2, Revelation 13 and Revelation 17 as we'll discuss shortly.

So the "beast" when describing the Antichrist is the kingdom of the Antichrist, while the ruler of the kingdom is the man himself.

I hope that helps in understanding the difference in the wording.

So how will we identify him?

First of all, the Bible tells us exactly when we'll be able to accurately identify him. It doesn't mean we can't figure it out before this event, but we won't know for sure until this event.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition...

And, Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains...

The "abomination of desolation" Jesus is referring to in Matthew 24:15 is Daniel 9:27 and Daniel 11:31. The Antichrist will confirm the covenant for seven years and will be an abomination to God and will make it (the holy place; the Temple) desolate.

Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Daniel 11:31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

Daniel 11 is continued into Daniel 12 and gives us the time frame of this event.

Daniel 12:7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

So Daniel specifically tells us that this event will happen 3.5 years before "all these things shall be finished". (time (1 year), times (two years) and a half (half a year) = 3.5 years, and 1290 days = three and a half years)

These things are what Daniel 11 and into Daniel 12 just said. It's the time of the Antichrist who will "come to his end", and "at that time", "there will be a time of trouble such as never was". This "time of trouble" is the same thing Jesus is referring to if we continue reading in Matthew 24:15 when He says "when we see the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet", verse 21: "then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

So Daniel and Jesus together specifically say that the Abomination of Desolation will start the Great Tribulation and that it will last for 3.5 years.

This shows us that it will be the event in the middle of the final 7 years, and that it will begin the tribulation, which will end at the return of Christ (the end of these things).

I showed all this timing so that we know for sure that this is all encapsulated in that final 3.5 years and will happen just as we expect it to based on what we are shown in the prophecies. The temple may be rebuilt before the final 3.5 years begins, but the abomination and the time of the Antichrist will definitely be that last 3.5 years.

And Paul shows us what this event is: 2 Thessalonians 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

This is when the Antichrist takes over the world.

Jesus said that when we see this, then the great tribulation will start, which is the final three and a half years of this age, immediately before Christ is revealed to the world.

So when the "man of sin", the Antichrist, sits in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, mocking God and claiming to be god, this is when we'll know for certain that it is the man prophesied of.

This event Paul is referring to in 2 Thessalonians is the 'abomination of desolation'. Three and one half years after the confirmation of the covenant, in the "midst" of the final week of years, he will sit in the rebuilt temple of Jerusalem and claim to be God. Most believe that he will claim to be all god's and all messiahs. He will probably claim to be the god of Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, etc. When you see this happen, you will know without a doubt that he is the Antichrist.

This is why Satan is pushing the Interfaith belief so hard right now. He wants the world to believe all religions worship the same god, so that we'll all fall for this lie and submit to this man when he comes to power.

You might say, "no way" will the world fall for this, but remember he'll come in peace and deception, most likely after the devastation of World War 3, which is also most likely the sixth Trumpet of Revelation where we learn that a third part of mankind will be killed at the end of that war. The world will be clamoring for a savior to bring peace to the world. He will almost certainly use this as a stepping stone to take power.

And, already there are many, many people who believe in the interfaith lie...

When he arrives on the world stage, he will be regarded as brilliant.

Daniel 7:8 and Revelation 13:5 say that he will have a mouth speaking great things. Daniel 8:23 describes him as 'understanding dark sentences'.

He will absolutely mesmerize the world and fool them all with his deception. The same deception that is already in the world through the lying wonders of Satan.

Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

2 Thessalonians 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders...

If it were possible, the lying wonders of Satan would even fool those who have to Holy Spirit, but thankfully it is not possible. This shows us how powerful these lies are!

He will come in the name of peace to take over the world!

Daniel 11:21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant. And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.

The way I see this playing out is that he will likely use the panic generated by so much destruction from the war as his stepping-stone to gain his power and get the world to revere him as "savior of the world".

He will use peace as a weapon.

But, of course it will all be a facade so he can take over the world...

Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

The world will regard him as savior and the call of the New World Order will resound among all peoples: "Peace and Safety".

1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

So he will come deceitfully in the name of peace to take over the world, most likely after the war that kills over 2 billion people...

That is the "how" he will arrive, and the moment that we will be certain of his identity.

But, we have a lot more information about where he comes from and what he'll do prior to this take over of the world. So let's examine that.

He will confirm the covenant with many for seven years.

Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

In this Old Testament verbiage, a week means a "week of years", or seven years (Genesis 29:27).

The confirmation of the covenant is this: there will be an international agreement to confirm the status of Jerusalem and the permanent borders of Israel. These things are being fought over right now with the Palestinians. The Antichrist will confirm the covenant along with many others. It may be hard to identify him at that time.

In the midst of this "week" (three and one half years in), the Antichrist will cause the animal sacrifices being performed in the rebuilt temple to cease, and will cause the "abomination of desolation" by either claiming to be God or acting in the place of God. That is when we will definitely know who he is.

The Antichrist will arise among a union of ten kings, as we've discussed.

Daniel 7:24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

We see that he will arise out of a union of ten nations. And he will uproot, or subdue, three kings (states or nations).

Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

The ten kings will give their power and strength to the Antichrist.

We see these ten kings in Daniel 2, Daniel 7, Revelation 13 and Revelation 17.

The Antichrist will create a massive military alliance!

Given that all other prophecies match this scenario, and the state of the world today, we can see that this fourth beast of Daniel 7 appears to be a symbolic picture of how the Antichrist will bring ten Islamic nations under him and pose as the Mahdi, the Muslim Messiah. Then, we're shown that he will bring the three other nations from Daniel 7 into the union in Revelation 13.

He'll create a political power base from these Arab nations this will be the 10 horned beast of Daniel 7, the 10 toes of Daniel 2, the 10 horns of the beast in Revelation 13, and the 10 kings of Revelation 17.

The other 3 beasts/nations of Daniel 7 are shown together with this ten nation union in Revelation 13 as one beast; One union of nations which will give the Antichrist his military power to dominate the world.

He will have the resources of 13 nations that he wields for his military might.

He will come up from a "small" people.

Daniel 11:23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. We won't know for sure what this means until he is revealed, but it's a clue we can't forget when we're looking for his identity.

He will "stand up" about 8 months after the confirmation of the covenant, the signing of the peace treaty, and will begin gathering his power.

We're given this clue in Daniel 8.

In Daniel 8:13-14 we see that it will be 2300 days for the “vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot” to happen. This part of the vision is Daniel 8:9-12. 2300 days = 6.3 years. The interpretation of this part of the vision is Daniel 8:23-26. What this means is that the Antichrist will “wax great”, or “a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.” The Antichrist will see his moment and will begin gathering power to himself. The “vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation” is the time period of the Antichrist's rise to power and his rule of the world.

This will likely be him claiming to be the Mahdi of Islam and the ten kings lifting him up as the Islamic messiah.

He will create the first ten king union, and then will pursue an alliance with the other three kings of Daniel 7 as they become one big alliance in Revelation 13.

He will team up with the False Prophet.

He will be promoted and supported by the False Prophet, the second man in the prophecy!

There are so many theories about the Antichrist that completely ignore the fact that there are two men that work together in the End Time.

The False Prophet is the second "beast" of Revelation 13, and is a man who performs miracles while in the sight of the Antichrist, using the power of Satan to do so, and causes the world to be fooled into thinking it is godly power...

This man is a secondary figure in the false prophecies that Satan set up in Islam to match the true prophecies of God, so that Islam will be utterly fooled and blind-sided when Jesus returns.

Prophecy seems to indicate that this man is the leader of the Great Whore of Revelation 17 and 18, and will be the "iron" portion of the iron and clay of the final section of the statue in Daniel 2. This is the Holy Roman and Islamic empires (the EU and the Arab League today) that will join forces in the End Time under the Antichrist, and will be in power when Christ returns in the clouds of heaven with power and glory and puts down the governments of men.

Seems like it's the Pope and the Mahdi that are the False Prophet and Antichrist!

Why do I say that? Because his kingdom will be the revived Holy Roman / Islamic Empire.

He will likely be crowned king of the Holy Roman Empire by the reigning Pope and will likely be considered the Muslim Mahdi.

Daniel 2 shows explicitly that it will be the united Holy Roman and Islamic empires (the EU and the Arab League today) that will be in power when Jesus returns.

In the midst of the final week we're given in Daniel 9 shown above, at the 3.5 year mark, he will take over the world, become the abomination, and he will rule for 3.5 years.

Old Testament verbiage: A time is one year, times is two years, and an half or the dividing of time is half a year. So this is 1+2+.5 = 3.5 years.

Take note that the scriptures give us that time frame in several ways; 1260 days, time times and an half, and 42 months. This diversity in the verbiage gives us the proof that it's actually 1260 literal days. It's 3.5 years.

Which of these are referring to the time of the Antichrist?

All of them!

He will persecute God's people and he will rule the entire world

Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

Daniel 7:21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;

God's people will be persecuted. Since Satan is behind all of this, it's not surprising. Power is given to him over all nations...

Islam is a religion of Jew and Christian hatred, so it's easy to see how this End Time one world religion of the Antichrist will be Islam.

The number of his name will be 666...

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

We don't have any idea at this time what this will mean, but it will become clear when the time comes.

He will implement the mark system. This will be much like the Vaccine Passport that they attempted to force upon us. That was definitely not the mark of the beast, but it's paving the way to the Antichrist's control mechanism. We won't be able to buy or sell, have a job, bank account, fly a plane or even a bus, buy groceries, etc., without this mark/passport that signifies that we are compliant with his governmental control system.

One thing we have to remember when we're waiting and watching for this is that it won't be just a simple mobile app, and it won't come until the Antichrist is in power. It will come with an oath to his name, or conversion to Islam. It won't be something we can get by accident. We will have to willingly submit.

He will be cast alive into the lake of fire...

When Christ returns, He will destroy the armies of the Antichrist with a word, and will throw both the False Prophet and the Antichrist alive into a lake of fire...

Revelation 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations... And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.  And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth...

As stated above, the Antichrist will almost certainly be a Muslim...

Daniel 2 shows explicitly that it will be the Holy Roman/Islamic empires (the EU and the Arab League today) that will be in power when Jesus returns.

Daniel 7 shows us that the 10 kings will be aligned with the 4th beast who is destroyed when Jesus returns (Daniel 7:11).

The green/spotted and strongly colored horse(s) of Revelation 6:1-8 and Zechariah 6:1-8 appears to be Islam.

He will hate Jews and Christians...

The 10 kings "hate the whore" (Revelation 17), which shows the hatred Muslims have for Christianity which is represented by Catholicism (albeit falsely).

Matthew 24:16 shows that when we see the Antichrist sit in the temple claiming to be god, that the West Bank will be a place of horror for Jews. This area is heavily Muslim/Jew and is the hotbed of conflict between Muslims and Jews.

Satan knows prophecy much better than anyone, and he set it up so that the Muslims will believe the Antichrist is their Mahdi.

Revelation 16 and 19, Ezekiel 38, Zechariah 14, and Joel 3 all show the Antichrist will try to wipe out Israel at the battle of Armageddon.

The Antichrist will unite the world under a one world government and one world religion. With Interfaithism and Islam rising in acceptance around the world, along with the infiltration of Islam in Europe and the US, this is the religion Satan is setting up for the one world religion of the Antichrist.

As we see in Revelation 12:9 and 13:4, it's Satan who is the dragon who gives his power to the Antichrist!

Who is he? It's impossible to know at this time, but here are some things to remember:

  1. He will be one of many who confirms the covenant and signs a world sanctioned peace agreement with Israel for 7 years.
  2. He will "stand up" about 8 months after that, and will begin putting his plans into action to take over the world. Most likely we will see him rise as the Muslim Mahdi.
  3. He will team up with the false prophet at some point and they will work together to put these plans into action, and the false prophet will do miracles such as pulling fire right out of thin air to support the Antichrist.
  4. In the middle of the seven years he will actually sit in the temple claiming to be god.

That is when we will absolutely know who he is. We may have some clues before then, especially when he's putting his plans into action, but when he sits in the temple claiming to be god is when we will know for certain.

The most important thing to remember is that we need to repent and believe that God came to the earth and became a man in Jesus Christ. We need to be ready for this day! Don't wait!

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