We have seen that at the heart of our Lord's ministry was a fierce struggle between himself and the powers of Satan. In the Olivet discourse Jesus made it clear that his disciples would be exposed to the demonic evil that plagues this age. Even though Jesus had rendered Satan a decisive defeat, the Kingdom of God would not conquer the kingdom of Satan until the Second Coming of Christ. Indeed, in spite of the fact that God had invaded history in Christ, and in spite of the fact that it was to be the mission of Jesus' disciples to evangelize the entire world (Matt. 24:14), the world would remain an evil place. False christ's would arise who would lead many astray. Wars, strife, and persecution would continue. Wickedness would abound so as to chill the love of many. In fact, the conflict between the kingdoms of God and of Satan would reach a convulsive end in the appearance of Antichrist at the end of the age.
The idea of Antichrist first appears clearly in the Bible in the book of Daniel. The coming of Antichrist was foreshadowed in a series of events which occurred in 168 B.C. After the return of the Jews from Babylon Israel became a buffer state between Egypt to the south and Syria to the north. Both the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria were Greek, stemming from Alexander the Great. In 168 B.C. Palestine was under the rule of the Syrian Seleucids. Their king, Antiochus Epiphanes, decided on a drastic course in trying to assimilate the Jews into his Hellenistic culture. He sent emissaries throughout the land to proclaim that the Jewish religion was to be proscribed, copies of the Old Testament were to be destroyed, a pig sacrificed on the great altar in the Jerusalem temple, and the temple re-dedicated to a Greek god. First Maccabees gives us a vivid account of those events, and speaks of the defiling of the temple altar as the abomination of desolation.
Daniel 11 reflects these events. Verses 3-4 refer to Alexander the Great and the division of his kingdom into four parts. Verses 5-20 refer to the wars between the kings of the south (Egypt) and of the north (Syria) for dominion of the Holy Land. Verses 21-35 refer to the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes and his persecution of the Jews.
However, in verse 36 there appears to be a change in subject that looks beyond Antiochus to the Antichrist himself, of whom Antiochus was a type. "And the king shall do according to his will; he shall exalt himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods" (11:36). This goes beyond anything Antiochus did; he tried only to turn the Jews into worshipers of his Greek gods. But the Antichrist "shall give no heed to the god of his fathers . . . he shall not give heed to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all" (11:37). Here is disclosed the basic character of Antichrist; he arrogates to himself all divine power and "rewards" the worship of men.
The idea of Antichrist also appears in Daniel 7:25: "He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High."
Before we leave Daniel, we should examine a passage which is one of the favorite passages for the Dispensational theology of Antichrist. This is the famous passage in Daniel 9:24-27. The important verse is 27:
Seventy weeks of years are decreed concerning your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most ho]y place. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the Sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off, and shall have nothing; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war; desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week; and for half of the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator. (Dan. 9:24-27)
This is interpreted by Dispensationalists in terms of Antichrist and his relations with Israel. It is assumed that Israel has returned to Palestine as a nation, has rebuilt the temple, and reinstituted the sacrificial system. Antichrist makes a covenant with Israel which is to last seven years (a week is thought to be seven days of years), but in the midst of the seven years he will break his covenant, disrupt the sacrifices in Jerusalem, and launch a terrible persecution against the Jewish people. This passage with its Dispensational interpretation is foundational to that system of eshcatology.
However, it is not at all clear that this interpretation is correct Many evangelical scholars believe that the messianic interpretation fits the language better than the eschatological one. It discloses God's redemptive purpose "to finish the transgression," that is, to seal up and put away sin as though it no longer had any existence; "to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity," that is, Jesus death on the cross; "to bring in everlasting righteousness," that is, righteousness as the gift of God through the death of his Son; "to seal both vision and prophet," that is, Jesus bringing of the Old Testament era to an end; "to anoint a most holy place," that is, the anointing of the Messiah with the Spirit of God.
There is every reason to understand the cutting off of an anointed one in verse 26 to refer to the death of Christ and his utter rejection. The verse goes on to describe the fate of the city at the time of Messiah's death. "The people of the prince who is to come shall destroy. the city. and the sanctuary" may well refer to the utter destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 A D by. Titus Vespasian, who later became the emperor of Rome "To the end" of the destruction, war and desolation will continue.
The words in verse 27, "and he shall make a strong covenant with many for a week," are without a subject. Dispensationalists see the subject as Antichrist. However the language of the Hebrew text is not the usual language implying a covenant. Literally translated it should read, "He shall cause the covenant to prevail." The messianic interpretation sees the subject as Christ, who confirms and fulfills the covenant already in existence so that its its terms and conditions are now to be made more effective. This is the covenant in Jesus' blood which fulfills the covenant made with Abraham (Gal 3 17). By. his death he "shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease" his death will put an end to the Jewish sacrificial system (see Heb 8:13). As its result or consequence of the death of Messiah, one making desolate (the Roman prince Titus) appears upon the wing of abominations. The wing is the pinnacle of the temple (Luke 4 9), the temple itself, which, following the rending of the veil (Mark 15 38), will no longer have any place in the divine plan (Heb 10 8-18) and will become abominable and unacceptable to the Lord. By this language the complete destruction of the temple is signified. This state of destruction will continue even until the consummation or "full end," which has been determined by. God, has been poured out upon the desolate (that is, the ruins of the temple and Jerusalem).
When we turn to the New Testament, we first meet the Antichrist idea in the Olivet discourse, recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. For our present purpose we will limit our discussion largely. to Matthew.
The disciples ask Jesus when the temple is to be destroyed and what will he the sign of his Second Coming and the end of the age. Matthew limits himself largely to the first question; Luke is more interested in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies (see Luke 21:20). But even as in Daniel, where the appearance of the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes is a type of the eschatological Antichrist, so the coming of the Roman armies under Titus to raze the temple is also a type of the eschatological Antichrist.
Matthew 24 is divided into three parts; verses 3-14 describe the character of the age down to its end. The main theme is that the Kingdom of God will not be established before the Second Coming of Christ. Wars, famines, earthquakes, messianic pretenders will mark the course of the age. As we have already seen, this age is a present evil age (Gal. 1: 4); Satan is its god (IICor. 4: 4). However, such events are not meant to be signs by which one can calculate the nearness of the end. In fact, these signs will be seen, "but the end is not yet" (Matt. 24:6). These evils will be "but the beginning of the sufferings" (Matt. 24:8).
In addition to evils which will characterize the age, Jesus' disciples will experience persecution. "There they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake" (Matt. 24: 9). The follower of Jesus is to expect the same treatment that Jesus received. "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master; it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household" (Matt. 10:24-25). "In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
However, the age will not be one of unrelieved evil. "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come" (Matt. 24: 14). Throughout the world with its evils and hostility the disciples of Jesus are to herald the good news that the Kingdom of God has come (Matt. 12:28), and is yet to come in power and glory.
Some Bible teachers tell us that this verse does not belong to the church but to the saved Jewish remnant in the time of Great Tribulation. Such a view, however, is read into the text; it is not found in the text.
In verses 15-28. Jesus speaks of the events that will accompany the end. First he speaks of Antichrist in very difficult words. "So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place (let the reader understand)" (Matt 24:15). This language is taken from Daniel 11:31 where it refers to the desecration Antiochus Epiphanes committed in the temple in Jerusalem (see above, pp 58-59). We know from the parallel verse in Luke 21:20 that it refers also to the overthrow of Jerusalem by the Roman armies in 70 A.D. who desecrated the temple by brining into its precincts the hated pagan standards. Beyond that it refers to the eschatological Antichrist who will arise in the end time, of whom both Antiochus and Rome were foreshadowings. That he "stands in the holy place" means that he demands the worship of men (see below on II Thess. 2).
The appearance of Antichrist will initiate a fearful persecution of the followers of Jesus. "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" (Matt. 24:21). This is the source of the phrase "The Great Tribulation." The point to note here is that in character it is nothing new. Jesus has already told his disciples that they are to expect persecution in the world. Indeed, one of the most central demands of Jesus to his disciples is that they be willing to take up his cross. "He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me" (Matt. 10:38). "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matt. 16:24). The meaning of this is plain. "For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matt. 16:25). The cross is not primarily a burden (although it is that indeed); it is first of all an instrument of death. Jesus demands of those who follow him that they must lay their lives on the line; they must be ready to suffer as Jesus suffered. They must be willing literally to lose their lives. There exists between the world and Jesus' disciples an implacable enmity.
To be sure, we experience little hostility in America; indeed, in many cities, it is good for one's business and social standing to be a member of a certain church. This fact has lulled many Christians to sleep in the feeling that God could not possibly allow his people to suffer such a devastating persecution. They cherish the doctrine of a "pretribulation rapture," the belief that the church will be taken out of the world in the Rapture before the Great Tribulation begins. The present author has devoted an entire book to this subject (see G. E. Ladd, The Blessed Hope, Eerdmans,1956) in which he argued that the hope of the Christian is "the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13), not escape from tribulation. Interacting with this book, Dr. John Walvoord has written, "The fact is that neither posttribulationism nor pre-tribulationism is an explicit teaching of scripture. The Bible does not in so many words state either" (John Walvoord, The Rapture Question, Dunham, 1957, p.148. This is an exact quotation from my copy of Walvoord's book. This admission was deleted from subsequent printings of the book).
Be this as it may, it is clear that Jesus taught that all his disciples could expect in the world was tribulation and persecution. As a matter of fact, James the brother of John was the first apostle to be martyred (Acts 12:2), and a probably trustworthy tradition has it that Peter was later crucified in Rome by Nero. The only difference between the normal role of the Christian in the world and the time of the Great Tribulation is the intensity of the persecution. There is no difference in the theology of tribulation. Jesus said, "And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened" (Matt. 24:22). God will be caring for his own, even in their darkest hour.
This is expressed in a different way in Luke. Describing the character of the age before the return of Christ, he says, "You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you will be put to death...But not a hair of your head will perish" (Luke 21:16-18). How can the hairs of my head be saved if my head is taken off? The meaning is obvious: "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul" (Matt. 10:28). It is obvious in the light of eternity that it is not important how many years I live, or when or how my body dies; what is important is the relation of my soul to Jesus Christ. So God will keep his own safe from (spiritual) harm even in a time of fierce persecution and unparalleled martyrdom.
In verses 29-35, Jesus speaks of the coming on the clouds of heaven of the Son of Man which we usually refer to as the Second Coming of Christ. It will be a cosmic event which will shake the very foundation of the created world. The central theology of the coming of the heavenly Son of Man is that men cannot build the Kingdom of God, nor can history produce it. History, down to the very end, will witness the conflict between the Kingdom of God and the world, which will manifest itself in tribulation and persecution. Only a cosmic act of God, breaking into history from outside of history, can establish his Kingdom.
Then "he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matt. 24: 31). This is what is generally called the "Rapture" of the church. Paul puts it in somewhat different words, but has the same thought. Immediately after the resurrection of the dead saints, which Matthew does not mention, "then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up [raptured] together with them [the resurrected] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (I Thess. 4:17). In fact, the same root word is used in Matthew 24:31, "they will gather," as is used in II Thessalonians 2:1, "our assembling" or "gathering" to meet him.
The important thing to note here is that the only coming of Christ that is spoken of in Matthew 24 is the coming of the glorious Son of Man after the tribulation and the only thing that resembles the Rapture is the gathering of the elect from the four winds. There is not a hint of the idea of a pretribulation return of Christ and Rapture of the church before the Great Tribulation. Both of these events clearly happen after the Tribulation. Pretribulationists who plead for a secret coming of Christ to rapture the church somewhere before the Great Tribulation do so by reading something into the text of Matthew 24. The text is utterly silent about any such event.
The next passage that deals with Antichrist is the very difficult passage in II Thessalonians 2. In I Thessalonians Paul has described the Second Coming of Christ to raise the dead saints and rapture the living saints. He opens the second chapter of II Thessalonians by referring to what he had written in the first letter: "Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling [or gathering] to meet him" (II Thess. 2:1). Then he goes on to say: "That day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed" (II Thess. 2:3). This is as clear as language can make it. The return of the Lord and the Rapture of the church must be preceded by a great revolt against God and the appearance of the man of lawlessness, the Antichrist.
Here, several features are revealed about Antichrist which do not occur in either Daniel or the Gospels. He is the man of "lawlessness"; he opposes all law except his own, both the law of God and of man. We have seen this phenomenon in modern times in the totalitarian state. He will be mightily empowered by Satan and will appear to do signs and wonders. He will be supported by many followers who are called the "rebellion," that is, who are against God. The Authorized Version translates it as "the apostasy," but there is no reason to think it means a great apostasy in the Christian church. He will oppose and exalt himself "against every so-called god or object of worship" (2:4). That is, he not only demands the political support of his followers; he will demand universal religious veneration as well. This is further supported by the statement, "he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God" (2:4). The general meaning of these words is clear, even if their precise meaning is difficult. Dispensationalists hold that this refers to the rebuilt Jewish temple in Jerusalem where Antichrist will break his covenant with the Jews and demand their worship. However, the words are not meant to be taken so literally. The Old Testament views heaven as God's throne. "Thus says the Lord, 'Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool'" (Isa. 66:1; cf. Mic. 1:2). "But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him" (Hab. 2:20). In Isaiah 14:13 the idea of claiming the prerogative of the heavenly throne of God is attributed to an unnamed tyrant. "You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High'" (Isa. 14:13-14). Against this background, the language in II Thessalonians may be a metaphorical way to describe how the man of lawlessness tries to usurp the place of God and demand that men worship him instead of the Lord.
The thought in 2:6-7 is very difficult: "And you know what is restraining him now, so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way." There is some principle which restrains the man of lawlessness, embodied in a person; this principle must be taken out of the way to allow the man of lawlessness to come forth.
Dispensationalists take this to be the Holy Spirit who will be taken out of the world when the church is raptured before Antichrist appears. However, since Dispensationalists hold that the Tribulation period will be a time of the salvation of many Gentiles, it is difficult to believe that this refers to the Holy Spirit.
The classical interpretation, which is quite satisfying, is that the hindering power is the principle of law and order embodied in the Roman Empire with the Emperor at its head. Paul tells us in Romans 13:1-7 that such governments are divinely ordained institutions. The function of government, as God has ordained it, is to reward good conduct and punish evil. As such, a ruler is "God's servant for your good" (Rom. 13:4).
This principle can be illustrated by Paul's own experience. More than once he was delivered from the wrath of the Jewish crowd by the just hand of representatives of Rome. One of the most notable instances was his experience in Corinth. Gallio had just come to Corinth as the Roman Governor of the province, and the Jews seized upon this situation as an opportunity to test Gallio. They dragged Paul before his judgment tribunal and accused Paul of subverting Jews from their religious practices. Before Paul could defend himself, Gallio said, "'If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, I should have reason to bear with you, 0 Jews; but since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; I refuse to be a judge in those things.' And he drove them from the tribunal" (Acts 18:14-16).
When the state functions in this way, it functions as an agency with divine approval. The antithesis of this is seen in II Thessalonians in the principle of lawlessness: the deifying of the state and its rulers so that it is no longer an instrument of law and order but a totalitarian system which defies God and demands the worship of men. Then men are no longer punished for doing evil but for doing good. This is the demonic state. Paul sees a day when the rule of law will collapse, when political order will be swept away and be unable any longer to restrain the principle of lawlessness. Then the last defenses that the creator has erected against the powers of chaos will break down completely. This can be understood in the principle of the deification of the state in defiance of the divine ordinance. The principles of both order and lawlessness can be at work at the same time, even in the same state. These two principles will be in conflict during the course of the age. At the very end, law and order will break down, demonic lawlessness will burst forth, and the church will experience a brief period of terrible evil that will be quickly terminated by the return of Christ.
The same basic picture of Antichrist is found in the Beast of Revelation 13. During Paul's missionary journeys Rome was, as we have seen, a friend to Christians. But under Nero, the situation was radically changed and the Christians experienced a short but fierce persecution. The state, instead of a divine ordinance had become a demonic state. Revelation 13 has a double fulfillment. As Daniel foresees both the Greek Antiochus and the eschatological Antichrist, as our Lord in the Olivet discourse had in view both the fall of Jerusalem and the eschatological Antichrist, so Revelation 13 depicts first Rome and then beyond Rome the eschatological Antichrist.
As in II Thessalonians, Satan is seen as the power behind the Beast. In fact, the Beast arises from the sea in response to the call of the dragon-Satan (Rev. 12:17). We cannot go into detail about the Beast. We must note, however, that besides being empowered by Satan, his main objective is to demand the worship of men (Rev. 13: 4).
In addition to this, the Beast was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them (13:7). "And authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain" (13:7-8). Here the issue is clearly set forth. On whose side does a man stand? Does he belong to Christ or to Antichrist? The Beast is given power 'to conquer," to kill any who do not worship him.
However, there is another side of the picture. In chapter 15 John sees the martyrs standing beside the sea of glass before the throne of God with harps of God in their hands. These are they "who had conquered the Beast and its image" (Rev. 15:2). The Beast has conquered them in martyrdom, but in that same martyrdom they had conquered the Beast, for he had been utterly unable to make them deny Christ. This is their victory: loyalty to Christ in tribulation.
There is still another side of the Great Tribulation which is revealed only in the Revelation. It will be the time of the outpouring of the wrath of God upon the Beast and his worshipers. This is pictured in very symbolic language. Seven trumpets are blown in succession and seven bowls or vials of wrath are emptied out upon men. With each trumpet and each bowl, a different plague is visited upon men.
On the eve of the tribulation, John sees two companies of men. The first is pictured as twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. They are sealed with the seal of God on their foreheads; the worshipers of the Beast were sealed with his seal on their hands (13:16). The hundred and forty-four thousand are sealed so as to be protected from the wrath of God. This is expressly stated twice. The plague of the fifth trumpet is poured out "only [upon] those of mankind who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads" (9:4). The second bowl is poured out only "upon the men who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image" (16:2).
Who are these 144,000? The first answer which suggests itself is that they are literally Jews and picture the salvation of the Jewish people. However, it is impossible for these to be literally Jews, for the twelve tribes listed are simply not the twelve tribes of Israel. Dan is altogether omitted; and Dan is the first tribe mentioned in the division of the land in Ezekiel 48:1. Furthermore, the tribe of Ephraim is also omitted, but it is included indirectly because Joseph was the father of both Ephraim and Manasseh. This means that in reality the tribe of Manasseh is included twice.
What does John mean when he lists twelve tribes of Israel which are Israel but are not literal Israel? He gives us a hint in 2:9 where he speaks of "those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan." See also 3:9: "Behold those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not." Here is a clear fact: they were people who called themselves Jews, and were in literal fact really Jews, and yet in the spiritual sense they were not really Jews but constituted a synagogue of Satan. In these verses John clearly distinguishes between literal Jews and spiritual Jews. We may believe that John deliberately listed the 144,000 in an irregular listing of tribes to say that here are those who are true spiritual Jews without being literal Jews: in other words, the church.
We have seen that the 144,000 were sealed that they might be sheltered from the wrath of God. We are reminded of Israel in Egypt. They were in Egypt, but they did not suffer the wrath of God as did the Egyptians. So God's people have been delivered from wrath. But as we have found earlier in this chapter, the true church is not to escape tribulation and persecution. Although they will be martyred, not one will be really lost; God has sealed his people and will keep them safe even in martyrdom. We are reminded again of Luke 21:16-18: "Some of you they will put to death but not a hair of your head will perish." So the 144,000 are the church on the threshold of the Great Tribulation: God's people numbered and preserved. The number 144,000, like other numbers in the Revelation, is a symbolic number, representing completeness.
The second throng pictured the same people, the 144,000, seen from a different point of view. They are the church which from the human perspective is a great in numerable throng from every nation and tongue. Now they are seen as martyrs of the Great Tribulation; they are seen standing before God's throne clothed in white robes, singing a hymn of praise "salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb." They are furthered identified: "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (7:14). Their martyrdom is the path to eternal blessedness and glory.
The Last Things (An Eschatology For Laymen). George Eldon Ladd. Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. Grand Rapids, MI 49503. 1978. Pages 58-72.