The world is in an upheaval! Natural disasters, plagues, animal attacks, another round of people vanishing without a trace, and the leader of the world unite movement has been killed!
Revelation 8:13- And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
This marks the second half of the tribulation which is also called the Great Tribulation. Things were about to get much worse!
Revelation 13:1-4, 11-15- And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And 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 they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
The man of sin who had been assassinated gets resurrected by the dragon that John saw. This dragon is Satan. And the person who was the man of sin is no more- he is now the devil incarnate; Satan in the flesh.
We aren't sure if John is writing in a simile meaning that there is a person who is so wicked that he is like a dragon, or if John is truly writing what he sees and there will be horrific monsters ruling earth during this time.
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.
When the beast comes out of the bottomless pit and enters into the man of sin, that man becomes known as the Son of Perdition. And that beast doesn't come out of the pit alone.
Revelation 9:1-3, 7-11- And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
These creatures are servants of the Son of Perdition, and they had one job- to cause pain.
The horrors that will fall on these people are something worse than any nightmare or horror movie!
First, the Son of Perdition will go into the Jewish temple and sit down on the ark of the covenant and tell everyone that he is god. He will demand to be worshiped. This is something the Jews were warned about by Old Testament prophets and by Jesus Himself.
Matthew 24:15-21- When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Jesus said that these people should flee- run away and don't look back! Why? Because it's going to get even worse.
The Son of Perdition will make people worship a false image. He will make them take a mark in their bodies to show their loyalty to him. And this mark will damn their souls.
Revelation 13:16-18- And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Every knows about the mark of the beast! Why would anyone take the mark? Some out of fear- they can buy, sell, or eat without it. Some because they don't know what happened to those millions who have disappeared twice now, and they don't want it to happen to them. And some, because of a lie the devil will tell them. The same lie he told Eve- you won't die.
The son of Perdition will have amazing power. He will give people a false eternal life! But, this will only make them more miserable. So many evils will rampage across the world at this time that we cannot write them all down. But, those who live during this age will suffer like no other ever has!
Satan has come back to inhabit the man of sin's body turning him into the Son of Perdition. He has said that men have to worship his image and take his mark or be killed.
But, he isn't the only thing that came out of that pit!
Revelation 9:3-6- And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Why would the devil harm the people worshiping him, you might ask? Because he's angry!
Revelation 12:7-9, 12- And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
The devil knows that his time of power is coming to a close. So, he's going to throw everything he has at humanity! And, it's going to be terrible!
