Prophecy makes strange bedfellows: On the history of identifying the antichrist

In the history of American literature, perhaps no two stranger bedfellows exist than Herman Melville's naive but adventurous Ishmael and the skillful harpooner but strangely tattooed, and, one might add, cannibalistic, Queequeg. Upon barely observing Queequeg's decorated body, the skull he is unable to sell, and the harpoon which never left his side, in the dark of the room, Ishmael, fearing for his life, mutters, "Yes it's just as I thought, he's a terrible bedfellow." That is, no stranger bedfellows, until one considers a particular point of prophetic interpretation, namely, identifying the antichrist. What do the eschatologies of J. Dwight Pentecost and John Calvin have in common? Hal Lindsey and Jonathan Edwards? Increase Mather and Arno C. Gaebelein? On the one hand, the answer is not much. Such different eschatologies, nonetheless, yield a rather surprising connection. All of these, as well as a host of others, identify the Pope as the antichrist.

The author concludes:

"Eschatological speculation will probably always be more appealing than trinitarian expositions. (A novel on the intrigues of Nicea and Chalcedon will not likely topple LaHaye from the bestseller list any time soon.) Notwithstanding, has the naming of the antichrist caused us to miss John's emphasis and hence misapply his material? This has a bearing not only upon a few texts in 1 and 2 John. As with Hilary of Poitier, naming the antichrist naturally leads to other ventures where the text does not lead, such as naming the two witnesses in Revelation 11, or other detailed speculations regarding end-time events that go beyond the text. Also, naming the antichrist can and usually does lead to naming a particular person, which then necessarily sets a date for the return of Christ. Christ cautioned the disciples against such practices. ...
"We misread John when we use the word "antichrist" as a launching pad for what amounts to a cottage industry of eschatological speculations. We eclipse a warning to hold fast the Christological (and, hence, trinitarian) traditions. We, as it were, need to stop looking for antichrists in all the wrong places."

I was reminded of the folly of too-particularly trying to identify antichrist today while listening to a message by Chuck Swindoll. Swindoll is the former president of Dallas Theological Seminary, speaker on Insight for Living radio program, and darling of premil dispensationalism.

I was amazed listening to Swindoll to hear how much detail he could give about the future, personal antichrist (in his opinion) while referring so little to the Bible. He painted his biography, pedigree, personality, etc in great detail. When he did manage to refer to Scripture he was able to take two or three words and spin them into ten minutes of commentary supporting his peculiar views on the end times.

He said something at one point that made it clear how much Swindoll’s system is in error. He spoke of history being "cyclical" and used the biographies of great men in the past (not all tyrants) to paint his elaborate, functional biography of this future, charismatic, personable, intelligent, cunningly-benevolent statesman.

But we know that history is not cyclical. It moves forward with the purpose of the Creator of history. The only two constants are man’s sin and God’s sovereignty. And in the end we will be left with only one of those.

When men base their perspective of human history on the things from their own imaginations, rather than the clear and infallible Word of God, they loose the ability to function as the Christian men and women that God would have them be.

Dispensationalism is dangerous because it promotes this very type of thinking and behavior on the part of its adherents.

History is neither a circle nor a straight line--it is, rather, a spiral, having a beginning and an end, but with a repeating pattern which is described for us in the historical and prophetic Scriptures. Indeed, the importance of the Torah is that it gives us the first iterations of that cycle, what Christian commentators sometimes refer to as "prophetic types."

If I remember right, it was Mark Twain who said, "History doesn't repeat--but it does rhyme."

Shalom!

Indeed, the importance of the Torah is that it gives us the first iterations of that cycle, what Christian commentators sometimes refer to as "prophetic types."

The primary purpose of OT typology was not to point to events, but to a Person, the Messiah of Israel, Jesus Christ.

"27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. ... 44 Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures." (Luke 24)

Thus people (e.g., Joseph, Joshua, and Melchizedek), places (the temple and Jerusalem), and activities (the feast days of old Israel and the sacrifices) were all types of Christ. They pointed the people of the old covenant to their Messiah.

Prophetic types have their telos in the person and work of Jesus Christ. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." (Rom. 10:4) They are not a license to speculate on every conceivable future event. There is no warrant in true typology to make, for example, Ahab or Nebuchadnezzar into types of the future dispensational antichrist.

The primary purpose of OT typology was not to point to events, but to a Person, the Messiah of Israel, Jesus Christ. . . . Thus people (e.g., Joseph, Joshua, and Melchizedek), places (the temple and Jerusalem), and activities (the feast days of old Israel and the sacrifices) were all types of Christ. They pointed the people of the old covenant to their Messiah.

Messiah is indeed the spirit of prophecy, but there were also types of Israel's history that played out in the Torah: See Jacob's life in my Genesis Notes and the pattern of prophecy about both Messiah and Israel in The Feasts and the Exodus.

The Gospel is given in the genealogy of Genesis chapter 5. That Yeshua would first save the Gentiles before being reconciled with His brothers, the Jewish people, and yet would have a remnant within the Jewish people is also prophesied in the life of Joseph (see "Notes on Genesis" again). The construction of the Tabernacle and later the Temple provides a picture of Heaven, the Messiah, Israel, and the Ekklesia. In fact, even that the Gospel would be presented in a Gentile tongue rather than in Hebrew is foretold in the Torah.

Israel's history beyond the Torah continues the pattern: The book of Joshua provides an archetype for the book of the Revelation. The very pieces of land that Israel failed to secure from her enemies remain the contested grounds to this day. David was first rejected by Israel's official leadership (Saul) and gathered a following among the Gentiles (as a mercenary captain) before returning to Zion in triumph. Hezekiah's reign provides a type of the Millennium. Israel's regathering from the first Diaspora parallels her regathering from the second. The persecution and blasphemy of Antiochus is the historical and prophetic forerunner to that of Antichrist (cf. Mat 24:15ff).

Indeed, the primary focus of the Tanakh--the Torah, Prophets, and Writings--is on Yeshua, but just as a character in a novel cannot be presented without a setting, the King of Israel and the World could not be prophetically presented without prophetically presenting His setting.

Shalom!

While I think there is a good argument for this. But as with dispensationalists, it could be these great men of God were simply looking at events and fitting current circumstances around scripture. It is hard telling with some of this. I don't know.

I will add that I have become very concerned over the pass several months with Barrack Obama and other supporters, referring to him as “the One”, “the Messiah”, and other such deity terms. There is no effort to correct anyone and certainly no effort to address stuff like prayer cards, candles, and other such items of pagan worship. And he himself stated that when you go into the polling booth “a light will shine down from above” upon his name. Just today I read another article where someone claimed him to be some messianic being. I cannot imagine how a person can get more blasphemous than he has become. Is he the anti-Christ? Time will tell.

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