Last Sunday we looked at Revelation 13:1-2 – “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 his throne and great authority.”
We discovered that the beast is the Antichrist rising to power. We discovered that he 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. And that the empire of the Antichrist will be an empire that is very anti-God.
This morning we are going to look at Revelation 13:3 – “One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but it’s mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast”. This is a verse that has sparked a great deal of debate among scholars, which I want to show you. But what I really want to show you from this verse is that the Antichrist, sometime after he rises to power mid-tribulation, may or may not sustain a life-threatening injury that results in a real or counterfeit miracle, and does this in order to deceive many, that many will become followers of him instead of Jesus.
John begins by writing on “one of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound…”
Now remember, this beast has seven heads. But notice, John does not tell us which of the seven heads received this mortal wound. That’s because it does not matter.
What John wants us to know is that this beast has an injury of some kind, and remember who this beast is – the Antichrist. So John wants us to know that at some point mid-way of the Tribulation period the Antichrist will sustain some kind of injury, but he doesn’t say what kind of injury. However, if you study the Greek word here for “wound”, it implies that the wound came from some kind of violent blow or hit to the head; as though the wound was from a vicious attack.
But also notice that John does not say it is just a wound, he uses an adjective describing what kind of wound we are dealing with.
John says that on one of the beast’s heads is a “mortal wound.” That is an important detail. It tells us this wound seemed to John like it was beyond recovery. This wound will be a lethal wound for the Antichrist. A wound that will be fatal. A wound that should have killed the Antichrist.
Then we discover, even though this wound should have killed the Antichrist, it doesn’t.
John says, “but it’s mortal wound was healed.” So this mortal wound was made healthy. It was made whole again. It was restored to health. Now, we don’t know how this happened; John does not say. All we know is that this wound that should have resulted in the death of the Antichrist, was healed.
This is where this verse gets very interesting. This particular part of this verse has caused much discussion over the years and debate among scholars.
The reason is because some are of the assumption this verse indicates that the Antichrist will die, and by the power of Satan, be resurrected. So the “mortal wound” indicates the Antichrist’s death and the “mortal wound” being “healed” indicates his resurrection. There are some who believe that, while Satan does not have the power to resurrect someone from the dead on his own, God will grant Satan a one time opportunity to do so here.
How many of you have read the Left Behind Series by Tim Lahaye and co-authored by Jerry Jenkins? If you are familiar with the Left Behind Series, that is the stance Tim Lahaye takes in book 7 called The Indwelling. In that book Tim Lahaye takes the view that one of the world leaders from the ten nations will assassinate the Antichrist during a speech at a political event and after three days or so, the Antichrist will rise to life. He will be resurrected.
Now, of course, that is mere speculation. Tim Lahaye of course, cannot know that it specifically will happen, and he admits to that. But Tim Lahaye and others like him, believe in a literal death and resurrection of the Antichrist.
Of course the other side opposes that outright because they feel it paints a picture that Satan is autonomous, self-governing, independent, and not under the sovereign hand of God. They feel like this verse indicates that Satan will try a counterfeit miracle. That the Antichrist will fake his death and also his resurrection, with the intent to deceive many into thinking that he is God.
The reason they believe this will be a counterfeit miracle is because of what Paul teaches in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10. Paul tells us that when the Antichrist rises to power he will do so “by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception….”. This simply means that the Antichrist, when he rises to power mid-tribulation, will have power given him by Satan to do false signs and wonders, with the intent to deceive many and lead many away from the true Christ. Where do I stand on this issue?
While I love the Left Behind series, and would recommend the books to anyone, I believe that Antichrist will stage his death and his resurrection, and I do so for the following three reasons.
First, if we look at John’s word usage in Revelation 13:3 he uses the word “seemed” when describing the mortal wound: “One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound…” Seemed means to assume, to suggest, to pretend, to imitate, to resemble, and to have the appearance of. But it does not necessarily imply anything real or truthful. It does not necessarily imply a literal death and resurrection of the Antichrist.
Also, according to Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:9 and 10, the Antichrist will be able, by the activity of Satan, to do “false signs” and “false…wonders” and “wicked deceptions”. Which to me means that the Antichrist, by the activity of Satan, will have the power to do signs and wonders, but those signs and wonders will be bogus, fraudulent, phony, untrue, and counterfeit. They will be fake, make believe, and invented.
Also, there is no record of Satan ever having such resurrecting power in the Scriptures. Nor is there any biblical evidence that God will ever give Satan such power to perform a real resurrection, that I know of. Not even post rapture. Therefore, at this point, I believe the resurrection of the Antichrist will be a counterfeit one.
So, in essence, what John is telling us this far is that sometime during mid-tribulation, when the Antichrist rises to power and controls the world’s economy, he will receive a mortal injury that may or may not result in his real death. Then, he may or may not really be raised from the dead.
However, whether the Antichrist really dies and is resurrected by the power of Satan, or his death and resurrection is a counterfeit miracle isn’t the real issue here. Whether the Antichrist really dies and is resurrected or not, either way it’s going to have the same result. What will that result be? What will happen as the Antichrist performs his false signs and wonders?
John tells us that “the whole earth marveled…”
That means the whole world will be filled with wonder at the supposed resurrection of the Antichrist. The whole world will be astonished and astounded and bewildered by this seemingly supernatural act by the Antichrist. And notice, it’s not just a fraction of the world, or some of the world, or a part of the world that will marvel at this apparent miracle, it will be the entire world that will stand amazed and awe-struck by this phenomenal act, whether it be real or counterfeit.
Now, does that mean that even believers post-rapture will marvel over the beast? No. When John says that the “the whole earth marveled” I do not believe this includes those who have come to a knowledge of the truth in Christ and have put their faith in Him. I believe this for the following three reasons.
First, the phrase “whole earth” is not just referring to people who remain on the earth, but those who remain a part of the earth. People who are still worldly. People who are not godly. People who refuse to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Secondly, Revelation 17:8 tells us that those who marvel at the beast or Antichrist, are those who dwell “on the earth”, and “whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.” Which means only those who are left awe-struch by the Antichrist’s fake miracles will be those who have not come to a knowledge of the truth.
And lastly, I believe this because Jesus said in John 10:28, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” This means that those who Jesus gives eternal life too mid-tribulation, he will not let them perish in the flames of hell nor will he allow the Antichrist to snatch them away from him. This is because Jesus is the good shepherd and like a good shepherd, he will not allow a fake shepherd or a wolf in sheep’s clothing, like the Antichrist, to creep into the sheep pen and steal His sheep.
Therefore, I believe that those who put their faith in Christ post-rapture and are genuinely saved, will not be deceived by the deceptive ways of the Antichrist, as much as the Antichrist may try. Jesus simply will not allow that to happen.
But what I want you to understand is that this is what the Antichrist wants.
He wants to distract the eyes of the world from Jesus on to himself. The Antichrist wants to take the eyes of the world off of the one true Christ and draw them to himself. He wants the world to be amazed at him, marvel at him, glorify him, magnify him, honor him, and celebrate him rather than the only true Son of God, Jesus Christ. And he does this by employing cheap, fake, counterfeit, cleverly invented miracles that will make him appear like he is the one true Christ. But why would the Antichrist want the world to marvel at him rather than Jesus?
The reason he will do his counterfeit miracles is so that the world will be so awestruck that they will follow him.
Getting the world to marvel at him is not the Antichrist’s chief aim. His main goal is to get people to devote themselves to him rather than Jesus. John put it like this: “and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.”
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, 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 false Christ, who wishes to keep humanity enslaved to sin. And unfortunately many people will be deceived.
The world will be so amazed at the fake resurrection of the Antichrist they will pledge their allegiance to him. The world will be so astounded by this false phenomenon, they will pledge their loyalty to him. They’ll be so amazed by this cleverly invented pseudo-supernatural miracle, they will follow him.
Perhaps you have wondered how the Antichrist will be able to fool so many? Well, this is how. Last Sunday we learned that the Antichrist will likely be a politician who will have extreme good looks, a magnetic personality, and a persuasive speaking ability that will make him almost irresistible to the masses. But we learn today that’s not all he’ll be able to do. He will also be able to do false signs and wonders, by the activity of Satan. So, if the world is not won over by his good looks, his magnetic personality, and his persuasive speaking ability, they will certainly be won over by the power of his false signs and wonders. And that is his main agenda.
More importantly you and I need to understand the spirit of Antichrist is up to the same deceptive tactics today.
The Antichrist is not waiting until post-rapture to distract people away from Jesus, he is doing it today pre-rapture.
How does the spirit of the Antichrist do this today? He certainly does it through counterfeit miracles; while I believe in miracles, there are so-called faith healers out there that do cleverly invented miracles simply to get rich – we call this the prosperity gospel. He distracts people away from Jesus through false teaching; meaning, he sends people who call themselves Christian and come in the name of Christ but preach a false doctrine – they are wolves in sheeps clothing. He deceives people through the desires of the flesh; meaning, he makes sin appear more pleasurable than Jesus. He distracts people with the allures of the world; meaning, he makes everything in the world seem more enjoyable than following Christ. He distracts people by the riches of this world; meaning, he makes the riches and pleasures of this world appear more desirable and satisfying than following Jesus. He deceives people by keeping them busy in life that they may be distracted by the One thing that truly matters in this world – Jesus.
And just like mid-tribulation, his goal is not merely to deceive you. The Antichrist is doing this deceptive work to get you devoted to anything else but Jesus.
The reason the spirit of the Antichrist does what it does today is to get the world to be more devoted to the world’s liberal doctrine than sound, biblical doctrine, and to get the world to be more devoted to everything the world has to offer than Jesus. And the reason the spirit of the Antichrist does this is because if he can get you to be more devoted to the things of this world, he can get you to be devoted to what Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:4 calls, “the god of this world” (lowercase ‘g’) who is Satan.
Therefore, I want to ask you: who are you following? Who have you pledged your allegiance to? Who do you give your loyalty to? Who are you devoted to? Who are dedicated to? Who are you faithful to? Who are you obedient to? Who do you obligate yourself to?
Joshua once asked Israel: “choose this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). The Scriptures are very clear: we are either followers of Jesus or followers of the god of this world. We are either sons of God or sons of Satan. We are either slaves to righteousness or we are slaves to sin. We are either lovers of Jesus or lovers of the world. We have either pledged our allegiance to Jesus or to the Devil. We have pledged our loyalty to Jesus or to Satan. We have devoted ourselves, are faithful to, are obedient to, and are obligated to Jesus or Satan.
But if you can say with confidence that you are saved and following Jesus, know that Jesus, our good shepherd, will not let you perish nor will He let anyone, including the spirit of the Antichrist, snatch you away from Him.
For again, Jesus said in John 10:28, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” If Christ is your Savior, you will not perish in the flames of hell. If Christ is your Savior, He will not allow anyone, including the spirit of the Antichrist, to steal you from Him. If you can genuinely say that Jesus is your Lord, you can rest assured, no matter how hard the spirit of the Antichrist tries to deceive you, Jesus will not allow anything or anyone to grab you or pluck you or pull you from His sovereign hand. That is the hope you can live with everyday, dear Christian.