Are Recognizable Attributes Of the Coming World Leader Spelled Out In the Bible In Its Heroes or Anti-Heroes So We'll Know This Coming World Leader When We See Them??
The Bible is a great history book among other things and it has a great number of historically important Israelite figures, as well as important foreign persons who loomed large in Israelite history. Their deeds and personality profiles just might be, in aggregate, an intentionally placed collection of clues telling us what the Coming World Leader / anti-Christ will be like...how to identify him...when he arrives on the scene. Based on the recorded character traits and mentioned distinguishing personality quirks and various life actions or accomplishments of the 'part good guy-part bad guy' major characters in the Bible, anti-heroes of sorts, the anti-Christ may possibly have:
1.) Golden hair or some golden topping or crown. (Nebuchadnezzar's colossus had a 'head of gold'.)
And on a side note while speaking of heads, Israel's first but faulty King Saul was 'a head taller than anyone else in Israel'. He was sort of an anti-hero though he was God's anointed for a time and an important man for Israel. He even died defending Israel. But this may point to the Coming World Leader and later anti-Christ being an especially tall fellow.
2.) Some sort of fancy, perhaps metal-threaded or metallic appearing shirt or upper garment that they wear during at least part of their time on the world stage, perhaps silver, perhaps gold, perhaps both. It will probably be somewhat religious or royal in appearance. (Gideon used Midianite gold to have a fancy ephod (sacred upper garment) made. See Judges 8. Much later, after Jesus' crucifixion, Herod Agrippa I was acclaimed as a god by the people of a coastal city reliant upon his kingdom for their food while Herod was wearing a fancy silver shirt that shone resplendently in the sun. God killed him for accepting that praise without objection, and it was an exceptionally ugly sort of death...the rotting of his intestines and private parts began immediately. See Acts chapter 12.
3.) The anti-Christ shall have no regard for the gods of his fathers nor for the 'desire of women'. Some people translate that to mean that he will be gay, but others say that he doesn't worship or believe in his father's gods nor in some god that is the 'desire of women'. That could make sense, as there have been false gods that were concerned with the 'desire of women'...'love gods', so to speak. But this Coming World Leader will magnify himself above all such gods. He will apparently want to be worshiped almost as if he were a god. Very big ego! And a very profane desire for a man to want the worship rightly accorded to God, or even to false gods. Pharaohs thought of themselves this way, and some leaders of the ancient Romans, and certain other kings and leaders have also done so. But it is a profane and evil wish. Even good angels, who are beings much greater than any human, will not allow themselves to be worshiped. In Biblical scripture a wrongly worshiped angel will quickly stop whichever human tries to mistakenly worship them and immediately correct them. But there are a few cases in Biblical scripture where people believe that they are seeing an angel and they worship it, and the being identified as an angel actually does not correct them, and in this case we believe that they are encountering Jesus in his earlier form before He became a fleshly man born of a woman and walked among us teaching and healing and performing miracles during his ministry. Joshua had such an encounter in Joshua 5:13, for instance. It is a highly delusional thing for a human to allow themselves to be worshiped. Even angels, all of them a higher order of being than humans according to Jesus Himself, will not allow it. See Matthew 11:11
3.) The Coming World Leader may have great physical strength (Samson did!) and of course they will have great political might. He may win the hearts of the people of his time by saying that he wishes he were in charge so that he could make sure people received true justice (Absalom said these sorts of things to people who had traveled far to receive a hearing from Absalom's father, King David, but were long in waiting and frustrated by the delay apparently!) The scripture tells us that just about everyone (though not the followers of Jesus) will end up wanting to follow this leader.
4.) He may be a life-long abstainer from alcohol. (Samson was.) He may have something unusual about his hair...as with Samson. As with Absalom. Samson's had never been cut and was formed into 7 braids. The rebel prince Absalom cut off 5 pounds - 200 shekels - of hair from his head each year! It actually says 200 shekels, and the number 200 is how many myriads - a unit 10,000 strong - of bad angels engaged in a rebellion in heaven against God, choosing to follow Satan, according to the Slovenic version of 2 Enoch. And the anti-Christ truly will have an early symbolic connection to Satan and a later actual physical connection! When he is the human known as the Coming World Leader, he will have a moment of great conceit and pride during which the spirit of Satan will enter him and take over his body. Abstemious long haired guys, especially blond ones or ones with some sort of 'gold' connected to their head area could be top suspects! Perhaps a strong or robust man physically.
5.) He may have an association with the number 50 or with 50 men or with men who have some association with the number 50, or 'the 50th' something, maybe these men or this group of 50 will act as his enforcers or his 'posse'. The rebels (at different times) who were half-brothers, Absalom and then Adonijah, both of whom were egotistical, very handsome, power hungry princes and sons of David, both had 50 men who ran before their chariots, in their day in the flower of their young manhood, where ever they went, to enhance their status and herald their might and importance to the people, in days and years prior to the time they declared open rebellion against their father David's crown and/or tried to take the kingship for their own. Both Absalom and Adonijah are people that the rightful king (David in their case) ought to have been able to trust, but they were scheming betrayers to their own trusting father. In the United States we have the 50 states, and from another angle, the 50th state is Hawaii, so as a US citizen I wonder about that possibility. But I was very surprised to recently learn that one sources count Europe as having exactly 50 States or Nations. It's quite true! If you search 'how many countries are in Europe' it is one of the answers you may get. To make it more complicated, Asia has 48 nations and 3 territories, reportedly. So it wouldn't take much of a political shift to have them at 50! Yes, the anti-Christ might show up anywhere or might be an immigrant from anywhere, so far as I know. There is also the year 1950 A.D. (he could have been born then) or 2050 A.D. (he may take power then?) or the 50 year Jewish jubilee periods that might somehow fit into the puzzle.
6.) Both Aaron, Moses' brother, and the rebel Jeroboam, who at a much later time rebelled against king Solomon's son and successor Rehoboam, oversaw the casting and manufacture of a golden calf idol to focus people's religious fervor upon, so that the people of God did not focus upon the things of God, but rather on something whose worship was more carnal and more exciting to the lusts of the flesh. This might allow that the Coming World Leader has some connection to a golden calf idol (like the wall street bull? Or its imitator in Shanghai, China?) or that he facilitates and institutes some form of false worship that takes the attention of his followers away from the truths of God.
7.) The Coming World Leader / anti-Christ may honor or help build or renovate a Jewish temple that is still in the future as I write this in April 2024; he may seem a friend at first to the Jewish nation of Israel. But once he goes Satanic...becomes entered and indwelt by the actual spirit of Satan... he may forcefully desecrate that same temple, doing sacrilegious things there in that Holy space, perhaps even fostering worship of himself there, or of some false god he favors. Herod did this. The Syrian based Seleucid king named Antiochus Epiphanes earlier than Herod had done this in 167 B.C. when Israel was a client state of the Seleucid Empire. Antiochus invaded Jerusalem and set up an image of himself and an image and alter for Jupiter Olympiad in or near the Jewish temple and he slaughtered a hog on that temple alter, defiling the temple's holiness on purpose, as the Jewish faith holds swine to be 'unclean' animals. And the book of Revelation essentially reveals that the coming anti-Christ will do a similar thing, halting Jewish sacrifices which are meant to be holy worshiping to God Almighty 3 1/2 years after first being in favor of them. So, we might look for a world leader that in the early going seems to be a trustworthy friend or ally of Israel.
8.) Nimrod was a 'mighty hunter before the Lord' the Bible says, so if he's a type for the anti-Christ it opens up possibilities for someone who likes hunting, or from a hunting background, or for someone whose first or last name is or means Hunter in some language. More on Babylonians candidates: in the 6th century Nebuchadnezzar II built a beautiful garden that hung off the side of a structure. It was to help his wife deal with home sickness. That's not mentioned in the Bible, but it's famously one of the Wonders of the Ancient World. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Perhaps something similar for the Coming World Leader? Nebuchadnezzar was also thrust away from his position of importance and from the favor of his people for seven years, and spent the time eating grass like an animal and living in banishment outdoors until his hair grew to be like an eagle's feathers. But then he finally looked up from where he was on his hands and knees and acknowledged God's sovereignty, and his sanity and his high political position was restored. So in this part of Nebuchadnezzar's life we have a 7 year period of disfavor, a likening to an eagle or an eagle's appearance, we have a tendency to spend time out in the grass while he was banished, and to live like a beast, and to make a come-back through humbling himself before god. Could some of this apply to the anti-Christ?
9.) There may be an incident where the Coming World Leader receives a head wound that could have been fatal or ought to have been fatal, yet it does not kill them. And so many people of that time are impressed to believe that there is something divine about that Coming World Leader because of this, and it makes people even more determined to follow this 'head of the beast'. Here is some writing about that from Revelation 13:
13 The dragon[a] stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.[b]
End Quote
10.) The Coming World Leader may be a 'king' of some type who was both one member of a group of 7 Biblically referred to kings from the Book of Revelation, chapter 17, and yet also the 8th king from that group. This reference is puzzling and hard to understand. Maybe it is not something that can be understood yet in our present time. But maybe it is. Who can say? A possibility is that the Coming World Leader was in the position of a king, lost his position to some other king who was not one of the 7, but then became a king again. In our present time, 2024 A.D., I am not sure if anything fits. Quite frankly, I believe that in our present day we could use genetic material, human DNA, to impregnate a woman with the DNA of a past high profile world leader, and one such past world leader could be 'reborn' in that respect, perhaps being both one of some group of 7 ancient 'kings', and yet also an 8th king, alive again so to speak. And this may be the case for how the prophecy becomes fulfilled. I could imagine a reborn Alexander the Great or Caesar or Genghis Khan or some similar historic figure making a big splash in the present world, catching the imagination of and being followed by a mighty percentage of the Earth. But there are many other possibilities, of course.
Here is an excerpt from the Book of Revelation chapter 17:
9 “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. 10 They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. 11 The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.
End Quote
And here is an absolutely dreamed up long-shot possibility. If you use a reborn nation of Israel as a starting point, as in the date May 14th, 1948 when modern Israel declared itself a nation, and if you have that be a contrived starting point for some of these end times prophecies, and think of the USA as a nation (a prominent 'kingdom' of this time period, where these 'kings' might come from) then a President (a king of sorts) who was a President for a time, then wasn't a President, but then became a President again, could possibly be a candidate if you could realistically form a legitimate group of 7 Presidents (kings) that this President could belong to. How about Republican Presidents? Since the modern nation of Israel was formed in May 14, 1948 there have been the following Republican U.S. Presidents:
1.) Dwight Eisenhower 2.) Richard Nixon 3.) Gerald Ford 4.) Ronald Reagan 5.) George Bush Sr. 6.) George Bush Jr. 7.) Donald Trump.
Five of those 7 Republican Presidents who have held office since the formation of the modern Jewish State of Israel have now fallen. (This date for the formation of modern Israel is a possibly important point of time I picked but which the great authority of the Bible does not specify as any sort of time marker for this list of kings, so don't attribute any Biblical weight to it.) The 5 fallen Republican Presidents are Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and George Bush Sr. as I write this paragraph on the 19th of July, 2024. Those 5 past Republican 'kings' have died, or 'fallen', in a way of speaking, as of this day I'm writing this.
If one of those remaining 2 past Republican Presidents from that certain contrived group of 7 were to somehow become President (king) again then they could possibly, theoretically fit the bill, so to speak, in this far fetched and highly unlikely scenario concerning who might be this mysterious 8th king the Bible speaks of. George Bush Jr. has had his 2 terms, so he seems unlikely. (I liked him as President, by the way, though I've never met him.) Donald Trump (I liked how things seemed in the USA when he was President also, though I've never met him) actually has a solid shot of becoming President for a 2nd time right now on July 19th, 2024. And if that comes to pass then that would make him a sort of an 8th 'king' who was also part of a group of 7 previous Republican 'kings'. And oddly, he has just received a 'head wound' from an attempted assassination in the last couple of days as I write this. It was not a wound that would ordinarily have killed a person, and I'm very glad it did not kill him or give him an extremely serious wound. The bullet grazed his ear. But it was meant to be a deadly wound, and easily could have been. There is much talk that his life was providentially spared by Heaven, and that is why the bullet missed. Perhaps it was! But perhaps it was a missed shot. Many shooters of guns miss many of their targets. That happens also, and I do not personally know the depth of God's interest or involvement in such things. I know that He is all powerful. But like all of us I am not privy to His every thought. He does not share His every thought with humans. His thoughts are deeper and higher than ours can be.
The beast has 7 crowns and 10 'horns'. Who knows what that refers to, but they will give their power to the beast for hour. There is also a group of royals/kings that consist of 7 who are like much each other, but who make up a group of 10 in total: the 7 kingdoms of United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium. Andorra, Monaco and Lichtenstein are also 3 more European monarchies, but ruling over principalities instead of entire nations. So they compose a group of 10 'kings' over all, but also a group of 7.
But is Donald Trump a figure spoken of in the Bible...alluded to in the Bible? Some on social media are saying so, but it's been the same with past Presidents and other world figures. Mr. Trump is probably not a Biblical figure based on past speculations of people like me and people far more knowledgeable than me who discuss such possibilities. Our success rate of guessing it right when we speculate is atrociously bad. If Donald Trump is a Biblical figure then God has a plan for him and it is no person's job to interfere with it. He's running for office right now, so if you are a legal US voter then vote as you feel inclined to by all means. I would not vote for anyone I thought I knew was the Coming World Leader, but I don't have any solid grounds to believe President Trump will one day be that figure or presently is. The Coming World Leader is thought to be a very great leader by the people in the beginning anyway. It is after the spirit of Satan enters him that he becomes extremely bad, if I read it right. Trump publicly acknowledges God very frequently, in fact, and I really like that. He frequently speaks of the USA needing to be a decent nation. And he worked to end our shameful practice of casual abortion in the USA. He seemed like a super-capable and well intended President in his first term in so many ways. I know I mentioned this speculation about how this '8 kings prophecy' could be fulfilled by him, but that's because he is the only political figure on the current world stage that I've noticed might fit the bill (that I personally know of at this moment.) And then, only because he is high profile. And it only works in this highly contrived scenario of using only Republican Presidents (and I think I am a conservative person, and I have mostly always voted Republican except in early voting years that I now actually regret.), and this works only if you start your count since the reformation of Israel, and it only works if he's re-elected, and even if he's re-elected it is highly highly highly unlikely that it means anything Biblical. He might be God's favorite recent US President for all that I know. He's on my list! But concerning politics I mostly only know what I learn through the media. So much goes on that the public is shut out of. There have been so many people who have guessed who might be the Coming World Leader, and they were all apparently wrong so far. In my own mind I do think that in the US the present Republican platform is way way way more Christian than the somewhat insane present Democrat platform. Hugely more Christian. So I will exercise my right to vote towards the more Christian option every time, I hope, and I hope Jesus gives me the discernment to choose rightly. None of the political parties are perfect, I am certainly nowhere near perfect, so really it's more like a philosophy of trying to always choose change in the direction of Christianity, as best you're given to recognize it.
We Christian believers know that we are in strange, strange times. Long delayed Bible prophecies are coming true or looking to soon come true, and some already have come true. On May 14, 1948 Israel was restored to nation status. Even in the early 1900's there were highly regarded theologians using that prophecy, that Israel would one day be regathered, as proof that you had to realize that certain prophecies were merely metaphors. Israel will obviously never be regathered into the land that once comprised ancient Israel they taught. That's just not how the world worked, they explained. But then, suddenly in 1948 it happened. The next day this newly minted Israel's Arab neighbors attack...Libya, Iraq' Egypt, and Syria, 4 long standing nations with trained and developed militaries, attack a one day old nation...and yet Israel survives and wins the war? No way!?! Yes way! This year there appears to be a plan to begin building their Jewish temple in Jerusalem, on the temple mount. But they need 'perfect red heifers' to sacrifice. They can have no offending black or brown or white hairs, these heifers. Where are you going to find that? Umm, well...in Texas. Texas had some, way over in the USA, and now they are in Israel about old enough to sacrifice. No way!?! Yes way! The temple is not going to fix their misunderstanding, which is that Jesus really was their Messiah, and He already did come way back when. But now almost 2,000 years later they believe that they can rebuild this temple and then their Messiah can come. It's a big deal to them. And it looks set to happen. And there are also other completed prophecies in recent times!
But what about the prophesied Coming World Leader who becomes the anti-Christ? Is he real then also? He is described as a 'coming world leader' who will catch the imagination of a huge fraction of humanity. The people will 'go after him'...the masses will look up to him. He will be a good friend to this newly restored Israel it sounds like, and a patron to their temple once it is built; at least at first, for a while he will be. But in the end he will betray their trust and become their great enemy. This person, this great world leader', will be physically entered and possessed by the spirit of Satan, and then he will become a whole new being personality-wise. He will become the anti-Christ. And as Christian's have done for so long, we like to guess who he will be...guess if he is already on the scene...we wonder if we already know his name, perhaps. And in past decades and centuries there have been a great number of times that Christians thought they had identified the person, but in those cases they were wrong. They guessed many different world figures (Nero, Napolean, Hitler, and a host of others) and they sometimes had long and detailed explanations as to how they knew they were right. Yet, each time they were dead wrong! Those people are dead, and they turned out to not be the anti-Christ. What did those Christians do wrong? Perhaps they needed to look more closely at what the Bible openly said about the anti-Christ/coming-world-leader, and perhaps also they should have looked at those major Bible figures that were similar to the anti-Christ in nature. Perhaps God placed clues, when describing those figures, which would help us recognize the Coming World Leader when he arrives. Perhaps, in composite, in aggregate, those sort of Biblical figures will point the way. Let's look a little, using the Bible as our guide. What are the literally prophesied characteristics of the anti-Christ, and who are the Bible figures who might be 'prophetic types or prefigurements', as it were, of the Coming World Leader? What are some of those figures' unique characteristics? Who, in the Bible, started out being friends or servants for Israel or for God, but ended up being more of an enemy, a betrayer, a double-crosser? Who wanted to be an important, perhaps even loved leader, but did more harm than good before it was all over?
The Bible's first villain is the serpent, and it is bad for God's people but never really good, prior to that. There does not immediately seem to be much to work with there. He knows that God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil off limits...Adam and Eve cannot eat its fruit God has declared. So the evil serpent talks Eve into eating it, selling its benefits to her and casting suspicion on the reasons God gave for telling the humans not to eat from it. Genesis 3: 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” End quote. Bad sneaky manipulative serpent! But it worked. Maybe the anti-Christ will try to convince us not to obey God by claiming that God has underhanded reasons for giving us rules and that if we knew what was best for us we would want to break those rules.
The second villain is Eve. Well, sort of a villain. Sort of an honored ancestor also. She sinned, but probably not as much as me by far, and there are probably other people that can say the same. But she was maybe the first great human sinner named in the Bible, so for that reason I will include her. She was the serpent's misguided victim, but she was Adam's villain, and caused him to eat from the forbidden tree's fruit. Bad woman...instigator...enabler! But it worked. Adam had free will and chose to eat also. He also knew that eating the fruit was forbidden. So, if the anti-Christ is to be like Eve then maybe the anti-Christ will be aware that he is in great trouble before the eyes of the Lord and he will want to drag others into the mess he's made for himself to get them to be as guilty as he is.
Third villain: Adam! He may have been a victim of the serpent in a way, and Eve certainly did him no favors, but...Adam knew better. He knew God's rule about the tree. Yet he ate the forbidden fruit anyway, betraying the God who made him. Bad Adam. Weak Adam. Disloyal Adam. But we would have probably done the same thing, and even sooner. After all, Adam wasn't long-practiced in sin like we are in this evil day. We probably have fewer internal guard rails against sinning than Adam had. Or Eve. The anti-Christ may claim that he's putting himself into harm's way out of concern for us.
Cain killed his brother Abel. Cain was angry, resentful, and jealous because God had accepted Abel's offering of a fine animal from his flock, but rejected Cain's offering of some vegetables from his farming efforts. Old extra-Biblical books like the Book of Jasher say that Abel gave one of his best animals as an offering to God, but Cain picked out inferior vegetables to offer to God. The Bible doesn't clarify the reason. So, jealous Cain killed Abel. Then he lied to God about doing it. Then he went off with a wife, banished yet marked with a God-given sign demanding he not be harmed, and built the first city. Maybe the anti-Christ will be someone who feels jealous that some sort of brother or equal was shown preference by receiving more of God's favor. Perhaps he will be a builder of cities or structures that also wants to separate and start their own thing. Perhaps he will be quite jealous and resentful that he is not receiving the favor of God, and desirous to kill those who do have it.
How about Gideon? In his day the Israelites had settled in the promised land, but had become wicked and unfaithful to their God, so for 7 years the Lord had allowed a numerous, camel riding enemy people to their east, a people known to Israel as the Midianites, to conquer and oppress Israel for a long time. But Gideon, a yound Israelite, was visited by the Angel of the Lord and told he would help his people throw off the yoke of Midianite oppression. Gideon led his people against the Midianites and their allies, a vast horde, and God was with them. In fact, in order that Israelites would understand that this victory was from God's hand and not their own strength, God only allowed Gideon to have 300 warriors in his initial attack of the vast Midianite led horde of easterner soldiers. The Midianites were routed, and as they ran away other Israelite tribes came to help finish them off as they fled.
But, tragically, in his moment as an Israelite national hero Gideon allowed the admiring Israelite soldiers that he had just led to give him gold earrings from the dead Midianites and their allies, and gold ornaments from the camels of the Midianites. He took the gold tribute, and instead of honoring God with it he allowed it to be formed into a fancy type of priestly garment called an ephod to put up for display and give reverence to, a sort of a false idol. It had about 40 pounds of gold woven into it. Thus, Gideon was instrumental in freeing the Israelites from one problem only to be a hand that ensnared them in another problem: a false gold idol of sorts (apparently a very beautiful, gold covered priestly garment, since that is what an ephod typically is) that at least some of the people would travel to Gideon's town and give their worship to this ephod. Perhaps 'worshiping' this priestly garment constructed of gold in Gideon's home town of Orphah wrongly rerouted worship away from God's tabernacle, the only God-approved place of worship in Israel. After all, Gideon was from the Israelite tribe of Manasseh and his people were not authorized by the Laws of Moses to wear or even possess any model of a Holy Priestly Garment. That was for priests of the Tribe of Levi, and only in the appropriate places at the appropriate times did they wear their God-approved sacred garments.
A sacred looking shirt or upper garment that was not approved by God...but which seemed to be trying to portray some sort of god-like significance or dignity in the minds of the people? It wasn't just Gideon who transgressed in this rather particular sort of sin, but oddly another great Bible villain did the same...Herod Agrippa, who had been placed in charge of Judea by Rome, as described in Acts chapter 12, but also the incident where Herod wore a fancy shirt made of silver and allowed a crowd to pay tribute to him as if he were a god standing among them. The incident is in the Bible but also is expanded upon by the historian Josephus, as translated below:
Now when Agrippa had reigned three years over all Judea, he came to the city Caesarea, which was formerly called Strato’s Tower; and there he exhibited shows in honor of Caesar, upon his being informed that there was a certain festival celebrated to make vows for his safety. At which festival a great multitude was gotten together of the principal persons, and such as were of dignity through his province. On the second day of which shows he put on a garment made wholly of silver, and of a contexture truly wonderful, and came into the theater early in the morning; at which time the silver of his garment being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the sun’s rays upon it, shone out after a surprising manner, and was so resplendent as to spread a horror over those that looked intently upon him; and presently his flatterers cried out, one from one place, and another from another, [though not for his good,] that he was a god; and they added, “Be thou merciful to us; for although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall we henceforth own thee as superior to mortal nature.” Upon this the king did neither rebuke them, nor reject their impious flattery. But as he presently afterward looked up, he saw an owl sitting on a certain rope over his head, and immediately understood that this bird was the messenger of ill tidings, as it had once been the messenger of good tidings to him; and fell into the deepest sorrow. A severe pain also arose in his belly, and began in a most violent manner. He therefore looked upon his friends, and said, “I, whom you call a god, am commanded presently to depart this life; while Providence thus reproves the lying words you just now said to me; and I, who was by you called immortal, am immediately to be hurried away by death. But I am bound to accept of what Providence allots, as it pleases God; for we have by no means lived ill, but in a splendid and happy manner.” When he said this, his pain was become violent. Accordingly he was carried into the palace, and the rumor went abroad every where, that he would certainly die in a little time. But the multitude presently sat in sackcloth, with their wives and children, after the law of their country, and besought God for the king’s recovery. All places were also full of mourning and lamentation. Now the king rested in a high chamber, and as he saw them below lying prostrate on the ground, he could not himself forbear weeping. And when he had been quite worn out by the pain in his belly for five days, he departed this life, being in the fifty-fourth year of his age, and in the seventh year of his reign…. (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XIX, chapter 8, section 2. Translation by William Whiston, available at Project Gutenberg and many other places.)
This is pretty fascinating stuff, yes?
So maybe this will be a type of sin we will see associated with the anti-Christ: some sort of visually catchy, supposedly 'sacred' upper garment with a fraudulent pedigree.
What about Nebuchadnezzar, head of the great Babylonian Empire? He was God's chosen instrument to punish a backslidden and idolatrous Jewish Jerusalem starting in about 606 B.C. But, though he was God's chosen punisher of God's chosen people Israel, once he had destroyed Jerusalem and God's temple he took many of the Israelites as slaves back to Babylon. And he had some of their best and brightest trained up as court advisors, the prophet Daniel being one of those. And one day King Nebudie a certain horrible death while receiving the tribute of 'a god!'.chadnezzar h. ad a dream of a huge metallic human shaped colossus which terrified him. It was gold on the head and shoulders, silver lower, bronze below that, then iron starting at about the hips on down to the feet, but at the feet it was clay bound by the iron, though not blended with iron. Clay entrapped, you could say. Daniel interprets the nightmare for the troubled King through God's allowance. Part of the interpretation is that Nebuchadnezzar is that head of gold...it is his kingdom Babylon that makes up the golden top portion of the terrifying colossus in the dream. So maybe the head of the anti-Christ will have something to do with gold, or perhaps his hair will be blonde, or perhaps he will wear a gold crown or at least be entitled to one. Since the bottom of this colossus represents the end of time, perhaps the clay entrapped in iron represents humans trapped in something stronger than them...men are likened to clay vessels in the Bible sometimes. So perhaps the Coming World Leader will appear in a time when iron (mechanical structures?...military structures?...) hold people hostage in some almost inescapable way.
At another juncture in Nebuchadnezzar's life as king he became too proud of his great construction accomplishments, the magnificent buildings in Babylon that he had brought to reality, and God was put off and decided to humble him. Here from Daniel chapter 4 are Nebuchadnezzar's later recounting of the experience:
28 All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”
31 Even as the words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. 32 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.”
33 Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.
34 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
35 All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What have you done?”
36 At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. 37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.
End Quote
So, perhaps the anti-Christ will be someone made proud by their construction related accomplishments to the point where their pride becomes so great it gives Satan a chance to enter them or God a reason to humble them. Perhaps they will be unceremoniously removed from their high position of power and prominence during this time period. Perhaps their time of humbling will include much time spent out in the grass, or perhaps the grass represents people, so maybe much time spent out among the people. (There are places in scripture where people are likened to blades of grass!) Perhaps he will become more 'eagle-like' during his time of unceremonious banishment. Perhaps it will last seven years or months, or time periods. And perhaps they will make a comeback and be more powerful and important than ever, as happened to Nebuchadnezzar.
Again, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, destroyed a sinful Israel and Jerusalem, yet brought them back as slaves to Babylon and generally allowed them a passably good life there. God identified Nebuchadnezzar as providing a service for him, of being a tool in His hand as it were. God allowed a letter of attrition which also praises the power of the God of Israel, a letter from Nebuchadnezzar to be included in the Bible even up to our day in the Book of Daniel, so though he's from a people that is an enemy to the Jews, and though his army conquered the Jews, yet God gave him certain signs of favor. Nebuchadnezzar is just a complicated Bible character. So let's look at another thing about him.
There is a story in the Book of Daniel where Shadrach, Mishak, and Abednego (Daniel's friends and fellow Jews, raised to high positions within Nebuchadnezzar's court and government) make Nebuchadnezzar angry. It happens when Nebuchadnezzar commissions the building of a large statue of himself and requires that it be worshiped whenever certain music is played, as if he was a god of some sort. Crazy vanity! These three Jews refuse to do this. Jealous fellow government officials, who really are Babylonian by blood most likely, tell on the three Jewish officials who won't worship the statue. Angry, Nebuchadnezzar calls them to him, gives them a chance to rethink their refusal and worship his likeness statue, but they refuse saying they only worship the true God and if they have to die they will. So Nebuchadnezzar becomes furious, has a very large furnace heated up to 7 times its normal heat, and has them tossed in like pottery being fired in a kiln. (He has them 'fired', I guess.) But though the fire is deadly hot, the Babylonians outside observing their fate within the furnace all look into the flames and see the three Jewish officials walking around in the flames as if it isn't hot at all, and some fourth being walks among them, someone who appears god-like to the Babylonians peering in from outside. That impressive being walks with them. A flabbergasted Nebuchadnezzar calls them out and they are unharmed...their hair and clothing is not even burnt. So Nebuchadnezzar repents of punishing them and praises them for their loyalty to their God, even in defiance of their Babylonian king.
So, we might look for an anti-Christ who has something to do with furnaces, or kilns, or firing, or the firing of vessels (vassals?) of clay, and a Coming World Leader that is or seems capable of being hugely egotistical, yet sometimes quite capable of acknowledging or praising God and perhaps Jesus the Son of God. Yet, if these comparisons of Biblical anti-heroes with the Coming World Leader is a valid way of predicting anti-Christ personality traits, then the leader will likely never fully give up what is false that he clings to, though he sees ample evidence of the power of the God of the Christians and Jews, and of God's Son and Holy Spirit.
Nebuchadnezzar also had the famous hanging gardens of Babylon built for his queen...a beautiful large structure famous for the plants growing from the gardens built into the building. Though this is not mentioned in the Bible perhaps it is a clue.
Long before Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century was Jewish King Solomon in the 10th century, the Son of famous King David, who was mightily blessed by God in the beginning of his reign and who exceeded those who came before him in wealth and wisdom through the blessing of God. He did great things for Israel's fame and stature, and it was under him that the first Jewish temple was both begun and completed. And he was famous throughout his reign for compelling the people of his kingdom (somewhat against their wishes by the end of his reign!) to build many might edifices throughout the kingdom to increase the grandeur of his reign and his nation. But making accommodations for his many wives (he had hundreds!) proved to be his terrible mistake. He married women from many lands and they had many false gods they worshiped, so he built many little shrines throughout Israel so that they could worship in Israel as they once had back in their homeland. He is blamed by some for having made idolatry a thing to be tolerated in the land of God. So much wealth flowed into Israel during his reign that gold was more common that silver around his home palace, and it is in fact mentioned that a certain income stream brought in 666 talents of gold per year. There is the Mark of the Beast number, associated with commerce just as the Bible says it will be in the end times, and associated with Solomon. And like others, Solomon starts out being good for Israel but many argue that despite his opulent world stature, in the end he was bad for Israel. Very harmful, in fact, by leading them away from the worship of just one God. So, Solomon was famous for women problems, he was a big time builder, celebrated everywhere during his time for his wealth and wisdom, associated with the 666. Yet he was blessed by God with so much, and which of us has ever proven ourselves steadfast and loyal when surrounded by that much temptation and embodied with that much fame and adulation? I know it is God's job to judge, but it is our job to keep our eyes open and try to understand the times we are in. We were told to do that much.
What about King Saul? He was Israel's first king, and God was not happy that Israel wanted a king. God was Israel's ruler, and He did not want them to have a king. He warned them about the oppressive tendencies that Kings tend to display when their ego and power get the better of them, but Israel wouldn't listen. They wanted a king to lead them in warfare like other countries around them had. So Saul, a young man still working for his father was chosen when he was out looking for lost donkeys from his father's herd. Donkeys in our day signify Democrats, in the United States. Does that mean anything? No clue. But the good priest Samuel went on God's direction and found Saul and anointed him as future king of Israel, essentially. Saul was a Benjamite, a tribe famous among Israel's tribes as good warriors who tended to use the sling (a powerful projectile weapon) and who were noted as more often being left handed than others. They were likened with wolves, sometimes, when the patriarchs prophesied over the tribes or their founders. Saul's particular feature was that he was a fine tall strong man, a head taller than other Israelites. I bring up Saul because Saul started out with God's favor. He proved himself a strong leader. Strangely, he was "hiding among the luggage" on the day the Israelites acclaimed him king. He was shy and hiding among the packs and bags of the large crowd of Israelites on that day. Hiding because of baggage at the time he was chosen? Is that prophetic or descriptive? It is commonly said in our day about politicians who have done some bad things in their past or even recently, things which come to light during their election campaign, that they have "baggage". Sometimes people say those politicians are hiding from their baggage if they try to hide and wait it out, hoping they get elected anyway. And sometimes they do win anyway!
Saul was a successful war leader during his early years. And he even had the gift of prophecy at rare times. In his early years he was pretty popular and Israel seems to have felt well served having Saul as their king. But Saul lost God's favor. Samuel the priest was sent by God to anoint young David as king in Saul's stead, but not immediately. And Saul was sometimes tormented by spirits which made him moody, sometimes violently moody. Young David served him at his palace and was friends with Saul's son Jonathan. David would play music which soothed Saul when Saul suffered from his disturbed and unstable moods. But Saul would erupt against David at times, even hurling a spear at David once when he had a fit of anger. Luckily David dodged it. When David began to grow more popular than Saul with the people and with the army, Saul began to hunt David through the wilderness trying to kill him and his growing band of outlaw followers. David, for his part, was opposed to killing Saul though, because God had once anointed Saul, and David deeply respected God. Eventually Saul and his son Jonathan were killed in a battle with the Philistines, Israel's perennial enemy, after Saul had made the horrible mistake of turning to a witch to have the future of the battle foretold. He had even had the witch raise the spirit of deceased priest and judge Samuel, who was angry and rebuked Saul, prophesying dire events and punishment for Saul for having added this outrage against God to his previous mistakes.
So, what might Saul foretell if he is figurative of the future Coming World Leader? Saul was found while looking for donkeys. Odd. A little bit odd, anyway. And today the donkey might most famously represent the United States Democratic Party...but actually the fact he was looking for donkeys might not mean anything. Saul was physically imposing compared to others...he was very tall. Saul was hiding among "baggage" when chosen and acclaimed by the Israelite people the first time. So the Coming World Leader might be famous for having "baggage". Lots of politicians have that problem these days. Saul, once king, was moody, and violent at times in his moodiness; this was caused by vexing spirits which troubled him. Saul was jealous of up-and-comers who seemed more blessed by God and more loved by the people than he was, like young David. Saul delved into dark forces and consulted witches and their witchcraft skills to help him see into the future. God is extreme in his warnings about turning to any other spiritual power or false God. He wants His people turning to and believing in Him alone. All other 'gods or forces' are dark powers such as evil spirits or demons, if not merely imaginary dreamed up false gods. God condemns witchcraft and idolatry, and seems to feel more strongly against idolatry than almost any other sin.
David became king, Israel's 2nd king ever, and had great favor from God. He had multiple wives, and therefore many sons, some rivalrous to be David's successor. One of David's sons, the handsome Absalom, grew up to be a young man and began to plot against his own father David, being desirous of being the king instead of his father. 2 Samuel chapter 15 describes it:
15 In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. 2 He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.” 3 Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.” 4 And Absalom would add, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that they receive justice.”
5 Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. 6 Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the people of Israel.
7 At the end of four[a] years, Absalom said to the king, “Let me go to Hebron and fulfill a vow I made to the Lord. 8 While your servant was living at Geshur in Aram, I made this vow: ‘If the Lord takes me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron.[b]’”
9 The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he went to Hebron.
10 Then Absalom sent secret messengers throughout the tribes of Israel to say, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, then say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron.’” 11 Two hundred men from Jerusalem had accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and went quite innocently, knowing nothing about the matter. 12 While Absalom was offering sacrifices, he also sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, to come from Giloh, his hometown. And so the conspiracy gained strength, and Absalom’s following kept on increasing.
End Quote.
So with Absalom we have a plethora of distinctive characteristics. It mentions that 50 men ran before him as he would sport around in his chariot, prior to his starting the rebellion against his father David. The number 50 is a meaningful Bible number, in that 50 year periods were called Jubilees in the Hebrew religion, and still are. But also in our present day the United States is known for having 50 states. So the Coming World Leader might be associated with the United States, from the United States, or supported by the United States.
Absalom is mentioned as having a wildly profuse head of hair, having to cut off 200 shekels (5 pounds) of hair each year. So his hair is distinctive. The Coming World Leader might have profuse or distinctive hair. The number 200 is the number of rebel angels, per the book of Enoch, that came down to live on Earth and take wives of human women. They are the 'watchers'. Hair is also associated with pride or glory in the Bible. So the Coming World Leader may have an association with lots of actual hair, with distinctive hair, or with excessive personal pride or thirst for glory, or some real or fancied association with rebel or fallen angels if we are meant to draw any clues from Absalom.
Absalom slept with 10 of his father's concubines once to show his power over what belonged to his father, after he had begun the rebellion and had run King David out of Jerusalem for at least a time. There was no going back for He or his followers at that point! He went into their tent and had sex with them all in order to commit a grave insult against his father...one that could basically not be ignored or easily forgiven. Somewhat reflective of this, we find in the book of Revelation that 10 kings give the Coming World Leader their authority and power for 1 hour for some unspecified reason. So both Absalom and the Coming World Leader have a relationship with 10 "persons", lightly suggesting that the one is pre-figurative of the other.
Absalom's end comes when his advisors tell him to go out into the forest where his father is holed up with his supporters, and do battle against his father (not a good idea because David is a favorite of God Almighty and because David is a very experienced war leader and long time king. Absalom's forces are routed in the battle. Absalom, riding on his mount through the woods, has his hair become entangled in a branch that hi is riding under and he is jerked off his horse and dangles there by his hair, unable to escape. David's commander Joab hears of it, rides up to Absalom, and buries three 'darts' into his heart against King David's orders to go easy on his errant but valued son if he is captured. Then Absalom's body is buried beneath a large pile of stones. In similar fashion, the Book of Revelation the Coming World Leader (though at this point he is the human body inhabited by the spirit of Satan and so has become the anti-Christ!) is eventually killed by Jesus (the Righteous Branch is one of Jesus' names) striking down upon the head of the anti-Christ, defeating him, and he is cast into a pit.
If Absalom is representative of the Coming World Leader then being associated with or in command of 50 someones or somethings could be possible. Having a large entourage perhaps. Having unusual hair, or unusual quantities of pride or glory could be a trait. Being able to win the hearts of the people away from their rightful king or leader by suggesting to them that they are being overlooked, under-valued, or treated unfairly could be a trait. And he may be very handsome or beautiful. Absalom was said to be the most handsome man in Israel.
Absalom had a full brother named Adonijah. They had the same mother and father. Adonijah is described as very handsome also, and with ambitions of being the king instead of his 'heir apparent' half brother Solomon that King David had said would one day succeed him as king. Long aafter Absalom's death, Adonijah also had 50 men as his companions, running before his chariot where ever he went. And his father, King David the old but still reigning king of Israel, allowed this egotistical behavior, but perhaps he should not have. Adonijah became proud and raised up in his thoughts, and became sure that he should be the next king.
See how this number 50 shows up twice, both with Absalom and his brother Adonijah? There might be a lot of things associated with the number 50...more than I can name! Again, there are the 50 year Jubilee periods that Israel has historically used to track time. And there may be many other associations. But in our present day, the 50 states of the United States are a possible allusion. We are on the present scene, have some political power, and a world leader in our day and time would do well to control or hold great influence over the strongest extant world power, such as the United States currently seems to be. So, the Coming World Leader, the one who hopes to usurp the place of the proper and anointed leader, may have a link to the number 50, and therefore also possibly to the United States.
Adonijah hoped to be a usurper of the throne of Israel, held by his nearly 80 year old father King David. David had told the mother of his son Solomon that Solomon would succeed him to the throne. And both Solomon and his half brother Adonijah were grown men who could be viable candidates for king. But then Adonijah took matters into his own hands. He colluded with a top priest, and with King David's military leader Joab, to hold a celebration and announce himself king without his Father David's approval or blessing. And he did hold brazenly hold the celebration some miles outside of Jerusalem, announcing himself the new king by his own authority. But back at the palace, Solomon's mother heard of this and spoke to Nathan, the prophet who had the trust and ear of the king. And together they warned the almost bedridden king David of these events. So David swore that Solomon would be king, just as he had always said. And an anointing was quickly held for Solomon, and then a public blessing and transfer of the kingship from David to Solomon, and the horn was blown (just as a horn will be blown when Jesus returns, according to scripture) and Solomon was suddenly the official king.
A mile or so away, at his rebel's celebration, Adonijah and his guests heard the noise in Jerusalem just as a messenger came and informed them what had happened. The terrified guest co-conspirators fled, and Adonijah's effort was doomed, just as Satan's effort, one day when he inhabits the body of the anti-Christ, will also be doomed even as he thinks he has won...so says the scriptures. Solomon allowed his betraying brother to live, but only so long as he behaved. He couldn't behave, and soon he had manipulated Solomon's mother Bathsheba into approaching Solomon to ask on Adonijah's behalf if he could have the virgin who had attended king David as his wife. Solomon recognized what his mother had not; this was a second attempt to strengthen Adonijah's claim to David's throne. Solomon then had his brother Adonijah killed for asking such a thing, and his grip on the throne was then solidified and confirmed, no longer contested by anyone. And he more or less banished his mother from access to the throne area for being so easily duped and used by his enemies.
So, if the Coming World Leader has traits of Adonijah, he will be a fine figure of a man, he will be associated with the number 50 somehow, and the 50 will somehow accompany him and precede him and probably lend power to him in some way, just as having an entourage of 50 signifies you as a person of note. He will dream up a way to illegally become the king or principal leader even when he cannot legitimately claim that. He will hold a 'coronation party' for himself, of his own design. He will fail when there is a sudden and unexpected sound of a celebration for the real king who has just been officially elevated to his intended place. If, that is IF, there is any intended meaning to such a symbolic comparison as this whole article is considering then these might be signs of the Coming World Leader who becomes the anti-Christ when he is entered by the spirit of Satan as scripture prophesies. There certainly may not be anything to such speculations. Only God knows. I am writing about it because I believe, I personally feel, that there is very likely to be elements of these past Biblical anti-heroes in the Coming World Leader.
I'm planning to add to this, but this is enough material for you to give some consideration to this subject if you find it an interesting topic. Who will this Coming World Leader be? Perhaps we are not supposed to know, or perhaps there are clues left purposefully for us to find in the verses of the Bible. But if you have formally and publicly confessed your sins, asked Jesus to be your Lord, gotten baptized and committed your life to following Jesus' teachings and loving others as Christians are commanded, then the terrible time of the anti-Christ cannot kill you for but a short time, if at all. Jesus is the true Son of God made into the flesh of man and He is our only given or needed Savior, and neither anti-Christ nor Satan directly can steal our soul from Jesus once we are an accepted disciple.