PRE-TRIBULATIONAL PREMILLENARIANS & CONFUSED FRIENDS THE ANTI-CHRIST IS NOT JEWISH!
Pre-tribulational/Premillenarians are utterly convinced that the future Antichrist/Beast, including the False Prophet are Jewish! Their writings (e.g., F. W. Grant, Harry Ironside, Ray Stedman, etc.) boldly declare the “Jewishness” of the future Antichrist coming out of the Middle East—taking obscure passages from both Testaments to confirm the worst suspicions of the modern Jewish community: Evangelicals are ostensibly anti-Semitic!
An example of these prolific convictions in print is taken from the beloved Harry A. Ironside’s Lectures on the Revelation, P. 249:
“First: The Antichrist must be a Jew, otherwise he would not be owned by Israel as their Messiah.
“Second: He is to rise up in the land of Palestine, not in Italy; in Jerusalem, not in Rome (nor Roman Empire areas).
“Third: He is to be subject to, and in league with, the civil power; not dominating it, as the papacy did for centuries.
“Fourth: He is to be acknowledged by the mass of the Jews as their king and religious leader, and it is well-known that the Jews have never owed the pretensions of the popes.
“Fifth: He is to be the patron of Israel, whereas the Roman Church has ever been their persecutor.”
Indeed, Ironside embarrassingly appears anti-Semitic when he states on p. 244 of the same text:
“He (i.e., the False Prophet/Second Beast) is, you see, the viceregent of the first Beast; and this first Beast, whom the world recognizes as a god (in the sense, of course, in which it recognized the Caesars of old as gods), is the master whom he enriches with Jewish wealth.” (Emphasis DWK)
IF ANTICHRIST IS NOT JEWISH—THEN WHAT IS HE?
These same Premillenarian brethren completely overlook the Gentile-Roman character of Antichrist, seen in the proto-type of Antiochus Epiphanes (Daniel 7). They see no connection between the “younger” – Roman “horn” of Daniel 7:20 (which arose from the 10 horns) -- and the Greco character of that “younger horn” seen in Daniel 8:9-14 (“And out of one of them (the four horns of Alexander the Great’s Empire) came a “little horn” which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land,” etc.) and that horn’s connection to “the prince who is to come” of Daniel 9:26.
Thusly, the Antichrist in Daniel 7 is ROMAN and in Daniel 8 he is also clearly GRECO —the leader of GRECO-ROMAN CIVILIZATION —or WESTERN CIVILIZATION.
THE PRINCE WHO IS TO COME—IS NOT TITUS OF ROME!
It was “the people of the prince” who destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. under the Roman General Titus; however, though Titus (WHO WAS NOT JEWISH) prefigured “the prince who is to come” – Titus was NOT that “prince.”
The PEOPLE of the prince who is to come destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. The “prince” referred to in Daniel 9:26-27 is the prince who confirms (or enforces) “a covenant” (not THE Covenant (i.e., the “New Covenant”)—there is no “definite article ‘the’ in the Hebrew in front of “covenant”) with Israel at the commencement of the 70th Week of Daniel’s prophecy.
This is the “prince” (i.e., the Antichrist/Beast) who shall “break his covenant with Israel” in the middle of the week (this covenant is NOT the “everlasting covenant” for it is broken in such a brief time frame—the New Covenant has NO BREAKAGE—Israel of the flesh (those “blinded in part” according to Romans 11:7) rejected the initial presentation of the New Covenant but Yahwshua’s offer stands firm!).
Furthermore, all Jews and Gentiles who embrace Yahwshua as Messiah and Savior today partake of the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant now! Israel’s future NATIONAL SALVATION (Zechariah 12:10; 14:8-9), initiates for National Israel her salvation and the affirmations of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and its spiritual blessings. Furthermore, the “Gentile-Greco-Roman” character of Antichrist is substantiated in Daniel 11:40-45:
“At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him (Antichrist); and the king of the North shall come against him (Antichrist) like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he (Antichrist) shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He (Antichrist) shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown . . . he (Antichrist) shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He (Antichrist) shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. But news from the east and the north shall trouble him (Antichrist); therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. And he (Antichrist) shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him” (Note: This refers to Antichrist’s final defeat at the Second Advent).
All this to say that the passages in reference to Antichrist found in Daniel 7, Daniel 8, Daniel 9 and spoken of in Daniel chapters 10 through 12 (especially in reference to the Gog-Magog War quoted above) do not in any way, shape or form, depict this horrid being of the end of days having anything whatsoever to do with being a Jew!
However, Antichrist in every way, shape and form has everything to do with being a Gentile, the leader of the Western World—the Greco-Roman World of Western Civilization—the final manifestation, the YOUNGER HORN—which arose from the ten horns of both Daniel 7 and Revelation 13!
There are further Scriptural proofs top support this in a deeper study but we shall cover them in a separate message.