Hitchcock: Well, I believe that he does. And there’s a lot of people have problems with that, because they’ll say, “Well, you know, only God can give life and we’re giving to Satan some power that only God has.” But when we read Revelation 13, which is really the chapter in the Bible that gives us more information about the Antichrist than any other chapter—he’s called there the beast from the sea—it says there three different times, or actually three or four times, that he has this fatal wound, and he comes back to life, or he’s slain and comes back to life.
The word that’s used there for him being slain is the same word used in Revelation 5 of Jesus being slain. And we know Jesus’ death wasn’t just a faked death, you know, He seemed dead and came back to life. He was really dead. And the word that’s used there in Revelation 13, that this Antichrist is going to then come back to life, is the same word used in Revelation 2 of Jesus coming back to life. So Jesus was slain and came back to life; he’s going to be slain and come back to life. So I believe he’s literally going to die and come back to life.
Which then, you know, raises the question, how can Satan have this power? And it seems to me that in this unique time of the tribulation God is going to allow that to happen. Because 2 Thessalonians 2 says that when people reject God in the coming tribulation God is going to send upon them a deluding influence, strong delusion. And so that could be part of this strong delusion. The tragedy is the people who reject Jesus, the Son of God, God in human flesh who died and came back to life, are going to accept this imposter who dies and comes back to life. And they’re going to believe that he is God.
Rhodes: Just for full disclosure, the other side would argue that Satan does not have that power; that if he did he certainly would’ve resurrected Antiochus Epiphanes to continue persecuting the Jews; he would’ve resurrected the Roman emperors so that they could continue to persecute not just Jews but Christians; he probably would’ve resurrected Hitler from the dead. And this position would argue that he appears dead but is not really dead. Kind of like when Paul was stoned and left for dead; and he looks like he was dead in the book of Acts, but he wasn’t really dead.
And what I would say in regard to what Mark said, I agree with him. It is to be a special time or a special occasion. Throughout the book of Revelation we see different people, different individuals in the tribulation receiving divine authority to do something.
