One of the fascinating aspects of the antichrist or Beast of Revelation 13 is that he seems to die and be resurrected, he receives worship, and all in all he has great authority. Sound familiar? Yeah, it sounds a lot like Jesus. In his message on Revelation 13, John MacArthur (his sermons are helping me as I stumble-blog through this book) points out that the “anti” in antichrist sometimes means not “against” but “in the place of.” So he will be doing a “very subtle, veiled impersonation of Jesus Christ.”

So how will we know when the antichrist comes? After all, he’s not going to come breathing fire and wearing a sweater with a big A on it. No, surely he will be a smooth communicator, a pied piper who rallies the masses with charm and probably great oratory. So if he looks like Jesus, how will we know he’s not the Lord? It appears there is only one way…we must know the truth. We must be ready to recognize false doctrine or blasphemy. We must be ready to discern blasphemy when we hear it. In short, we need to know our Bibles, so we can think biblically.

Therefore one of the greatest things we can do to prepare for these coming days is to “study to show ourselves approved, workers for God who have no reason to be ashamed, rightly handling the Word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15.

It will be “little” matters of doctrine that will enable us to discern on that day the man or woman who is on the Lord’s side…and the evil, blasphemous one, who is definitely not.

For Monday, December 21st: Revelation 14