The Jews rejected Jesus of Nazareth the first time
The short answer to that question is yes but it all depends on how you see worship and what the Bible defines as worship. And this has implications for Christians too in the last days because the way we see things may not line up with the Bible.
For starters, what complicates the issue is that the Jews, unless they are a Messianic Jew, do not recognise Jesus of Nazareth when He arrived on earth the first time 2000 years ago as being the true Messiah who is prophesied about over 300 times in the Old Testament. They rejected Him and have subsequently been punished for the last 1960 years. See “Why 2030 is an important year“. When that 1960 year time period is up the last Sabbatical cycle or 70th week of 7 years will usher in the final stages. That period is due to begin at the end of this decade. Then Israel will recognise and mourn for Jesus as being the Messiah whom they crucified and will grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn child.1 But before that in the last 3 ½ years the books of Matthew and Luke say that many pseudo (false) Christs will appear and perform great signs and miracles to possibly deceive even the elect.2 As well as that there will be a Gentile worldwide dictator or ruler known popularly known as the Antichrist who will reign and oppress the Jews and who will subject the world to his designs. This man will do as he pleases and he will pitch his royal tents between the seas (the Mediterranean and Dead Seas) at the beautiful holy mountain (Mt Zion—Jerusalem).3 The identity of the Antichrist also described in Revelation as the beast, will I believe be an updated and resurrected Hitler.
The difference between the Antichrist and many false Messiahs
There is much confusion between the term Antichrist used by John in his letters4 and the many false Messiahs described in the books of Matthew and Luke. It is the difference between the Greek prefixes anti and pseudo. The prefix anti can mean ‘against’ as well as ‘instead of’5 whereas pseudo actually means ‘false’. Some translations such as TEV translate “Antichrist” as the ‘Enemy of Christ’ to get across the meaning that it is someone who opposes Christ, not necessarily someone who actually tries to convince people that he is the Christ. Then there are other translations such as the Aramaic Bible which actually mistranslate the term as ‘The False Messiah’. My opinion is that the Antichrist or end times beast will not try to convince the Jews that he is actually the promised Messiah whom they have been looking for but that he is actually God the Father.6 He sets himself up in the temple and proclaims to be God Himself. So the Antichrist who is a Gentile is different than the many who will claim to be the Messiah at that time. To be sure Adolf Hitler hated religion and especially Christianity. According to David Irving sometimes Hitler would talk about the Nazi Party and Christianity. “We must not try to combat religion”, he dictated, “but let it wither away!”7 If an updated, resurrected Hitler is the coming man of lawlessness then I think it would be a stretch to say that he will claim to be the Messiah or Christ. So does that mean that the Jews will not worship this Gentile end times worldwide ruler?
"We must not try to combat religion, but let it wither away!" (when talking about Christianity)
How could it be that Israel will worship Hitler?
Hitler’s profound loathing for the clergy can probably be traced back to the religious teacher at his school, about whom he had a fund of distasteful anecdotes.8 The question then remains how could it be that Israel will worship a renewed Adolf Hitler if he is found to be the Antichrist? This is especially in light of the fact that Hitler was responsible for the deaths of six million Jews in World War 2 and that he is not a Jew. Surely he is one of the most hated men that has ever lived and why would anyone, let alone the Jews, worship him? A great question and the answer lies partly in how ‘worship’ is defined and partly in the kind of deception that will prevail in the world at that time.
There will be a great delusion
Firstly, there will be a great deception that will be involved including counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders. If there was going to be anything that would mislead the Jews it would be signs because the Bible states that the Greeks seek after wisdom and the Jews seek after signs.9 The Jews confirm everything by signs—that is how they know if something is genuine and true. One only has to look at the example of Moses when he demonstrated that he had been sent from God by performing some signs and wonders before the people in Egypt.10 God will send a powerful delusion so that the world will be fooled by this imposter, this updated Hitler because this final imposter will be able to perform great counterfeit signs and wonders.11 Seems hard to believe right now but it is all part of the sifting process at the end to separate the believers from the unbelievers. See, this man will promise food and security possibly even health security as well. This is the frightening development that we even face now with the pressure to take the Covid-19 vaccine. Taking the vaccine will bring with it a promise of freedom, international travel, and the freedom to be able to participate in society—schools, jobs, shops, etc etc. It will be so hard to take the alternative path that the only pragmatic solution will be to participate in the program. Please don’t be a pragmatist! See my article, “Stop being so pragmatic!“
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3 weren’t pragmatists. If they were they wouldn’t have refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s 90-foot golden statue. Pragmatism says, “I have to eat and travel and go to the shops so I will take the vaccine, the mark or bow down to an image or whatever they want. I have no alternative! God will understand!” That is the danger. We need to read and reread Daniel 3 and the example. Now, these three young men were Jews and they didn’t worship this ancient evil dictator so you might ask won’t we see the Jews making the same kind of right decision again with the beast who astonishes the world and seemingly conquers death by coming back from the dead.12 Maybe and to be sure some will definitely refuse to worship and bow down because we see that one third of the Jewish nation will come through to the final battle of Armageddon and will be saved when Jesus returns to the earth. But in Daniel’s story there most likely would have been many many Jews who would have bowed down because Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian kingdom included the land of the Jews as well. This occurred during that 70 year exile period. Listen to my sermons in Daniel 3:1-18 and Daniel 3:19-30. Pragmatism will be the downfall of most of Israel and the world’s citizens.
Obeisance is really worship
That brings me to my second point—what really is worship? The likelihood is that most people including a great majority of the Jews won’t see taking a mark or bowing down to an image of the beast as being worship per se but merely as obeisance or a bowing of the knee. Obeisance is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as a movement of the body made in token of respect or submission. They will only see this as a minor pragmatic survival solution, not as an act of worship. The alternative will be to be thrown in a metaphorical furnace or be beheaded. That would be terrifying to anyone. King Nebuchadnezzar desired total obedience and so this reminds us of the Antichrist at the end where he also will demand total obedience to bow down to an image. Satan was the force behind King Nebuchadnezzar and he will be the evil malevolent force behind the Antichrist in the last 3 ½ years of history as we know it. That’s why these scenarios are similar. My point is that even though one could say that in their hearts they are not worshipping only bowing down to an image or taking a silly mark, God sees it as worship. People do incredibly stupid things due to peer group pressure. Our willingness to conform is powerful and it will take an equally powerful will to refuse to conform to the pressure to submit oneself to society’s expectations. Next year perhaps we will see that come to a reality when we will be refused entry to fly with Qantas if we refuse to get the jab for example. You could say that I don’t really believe in the jab but I will take it anyway so I can fly internationally or keep my job or shop in the shops that I like. That is submission or obeisance to a higher power and at the end of the day, obeisance is worship. The words obeisance and worship are used interchangeably throughout the Old and New Testaments in a myriad of translations. Try and explain the semantics of the two words when you are standing before a holy God saying that you only bowed down in submission but you weren’t actually worshipping per se. I would rather be sure and not bow down just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.13
Hitler will use flattery like Antiochus Epiphanes
So will the Jews worship an updated Hitler, even though the old Hitler is an anathema (curse) to the Jews? Absolutely! I believe a great majority of them will because of deception, because of pragmatism, because of fear and they might even justify it saying, “I am not really worshipping in my heart of hearts.” Worship takes many forms even though it may couch itself in pragmatism and necessity. He will also use flattery and he will reward any Jewish traitors just like the antichrist figure Antiochus Epiphanes did as described in Daniel.14 One needs to remember that Satan is the ultimate liar and deceiver. He deceived Eve in the idyllic Garden of Eden and he will deceive the world and the Jews once again in the Beautiful Land.15 He never steps out of character.
History tells us what Israel will do in the future
The fact is that sadly many times in the past the Jews have bowed down to false idols and engaged in idol worship.16 The first of the Ten Commandments instructed that they were “to have no other gods before Me”.17 If history is any precedence then once again in my opinion the Jews will worship images and the man who proclaims to be God Himself despite it being one of their worst enemies in history, Hitler. But God will have His two final prophets who will be a witness to the truth in the first 3 ½ years so we will need to be very watchful and listen very carefully.
Stand strong and be overcomers. There might be a high price to pay for refusing to worship the beast and his image but like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you will ultimately be saved from the fiery furnace and not a hair of your head will perish.18
- Zechariah 12:10 [↩]
- Matt. 24:24, Luke 21:8 [↩]
- Dan. 11:41-45 [↩]
- 1 John 2:18 [↩]
- Translator’s Handbook on 1 John 2:18 [↩]
- 2 Thess. 2:4 [↩]
- Irving, D, Hitler’s War (2002), p. 423 [↩]
- Ibid., p. 181 [↩]
- 1 Cor. 1:22 [↩]
- Exodus 7:8-9 [↩]
- 2 Thess. 2:9 [↩]
- Rev. 17:8 [↩]
- Dan. 3:18 [↩]
- Dan. 11:32 [↩]
- Dan. 11:41 [↩]
- Ezekiel 23:49 [↩]
- Exodus 20:2 [↩]
- Luke 21:18 [↩]
