Antichrist's Kingdom Revealed

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, (4) who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

As already mentioned, the purpose of this series is to list, in chronological sequence, some of the key prophetic events that must take place before the Lord’s return. To that end, in the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul lists three of those events. The context of this passage is that Paul was teaching about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, referred to as ‘that Day’ in this passage. The first event he mentions is the falling away that will take place in the church. The second event he mentions is the revealing of the Antichrist. The third event he mentions, which is implied, is the building of the Third Temple.

We will discuss each of these events later in this series, but the key event which we will discuss first is one that precedes the revealing of the Antichrist; i.e. the revealing of the kingdom of the Antichrist. So why is it necessary to discuss the kingdom of the Antichrist first? One of the reasons is that until his kingdom is in place the Antichrist cannot be revealed in the earth. The main reason however, is because as we will see in this section, this prophetic event has already been completed. The event I’m referring to is the establishment of the kingdom of Islam, for as we will see in this section, it from the kingdom of Islam that the Antichrist will ultimately emerge.

Daniel 7:2-14 “Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.  (3)  And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other.  (4)  The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it.  (5)  "And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: 'Arise, devour much flesh!'  (6)  "After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.  (7)  "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.  (8)  I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.  (9)  "I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire; (10) A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.  (11)  "I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.  (12) As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. (13) "I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. (14) Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.”

The above quoted passage of scripture is a record of an end time vision shown to the prophet Daniel. In the vision Daniel was shown four great beasts which represent four dominant kingdoms that will arise in the earth. The great sea in this passage represents the various nations of the earth, over which these four kingdoms will exercise dominion. From this passage it is clear that these kingdoms will be present on the earth when the Lord Jesus returns; for the vision links the four beasts to the day of judgement when the Son of Man comes with the clouds of heaven having being given dominion over all peoples, nations and languages.

This passage reveals what will happen to each of the kingdoms when the Lord returns. We learn from this passage that the first three kingdoms listed will continue after the Lord returns, for the scripture says that their lives will be prolonged for a season and a time. Nevertheless we learn that although these three will continue, their dominion will be taken away. In other words even though these kingdoms will remain in place they will no longer govern their own affairs. The reason for that is because they will become subject to the government of Christ during His millennial reign (Revelation 20:4). Suffice it to say for now that these three kingdoms are the United States, Russia and China, which I discuss in great detail in my series “The Last Three Superpowers”, and so we will not discuss them any further here.

And so now we will turn our attention to the fourth kingdom mentioned in this passage, for it is from this kingdom that the Antichrist will emerge. We know that, because the little horn mentioned in this passage emerges from the fourth beast, and the little horn with eyes like a man and a mouth speaking pompous words, represents the person of the Antichrist. Of the four kingdoms revealed in Daniel’s vision, we see that it is the fourth kingdom which will be destroyed by our Lord Jesus at His coming, for Daniel says that he watched till this beast was slain and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. So whereas the other three kingdoms will remain when our Lord returns, the kingdom of the fourth beast will be destroyed. The reason the fourth kingdom will be destroyed is because this is the kingdom over which the Antichrist will reign.

Michael E.B. Maher

The Last Days

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