The Islamic Antichrist (7 page)

1. The Mahdi is Islam’s primary messiah figure.

2. He will be a descendant of Muhammad and will bear Muhammad’s name (Muhammad bin Abdullah).

3. He will be a very devout Muslim.

4. He will be an unparalleled spiritual, political, and military world leader.

5. He will emerge after a period of great turmoil and suffering upon the earth.

6. He will establish justice and righteousness throughout the world and eradicate tyranny and oppression.

7. He will be the caliph and imam (vice regent and leader) of Muslims worldwide.

8. He will lead a world revolution and establish a new world order.

9. He will lead military action against all those who oppose him.

10. He will invade many countries.

11. He will make a seven-year peace treaty with a Jew of priestly lineage.

12. He will conquer Israel for Islam and lead the “faithful Muslims” in a final slaughter/battle against Jews.

13. He will establish the new Islamic world headquarters from Jerusalem.

14. He will rule for seven years (possibly as much as eight or nine).

15. He will cause Islam to be the only religion practiced on the earth.

16. He will appear riding a white horse (possibly symbolic).

17. He will discover some previously undiscovered biblical manuscripts that he will use to argue with the Jews and cause some Jews to convert to Islam.

18. He will also rediscover the Ark of the Covenant from the Sea of Galilee, which he will bring to Jerusalem.

19. He will have supernatural power from Allah over the wind and the rain and crops.

20. He will posses and distribute enormous amounts of wealth.

21. He will be loved by all the people of the earth.

CHAPTER FIVE

COMPARING THE BIBLICAL
ANTICHRIST AND THE MAHDI

M
ost people who haven’t even read the Bible
have heard of the man known popularly as “the Antichrist.” Simply put, according to the Bible, the Antichrist will be Satan’s primary human agent on the earth in the last days. Interestingly, the Bible refers to him only once by that specific name (1 John 2:18). Using other names, however, there are numerous references to the Antichrist found throughout the Bible. Some of the various names that Scripture assigns to him are “the Beast” (Revelation 13:4), “the abomination that causes desolation” (Matthew 24:15), “the desolator” (Daniel 9:27), “the man of sin,” “the man of lawlessness,” “the son of destruction” (2 Thessalonians 2), “the little horn” (Daniel 7:8), “the Assyrian” (Micah 5:5, Isaiah 10:5, 14:25), “the oppressor,” “the king of Babylon” (Isaiah 14), and even the mysterious “Gog” (Ezekiel 38:1, Revelation 20:7). There are several other names that Scripture uses to refer to the Antichrist as well.

But beyond all of his unusual names, who exactly is the Antichrist? In this chapter we will review a few of the primary descriptions and actions that define just who the Antichrist is according to the Bible. Our examination will also focus on several very specific similarities between the Antichrist and the Mahdi.

A POWERFUL POLITICAL AND MILITARY WORLD LEADER

From the Bible, we learn that, in the last days, the Antichrist will emerge as a man who will lead a very powerful world
empire, the likes of which history has yet to produce. This powerful leadership role of the Antichrist is first described clearly in the Bible by the Prophet Daniel. In the Book of Daniel, in the seventh chapter, we find Daniel describing a vision of four very bizarre and gruesome “beasts.” After describing the first three beasts, Daniel says this of the fourth:

After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully. (Daniel 7:7–8)

Then, in verses 15–16, Daniel asks an angel in his vision to explain the interpretation of the vision of the four beasts. The angel explains that the four beasts represent four very great kingdoms or empires:

I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this. So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth. (Daniel 7:15–17)

It’s actually pretty straightforward. Daniel again asks the angel specifically about the fourth beast, and in particular about the “little horn” that uprooted three horns. The angel again responds with a very direct and clear explanation:

He gave me this explanation: The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. (Daniel 7: 23–24)

Essentially, the angel explains that the fourth kingdom causes great destruction to the whole earth. Initially, this kingdom will consist of ten kings. Then another king, an eleventh, will arise and displace three of the previous kings. This eleventh king is the Antichrist, first referred to as “the little horn.” Thus we see that, based on the vision that Daniel saw, the Antichrist is a future king who will first gain control over three other kingdoms or nations, and eventually over ten, thus forming his future ten-nation “beast” empire—an empire of unparalleled power and ferocity that will “devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.”

In the last part of Daniel chapter seven, the angel describes to Daniel the actions of this king as well as his end:

He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. (Daniel 7:25–27)

The king is said to oppress the saints of God for a period of time that most Bible scholars agree is three and a half years (a time, times and half a time). But eventually his dominion will be taken away, and replaced by the Kingdom of “the Most High” God.

Three hundred years later, in the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John likewise describes the Antichrist and his “beast” empire in very similar terms:

And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 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…. Men 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 make war against him?” The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander His name and His dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. (Revelation 13:2, 4–8)

While the symbolic language here is fairly thick, if we understand the biblical usage of particular symbolic terms, then the picture is actually quite clear. The “beast” again refers to the Antichrist, king over a ten-nation empire. The horns represent authority and power. Ten horns speak of an extremely high degree of authority as well as the number of nations and their kings that will unite to form the beast’s kingdom. The “dragon” who gives the beast his authority is Satan. Satan is often spoken of in the Bible as a dragon or a serpent. The global impact of this beastlike empire is made clear by the phrase: “And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation.” We see the specific question that the people of the earth ask is, “
Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?
” It appears to those on the earth that the beast is absolutely beyond challenge. And again we see the same specific period of time that was given to the beast to persecute God’s people as forty-two months. Forty-two months is three and a half years. This same timeframe appears in the previously cited passage of Daniel 7:25.

Thus, we have seen that the Bible prophesies that the Antichrist will be a political and military leader with power unparalleled by any other world leader throughout history.

THE MAHDI AS WORLD RULER

As we have seen from the Islamic traditions and Muslim scholars, the Mahdi, like the Antichrist, is also prophesied to be a political and military world leader unparalleled by any other throughout world history. The Mahdi is said to “fight against the forces of evil, lead a world revolution, and set up a new world order based on justice, righteousness, and virtue.”
¹
At this time, according to Islamic tradition, the Mahdi is said to preside over the entire earth as the final caliph of Islam. And, as we saw in the last chapter, the Muslims will “take the world administration in their hands and Islam will be victorious over all the religions.” Without question, Islam views the Mahdi as one whose rule will extend over all the earth. Clearly then, we see that the Antichrist and the Mahdi are both described as political and military leaders the likes of which the world has never before seen. While many powerful leaders have arisen throughout world history, the descriptions given concerning both the Antichrist and the Mahdi surpass any that have yet arisen. But the Mahdi and the Antichrist are both described as more than merely political and military leaders. They are both viewed as supreme religious leaders as well.

THE ANTICHRIST AS A SPIRITUAL WORLD LEADER

The Bible establishes the fact that the Antichrist will be a spiritual leader whose authority will be acknowledged worldwide. After examining the Antichrist’s role as a universal religious leader, many Bible prophecy teachers have talked about the coming of the “one world religion” or “the false church,” which the Antichrist will both create and enforce upon the entire earth. This concept of a coming dominant and demonically inspired world religion is partly arrived at due to the frequent references to worship associated with the Antichrist throughout Scripture. In the Book of Revelation we read that the Antichrist will both inspire and demand worship. This worship will be directed at
both Satan, referred to as “the dragon,” and the Antichrist, referred to as “the beast”:

Men 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 make war against him?”…. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. (Revelation 13:4, 8)

Beyond the fact that the Antichrist establishes a worldwide worship movement, another reason to see him as a spiritual world leader is because the Bible says a man referred to as “the False Prophet” will assist him. Of course, the very title False
Prophet
assumes the religious nature of this man. One of the primary roles of the False Prophet is to perform deceptive “signs and wonders” that will help persuade the inhabitants of the earth to worship the Antichrist/Beast:

But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. (Revelation 19:20)

It is clear, then, that the Bible teaches that the Antichrist will lead a worldwide religious worship movement that will attempt to displace and usurp worship from the God of the Bible. This worship will then be directed toward both himself and Satan—the invisible spirit—the provocateur and puppet master that motivates, empowers, and gives authority to the Antichrist to accomplish his worldwide task.