Dennis Edwards: The Church Fathers knew of and taught that the Second Coming of Christ would be preceded by the period of persecution under the Antichrist. They quoted extensively from Daniel, Matthew 24, 2 Thessalonians 2, and Revelation to make their point. They did not teach a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Let us continue in our study of their thoughts. To return to Part 1 click here.
Hilary of Poitiers A.D. 310 – 367
Hilary was the Bishop of Poitiers (France) sometimes referred to as the “Hammer of the Arians.” Born in a well-to-do pagan family, he studied the Old and New Testament and became a Christian with his wife and daughter. He was elected Bishop by the local people. “Hilary was a firm guardian of the trinity as taught by the western church and therefore saw the foreseen Antichrist in those who repudiated the divinity of the Son and thought Him to be but a created being (the Arians).”[20] Writing on Bible prophecy he said,
“Antichrist, being received by the Jews, will occupy the holy Place, in order that, in the very spot where God was want to be worshipped by the prayers of saints, there he might be venerated and received with divine honours by the unbelievers.”[21]
Hilary’s quote seems to be a reference to Paul’s 2nd Epistle to the Thessalonians where he says,
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (the day of Christ’s coming and our gathering together unto Him), shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” [2nd Thessalonians 2:3-4]
Ambrose was Archbishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century. He was a staunch opponent of Arianism. Augustine of Hippo was converted through his contact with Ambrose.[22] He wrote about the Antichrist coming when Jerusalem shall be compassed with armies,
“Truly ye shall see Jerusalem compassed by an army, and stormed by a Roman general; whence the Jews thought the abomination of desolation was set up when the Romans, mocking the Jewish cerimonial, threw a swine’s head into the Temple. With which I am not so mad as to agree – for the abomination of desolation is the abominable advent of Antichrist who with ill omend sacrilege will defile the inner chambers of men’s minds, and will moreover sit literally in the Temple, usurping the throne of Divine power…. then will come desolation, seeing that most will fall away from true religion, and lapse into error. Then will come the Day of the Lord.”
Ambose in the first section is clarifying that we will yet see Jerusalem compassed by an army. He does not agree with the Jews who say this prophecy was finally fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes before the time of Christ who threw a swine’s head into the temple in Jerusalem.[1 Maccabees 1 ] He believes we will yet see Antichrist sitting in the Temple as God, usurping God’s power which will bring on desolation as most of mankind will have fallen away from faith into unbelief. The results will be the Day of the Lord which signifies Christ’s return to save His own and then destroy the Antichrist and false prophet during the Battle of Armageddon. We have seen these events in the Scriptures already, so what Ambrose is saying is Scriptural.
“These thing we teach, not inventing them for ourselves, but learning them from the divine canonical Scriptures, and especially from Daniel. Even as Gabriel the Archangel interpreted, saying, that the fourth Beast should be the fourth Empire on the earth, and should surpass all the Empires that had gone before.[Daniel 7:23] I have already said, that ecclesiatical writers have delivered down, that this Empire is Rome. For after the Assyrian Empire had risen into distinction first – second, that of the Medes and Persians – third, that of the Macedonians – the fourth Empire, which at present exists, is that of the Romans. Gabriel procedes to explain, that its ten horns are ten kings who shall arise: and after them, shall arise another king, who shall exceed in evil all that have gone before – not only the ten, but all who have proceded; and he shall subdue three kings[Daniel 7:24]….And who this person is, and from what energy he acts, do thou, O Paul, signify. ‘Whose coming,’ he says, ‘is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and deceiving wonders,’[2nd Thessalonians 2:9] intinating this, that Satan uses this person as an instrument, personally acting in him. Again, the Apostle says; ‘Who opposes and exalts himself against every thing that is called God, or that is worshipped….so that he seats himself in the Temple of God.’[2nd Thessalonians 2:4] – What Temple? – The destroyed Temple of the Jews. God forbid it should be that in which we are. Why do I say this? I tell the reason, in order that I may not be thought to be showing favour to ourselves. If he comes to the Jews as Christ, and desires to be worshipped by the Jews, in order that he might the better deceive them, he will be most diligent about the Temple, thus causing it to be thought that he is of the family of David, the one destined to raise the Temple of Solomon….At first he will assune the appearance of philanthropy[Daniel 11:24] – but afterwards, will show himself full of stern severity, especially towards the saints of God; for he says, ‘I beheld, and that horn made war with the saints,’[Revelation 13:7 and Daniel 8:24] etc – and again, ‘There shall be a time of tribulation – tribulation such has not been, since the time there was a nation upon the earth.’[Daniel 12:1 and Matthew 24:21] On this account, the Lord knowing the mightiness of the adversary, gives permission to the godly, saying, ‘Then let those who are in Judea, flee,’[Matthew 24:16] etc….but thanks be to God who has circumscribed the greatness of the affliction within the compass of a few days – for He says, that ‘for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.’[Matthew 24:22] Antichrist shall reign three and a half years only. I say not this from the Apocryphal writings, but from Daniel; for he says, ‘and it shall be given into his hand until a time, times, and half a time,’[Daniel 7:25, 12:7] etc – now a time is one year.”[24]
Cyril emphasizes that his ideas on Bible prophecy didn’t come from the Apocryphal books, which were considered good or interesting literature, but not Divine Scriptures. His ideas come from the book of Daniel which was part of the Jewish Old Testament and therefore, Sacred Scripture.
Cyril seems to speculate that the Antichrist will rebuild the Temple of Solomon. Apostle Paul’s writings to the Thessalonians indicate the Antichrist will sit in the Temple of God. What or where that Temple will be, we don’t know for sure. But both in Daniel 8:11 and Daniel 11:31 are indications that the Antichrist will stop the “daily sacrífice.” If there is a “daily Sacrifice” then there must be a Temple in which to sacrífice. Let’s read the two verses from Daniel:
“Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrífice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary cast down.”
“And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrífice, and they shall place the abomination that makes desolate.”
Cyril is therefore placing the fulfillment of these Scripture in the future which causes him to speculate that a Temple will be built by the Antichrist to please and deceive the Jews, who are anticipating that the Messiah will rebuild the Temple. Some modern day eschatology scholars both Christian and Jewish agree that new Temple needs to be built. The Temple Institute in Jerusalem is working toward that very end.
John was Archbishop of Constantinople and an important Early Church Father. He is known for his preaching and public speaking and his denunciation of abuse of authority by church and political leaders. He was one of the most prolific authors of the early Church, exceeded only by Augustine of Hippo in the quantity of his surviving writings. He was a hermit for two years which damaged his stomach and kidneys. His straightforward understanding of the Scriptures meant that the themes of his talks were practical, explaining the Bible’s application to everyday life. He founded a series of hospitals in Constantinople to care for the poor.[25] Speaking on the Antichrist he wrote,
“He is called a son of perdiction, because he himself will perish. And who is he? Satan? By no means; but a certain man, receiving all the operation of Satan. There shall be revealed, it says, the man who will be extolled above all that is called God, or that is made an object of worship. For he will not incite men to worship idols, but it will be himself as Antitheos. He will put down all gods, and command men to worship him as the very God. And he will sit in the Temple of God; not only that which is in Jerusalem, but in the churches everywhere.”[26]
Of course, the above quote is another example of the Church Father’s quoting from Apostle Paul’s 2nd Epistle to the Thessalonians chapter 2, again, perfectly scriptural.
“Therefore let us say, that which all ecclesiatical writers have delivered, that at the end of the world, when the kingdom of the Romans is to be destroyed, there will be ten kings to divide the Roman world amongst themselves, and that there will arise an eleventh, a very little king who will overcome three of the ten kings,….after the destruction of which kings, the seven other kings will submit their necks to the conqueror.[Daniel 7:24] And behold, he says, there were eyes like the eyes of a man in that horn.[Daniel 7:8] Let us not think, according to the opinions of some, that he is either a devil or a demon, but one from among men, in whom the whole of Satan is about to dwell bodily. And a mouth speaking great things: for he is the man of sin, the son of perdition, so as to sit in the Temple of God, showing that he is God.[2nd thessalonians 2:4]”[28]
“’I beheld on account of the great words that the horn spake,’ etc. The judgment of God comes to crush pride: therefore the Roman Empire will be blotted out, because that horn spake great things[Daniel 7:25]….Time signifies a year, times (according to the idiom of the Hebrews, who themselves have a dual number) signify two years – half a time, six months; during which period, the saints are to be given over to Antichrist[Daniel 7:25], that the Jews might be condemned, who, not believing the truth, have taken up with a lie. Concerning which period also the Saviour speaks in the Gospel, ‘Unless those days were shortened there should no flesh be saved.’[Matthew 24:21]”[29]
Concerning Antiochus Epiphanes (175 – 164 B.C.) who violated the Temple and placed an abomination there prior to the time of Christ, Jerome wrote,
“Most of our people refer it to Antichrist and say, that what was done under Antiochus (IV) in type is to be fulfilled under the other in reality.”
Augustine’s mother was Christian and his father a pagan who converted on his deathbed. They were a highly Romanized Berber family that spoke Latin at home. As a youth he fell away from the faith of his mother and for a time led a hedonistic lifesytle. However, he was a brilliant student, except in Greek, and eventually obtained a job in Milan as a professor of Rhetoric. It was in Milan that Augustine came in contact with Ambrose whose good example led Augustine to accept Christianity. Augustine said it was Ambrose’s friendliness that attracted him as he was not expecting to find the truth in Christianity. Augustine was the most famous of the Church fathers and wrote extensively. He made the following comment on 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2:
“No one doubts that the Apostle said these things of Antichrist; and that the day of judgment, which he here calls the Day of the Lord, will not come, unless he, whom he calls an apostate, that is to say, from the Lord God, shall first come….But in what Temple of God he is about to sit is uncertain; whether in that ruined Temple, which was constructed by Solomon, or in the Church: for the Apostle would not call the temple of any idol or demon – the Temple of God.”
Often prophecy is not understood until after the fact.
We see Augustine was trying to figure out what the Scripture meant by “sitting in the temple of God.” Scripture tends to be better understood as it becomes fulfilled. The disciples of Jesus didn’t understand the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus until he opened up the minds of their reasoning “after the fact.” We read in Luke the story of the two disciples travelling to a small town outsider of Jerusalem on the third day after His death. Jesus in disguise walks and talks with them. Luke records the event,
“Then he (Jesus) said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself….And they said one to another, Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures.”[Luke 24:25-27, 32.]
Even Daniel didn’t understand the prophecies he receieved until God revealed unto him what they meant. In Daniel 12, his last chapter of prophecy, the Lord twice tells Daniel not to worry if he doesn’t understand what he’s writing, because the words were not for him, but for the future and would be sealed until the time of the end.
“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end….for the words are closed up and sealed til the time of the end.”[Daniel 12:4ª, 12:9b]
Even Isaac Newton tried to forgive out what the prophecies in Daniel meant, but without much success. We living today have a better chance at understanding the prophecies, because we are living closer to their fulfillment. God will open up our eyes as the events come upon us and as He wills. He has told us that he will do nothing but he reveal it to His servants the prophets.[Amos 3:7] But it behooves us to be attentive and search the Scriptures daily, whether these things are so.[Acts 17:11]
“Augustine speaks of the four Empires mentioned in Daniel, as being those of Assyria, Persia, Macedon, and Rome; and refers to the commentary of Jerome on Daniel as a book which he highly approved. He adds that it is impossible for any one to read Daniel in the most careless manner, without seeing that the reign of Antichrist, although brief, will be most fierce against the Church. He interprets the time, times, and half of times as meaning three years and a half, and speaks of the unequalled season of tribulation as future.”[30a]
Reading again from Bible commentator B.W. Newton, we see that Theodoret continues with the same manner of interpretation as those before him.
“Theodoret, like those who have preceded, explains the metals of the second chapter, and the beasts of the seventh, as referring to the four successive empires of Assyria, Persia, Greece and Rome. Speaking of the little horn in the seventh chapter, he says that the prophet thereby indicates Antichrist. He supposes that it is called little, because Antichrist will arise from a little tribe of the Jews. He quotes and supplies the 2nd Thessolonians 2 in the same way as the (early) writers quoted. He forcibly describes his (the Antichrist’s) violent persecution of the saints, and says that they are to be delivered into his hands for three years and a half, at the end of which time he will be destroyed by the personal appearing of the Lord Jesus.”[31]
“In his commentary on the eleventh of Daniel, he explains the prophecy respecting the vile person,[Daniel 11:21] of Antiochus Epiphanes (175 – 164 B.C.) -- considers that those who are described as strong and doing exploits in the 32nd verse, are the Maccabees[1 Maccabees 1] – and thinks that Antichrist is not mentioned in that chapter until the 36th verse, as “the king who shall do according to his will.” After speaking of Antiochus Epiphanes, the prophet passes from the likeness to the antitype; for the Antichrist is the antitype of Antiochus (IV), and Antiochus the likeness of Antichrist. He then quotes the 2nd Thessalonians 2, and the words of our Lord in Matthew respecting the unequalled tribulation, and supplies them to the period of Antichrist.”[32]
“Concerning the end of the world, I believe what I have learnt from those who have gone before me. Antichrist will assume circumcision, asserting himself to be the Christ. He will then place a statue to be worshipped in the Temple at Jerusalem [Revelation 13:14], as we read that our Lord said, ‘Ye shall see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.´[Matthew 24:15]”[33]
Gregory’s conclusion seem similar to those who went before him just as he said. Like the others, he confirms that the ultimate fulfillment of Jesus’s mention of the “abomination of desolation” from the book of Daniel is still a future event.
“And because the persecution will be most cruel at Jerusalem, therefore the martyrdoms of the saints are spoken of as being there: for the Jews will be the principle adherents of Antichrist, until they who are to be saved among them are converted by the preaching of Elias and Enoch (the Two Endtime Witnesses – Revelation 11).[35]
The following quote was recorded by Roger of Hoveden who lived during the reign of Henry II of England. Richard supposedly met a certain famous abbot in Sicily on his way to Palestine during his Crusade. Richard disagreed with the abbot’s wild biblical speculations and said,
“I thought that Antichrist would be born at Antioch, or at Babylon from the family of Dan, and would reign in the Temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, and would walk in the land in which Christ walked, and reign in it for three years and a half, and contend against Elias and Enoch (the two end-time witnesses), and would kill them, and afterwards himself perish.”[36]
Of course, King Richard the Lion-Hearted was not one of the Church Fathers, but he has been included to show that some knowledge of Bible Prophecy concerning the Antichrist was common to the educated and ruling class. The Church Fathers knew of and taught that the Second Coming of Christ would be preceded by a period of persecution under the Antichrist. They quoted extensively from Daniel, the Gospel of Matthew chapter 24, 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2, and Revelation to make their point. We would do well to not ignore their warnings.
I would like to give a special thanks to the writings of Benjamin Wills Newton where I found many of the above quotes. If you are interested in his writings they can be found at https://www.sgat.org/
References:
[20] Wikipedia Hilary of Poitiers
[21] Hilary on Matthew 24, as cited by B.W. Newton, “The Prospects of the Ten Kingdoms,” p.382.
[22] Wikipedia Ambrose
[23] Wikipedia Cyril
[25] Wikipedia John Chrysostom
[26] Chrysostom, as cited by B.W. Newton, “The Prospects of the Ten Kingdoms,” p.387.
[27] Wikipedia Jerome
[29] Jerome, cited by B.W. Newton, “Prospects of the Ten Kingdoms,” p.388
[30] Augustine, The City of God, book 20 chapter 19 and 23, as quoted by B.W.Newton, “Prospects of the Ten Kingdoms,” p.390.
[30a] Augustine, The City of God, book 20 chapter 19 and 23, as quoted by B.W.Newton, “Prospects of the Ten Kingdoms,” p.390.
[36] King Richard of England, as recodred by Hoveden, as cited by B.W. Newton, “Prospects of the Ten Kingdoms,” p.396.
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