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The
Early Fathers predicted the rise to power of an
apostate system, after the fall of the Roman
Empire.
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IRENAEUS INTERPRETS DANIEL 2
’Daniel also says particularly, that the end
of the fourth kingdom consists in the toes
of the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar, upon
which came the stone cut out without hands;
and as he does himself say:
"The feet were indeed the one part iron, the
other part clay, until the stone was cut out
without hands, and struck the image upon the
iron and clay feet, and dashed them into pieces,
even to the end."
…
The ten toes, therefore, are these ten kings,
among whom the kingdom shall be partitioned,
of whom some indeed shall be strong and active,
or energetic; others, again, shall be sluggish
and useless, and shall not agree; as also
Daniel says: "Some part of the kingdom shall
be strong, and part shall be broken from it.”’
Irenaeus, ‘Against Heresies', Book
V, chapter 26, section 1, 185 AD
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IRENAEUS INTERPRETS DANIEL 7
'Daniel too, looking forward to the end
of the last kingdom, i.e., the ten last kings,
amongst whom the kingdom of those men shall
be partitioned, and upon whom the son of perdition
shall come, declares that ten horns shall
spring from the beast, and that another little
horn shall arise in the midst of them, and
that three of the former shall be rooted up
before his face.
He says: "And, behold, eyes were in this horn
as the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking
great things, and his look was more stout
than his fellows. I was looking, and this
horn made war against the saints, and prevailed
against them, until the Ancient of days came
and gave judgment to the saints of the most
high God, and the time came, and the saints
obtained the kingdom.“’
Irenaeus, ‘Against Heresies', Book V,
chapter 25, section 3, 185 AD
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IRENAEUS INTERPRETS REVELATION 13
'In a still clearer light, John, in the
Apocalypse, indicated to the Lord's Disciples
what shall happen in the last times - and
concerning the ten kings who shall then arise,
among whom the Empire which now rules, shall
be partitioned. He teaches us what the ten
horns shall be which were seen by Daniel -
telling us that thus it had been said to him:
“And the ten horns which you saw, are ten
kings who have received no kingdom as yet.
But they shall receive power, as if
kings, one hour with the beast”…’
Irenaeus, ‘Against Heresies', Book V,
chapter 26, section 1, 185 AD
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HIPPOLYTUS INTERPRETS DANIEL 2
'In those times, the Babylonians were
sovereign over all; and these were the golden
head of the image.
And then, after them, the Persians held the
supremacy for 345 years; and they were represented
by the silver.
Then the Greeks had the supremacy, beginning
with Alexander of Macedon, for 300 years -
so that they were the brass.
After them came the Romans, who were the iron
legs of the image. For they were strong
as iron.
Then the toes of clay and iron, to signify
the democracies that were subsequently to
rise - partitioned among the ten toes of the
image, in which iron shall be mixed with clay...’
Hippolytus, 'Scholia on Daniel'
Book III, chapter 2 section 31, 200 AD
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HIPPOLYTUS INTERPRETS DANIEL 7
'Then he says: "A fourth beast, dreadful
and terrible; it had iron teeth and claws
of brass." And who are these but the Romans?
which is meant by the iron - the kingdom which
is now established; for the legs of that [image]
were of iron.
And after this, what remains, beloved, but
the toes of the feet of the image, in which
part is iron and part clay, mixed together?
And mystically by the toes of the feet he
meant the kings who are to arise from among
them; as Daniel also says, "I considered the
beast, and lo there were ten horns behind
it, among which shall rise another, an offshoot,
and shall pluck up by the roots the three
before it.“’
Hippolytus, ‘Treatise on Christ and Antichrist’,
paragraph 25, 200 AD
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HIPPOLYTUS INTERPRETS REVELATION 13
'John then speaks thus:
'And I beheld another Beast coming up
out of the Earth. And he had two horns like
a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon'...
The words 'he exercised all the power
of the First Beast before him'... signify
that, after the manner of the law of Augustus
by whom the Empire of Rome was established,
he too will rule and govern sanctioning everything
by it and taking greater glory to himself.
For this is the Fourth Beast whose head was
wounded and healed again...
'Then he {Antichrist} shall with knavish
skill heal... and restore it.’
Hippolytus, ‘Treatise on Christ and AntiChrist’,
sections 48-49, 200 AD
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SEVERUS INTERPRETS DANIEL 2
‘The golden head is the empire of the Chaldaeans;
for we have understood that it was the first
and wealthiest.
The breast and the arms of silver represent
the second kingdom; for Cyrus, after the Chaldaeans
and the Medes were conquered, conferred the
empire on the Persians.
In the brazen belly it is said that the third
sovereignty was indicated; and we see that
this was fulfilled, for Alexander took the
empire from the Persians, and won the sovereignty
for the Macedonians.
The iron legs point to a fourth power, and
that is understood of the Roman empire, which
is more powerful than all the kingdoms which
were before it. But the fact that the
feet were partly of iron and partly clay,
indicates that the Roman empire is to be divided,
so as never to be united.’
Sulpicius Severus,’Sacred History’ Book
2, chapter 3, 401 AD
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JEROME INTERPRETS DANIEL 2
‘The fourth {kingdom} which holds the city
of the World, is the empire of the Romans…’
Jerome, ‘Commentary on Daniel’, chapter
2 section 38, 320 - 420 AD
‘My mind is refreshed, and for the present
forgets the woeful calamities that this last
age labours with, groaning and travailing
in pain, till he who hinders, be taken out
of the way, and the feet of the iron statue
be broken to pieces by reason of the brittleness
of the clayey toes.’
Jerome, ‘Commentary on Ezekiel’, book 8,
preface, 320 - 420 AD
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JEROME INTERPRETS DANIEL 7
‘Let us therefore affirm, agreeably
to the concurrent judgment of all ecclesiastical
writers, that in the consummation of the world,
when the Roman Empire is to be destroyed,
there shall arise ten kings, who shall share
the Roman world among themselves, and that
an eleventh king (the little horn in Dan.
vii.) shall arise, who shall subdue three
of those ten kings…’
Jerome, ‘Commentary on Daniel’, chapter
7 section 20, 320 - 420 AD
‘”that which restrains” - is the Roman empire.
For unless it shall have been destroyed and
taken out of the midst - according to the
Prophet Daniel, Anti-Christ will not come
before that.’
Jerome, ‘Commentary on Jeremiah’, chapter
5 section 25, 320 - 420 AD
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SUMMARY OF PREDICTIONS MADE 185 - 401 AD
- Irenaeus and Hippolytus predicted accurately the
disintegration of the Roman empire into the iron
and clay fragments almost 300 years before the destruction
of 476 AD concluded that fragmentation
- Irenaeus and Hippolytus predicted accurately that
the AntiChrist would emerge from within the Roman
system as an apostate individual promoting an apostate
religious system
- Hippolytus predicted accurately that imperial
Rome would suffer a ‘deadly wound’, from which it
would then recover, after which AntiChrist would
come to power
- Severus supported the same interpretation some
200 years afterwards, and Jerome insisted that it
was coming to pass at the time of his writing, shortly
after Severus
THE COMING OF THE MAN OF SIN TO POWER
Description of The Man of Sin - 2 Thessalonians
2:3-8
- An apostate (verse 3)
- A man of sin (verse 3)
- Will oppose and exalt himself above God (verse
4)
- Will lay claim to Divine authority (verse 4)
- Part of a lawless apostasy which already exists
(verses 4-6)
- Restrained from being revealed in power until
a later time (verse 5)
- Not in power until that which restrains is taken
away (verses 6-7)
- Will be destroyed by Christ at his Second Advent
(verse 8)
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IRENAEUS PREDICTS ANTICHRIST
‘And again, in the Second to the Thessalonians,
speaking of Antichrist, he says, "And then
shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord
Jesus Christ shall slay with the Spirit of
His mouth…”’
Irenaeus, 'Against Heresies' Book
III, chapter 7, section 2, 185 AD
‘And not only by the particulars already mentioned,
but also by means of the events which shall
occur in the time of Antichrist is it shown
that he, being an apostate and a robber, is
anxious to be adored as God; and that, although
a mere slave, he wishes himself to be proclaimed
as a king.
For he being endued with all the power of
the devil, shall come, not as a righteous
king, nor as a legitimate king, in subjection
to God, but an impious, unjust, and lawless
one; as an apostate, iniquitous and murderous;
as a robber…’
Irenaeus, 'Against Heresies' Book
V, chapter 25, section 1, 185 AD
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TERTULLIAN PREDICTS ANTICHRIST
’”For that day shall not come, unless indeed
there first come a falling away," he means
indeed of this present empire, "and that man
of sin be revealed," that is to say, Antichrist,
"the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth
himself above all that is called God or religion;
so that he sitteth in the temple of God, affirming
that he is God…”
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Only let him hold fast who now rules, until
he is out of the way, who can only be the
Roman State, whose breaking apart and dispersal
among ten kings will produce the Antichrist,
and then will the evil one be revealed…’
Tertullian, ‘On the Resurrection of the
Flesh’, chapter 34, 190 AD
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HIPPOLYTUS PREDICTS ANTICHRIST
‘…the other little horn that grows up among
them meant the Antichrist in their midst;
the stone that smites the earth and brings
judgment upon the world was Christ.’
Hippolytus, ‘Treatise on Christ and Antichrist’,
paragraph 28, 200 AD
‘It is to the fourth kingdom, of which we
have already spoken, that he here refers:
that kingdom, than which no greater kingdom
of like nature has arisen upon the earth;
from which also ten horns are to spring, and
to be apportioned among ten crowns.
And amid these another little horn shall rise,
which is that of Antichrist.’
Hippolytus, ‘Scholia on Daniel’, chapter
7, section 19, 200 AD
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CYPRIAN PREDICTS ANTICHRIST
’Moreover, the Antichrist was prophesied to
come when the times of the Roman empire have
been completed…
But this aforesaid Antichrist is to come when
the times of the Roman empire shall have been
fulfilled, and the end of the world is now
drawing near.
There shall rise up together ten kings of
the Romans, reigning in different parts perhaps,
but all about the same time; and after these
an eleventh, the Antichrist, who by his magical
craft shall seize upon the Roman power...’
Cyprian, ‘Lecture 15’, paragraphs 9,12,
315-386 AD
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JOHN CHRYSOTOM PREDICTS ANTICHRIST
‘One may first naturally inquire what is that
which withholdeth, and after that would know
why Paul expresses this so obscurely… ‘he
who now letteth will let, until he be taken
out of the way.’ That is, when the Roman empire
is taken out of the way, then he shall come;
and naturally, for as long as the fear of
this empire lasts, no one will readily exalt
himself; but when that is dissolved, he will
attack the anarchy, and endeavor to seize
upon the government both of men and of God.’
John Chrysotom, ‘Homilies on Second Thessalonians
II 6-9’, 389 AD
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JEROME PREDICTS ANTICHRIST
’I shudder when I think of the catastrophes
of our time.
The Roman world is falling: yet we hold up
our heads instead of bowing them.
…
Rome's army, once victor and Lord of the
world, now trembles with terror at the sight
of the foe;’
Jerome, ‘Letter to Heliodorus’, paragraphs
16,17, 340-420 AD
’But what am I doing? Whilst I talk about
the cargo, the vessel itself founders. He
that letteth is taken out of the way, and
yet we do not realize that Antichrist is near.
Yes, Antichrist is near whom the Lord Jesus
Christ 'shall consume with the spirit
of his mouth'.’
Jerome, ‘Letter to Ageruchia’, paragraphs
16, 17, 340-420 AD
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DESCRIPTION OF THE ANTICHRIST IN POWER
- A religious power with temporal authority
(Daniel 7:25, Revelation 13:5-6)
- Blasphemes against God and demands worship
(Revelation 13:4-6, 15)
- Has power to persecute the people of God for
a certain time
(Daniel 7:25, Revelation 13:7)
- Has power over nations and peoples all through
the world
(Revelation 13:7)
- Kills all those who oppose it or who refuse
to submit to it (Revelation 13:15)
- Prevents those who do not obey it from buying
or selling
(Revelation 13:17)
Do we have any takers? Who is the most likely
candidate?
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