By understanding the end of ages paradigm of holy covenants and antichrists, we can better discern the times and recognize clues to the final Antichrist’s identity
READ TIME: 6 Minutes
The Ages of Man
Since creation, the time of man has been measured by ages. The 7,000 year time of man is typically broken up into three 2,000 year ages followed by a 1,000 year sabbath millennium. Each one of these ages can be distinguished by the covenants God made with man during that age. You have probably heard of ages such as the Church Age, the Age of Law, or derivations thereof.
But near the end of each age, a rebellious person arises who opposes God’s covenants and tries to stop their fulfillment. Today we know this rebellious spirit as the antichrist spirit. And just like in prior ages, we expect a final antichrist to rise up at the end of this age and make a final stand to keep God’s covenanted promises from His people.
We are currently nearing the end of this third age. We are only a few years away from the 2,000 year anniversary of the start of Jesus’ ministry. Intriguingly, a study of the Dead Sea Scrolls by Ken Johnson places us on the brink of the last jubilee (50-year cycle) of the third age. Between the start and finish of the last 50 years of this jubilee, all prophecies must come to pass, culminating in Jesus’ 1,000-year reign on earth.
By understanding Satan’s purpose for each of these historical antichrists, we will better be able to discern the antichrist spirit in our current times and identify the Antichrist when he arises.
The Ages, the Covenants and Antchrists that Defy Them
The Age of Creation and the First Covenant
The first age is known as the Creation Age. This age starts with God’s creation of the lights in the sky and ends 2,000 years later during the time of Abraham. Nearly as soon as man and woman were created, God made an agreement with them, a covenant of sorts. Known as the Adamic, or Edenic Covenant, this covenant allowed Adam and Eve to eat from every tree of the garden, so long as they did not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. To break this pact would mean death; the end of immortal bodies and eviction from the Garden of Eden.
Shortly after the covenant was made, Satan manifested to interfere with the covenant and tempt the couple to break it. He succeeded, establishing a pattern of Godly covenants and satanic interference to each covenant.
This pattern would be repeated as the next age neared.
A Rebellious Antichrist Prototype Arises
Near the end of the Creation Age, God made another covenant with man. This covenant was made with Abraham and is aptly named the Abrahamic Covenant. As part of this covenant, God promised Abraham land including present-day Israel, and much of the land surrounding it. This land was granted by God to Abraham and his descendants through Isaac as an everlasting possession. He also promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and that through him, all the families of the earth would be blessed (through Jesus).
But this time, Satan, who was smitten for interfering with the first covenant, rose up an avatar; an antichrist figure. This man was called Nimrod. Nimrod was the prototype for rebellious people. His name can be interpreted as “he who made all the people rebellious against God.” This first antichrist is accredited with several feats, including the building of the Tower of Babel.
Nimrod was Satan’s tool to deny the Abrahamic covenant. While we can’t be certain of its historical accuracy, Rabbinical literature states that Nimrod tried to kill Abraham on multiple occasions. Per these writings, Nimrod tried to kill him as a newborn, had him placed in a furnace, and later sent people to kill him.
Through Nimrod, Satan attempted to block God’s covenant with Abraham, thereby cutting off the people of his inheritance, including the promised Messiah.
The Age of Law and the Antichrist Who Nearly Stopped The Covenant
The next age is known as the Age of Law or the Torah Age. It was during this age that God gave Moses the law. In doing so, God entered the Mosaic Covenant. Like the Adamic Covenant, this covenant was conditional upon the Israelites obedience to it. If they followed the law, they would receive its blessings. If they disobeyed the law, God would send chastisements against them, ultimately to bring about repentance. The Israelites repeated patterns of disobedience and restoration many times over this age.
Towards the end of the age, a new antichrist figure rose to power who tried to eliminate the laws including the feasts and sacrifices that went along with them. His name was Antiochus Epiphanes, the king of the Seleucid Empire. Antiochus tried to wipe out the Mosaic Covenant, outlawing Judaism in an attempt to convert the Jews to Hellenistic beliefs. Like Nimrod at the end of the Creation Age, Antiochus Epiphanes tried to cut off God’s covenant by removing the people of the covenant.
Antiochus also fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy of the abomination of desolation, by building a statue of Zeus in the temple and sacrificing a pig in the Holy Place. This is an event that will be repeated in the future according to Jesus and Paul. Largely for this reason, Antiochus is considered a model for the final Antichrist.
But as prophesied by Jeremiah, God would soon make a new covenant with man. The covenant would fulfill the Mosaic Covenant.
Once again, the antichrist spirit arose to stop this covenant from happening.
The Age of Grace and the Antichrist Who Tried to Cut it Off the Covenant
This new covenant would be heralded by the coming Messiah to be born at the end of the age.
The prophesied Messiah would be born through King David’s line as promised through the Davidic covenant. In this covenant, God promised David that his descendants would reign on the throne in Israel, and establish an everlasting kingdom.
And through the Messiah, Jesus Christ, a new covenant would be entered to give a permanent answer to sin and replace the sacrificial system of the Mosaic Covenant.
Once again, an antichrist figure arose to attempt to cut off the promised Messiah: King Herod. Herod appointed himself king under Roman rule and was not of the line of David. But he became aware of the Davidic Covenant and the threat that a promised king would bring. After hearing news of Jesus’ birth, Herod attempted to block the prophesied King by ordering the killing of all the male children under two years old in Bethlehem.
If successful, Satan would have blocked the promise of the Messiah and the new covenant to come. However, God intervened and sent an angel to warn Joseph of Herod’s plan.
The Age of Grace and a Final Antichrist
Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection ushered in the New Covenant and the Age of Grace, or the Church Age. The Mosaic Covenant was fulfilled by the New Covenant and the sacrificial system ended. Two thousand years later, we are now near the end of the Age of Grace.
Satan knows that time is short and he knows that God’s promises and prophecies will come to pass. He knew of the prophesied regathering of the Jews, leading to Messiah’s reign. But before that happened, the antichrist spirit acted through the ascension of a new antichrist – Adolf Hitler.
Hilter attempted to wipe out the Jews before they could be regathered to the promised land as prophesied and promised. This was a direct attempt to forestall the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant, returning them to their land and allowing them to be a blessing to the world.
The antichrist spirit is rising again at the end of this age as evidenced by the signs given by Jesus in Matthew 24, and the related signs of the six seals of Revelation 6. This spirit will manifest in the final Antichrist.
This Antichrist will not just attack one of God’s covenants, but all of them in order.
The Antichrist Will Attempt to Thwart All Covenants
The Abrahamic Covenant
The antichrist spirit is strongly opposing the Abrahamic Covenant; coming against both the people of the covenant as well as their promised land.
In the recent battles between the terrorist group Hamas and Israel, most of the world has chosen Hamas. Their viewpoints are based on lies, propaganda, and distortions of historical facts.
Hamas launched hundreds of rockets into Israel last summer, and Israel responded defensively with anti-missile systems and offensively against Hamas positions and tunnels.
But the views of the world are not driven by an unbiased review of the facts, but by their father, Satan, who has deluded them into anti-Zionism. The people of Israel and their land are connected by God’s covenant. And just as the land is under attack, those attacks overflow to the people.
Antisemitism is once again on the rise and after this summer’s battle with Hamas, it has gotten much worse. According to a survey of 600 American Jews by the anti-Defamation League (ADL), 60% reported witnessing behavior or comments they personally deemed to be anti-Semitic following the violence with Hamas. ADL also reported that last year produced the highest level of antisemitic incidents since they began tracking incidents in 1979.
The Mosaic Covenant
The Mosaic covenant will also be under attack at the end of this age. Paul revealed that the mystery of lawlessness was already at work at that time and will culminate in the man of lawlessness. John also noted this.
While the Mosaic covenant was fulfilled by Christ, both Daniel, 2 Thessalonians, and Revelation indicate that a third temple will exist at the end of this age. And it is impossible not to notice how hard the antichrist spirit is working against this. Though Israel technically has the Temple Mount in its state, the Jews have no right to carry out their traditions on the site.
A recent rise in the tolerance for Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount helped renew hopes for the third temple. However, this has been met by violent outrage by the Palestinians. And after a court ruled that Jews must be allowed to pray unfettered on the site, Palestinian reprisals caused the court to reverse its decision. Hamas called it a “blatant aggression against the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and a clear declaration of a war.”
Clearly, Satan will do anything to stand in the way of a third temple. Its construction will indicate his time is short.
The New Covenant
Satan, the red dragon, will first oppose the Jews after he has been thrown down from heaven (Rev. 12:9). You may wonder if this event has already occurred. We know that he is thrown down sometime after Christ’s resurrection (Rev. 12:5) but before the great tribulation.
That’s a wide gap. When this event occurred/occurs requires some speculation. When Satan no longer has access to heaven, he will no longer be able to accuse the brethren as he did with Peter and Job. It seems to me that Satan continues to accuse the brethren today, so I beleive this event is yet to come.
Once Satan has been thrown down, he will persecute the Jews (Rev. 12:13). But when God protects them in the wilderness for 3 1/2 years, Satan turns his attention to the people of the New Covenant (Rev. 12:17). He will persecute and martyr all who will not deny God and worship him (Rev. 20:4).
Identifying the Antichrist
One of the ways we will recognize the Antichrist is through his works against the covenants of God.
We see this continually in Daniel 11.
- …his heart will be set against the holy covenant, and he will take action (11:28)
- …[he]will return and become enraged at the holy covenant and take action (11:30)
- …he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant (11:30)
He will come against the Jews, their promised land, their laws, and their customs. Then, he will come against the Christians.
Like John and Paul, we can already see the antichrist spirit at work. And it is rising. We are on the precipice of a new age, it is only a matter of time before this final Antichrist comes to power.
See Related Posts:
Judgment: Hurricane Ida & Afghanistan Disasters Connected to Israel’s Land
Could the Attacks on Israel Lead to the Impossible, Fulfilling Temple Mount Prophecies?