Antichrist



Daniel 11:36-45
36“And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done.
37He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all.
38He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts.
39He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price.
40“At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through.
41He shall come into the glorious land. 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.
42He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train.
44But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction.
45And 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.

As our study of Daniel draws to a close (we only have 1 more short chapter!) we see prophecies of the end times emerging in a clear fashion. Our passage for today has caused commentators to speculate over the centuries, falling into two basic camps.

“There are two main interpretations of the evil king depicted in these verses: they could continue the description of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (the “contemptible person” and king of the north in 11:21–35), or they are a description of an eschatological figure who is to be equated with the Antichrist in the NT.”
Steinmann, A. E. (2008). Daniel. Concordia Commentary (536). Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House.

I’m not sure that these verses couldn’t be referring to both Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Antichrist. The Antichrist, by definition is anyone or anything that sets itself up against Jesus Christ as Lord.

We find Paul addressing this issue in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–12.
“3Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

It was the practice of ancient kings to indeed declare themselves to be “god”. First mistake. Only God is God! Perhaps Daniel saw all the world leaders who would set themselves before the people as god. Even today, we see leaders who would have their people believe they are supreme. You don’t have to be a student of the Bible for long before that you realize this is going to displease God. For us personally, we need to continually check our own lives to see if we have begun to elevate anything or anyone above God, for that will always end in disaster for us. Jesus Christ is Lord and He will not be replaced!

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