Meet the Antichrist Part Four

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Meet the Antichrist
Part Four

By John of AllFaith © 7.21.08

The Person of Antichrist

Next, we turn our attention to the man himself. As mentioned above, there are those who teach that the Antichrist is not an individual human being but a system, a government or other organized body of controls. A helpful rule of thumb when studying the prophecies is, "If it makes sense literally, take it literally." One reason so many people believe the prophecies are so confusing is the myriad of additions some people make to explain them. For instance, the United States is NOWHERE mention in ANY biblical prophecy, however as Americans some people want it to be, so the twist the prophecies and try to force interpretations. More on this later. However when the prophecies are taken literally they are generally fairly clear.

None of the prophecies speak of the Antichrist as a system, government, etc. When the prophecies concerning the coming Antichrist are read literally, they make perfect sense. The references are always to an individual person of great power and influence. We have seen people like him before in history, although none has achieved his zenith nor fulfilled the requisite prophecies. When thinking of the Son of Perdition, we are reminded of Adolf Hitler, of Alexander the Great, of Attila the Hun and other historic conquerors and rulers. However such figures were mere shadows of the coming Dijal, the Antichrist.

Our Thessalonians text tells us specifically "...that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth 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…" Every reference is to an individual man not to a "system of things." It is vital that we understand this. Just as the Third Reich was centered on Adolf Hitler, so too the Fourth Reich will be centered on this Son of Perdition.

Where will the Antichrist come from? What do we know about him as a person? The prophecies give us some insight into this question.

For anyone to be accepted as the Jewish Moshiach he must be Semitic, a descendant of Abraham, David, Jesse and others. The messianic prophecies are very clear on this point. For instance:

Isaiah 11:1: And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
15 And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.
16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

We can understand therefore that since the Rex Mundi is to be accepted as Moshiach by the Jews, he must be a Semitic Jew. In other words, while it is true and important to understand that Judaism is a religion not a race, the "Little Horn" must be a physical descendant as well as a spiritual descendant. Would Jews ever accept a Gentile as their Moshiach? Of course not! The "stem of Jesse" will obviously have to be Jewish if he is to be accepted. Indeed he will have to at least appear to fulfill the requisite messianic prophecies. Understanding these prophecies from a traditional Jewish perspective will therefore yield a lot of key information about him.

The Hebrew Bible does not predict a virgin birth, a sacrificial death, a resurrection from the dead and so on. Such teachings were added by the Vatican created Nicene Christian denominations for their own purposes. Essentially:

The moshiach will be a great political leader descended from King David (Jeremiah 23:5). The moshiach is often referred to as "moshiach ben David" (moshiach, son of David). He will be well-versed in Jewish law, and observant of its commandments (Isaiah 11:2-5). He will be a charismatic leader, inspiring others to follow his example. He will be a great military leader, who will win battles for Israel. He will be a great judge, who makes righteous decisions (Jeremiah 33:15). But above all, he will be a human being, not a god, demi-god or other supernatural being (Source: Judaism 101).

Bethlehem is "David's city" and many believe its reference as the birthplace of Moshiach merely points to that. I do not therefore see his birth in Bethlehem as an absolute certainty, although as I say above it could well be that the Leader was born there. He must however be a descendant of King David.

It is taught by some Jewish scholars that in every generation a person is born with the potential to be the Moshiach. If the time is right for the Messianic age within that person's lifetime, if the conditions for his arrival are right, then that person will be the Moshiach. What can bring in the true Moshiach?

Although some scholars believed that G-d has set aside a specific date for the coming of the moshiach, most authority suggests that the conduct of mankind will determine the time of the moshiach's coming. In general, it is believed that the moshiach will come in a time when he is most needed (because the world is so sinful), or in a time when he is most deserved (because the world is so good). For example, each of the following has been suggested as the time when the moshiach will come:

• if Israel repented a single day;
• if Israel observed a single Shabbat properly;
• if Israel observed two Shabbats in a row properly;
• in a generation that is totally innocent or totally guilty;
• in a generation that loses hope;
• in a generation where children are totally disrespectful towards their parents and elders;

But if that person dies before he completes the mission of Moshiach, then that person was not the Moshiach.

As we consider the long list of influential Jews in history, we find many who were beneficial and many who were detrimental to the common good of humanity, as with all other peoples. The racial and religious identity of this coming leader in no way impugns the Jewish people, rather it confirms that the Jews are the central players in the affairs of God and humanity. The Jews are the Chosen People for this purpose by God Almighty.

Human history is the ongoing saga of God's dealings with the people of Israel.

From whence will this Jewish leader arise? To answer this question we must understand one of the older sources of biblical prophecy, the Book of Daniel.

Daniel 1:1: In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand.

Around the year 606 BCE Daniel, whose name means 'God is my judge,' was brought into Babylon (modern day Baghdad) as a prisoner along with other Jews. He was a very gifted person. His captors recognized this trait in him and in time Daniel became one of the three highest-ranking officers of the Medo-Persian Empire (Daniel 5:29, 6:1-3). He lived in Babylon until at least 530 BCE. Besides being politically astute, Daniel was also a Jew of great religious conviction and the book bearing his name is one of the two most important prophetic books in the Bible, the other being the Book of Revelation revealed to John the Apostle by Master Y'shua (Rev. 1:1).

Daniel reveals the divine prophecies clearly. In his words we witness the rise and fall of several kingdoms. We also see the ascension and eventual ruin of the Antichrist and the ultimate victory of the Moshiach and Israel over the fallen world. We also gain insight into the restoration of the earth to God's original design (Paradise Lost to Paradise Restored). In Daniel we discover how through the Israel the nations of the earth are to be blessed as promised way back at Genesis 12:3. Understanding Daniel is therefore essential if one would understand the near-future history coming into existence before our very eyes.

This destruction of ancient Israel at the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar marked the last time that Israel would exist as a sovereign nation until, "the End of Days."

Following their return to Eretz Israel from Babylon, Israel remained a territory of other nations. At the time of Master Y'shua, Israel was a Roman province known as Judea. The Romans renamed Judea "Palestine" after the Philistines in an attempt to erase the Jews from history. It was not until 1948 CE that Israel regained its national sovereignty in the God Given Jewish Homeland. It was not until 1967 that they returned to Zion, Jerusalem, as an independent nation. This event was crucial to the prophetic time table. Until this took place the Rex Mundi or Antichrist could arise.

Our current topic is the identity of the Antichrist and Daniel has a lot to offer us on this topic. King Nebuchadnezzar was a visionary who placed great stock in his dreams. God uses these dreams to reveal important secrets and the more one studies this book the more one discovers about HaShem's Plan of the Ages, including information about the last earthly ruler and his global kingdom.

It is noted in the second verse of the Book of Daniel that God empowered this warrior king (Nebuchadnezzar) to defeat the nation of Israel and to take many of its citizens into captivity. As stated before, Israel is the specially chosen people of God as well as the nation bearing that name. Through a series of covenants, the Jewish people were selected by God as tools through which He will bless the earth and realize his plans for the planet.

This service has included many difficult situations and hardships through the years that individual Jews would doubtless have preferred to avoid! As the humble milkman Tevye says in Fiddler on the Roof, "I know, I know we are the chosen people. But once in a while, can't you choose someone else?" The Babylonian captivity was doubtless such a time when many Jews could have related to Tevye's sentiments, however essential elements of Judaism were developed during this period and the importance and lasting consequences of the Babylonian captivity can't be overstated.

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Part Five Coming Soon