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16 The Antichrist Most Definitely Is Not a Person!

With that said, we find that Irenaeus made some startling observations about the number
666. Notice –

It is not for the want of names that contain the number that I say this,...for there are many
names that can be found that have the number...for the name Evanthas contains the required num-
ber. [Then this remarkable statement --] Then also LATEINOS has the number 666 and it is a very
probable solution, this being the name of the last kingdom [of the four seen by Daniel]. For the Lat-
ins [Romans] are they who at present bear rule. I will not, however, make any boast over this [coin-
cidence]. (Irenaeus, ibid., XXVI, 3).

This comment was made before the ink on the Book of Revelation was barely dry! And, al-
though it is made with caution, those writers who followed Irenaeus were more bold in the applica-
tion of the name. Irenaeus doesn’t get it completely right due to the fact that he was not able to
parallel the prophecy with the events of history. He didn’t have the hindsight we have today. But
Irenaeus knew certain things. He knew that the Roman Empire had to fall and that the Antichrist
would arise from its ruins -- and that the second advent of the Messiah would follow that. He was
right!

Tertullian. Tertullian, born circa 150 A.D., was a Christian living in Carthage. He carried the inter-
pretation forward in his essay On the Resurrection of the Flesh. In this he speaks of the coming
Antichrist and quotes from Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians. He writes –

That day shall not come, unless, indeed, there come a falling away, he means indeed of
this PRESENT EMPIRE...and he who now hinders must hinder, until he be taken out of
the way. What obstacle is there but the ROMAN STATE, the falling away of which, by
being scattered into ten kingdoms shall introduce Antichrist UPON ITS RUINS? (Chapter
XXIV).

Here the prophecy of Daniel and Paul’s passage to the Thessalonians are pieced together to
predict the future. Tertullian could not have believed in the imminent return of Yeshua. He, like
Irenaeus, knew that the Roman Empire had to fall and be divided. He knew the Antichrist would
come -- but not before the fall of the Roman Empire. Yeshua would come after that. Tertullian not
only had a correct view of the future from his time, but he was able to give the obvious true meaning
of a passage of scripture over which ministers in the Churches of God still stumble over today.

Hippolytus. Hippolytus was active around the year 200. In his treatise he takes it for granted that all
of the church understood that LATEINOS is the name of the beast. He writes:

The wound of the first beast was healed and he (the second beast) was to make the image
speak, that is to say to become powerful; and it is manifest to all, that those who at present STILL
HOLD POWER are LATINS. If then we take the name as the name of a single man it becomes
LATINUS. Wherefore we ought neither to give it out as if this were certainly his name, nor again
ignore the fact that he may not be otherwise designated. (Treatise of Christ and Antichrist, p. 215).

Hippolytus knew that “Lateinos” has the number, but as a Latin writer uses “Latinus” and
does the same thing in his own language that we do when we say “Roman” has the number. He then

The Berean Voice July-August 2002