The Coming of Christ and the Antichrist

Now let us show briefly, if you like, that these things were foretold by the prophets. You yourself, since you are so inclined, will gather more from the wide range of the Scriptures. The prophet Malachi says, “See, the Lord Almighty will come, and who will endure the day of his coming, or who will endure the sight of him? For he comes like the fire of a furnace and like a launderer’s soap; and he will sit refining and purifying, as it were, gold and silver.” But so that you may know more surely who this Lord is of whom these things are said, hear what the prophet Daniel also foretells: “I saw,” he says, “in the vision of the night, and see, one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came near to the Ancient of Days and was brought near before him; and there was given to him rule and honor and a kingdom. And all peoples, tribes and languages will serve him. His rule is an everlasting rule which will not pass away, and his kingdom will not be destroyed.” By these words we are taught not only about his coming and judgment, but about his rule and kingdom: that his rule is everlasting and his kingdom cannot be destroyed and has no end, as it is said in the creed, “and of his kingdom there will be no end.” So anyone who says that Christ’s kingdom will one day come to an end is very far from the faith. [a]

Yet we ought to know that the enemy is in the habit of counterfeiting this saving coming of Christ with cunning fraud, to deceive the faithful. In place of the Son of Man, who is looked for to come in the majesty of his Father, he prepares the Son of Destruction with wonders and lying signs, so that instead of Christ he may bring Antichrist into the world. The Lord himself warned the Jews about him beforehand in the Gospels: “Because I have come in my Father’s name and you did not receive me, another will come in his own name, and him you will receive.” And again, “When you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand.” Daniel, then, speaks very fully and at length in his visions of the coming of that delusion; but it is not worth citing examples, for we have said enough already. So we refer anyone who wants to know more about these matters to the visions themselves. The apostle himself also says, “Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and that man of sin is revealed, the Son of Destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as though he were God.” And soon after, “Then that wicked one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. His coming is by the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders.” And again, shortly after, “And for this reason the Lord will send them a strong delusion, so that they believe a lie, that all may be judged who have not believed the truth.” This, then, is why this “delusion” is foretold to us by the words of prophets, evangelists and apostles: so that no one may mistake the coming of Antichrist for the coming of Christ. But as the Lord himself says, “When they say to you, Look, here is the Christ, or look, there he is, do not believe it. For many false Christs and false prophets will come and will lead many astray.”

But let us see how he has described the judgment of the true Christ: “As the lightning shines from the east to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” When, then, the true Lord Jesus Christ comes, he will sit and set up his throne of judgment. As he also says in the Gospel, “He will separate the sheep from the goats,” that is, the righteous from the unrighteous; as the apostle writes, “We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what was done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or evil.” Moreover, the judgment will be not only for deeds but for thoughts too, as the same apostle says: “Their thoughts accusing or else excusing one another, on the day when God will judge the secrets of men.” But let this be enough on these points. Next, in the order of the faith, there follows: