V. THE WICKED LEADERS OF THE APOSTATE FORCES AT THE END OF THE AGE—THE ANTICHRIST

The harmony of the Prophetic Word becomes still more evident when we examine the revelation that wicked ones will be the leaders of the confederacy of nations, and one will be the head of the ecclesiastical apostasy. These leaders are three. The Roman Empire, as seen in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and Daniel's vision, will take on the form of ten kingdoms, represented in Daniel's vision by ten horns on the fourth, exceeding dreadful beast. Out of these ten horns a little horn is to come forth; this little horn stands for the head and leader of the revived Roman Empire in its final form. The beast described in Rev 17:8, "which was and is not and yet is," is the Roman Empire. The second leader, unquestionably the most important as well as the most wicked, the very incarnation of Satan, is the personal Antichrist, the man of sin and the son of perdition, whose perfect photograph we have in 2 Thess. 2, Rev. 13, Daniel 11, and other Scriptures. He is in close alliance with the head of the Roman Empire, only that the Antichrist assumes the place of the leader of the ecclesiastical side of things. The third is the King of the North, spoken of as another little horn in Dan 8:9, the Assyrian of the end time. All three are moved by the same power, Satan, have the same purposes, despising God and His people Israel. It is true they are so much alike that many readers of the Word do not see the distinction clearly, yet to have a clear view of these three wicked persons is quite necessary for a more complete understanding of Prophecy.

Now, if our object in writing this volume were to study all prophetic passages analytically, we would enter into these details, and give a closer description of these three persons from Daniel and Revelation. However, this is not our purpose, and so we shall only show that the entire prophetic Word speaks of this fact that at the consummation of the age such evil persons will assume the leadership. We shall therefore not attempt a critical exposition to define the exact position and place they will take.

The first promise given to Adam and Eve was " He (the seed of the woman) shall crush thy head and thou shalt crush His heel " (Gen 3:15). Christ first of all is the seed of the woman. The crushing of the serpent's head will be fully carried out when the Lord comes again, and when at last, at the close of the day of the Lord, the old serpent, the Devil, will be consigned to his eternal abode, the lake of fire. Now, as Christ is the seed of the woman, and having a seed, so will the enemy. have those in the earth who will be the heading up of all wickedness, the seed of the serpent. Like Christ, so has this wicked one his types. Pharaoh, Saul, Haman, Antiochus Epiphanes, Herod, as well as others, are clear types of these evil ones. We find him and his two associates mentioned throughout prophecy.

Balaam had to speak of him in his unwilling declaration of the future and glory of Israel. "His King," that is, Israel's King, "shall be higher than Agag, and His Kingdom shall be exalted" (Num 24:7). Agag is the title of the king of Amalek, and Amalek was the grandson of Esau, who appears as Edom in the prophetic Word. They stand for the flesh, and Agag as king stands here for the false king whose end will be when He comes whose right it is.

Moses in his song sees this dark and dreadful one looming up in his vision:

"Mine arrows will I make drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; I will make them drunk with the blood of the slain and of the captives, with the head of the princes of the enemy." (Deu 32:42.)

"The head" mentioned is the wicked one. If the Psalms are applied in dispensational light, and the afflicted, persecuted, and driven ones are seen to mean the faithful remnant of the Jews at the close of the age, we shall have no difficulty to find the wicked one, the enemy, fully described in them.

The 10th Psalm contains one of the first descriptions of the Antichrist:

"His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression; Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity."(Psa 10:7).

The Psalms which follow up to the 15th Psalm are all descriptive of the condition of things when that wicked one will have the rule. Many other passages could be quoted in which a wicked one, a person, is mentioned, and a godly people suffering under his dreadful regime cries to Jehovah for deliverance. The following verses in the 37th Psalm may be read in this light, making known the comfort the remnant of His earthly people will have:

"For yet a little while, and the wicked is not, And thou considerest his place, but he is not. But the meek shall possess the land. And shall delight themselves in the abundance of prosperity" (verses 10, 11).

The 43d Psalm shows us this evil person again. 'He is called in this Psalm " the deceitful and unrighteous man" (verse 1). Still more do we find of him in the 52nd. Psalm:

"Why boasteth thou thyself in evil, thou mighty man ? the loving kindness of God abideth continually. Thy tongue deviseth mischievous things; like a sharp razor practicing deceit. Thou hast loved evil rather than good, lying rather than to speak righteousness. Thou hast loved all devouring words, O deceitful tongue! God shall likewise destroy thee for ever; he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy tent, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah." (Psa 52:1-5.)

The 53d Psalm is almost like the 14th. While critics have found in this fact an argument for their unbelief in God's Word, we find in it a strong proof of the verbal inspiration. The 53d Psalm, standing in the second book of Psalms, occupies the same place which the 14th occupies in the first book. Like the 14th, the 53d describes the days of Antichrist in the earth: "Every one of them is gone back, they are together become corrupt; there is none that doeth good, not even one." It is complete apostasy. The 55th Psalm also refers to Antichrist: "He hath put forth his hands against such as are at peace with him; he hath broken his covenant" (verse 20). The 74th and 140th Psalms contain similar references.

We found in Joel the vision of the great army coming upon the land from the north. This army has at its head a King. He is called in chapter Joe 2:20, " the Northerner," a person.

Edom, concerning which Obadiah had his vision, is a type of the Antichrist. It is he who is described and addressed in that prophet as a person:

"The pride of thy heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; he that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith Jehovah " (verses 3-4).

In the vision of Isaiah we find his person pictured as well as the important part he plays in the final scenes of this age, and his end. The Assyrian, whose invasion and complete destruction is so prominent in the first half of the book of Isaiah, is the type of the Assyrian of the end, the King of the North. God uses him to bring distress upon Jerusalem, but before the very gates of the city, in view of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem, he is broken to pieces. The whole 1oth chapter from the 5th verse unfolds these coming events. The end of the chapter shows his advance upon Jerusalem. He comes to Nob, and shakes his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. And then we read, "Behold the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, shall lop the boughs with violence; and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty ones shall be brought low " (Isa 10:33). It is the sudden appearing of the Lord to punish the enemy of His people.

In the 11th chapter the Messiah as King is seen in His first and second coming. When He comes to judge the poor and reprove with equity the meek of the earth, He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked. The latter prophecy is applied in the New Testament to the man of sin, the son of perdition (2 Thess. 2).

In the 14th chapter we meet the wicked one once more under the title "King of Babylon." The Assyrian and the King of Babylon are different persons. The King of Babylon stands for the beast of the book of Revelation, the final head of the world power, the head of the revived Roman Empire ruling in the final Babylon. The King of Babylon of old is but a faint shadow of the dreadful King of the end. We read then a description of his person and his fall:

"The whole earth is at rest, is quiet: they break forth into singing. Even the cypresses rejoice at them, the cedars of Lebanon, saying: Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. Sheol from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming, stirring up the dead for thee; all the he-goats of the earth; making to rise from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All of them shall answer and say unto thee, Art thou also become as powerless as we? art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to Sheol, the noise of thy lyres; the maggot is spread under thee and worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning! Thou art cut down to the ground, that didst prostrate the nations! And thou that didst say in thine heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit upon the mount of assembly, in the recesses of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High: none the less art thou brought down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit. They that shall see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that shook kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities thereof; that dismissed not his prisoners homewards?" (Isa 14:7-18).

The prophecy has often been applied to Satan himself, who was once Lucifer, " a brilliant star." However, it is to be explained that in these evil leaders, human beings, Satan will be manifested.

There are numerous passages in the book of Isaiah which. speak of the Assyrian and his fate; all these refer us to the end and the punishment of the evil one, the last Assyrian:

"For through the voice of Jehovah shall the Assyrian be broken down; he will smite him with the rod . . . For Tophet⁽¹⁾ is prepared of old; for the King also it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large; its pile is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it" (Isa 30:31-33).

Here is his bitter end, and not alone his but that of the King as well, the false Messiah who comes in his own name and whom the Jews will accept. The authorized version has put the little word " yea, for the King " in the 33d verse and making it appear that the Assyrian is the King. But the King is the false Messiah, and his place will be in Jerusalem, the Assyrian is his enemy, but both will be cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone (Rev 19:20).

In chapter 57th is another prophecy quite often overlooked as having any reference to Antichrist, but it clearly has. The first nine verses of this chapter show the awful condition of the Jews in their final great apostasy. There is a King mentioned in the 9th verse to whom they go with ointment, before whom they worship. He is not the King of Israel, but the Satanic counterfeit of the King of kings.

While we have no fuller prophecies about the Antichrist and the others in Jeremiah such as we find in Isaiah, there are nevertheless several passages in which he is mentioned. We refer to chapters Jer 23:19, Jer 30:8, and Jer 30:23-24.

In the prophet Ezekiel we call the attention especially to the 28th chapter. It is the word of Jehovah concerning the prince of Tyre. Such an arrogant prince reigned then, and there can be no question that the word of Jehovah had a special reference to that prince.. But as we read carefully we find that his personality is a type of one who is to come, another prince. It is very striking that expressions which are used here by the Spirit of God concerning the prince of Tyre are repeated later by Him in the description of the Antichrist:

"Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the heart of the seas (and thou art a man and not God), and thou settest thy heart as the heart of God: behold thou art wiser than Daniel! nothing secret is hidden from thee; by thy wisdom and understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: by thy great wisdom thou hast by thy traffic increased thy riches. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God, therefore behold, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall tarnish thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of those that are slain in the heart of the seas. Wilt thou then say before him that slayest thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man and not God, in the hand of him that pierceth thee " (Eze 28:1-8).

The remarkable statements we find in this passage and which are the signs and marks of the Antichrist are the following:

1. His heart is lifted up in pride.

2. He says, " I am God."

3. He takes his place in the seat of God.

4. He controls the sea and commerce.

5. He claims to be wiser than Daniel.

6. By his craftiness he gains riches.

It is the number " six," and as we have his number in Revelation 666—three sixes, meaning man in full opposition to God. We have, therefore, under the type of the prince of Tyre a perfect outline of the man of sin. Compare the above with the language of the Holy Spirit in 2Th 2:1-10.

His end is also very significant. He is to die the two deaths at once—" Thou shalt die the deaths."

And as we read what follows in the 28th chapter of Ezekiel, we become still more impressed with the deeper meaning of this prophecy:

"And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the King of Tyre, and say unto .him, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou who sealest up the measure of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, thou wast in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the chrysolite, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the carbuncle, and the emerald, and the gold. The workmanship of thy tambours and of thy pipes was in thee: in the day that thou wast created were they prepared. Thou wast the anointed, covering cherub, and I had set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou didst walk up and down in the midst of the stones. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created till unrighteousness was found in thee (Eze 28:11-15).

We see at the first glance that this description can fit but one person, and that is the fallen Lucifer, the son of the morning, Satan. As he stands in connection with the King of Babylon in Isaiah 14, as we saw above, so he stands here in relation to the prince of Tyre. It is Satan himself who acts through these evil ones. " The prince that is to come "—the King coming in his own name is Satan's revelation and masterpiece.

The fullest revelation of this subject is given in the prophet who received his visions in Babylon, the prophet Daniel. Not alone are here the minutest descriptions in prophetic visions of the three evil ones, but the historic events clustering around Daniel and his faithful companions are foreshadowings of the evil day and the awful persecutions to which the believing remnant of the Jews will be exposed under the regime of the false Messiah.

The great image which Nebuchadnezzar the King set up in the plain of Dura is a type of another image which will be set up in Jerusalem, the image of the beast. And as in Daniel 3, all were to be killed who refused to worship that image, so all who worship not the image of the beast shall be killed (Rev. 13). Thus all through Daniel the events have a highly typical and prophetic meaning.

It is, however, in the great prophetic visions and communications Daniel received we read of the two little horns and the Antichrist, the three terrible ones who will be revealed in the course of the last prophetic week of Daniel with which the times of the Gentiles close.

In the 2nd chapter, Nebuchadnezzar's dream and its divine interpretation reveal the times of the Gentiles ending with the great catastrophe of the sudden destruction of the world powers. The 7th chapter contains the vision of the prophet concerning the same times of the Gentiles. The four great beasts arise out of the tumultuous sea, representing nations. The last, the fourth beast, was dreadful and terrible, exceeding strong; it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped the rest with its feet; it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. It corresponds with the two iron limbs of Nebuchadnezzar's dream image, and its ten toes mixed iron and clay represents the Roman Empire. This last Empire has passed out of actual existence, yet both the prophecy of Daniel and the book of Revelation show conclusively that it will be revived. Its revival will consist of ten kingdoms joined in a mighty western European confederacy. The beginning of the 13th chapter of Revelation speaks of this. The ten horns with their ten crowns are the same horns as revealed to Daniel. Thus we read:

"I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another, a little horn, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of 'man, and a mouth speaking great things'" (Dan 7:8).

The prophet sees after this thrones set and the books opened:

"I beheld till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given up to be burned in the fire" (Dan 7:11).

Then after the vision of the coming of the Son of Man from Heaven, the prophet desired to know the certainty concerning the fourth beast, the Roman Empire and the little horn. His desire is granted:

"He said thus: The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And as to the ten horns, out of this kingdom shall arise ten kings; and another shall arise after them; and he shall be different from the former, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most high places, and think to change seasons and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and a half time [three and one-half years]. And the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end" (Dan 7:23-26).

The little horn is generally called the Antichrist, while many declare that as it refers to Rome, it must be the Pope. However, this interpretation is incorrect. Inasmuch as this little horn arises from the revived Roman Empire and becomes the domineering power of Rome in the end, the little horn in Daniel 7 must be the head of that Empire, the wicked leader of the western European confederacy of nations, the final King of Babylon, as he is described in Isaiah 14. His character as described here, his lawlessness and arrogant pride, harmonizes fully with everything else as revealed through the other prophets. It is likewise so as to his end. " Given up to be burned with fire " (Dan 7:11). " Thou shalt be brought down to Sheol, to the sides of the pit " (Isa 14:15). " And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone " (Rev 19:20).

We come next to the 8th chapter. Here we read first of a great horn. The great horn was broken and in its place came up four notable ones towards the four winds of heaven. This prophecy was fulfilled in Alexander the Great, the great horn. But out of one of these divisions came forth a little horn which waxed exceeding great. Now this little horn in Daniel 8 is not identical with the one in the foregoing chapter. The little horn in chapter 8 rises out of the eastern parts of Europe. That Antiochus Epiphanes and his abominations is a partial fulfilment of the little horn seems clear. Antiochus Epiphanes sprung from one of the four kingdoms of Alexander's empire. But he typifies also another person, a little horn which is yet to rise in the northeast, and therefore the little horn in Daniel 8 can be no other person than he who is mentioned in the 9th chapter by the name " King of the North." He is the Assyrian of the prophet Isaiah, the Northerner of Joel. Antichrist will be the enemy of the Jews in Jerusalem, the Assyrian will press down upon the land and the city from the north. To make one person out of the two or to say that the little horn in Daniel 7 and the one in Daniel 8 is the same individual is incorrect. But we must refrain from entering deeper into this subject, interesting and most timely as it is. And what then is said of this little horn?

"And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which became exceeding great, towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the beautiful land. And it became great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and trampled upon them. And he magnified himself even unto the prince of the host, and from him⁽²⁾ the continual sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And a time of trial was appointed unto the continual sacrifice by reason of its transgression. And it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised and prospered. . . . And at the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors shall have come to the full, a king of bold countenance, and understanding dark sentences shall stand up (the above little horn). And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy marvellously, and shall prosper, and shall practise, and shall destroy the mighty ones, and the people of the saints. And through his cunning shall he cause craft to prosper in his land; and he will magnify himself in his heart, and by prosperity will corrupt many; and he will stand . up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand." (The fate of the Assyrian.) (Dan 8:9-13; Dan 8:23-25.)

In the 9th chapter the coming evil one, the final head of the Roman Empire, is mentioned again. He is "the prince that shall come." "And he shall confirm a covenant with the many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and because of the wing of the abominations there shall be a desolator, even until that the consumption and what is determined shall be poured out upon the desolator" (Dan 9:27).

Turning to the wonderful 11th chapter we have in it a continued description of the evil one. Much of it refers to Antiochus Epiphanes; but at the close of the chapter is a prophecy which reveals the false Messiah, or, as he is generally called, the Antichrist, the man of sin and son of perdition:

" And the King ⁽³⁾ shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he shall prosper until the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done. And he will not regard the God of his fathers.t nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he will magnify himself above all" (Dan 11:36-37).

So then in Daniel we have most comprehensive prophecies concerning the three awful individuals.

We refer now but briefly to a few passages in the other prophetic books. The 5th chapter of Micah predicts, with the exception of the 2nd verse, which was fulfilled in the first coming of our Lord in humility, events still future. And here we have the Assyrian mentioned:

" And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God. And they shall abide; for now shall he be great even unto the ends of the earth. And this man shall be Peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces," etc. (Mic 5:4-5).

In Nahum's burden of Nineveh we read of him. Sennacherib, the Assyrian, must have been meant first of all, but the Assyrian, the King of the North, forms the fulfilment of the prophecy:

From this we would take it that while the chief of the Roman Empire and the King of the North are Gentiles, the false Messiah will be a Jew. The Jews will receive only a Jew as a Messiah.

"Out of thee is gone forth one that imagineth evil against Jehovah, one who has the wisdom of Belial.⁽⁴⁾ Thus saith Jehovah: Though they be complete in number, and many as they be, even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away; and though I have afflicted thee (Israel) I will afflict thee (Israel) no more. And now I will break his yoke from off thee, and will break thy bonds asunder. And Jehovah hath given commandment concerning thee (the Assyrian), that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy God will I cut off the graven image and the molten image. I will prepare thy grave: for thou art vile" (Nah 1:11-14).

Habakkuk mentions that wicked one. He refers to him by the Spirit in connection with the coming of the Lord:

"Thou didst smite off the head of the house of the wicked, Laying bare the foundation even to the neck" (Hab 3:13).

The prophet himself trembles in view of the scenes which his prophetic vision beheld, and he says:

"I heard and my belly trembled; My lips quivered at thy voice; Rottenness entered into my bones, And I trembled in my place, That I might rest in the day of distress,

When their invader shall come against the people." (Hab 3:16.)

Zechariah speaks of the false Messiah as a foolish, worthless shepherd, and his punishment:

"For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who shall not visit those who are about to perish, neither shall seek that which is strayed away, nor heal that which is wounded, nor feed that which is not sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their hoofs in pieces. Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaves the flock!" (Zec 11:15-17.)

This, standing at the end of Zechariah, is in closest connection with the siege of Jerusalem, described in the 12th and 14th chapters.

Having rapidly glanced at these remarkable Divine predictions concerning the final leadership of the ungodly, apostate forces, and having seen their harmony, we point out the same revelation in the New Testament.

We must turn first of all to the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24. Our Lord answers the question of the disciples about the end of the age, which we hold, as stated before, to be the very end of the interrupted Jewish age. The first sign of this ending age He gives as the appearing of many who shall say, " I am the Christ." This is followed by wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. If we turn to the 6th chapter in the book of Revelation, we find the same order of events in the opening of the seals. It is the beginning of the time of trouble. The first seal opened shows one upon a white horse, with a bow and a crown, and he goes forth to conquer. Strange that many interpreters make out of this one the Lord, or the universal preaching and conquest of the Gospel. But it is he who comes and says, " I am the Christ"; the false one.

Then in Mat 24:15, we read of the abomination of the desolation spoken of by Daniel. Our Lord Himself refers to the passage in Dan 9:27. It will be in the middle of the week that the abomination will be set up in Jerusalem.

In the Gospel of John our Lord speaks of the wicked one again when He says:

"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" (Joh 5:43).

The one to come and who will be received by the unbelieving Jews is the false Messiah. The book of Acts, the beginning of it, is a foreshadowing of the end of the age. As there was then only a Jewish remnant witnessing and suffering persecution, so it shall be again. King Herod, his awful persecutions and blasphemy, as well as his dreadful end, show clearly that he is a type of the wicked King to come (Acts 12).

Second Thessalonians, the 2nd chapter, gives a fuller description of him. Here he is not only a false Messiah, but he also stands in relation to apostate Christendom. There is no question that after the church is removed and our gathering unto the Lord has taken place, that there will be an alliance between apostate Judaism and apostate Christendom. We see matters shaping themselves for it in our own day. So then the evil one coming will be for the Jews the false Messiah, and for Christendom the Antichrist:

"Let not any one deceive you in any manner, because it will not be (the day of the Lord) unless the apostasy (in its final form) have first come, and the man of sin have been revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes and exalts himself on high against all called God, or object of veneration; so that he himself sits down in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do ye not remember that, being yet with you, I said these things to you? And now ye know that which restrains that he should be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness already works; only there is He who restrains now until He⁽⁵⁾ be gone, and then the lawless one shall be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath of His mouth, and shall annul by the appearing of His coming; whose coming is according to the working of Satan in all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, and in all deceit of unrighteousness to them that perish, because they have not received the love of the truth that they might be saved" (2Th 2:3-13).

It is needless to point out to the reader the perfect agreement which exists between this New Testament description and the many prophetic predictions of the Old Testament. Only the Spirit of God can produce such a harmony.

In the first Epistle of John the one who comes in his own name, the man of sin and son of perdition, is called the Antichrist He has many forerunners, but at last the personal Antichrist will be manifested. He denies the Father and the Son. Space forbids to follow the final revelation of this trinity of evil persons as revealed in the last book of the New Testament. In it we have the whole Old Testament revelation, especially as given in Daniel, taken together, and the beasts and the false prophet are described in their actions, their wickedness, their end, as well as all that which is in connection with them (Rev. 13-19). We must leave it to the reader to search and research these Scriptures, comparing Scripture with Scripture. Surely it is meat in due season. The time is near. All is getting ready for the manifestation of these masterpieces of Satanic cunning and power.

Yet none of us who are Christ's shall see that evil day with its evil leaders. Our feet shall be like hinds' feet, and we shall walk in our places (Hab 3:19).

1 2Ki 23:10.

2 Notice the erroneous translation in the authorized version, "by him." It is from him the "prince of the host"

3 Called King because to be the false Messiah he will have to claim to be Israel's King.

4 It is most significant that the " wicked counsellor" of the authorized version is in the Hebrew—one who has the wisdom of Belial.

5 We write "He" with the capital "H" because we believe it refers to the Holy Spirit.