Vic C.
Member
Ezekiel and the antichrist
I will forego directly quoting from any sites and go straight to Scripture. I believe the key to understanding who the eight beast is right here...
Rev 17:10 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.
Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
"Five are fallen" - If we go back and look at all the great 'military' empires that precede John's writings, we can just about conclude they were; the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians and the Greeks.
"and one is" - This would have to be the empire currently in charge, which are the Romans.
"other is not yet come" This is the empire we have to speculate about. Fortunately, we have both history and hindsight to help us.
"the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition" - A key passage. The eighth is of the seven; meaning, the eighth is somehow 'related' to one of the seven. This is also the beast that "goeth into perdition".
We also have a couple more verses that are key.
Rev 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Rev 13:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
This really narrows down the "playing field". A fatal head wound, that was somehow healed. It could be a would that was inflicted during the "beast's" reign and then was healed; or it could be a wound inflicted sometime in the distant past, then was healed. Prophesy isn't specific.
But...
Add to this the fact that we cannot determine who or what this beast is without taking into account lineage. Throughout the Bible, lineage is important; so important that there are many books in the Bible that begin with lineage. Even moreso is lineage important in prophesy. Unfortunately, many gloss over the lineage.
Ezekiel was mentioned in another post. This is where we need to start, since Ezekiel's name for Antichrist is Gog. We read that Gog was prince over the land of Magog. Magog was Japheth’s son; who was the son of Noah. Josephus mentions that this nomadic family set roots in the north, most likely in the areas we now know as eastern Germany and western Russia. They may have migrated to other parts, (including Rome) but this is where they are when the prophesy was revealed.
With just this little bit of Biblical information, I believe the antichrist will rise up out of these areas. There is more that I will address in another post.
I will say this much; I don't believe antichrist is Rome, a Pope or even a former Roman Emperor, I do think one of them will be the false prophet though.
I will forego directly quoting from any sites and go straight to Scripture. I believe the key to understanding who the eight beast is right here...
Rev 17:10 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.
Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
"Five are fallen" - If we go back and look at all the great 'military' empires that precede John's writings, we can just about conclude they were; the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians and the Greeks.
"and one is" - This would have to be the empire currently in charge, which are the Romans.
"other is not yet come" This is the empire we have to speculate about. Fortunately, we have both history and hindsight to help us.
"the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition" - A key passage. The eighth is of the seven; meaning, the eighth is somehow 'related' to one of the seven. This is also the beast that "goeth into perdition".
We also have a couple more verses that are key.
Rev 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Rev 13:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
This really narrows down the "playing field". A fatal head wound, that was somehow healed. It could be a would that was inflicted during the "beast's" reign and then was healed; or it could be a wound inflicted sometime in the distant past, then was healed. Prophesy isn't specific.
But...
Add to this the fact that we cannot determine who or what this beast is without taking into account lineage. Throughout the Bible, lineage is important; so important that there are many books in the Bible that begin with lineage. Even moreso is lineage important in prophesy. Unfortunately, many gloss over the lineage.
Ezekiel was mentioned in another post. This is where we need to start, since Ezekiel's name for Antichrist is Gog. We read that Gog was prince over the land of Magog. Magog was Japheth’s son; who was the son of Noah. Josephus mentions that this nomadic family set roots in the north, most likely in the areas we now know as eastern Germany and western Russia. They may have migrated to other parts, (including Rome) but this is where they are when the prophesy was revealed.
With just this little bit of Biblical information, I believe the antichrist will rise up out of these areas. There is more that I will address in another post.
I will say this much; I don't believe antichrist is Rome, a Pope or even a former Roman Emperor, I do think one of them will be the false prophet though.