Appendix
There has been considerable
difference of opinion among Bible students as to which of the two
"beasts" of Revelation 13 is the Antichrist. On the one side are
those who regard the first beast as the revived Roman empire with the
Antichrist as its head, and the second beast as the False Prophet—the third
person in the Trinity of Evil. On the other side are those
who view the first beast as the revived Roman empire with a man (a Gentile)
energized by Satan as its political head, and the second beast, the Antichrist
(a Jew) as its ecclesiastical or religious head, thus making the Antichrist and
the False Prophet one and the same person, The advocates of these two views are
about equally divided. Eminent names might be cited on either side. We shall not here quote from the writings of others, but will
give as concisely as possible our own reasons for identifying the Antichrist
with the first "beast" of Revelation 13. We write now for the
student, not the popular reader.
In the first place, to regard
the Antichrist as limited to the religious realm and divorced
from the political seems to us to leave out entirely an essential and
fundamental element of his character and career. The Antichrist will claim to
be the true Christ, the Christ of God. Hence, it would seem that he will
present himself to the Jews as their long-expected Messiah—the One foretold by
the Old Testament prophets—and that to apostate Christendom, given over by God to
believe the Lie, he will pose as the returned Christ.
Therefore, must we not predicate as an inevitable corollary that the pseudo
Christ will usher in a false millennium and rule over a mock messianic kingdom?
That this conclusion is fully borne out by Scripture we shall show in a moment.
Why was it,
(from the human side) that, when our Lord tabernacled among men, the Jews
rejected Him as their Messiah? Was it not because He failed to fulfill their
expectations that He, would take the government upon His shoulder and wield the
royal scepter as soon as He presented Himself to them? Was it not because they
looked for Him to restore the kingdom to Israel there and then? Is it not
therefore reasonable to suppose that when the Antichrist
presents himself to them that he will wield great temporal power, and rule over
a vast earthly empire? It would certainly seem so. Happily we are not left to
logical deductions and conclusions. We have a "Thus saith the Lord"
to rest upon. In Daniel 11:36—a Scripture upon which all are agreed concerning
its application—the Antichrist is expressly termed "The King (which) shall do according to his will." Here then is
unequivocal proof that the Antichrist will exercise political or governmental
power. He will be a king—"the king"—and if a king he must be at the
head of a kingdom.
In the second place, if the
Antichrist is to be a perfect counterfeit of the true Christ, if
he is to ape the millennial Christ as set forth in Old Testament prophecy—for,
of course, he will not ape the "suffering" Christ of the first
advent—then it necessarily follows that he will fill the role of king, yea,
that he will reign as a, King of kings, as Satan’s parody of the Son of Man
seated upon "the throne of His glory." That the Antichrist will also
be at the head of the religious world, that he will demand and receive
Divine honors is equally true. Just as in the Millennium the Lord Jesus will
"be a priest upon His throne" (Zech. 6:13) so, we believe, the
Antichrist will combine in his person the headships of both the political and
religious realms. And just as the Son of Man will be the Head of the fifth
world-empire (Dan. 2:44) so, we believe, the Man of Sin will be the Head of the
revived fourth world-empire (Dan. 2:40).
In the third place, to make
the Antichrist and "the False Prophet" one and the same person is to
involve us in a difficulty for which there seems to be no solution. In
Revelation 19:20 we read "And the Beast was taken, and with him the False
Prophet that wrought miracles before him. These both were
cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." Now if the
"False Prophet" is the Antichrist, then who is "the Beast"
that is cast with him into the lake of fire? The Beast here can not be the
Roman empire, for no member of the human race (as such) is cast into the Lake
of Fire until after the Millennium (see Revelation 20), That "the
Beast" is a separate entity, another individual than
the "False Prophet" is also clear from Revelation 20:10—"And the
Devil that deceived them was cast into the Lake of fire and brimstone, where
the Beast and the False Prophet are." In this last quoted Scripture, each
of the three persons in the Trinity of Evil is specifically mentioned, and if
"the Beast" is not the Antichrist, the Son of Perdition, the second
person in the Trinity of Evil, who is he?
In the fourth place, what is
predicated of the first "Beast"’ in Revelation 13 comports much
better with what is elsewhere revealed concerning the Antichrist, than what is
here said of the second "Beast." In proof of our assertion we submit
the following:
Points of resemblance between
the first Beast of Revelation 13 and the Man of Sin of 2 Thessalonians 2 —
1. The first Beast receives
his power, seat, and great authority from the Dragon, Revelation 1-3:2. Compare
2 Thessalonians 2:9—"Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with
all power and signs and lying wonders."
2.
"All the world" wonders after the first Beast, Revelation 13:3.
Compare 2 Thessalonians 2:11,12—"And for this cause God shall send them
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be
damned" etc.
3. The first Beast is
"worshipped" Revelation 13:4. Compare 2 Thessalonians 2:4—"he as God sitteth in the temple of God."
4. The first Beast has a mouth
"speaking great things" Revelation 13:5. Compare 2 Thessalonians
2:4—"who exalteth himself above all that is called God."
5. The
first Beast makes war upon the saints Revelation 13:7. Compare 2 Thessalonians
2:4—"Who opposeth all that is called God," that is, he will seek to
exterminate and obliterate everything on earth which bears God’s name.
From these five points of
analogy it seems dear that the first Beast of Revelation 13 and
the Man of Sin of 2 Thessalonians 2 are one and the same person.
In the fifth place, that the
second "Beast" is not "the Man of Sin" appears from the
fact that the second Beast causeth the earth to worship the first Beast (Rev.
13:12), whereas the Man of Sin "exalteth himself" (2 Thess. 2:4), and
compare Daniel 11:36—"And he exaltheth himself."
Again; it has been generally
recognized by prophetic students that our Lord referred to the Antichrist when
He said, "I am come in My Father’s name; and ye receive Me not: if another
shall come in his own name, him ye will receive (John 5:43).
If the one here mentioned as coming "in his own name" is the
Antichrist then it is certain that the second Beast of Revelation 13 cannot be
the Antichrist for he does not come "in his own name." On the
contrary, the second Beast comes in the name of the first Beast as is clear
from Revelation 13:12-15. Just as the Holy Spirit—the third person in the Holy
Trinity—speaks "not of Himself" (John 16:13) but
is here to glorify Christ, so the second Beast—the third person in the Evil
Trinity—seeks to glorify the first Beast, the Antichrist.
If it should be objected that
the second Beast is represented as working miracles (Rev. 13:13,14) and that as
the Man of Sin is also said to come "after the working of Satan
with all power and signs and lying wonders" (2 Thess. 2:9) therefore the
second Beast must be the Antichrist, the answer is, This by no means follows.
The power to work miracles is common to each person in the Trinity of Evil.
Just as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each perform
miracles, so does the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet. Three things
are said in connection with the second Beast which
correspond closely with the work of the Holy Spirit. First, "he maketh
fire come down from heaven" (Rev. 13:13), compare Acts 2:1-4. Second,
"he had power to give life unto the image of the Beast" (Rev. 13:15),
compare John 3:6—"born of the Spirit." Third, he causeth all both
small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right
hand, or in their foreheads" (Rev. 13:16), compare
Ephesians 4:30—"Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed
unto the day of redemption."
Finally; the second Beast is
clearly subordinate to the first Beast. But would the Jews receive as their
Messiah and King one who was himself the vassal of a Roman? Was
not this the very reason why the Jews of old rejected the Lord Jesus, i.e.,
Because He was subject to Caesar and because He refused to deliver the Jews
from the Romans!
In the sixth place, as we have
seen, in Daniel 11:36 the Antichrist is termed "the king"
and if a king he must possess a kingdom, and can there be any doubt as to the
identity of this kingdom? Will not Antichrist’s kingdom be the very one which
Satan offered in vain to Christ? namely, "all the kingdoms of the world,
and the glory of them" (Matthew 4:8). That the kingdom of the Antichrist
will be much wider than Palestine appears from Daniel 11:40-42—"And at the
time of the end shall the king of the south push at him
(the Antichrist): and the king of the north shall come against him (the
Antichrist) like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many
ships; and he (the Antichrist) shall enter into the countries, and shall
overflow and pass over. He (the Antichrist) shall enter also into the glorious
land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his
(the Antichrist’s) hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the cider
of the children of Ammon (compare other Old Testament prophecies concerning
these three powers). He (the Antichrist) shall stretch forth his hand upon the
countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape." From this Scripture it
is also clear that the Antichrist will be at the head of a great army and
therefore a political ruler as well as a religious chief.
In the seventh place, it is
generally agreed among those students of prophecy who. belong to the Futurist
school that the rider upon the four horses of Revelation 6 is the Antichrist.
If this be the case then we have further proof that the Antichrist and the Head
of the revived Roman empire is one and the same person. This may be seen by comparing three Scriptures. In Revelation 6:8, of the
rider on "the pale horse," we read, "His name that sat on him
was Death and Hell followed with him." In Isaiah 28:18, those who will be
in Jerusalem during the Tribulation period are addressed by Jehovah as follows:
"And your covenant with Death shall be disannulled, and your agreement
with Hell shall not stand." What "covenant" can this
be except the one mentioned in Daniel 9:27 where we read of the Roman Prince
(the Head of the revived Roman empire) confirming the covenant with the many
for seven years. Now reverse the order of these three passages, and what do we
learn? In Daniel 9:27 we learn that the Head of the Roman empire makes a
"covenant" with the Jews. In Isaiah 28:18 this "covenant"
is said to have been made with "Death and Hell."
While in Revelation 6:8 the rider on the pale horse (which it is generally
admitted is the Antichrist) is named "Death and Hell." Hence, from
whatever angle we approach the subject it is seen that the Antichrist is the
Head of the fourth world-kingdom.
Finally,
we wish to call attention to the employment of the definite article in
connection with the two "Beasts" of Revelation 13. Wherever we read
of the Beast, it is the Antichrist who is in view. In 13:1 we read, "And I
stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having
seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads
the name of blasphemy"—this is the empire itself with
its seven mountains and ten kings (see 17:9, 12). But from 13:2-8 it is always
"the Beast," the Head of the empire, the Antichrist. So in 19:20 and
20:10. The Antichrist is termed The Beast in contradistinction to Jesus Christ
who is denominated "The Lamb."