Short answer:
Antichrist is a person who denies the sovereignty of God as Creator and the role
of His Only Begotten Son as Savior. He, as a
minister of Satan, undermines God’s will for the world and His chosen people.
The apostle John
said there are many antichrists. Several notorious men were antichrists: Nimrod,
builder of the Tower of Babel; Balak, king of Moab; Haman, prime minister of Persia;
Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria; Nero, Roman emperor; Adolf Hitler, Nazi
Fuhrer; Saddam Hussein, Iraqi president.
End-time
prophecies foreshadow an Assyrian invader who will
conquer Israel. Ancient Assyria was located in northern Iraq. Saddam Hussein, the “vile
person” in the book pf Daniel, was born in northern Iraq; so were Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, the late first “caliph” of ISIS, and his successors. They were all
modern-day Assyrians.
The end-time antichrist will glorify himself above God. Unmasked: the “man of sin… the son of perdition,” successor of the “vile person,” a man from northern Iraq, ancient Assyria, a modern-day Assyrian invader-to-be is… the end-time Antichrist!
Detailed
explanation:
Antichrist.
The
word “antichrist” is seen only in the epistles of John in the New Testament. Although
not found in the Old Testament, in a general sense an antichrist is regarded as
a person who denies both the sovereignty of God as Creator of the universe and
the role of His Only Begotten Son as Savior of mankind. “He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son” (1 John
2:22b).
An
antichrist is a minister of Satan who undermines the will and purpose of God for
the world in general and for His chosen people in particular.
Many
antichrists. John said there were a number of antichrists
in his day. “Little children, it is the
last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there
many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (1 John 2:18).
The “man of sin.”
The apostle Paul
did not use the term “antichrist”, but he must have had him in mind when he
wrote of a “man of sin” who will bring about a great apostasy that will precede
the Second Coming of Christ. “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; 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, shewing himself
that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
That
is how the end-time antichrist will show himself and be identified. In the meantime,
let us get to know his forerunners – the most notorious antichrists in the
annals of Hebrew history.
Nimrod, the first antichrist.
Nimrod,
the builder of the Tower of Babel, is considered by many Bible scholars as the
first antichrist. He was a great grandson of Noah (Genesis 10:1-8). The Bible’s
account about Nimrod is brief. “He was a
mighty hunter before the Lord:
wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord” (Genesis 10:9).
“Against the Lord.”
Why is the
statement made twice in a single verse? Why the special emphasis? The word “before” was translated from the Hebrew paniym, which has various literal and
figurative translations, such as “face,” “against,” “front,” “anger,”
“impudent”. The Septuagint (3rd-2nd century B.C. Greek
translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) translated the word as “against.” Thus, the phrase “before the Lord”
can also be rendered as “against the Lord.”
Tower of Babel. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus
wrote about the growing population after the Flood, which destroyed the world:
“God also commanded them to send colonies abroad, for the thorough peopling of
the earth… but they did not obey God… Nay, they added to this their
disobedience to the divine will, the suspicion that they were therefore ordered
to send out separate colonies, that, being divided asunder, they might the more
easily be oppressed.”
God told the descendants of Noah after the Flood to spread out in
order to repopulate the earth. They
refused, thinking they would be easier to overpower in small groups. “And they said, Go
to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and
let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole
earth” (Genesis 11:4).
Revenge on God. Josephus tells us further: “He (Nimrod) also said he would be
revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he
would build a tower too high for the waters to be able to reach! And that he
would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers!” You probably
know what happened next: God confused the tower-builders' tongues, causing them
to speak in different languages; and so they spread across the face of the
earth.
Balak, king of Moab.
Around
1451 B.C., near the end of 40 years of wandering in the wilderness on the way
to the Promised Land after their Exodus from Egypt, “the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the
Jordan across from Jericho” (Numbers 22:1, NIV). Balak, the king of the
Moabites, was filled with terror at the sight of the huge Israelite multitude,
which had defeated other peoples along their way.
Balaam the
soothsayer. Balak
sent for Balaam the soothsayer (a wizard or seer) to curse Israel. Balaam made
three burnt sacrifices and, each time, he heard the words of God. However, instead
of cursing Israel as Balak wanted him to do, Balaam blessed the Israelites – to
the great dismay and frustration of Balak, who then sent him away (Numbers
22:6-24).
Haman the Amalekite.
Haman,
an Amalekite, was a palace official of Ahasuerus (Xerxes I), king of Persia (ruled
485-464 B.C.). From earliest times, Amalekites had oppressed Israel. Along the
way n the Exodus from Egypt, Amalekites attacked Israelites lagging behind.
Haman made prime
minister. The
king made Haman prime minister. “And all
the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman:
for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did
him reverence” (Esther 3:2). Greek historian Herodotus noted that when the
Persians bowed before their king, they paid homage to him as though he were a
god. Mordecai, a Jew, showed his faithfulness to God by refusing to bow before Haman,
the second most powerful man in the Persian empire.
Plot to kill all
Jews. Incensed, Haman
plotted to kill Mordecai, as well as all the Jews in Persia. With his accomplices,
he looked for an auspicious date to execute his evil plan… ” they cast the pur (that is, the lot) in the presence of Haman to
select a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of
Adar” (Esther 3:7, NIV).
Haman
then told the king that the religious customs of the Jews were against his best
interests. King Ahasuerus issued a decree to have all the Jews killed throughout
Persia.
Esther,
the queen, Mordecai’s orphaned niece he had raised, learned about Haman’s plot
from her uncle. Revealing to Ahasuerus that she was secretly a Jewess, Esther pleaded
for the lives of her people.
Haman hanged. Enraged, King Ahasuerus ordered
Haman and his sons hanged on the gallows he had erected for Mordecai. The date
Haman had picked to slaughter the Jews is today celebrated by the Jews as the Feast
of Lots (Purim) sometime in March.
Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria.
After Alexander the Great died in
323 B.C., his Greek empire was divided among four of his top generals. Syria,
including Judea, fell under Seleucus in 280 B.C. He began a dynasty that ruled
until 63 B.C., when Syria became a Roman province.
A
Seleucid king, Antiochus IV (ruled 175-164 B.C.), was surnamed Epiphanes (“God
manifest”), but was called Epimanes (“madman”) by his enemies. He was one of
the cruelest rulers of all time; his cruelty bordered on madness. He tried to
unite all the peoples of his kingdom in religion, law, and custom by imposing
Greek culture.
Jewish religion banned.
He prohibited the
Jewish religion, issuing rules against the Sabbath, circumcision, food laws. He
introduced the pagan worship of Zeus (1 Maccabees 1:54), with whom he
identified himself as God. He erected an altar of Zeus (the Romans’ Jupiter)
over the holy altar of burnt offering of the Jewish Temple, sacrificed pigs,
and forced Jews to participate in pagan festivals. Jews were put to death if
caught with the Torah (first five books of the Bible) in their possession.
Jewish revolt. The Jews revolted in 167 B.C.
Trying to quell the uprising, Antiochus massacred thousands of Jews and stole
the temple treasures (1 Maccabees 1:20-24; 2 Maccabees 5:11-21). Led by Judas
Maccabeus, the Jews defeated the Syrian-Greeks in 164 B.C., and the Temple was
cleansed on the 25th day of the month of Chislev. It is celebrated
today by Jews as the “Feast of Lights” (Hanukkah) every year in December.
Nero, Roman emperor.
Nero
(ruled A.D. 54-68) was the fifth emperor of Rome. At age 12, he was adopted by
his mother‘s uncle and husband, Emperor Claudius. Four years later, the emperor
gave his daughter Octavia to Nero in marriage. Nero poisoned Britannicus, the
son and heir of Claudius. So, when Claudius died, Nero became Roman emperor.
Brutal family
record. In A.D.
59, Nero secured from the Roman Senate an order for the execution of his own
mother – to please his mistress, Poppaea. He divorced Octavia and married
Poppaea. He later killed her with a kick when she was with child. Nero next
proposed to marry Antonia, his adopted sister; but when she refused, he ordered
her put to death. He then married Statilia Messalina, whose husband he had
assassinated.
Persecutor of Christians. Nero persecuted Christians in 64 A.D. after a huge fire destroyed much of Rome. Rumors were that Nero himself caused the fire and watched the flames from a tower while playing a lyre. Nero put the blame on Christians and ordered them killed. Many were torn apart by dogs, while others were burned alive at night as human torches.
Nero
was the emperor before whom the apostle Paul was brought on his first
imprisonment in Rome. In the persecution of Christians by Nero, Paul and Peter were
said to have suffered martyrdom.
In
A.D. 68, the Praetorian Guard under him rebelled, and Nero was forced to flee
Rome. That same year, at the age of 30, he was declared public enemy by the
Roman Senate and condemned to death. He died by committing suicide.
Number of the
“beast.” Preterist
theologians, who teach that most end-time prophecies have already been
fulfilled, usually support the idea that, in the Jewish gematria system (letters counted as numbers), the name and
title “Nero Caesar,” written in Hebrew as “NRON QSR,” is the numerical
equivalent of the “beast”: (N / nun) 50
+( R / resh) 200 + (O / vav)
6 + (N / nun) 50 + (Q / qof )
100 + (S / samech) 60 + (R / resh) 200 = 666.
Adolf Hitler, Nazi Fuhrer.
Adolf Hitler, a frustrated artist, in 1919 joined the National Socialist German
Workers' Party, a fascist movement in bankrupt and tumultuous post-war Germany.
Quickly rising to party leadership, he shortened the first word in the party’s
name to “Nazi”.
Superior Aryan race.
The Nazis
glorified Germans and other northern European peoples as members of a superior
race they called “Aryan.” They claimed that the Jews, Slavs, and other
minorities were inferior. Hitler promised to rebuild Germany into a mighty
empire that would last for a thousand years.
World War II. Hitler became German Chancellor
(prime minister) in 1933, then Fuhrer (“the leader”) with dictatorial powers in
1934. He ignited World War II by invading Poland in 1939. He rapidly regained German
territories lost in World War I and conquered most of Europe.
Holocaust. Before the Nazis were defeated by
the Allies in 1945, they had methodically killed about 6 million European Jews
and some 5 million other people Hitler regarded as racially inferior or
politically dangerous. The Nazi genocide is known today as the “Holocaust”.
As
Allied forces led by the American, British, and Soviet troops closed in on his
headquarters in Berlin on April 30, 1945, Hitler killed himself after just 12
years in power.
Saddam Hussein, Iraqi president.
His
first name “Saddam” means “one who confronts” in Arabic. It reminds us of
Nimrod, the first antichrist, who, as “a
mighty hunter before the LORD” was in “front” of or “against” the Lord. Nimrod had reigned over ancient
Erech (Genesis 10:10), while Saddam ruled over modern-day Iraq – both of which
are located in the same place.
Saddam
Hussein fulfilled a long list of Bible prophecies. Let us see how Daniel
11:21-30, specifically, matched Saddam’s persona and activities.
Rise to power. Daniel 11:21 – “And in his estate…” (the territory of the Roman Empire under
Augustus Cesar, the “raiser of taxes” in
the preceding verse; included Mesopotamia, today mostly part of Iraq);“shall stand up a (“vile person,” KJV; “contemptible
person,” NIV; “despicable person,”
NASU); ‘to whom they shall not give the
honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom
by flatteries” (formerly a monarchy, Iraq became a military dictatorship, thus
Saddam took power in 1979 as president, not as king).
Daniel
11:22 – “And with the arms of a flood
shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken…” (with the
ruthless internal security units loyal to him, Saddam jailed, executed, or
assassinated his rivals and detractors);
Anti-Israel. “yea,
also the prince of the covenant” (probably
the covenant between God and Abraham in Genesis 17:7-10, wherein God promised
to “give unto thee, and to thy seed after
thee… all the land of Canaan”); Saddam denounced Israel’s possession of
Palestine (Canaan) and led Arab opposition to the 1979 Camp David Accords ending
the conflict between Egypt and Israel over Palestine.
Daniel
11:23 – “And after the league made with
him he shall work deceitfully…” (Saddam himself negotiated an agreement
with Iran in 1975 on border disputes; yet in September 1980, he declared the
pact null and void); “for he shall come
up, and shall become strong with a small people” (he wielded power with the
support of the small Sunni Muslim minority of Iraq, which had a big Shiite
Muslim majority).
Daniel 11:24 – “He shall enter peaceably even upon the
fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not
done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and
spoil, and riches…”; Arab chieftains in the Iraqi parliament typically passed
laws that mainly benefited themselves; however, Saddam used the revenues from
Iraq’s huge oil reserves to modernize the country and raise the people’s
standard of living.
Weapons of mass
destruction. “yea, and he shall forecast his devices
against the strong holds, even for a time.” Saddam began developing
nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), raising apprehensions
among Iraq’s neighbors.
Iraq-Iran War. Daniel 11:25 – “And he shall stir up his power and his
courage against the king of the south with a great army…” (Iraq attacked
Iran on September 22, 1980 (the “king of
the south” has been determined to be Iran in prophecy studies); “and the king of the south shall be stirred
up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand” (Iran
was able to make their first counteroffensive in January 1981, but Iraq
decimated the assault); “for they shall
forecast devices against him” (starting 1983, Iraqi forces used poison gas
against Iranian troops).
Daniel
11:26 – “Yea, they that feed of the
portion of his meat shall destroy him…” (countries which were importers of
Iranian oil aided Iraq); “and his army
shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain” (with their great
superiority in number, Iran used human wave attack tactics; but the outnumbered
Iraqi forces inflicted hundreds of thousands dead or wounded on the Iranians
before falling back).
Ceasefire. Daniel 11:27 – “And both these kings' hearts shall be to do
mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for
yet the end shall be at the time appointed” (in July 1987, the UN Security
Council called for a ceasefire; the combatants laid down their arms a year
later in August 1988; but decades later, Iraq and Iran had yet to formally
close the conflict).
Daniel 11:28 – “Then shall he return into his land with great riches…” (Iraq had obtained various state-of-the-art weapons from France and the Soviet Union, including thousands of artillery pieces, tanks, armored vehicles, and hundreds of combat aircraft); “and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land” (Saddam’s antagonistic stance against Israel’s possession of Palestine remained virulent).
First Persian Gulf
War. Daniel 11:29
– “At the time appointed he shall return,
and come toward the south…” (in August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait at its
southeast border); “but it shall not be
as the former, or as the latter” (Saddam would not be as formidable as he
was in the war with Iran).
Coalition force. Daniel 11:30 – “For the ships of Chittim shall come against
him…” (Bible dictionaries define Chittim
as “islands and coasts of the Mediterranean Sea,” many of which were UN
members allied with the US; a coalition of 39 countries formed by the UN and
the US sent forces to liberate Kuwait; “therefore
he shall be grieved, and return…”; Iraq was forced out of Kuwait in six
weeks; tens of thousands of Iraqis were killed, most of their armored vehicles
and artillery smashed, and several nuclear and chemical weapons facilities in Iraq
totally or partially destroyed;
Rewards for
terrorists. “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” (after the war, Saddam further encouraged
terrorist attacks against Israel by giving rewards to families of suicide
bombers).
Fall of Saddam. Twelve years later, on March 20,
2003, the US led a military campaign in the Second Gulf War to overthrow Saddam
and eliminate Iraq's ability to produce WMDs. Baghdad fell on April 9, 2003, and
Saddam went into hiding. On December 13, US troops captured him near Tikrit,
his hometown in northern Iraq. The Iraqi High Tribunal sentenced him to death
for crimes against humanity. Saddam Hussein was hanged on December 30, 2006.
“Vile person” lives
on. The misdeeds of
the “vile person” do not end with Saddam’s death. The actions of the vile
person continue until his end in Daniel 11:45. In Bible prophecy an important
character, say, a king, and his successor are usually referred to as the same
person (such as the pharaoh of Egypt). Since Saddam is now gone, it looks like
further actions of the vile person will be made by an equally, or possibly even
more, wicked successor.
Let
us delve a little into the background of the most recent “vile person” we have discussed
– Saddam.
Modern-day
Assyrians. Saddam
Hussein was born in Tikrit in northern Iraq, largely the domain of the ancient
Assyrian empire. That made him a modern-day Assyrian.
Abu
Bakr al-Baghdadi, the late first “caliph” or head of ISIS (Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria), was born near Samarra, also in northern Iraq. He was therefore
a modern-day Assyrian, too.
Less
than a week after al-Baghdadi’s death in October 2019, ISIS media announced the new caliph
as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. He was born in Tal Afar, northern Iraq, and thus may also be regarded as
a modern-day Assyrian.
When
Abu Ibrahim died less than a month later, Islamic
State named its new caliph as Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, the brother
of the first caliph and another modern-day Assyrian.
Assyrian invader. Bible prophecies foreshadow an
Assyrian who will conquer the Jews. We read in Isaiah 10:24, “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of
hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he
shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after
the manner of Egypt”; and in Micah 5:5b, “the Assyrian shall come into our land… he shall tread in our palaces.”
Assyrians
razed the northern kingdom of divided Israel in 721 B.C. In 701 B.C., they were
besieging Jerusalem in the south when their huge army was struck by "the angel of the Lord" (2 Kings 19:35), probably with a plague. About
185,000 Assyrian soldiers died, and the survivors turned back. So, the Jews
have never been subjugated by Assyrians… yet.
Let
us resume reading the narrative of Daniel on the vile person’s activities…
“Abomination of desolation.” Daniel 11:31 – “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.”
That
thing appears to be the same object that Christ warned his disciples about. “When ye therefore shall see the abomination
of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso
readeth, let him understand:). Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the
mountains… For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those
days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved…” (Matthew
24:15-16, 21-22a).
“Great tribulation.”
The “abomination
of desolation” will usher in the “great tribulation,” the most horrendous period
of suffering that the world has ever known and shall ever experience! Believers
will have their faith shaken during this period of the most terrible ordeals.
Daniel
11:32 – “ 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.” Under great duress, many of the
faithful will give in to the persuasive rhetoric of the vile person and take up
his cause. He will praise and reward those who will join him against the
covenant. However, the most faithful believers will remain steadfast in their
obedience to God.
Daniel
11:33 – “And they that understand among
the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame,
by captivity, and by spoil, many days.” Courageous Bible teachers and
preachers will try to strengthen believers against the vile person’s lies and
deceitful promises; but they will be persecuted, imprisoned, and executed by forces
under him.
Daniel
11:34 – “ Now when they shall fall, they
shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with
flatteries.” Terribly oppressed, God’s people will be tempted to accept offers
of assistance from supposed do-gooders who will turn out to be actually enemies.
Daniel
11:35 – “ And some of them of
understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white,
even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.” Many believers
under duress will give up their faith under pain of death, but some will
ultimately turn back to God and regain their spiritual purity.
The end-time
antichrist. Daniel
11:36 – “And 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.”
That
sounds like the “man of sin… 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, shewing himself that he is God” (2
Thessalonians 2:3-4).
Unmasked
at last. The “vile person” and the “man of sin” are one and the same
individual. This man from northern Iraq and thus a modern-day Assyrian – he is the
end-time antichrist!
Excerpted from the booklet Antichrist
and the book End Time Decoded by M.M. Tauson. Printed copies available at Amazon.com
– For free pdf copies of our e-booklets, click the Booklets and Google Drive
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Bible quotations are from the King James Version (KJV) unless
otherwise indicated.
