Alexander, Antiochus, and the Antichrist, Part 3

By Marv Rosenthal

Read Part 1 Here

Read Part 2 Here

Israel’s Great Apostasy
The career of the coming Antichrist and the plight of the Jewish people are clearly and with divine intention kaleidoscoped in the account of Antiochus Epiphanes and his barbaric treatment of the descendants of the Jewish people in Israel.

In that future day, apostatizing Jews will believe the covenant they are making will bring them protection from the surrounding nations. This is precisely what such Jews thought when they made a covenant with Antiochus Epiphanes, in essence that they would be protected by Antiochus.

In reality, unbeknown to them, that future covenant will be a covenant of death. In fact, it will be Israel’s great apostasy. Not only will it not bring them the safety and peace they seek; it will, in fact, bring the nation to the very threshold of extinction. The Lord Jesus said, “And if those days had not been cut short, no life would have been saved” (Matthew 24:22).

This text is not speaking of universal annihilation. In Matthew 24:15-26, the topic is the abomination of desolation; the location is Israel; the participants are primarily Jewish people; the occasion is “the time of Jacob’s [Israel’s] trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7). It is especially the Jewish people in Israel who would perish if the Great Tribulation were not cut short.

The prophet Isaiah, with sarcasm, wrote of this future covenant Israel will make this way:

Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The gushing flood will not reach us when it passes by, Because we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception” (Isaiah 28:15).

The prophet again spoke of that coming apostasy: “Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the gushing flood passes through, Then you will become its trampling ground” (Isaiah 28:18). The “gushing flood” to which both of these verses ultimately refer and which they will not escape is the Great Tribulation, “the time of Jacob’s trouble.”

This covenant of apostasy into which Israel will enter is spoken of in the imagery of spiritual infidelity and unfaithfulness. How could it be thought otherwise when, in their ultimate day of unfaithfulness, having rejected their true Messiah, they embrace the false messiah?

Behind the door and the doorpost You have set up your sign; Indeed, far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself, And have gone up and made your bed wide. And you have made an agreement for yourself with them, You have loved their bed, You have looked at their manhood. You have journeyed to the king with oil And increased your perfumes; You have sent your messengers a great distance And made them go down to Sheol (Isaiah 57:8-9).

All three texts (Isaiah 28:15, 18; 57:8-9) – in speaking of the covenant Israel will make with the Antichrist (Daniel 9:24-27) – refer to it as a covenant with death. The 70th Week of the Book of Daniel (often erroneously called the Tribulation) is all about the covenant many is Israel will sign with the Antichrist.

For the first 3½ years, Israel will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but they will be securely protected by the Antichrist. At the midpoint of the 7 years, however, the Antichrist will break the covenant with Israel. He will forbid their worship of Yahweh and will desecrate the Temple on Mount Moriah with a statue of himself (this will trigger the Great Tribulation).

The Antichrist will demand the Jewish people bow in reverence to him. This is the “abomination of desolation” of which the Lord warned (Matthew 24:15). Many Jews will refuse and flee for their lives. This period of persecution will be so severe that no (believing) flesh would survive (Matthew 24:22). However, “for the sake of the elect” those days of Great Tribulation will be cut short (amputated).

Of significant importance, please note it is not Daniel’s 70^th Week that is cut short. This 7-year period will run its full course in accordance with Daniel’s prophecy. What is cut short is the Great Tribulation caused by the Antichrist.

This is the period of time which begins at the mid-point of Daniel’s 70^th Week, but does not run its full length to the end of the 70^th Week. It is less than 3½ years in duration. It is shortened by the coming of the Lord at the beginning of the “Day of the Lord” (Matthew 24:29-31).

And when all this has come to pass, God will fulfill His glorious program for humanity. The Lord will come in the clouds, the dead in Christ will be resurrected, living believers will be raptured, the Antichrist will eventually be eternally defeated, and the Millennial (1,000-year) Kingdom will begin (Matthew 24:30-31; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 19:20; 20:10).

Though things will get terribly bad very soon, it will only be for a short time. This will be followed by the wonderful “good” that will endure for eternity. Chin up, believer, your redemption draws near!

Marv Rosenthal, founder and President of Zion’s Hope, was an acclaimed international Bible teacher for almost 6 decades.