Originally posted by: azazyel
Originally posted by: Arkitech
What's the story behind the antichrist? I know a little bit about the bible but I can't ever really recall a specific reference to a person or being referred to as the antichrist. Is it a symbolic reference or is it a prophecy? Going a bit further is the antichrists a christian or muslim teaching? or is it in both?
It's Christian from the Book of Revelation as to the antichrist you may want to read this.
"'Apocalypse' was essentially an invective against Rome, built around a never-fulfilled prophecy that the imperial capital would be totally annihilated for daring to besiege Jerusalem (17:3 to 18:21; esp. 17:9; 18:8)."
- William Harwood, Mythologies Last Gods: Yahweh and Jesus
"This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits."
- Revelation 17:9
(The reference, of course, was to the seven hills of Rome.)
"Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her."
- Revelation 18:8
"Further invective was directed against the two Emperors responsible for the siege. The apocalyptist called them beasts, and declared that one had been fatally killed, but its fatal wound had healed (13:3), while the second, whom he significantly described in the present tense, bore the number 666 (13:18)."
- William Harwood, Mythologies Last Gods: Yahweh and Jesus
"And the dragon [some late manuscripts 'And I'] stood on the shore of the sea. 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. 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 astonished and followed the beast."
- Revelation 13:1-3
"The first beast can easily be identified as Nero [ruled from 54-68 CE], in whose reign the war started and who first sent Vespasian to Jerusalem to wage war against the Essenes and to defeat them (13:7). Nero committed suicide, but was nonetheless rumored for many years to have cheated death and to be planning a comeback."
- William Harwood, Mythologies Last Gods: Yahweh and Jesus
"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.
"Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. "
"This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666."
- Revelation 13:7, 11-12, 18
"The beast whose number is 666 and who is exercising all the authority of the first beast (13:12), sometimes identified as Domitian [son of Vespasian, ruled from 81-96 CE] in the belief that the author was a Christian and that his target must have been a persecutor of Christians, was in fact Vespasian. Vespasian was responsible for the assault upon Jerusalem, and was the reigning Emperor at the time of writing."
- William Harwood, Mythologies Last Gods: Yahweh and Jesus
Oxyranchus Papyrus LVI 4499
Other researchers disagree and identify the second beast as Nero.
"Evidently the Great Beast's name or title will add to 666 if its letters are turned into numbers. The obvious candidate for the honor is Nero but Revelation was written in Greek and his name in Greek, Neron, adds to 1,005. However, if his Greek title Neron Kaisar is turned into Hebrew letters, the total is 666 (nun - 50, resh - 200, waw - 6, nun - 50, qoph - 100, samech -60, resh -200). Nero also has the advantage of explaining the western tradition that the number was really 616, for if the Latin Nero Caesar is turned into Hebrew letters, it adds to 616."
- Maryse Choisy, "Great Beast", Man, Myth & Magic, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural
The variant number 616 is "actually found in some manuscripts of the Greek text of Revelation [such as the Oxyranchus papyrus fragment]."
"The sea beast represented the Roman Empire, and the second beast represented the emperor and the emperor worship that was common throughout the empire. Christians from Ephesus might especially have recognized this 'beast'. Their city had built a huge temple for the emperor Domitian housing a colossal statue of this emperor who styled himself 'Lord and God.' The first beast made war on the saints and the second required everyone, on pain of death, to worship an image on the first beast. In Domitian, John evidently; saw the rebirth of the evil embodied in the late emperor Nero, who is represented by the number of the beast, 666 (13:1-18)."
- ABC's of the Bible, Reader's Digest , (1991) pp. 362, 370
Edit: sourse is Mystae.com
