Signs of the Times (17)

The Abomination of Desolation

 

The sign of the “abomination of desolation” is one of the clearest signs of the coming of Christ. It is spoken of in other places in Scripture as well as in the prophecy of Daniel. In this letter to you I want to point out some of these places and show you how they are related to the sign Jesus mentions in Matthew 24:15.

            The sign of the abomination of desolation is the sign of the Antichrist. And the Antichrist is spoken of in other places in Scripture. The apostle John tells us: “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time“ (I John 2:18).

            John refers in this text the same spirit and principle of activity (hatred of and  opposition to God) that one will find in Antichrist and is always to be found in the world. He makes that point more clearly in I John 4:1-3: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

            That “Jesus Christ is come into the world” is denied in different ways – also in our day. John uses the names “Jesus” and “Christ” very consciously. The name “Jesus” means “Jehovah salvation. It means that all salvation is deliverance from sin and the inheritance of heaven and is brought to us by Christ alone. That is, man himself can never call himself “Jesus,” for he can make no contribution to his salvation.

            The name “Christ” is our Lord’s title. It means that Jesus is eternally appointed to be our only Prophet, Priest and King. He alone reveals God’s works – as a prophet must do. He alone made the perfect sacrifice for sin – as old dispensational priests did typically. (Note that Roman Catholics have “priests who make the sacrifice of the mass.”) Christ is the sovereign King who alone rules over all nations, kingdoms and powers.

            Anyone who denies these truths is “of antichrist.”

            Antichrist is therefore, any one who denies that the eternal Son of God, the second person of the holy trinity, was born of a virgin, united the divine nature with the human, and was like us in all things except our sin.

            This is the reason why all Arminianism and Pelagianism are the beginning of Modernism. Arminianism and Pelagianism deny that Christ alone saves. Sooner or later, those who hold to this error slip deeper into heresy and presently deny that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin as the eternal Son of God, lived among us, died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice to pay for all the sins of the elect, rose again from the grave, and is now in heaven crowned with glory and honor as King of kings and Lord of lords, whom we worship and serve.

            There are many churches here in America who began as solidly Biblical churches, faithful to the Westminster creeds and the creeds of the Reformed Churches, who in time adopted Arminian views and who now keep in their churches men and theologians who deny all the fundamental doctrines of the faith.

            Antichrist when he comes will also deny all these truths that the church holds precious.

            There were kingdoms in the world who were prefigures of the kingdom of Antichrist. They are all pictured in the image of which Nebuchadnezzar dreamt and that is described in Daniel 2. (It would be well for you to read that chapter for your devotions.) The Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar, that brought Judah into captivity and destroyed the church, was pictured in the head of gold.

            The Medo-Persian empire that destroyed Babylon (Daniel 5:30-31) is the chest and abdomen of the image. It too was a world-wide kingdom. It was followed in turn by the kingdom of the Greeks, which came to power under Alexander the Great and conquered Palestine. It is pictured in the thighs and lower abdomen as thighs of brass.

            The Greek world-wide empire was followed by that of Rome, whose legions conquered the whole known world and put into place the so-called Pax Romana (The Roman Peace). This empire was pictured in Nebuchadnezzar’s image in the legs of Iron.

            The feet of iron and clay refer to the final antichristian kingdom that is partly strong and partly weak. This combination is due to the fact that its strength is as great as that of the Roman empire, but it unites to itself Gog and Magog, nations basically filled with hate against Western countries; just as Muslim countries are full of hatred for the West today.

            The rock that is cut out of the mountain without hands and smashes the whole image of Nebuchadnezzar is the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, which smashes all the antichristian kingdoms. It then fills the whole earth, for it is a kingdom that brings with it a new heavens and a new earth.

            The point to remember is that all these kingdoms were world-wide kingdoms. The Antichrist will also rule a world-wide kingdom that shall include in it all nations. It shall truly be universal. The League of Nations and now the United Nations are the beginnings of this world-wide kingdom. And all union of nations, such as the European Union (EU) are movements that help lead to the antichristian kingdom.

            These same kingdoms that are a part of the image of Nebuchadnezzar are almost the same nations of which mention is made in Revelation 17:10. The five that are fallen are, counting backwards: Greece, Persia, Babylon and probably Assyria and Babel. The one “that now is” refers, of course, to Rome. And the one “yet to come” is the final kingdom of Antichrist.

            Rome was closest to the final Antichrist. Rome brought universal peace; Rome ruled the entire world. Rome persecuted the church.  But Rome was also a real antichristian kingdom. Since Rome fell, there have been no universal kingdoms, for it is the period in which God gathers his church, something which could not happen if the church was persecuted throughout that whole period.

            So we learn from this that the kingdom of Antichrist will be a universal kingdom of peace – but in which the church shall be persecuted. And just as Babel had its Nimrod, Assyria its Shalmanezer, Babylon its Nebuchadnezzar, Persia its Cyrus and Darius, Rome its Caesar Augustus, so also shall the final antichristian kingdom have its king.

            We shall look at a few more Scriptures next time, God willing.

Prof. Herman Hanko