Why the coming Antichrist will not be a Jew

Why we should be watching for a Gentile Antichrist…

It is a common misconception that the church should be watching for an Antichrist in the end that will be Jewish.  The thinking goes that a Jewish Antichrist will be able to deceive Israel and that Israel would never accept a peace covenant or peace treaty with a non-Jew for the last 7 years or “week.”¹  I want to outline several reasons why I think this is a misinterpretation and that we should be watching for a Gentile, most likely a northern European Antichrist:

Daniel 9:27 is not a peace treaty but a covenant

For starters, the so-called peace treaty in Daniel 9:27 is not really a peace treaty.  Daniel 9:27 talks about a covenant, not a treaty as such, and furthermore this covenant is not a new covenant but a covenant that will be confirmed or to be strengthened.  The “covenant” that many in Israel would like to see strengthened is the Old Testament covenant where the temple and all of its rituals and sacrifices would be re-instituted.  And that is exactly what we will see happen in the first 1260 days with the introduction of the Two Witnesses one of which will be a modern contemporary Elijah.  See my extended look at Daniel 9:27 (in response to a comment by a reader) which explores this question of the peace treaty in the blog “What if Hitler came back to life.”  Some think that the Jews would not negotiate a peace treaty with non-Jews but the real point is that the need for the Antichrist to be Jewish in order to negotiate a peace treaty is not even an issue because it is not a peace treaty but a restart of the Jewish sacrificial system outlined by the Old Testament/Covenant.  Furthermore, the Antichrist will not even appear on the scene until he comes up out of the Abyss at the halfway point at the 5th trumpet judgment.  I believe that it will be the “Elijah” type witness who will confirm or strengthen the Old Testament covenant with the Jews.  And the reason is outlined in the “What if Hitler came back to life” blog at the end in response to a reader’s question.

“Sea” of Gentile nations

In Rev 13:1 we are told that the beast rises up out of the sea as opposed to the second beast also known as the False Prophet who comes up out of the land or earth.²  The sea is often used to refer to the sea of Gentile nations whereas the land almost always refers to the land of Israel in the Bible.  It is more likely in my opinion that the False Prophet, if anyone, will be Jewish rather than the Antichrist.

The coming prince has to come from Rome

There is a reference to the ruler who will come or the prince who will come in Daniel 9:26.  This is a reference to the Antichrist.  It says, “the people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.”  The people who destroyed the city and sanctuary in AD 70 were the Romans under General Titus.  So the ruler or prince or Antichrist to come has to have some affiliation with the Roman Empire or one of its subsequent iterations.  Interestingly Adolf Hitler’s ally Mussolini in World War 2, had aspirations that he was reigniting a new Roman Empire when they established the Third Reich from 1933-1945.  He restored the old Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea, “mare nostrum” meaning “our sea.”  The First Reich was the Holy Roman Empire from 800-1806.

King of the North

Another title and description of the Antichrist is the King of the North in Daniel chapter 11.  The Antichrist is a man who comes from the north.  Bible students have said that this is Russia but Turkey and also Germany and the whole of Europe is north of Israel and we know that the enemies of Israel come from the north and that out of the north wind/direction God sends judgment because his throne was believed to be above the North Pole.  See sermon #12 in Daniel chapter 8 in my “Being Decisive series” for a full explanation of the enemies of Israel coming from the north.  So in effect what I am saying is that the Antichrist could not be a Jew but has to be someone from the north, which could be anywhere north of Israel, most likely anywhere from Turkey (Assyria) to northern Europe with a Roman connection.

The eighth king will come from the seventh kingdom

Finally and most importantly we see in Revelation 17:11 that the eighth king (aka beast/Antichrist) will come from the seventh kingdom.  The seven kingdoms are Gentile kingdoms that have oppressed, killed, and enslaved the Jews in history.  The beast has to be a Gentile from one of these seven Gentile kingdoms.  They are not Jewish kingdoms because that would not make sense and we would have seven Jewish kingdoms oppressing themselves.  A house divided against itself cannot stand.³  The seven worldly Gentile kingdoms in order are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Roman Empire, Nazi (1933-1945).  It is my view that the eighth king or the beast will be a resurrected or updated Adolf Hitler.  He comes from Austria/Germany or northern Europe and he comes from the seventh kingdom.