ANTI-CHRIST AND LITTLE HORN.
Discourse X.
SECOND DISCOURSE OF THE MONSTER—WHO HE WILL BE AND HIS NAME—HOW HE WILL OBTAIN POWER—TROUBLE FOR GERMANY, FRANCE, AND RUSSIA—COMMUNISM—ROMANISM—SHAKERS—MATTHIAS, WEST—CHESTER PROPHET.
“Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”—2 Thess. ii. 3, 4.
We may reasonably ask why Paul gave the Thessalonians this caution, and the answer will appear at once if we read his first epistle to this people. There you will find Paul writing to them about the second coming of Christ, which writing the Thessalonians had evidently misunderstood, and this misunderstanding was working mischief among them. They had false hopes and expectations. Their faith, instead of exciting them to holy activity in Church and State, had begun to paralyse all their efforts. “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep; for the
Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first (that is, before Christ descends); then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. iv. 15–17). It was the frequent use of the pronoun “we” that had confused them—we who remain, we who are alive. The Thessalonians had inferred from this that the second coming of Christ would take place in their day. Hence, to correct this impression Paul thus writes in his second epistle. The two verses preceding the text show us Paul’s intent. “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” Then comes in the text, “Let no man deceive you,” &c.
In reasoning on such important subjects as Anti-Christ, resurrection, and second coming of Christ, we should always be mindful of the Scriptural order. When we sit down to take dinner, we follow the order that custom has prescribed, soup, fish, meats, and dessert. Children, however, if let alone, would reverse this order by beginning with the dessert first. So with many Christians, they reverse the order of things as laid down in the Bible. They make Christ to come before Anti-Christ, and Anti-Christ to come before the Jews and Ten Lost Tribes are gathered together again and settled after their first estate in Palestine. The Millerites could neither have deceived themselves nor others had they taken knowledge of the relation of things. The Jews and Lost Tribes had not been gathered together then, the temple had not been built in Jerusalem, as described in the last chapter of Ezekiel, neither had Anti-Christ appeared. But such was the folly of men then, and not less now than then. Four-fifths of the prophecies of the Bible refer
to the history of Judah and Israel in their own land, their captivity and return in the latter day. Still men take one-fifth and confuse themselves and everybody else. They have brought the prophets and prophecy into bad repute by ignorantly or wilfully interpreting the same.
We freely avow now that the prophecy fulfilling at present is the finding of the Lost Ten Tribes, then their union with the Jews, then their restoration to Palestine, then after being settled there for some time, the Jews, as Jews, having built their new temple, and having established the Mosaic temple service again, and the Lost Tribes as Christians, then and there we may look for Anti-Christ—not before. Not for the sake of boasting, and yet without fear, we freely invite ministers or laymen anywhere to disprove these facts, and to such we will respond cheerfully if asked for farther proof. The Lost Tribes, we believe, are come to light, and may be found in the Saxon race chiefly as represented in this country and Great Britain. If this be so, then we may look for the preparatory signs in Providence and nations, and thank Heaven, these are at hand and in accord with the Divine Word.
In Nebuchadnezzar’s metallic image we saw Rome symbolised by the legs, composed of iron and clay. We saw, also, that the little stone cut out of the mountain began its destructive assault on the image, by striking the feet; these it would first break, so Rome politically has disappeared. The ten toes, however, symbolised ten kings or kingdoms that were to arise in the latter day, or at the time of the end. These ten kingdoms are also symbolised in Daniel’s dream by ten horns that came out of the head of the nondescript animal that stood for Rome. It is out of one of these ten horns that another little horn grows, having eyes like a man and a mouth speaking great things—that is, Anti-Christ. It is at once plain, then, that ere Anti-Christ can appear, these ten kingdoms must be formed. How, when, and where will these ten kingdoms be formed?
The clay part of Rome is still alive, and is designated by Daniel, and by John in Revelation, under the name of beast; and here you need to be careful, for the word beast is sometimes given to Anti-Christ, so as not to confound it with the word beast when it stands for the Romish Church. They will be formed out of Spain, Italy, France, and part of Austria. Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon in Austria, are to be free—that is, the Poles, Magyars, and Hungarians. The setting up of these ten kingdoms will begin in France by a revolution.