The Destruction of the Nations, Part 2
Selected Scriptures
Tonight, we continue in our study of prophecy. We have been studying various prophetic themes in dealing with the end time tracing the end time from the return of Jesus Christ for His church, and now find ourselves studying the period known as the Tribulation, which follows the catching away of the church. And in our study of the Tribulation, we have focused on several things. First, the terrors of the Tribulation, then the place of Israel in the Tribulation, and now we are studying the place of the nations in the Tribulation. And one of the important aspects of the nations in the Tribulation is the satanic world leader who is going to take over the rule of the nations during that seven-year period.
The apostle John, in writing to no particular church, but in his first general epistle to a wide circle of believers, made this remarkable statement. He said, "Little children, ye have heard that Antichrist shall come." How had they heard?...because it was distinctly recorded by the Old Testament prophets that there would come a final satanic world leader. It was clearly reiterated in the teachings of Jesus himself and it was recited by those that Jesus sent to preach and teach. And so, truly, could John say, "Little children, you have heard that Antichrist shall come," for they had.
Now, backing up, to understand what this means, we remember that God and Satan have been at war for a long time. Ever since Satan decided that he would be like God and he gave those five "I will's"...I will, I will, I will, I will and God said, no, you won't, the rebellion began and Satan has been after God. Now, Satan has used many devices in attempting to wrest the kingdom of this world from the power of God. He has done particularly strong work in the area of destroying, or attempting to destroy, God's people. Satan's particular attack has been on the promised Seed where back in Genesis, chapter 3 and verse 15, God promised that there would come a seed of a woman who would bruise the serpent's head. God said there's coming a man who will destroy Satan. Satan has known about that. Satan knows who that man is. It's Jesus Christ. And all along, throughout the history of the world and redemptive history, Satan has tried to stop the birth of Jesus Christ. He has tried to destroy the people of God and the plan of God and God's special person, the Messiah Christ. And it's interesting just to trace how Satan has attempted to do it.
If you go back, for example...and don't turn to these things, just mark them down...to chapter 6 of Genesis and verse 2, you find that first of all, Satan attempted to stop the line of Messiah and the line of the Savior and the line of the Redeemer by creating a corrupt kind of humanity. "The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all whom they chose." And here you have demons coming down and cohabiting with women to produce a kind of race that was beyond the redemption of a God-man. You remember that God brought the flood and destroyed that race and saved only Noah and his family.
Satan tried again to destroy the people of God. We find that in the first chapter of Exodus in the bondage of Egypt. The children of Israel were brought to a tremendous crisis when Pharaoh decided to slaughter all of the baby boys. And again, Satan was trying to destroy the creation or the procreation line that would bring about the Messiah.
There's a fascinating account of one attempt that Satan made in II Chronicles. If you want to turn to that, I'll show you a couple of verses. There was a royal line that ran in God's plan and the final result of that royal line was going to be the Messiah. And so Satan wanted to cut that royal line off, therefore, making it impossible for God to fulfill His plan with the promised Seed. One...it was very interesting things...but in II Chronicles 21, verse 4, "...Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and slew all his brethren with a sword and also some of the princes of Israel." In the kingly line, there was a slaughter of everybody but Jehoram. He killed all of his brothers, which reduced the kingly line to him. But he had sons and so the kingly line continued. But then Arabians came to the camp and killed all of his sons except one...except one. And that one was Ahaziah. And indicated in chapter 22, verse 1: "The inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his stead, for the band of men who came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest." So, he was the only one left. Ahaziah reigned one year, wickedly, and he was counseled by his vial mother whose name was Athaliah. Ahaziah was at one point wounded severely and his life hung by a thread. He was later killed in a war with Jehu. Jehu was sort of God's executioner. You remember he also took care of Ahab. But Ahaziah was not killed until he had had sons and the kingly line continued.
And in chapter 22, verse 10, we come to a most interesting indication. "When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah." She slaughtered all the royal seed. And here again, Satan was using Athaliah to try to cut off the possibility of Messiah being born. Oh, but look at verse 11. "But"...don't you like that? Oh, that's great. "...Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, stole him from among the king's sons who were to be slain, put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah so that she slew him not. And he was hidden with them in the house of God"...how long?...six years they hid that...you try to hide a baby for six years (laughter). They did it and the royal line was down to one little infant hidden six years from a murdering mother who was Satan's tool to destroy the messianic line. Satan does his best, but he's a loser.
In chapter 23, "And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, took the captains of hundreds, Azariah, the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael," and all those names, "went into Judah, gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of the fathers of Israel came to Jerusalem. And all the congregation made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said unto them, 'Behold, the king's son shall reign, as the Lord hath said of the sons of'"...whom?..."'of David.'" And it was reduced to that one and they said "he shall reign as the Lord said." Satan was thwarted again.
You remember in the book of Esther, the attempt that was made in the book of Esther to destroy, literally, the whole Jewish people in a wholesale slaughter. And you remember what happened? The people of Israel were saved because one king couldn't sleep one night. And in the midst of his inability to sleep, he got a guy to read him the scripture and he read him the right scripture, God turned his heart around and God spared Israel and that kept the messianic line. Then you remember there was Herod and Herod slew all the babies that he could get his hands on, but there was one that went to Egypt. Who was it?...Jesus. And Satan was foiled again. And then Satan attempted to destroy Christ by tempting Him and that failed. And then he attempted to get a bunch of people to push Him off a cliff in Nazareth and that didn't work. And then he finally thought he had Him and he nailed Him to a cross and three days later, God raised Him from the dead.
Beloved, Satan and God have been at it a long time. Satan hasn't won yet, but Satan always attacks...watch...always attacks God, God's people and God's program. And he was attempting in every one of those instances to do just that. And he isn't done. Believe me, he isn't done. He's attacking the church today with everything he's got, mostly by infiltration, which he has learned is the most effective.
In Revelation chapter 12, there's gonna be a war in the heavenlies and the demons and Satan are gonna fight Michael and the holy angels. And when the demons...and this is interesting...when the demons and the holy angels fight in Heaven, the holy angels win. And the demons get thrown to the earth. And when they hit the earth, that's the beginning of what the Bible calls the Great Tribulation - all those demons hitting the earth and all of the bound demons who are temporarily bound, coming out of the pit and you have a convergence of all the demons on the earth and that brings about the terrible time known as the Great Tribulation. It is at that point that Satan says, I'm gonna destroy Israel. But he tries and it isn't successful. That's in chapter 12. He raises up a man and this man that he raises up to attempt to destroy Israel is the man that he wants to give all the strength of every conqueror that ever lived. So that this man can get a grip on the world that Jesus can't unlock when He returns. Do you see? You see, Satan is trying to reverse the plan that he knows God has already outlined. And he wants to get a guy who is so strong, who has such tremendous power over the earth, that when Christ returns, He will not be able to wrest the kingdom of the earth from this strong man. Satan brings forth this man in the Tribulation.
Look at Revelation 13, verse 1...you don't need to look at it now. I'll read it to you. We'll get there later. It says this...it reads in the Authorized, "I stood upon the sand of the sea." That is not the right reading. The best reading is "He stood upon the sand of the sea." It is Satan. And Satan stands at the sand of the sea and he calls forth his man. And he said, "I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads, ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." Now, Satan calls forth this man and this man is going to be one of Satan's great efforts to destroy the people and the plan of God.
Now, he's a man that is absolutely a fantastic personality. Let me just give you a little bit of information about him. And for most of this information, you might turn to the book of Daniel. We're gonna be there for awhile and I'll show you some things. I'm gonna run by some thoughts to begin with and then we'll look at them later in more detail. So you may not want to follow verse by verse in your Bibles as we go, but rather listen.
First of all, this man...and remember this, folks, in every capacity, it seems as though he will be as equal to or superior to any man who ever lived. One, he will be an intellectual genius. In Daniel, chapter 7 and verse 8, it indicates something about him. His eyes were "like the eyes of a man." And the eyes are used in prophetic terms to speak of intelligence. In verse 20, again, this interesting fact that the "horn that had eyes." And here is a reference to intelligence. You remember back in Genesis 3:5 that Satan promised that when they ate the fruit, their "eyes" would be opened and they would know what God knows. So eyes are connected with intelligence. He is an intellectual genius.
Second, he is an outstanding orator. The same two verses, 7:8 and 7:20 say he has a mouth and what a mouth...speaking "great things." Verse 20: "A mouth that spoke very great things." And even his looks in verse 20 "was more stout than his fellows." He will be a commanding personality and when he speaks, he will be an outstanding orator.
He will also be a master politician. In Daniel, chapter 11, verse 21, it gives you a little idea of the mastery of his political prowess. "And in his estate"...this is, of course, the reference to the man coming here..."shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom, and he shall come in peaceably and obtain the kingdom by flatteries"..."by flatteries." Now, this can have a dual reference and we'll see a little later about that. But, specifically, the long-range view is the picture of Antichrist. And you remember in Revelation 6:2 that it says he comes with a bow but has no arrows, which means that he conquers peacefully. And here it simply says, "he comes in peaceably and obtains the kingdom by flattery." He's a master politician.
Fourthly, he is a commercial wizard. In the area of the