From that time onwards none will challenge his authority in the earth any longer and he will reign as supreme in the earth. But remember, that his reign will initially only be over the fourth kingdom. Again, we see in this passage that the period of time given to the Anti-Christ to reign on the earth is forty-two months or three-and-a-half years. It will be during this period that his reign will begin to extend over more and more nations in the earth. When the above passage says that “he will open his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven”, it is referring to the fact that the Anti-Christ will from that time proclaim that he is god in the earth. From the moment that his reign begins on the earth the Anti-Christ will institute great persecution against the church, for the scripture says that it will be “granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them”. This scripture also gives us some insight into the type of persecution that the saints will suffer during his reign, for the scripture says that “he who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints”. In other words, the saints can expect to be taken into captivity and to be killed with the sword. It is interesting to note that Muslim extremists today that murder Christian hostages prefer to do so by beheading the saints with a sword. The scripture goes on to tell us that those who lead the saints into captivity and kill them with the sword, will experience the same thing themselves when they are judged at the end of the age.
Michael E.B. Maher
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