The past, present and future of the Antichrist

Revelation 17:8 “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”

Notice that it puts a past tense on the Antichrist’s first half of reigning.
The present tense is where he is not existing, that is his burial and he went to hell.
Future tense is referring to his second half of reigning.

The Bible puts John in the present tense when the Antichrist went to hell. Revelation 16 was already near the end of the tribulation so that was his second half of reigning. So John jumped to a different timeline here, the present timeline is where the Antichrist is in hell and John sees the Roman Catholic church in power, she is ruling in power.

Recall when the Antichrist was in his second half of ruling in Revelation 16, where was he? He is not in Rome, he is in Jerusalem.

When does he enter into Jerusalem? Once he gets resurrected.

Notice in verse 8 it says that he’s going into perdition, that is in present tense that John is in.

2 Thessalonians 2:8-9 “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,”

In verse 8, Jesus Christ is going to destroy its wicked person at Armageddon, and that’s the Antichrist.
In verse 9, it is even more plain here that it’s referring to the Antichrist. Power of Satan, that’s Satan incarnate. So we know that this is the Antichrist.

The Antichrist has 2 capitals

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”

In verse 3, he is called the son of perdition because he went to perdition.
In verse 4, when he is born and comes out of perdition, he’s going to enter God’s temple in Jerusalem.

John is seeing the Antichrist connected to this Roman Catholic power before he enters Jerusalem. This means that if the Antichrist already had a connection with the Roman Catholic church system, then his first half has to be a Roman Catholic system. But he doesn’t have a home, where are we going to put his home? That’s the interesting thing, his first half is going to be Rome, the Vatican.

So in his first half, he’ll be ruling in Rome, then he does to perdition, then he’s going to move to Jerusalem the temple, that’s why the Antichrist has no problem destroying Babylon later on.

They that dwell on earth shall wonder

Everyone’s going to wonder after the beast, after the dragon, it’s Satan incarnate, we’ve read that at Revelation 13.

The people who worship and wonder after the Antichrist, their names are not written in the book of life.

They look at this Antichrist who past, present and future.

A clue for all those who are wise

Revelation 17:9 “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.”

If you’re smart, if you have wisdom, then you’re going to know this. God says if you’re going to be wise, then you will recognize this clue.

The woman is sitting on the beast with seven heads.

The seven heads are seven mountains.

The woman is called a city in Revelation 17.

So what city is known as the city sitting on seven hills or mountains?

That’s Rome.