Chapter 25. Paul and Daniel Describe the Fraud, the Pride, the Tyrannical Kingdom of the Antichrist.
Chapter 25
1. Not only by the things already mentioned but also by the things that will exist under the Antichrist is it manifest that, though he is a rebel and a thief, he wants to be adored as God, and though he is a servant, he wants to be heralded as a king. For this one [the Antichrist] will take on the Devil’s power and will come not as a just king, nor as a law-abiding subject of God, but as wicked and lawless, as a rebel, and unjust and murderous, as a thief, recapitulating in himself the diabolical rebellion. He will depose idols to persuade men that he himself is God; but thus he will exalt himself as the only idol, having in himself the multiple error of all the rest of the idols, in order that those who worship the Devil by means of many idols may serve him by means of this one idol. In regard to this the Apostle says in the Second Letter to the Thessalonians as follows: …unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god, or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God <as God>, showing himself to be God. Clearly, therefore, does the Apostle show up his rebellion and that he extols himself against every so-called god or object of worship, namely, against every idol—for these are indeed called gods by men, but in reality are not—and that he will try in tyrannical fashion to show himself to be God.
2. Besides that, he revealed also this—a thing we have demonstrated by many arguments—that the temple in Jerusalem was made by an order of the true God. For the Apostle himself on his own name called it absolutely God’s temple. Now, also in the Third Book we showed that the apostles in their own name call no one God except him who is truly God, the Father of Our Lord, by whose order the temple of Jerusalem was made for the purpose mentioned by us. In this temple the Adversary will sit and attempt to show that he is the Christ. That is what the Lord said: So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the Prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, and never will be.
3. Daniel, too, seeing the end of the last kingdom, namely, the last ten kings, among whom is divided the kingdom of those upon whom the son of perdition will come, says that ten horns will issue from the beast, and that another small horn will issue in the center, and three of the former horns will have their roots in his forehead. He says: And behold, in his horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and mouth speaking great things. And his face was greater than the rest. As I looked this horn made war against the saints, and prevailed over them, until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints received the kingdom.
Then, for the interpretation of the visions he was told: As for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which shall be greater than all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth, and trample it down, and break it to pieces. As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise up after them; he shall be mightier than the former ones and shall put down three kings. He shall speak words against the Most High and shall oppress the saints of the Most High; and shall think to change the times and the laws; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, and two times, and half a time. That means for three years and six months, during which time he will come and reign on the earth.
The Apostle Paul also spoke of this in the Second Letter to the Thessalonians and announced at the same time the reason of his coming. This is what he said: And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the manifestation of his coming. And his coming by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
4. The Lord, too, spoke the same things to those who did not believe him: I came in my Father’s name, and you did not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. By another he meant the Antichrist, because he is estranged from God, and he is the lawless judge of whom the Lord said that he neither feared God, nor regarded man, to whom the widow, namely, the earthly Jerusalem, who had forgotten God, will flee, for avenging the enemy. This he will also do in the time of his reign. He will transfer his kingdom to her [Jerusalem] and will sit in the temple, deceiving those who worship him, as if he himself were the Christ.
Wherefore, Daniel says again: And he shall make desolate the sanctuary; and sin was offered as sacrifice; and justice was cast down on the earth, and he has acted and prospered. And the Angel Gabriel, when explaining this vision, said about this very one: And in the latter end of their rule, a king of bold countenance, one who understands riddles shall arise; his power shall be great and admirable. He shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people of the saints; and the yoke shall be prosperous as a necklace; deceit in his hand and in his heart shall be exalted; and by deception he shall kill many; and he shall rise up for the ruin of many, and as an egg he shall crush them with the hand. Then he points out the time of his tyranny, at which time the holy people will be put to flight who offer a clean sacrifice to God: And in half the week my sacrifice and my libation shall fail, and there shall be in the temple the desolating sacrilege; and the desolation shall continue until, and end with, the consummation of time.
5. By all this, not only the things pertaining to the rebellion are revealed, and what belongs to him who recapitulates in himself every diabolical error, but also that there is one and the same God the Father, who was heralded by the Prophets and made known by Christ. For if the things about the end that were prophesied by Daniel were confirmed by the Lord—he did say: When you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the Prophet Daniel—then one and the same God is most clearly shown. (The Angel Gabriel gave Daniel the interpretation of the visions, but he is the Archangel of the Creator and the same one who brought the good news to Mary about the visible coming and the incarnation of the Christ.) It is he who sent the Prophets and sent the Son and called us to his knowledge.