“The Real and the Counterfeit”
Revelation 6:1-8
“Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” And I looked, and behold a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.” [Rev 6:1-2]
The Real and the Counterfeit are revealed in these verses. They identify Christ and Antichrist, respectively. It is like comparing real and counterfeit money. The latter looks just like the real. It is even used as such by those who are deceived. But in the end it is a lie, a fake, a forgery; and those holding the counterfeit have been taken and deceived; they’ve been ripped off.
That will be the unfortunate reality for many in the latter days after the Rapture of the Church. Revelation 6 reveals the beginning of the end, the Tribulation period, the last seven years before Christ returns. The Antichrist will be fully engaged during that time and will appear like Christ while being in total opposition to Him.
This “man of sin” and “son of perdition” [ref. 2 Thes 2:3] will deceive “even the elect.” He will mislead Israel until the middle of the Tribulation and then enter the Temple and demand to be worshipped as God. That will fulfill the “abomination that causes desolation” prophesied in Dan 9:27 & Matt 24:15. Israel will then recognize their error and turn and follow the Real. They will finally see Jesus as their Messiah [ref. Jer 31:31-34; Rom 11:25-26].
This morning we will cross reference to several Scriptures that describe Antichrist and then observe our Rev 6 passage on the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Each horseman comes at the loosing of a seal on the scroll that was introduced in Rev 5. If the scroll is indeed the Title Deed to the Earth, then the seal judgments are the final countdown to Jesus’ Return.
Can any of the four horsemen be the Antichrist? Can all of horsemen be the Antichrist? I think it is quite possible, but we can’t know for sure. We should, however, note that the judgments of famine and pestilence and death are in line with the work of Antichrist described in Scripture.
Two things we can know, however, are that the loosing of the seals begin the seven year Tribulation, and that the Church is in heaven at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb [ref. Rev. 4] during that time.
