Antichrist - Part 2
Antichrist in the OT
The references to the antichrist in the OT are numerous and it is not difficult to understand why this fact exists. It is in the OT that we learn so much information concerning the future of both Israel and the Gentiles. It is in the prophet writings that we see the view of the warnings to a consistent wayward chosen people. It is in those books that we reflect upon the constant theme of rebellion, punishment, and repentance. Who is bringing this rebellious activity as temptation toward the chosen people? Of course, it is Satan and his fallen angels, now demons who serve only him, who keep the temptation in the hearts of the Jews, and it is the willingness of the Jews to follow him willingly that creates the yielding sin.
Just to be sure we do not neglect the most basic truth on this subject, let us recall once more that the temptation is not the sin. Yielding is the human part of the equation and this giving in to evil is the sin. No man is forced to sin. All choose it willingly. Satan cannot take our heart or our soul. He can only possess those hearts and souls that are freely surrendered to him.
Isaiah:
We see the tribulation period described in the 16th chapter, opening verses, as Moab is described in his haughtiness, pride, wrath, and lies. Here rests a type of the one to come at the end of days. Verse 5 describes him sitting upon the mercy throne and verse 4 shows him to be a covert for the spoiler and extortioner to come.
We see in 27:1 the beginning of the way in which the Lord will deal with the evil one in the last days, with His sore and great and strong sword, punishing leviathan the crooked serpent.
Chapter 33 begins with the words “… woe to thee that spoilest…” and we see how the Lord begins to deal with the enemies of the church, and the false messiah that will stand against the church.
Chapter 57 brings the awful condemnation against the people of Israel as they are described as debasing themselves even unto hell (verse 9) after going to the king which is described by God as “… discovered thyself to another than me” (verse 8). The Lord is less than happy with his chosen people who have chosen themselves to follow another who can only be the one who is evil.
Jeremiah:
We see a strong vision of the antichrist in 6:26-27 as “the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us”, and here we see that the Lord speaks through His prophet that He himself has placed this evil among His people as a fortress to try them and to have them to understand that their ways must be amended (7:3).
We see almost the same message in chapter 15, verse 8, as the Lord says He has “brought against them a spoiler … at noonday. I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly”.
So we see that this evil one is used by the Lord to bring attention to the sin of His people.
Daniel:
We begin in chapter 7 with the “little horn” that is described as follows:
“Behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things”. (7 & 8).
Here we see his lofty pretensions and daring blasphemy.
In verse 21 we see he made war with the saints and prevailed against them which is quoted almost word for word in Rev 13:7.
Verse 25 teaches that he will speak great words against the most high. We are told he will wear out the saints of the most high. He is said have them in his hand for a time and times and a half time (3 ½ years at the beginning of the tribulation).
Daniel 8:7 we see a description of the man himself, and in 8:24 he will destroy the holy people. This chapter brings us the details of this evil being as follows:
He is a king of fierce countenance. (8:23).
He understands dark sentences (evil means). (8:23).
His power shall be mighty but not by his own power (Satan’s power). (8:24).
He will destroy wonderfully. (8:24).
Through his policy (wisdom) also he shall cause craft to prosper. (8:25).
He shall stand up against the prince of princes. (8:25).
He shall be broken without hand. (8:25).
We remember the complex prophecy of the 9th chapter, concerning the 70 weeks, where the prince of evil makes a covenant with the Jews but God will reserve to Himself a remnant.
We further recall the 11th chapter in which we are taught that “… in His estate shall stand up a vile person” & he shall “… obtain the kingdom by flatteries”. (11:21).
Hosea:
This prophet of the Lord makes several references to the man of sin. In 8:10 he is called the king of princes, as such he is Satan’s answer to the King of Kings.
In 12:7 he is called the merchant, and the balances of deceit are in his hand, and he loves to oppress, strongly compares to Rev 6:5. He has a twofold character, first appearing to be a friend of Israel and then becoming their enemy.
Joel:
The allusion is to the head of the northern army (likely the Assyrian) and the prophet teaches that his stink and his ill savor shall come up. (2:20).
Amos:
Amos speaks of him as the adversary who will bring down thy strength from thee and thy palaces shall be spoiled. (3:11). Further speaking about the end times, Amos writes that “…I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him” (3:14).
Micah:
Micah writes that he shall come into our land… he shall tread in our palaces. (5:5).
Nahum:
Nahum writes with wonderful detail when he teaches that “… There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord”. (1:11).
Zechariah:
Here we have the famous term “the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock”, and shows judgment to come on him as “the sword shall be on his arm, and upon his right eye”. (11:17).
These are but a selected several references to help us understand that the antichrists (those who oppose the Lord) are well cataloged in the prophets as well as the forecast of the Antichrist who will be the son of Satan to come who will bring false peace and false understanding for the first half of the final week (the tribulation period) and then turn himself against those who had been his followers as the Great Tribulation begins in the last half of that terrible seven year time.
We also view in the OT significant specific people who lived as types of the Antichrist (the actual son of perdition) to come in those last days.
It is important that we remember that the OT scriptures are far more than just symbolic stories or parables made up to render a momentary teaching. These writings are actual occurrences as well as what may be said to be typical prefigurations, that is, they exist as types of that which will be revealed in the NT.
We have strong words in the NT to help us understand this serious fact.
In Hebrews 10:7 we are told that “…in the volume of the book it is written of me…”. This verse refers not to the Gospels as they were yet unwritten. It references the meanings of the OT toward both the Lord and also toward those who are types of the counterfeit to arrive in the last days.
Romans 15:4 also helps our understanding when it teaches us, “…Whatsoever things were written aforetimes were written for our understanding”.
Therefore we have lessons to learn about those whose lives were presented to us in the OT as types of the one to come. It may be helpful to look at only a few to bring light upon this factor which is presented to us as evidence of those who lived before foreshadowing the one to come later.
There are more than a few examples for us of those who are considered types of the Lord, Jesus Christ in the OT. Some are:
Abel, Noah, Melchizedek, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, David, and others.
There are fewer examples of those who may be considered types for the counterfeit lord. Let’s consider:
Cain:
Here we view the first man born into this world naturally, and he acts as a type of the son of Satan in a number of ways:
He was of the wicked one as taught in the clearest language of 1 John 3:12.
He was a religious hypocrite. While he pretended to worship God, his sacrifice was considered unacceptable and instead of repentance in humility, he was “very wroth”. (Gen 4:5)
He was said to be a “ruler” by God’s word, as Genesis 4:7 teaches as God said “…thou shalt rule over him…” meaning Abel. We are taught that the evil one to come will be a ruler over men as well.
In murdering his brother Abel, Cain acts a type for the evil one who will murder many of the tribulation saints.
Cain was a liar, as he denied knowledge of where Abel was, when he knew he had killed him. 2 Thess 2:11 teaches this evil one will be one of deceit and falsehood.
God’s judgment came upon Cain when no other judgment could arrive. No witnesses existed to his dark deed but God knew and dealt with him. The Antichrist will also feel he can defy God without consequence, and he also will be dealt his penalty from above.
Cain’s punishment was awful & severe and he even felt it was more than he could bear. The Antichrist will be given the ultimate punishment of the lake of fire. (Rev 19:20).
Lamech:
With only few verses devoted to him, we see first his arrogance and pride in his awful deeds. He tells his wives to hear his voice and hearken unto his words as he admits he has killed one man for wounding him, and another younger man for bruising him.
We are told in Gen 4:24 that if Cain was to be avenged 7 fold, then Lamech is to be avenged 77 fold.
Look at the parallels of this evil one and the one to come:
His name itself means “powerful”, an appropriate name for one to shadow the evil one later to come. We are taught in Rev 13:4 that the Antichrist will gain power from the Dragon.
He was a descendant of Cain, not of Seth, springing from an evil line.
He was “lawless” taking two wives, violating the original act of God creating one man and one woman to be his mate.
Like Cain, he was murderer. Foreshadowing the man of blood and violence.
He was filled with himself clearly showing the sin of pride.
He was immediately followed by Seth, from whom came Jesus, and acts as a type of the Lord overcoming the Antichrist and establishing his kingdom. Eve even comments that she has been given another seed instead of Able who Cain killed.
Nimrod:
Genesis 10 & 11 teach us of the events of this man’s life and work in opposition to the Lord. We first see that his life is shown immediately before the call of Abraham out of the land of the Gentiles. Note the items from his life that bring his to us as a type of the Antichrist to come:
His name means “the rebel”.
He was a son of Cush, who was a son of Ham, cursed by Noah. Note again that these types of the evil ones spring from the evil line.
He began to be a mighty one in the earth (Gen 10:8). Paul teaches that the one to come will come with all power.
He first struggled to gain his position as a mighty one and the Evil one will first be known as the “little horn”.
In 1 Chron 1:10, we see Nimrod is described as a “man of blood” and the beginning of his kingdom was in Babel, thus a king of Babylon, one of the titles given to the Antichrist.
He built other cities as a portion of an empire to come just as the one to come will build his empire.
His defiant moment against God was the tower, attempting to reach heaven by the work of man. We are taught that the Lord’s response was “… let us go down and there confound their language…” (Gen 11:17) and here we see an early type of the Lord’s coming down to later destroy the evil one of man.
We see further types in Pharoh, Abimilech, Saul, Goliath, & Herod.
We also see a fuller description of this type of the evil one in Isaiah 14, and we are given the further evidence of the Babylon connection. The opening verses tell of the coming restoration of Israel to the favor of God. The people of Israel are told by the prophet to take up the proverb against the king of Babylon (verse 4), and in the verses to come we see the Lord’s description that he was the one who smote the people with wrath and a continual stroke, an oppressor. We see also that the Lord has broken the staff of the wicked.
In verse 12 he is identified as the “son of the morning”, Lucifer. In verse 13 we see the view that he would “exalt my throne above the stars of God…”.
These most sacred lessons help us to preview the manner, character, and devious nature of the one who will appear in the last days to deceive all who remain after the rapture. He will be for a time a man of answers, and shall appear to resolve the issues of the world. But, after a time (perhaps like a little season) he will be revealed as to his true nature as the son of Satan, just as Jesus Christ is the son of the most high.
In our next study we will deeply look into his character, his career, his counterfeit nature, and his work within the Revelation and we will see his doom.