THE TRUTH ABOUT SATAN’S MESSIAH

Daniel 8:23–27

Intro

To say the least, Biblical prophecy is a complex subject. This results in confusion among the brethren in the pews. What I would like to do is shed a little light on a few areas of prophecy.

I am going to attempt to preach about several prophetic themes that are presented in the Word of God.

I would like to try to present these studies in the order in which they will happen on God’s prophetic calendar.

Last Sunday, we looked at the Rapture of the Church.

Ou Bible study for today will focus on the life and work of the person who is known as the Antichrist. Satan’s Messiah

Why spend our time on prophecy? Because many in our modern churches do not know what lies ahead.

Because many all around us need to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

Because our time is short and we need to hear the truth.

Since Adam was created in the Garden of Eden, the world has witnessed the advent of many talented, intelligent and powerful people. However, none of these who has ever lived is able to match this man who will known as the Antichrist.

He will be powerful, deceitful, intelligent, brutal, ruthless and efficient.

He will represent the pinnacle of all that man can achieve apart from God.

He will literally be Satan’s Messiah. Let’s see what the Bible says about him.

I. V. 23 THE APPEARANCE OF SATAN’S MESSIAH

Daniel 8:23 NIV84

“In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise.

(Our text tells us that in the end times, a fierce king will stand up.

But, what are the signs of his appearing?

Can men know when this man will appear?

The answer to that question is both “Yes” and “No”.

I am certain that no man knows exactly who the Antichrist is or exactly when he will appear, but the Bible does tell us that there are certain sings that accompany his appearance.

It is these signs that I would like to look at for a few minutes.)

A. The Condition Of The World

—when this man makes his entrance, the world will be in a terrible moral condition. This is evidenced by two passages that make reference to the end times,

Luke 17:26–27 (NIV84)

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

1 Timothy 4:1–5 (NIV84)

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

It is easy to see that our world already bears the marks that suggest a fulfillment of these conditions.

It is my conviction that the world itself is ready for Satan’s Messiah to appear.

B. The Corruption Of Religion

2 Thessalonians 2:3 (NIV84)

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.

This Scripture tells us that the Antichrist will appear during a time of a religious apostasy, which the Bible calls “a falling away”. or as we read “abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” = apostasy

This refers to a time when organized, visible (historical denominations) will depart from the sound doctrines of the Word of God and follow the teaching of deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

(Ill. I hope everyone understands that just because a building has a sign that say “church” that does not truly make it so! In fact, the days in which we live are marked by a rapid departure from the foundational truths of Christianity.

There was a time when, if a man said he was a Christian, you pretty much knew what he believed.

There might have been a few doctrinal difference, but for the most part, this person believed in the virgin birth of Christ, the substitutionary death and resurrection of Christ, the return of Christ, the fact that the Bible is the Word of God.

In other words, a Christian was a person who was in a personal relationship with Jesus and accepted all that the Bible teaches concerning Him and His work.

Now, however, things have changed!

A person may deny the virgin birth and still claim to be a Christian!

A person may call themselves a Christian and cast doubt on the accuracy of the Bible.

A person may doubt that Jesus really died and rose from the dead and still claim they are saved.

Something is wrong with this picture!

We are living in the midst of a “great apostasy!”

Cults are growing by leaps and bounds while genuine Christianity consistently finds itself under the gun from society, government and organized religion.)

(Ill. When denominations have to take votes on whether to marry homosexuals, or to allow homosexuals to be ordained, something is wrong! There are things that are nailed down so firmly in the Word of God that there should never be a question about them. However, we are seeing every major doctrine under attack. We see churches and denominations turning away from the truth with alarming speed. Truly we are in the midst of great apostasy!)

(Ill. You may ask, If this is the case, then what hinders the Antichrist from appearing at any moment and what keeps the Tribulation from starting?

There is one event that must take place before the Antichrist can be revealed and before the Tribulation Period can commence.)

C. What is Holding Him Back

2 Thessalonians 2:6–7 (NIV84)

And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.

—These verses teach us the truth that the church must be removed before the Antichrist can be revealed.

Verse 6 tells us that there is something that “is holding him back”.

Verse 7 says that there is the one who now holds it back.

The Bible tells us, verse 7, that the spirit of Antichrist is already at work.

That is why we can see the evidence all around us.

However, there are two forces that hinder him from stepping onto the stage and making his presence known. What are those two hindrances? (the what and the who)

The Church and the Holy Spirit!

The work of the Spirit still alive! He is convicting and judging the hearts of men to restrain the evil forces in the world, John 16:8–11.

The true Church of Christ still standing, in the power of the Holy Spirit, against the tide of evil and hindering the work of the spirit of Antichrist.

However, one day, both of these forces will be removed!

When? At the Rapture!

(Ill. It is worthy to note at this point that the Tribulation is not for the church! It is called, “the time of Jacob’s trouble”, Jer. 30:7

Jeremiah 30:7 (NIV84)

How awful that day will be!

None will be like it.

It will be a time of trouble for Jacob,

but he will be saved out of it.

It was told to Daniel that the Tribulation was a time for Israel,

Dan. 9:27 “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.””

It was told to John The Tribulation Period is a “time of the wrath of the Lamb!”,

Rev. 6:16–17 “They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?””

Rev. 16:1 “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.””

It was told to to the believers that God’s children have been saved from wrath through Jesus,

Rom. 5:9 “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”

One of the greatest proofs that the church will not se Tribulation is Christ’s promise to the church at Philadelphia, Rev. 3:10 “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.”

(Ill. There are some who would tell us that the church will go through the first 3½ years of the Tribulation. However, to believe this view, you have to believe that many of the Lord’s prophecies to Israel also apply to the church. The fact of the matter is, if you interpret the Bible literally, you have to believe that the church leaves this world before the Tribulation Period.)

II. V. 23b THE ABILITIES OF SATAN’S MESSIAH

A. He Will Be A Man Of Popularity—

Revelation 6:2 (NIV84)

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

Rev.6.2 tells us that this man will be “given a crown”. That is, the peoples of the world will embrace him as a godsend.

No doubt this man will arrive on the scene with a workable formula for world peace.

He will have a viable explanation for the disappearance of the Christians.

He will embody all the world has ever looked for in a leader. He will be popular!

B. He Will Be A Man Of Peace—

Rev. 6:2 tells us that when he appears, he will be like one riding a white horse. This gives him the appearance of good.

It also states that he will have a bow, but no arrows. This indicates that he will no come making war, but will come making peace.

This is proven by what Daniel saw in Dan. 9:27

Daniel 9:27 NIV84

He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

It seems this man will make a 7 year peace treaty with the nation of Israel.

(Ill. Again, it can be clearly seen that our world is looking for such a leader. The world is tired of war! Economies are in need of help and people want to prosper and dwell in peace and safety. The world will readily embrace a man with a message of peace.)

(Ill. The world will never know peace apart from Jesus Christ! While this world is in turmoil this morning, the children of God know peace in their hearts, John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

When Jesus returns to this earth, He will usher in a genuine peace that will last. If you are looking for peace, you will find it only in Jesus!)

C. He Will Be A Man Of Prosperity—

Dan. 11:43 “He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Nubians in submission.”

Rev. 13:16–17 “He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.”

The Antichrist will eventually control the wealth of the world.

He will bring prosperity to those who have lived in poverty.

I am convinced that the Antichrist will bring an end to world hunger.

That he will do away with much of the class distinction that exists in our world.

That most people under his reign will be better off financially that they were before he rose to power.

(Ill. This is one area of this rule that will bring him lasting success. People like to prosper! Nowadays it seems that people don’t care if their leader is morally bankrupt, if his/hers administration is or was involved in scandals, people in positions of power have been convicted of crimes. People don’t care! Why? Because they want to be better financially don’t matter what! The bottom line? A world leader who can promise and produce prosperity will be a very popular man!)

D. He Will Be A Man Of Power—

Rev. 13:7–8 “He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”

These verses tell us that Antichrist will eventually rule the entire world.

Conquerors down through the ages have sought this lofty goal without success. He will achieve it!

What men won’t recognize, or won’t care about is the fact that he receives his power from Satan himself, Dan. 8:24 “He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people.”

He will become so large in the eyes of humanity that they will literally worship him as their god.

(Ill. All of this will be true of him in the beginning of his reign. However, in the middle of the Tribulation, this man of peace and prosperity will show his true colors. This brings us to our third thought concerning this superman from Hell.)

III. V. 24–25b THE ABOMINATIONS OF SATAN’S MESSIAH

A. He Will Attack The People Of God—

Dan. 7:25“He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.”

The Antichrist will break his covenant with Israel and will attack the people of the Lord. He will try to do what Hitler, Stalin and others failed to do: exterminate the Jew. More than anything, this man will hate everything having to do with God and Jesus Christ. He will lash out at the Jews and try to completely destroy them.

(Ill. We are seeing in our day that this spirit is already at work! It is becoming increasingly unpopular to be a Bible believer. In fact, we are often labeled as being intolerant. We are told that we must tolerate homosexuality and LGBT Agenda. We are told that we must protect the sea turtles, at the same time, we tolerate the murder of millions of innocent unborn children. We are told that we are bigots when we speak out about the evils of society. We are told that we have no business, voice in the government. We are told to soften our discourse. Folks, If the Lord doesn’t return soon, it my become illegal to be a fundamental, Bible-believing Christian! The church us under attack, and this will continue until the Rapture. Then, the focus of Satan’s anger will be the nation of Israel.)

B. He Will Attack The Prince Of God—

Dan. 8:25 “He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.”

—Here, we are told that this Mon of Sin will take his stand against the Prince of princes”.

This is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ! It appears that anything having to do with godliness, holiness or Christ will be the focus of the attacks of this madman. He will make every effort to stamp out the name of Jesus from the face of the earth!

(Ill. While he is doing this, the Lord will raise an army of young, Jewish men, 144,000 in all, who will go throughout the world preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, Rev. 14. The Antichrist will be powerless to stop them! Aren’t you glad that even in the midst of Chaos, God is still on the throne?!)

(Ill. Again, this attitude is already being manifested in our day.

When was the last time you heard someone use the name of Allah as a curse word?

When did you hear someone in a fit of anger make use of the name of Buddha.

When was the last time you heard your favorite actor take the word “damn” and place the name of Krishna before it?

The fact is, you haven’t! And you won’t! The name that is attacked with alarming frequency is the name of Jesus!

You might as well face it, the devil hates the name of Jesus! He will hate it and he will attempt to discredit it and destroy it until he is cast away in to Hell’s flames.

Why is it that Jesus, and His doctrines, are the most hated things in the world?

Because if men admit the fact that He is Lord, that He died and rose again, that He is in fact the Savior. Then man must admit that he is a sinner or be doomed to Hell. If the Bible is right about Jesus, then it stands to reason that it is right about everything else as well. The world hates His name because it points out their sins!)

C. He Will Attack The Place Of God—

Dan. 8:25; Dan. 11:36–37; Dan. 9:27; 2 Thes. 2:4; Matt. 24:15—All these verses tell us that the Antichrist will break his 7 year covenant with the Jews. That he will attempt to wipe Israel from the map and that he will enter the newly constructed Temple in Jerusalem, walk into the Holy of Holies and set up his throne. He will declare himself to be God and he will demand worship from all the people, but especially the Jews. He will desecrate their Temple. The Jews

(Ill. The passage we read as our text this morning was directly fulfilled by a man named Antiochus Epiphanes.

a. He was a Syrian.

b. He came to the throne in 175 B.C. and ruled until 164 B.C.

c. He was anti-Semitic to the core. He assaulted Jerusalem, murdering over 40,000 in three days, and selling an equal number into cruel slavery. It is thought that on September 6, 171 B.C., he began his evil actions toward the Temple.

d. On December 15, 168, his Temple desecration reached its ultimate low, for on that day this idolater sacrificed a giant sow on an idol altar he had made in the Jewish Temple. He then forced the priests to swallow its flesh, made a broth of it, and sprinkled all the Temple. He finally carried off the golden candlesticks, table of shrewbread, altar of incense, various other vessels, and destroyed the sacred books of the Law. A large image of Jupiter was placed in the Holy of Holies. All this was termed by the horrified Jews as “the abomination of desolation,” and is referred to by Jesus in Matthew 24:15 as a springboard to describe the activities of the future antichrist.

e. All through Palestine altars to Jupiter were set up and the Jews were forced to sacrifice on them. But at a little Jewish town called Modin (seventeen miles northwest of Jerusalem) there lived a Jewish priest named Mattathias, of the House of Hasmon. He had five sons and this brave old man not only refused to worship Antiochus’ idols, but boldly slew the king’s religious ambassador. The Jewish revolt was on. One of his sons was named Judas and he was called the Maccabee (meaning, the hammer).

For the next few years Judas successfully led an army of Jews against the Syrians. Their brave exploits are described in two Apocrypha books, first and second Maccabees. On December 25, 165 B.C., the Jewish patriots cleansed and rededicated the Temple Antiochus had defiled. This later became a Jewish holiday known as the Feast of Dedication (see Jn. 10:22).

Note: In 8:14 there is a time period of 2300 days mentioned. This apparently began on September 6, 171 B.C. and ended on December 25, 165 B.C. It was, however, on the basis of this period that William Miller, founder of the modern Seventh Day Adventist movement, went astray. He made the days stand for years and arrived at the date of October 22, 1844, for the return of Christ!

f. Antiochus died in Babylon in 164 B.C. after being soundly defeated in battle.

What Antiochus did is part will be done in full by the Antichrist. He will declare to the world that he is God and that he must be worshiped. The sad thing is that the Bible tells us very clearly that the world will be lead to worship this devil from Hell, Rev. 13:8. The world will not bow to the Lord Jesus Who loves them and gave Himself for them, Rom. 5:8; Rev. 1:5. But, they will worship this satanically charged madman and will give him the praise that should be reserved exclusively for God!)

(Ill. Friend, who are you worshiping this morning? Are you giving you worship to yourself? Your things? Your life? Are you reserving your worship for the Antichrist? The fact is, your worship will be directed somewhere. I would advise that you worship the Lord God through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

IV. V. 25c THE AFFLICTIONS OF SATAN’S MESSIAH

A. It Will Be Sudden—

Dan 8:25 “He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.”

says that the Antichrist will be destroyed, This means that the Antichrist will be defeated, “but not by human power”. Not by man!

His kingdom will be over thrown, but it will be a supernatural defeat.

This is made even clearer by Rev. 19:20 “But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”

When God judges this man, He will do it swiftly and harshly. Defeat is sure for the Antichrist.

B. It Will Be Serious—

Notice that Rev. 19:20 says that Antichrist will enter the Lake of Fire alive!

Then, 1,000 years later, Satan himself is judged and condemned to the Lake of Fire. When he is thrown in, the Bible tells us that the Beast is still there, Rev. 20:10Then, 1,000 years later, Satan himself is judged and condemned to the Lake of Fire. When he is thrown in, the Bible tells us that the Beast is still there, Rev. 20:10 “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

In spite of the man’s abilities, in spite his power, in spite his greatness, in spite of the fact that he received the worship of men, he is still defeated.

All the while he was ruling the world in great power, he was nothing more than a puppet in the hand of God.

He was just a pawn fulfilling a divinely directed purpose. This man, like so many others found himself on the wrong side!

(Ill. My friend, which side are you on this morning? Are you in line with the Word of God? Have you trusted Jesus as your personal Savior? If so, you will never see the Antichrist in this world. If so, then you will be in Heaven, in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ while the world writhes under tribulation. If not, then you need to be saved! You are on the wrong side! If the Lord doesn’t come in your life time, you will die and go to Hell if you don’t get right with God. If He does come and finds you lost, you will enter into the Tribulation and you will probably give your worship to the Antichrist, 2 Thes. 2:12 Where do you stand today?)

Conc:

We nay wonder what all this has to do with us. The answer is that Jesus is coming and the world is poised to enter a time of trouble like nothing she has ever experienced before. What happens to you all depends on what you do with Jesus Christ. I invite you to come to Him this morning and be saved.

If you are saved, I would ask you to look at you life to see if you are pointing men to Jesus or away from Him by the life you live.

I do not fear the Antichrist! I will be gone before he makes his appearance. What about you? Where will you be when Satan’s Superman takes the world by storm?