Introduction
I have been considering the subject of antichrist. Antichrist has been an ongoing reality in the world since the garden of Eden, where the Lord said that there would be continual warfare throughout this present age between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. God will have his man, the Son of man; and Satan will have his man, the son of perdition. Thus antichrist has appeared throughout history in various types and forms: Cain’s city, Nimrod and Babel, Amalek and its kings, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Macedonia, Rome, and other nations with their kings, princes, and emperors. Antichrist will have also a final form in the worldwide kingdom of the beast, headed by the man of sin, the son of perdition, whom the Lord will destroy with the brightness of his coming to usher in the new and everlasting age of the kingdom of God’s dear son.
The purpose of scripture in recounting the types and forms of antichrist is not only to show the church the things that must shortly come to pass but also to reveal the ultimate futility of all antichrist’s striving against God and his anointed. Throughout history there has been an ongoing clash between these kingdoms. But this clash always has been under the sovereignty of God. Whatever temporary success antichrist has had, always he has been cut short. In the figurative language of scripture, his wings have been clipped, his horn has been broken off, or he has been destroyed without hand. The divinely determined and appointed time for antichrist to succeed in the earth is always a time, times, and half a time—that is, a time cut short with an astounding abruptness. Antichrist can succeed, but only so far and for so long as God has determined. God’s kingdom advances through history, and God in his sovereignty has determined that Satan with his antichrist in his opposition to God and Christ must serve the purpose of the final coming of God’s kingdom and the final destruction of Satan’s kingdom.
I have noted that antichrist as an ongoing reality in the world has three closely related aspects. First, there is the political aspect of antichrist, which is the deified state that demands and receives the worship of its citizenry and out of which the church of God is cast, so that there is no room for the church in society. Second, there is antichrist as a religious movement for unity apart from the truth. This religious aspect of antichrist serves the first and primary political aspect of antichrist by causing the world to wonder after and ultimately to worship the deified state. Whenever there is talk in the church world of unity apart from the truth—a unity not only of apostate Christianity but also of apostate Christianity and the world’s religions—then this aspect of antichrist is rearing its deceptive head that looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. Third, there is the aspect of antichrist as the one man who sits at the head of the deified state. This aspect I consider in this and subsequent editorials. It may be said that when many use the term antichrist, then they have in view particularly this man.
Antichrist is a kingdom, but always at the head of a kingdom and synonymous with a kingdom is a king. A kingdom is in fact nothing other than the extension of its king, the sphere of his sovereignty and the expression of his will. This is why the explanation of the four beasts in the vision in Daniel 7 is that those beasts represent four kings and four kingdoms: “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. Thus he said, 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” (Dan. 7:17, 23). All the great types of antichrist as a political power that have appeared in history have been headed by a leader or king whose ambition has driven the formation and advance of that kingdom. This aspect of antichrist will have its final form in the man of sin, the son of perdition, who is mentioned by the apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:3: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” He especially will declare himself to be God and demand and receive from the wondering world divine worship.
The man of sin, the personal antichrist, is that single, male human being whom Satan, under God’s sovereign control, will cause to appear in history at his appointed time to head the antichristian world power at the end of the ages. He is Satan’s dark, demonic parody of God’s man, the Lord Jesus Christ. As Christ has a divinely ordained time, coming, and revelation, so Satan’s man has a divinely ordained time, coming, and revelation. As God’s man has a kingdom, riches, power, and glory, so Satan’s man will have a kingdom, riches, power, and glory. In virtually everything about the man of sin, he is the sinful imitation of Jesus Christ. In that imitation the ambition of the man of sin is to oppose Christ, displace him, and destroy his kingdom. The man of sin personally is the culmination of the development of sin that began in the garden of Eden with the lie of Satan that Adam would be as God, knowing good and evil—that is, determining for himself apart from God what is good and what is evil. The man of sin is as close as Satan can come to the incarnation of himself, so that the man of sin will be the visible representative of that malevolent spirit and will be animated by Satan himself. To him Satan will give his own seat, authority, power, and kingdom. The man of sin will be moved by that spirit, and thus he also will be motivated to be God by the same proud ambition as that spirit.
About this ambition Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 14:12–15:
12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
The words of this prophecy come in the context of God’s condemnation of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon and their destruction. But in the middle of that prophecy with the words of the above verses, the Lord reveals that Lucifer stood behind Nebuchadnezzar. Lucifer is the name of Satan according to God’s good creation of him. But Satan was lifted up in pride and was cast out of heaven. Satan’s determined work is to oppose God and his kingdom and to be God himself. For this Satan has labored in all the historical types of antichrist as the man of sin. The worship of the man of sin by the world is the worship of Satan in that man of sin.
Historical Types
Types of the final form of antichrist have appeared throughout history. These types, as is true of all types in scripture, have been divinely ordained with a view to the final reality that will come in the end. These types are in fact the shadows that are cast by that reality, so that in seeing and in examining those shadows, we can see the characteristics of the reality. So in these types we see some of the characteristics of what the man of sin will be at the end of the ages.
One of the most dangerous forms of antichrist was Nimrod and his kingdom Babel. The church at that time was small and vulnerable. All the people were united in a single language and lived in the same area of the earth. Nimrod’s kingdom was evidently a coalition of the willing. The people of that day yearned for one united kingdom that would do mighty things against God and his command to disperse and settle the earth. God smote Nimrod’s kingdom with the deadly wound of the confusion of tongues, by which Nimrod’s kingdom was broken and men were dispersed over the earth. By that confusion of tongues, God put a massive roadblock in the way of Satan’s project to unite the nations. That deadly wound of Babel will be healed at the end of the ages in the final form of antichrist and his kingdom.
Nimrod’s solution to the wrecking of his coalition was to go out and establish another kingdom by conquering other peoples. And so began the wars that were to dominate the rest of history. Such martial activity to achieve a kingdom has characterized the typical forms of antichrist throughout history. In those wars the various kingdoms or nations have labored against the deadly wound of Babel. Men have come into their kingdoms and power by force of arms, always with the lust to unite those nations under one head. About this we can say that all such activity in which one nation has sought the subjugation of another nation has been demonic and antichristian, a part of the working of the mystery of iniquity, and the goal of which is the coming of the antichristian kingdom in its final form.
Nimrod’s mantle passed to the empires of the Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Medes and Persians. And from them the mantle was given to Alexander and the Macedonians and after the death of Alexander to his four generals. From them the power went to Rome and afterward to Western nations. This progression in the appearance of the typical forms of antichrist and their conflicts and wars Daniel sees in the visions of Daniel 7, 8, and 11.
Daniel’s visions were for the historical purpose of teaching the church after the exile and prior to the coming of Christ that there would be an almost continual upheaval in the world through the various wars and conflicts between the world powers vying for domination. The church in that era of the old dispensation would be caught in the middle of those conflicts and so suffer in them. But at times the world powers would specifically turn their attentions to the church to persecute and to destroy her. In that revelation of antichrist, there always was also the promise that God would preserve his church and destroy the world powers. And in those visions we catch a glimpse too of the man of sin himself in his typical form as he appeared at the head of those various nations. And from those visions the Holy Spirit reveals remarkable things about the antichrist as the man of sin.
In Daniel 7:3–7 we read that Daniel saw four kings and their kingdoms under the appearances of a winged lion; a bear who had in his mouth three ribs of its prey, which the bear had devoured; a leopard with four wings; and a fourth beast described as “dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth.” The fourth beast is also described as having “ten horns” and a “little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots” (vv. 7–8).
In the little horn we see one of the historical types of antichrist as the man of sin. It is quite obvious from the text in Daniel 7 that the four beasts in order represent the kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greco-Macedonia, and finally Rome and its successors in the Western world. The identity of the little horn is historically the pagan Roman emperors, and the vision takes us to the very end of time and gives to us a glimpse of the man of sin himself as he will be in the last days. The antichristian world power at the end of time with the man of sin at its head will arise out of the ruins of Rome and the so-called Christian West.
About this man represented by the little horn, Daniel says, “He shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they [the saints] shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time” (Dan. 7:25). When this man represented by the little horn speaks great words against the Most High, then the revelation about him is that he is a great blasphemer against God. The man is moved by hatred for God, declares war on God, and carries on that war against God by a war on the saints of God. The description of the people as saints indicates their election, their consecration to God and his cause and kingdom by grace, and their union with Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. They stand visibly by their confessions and lives as being of the party of the living God in the world. The antichrist targets them in his war on God.
Antichrist’s war against God is carried on also by his seeking to “change times and laws.” These times and laws are all the ordinances of God in creation as well as the truth of God revealed in the creation and in scripture. All these times and laws declare plainly that God is God and that man was created to serve his God. In all this God reveals that he is sovereign and that he determines what all things—including man—shall be in relationship to himself. Seeking to be God himself, the antichrist is determined to change all that God has ordained and instituted in the creation and in the church. We see this spirit afoot in the apostasy in the church world; in the elevation of man’s wisdom about the sexes above the law of God in creation; and in evolutionism’s attempt to cast God out of his very creation, which attempt is driven by the lust of man to free himself from the laws of God in creation. In this man also shows that he is a fool. It becomes in society a terrible crime to shoot a pestilential dog, but a thing to be condoned and excused is a woman who murders her children. It is obvious to the simplest idiot that a man is not a woman and that a woman is not a man. Though this spirit and drive was present in Rome and her emperors, its final and terrible manifestation will be at the end of the ages when the man of sin will determine for the world what the laws will be and what the relationship of the world to him will be. One of the laws will be that the church of the saints will have no place in his kingdom.
Antiochus Epiphanes
Daniel saw another vision concerning antichrist. The vision in Daniel 8 is of “a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last” (v. 3). Daniel was told later that “the ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia” (v. 20). The Persian Empire had its origin in the Medes—the first of the two horns. Later the Persians came to dominate—the latter and larger of the two horns—and the Medes receded into the background.
In the same vision Daniel saw that “an he goat came from the west on the face of the ground…and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.” Daniel 8:5 says that this “rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.” When the “he goat came from the west,” he “touched not the ground.”
6. And he came to the ram that had two horns…and ran unto him in the fury of his power.
7. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. (vv. 6–7)
The figure of the swift and strong he goat is of Alexander and the Greco-Macedonian Empire. That the he goat touched not the ground when he ran at the ram, broke his horns, and stamped on the ram refers to Alexander’s precipitous destruction of the Persian power. When Alexander attacked the Persians, he succeeded in a very brief time and beyond all expectations. Alexander’s army was tiny in comparison to the Persians’ army, his supply lines were stretched thin, and yet battle after battle went to the Greeks.
But Alexander’s reign was short-lived, and he died young. His kingdom was divided among his generals, four of whom with their families came to power. We read of this in Daniel’s vision: “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” (Dan. 8:8–9). About the four horns we read, “Now that being broken [the great horn], whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nations, but not in his power” (v. 22).
Alexander’s kingdom was divided among these generals: Antipater, who took Macedon; Ptolemy, who took Egypt; Seleucus, who took Syria-Mesopotamia; and Lysimachus, who took Asia Minor. Each kingdom was powerful in its own right, but those kingdoms never achieved the kind of power and influence as Alexander’s kingdom. In fact within about 150 years, those kingdoms were overshadowed by the emerging influence and might of the Roman Republic, and those kings had to pay deference to Rome. It was this interference by Rome that later would be the cause for rage on the part of another type of antichrist, Antiochus Epiphanes, who in retaliation against God’s sovereignty over his conquests would attack the church of God.
The Seleucid kingdom in Syria-Mesopotamia produced Antiochus Epiphanes. He is that “little horn” that came up in Daniel’s vision (Dan. 8:9). Antiochus was one of the clearest types of antichrist in scripture.
That “little horn…”
10. Waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.
11. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
12. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. (Dan. 8:10–12)
In Daniel 8:23–25 we read again of Antiochus:
23. In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
24. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
Of this same man we read again in Daniel 11:30–32:
30. The ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.
31. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
32. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
And yet again we read of this man in Daniel 11:36–39:
36. The king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38. But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.
The visions of Daniel are in the first instance a revelation of God concerning history that would come to pass after the death of Daniel. In Daniel 8 there is the revelation of the conflict between Greco-Macedonia and the Persian Empire. In Daniel 11 there is the revelation of the almost continual conflict between the Seleucid kingdom in Syria and the king of the Ptolemies in Egypt. Within this large revelation about history is the revelation about the man Antiochus Epiphanes. What we have in these descriptions of Antiochus Epiphanes is not only a revelation of that man but also in him the revelation in a type of who antichrist will be in the last days.
The picture that we receive is of a self-willed, self-absorbed, deceitful, capricious, cunning, ambitious, blaspheming enemy of God and his covenant. After he was stymied by the “ships of Chittim” after an assault on the neighboring king of the south—Egypt and the Ptolemies—he retaliated against the covenant and people of God. By means of an alliance with a host of Jewish apostates and by a close association with and worship of Satan himself, he assaulted and made desolate the true worship of God. The cause of Antiochus’ anger was God’s sovereign frustration of his lust for power and territory by means of the “ships of Chittim.”
In my next editorial, I will consider him and the final form of antichrist that he represented.
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