Revelation 13:13-17 “He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. (14) And he deceives those who dwell on the earth--by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. (15) He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. (16) He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, (17) and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
Scripture reveals to us that there will be a false prophet that will work with the Antichrist during his reign in the earth, and the above quoted passage gives us some idea as to what his role will be in those last forty-two months. We see that the false prophet will be allowed to perform tremendous signs and wonders, thus convincing many to bow their knee to the Antichrist. He will be the main instigator in bringing more and more nations into the fold of Islam and worship of the Antichrist. And as he goes into the earth to convince more and more nations to turn to Islam and following the beast, so persecution will begin to break out against the Lord’s saints living in those nations. An effective tool that will be used by the false prophet to flush out the Lord’s disciples trying to hide among the general population of those nations will be the mark of the beast. Because the saints will not receive the mark of the beast they will be very easily identified and thus be taken into custody for the purpose of ultimately being put to death. And so as we draw closer to the end of the age Christians should be aware of any growing influence of Islam in the nations in which they reside, for all nations that have a significant portion of their population which are Muslim will very quickly fall under the influence of the Antichrist during his reign.
Luke 17:22 “Then He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.”
As revealed to us by the Lord in the above quoted passage of scripture, the message of the gospel will also no longer be openly preached in the earth during that time, for the church will be forced to go “underground”. It must be noted that any salvations that will take place on the earth during this time will only be among the Jews, for the fullness of the gentiles would have been brought into the kingdom by then. Nevertheless, although this will be an extremely trying time for the saints in the earth, the end of that three and half year period will usher in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Michael E.B. Maher
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