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Greetings to All,

Who Is The Antichrist The Son Of Perdition?

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “if you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’“ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ “ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ “ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ “ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Matthew 4:1-11) Jesus also recognized the devil in his Apostles. Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man.” (Matthew 16:23) Satan entered into Judas and betrayed Jesus. “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. (John 13:26-27) The reason for mentioning this is, the lawless one, the antichrist will have Satan enter into him. He will exalt himself as if he were God and do all that opposes God. The Bible tells us he will abolish sacrifice in the temple and he will also go to a wing of the temple and set up the abomination that causes desolation (Daniel 9:27). As of 1997 the temple is not rebuilt. It was destroyed in 70 A.D. He is to lead a great rebellion before the coming of the Day of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

Satan’s imitation of God is exactly opposite of what God is. God’s wrath is to purify. Satan’s wrath is to destroy. His wrath is the persecution of Jews and Christians. Satan manipulates man if given an opportunity, using him to alter God’s plan. God’s wrath is against man’s wickedness and his corrupt ways. God flooded the earth in Noah’s time (Genesis 6-8) and showered Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone (Genesis 19:1-29). God’s son is Christ. Satan’s son is the son of perdition.

Satan’s wrath is to destroy and kill. We see these accounts during Antiochus, Nero, Vespasian’s reign, and Hitler, to name a few. His wrath will be against the righteous during the tribulation period. Why? Because his reign over the earth is short. Because of his pride and arrogance, he will battle for souls to the very end. When Christ returns, he will be bound for the duration of the one thousand year millennium (Revelation 20:1-3).

The rehearsal of the antichrist: The story of Antiochus can be found in Maccabees 1 and 2 in the Catholic and Jerusalem Bibles. His name was Antiochus IV of Syria and his reign began in 175 B.C. A sinful root, a son of a king, who established his kingdom over Jerusalem. He set out to conquered Egypt. He came back to Jerusalem and deceitfully spoke peaceable words to them and the people trusted him. Suddenly he fell upon the city and destroyed many people of Israel. He wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one nation of people and should all give up their particular customs. Antiochus sent out letters to the Jews and said they had to follow the same Greek customs as all nations. He forbade burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary. He defiled the sanctuary and the priests, had altars built to sacrifice swine and other unclean animals. The kings plan was to make the Jews partake in their profane customs or die. Antiochus appointed inspectors over all the people. Many converted and those who did not were killed. The books of the Law were burnt. The wrath which came upon Israel was monumental. The kings officers were enforcing the apostasy. Many fled to the hills and the wilderness. The most blasphemous of all desecrations of the Jerusalem temple occurred. Antiochus ordered swine be offered on the Temple alter. He had the animals offered to a pagan god. He declared himself as a manifestation of this pagan god and demanded that he be worshiped in the place of the Almighty God. In that particular year famines arose, they had no food in storage because it was the seventh year. Wars broke out all around Jerusalem. It is recorded as a great wrath came upon Israel.

Daniel’s prophecy about the lawless one came to pass as a rehearsal of one greater to come. Antiochus was a horror of all times. It is written that to himself, he could command even the waves of the seas. He was proud above the condition of man, and bearing witness to the manifested power of God in himself (Maccabees 9:8).

It is prophesied all nations will gather to fight against Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:1-15). The Lord will be against the nations. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. (Zechariah 14:4) Zechariah continues telling us about a plague that will strike all nations that fight against Jerusalem. Their flesh will rot while they are standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. (Zechariah 14:12,13) There is speculation that this would mean the results of a nuclear war or biological warfare. This is making an assumption, that man made destructive devices are more powerful than God’s hand in the matter. 2 Maccabees tells us about the death of Antiochus and it tells us he died of this flesh eating plague. But the Lord the God of Israel, that seeth all things, struck him with an incurable and an invisible plague. (2 Maccabees 9:5) I am not going to go into the gore of this disease but it does say: his flesh fell off, and the filthiness of his smell was noisome to the army. (2 Maccabees 9:9) Even after all this he lived. Again we see a rehearsal of things to come.

Now we are waiting for one who is of greater evil than this. How do we know that Antiochus is a rehearsal rather than the final prophecy of Daniel? We know this because Paul tells us, the lawless one is coming (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12). Nero also was an antichrist type who wished to be thought of as a god. Paul was beheaded and Peter was crucified under his reign. Even though Nero is a New Testament rehearsal of the antichrist, Paul did not say it was him, rather it was one coming. We also know he has not been accurately revealed yet, because this will be next biggest event in the sequence of prophetic events -- And if he was here we would all know it! The least likely candidate will be the most likely.

Dan who receives a nation from his father Jacob, is not listed as one of the twelve in Revelation. Jacob gives a description of each of his sons in (Genesis 49:1-27). He describes Dan (the missing son / tribe in Revelation) as; “Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backwards." “I look for deliverance, O Lord.” (Genesis 49:16-17) Notice first he says Dan will provide justice and then it says, he is a serpent. This could indicate the root of the antichrist comes from Dan. Dan lost his original inheritance and obtained another.

We can look at the devil as a rehearsal to what happens to Dan. The devil lost his original inheritance, which was heaven. The devil receives rule over all the kingdoms of the earth and is called a serpent (Genesis 3:1). Dan’s original inheritance was west of Jerusalem to the Mediterranean Sea. After losing his inheritance, he obtained a piece of land known today as Syria.

The location of Syria is north of Israel. The capital of Syria is Damascus. People of Syria are mostly Arabic-speaking Sunni Moslems. It was once called the melting pot of people. When Syria was not independent, it was ruled by Egypt and many other nations. Syria was the Seleucid Empire until Roman rule in 64 B.C. Antiochus was the King of the Seleucid Empire. Syria was not proclaimed independent with complete independence until 1944. Syria took part in the war against Israel in 1948 and continued to have intermittent border clashes with Israel in 1965, 1966 and 1967. Take notice of any peace agreement (covenant) made between Israel and Syria.

John Chrysostom talks about the antichrist in the Homily III, 2 Thessalonians i. 9,10. Ver. 3,4. “Let no man beguile you in any wise: for it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God.”

Here he discourses concerning the Antichrist, and reveals great mysteries. What is “the falling away?” He calls him Apostasy, as being about to destroy many, and make them fall away. So that if it were possible, he says, the, very Elect should be offended. (From Matt. xxiv.24) And he calls him “the man of sin.” For he shall do numberless mischiefs, and shall cause others to do them. But he calls him “the son of perdition,” because he is also to be destroyed. But who is he? Is it then Satan? By no means; but some man, that admits his fully working in him. For he is a man. “And exalteth himself against all that is called God or is worshiped.” For he will not introduce idolatry, but will be a kind of opponent to God; he will abolish all the gods, and will order men to worship him instead of God, and he will be seated in the temple of God, not that in Jerusalem only, but also in every Church. “Setting himself forth,” he says; he does not say, saying it, but endeavoring to show it. For he will perform great works, and will show wonderful signs.

John Chrysostom, Homily IV. 2 Thessalonians ii. 6--9. John tells us about the restrainer that is presently holding back the revealing of the antichrist. “And now ye know that which restraineth, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall say with the breath of His mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of His coming: even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan.”

According to the Greek Version it tells us: Christ’s Second Coming depends on the working of Satan (2 Thessalonians 2:9). The Restrainer is the One, who holds back the revealing of the antichrist until He comes (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Then he will be revealed and consumed by the breath of God (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Scripture tells us: Because the delusion is sent by God (2 Thessalonians 2:11), Satan will work undetected through the antichrist for the first half of the seven year tribulation period. That is why it is important to know God’s truth and know the signs and working of the antichrist according to Daniel. When Satan arrays himself with the workings of power, signs, wonders, falsehood and in all deception of unrighteousness among the ones perishing, then the Lord will come (2 Thessalonians 2:9). The delusion is a test by God, it is an unbelief that will be believed by many and condemning those who do not know the truth. Those who do not know the truth will follow the lie along with the unrighteous.

God Bless,
Eve