Anti-antichrist
6 min read
8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.
10 “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.”
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.
Revelation 13:8-10
The beast is the antichrist. The antichrist in Revelation is an imitation and a mockery of Christ. In other words, the world looks to the antichrist for its salvation, but the only thing that the antichrist can produce and offer is evil.
Given the symbolic description of the beast, the antichrist is probably not a specific person but more a zeitgeist, a spirit of the times. At the same time, the antichrist is embodied by people and institutions that deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And in his letters, John says that many antichrists have already come.
And many antichrists are here today, as well. The anti-Christian attitude and agenda of many in the state government are antichrists, in that sense. The anti-Christian attitude of the LGBTQ+ agenda is the antichrist, in that sense.
We can see the antichrist at work whenever people fidget uncomfortably around public displays of Christian faith.
As I mentioned in the blog yesterday, I word my “Jesus Saves” tee shirt when I went to golf in the morning. It was pretty cold, and I was wearing a jacket on top. But as the weather warmed up, I took off my jacket. The guys we were playing with were pleasant enough, but they were clearly not Christian. And when they saw my tee shirt, one of them started saying some really interesting things to justify his sinful lifestyle.
But later that day, we went to Grace’s graduation pinning ceremony, and it was such a blessing to see how many of the graduates openly gave glory to Jesus, including Grace!
Praise God that we live in a society that, at least for now, doesn’t throw us into prison or execute us for professing our Christian faith. We should not take that grace for granted. We should also remember that many people in this world don’t have that freedom. We should also remember that many people were imprisoned and were executed so that we could have that freedom.
I will be honest that, even as a pastor, I was a little uncomfortable wearing my “Jesus Saves” tee shirt yesterday. I realized that I need to be bolder—since I’m not going to be thrown into prison or executed for my witness.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes …
Romans 1:16a
Father, forgive me for being uncomfortable and timid with my faith. I can preach boldly to the choir all day long, but I feel uncomfortable wearing a tee shirt professing my faith. Make me bolder. There are many antichrists all around. Make me unafraid. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
