Antichrist and Christ

Read Matthew 24:15-28

      The first biblical foreshadowing of the coming antichrist came in 168 B.C. in the person of Antiochus Epiphanes (“God manifest”) when he desecrated the Temple by erecting an altar to Zeus over the altar and sacrificed a swine on it.  Daniel prophesied of him centuries before, and Antiochus’ awful deeds were recorded in the apocryphal book called 1 Macabees.    

      Others see another fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy here in the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, when Roman soldiers knelt before military standards bearing the imperial bust near the place in the temple compound.  

      But make no mistake - there is a greater antichrist yet to come, the one the Apostle Paul calls “the man of lawlessness” and “the son of destruction” (2 Thess. 2:3), who will seat himself “in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thess. 2:4).  His appearance will bring terrible times for followers of Christ, but they should not lose hope, for the antichrist will suffer a swift and complete ruination at the appearance of Christ (2 Thess. 2:8), whose coming will be obvious, unquestionable, and universally known (24:26-27).  Christians long for the return of Christ now.  Maranatha, “our Lord, come!” (1 Corinthians 16:22).  They (we) will long for it even more fervently as his return draws closer.