God's Prophetic Blueprint
Chapter 5
THE SATANIC TRINITY
"And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer" (Revelation 6:1, 2).
The first horseman of the apocalypse is the Antichrist. Notice, he is pictured as riding on a white horse. Be careful not to confuse the rider of the white horse of Revelation 6 with the rider of the white horse of Revelation 19. The latter refers to our Lord Jesus Christ, whose name from eternity past is "the Word of God" (Revelation 19:13).
It is not surprising to discover the subtlety of Satan in seeking to counterfeit the Son of God. In fact, Satan tries to counterfeit everything of God. For example, today there are counterfeit servants of God, counterfeit churches, and counterfeit experiences. Some day Satan will bring about a brief period of peace, which is the best he can do to counterfeit the Kingdom Age; but under Satan's rule, when people are saying, "Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape" (I Thessalonians 5:3).
Perhaps the greatest of all of Satan's counterfeits will be the Satanic trinity. It is clearly prophesied in God's Word. Consideration has already been given to the fact that the Antichrist will be the counterfeit for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's look at the counterfeit Holy Spirit: "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth . . ." (Revelation 13:11). The first man-beast in this chapter (verses 4-10) is the Antichrist, but in verse 11, another man is also called "a beast." He is the False Prophet. The Antichrist is pictured coming up from among the ten nations of the revived Roman Empire, while it is said that the False Prophet comes up "out of the earth." When we read of "the earth" or "the land" in Scripture without further clarification to pin point the location, usually it is safe to assume that the reference is to the land of Israel. In this case, it is clear that the False Prophet will arise from Israel. At this point in Bible prophecy, Satan's masterpiece of the counterfeit trinity is complete:
* Satan will be playing the part of God the Father.
* Antichrist will be the counterfeit Jesus Christ.
* The False Prophet will be the substitute for the Holy Spirit.
It is worth noting that Satan understands the present ministry of the Holy Spirit. No doubt he heard Jesus say, ". . . when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you" (John 16:13-15). Satan understands that whenever the Holy Spirit is working among men, He glorifies Christ. It seems logical that as soon as the False Prophet makes his appearance, we then read, "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 . . ." (Revelation 13:12). It will be the purpose of the counterfeit Holy Spirit to cause every person on earth to worship the counterfeit Christ.
Some years ago while I was preaching in Pennsylvania, the host pastor told me of a friend of his who had become enchanted with turkey hunting. It took quite some time for this modern "Nimrod" to develop his turkey call, but with much persistence, he finally felt prepared to begin his search for the wary prey. After many hours of patient "calling," he heard, off in the distance, the response of a "Tom Turkey." He kept calling, and the turkey kept responding. Finally, the hunter was within a few yards of his prize. As he stood up with his finger on the trigger, much to his astonishment, his "turkey" stood up at the same time with his finger on his trigger. You guessed it! Two hunters were gobbling back and forth, and neither was a turkey. They were both counterfeits. I am glad to report that they did not shoot each other, and no doubt they had a good laugh about the situation. But the picture before us in Revelation 13 is no laughing matter, because under Satan's direction and empowering, his counterfeits will seek to control the lives of all who live on this planet: "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" (Revelation 13:16-18).
Much has been written concerning the mysterious number of the beast (666), so I will not take time to rehearse the various interpretations that have been espoused. What we know for sure is what we read in this text, namely, that a mark will be imposed upon the right hand or forehead of the people on the earth. Without that mark "no man might buy or sell" (Revelation 13:17). This will be one way that Antichrist will seek to eliminate all who refuse to bow the knee to him, and there will be many. These dissenters will include the first believers following the Rapture, the 144,000 Jews from "all the tribes of the children of Israel" (Revelation 7:4), as well as millions of other Jewish believers, plus multitudes of Gentiles who trust Christ as Saviour (Revelation 7:9).
It appears that Satan is getting the world ready now for that day when his counterfeit Christ will impost his "mark" in an effort to control the people by monitoring all business transactions. The "U.S. News-Letter," a private weekly report and forecast from U.S. News and World Report carried this interesting observation: "A 'cashless' society? It's up ahead, waiting for you, like it or not ... computer access to your bank or charge account simply by inserting a card in a slot. No checks to write, and eventually - when bank and store terminals are interconnected - little need for currency. A federal commission has given its blessing to electronic fund transfer.... There's no turning back." Man now has the capability of putting invisible, but permanent, numbers on our bodies in the form of laser tattoos. Such numbers will someday show up under infrared scanners at check out counters. Due to the tremendous gains in electronics technology, computers have been constructed with the capacity of handling fund transfers for all of the people on earth. For example, one such giant computer is now resting in Belgium, one of the ten nations of the Common Market and probably one of the ten nations represented by the toes of the image of Daniel 2. Surely the stage is being set for the coming of Antichrist who will, according to the prophetic plan, seek to control the buying and selling of all the people on earth.
The Satanic trinity will appear to have their way in all of the affairs of men, but as we shall see in later chapters, the true God who has been on His throne from eternity past will be triumphant in His battle with the forces of Satan.