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First biblical reference to the Antichrist is Genesis 3:15
- Calls him the “Serpent’s Seed”
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Pharaoh, the “defier of God” is a ‘type’ of the Antichrist
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In Balaam’s prophecy, he is referred to under the name of Asshur aka Assyria - Numbers 24:22 How does Pink know this is a reference to the Antichrist?
- Pink says that “in future chapters evidence will be given to prove that ‘Asshur’ and the Antichrist are one and the same person.”
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In ‘Job’ he is referred to as “the Crooked Serpent” - Job 26:13 KJV (BSB says “the fleeing serpent”. BSB footnote: Hebrew “nachash”; translated in most cases as snake.)
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Pink says this should be compared to Isaiah 27:1 “where, as ‘the Crooked Serpent,’ he is connected with the Dragon, though distinguished from him.”
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In the Psalms
- the Bloody and Deceitful Man - Psalm 5:6
- the Wicked (One) - Psalm 9:17
- the Man of the Earth - Psalm 10:18
- the Mighty Man - Psalm 52:1
- the Adversary - Psalm 74.10
- the Head over many countries - Psalm 110:6
- the Evil Man and the Violent Man - Psalm 140:1
- etc
- “Let the student give special attention to Psalms 10, 52, and 55”
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In the Prophets
- “references are so numerous … it would take us quite beyond the proper bounds of this introductory chapter.”
- Isaiah
- the Assyrian
- the Rod of God’s anger (10:5)
- the Wicked (11:4)
- the King of Babylon (14:11 - 20; and cf 30:31-33)
- the Spoiler — Destroyer (16:4)
- Jeremiah
- the Destroyer of the Gentiles (4:7)
- the Enemy; the Cruel One, and the Wicked (30:14 and 23)
- Ezekiel
- the Profane Wicked Prince of Israel (21:25)
- the Prince of Tyre (28:2-10)
- the chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal (38:2)
- Daniel
- “gives a full delineation of his character and furnished a complete outline of is career.”
- Hosea
- the King of Princes (8:10)
- the Merchant in whose hand are the balances of deceit and who loveth to oppress (12:7)
- Joel
- the Head of the Northern Army (2:20
- Amos
- the Adversary (3:11)
- Micah
- 5:6
- Nahum
- Belial (1:15)
- Habakkuk
- the Proud Man 2:5
- Zechariah
- the idol Shepherd (11:17)
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Jesus referred to him as the one who would
- come in his own name
- would be received by Israel (John 5:43)
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Paul
- 2 Thessalonians 2
- that Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition
- whose coming shall be after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders
- 2 Thessalonians 2
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John
- will deny both the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22)
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Revelation
- the Beast
The appearing of the Antichrist is a most appalling and momentous subject, and in the past, many well-meaning writers have deprived this impending event of much of its terror and meaning, by confusing some of the antichrists that have already appeared at various intervals on the stage of human history, with that mysterious being who will tower height above all the sons of Belial, being no less than Satan’s counterfeit and opposer of the Christ of God …
It promotes the interests of Satan to keep the world in ignorance of the coming Super-man, and there can be no doubt that he is the one who is responsible for the general neglect in the study of this subject, and the author, too, of the conflicting testimony which is being given out by those who speak and write concerning it.
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3 Basic schools of thought
- those who apply these prophecies to the past
- Antiochus Epiphanes
- Nero
- those who apply them in the present - finding their fulfillment in the Papacy which still exists
- Papacy
- those who apply them to a future application
- those who apply these prophecies to the past
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Pink says there is an element of truth in all three; that many prophecies (not just those referring to the Antichrist) have at least a twofold, and frequently a threefold fulfillment.
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“They have a local and immediate fulfillment: they have a continual and gradual fulfillment: and they have a final and exhaustive fulfillment.”
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He refers to 1 John 1 and 2 Thessalonians 2:7
- “There have been, then, and there exist today, many antichrists, but these are only so many forecasts and foreshadowings of the one who is yet to appear.”
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Pink believes the Holy Spirit is the Restrainer; I have found that those who hold this position HAVE to have the Rapture take place before the Antichrist is revealed because the Holy Spirit abides in Believers. They believe if Believers are Raptured, the Holy Spirit would no longer be on earth to restrain the Antichrist. I’m not sure I agree with this. Even in the Old Testament before the Church age, the Holy Spirit operated in / on people. My question is: what about those who become Believers post-Rapture if the Holy Spirit is no longer in / on the earth?
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2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 KJV2-Thessalonians-2v1-12
- be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
- that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first,
- **and that Man of Sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition”;
- who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped
- so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. …
- And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
- For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only He who not letteth (hindereth) will be let, until He be taken out of the way.
- and THEN shall that Wicked One be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, AND SHALL DESTROY WITH THE BRIGHTNESS OF HIS COMING
- Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
- AND FOR THIS CAUSE God shall send them strong delusion, that they might believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
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Pink says this passage shows that the Day of the Lord cannot come until after Rapture (v 1). I do not agree with this. Paul specifically says that “the Day of the Lord” … “will NOT come UNTIL the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness - the son of destruction — is revealed.” This also lines up with Jesus’ timeline in Matthew 24:15-31
- Persecution and the Falling Away - v 9-14
- The Abomination of Desolation set up in the Temple and the Great Tribulation v 15-25
- The Return of Christ - v 26-31
- Jesus said in verse 29 Immediately AFTER the Tribulation of those days: The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give it’s light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Compare Revelation 6:12-17 - the 6th seal.
- and in verse 30 - **AT THAT TIME (AFTER the Tribulation of those days) the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heaven, …”
- verse 31 - AND HE WILL SEND OUT HIS ANGELS WITH A LOUD TRUMPET CALL, AND THEY WILL GATHER HIS ELECT FROM THE FOUR WINDS, FROM ONE END OF THE HEAVENS TO THE OTHER. So Jesus clearly teaches that He does not gather His elect (the Rapture) until AFTER the Tribulation.
- compare verse 29 with the signs recorded in the Book of Revelation at the time of the 6th Seal (6:12-17)
- The first six seals follow the same timeline as Matthew 24
- The Rider on the White Horse
- Red Horse - War
- Black Horse - Famine
- Pale Horse - Death
- Martyrs
- Terror
- v 17 states what is to come next - “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”
- The opening of the 7th seal begins the 7 Trumpet judgments
- Revelation 10:6-7
- And he (the angel) sword by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: “There will be no more delay! **But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he begins to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, just as He proclaimed to His servants the prophets.”
- The LAST, and 7th Trumpet - Revelation 11:15-19
- verse 15 - … The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.
- verse 17 - 18 … You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were enraged, and **Your wrath has come. The time has come to judge the dead and to reward Your servants the prophets, as well as the saints and those who fear Your name, both small and great --- AND TO DESTROY THOSE WHO DESTROY THE EARTH.