the antichrist

[Prodigal Son]

so is the antichrist really going to be a real person? any ideas on this issue?

[bizzt]

so is the antichrist really going to be a real person? any ideas on this issue?

Since this has not been responded to before

The term "antichrist" only occurs in the books of I & II John. Here are the references: I John 2:18&22, I John 4:3, & II John 1:7.

1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

2 John 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.


Since "antichrist" literally means "against Christ", anyone who denies Jesus is "antichrist". However, when Christians talk about "The Antichrist", they are usually referring to a specific person or government that will arise in the last days. Revelation 13:1-14:20 describe the rise and dominion of a "beast" who gets his power from the dragon (first mentioned in Rev 12:3) and a "false prophet". The "beast" in these scriptures is generally understood to be "the antichrist". The "beast" is the embodiment of everything that is against Christ. I hope this helps.

[Prodigal Son]

cool, thank you.

[bizzt]

No Problem

[madscientist]

Uhm... i believ an actial person most prob. Probably the one who starts the persecution of christians will be him. I believe hell declare god doesnt exist etc and this is when persec. wuil start...

[SUGAAAAA]

I believe the Antichrist (Beast) was Nero Ceaser.


Revelation 13:1-2 talks about the beast with seven heads. Later on the beast heads are identified as Kings, so the Beast is portrayed as a kingdom. Furthermore, Revelation 17:19 says it lays on seven hills, which more than likely refered to the Seven hills of Rome (the recipients of Revelation lived in Rome). The beast was the Roman empire. Now,

Revelation 17:10

They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while.



When John wrote this, 5 of the kings had fallen, 1 was currently reigning (Nero), and the next one was to continue "for a little while".


1) Julius Caesar
2) Augustus
3) Tiberius
4) Caius
5) Claudius
6) Nero (reigned 13 years)
7) Galba (reigned about 6 months)



(I'll finish the post later on...)

[led]

Repetition is very common in prophecy.

by John MacArthur

Introduction
People in our world are always wishing for a better day, for a time when the problems that plague human society will be alleviated. However, the message of Scripture is that before there is a better time, there is going to be an infinitely worse time. Our Lord describes that time in Matthew 24:21: "Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be."

Our Lord was not the first to speak of this coming time of trouble (known as the tribulation). It will involve the whole world, but will be especially significant for Israel.

The Antichrist
In Daniel 11 we meet the man who will commit the abomination of desolation: the Antichrist. He is referred to here as the willful king. Daniel portrays him as one who does his own will, and who doesn't have a natural desire for women. He will have a perverse worship of military power, and will magnify himself above all. The Antichrist will flaunt his hatred of the true God and Jesus Christ, and attempt to set up his own kingdom in His own power and strength.

Following the Antichrist's alliance with Israel, armies from the north, south, and east will fight the Antichrist and his western confederacy, but he will defeat them Dan. 11:40-45). At this point, after becoming Israel's protector and defeating the world powers, he will commit the abomination of desolation.

The Forerunner of the Antichrist
Daniel 11:31 introduces us to an interesting historical figure, who almost all scholars agree is Antiochus Epiphanes. He was a Syrian king who reigned in Palestine from about 175 to 163 B.C. He called himself Epiphanes which means "the great one." The people called him Epimanes, which means "maniac." Verse 31 says this about him: "Forces 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 makes desolate." In that historical act of Antiochus Epiphanes, we have a picture of what the Antichrist will do in the end times.

Antiochus Epiphanes was a great persecutor of the Jewish people. The apocryphal books of 1 and 2 Maccabees describe how he tried to stamp out Jewish religion, and in so doing slaughtered thousands of Jewish men, women, and children. In one of the worst acts in Jewish history, Antiochus desecrated the Temple by slaughtering a pig on the altar, forcing the priests to eat pork, and setting up an idol to Zeus. The Jews then abandoned the Temple, not wishing to go into a defiled place. That put a halt to the daily sacrifices (as predicted by Daniel 11:31), until the Jews regained control of the Temple during the Maccabean revolution.

Daniel gives a preview in chapter 11
The period
In verse 24 Daniel says, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." The weeks here are weeks of years. Daniel is saying there will be seventy times seven, or 490 years, to the Kingdom of Messiah. Verse 25 tells us when that 490-year period began: "Understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem." In 445 B.C. King Artaxerxes of Persia issued a decree permitting the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem. From that date, sixty-nine weeks (483 years) were to elapse before the coming of Messiah the Prince (Dan. 9:25). Calculations by Sir Robert Anderson (The Coming Prince [Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1954]) and by Harold Hoehner (Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1977]) have shown that the period from Artaxerxes' decree to Christ's presentation of Himself as Israel's Messiah (at His triumphal entry into Jerusalem) is 483 years--to the very day.

That leaves one week unaccounted for. We know that the first sixty-nine weeks ended when Messiah came, but the seventieth week hasn't come yet. That leaves us with an undetermined time gap between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth weeks.

The prince
Daniel introduces us to a second prince in verse 26. This is not a reference to Antiochus Epiphanes because this prince is connected with the second coming of the Messiah, which is still future. He will cause desolation to come upon Israel. Verse 27 says he will make a covenant with Israel for one week (seven years). In the middle of that week (the seventieth week) he will cause the sacrifice and the offerings to cease, just as Antiochus Epiphanes did. Halfway through the seventieth week (after three and a half years), the prince will cause the sacrifice to stop, and then he will bring "the overspreading of abominations" (v. 27). That is a reference to the abomination of desolation. He will do this "until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate"--until the end of the tribulation.

Prophecy is very specific: the last three and a half years of the tribulation, during which all the horrors of the tribulation time are concentrated, will begin with the abomination of desolation--the desecration of the Holy Place.

[puritan lad]

I like John MacArthur, except his views on eschatology. There is alot of stuff here, but...

That leaves us with an undetermined time gap between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth weeks.

Says Who?

Dispensationalism, a theology of self-invented gaps...

[Sadasius]

Well just a little education I think is required. Anyone who went against or spoke against christ was an antichrist so this really leaves this up for big interpretation. So anyone who does anything terrible to people can be established as the one antichrist which is more than likely to happen leaving this end of prophecy about as worthless as a circus gypsy wanting $20 to tell you your fortune.

[bizzt]

Well just a little education I think is required. Anyone who went against or spoke against christ was an antichrist so this really leaves this up for big interpretation. So anyone who does anything terrible to people can be established as the one antichrist which is more than likely to happen leaving this end of prophecy about as worthless as a circus gypsy wanting $20 to tell you your fortune.

It is not speaking against him that makes you the Anti Christ. It is Denying who he is that makes you an Anti-Christ. Anybody who Denies the Anti-Christ therefore can be established as an Anti-Christ. Actually to Calvinists the Anti-Christ has come and gone. Actually even more the Anti-Christ (Nero) would have fulfilled many of the Prophecies that were said about him. Puritan Lad can get into more on that if you require the Scriptures and explaination.

[puritan lad]

See Antichrist: The Biblical View

FYI: I am a postmillennialist. There has been a very good discussion thi spast week on the end times at Pulpit Magazine.