Rabbi Schneider - When Will the Antichrist Arise?
One of my primary objectives is to help people understand the basic concepts of the last book in the Bible, the Book of Revelation that speaks about what's gonna be happening on planet Earth during this world's last days. You know, even physicists understand that eventually this earth is gonna run out. But it's not just gonna run out on its own. God, Himself, is gonna introduce Himself to the world that He created according to His will when Jesus returns from heaven and every eye sees Him. It's gonna be an exciting day. But you know what? We need to get ready for this cosmic blast of God's glory associated with the return of the Lord Jesus. And so the Lord wrote the Book of Revelation to us that we would understand the signs of the times that we're living in.
Many of you have heard of what's called the Sons of Issachar, and they understood the signs of the times. And so Scripture helps us understand the signs of the times that we're living in. We've been looking at the Tribulation, and one of the things that happens during what both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament describe as a time of distress on earth unlike what has ever been experienced here before is the rise of the anti-Messiah. Now most people have heard of the anti-Christ, but did you know that the anti-Christ is also talked about in the Old Testament or the Tanakh, that Daniel describes the rise of the anti-Christ? We're gonna be looking today at prophecies from both the Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament, and the New Testament showing us when the anti-Christ will arise.
Now first of all, one of my objectives is to help people understand that this isn't just some sanctified fairy tale. This is real. This is real history yet to be unfolded. This is really gonna happen. And if we just go back, beloved, a little more than 70 years, we're reminded of Adolph Hitler. This one small man that came this close to taking over the world as he sought to purge the world of all inferior races when he looked at his own people, the German people, and felt like the, the Aryan race, the, or the German race in this case, was the most superior people on the planet. And he launched, beloved, the worst war in history to rid the planet of those that were not the way he thought things should be.
You know what? Somebody else is going to arise just like him. And the fact that over 70 years ago, just a little over 70 years ago it almost happened, should make it easy for us to envision. You know what? Something like this could happen again. Let's think a little bit more about this. Today, those of us that are living in civilized nations where there are laws, and stop signs, and red lights, and checks and balances in government, we find it inconceivable that this could have ever happened. How could it have been that this mad man was able to launch this war that, again if it wasn't for the nuclear weapon that was dropped, beloved ones, in Japan, Hitler would have taken over the world.
And the discovery of the atomic bomb happened so close to that happening, that it was, it almost, it almost happened. But how did it happen? It happened, beloved, for two primary reasons. Number 1, and I want you to get this because they speak to us about what will be happening on earth when the anti-Christ arises. Germany, having lost in World War I, they were very wounded in their national identity and national pride. They didn't feel like they were winners anymore. So here comes this very charismatic figure, Adolph Hitler, starts telling and promising, and inspiring the people that he's gonna make Germany great again. And he starts to give them a sense of identity, a sense of importance, a sense of national pride. And they really needed that because, again, they had been hammered in World War I.
The other thing that Germany was really struggling with, as Adolph Hitler began his political propaganda campaign, was that due to all the war reparations that had to be made, all the repairs that needed to be made in Germany after World War I, Germany was really financially, they were bankrupt financially, economically. So Hitler came along and not only promised to restore their national pride, but he also promised them economic recovery. Now hear me, and the people were so desperate to gain a sense of victory back, to gain a sense of feeling like they were somebodies, so, so desperate to feel like they were important again, and they were so desperate to try to find a solution due to their economic collapse, that when Hitler came, listen now, they were ripe to believe an imposter.
And unfortunately, this is gonna be the state of the world again. The world is gonna be struggling. We're gonna be facing problems and challenges that no one seems to be able to fix. And in the midst of this chaos, in the midst of this global epidemic of problems, somebody's gonna arise with such charisma, such an anointing, but not from God, we're gonna see, such charisma that they're gonna be able to trick people that are desperate to believe in them. Even though people would see some of the faults in this individual, they're willing to look the other way just like they did with Adolph Hitler because they were so needy and so desperate.
You know, once again, illustrating this same concept, you know, the fact that this really happened because it's hard for many of us to envision an anti-Christ or an anti-Messiah taking over the world. Again this is not a new idea. I'm gonna show you from the Book of Daniel and other prophecies as well how, how this has been talked about for thousands of years. But you know, when I go to Israel, one of the places that we go to, many of you have been there, Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and most tour groups from all over the world that go to Israel, that make a, you know, a Holy Land pilgrimage there, and one of the places that they go to is this Holocaust Museum. And as I, as I have sat outside watching the faces as they, as they've left the Holocaust Museum, I, I see the expressions on people's faces. They're like, they're, they're like confused. They're bewildered. How could this have happened? They're sad. They're shaking their head. They just can't believe what they just saw; the pictures of Jewish people getting shot to death, piled bodies and bodies piled on each other. They've read the accounts.
Once again, I've shared with you how, how the Nazi soldiers, when a little Jewish baby was crying, they would take the baby, smash the child's head against a rock to make him shut up and stop crying. You know, it's, it's terrible to even have to say it. Forgive me for even saying it. But this is what happened. And when people walk out of that holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, they're, they're, how could this have ever happened? But beloved, it did happen, and human beings are still human beings, and this planet is still the same planet, and the Word of God tells us it's gonna happen again. We're gonna look at some Scriptures today that illustrate the type of climate that we're gonna be in when this takes place.
Let's begin now by going to the Book of Daniel. I'm going to Daniel, chapter 8, verses number 23-25. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of God abides forever. Beloved, listen to me, this is really gonna happen. Even right now, the world is being pulled apart. The, the world is being pulled apart. The things that held society together, beloved, are collapsing. In other words, if you go back hundreds of years ago, the earth was a pretty simple place. People were dependent on the land. But today, the dynamics that make for civilization are so much more complicated, and these things that are holding the world together are falling apart. The economy together, today rather is so complex.
I was sharing on last week's broadcast the whole technology system is based on satellites that are circling among, above the cloud, above the globe rather, from outer space. And if these satellites get shot down, everything's gonna shut down on planet Earth, including our military's ability to communicate with each other. And right now these satellites that are floating around planet Earth that control all this are vulnerable to being shot down by an enemy. I'm telling you, morality is collapsing. The value system that once held Western civilization and God's people together, that is under attack and coming apart at the seams. It is all falling apart. And in the midst of this chaos, the anti-Christ or anti-Messiah is going to arise.
So with that said, I'm reading now from the Book of Daniel. Hear the Word of God: In the latter period of their rule, now get this phrase 'cause I'm gonna focus on it, when the transgressors... Some translations read, when the transgressions have run their course. I'm gonna come back. I want you to think about this. When, when is this gonna happen? In the latter days, at the end of time, at a period, listen now, when the transgressors or when transgression has run its course. Now what does this mean? That the end times, that the anti-Messiah's gonna arise when transgressors or when the transgression has run its course. What does that mean? We're gonna answer that in a second.
Let's continue on: A king will arise. So when will the king arise? When transgressors or transgression has run its course. This king's going to arise that's insolent and skilled in intrigue. His power will be mighty but not by his own power. In other words, he's gonna have an anti-anointing. In other words, he's gonna be anointed by darkness. He's gonna be extremely powerful. But the anointing that's on him is gonna be from the realm of darkness. He will destroy to an extraordinary degree, and prosper and perform his will. He's gonna come as an angel of light, and he will destroy mighty men and, church, listen now, the holy people. And through his shrewdness... He's not gonna look like the devil. It's gonna be through shrewdness. He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence. What do we mean there that deceit is going to succeed? Deceit succeeds when people don't know it's deceit.
Again, the world's gonna be desperate for a solution. They're gonna need an answer. They're gonna need somebody that's gonna restore order to society. They're gonna need somebody that is gonna restore economic stability. They're gonna need somebody that is gonna create a safe place, or, or promise a safe place in the world to live. And in the midst of this neediness and this spirit of desperation, this one is going to arise promising a solution. It's gonna look like he has the ability, the intelligence, the creativity to do it, but it is all a ploy of darkness, beloved, to destroy planet earth.
Now I want to go back to the beginning of this verse: In the latter period of their rule, listen now, when the transgressors have run their course... What does this mean? This king's going to arise, we just got done saying, when transgressors have run their course. Let me read it again: In the latter period of their rule, when the transgressors have run their course, a king, or the anti-Messiah, will arise. Why does the king arise? Why does the anti-Christ arise when transgressors or transgression has run its course? The reason is, beloved, is because the world's conscience will have been seared. In other words, people will become so used to sin, they'll be so used to God's moral boundaries being violated that they won't be able to recognize the anti-Messiah.
That's why he's gonna be able to rise at this time. He would have never been able to arise in a different generation. But in this generation he's gonna be able to arise because people's conscience will be so seared they won't be able to discern what's going on. Think about it, beloved, this country, we've, we've murdered 58 million babies. We, we market immorality as entertainment. People's moral compass is gonna be seared. And so even though there's gonna be things about the anti-Messiah that a previous generation would have been able to recognize and for that reason reject them, when transgressors have run their course, mankind's ability to discern good from evil is gonna be so compromised that there's gonna be a vacuum opened up for this anti-Messiah to arise and to bring people behind him, and to lead the world into further darkness and to complete destruction.
Listen to verse number 25 of Daniel: And he will magnify himself in his heart, and he will destroy many while they are at ease. And he will even oppose the Prince of princes, but he will be broken without human agency. He's not gonna succeed, beloved. He's only gonna be broken though when Messiah Yeshua returns. Now I want to get back to the New Testament counterpart to the first portion of this Scripture from Daniel, 8, that I read. He's going to arise when transgression has run its course. Listen now, church, beloved ones, to this very curious verse in the New Testament. This is interesting indeed. I'm reading now Revelation, 22:11: Let the one who does wrong... Listen, Revelation, 22, last chapter of the Bible: Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong. That's strange. Why would God say let the one who is wrong or does wrong still do wrong, and let the one who is filthy, still be filthy.
You think God would say, Repent. You'd think God would say, Turn from your wickedness. But instead God says: Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong, and let the one who is filthy, still be filthy. Why would God say that? Because humanity now has reached the place of no return. They're on a trajectory of no return. They have willfully hardened their hearts to the Holy Spirit. And now in order for Yeshua to return, the anti-Christ has to arise. And the anti-Christ can't arise until sin has run its course. And so it's kind of like the Lord saying, Okay, you know what? It's time. Let the one that's do, doing wrong, still do wrong, so that the anti-Christ can arise because the Bible says that Jesus can't return until the anti-Christ is first revealed. I'm gonna read now from the Book of 2 Thessalonians: For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work: only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.
In other words, the Holy Spirit's gonna pull back. He's gonna be taken out of the way. He's gonna stop holding things together. Then the lawless one will be revealed... This is the anti-Christ, when the Holy Spirit pulls back. When the Holy Spirit that's restraining pulls back, what's gonna happen? Then the anti-Christ is gonna arise. Then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is the one who is coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness, listen now, for those who perish, listen now, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
Now hear this: For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. What's the mystery here? The mystery is, let him that does wrong still do wrong, God said. Why? Because it's time for the anti-Christ to arise. It's time for those that harden their heart against him to believe the anti-Christ. Then Jesus is gonna step in and He's gonna destroy sinners from the earth, and He's gonna create a new heavens and a new earth that's gonna reflect, beloved, who He is; man created in His own image reflecting His glory and His goodness and the earth is gonna be restored to its glory before the God that created it to reflect His beauty.
Beloved, listen to me again as I sum up today. Where we're heading is this; the world's wickedness, the problems on the earth are gonna continue to increase. Eventually man's capacity to discern wrong from right, it's already happening. As I indicated, we've already murdered 58 million babies in this world, and this, in this country rather, and that's not meant to put condemnation on anybody that's had an abortion because Jesus died for our sin. But it reflects that this earth is polluted. Okay, transgression's gonna run its course. Mankind's conscience is gonna be seared. People get married today, they're already thinking about what if I get a divorce. Conscience is seared. In that environment, the anti-Christ arises.
As the anti-Christ arises, the Holy Spirit pulls back, so the people that did not receive God and believe in Him when they had a chance, they follow the anti-Christ so that those that did not receive the love of the truth would be judged. And then Jesus returns from heaven, destroys the anti-Christ, eliminates sin from the earth, and God establishes His government here fulfilling what Jesus told us to pray when he said, pray this way: Our Father, that art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, get it now, on earth as it is in heaven. Listen, the God that created this world, He's coming back to take possession of it. And beloved, He wants you and I because He loves us so much, to be ready for Him.