Worshipping the Dragon

Introduction

Have you heard of a character found in the Bible called “the Antichrist”?

Who is the antichrist?

Well, the name itself helps us understand who this person is.

Anti = against

Christ = Jesus Christ

Antichrist is someone that is against Christ.

The Bible teaches us that in the last days there will arise a charismatic character, he will charm all of humanity, people will listen to him, they will be loyal to him, and he will establish dominance over all peoples and nations.

He will not be a religious figure like the Roman Catholic pope or the Chief Rabbi.

He will be a person that will rule the nations through a one-world government.

John describes this character in the book of Revelation.

He describes him as the “beast rising out of the sea”.

Apocalipsis 13:2 ESV

2 And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.

Notice how the antichrist receives his authority and power from the dragon himself.

Who is the dragon? Satan himself.

But, the beast that rises out of the sea, the Antichrist, hates God and God’s people.

In fact, he will utter all sorts of blasphemous words against God and he will make war against the people of God.

Apocalipsis 13:5–7 ESV

5 And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation,

His ultimate goal is to bring all tribes, peoples, languages, and nations under his rule in order that they may worship the dragon.

The sole purpose of the Antichrist’s dominion over the world is to establish a government where all its citizens pledge allegiance to the dragon.

What’s important for us to understand is that we may be tempted to think that we don’t have to worry about the Antichrist.

Some people may say - this will only happen right before the second coming of Jesus Christ.

However, this type of thinking is misguided because John tells us that that the spirit of the antichrist is very much alive even today.

1 Juan 4:3 ESV

3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

So this means, that even now, world leaders, governments around the world, are tempted to demand absolute loyalty, devotion, and in some cases worship from its citizens.

Rulers around the world may be tempted to require from its citizens what only God can demand from us.

We are called to pray for those in authority, we should pray for our governor, for our president, for government leaders all around the world, but we should never pledge absolute obedience or devotion to them.

Only God can demand absolute obedience and devotion.

In fact, there are times where we must disobey our government in order to be faithful to God.

For example, if the government demanded that we no longer meet on Sunday to worship God, then we must disobey government for we are called to worship God on the Lord’s Day.

A clear example is when the Nazi government demanded that german citizens report jewish people to the authorities so that they would be arrested and moved into the jewish ghettos and ultimately to the concentration camps.

In this case, we would be called by God to disobey the government in order to save the life of our jewish neighbor.

As we come closer to the end of time, we will be faced with very difficult decisions - obey government and disobey God, or obey God and disobey government.

However, we should pray that we are found faithful…for if we obey government instead of obeying God, we will be guilty of worshipping Satan himself.

Because any government that demands that which only God should demand, is under the direct influence of Satan himself.

Let’s pray.