SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/24/2015 8:38 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: Antichrist’s
Acclaim
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Rev. 13:3
Message of the
verse: “3 I saw one of his heads as
if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was
amazed and followed after the beast;”
Now as I looked at this verse there was only one person
that I have ever though that this verse is about and that person is the
Antichrist. We will come back to that in
a moment as this SD will not be a very long one.
In reading the commentary that John MacArthur has on this
verse I learned some things that others thought about what it meant, things
that I have never heard before. I will
briefly share some of these views that others though that this verse
means. There are actually some
commentators that believe that what John is writing here is the revival of the
Roman Empire, but there are many problems with that view. For one thing John is speaking of a person
and not an empire for the passage says “I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain.”
(Italics added). Let’s look at
Revelation 5:6 a verse that speaks of the Lord Jesus “And I saw between the
throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the
earth.” Notice the portion that I have
highlighted.
Some commentators have said that it is a person, and that
that person is Judas Iscariot. Now they
do have reasons for this so let’s look at the Scriptures that they use “"While
I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I
guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture
would be fulfilled (John 17:12).” Now we
will look at 2 Thessalonians 2:3 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that
day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin
be revealed, the son of
perdition (AV).”
Now some other commentators have stated that they believe
that this is a person and that he is Nero.
Nero committed suicide in 68 AD and there was some that believed that he
would be resurrected from the dead.
There is a problem when we look at Revelation 13:14 “And he deceives
those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to
perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make
an image to the beast who had
the wound of the sword and has come to life.” We see that this verse is talking of the
Antichrist and that he had been wounded by a sword, while Nero had committed suicide.
There is only one person who John is writing about and
that person is the future Antichrist.
Now the next problem we will address is whether or not he really died or
did he fake his death. Let’s look at
Revelation 13:14, and then 2 Thess. 2:9 “And he deceives those who dwell on the
earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of
the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast
who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.” “That is, the one whose coming is in accord
with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders.” I suppose the real question is whether or not
Satan can raise someone from the dead. That
is a question that we may not know the answer to, but my views that if the
Antichrist is actually raised from the dead that even if Satan does this it has
to be that God allows it. Satan tries to
imitate God, and it was God who raised up the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead
and so I believe that this is something that Satan wants the world to believe
that he can raise the Antichrist from the dead.
Whether or not this really happens or not, for it could be a fake
resurrection, the world will believe that it is real and as we see at the end
of this verse “the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I can only say
this that when the plain sense of Scripture makes sense seek no other sense.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul,
mind, and strength, and to live in His love doing things that He would do if on
the earth.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Macedonians, Achaians (1
Thessalonians 1:7).
Today’s Bible
question: “What song did the angels sing
at the birth of Christ?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/24/2015 9:24 AM
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