Prophecy, The Assyrian, Antichrist, Gog, and Beast

As we eye the coalition of forces gathered and battling in Syria, many are pointing to end time prophecy, and rightly so. Christ said in Matthew 24:5-8, “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in various places.All these are the beginning of sorrows.” While we may not be quite in the beginning of sorrows, there is deception, wars, rumors of wars. We are seeing signs of those things that must come to pass.

Again, I direct your attention to Christ’s words when he was asked by his disciples about the sign of his coming and the end of the world. He began to answer in Matthew 24:4 with “Take heed that no man deceive you.” Then he explained what would happen during the times leading up to the end, and in the end. His account is precisely in alignment with the prophets of the Old Testament, the Apostle Paul, and the Revelation of John. We know that God is not the author of confusion. But there is great confusion among men about the end times. Some believe all prophecy has been fulfilled, others believe they are establishing the Kingdom on earth, still others believe much prophecy is yet to be fulfilled.

End time prophecy is full of foreshadowing, partial fulfillments and precursors. Throughout history, there has been rise and fall of those who were types of the end time apocalyptic figure–what Christians call the “antichrist,” what Holy Scripture calls the “beast” or, more specifically, the “Assyrian.” This antichrist figure is alluded to as the Assyrian in Isaiah 10:5,10:24,14:25, 19:23, 30:31, 31:8, Micah 5:5-6, and Hosea 11:5. Ezekiel refers to him as Gog, chief Prince of Magog. The Lord speaks of the Assyrian or Gog in Ezekiel 38:17, “Art you he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring ye against them?”

If you are watching events unfold and are curious as to their prophetic implications, be encouraged. Study the prophets. Understand that they all tell a consistent story and it is true and, quite frankly, clear. Where the confusion comes in is man’s interpretation, self-made doctrines, suppositions, if-then statements and so on. And much of prophecy is misunderstood because the teachers of the teachers didn’t make it a priority. Bible prophecy is not something that you can just skim over and think you have it. It takes a lot of study, a lot of effort, and an understanding that we may not have all the pieces until they are revealed. One thing for certain, every day brings us closer to how these prophecies will specifically play out.