From a Lecture in Palo Alto,
California on January 2, 1983
I hold in my hand a book called "The Fate of the Earth." [By Paul
Erlich of Stanford University] This is a remarkable book. It is not a Christian
book, but it is a very insightful penetrating analysis of the threat to the
earth in our own day. It is not something that is coming. It is something that
is here. Let me read a bit from the jacket describing the content:
This monumental work first
appeared in three issues of the New Yorker and was quickly recognized
throughout our country, indeed throughout the Western world as the definitive
statement on our plight. In defining the shape and the dimensions of the
nuclear predicament Schell describes within the limits of what is defensibly
and unarguably known to science a full scaled nuclear holocaust. He describes
the countless overlapping ways a paroxysm of redundancy in which human beings,
and other creatures of the earth, would die if the existing 20,000 megatons of
bombs with more than a million times the explosive power of the Hiroshima bomb
should ever fall. In moderate tone, but in unforgettable particulars, he tells
us how the world would end.
This is a sobering book, as the jacket has suggested. It is not a
panic-stricken book. It is not an attempt to arouse an emotional reaction and
to send people out into the streets in mindless protests and demonstrations. It
is very calm and reasoned, but I think therein lies much of the terror of the
book. It faces very plainly the stark realism of the nuclear threat of our day
and goes on beyond that into the field of philosophy to explore the worth of
human beings and to project, as far as the human mind is capable, into what an
earth would be like in which humankind had become extinct and the terrible irreversible
fact of human extinction, what would be lost in the process of that. Then it
postulates a very radical and painful way out. The only way out of our present
dilemma, which the author of this book can see, is that we abandon our
commitment to national sovereignties as nations, surrender our rights to exist
as national states, and somehow find a way to remove war as a means of settling
disputes among peoples. If we cannot find that, he sees absolutely no hope of
avoiding a nuclear holocaust of some dimension at least, and one which
possibly, and, in fact given the history of escalation in times of war, almost
certainly would result in the dimensions of nuclear holocaust that threaten the
extinction of the race itself. Now that is why I say this is a very sobering
book.
When you read a book like this, the question of the day the leaders of the
nations today, and particularly the two super powers, must ask themselves is,
"Will the decade of the eighties in which we now are living, bring into
reality the terrible fate that this book outlines, i.e., Will the super powers
themselves in the next few years trip the trigger of worldwide disaster and
send the dark witches of nuclear terror riding their nuclear brooms across the
skies to bring the world into its final night of doom." That is the
question the world is facing today.
As I've said, this is not a Christian book. It views events purely from a
humanistic outlook. It does not take God into any consideration whatsoever. It
is not an anti-Christian book. The writer seems to have had considerable
exposure to Christian literature. He quotes frequently from the Bible, from St.
Augustine, from other writers of Christian persuasion, but he himself does not
allow Christian viewpoint to enter into the examination the book engages in.
God plays no part in the human dilemma according to this book, nor is He
expected to. Though He may exist, the author does not in any way sense that He
has anything to do with the coming fate of the earth.
The remarkable thing to me about reading a book like this is not only its
sobering content and its very insightful analyses, eloquently expressed, but
the tremendous parallel it represents with what the Scripture has been saying
all along. In other words, we have come to a time when a secular press is
saying the same thing the Bible has been saying for many many centuries, and
saying it with great influence and power in the affairs of men.
That in itself is a very remarkable thing. If, as the opponents of Christianity
would love to see happen, it were true that Christianity is, as they claim, a
mere psychological trick of the human mind, a religious trick that we play upon
ourselves, and that there is really no God and no reality to Biblical pictures,
then we could expect that, as human life goes on, surely the world would sooner
or later grown away from the picture that the Bible draws. But that has not
been the case. Even in this tremendously advanced technological-scientific age
of ours, which opponents of Christian faith love to picture as having virtually
wiped out any reason or basis for belief in Christianity, it is nevertheless
true that events of today are inescapably and visibly underscoring and
supporting the same position that the Bible draws.
This is what you would expect if the Bible is true. If it is true that there is
a "God who rules in the affairs of men," as dear old Benjamin
Franklin said at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. When the states were
trying to form the document that is the basis of all our American liberties,
and they came to a place where there was an impasse, unable to make any
progress in their deliberations, he rose and said to the assembled delegates,
"I have lived a long time, and the longer I live I am convinced that there
is a God who governs in the affairs of men, and if a sparrow cannot fall to the
ground without his knowledge, how much less can a nation rise without his
help." And he purposed that they open the assembly from that day on with a
prayer to God that he would direct their deliberations.
I think this is a most remarkable thing because it shows that the events which
men purpose are not finally in their hands. God rules in the affairs of men,
and men may write books like this one that seem to infer that the fate of the
earth is in the hands of men, but the Bible never takes that position. It says
that it is God who is in ultimate control, and I want to start with that note
in considering the "Coming Time of Trouble" lest anybody become faint
of heart as they consider the fact that both the Bible and the savants of our
day foresee a terrible time of trouble ahead for us among not only the American
nation but all the nations of the world alike.
I would like to read for you some of the passages from the Old Testament that
picture and describe that "Coming Time of Trouble." I will start with
the little book of Zephaniah, (the fourth book back from Matthew). In it is a
passage describing, along with many passages in the Old Testament which we
could sight, the coming period of trouble known as "The Day of the
Lord" or "The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord."
Zephaniah 1:14-18:
The
great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of
the Lord is bitter, the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that
day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of
darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast
and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.
I will bring distress on men, so that they shall walk like the blind, because
they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to
deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealous
wrath, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full, yea, sudden end he will
make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
When the Bible uses a term like "all the inhabitants of the
earth," though it is a frightening term, it does not necessarily mean the
total extinction of the race. Other passages make that clear, that there is not
coming a time when the whole race of mankind is going to be obliterated from
the earth. When he says he will made a "sudden end" of all the
inhabitants of the earth, it does not necessarily imply their death. It means
the destruction of all the ways of life that they have adopted, and that
judgment will strike in all the parts of the earth, but not necessarily a total
elimination. But that is a vivid description. Admittedly this is Hebrew poetry,
and Hebrew poetry tends to paint in vivid colors. It can be in its literal
interpretation subdued somewhat. It is not necessarily quite as vivid as the
imagery implies. That is why I say you cannot take this as a fully literal
statement. But it must be taken realistically, and that is that it does deal
with a terrible day of trouble that is coming which will be widespread and will
be a very painful and terrible time.
Another passage somewhat similar to that is in the little prophecy of Joel
which is further back a few pages in the Old Testament. The prophecy of Joel
falls in the minor prophets just after Hosea and before the prophet Amos. In
Joel, beginning in the 2nd chapter, you have a prediction of "The Day of
the Lord" again. Immediately following the great passage that was quoted
on the day of Pentecost by the Apostle Peter when he said the Lord would
"pour out his Spirit on all flesh, sons and daughters would
prophesy," etc. This is the passage from which he quoted. And it goes on
in verse 30 to say,
Joel 2:30:
And
I will give portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and
columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood,
before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. [Peter quoted that part
too] And it shall come to pass that all who call upon the name of the Lord
shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who
escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the
Lord calls. [A remnant shall escape the trouble in Israel] For behold, in those
days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I
will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat...
There is some doubt as to just where that valley is located. Some have
identified it with the Kidron Valley right outside the City of Jerusalem,
between the Mt. of Olives and the City of Jerusalem. However, it seems it is
identified more accurately with the valley down near the little village of
Tekoa. Any of you know what famous prophet came from Tekoa? That was the home
town of the prophet Amos, just south of Bethlehem. There King Jehoshaphat went
forth to meet the combined armies of Moab and Ammon and others that were coming
up from the south against Jerusalem. As recorded in the historical books, God
gave him a great victory without even a fight. God dispersed the armies, turned
them against each other and by the time the armies of Israel arrived on the
scene, most of the enemy was already dead, having destroyed themselves. This is
what was later known to be the Valley of Jehoshaphat. So it seems to be
associated with the scene around the mountains of Judea south of Jerusalem, and
here God says, "I will gather the nations, ...
Joel 3:2b;
...and
I will enter into judgment with them there, on account of my people and my
heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations, and have
divided up my land, [Notice how He insists He owns it] and have cast lots for
my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and have sold a girl for wine,
and have drunk it.
Then in a very dramatic, prophetic, poetic passage in verse 9 comes a very
stirring challenge to the armies.
Joel 3:9,
Proclaim
this among the nations: Prepare war, stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of
war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your
pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, "I am a warrior." Hasten
and come, all you nations round about, gather yourselves there. Bring down thy
warriors, O Lord. Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley
of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the nations round about. Put
in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the wine press is
full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of
decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their
shining. And the Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and
the heavens and the earth shake. But the Lord is a refuge to his people, a
stronghold to the people of Israel.
Many have taken these passages to be a picture of spiritual judgments,
desolations, poverty, etc., but it is clear, I think, from the many passages in
other parts of Scripture as well, that these are to be taken with both a
spiritual application as to what happens to a mind and heart which turns away
from God and destroys itself by idolatry and immorality and also with a literal
fulfillment in the coming "Great day of the Lord." Scripture
everywhere speaks of this coming time of trouble, "The Day of The
Lord;" the day of the Lord's wrath; the day when he will settle his
controversy with the nations, and it is impossible to read either the Old or
the New Testaments without running into this repeated theme. There is coming a
day when God is going to settle accounts with the earth. We love, of course,
the preaching of the "Grace of God." And God is a God of grace, but
grace never sets aside the necessity for a final settling of the accounts of
those who refuse to avail themselves of God's grace, and this is that time when
among the nations of earth God will bring forth his judgment.
One other passage from the Old Testament is in the prophecy of Jeremiah (back
still further, Isaiah and then Jeremiah) and in the 27th chapter of Jeremiah
you have a very vivid picture.
The prophet says in Jeremiah Chap 27:30:
You,
therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: [This is God speaking] The Lord will roar from on
high, and from his holy habitation utter his voice; he will roar mightily
against his fold, and shout, like those who tread grapes, against all the
inhabitants of the earth.
[Notice how many of these passages use
the figure "treading out the winepress." This comes again in the Book
of Revelation, a vivid picture that God is, in a sense, like a man getting into
a vat of grapes and treading out the grapes so the wine, the blood, splatters
his garments, and here you have it again, he will "shout like those who
tread grapes against all the inhabitants of the earth."]
The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth, for the Lord has an
indictment against the nations; he is entering into judgment with all flesh,
and the wicked he will put to the sword, says the Lord. Thus says the Lord of
hosts: Behold, evil is going forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest
is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth! [A great storm is forming] And those slain by the
Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. They
shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall be dung on the
surface of the ground.
That seems to picture a terrible calamity which is so universal and
widespread that virtually nobody is left to do the burying, or it is such a
monstrous task to take care of the dead that they are simply left upon the
surface of the ground.
This, of course, is a very sobering picture, and there are many biblical
expositors who claim that all these were fulfilled already in the judgments
that came upon Israel in the days of the Babylonian invasion and that these
poetic descriptions were all fulfilled by then. Others says, as I have
suggested, that they are to be spiritually taken. But it is very interesting
that when you come to the New Testament, which comes long after the Babylonian
captivity and all the terrible times of Israel's troubles during the days of
the Maccabees, etc., and you come to the Olivet discourse recorded in the 24th
chapter of Matthew where Jesus, before his betrayal, is on the Mount of Olives
teaching his disciples, he reviews what is coming in history. It is one of the
most fascinating passages of Scripture, and in my judgment, the most revealing
of all the prophetic passages of the Bible. It is the so-called Olivet
Discourse, Matthew 24 and 25, and it comes at a time when our Lord is facing
his own death, and yet he speaks with calmness about what is going to come and
clearly predicts that he will emerge eventually the triumphant one on the face
of the earth. As he looks down the centuries he describes what will take place
in all the periods of time between his first appearing and his second coming.
He describes false Christs who go out and wars and rumors of wars and
earthquakes and famines and times of trouble which will come. Then he says
these words in verse 21 where he speaks of the fulfillment of a passage of the
prophet Daniel which is yet to be fulfilled even after his day. In Matthew
24:21 he says:
For
then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning
of the world until now, no, and never will be. [Never will be. Worse time of trouble ever seen on
earth. When you think of the terrible days of the holocaust in Europe when
6,000,000 Jews were put to death, you can see how terrible time this must be
since it is a worse time than that, and our Lord says] And if those days had
not been shortened, no human being would be saved...
Isn't that amazing? Here is the prediction of the Lord himself that there is
going to come a time when the population of the earth will be threatened, when
the extinction of the race will be possible, and when unless God intervenes it
will happen. He says, "If those days had not been shortened." Who
will shorten them? God himself. He alone has power to do that. Jesus said to
his disciples, "The times and the seasons are not for you to know but the
Father had put them in his own power and he governs in the affairs of
men."
...but
for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
We do not know how much shorter they are going to be made, but in mercy God
is going to see to it that man does not destroy himself from the face of the
earth. Now, that is a very remarkable passage.
I refer now to only one more out of many passages that deal with this issue,
but in the Book of Revelation you have a number of extensive passages that
describe this terrible time of trouble, "The Great Tribulation," and
I will share with you, at this point, one from the 6th chapter, the opening of
the 6th seal. John, you remember, saw a book sealed with seven seals, and, as
the Lamb took the book and opened them one-by-one, terrible events happened on
earth. When he comes to the 6th seal he records these words.
Revelation 6:12:
When
he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake;
and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the
stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when
shaken by a gale; the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every
mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and
the great men and the generals and the rich and the strong, and every one,
slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling
to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him
who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day
of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it?"
That is a very vivid summary of what is coming on the face of the earth.
One question, among others, which we have to ask is, "These judgments
produced by man; are they nuclear forces turned loose in this nuclear age
creating worldwide catastrophe among the nations or are they natural powers
released by God, such as, in the past in limited ways, have occurred on our
planet, i.e., volcanic eruptions, great earthquakes, even perhaps the shifting
of the continents?" Most scientists agree there was a time when the
continents drifted apart, still are drifting in fact, and that much of the
trouble in California is caused by one plate rubbing against another deep in
the surface of the earth, and by the continents moving, floating on a great ocean
of molten rock, creating many of the earthquakes. Will this time of trouble be
a time of natural disaster when perhaps volcanic eruptions occur in widespread
areas or when even meteors or stars fall upon the earth?
I think you see a combination of forces like that. It seems to me, in looking
at these passages, that you have both possibilities taking place. Man is
allowed to work his worst upon himself through the terrible powers of nuclear
fission and fusion which he has discovered and, perhaps, combined with that an
invasion from outer space. I am not talking about Star Wars. I am talking about
perhaps the near approach to our solar system of a visitor from space, a comet,
a meteor, another planet about to collide with ours.
Whatever you may think of the discoveries of Immanuel Velikowski, the Russian
scientist, who startled the scientific world in the earlier decades of this
century with several books, one of which was "Worlds in Collision."
He documented from many, many sources around the earth, that in the past there
have occurred such near approaches of planetary bodies to the earth that have
greatly disturbed the gravitation of earth and have created tremendous tidal
waves, volcanic eruptions, upthrusts of whole levels of land, disturbances in many
ways on the face of the earth, and we may be coming to something like that
again. There is a passage in Luke, Chapter 21, verse 26 that strongly suggests
this. Luke says that "men's hearts shall fail them with fear" as they
look at the things that are coming to pass on the earth, at the waves and the
seas roaring. It is highly suggestive of terrible natural disasters. So, I
think the passages suggest that we have both of these forces at work.
I do not have time to go into all the passages that deal with the coming time
of trouble. In a brief survey like this it would be impossible to cover in
detail all the Bible says will happen, so I am going to have to content myself
with a quick trip through the Biblical scenario of the "Last Days."
You will understand that I will not be able to take time to either answer all
the questions or expound all the passages to the extent you may wish me to. I
am also going to have to summarize a lot of things and take for granted
knowledge that you may or may not possess.
Clearly the Bible has said in the last days there will arise another figure, a
remarkable figure in human history. Jesus gave, perhaps, the first clue to the
nature of this individual in the 5th chapter of John's gospel when he said to
the Pharisees of his day, "I have come in my Father's name, and you
received me not. Another will come in his own name and him you will
receive." That suggestion is picked up by the Apostle Paul in his letters
to the Thessalonian church. He speaks in the second letter of a "Man of
Sin" who shall arise, a man of lawlessness who will exalt himself against
the knowledge of God and sit in the temple claiming to be God.
This remarkable figure appears in many passages of Scripture under various
names and guises, and it is only necessary to take all these passages and
compare them together to see emerging a portrait of a very powerful,
influential, remarkable man who is called by various terms. The
"Antichrist" is one term given to him. The "Man of Sin,"
Paul calls him. The "Beast" of Revelation 13, the political ruler who
is the incarnation of Satan on the earth and is described in that remarkable
chapter. He has associated with him another individual called the "Second
Beast" or the "False Prophet," a kind of religious surrogate of
the first beast who operates and activates on the power of the political ruler.
He is called the "False Shepherd" in the prophecy of Zechariah, and
by various titles he is designated throughout the Bible. But Jesus speaks of
him, and all the apostles speak of him, and the prophets have predicted that
there is coming one who will, in a sense, gather up in himself all the
humanistic philosophies of earth and by them oppose the worship of the true
God.
I am going to devote a whole evening to this man, so I will say no more about
him now. We will be taking up the coming "Man of Sin" our next study
together.
According to the Scriptures, this man, when he appears, will do some remarkable
things. Probably the most remarkable, as far as the world is concerned, is that
he will offer a solution to the present conflict between the Arab nations and
Israel. He will resolve the tensions of the Middle East. You know how long
people have been trying to do that, and how futile the effort has been; a
little progress here and there, two steps forward and three back. It has been
very difficult. But here will come a brilliant mind which will somehow resolve
that conflict and bring peace to the Middle East. That will be one of his major
accomplishments. Furthermore he will permit the rebuilding of the temple on Mt.
Zion in Israel. Lambert and I and others have been very closely associated with
a group of Jews who are intent on rebuilding the temple. We know how far their
plans and programs have progressed and how much remains yet to be done. It is
not there yet, despite what you may hear, but there is a strong group within
Israel which is intent on rebuilding the temple. They live, breathe and die for
that purpose, and this will be accomplished under the covenant which this
remarkable "Man of Sin" makes. He will rise, apparently, in
connection with the Western Confederation of Nations. Those present nations of
the world which derive their foundation from nations which were part of the old
Roman Empire. Several passages both in Daniel and in Revelation substantiate
that he will be the leader of the Western Confederation of Nations.
It is clearly evident from many Scriptures that, while we do not come to quite
a one-world society, as many people are talking about today, there is a lessening
of national authority in great confederations of nations, and the world seems
to divide up at last into three major camps. The Western world, which gives
much of its authority and power to this single leader and thus is able to
control and effect much of the current events all over the earth. And also
there is a Northern confederation of nations headed clearly by Russia. There is
no doubt about that identification. It is clearly documented from the prophecy
of Ezekiel. There are passages that specifically refer to the northern powers
of the earth, northern in relationship to Israel, which are dominated by
Russia. And then there is another group called the "Kings of the
East." This seems to be a very loose confederation of eastern powers, probably
including China, Japan and India, those nations in the eastern part of Asia.
These three are the major camps of earth. It is interesting that the Bible has
never predicated that any of the, so called, southern nations, below the
equator, or equatorial nations, would ever have much of a part to play in the
world of the "last days." History confirms that. No nation below the
equator has had much of an influence on world affairs. It is all in the north
and the division of the world confirms and conforms to the Biblical pattern in
this regard.
Now I want to turn to a specific passage in the Book of Daniel, the 11th
Chapter. I comes at the end of a very long series of predictions given to him
by the angel Gabriel and which traced the course of prophetic events after Daniel's
time, between what is called in this chapter, "The King of the North"
[which happens to be Assyria, north of Israel, and includes the present nation
of Syria], and its rival which was the Ptolemaic nation of Egypt. Alexander the
Great, you remember, had two generals, Seleucus and Ptolemy who took part in
his kingdom when Alexander died. Seleucus developed the area north and Ptolemy
took over Egypt and the nations west of that. One was called "The King of
the North," all the different personalities that occupied that throne, and
the Egyptians were called the "Kings of the South." This passage
details much of the conflict that would follow.
I would say that everything up to verse 36 of the chapter has already been
fulfilled. This is one of the most remarkable predictions in the Bible. If you
want to see the accuracy of prophecy, get some books that will help you
understand these clear predictions and how fully they have already been
fulfilled in history. They include predictions about Cleopatra who is a figure
in one of these. It speaks of the Romans who come in and take over the land of
Israel, and it brings up it right down to the time of the coming of the Lord.
But beginning at verse 36, you come to the "last days," what is
called here "The Time of the End." You will notice verse 35 refers to
that. It says:
Daniel 11, verse 35:
And
many shall join themselves to them with flattery; and some of those who are
wise shall fall, to refine and to cleanse them and to make them white, until
the time of the end, for it is yet for the time appointed.
[That is a clue that you have skipped
over, as prophetic passages often do, to the time of the end, and then you read
this:]
And the king shall do according to his will.
The king here, if you will permit me to just summarize, is this "Man of
Sin" or his false prophet. It is a little difficult to tell which one of
the two is actually the personage involved, but it is clearly the one whether
it is the religious ruler (which I think it is, the false prophet) who is
actually in Jerusalem, but his power and authority are derived from the Western
Confederation and the great political leader of that which is the "Man of
Sin." Nevertheless he is located in Jerusalem.
The
king shall do according to his will; he shall exalt himself and magnify himself
above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods.
[That accords exactly with what Paul
says in II Thessalonians that he shall enter and sit in the temple and exalt
himself as God]
He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished;
[That is the time of judgment which
the prophet predicts, which would be 3-1/2 years according to this prophecy]
for what is determined shall be done. He shall give no heed to the gods of his
fathers, or to the one beloved by women;
[The gods of his fathers are very
likely Jewish leaders and prophets and God himself, or to the one beloved by
women which many commentators take to be a reference to the Messiah]
he shall not give heed to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above
all. He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of the these; a god whom his
fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones
and costly gifts. He shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a
foreign god;
[There are two individuals involved,
one who is kind of a religious ruler who is operating in the strength and power
of another, a political ruler who, apparently, depends for his influence upon
his superior military might]
those who acknowledge him he shall magnify with honor. He shall make them
rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price. At the time of the end [says the prophet] the king of the south shall
attack him;
[The king of the south throughout this
whole account is the leaders and rulers of Egypt. They shall attack him, for
reason we are not sure. It does not say here]
but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots
and horsemen, and with many ships; and he [the king of the north] shall come into countries and shall overflow
and pass through.
This is the beginning of the end, as it were. There will come the political
peaceful settlement of Israel, which is broken suddenly by this religious
leader declaring himself to be God,. This is unacceptable both to the Muslim
world and to the Jewish world. They will not put up with that, and as a result
he is under attack by the king of the south and the kings of the north. Here we
have to rely upon Ezekiel. In the 38th and 39th chapters, we have a very vivid
and detailed picture of the kings of the north who come against Israel in the
last days. There the identification, as I have said, is clearly that of Russia
and certain allied nations. Iran would be one of them. Russia does not come
directly down to Jerusalem but seems to come through from this area which would
be Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, though eventually coming in from the north into
Jerusalem. He shall overflow many countries and shall pass through.
Daniel 11:41:
He
shall come into the glorious land.
[that is Palestine] And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be
delivered out of his hand. Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites.
[This is the present country of Jordan.
And for some reason, either because of an alliance or because they are not
considered worth dealing with the northern hordes pass through and do not
destroy Ammon, Moab and Edom]
He shall stretch out his hand against the countries and the land of Egypt shall
not escape.
[So he moves right on down through to take over Egypt. The Russians, of course,
have been very upset with Egypt every since President Sadat ordered them out of
the land, and there has been an uneasy alliance between them that has angered
the Russians very much]
He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the
precious things of Egypt [taking much
spoil in this area] and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall follow in his
train.
[as allies. This is remarkable because
these two countries today and now allied with Russia. Libya, of course, has
horrified the world with its wooing of the communist philosophy and the Russian
camp, and Ethiopia has become dominated by Russia and Somalia, which is right
below has been the source of a great struggle against the communist takeover.]
But tidings from the east and the north shall alarm him,
[Follow the scenario here. The king of
the north come down with an overflowing army, moves in and captures Jerusalem.
You will find it vividly described in the 14th chapter of the prophecy of
Zechariah, where he ravages the city, takes it over, captures the city, passes
through captures Egypt and while he is here tidings from the east and the north
trouble him. He is down in Egypt in Africa. East and north would be back in the
land of Israel]
and he shall go forth with great fury to exterminate and utterly destroy many.
What has happened? Well, remember there is a great western confederacy of
nations which is opposed to the king of the north headed by a political ruler
who is in league with the religious ruler who is seated in the temple in
Jerusalem. Now he is not just sitting on his hands while all this takes place.
If you think the Cuban missile threat was a terrible crisis we passed through
during imagine what this is going to be like. The whole world sees a tremendous
invasion of this land and knows that the only ones who have any possibility of
stopping this invasion are the west. They, therefore, act and send an army down
and, according to the Book of Revelation, the kings of east also come in.
These combined forces can only land at one major port in Israel. It is the port
of Haifa which is located at the foot of Mt. Carmel where the only bay capable
of handling any sizable armada of ships is located. Haifa is also the opening
to a plain and valley which runs back southeast to the Plain of Esdraelon, also
called the Plain of Jezreel. In the center of it is a small hill called the
hill of Megiddo. Therefore, the whole region has been given the name
"Valley of Armageddon." You have all heard of Armageddon. Evidently
it is the landing of the western powers in this area along with the trouble
from the east coming in, "the east and the north come tidings of trouble,"
which provokes the Russian invader to go forth to destroy. At this point there
doesn't seem to be any indication that there is nuclear attack. It would appear
that, up to this point, conventional weapons are used. But notice what happens
now.
Daniel 11, verse 45a:
And
he shall pitch his palatial tents [i.e.,
his headquarters] between the sea [the
Mediterranean] and the glorious holy mountain; [which can be none other than Jerusalem]
The northern forces come back up and pitch their headquarters down on the
mountain southwest of Jerusalem right in the area where you remember is Tekoa
and the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and in this area God says he summons the nations
that he may judge them there.
Daniel 11, verse 45:
And
he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy
mountain; yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him.
Now turn back to Ezekiel where we get a little further detail of this in the
38th and 39th chapters. I will not read the whole thing but will summarize
these for you. It begins with the word addressed through the prophet.
Ezekiel chapter 38, verse 2:
Son
of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of
Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him
The word "chief" of chief prince is the word Rosh, and many
translators translate this instead of the "chief prince," "the
prince of Rosh" and Meshech and Tubal. You can read the evidence and there
is documentation for that, but there is little doubt that that word
"Rosh" is the word from which "Russia" is derived, so these
are clearly identified. According to this word the Lord says to him:
Ezekiel chapter 38, verse 3b:
Behold,
I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh of Meshech and Tubal; and I will turn
you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth, [Notice who does this. God summons him] and all your
army, horses and horseman, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company,
all of them with buckler and shield, wielding swords. Persia [Iran], Cush [Ethiopia],
and Put [Libya] are with them, all
of them with shield and helmet; Gomer [Germany]
and all his hordes. Bethtogarmah from the uttermost parts of the north [those would be the satellite countries around Romania,
Hungary, the Balkans, etc.] with all his hordes--many peoples are with you.
Be ready and keep ready, you and all the hosts that are assembled about you,
and be a guard for them. After many days you will be mustered; in the latter
years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land where
people were gathered from many nations upon the mountains of Israel, which had
been a continual waste;...You will advance, coming on like a storm, you will be
like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with
you.
Well what happens. Look on:
Ezekiel chapter 38, verse 18:
But
on that day, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says the Lord God,
my wrath will be roused. For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare,
On that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
[This is a great earthquake. Remember
in Revelation 6 it said there would be a great earthquake]
the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, and
all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the men that are upon the
face of the earth, shall quake at my presence, and the mountains shall be
thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the
ground. I will summon every kind of terror against Gog, says the Lord God,
every man's sword will be against his brother. With pestilence and bloodshed I
will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain upon him and his hordes and
the many people that are with him, torrential rains and hailstones, fire and
brimstone.
As I have suggested this seems to be a combination of both supernatural, or
natural, forces and human forces. Without a doubt it could easily be a
description of a nuclear attack upon this great army that is gathered here on
the mountains of Israel. The western powers using nuclear warheads against him
would explain the fire and the brimstone and the sulphur, etc. that will fall
upon them.
But you also have reference to torrential rains and hailstones. Now those
hailstones are described in the book of Revelation as each one weighing
hundreds of pounds. From time to time, even here in America, there fall from
the sky great ice stones weighing hundreds of pounds. For years, every time
they appear, I have been clipping from newspapers little items, usually on the
15th page, that record the falling from the sky of a tremendous huge piece of
ice usually weighing 300 or 400 pounds. Where do these come from? Well the best
scientific guess is that somehow they are coming from debris of space, the
death of a star or a planet. Scientists tell us a comet's tail is made up of
ice. The rings of Saturn are ice. The rings of some of the other planets that
are now being discovered are big junks of ice. Occasionally the earth passes
through where some of this debris falls upon earth . You never read about it
very much but it is there. This would suggest, therefore, that some natural
calamity occurs as well. The near approach to our solar system of some heavenly
body that has in its tail great chunks of ice which will fall upon the earth in
great hailstones. Torrential downpour of rain mingled with a nuclear attack
utterly destroys the northern army as this account goes on to say.
Ezekiel chapter 38, verse 23:
So
I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of
many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Chapter 39, verse 5:
You
shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, says the Lord God. I will send
fire on Magog
[Where is that? That is the land from
which Gog comes. That is what the opening verse of Chapter 38 say. The land of
Magog is the land of Russia and this seems to suggest a nuclear attack against
Russia, the very headquarters of the nation. Now we can hardly believe that
this will occur without some retaliation for the west. So, here you have the
coming nuclear confrontation that this book "The Fate of the Earth"
is so fearful of seeing come to pass.]
and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands;
[Where that is it is hard to say.
Areas around the oceans of the earth]
...and they shall know that I am the Lord.
It is a very impressive display both of divine wrath and of human wrath, and
the result is a terrible time of destruction that will result, as it goes on to
describe, in men having to bury the dead for months afterwards. It is a
peculiar way of doing it. They set up a sign when they find a body. They do not
touch it. It is probably very radioactive and they simply indicate that it is
there. Properly equipped squads come by later and bury it. It takes months to
cleanse the land.
But this ends the Russian threat. Well, then what? What about all these powers
of the West and of the East that have come into the Valley of Armageddon? Here
we have to turn to Revelation for one final passage. In the 19th chapter of
Revelation where we read of the coming of these great powers together, John
sees a remarkable thing.
Revelation chapter 19, verse 11:
Then
I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon it is called
Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are
like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name
inscribed which no one knows but himself. He is clad in a robe dipped in blood,
and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of
heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses.
From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he
will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of
the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name
inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all
the birds that fly in midheaven, "Come, gather for the great supper of
God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty
mean, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free
and slave, both small and great." And I saw the beast and the kings of the
earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who sits upon the
horse and against his army.
The destruction, you see, of the northern forces tells the world that their
battle is not against man ultimately but against God. Yet in the pride and
arrogance of the fallen human heart they believe they have a change to overcome
the powers of God, and they see it as an invasion from space, or whatever, but
they think they have opportunity to destroy God himself. And what happens:
Revelation chapter 19, verse 20:
And
the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had
worked the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the
beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the
lake of fire that burns with sulphur. And the rest were slain by the sword of
him who sits upon the horse, the sword that issues from his mouth; [What is that? The Word of God] and all the birds
were gorged with their flesh.
I won't take time to go further now, but it is
clear that the final battle is won by the coming of the Lord himself, the
return of Jesus Christ in glory. We will get into more detail of that in
subsequent lectures, but that is enough, I think, to let us see that there is
indeed coming a terrible time of trouble on the earth. There is no doubt about
it. It could be now. Never has there been a time when world conditions are as
close to these events as they are now. Or it could fade back again. We must not
forget that. The world has been close to the end many times before and God, in
mercy, has turned off the spigots of destruction and we have faded back into a
relative time of peace. It may happen again. No one can say. The fact that it
is close now does not necessarily mean that it will happen. But it is also very
possible that it will.
What it does is raise the question for every human being on the earth who knows
about this to face this question, "Where is your treasure?" Jesus
told us we were to lay up treasures not on earth where men can break in and
destroy, but treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust does corrupt and
thieves do not break in to steal. I am not talking about what do you do with
your time. The treasures in heaven are laid up by the evidence of faith, by the
works of faith, i.e., by you being what God wants you to be in the situations in
which you find yourself. It is not a question of whether you are in the
ministry or not in the ministry. Some have interpreted it that way.
It is not a question of what kind of work are you doing. It is what kind of a
person are you at that place? What kind of a person are you in your family? Are
you one of hope and faith and love? Or one of self-centeredness and concern for
yourself only and your own advancement? Those are the issues of life. And if
you are only concerned about amassing wealth and getting comforts and luxuries,
etc., we are building for ruin, for ultimate disaster. All these treasures of
earth shall be wiped out in a nuclear holocaust. Nothing will be left. Only
that, you see, which represents the work of the Spirit in us, and the deeds and
reactions of our life where we are. Those are being preserved in glory and can
only come, of course, from a heart that is truly God's, and through whom the
Spirit of God is working. You cannot put this on. You cannot fool God. You
cannot pretend to be godly and expect it to hold up at the end. We are going to
be subject to an evaluation which cannot be deceived. The question, therefore,
that we are to ask in times like this is -- Peter asks it, if you read his
second epistle. He says, "What manner, therefore, of persons ought we to
be?" That is the question that I leave with you tonight.
Note:
Let me outline what I am going to do in these next three studies. Next we will
take "The Coming Man of Sin," and following that "The Coming
King of kings." There I want to deal with the church and its relation to
this period of trouble. The last study will be on "The Coming New
Earth," and what it will be like.
In answer to a question from the audience: The Jews have to get some kind of permission first
before they can get up on the Temple Mount. At the present time the Temple
Mount is under the control of the Arabs. Jews are not even permitted to pray up
there, which they bitterly resent and constantly protest. It seems very likely
to me that soon they will probably obtain access to the temple mount. Certainly
under the arrangement of the "Man of Sin" they will be given
permission to rebuild the temple. The plans for it are being laid, the
blueprints are being drawn, the site of it is being established and funds are
being raised worldwide to make it possible. So, it is on the way. There is a
good deal of debate as to actually where the ancient temple was located. A very
thoughtful, scholarly Jewish archaeologist named Asher Kaufmann, whom we know,
has explored in that area and has decided, to his own satisfaction at least,
that the temple was not built at the site of the Dome of the Rock, the Muslin
mosque that is there, but rather to the north of that in an area that has no
building on it at all at this time. So it is possible, that being accepted by
the Jewish leaders as the site of the temple, a temple could be built without
destroying the Dome of the Rock. The "Western Wall" was never part of
the temple building. It was part of the foundation ground upon which the temple
rested, but it was never part of the building itself. Next week: "The Man
of Sin."
by Ray C. Stedman
From a Lecture
in Palo Alto, California on January 16, 1983
Last week we looked at the biblical teaching concerning the coming time of
trouble we are facing in this world; various predictions from both the Old and
the New Testaments which taken together form a composite picture of what Jesus
called "'The Great Tribulation,"
"...a
time of trouble such as never has been in the history of the world and never
will be again."
Those words are very dramatic in their possibilities and we tried to take a
look at what the Scripture calls them. Jeremiah for instance calls them,
"The time of Jacob's trouble," which highlights the fact that this
will be an especially serious time for the Jewish people, for Israel as a
nation. We are all aware, of course, of the terrible injustice and awful
slaughter that the Jews went through under Hitler in the Holocaust, the like of
which has probably never been seen on earth before. Yet judging from the record
of Scripture, the time that lies ahead for Israel is even worse than that. A
time anti-semitic spirit will be manifest in the whole world. Perhaps some of
the rising anti-semitism of our day is indicative of the approach of this time
when Jews will be hated of all nations, not for any reason in themselves but
because they are the chosen people of God.
In the book of Revelation this time of trouble is called "The harvest of
the earth." It is the time when God is going to at last correct the
injustices, the wickedness of men. I am often amazed at the patience of God
when you think of how many times everyday his name is blasphemed, his ideas
laughed at, his own person and power scorned and mocked and set aside, his
values ignored and his warnings totally ignored as well. It is amazing, when
you think God has been as patient as he has and has allowed human existence to
go on. But the Scripture has always promised that there is coming a day of
recompense; a day when God will at last avenge himself for all the injustices
that man has perpetrated upon him. This is the nature of the great time of
trouble that is coming.
Tonight we are going to take a look at one of the strange personages that
appears on earth during this time of trouble. He is familiarly known as the
Antichrist, the Man of Sin, or the Man of Lawlessness. Actually it is strange
that this individual ever gains the title "The AntiChrist" because
there is no one place in Scripture where an individual is referred to or
prophesied under that title. The only use of the term is found in the epistles
of John. In 1 and 2 John reference is made to "many antichrists."
Nevertheless the Scriptures do focus upon a very remarkable person who is to
appear to whom that title has been given, and we will refer to him under that
name. As you know, it has been the practice of Christian believers for
centuries to pick out some person in their own day they could regard as the
Antichrist. If you look back over the scope of almost 2,000 years of Christian
history you can find a great number of names that have been proposed as the
Antichrist. Early in this era Tamerlane, Genghis Khan, Muhammad the prophet were
all regarded as fulfilling the prophecies of the Antichrist. Later on in the
Protestant churches of the Reformation it was very popular to regard the Pope
as the Antichrist, and many people, still today, regard the Pope and the papacy
as the fulfillment of these predictions of the coming "Man of Sin." I
remember back in World War II, it was very common to hear that Hitler was the
Antichrist and Mussolini. Today you can buy a lot of books on prophecy very
cheaply that picked out men like that and labeled them as definitely the
antichrist. Since that time there have been men like Kissinger and Khrushchev.
I once saw a book in which Eleanor Roosevelt had been picked to be the
antichrist. We don't want to be sexist in these areas. All of these figures
have passed away, and it should serve as a warning to us against trying to
identify any one individual living today as the antichrist. We will only
contribute to the list of defunct antichrists who have passed from the scene of
history.
What we do want to do tonight is take a careful look at what the Scriptures say
about this amazing figure. Though this planet on which we live, the stage where
the great "end times" drama is going to be worked out is clearly in
the Scriptures, nevertheless, the real antagonists are behind the scenes. We'll
never understand the Bible, nor will we understand history, until we see that
earth, almost since the very appearance of mankind on it, has been the scene of
a great battle. Earth is the battlefield, and all those who are born into life
on this earth are born into battle conditions. This is the Biblical and
Christian explanation for the fact that life does not go the way we would like
it to go. Man has many dreams for peace on earth. Individually, collectively,
as nations, there has long been before the human mind a picture of a beautiful
earth filled with peace, harmony, righteousness, gladness and joy. Everybody
longs for that. Everybody hopes for it. When I was just a young man a popular
song of the day spoke of a young married couple building their home. The words
said something like this, "We'll build a sweet little nest, somewhere in
the West, and let the rest of the world go by." That has been the hope and
dream of many people. A decade ago a whole generation of young people tried to
drop out and find that kind of blissful utopia by going out into nature, into
the woods, into the parks and the flower children appeared,. Yet that
experiment, too, fell apart. The dream faded, disillusionment set in and today
you find very few left who still hope that kind of fulfillment can be realized.
The reason, of course, is that the earth is engaged in a battle, a tremendous
conflict between cosmic powers which are far greater than any human forces and
which have been engaged in a life and death struggle during the whole scope and
sweep of human history. I do not mean to imply by that that the Devil, who
represents the evil side of those cosmic forces, is a kind of god on the equal
of God himself. The great personages of this drama are, on the one side, the
Son of God himself, the Lord Jesus ascended into the heavens, seated on the
throne of his Father and waiting, as the Scriptures tell us, until the earth be
brought into subjection to him. Not only is he seated in the heavens but, as he
himself told us, by means of the Spirit, who can be everywhere at once, he also
is on earth working among the nations, present in his church, and in this
strange and mysterious way God is carrying on an eternal conflict with the
Devil. Associated, of course, with the Son is the Father. The Son of God
appears in many titles and descriptions in the Scriptures. He is the one who
Daniel described as "The Son of Man" comes to the Ancient of Days to
receive the kingdoms of the earth from his hand. He is the one whom David
described as God's Son whom he "sets as his king on his Holy Hill of
Zion." All these Old Testament prophets spoke of him. He is the
"Angel of the Lord" that Moses described in the books of Genesis and
Exodus, etc. He is the one whom John the Revelationelator saw as the "Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world," the only one who has authority
to open the seven sealed book of the last times and bring to pass the
consummation of the history of the world.
When you read the Bible you get a look behind the scenes, and you see the
explanation, very relevant, very real, of why we struggle so in this life.
Idealist, liberals, naive people of various sorts try to forget all that or
write it off as though it does not exist. Yet the hard harsh realities of history
tell us that this is what happens. Mankind cannot work out his problems because
we are engaged in a great battle between these opposing forces.
In the other corner is Satan, the great Dragon, in his character as a deceiver,
as a destroyer. He is the one who loves to take humanity and destroy it in any
possible way. He is the one behind the widespread traffic in drugs to destroy
the mind. He is the one behind the widespread elicit practice of sexual wrongs
to destroy the body and destroy the whole beauty that God intended in
sexuality. He is the one behind every murder, every accident. Every taking of
human life by violent form that occurs in the world is the result of the
activity of the Great Destroyer that is loose among us. We will never understand
our lives until we understand that. He's the liar who is behind all the
deceitful secular illusions of our day, the propaganda concerning how to look
at yourself and how to look at life that is beamed at us constantly from the
propaganda mills of the media around us. We must understand this if we are
going to understand life at all. He is the one who Moses spoke of as the
"Serpent" in the Garden of Eden, the deceiver, "more subtle than
all the beasts of the field," subtly setting forth his lies before the
human race. He is the one who appears in Revelation as the Great Red Dragon
whose tail draws the stars, the angels, the angelic hosts into collaboration
with him and whose power shakes the earth when he is thrust out of heaven and
cast down into the earth knowing that his time is short. I just survey all this
that we might catch the mood of Scripture concerning the opposing forces of
earth.
As we learn from Scripture, God himself exists in threefold unity. There is not
just a single God, but there is one God existing in a threefold unity of being.
I am not going to preach upon the Trinity tonight or try to explain it. It is a
difficult concept I grant you. But we know that this is the nature of God.
If it is the nature of God, it makes sense that Satan in his attempt to deceive
the race, as Jesus said "a murderer, a liar, and a deceiver" would
also try to appear historically in a triune form. This is what you have in the
book of Revelation with the appearance of the Great Red Dragon who is specifically
called "Satan" that old serpent the devil, who raises into being two
remarkable beasts. Those two beasts constitute, with the Great Red Dragon, a
satanic trinity. Satan in the counterpart of the Father. Just as the Father is
the source of all good, the source of love, the source of life, so the Great
Dragon becomes the power behind all evil in the universe, and the source of all
lies and deceits and delusions among men. The Son is the visible focus of the
life and the truth of God. When he came among us John declares "We beheld
his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and
truth." That is the life of God. As the Son is the visible focus of all
that is in the fullness of the Godhead so the Beast out of the Sea which we see
in Revelation 13 becomes the focus and center of all the power of evil in the
earth. Just as the Holy Spirit becomes the witness in history to the reality of
the Father and the Son, making these two invisible personages (to us now)
visible, real, not visible by eyesight, of course, but visible to our inner
eye. So, there is a second beast in Revelation 13 who is called The False
Prophet who is a witness to the reality of the great Red Dragon and of the
first beast that rises from the sea.
The question that many have ask in reading the book of Revelation is
"Which of these two beasts described in Revelation 13 is the
Antichrist?" Some say that the first beast that seems to exercise
political power over a great part of the earth, the great political leader of
the western world, the one who rules over the nations and seems to be able to
consolidate the nations into one confederacy and yield their power to him, some
say he is the Antichrist. You can read commentators that take that position.
There are other that say, "No, it is the second beast that is the
Antichrist." This is the religious ruler. This is the one who is concerned
about religious matters and who propagates a false faith throughout the world.
He enthrones himself, at last, in the temple to be worshipped as God. They feel
that is the Antichrist.
In viewing the 5th chapter of John and the first intimation you have in the
gospels of the coming of an Antichrist from the lips of the Lord Jesus, one
might judge that perhaps the second personage is the Antichrist. Remember Jesus
said to the Pharisees of his day, John Chapter 5, verse 43, "I have come
in my Father's name and you received me not. Another will come in his own name
and him you will receive." That has often been taken to refer to that
religious person who seems to confuse and deceive all the peoples of the earth
and especially the Jews as to who he is, what his role is in history. Yet from
Paul's letter in II Thessalonians, which we will also look at tonight in more
detail, one would judge that perhaps the Antichrist is the political ruler whom
Paul calls "The Man of Lawlessness," who opposes and exalts himself
and who causes people to believe a great delusion. One would think that that
might refer then to the first beast who rises from the sea, the political
leader of the last days.
You have the same problem in the Old Testament when you read the vision of
Daniel, for instance, with those strange and remarkable beasts that he sees.
Isn't it interesting that when you get the Divine viewpoint of
"nations" they are always called "beasts." Nebuchadnezzar
had a great dream in which he saw the nations of the world, including his own,
and he saw it as a great exalted man with several divisions made of different
metals, gold and silver and brass, etc. That is man's view of man, but when God
looks at man, he sees snarling, angry, fighting, rapacious beasts who are ready
to leap at one another's throats. I leave it to you, judging from the morning
papers, which view is right. When you read the papers you can see this is the
way the nations appear.
In the 7th chapter of Daniel, you have a vision of a great kingdom, the fourth
kingdom on earth, which seems to begin shortly after Daniel's day. It is
identified clearly as the Roman empire that is to come into existence and into
world supremacy in the first century, or just a little before that time. It
will rule the earth in the first and second century and into the fourth and
fifth century. This fourth beast would be, in some sense, the last great world
kingdom to appear on earth. A little horn would arise on the fourth beast which
would exercise tremendous political power. Many have read that, and identified
that, as the Antichrist. On the other hand, when you get to the 11th chapter of
Daniel, there is another figure called the "Willful King" who exalts
himself against God and claims to be and takes to himself the titles of God.
This seems to be a religious figure and many identify him as the Antichrist.
I think the best answer to the question is given by John in his epistle. If you
will look with me at I John the 2nd chapter, you will find the use of the term
antichrist as it appears first in the Scriptures.
I John, chapter 2, verse 18:
"Children,
it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now
many antichrists have come; therefore, we know that it is the last hour."
This is one of several verses indicating we have been living in what might
be called "the last hour," (it is called that here) ever since the
first coming of our Lord, that indeed all of history in these 2,000 years of
the church age is part of that last hour, and in that last hour, we are told,
there have been many antichrists. Many had already come when John wrote these
words about the end of the first century, and he says still there is coming
"an antichrist."
In the 2nd letter of John he refers to this again in verse 7.
II John, verse 7:
"For
many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the
coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the
antichrist."
"Many deceivers have gone out," so there is a spirit of antichrist
which appears throughout the whole of this age and apparently will culminate in
at least one, or more, personages who properly can be call Antichrist.
When you look at the Greek language in that term "antichrist," you
discover that the prefix anti means both against and instead of, i.e., anyone
who is against Christ is an antichrist. Also Jesus spoke himself of certain
false prophets and christs who would come, pseudo-christs. Those are coming not
against Christ so much as instead of Christ, so the idea contains clearly those
two concepts. I believe, therefore, that we can call either of the two beasts
of Revelation 13 the Antichrist. The Scriptures tell us that they work
together. One gives its power to the other. They are in cahoots to accomplish
their purposes. I believe, therefore, it is quite proper to refer to either of
them as the Antichrist. They combine to be both against and instead of Christ.
The political ruler especially is against Christ. The religious ruler is
instead of Christ.
Now let's turn to Revelation 13 and see if we can trace through some of these
patterns. As I said, I have chosen this chapter because it comes at the end of
Scripture and gathers together many themes which appear in Daniel, in the Minor
Prophets, Zechariah, and in the words of Jesus in Matthew, etc. They all come
together here in the great Union Station, the book of Revelation. Dr. Vernon
McGee often called this the "Union Station" because it is like a
station in which trains from all parts of the country come together, or you can
think of it as a great airport, if you like. where all these planes of thought
fly in and come together in this closing book of the Bible.
Now let's look at chapter 13 where we see John, after having seen in chapter 12
the Great Red Dragon who is identified as Satan and who pursues and persecutes
the man child who is born of the woman who is clearly Israel in this passage
[chapter 12] and who is caught up to God. It is clearly a picture of the Lord
Jesus as he was caught up to God, and the woman is then pursued by the great
serpent and she hides herself in the wilderness.
Revelation, chapter 13, verse 1:
"And
I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten
diadems upon its horns and a blasphemous name upon its heads."
In chapter 12 the Great Red Dragon is described in verse three as having
seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems upon its head. It is almost the
same beast. The only difference is there are seven crowns in chapter 12 and ten
crowns in chapter 13. Most of the commentators, who take this in any literal
sense whatsoever, agree that the dragon, who is clearly named to be Satan here
(the seven headed beast with ten horns), gives his power to an earthly kingdom,
the beast that rises out of the sea. (If you have time to check this out
yourself), which corresponds very carefully with the fourth beast of Daniel's
seventh chapter. The final beast, which is identified, begins with the Roman
Empire of history, and in some remarkable way vanishes for awhile and then
reappears in history. You have this figured here in Revelation chapter 13,
verse 2 which says
"And
the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its
mouth was like a lion's mouth."
And comparing the beasts which Daniel saw; The first three beasts were, a
leopard, a lion and a bear, and all of them came together in the last strange
indescribable beast that Daniel saw, so you have an identification with it
here.
Revelation 13, verse 2b:
"And
to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of Its
heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the
whole earth followed the beast with wonder."
The wounding of the head and the healing again has been taken by some
commentators to mean that some great political leader will actually be put to
death and then come to life again. However, I do not think it is necessary at
all to read this that way. The beast you have here was in Daniel's 7th chapter
clearly an empire, and I think it is still an empire as it raises here. The
figure of a wound and a healing is the figurative way of describing what has
happened to the Roman Empire. One of the remarkable things about history is
that the Roman Empire has persisted in the history of the western nations in a
very remarkable way. When we think of our own nation, for instance, we have to
face the very clear fact that America is very Roman. We have a Senate, just
like the Roman Senate. We got the very name from the Roman Empire. We have laws
that are derived from the laws of Rome, which were propagated in the days of
the power of the Roman Empire. Our court system is Roman. Our very national
emblem is Roman. The Roman eagles were known all over the world of that day,
and the American eagle is similarly known in our world today. Not only is the
United States Roman in many ways, just a few of which I have just traced, but
every single nation in the western hemisphere including our own is Roman,
derived from nations which were part of the Roman Empire. That is a most
remarkable phenomenon. There is no other part of the world with that kind of
record. Ordinarily the native peoples of this hemisphere would have formed
their own kingdoms and empires of their own that persisted to the present day,
and if you read back in ancient American history you know there were remarkable
empires here. The Aztec empire in Mexico, the Inca empire in Peru, the Mayan
empire in Central America were most remarkable civilizations with advanced
technology and every reason and right to survive into modern times, but none of
them did. Everyone of them has disappeared. In their place has come an invasion
from the west of Europe that has been reproduced in the nations of the Western
Hemisphere. So, we have clearly a Roman strain running through all the western
world.
In the 17th chapter of the book of Revelation, you find a little further
information about this beast, and in verse 8, after John sees a woman, who
represents false religions, seated upon this beast, the beast is described
further.
Revelation chapter 17, verse 8:
"The
beast that you saw was, [i.e., in
John's day] and is not, and is to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to
perdition; and the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the
book of life from the foundation of the world, will marvel to behold the beast,
because it was and is not and is to come. This calls for a mind with wisdom: [Are you listening? Do you have that kind of a mind?] the
seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; [that identifies it with the city of Rome, historically
known as the seven-hilled city] they are also seven kings, [or kingdoms] five of whom have fallen, one is, the
other has not yet come, and when he comes he must remain only a little
while."
I think this is a very significant statement. Here we learn about this
strange beast consisting of these seven kings, or kingdoms. Historically this
seems to be not just a certain kingdom but a form of government that is in
view. It is most interesting to note that when John wrote this book at the
close of the first century, around 100 AD, the nation of Rome had already
passed through five forms of government. I won't list them for you, but the
republic was one, the principate was another, etc., five distinct forms of
government, "one is, five had passed away," John is told. "One
is," another form of government existed which at that time was the imperial
form, the emperors of Rome. Then there was yet one more which was to come, and,
when it came, it would last only a little while. The question then is raised,
"When did the Roman Empire, the imperial form of Roman government,
end?" And the amazing answer is in 1917. The proof of that is in the world
"Caesar." Caesar was the name of the Roman emperors. So, when did the
Caesars cease? Well, according to history, they maintained themselves in power
in the city of Rome until about the 5th century when the center of empire
shifted from Rome to Constantinople, what we now call Istanbul, on the Bosporus
between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea.
That great city, then, became the center of empire. In 1453, the city of
Constantinople was invaded by Russian hordes. The city was captured, and the
government was transferred, carried away, into the pagan regions of the north,
but persisted under the name of the Czars of Russia, C-Z-A-R is simply a
Russian form of Caesar. So the Caesars persisted in Russia. In the 5th century
the city of Rome was invaded and sacked by the Visigoths and the hordes from
the north, and that government was transferred, first to France, then to Spain
and then to Germany where the German rulers maintained their titles as the
Kaisers, the Germanic spelling of Caesar. The amazing footnote to history is
that both the Czars of Russia and the Kaisers of Germany came to an end in the
same year 1917. From that time on there has never been a Caesar in the world.
That is a most remarkable thing. In light of it, it indicates there would come,
then, a new form, a strange, indescribable form of the beast that once was
Rome, which would have Roman culture, Roman background, Roman ideas, Roman
forms within the government, but would be an amalgamation of nations, a
confederation, if you like, and it would be in this form that there would
appear at last the final ruler who would be this first beast of Revelation 13.
So, the beast that arises out of the sea, (the sea, by-the-way, is the symbol
in Scripture of many nations, the multitudes of peoples of the earth), out of
this conglomeration of nations, at last appears another beast who is liken to
and has the characteristics of the fourth beast of Daniel 7. This is what gives
way to the predictions of many of a revived form of the Roman Empire.
Now look at Revelation 13, verse 5:
"And
the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words..."
This seems to indicate that not only is this beast an empire which comes into existence, but it is at last headed by an individual who is symbolized by a mouth, "a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words." Here you have the same picture that Daniel gives us in his 7th chapter, he