Supplemental Notes:

Antichrist
An Alternate Ending

One of the dominant topics among prophecy buffs is the identity of the coming leader whom we call the Antichrist. We know from Daniel 9 that he will emerge out of the Roman Empire, which we often presume is Western Europe. However, we overlook the fact that the Roman Empire had an eastern leg that survived the western leg by a thousand years! In this briefing package, Chuck Missler explores this alternate ending.

2002 Koinonia House Inc.

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Antichrist:
An Alternate Ending
With the continuing tensions over Iraq apparently coming to a head, many questions arise concerning the prophetic future of this region, which on the one hand has such deep roots as the cradle of civilization and yet also has a destiny in the final Biblical scenario. There may be far more relevance to this region than is commonly recognized in most books and articles on end-time prophecy. All of us are subject to limitations imposed by the presumptions we bring to a topic, and it may be essential to step back from time to time and reestablish a fresh perspective. The only certain barrier to truth is the presumption that we already have it.

In describing an interval between the contiguous group of 69 weeks (of years), and the final 70th week, we notice that the Angel Gabriel declares that the: Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary Daniel 9:26 After the Messiah is killed (cut off), the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. This, of course, was fulfilled when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Roman legions in A.D. 70. The Prince that shall come, thus becomes one of 33 titles in the Old Testament of the coming world leader that will figure so prominently in end-time prophecies. This also becomes one of several passages which indicates that this final world leader will emerge out of the Roman Empire, whose legions destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.

The Coming World Leader

One of the dominant topics among prophecy buffs is the identity of the coming leader whom we call the Antichrist. As current events seem to be increasingly drawing us into the threshold of the climactic Biblical scenario, speculations continue. One of the most fundamental passages concerning the end times is the famous Seventy Weeks prophecy contained in the last four verses of Daniel 9. The Angel Gabriel interrupts Daniels prayer to provide him with what has to be the most astonishing passage in the entire Bible: he predicts the precise dayfive centuries in advancethat the Messiah would present Himself as king!1 Page 2

A Case of Myopia?
All of us, I suspect, tend to equate the Roman Empire with Western Europe, and there have been many books suggesting conjectures involving Rome, the Vatican, and the rise of the European Union, etc. We, too, have published numerous materials exploring these possibilities. However, we may have been subject to a myopia (nearsightedness) by overlooking the fact that the Roman Empire had an eastern leg that, in fact, survived the western leg by a thousand years! (See map on page 4.) Page 3

In A.D. 284, Emperor Diocletian restored efficient government to the empire after the near anarchy of the 3rd century.2 He divided the Empire into two legs3 (just as Daniel had predicted when he interpreted Nebuchadnezzars dream nine centuries earlier).4 His reorganization of the fiscal, administrative and military machinery of the Empire temporarily shored up the decaying Empire in the West and laid the foundation for the forthcoming Byzantine Empire of the East. In A.D. 312, the Emperor Constantine relocated the capital of the Empire to its eastern leg, to Byzantium, naming it Constantinople (the New Rome). After Constantines death in 395, Emperor Theodosius divided the Empire between his two sons and it was never again reunited. 5 (It was Theodosius who made Christianity the sole religion of the Empire, and subsequently Constantinople assumed preeminence over the West.) In the late 5th century, the western leg began to disintegrate, but the eastern leg, commonly dubbed

the Byzantine Empire, endured until 1453, when it finally was overrun by the Muslims. There are a number of Biblical texts that strongly suggest that the coming world leader, commonly called the Antichrist, will emerge from the region of the eastern leg of the Roman Empire, and that profoundly impacts our prophetic perspectives.

Daniel 11
Our clearest identification comes from prophecies relating to the precedent empire: the breakup of the Greek Empire after Alexanders death. When Alexander the Great died, his four generals divided up the Empirewhich reached eastward even to India. Cassander took Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus took Asia Minor and Thrace; Seleucus took over Syria, Babylon and the east; and, Ptolemy took over Egypt (see map below). Since Israel was caught between the territories of Seleucus and Ptolemy, it subsequently was a buffer

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zone between these two rivals. Daniel Chapter 11 details the struggles between the Seleucid Empire (the king of the north) and the Ptolemies (the king of the south). (Many scholars refer to the 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament as the silent years. In fact, much of this history was written in advance, with an accuracy that has forced skeptical critics to attempt to late date the book of Daniel!) The first 35 verses of Daniel 11 are summarized in the table below. From verses 36-40, the passage focuses on Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) whose desecration of the Temple, and placing a pagan idol in the Holy of Holies (the abomination of desolation), triggered the Maccabean Revolt that threw off the yoke of the Seleucid Empire. Three years after that infamous desecration, the Israelites rededicated the Temple, and this event is celebrated to this day on the 25 th of Kislev as Hanukkah. 6

Jesus Confidential Briefing

Two centuries later, when four disciples came to Jesus for a confidential briefing on His Second Coming,7 Jesus referred to a repeat of that historical event, the abomination of desolation, as the key to end-time prophecy.8 A similar event will trigger the climactic three-and-a-half-year period that Jesus Himself labeled as the Great Tribulation.9 In Daniel 11:40-45, the passage continues by looking forward to the final king of the north, to the person we commonly call the Antichrist. It is significant that this climactic leader seems to be presented as the final member of this previous detailed line of the kings of the north. It would seem, taking the chapter as a whole, that the final world leader will emerge from this region which comprised the Seleucid empire, rather than from the western regions as is commonly assumed.

The Assyrian
It is provocative that the Prophet Micah refers to this final conqueror as the Assyrian: And this [one] shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders. Micah 5:5, 6 Page 6 Page 7

Isaiah and Ezekiel also employ this very term.10 The Assyrian empire preceded the Babylonian empire by several centuries. This empire embraced the region we know today as Syria and Iraq.

both Daniel 8 and Daniel 11, prophecies highlighting the final world leader emerge from the passages involving the sequence of the leaders of the Seleucid Empire: the region now known as Syria and Iraq.12 The seven empires are also the focus of Revelation 17: And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. Revelation 17:10 The five are fallen would seem to refer to the five kingdoms that had preceded Johns day: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece. The one is would seem to be the one existing when John was writing: Rome, in its first phase. The other is not yet come would seem to point to that final world empire that will be taken over by the 11th horn. The following verse also focuses on this final empire: And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. Revelation 17:11 It would seem that this final eighth empire is one that was, and is not, and yet is among the list of seven. The only empire among the seven that doesnt exist in some form today is Assyria. It strangely disappeared from history until the sensational discoveries of Henry Layard in 1849.

Satans Seven Empires

The Bible profiles mans history in terms of seven major empires: And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. Revelation 12:3 These would appear to be Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Romethis last one in two phases: ancient Rome (Phase I) and the final, reemergent revival of the Roman Empire (Phase II). This perspective derives from a careful study of Daniel 2 and 7, which profiles the times of the Gentiles from Babylon until God establishes His own kingdom, with the Messiah reigning as King of Kings. In both Daniel 2 and 7, we see four major kingdomsBabylon, Persia, Greece, and Romewith the fourth one fragmenting, but then ultimately reemerging in the last days. Strangely, the prophecies of Daniel provide a surprising amount of detail concerning both Greece and Rome, with Chapters 7 and 8 highlighting a little horn that emerges among the prominent 10 horns that will dominate the final scenario.11 This little hornan 11th, in effectis another designation for the climactic world leader we commonly call the Antichrist. It is noteworthy that in Page 8

The Return of Nimrod?

The first world dictator was Nimrod (whose name means we rebel), who ruled from Babylon.13 It is Page 9

interesting that Micah also refers to the land of Nimrod in his allusion to the final world empire. Could it be that this final world dictator will be, in some sense, a return of Nimrod? Could it be that there will also be some kind of climactic ellipsis of Satans kingdoms14 as we approach the final judgment? If so, it is noteworthy that Nimrod ruled from Babylon.

quite significant that Saddam Hussein has spent significant efforts to rebuild Babylon and has used the rebuilt Nebuchadnezzars palace for state occasions. It appears that the cataclysmic destruction described by Isaiah and Jeremiah (like Sodom and Gomorrah) is still in the future. A strange vision in the Book of Zechariah may hold the key. Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth. And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. Zechariah 5:5-8 An ephah was a familiar volumetric measure in commercial practice, about a bushel in capacity.

The Mystery of Babylon

This may add an additional dimension to the mysteries surrounding the future of Babylon: Is it just used as a symbol? Or will Babylon literally rise to prominence on the banks of the Euphrates once again? There are those who regard Babylon as simply a rhetorical device, and who interpret the prophetic passages only symbolically. There are also those who feel that the Mystery Babylon of Revelation refers to the Vatican.15 However, there are passages in both Isaiah and Jeremiah that clearly describe a destruction of Babylon that has never happenedyet.16 (Many Bible commentaries and helps are in error on this point: one must not confuse the fall of Babylon to the Persians in 539 B.C. with the destruction of Babylon detailed in the Bible. When Cyrus conquered Babylon he was able to brag to the world that he did it without a battle!) It is significant to compare the accounts of Babylons destiny in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Revelation. (See table on the following page.) Contrary to the details emphasized in the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the building materials of ancient Babylon have been reused; the area has been inhabited over the centuries. We feel it is Page 10

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The talent of lead was a commercial standard of weight, about 96 Avoirdupois (U.S.) pounds. The woman that was sealed into this container was labeled wickedness. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base. Zechariah 5:10-11 It should be borne in mind that the stork was, in Jewish terms, an unclean bird.17 This vision has sinister written all over it! Shinar is the geographic location where Babylon was located. It seems that this womanwickedness, mother of harlots, etc.is to be relocated to where it all began. All idolatry and paganism had its roots at Bab-El, which became Babylon. The pagan priesthood and its attendant rites then followed the political power structures of each succeeding empire until it ultimately settled in Rome. Thus, the various false gods they worshipped followed in various forms: Ishtar and Tammuz of Babylon became Isis and Osiris in Egypt, Aphrodite and Zeus in Greece, Venus and Jupiter in Rome, and Ashtoreth and Baal in Chaldea. Zechariahs vision seems to indicate that this pagan centroid of power will migrate back to where it all started to receive its final judgment.

Further Mysteries
There are those who also suspect that the final world leader will be an apparent reincarnation of a prominent leader of the past. Nero was a common suggestion. Others even believe it could be Judas reincarnated. 18 (Reincarnation has been a traditional lie of Satan, echoing his lie at Eden: Ye shall not surely die.19 Reincarnation is clearly refuted in Scripture,20 although Satan may stage a counterfeit.) But there are other possibilities as well. What about cloning from a protein sample of the past? And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. Revelation 17:11 Is it possible that this eighth is of the seven in a microbiological sense? Also, remember the strange hint that Jesus gave us: But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Matthew 24:37; Luke 17:26 In order to appreciate this allusion, it is essential to understand what the days of Noah were like, including the strange mischief caused by the fallen angels. It has been suggested that this coming leader may be a Nephilim, a recurrence of the events of Genesis 6 that brought the previous cataclysmic judgment of the Flood upon the earth.

Conclusion
With the current world turmoil surrounding Iraq and the Middle East, it is likely that the coming months and years will bring some striking changes. Page 13

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It is essential that we stand back from our presumptions and prejudices and listen carefully to what the Biblical text is telling us. We are living in exciting times, but we need to diligent in our study of Gods Word. Good hunting! * * * Notes: 1. 2. 3. Daniel 9:25; Cf. Luke 19:38-44. See our briefing package, Daniels 70 Weeks for an in-depth review of this incredible passage. Enclyclopaedia Britannica, Vol 4, p. 105. Alexander Roberts, The Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. VII : Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325, ECF 1.7.1.5.0.7, Logos Research Systems, Oak Harbor WA, 1997. Daniel 2:26-45. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 2, p. 699. This is referred to in the New Testament: John 10:22. Matthew 24f; Mark 13; Luke 21. Matthew 24:15. Matthew 24:21, 22; quoting from Daniel 12:1. Isaiah 10:5, 24; 14:25; 30:31; Ezekiel 31:3f. Daniel 7:8, 20-26; 8:9-14. Daniel 8:9-14; 11:36ff. Genesis 10:8-10. 2 Corinthians 4:4. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, is the classic work here. However, Dave Hunts A Woman Rides the Beast, has emerged as the definitive work here; well researched and documented and is a must read on this topic. Isaiah 13, 14; Jeremiah 50, 51. Leviticus 11:19; Deuteronomy 14:18. Ps 55:11-14; Isa 28:18, Rev 6:8; Mt 12:41-43; John 17:12; John 6:7; 2 Thess 2:3; Acts 1:25, with Rev 11:7 (He emerges out of the Abousso, Rev 11:7.) Genesis 3:4. Hebrews 9:27. Page 14

Bibliography
Black, Jeremy and Green, Anthony, Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, British Museum Press, 1992. Goodman, Phillip, The Assyrian Connection, Prescott Press, Lafayette, LA, 1993. Hislop, Alexander, The Two Babylons, Loizeaux Brothers, Nepturne NJ, 1916. Hunt, Dave, A Woman Rides the Beast, Harvest House, Eugene OR, 1994. Missler, Chuck, The Mystery of Babylon, (briefing package), Koinonia House, 1994. Newell, Philip R., Daniel, the Man Greatly Beloved and his Prophecies, Moody Press, Chicago IL, 1982. Newell, William R., The Book of the Revelation, Moody Press, Chicago IL, 1935. Saggs, H. W. F., The Might That Was Assyria, Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1984. Strauss, Lehman, The Prophecies of Daniel, Loizeaux Brothers, Nepturne NJ, 1969. Syhkes, Ergton, Whos Who in Non-Classical Mythology, J. M. Dent, London, 1952.

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

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Commentaries on Tape
Chuck Misslers Expositional Commentaries are now available from Koinonia House. Each volume consists of eight cassette tapes and includes notes, diagrams, and a comprehensive bibliography. Write for a complete list.

Monthly News Journal

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Koinonia House
P.O. Box D Coeur dAlene, ID 83816-0347 1-800-KHOUSE-1 www.khouse.org
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