The 3 Stages of the Antichrist

Notes from Stephen Bohr’s “The Genesis Code” #22 The Antichrist & The #666

Background of the entire chapter of Revelation 12 is Genesis 3:15. The story is reenacted in the days of Moses and also reenacted in the days of Christ and will be reenacted again in the final days as Satan tries to destroy the church

Stage I: the dragon tries to kill the seed of the woman
Stage II: the dragon goes after the woman and she flees to the wilderness
Stage III: The warfare of the devil against the remnant of the woman’s seed

Same elements: woman, women’s seed, dragon or serpent, emnity

Revelation 12:1-5 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.

Woman: Old Testament Church, 12 stars, 12 Tribes, culminating in Mary, Jesus has not yet been born, desperate for the Messiah to deliver them.

12 stars represent sons of Jacob that became the 12 tribes:

Genesis 37:9-10 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”
10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?”

All the people are in terrible bondage to sin:

Matthew 1:21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”

John 8:34-36 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

Dragon/the devil sought to kill the child. Pharaoh for Moses, Herod for Jesus:

Matthew 2:13-16 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” 14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” 16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

Parallels to Exodus from Egypt:
1. The people are in terrible bondage, unable to deliver themselves, seeking a redeemer
2. A male child is born and is persecuted by Pharaoh
3. The male child lives with the Israelites, is rejected, and leaves
4. The male child returns with power and rescues the people

Pharaoh is compared to the great Dragon

Ezekiel 29:3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.

Satan knew that the children of Israel would be delivered from Egypt in 400 years, would go to Canaan, and there Jesus will be born. Satan inspired the worst atrocities of killing children both in the days of Moses and in the days of Herod to prevent Jesus from coming.

The sign of deliverance was the slaying of a perfect lamb: Passover

Life of Moses prophetically pointed to the life of Jesus: death, resurrection, transfiguration

Deuteronomy 34:5-6 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. 6 And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day.

Jude 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

1400 years after his death, Moses was there at the Transfiguration:

Matthew 17:3 personally And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

Jesus also raised from the dead after three days and was caught up to heaven:

Old Testament events were local and literal:

Moses: delivered literal Israel from the literal bondage in the literal land of Egypt, across a liberal desert, to the literal land of Canaan. They sacrificed a literal lamb. Moses brought literal water from a literal rock and literal bread from heaven. A literal serpent was raised up to prevent literal death from literal poison.

Future events would be spiritual and global in the New Testament

Moses stated that a new Prophet greater than himself which would do similar work but in even a much greater way. Moses delivered the Israelites from bondage, Peter points out that Jesus delivered the world from bondage of sin:

Deuteronomy 18:15-18 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16 according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’
17 “And the LORD said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. 18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.

Acts 3:22-26 For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ 24 Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. 25 You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ 26 To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

Jesus died as the Passover lamb:

1 Corinthians 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

The second stage Satan goes after the woman, After Jesus’ death is a period where heaven is rejoicing that the earth is in woe. This stage should logicality occur in the time period after Jesus’ death: (The Middle Ages)

Revelation 12:10-12 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Revelation 12:6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Persecution goes on against the church, sending waters/people out to constantly persecute God’s people yet the earth saves the woman stops the people the devil sends and persecution ceases after 1260 days

Revelation 12:13-16 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

Very Important: this period of time the dragon/the devil’s forces persecute the church and then the persecution is stopped. The persecution continues later in the third stage but in this stage only a remnant of her descendents still keep the commandments of God and it is this remnant that is persecuted, the majority of the woman’s descendents which presumably do not keep the commandments of God are not persecuted. Therefore most of Christianity is spared from persecution during this time, hinting that the persecuting power is either an apostate Christian power or is tolerant of apostate Christianity but intolerant of faithful Christianity.

Third stage against the seed of Christ, that remnant in the church who still keeps the commandments of God:

Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

1. The great Dragon was cast to the earth after a great war in heaven
2. The Dragon stood in front of the woman to devour her child
3. The Dragon persecutes the woman for 1260 days, she flies into the wilderness on wings of an eagle but the earth stops the Dragon’s flood
4. The Dragon went to war with remnant of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ

The Dragon has seven heads and 10 horns and seven diadems. 10 kingdoms but only seven kings, the little horn having uprooted three of the Kings. Satan himself is not acting here, only the representatives of Satan are acting on the earth. The heads, horns, and diadems presumably refer to the visible agents of Satan.

Continuation of the Dragon from stage II to stage III similar to Daniel 2 where the legs of iron are continued into the feet composed of iron and clay. (this stage of mixture of church and state lasts through the end of statue, until the stone representing Jesus destroys all kingdoms on earth)

Revelation 12 elaborates on the stage of iron and clay by breaking it down into two additional stages of stage III and stage IV, persecuting the woman, a break from persecution where it’s power is suspended, and then persecution with the remnant of her offspring who keep the commandments of God.

Daniel 7: four beasts:
1. A Lion with wings like eagles similar to the woman in Revelation 12, Eagles wings used there to escape persecution
2. A bear raised up on one side with three ribs in its teeth, ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’
3. A leopard with four wings like a bird with four heads
4. A terrible beast with the characteristics of Rome, iron teeth, 10 horns, the little horn with a mouth speaking blasphemy

The terrible beast is slain but the rest of the beasts survive and their lives were prolonged for a season and a time

The four beasts arise from raging waters, representing nations or peoples:

Isaiah 17:12-13 Woe to the multitude of many people
Who make a noise like the roar of the seas,
And to the rushing of nations
That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters;
But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind,
. Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

Winds represent invading armies or wars:

Jeremiah 4:10-12 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD!
Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem,
Saying, ‘You shall have peace,’
Whereas the sword reaches to the heart.”
11 At that time it will be said
To this people and to Jerusalem,

“ A dry wind of the desolate heights blows in the wilderness
Toward the daughter of My people—
Not to fan or to cleanse—
12 A wind too strong for these will come for Me;
. Now I will also speak judgment against them.”

Daniel 7 stages of the terrible beast are identical to the stages of the Dragon in Revelation 12:

Daniel 7:23-24 “Thus he said: ‘ The fourth beast shall be
A fourth kingdom on earth,
Which shall be different from all other kingdoms,
And shall devour the whole earth,
Trample it and break it in pieces.
24 The ten horns are ten kings
Who shall arise from this kingdom.
And another shall rise after them;
He shall be different from the first ones,
. And shall subdue three kings.

1. Dragon stage by itself where it devours the whole earth
2. Dragon stage with 10 horns which arise out of the kingdom
3. Dragon stage was little horn which shall subdue 3 of the 10 kings

The Dragon or terrible beast is always identifiable with Rome:
1. Iron teeth, like iron legs
2. Smashes or crushes all of the kingdoms
3. A church power rises up mixed in with the political power of the state and persecutes God’s church for a set time (Clay mixed in with iron)
4. The Dragon’s power is broken and then it is restored for the last days