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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Last Days, #7
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. (II Thessalonians 2:4)
The supremely important issue of the last days is the gaining of victory "over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name." To gain victory over the Beast is to enter into glory. To worship the Beast is to enter unimaginable agony.
The "number of his name" is six hundred sixty-six. Six is the number of man. Three is the number of God. Six hundred sixty-six symbolizes man making himself God.
Man seeking to make himself God has been the issue since the beginning. The desire to be like God originated with Satan.
Paul says, concerning Antichrist, that "he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."
We think the spirit of Antichrist finally will be personified in one man and that he actually will sit in the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, in the Most Holy Place, declaring himself to be the one true God.
However, it is true also that the spirit of Antichrist is in all of us until he is cast out by the Lord Jesus. Man is the temple of God. Antichrist sits on the throne in the heart of every individual. Antichrist is man making himself God.
A student of world history can observe the rise of humanism. Humanism is of the spirit of Antichrist. Humanism is man making himself God. The spirit of humanism, of man making himself God, is in communism. The spirit of humanism is in democracy. The spirit of humanism is in the Christianity of today.
The danger of Antichrist is not that a man will arise somewhere and force us into a new environment or cause us to enter into some strange new way of behaving. Antichrist is in us. The spirit of Antichrist is in every one of us until we choose to lay down our own life, our own will, take up our personal cross and follow the Son of God. Until we do that we are part of Satan, of Antichrist, of the rebel against God and His Anointed One, whether or not we have "accepted" Christ as our Savior.
The issue raised in the Book of Revelation is that of overcoming Antichrist. It is the overcoming of our desire to be God, to be like God, to maintain our own will before God, to seek to do what we want, to get what we want when we want it. It is rebellion against God.
It appears that throughout Christian history there have been unnumbered multitudes of "weak" Christians—those who fear God but never have entered the joy of the victorious life. In the last days this "middle" group will be swallowed up by the intense powers unleashed by the operation of the forces of righteousness and wickedness. There will be no more middle group. Mankind will be divided into those who refuse to deify man and those who accept the deification of man; into the children of God and the children of Satan. The multitudes will be forced out of the "valley of decision" (Joel 3:14).
To be continued.