Builders of Faith

Builders of Faith Explorer II:  Exploring End-Time Prophecy

Lesson 5—The Antichrist Unmasked

1.    What did the prophet Daniel initially see in a dream recorded in Daniel 7?

“Daniel spoke, saying, ‘I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.  And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other.  The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings….  And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear.  It was raised up on one side and had three ribs in its mouth….  After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird.  The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.  After this I saw…and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong.  It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet.  It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.’”  Daniel 7:2-7.

Answer:  Daniel saw four very different beasts arise from the sea sequentially.  Their descriptions tell us that they were obviously symbolic beasts because lions and leopards don’t have wings, and nothing has literal iron teeth.


2.    What did the four symbolic beasts represent?

“Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth.”  Daniel 7:17.  “Thus he said:  ‘The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth, Which shall be different from all other kingdoms….’”  Daniel 7:23.

Answer:  The four beasts are symbolic of four successive kingdoms or empires on earth.


3.    The characteristics of each beast lead us to what specific kingdoms or empires?

A.    Lion—A symbolic lion with wings is a perfect symbol for ancient Babylon.  Jeremiah 4:7 and 50:17, 44 call Babylon a lion.  Archaeologists have found numerous winged lions in the ruins of ancient Babylon.  According to Lamentations 4:19 and Ezekiel 17:3, 12, wings and eagles each represent speed—also a fitting symbol for how quickly Neo-Babylonia rose to power.

B.    Bear—A bear represents a slow but voracious animal.  Being raised up on one side is probably parallel to Daniel 8:3’s description of the Medo-Persian ram as having one horn higher than the other, which undoubtedly refers to the fact that Persia eventually became dominant over the Medes.  The three ribs in its mouth probably refers to Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt, the three principal powers conquered by Medo-Persia.

C.    Leopard—A leopard is a fast animal, and this symbolic one had four wings, which perfectly fits the speed with which Alexander the Great conquered his enemies.  It also had four heads, which undoubtedly refer to the four divisions of Alexander’s empire after he died.

D.    Non-Descript Beast—This symbolic beast is portrayed as extremely powerful and devouring, with huge iron teeth.  This certainly describes accurately the Roman Empire that followed Greece.  Please remember that in Lesson #4, the legs of iron on the image of the man represented Rome.


4.    Please note that the kingdoms or empires here are the same ones that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about in Daniel 2 (see Lesson #4):

Kingdom        Symbol in Daniel 2             Symbol in Daniel 7

Babylon            Head of Gold                             Lion
Medo-Persia    Chest & Arms of Silver               Bear
Greece             Belly & Thighs of Bronze         Leopard
Rome               Legs of Iron                     Non-Descript Beast
Divided Europe   Feet/Toes of Iron & Clay     10 Horns


5.    How many horns were on the fourth beast, and what do they represent?

“…behold, a fourth beast….  …and it had ten horns.”  Daniel 7:7.  “And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece.  The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king [Alexander the Great].  As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation….”  Daniel 8:21-22.

Answer:  The fourth beast had 10 horns.  Symbolic horns can represent either kings or kingdoms, just as we learned in Daniel 7:17, 23 about the symbolic beasts.  Unless specified, as in the reference to Alexander the Great above, horns represent kingdoms in the book of Daniel.


6.    Do the ten horns apply to the end-time only, or to the days shortly after the breakup of the fourth empire (Rome)?

Answer:  Those who support the secret rapture view of the Antichrist apply the ten horns to the end-time, where Revelation 17:12 says they “…are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast.”  However, we have already shown that Daniel 7’s four beasts rise in succession, one after the other, implying that the ten horns rise around the time of the Roman Empire’s fall.  Second, the parallel of Daniel 7’s ten horns with Daniel 2’s feet and toes clearly reflects division, as does the fact that an 11th horn (the little horn) in Daniel 7 completely destroys three of the ten horns.  In contrast, Revelation 17 emphasizes voluntary unity of all ten kings, who rule simultaneously with the beast:  “These [the ten kings] are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast” (Revelation 17:13).  Therefore, we must conclude that Daniel 7’s ten horns on the fourth beast represent the division of the Roman Empire in Western Europe around the time of Rome’s fall.  In other words, seven of those ten horns represent the early foundations of Western European nations.


7.    After completely uprooting three of the ten kingdoms, what does the little horn do?

“I was considering the [ten] horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots….”  Daniel 7:8.

Answer:  Note the parallelisms in the Aramaic poetry of Daniel 7:25:

A    He [little horn] shall speak pompous words against the Most High,
B    Shall persecute the saints of the Most High,
A1    And shall intend to change times and law.
B1    Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.

Note that the lines A and A1 are parallel, while lines B and B1 are also parallel to each other.  This means that the little horn will intend to change God’s times and law.  It also means that the little horn will persecute God’s faithful people for a period of 3 ½ times.  As all conservative scholars agree, the little horn is the Antichrist.  Since it is a symbolic horn, it is a political power.  But note that the little horn will intend to change God’s times and law.  In other words, the Aramaic word for intend means he thinks he has the authority to do so, but that he actually does not.  Finally, note that he doesn’t want to abolish all of God’s times and law, but to change them.  The New Testament calls this the sin of blasphemy—that is, to claim to possess the authority of God Himself (see Matthew 9:2-3; 26:63-65; Luke 5:21; and John 10:33, 36)!  This makes the Antichrist both a political and a religious power!


8.    How does Revelation 13 show the sea monster there to be the same power as the little horn in Daniel 7?

“…And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.  Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion….”  Revelation 13:1-2.  “It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them….  All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life….”  Revelation 13:7-8.

Answer:  Notice that the sea monster had characteristics of a leopard, a bear, and a lion.  Thus the beast here is a composite of the separate beasts in Daniel 7.  Moreover, if you count all of the heads and all of the horns (except the little horn) among the four beasts in Daniel 7, you will find there are a total of seven heads and ten horns.  In addition, the sea monster is guilty of blasphemy and persecution of God’s faithful saints.  There can be no question but that the sea monster in Revelation 13 is the same as the little horn in Daniel 7.  The sea monster is a political power because he is a symbolic beast, and he is also a religious power because he is guilty of blasphemy.  Please review the previous Question #7.


9.    What kind of religious power is the Antichrist?

“Then I saw another beast coming out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.  And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast….”  Revelation 13:11-12.

Answer:  This lamb-like symbolic beast must be a political power because it is a symbolic beast.  But the fact that it’s lamb-like is fascinating.  The word Lamb or Lamb’s appears 29 times in the book of Revelation, where everywhere except here it is a reference to Jesus as the Lamb of God.  Its use here to describe the nation that gives the single greatest support to the beast at the end-time must mean that the population overwhelmingly claims to be Christian in its religion.  A nation whose population is mostly professed Christian would never support an Antichrist who was openly hostile to Christianity.  Indeed, the Antichrist would have to be a Christian power in order for such a nation to give it such strong support.  Therefore, the Antichrist must be a professed Christian institution, albeit a representative of false Christianity!


10.    Who is the dragon in Revelation 13:2, and what did it give the Antichrist?

“…The dragon gave him [sea monster] his power, his throne, and great authority.”  Revelation 13:2.

Answer:  Ultimately, Revelation 12:9 tells us that the dragon is Satan.  Here, however, it must be a political power that Satan uses because it says the dragon gave the sea monster his throne and great authority.  Satan can directly give power to people or institutions, but he cannot directly give anyone or anything a capital city (a throne is in a capital city) or legal authority to do something.  Note that the only beast not represented in the description of the sea monster is the non-descript beast of Daniel 7.  The word dragon, however, is an apt name for that non-descript beast, which we discovered was the Roman Empire.  Therefore, we conclude that the Roman Empire gave the Antichrist his “power, his throne, and great authority.”


11.    Given all that we have learned in this lesson, what is the only power that fits the characteristics of the Antichrist?

Answer:  The only power that fits the descriptions of the Antichrist in both Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 is the Roman Catholic Church.  It is the Papal System, not the individual members of that church, which the Bible condemns.  First, it’s a political power because Vatican City (and the Papal States before that) is a recognized nation.  Second, it’s also a religious power and Christian.  Third, it rose from the ashes of the Western Roman Empire.  Fourth, Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian gave the Pope the city of Rome as its capital (throne), some of his soldiers to enforce its religious decrees (power), and its authority by designating the Pope as the “head of all the holy churches” and “the corrector of heretics” in A.D. 533.  Fifth, it openly claims the authority to change even God’s law, to forgive sins, and to speak personally for God on the earth, being Christ’s substitute on earth.  Finally, it has often persecuted Christians who did not go along with all of its doctrines and religious practices, with a conservative estimate of having killed 50 million people during the Middle Ages.


12.    How many phases will the Papacy have in which to do its greatest work of persecution?

“…The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.  And I saw one of its heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed.”  Revelation 13:2-3.  “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.  And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.”  Revelation 13:11-12.

Answer:  We have now determined that the Roman Empire was the key political power that gave the Papacy its great power and authority at the beginning.  Yet the passages above tell us that a different political power at the end-time will give its principal support to the Papacy after the deadly wound was healed.  Therefore, there are two phases of Papal domination, with the first phase ending with its deadly wound—which we will examine more closely later in this lesson.


13.    How many time expressions refer to the Antichrist’s reign, and are they literal or symbolic?

“…Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.”  Daniel 7:25.  “And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.”  Revelation 13:5.  “Then the woman fled into the wilderness…that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”  Revelation 12:6.  “But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.”  Revelation 12:14.

Answer:  Daniel uses what amounts to a period of 3 ½ times, which is also echoed in Revelation 12:14.  But in Revelation 12 we have a great clue, because verse 6 speaks of the same time period as 1,260 days.  Why?  Because the same symbolic woman flees into the wilderness to escape the dragon or serpent (Satan, see verse 9); it’s the same part of the story because verses 7-12 clearly constitute a parenthetical section.  How are the 3 ½ times equal to 1,260 days?  By seeing that a time is a 360-day year and times as just two times, we can do the math:  360 (time) + 720 (two times) + 180 (half a time) = 1,260 days.  A check of 42 months in Revelation 13 also equates if we take each month as 30-days only:  42 months x 30 days = 1,260 days.  Therefore, all three time expressions are equal.  We therefore conclude that these time expressions are symbolic, not literal.  First, why would you use three different time expressions if it were all literal time?  It simply makes no sense.  Second, the word for time and month are used for non-literal time periods.  Although it’s true that there was a 360-day year in ancient Israel, they corrected for the time being obviously too short for a true solar year by adding several extra days before 3 ½ literal solar years had passed.  Thus there was never a period of 1,260 days that equaled 3 ½ literal solar years.


14.    What is the only literal part of these time expressions, and what does that part mean when it’s used symbolically?

“…forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years….”  Numbers 14:34.  “…then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days.  I have laid on you a day for each year.”  Ezekiel 4:6.

Answer:  The only literal part of the time expressions—3 ½ times, 42 months, and 1,260 days—is a day.  The only way the Bible uses a day as a symbol for a specific, literal time period is as a year.  This is the year-day principle.  


15.    How many years are given to the Papacy, and to which phase of the Papacy do they apply?

Answer:  When we apply the year-day principle to the Papacy, we have a reign of 1,260 literal solar years.  Everyone agrees that the last-day reign of the Antichrist won’t be nearly that long.  Therefore, we should apply the 1,260 literal years to Phase I of the Papacy.


16.    What event marked the end of the Papacy’s first phase.  Thus, what are the dates for Phase I of its reign?

“And he deceives those who dwell on the earth…, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.”  Revelation 13:14.  “He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword….”  Revelation 13:10.

Answer:  If you use a good Bible concordance, you will discover that the word sword is used most often in the context of a soldier or an army as a weapon of war.  The deadly wound that ended up healing was inflicted by a sword and associated with being led into captivity.  That means we need to look in history to see if there was any time that the Pope (symbolizing the whole Papal institution) was taken captive by the force of an army.  There were times the Pope moved his capital from Rome to Avignon, France temporarily.  However, only once in history has the Pope been taken captive against his will by an army.  That happened in A.D. 1798, when Napoleon’s General Berthier took the Pope captive by force and brought him back to France.  Working backwards in time, 1798 minus 1260 = A.D. 538.  Remember that the little horn would not begin his reign until he defeated three of the ten kingdoms that occupied the former Roman Empire (see Daniel 7:8, 20, 24).  The three kingdoms were the Heruli (defeated in A.D. 493), the Vandals (defeated in A.D. 534), and the Ostrogoths, whose power was decisively ended in A.D. 538.  (The reason the Papacy was anxious to defeat these three powers was that they denied belief in the divine nature of Jesus.)  Therefore, the dates for the first phase of the Papal Antichrist were A.D. 538-1798.


17.    Is the interpretation that the Papacy is the Antichrist a relatively new one?

Answer:  Not at all.  In fact, it was one of the doctrines that every single one of the 16th-century Protestant Reformers taught, without exception, even if they did not yet have the exact dates of 538-1798.  This belief held such a tight hold on Protestant Christians that it used to be called the Protestant position.  But it was weakened in the 19th century with the rise of the secret rapture theory, discussed in Lesson #1, and the rise of the liberal-critical movement (called Higher Criticism), also in the 19th century.  Then after the creation of the modern nation of Israel in 1948, and Israel’s occupation of the entire city of Jerusalem in 1967, it rapidly dissipated from Protestantism.  Nevertheless, the idea that the Papal Church is the Antichrist is the oldest view among Protestantism.

 

Quiz for Lesson 5—The Antichrist Unmasked

 

1.  In Daniel’s vision in Daniel 7, what did he see initially, and were they literal or symbolic? (1)

  5 beasts which were symbolic in nature

  4 beasts which were symbolic in nature

  4 beasts which were literal in nature

  3 beasts which were symbolic in nature

 

2.  Which of the following statements about the beasts in Daniel’s vision are true? (4)

  A lion with wings was a perfect symbol for ancient Babylon because archaeologists have found many winged lions carved in the ruins of ancient Babylon.

  A leopard with 4 wings represents the super speed of the Greeks under Alexander the Great.

  The non-descript beast had large gold teeth.

  A bear raised up on one side refers to the fact that Persia eventually became more dominant over the Medes.

  These beasts represent the same kingdoms we saw in Lesson #4:  Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.

 

3.  Which of the following statements about the 10 horns in this vision are true? (2)

  They were located on the winged leopard.

  They represent 10 kingdoms.

  They were located on the non-descript beast.

  They represent 10 individual kings or rulers.

 

4.  Which of the following statements about the 10 horns are true? (3)

  They represent the 10 kings who shall rule with the Antichrist at the end-time.

  The 10 horns represent disunity or division rather than unity.

  Three of the original 10 horns are destroyed by the little horn before the little horn begins its rule.

  The 10 horns represent the major nations of Western Europe that took the place of Rome after it fell.

 

5.  Which of the following statements about the little horn are true? (4)

  It is a political power because its symbol is a horn.

  It will persecute the saints of God.

  It shall change nearly all of the nations’ laws.

  It is guilty of blasphemy since it thinks it has the authority to change God’s law.

  The fact that the little horn thinks it has the authority to change God’s law means that it is also a religious power.

 

6.  What statements about the first symbolic beast in Revelation 13 are true? (4)

  It rises out of the earth.

  It has 7 heads and 10 horns, with blasphemous names on its heads.

  It is a composite beast taken from the beasts in Daniel 7.

  It is the same power that the little horn is in Daniel 7.

  Both the little horn in Daniel 7 and the sea monster in Revelation 13 represent the Antichrist.

 

7.  What kind of religious power is the Antichrist? (1)

  Counterfeit Christian power

  Muslim power

  Jewish power

  Protestant power

 

8.  The only political-religious power that fits all of the characteristics of the Antichrist in both Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 is the Roman Catholic Church as a system (not as individual members of that church). (1)

  True

  False

 

9.  How many phases will the Papal Church do its great persecuting work? (2)

  An historical phase and an end-time phase

  One end-time phase

  One historical phase

  An historical phase which has already ended and a future end-time phase

  One end-time phase that will last 3 ½ years

 

10.  Are the time elements for the Antichrist literal or symbolic, and to which phase of the Antichrist’s work does the time element refer? (3)

  The time elements are literal and apply as 3 ½ literal years at the end-time phase.

  The time elements are symbolic and apply as 1,260 literal years during its historical phase.

  The historical phase lasted from 538-1798 and ended with the forcible capture of the Pope.

  The time elements are based on the year-day principle in which a symbolic day represents a literal year.

  The time element for the historical phase is symbolic, but it is literal for the end-time phase.