INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME II OF THE ANTICHRIST AND THE SECOND COMING
This is volume II of a two volume series that examines The Antichrist and the Second Coming from a preterist (i.e., past fulfillment) perspective. In volume I, I examined this topic as portrayed in Daniel and 2 Thessalonians. In volume II, I look at the Antichrist and the Second Coming as shown in Revelation. While volume I provides a great deal of background to volume II, volume II should make good sense even if one has not read the first volume.
The Antichrist was the opponent of God/Christ who was defeated by the coming of the Lord at AD 70. This is shown in Daniel 7:21-27, 2 Thessalonians 2:8 and Revelation 19:11-21. Some preterists say there was no Antichrist. Looking at the above scriptures, I guess that means they have to come up with three opponents of God/Christ who are defeated by the coming of the Lord![1] The basic thesis of this work is that the Antichrist was ultimately a spiritual ruler from the abyss (cf. Rev. 11:7; 17:8) who worked through Titus in his three-and-a-half-year destruction of the Jewish nation. This was the spirit of Antichrist (1 John 4:3)—the demonic prince to come who would destroy Jerusalem and the Temple (Dan. 9:26).
While the book of Revelation covers much of the same subject matter found in Daniel and 2 Thessalonians, it does so in more detail. Revelation goes into detail on the Antichrist’s three-and-a-half-year campaign against the Jews/saints (Dan. 7:21, 25; cf. Rev. 13:5). This three-and-a-half-year period of AD 67-70 (cf. Rev. 11:2) was the last half of Daniel’s seventieth week. It would begin with the coming of the Titus and would end with the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (Dan. 9:26-27)—the shattering of the Jewish nation (Dan. 12:7). This is shown in Revelation 17-18 where the Antichrist (the beast) destroys “the great city” of Babylon (Rev. 17:18). In Revelation 11:8 we are told that the great city is where Jesus was crucified (i.e., Jerusalem). Thus, the destruction of harlot Babylon in Revelation is the same attack and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple that the rest of Scripture shows the Antichrist making. The Antichrist would lay siege to Jerusalem at the time of the great tribulation (Dan. 11:36-12:7; cf. Matt. 24:15-21); he would capture the Temple (2 Thess. 2:1-4)—he would destroy both “the city and the sanctuary” (Dan. 9:26-27; Rev. 17-18).
The Antichrist’s three-and-a-half-year reign of terror would be brought to an end by the Second Coming. This is shown in Daniel as the coming of God to defeat the little horn, followed by the saints fully possessing the kingdom of God (Dan. 7:21-22). This is shown in Revelation in the form of the coming of the Word of God to defeat the individual beast (the eighth king in the line of eight kings, Rev. 17:9-11), followed by the saints fully possessing the kingdom of God as the millennium begins (Rev. 19:11-20:4). Both Daniel and Revelation are showing the AD 70 full establishment of God’s kingdom (cf. Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45; 7:7-12, 21-27; cf. Rev. 11:15-18; 20:1-4). These events that were distant when Daniel wrote in the sixth century BC, were at hand when John wrote in the first century AD. Note how Daniel is told, “Go your way, Daniel for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (Dan. 12:9). In contrast, John is told, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand” (Rev. 22:10).
SPIRITUAL RULERS
Again, the basic thesis of this work is that the Antichrist was the demonic ruler from the abyss that worked through Titus in his destruction of Israel. The idea of spiritual rulers is foreign to many in our modern western culture; this was decidedly not so in the Ancient Near East (ANE). Ernest Lucas writes the following along these lines:
The phrase “sons of God” is almost always used in reference to angelic beings (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7—its meaning in Gen. 6:1-4 is hotly debated, however). I believe Ben Sirach’s interpretation of Deuteronomy 32:7-8 as speaking of angelic rulers over the nations is correct (cf. Luke 4:5-7; 13:2). It is certainly what one finds in the book of Daniel. Consider Daniel 10 and how the heavenly messenger sent to Daniel speaks of fighting against the “kings of Persia” and how the “prince of Greece” would be next.The idea that different nations were under the care of different gods was common in the ANE. It is expressed in Rabshakeh’s taunt before the walls of Jerusalem (2 Kgs. 18:33-35). Deut. 32:8-9 says:
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of men,
he fixed the bounds of the peoples according to the sons of God.
For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.
(‘The sons of God’ is the reading of LXX. MT has ‘the sons of Israel’, but 4QDeut supports LXX.) Ben Sirach (Sirach 17:17) understood this to mean: ‘He appointed a ruler for every nation, but Israel is the Lord’s own portion.’ It is generally suggested that behind this idea is the ANE concept of the divine council, which appears in some places in the H[ebrew] B[ible] (1 Kgs. 22:19; Job 1:6; Ps. 82) . . . In a few places in the HB there are hints of heavenly forces that oppose God, and so will meet with punishment (e.g. Is. 24:21; 34:4-5).[2]
The glorious Man of Daniel 10:12-13 was either an angel or more likely a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus (cf. Dan. 10:5-12 with Rev. 1:12-18). The kings and princes against whom he was fighting were not the physical rulers of Persia or Greece but the spiritual rulers over those nations.[3] The same is also true of the prince who helped him— Michael, an angelic ruler of the Jews (Dan. 12:1; cf. Rev. 12:7).[4] With this in mind, consider Daniel 9:26. The Antichrist is referred to as the prince of the people who would destroy Jerusalem and the Temple. This is not simply referring to Titus; ultimately, it is referring to a demonic prince of the Roman people—the beast from the abyss—that would work through Titus.Then he [the glorious Man of vv. 5-6] said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been alone there with the kings of Persia” . . . Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. (No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince.)”
Daniel 10:12-13, 20-21
It is spiritual kings and princes that are being shown in Daniel. Miller, commenting on Daniel 10:13 writes,
The NIV’s “detained there with the king of Persia” could mean that the angel was prevented from leaving the area ruled by the human king of the Persian Empire. Yet the Hebrew word translated “king” is plural, and the concept of the angel’s being “detained with” the earthly kings of Persia seems untenable. In the context of angelic warfare, the “kings” likely were spiritual rulers who attempted to control Persia . . . Who was this “prince of the Persian kingdom” who resisted Gabriel for three weeks? (1) He must have been an angel since no human prince could have withstood Gabriel. Moreover, Israel’s “prince” was the angel Michael (10:21), and it is reasonable to suppose that in the same context the “prince” of Persia was also an angel. (2) Since this “prince” opposed God’s angel, he may safely be assumed to have been an evil angel, that is, a demon. Leupold remarks: “Bad angels, called demons in the New Testament, are, without a doubt, referred to here.” [H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Daniel, 1949. Reprint, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1969), 457] (3) He is called the “prince of the Persian kingdom” so Persia must have been his special area of activity. Therefore this demon was either a powerful angel assigned to Persia by Satan or possibly he was Satan himself. [5]
Like the kings of Persia in Daniel 10:13, the eight kings in Revelation (Rev. 17:10-11) are ultimately spiritual rulers. This is confirmed by the fact that the eighth of these kings comes out of the abyss (Rev. 11:7; 17:8)—not exactly the place that human rulers come from (cf. Luke 8:30-32; Rev. 9:1-3). This ruler’s destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in Daniel 9:26 is shown in Revelation 17-18 in the form of the beast’s destruction of harlot Babylon.
In Ephesians 6 Paul writes the following on the topic of spiritual rulers—what he refers to as the “spiritual hosts of wickedness.”
Clearly this is a reference to spiritual rulers as opposed to human, “flesh and blood” rulers (cf. John 14:30; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2; 1 John 5:19). These spiritual rulers of the pre-AD 70 age would soon be coming to nothing (1 Cor. 2:6; cf. Rom. 16:20). This can be seen in the beast being thrown into the lake of fire at Jesus’ parousia (Rev. 19:11-21; cf. Dan. 7:11). This defeat of the Antichrist was not the destruction of a man, nor the Roman empire (which had many more emperors than the eight kings that Revelation shows),[6] but the destruction of the demonic ruler from the abyss that worked through Titus (Dan. 7:7-11).Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:11-12
A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE SCRIPTURES RELATED TO ANTICHRIST
Looking at the scriptures that have traditionally associated with the Antichrist, it is not hard to find fulfillments related to Titus:
My interpretation that the little horn of Daniel 7 represents Titus is the traditional Jewish interpretation (i.e., Rashi—the single most important Jewish commentator). Jewish commentator Hersh Goldwurm writes the following regarding Daniel 7:7-8 and its eleven rulers:
Titus was the eleventh Caesar; in AD 70 he was a general, the son of the reigning emperor (Vespasian), thus he is referred to as an eleventh “little horn.” The three horns removed before the little horn (Dan. 7:8, 24) were Galba, Otho and Vitellius—the three short-lived emperors of AD 68-69 that Titus and his father overcame in their bid for the Roman Empire.These ten horns were later (v. 24) identified by the angel as ten kings who would rule Rome before the destruction of the Holy Temple (Rashi) . . . During his father’s reign, Titus, son of Vespasian, destroyed the Holy Temple (Mayenei HaYeshuah 8:5) . . . Another horn, a small one. This refers to Titus (Rashi). [Vespasian’s son and eventual successor was in command of the Roman armies in the Holy Land and was responsible for the destruction of the Temple. He is referred to as another horn, a small one, probably because he was not yet emperor at this time.] . . . And a mouth speaking haughty [lit. big] words. Titus spoke and acted with great arrogance in the inner sanctum of the Holy Temple as recounted in Gittin 56b (Rashi). (emphasis and brackets in original)[7]
Daniel 9:26 and “the prince who is to come” is quite easily applied to Titus.
Titus was the one that this demonic prince of the Romans worked through in his destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Along these lines, notice the close relationship between physical and spiritual rulers in the following from Isaiah.And after the sixty-to weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.
Revelation is showing us this day (cf. Rev. 11:15-18; 19:11-20:4). It is unveiling the spiritual realm and showing us the rulers on high that were the true power behind the earthly rulers of John’s day.It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth. They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; after many days they will be punished. For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders gloriously.
Isaiah 24:21-23
In Daniel 12, Daniel is told that all the events of Daniel 11 and 12 would be fulfilled when the power of Daniel’s people had been “completely shattered” (Dan. 12:7). This happened at Titus’ destruction of the Jewish nation at AD 70. This was the culmination of the great tribulation—a time brought on by the king of the North’s attack against Jerusalem (Dan. 11:36-12:2). A. Berkeley Mickelsen (who is not a preterist) makes the following observations about how Daniel 11:40-44 fits Titus and the Romans:
Looking at 2 Thessalonians 2:4, the man of lawlessness was to take control of the Temple and exalt himself above all that is called God. This was fulfilled by Titus in AD 70 as his troops worshipped him at his capture of the Temple (Josephus, The Jewish War 6, 6, 1). Notice that Paul is connecting the man of lawlessness with the king of the North here (cf. 2 Thess. 2:4 with Dan. 11:36-37). Although Kenneth Gentry maintains that Nero was the man of lawlessness, he does acknowledge that the only Roman leader who actually fulfilled the prophecy of 2 Thessalonians 2:4 was Titus. Gentry writes the following on this: “the future emperor Titus actually accomplishes this ‘intention’ [of being worshiped in the Temple] when he completes the devastation of Jerusalem set in motion by Nero. Titus invades the Temple in A.D. 70 and his soldiers worship Rome within.”[9]Dan[iel] 11:40-44 seems less appropriate to Antiochus IV Epiphanes than to the Roman ruler Titus who invaded the area in A.D. 66-73. The king of the south will wage war with the king of the north by thrusting out his forces (Dan. 11:40). According to the text the king of the north comes with ships, then he enters the lands, overflows, and passes through. Antiochus IV would not have to pass through countries to reach the “glorious” land, or Israel (Dan. 11:41), because his kingdom adjoined it.
These verses better illustrate the coming of the Romans into Palestine under Titus. In that case, the king of the south would not be Egypt. From the Roman perspective, it would have been the Jewish nation because of their treatment of Roman officials. The Jews (especially the Zealots) attacked Roman troops and initiated the tragic war of A.D. 66-73. When the Romans decided to insure their full control of the eastern Mediterranean, they cared nothing about the areas occupied in past times by the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites on the east side of the Jordan River (Dan. 11:41). Instead, their primary concerns were the land of Egypt, the upper Nile, and the northern coast of Africa (Dan. 11:43) . . . Dan. 11:45 describes the approach of the Romans to Jerusalem after their victorious campaign in Galilee. [8]
Looking at Revelation, the individual beast is said to be an eighth ruler (Rev. 17:11)—a demonic king from the abyss (Rev. 11:7; 17:8; cf. Dan. 10:13). He is the one who destroys harlot Babylon. Notice, it the harlot Babylon represents Jerusalem, as many preterists correctly maintain (cf. Ezek. 16), then Titus should be that ruler (or more correctly, the one that ruler worked through). Notice that the little eleventh horn of Daniel 7 becomes an eighth ruler when three horns are removed before him (Dan. 7:20). The little horn/individual beast are the same person—the one who would overcome Daniel’s people for three and a half years (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 13:5) and be defeated by the coming of God (Dan. 7:21-22; Rev. 19:11-21). Three and a half year is how long it took Titus to shatter the Jewish nation (March/April of AD 67 to August/September of AD 70). Again, it is important to note that it was not Titus nor the Roman Empire that was destroyed at AD 70, rather, it was the beast from the abyss working through Titus that was thrown into the lake of fire at the Second Advent (Rev. 19:19-20).
One could say that I am just putting a clever spin on Scripture here. Notice, however, that no amount of spin, no matter how clever, could make these scriptures fit Nero. Nero was neither an eleventh ruler nor an eighth (Dan. 7:8, 24). The three rulers removed before the little eleventh horn (Galba, Otho and Vitellius) were not removed before Nero, they were removed in the year and a half following his death. Nero was the sixth Caesar, the one on the throne when Revelation was written (Rev. 17:10). In contrast, the individual beast had not come yet (Rev. 17:11). One can not have it both ways; Nero can not be both the one who “is” (Rev. 17:10) and at the same time the one who “is not” yet come (Rev. 17:8, 11).
Nero did not destroy Jerusalem and the Temple (Dan. 9:26). Nero did not lead the attack against Jerusalem at the end of the age (Dan. 11:40-45). Nero was never worshipped in the Temple (Dan. 11:36-37; 2 Thess. 2:4). Nero never even set foot in Judea, let alone Jerusalem or the Temple! Nero was not around for the Second Coming (Rev. 19:11-21); he had been dead for over two years by the time Jerusalem was destroyed in August/September of AD 70. How could he be the one who destroys harlot Babylon and then is defeated by the parousia Rev. 19:1-3, 11-21)?
Even the much-touted Nero solution to the riddle of 666 requires the use of a defective spelling of his name.[10] In addition, the Nero solution does not even appear until the nineteenth century! Regarding the connection between Nero and 666, Kistemaker writes, “When did the writers begin to identify Nero with the number [666] in this particular passage [Rev. 13:18]? There is no reference anywhere in history until the 1830s when four German scholars proposed his name.”[11] To put it simply, all the scriptures associated with the Antichrist can be applied to Titus, and almost none can be applied to Nero. The reason for this is simple. Scripture shows the Antichrist attacking and capturing Jerusalem and the Temple (Dan. 9:26; 11:36-12:13; Matt. 24:1-2, 15-21; 2 Thess. 2:4; Rev. 17-18). This was accomplished by Titus not Nero.
Endnotes:
1. There are too many connections between these scriptures for them to be talking about different rulers. Consider the connections between the little horn of Daniel 7 and the beast of Revelation:
It is the same ruler being shown in Daniel and Revelation, not two different rulers. The little horn/beast is the opponent of God/Christ who overcomes the saints for three-and-a-half years and is defeated at the parousia, ushering in the worldwide establishment of God’s kingdom at AD 70 (cf. Rev. 11). He is the Antichrist.1. The little horn/beast is an eighth ruler (Dan. 7:8; Rev. 17:11).
2. The little horn/beast speaks great blasphemies against God (Dan. 7:8, 11, 20, 25; Rev. 13:5-6).
3. The little horn/beast wages war against the saints and overcomes them (Dan. 7:21; Rev. 13:7).
4. The little horn/beast has a three-and-a-half-year reign of terror (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 13:5).
5. The little horn/beast is defeated in AD 70 by the coming of God/Christ (Dan. 7:21-22; Rev. 19:11-20).
6. The little horn/beast is thrown into the lake of fire at the time of the Second Coming (Dan. 7:11; Rev. 19:19-21).
7. The kingdom of God is established (what the NT shows as the beginning of the millennium) at the AD 70 defeat of the little horn/beast (Dan. 7:7-11, 21-27; Rev. 19:11-20:4).
In Paul’s discussion of the man of lawlessness (the one who captures the Temple and is worshiped there; 2 Thess. 2:1-4), this theme of the opponent of Christ who is defeated by the Second Advent is found again. Note the connection between Revelation 19:15 (“Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword”) and 2 Thessalonians 2:8 (“the Lord will consume [him] with the breath of His mouth”). The Antichrist is defeated at the parousia by the sword/breath that comes out of Jesus’ mouth. These two sections speak of the same event and the same opponent. Note also that Paul is drawing from Daniel 11:36-12:13 in his discussion of the man of lawlessness. He is thus linking the king of the North with the man of lawlessness (cf. 2 Thess. 2:4 with Dan. 11:36-37).
Whether one wants to use the term Antichrist or not, the Bible clearly shows an opponent of God/Christ who appears at the last hour of the old covenant age and is defeated by the Second Advent. To merely assert that there is no individual Antichrist does not change the facts of Scripture.
2. Ernest Lucas, Daniel, Apollos Old Testament Commentary 20, eds. David W. Baker and Gordon J. Wenham (Downers Gove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 276.
3. To say that the rulers of Persia here refer to physical rulers, but that does not make sense. It was not a human prince of Persia that resisted the glorious Man. Daniel fell at the glorious Man's feet like he were dead (Dan. 10:8-9 cf. Rev. 1:17). Human kings and princes would not have been able to withstand the glorious Man for a moment; they would have fallen at His feet just like Daniel did. It is spiritual kings and princes referred to here.
4. It should be noted that the Hebrew word for “prince” in Daniel 9:26 is nāgîd, while the word for “prince” in Daniel 12:1 is sar. These two words have the same basic range of meaning, however (although nagid can carry a sense of a more exalted position). Both words can be variously translated as “prince,” “ruler,” “commander” or “chief.” Nagid may be used in Daniel 9:26 because of its association with the ultimate Davidic ruler—the Messiah (cf. 1 Sam. 13:14). This verse is contrasting the actions of the Christ and the Antichrist.
5. Stephen R. Miller, Daniel, The New American Commentary, vol.18, eds. E. Ray Clendenen and Kenneth A. Mathews (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2001), 284-285.
6. The Roman Empire had well over a hundred Emperors over the course of its history. The eight kings of Revelation 17:9-11 represent the confederation of demonic rulers (cf. Dan. 10:13) behind the pre-AD 70 Roman Empire. This is what was thrown into the lake of fire at AD 70 (Rev. 19:19-20; cf. Dan. 7:11).
7. Rabbi Hersh Goldwurm, Daniel: A New Translation with a Commentary Anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic and Rabbinic Sources, ArtScroll Tanach Series, eds. Rabbis Nosson Scherman, Meir Zlotowitz (New York: Mesorah Publications, 1998), 201-203.
8. A. Berkley Mickelson, Daniel & Revelation: Riddles or Realities?, 208-209.
9. Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., Perilous Times: A Study in Eschatological Evil (Texarkana, AR: Covenant Media Press, 1999), 110.
10. Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, rev. ed., The New International Commentary on the New Testament, eds. Ned Stonehouse, F. F. Bruce, and Gordon Fee (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1998), 262. Mounce writes the following:
The solution most commonly accepted today is that 666 is the numerical equivalent of Nero Caesar. It is held to be supported by the variant reading 616, which also yields the name of Nero when the Latinized spelling is followed. What is not generally stressed is that this solution asks us to calculate a Hebrew transliteration of the Greek form of a Latin name, and that with a defective spelling. A shift to Hebrew letters is unlikely in that Revelation is written in Greek and there is no indication that the riddle is to be solved by transposing it into another language. Further, the name of Nero was apparently never suggested by the ancient commentators even though his persecuting zeal made him a model of the Antichrist.
11. Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Book of Revelation, New Testament Commentary, vol. 14 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001), 394-395.
