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3. The Angel of Judgment Testifies to the End of the Antichrist (Revelation 17:7-9a)
Who is the Last Antichrist, Who Was, Who is, and Who is to Come Again? (v8): The specific reason for the godless masses amazement for the antichrist lies in his apparent immortality. Twice in the same verse the angel of judgment described this satanic mystery as the special feature of the son of the evil one: “That was, and is not, and yet is” (Revelation 17:8).
This coded formula has intrigued many commentators. They asked themselves: Who is this last antichrist going to be? When “was he not”, and how will he come again? We will proceed to elaborate on some of the numerous contemplations.
J. A. Bengel was of the opinion that the earlier appearance and working of the antichrist had been slowed down and subdued at first through the influence of the great harlot, so that he could not fully exercise his barbarous rule. But after he violently shakes off and kills the woman who ruled over him he will once again be free to resume his uninhibited brutality and wickedness.
Prelate Hartenstein extended this view, and suspected the tripartite biography of the antichrist rested upon serious turning-points in world history. The first appearance of the antichrist pointed to the bloody persecutions of Jews and Christians in the time of the gentiles (under Nebuchadnezzar, Nero and Domitian). This time-segment of brutal bestiality had been quelled, however, by the superficial Christianizing of the Roman Empire under Constantine the Great. Christian ordinances and principles had been superimposed over old heathen elements. But the new heathendom of our time is going to rebelliously strip off the thin Christian veneer of our culture, and institute a brutality sevenfold harder than that under Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Khomeini.
Whoever considers the tripartite biography of the antichrist under a Middle East viewpoint will have other aspects forced upon him. Messianic Jews in Israel sometimes think the beast out of the sea can only represent the Palestinians! The earlier kingdom of the Philistines was at various times ground apart and integrated by the Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians and Greeks. For a long time it no longer existed. It was the Romans who finally re-baptized the devastated Judea in 132 A.D. into “Palestine”, so that Judea and Israel would completely disappear from the map and the kingdom of the Philistines could be revived. Later, the Ottomans and the rulers under the English mandate chose to retain the name, Palestine, for the occupied territory. Today the mixed Arab population living there tries to forcefully re-create the state of Palestine by suicide attacks and terror. The Philistine State “was, was no longer, and is becoming again”. But it doesn't appear like Arafat's followers and the Muslim Palestinians possess enough political weight or the Antichrist's fullness of power. At most, they have the intent of a false prophet.
On the other hand, if someone asks Arabic Christians who the son of perdition and the great deceiver (Dajjal) could be, one becomes the answer: That can only be the State of Israel! As a matter of fact, the statement fits here also: “He was, was no longer, and yet is”. The State of Israel was founded in 1012 B.C. by King Saul. The deportation of the upper class of the northern tribes followed in 722 B.C. The Jews suffered the first and second deportations to Babylon in 597 and 587 B.C. Due to the permission of the Persian conqueror, some of the deported hesitantly returned to their homeland. Following the rule of the Greeks, there arose for about 100 years the priest-state of the Maccabeans (166-63 B.C.), which was destroyed by Pompey. But because the Israelis again and again revolted against Roman occupation the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., and laid waste all of Judea in 132 A.D. They drove nearly all Jews out of their homeland, or sold them in the slave markets of the then existing world. From that point of time on there existed no State of Israel until it was again established in 1948, following 1816 long years! Without doubt it holds true: Israel was, was not, and has arisen again! In any case, since 1922 there has raged in the Middle East a merciless civil war, in which the technically superior Israelis shoot down the Palestinian terrorist leaders from helicopters like rabbits!
At the very latest, the decision of the leading rabbis of Israel from Christmas Day 1989 sounded worldwide alarm among Christians sympathetic to the Jews. It decreed that the sympathy of a Jew to Jesus of Nazareth, and the belief that the son of Joseph is the Messiah, should lead to the annulling of the person's Israeli citizenship. The draft of this bill has not yet been conclusively resolved in Israel's parliament, but openly discussed on numerous occasions. We are, therein, reminded that in the year 97 A.D., leading Torah lawyers in Jabne, the temporary seat of the newly formed Sanhedrin, had already decided that no Jew could at the same time be a Christian, for that would be a violation of the first commandment! He who has ears to hear, let him hear! In Israel an antichristian great power is increasingly developing.
Watch Out for Short Circuits! (v 9a): The question of whether the antichrist, the beast from the sea of nations, is a single person, an institution, a state or a religious community, has been discussed again and again. Presumably, the spirit arising from the deep is not just one or the other, but a collective incarnation, encompassing all areas of life and institutions, as well as people. The Patriarch John wrote in his time: “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18).
The incidental remark in the angel's discourse, “Here is the mind which has wisdom” (Revelation 17:9a), should help us guard against fast judgments. We need to recognize that we all fall short of wisdom and understanding, and that we should ask Jesus for direction and knowledge. By so doing we will lead no one astray, but also not neglect to warn the churches. James, the brother of Jesus, encourages us: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5)
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we worship to You and rejoice because You raised Jesus Christ from His tomb after His atoning death for us on the infamous tree. He overcame death entirely. Help Your children in the Holy Spirit not to be amazed by the resurrection of the antichrist after his death, but to recognize that his resurrection is an act of Satan and is not a favor of God. Amen.
QUESTION:
- Which of the leaders in history acted the same way as the antichrist will do?