The Early Antichrist

“Therefore, when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand) – Matthew 24:15 

In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus was asked by his disciples when the end of the age will come and what signs will proceed its coming. Among the many signs mentioned, Jesus is seen here referring to the words Daniel the prophet spoke regarding the abomination of desolation. If someone is to determine the nature of the abomination of desolation or if someone is to understand who the antichrist may be, the words of Daniel must be referred to. There is no sense in talking about the antichrist if it excludes the words Daniel spoke concerning it.  

This post serves as part three in our series refuting Partial Preterism. If you are just jumping in, I don’t want you to be completely lost here. Preterism is the end times view that believes the events spoken of by Christ in the Olivet Discourse have all or mostly taken place already. They believe that it was fulfilled in the years leading up to 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome. In Part 1, A Timely Problem for Preterism, we saw how Preterism fails the test of time. In Part 2, Defending the Olivet Discourse, we provided a side-by-side comparison of the events described in the Olivet Discourse alongside the events that transpired in 70 AD to see if there is a plausible defense that can be made to support a Preterist interpretation. We saw that too fail. Now we enter into the last major portion of this series to discuss the plausibility of there actually being an early antichrist that has already come and gone. Before we can really do so, let’s clear out the air in the room and get more specific on what I mean by that. 1 John 2:18 says,  

“Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.” 

According to this passage, there are many “anti-Christs” (plural). However, we see the definite article, “the”, in front of “antichrist” (singular). This signifies a specific antichrist that is distinct from the others. To put things in simpler terms, this passage is setting up a narrative that there are many “street-level” villains, but there is a main villain on the way, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect time to reveal himself. This is the most basic understanding of what the antichrist is. And so, to clarify, when I say that Preterism believes that the antichrist has already come and gone, they do not mean that a “street-level” antichrist has come and gone. They are talking about the main Antichrist. The main villain has apparently already revealed himself and played his role in the story.  

That character’s name, according to Preterists, is Nero, the 5^th Caesar of the Roman Empire. Nero was not a good guy. I cannot stress this enough. His life was filled with gruesome murder, torture, treason, pedophilia, and blasphemy. I will never stand here and defend Nero and say he’s not the antichrist simply because he was such a great guy. If that was my argument, I’d only be fooling myself. For perspective, and I apologize for the grotesque nature of this, but historians claim that he kicked his pregnant wife to death, then married and castrated a boy that resembled her features. For entertainment, he would have people tied to posts naked, while he dressed up as a wild animal and brutally mutilated their private parts. He also killed both his mother and brother to ensure that he retained the throne. (I know. This one sounds like nothing compared to the other two now) He started a fire that destroyed a large portion of the city of Rome, and instead of using the money in the treasury to rebuild the city, he instead drained it to build a giant 100-acre complex that came to be known as the “Golden House”, or The Domus Aurea. Furthermore, he blamed a small community of Christians for starting the fire and began killing them because of it. In fact, many of the gruesome displays and torturous deaths I mentioned were at the expense of Christians.  

So let it be known to all that Caesar Nero was no saint. He was a terrible man. The Preterists at least did a decent job picking someone who was a bad man as their antichrist. But does he fit the bill? Because honestly, he could be the worst person the planet has ever witnessed, but if he does not do what is described in the Bible that the antichrist will do, then, I’m sorry, but he’s not the antichrist. Hitler killed a ton more Jews than Nero did. Hitler was a terrible man. But guess what? He’s not the antichrist. He does not fulfill the text. Genghis Khan marched across Asia killing 40 million people in his lifetime. This was a bad dude! Was he the antichrist? No! He doesn’t fit the text. It doesn’t matter how disgusting, how brutal, or how terrible a man is. If he doesn’t fulfill the text, then he’s simply not the antichrist.  

What does the text say? 

I’m glad you asked! We are going to circle back around now to how we started this post, in the book of Daniel. In Daniel, we are given 2 separate descriptions of this antichrist. One is a direct reference, and the second is a typological example of the antichrist that is eventually fulfilled by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Check out my post called Considering the Horns for more detail on that topic. While the book of Revelation is said to be the “revelation of Jesus Christ”, the book of Daniel is often said to be the “revelation of the antichrist.” We will see why, as we begin to read Daniel 7:23-27, which says, 

“The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces. The ten horns are ten kings Who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones and shall subdue three kings. He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time. ‘But the court shall be seated, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it forever. Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.” 

Similar to last post, we are going to create a running list of qualifications that one must fulfill in order to be considered the antichrist.  

1. He must be a king who arises and subdues 3 other kings 

2. He will blaspheme God 

3. He will persecute the saints of the Most High for 3 and a half years 

4. He will change the times and laws 

5. God will come and take away his dominion forever 

6. God will reign eternally and give dominion over to the saints 

This is a very general description of the antichrist. It’s an introductory revelation concerning this new character. Like I said before, in Daniel 8, we are given another description of the antichrist through the use of typology. This prophecy refers to Antiochus IV Epiphanes during the divided Greek Empire. In this chapter we see a goat with one prominent horn come on to the scene that we are told represents Greece. It is victorious over the ram, signifying the Medo-Persian Empire. Afterwards, the prominent horn of the Goat, breaks, and four smaller horns grow in its place. This represents the death of Alexander the Great, and the four rival generals who assume control over the empire. Daniel 8:9-12 then says, 

“And out of one of them (the four horns) came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered.” 

We come to know this character in history as Antiochus Epiphanes IV. He came from one of the four kingdoms, the Seleucids. He rose to power and eventually became king after his father. Not long after, he wanted to impose his Hellenistic ways on all those in his empire. The Jews wanted no part in this. In anger, Antiochus IV Epiphanes sieged Jerusalem, plundered the temple, took away all the sacred vessels, burned all the Holy scriptures he could find, erected a statue of Zeus in the temple and sacrificed pigs to it. Furthermore, he demanded that everyone bow down and worship this statue or else they would be killed. In just three days, he killed over 80,000 people. He was a madman who considered himself to be the incarnation of Zeus. Not only was he a madman, but he was a madman who fit the text. This man, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, perfectly fit the description of this prophecy in Daniel. He serves as a model for what we can expect of the antichrist that is yet to come. Our list has become a bit more specific now.  

1. He must be a king who arises and subdues 3 other kings 

2. He will stand in the temple and claim to be God 

3. He will erect a statue in the temple and demand worship (abomination of desolation) 

4. He will greatly persecute those who refuse to worship for 3 and a half years  

5. He will change the times and laws (Take away daily sacrifices) 

6. God will come and take away his dominion forever 

7. God will reign eternally and give dominion over to the saint 

This is the model Jesus points to in the Olivet Discourse. If Nero does not fit this model, then he simply is not the antichrist. However, we are still not done with this list. The book of Daniel ends with letting us know that knowledge will one day increase and reveal more in regard to this time. The book of Revelation was written well after Jesus’ time. He only pointed back to Daniel. However, we now have the opportunity to point ahead and look through the pages of Revelation to understand even more about this antichrist in greater detail. In Revelation 13:5-8, we have a cross-reference of the description of the antichrist. It says,  

“The beast (antichrist) was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. (3 ½ years) It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.” 

Without giving too much away before we give the analysis, we can already see the widespread influence of this antichrist. Yes, he will stand in the temple and declare himself as God. Yes, he will focus his “ministry” in Jerusalem, but this is a very global authority and influence that he has. “All the inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast.” Revelation 13:11-18 then goes on to describe some sort of sidekick this antichrist has. It says, 

“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. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.” 

There is a lot to be broken down here. A lot of it we will break down more as we analyze Nero’s relation to these standards. In short, we see that the antichrist isn’t alone. He has a hype man, a sidekick, or whatever you want to call him. We tend to understand this as the beast’s false prophet. He will aid in the great deception of the world. What does he deceive the world into doing? He deceives them by demonstrating great power through seemingly miraculous signs, so that the world worships the antichrist as God. To further demonstrate his power, he has the people build a giant statue. It is likely a reflection of Daniel 3, where king Nebuchadnezzar built himself a giant statue and demanded all to worship it or be killed. This image serves as a “type” of what we will see as described in Revelation. The difference is that this false prophet is said to bring the image/statue to life. This image will then demand that the antichrist be worshipped, or else they will be killed. And to mark that you worship the antichrist, it is said that people will be given a mark (something to do with 666) on their hand or forehead, and that no one will be able to buy or sell without this mark. This additional information supplements what we know regarding the antichrist very well. Our completed list of qualifications look like this: 

1. He must be a king who arises and subdues 3 other kings 

2. He will stand in the temple and claim to be God 

3. He + a false prophet will demonstrate great power and deceive the nations 

4. He will erect a statue in the temple and demand worship (abomination of desolation) 

5. The statue/image will be brought to life and order great persecution upon those who refuse to worship the antichrist.   

6. He will change the times and laws (Take away daily sacrifices) + issue a mark on the hand or forehead to control who can buy or sell (666) 

7. God will come and take away his dominion forever 

8. God will reign eternally and give dominion over to the saints 

Quite honestly, it is very hard to take Nero’s case for being the antichrist seriously when looking at this list. He fails in so many areas. I can maybe give him 2 out of the 8 points. There are too many significant deviations from this list. We are going to walk through this list, but in many ways it’s going to feel like we are running through them simply because there’s not much to say. If the shoe doesn’t fit, then the shoe doesn’t fit.  

He must be a king who arises and subdues 3 other kings   

Nero gets half a point here. Yes, he was a “king”. But no, there is zero indication that he subdued 3 other kings. Nero was very young when he rose to power. His uncle adopted him after his father died at an early age and his mother remarried his uncle, Emperor Claudius. This made him the next in line for the throne. Claudius died when Nero was about 16 years old, and he then became emperor. Naturally, he was a very young and immature emperor. Shortly after his uncle Claudius died, Nero feared that his 13-year-old stepbrother may try to challenge his throne, so he plotted with his mother to have him killed. His mother was just as bad. She was power hungry and controlling. The power struggle between she and Nero became so severe that Nero eventually plotted to have her killed as well. There’s 2 “kings” Nero subdued in his rise as emperor, if you want to try to give him some credit towards this point. Otherwise, there is simply not enough reason to believe he fulfills even this first point.  

He + a false prophet will demonstrate great power and deceive the nations   

We are just going down from here. Nero was a foolish man. And also not a very well-liked man. Nero played dress-up for crowds. He never demonstrated incredible signs as described in Revelation, like casting fire down from heaven. He was a source of twisted entertainment for the masses. The only “hype man” you could say he had was a small crowd of people he hired to be his “clappers”. If the audience wasn’t applauding his performance enough for his liking, he had these hired people begin to clap for him. But this was no false prophet. Nero ruled from 54 AD through 68 AD. Towards the end of his reign, people were already discussing who was going to be his successor. Mind you, Nero was only in his 30’s. He didn’t die a natural death. He killed himself. People just saw Halley’s comet in the sky and took it as a sign that his reign was soon to be over. Otherwise, we had no reason to believe that Nero’s reign was soon to be over because he had plenty of life left to live. Roman historian, Tacticus, stated, “As if Nero had already been dethroned, men began to ask who might be his successor.” Nero did not deceive anyone. He was only deceiving himself into thinking that he was liked. People only paid attention to him for the laughs or because he had a sword at their throat. This point just falls flat on its face. Nero undoubtedly fails to fulfill this prophecy. 

He will stand in the temple and claim to be God – He will erect a statue in the temple and demand worship (abomination of desolation) – The statue/image will be brought to life and order great persecution upon those who refuse to worship the antichrist.   

For this next segment I am going to combine points 2, 4 and 5. It will be much easier to bunch these up together and discuss them as a unit. As I mentioned earlier, historians assume that it was Nero who began the great fire in Rome. It burned for almost a week. Nero failed to deflect the blame countless times until he had the grand idea to place the blame upon a small community of Christians living in Rome. This placement worked because Christians worship the one true God and not Nero. Here is where Nero gains his first point. Nero wanted to be worshipped as God. “Aha!” the preterists proclaim! But even this isn’t a very distinguishing mark because ALL the Roman emperors and their families were seen as gods. Nero doesn’t really separate himself from all the other Roman emperors because they all were seen in that way. So lets look at the next point to see if Nero can distinguish himself in that way. It says that he will erect a statue in the temple and demand worship. Does Nero do this? I’m again going to give him half credit. After Rome burned, Nero had the great idea to not rebuild the homes and marketplaces that were lost, but rather, to build a giant complex in his honor. This complex was called the Domus Aurea. Within the vestibule of his Domus Aurea, a statue of himself was erected with the name, “Colossus of Nero”. It is here that Preterists claim Nero fulfills this text. The Domus Aurea consisted of some kind of temple. Therefore, Nero entered this temple, erected a statue of himself, and declared himself as God. Bingo! Not exactly. Based on scripture, the whole reason that this is an abomination of desolation is because it takes place in the temple to which God dwells, in Jerusalem. In 2 Thessalonians 2:4 it says that this man will take “his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God” If there is a temple built somewhere for Baal, you would expect to find a statue or image of Baal in there. That’s where it belongs. A foreign image of a “god” does not belong in the Jewish temple, the temple of God. That’s why the example in Daniel 8, truly demonstrated an abomination of desolation. Antiochus IV Epiphanes entered the temple in Jerusalem. He erected a statue of the Greek god Zeus, and sacrificed pigs to it. THAT was an abomination! Nero did this in Rome. He built his own complex, including his own temple. This isn’t like what we saw in the Old Testament antichrist shadow. Arguably, the shadow was more atrocious. 

It also wasn’t even the first time we saw this in Rome. In 39 AD, Roman Emperor Caligula did something very similar. He ordered that a statue in his image be placed in every house of worship and in the temple. He declared worship of it as he declared himself as God. Nero is no standout in this regard.  

Thirdly, the Colossus of Nero was also never “brought to life” in any sort of way. It was simply destroyed in the year 410 like any other statue during the Sack of Rome. Likewise, that means this statue had no part in the ordering of death sentences to those who refuse to worship Nero. In fact, Nero was already persecuting Christians well before it’s completion. Remember, Nero merely needed a scapegoat to place blame for causing the great fire that destroyed a large portion of Rome. Before the statue was even built, Christians and other suspecting people Nero didn’t like were already getting rounded up to be arrested, thrown to wild beasts, and crucified. That means preterists have an issue with the sequence of events. Every example in scripture models that this man will stand in the temple, erect a statue in his image, demand worship as god, and THEN order the deaths of all those who do not worship. The reason they are persecuted is because they won’t worship the man, not because they were getting blamed for starting a fire well before. In Nero’s case, it just seems that Preterists just want similar elements present, even if they are jumbled around. Details matter! Wrong temple, wrong timing for the events, wrong reasons for the persecution, and no life-giving to the statue. This is simply the wrong antichrist.  

He will change the times and laws (Take away daily sacrifices) + issue a mark on the hand or forehead to control who can buy or sell (666) 

Interestingly enough, Preterists love this point the most. If you don’t have much support for your argument, I guess it makes sense to hype up the few you think you have. The fact of the matter is that Preterists only emphasize half of this point and seem to just gloss over the other half and pretend it’s not there. We are told that this “mark” is a number of a man, and that this number is 666. This is the part that preterists try to emphasize. They twist and bend linguistic rules so that Nero can be tied to 666. But they completely miss the purpose and use of this mark altogether. We will get into the linguistic side of the mark, but we first need to mention the complete disregard for the use of this mark to prohibit buying and selling unless they receive it. Nero never instituted any sort of mark on people’s hands or foreheads figuratively or literally. This part of the mark is completely foreign to Preterist interpretations.  

What they do emphasize, however, is that through the use of gematria (a Hebrew system of attaching numeric values to letters) Nero’s name equals 666. On the surface, this seems pretty significant. However, when you begin to look closer at what you have to do to Nero’s name to manufacture this numerical value of 666, you will begin to realize just how insignificant this truly is.  

Hebrew was not a very common language spoke during this time. Greek and Aramaic were far more common. Greek was the language John wrote the book of Revelation in, and what his primary audience spoke. However, using gematria to work in the favor of Preterists, they have to revert back to using Hebrew with Nero’s name. When you use gematria in Greek, Caesar Nero comes out as 1005. Not quite what the preterists are looking for. So, instead, they convert Nero’s name to Hebrew. But guess what? His name when translated to Hebrew STILL doesn’t add up to 666. So they instead decide to add Nero’s title to his name. Adding a title to the name goes beyond the scope of scripture, which very clearly states that this number is the “name” of this man, not including his title. (Revelation 13:17) Already, this is a bit of a stretch. If that’s not bad enough though, it STILL doesn’t add up to 666 at this point. The normal spelling for “Nero” in Hebrew is קסיר (with a י in it). When spelled in this proper way, “Caesar Nero” adds up to 676 using gematria. Preterists then try to further manufacture the name to make it what they want it to be by dropping the 2^nd letter. They use an abnormal spelling of the name “Nero” which is now spelled, קסר. Oh, wow! Imagine that! Caesar Nero (קסר נרון) equals 666 now! Can you believe that!? Nero is the Antichrist! 

This, without question, is selection bias. There are so many rule changes here to compensate for the complete lack of reason to suggest Nero is the antichrist and that his name equals 666. “First, let’s translate his name because it doesn’t work in the common language. Ug, that doesn’t work. Let’s add his title because his name alone doesn’t work the way we want. Oh, wait. That doesn’t add up either. We are so close though. Let’s just drop a letter and spell the name wrong. Aha! That’s what we were looking for!”  

Ironically enough, with that same standard, we can also get 666 with 2 other Roman emperors. Both Domitian and Vespasian also add up to 666 using this methodology. Their case for antichrist is just as strong as Nero. In fact, Domitian has an abbreviated version of his name and title on all his coins that says Α ΚΑΙ ΔΟΜΕΤ ΣΕΒ ΓΕ. This abbreviated name and title adds up to 666. So again, what makes Nero unique? Absolutely nothing. Preterism is guilty of selection bias and holds to a much too flexible rule to uphold their early antichrist. What good is a lock if any key can open it? In other words, if your flexible methodology opens the door for so many names to add up to 666, then you’ve actually made it harder to determine who the antichrist could be. It makes 666 less significant as a sign. Why bother to mention 666 because it could be bent to be hundreds of names using the flexible methodology preterists use. When the real antichrist comes, it will be obvious. You won’t have to bend the linguistic rules to make it fit. It will be word for word as the text presents it, just like how obvious Antiochus IV Epiphanes was when he fulfilled Daniel 8. Skeptics are blown away with how perfectly he fits the description in every way. They question how Daniel could have possibly been written so long before those events happened. Do you not think it will be just as obvious when the real thing comes, not just the Old Testament shadow?  In hopes to prove their point, preterists have actually diminished the significance of 666. This is no strong point for them.

God will come and take away his dominion forever – God will reign eternally and give dominion over to the saints 

2 Thessalonians 2:8 says,   

 
“And then the lawless one (the antichrist) will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”   

This last point will be fairly straightforward. Paul connects the destruction of the antichrist to the coming of the Lord. As I have mentioned in previous posts, Preterists believe that in 70 AD, when Jerusalem was besieged, this symbolized Christ’s return in judgement over Israel. However, this passage in 2 Thessalonians 2 makes it clear that Christ is returning not to deal with the Jewish people, but to deal with this man who has blasphemed God and greatly persecuted His people. Nothing contextual would lead you to believe that Christ’s return is to punish Israel. Christ is coming to deal with the antichrist, and he will destroy him at his coming. Well, this leaves yet another problem for preterism. Nero was not even alive during 70 AD, when Christ supposedly returned in judgement. And even if he was, he would have been on the wrong side. Preterists say that the Roman army represented Christ’s judgement over Israel. How does this fit the text? The Roman army wouldn’t have taken out Nero, their emperor. How can Rome simultaneously be the antichrist’s kingdom, yet represent God’s judgment? It simply can’t. Nero killed himself 2 years prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. He never stepped a foot there. He never stepped into the temple and declared himself God of the Jews. How was Nero brought to an end by the Lord at His supposed coming in 70 AD? It’s just simply not true. It fails the test of the text time and time again.  

In the following 2 years after Nero’s death, Rome fell into civil war. They had 4 emperors during that time, 2 of which were assassinated. The fourth was a general named Vespatian. It was he who sent the army towards Jerusalem in 70 AD, led by his son, Titus. The last-ditch effort Preterists try to make concerning what the abomination of desolation could be is that the Roman standards were placed in the ruins of the Temple in Jerusalem after Titus won the victory. There’s two rather significant problems with this as well. Number one is simply that Titus is not the antichrist. It is said that the antichrist is the one who commits the abomination of desolation. Where was Nero? Six feet underground. And secondly, this happens well after the tribulation and persecution of Christians. The timeline is all out of order. 

This thing we call Preterism doesn’t belong in our Sunday Schools, it doesn’t belong in our pulpits, and it doesn’t belong in our churches. It needs to be put to rest. I am blown away that an eschatological view that developed during the counter-reformation has managed to grow within a large number of reformed churches and is taught by several “reformed” pastors. I speak just as much against partial preterism as I do full preterism. It doesn’t take prophecy seriously enough. It bends far too many interpretive rules as it tries to just place a surface level blanket over the Olivet Discourse to make itself look believable. But as we proved in this series, as soon as you look below the surface, you realize that it has no roots at all. It’s just empty claim after empty claim. Partial truth after partial truth. White lie after white lie. It wasn’t even until 1831 when the preterist camp decided to crown Nero as their early antichrist. Nero is dead, and his audition for the role of antichrist has been rejected, biblically.  

We look forward for the actual coming of Christ, that will not only be in judgement over the world and the true antichrist but will also be in redemption for the sake of His persecuted people. The antichrist will make this world a living hell for believers in his short rise and reign. But it will not overshadow the beauty and glory of Christ’s coming, where the powers of Satan will not prevail, but be overridden by the Kingdom of our Lord. When that Day comes, God will reign eternally, and dominion will be given to those belonging to Him. What a day that will be! 

Thank you for reading. I pray that this was a blessing to you. I pray that you are encouraged and challenged by these words. God bless you and have a great day!