Discuss the evil deeds of Antiochus IV and how he foreshadows the Coming World Leader. 522 - 9-6

Antiochus IV, was the son of Antiochus the Great and became the king of Syria (175-164 B.C) after the murder of his brother, Seleucus IV. He called himself Epiphanes, “the god who appears or reveals himself.” Perhaps Antiochus Epiphanes’ greatest claim to fame was his desecration of the Temple that led to the successful Macabbean revolt and the rededication of the Temple, celebrated as Hanukkah.

Antiochus tried to eradicate the Jewish religion and replace it with Greek polytheism. The observance of Jewish laws and practices were forbidden under the pentality of death. Sacrifices to the pagan deities were to be observed in all cities of Judea. Once a month homes were searched and possessing a copy of the Law or having observed the rite of circumcision was punished by death.

Antiochus’ “Abomination of Desolation” was a bridge too far for the Jewish people. With thanks to CM and his commentary “This Generation? Resolving the Olivet Discourse:”

“In Jerusalem on the 15th of Chislev in December 168 B.C. Antiochus “broke the league that he had made” and a pagan altar was built on the Great Altar of Burnt Sacrifices. On the 25th of Chislev (His birthday) a sacrifice was brought on this altar for the first time (1 Macc 1:54,59). He offered a swine in every village (Josephus, Antiquities, XII v4) and erected an idol to Zeus in the Holy of Holies: “a desolating sacrilege” (1 Macc 1:54). He called it the “Temple of Jupiter Olympius” (2 Macc 6:1-7).”

In speaking of the end times during the Olivet discourse Jesus said that the Jewish people were to flee when the Abomination of Desolation took place. Matthew 24:15-16, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.” 
 

The abomination of desolation will be the start of the three and a half year period known as the “Great Tribulation.” Any pretense of his covenant of peace and protection for the Jewish people signed at the start of the tribulation is cast aside and the antichrist will initiate extreme persecution of the Jewish people. The cruelty of Antiochus IV will be minor compared to the cruelty of the antichrist in the last days. Matthew 24:22, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.”

As an aside, during 2012 there was attempt to rebrand circumcision as “child abuse” echoes of anti-Semitism after two plus millennium.