Miraculous Displays of Power

"That they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned [judged] who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thess. 2:11, 12.
Moreover, he will sustain his claims by miraculous displays of power. Like Elijah, he will cause fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and even as the Lord Himself, he will work miracles to accredit his mission (compare 2 Thess. 2:9) and to prove the first beast's title to divine homage. Thereby he will deceive "them that dwell on the earth," and induce them to "make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live." v. 14.
He is permitted to go still further under the inspiration of Satan, for he will have "power to give life [not life, but breath] 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 image of the beast should be killed." v. 15.
Nebuchadnezzar went far when he erected his image of gold in the plain of Dura, and issued a decree that all men should worship it with the penalty of the burning fiery furnace if they refused. But Antichrist will go still further, for his image, with its diabolical breath and the mouthpiece of Satan in its utterances, will fill the minds of its worshippers with fear and dread.