The Third Temple Period: The Terrifying False Trinity

(Read Part 9)

Satan has a 6,000-year history of attempting to replace the God of the universe with himself (Isa. 14:12-14). Satan will once again attempt to gain God’s preeminent position during the third temple period when Satan institutes his corrupt version of the Holy Trinity—this one consisting of Satan, the Antichrist and the false prophet (Rev. 13; 16:13; 19:20; 20:10). The distinctly dispensational truth of the eschatological Satanic trinity, a deceptive device that will be used by Satan to mimic the true Trinity of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19-20; John 14:16; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 John 5:7-8) during the seven-year tribulation period, will be the focus of the next several blogs.

Lucifer/Satan vs. God the Father
Genesis 1 records God’s creative acts that took place in a literal six-day period approximately 6,000 years ago. Moses, the author of Genesis, states six times in the first chapter of Genesis that what God created was “good” (Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). Moses’ concluding remark regarding all of God’s creation was that “it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). God never created anything less than perfect.

God perfectly created all of the angels. However, even the youngest Sunday school student knows the story of Adam and Eve and the evil serpent. Eve is enjoying the Garden of Eden when Satan tempts her to eat the forbidden fruit. Eve succumbs to the temptation and subsequently persuades Adam to eat that which God commanded both of them not to eat, resulting in the fall of humankind (Gen. 3:1-7). Every person born since the sin of Adam is condemned to spiritual and physical death (Gen 3:17, 22-24; Rom. 5:12). However, God provided the protoevangelium, or the first occurrence of the gospel, in Genesis 3:15, which prophesied that one day the heavenly Father would send to earth His chosen One, the Lord Jesus Christ, when God’s heel would be “bruised” at the crucifixion of Jesus (John 3:16-18), but ultimately resulting in the crushing of Satan (Rev. 20:10).

When did Satan, the sinful God-defying angel, materialize? We started with the premise that God created everything perfect and without sin (Gen. 1:31). A study of angelology reveals that Lucifer was created perfect, but with the freedom to rebel against God if he so chose. God created angels, including Lucifer, before the creation of the physical earth. Scripture states in Job 38:1-7:

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:

“Who is this who darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?
Now prepare yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer Me.

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Lucifer enjoyed viewing God’s fresh creative acts. However, when God gave the dominion of the creation to man (Gen. 1:26-28), Lucifer chose to rebel against God and attempt to gain the dominion for himself (Gen. 3). We will examine this more closely in the next blog, as it has a significant prophetic nexus to the seven-year tribulation period when Lucifer, who is then called the Dragon, the Devil and Satan, attempts to mimic God the Father in his satanic trinity (Rev. 13:2, 4; 16:13; 20:2).

The Antichrist vs. God the Son—Jesus Christ
The eschatological Antichrist (1 John 2:18), a real human being who potentially could be living today, will be satanically empowered during the seven-year tribulation period. The Antichrist plays a major role during the entire 70th week of Daniel prophecy. The Antichrist, Satan’s attempt at mimicking the Lord Jesus Christ, confirms a covenant with Israel, which marks the exact time when the seven-year tribulation period commences (Dan. 9:27). God will end the seven-year period when He destroys the Antichrist and sends him to the lake of fire to burn in eternal torment (Rev. 19:20), a subject we will explore in depth in future blogs.

The False Prophet vs. God the Holy Spirit
Satan completes his satanic trinity by empowering a second person referred to in Scripture as the “false prophet” to mimic the work of the Holy Spirit (Rev. 13; 16:13; 19:20; 20:10). Satan empowers the false prophet to support and enforce the worship of the Antichrist. The false prophet’s allegiance to the satanically-empowered Antichrist results in deadly consequences for all who refuse to worship the Antichrist, also known as the beast, during the tribulation period (Rev. 13:12-15).

We will develop the distinctly dispensational truths regarding the eschatological satanic trinity in the next several blog articles. May those of us who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior remain vigilant during the current church age in accord with the instructions found in Ephesians 6:11-13:

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Here we stand; we cannot, and must not, be moved from this distinctive dispensational doctrine.

(To be continued)

Dr. Richard Schmidt is the founder of Prophecy Focus Ministries, having previously served as a pastor and church planter. His love for the prophetic Scriptures resulted in writing a doctoral dissertation on a dispensational perspective on the mystery church age existing between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel. Dr. Schmidt offers seminars on a variety of prophetic topics to local churches and conferences. We are very excited to involve him as a contributing author to Dispensational Publishing House.