The Resurrection of the Antichrist

INTRODUCTION
As my regular readers already know, the underlying theme beneath all of my writing on doctrinal matters is the authority of Scripture.  The Bible is the word of God. We should handle it with great respect, even fear and trembling. God himself holds his word in the highest regard.  For instance, we read in Psalm 138:2, “You have magnified Your word above all Your name.” And in Revelation 22:18-19, we read about the awful lot of those who add to or subtract from the word of God.

This concern for the integrity of the word of God applies just as much to what it says about the antichrist as it does to any subject covered in its pages. One aspect of his ungodly career stands out in my mind as a matter that demands special attention because it has often gotten short shrift from those who profess to adhere to literal interpretation. I refer to his resurrection. Many Bible teachers claim that it only appears to be a resurrection. The whole thing is staged and fake. Let’s examine what the Bible says. 

FATAL HEAD WOUND HEALED
In Rev. 13:3 we read, “I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” And in Rev. 13:12, the false prophet “forces the earth, even those dwelling in it, to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.”

How does anyone come to any conclusion other than that the antichrist suffers a fatal head wound and that his fatal wound is healed? We do not read that it was staged or fake. Nor do we read that it appeared to be a resurrection. Nor does the Greek offer an out. If anything, it is even stronger. It literally says, “slain to death” and “blow of death.” Think about it. If you heard on the news that a friend had been “shot to death” or “stabbed to death,” would you rush to the hospital or the morgue?

RAISED FROM THE ABYSS
In Rev. 17:8 we read, “the beast you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.” And in Rev. 11:7 we read, “When they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.”  

This is relatively straightforward. If the beast ascends out of the abyss, then he was dead. If the beast “was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition,” then he was alive on earth, died, went to the abyss, rose from the dead, then dies again and returns to the abyss.

FORMER ROMAN EMPEROR
In Rev. 17:10-11 we read, “There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.”

This is not advanced calculus understood only by elite mathematicians. This is simple math that anyone can understand. The antichrist will be one of the five major Roman emperors that lived and died prior to John penning the Revelation in AD 95. He will rise from the abyss,  live again, and die again.

BOTH FORMER ROMAN EMPEROR AND A MAN WHO LIVES AND DIES IN THE LAST DAYS?
So how do we reconcile the fact that the antichrist is both a man who lives and dies in the last days and a former Roman emperor who lived and died prior to the giving of the Revelation? There is only one solution that harmonizes these two. Shortly prior to the middle of the seventieth week, someone will assassinate the antichrist. The dead body will lie in state, and then be reanimated. But when this dead man comes back, he will not be himself but the former Roman emperor raised from the abyss. This is the only reincarnation in the history of the world.

OBJECTIONS
Now some will object with the argument that the Antichrist can’t rise from the dead because Satan doesn’t have the keys to hell and death. True, Satan doesn’t have the keys to hell and death. Jesus does. But this is no argument at all. All that is needed for this Satanic resurrection to take place is God granting him permission to promote his lies and deception in this way. We already know that the Lord grants Satan a large degree of freedom to promote his agenda and lies, and he exploits these limits to the max. Some of the fallen angels are already bound with chains in darkness waiting for the day of judgment because they transgressed the boundaries given to them by God. 

God granting Satan permission to authenticate his foul work with lying signs, wonders, and miracles like the false resurrection is not God helping the devil. It is God using the devil to advance his own aims. His aim during the seventieth week (the tribulation) is to separate the whole world into two camps: those who follow the spirit of rebellion in the world, and those who follow the revealed will of God in the Bible.  Part of the separation process will be signs and miracles wrought by both the camp of truth and the camp of error. Truth will be accompanied with signs and miracles. Error will be authenticated by signs and miracles.  When the seventieth week has run its course, every man on the planet will either be sealed by God or marked by the beast. This brings us to the last point.

THEOLOGICAL RATIONALE
This false resurrection—genuine but authenticating the lie—is part of the great delusion that God sends on the world. It wows the world. We read in Rev. 13:3, “I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” Rev. 17:8 adds, “the beast you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”

The great delusion is tremendous judgment from God. If the world doesn’t want the light, God will give them darkness. If they don’t want his Messiah, he will give them the anti-messiah. If they don’t want God manifest in the flesh, he will give them Satan manifest in flesh. If they don’t want his resurrection, he will give them a false resurrection. This delusion, of course, poses no danger to those who love, trust, and study the Scriptures. It only poses a threat to those who reject the light of Christ and his word.

CONCLUSION
There is no legitimate reason to reject the straightforward, literal interpretation of the passages that address the antichrist’s resurrection. There is no reason to believe that his resurrection is anything other than a genuine resurrection that authenticates his satanic agenda. And there is no reason to deny that he is, after his resurrection, exactly what the Bible says he is—a former Roman emperor returned from the dead.

Eyes wide open, brain engaged, heart on fire.

Lee W. Brainard