Will the Antichrist be a Jew?

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Samuel2

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The Bible says that the Man of Sin will sit in the temple of God and declare himself God. In 2 Thessalonians 2-4. Will he be a Jew who will sit in the temple ? And how is the Jewish temple still God’s temple if they reject Christ ?
 
Samuel2 said:
The Bible says that the Man of Sin will sit in the temple of God and declare himself God. In 2 Thessalonians 2-4. Will he be a Jew who will sit in the temple ? And how is the Jewish temple still God’s temple if they reject Christ ?
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Recall that the Apostle John was writing in the first century.

1 John 2:18-25

Warning against Antichrists​

Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he has promised us, eternal life.
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If we look at some of Paul’s other writings, such as the Letters to the Corinthians we find him talking about the temple of God in a few other places.

1 Cor. 3: 16-17
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.
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And 2 Cor 6:16
16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God;
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So the temple he spoke of in the letter to the Thessalonians probably isn’t the physical Jewish temple, but the community of Christians, i.e the Church.
 
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Continuing your quotation from 2 Thessalonians…
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but only until the one who now restrains it is removed. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.
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So from the two passages together:
  • Many anti-Christs have come and are coming.
  • Many “went out from us,” i.e, apostatized
  • Deny that Jesus is the Christ
  • Deny the Father and the Son
  • Is uniquely identified with the “lawless” one who will be revealed and destroyed by the Lord Jesus
  • The coming of the lawless one will be apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, and every kind of wicked deception
  • Refuse to love the truth and be saved
  • Powerfully deluded to believe what is false
  • Take pleasure in unrighteousness, i.e., lawlessness, hence “the lawless one.”
  • Will be dealt with finally by the Lord Jesus
  • We are to stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that were taught to us, either by word of mouth or by letter. (v 15)
There is nothing uniquely Jewish about the anti-Christ.
There is no Jewish Temple. It was destroyed in 70 AD and never rebuilt.

Jesus and the Gospels are pretty clear that Jesus replaces the Temple.

I tell you that something greater than the Temple is here. (Matt 12:6)

John takes great pains to depict the body of Jesus as the Temple of the new Covenant.

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” (John 2:19)

I would think a stronger case can be made from the writings of John that the “lawless one,” the final anti-Christ may be a heretic or apostate from the Church, rather than Jewish.
 
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Some of the Church fathers thought so, but keep in mind, as far as I know, the Church has never defined What ethnicity the Antichrist will be. If he is he is, if he isn’t he isn’t.
 
Could be. My guess (completely speculative) is it would be someone claiming some sort of authority over all religions; a kind of syncretic fulfilment of all traditions. Baháʼí (which is also headquartered in Israel) teaches that all religions are basically the same and that someone will eventually be the next “manifestation of God.” I imagine something like that, where the person receives some large following according to an established syncretist and humanist religion that gives them a sense of authority over all world religions.
 
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Read the Books of the Maccabees. Those were not Jews who defiled the Temple. And, the Temple is Christ’s Body in heaven.

Honestly, rather that devoting myself to the study of evil, I much rather watch the clouds of heaven for the return of the Ulimate Good.
 
Weren’t there some fairly recent prophesies about the Antichrist? Or, at least, AN Antichrist? George Soros fit the description quite accurately (AN, not THE).
 
I’m inclined to say no, because it is written, "Thus shall all Israel be saved, yet who could plausibly call himself “king of the Jews” who is not even Jewish?
 
If you are talking about the antichrist in Nostradamus’ writing that is not Catholic.
 
No, it was private prophecy. Recent. Maybe that priest in Europe, Can’t remember his name, and not sure it is or even will be approved as acceptable Maybe Fr Gobbi? But maybe someone else. Sorry…
 
Yeah Nostradamus had the prophecy with the three antichrists and sometimes it makes it into catholic answers forums
 
Anything is possible I suppose. But the Jewish Temple would have to be rebuilt first, right?
 
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