Christianity and Anti-Christianity in Their Final Conflict

Samuel James Andrews

• Publisher: Left of Brain Books
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781396321535
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Samuel Andrews is prophetic in his interpretations. Discover the meaning behind prophecies in the Bible and why many of them have already come true. Learn about the everlasting battle between good and evil and how Andrews accurately predicted that it was going to peak right now!This book dives into the conflict between Christians and the Antichrist and lively depicts his reign on earth before the Second Coming. It shows that signs of his arrival are everywhere around us in the most civilized and powerful parts of the world.Andrews explains that we have come to the border line that separates two eras and asks these questions: "What is its significance? Why a new age? Are our old beliefs outgrown? Are we about to break with the past and take a sudden leap onward? What has aroused this general feeling of restlessness, this widespread discontent with the present, these eager anticipations of something better soon to come? When the new age has fully developed itself, what religion will it give us?" He provides satisfying answers within this book.James M Gray, Bible scholar, describes the book as "a calm setting forth of what the Bible says on the most important subject for these times." And recommends it as "indispensable for the library of the pastor, missionary or Christian worker of today".

Part I.

The Teachings of the Scriptures
Respecting the Antichrist.

The Teachings of the Scripture.
Old Testament.

We now come to the inquiry, What do the Scriptures teach us respecting the Antichrist? We begin by asking whether the Old Testament speaks of him as the Antimessiah? and this leads us to enquire as to the Messianic expectations of the Jews in our Lord’s day. These, as based upon the covenants and the prophets, had their culmination in the Kingdom to be set up by the Messiah. Into the conception of the Kingdom there entered three chief elements:⁴ (a) the authority of Jehovah, their covenant God, would be established over all the earth; (b) to the Jews as the covenant people would be given the highest place among the nations; (c) the government under Jehovah would be administered by a Son of David, under whose rule all peoples would dwell in unity and peace. (d) Jehovah would everywhere be honoured as the supreme God, but in Jerusalem would be His temple, and the centre of all worship.

In regard to the time and manner of the setting up of the Messianic Kingdom, it was believed that it would be when the Jews were in great trouble and distress (Dan. xii, 1). They would be scattered abroad in all lands, and subject to cruel oppression, and encounter the hostility of all nations. But the Messiah would appear, and through Him Jehovah would deliver them from their oppressors, gather them together into their own land, and fulfill to them all the promises made through the prophets of the prosperity and glory of the Messianic Kingdom. The period of trial and judgment immediately introductory to the Kingdom would be one of brief duration. At its beginning, the enemies of the Messiah would be active and triumphant, but at the end would be overthrown, and the authority of the Messiah everywhere be recognized. This period of trial, preceding the coming of the Messiah, and followed by the Kingdom, was known by various names, “the day of wrath,” “the day of judgment,” “the great and terrible day,” “the time of the birth-throes”, as the end of the age or dispensation, it was “the last day,” or “last days;” and as forming the transition to the Messianic age, it was the conclusion or “end of this world” and “the beginning of the world to come.”

It was in “the last days” that both good and evil would come to the full, and the distinction between them be most manifest, and, therefore, the hostility the greatest. Among all peoples there would be division and strife and hatred; and in the physical world, great disturbances and cosmical changes (Joel ii, 30; Zech. xiv); the end of all being “new heavens and a new earth” in which the righteous would dwell (Isa. lxv, 17).

But whilst the Jews believed that the nations would assemble together, and fight against the Messiah at His appearing (Ps. ii, Joel ii, Zech. xiv, 2), did they believe that their enemies would then be united under one head—the Antimessiah? It is not wholly clear what the Jews believed on this point.⁵ The prophecies of Daniel were much read, and largely moulded the popular expectations as to the future. This prophet uses the symbol of a beast to represent the kingdoms which wasted and oppressed his people. He saw four different beasts coming up from the sea—four successive kingdoms—each with its special characteristics, but all hostile to the Jews (Dan. vii). In the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. ii, 31), four kingdoms were symbolized by its differing parts of gold, silver, brass, and iron. That the fourth and last is the Roman has been generally held.⁶ This beast (vii, 24) has ten horns (the horn being everywhere a symbol of some form of power), which here represent the fullness of its kingly power: “The ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise.” Among these came up “a little horn,” having eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows, and who thinks to change times and laws. That this eleventh horn symbolized some great persecutor is plain from the words spoken of him; and it is not likely that the Jews of the Lord’s day believed that they had had their fulfillment in Antiochus Epiphanes, or in any persecutor of the past. It is more probable that they saw in Antiochus a type of a greater enemy to come, and the last, for after his destruction the kingdom would be given to the saints of the Most High. Understanding the one “like unto a Son of Man” (vii, 13) to be the Messiah, who now takes the Kingdom, this would certainly lead to the conception of this last enemy as an antimessiah; but that the Jews so under stood it, is more than we can positively affirm.

The same may be said of “the little horn” (Dan. viii, 9), and interpreted as a symbol of “a king of fierce countenance,” who “shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.” And also of “the willful king” (xi, 36), though not a few now understand the fulfillment of this prophecy to be wholly in the future. Of the prediction of the “one that maketh desolate” (ix, 24—) we shall speak in considering the Lord’s teachings.

If we turn to the other prophets, the words of Isaiah xi, 4: “With the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked,” are translated in the Targum, “With the breath of his lips shall he slay Armilus.” This shows that at the time of this translation there was a belief that the Messiah would be confronted by a chief personal enemy whom He would destroy. St. Paul applies this to the man of sin (2 Thess. II, 8). Of this passage Delitzsch (“Messianic Prophecies”) says, “We have an indication that the apostasy of the earth will finally culminate in the Antichrist.” Other typical references to the Antimessiah in this prophet are found by many interpreters in x, 5, where the “Assyrian” is mentioned; and in xiv, 12, where “Lucifer,” “the shining one,” “or son of the dawn,” is spoken of, who says, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God… I will be like the Most High.” In the mention of Leviathan (xxvii, 1), “the swift serpent,” “the crooked serpent,” the dragon that is in the midst of the sea,” some find a symbolic pointing out of the Antimessiah.

A reference to an Antimessiah is found by some in Psalm cx, 6. “He shall wound the heads over many countries” (in R. V. “He shall strike through the head in many countries”). The singular “head” being used in the Hebrew, they understand it as equivalent to “prince,” and to foretell that many countries are to be united in that day—“the day of God’s wrath” when He shall judge among the nations—under one man as their chief.

A union of many peoples under one head is spoken of by Ezekiel, xxxviii, 2. But it is not easy to identify Gog, “the chief prince of Meshech,” with the blasphemous oppressors of Daniel. He seems rather to be a distinct enemy, and not improbably a Christian power, hostile to the Jews, who will invade their land and oppress for a short time the Jewish people; but at what time or under what conditions we cannot now understand.

Whilst then we do not find in the Old Testament any distinct mention by name of an Antimessiah, we do find predictions that at the time when the Messiah was expected to appear and take the Kingdom, there would be arrayed against Him the nations acting together in unity. This implies a head, some one who is the leader, and possessed of great, if not supreme power. (See Joel iii, 2. “I will gather all nations against Jerusalem,” and Zech. xiv, 2, “I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle,” also Ps. ii.) The characters of the oppressors mentioned by Daniel, their hatred of the holy people, their selfish exaltation, their contempt of God and of His times and laws—all mark a period when “wickedness is come to the full,” and the most bitter enemies of God and His Christ appear. It is not without ground that we may believe that the imprecatory Psalms, especially cix, may prophetically refer to this man in whom would be concentrated all hostility to Jehovah and the Saints.

We may, then, accept the language of Prof. Briggs (“Messianic Prophecy”), “It is not unnatural, but rather in accordance with the analogy of prophecy, that the hostile kingdoms should not only increase in extension, but also increase in intension; we might reasonably expect that a great hostile monarch, an Antimessiah, would precede the advent of the Messiah Himself…The sufferings of the people of God would reach their climax under the Antimessiah.”

That the Jews of the Lord’s day, or at least many of them, believed that the general hostility of the nations to them as the Covenant people, would find its last expression in some mighty one, their leader, who would be overthrown by the Messiah, although nowhere distinctly asserted by the prophets, cannot well be doubted. But was this Antimessiah to be a heathen man, or an apostate Jew? Some have seen a prophetic intimation that he would be a Jew, in the mention by the prophet Zechariah (xi,17) of “the idol (foolish) shepherd.” Thus Delitzsch says: “If the good shepherd is the image of the future Christ, the foolish shepherd is the counterpart of Christ, that is, the lawless one in whom the apostasy from Christ culminates. A heathen ruler is not meant, but one proceeding from the people having the name of the people of God.”⁷ But on the other hand, those whom the later Jews regarded as types of the Antimessiah were heathen, as Balaam and the Assyrian. It is not likely that the Jews believed that anyone of their number would so fall from the faith as to deny the special calling of his people; or that an apostate Jew would be received by the heathen as their head. They saw rather in the Antimessiah, if, indeed, they had any definite conception of him as an individual, one who did not recognize their claim to be God’s chosen people, or the claim of their Messiah; a Gentile who hated the Jews for their religious exclusiveness and pride, and who presented himself as the leader of their heathen enemies.

The Teachings of the Lord.

In considering these teachings, we must distinguish between those spoken to His own disciples and those spoken to the Jews. So far as His words concern us here, they refer to three points. First, His own Messianic relations to the Jews, and their national future; Secondly, The future of the Church, immediate and remote, down to His return; Thirdly, The person and work of the Antichrist.

I. (a) We have seen what were the Messianic expectations of the Jews in the Lord’s day. Presenting Himself to them as their Messiah, the Son of David, He asserted His prerogative, as Judge and King. “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father.” (John v, 22—.) The time of this judgment is at His return. “When the Son of man shall come in His glory… then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.” (Matt. xxv, 31. See also in same discourse the parables of the “Talents,” and of the “Virgins”; and of the “Nobleman,” Luke xix, 12—.)

(b) He confirmed the predictions of the prophets that at this time the Jews would be scattered abroad, and Jerusalem trodden down by the Gentiles, and the temple left desolate. (Luke xxi, 24; Matt. xxiii, 38.) He confirmed, also, the predictions that this would be a time of great trouble, and distress of all nations. “Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” (Matt. xxiv, 21—.) “These be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” “There shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people.” “Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.”

(c) He confirmed God’s promise that after these judgments had brought them to repentance, the Jews would be gathered to their own land, and acknowledge Him as their King. This is plain from His promise to the Apostles of the circumcision:—“In the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matt. xix, 28; Luke xxii, 29-30.)

II. The Future of the Church, immediate and remote.

We must, as already said, distinguish those teachings of the Lord addressed to the Jews respecting their national future, from those addressed to His disciples respecting their immediate future, and the future of the Church; though much which He said concerned both the Jews and the Church as standing to Him in like Covenant relations. His return to establish His kingdom would equally concern both, but would present to each its special aspect. Now, His words respecting His Church, its relations to the world, its history and its spiritual condition at the time of His return, demand our most careful consideration.

We may best consider these teachings under several particulars.

1. The permanent antagonistic relation of the Church to the world. As not of the world, but called out of it, and witnessing against it as evil, the relation is one of inherent hostility. The Lord in His last discourse to His disciples emphasises this. “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also.” (John xv, 19-20.) In His intercessory prayer, He says: “I have given them Thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John xvii, 14—.) He also foretells how deadly this hostility will be: “They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” (John xvi, 2.) That this was not a transient outburst of enmity, and confined to the Jews, and only for a brief period at the beginning, but the result of a permanent antagonism between sin and holiness, righteousness and unrighteousness, truth and falsehood, and, therefore, an antagonism between the Church and the world to the end, appears everywhere from His teachings; of which the parable of the tares and the wheat may be taken as an illustration. That this antagonism is not one of abstract principles simply, but is embodied in persons, the Lord shows by His recognition of the fact that there is “a Power of darkness,” the head of which is Satan—“the prince of this world,” the personal adversary of God and of His Son. To the special attacks of this great enemy He had Himself been exposed, and knew that so long as Satan continued to be the prince of this world, His disciples would have no exemption from his subtle temptations and deadly assaults. They were in an enemy’s country, and he would not cease in his attacks until he was cast out of the earth. All expectations of peace between his followers and the followers of the Lord were vain; but he might disguise his hostility and assume the attitude of a friend, and so lull the Church into security, and into a forgetfulness, or even a denial of his existence. But this peace was only seeming. The more the Church manifested the holiness of her Head, and affirmed the sinfulness of human nature, and the necessity of His atonement; the more clearly she proclaimed Him as the incarnate Son of God through whom alone is salvation; the more pronounced and bitter would this hostility become. The only way in which this antagonism could be set aside, was either by the conversion of the world to faith in Christ, which would deprive Satan of all his following and power; or by the entire apostasy of the Church from that faith, which would make Satan’s power supreme. Either the Church or the world must lose its distinctive character before there could be peace between them.

As to the conversion of the world through the preaching of the Gospel, it must be noted that although the Lord gave the command that the Gospel should be preached to all nations, He nowhere speaks of it as being universally received. In sending forth His Apostles upon a temporary mission during His earthly ministry, He said to them, in words which plainly looked forward beyond that mission, and embrace all missionary labour, that every form of opposition and suffering would meet them. (Matt. x, 5—.) “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves… Ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake… Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Even the closest family bonds would be severed: “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” All who would be His followers must bear His cross, and be willing even to die for His sake.

Nowhere in all His teachings did the Lord say, that this hostility of the world to the Church would cease through the conversion of the world. On the contrary, it would continue, though it might be in a latent condition, and would become most intense at the time of the end; for then His actings in preparation for His return, the assertion of His authority, and the quickened faith of many, would call forth the latent hatred, and rouse into activity “the prince of this world” who would put forth every power of evil to destroy. His disciples could not be “hated of all nations for His name’s sake,” until the gospel had been preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.” The tares would grow and ripen till the harvest came.

If peace would not be made by the conversion of the world to the Gospel, could it be through the whole Church becoming worldly in her spirit and aims? Of a total apostasy we cannot think. The Lord has said that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against His Church.” She cannot cease to be the body of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Ghost. But though the Church cannot ever become wholly apostate, and therefore she cannot be at absolute peace with the world, she may become worldly-minded; and thus the enmity of the world to her may be blunted, and the appearance of peace exist. The Church may forget her high calling, and become earthly in her spirit. She may corrupt the Gospel, mingling the leaven of error with the truth, may refuse to set forth the claims of Christ in their fulness, may seek the honour which cometh from men, and in many ways propitiate the world; and the line of distinction be thus almost effaced. She may become “the unjust steward,” lowering her Lord’s claims upon the faith and obedience of men in order to gain their favour. Those who have the spirit of this world, the world will not hate. To His own brethren, who did not then believe on Him, the Lord said (John vii, 7): “The world cannot hate you, but Me it hateth, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil.” A seeming concord may be established between the Church and the world on the basis of a common worldliness, but it is superficial and unreal. The true antagonism will reappear so soon and so far as the Church bears a faithful witness in word and life to her living Head. And as the consciousness of her high calling is reawakened and strengthened in the last day, and she rises into her true heavenly position, so will the antagonism then be sharpest and most intense.

We have dwelt the longer upon this point of essential and permanent hostility, because the belief that the Church and the world can dwell peaceably together, and jointly serve God, though in different ways; and that to this end the claims of Christ, as held at first in the Church, may now be greatly modified, and His headship made of little account, is one very powerful means, as we shall see later, in preparing the way of the ...

Table of contents

• Preface to the Second Edition.
• Preface.
• Introduction.
• Part I. The Teachings of the Scriptures Respecting the Antichrist.
• The Teachings of the Scripture. Old Testament.
• The Teachings of the Lord.
• The Teachings of the Apostles Collectively.
• St. Paul and His Teachings.
• The Teachings of St. John, of St. Peter, and of St. Jude.
• The Teaching of the Revelation.
• Part II. The Falling Away of the Church.
• The Falling Away—Its Origin and Nature.
• Initial Stage of the Falling Away.
• Part III. Tendencies in Our Day Preparing the Way of the Antichrist.
• Modern Pantheistic Philosophy.
• Modern Philosophy and the New Christianity.
• Deification of Humanity.
• Tendencies of Modern Biblical Criticism.
• Tendencies of Modern Science.
• Tendencies of Modern Literature.
• Christian Socialism and the Kingdom of God.
• Part IV. The Reign of the Antichrist.
• The Personal Christ in the First and in the Nineteenth Century.
• The Pantheistic Revolution.
• Antichrist as Head of the Nations.
• The Morality of the Future.
• The Church of the Future.
• The Church of the Beast and the False Prophet.
• Summary and Conclusion.
• Notes.