Expert: Marilyn - 12/7/2004

Question
Dear Marilyn:

It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, and I thank you in advance for your thoughtful and prompt reply.

My question pertains to the so-called "End Times" and the Book of Revelations. I was told some time ago that the so-called "Anti-Christ" would be a Jew, and I would like your opinion on that. What does the New Testament say about this?

Thank you very much.

Answer
Hello Pamela Sue;

Recently I read "Secrets of the Koran" by Don Richardson (by the way I think every person living in western civilization should read this book).  After reading this book, I wondered, Could Anti-Christ be Islamic?  An Islamic could easily meet several of the criteria the Bible sets for Anti-Christ.

1)  He'll be able to make the deal that will allow Jews to build the temple--the more I've thought about it, the more I'm convinced only an Islamic can make this deal

2)  He'll change the times--Historically and in modern times, Islamics do this, they ban all religious days except their own.  Not only that, they don't have any equivalent of Sunday or Sabbath as a day off from work, it's 24/7 with them.  And God commands us to take a day off from work.

3)  He'll make war on Christians and Jews--the Koran explicitly demands Muslims make war on Christians and Jews.  Christians have feared various groups over time, such as humanists and secularists, but neither of those groups are up to making war--they just want to pick niggly fights in the media and in legislatures and on the courts.  Islam has the nerve, the drive and the desire like no other group.

4)  He'll deceive many--people are currently being deceived right now regarding Islam.  The myth that Islam is a "religion of peace," only if all the Jews and Christians are dead, but not even then if Iraq is any indication.  Another myth:  that if Jews will just give up some land (only if they give ALL of it up and curl up and die) there will be peace between Muslims and Jews; etc. etc.  You've heard it all.  One of the chief deceptions being that Allah is God! HA, he's nothing like Jehovah or Jesus.  If he's a spirit at all, he's a devil.

5)  Anti-Christ will worship a "god of forces," a "god of fortresses," a "god of war" this phrase has been translated in many different ways--take your pick, but how about the "god of forces" or "god of war."  If Islam has a sacrament, it's war!  Only by dying in the cause of Islam can a Muslim be guaranteed entrance into heaven!  Jesus taught that the devil comes to kill and destroy, death and destruction is the way of Islam.    

6)  He'll dominate world religion making a one-world religion.  This is essentially Islam's goal.  The Koran demands it, either convert or die, that's the way of Islam.  Islam has had the pattern of coming into a territory as immigrants and living side by side with other faiths until sufficient numbers of them are living there, then they'll push Islam or death.  Israel experiences this 24/7.  With an apostate Pope (the false prophet mentioned in Revelation), a perverted Christianity (that is a Christianity without Jesus) bowing to Islam might be a possibility.

6)  Jews in Israel will do a lot to get their temple, but once the temple is built Anti-Christ ends the sacrifice and declares himself god.  Jesus said in His discourses regarding the end times, when you see the abomination that causes desolation in the temple, run for your lives, Matthew 24.  Jews will be vastly thrilled to have a temple at long last, but it's just a ploy for Anti-Christ to get his boot on their necks!

End-times scholars have said that Jews will worship Anti-Christ as Messiah, but since the last time I wrote to you, I've failed to find the biblical passage that supports this view.  Until I discover it, the possibility Anti-Christ might be Islamic has to be on the list!

Hope all is well in your part of the world,

Sincerely,

Marilyn



I thought of something I neglected to mention earlier in this answer.  

The ten toes of the statue and the ten horns of the beast have been interpreted to be ten kingdoms, that is nations.  The EU has more than ten I believe and upon reflection I think the interpretation that the ten kingdoms represent nations is probably not what is intended, unless something drastic happens to consolidate some nations into one.  

One Bible scholar has said that the ten kingdoms represent forms of power such as technology, education, political, entertainment, economic, military and so on.  As to exactly what the ten toes and horns means in terms of kingdoms has yet to truly be revealed.

In Daniel, the prophecy regarding Rome and the reconstituted Rome skips a large amount of time, a period that is called "The Church Age" because the time skipped seems to be that era from when Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead until the "rebellion" Paul mentions in Thessalonians when the church, perhaps specifically the European church, loses its effectiveness in the war against evil.

Marilyn


Hello Pamela Sue, thank you for your kind greeting.

First, let's define the term “Christ.”  Christ is the Greek for “The Anointed One,” which is also what the Name Messiah means; Messiah is anointed by the Holy Spirit and power.  So, Anti-Christ is someone who is against Messiah and His anointing.  There have been many anti-Christs, there still are many, but there will be only one Anti-Christ also called "the beast."

John 1 tells us “…the Word of God became flesh and lived among men.”  Repeatedly throughout the Old Testament it is said, “…and the Word of God came to…”  The Word of God is literally a Person of God. While the Holy Spirit is mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments as is the Father, the Son has been less evident.  But the Word became flesh, taking on human form, so that He might experience what it's like for us, communicate the love of the Father to us and to pay the penalty for sin for us.

So, the Anti-Christ is against specifically Messiah, the Word, and by extension he is against God and anyone who belongs to God, both Christian and Jew.

In Daniel 2:31-45, Daniel interprets king Nebuchadnezzar's dream.  The dream is of a statue representing gentile world kingdoms of the present, Nebuchadnezzar's day, and the future.  The head was Babylon, verse 32; the chest and arms were silver, Medo-Persia, which was to later overtake Babylon; the belly and thighs were of bronze, Greece or Macedonia under Alexander the Great; legs of iron representing Rome and feet partly of iron and partly of clay representing a future, for us as well as Daniel, reconstituted “Roman” empire.  In the dream a rock struck the statue and it turned to dust signifying God will destroy all gentile kingdoms.  Daniel adds, “It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever,” verse 44.

End-times scholars have long taught that the feet and toes represent a reconstituted Roman empire because the iron continues into the feet.  This kingdom will be a weaker kingdom than those previous to it and will be a confederacy or a union of ten kingdoms.  This is the kingdom of the Anti-Christ.

Daniel receives a vision of the future in Daniel 7.  “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea,” verse 2.  The sea is the undifferentiated mass of humanity.  The first creature is a lion with wings of an eagle.  As Daniel watched the wings were torn off and it stood on its feet and was given the heart of a man.  This mirrors what happened to Nebuchadnezzar who was first an arrogant brute, forced to become like a beast and eat grass for a time, then when he repented he was brought back to his senses and his heart was changed, see Daniel 4.  

The second beast, verse 5, is a bear with three ribs in its teeth.  The ribs represent Media, Persia and Babylon.  The next beast, a leopard, represents Macedonia or Greece under Alexander the Great who swiftly conquered the known world.  The beast had four heads signifying that his four generals would eventually rule his kingdom at his death.  

The final beast had “large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left.  It was different from all the former beasts and it had ten horns,” verse 7.  Horns represent power and this beast is Rome, but the kingdom of Rome under the Caesars and the kingdom under the Anti-Christ are blurred as if no passage of time will occur between the two “Romes.”  In verse 8 a little horn comes up among the ten and uproots three others to become the dominant horn.  “This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.”  In this verse we get our first clue about the nature of the Anti-Christ, he will be conquer three other powers and speak boastfully.

This fourth kingdom will wage war “against the saints” and defeat them until God intervenes and destroys him, verse 21 & 22.  Verses 23-27 summarized:  the fourth kingdom, the reconstituted Rome, will “devour the whole earth.”  Anti-Christ will speak out against the Most High and “oppress the saints” and try to “change the set times and the laws.”  

Most scholars interpret this to mean that Anti-Christ will attempt to change the Jewish and Christian festivals to something else and will rewrite laws that currently protect religious peoples and their observances.  “The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time,” which Bible scholars have interpreted to mean 3 ½ years.  But, as has been restated previously, God will decide to intervene and give victory to His people.

Again, as in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, this time the last beast was destroyed and thrown into blazing fire, verse 11.  And again, it is stated that God's Kingdom will last forever, verse 14.

Daniel 9 contains a lot of information about the end times, verse 24, “Seventy ‘sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy.”  Seventy times seven is 490—490 years for the Jewish people do some important stuff, a lot of it no human being can actually do.  

Verse 25a, “Know and understand this:  From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,' and sixty-two ‘sevens.'”
That's 483 years from the issuing of the decree; see the Book of Nehemiah and the Book of Ezra, to Messiah.  Artaxerces issued the decree around 457 B.C.  Jesus lived in that time frame, 483 years after the issuing of the decree.

Verse 25b, “It (Jerusalem) will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble,” just as Nehemiah described in his book.

Verse 26, “After the sixty-two ‘sevens,' Messiah will be cut off (suffer violent death) and will have nothing.”  Jesus was killed in a violent death and seemed to leave the world stage with nothing to show for Himself.

Verse 26b, “The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.”  The Romans did come and destroy Jerusalem and the temple and as Jesus predicted in Matthew 24:1 & 2, they left no stone of the temple on top of another.  Verse 26b, “The end will come like a flood:  War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.”  We certainly have had war.

Verse 27a, “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven'…”  Once again, Daniel sees a blurred future where, what for him was a future Rome blends into an even further future Rome.  “He,” the ruler of this even more future Rome, will make a deal with “many” that is supposed to last seven years.  Verse 27b, “…but in the middle of that ‘seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering.”  From this, and based on some passages in Revelation I deduce that the deal will be made with Muslims and Jews and will permit the Jews to rebuild their temple.  The temple was destroyed in verse 26, but verse 27 tells us that sacrifices have been occuring; therefore, in order to have sacrifices, part of the deal must include a Jewish temple!   Verse 27c, “And one who causes desolation will place abominations on a wing of the temple until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

Let's summarize what we know about Anti-Christ so far:  he will overthrow three kingdoms in order to attain power indicating great military might; he will speak boastfully, he will blaspheme God; he will persecute those who believe in God for 3 ½ years; he will become a world wide dictator; he will try to change religious observances and rewrite laws; he will be able to make a seven year deal between Muslims and Jews allowing Jews to rebuild their temple, during the middle of the seven year covenant he will desolate the temple putting an abomination on a wing of the temple and he will come to a bad end.  

Besides the things Jesus says about the last days in His speeches found in the Gospels, the next passage that specifically gives information about Anti-Christ is II Thessalonians 2.  

I will summarize that chapter:  The return of the Lord cannot come until the “man of lawlessness” is revealed, but he cannot be revealed until “the rebellion” occurs.  Many believe we are seeing the beginning of “the rebellion” now as many Christian denominations ordain homosexual leaders, accept homosexual marriage, divest investments in Israel, tolerate abortion and so forth.  Paul says Anti-Christ, “…opposes and exalts himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, and even sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God,” verse 4.  Paul continues, “…but the one who now holds it (lawlessness) back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.  And 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…,” verses 9 & 10.

Because of this passage and a remarkably similar passage in Revelation 4 & 5, the scenes Daniel described in Daniel 7:9-14, 21 & 22 but also in Daniel 2:44 & 45, are seen as Jesus, the One described as the “Son of Man,” (as Jesus often called Himself, Matthew 8:20; 9:6; 10:23 and many other passages) to whom the Ancient of Days gives the power to destroy Anti-Christ, see 7:13 & 14 and as the “rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands,” of Daniel 2:44 & 45.  The “one who now holds it (lawlessness) back” is the Holy Spirit either by Himself or working through believing, devoted human beings, who will be taken out of the earth allowing Anti-Christ to be revealed.

Let's summarize the new things we've read about Anti-Christ thus far:  he will come to power after Christians have rebelled (I assume Paul means Christians since that is the crowd he is addressing), he will oppose God at ever turn and exalt himself even to the point of declaring himself to be God, but Jesus will easily destroy him.

The rebellion of the church is also stated in the following passages:  I Timothy 4:1; Luke 18:8; II Timothy 3:1 and Matthew 24:15.  

In Revelation 4 & 5 we see a more detailed version of Daniel's vision of a court and of the entrance of Jesus to the court, but John sees Jesus coming in as a “Lamb looking as if it had been slain (the violent death Daniel described), standing in the center of the throne…He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God…He came and took the scroll from the right Hand of Him (God the Father) who sat on the throne…”  Chapter 6:1, “I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals…,” verse 2, “…there before me was a white horse!  Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.”

Here Anti-Christ is portrayed as a glorious entity, but it's a copycat image based on a picture of the Lord as seen in Revelation 19:11-18.  

Anti-Christ is again mentioned in Revelation 13.  Revelation is a confusing book because it jumps around in time and location.  The chapters between 6 and 13 focus on different people and events, but in 13 the focus returns to Anti-Christ and bring the reader up to date on what he's been doing in the previous chapters since his release with the first seal.

John sees a vision similar to that of Daniel's vision where a beast steps onto the shore of human consciousness from the undifferentiated sea of humanity.  It has ten horns, seven heads and ten crowns and a blasphemous name written on it.  This beast is a composite beast blending features we've seen in other beasts found in Daniel.  Just as Daniel explained earlier in Daniel 8:24, this beast gets his power from a different source than himself, John reveals this source is the “dragon” or satan.  

As stated earlier, horns represent power and crowns represent dominion.  The number ten generally refers to divine perfection while the number 7 refers to spiritual perfection.  Though these are true, the beast has a blasphemous name written on it and it is satanically energized.  This indicates to me that Anti-Christ will have all the appearances of a godly human being while hiding his true nature, at least in the beginning.

In Revelation 13:3 John tells us that Anti-Christ will suffer a “fatal wound.”  In another counterfeit miracle Anti-Christ rises from the dead, perhaps satan utterly possesses his body at this point and somehow activates his corpse.  If he were to rise from the dead this would fit the method of operation, copy and counterfeit Messiah.  And it might merit the reaction stated in verse 3b and in 4, “…The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.  Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast?  Who can make war against him?””  

Even though John rightly identifies that the world is worshiping the dragon and Anti-Christ, this doesn't necessarily mean that the whole world realizes they are worshiping the dragon.  Deception is the order of the day with satan and with Anti-Christ, they may believe Anti-Christ is Messiah, after all, as stated in Daniel 9 and in Revelation 11:1, he has made it possible for the Jews to once again have their temple!  That would be quite a feat worthy of much laud!

Incidentally, Revelation 11:2 says, “…exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles…”  Many scholars take this to mean that the Dome of the Rock will stand next door to the temple, an apparent compromise deal Anti-Christ will strike between Muslims and Jews.  An amazing feat given the animosity the two religions have toward one another, particularly the Muslims toward the Jews.

As we learned in Daniel, John also tells us Anti-Christ will have a proud mouth, Revelation 13:5, but John adds that Anti-Christ will blaspheme God.  Once again, though he correctly identifies the talk as blasphemy, the people of the earth might not realize it.  They might view his proud boasting as entirely merited given the miracles and signs and wonders he's been able to perform.  John says Anti-Christ will, “…slander His (God's) Name and His dwelling place and those who live in Heaven,” verse 6.

As we learned earlier, Anti-Christ will be given power to make war on the saints and to conquer them and he will be a world dictator, verse 7.  “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world,” verse 8.

Anti-Christ will have a helper, Revelation 11:11.  This helper will be what I call the “Minister of Religion” for Anti-Christ.  Many believe the next Pope will be this beast.  

The Catholic church is a world wide body that answers to only one man, no other denomination has this kind of set-up and it's a perfect set-up for a man who wants to run a one world religion where he is Messiah and God.  Revelation 11:11-14 tells us that this second beast or False Prophet will also be able to do miraculous signs, one of which will be to cause fire to fall from heaven to the earth in full view of men, verse 13.  He aids Anti-Christ in deceiving humanity and sets up organized worship of Anti-Christ, verse 14.  He obtains a robot that looks like Anti-Christ that can speak and kill and sets it up for all the people of the earth to worship.  If someone doesn't worship the image of the beast, he or she is killed.  Virtual reality headsets could make this a fact through internet worship.  

The second beast also sets up world wide economic dominion for Anti-Christ by requiring every human being to receive a mark either on the wrist or forehead in order to buy or sell, verses 16 & 17.  This is a distinct possibility for the first time in history with the computer chip that is being installed on exotic pets and some human beings.   The number of Anti-Christ is 666.  Six is the number of man and in triple it is a mockery of the Holy Trinity of God and of Jesus' declaration that He is the Son of Man.

Revelation 19:20, Anti-Christ is defeated and thrown with the False Prophet into the lake of fire, just as Daniel predicted.

Let us summarize what we've learned about Anti-Christ:  he will overthrow three kingdoms in order to attain power indicating great military might; he will speak boastfully, he will blaspheme God; he will persecute those who believe in God for 3 ½ years; he will become a world wide dictator; he will try to change religious observances and rewrite laws; he will be able to make a seven year deal between Muslims and Jews allowing Jews to rebuild their temple, during the middle of the seven year covenant he will desolate the temple putting an abomination on a wing of the temple, this abomination will be a robot, idol or statue capable of talking and killing all who do not worship it; he will come to power after Christians have rebelled; he will oppose God at every turn and exalt himself even to the point of declaring himself to be God (I think that at first he will hide his most awful goals and aims and present himself as a good guy who will fix the problems of the world.  If he persecutes Christians and Jews before he's solidified his power base, he will do it surreptitiously, quietly so as not to upset the general populace, but once he's in full power, he will openly persecute Christians and Jews.  If he did not initially keep his goals and aims secret, I don't think Jews would agree to the seven-year deal); he will make himself look like Messiah and act like Messiah to deceive the population; he will be satanically energized and rise from the dead; he will establish himself as military, religious and economic dictator of the world (Is there anything I forgot?) and he will be destroyed.

I would also like to add my personal opinion about what Anti-Christ will be like.  I expect that Anti-Christ will be very charismatic, very charming, very likeable.  He will seem to want to do good things, especially in the beginning, and probably actually believe he's only trying to do good until he is fully under the control of satan.  He'll likely be a war hero, perhaps with high military rank.  He'll definitely be very intelligent, perhaps even good looking.  He might be a practioner of New Age religion or of some eastern mysticism.  He'll be a cosmopolitan man, perhaps knowing several languages and well versed in literature, history, economics and political science.  He'll probably be a sharp dresser with a highly tuned sense of design.  He's ambitious, aggressive without appearing to be, seemingly self-effacing, cheerful in demeanor, friendly.  He probably will remember faces and names well.  

The Bible only says he will be the ruler of a reconstituted Rome, thus end-time scholars' fixation on the EU or the UN as a possible venue for his appearing, but I don't see anything specifically saying he will be Jewish.  However, does he need to be Jewish to make the deal between Muslims and Jews and for his claims of Messiah to be taken seriously?  At best the evidence that Anti-Christ is Jewish is only circumstancial, but certainly it is a possibility, but without specific indications and if he could do everything predicted of him as a gentile, then I think it's very likely he'll be gentile.  

For a glimpse of what Anti-Christ might be like, Hitler could be a telling example.  He came to power with promises to fix Germany's problems and seemed to do just that.  He was very charismatic and gradually solidified his power base.  Once he had achieved that goal, his objective of world domination and his hatred of Jews and the Christians who defended Jews was revealed.  He deceived many people for an astonishingly long time.

No anti-Semitism is intended by end-time scholars who say Anti-Christ will be Jewish.  There's plenty of wickedness to go around with questions if the next Pope could be the False Prophet and the clearly stated prophecy of the rebellion of the church that allows the spiritual climate that brings Anti-Christ to power.

Jesus' teachings on Anti-Christ and the last days are found in Matthew 24:4-31; Mark 13: 5-37; Luke 21:8-36.  In Matthew 24:15 He says, “So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee..."  

As a person watching the news for portents I look for someone who is particularly charismatic from the EU to come to the fore.  The EU is essentially a reconstituted Roman Empire as its member nations were all under Rome.  And the EU is trying to establish a secular government totally free of religious influence, a nice vaccum for Anti-Christ to step into.  

I also look for news of progress on the Jewish temple, the progress on the red heifer required to prepare the temple priests and of anyone who seems to be making real headway for peace in the middle east.  The day someone makes a deal permitting the Jews to rebuild their temple, let everyone be awake and know, Anti-Christ has shown himself at last.

May God bless you richly,
Marilyn