The antichrist is the future world ruler prophesied in the Bible. He will have great power to deceive. He and his false prophet will perform amazing things to deceive people during the tribulation period. For example, the false prophet “performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.” (Rev. 13:13) I have often wondered why this particular sign is mentioned.
In the Bible ‘fire’ and ‘fire coming from heaven’ are often associated with the Lord and/or His judgment.
- From out of the heavens, the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. (Gen. 19:24)
- The Lord sent thunder, hail, and fire on the Land of Egypt. (Ex. 9:23)
- The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. (Ex. 13:21)
- The Lord descended upon Mt. Sinai in fire. (Ex. 19:18)
- The fire of the Lord fell and consumed Elijah’s sacrifice. (I Kgs. 18:38)
- Elijah called fire down from heaven… and the fire of God consumed the captain and his men. (II Kgs. 1:12)
- When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering. (II Chr. 7:1)
The false prophet will be able to mimic to some degree the power of God (Rev. 13:15) He will be able to summon great power like Moses or Elijah, but it will come from Satan, not from God. Through the supernatural signs, the false prophet will cause people to worship the antichrist, who will eventually make the false claim that he is God. (II Thess. 2:4)
Antichrist’s Powers
But this is not the only powers the antichrist will have. His coming to global leadership will be “according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception…” (II Thess. 2:9, 10) The three descriptive words in this verse – power, signs, and wonders – were the same words describing the things done by Jesus – “Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by miracles, wonders, and signs…” (Acts 2:22) [The word for ‘miracles’ and the word for ‘power’ are the same word in the Greek, dunamis.]
Will antichrist be able to heal some diseases? Will he be able to control storms? Will he be able to change water into wine? Will he have power over death? Jesus did all these things. It seems antichrist will have the ability to do similar miracles. (Matt. 8:3, 26; John 2:7-9; Matt. 9:24, 25)
Antichrist’s Resurrection
The antichrist will not only have god-like powers to perform miracles, he will also appear to have come back to life from a deadly wound (Rev. 13:3-5). To the masses, it will appear as though he was resurrected! [Some believe he dies and comes back from the dead, while others believe he fakes it to make it look real. Either way it accomplishes his purpose, to deceive.]
Antichrist will come back from the dead like Jesus did. His prophet will cause fire to come down from heaven like God’s prophets. He will perform supernatural miracles like Jesus. These things are all unrighteous deception, but they will appear real. Beware!
Believing is not Seeing!
The real Messiah lived two thousand years ago. The Bible that records His life and work is ridiculed more and more. Man always wants to see with the physical eye to believe. Most find something two thousand years ago hard to believe. But Thomas, a disciple of Jesus, demonstrated his unbelief in the resurrection only days afterwards; “Unless I see… I will not believe”. (John 21:25) Because it happened a long time ago, doesn’t make it difficult to believe. It’s difficult to believe because the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked. (Jer. 17:9) Our heart [the seat of the will, mind, and emotion] tries to convince us that we are good and have no need for a Savior.
Sudden Destruction!
But, when the antichrist comes on the scene with all unrighteous deception, backed by the power of Satan, many who have rejected the truth of Christ will accept the lie. Because they did not receive the love of the truth, they will see supernatural powers to cause them to falsely believe that the antichrist is the true Messiah. Mankind’s desire for utopia, a world ruled apart from God, will have thought to have arrived. But the opposite will occur. The worst time of planet earth will have just begun – “For when they say, ‘peace [tranquility] and safety [security]!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.“ (I Thess. 5:3)
Time is running out. Anyone can avoid this time of great deception. More importantly, if anyone who dies and have rejected Christ as Savior, he/she will end up separated from the Lord for all eternity in the Lake of Fire. Jesus Christ, the God/Man, came into the world to save sinners. Because God loves us, He sent His Son to pay our sin penalty on the cross. He offers the free gift of salvation to whosoever will believe it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved! (Acts 16:31)
Know for sure you will escape this time (Assurance Page). Share this message with friends and family who need to know. Evangelism is as easy as clicking the ‘share’ button.
Vanished When Millions Go Missing will help you to understand how world events are preparing the world for the end times. Our final salvation may be coming sooner than we expect! Check out an excerpt on Amazon.
Assurance of Heaven 