(2) The Second Beast and the False Prophet (Rev. xiii, 11-18; xix, 11-21). In these passages we find described a second beast, coming up out of the earth, who is accompanied by (or identical with) "the False Prophet." The following views are from Smith, s. v. : "His characteristics are [1] 'doing great wonders, so that he maketh fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men' (Rev. xiii, 13). This power of miracle-working, we should note, is not attributed by John to the First Beast; but it is one of the chief signs of Paul's Adversary, 'whose coming is with all power, and signs, and lying wonders' (2 Thess. ii, 9). 1 2] 'II e deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which lie had power to do in the sight of the Beast' (Rev. xiii, 14). ' He wrought miracles with which be deceived them that received the mark of the Beast and worshipped the image of tin' Beast' (Rev. xix, 20). In like manner, no special power of beguiling is attributed to the First Beast; but the Adversary is possessed of 'all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved' (2 Thess. ii, 10). [3] He has horns like a lamb, i. e. he bears an outward resemblance to the Messiah
(Rev. xiii, 11) ; and the Adversary sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God (2 Thess. ii, 4). [4] His title is The False Prophet, o yevco-n-potyiiriig (Rev. xvi, 13 ; xix, 20) ; and our Lord, whom Anti- christ counterfeits, is emphatically the Prophet, o Upo(pr]Ti]c. (The ^evdonpocpiirai of Matt, xxiv, 24, are the forerunners of 6 ^rivSoirpo(pi]Tr)c, as John the Baptist of the True Prophet.) It would seem that the Antichrist appears most distinctly in the Book of the Revelation by this Second Beast or the False Prophet, especially in the more general or representative char- acter. He is not, however, necessarily a person, but rather the symbol of some power that should arise, who will all}' itself with a corrupt religion (for the two Apocalyptic beasts are designated as distinct), repre- sent itself as her minister and vindicator (Rev. xiii, 12), compel men by violence to pay reverence to her (xiii, 14), breathe a new life into her decaying frame by his use of the secular arm in her behalf (xiii, 15), forbidding civil rights to those who renounce her au- thority and reject her symbols (xiii, 17), and putting them to death by the sword (xiii, 15)." See Beast. IV. Interpretations. — Who or what is Antichrist? The answers to this question are legion. The EdinA burgh Encyclopaedia (s. v.) enumerates fourteen differ- ent theories, and the list might be greatly enlarged. We give (1) a brief summary of the Scripture testi- mony ; (2) the views of the early Christians ; (3) the views held in the Middle Ages ; (4) from the Reforma- tion to the present time. In this sketch, we make use, to a considerable extent, of the article in Smith's Dic- tionary of the Bible, to which references have already been made.
1. Scripture Teaching. — The sum of Scripture teach- ing with regard to the Antichrist, then, appears to be as follows : Already, in the times of the apostles, there was the mystery of iniquity, the spirit of Antichrist, at work. It embodied itself in various shapes — in the Gnostic heretics of John's days ; in the Jewish impos- tors who preceded the fall of Jerusalem ; in all here- siarchs and unbelievers, especially those whose here- sies had a tendency to deny the incarnation of Christ ; and in the great persecutors who from time to time afflicted the church. But this Antichristian spirit was originally, and is now again diffused ; it has only at times concentrated itself in certain personal or distinct forms of persecution, which may thus be historically enumerated: 1. Antiochus Epiphanes, the consumma- tion of the Hellenizing policy of the Grajco-Sj'rian monarchy, and denoted by the Little Horn and fierce king of Daniel. 2. The apostate Jewish faith, espe- cially in its representatives who opposed Christianity in its early progress, and at length caused the down- fall of the Jewish nation, as represented by the allu- sions in our Saviour's last discourse and in John's epistles. 3. The Roman civil power (the first beast of Revelation) abetting the pagan mythology (the second beast, or false prophet) in its violent attempts to crush Christianity, at first insidious, but finally open, as culminating in Nero and Domitian. It is this phase which seems incipiently alluded to by Paul. All these have again their refullilment (so to speak) in the great apostasy of the papal system. (Compare es- pecially the characteristics of the Second Beaut, above.) There is also dimly foreshadowed some future contest, which shall arouse the same essential elements of hos- tility to divine truth. See Babylon; Gog.
2. Early Christian Vines. — The early Christians looked for Antichrist in a person, not in a polity or sys- tem. "That he would be a man armed with Satanic powers is the opinion of Justin Martyr, A.D. 103 {Died. 371, 20, 21, Thirlbii, 1722); of Irenaeus, A.D. 140 {Op. v, 25, 437, Grabii, 1702); of Tertullian, A.D. 150 (Be Pes. Cam. c. 24 ; Apol. c. 32) ; of Origen, A.D. 184 (Op. i, 667, Delaine, 1733) ; of his contemporary, Hippolvtus (Br Antichristo, 57. Fabricii, Hamburgi, 1716) ; 'of Cyprian, A.D. 250 (Ep. 58 ; Op. 120, Oxon.