THE ANTICHRIST'S GOVERNMENT

1. THE ANTICHRIST BEGINS HIS REIGN WITH AN ATTACK ON JERUSALEM :
• In His end-time prophecy, Jesus warned the disciples about the Antichrist’s attack on the city:
  • “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.” Luke 21:20
• The armies of the nations of the world will join the Antichrist in his attack on Jerusalem :
  • “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast." Revelation 17:12-13
• The plot to attack and to capture Jerusalem was prophesied before the birth of Christ :
  • “They have taken crafty counsel against Your people…They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more…They form a confederacy against You”
  Psalm 83:3-5
• The prophet Zechariah received the revelation of the fall of Jerusalem to the Antichrist’s army :
  • “Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken.” Zechariah 14:1-2.


• WHY IS THE ANTICHRIST DETERMINED TO CAPTURE JERUSALEM, AS HIS FIRST ACTION ?
• Since in His Second Coming, Jesus Christ will first stand on the Mount of Olive in Jerusalem, the Antichrist wants to get to Jerusalem before Jesus and declare that he is the only “god” to be worshiped: “Behold, the day of the LORD is coming…Then the LORD will go forth…And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two.” Zechariah 14:1-4 — What will the Antichrist do next?


2. THE ANTICHRIST COMES TO THE TEMPLE DECLARING HE IS THE ONLY GOD :
• Jesus declared that the Antichrist will come to the temple in Jerusalem :
• “Therefore when you see the ‘ abomination of desolation ,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” Matthew 24:15
• What did Daniel prophesy regarding the “ abomination of desolation " coming to the temple ?:
• “And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation.” Daniel 11:31
• “But in the middle of the week, he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate.” Daniel 9:27
• “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.” Daniel 12:11
• The Antichrist will elevate himself above all gods and will not permit the worship of any other god, except himself.
• “Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done. He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all.” Daniel 11:36-37
• Paul’s prophecy of the Antichrist coming to the temple in Jerusalem declaring himself to be “ God ”:
• “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him…Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed…Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2Tes. 2
• Christ’s return and the Rapture will not occur until the Antichrist comes to the temple in Jerusalem and declares that he is the only “god” to be worshiped — This is what Paul is declaring!

* All biblical references are from New King James Version