If there is a measure of
difficulty attending the placing and elucidation of some of
the prophecies which depict the various phases and stages of
the Antichrist's career, the cloud lifts as the end is
neared. And this is in full accord with many other things
which pertain to the closing days of the Age. The nearer we
come to the blessed event of our Lord's return to this
earth, the more light has God seemed to cast on those things
which immediately precede the Second Advent. It is as though,
at first, God furnishes only a bare outline, but ultimately
He fills in the details for us. It is thus with the end of
the Antichrist. The Holy Spirit has been pleased to supply us
with a most comprehensive and vivid description of the
closing scenes in the career of the Son of Perdition. It is
with mingled feelings that we turn and ponder what has thus
been recorded for our learning.
The awful course which is
followed by the Man of Sin cannot but shock us. The frightful
hypocrisy, the shocking duplicity and treachery, the terrible
cruelty, and the amazing impiety of this Monster of
wickedness, make us marvel at the forbearance of God, who
endures "with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath
fitted to destruction". But when we come to the final
scenes, and behold the Antichrist openly challenging heaven,
publicly defying God, and making a deliberate and determined
effort to prevent the Lord Jesus returning to this earth, we
are well nigh rendered speechless by the unthinkable lengths
to which sin will go. On the other hand, as we learn that all
of this is the ending of that long dismal night which
precedes the Day of Christ, the Millennium, we see that it is
but the dark background to bring into more vivid relief the
glories of the God-Man. The destruction of the Antichrist
will be followed at once by the setting up of the Messianic
Kingdom which shall bring peace and blessing to all the
earth. And the contemplation of this cannot but fill us with
joy and thanksgiving.
"The end of the Man of
Sin marks an era of sublimest interest to the believing
children of God. It shall be the day of our triumphant
manifestation, and the Jubilee of all creation. The day, Oh,
Hallelujah! when Satan's crown of pride shall be smitten,
and his glory trailed in the dust; when his long-continued
and persistent temptations shall have an end; and his power
receive the wounding from which it shall never recover
itself. That blessed, blessed day when He whose right it is,
shall reign, and the kingdom of Israel be no more overturned
and dishonored. The sweet, sweet day, when the mockings, the
scourgings, the bonds, the imprisonments, the afflictions,
and the torments of the great multitude of whom the world was
not worthy, shall cease to annoy forever, and the whole earth
be at rest, and break forth into gladness" (Mrs. E.
Needham).
But before that blessed Day
arrives, the last hour of the night of Christ's absence
has to run its course, and as the darkest hour precedes the
dawn, so the last hour of this "night" shall be the
most foreboding of all. The period which immediately precedes
the return of Christ to the earth will witness the most awful
events ever chronicled. It was of this period that Daniel
spoke when he said, "There shall be a time of trouble,
such as never was since there was a nation even to that same
time" (12:1). It was to this same time that Christ
referred when He declared, "For in those days shall be
affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the
creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.
And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh
should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom He hath
chosen, He hath shortened the days" (Mark 13:19,20).
This is "the hour of temptation which shall come upon
all the world" (Rev. 3:10). It will be a time of
unparalleled wickedness, and a time of unprecedented
suffering. It is the time when God shall avenge the murder of
His Son, when He shall take to task a world that has so long
despised His Word, and trampled His commandments under foot.
The very Antichrist will be one of the instruments of His
vengeance - "the rod of His anger" (Isa. 10:5).
It is because men received not
the love of God's truth. He shall send them strong
delusion that they should believe the Devil's lie. It is
because men had "pleasure in "unrighteousness"
they shall be deceived by the Lawless One. It is because
Israel refused that blessed One who came in His Father's
name that they shall receive the one who comes in his own
name. This is why the Antichrist will, for a season, be
suffered to prosper, and apparently to defy God with
impugnity. But when God has used him to perform His own
pleasure, then shall He empty upon his kingdom and upon his
subjects the vials of His wrath. Just as God has set the
bounds of the sea, saying thus far shalt thou go and no
further, so has He fixed the limits to which He will allow
the Antichrist to go. And when that limit is reached the Son
of Perdition will find himself as helpless to pass beyond
what God has decreed as a worm would be beneath the foot of
an elephant. This will be made evident as we proceed.
At the close of our last
chapter we followed the career of the Antichrist to the point
where he turns upon the Jewish people and seeks to cut them
off from being a nation. Fearful will be his assaults upon
them, and bitter will be their wailings. It is at that time
the Remnant will cry, "O God; why hast Thou cast us off
forever? why doth Thine anger smoke against the sheep of Thy
pasture? Remember Thy congregation, which Thou hast purchased
of old; the rod of Thine inheritance, which Thou hast
redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein Thou hast dwelt. Lift up
thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the
Enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. Thine enemies roar
in the midst of Thy congregations; they set up their ensigns
for signs. A man was famous according as he had lifted up
axes upon the thick trees. But now they break down the carved
work thereof at once with axes and hammers. They have cast
fire into Thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down
the dwelling-place of Thy name to the ground. They said in
their hearts, Let us destroy them together; they have
burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. We see
not our signs: there is no more any profit neither is there
any among us which knoweth how long. O God, how long shall
the Adversary reproach? Shall the Enemy blaspheme Thy name
forever? Why withdrawest Thou Thy hand, even Thy right hand?
Pluck it out of Thy bosom" (Psa. 74:1-11).
It is at this time that the
prophecy of Amos 8 will receive its final fulfillment:
"The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely
I will never forget any of their works. Shall not the land
tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein?
and it shall rise wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out
and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. And it shall come to
pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the
sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the
clear day: And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all
your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth
upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make
it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a
bitter day. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I
will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a
thirst for water, but the hearing the words of the Lord: And
they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to
the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of
the Lord, and shall not find it. In that day shall the
fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst" (Amos
8:7-13). How remarkably does Psa. 74 interpret this prophecy
of Amos! The reason why the godly Remnant shall run to and
fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it, and
the meaning of the famine of hearing the words of the Lord is
that all the synagogues in the land shall have been burned
up.
But not for long will this
frightful persecution continue: "Therefore thus saith
the Lord God of hosts, O My people that dwellest in Zion, be
not afraid of the Assyrain: he shall smite thee with a rod,
and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of
Egypt. For yet a very little while, and the
indignation shall cease, and Mine anger in their
destruction" (Isa. 10:24,25). Once the Antichrist turns
upon Israel his days are numbered, for to touch that nation
is to touch the apple of God's eye (Zech. 2:8). God shall
up a scourge for him" (Isa. 10:26). What this scourge is
we learn from Dan. 11;40: "And at the time of the end
shall the king of the south push at him; and the king of the
north (the Antichrist) shall come against him (i.e. the king
of the south) like a whirlwind with chariots, and with
horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the
countries, and shall overflow, and pass over" (Dan.
11:40).
The king of the south who
pushes it - assails - the Antichrist is the king of Egypt.
The Antichrist, here termed the king of the north, i.e.
Assyrai, shall leave Babylon, and marshalling his imperial
forces, which he has ready for immediate action, shall lead
them against him (the king of Egypt) like a whirlwind. The
rapidity of his movements and the immensity of his armies, is
intimated by the words, "He shall enter into the
countries, and shall overflow and pass over". His
progress will be as the rushing of an overwhelming torrent
from the mountains, that spreads over the land, and carries
everything before it. "He shall enter also into the
glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown"
(Dan. 11:41). His route from Babylon to Egypt will take him
through Palestine, the land which is soon to be the glory of
all lands; and, although we are not told here what he will do
there at that time, his hand will, no doubt, be heavy upon
it, as also upon the many other countries which he will
overthrow. But these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom,
and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon" (Dan.
11:41). These three peoples will escape his fury. The reason
for their escape seems to be a double one. In Ps. 83, which
describes an event at a little earlier period, we are told,
"they have taken crafty counsel against Thy people, and
consulted against Thy hidden ones. They has said, Come, and
let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of
Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted
together with one consent, they are confederate against Thee:
the tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the
Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalck; the Philistines with
the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur (the Assyrian) also is joined
with them" (Psa. 83:3-8). Thus we see that these three
peoples acted in concert with the Antichrist when a
determined effort was made to utterly exterminate the Jewish
people. The Antichrist, therefore, spares these submissive
allies of his when he goes forth to overthrow the other
countries.
So much for the human side as
to why "these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom,
and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon". But
there is a Divine side, too. These peoples are spared at that
time in order that they may be dealt with later by God
Himself. Thus did Jehovah declare of old through Balaam the
heathen prophet: "There shall come a Star out of Jacob,
and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the
corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And
Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession
for his enemies" (Num. 24:17,18). This will be right at
the beginning of the Millennium. Israel, too, shall be used
by God in this work of judgment upon their ancient enemies:
"But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the
Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the
east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab;
and the children of Ammon shall obey them" (Isa.
11:14).
"He shall stretch forth
his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall
not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of
gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of
Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his
steps" (Dan. 11:42,43). The victorious King will then
take possession of those countries which were overthrown by
him during his march from Babylon to Egypt. Having now
reached this land which dared to push at him - the land never
completely subjugated by the previous kings of the north
referred to in the earlier part of Dan. 11 - its king and
subjects must now bow before his iron sceptre. He becomes
master of its treasures of gold, silver, and precious things.
The Libyans and Ethiopians, who were the allies of Egypt,
will be compelled to follow in this train. Thus will he crush
this Egyptian rebellion, and demonstrate once more his
military prowess. Yet not for long will he be permitted to
defy Heaven with impugnity.
"But tidings out of the
east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he
shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to
make away many" (Dan. 11:44). What these troublous
tidings are we learn from Jer. 51. A serious attack will be
made upon his Babylonian headquarters, and during his absence
from there, the kings of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz - no
doubt emboldened by the insubordination of Egypt - will
besiege and capture one end of the Capital. The time is nigh
at hand when God shall utterly destroy that City of the
Devil, and a preliminary warning of this is now given:
"And I will render unto Babylon and to all the
inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in
Zion in your sight, saith the Lord. Behold, I am against
thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyeth
all the earth: and I will stretch out Mine hand upon thee,
and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt
mountain. And they shall not take of thee a stone for a
corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be
desolate forever, saith the Lord" (Jer. 51:24-26).
As a beginning to this end,
the Lord says, "Set ye up a standard in the land, blow
the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against
her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni,
and Ashchenaz (all situated in the vicinity of Armenia);
appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as
the rough caterpillers. Prepare against her the nations with
the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the
rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion. And the
land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the Lord
shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of
Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant. The mighty man of
Babylon hath forborne to fight, they have remained in their
holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they
have burned their dwelling places; her bars are broken"
(Jer. 27:30).
It is this ominous news - the
tidings which trouble him of Dan. 11:44 - which reaches the
ears of Babylon's King, then absent in Egypt. The
alarming tidings that part of the city has already been
destroyed arouses him to fierce anger, for we are told,
"therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy,
and utterly to make away many" (Dan. 11:44). As he nears
the capital, "one post shall run to meet another, and
one messenger to meet another, to show the King of Babylon
that his city is taken at one end, and that the passages are
stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the
men of war are affrighted" (Jer. 51:31,32). The end is
not far distant: "For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel; the daughter of Babylon is like a threshing
floor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the
time of her harvest shall come" (Jer. 51:33). God now
calls on the Jews who are found dwelling within that city to
leave at once, lest they be caught in the storm of His fierce
anger: "My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and
deliver you every man his soul from the fierce anger of the
Lord" (Jer. 51:45). A graphic description of
Babylon's destruction is found at the end of Jer. 51 and
also in Rev. 18.
The fury of the Antichrist at
the destruction of Babylon will know no bounds. Enraged at
his loss, and incensed against God, he will now turn his face
toward Palestine, and at the head of his vast forces will
bear down upon the glorious land. Even so, it is God who is
directing him and his blinded dupes - directing him to finish
the work of judgment upon Israel, and directing him to his
awful doom. Habakkuk gives a fearful description of the
spirit in which the King of Babylon and his hosts shall fall
upon the dwellers of Palestine: - "For, lo, I raise up
the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall
march through the breadth of the land, to possess the
dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and
dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of
themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards,
and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their
horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall
come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to
eat. (How this verse anticipates the cruel aerial
war-weapons!). They shall come all for violence: their faces
shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the
captivity as the sand. And they shall heap dust, and take it.
Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and
offend, imputing this his power unto his god" (Note how
this last verse serves to identify the "Chaldean"
with the "King" of Dan. 11:38,39). So terrible will
be this onslaught that we are told, "And it shall come
to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts
therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left
therein" (Zech. 13:8).
His course is vividly sketched
by Isaiah in the tenth chapter of his prophecy: "He is
come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Mickmash he hath
laid up his carriages: They are gone over the passage: they
have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Galim:
cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth. Madmena is
removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
As yet shall he remain at Nob that day" (Isa. 10:
28-32). Nob is his camping-ground for that day, and it is
there he will "plant the tabernacles of his palace
between the seas in the goodly holy mountain" (Dan.
11:45). Nob must be some elevation commanding a distant view
of Jerusalem from the west. As he stands on the hill that
night and looks at the Holy City, he "shall shake his
hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of
Jerusalem" (Isa. 10:32).
We now come to the closing
scene. The following morning the Man of Sin leads his forces
to the famous Armageddon, there awaiting his final
re-inforcements before attacking Jerusalem. It is of this
that Joel speaks: "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles;
Prepare war, wake 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 strong. Assemble yourselves, and come all ye heathen,
and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause Thy
mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened,
and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I
sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the
sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the
press is full, the fats 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"
(Joel 3:9-14).
It is to this that Micah
refers: "Now also many nations are gathered against
thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon
Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither
understand they His counsel: for He shall gather them as the
sheaves into the floor" (4:10,11). But it is not in the
valley that the battle is fought, but around Jerusalem, where
the Beast and his armies deliver the final blow of God's
judgment on that city ere the Deliverer appears. It is then
that God will say, "O Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger,
and the staff in their hands is Mine indignation. I will send
him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of
My wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to
take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the
streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart
think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off
nations not a few. For he saith, Are not my princes
altogether kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath
as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found
the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel
them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; Shall I not, as I have done
unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath
performed His whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I
will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of
Assyria, and the glory of his high looks" (Isa. 5-12).
The Antichrist is but the Lord's instrument after all.
Just as Moses picked up and held in his hand the rod which
became a serpent, so shall this offspring of the Serpent be
wielded by the hand of God to accomplish His predetermined
counsels.
Once again, though, the Beast
appears to be successful. Jerusalem falls before his
onslaught as Jehovah had foretold that it should - "For
I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and
the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women
ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity,
and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the
city" (Zech. 14:2). Intoxicated by their success, it is
then that the heathen shall rage and the people imagine a
vain thing: "The kings of the earth set themselves, and
the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and
against His anointed, saying, Let us brake their bands
asunder, and cast away their cords from us" (Psa.
2:2,3).
And then comes the grand
finale. The heaven will open and from it will descend the
King of kings and Lord of lords, seated on a white horse,
with His eyes "as a flame of fire" (Rev. 19:11,12).
Attending Him will be the armies of heaven, also seated on
white horses (Rev. 19:14). Far from being appalled at this
awe-inspiring spectacle, the Beast and the kings of the earth
and their armies shall gather together to "make war
against Him that sat on the horse, and against His
armies" (Rev. 19:19). "Then shall the Lord
go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought
in the day of battle" (Zech. 14:3). At last the Christ
of God and the christ of Satan will confront each other. But
the instant the conflict begins, it is ended. The Foe will be
paralyzed, and all resistance cease.
Scripture has solemnly
recorded the end of various august evil personages. Some were
overwhelmed by waters; some devoured by flames; some engulfed
in the jaws of the earth; some stricken by a loathsome
disease; some ignominiously slaughtered; some hanged; some
eaten up of dogs; some consumed by worms. But to no sinful
dweller on earth, save the Man of Sin, "the Wicked
One", has been appointed the terrible distinction of
being consumed by the brightness of the personal appearing of
the Lord Jesus Himself. Such shall be his unprecedented doom,
an end that shall fittingly climax his ignoble origin, his
amazing career, and his unparalleled wickedness.
"Hitherto proud boastings
have issued from the lips of Satan's king; but now he
falls helplessly to the ground blasted by the lightening
which streams from the King of kings; and together with the
False Prophet and in the full sight of his countless armies,
he is seized by the angels of the Lord, to be hurled alive
into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" (G.
H. Pember).
The overthrow of the
Antichrist is described as follows: - "But with
righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with
equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the
earth with the rod of His mouth and with the breath of His
lips shall He slay the Wicked" (Isa. 11:14).
"And through his policy
also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he
shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall
destroy many; he shall also stand up against the Prince of
princes; but he shall be broken without hand" -
an expression which always refers to that which is
supernatural (Dan. 8:25).
"And he shall plant the
tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious
holy mountain; yet shall he come to his end, and none
shall help him" (Dan. 11:45).
"And then shall that
Wicked (One) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with
the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of His coming" (2 Thess. 2:8).
"And the Beast was taken,
and with him the False Prophet that wrought miracles before
him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark
of the Beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both
were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with
brimstone" (Rev. 19:20).
"For Tophet is ordained
of old; yea, for the King it is prepared; he hath made
it deep and large: the pile: the pile thereof is fire and
much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of
brimstone, doth kindle it" (Isa. 30:33).
"And the Devil that
deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,
where the Beast and the False Prophet are, and (they)
shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever"
(Rev. 20:10).
Frightful, too, shall be the
doom meted out to the followers of the Antichrist. Zech. 14
tells us, "And this shall be the plague wherewith the
Lord will smite all the people that have fought against
Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand
upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their
holes, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouth.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult
from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold
every one on the hands of his neighbour, and his hand shall
rise up against the hand of his neighbour" (vv. 12,13).
So, also Rev. 19:21 declares, "And the remnant were
slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which
sword proceeded out of His mouth; and all the fowls were
filled with their flesh".