NO.11/ ON ANTICHRIST #4 COUNTERFEIT
“HOWEVER, there is a question the needs to be asked. If the devil can only counterfeit what God’s created and Christ was only made manifest at the time of Jesus, was there such a thing as “antichrist” prior to Jesus? ”
There is a TRUTH I want to state at the beginning of this post that (when talking about antichrist) is going to play a part in the deciphering of who, where, when, what and why. It is this:
"The devil cannot create. He can only counterfeit. This means God has to MOVE FIRST before a counterfeit can be offered for deceptive purposes."
An illustration of this can be seen in the contrast of the TREE of LIFE and the TREE of KNOWLEDGE of GOOD and EVIL. While I am not offering it to spark a debate from those of you who might think otherwise, the point to be made is that God is the ONLY SOURCE for knowledge; HE IS REALITY. Once considered, the offering of knowledge from this other tree MUST BE A COUNTERFEIT ... or what I like to call - a LIE!
In regard to how this affected Adam and Eve, once they bought into the idea that knowledge could come from a source other than God, they unwittingly brought upon themselves a new identity forged by this poison tree's ideas of what they were supposed to be. No longer fashioned after the image and likeness of God, this new "self" would resemble the devil and take on HIS NATURE ROOTED IN HIS LIKENESS AND IMAGE. (I only mean this contextually).
All of these things factor into who and what antichrist is.
HOWEVER, there is a question the needs to be asked. If the devil can only counterfeit what God's created and Christ was only made manifest at the time of Jesus, was there such a thing as “antichrist" prior to Jesus?
The quick answer is, NO! But he was in the making! This is where I want to start today's thoughts.
When God scattered mankind at the making of the Tower of Babel, my last remark of the previous post was that God was NOT stopping them from EVER making a tower; He was delaying the inevitable of what they would EVENTUALLY do, the key word here being "eventually."
If this remains a puzzling thought, consider that God made His man for fellowship, not just with Himself, but with his fellow man. However, once Adam and Eve's perceptive faculties became skewed and made to align with the poison tree's philosophies, while the drive for fellowship would remain intact, the WAY mankind fellowshipped with each other would take on perverse dimensions - ruling over others becoming a MAIN thrust. THIS would be the driving force within man that would compel him to ultimately "make his mark" upon the world.
Hence, KINGDOMS WOULD BE BUILT.
Now, as we follow the progression of kingdoms mentioned in the Bible, aside from Israel, there is ONE OF PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE, one that will come to play an IMPORTANT role in the full development of antichrist - BABYLON. Ruled by a King called Nebuchadnezzar, this is where the biblical character Daniel comes into the picture. He was one of many taken when Babylon conquered Judah and destroyed Solomon's Temple and brought the Jews back to Babylon as captives. Made a eunuch in the King's court, he would grow to prominence interpreting a dream Nebuchadnezzar had that no one but Daniel could interpret.
Although the dream is important, I'm not going to speak of it in full detail. I do, however, want to mention that it involves THREE KINGDOMS that would arise PRIOR to Christ's arrival, and a FOURTH that would be in existence AT THE SAME TIME Jesus walked this earth.
Depicted as a man in the dream, we're told,
"As for this statue, its head was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clary [pottery]. As you were looking, a stone was cut out without [human] hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together and became like the chaff fro the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found. And the STONE THAT STRUCK THE STATUE BECAME A GREAT MOUNTAIN AND FILLED THE WHOLE EARTH" (Daniel 2 AMPL.).
Here is the interpretation.
"You, O king, are the king of [earthly] kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; and wherever the sons of men dwell, and the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, He has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all. YOU [king of Babylon] are the head of gold. After you will arise another kingdom (Medo-Persia) inferior to you, and then a third kingdom of bronze (Greek under Alexander the Great) which will rule over all the earth. Then a fourth kingdom (Rome) will be strong as iron, for iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things ..." (Daniel 2 AMPL.) The “stone” of course is Jesus, whom “the builders rejected.” (Psalm 118:22). It is His Kngdom being referred to in this passage.
Lot's of moving parts here as well. Just note that Babylon starts out with a glorious promise. God has blessed the kingdom and given Nebuchadnezzar rule over all the earth. THEN, notice that each of the subsequent kingdoms are depicted as inferior, a descending progression of brilliance ending with a metal (iron) not noted for either its value or brilliance. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT DETAIL. These kingdoms are on a downward slide!
Next is Daniel's vision which takes place in the seventh Chapter of his book. What makes it so important to our discussion is that it ALSO SPEAKS OF FOUR KINGDOMS OF WHICH THE FIRST THREE EXIST PRIOR TO CHRIST AND THE FOURTH EXISTS WHEN JESUS ARRIVES ONTO THE SCENE. Sound like a familiar theme?
"Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea. The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and the mind of a human was given to it. And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear ... After that, I looked and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard ... After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast - terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had TEN HORNS." (Dan. 7)
I know this is a lot of Scripture quoting, but it will prove to be invaluable in our discussions as we press onward. Let me continue with the interpretation given to Daniel about what he's seeing.
"The four great beasts are FOUR KINGS that will rise from the earth. But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever - yes, for ever and ever."
Beautiful stuff, isn't it? But here's where we need to pay attention. One part of this fourth beast has a horn who wages war against the saints. Note what it says.
"As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, UNTIL the Ancient of Days came and pronounced the judgment in favor of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom."
As you can see, Daniel's vision ends with the same conclusion as Nebuchadnezzar's dream - God comes and sets up His own kingdom and wipes these imposters off the face of the earth!
Conclusion?
THERE ARE NOT EIGHT KINGDOMS PRECEDING THE ADVENT OF JESUS. ONLY FOUR. Nebuchadnezzar's dream and Daniel's vision are ONE AND THE SAME. Each, however, offer details the other does not. When we put them together, we begin to get a more complete picture of these events as they are to unfold.
There is still so much to say.
In the next post, I will go into detail about what these FOUR kingdoms represent and how the FOURTH kingdom plays a role in our HERE AND NOW.
LATER.
