A few weeks ago we started our study on the Antichrist in Revelation 13:1-2, which says, “And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.” From this, and with the help of Daniel in chapter 7, we discovered that the beast is the Antichrist rising to power mid-tribulation. We discovered that the “beast rising out of the sea” implies the Antichrist will rise above all the people of the earth, probably through political means. We discovered that the seven heads are seven empires and the ten horns are ten nations that will come together post-rapture to form a coalition to create a one world government and a one world economy. We discovered that the ten diadems represent how the Antichrist will have sovereign control and authority and rulership over this one world government and economy. We discovered that the empire of the Antichrist will be an empire that is very anti-God. And we discovered that the empire of the Antichrist is actually the empire of Satan, because Satan (who is the dragon) has given his authority to rule the nations of the earth to the Antichrist.
Last Sunday we examined Revelation 13:3 which says, “One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.” What John is telling us is that some time after he rises to power mid-tribulation, the Antichrist will die and then be raised to life. We discovered some believe in a literal death and resurrection of the Antichrist, and others (like my-self), believe the Antichrist will, by the activity of Satan, perform counterfeit miracles and fake his death and resurrection. But whether his death and resurrection is real or counterfeit, we determined it did not matter because the result would be the same. As the world witnesses his death and resurrection, many will follow him rather than Jesus, which is his aim. In other words, the Antichrist will fake his death and resurrection in order to get the world to follow him instead of Jesus.
However, getting the world to follow him will not be enough. He wants more than just the world’s devotion to him. That is what I aim to show you this morning. And I am going to do that in Revelation 13:4 which says, “And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”.
How do I know, based on that verse, that the Antichrist wants more than just the world’s devotion? How do I know the Antichrist has a deeper purpose behind faking his death and resurrection than only getting the world to follow him?
It’s because in the ESV Revelation 13:4 begins with the word “and”.
Now, your translation may not begin with the word “and”; some translations do and some do not. If yours does not, that is okay; the sentence structure and context of the passage and implication remains the same. But that word “and” means along with; together with; as well as; in addition to; also; moreover; furthermore. Which means John is telling us people will be doing more than just following the Antichrist. And that’s what we aim to find out.
What else will the people be doing in addition to following the Antichrist? But before we do that, we need to answer the question: what people is John referring to? Is John referring to believers or non-believers? Is John referring to people in general?
My answer is that John is referring to people who are not saved. People who refuse to believe in the gospel. People who love their sin more than they love Jesus.
The reason I believe that is because John writes in verse 4, “And they…”. That is a small, but important observation to make. What I want to do is take a brief moment and identify who “they” are. The reason I want to do this is because “they” are mentioned twice in this verse, which means “they”, whoever “they” may be, are important to understanding this verse, and important to helping you understand my answer.
By definition, we know that the word “they” refers to people in the general sense. We also know “they” refers to more than one person. Based on that alone we can reduce that “they” is a group of people. But who are “they”?
“They” are the same people that John refers to in verse 3 when he said, “the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.” If you recall from last Sunday, these are the same people who will be astounded and amazed by the Antichrist’s counterfeit miracles. These are the same people who will be so amazed by the Antichrist’s false signs and wonders they will be fooled into following him. And according to Revelation 17:8, these “dwellers on earth” who “will marvel to see the beast” are those “whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world”.
Furthermore John, in Revelation 13:8, identifies these people as people “who dwell on earth” and “will worship it (the beast)”; and when John identifies these earth dwellers he identifies them as “everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” That means these people are anti-God, worldly, secular, ungodly, wicked, and evil. As I said, they are people who refuse to repent because they love their sin more than they love Jesus; they are people who refuse to come to a knowledge of the truth about Jesus; they are people who refuse to believe in the gospel; they are people who refuse to accept the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, and is God, and was sent by God to die the death they deserve and was buried for three days and was raised from death to life for the forgiveness of their sins. Which means the “they” John is referring to, are people who are not saved; they are unbelievers.
So, just for clarity, the people John is referring to here are not people who will be saved post-rapture. They are not people who have a knowledge of the truth post-rapture. They are not people who believe in the gospel of Jesus post-rapture. Those people have come to a saving knowledge of the truth about Jesus will not and cannot be fooled by the cleverly invented, fake signs and wonders of the Antichrist.
According to John 10:28, Jesus simply will not let that happen. Remember, Jesus is the good shepherd who gives eternal life to whoever believes in him, and will not allow them to perish in the flames of hell or allow them to be snatched away by the Antichrist.
Now we come to our question: what are “they” doing in addition to following the Antichrist?
John tells us, in addition to following, they worshiped.
John writes, “And they worshiped…” What does John mean when he says they worshiped? He means the people who were amazed by the counterfeit miracles of the Antichrist showed reverent honor. He means they exalted something, they adored something, they glorified something, and they were in awe of something. The Greek word here for “worshiped” means that the people who were in awe of the Antichrist’s fake miracle literally fell prostrate to their knees and kissed the ground to show reverence and honor.
But the question is now: who or what are they worshiping? Many would assume it’s the Antichrist; you would be half correct.
John tells us they are worshiping Satan.
John writes, “And they worshiped the dragon…” Remember from Revelation 12:9, we discover that John depicts Satan as a dragon, an ancient serpent, and deceiver of the whole world. So when the Antichrist fakes his death and resurrection, and the people of the world fall to their knees and kiss the ground to show reverence and honor and exaltation and glory and adoration, it’s not the Antichrist they are worshiping, it’s Satan.
Why are they worshiping the devil?
They are worshiping Satan because he is the one who gives power and authority to the Antichrist.
John writes, “And they worshiped the dragon, for (meaning because) he (the dragon/Satan) had given his authority to the beast (the Antichrist)…” Which simply means they worshiped Satan, because Satan gave power and authority and capability to the Antichrist, who died, to rise from the dead. Satan is the power behind what the Antichrist appears to be able to do. The people of the world will not know that what the Antichrist did was fake. They will be fooled by the Antichrists’ wicked deceptions, and therefore, prostrate themselves in worship of the devil.
Do they know they are worshiping Satan?
No; I do not believe so.
The reason I do not believe so is because Satan is a liar, the father of lies, an imposter, a swindler, who does everything he does to deceive. There is nothing transparent about Satan. Everything Satan does is questionable. Everything Satan does is not believable.
I believe the people who witness the fake and deceptive miracle of the Antichrist will be convinced that the Antichrist is God. They will not know the Antichrist is the Antichrist, and that’s the point. Remember from last Sunday, the whole point of the Antichrist’s stunt mid-tribulation is to falsely imitate the one true Lamb of God in order to get humanity to follow him rather than the one true Christ. His aim will be to make himself appear as though he, not Jesus, is the actual Lamb who was slain and raised to life, so that many may devote themselves to him rather than Jesus. His goal is to keep people from putting their faith in the one true Christ who can take away sin and put their faith in him, the Antichrist, who wishes to keep humanity enslaved to sin.
But furthermore, my point is that the Antichrist is just a tool, a means, an instrument, and a pawn for Satan to use to deceive many and lead them away from the one true God. Everything the Antichrist does is by the activity and power of Satan, and the unsaved people who survive the tribulation up to this point will be so fooled by the Antichrist, they will not know the one they have truly devoted themselves to, the one they are truly following, the one they are truly worshiping isn’t the Antichrist, it’s the devil.
But that leads us to this question: if they do not know they are worshiping Satan, how then, are they worshiping him?
They will worship Satan by worshiping the Antichrist.
John said, “And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast…”. Notice that John puts the worship of the dragon, who is Satan, before the worship of the beast, who is the Antichrist. I believe what John is telling us is that the people who will witness the counterfeit death and resurrection of the Antichrist will be so amazed by this supposed miracle they will be convinced the Antichrist is God, fall to their knees, and kiss the ground in unholy worship of the Antichrist, not realizing they are actually worshiping Satan because it is Satan who gave his authority to the Antichrist to perform the fake miracle. I believe John is saying to worship the one is to worship the other. To worship the Antichrist is to worship Satan. And so, they will be deceived into believing the Antichrist is God and exalt him as God, not realizing they are really exalting and worshiping the devil.
What I want you to understand here is the Antichrist is to Satan what Jesus is to God.
To worship Jesus is to worship the Father. Jesus made a big deal about this according to the gospel of John. In John 14:6 & 7, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.” In John 8:19 Jesus said, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” In John 14:9 Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” So to know Jesus is to know the Father and to see Jesus is to see the Father.
But perhaps Jesus said it best when he made these two following statements. In John 10:30 Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” Which means you cannot have one without the other. In John 5:23 Jesus said, “Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” That means there is only one way to worship God the Father and that is by worshiping God the Son, Jesus Christ. To honor Jesus is to honor God. To exalt Jesus is to exalt the Father. To admire Jesus is to admire the Father. To revere Jesus is to revere the Father. To magnify Jesus is to magnify the Father. To glorify Jesus is to glorify the Father. We cannot honor one without honoring the other.
On the other hand, that means if we deny Jesus we deny God. John said in 1 John 2:23, “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” This is why Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Any person who denies that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, is also denying that God is God. We simply cannot have a relationship with outside of Christ Jesus.
I tell you all this to say it’s the same with the Antichrist and Satan. Together they are two parts of what we call an unholy trinity. Just as there is a holy trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit), there is an unholy trinity (Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet). The third person of this unholy trinity, the false prophet, we will discuss later.
But for now understand as Jesus and the Father are one, so the Antichrist and Satan are one. To know the Antichrist is to know Satan. To see the Anticrist is to see Satan. As the people exalt the Antichrist they likewise exalt the devil. To worship the Antichrist is to worship Satan. To magnify the Antichrist is to magnify Satan. To exalt the Antichrist is to exalt Satan. To glorify the Antichrist is to glorify Satan. To admire the Antichrist is to admire Satan. To honor and revere the Antichrist is to honor and revere Satan, for which the people will be deceived to do.
How do we know they will be deceived into believing the Antichrist is God?
We know they will be deceived because they will worship the Antichrist as God.
John said, “And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” What John is recording is their worship of the beast. What you may not realize is they are taking Scripture (specifically, Exodus 15:11 & Isaiah 46:5), twisting it, and using it to exalt the Antichrist. Some scholars even believe the Antichrist will teach the people a song similar to this to worship him with.
But listen to Exodus 15:11 and Isaiah 46:5, and see how close they resemble their worship of the Antichrist. Exodus 15:11 says, “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” Isaiah 46:5 says, “To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?” Essentially, they are saying and meaning the same thing.
And the answer to the questions that Exodus and Isaiah propose is this: no one! No one can be compared to the greatness of God. However, many people after the rapture who witness the false death and resurrection of the Antichrist will be so awe struck they will worship the Antichrist as though the Antichrist is. They will exalt the Antichrist as though none are greater than he, and by doing so they are exalting Satan, making Satan to be greater than the one true God.
This leads me to the question we had in the beginning: what does the Antichrist want more than the world’s devotion to him?
He wants the world to worship him.
The reason he wants the world to worship him is because he represents Satan and rises to power under the activity of Satan to bring glory to Satan. This has been what Satan has been wanting since his original fall. Satan’s chief aim is not only to get people to follow him, but to get people to worship him. His main ambition is to get the whole world to adore him, glorify him, praise him, exalt him, honor him, and revere him instead of God. And Satan will attempt to do this by empowering the Antichrist to do cheap, counterfeit miracles so that the people will follow and devote themselves to the Antichrist, and by devoting themselves to the Antichrist they will in turn worship the Antichrist, and thereby, devote themselves to Satan and the worship of Satan.
As I close I want to make this last point real clear – We worship what or who we are devoted to.
Let me say it another way: we worship what we follow. In Revelation 13:3 the people were following the Antichrist and in Revelation 13:4 they were worshiping the Antichrist. So let me ask you: who are you following? Who are you worshiping? You see, everyone one of you are following someone and therefore are worshiping someone.
While the Anitchrist has not risen to power on this day, the spirit of the Antichrist is still very present, and is in this world to get you to follow and worship anything else besides Jesus. The spirit of the antichrist wants you to adore anything else, admire anything else, idolize anything else, magnify anything else, praise anything else, and glorify anything else besides Jesus. As the Holy Spirit is in the world to bear witness to and draw you to Jesus, the unholy spirit of the Antichrist is in the world to draw you away from Jesus. That is the role of the spirit of the Antichrist pre-rapture, and he does it by getting you to be more devoted to anything else besides Jesus. Remember: we worship what or who we are devoted to. So again, let me ask you: who are you following? Who are you worshiping?
If you’re more devoted to your child than you are to Jesus, then you are a worshiper of your child more than you are a worshiper of Jesus. If you’re more devoted to your grandkids than you are to Jesus, then you’re more of a worshiper of your grandkids than Jesus. If you’re more devoted to your parents than you are to Jesus, then you are more of a worshiper of your parents than you are Jesus. If you are more devoted to your job than you are to Jesus, then you are more of a worshiper of your job than you are a worshiper of Jesus. If you are more devoted to sports than you are Jesus, then you worship sports more than you do Jesus. If you are more devoted to your beach home or mountain home than you are to Jesus, then you are more of a worshiper of your vacation home than you are a worshiper of Jesus. If you are more devoted to getting rich in this world so that you can enjoy the fleeting pleasures this world has to offer, then you are more of a worshiper of the temporary pleasure of this world than you are a worshiper of Jesus.
The problem with all of that is that anything we are devoted to more than Jesus, and therefore, anything we worship more than Jesus is idolatry. Jesus said in Matthew 10:37 and Luke 14:26, if we do not love him supremely then we are not worthy to be called his disciple. I’m not saying we can’t devote ourselves to other things, I’m saying we must devote ourselves to Christ a thousand times more, less we be guilty of idolatry. So let me ask you a third time: What are you devoted to and what do you worship? Are you a follower of Jesus? Are you a worshiper of Jesus? If Christ is not your everything, and I mean your everything, your all in all, your peace, your satisfaction, your contentment, your joy, your hope, then I urge you this morning to repent of your sins and return to him. If Jesus is not the one you are supremely devoted to, repent. If Jesus is not the one you are wholly dedicated to, repent. If Jesus is not the one your life supremely glorifies, if he is not the one you chiefly adore, if he is not the one you most admire, if he is not the one you most honor, if he is not the one you primarily exalt, if he is not the one you especially magnify, if he is not the one you predominantly revere, if he is not the one you you worship above all, then you must repent. If following Jesus and worshiping Jesus is not your supreme reason for your existence, repent. Anything short of that is idolatrous.