01-31-2021, 10:51 PM
Antichrist and the End of the World
"Christ Himself has given the signs which precede the end of the world, adding, 'When you see all these, know that it is near, (yes) at the door'.
(Matt. 24 :14) "The chief signs follow:
I. The preaching of the Gospel in the entire world - 'This Gospel will be preached in testimony to all nations, and then will come the end' (Matt. 24 :33). From this it is certain that the end of the world will not occur before the Gospel has been preached in all nations; but it does not follow the end will be immediately after that. (Neither do we know what preaching c.f the Gospel implies; but it likely means that every community in the world must be given sufficient information on the true and only Church of Christ that the people will be guilty of grave sin if they do not accept the truth) .
II. The great defection from the Faith and the appearance of Antichrist - 'Unless the defection comes first and the man of sin be revealed ... the day of the Lord is not imminent'. (III Thess. 2 :1-4).
This defection or apostasy is one from God and His Christ, one of nations which will combat and try to abolish the Church. The Church, of course, will be preserved to the very end; although those who are not among the 'elect' and 'whose names are not written in the book of life' will follow Antichrist (Matt. 24 :12; Luke 18:8; Tim. 4:1; Apoc. 13 :8).
It is when this apostasy is at its highest that 'there will appear the evil one, whom (however) the Lord Jesus will (a) slay with the breath of His mouth and (b) destroy by the light of His coming' (II Thess. 2 :8). (Whether these two judgments of Christ are one and the same or two different punishments is not clear nor if two is there anything here to indicate that they are contemporary. If one refers to death of the body and the other to a formal condemnation to Hell on the last day, there is nothing indicating the time that is to elapse between the two).
Antichrist has precursors for already from the beginning the fight against Christ was begun; but it will be greatest at the end of the times when the man of sin appears (This phrase end of time or latter times could mean the whole Christian era or any part of it at least so it was used by St. John who told his followers: Because Christ is now opposed, we know we are in the latter times. I John 2 :18).
This adversary of God will pass himself off as God and, 'according to the operation of Satan', he will be strong 'in every power and signs and lying wonders and in every seduction of evil' (II Thess. 2 :9-11). Antichrist is not a personification of persecution against the Church; but a special definite person. He is so referred to by St. John and segregated from indefinite antichrists. The Apostle always refers to him in the singular, for example, man of sin, son of perdition, the adversary, the evil one, etc. On the other hand a group could not propose itself for worship in a temple. Moreover, the Fathers and theologians traditionally have referred to him as a single definite person.
III. The return of Elias and Enoch - Two witnesses precede the coming of Christ as Judge and fight against Antichrist (Apoc. 11 :3ss). One of them is Elias as is clear from Malachias (4:5-6), St. Matthew (17:10ss), and St. Luke (1 :17). The other will be Enoch according to many Fathers, based on Ecclesiasticus (44:16) 'Henoch was transferred into Paradise that he may give repentance to the nations.' Others, however, think the second witness will be Moses or Jeremias.
IV. The conversion of the Jews - This conversion will be made chiefly by the preaching of Elias. St. Paul says, 'Blindness in part has happened in Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in. And so all Israel should be saved as it is written, He shall come out of Sion and deliver and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob'. This is the origin of the Christian persuasion of the conversion of Israel at the end of the world.
V. Many prodigies in the heavens and on earth (Luke 21 :25-26)." Father Hervé adds, "These signs are, of course, rather indefinite and the time of Christ's Second Coming cannot be known for certain from them."
(J. M. Hervé: Manuale Theologiae Dogmaticae, Vol. IV, Sec. 623.)