There is perhaps no personality in the Bible more mysterious
and important as the Antichrist. In a curious way he is introduced to us here
in Daniel, chapter 11. Let's begin by examining the Scripture.
Who is this?
Some of
the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless
until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.
"The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above
every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be
successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined
must take place. He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the
one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above
them all. Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresses; a god unknown to
his fathers he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly
gifts. He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god
and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over
many people and will distribute the land at a price. "At the time of the
end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North
will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of
ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. He
will also invade the Beautiful Land. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab
and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand. He will extend his
power over many countries; Egypt will not escape. He will gain control of the
treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and
Nubians in submission. But reports from the east and the north will alarm him,
and he will set out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many. He will
pitch his royal tents between the seas at the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he
will come to his end, and no one will help him.
(Daniel 11:35-45 NIV)
Antiochus Epiphanes
The argument that this passage must refer to Antiochus
Epiphanies is very simple: it's a continuation of the first 35 verses. But
there are some significant problems with this view:
·
The prophecy does
not agree with the career. For example, he never conquered Egypt.
·
The prophecy
itself refers to the "time of wrath" or "time of the end."
These are generally recognized to refer to the day of judgment and the coming
of Christ. Those events clearly have not yet happened.
·
In chapter 12, we
shall see that these events are connected to the resurrection of the dead ---
which also has not happened yet.
·
Finally, the
central figure of this particular passage is neither the "King of the
North" or "King of the South." It would seem logical, therefore,
that the passage refers to someone else.
Looking around through prophecy, most scholars agree this
passage refers to the Antichrist. In particular we see some similarities with
the Antichrist as described in section Thessalonians, chapter 2. Let's take a
look at that passage:
Concerning
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you,
brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or
letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already
come. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until
the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to
destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is
called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple,
proclaiming himself to be God. Don't you remember that when I was with you I
used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so
that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness
is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so
till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed,
whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by
the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance
with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs
and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.
They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this
reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and
so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have
delighted in wickedness. But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers
loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through
the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called
you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed
on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. May our Lord Jesus Christ
himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement
and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and
word.
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 NIV)
As you can see, we have quite a bit of information about the
Antichrist. There are other passages, particularly in first John, which mention
the Antichrist but the major knowledge of the Antichrist in history to come is
found in Revelation. The Antichrist is identified with the beast of Revelation.
There is some dispute about that identification, but that is the opinion of a
great majority of the scholars.
Candidates for the Job
There are two primary views about the Antichrist. The first,
associated with the post-millennial and amillennial views of Revelation, hold
this to be a figure in history. It is clear from Revelation that the Antichrist
is associated with Rome. Many scholars conclude that he might also be Jewish,
and this is given rise to any number of speculative answers concerning this
person in history. There are literally hundreds of candidates who have been
proposed to be the Antichrist. However, most scholars hold that the most likely
candidate for Antichrist is the Pope. This breaks down into two views: one says
it's some particular pope, the other says it's just the Papacy.
The second view, associated with the pre-millennial view of
Revelation, holds that this figure is yet to come. Because of the ecumenical
nature of premillennialism, this figure is usually not identified with the Pope
but is seen as someone who is in Rome, ruling and showing the characteristics
of the Antichrist, but not within the church.
Obviously, these two views are not easily reconciled, nor
will we attempt to reconcile them today. Instead we shall attempt to give you
the clues by which you might recognize the Antichrist when he comes, both in
terms of his characteristics and the sequence of events which will occur in his
arising.
Recognition
What is a "person?"
One of the difficulties of this passage is that we can't tell
whether we are dealing with one individual or, as in the case of the Pope, a succession
of individuals. We might begin with the asking of the question, "just what
does it mean to say a person?"
·
Please note first
that a person doesn't necessarily have to have a body. We see that God is in
three persons, two of whom have no body. Sherlock Holmes is a person; but he is
not possessed of a body. So it could be that the Antichrist is a series of
bodies which taken together are seen as a person --- such as the Pope.
·
The Pope is such
a person in the same sense that the King of England is such a person. If you
would recall, the King of the North and the King of the South in the first part
of this chapter are persons composed of multiple bodies in a sense.
·
The key to
identifying a person is -- personality. Can we say what this person is like? If
we can, we may be able to spot him in real life.
Personality of the Antichrist
We know something about the personality of the Antichrist. In
particular, this section of Daniel and chapter 2 of Second Thessalonians give
us his key characteristics. Here's what we have from Daniel:
·
He exalts himself
above every God. We might take this to mean that he denies the existence of
God, or any form of religious system. More likely, it holds that he is superior
to such a system. A contemporary example of this would be those individuals who
believe that science explains everything, and any form of religion must fit
into their particular system of science and metaphysics.
·
He says
"unheard of things" about God. This could apply to any number of
people today; after all, anyone with a "brilliant theory" about God
can have a hearing today. Because we have rejected the concept of absolute
truth, we hear all kinds of nonsense about God. So this aspect of the
personality would also apply to a large number of people.
·
He honors the
"God of fortresses." Perhaps we might take this to mean that he
believes military power is supreme; as Mao Tse-Tung would put it, "power
grows out of the barrel of a cannon."
So at the very least, it is at least possible that this
individual is alive today. Let's take a look at what Second Thessalonians has
to say:
·
We see him as
"man of sin" also translated as "man of lawlessness." This
is a man who ignores or defies the law; most probably it means one who defies
what is described as the natural law. It is very common today to deny the
existence of natural law; the absurdity of which is given in the fact that most
of us do feel that murder is a crime. But this person would fit in very well
today with the idea that each of us defines his own reality and his own
morality.
·
We are told that
he takes his seat in the Temple of God. This would seem to imply that at least
outwardly the person is associated with the church. If you believe this person
is the Pope, this is fairly obvious. As we shall see from the sequence of
events coming up next, it is highly likely that he is a person in authority
over the church.
·
Finally, we see
that this man exalts himself to the point of being God. To the best of my
knowledge, no one successfully maintains this status. A look at Revelation
gives you more detail on this. The disturbing fact is this: many will trust
this man as if he is God. We need to take warning about this.
Sequence of Events
We can recognize someone by their characteristics, their
personality, or by their achievements. If I claim to be a great opera singer, I
should be able to belt out a very sound aria. So let's look at the sequence of
events that accompanied this man's rise to power:
·
First, there is
the apostasy. Apostasy means denying the faith; it is not the same thing as
heresy, which is not the same thing as being mistaken. Being mistaken is
something that happens to all of us; the chance that your teacher is right
about each and every little detail of theology is exceedingly slim. Heresy is
the denial of particular doctrines which are essential to the faith; for
example, the relationship between Christ and God the father. Apostasy denies
the central fact of the faith: that Jesus is the Christ, who died and rose
again for our salvation. If this person is the Pope, these events are yet to
come. If this person is within the faith, it is unlikely that he is in power
now.
·
We also know that
"that which restrains him" must be removed before he can come. There
are a number of interpretations about this; the most modern one is that we are
talking about the Holy Spirit. In my humble opinion, this is incorrect --- for
it appears that the Holy Spirit has no choice about it, which seems absurd. As
you would suspect this is a futurist view, and the more recent opinion holds
that it is not the Holy Spirit but the gifts of the Holy Spirit that
restrained the man of sin. This conforms very well to the idea that the rapture
occurs before the Antichrist is revealed, which is a main principle of the
premillennialist interpretation of Revelation. The classic view, held from the
earliest days of the church, is that this refers to the Roman Empire![1] Both
Chrysostom and Augustine held that the Roman Empire would have to fall before
Christ returned, based on these passages. Jerome tells us that this is the
traditional interpretation of the church, dating back to the apostles.
·
The "man of
sin" is revealed, not discovered or created. If you will, events bring him
to our notice. So it is entirely possible that he is living today, just that we
don't recognize him yet. If you accept the classic view that the Roman Empire
must fall first, you could see this person as the Pope. The final End of the
Roman Empire did not occur until 1453 A.D., at the fall of Constantinople. This
is generally taken as the date the Middle Ages end. It is very close to the
beginning of the Protestant Reformation. The post-millennial theory holds that
this is when the man of sin was revealed as being the Pope. The revelation is
the fact that he opposes the faith based upon the Scriptures, and in papal
infallibility sets himself up as God.
·
We should expect
to see "signs and wonders" from this person. For those who think this
is the Pope, we can see signs and wonders such as people being healed by
touching relics of saints. If you want the Protestant side of this, there any
number of faith healers on the television airwaves today. If you see this as a
futurist, this could mean the signs and wonders being done by science, viewed
as evidence of the Bible must be false.
·
This we
accompanied by God sending a "deluding influence" or "powerful
delusion." One candidate for this delusion is the theory of evolution.
·
This person is
going to be slain by the "breath of Christ". Older scholars held that
this came in the Reformation; this refers to the influence of the Scriptures
newly translated into common languages. Futurist views here hold when Christ
comes he will slay the Antichrist, and that this is rather figurative.
·
Finally, the last
event in this sequence, is the Day of the Lord. This refers to the return of
Jesus Christ; Seventh-day Adventists to the contrary notwithstanding, this
event has yet to occur.
What should we do about these things?
Let's take a look again at second Thessalonians Chapter 2 for
some advice from St. Paul.
Concerning
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you,
brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or
letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has
already come. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not
come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man
doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything
that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple,
proclaiming himself to be God. Don't you remember that when I was with you I
used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so
that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness
is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so
till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed,
whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by
the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance
with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs
and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.
They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this
reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and
so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have
delighted in wickedness. But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers
loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through
the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called
you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed
on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. May our Lord Jesus Christ
himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal
encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every
good deed and word.
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 NIV)
It would be comforting, I suppose, to be given some
prescription like anointing things with holy oil. Paul does not do that;
rather, he gives us some simple instructions:
·
First, remember
that you are loved by God. Remember the relationship you have with him. If you
stand in that relationship, you cannot be deceived by the Antichrist. You know
that God is love, and that God loves you. The "God of fortresses" is
not superior to the God of love.
·
Remember that you
are saved. You are saved by the sanctification of his Holy Spirit; you are
saved by faith; and you are saved by the preaching of the Gospel to which you
listened.
·
Therefore, you
should stand firm in the teachings and traditions of the church. You should be
able to say, "our God, and the God of our fathers." He is "our
God" because we have worked out ourselves nation in fear and trembling. He
is the "God of our fathers" because we have examined that which has
been learned by previous generations and make it our own. It is not blind
obedience to tradition; rather, it is accepting the truth found in the past.[2]
·
Finally, we are
to pray. We are to pray for comfort, for the coming of the antichrist will
bring tribulation to the true church. We are to pray for hope, so that we may
firmly know that our Lord will return and put an end to the Antichrist. We are
to pray for strength; we're going to need it in times like that.