The Unholy Trinity

The Unholy Trinity and the Mark of the Beast

Lesson 6 of 17 lessons on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ

Introduction:

We go back to the beginning of creation to find the first member of the unholy trinity. Satan was originally created by God as the anointed (chosen) cherub, the highest ranked angel, who was to preserve the holiness of God. He was created without fault, a glorious angel who allowed pride to come into his heart to the point of desiring to be as God Himself. See Ezekiel 28:11-28 and Isaiah 14:12-15. 

The Devil – the chief of three in the unholy trinity: 

We find him portrayed in Revelation 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads: 4. And his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth….7. And there was war in heaven, Michael (the archangel) and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8. And prevailed not, neither was there place found any more in heaven. 9. 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 with him. 10. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God, day and night…

The Bible makes clear that Satan still had access to heaven to accuse the believers to God. We find descriptions of his accusations of Job before God in Job chapters 1 & 2, and further, of the high priest Joshua in Zechariah 3:1-2. However, we find out in Revelation 12 that he will be cast out of heaven along with his (fallen) angels, otherwise known as demons. We do not know how many angels of God exist, but apparently one third of the created angels came into rebellion against God. They no longer will have access to heaven, but they will be confined to earth. Satan then knows that his time is limited. We believe that the fall may occur during the trumpet judgments; perhaps the fallen star mentioned in Revelation 9:1 was Satan himself. (The book of Revelation is not totally chronological, and flash-backs and parentheses occur.) 

Satan has shown himself as the enemy of God, the enemy of every Christian, and the enemy of all righteousness. He is the source of our sin nature, the flesh; and he held the keys of death and hell. He is the leader of this unholy trinity.

The beast from the sea:

Revelation 13:1 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 horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the names of blasphemy. 2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were like 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. 3./ 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. 4. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying: Who is able to make war with the beast?

Here we see antichrist called the beast. His rule has some of the characteristics of the Greek empire, the Medo-Persian empire, and the Babylonian empire (see Daniel chapter 7). The beast is empowered by Satan, and both Satan and the beast are worshipped by all mankind except for those worshipping God. In our previous lesson, we saw that antichrist will be revealed after the rapture of the church removes the restraint of the Holy Spirit indwelling believers. Satan begins to get the worship which he has sought so long. 

Antichrist is not only against Christ, but he is a false representative of the messiah. Jesus is the exact representation of God the Father. He is in the Father, and the Father in Him. The incarnation is God becoming a man without ceasing to be God. Antichrist also resembles Satan. Notice how similar the descriptions of both are. Furthermore, Satan indwells the antichrist in a similar fashion that God is in Jesus Christ. 

Antichrist arises from the sea. Symbolically the sea is often used to speak of the mass of mankind. Many believe that antichrist will be a gentile, and probably have a connection with the former Roman empire, which may well be revived. We know that antichrist will be a genius as a military leader, an economist, a politician, and even a religious leader. We outlined these characteristics in the previous lesson

Apparently, antichrist has a resurrection from the dead as well. He does not suffer crucifixion, but some sort of deathly wound from a sword, dies and returns to life. After seeing his return to life, the world worships him. 

The false prophet:

Revelation 13:11. 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. 12. And he exercised 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. 14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of these miracles which he hath power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image of 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 beast should be killed. 

 The false prophet comes from the earth, which some interpret as meaning that he would be at least partially Jewish. His major purpose is to rally support for antichrist. He is given satanic power to have an image of the antichrist made (we will see that it will be put into the temple), and to give life to the image. At this point, everyone is compelled to idolatry, worshipping the image or being killed. 

The false prophet comes up with another method of control as well.  Revelation 13:16 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; 17. 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. 18. 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 three score and six (666).  This may have seemed inconceivable in days gone by, but not now. It is very feasible to place a computer chip under the skin which could have one’s finances, medical records, family and educational information easily available for anyone, including the government, and even to be able to locate the individual at any time.

Many have tried to figure out the antichrist. This seems an exercise in futility. He is not revealed until after the rapture. The simplest explanation for 666 is that six is the number of man, and this is the best that man can do. God’s number is seven, the number of completion.

Our proper response is to warn others about the future and the need to repent. If we repent now, it will not usually cost us the death penalty. If we do not, and actually survive into the tribulation, it almost always would result in death if we repent from our sins and receive Christ as savior. And of course, if we die without Christ before the tribulation, we have unfortunately chosen to be apart from God forever in hell.