Mike Bickle discusses the significance of the first seal in the Book of Revelation, which introduces the Antichrist as a political leader emerging on the world stage. Initially underestimated, the Antichrist will form peace treaties and gain authority, leading to a dramatic shift in the church's prayer focus from seeking light to calling for judgment against the reprobate. Bickle emphasizes that the Antichrist's rise is part of God's plan to reveal the true nature of humanity and to judge the harlot Babylon, which has persecuted the saints. The sermon highlights the importance of understanding the context of these events and the necessity for believers to draw near to God for clarity in these times. Ultimately, the Antichrist's reign will culminate in a period of intense spiritual conflict and the eventual return of Christ.

Father, we thank you in the name of Jesus for your glorious word. We come as students before your throne and we open our heart to you. So we gaze upon you, we ask you for the light of your countenance to come and touch us, even now. In the name of Jesus, we ask you for your blessing, amen. Well, this is the second session in a 12-part series on the seals, trumpets, and bowls. Tonight, we'll look at the first seal, which is, well, they're all very important, but this is unique because it signals the beginning of the final three and a half years. The first seal is the release of the Antichrist as a political leader on the world stage with authority. Now, the Antichrist begins as a regional political leader that is not taken seriously by many other leaders around the world, they don't know who he is. He knows who he is, but they don't. He's a regional leader, secondary importance, and he puts together a series of covenants and peace treaties among the nations, and that is one of the key events that thrust him onto the world stage. It's more than that, but that's the beginning of the events that put him on the world stage. And when he comes on the world stage at the first seal, then it signals the final three and a half years before Jesus appears in the sky to rapture the church, to establish his throne in Jerusalem and take over all the nations. So when the Antichrist, this first seal's released, it is three and a half years, it's 42 months, the Bible says, until the Lord's appearing in the sky to land on the earth, to take over the earth. The prayer life of the church changes focus from the first seal to the second coming, those final three and a half years. Right now, the way that we pray is we see sin in the nations and we ask God to shine his light on the sin and change it. So it's a positive prayer. We say, Lord, stop the sin, shine your light, change the situation, sin revival. And that prayer for the release of light and glory releases light and glory, but it also releases judgment on darkness. At this point in redemptive history, we do not pray specifically as a rule, Lord, destroy a city or destroy a government. We don't pray as a rule that way, but we pray for light to touch where darkness is and judgment is the byproduct of it. But when there's a final decision for darkness, when the hearts are reprobate, that's a fancy word for when they have made a decision for darkness where there's no turning back, that's the key issue, which begins at the final three and a half years at the first seal. From the first seal to the second coming, people take the mark of the beast and they make decisions of which they cannot reverse. Our prayers then go from Lord send light to Lord release your judgment on the reprobate because they will be in places of government and it's clear there's no repentance for them. Now we do pray specifically for judgments in a rare situation today, if the Lord revealed it and confirmed it by a prophetic word. Now I don't know of many prophetic words that I would have confidence in today if somebody said, hey, the Lord told me to pray for judgment against this or that. There's not too many situations I'd have confidence in, but Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the prophets of old, the Lord actually visited them. It's rare, it's unique, but it is a biblical reality. But that's not the rule of how we pray today. We don't pray for the release of judgments today. We pray for the release of light that causes judgment, but it's in God's hands with the judgment. We don't know, we're not actually asking specifically for the judgment in specific ways. But from the time of the first seal, right here that we're studying tonight, until the second coming, we have clarity and confidence to pray for judgment. Now it's interesting, the first judgment that is released is the release of the Antichrist. So it's not the Antichrist judging the Antichrist, but it's the Antichrist judging the harlot Babylon, who has been murdering the saints for some years before this point. So the release of the Antichrist is actually in part a fruit of the prayers of the saints against Babylon. That God raises up an evil force to judge Babylon and all the nations that are aligned with her. And then our prayer focus shifts after that to pray against the Antichrist himself. We'll get into that as we go, but that's just a kind of a point of introduction to make the statement that from the first seal to the second coming, the three and a half year, 42 month period, the prayer life of the church shifts in a dramatic way. Because we're not that specific right now and we're not praying right now for these three number judgments, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven bulls. We're not asking for the release of them. We don't begin to pray for them until after the first seal. So right now, the vast majority, I mean, the 99.9% of our prayers is to release light for the judgment to be stopped and the light to be released, knowing that when light is released, it does bring judgment to darkness. But as a rule, the church doesn't have the details, even prophetically, of how that's going to happen. Roman numeral one, give a little review from session one. The structure of the seals, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven bulls, that's called the three judgment series. Because it's three series that bring judgment, the seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bulls. Now, these three judgment series, it's an important point. They are structured in a similar way, all three of them. The first four events belong together. Then the next two go together. Then the final one, or the seventh event, stands alone. Now, knowing this helps us understand the interpretation of the judgment events. And in this session, we'll point that out. Paragraph B, as we look at the seals here in Revelation 6, the first four seals are clearly distinct from the next two, clearly distinct. And as you get, if you're familiar with it, it's obvious. If you're not, you'll become, this will make sense in just a little bit of time. You just spend a little bit of time with it. The first four seals are clearly distinct from the second two, which is very distinct from the final one. The first four seals, they have a similarity, several, quite a few similarities. Number one, there's a horse with a distinct color. There is a rider on the horse. And that rider is released by a decree from one of the living creatures. And the result is judgment. So those are, all four of them have those similarities. Which is very different than the next two seals, the fifth and the sixth one. Paragraph C, the judgment of the seals, the judgment is actually God lifting his hand, his restraining hand off of people, off of evil people. There is much blessing happening in the earth today because God is restraining the evil in people's lives and hearts and governments. There's a lot of evil happening, but God is restraining much evil. And the great judgment of the seals is God lets human beings have what they want. They want sin. He goes, I'll take my hand off and I will let you have that which you're pursuing and you will find it will judge you. So he takes his hands off of human beings in a certain way. I mean, he still is in control, but he lets sinful people have their fill of sinful people. And what they do is they destroy each other. So in the seals, I don't have this part on the notes. God takes his restraint off the human realm. In the trumpets, he takes his restraint off the demonic realm. And in the bowls, he takes his restraint off his judgments. His judgments are fully released in the bowls. So in the seals, humans are released fully. In the trumpets, demons are released fully. And in the bowls, God's wrath is fully released upon the earth. So there's a element of restraint being lifted in each one of these judgment series. Paragraph D, again, I'm making the point of how the first four go together. And I'm gonna apply that point in a minute. The first four seals, paragraph D. They all involve natural actions of events that occur on the earth. Whereas the fifth, sixth, and seventh seal, they involve supernatural actions with events occurring in the heavens, or in the sky, or in the heavenly realm, whether the sky or the throne around the throne, et cetera. My point in paragraph D is the four seals go together. Paragraph E, as I already said, I started with this point. The seal judgments is actually the raising up of the Antichrist. So if it's the raising up of the Antichrist, how can it be a judgment against the Antichrist? It's a judgment against the harlot Babylon religion that has been existing for some years. We don't know how long the harlot Babylon religion exists in a formal way that has power to kill the saints. Because the harlot Babylon will not only be a religious system, it will actually have the political ability to kill the saints. It's what it says in Revelation 17, verse six. I don't have that on the notes, but it says the harlot Babylon, this religion will be drunk with the blood of the saints. So they will have the political legislative ability to kill saints who they see as a threat of world peace. And the activity of the harlot Babylon religion, that's the first big thing that's gonna happen before the Antichrist appears, is this world religion that all the religions of the world will join it, but it will be an actual official organization. And it's much more in-depth than the World Council of Churches. I've heard people over the years say, that's it. No, it's far bigger than that. It's far bigger than the Catholic church. It's far bigger than apostate Protestantism. It's far bigger than anything. It's an entity that has never existed in this magnitude. That's what's emerging in the earth right now. That will occur before the Antichrist. Matter of fact, the Antichrist is used by God to judge this evil system. And then God judges the Antichrist afterwards. It's a fact of scripture. And it's always surprising to our natural mind that God will use evil men as his instruments to judge evil men. That happens all through the Bible. But when we encounter it, it often surprises us. But if we take a step back and look at the scripture, it's a principle of scripture that God uses evil men. He actually empowers them, allows them to have resources in an unusual way to judge other evil men or other evil nations. And then God judges the one he used to judge the other. That's a pattern of scripture. Paragraph E, the sealed judgments, they will target the nations that align themselves with this harlot Babylon religion. Many nations, many kings will line up and align themselves in a very practical and real way, not just kind of a casual way at a distance with an endorsement. They will be involved in a way we don't fully know the details, but they will. Religion is gonna take the center stage on a global level. People are saying that the nations are gonna become more secular. The truth is the nations are gonna become more immoral, but more spiritual. Instead of becoming more secular, the Bible makes it clear. The nations are actually gonna become more spiritual, meaning spiritually aware, sensitive, but in a dark way. And it will actually accelerate and escalate the immorality and the sin in the earth when the nations become more religious. It'll be a religion of tolerance, but it will have a perfect hatred towards Jesus and true morality. It will claim to be tolerant. It will be tolerant of everything except for holiness and purity. That's the one thing it will not be tolerant of. Paragraph F, the reason we're taking time on this because it's an important context to understand the first seal. The harlot Babylon religion, paragraph F, will actually be destroyed by the 10 kings who are serving the Antichrist in the most immediate way. Many nations will serve the Antichrist, but there will be 10 that will be his senior leadership team, so to speak. 10 of them will be his inner circle, 10 kings. Never in history have 10 kings come into such a unity as these 10 kings. They will give all of their resource under the authority of one man. Not one nation, but 10 nations will. All of their resource, their military, their natural resources, their oil, their gas, their water, their technology, everything will be submitted to one of the kings, the Antichrist. Well, these 10 kings, it says in Revelation 17, it says the 10 horns which you saw are 10 kings. Revelation 17, verse 12, verse 16, the 10 horns or these 10 kings, they will hate the harlot Babylon worldwide religion, and they will burn her with fire. Now, we would think that the wicked would get along with each other, but the wicked don't like each other. Demons don't like demons. They're not in unity with each other. And so this worldwide religion will become more and more powerful, and these 10 kings will talk to the Antichrist as he's still emerging, he hasn't come on the world scene yet. He's just emerging, and they will say to him, she is a threat, she has more power than we do. Let's get rid of her, and let's take over all of her systems. And that's what they do. They burn her, and then they take over all that she's gained. And that's what's happening in the sealed judgments. Paragraph G, the harlot religion, we've covered some of this ground if you've been around for some time here. But those that are new, I think it's just a good to understand this. The harlot religion will be a voluntary religion. You get it, be a part if you want to. It's a religion of toleration, but the Antichrist religion is gonna replace it after the harlot religion's burned, and it will be a very strict religion with no toleration whatsoever. So the Oprah religion and all of those kind of folks think they're gonna buy into a lifetime of tolerance. But where that is going is to the most strict religion that you can imagine. That's where the harlot church is going to end up against her will, being taken over by the Antichrist. But all the religions will be unified and brought together under tolerance. And then he will take his mask off and say, now that I've got you mobilized and unified, I'm changing the rules of your religion. You can worship only me and you must worship me. Tolerance will go out the window. Paragraph H, changing gears here. Revelation chapter six, verse one. John said, I saw the lamb. And this one is a surprise if you're new to Revelation six. I saw the lamb, which is Jesus, obviously. And the lamb is the one who released the seals. It's Jesus releasing the seals. And the first seal's the Antichrist. Jesus is releasing the Antichrist. And to the unrenewed mind, I mean, the believer who just knew in the Bible and does not understand God's ways, this is so confusing. How could this be? Because he's going to allow evil to judge evil. There's many reasons for that. But the point I'm making, I don't want to go into a theological and philosophical discussion or presentation of that. There's a lot to say about that. But the point I'm making is simply this. Simply this, the lamb, Jesus releases the seals. That's a okay concept until you know what the seals are. And when you understand what the seals are, the first one's the Antichrist. The second one's world war. Jesus releases it, like, wait. The third one is world famine. He releases the seal. But he's releasing it against the nations that have aligned themselves with the harlot Babylon. And he's using the Antichrist to judge these nations. But the nations will end up worse and then the judgment from God will even be more severe on the Antichrist. Then I heard one, I'm still in paragraph H, Revelation 6, 1. I heard one of the four living creatures. Those are the four living creatures that are around the throne. Said to John, with a voice like thunder, John, come and see. Which that's a very important exhortation. I mean, anytime one of the living creatures is saying something, they say very few things in the whole Bible. There's only a few phrases in the whole of the word of God they say. You can be sure it's highly significant. What they're saying, in essence, is come near to God and see clearly what is happening. Now, why did John record that? Because we are supposed to, the reason this command was given is so that we would respond to it. We are to come near the Lord so that we can see clearly his judgments because it will take discernment to understand these, to see clearly. But we can't see clearly unless we come near. Some would be fascinated with the end times, so therefore they would study the end time prophecies, the whole 150 chapters in the Bible that are dedicated to the end times. There are 150 chapters. And they would do it in an academic way because it's interesting, but unless they come near, they can't see clear. They will misinterpret what the information, what it is, and why God is choosing to do that particular type of judgment. I don't wanna know just the what, I wanna know the why. I wanna know the why behind the what. Why are you releasing an Antichrist at the end of the age? Why are you, Jesus, releasing the second seal, World War? Why are you doing this? And he says, I'll tell you what I told John. Come near and see clear. Well, someone might say, I'm too busy to do all of that, just tell me. And then Jesus, that's why he's raising up forerunners. They will come near and they will see clear and they will not only know the what, but they will know the why behind the what. From the word and the spirit. I don't mean secret information. I'm talking about from the word of God, the Holy Spirit will connect it and they will come and they will see. So in these early days, we're on the journey of coming near and seeking to see clear. Because these judgments are confusing, number one, and offensive, number two, if you don't have the mind of the spirit. Some would like to skip, come near and just see clear. Others would like to say, I don't care if I see that clear, I just want to come near it because I love Jesus. Well, the seraphim, the living creatures are seraphim. They say, do both, do both. Come near and see clear, do both. Paragraph J. Now, Paul makes it clear that Jesus is not coming back until the antichrist is on the world scene, till the first seal happens. Till the first seal happens, that Jesus is not coming. Here's what he said. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse three. Let no one deceive you by any means, no matter how clever they are, don't let anybody trick you on this point. He goes, I don't care how famous of a prophet they are, don't be tricked theologically or by some vision on this key point. The day of the Lord, that day, he's talking about the Lord's appearing. Will not come until the falling away happens in the church at the end of the age. There's a great falling away coming because you're gonna join the heart of church. And the man of sin is revealed on the world stage, which is the antichrist. He goes, know that for sure. The antichrist must be revealed on the world stage and the church, there will be a falling away that is so dine and so big that it will be noticeable to the whole body of Christ. And of course they'll fall away under the pressures and the temptations and the seductions of the harlot Babylon religion that is just in its early days right now emerging, just in the early days. Somebody might say, is this that? And I would say, no. The forerunners of the harlot Babylon are beginning to be clear. There's forerunners, there's religious leaders in the nations that are tolerant and they're gaining a large following. As I've mentioned before, I'm not trying to pick on her, but Oprah is clearly, no, that's not funny. It's actually very serious. She is clearly a forerunner to the harlot Babylon, clearly. Now she may get saved and we're praying she'll get saved, but where she's going kind, generous, charming, intellectual, all embracing, tolerant, but preparing the church for the harlot Babylon, which is preparing the nations for the Antichrist. And there's many like her, but she's just the most famous. Just millions following her doctrine, millions. And it's so charming and it's rotten to the core, but it's so dignified. And it's got Jesus riddled all the way through it, the name of Jesus, but it's not the Jesus of the Bible. Top of page two, look at the first seal, the Antichrist. The Antichrist is riding a white horse. He is a counterfeit to the Jesus who rides the white horse later in the book in chapter 19. The man on the white horse in Revelation six is not the man on the white horse in Revelation 19. In chapter 19, that's Jesus entering into Jerusalem on the white horse. John said, I looked. Now, Jesus is releasing this white horse. He's not releasing himself. Some people think Jesus is on the white horse here. Jesus is not releasing Jesus. That's not what's happening here. These are judgments and they're all, the first four of these seals are all parallel together. They're clustered together in a group, just like the first four trumpets, just like the first four bowls. It's been, we're meant to understand that structure. John said, I looked and behold, a white horse. And he who sat upon it had a bow in his hand. This is the Antichrist. And a crown was given to him. And it was given to him by God, actually. God gives the Antichrist the boundaries to move in. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself because it's more than just God gives it. Men willingly give themselves to the Antichrist and so do the demons. That's another point we'll get at later. But at the highest level, the one giving the crown to him is God, is Jesus. And this man went out conquering and to conquer. He went out to dominate the spheres of authority in the nation, the political, the economic, the religious, not just the military conquering. He went out to conquer all the main spheres of society and of life under the governments of the earth. He wanted to dominate every one of them. You could put the word dominate or control in the place of the word conquer. So the white horse, paragraph B, speaks of speed and strength. The horse does. The white symbolizes righteousness. However, it's a counterfeit righteousness. The reign of the Antichrist will appear initially only as good and righteous and helpful to the nations. When Adolf Hitler came on the scene and I appeal to him a lot as a picture in recent history, there's quite a few pictures in history of this kind of thing happening at the end with the Antichrist, but I can't think of a better picture in history than Adolf Hitler. Because when Adolf Hitler first came into power, he was seen by the vast majority as very helpful. He was helping the economy. He was helping the poor. He was helping the underdog and he was hailed as a savior of Germany. It was only later when his true evil came out that people said, this is a nightmare. The man that helped us so much is actually the one destroying us. That's gonna happen on a global level with the Antichrist. But he will appear, like Adolf Hitler did, helpful to the nations. He will appear as a man establishing goodwill in the earth. We will know clearly that it's evil, but the majority, even some will change their opinion to get converted, but even some believers will really be behind him at first. Some believers will fall away in the wake of it. Other believers will come to their senses and go, wait, this is a nightmare that appears good on the front end. So it's clear, we have to understand he appears first on a white horse with speed and strength. His conquering will be rapid and strong, decisive. It will be eventful like the power of the horse and it will appear to be good at first. A crown will be given to him. And again, we find out the crown is given by God. Although men, evil men give their crowns to him as well and the devil gives his authority to him as well. So it's more than just God, but God is the primary one and authority over this whole process, which is offensive to many believers even that Jesus would oversee this, but we've got to get connected to the Jesus of the Bible, which is not the same as the Jesus of the Western culture. They're not the same man. The Jesus of the Bible, Genesis to Revelation is different than the Jesus of many Sunday school classes. And that's why we read the Bible with a fresh look and we ask the Holy Spirit to give us new insight about the glory of this man who we love. Anyway, he's given a crown, paragraph C. He will rise suddenly to a place of international authority. That's what the crown means. He will have a place of international prominence and authority, not just prominence. So he won't just be well-known, he will actually have power. He'll have power to act. He will have in his hand an arrowless bow. This is significant. He has a bow, but it has no arrows in it. This is very significant. This is pointed out by many commentators. It's a very common point that has been pointed out for centuries. It's not a new idea. The arrowless bow, the fact there is no arrow mentioned in the picture, that's not an accident. And the arrowless bow speaks of, initially, he will conquer or increase his authority, not just his prominence, but his actual authority by, without bloodshed. It will be by deceptive diplomacy. He will get people to agree willingly. He will threaten some, but they will agree without war. The arrow speaks of, is a symbol of war in the ancient world. The arrow is different than the sword because the arrow strikes from a distance, whereas the sword, which is the next seal, strikes up close. With a sword, you have to be real close, and it sheds blood. The arrow, it strikes from a distance. So the Antichrist doesn't come forth immediately with a sword, showing his sword, but he's at a distance. It's an arrowless bow. So the rider on the horse, which is the Antichrist, I mean, it's describing the Antichrist, he's ready to go to war. He has a bow. He's on a horse. He's ready for action. But what it most agree, and again, this is a very common interpretation by people who take the book of Revelation at face value. They take it literally or at the plain meaning. It's the threat of war without actually going to war. He shows the bow, but he doesn't actually use it. It's the threat of war. Paragraph E, it's important to grasp this because when he first emerges in the earth, some believers will be just rejoicing over the new. We've been praying for peace. It's finally coming. Wait, wait. What kind of peace and what kind of spirit is behind the peace? That's what we care about. Now, some, paragraph E, his request initially only will be peaceful or they will appear peaceful. He will use deceptive diplomacy, meaning he'll make deals with other kings and nations, but he's lying all the time. And he will use private threats. He will threaten them. He'll say, well, I'm gonna make you an offer that really, if you refuse it, it will be worse for you, but he will present it publicly as we have a new peace treaty. But the behind the scenes won't be so positive. Paragraph F, he will go forth conquering. He will go forth gaining literal, I mean, actual control. Again, it's not just prominence. He actually gains authority quickly. It will be the fastest, the most rapid series of conquest in human history. It will surpass Napoleon, Alexander the Great, who were famous for how quickly they took over the nations. This will be faster than Alexander the Great and Napoleon. There was none that were faster than those two. Though Hitler, he was going really fast in the early 1940s. Took over all of Western Europe in a very short amount of time, rapid speed. The Antichrist will do this on a global level, not just the European level. Have a series of successful rapid, but that's the key word, rapid conquests. Never seen before in history this amount of speed and covering this amount of territory. Now at first, he will be content to conquer political and economic areas, and later he, I mean, in just a short amount of time after he comes on the world scene, then he shifts over and he has military conquests. But at first, it's mostly economic and political deals where he always wins in the deal. But it will escalate to military aggression and it will lead to a world war. The second seal which we'll look at next week is world war. There's a great world war coming and it's not just the Antichrist, it's the human earthly driver, Jesus in heaven is releasing the seal because he wants to confront the nations that have aligned with the heart of Babylon and he wants to draw out the wickedness in the nations to the surface. And in that context, he will cause the purity of the church and the harvest to come forth and Israel to get saved. Only Jesus could pull this off. He is so brilliant, he's operating on 10 dimensional chess. Paragraph G, it says a crown is given to him. Now it's this strange to many people and even offensive to other people idea that the crown is given to him by God. Now someone says, well, if God's given him the crown, do we pray for the raising up of the Antichrist? No, let's not go there. Let's pray before the first seal, we're praying for light to break forth. Occasionally a proven prophet at an international level, which I don't know too many, may have a word of judgment for a nation. I mean, a Jeremiah, Ezekiel level. But again, that's very rare, but it is biblical and possible but it's very rare. But at this point in time, until the first seal, we're praying for light to go forth, knowing that when the light goes forth, it will judge darkness and we pray against the judgments in this timeframe. But from the first seal on, men make a decision or the human race where they take a mark and they become reprobate. They cross a line where they cannot go back and they will never ever be saved after they take that mark. And that begins at the first seal. The first seal, the mark of the beast system begins real close to the first seal. It all, the timeframes are all close together. May take him a few weeks to set it up. You know, undoubtedly he'll be setting up for a long time before he activates it. It will be in place. All the technology and the infrastructure for it, but it is associated with the release of the first seal, that mark of the beast system that will take place for the final three and a half years. Anyway, a crown is given to him. Paragraph G, he receives his authority first from God, but it's authority is the most evil man to judge the most evil religion, the heart of Babylon. And to bring the evil in the nations to the surface. His actions will cause billions to choose greater evil because that's what they want. So the Lord's going to give everybody what they want, but it will create an environment for the righteous to press into God in a way they've never have before. And they want righteousness. And there'll be a purity on the church like no time in history too. The final three and a half years, if you had to say it, I'm sure I won't say this perfect, but God gives the nations what they want. He gives people what they want. Now, when they get what they want, they don't want it. If it's evil. They think they want moral liberty, but they go in their immorality and they end up with a demon that torments them. They don't want the demon, they want the evil. They want what they want without consequences, but in a moral universe, there's no such thing. They get what they want, but they get the consequences they don't want. The Lord allows the Antichrist to set the political climate and the spiritual climate for the nations to choose what they want. And then the praying church and the prophetic ministries are going to have the opposite effect. The multitudes in the body of Christ will press in at a deeper level than ever before. Although many will fall away. They'll go deep or they will bail out one or the other. Now I'm not waiting until then to get serious. I want to be a messenger to get the body of Christ prepared now. I want to get as many messengers prepared to make sense of this in the next couple of decades. Well, the Antichrist gets his authority first from God, but also the paradox, though there's no contradiction, the devil gives the Antichrist his authority. The devil gives his authority to the Antichrist, but so do men, so do kings, and so do the wealthy men of the earth. Not all of them, but many of the most powerful men of the earth, military, economic, spiritual, political, they give their sphere to him willingly as well, just like they did to Adolf Hitler. Revelation 13, it says, now look at how many times it says given. The Antichrist was given a mouth to speak great things and blasphemies. He was given authority for 42 months. That's three and a half years. It was granted to him to make war with the saints, to persecute, in other words. Authority was given to him over every nation. That's influence. He doesn't dominate every nation, by the way. He never does. He wants to, but it never works. But he has influence in every nation, political and spiritual, military. His presence is felt in every nation. But there are many nations that are actually resisting him or at war with him. Verse 15, he was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast. That's the false prophet. But it says 22 times in the book of Revelation, the phrase is given or is granted is used. And the majority of the times the authority is coming from God. Because when the devil is giving authority, it actually says the devil's doing it. And when men do it, it says it. But the other times when it's unmentioned, who's the one doing the giving? It's God. Because when it's the devil or men giving their authority to the Antichrist, then it designates them, it identifies them. Again, I think of the church right now, 2009. So utterly unprepared for these ideas. But it is the revelation of Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible. He was orchestrating this utterly offensive, anti-Western mindset takeover of the world. Very anti the mindset that most of us are familiar with. Certainly the mind is anti from the mindset I'm familiar with from the culture. But praise God, we have the word of God to renew our minds. H, the Antichrist does not take God by surprise. He's part of the father's plan to allow evil that's inside the heart to come to the surface. See men, one reason that men are so offended about hell, because they imagine they love God. And God says, I'm gonna give you a context to prove you don't love me. I'm gonna give you a context in the nations, in history to what's on the inside of you is openly displayed on the outside. And then you will see the nature of the real problem I'm dealing with. The reason Jesus's judgments are so offensive because we imagine most the earth loves God sort of in their own way. And they're sort of innocent. And God says, many of them hate me and they're not innocent. They're guilty before me of choosing that which is hostile to love and to my kingdom, though they will use the language of love all the way to their darkness. So he's going to create a scenario to where it all comes to the surface. So that which is on the inside becomes apparent on the outside, both the wickedness and righteousness. That's the father's plan. It's more than that, but that's a bit of what's going on here in the loosing of these seals. By God's decree, the Antichrist has given us, I'm still in paragraph H, a specific sphere to operate in for three and a half years. He only gets three and a half years to do this. And in this three and a half years, he gets the opportunity to present himself to the nation of Israel like Jesus did for three and a half years. God is perfectly just, even with the devil and the Antichrist, he gives them the same opportunity. He's not intimidated at all. The father, he's not nervous about it failing. He gives the Antichrist three and a half years in Israel like he did Jesus. And it ends up at the end of it, all of Israel end up saved. A third of the nation, millions, that could be four, five, six million, seven million become radical, on fire worshipers of Jesus. And they call him back to be their Messiah and to take over their nation. Now I have there in paragraph H, the Bible verse that all of Matthew 28, all authority in heaven and earth belongs to Jesus. The Antichrist didn't slip by the gate. He's under Jesus' authority. It says in Romans 13, no authority. There is no political authority. There is no authority in the nation, except that God, it comes from God. In the Old Testament, God raised up Assyria and a king called Sennacherib. And he raised up Nebuchadnezzar with Babylon. He raised up two evil men and two evil nations to judge Israel, which wasn't as evil as they were. And then he, after God raised them up to judge Israel, then God judged those nations in a very severe way. And the Antichrist will be a tool of judgment and then be the recipient of far worse judgment himself. The top of page three. Now we're out of time. So I'm just gonna tell you what's on page three. And of course, that's why we gave you the notes, so you can do it. Just a little overview. I'm gonna teach a class, Lord willing, and I think he's willing, for 12 weeks on the Antichrist. There is so much material on the Antichrist. It is, when I first began to study it some years ago, I was shocked how much material. I thought, what? You know, you think there's that one verse and then that other verse, that's about it? No, there is plenty of material in the Bible to teach 12 sessions on it. We have to know the complications of his apparent good, his true evil, the way that he raises up and seduces the nations. We have to understand it to be messengers of it. I don't know when I'm gonna teach it, but the next year or two or whatever. There's too many topics to teach, which is good. Paragraph A, I'm just gonna make a point or two, then we're gonna bring this to an end. The Antichrist is the final world leader in this age. He has the greatest political authority, the most powerful army, the most money, the largest religious network, particularly after he removes the Babylon network and takes it over and then increases it. He takes over the Babylon one and then multiplies it. He has more than any man in history. That's who he is. Paragraph B, he's the most cruel man, the most cruel man that will ever live in human history. But he will appear as a man on a white horse, a man of righteousness at first. Let's go to top of page four. What I am giving you here at this page, are events that coincide with the first seal. When the false prophet emerges on the world scene of the first seal, again, that's when the prayer movement as a rule shifts gears. We're not just praying for light and salvation. We'll keep praying for light and salvation. We will then begin to pray for judgments globally according to the numbers of the judgment series. We pray for the first one, the second, the third, the fourth in order together around the world. And we're praying for judgment on the apostate. Things shift gears after the first seal, the prayer movement shifts. And I have a list of things that happen, you can read them on your own, that happen in proximity to the first seal. These all happen with 42 months to go, you know, plus or minus a week or two. I mean, it's not that they all happen the same, you know, one hour period, but all in proximity to the first seal, these things take place. The judgment on the Babylon network, the end of world peace, because there's a counterfeit world peace that's been going on for a few years. That's over suddenly. The two witnesses raise up. Satan is cast to the earth. You know, right now, Satan's in the mid heavens. It's in the second heavens. Satan and all the demons will be confined to the earth and they will be raging on the earth, but it will be like hell on earth in various parts of the earth. The entire demonic coast will be confined to the earth and they will be very angry. The antichrist, paragraph E, will have a head wound that he will get healed up before the whole world. The abomination of desolation happens then. The image of the beast, the mark of the beast, and the gathering of all nations around to battle against Jerusalem. There's probably, I'm missing a few. I was just this afternoon going through this and I didn't go through all my checklists, so I might've missed one or two, but all of these happen in proximity to the first seal. Last point I'm going to make is the very last paragraph is kind of a note that on the website, I didn't put it in these notes, but it's two pages worth of information. Some interpret the first seal, not as the antichrist, but as Jesus. I think that's absolutely wrong. Absolutely wrong. I mean, there's very godly and good people who do that, but the conclusion is absolutely wrong. Others interpreted the first seal as fulfilled in history. I have it written out there and on the website, you just go get this very same handout, but instead of four pages that you have right now, it'll be six pages. There'll be two more pages with it. And it's got a lot of the detail of why it is the antichrist. And if that interests you, those of you that are saying, hey, I want to be eager about this, then just go download it and it's yours. Amen. Let's stand.