Lesson 6

Lesson 6 (continued)

8. How long does Antichrist make war with God's true followers?

He persecutes the saints "until the Ancient [Father] of Days" comes into Court, and the judgment of the Heavenly counsel announces Antichrist and Satan's demise. Notice that the verdict comes prior to the saints possessing the kingdom, as verse 22 indicates a short delay between announcement and actual possession.

9. What distinguishes the many religious people of the world from the true followers of Jesus, according to Revelation 12:17?

The genuine followers of Jesus hold to His prophetic testimony, or warnings, which the prophet John saw and wrote down in Revelation (1:1-3). Furthermore, they keep God's commandments while the world at large disregards the Ten Commandments of the Bible. In ages past, so successful has been opponents against commandment-keepers that a man could not keep the Sabbath, or celebrate the festivals or even admit he was a Jew at all for threat of death. Persecution to this degree will emerge once again, during the appointed time of the end.

10. How do we know the Ten Commandments are central to the final conflict (Daniel 11:30)?

Antichrist will vent his fury against the Holy Covenant as given on Mt. Sinai by God. He will show favor for those who forsake the Covenant.

11. How do we know the Covenant is the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 4:13)?

Revelation 11:19 also mentions the importance of the Ten Commandments, for at the very end of time, the Ark of the Testimony—the depository of the Ten Commandments—will be revealed as the measure of judgment against mankind.

Bible prophecy is very clear. Antichrist, of Jewish heritage, will determine to lead Covenant-keepers into idol worship and the worship of evil spirits (Revelation 9:20). He will turn them away from the Law of God (as written by God’s own finger), into first-day Sunday rest—at the threat of punishment by law.

12. Daniel 7:25 details additional identifying traits of Antichrist. What are they?

He will speak great words against God by a mixture of truth (Christianity) and falsehood (Babylonian, pagan goddess worship). Secondly, he will persecute the saints who hold to God's commandments. Third, he will think to "change [God's] times and laws."

Several possibilities are found here. He may change the calendar to try to emphasize Sunday as the seventh day. But even more, Antichrist will attempt to change the Jewish Festivals schedule and other recognized religious observances. In Daniel 2:21 it is God alone who "changes times and seasons," in the same way that He "removes kings and sets up kings". Antichrist's attempt to "change the times" is to fly in the face of providence and to assert that he can act as God in decreeing the how and when of divine power. He will promote the Ten Commandments as found in Catholicism. The fourth commandment simply reads, "remember to keep holy the LORD'S Day," but gives no mention to the seventh day which God "blessed" and set aside as holy during the week of creation as a blessing for all of mankind--before any Jew was born (Genesis 2:2-3).

The Catholic Encyclopedia

Commandments of God

Called also simply THE COMMANDMENTS, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, or THE DECALOGUE (Gr. deka, ten, and logos, a word), the Ten Words of Sayings, the latter name generally applied by the Greek Fathers.

The Ten Commandments are precepts bearing on the fundamental obligations of religion and morality and embodying the revealed expression of the Creator's will in relation to man's whole duty to God and to his fellow-creatures. They are found twice recorded in the Pentateuch, in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, but are given in an abridged form in the catechisms. Written by the finger of God on two tables of stone, this Divine code was received from the Almighty by Moses amid the thunders of Mount Sinai, and by him, made the groundwork of the Mosaic Law. Christ resumed these Commandments in the double precept of charity--love of God and of the neighbour; He proclaimed them as binding under the New Law in Matthew 19 and in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). He also simplified or interpreted them, e.g. by declaring unnecessary oaths equally unlawful with false, by condemning hatred and calumny as well as murder, by enjoining even love of enemies, and by condemning indulgence of evil desires as fraught with the same malice as adultery (Matthew 5). The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord's Day. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xix) condemns those who deny that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians.

Editor's Note: Of course, Catholicism condemns those who "deny" their shortened version of the Ten Commandments (see below) which erases the seventh day Sabbath rest and the restriction against idolatry. Visit http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12495a.htm to see how Catholicism characterizes and separates the Protestant faith from their faith.

The Ten Commandments As Found In Catholicism

I am the LORD your GOD; you shall not have strong God's before me.

You shall not take the name of the LORD your GOD in vain.

III

Remember to keep holy the LORD'S Day.

Honor your father and your mother.

You shall not kill.

You shall not commit adultery.

VII

You shall not steal.

VIII

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.