Who is the Antichrist? Part 5 – His Downfall
How will the Antichrist downfall occur? And it’s my understanding that at this point that the world will come to the exact middle of the seven-year tribulation period and it’s at this point that what Paul described in 2 Peter 2:4 will take place. Now that he has complete control of Jerusalem, Antichrist will walk into a new temple that the people of Israel will have built there by that time and according to Daniel 9:27 he will put a stop to sacrifices and offerings that the Jews will have reinstituted there in their temple by that time. And then Paul says, “he will take his seat in the temple of God, making himself out to be God.” He will claim that he’s absolute deity. I would not be surprised that he will try to claim the credit for the supernatural destruction of the armies of Iran and Russia and their Islamic allies and say to the world, “Look at what I was able to do without using one man-made weapon. It’s obvious these massive armies have been destroyed supernaturally. This demonstrates I’m more than a man. I am supernatural. I am God. And you either worship me as God, or I try to put you to death.”
And according to Daniel 9:27, when Antichrist does that, that’s when Israel will begin to be desolated worse than it’s ever been desolated in all of past history. And that’s when Antichrist now will turn against Israel and the man that Israel thought would be its great protector in the tribulation period will end up becoming its great attacker and he will go after Israel with a vengeance and try to annihilate it from the face of the earth because his master Satan wants Israel annihilated before it can repent so that God will not crush Satan and his forces and get rid of them from planet earth altogether.
Now, it’s interesting, right after chapter 11 of Daniel in verse 45 we are told in Daniel 12:1, “And at that time.” At what time? The time that Antichrist will take control of Jerusalem in the middle of the tribulation and claim that he is God. “At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time.”
What God is revealing is this. When Antichrist makes that claim to be God, Michael, the great Archangel whom God has assigned to the nation of Israel to prevent that nation from being fully annihilated from the face of the earth, Michael is going to have to stand up and go into all-out action. And the reason is because Antichrist and other satanic forces are going to go after Israel now throughout the entire second half of the seven-year tribulation period, they’ll go after Israel with a vengeance trying to annihilate them from the face of the earth, and Michael is going to have to go into all-out action to prevent Israel from being totally annihilated from the face of the earth. And this passage is saying that is going to be the unparalleled time of trouble in all of world history.
In light of that, Jesus made some very significant statements in Matthew 24. Speaking to Jews who will be living in the land of Israel, at the middle of the tribulation period, this is what Jesus said, Matthew 24:15: “When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet”—Jesus going back to Daniel 9:27—“When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place.” Israel’s holy place would be the temple. What He’s referring to is an image of the Antichrist that Antichrist will set up in that Jewish temple in Jerusalem claiming that he’s God. And so Jesus is saying when you see that abominable, detestable thing, an image of a man, the Antichrist, standing in your holy place, your temple, claiming that the man represented by that image is God, Jesus said, this is what you Jews had better do. Verse 16: “Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains.” Get out into the mountain wilderness. “Let him which is on a housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. Woe until them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days! But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day.”
What He’s saying to Jews who will be living in the land of Israel at that time, when that image of the Antichrist goes up in your new temple and the Antichrist claims that he’s God, you drop everything, no matter what you’re doing, drop everything and run from where you are. Get out into the mountain wilderness to hide out as fast as you can. And then He told them why they should do that. Verse 21—and here He practically quotes Daniel 12:1— “For then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake, those days will be shortened.” Jesus indicating when Antichrist announces he’s God in the middle of the tribulation period, that will begin the great tribulation, the unparalleled period of time in all of world history. It’ll be so disastrous here on planet earth that if God hadn’t determined ahead of time to cut it off after another three and a half years, all flesh would perish from planet earth. The second three and a half years of the tribulation period will be that terrible.
May I point out to you, if you’ve never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, please heed the warning of this. God has revealed these future events not to satisfy our curiosity about what’s going to happen, but instead to change hearts and lives right now. And God has revealed these future events to issue a warning to unbelievers that if you’re an unbeliever on the earth when Christ comes and raptures the church out of the world, you’re going to be left here on the earth to go into this horrible tribulation period, and you’re going to have to go through the unparalleled time of trouble on planet earth in which great masses of humanity are going to disappear from the face of the earth through horrendous judgments and you’re going to be under the tyrant rule of this Antichrist.
And when he makes his claim to be God, you’re going to have to make a horrible decision. If you accept his claim to be God and worship him as God, according to 2 Thessalonians 2, that will seal your doom forever. You will not be able to get saved once you accept Antichrist’s claim to be God and worship him as God and you will spend eternity in the eternal lake of fire under the conscious torment and judgment of God forever.
But if in order to escape that wrathful judgment of God you reject Antichrist’s claim to be God, then you will be subject to that man’s wrath and he will pursue you and hunt you down together with his forces and try to put you to death because you reject his claim to be God. What a horrible, horrible decision people are going to have to make at that time.
