Supplemental Notes - Geneology Of The Antichrist - Chuck Missler

A Personal UPDATE Article Pedigree of the Coming World Leader?

The Genealogy of the Antichrist Waiting in the wings of the forthcoming global turmoil is the Man with a Plan—the one whom the world will welcome to resolve its many problems. The Bible gives us many provocative clues to his identity1, and from many prophetic glimpses his genealogical line may prove to be traceable. Daniel Chapters 7, 8 and 11 describe the career of Alexander the Great and his successors so vividly they constitute some of the most remarkable prophecies in the Bible. We also find that Alexander’s four generals— Lysimachus, Cassander,Ptolemy, and Seleucus—divide the empire after his death just as the passages indicated. 2 As Israel is sandwiched by the subsequent tensions between Ptolemy (Egypt) to the south and Seleucus (Syria) to the north, it is also amazing to note the precision with which Daniel records their respective successors in Chapter 11.3 Antiochus Epiphanes The Seleucid ruler that figures so prominently in Biblical studies is, of course, Antiochus IV, who also adopted the label Epiphanes or Coming One. Committed to crushing Judaism, he outlawed the keeping of the Torah, persecuted the Jews, and confirmed his place in history by having a sow sacrificed on the sacred altar in the Temple in Jerusalem and placing an idol to Zeus inside the Holy of Holies itself. This desecration is known specifically as The Abomination of Desolation. The consequent outrage led to the famed Maccabbean revolt which success fully threw off the yoke of the Greek rulers and ushered in the Hasmonean period of Israel’s history. On the third anniversary of the Temple’s desecration, on the 25th of Kislev, 165 b.c., the Temple was rededicated. This rededication is celebrated to this very day as Hanukkah.4 This historical event took on additional prophetic significance two centuries later when four disciples received a private briefing by Jesus Himself on the Second Coming, in which Jesus alluded to a future reoccurrence of a similar desecration as the key to all end-time prophecy.5 This repetition of the Abomination of Desolation is the central milestone in the middle of the climactic seven-year period comprising the Seventieth Week of Daniel Chapter 9.6 However, as so often occurs in Biblical prophecy, many times the immediate, local application of a passage clearly transcends the context to yield a glimpse of a larger, more climactic application.7 While the passage in Daniel 11--up to verse 35--has clearly been historically fulfilled, verses 36-45 seem to strangely overlap both the career of Antiochus Epiphanes of the past and also the final world ruler, portrayed as the Willful King.8 After the horrible reign of Antiochus IV, the Seleucid line continued under the same title, with Antiochus V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and XIII. The Seleucid dynasty came to an end in 63 b.c. when Pompey declared that Syria would become a Roman province. However, the descendants of the Seleucids continued in importance and became intertwined with the Herodians and the royal houses of Rome.9 The Prince That Shall Come The Coming World Leader—commonly known as the Antichrist—has 33 titles in the Old Testament and 13 in