CHAPTER SIX. THE CAREER OF THE ANTICHRIST.
We now come to the most interesting and yet the
most difficult part of our subject. When will the Antichrist be manifested?
where will he appear? what will he do? are questions which readily occur to all
who have given any thought to the matter. It is not our purpose to seek to
satisfy the idly curious, still less is it to gratify those who love the
sensational. We are well aware that our present theme is one that appeals
strongly to the curiously inclined, and were it not for the importance of our
inquiry we would leave it alone. But without due regard to the person and place
of the coming Superman, it is impossible to understand the eschatology of
either the Old or New Testaments.
The chief difficulty is to arrange in
chronological sequence the many passages which treat of the Antichrist. It is
by no means easy to discover the precise order in which the prophecies which
deal with the Man of Sin will receive their fulfillment. There is great need
for much prayerful study along this line. We can only write according to the
light we now have, and our readers must examine for themselves what we say in
the light of the Scriptures. It ill becomes any one to be dogmatic where the
Word itself does not plainly state the exact time when certain prophecies are
to be fulfilled.
In this chapter we are placed somewhat at a
disadvantage, because we shall be obliged to give brief expositions of many
scriptures where it will be impossible for us to pause and furnish proofs or
reasons for each interpretation. For example, it is our firm conviction that
the Assyrian of Isa. 10, the king of Babylon of Isa. 14, the Little Horn of
Dan. 7, the Little Horn of Dan. 8, and the first Beast of Rev. 13, each and all
view the Antichrist himself in different relationships. There are some Bible
students who may take issue with us on these points, and complain because that
in this chapter we make assertions without endeavoring to prove them. We regret
this, but would ask all to bear with us patiently. In the later chapters of
this book we shall devote separate studies to the Antichrist in the Psalms, in
the Prophets, in the Gospels and Epistles, and in the Apocalypse; when we shall
endeavor to examine each passage separately and attempt to give scriptural
proofs for every interpretation adopted.
While it is admittedly difficult, and perhaps
impossible, to fit each prophecy concerning the Antichrist into its proper
chronological place, we are able to determine the relative position of most of
them. The career of the Antichrist is divided into two distinct parts, and
there is a clearly defined dividing line between them. In previous chapters we
have pointed out how that the name "Antichrist" has a double meaning,
signifying one who imitates Christ, and one who is opposed to Christ. This
double meaning to his name corresponds exactly with the two chief parts in his
career. In the first, he poses as the true Christ, claiming to be indeed the
Messiah of Israel. This claim will be backed up with the most imposing
credentials, and all excepting God's elect will be deceived. He will sit in the
Temple (a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem) showing himself forth to be God, and
Divine honors will be paid him. But at a later stage he will throw off his
mask, and appear in his true character as the opponent of Christ and the defier
of God. Then, instead of befriending the Jews, he will turn against them and
seek to exterminate them from the earth. Thus, with many of the scriptures
which describe the person and career of the Antichrist it is a comparatively
easy matter to decide whether they belong to the first or to the second stage
of his history. But beyond this it is difficult, with some scriptures at least
to go.
We shall now consider, first the time of
Antichrist's appearing. It is hardly necessary for us to enter into a lengthy
argument to show that the Antichrist (as such) has not already appeared. Many
antichrists have already come and gone, and some are in the world even now; the
same is equally true of the many false prophets foretold in Scripture; but all
of these are but the forecasts and foreshadowings of the Antichrist and the
False Prophet, who are yet to be revealed, and who will receive their final
overthrow by the Lord Jesus at His return to the earth. Before the Antichrist
can appear the Holy Spirit must be "taken out of the way" (2 Thess. 2:7); the
old Roman Empire must be revived and assume its final form - divided under ten
kings" - before the "Little Horn" comes into prominence (Dan. 7:24 - he rises
"after them"): Israel must be restored to their land and the Temple be rebuilt,
etc., etc.
At the present time the ultimate development of
"the Mystery of Iniquity" is being hindered. God's people are the salt of the
earth, and their presence here stays the corruption of the "carcass" (Matt.
24:28 - The "Carcass" is the antithesis of the "Body" of Christ). The saints
are the light of the world, and while they remain in it is impossible for
darkness to cover the earth and gross darkness the people (Isa. 60:2). The
Spirit of God is here, indwelling believers, and His holy presence checks the
final outworking of Satan's plans. But when all believers of this dispensation
have been "caught up to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thess. 4:16), and the Holy
Spirit has departed from the earth, all restraint will be removed, and Satan
will be allowed to bring forth his false christ, who will be "revealed in his
time" (2 Thess. 2:6), and it would seem that even now signs are not wanting to
show that God has already given permission to Satan to prepare the stage of
action for the ghastly consummation of his evil efforts. There can be no doubt
but that the Devil has desired to reveal the Son of Perdition long before this,
so that by means of him he may reduce the whole world to submission. But the
restraining hand of God, now so soon to be removed, has held him back.
The time, then, when the Antichrist will be
revealed is after this present Dispensation of Grace has run its course; after
the Mystical Body of Christ has been completed; after the whole company of
God's people have been caught up to meet the Lord in the air; after the Holy
Spirit has departed from the world. How soon after we cannot say for certain.
The majority of prophetic students seems to think that the last great Caesar
will come into prominence almost immediately after the rapture of the saints.
Personally, we believe there will be an interval, long or short, between the
two. As there was a period of thirty years after the birth of the Lord Jesus -
a period of silence - before His public ministry commenced, so there may be a
similar interval between the Rapture and the Revelation of Antichrist.
The Antichrist will enter the arena of public
affairs before the beginning of Daniel's seventieth week, for at the beginning
of it he makes a seven-years covenant with the Jews, then in their land. But at
that point he will be the Dictator of the world's policies, and as he begins in
comparative obscurity (at least from a governmental standpoint), some time -
probably years - must be allowed for his gradual rise to political supremacy.
His meteoric course will not be terminated until the Lord Himself descends to
earth to usher in the Millennium. Just as the reign of Saul preceded that of
David, so shall that of Antichrist antedate that of the true Christ.
We turn now to consider the place of Antichrist's
appearing. So far as the writer is aware there are only two scriptures which
give direct information upon this point, and they are each found in the
prophecy of Daniel. We refer to the passages which speak of "the Little Horn".
In Dan. 7:7,8 we read, "After this I saw in the night visions, and, behold, a
fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great
iron teeth: it devoured and break in pieces, and stamped the residue with the
feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it
had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them
another little horn". This fourth Beast is the last world-empire, prior to the
setting up of the Messianic kingdom. This empire will, at first, be ruled over
by ten kings - the "ten horns" of v.7 and defined as ten kings in v. 24. After
them arises another, the "Little Horn", which signifies another "king', see v.
24. He is termed "little" because at that stage his kingdom is but small
compared with that of the others, and the power he then wields is insignificant
when contrasted from the ten kings. But not for long will he remain weak and
insignificant. Soon the ten kings will themselves own allegiance to this
eleventh - see Rev. 17: 12,13. We reserve for a later chapter the proofs that
this "Little Horn' is the Antichrist, asking our readers to study carefully the
description furnished of him in Dan. 7:8, 20-27; 8:9-12, 23-25.
Taking it for granted (at the moment) that the
Little Horn of Dan. 7 is the Antichrist let us see how what is there said of
him helps us to determine the quarter from which he will arise. In Dan. 7:7 the
"fourth Beast" is described, and in 7:23 we are told, "the fourth beast shall
be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and
shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces".
This Kingdom will be divided into ten parts, over which will be the ten kings
(7:24). This kingdom will be, we believe, the old Roman Empire revived in its
final form, and divided into two great halves - the Eastern and the Western.
This fourth kingdom will include within itself all the territory and will
perpetuate all the dominant characteristics of the other three which have
preceded it, i.e. the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, and Grecian. Turning now to
Dan. 7:8 we are told, "I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among
them another little horn". The Antichrist, then, will have his rise within the
limits of the old Roman Empire. This narrows considerably our circle of
inquiry. The next question is, Can we determine from which part of the empire
he will arise - the Eastern or the Western? Dan. 8 furnishes light upon this
point.
In Dan. 8:8,9 we read, "Therefore the he-goat
waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it
came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of
them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south,
and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land". Now v. 21 of this same
chapter tells us, "The rough goat is the king (kingdom) of Grecia", and v. 22
informs us "and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now
that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms (or kings) shall
stand up out of the nation". This, of course, refers to the act of Alexander
the Great who divided his kingdom into four parts - Greece, Egypt, Syria, and
the rest of the domains of Turkey - under his four great generals: Ptolemy,
Cassander, Lysimachus, and Seleucus. This, again, very appreciably narrows our
circle of inquiry. Dan. 7 tells us the Little Horn is to arise in a part of the
territory covered by the old Roman Empire, which Empire gradually included
within its domains that the the preceding empires. Now here in Dan. 8 we learn
that the Little Horn will spring from that part of the revived Roman Empire
which was included in the Grecian Empire. But this is not all that Dan. 8 tells
us. The Grecian Empire is here viewed as disintegrated into four parts or
kingdoms, from which of these parts, then, may we expect him to issue -
Macedonia, Egypt, Syria, or Thrace? This question, we believe, receives answer
in Dan. 8:( where we are told, that the Little Horn "waxed exceeding great
toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land".
Practically all students are agreed that "the south" here refers to Egypt, the
"east" to Persia and Greece and "the pleasant land' to Palestine, hence it
would seem that the country from which Antichrist will first be manifested is
Syria. It will be noted that nothing is said in Dan. 8:9 about the Little Horn
"waxing great" toward the north, and we believe the reason for this is because
that is the quarter from whence he shall arise. This is confirmed by the fact
that "the king of Assyria" in Isa. 10:12 is clearly none other than the
Antichrist. We may say this was the current view of Christian writers on
prophecy through the first ten centuries A.D. The late Mr. W. B. Newton in his
splendid "Aids to the Study of Prophetic Inquiry" has succinctly summarized the
various arguments of the ancients in the following language: -
"In the first place, as Nimrod - the founder of
Babel, that is, the Tower of Babylon - a savage tyrant and cruel oppressor of
men, was the first person who declared open war against God; so it is meet that
there should arise from the selfsame Babylon, the last and most atrocious
persecutor of the saints - the Antichrist. Moreover, seeing that Nebuchadnezzar
and Antiochus Epiphanes - two monsters who bore down upon the people of God
with an overwhelming power of destruction, and who were the antichrists of the
old Testament and remarkable types of the Antichrist which is to come; seeing,
I say, that these monarchs reigned in Babylon, it is fitting that the true
Antichrist of the New Testament should arise from the same Babylon.
"Besides, no place can be pointed out more meet
for the nativity of Antichrist than Babylon, for it is the City of the Devil -
always diametrically opposed to Jerusalem, which is deemed the City of God; the
former city, that is, Babylon, being the mother and disseminator of every kind
of confusion, idolatry, impiety - a vast sink of every foul pollution, crime,
and iniquity - the first city in the world which cut itself off from the
worship of the true God - which reared the city of universal vice, - which
perpetually (according to the record of Holy Writ) carries on the mystery of
iniquity, and bears imprinted on her brow the inscription of blasphemy against
the name of God. The consummation, therefore, of impiety, which is to have its
recapitulation in Antichrist, could not break forth from a more fitting place
than Babylon".
Having dwelt at some length on the time and the
place of the Antichrist's appearing, we shall attempt to give now a brief
outline of the leading events in his career. We have seen that the scriptures
which help us to determine the direction from which he will arise, speak of him
under the title of the Little Horn. Now the first thing this title denotes is
that he is a king, king of Assyria. Some, no doubt, will wonder how a Jew will
succeed in obtaining the throne of Syria. Several answers might be suggested,
such, for example, as heading a successful rebellion - the spectacle of an
obscure plebeian speedily rising to the rank of national Dictator, has been
forcibly exhibited before our own eyes in Russia. But on this point we are not
left to speculation. Dan. 11:21 tells us that the "Vile Person" will come in
peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. With this agrees Rev. 6:2,
where the Antichrist is seen riding a white war-horse, and with bow in hand,
but with no arrow fitted to it. The symbol suggests bloodless victories.
As soon as this Jew acquires the crown of Syria
he will speedily enlarge his dominions. As Rev. 6:2 tells us, he will go forth
"conquering and to conquer", and as we are told further in Hab. 2:5, "He is a
proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlarged his desire as hell, and is as
death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth
unto him all people". The first thing which is predicted of him (as "the Little
Horn") is that "he shall subdue three kings" (Dan. 7:24). As to what kings
these may be, appears to be intimated in Dan. 8:9 where we are told, "And out
of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great toward the
south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land". He waxes great first
toward the south, that is, most probably, by a victorious expedition into
Egypt. Next, he is seen moving toward the east, reducing, to what extent we are
not told, the dominions of Persia and Greece; finally he turns his face toward
the pleasant land, which is Palestine. Without being dogmatic, we would suggest
that the three kings he subdues are those of Egypt, Persia, and Greece.
Having subdued the three kings by his military
prowess a "league" is made with him (see Dan. 11:23). Probably it is the
remaining seven kings of the revived Roman Empire, plus the three vassals of
the Antichrist who take the place of the kings he had deposed, that enter into
this League with the Little horn, or king of Assyria; but he shall work
deceitfully, and shall become strong with a small people (Dan. 11:23). So
strong does he become that in a short time he rises to political supremacy, and
the whole of the ten kings shall "give their kingdom unto the Beast". (Rev.
17:17), and he will then be recognized as the imperial Emperor. Thus as King of
kings he will dictate the policies of Europe and Asia.
"The Little Horn will revive in himself all the
personified glory of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. And let not this be
regarded as an event incredible. We are to remember that Antichrist will be
Satan's masterpiece; furnished with every auxiliary of influence and wealth,
for wresting the sceptre from the hands of Him who won it by His humiliation of
the Cross. Thus it is said he will `resist the God of gods'. The accumulated
and restored honors of each royal successor are thus to crown the brow of this
last and greatest of Gentile monarchs. And so shall he stand in his unrivalled
magnificence till the Stone shall smite him and his power, and grind all to
powder" (Mrs. G. Needham).
After the Antichrist has acquired the political
sovereignty of the prophetic earth he will then enter upon his religious role,
claiming to be the Christ of God and demanding Divine honors. At first sight it
appears strange, if not incongruous, that a military despot should be found
filling the character of a religious impostor. But history shows that there is
a point at which one character readily merges into the other. Political
ambition, intoxicated by success, finds it an easy step from self-glorification
to self-deification, and the popular infatuation as easily passes from the
abject adulation of the tyrant to the adoration of the god. Or again; a
religious impostor, encouraged by the ascendancy he has acquired over the minds
of men, grasps the sceptre of secular power and becomes the most arbitrary of
despots. Rev. 13:4 makes it plain that the military prowess of the Antichrist
first induces men to render him Divine homage: "And they worshipped the Dragon
which gave power unto the Beast: and they worshipped the Beast, saying, Who is
like unto the Beast? who is able to make war with him?" But no ordinary honors
will suffice him. His religious ambitions are as insatiable as his political,
for he will "oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself
that he is God" (2 Thess. 2:4). This claim to be God Himself, incarnate, will
be backed up by imposing credentials, for his coming will be, "after the
working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders" (2 Thess. 2:9).
These miracles will be no mere pretenses, but prodigies of power.
The Jews, previously returned to Palestine, and
with temple in Jerusalem rebuilt, will receive this Son of Perdition as their
long-promised Messiah" (John 5:43). In imitation of the true Christ who will,
at His return to the earth, "make a new covenant with the House of Israel and
with the House of Judah" (Heb. 8:8, compare Jer. 31 and Ezek. 36), the
Antichrist will make a covenant with the Jews (see Dan. 9:27 and 11:22). Under
a seven years' treaty, and in the guise of friendship, he will gain ascendancy
in Jerusalem, only later to throw off the mask and break the covenant.
About seven months after the Antichrist, the
"Prince" (i.e. of the Roman Empire) of Dan 9:27 has made the Covenant with the
Jews he will begin to "practice" in Jerusalem (Dan. 8:24). This we believe is
the explanation of the two thousand three hundred days of Dan. 8:14 which has
puzzled so many of the commentators. This two thousand three hundred days is
the whole period during which the false messiah will practice in Jerusalem and
have power over the "sanctuary": two thousand three hundred days is seven years
less seven months and ten days.
There, in Jerusalem, he will pose as the Christ
of God, the Prince of Peace. The world will suppose that the long looked- for
Millennium has arrived. There will be every indication that the eagerly desired
Golden Age has, at last, dawned. The great Powers of Europe and Asia will have
been united under the ten-kingdomed Empire. It will be expected that the League
of Nations guarantees the peace of the earth. For a season quietness and amity
will prevail. None will dare to oppose the mighty Emperor. But not for long
will the hideous war-spectre hide himself. Soon will the "white horse" of Rev.
6 be found to change his hue. A "red horse" will go forth, and then "peace
shall be taken from the earth" (Rev. 6). At the very time the world is
congratulating itself that all is well, and the slogan of the hour is "Peace
and Safety", then "sudden destruction cometh upon them" (1 Thess. 5:3).
In the midst of the seven years the Antichrist
will throw off his mask, break his covenant with Israel, and stand forth as the
most daring idolater who has ever trodden this earth. After he has "practiced"
in Jerusalem for two years and five months, he will take away the daily
sacrifice (Dan. 8:11; 9:27) from the Temple, and in its place rear an image to
himself in the holy place, which is the "abomination of desolation" referred to
by Christ (see Matt. 24:15).
This brings us to the great dividing line in his
career, to which reference was made near the beginning of this chapter. It is a
point not only of interest but of considerable importance to ascertain what it
is that causes this startling change of front, from posing as the true Christ
to that of the open defier of God. There are several scriptures which throw
light on this point. Satan will cause the Man of Sin to crown his daring
imitation of the Christ of God by being slain and rising again from the
dead.
Both the Old and the New Testaments refer to the
death of the Antichrist, and attribute it to the sword. In Rev. 13:14 we read
that the false Prophet shall say to them that dwell on the earth that they
should make an image to the Beast, which had the wound by the sword and did
live. In harmony with this we read in Zech. 11:17, "Woe to the Idol Shepherd
that leaveth the flock! The sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right
eye". It is to be noted that before we read that "the sword shall be" upon him,
we are told that he "leaveth the flock", and the previous verse tells us that
he was raised up "in the land", which can only mean that he was ruling in
Palestine. Hence it is clear that he leaves the Land before he receives his
death wound by the sword. In perfect accord with this is what we read in Isa.
37:6,7 (in a later chapter we shall treat at length of the future Babylon,
restored; the connection of Antichrist with it, and the typical and prophetical
significance of Isa. 37 and 38); "Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he
shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall
by the sword in his own land".
Leaving Palestine, the Antichrist will "return to
his own land", that is, the land of his nativity - Assyria - which confirms
what we have said previously about Assyria being the country where Antichrist
will first be manifested. There, in his own land, he will fall by the sword.
Most probably he will be slain there by his political enemies, envious of his
power and chafing under his haughty autocracy. In death he will be hated and
dishonored, and burial will be refused him. It is to this that Isa. 14
(speaking of the King of Babylon, see v.4) refers: "But thou art cast out of
thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are
slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit. As a
carcass trodden under feed, thou shalt not be joined with them in burial,
because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people" (vv. 19,20). But
his enemies will suddenly be filled with consternation and then admiration for
to their amazement this one slain by the sword shall rise from the dead, and
his deadly wound will be healed - note how this is implied in Isa. 14, for v.
25 shows him once more in the land of the living, only to meet his final doom
at the hands of the Lord Himself. It is to this amazing resurrection of the
Antichrist that Rev. 13:3,4 refers: "And I saw one of his heads as it were
wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered
after the Beast. And they worshipped the Dragon which gave power unto the
Beast: saying, Who is like unto the Beast? who is able to make war with him?"
Details of his resurrection are supplied in Rev. 9, from which we gather that
just as Christ was raised from the dead by God the Father, so the Antichrist
will be raised from the dead by his father the Devil, see v. 1 where the fallen
"Star", which refers to Satan, is given the "key to the bottomless pit", and
when this is happened there comes out of it the mysterious "locusts" whose king
is the Destroyer (v. 11), the Antichrist.
A further reference to the resurrection of the
Antichrist, his coming forth from the Bottomless Pit, is found in Rev. 17:8:
"The Beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the
Bottomless Pit, and go into Perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall
wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of
the world, when they behold the Beast that was, and is not, and yet is". It is
to be noted that the earth-dwellers wonder when they behold the Beast that was
(alive), and is not (now alive), and yet is (raised again). The world will then
be presented with the spectacle of a man raised from the dead. All know him,
for his career and amazing progress were eagerly watched; his wonderful
achievements and military campaigns were the subject of daily interest; his
transcendent genius elicited their admiration. They had witnessed his death.
They stood awe-struck, no doubt, at the downfall of this King of kings. And now
he is made alive; his wound of death is healed; and the whole world wonders,
and worships him.
It is about this time, apparently, that the
"False Prophet" (Rev. 13:11-16), the third person in the Trinity of Evil will
appear on the scene. From a number of scriptures it is evident that the
Antichrist will not spend all his time in Palestine during the last three and a
half years of his career. It seems that shortly after the middle of the "week"
the Beast will turn his face again toward Babylon, leaving the False Prophet to
act as his vicegerent, compelling all in Jerusalem to worship the image of the
Beast under pain of death (Rev. 13:15). It is to be noted that Hab. 2:5 tells
us that the Antichrist is "a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who
enlarged his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but
gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people".
The reason for the Antichrist's return to Babylon
is not far to seek. Having thrown off his mask of religious pretension, he now
stands forth as the Defier of God. His first move now will be to blot out from
the earth everything that bears His name. To accomplish this the Jewish race
must be utterly exterminated, and to this end he will put forth all his power
to banish Israel from the earth. He will make war with the saints (the Jewish
saints) and prevail against them (Dan. 7:21; 8:24): this is the going forth of
the "red horse" of Rev. 6:4.
Those of the godly remnant who are left will
"flee to the mountains" (Matt. 24:16), and there they will be hunted like
partridges. It is then they will cry, "Keep not Thou silence, O God: hold not
Thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, Thine enemies make a tumult: and
they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel
against Thy people, and consulted against Thy hidden ones. They have said,
Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of
Israel may be no more in remembrance" (Psa. 83:1-4). Then, because many of the
Jews will be found in that day dwelling in Babylon (see Jer. 50:8; 51:6, 45;
Rev. 18:4) the Antichrist will go thither to wreak his vengeance upon them. But
not for long will he be suffered to continue his blasphemous and bloody course.
Soon will heaven respond to the cries of the faithful remnant of Israel, and
terrible shall be the punishment meted out on their last enemy. This, however,
must be left for consideration in our next chapter, when we shall treat of the
last days and doom of the Antichrist.