Why the False Prophet is the Antichrist and Why it Matters (Part 6/6)
Why It Matters
Why am I doing this? Why challenge traditional eschatology? The reason is simple enough; to understand the magnitude of what is coming. I believe the majority of the church is almost clueless to the scope of what we face. Beliefs undergirding Preterism and the doctrine of the Pre-tribulation build too much theology on too little Bible. The prophesy of Revelation 13 means Satan is coming to earth and will be given a brief period of time to fully deceive the nations and bring them under his direct rule. Those on the earth will have a choice to make. This will include the church. The stakes couldn’t be higher. This article is part of my attempt to ring the alarm.
My sense of urgency drives me to keep as closely as possible to God and His Word. The last year I have been processing what this means to me and the ones I love. But whether we recognize the coming danger or not, we all must come to terms with the imminent end time scenario. I don’t think we want to process this one as it befalls us in real time. With the intensity of what is unfolding we want to be in the place of prayer processing in the light of the kindness of God’s love. We don’t want to be out at sea trying to recalibrate what God is asking of His church in the end times.
If our eschatological expectations are wrong we are endangered with deepening deception. The repercussions of bad eschatology in the days ahead have real world consequences. Both Jesus and Paul warn of a time when many will be deceived, offended, and will fall away (Mt.24:4, 2 Thess. 2:10). If we are looking for the wrong things in the days ahead we risk becoming deeply offended with God. The Bible is full of warnings of deception and offense in the end times. We must do everything we can to avoid this tragic outcome that will befall many.
Quick Review
It's strange to admit but I have never really given much personal thought to the prophecies in Revelation 13 until now. I have largely believed teachings from the pulpit; not because it was satisfying, but because I couldn’t offer a better explanation. This is the first time I have looked for myself and the result is an eschatological perspective that is new to me but makes sense of Revelation 13. I am spending more and more time studying these passages because I feel like I have finally found some clarity. With the clarity has come urgency.
We know how presuppositions can color how we understand the Bible but we never want to admit how it may have colored our own perspective. I believe the simple reading of Revelation 13 has been lost. This article is a small attempt to find it (or at least a small portion of it). My intent in this article was to simply draw meaning from the verses of the last half of Revelation 13 and let the prophecy speak for itself. I did my best to allow the biblical profile of the False Prophet to emerge from the page.
As a brief review, the False Prophet is the second beast that arises from the earth with horns like a lamb and speaks like a dragon. From this basic prophetic signature to identify him as a human messiah that functions as the word of Satan. Where the first beast subdues the nations through war, the second beast onboards the nations to become disciples of the dragon. The False Prophets works signs and wonders in order to deceive the nations and make them follow the dragon. This is the exact profile of the Antichrist that the Apostle Paul gives in his second letter to the Thessalonians. The profile of the False Prophet is the demonic inverse of the role of Jesus Christ. As the human inverse of God’s Messiah, the False Prophet is the Antichrist.
I have addressed the following problems with the traditional understanding of the Antichrist and False Prophet as separate individuals: conflation, eisegesis, and the prefigurement void. Or more specifically the conflation of the individual Antichrist with an empire and/or an ancient power structure resulting in an inevitable interpretive inconsistency. This interpretive inconsistency has given way to eisegesis in regards to the belief the Antichrist will be killed and resurrected when the text does not make this claim. And the biggest problem of all, the False Prophet is not prefigured anywhere in the Bible outside the Book of Revelation. These problems are real and must be resolved in order to claim a sound biblical understanding of these apocalyptic texts.
My attempt here is to present a very simple solution to the problems of conflation, eisegesis, and the prefigurement void. This simple answer rests in the fact that the False Prophet and the Antichrist are not two but the same individual. The problem of conflation is solved when there’s no longer reason to see the first beast as an individual man and, at the same time, a series of empires/power structures. When the second beast is understood properly as the Antichrist we can allow the text speak for itself rather than infuse prophecies with meaning that is not there. And the problem of the prefigurement void? Its solved in spades when every prophecy of the Antichrist is a prophecy of the False Prophet.
The answer is so simple in fact that it begs the question, why believe otherwise? There is good reason to believe the first beast in Revelation 13 is the Antichrist. I understand the reasons. I have believed these reasons for most of my life. But these reasons build too much eschatology on too few Bible verses. I am hoping to address why these specific verses in greater detail in a later article. But if we want to understand what the Bible teaches about the end times we must take it for it is plainly saying and not build vast eschatological belief systems based on a very small number of Bible verses.
Taking the Bible for all it is saying is one thing. Coming to terms with what the Bible is saying is something else entirely. Why should we need to understand what the Bible teaches about the end of this age? God warns us of a future that is so deeply deceptive that the faith of many will not survive it. Jesus and Paul tell of a time on earth where many will be led astray from the truth and believe a lie. And not just any lie. The Apostle Paul calls it the “great apostasy.” God isn’t warning us about the flat earth phenomenon. He is warning us about a deception that will strike at the very heart of what it means to be a Christian. If we ignore these warnings, we risk being swept away by what is coming to deceive the nations.
The Advent of Satan
What is the primary reason we don’t want to think of the False Prophet as the Antichrist? Because the Antichrist is supposed to be the main villain. But what Revelation 13 warns of a bigger villain than the Antichrist? What if the ultimate villain in the story is Satan himself? The very idea that we are entering the days where Satan will be acting directly in our world through what appears a god of war is horrifying. But this is the idea that we need to come to terms with.
It is critical to understand exactly what God is warning about in Revelation 13? To put it starkly, it is the Advent of Satan. Satan is coming to earth. The dragon will be driven from the heavenly realm and enter our world as a deeply blasphemous seven headed beast that will subdue the world with indomitable warfare. The dragon will set up on earth what he failed to accomplish in heaven. The nations will be enthralled with the deceptive power of the dragon and will be brought to their knees before the beast.
If we are unclear that we will see Satan arrive in our world we will be caught off guard. We imagine a similar scenario to what occurred in 1930’s Europe with the rise or the 3rd Reich. The traditional understanding of Revelation 13 has created a picture where the world comes under the power of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. The Antichrist will be an evil man in the vein of Hitler and the False Prophet will be a captivating orator like Goebbels. The Bible describes something much bigger than this.
To understand that the Bible is clearly describing the second beast is the Antichrist should leave us with one question… what or who is the first beast? We must face the reality of what the Bible is saying about the days before Jesus returns. If the False Prophet isn’t just a hype man but is instead the Antichrist himself undoubtedly raises the stakes significantly. It means a scenario far more intense than even that of Nazi Germany is coming. But what is the first beast of Revelation 13?