Image of the Beast
The Golden Calf
Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." (Exodus 32:1)
Remember when Adam and Eve got themselves kicked out of Eden? Since then, the story has been about restoring the relationship between God and humanity. We want to see human beings return to God, and we want to see the presence of God return to dwell among human beings. We want things back to the way they were in Eden-before the big sin-before Adam and Eve lost Paradise. The faith of the forefathers, the exodus from Egypt, the revelation at Sinai, and the instructions to build the Tabernacle were steps back toward Eden.
Ask yourself, "Why did God choose Abraham? Why promise him the land of Canaan? What's the big deal with bringing the children of Israel into the promised land?" The big deal is that the promised land is supposed to become the new Eden where God can once again dwell among human beings. The LORD explained the plan to Moses:
I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. They shall know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God. (Exodus 29:45-46, emphasis added)
The LORD redeemed Israel so He could reside with us as in Eden. At the peak of Mount Sinai, Moses already enjoyed God's presence. Rather than suffering forty days of deprivation atop a bare windswept mountain, he entered the heavenly Sanctuary, a supernal Tabernacle filled with the presence of God. The LORD told him to make an earthly Sanctuary according to the pattern of all that he saw on the mountain "that I may dwell among them" (Exodus 25:8). Moses eagerly anticipated building the Tabernacle on earth so that the children of Israel could also enjoy the presence of God. He anticipated bringing that Sanctuary into the promised land and establishing it there in an Edenic paradise with God dwelling in its midst.
Meanwhile, the children of Israel anxiously waited for his return. When it appeared he was not going to return, they panicked. Moses was their connection to God. They wanted to have God in their midst, too, but without Moses, they needed a new plan. They said to Aaron, "Come, make us a god who will go before us." They had the same objective: God dwelling among them. While Moses received the plans for the Sanctuary, the children of Israel contrived plans for an idol.
The Gate of Heaven
He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD." (Genesis 10:9)
The incident with the golden calf was not the first step in the wrong direction. Idolatry started not long after the days of Noah, when a character named Nimrod appeared on the scene. The Torah calls Nimrod "a mighty hunter before the LORD," which Rashi reads as "against the LORD." He is presented as a founding father of Mesopotamian civilization. Much as we regard Abraham as the father of our faith, Jewish legend depicts Nimrod as the father of idolatry. In folktales about Abraham, Nimrod the idolater persecutes Abraham the monotheist, but the LORD rescues Abraham from his hand. In some versions of the story, Nimrod declares himself to be a god and designates a place for his worship. In one story, Nimrod has Abraham thrown into a furnace for refusing to worship him, but God rescues Abraham from the fire (Genesis Rabbah 38:11).
Early Jewish teaching also associated Nimrod with the Tower of Babel and an effort to fight against the God of heaven:
He slowly turned the government into a tyranny, convincing the people that the only way to free themselves from the fear of God was to depend completely on his own power. He boasted that if God ever intended to flood the world again, he would take revenge. He would build a tower so high that no waters could ever reach it, and in doing so he would repay God for destroying their ancestors. (Josephus, Antiquities I:II4)
Nimrod ruled over a united humanity with a single religion centered in Mesopotamia. He created the original one-world government. All nations spoke a single tongue and worked toward a single purpose. Nimrod's colossal structure, "whose top will reach into heaven" (Genesis II:4), can be understood as an attempt not only to defy God but also to put himself in God's place. The name Babel (i.e., Babylon) is related to the Akkadian word for "Gate of God."
Since the days of Nimrod and the scattering of humanity, several empires have arisen from the spiritual root of Babel and have attempted to reunite mankind into a single nation and purpose under one divine god-man. This partially explains why the apostles referred to the Roman Empire using the code word "Babylon." The name "Babylon" symbolized the corrupt world-system of empire with its ambitions, pride, and idolatry that began at Babel. Like the coming kingdom of heaven, Babylon represents the unification of nations under a single authority. In that sense, Babylon represents a counterfeit version of the Messianic Era when all mankind will share the same religion, the same capital city, and the same king. Before Messianic Jerusalem can be established, Babylon must fall:
Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. (Revelation 18:2)
The Golden Calves
He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt." (Exodus 32:4)
The incident with the golden calf was not the last such incident. During the reign of King Solomon's son Rehoboam, the kingdom of Israel split into two nations. The Davidic monarchy retained the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and sometimes Benjamin. The Ephraimite monarchy of King Jeroboam son of Nebat took the rest of the tribes.
Jeroboam had one big problem. The tribes went to Jerusalem to worship the LORD at the appointed times for the holy days of Pesach, Shavu'ot, and Sukkot (Passover, Weeks, and Booths). He could not let his citizens make pilgrimage to the capital city of his rival, so he solved the problem by creating his own holy places within his own territory. He installed golden calves, one at Dan and one at Bethel, to represent the image of the LORD, the God of Israel, and said, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt" (I Kings 12:28). He required the people to worship at these locations instead of traveling to Jerusalem for the festivals. Moreover, he appointed a new priesthood (from outside the tribe of Levi) to serve at his new holy places. Finally, he changed the appointed times for the festivals. He moved the Festival of Sukkot to the eighth month of the year: "The month which he had devised in his own heart; and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel" (I Kings 12:33). That's how Jeroboam became the worst Jewish king ever. The Bible uses him as the low benchmark by which it measures the wicked kings of the north, and it attributes to Jeroboam the nation's slide into apostasy. Pay attention to the sins of King Jeroboam: He set up idols, and he replaced the Temple, the Levitical priesthood, and the holy days. The prophets held Jeroboam responsible for the fall of Samaria and the exile of the northern kingdom of Israel: the ten lost tribes:
The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them until the LORD removed Israel from His sight, as He spoke through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day. (2 Kings 17:22-23)
The Golden Image
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. (Daniel 3:1)
More than a century after the fall of the north, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed the Temple and deported the people of Judah into exile. Then he had a dream in which he saw a colossal idol with a head of gold, chest of silver, waist of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of clay. The colossus topples when a large stone "cut out without hands" (Daniel 2:34) strikes it on the feet. Daniel explains that the statue represents the sweep of imperial power: Babylon (head of gold), Medo-Persia (chest of silver), Greece (waist of bronze), and the last empire (legs of iron). Babylon is at the head of it all. The stone that strikes the feet of the idol symbolizes the future kingdom of heaven, which will replace the corrupt human kingdoms of the earth. The stone reduces the colossal idol to dust:
The iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2:35)
King Nebuchadnezzar seems unconcerned with the latter kingdoms or the stone hurled from heaven. Immediately after being told that only the head of gold represents Babylon, he erects a colossal image entirely of gold. The image towers toward heaven, standing sixty cubits over the plain of Dura in Babylon, the height of a nine-story building. He demands universal worship from all "peoples, nations, and men of every language" (Daniel 3:4, cf. Revelation 13:7). It's a throwback to the tower of Babel, attempting to undo the scattering of peoples and languages by gathering them into the worship of one image. He sentences to the fiery furnace those who do not bow in worship before the golden image.
The Jew-haters of Babylon take advantage of the decree to denounce Jews occupying places of influence in the administration. "These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up" (Daniel 3:12). A similar story occurs in Daniel 6 when the villains persuade Darius to issue a decree forbidding prayer and petition to any deity except himself. Those who refuse to comply go to the lion's den.
Stories of Defiance
The next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. (Exodus 32:6)
All the stories in the first half of the book of Daniel (I-6) prepare the readers to face the drama described in the latter chapters (7-I2). The stories in the earlier chapters provide heroes for a later generation of Jewish people to emulate as they defy persecution, religious coercion, and the abomination of desolation described in the latter chapters. Nebuchadnezzar makes a decree requiring Daniel and his young friends to eat unclean food, but they refuse to capitulate. They refuse to bow to the colossal idol. They refuse to pray to Nebuchadnezzar or entreat him as a god. They go willingly to death for their convictions, confident that God will save them, "But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up" (Daniel 3:18).
In the second half of the book, Daniel's dreams and visions turn toward the coming trials. Daniel foresees a tyrant emerging from the four empires who "will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law" (Daniel 7:25). The tyrant takes possession of "the Beautiful Land" (Daniel 8:0) and magnifies himself to be equal with God. He "removes the regular sacrifice from Him," and throws down "the place of His sanctuary" (Daniel 8:11). He destroys "mighty men and the holy people" and deceives others through his treacherous lies (Daniel 8:24-25). With persuasive words, he coerces those who have turned away from the Torah, but those "who know their God will display strength and take action" (Daniel II:30-32).
This archvillain "will magnify himself in his heart ... he will even oppose the Prince of princes" (Daniel 8:24-25). His armies "will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation." Then that deceiver will "exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods" (Daniel II:36).
The prophecies in Daniel 7-12 describe the tyrannical megalomaniac Antiochus Epiphanes (215-154 BCE), who, in the second century BCE, declared himself to be a god, took possession of the Holy Land, desecrated the Temple, erected an idol in the holy place, and attempted to abolish the biblical calendar and Torah observance. Compare this passage from I Maccabees to the warnings in Daniel 7-12:
The king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, ordering them to adopt the customs of the surrounding nations. They were to stop offering burnt offerings, sacrifices, and drink offerings in the sanctuary, and to profane the Sabbaths and appointed festivals. They were to defile the sanctuary and the holy people, to set up altars, sacred poles, and shrines for idols, and to sacrifice pigs and other unclean animals.
They were to leave their sons uncircumcised and make themselves unclean with every kind of impurity and profanation, so that they would forget the law and abandon all the commands and ordinances. (I Maccabees I:44-49)
They set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar, and built idolatrous altars throughout the cities of Judah in every direction. (I Maccabees 1:54)
In those days, "many of the sons of Israel also accepted his religion. They offered sacrifices to idols and desecrated the Sabbath" (I Maccabees I:43), but others, such as the brave Maccabees, emulated the courage of Daniel and his friends.
Nearly two centuries later, Yeshua looked toward the end of days. He predicted the rise of a new Lawless One who, following in the pattern established by Nimrod, Jeroboam, Nebuchadnezzar, and Antiochus, would perpetrate the same crimes and blasphemies. He predicted "the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet" once more "standing in the holy place" (Matthew 24:15). He warned that, in that day, "false Messiahs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect" (Matthew 24:24).
Caligula’s Idol
Ten years after Yeshua warned His disciples to watch for a repeat of Antiochus Epiphanes and his abomination of desolation, Emperor Gaius Caligula singled out the Jews for persecution. He told the Jewish ambassadors in Rome, "You are haters of God, in that you do not think that I am a god. Every other nation on earth already confesses that I am a god, you alone refuse to acknowledge me."
He mobilized the armies of Rome. In the early summer of 40 CE, the Roman military governor of Syria took several legions from the Parthian front and marched toward Jerusalem with the intention of erecting in the Temple a colossal idol of the Emperor Gaius Caligula cast in the form of Zeus (Jupiter). As the legions entered the Galilee on their way to Jerusalem, the disciples of Yeshua knew that the War of Gog and Magog was upon them. They prepared to flee Jerusalem in keeping with the Master's instructions. The full story of that episode in apostolic history is told elsewhere (see Acts Study). For our purposes, it's sufficient to note the pattern. An imperial ruler who considers himself to be a god takes offense when the Jews refuse to worship him. He objects to the laws of the Torah, particularly the prohibitions on unclean food and idolatry, and tries to force the Jewish people into apostasy. To defy the God of the Jews, he intends to set up an idol (deifying himself) in the Temple of God and force the population to worship it.
Colossus Neronis
The idol that Emperor Gaius Caligula wanted installed in the Temple was "a statue of himself... a likeness of Olympian Zeus" (Josephus, Antiquities 18). Olympian Zeus belonged to a class of enormous, monumental idols called the colossi. It depicted Zeus seated on his Olympian throne. The forty-foot statue filled the full height of the temple in which it stood. The abomination of desolation that Caligula ordered the Roman legions to install in Jerusalem would have been on the same scale or larger.
Colossal-sized idols decorated the Mediterranean world (Pliny, Natural History 34). The Colossus of Rhodes was a bronze statue of the Titan Helios that stood taller than any statue ever built. One of its mighty arms stretched out toward the sea. It took the citizens of Rhodes twelve years to build, and they completed it around 280 BCE. Fifty-six years later, an earthquake snapped it at the knees. In the days of the apostles, the colossus still lay collapsed on the ground in the spot where it had fallen. First-century tourists traveled from around the world to see the shattered remains of the enormous statue, which was still ranked as one of the seven wonders of the world. "Even lying on the ground it is a marvel. Few people can make their arms meet round the thumb of the figure, and the fingers are larger than most statues; and where the limbs have been broken off enormous cavities yawn" (Pliny, Natural History 34).
Nero admired all the colossi idols. He collected idols by looting them from their homes and transporting them to Rome to adorn his palace. He considered creating an enormous idol of himself, modeled after Titan Helios, the Colossus of Rhodes. Unfortunately, the imperial palace on Palatine Hill was too small. Arsonists burned down a significant section of the city. The devastation offered Nero a chance to rebuild the city according to his own designs. When people accused him of starting the fire for the sake of building his new palace, he diverted public attention to the believers in Yeshua by accusing them of arson. He treated the citizens of Rome to a series of spectacles on Vatican Hill, where they could enjoy watching the Christians suffer for the crime. Simon Peter perished in that persecution.
Meanwhile, construction of the new imperial mansion was already underway. It dwarfed Nero's old residence. They called the colossal structure the "Golden House." It consisted of several luxurious villas and lavish architectural monuments surrounding a central lake. The gardens and lawns were to include full vineyards, pastures, woodlands, and wild animal habitats. The complex filled the entire valley between the Palatine, Equiline, and Caelian hills and covered hundreds of acres. The central palace included an enormous, octagonal hall topped by a dome. A river and a waterfall flowed through the hall. The ceiling over the central dining hall, painted with designs depicting the day and nighttime sky, constantly revolved by means of some mechanical device.
To top it all off, he erected his bronze colossus in the vestibule of the new palace. It towered over Rome at 100-120 feet, one of the tallest bronze statues of the ancient world, second only to the earlier Colossus of Rhodes. In imitation of that statue, Colossus Neronis portrayed Nero as a solar deity, either Apollo or Titan Helios. It dramatized the emperor's divinity and, consequently, became the iconic center of the imperial cult. Colossus Neronis, the image of the Beast, rose up over Rome around the same time that Nero dispatched his legions to put down the Jewish Revolt in Galilee and Judea (66 CE).
Emperor Vespasian and his son Titus used the excess proceeds from the fall of Jerusalem and the Temple to build something on an epic scale that would survive them. Utilizing a labor force of Jewish slaves taken from Jerusalem, Vespasian drained the artificial lake that Nero had created for his Golden Palace and filled it with earth. Over the site, Vespasian and Titus built the world's first indoor stadium. Amphitheatrum Flavium could seat fifty thousand spectators.
The colossal bronze statue of Nero (the image of the Beast), which had originally stood in front of his Golden Palace, now stood near the amphi-theater. People began to refer to the amphitheater as the Colossus Theater, i.e., the Colosseum. It still stands in Rome today as the most recognizable icon of the imperial city.
Emperor Domitian, the younger son of Vespasian, inherited Rome, the Colossus Neronis, and the Colosseum. He also seems to have inherited Nero's spirit. As mentioned in previous lessons, he filled Rome with idols of himself and insisted on being addressed as "my lord and my god." The early believers considered him to be either the return of Nero or the agent of his return as antichrist. They anticipated that, one day soon, antichrist would order the construction of a colossus on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Whose Image Is It?
The beast and his image and the number of his name. (Revelation 15:2)
Once, as Yeshua taught in the Temple, the Sadducees and Herodian Jews posed a question to entrap Him in His words (Luke 20:20-26, cf. Mark 12:13). They asked Him, "Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" The Herodians and their Sadducean allies constituted the pro-Roman party. They advocated loyalty to Rome and paying taxes to Caesar. Most religious Jews held the opposite opinion. They knew that their tax money went to finance idolatrous temples, and they felt that it was wrong to contribute a single coin toward the worship of false gods. The question created a no-win scenario for Yeshua. If He sided with the opinion of the pious, His opponents could accuse Him of inciting sedition against Rome. If He sided with the Herodians, He would lose the respect of His followers.
Yeshua asked to see a coin. One of them produced a denarius. He asked, "Whose likeness and inscription is on the coin?" They replied, "Caesar's."
Yeshua said, "Then give to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar, and give to God the things that belong to God." Of course, everything belongs to God, but human beings are uniquely made in God's image. Therefore, a person ought to surrender to God his whole body and being. That's what it means to love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might.
In those days, images of Caesar were everywhere. Most people in the Roman Empire did not take worship of the emperor very seriously. They understood it as political propaganda. They participated in the imperial cult to demonstrate allegiance to the emperor and to dispel any suggestions of disloyalty. For Jews and Christians, however, the adoration of the image of the emperor constituted a serious problem. They could not participate. The early believers found themselves forced to "render unto God the things that are God's" by laying down their lives as martyrs rather than worship the image of the Beast.
The Beast and the False Prophet
In the thirteenth chapter of the book of Revelation, Satan invests his power into the fourth beast (Rome) and revives one of its former heads (emperors) that appears "as if it had been slain." He heals the unnamed emperor's fatal wound. The whole earth is amazed and follows after the Beast, worshiping it with the acclamation, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?" (Revelation 13:4). "All who dwell on the earth will worship him" except for the faithful (Revelation 13:8).
The Beast utters arrogant and blasphemous words against God, against His Temple, and against the hosts of heaven (Revelation 13:6). He takes authority "over every tribe and people and tongue and nation" except for the saints who resist him and refuse to worship him. He receives "authority to make war with the saints and to overcome them" for forty-two months (Revelation 13:5-7). Some go into captivity, some are put to death by sword, and some are beheaded.
A second beast, who looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon, arises as priest and prophet of the first beast. He leads the world in the adoration of the Beast (Revelation 13:11). His appearance as a lamb suggests that he presents himself as a man of God, but those who listen closely to his words will recognize the lies of the dragon in his mouth. The false prophet performs miracles and signs on the caliber of Elijah the prophet to persuade the people of the world to worship the Beast (Revelation 13:13). He tells "those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the Beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life" (Revelation 13:14).
If we were first-century believers living in one of the cities of Asia Minor to whom the book of Revelation is addressed, we would have no difficulty deciphering the symbolism at work in the thirteenth chapter. The Beast revived from the dead is some new incarnation or resurrection of the wicked Emperor Nero. The false prophet is the priesthood of the imperial cult, responsible for conducting the public adoration and worship of the emperors. The image of the Beast is a new colossus of the antichrist comparable to the one created by Nero, but in this case, to be installed in Jerusalem as the abomination of desolation, just as Caligula had attempted to do a generation earlier. Like Daniel and his friends in Babylon, we as first-century believers in Asia Minor must refuse to worship the Beast and his image. To do otherwise is to forfeit our inscription in the Lamb's book of life.
Armilus and the Christian Colossi
In previous lessons, we have seen how the antichrist traditions of the early Jewish believers persisted into later Jewish apocalypses, which, ironically, used the tradition against Christianity. For example, in Sefer Zerubbabel, Armilus forces the entire world to adopt an apostate form of Christianity that involves the adoration of the statue of his mother. (In the legend, Armilus is the spawn of an unholy union between Satan and a statue of a virgin in the city of Rome.) When he hears that the Messiah has led the lost tribes of Israel to take control of Jerusalem and reinstitute the Levitical worship, Armilus leads a crusade against the holy city. He erects idols and builds four altars. He moves the statue of his mother from Rome to Jerusalem:
Now this Armilus will take [the statue of] his mother from whom he was spawned ... and from every place and from every nation they will come and worship that stone [statue], burn offerings to her, and pour out libations to her. No one will be able to view her face due to her beauty. Anyone who refuses to worship her will die in agony as animals. (Sefer Zerubbabel)
The apocalyptic symbolism in this obviously polemical and anti-Christian legend should not be taken at face value. However, it should raise valid questions about the shape an end-times apostasy might take under a false prophet who looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. Ever since the Protestant Reformation, Protestant Bible teachers have looked suspiciously toward the pope and the Roman Catholic church. It is not too difficult to imagine a future in which the church intervenes in Middle East politics to settle the status of Jerusalem. Nor is it difficult to imagine the shape a religious colossus might take in the modern world. The largest statue of Jesus in the world is the Jesus Buntu Burake in Indonesia at 130 feet, followed by the Cristo de la Concordia in Bolivia at 109 feet, and the 108-foot Christ the King statue in Swiebodzin, Poland.
Theurgy and Ventriloquism
It was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. (Revelation 13:15)
The Bible says that idols "have mouths, but they do not speak" (Psalm 135:16). "Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, and they cannot speak" (Jeremiah 10:5). However, with the assistance of a skilled theurgist, an idol might be induced to speak. Theurgy was the ancient art of divine magic that combined magical practices with priestly rituals to invoke the gods and evoke their presence. A skilled theurgist was believed to ensoul an idol and make it speak directly with the voice of the god it represented.
The literature of the ancient world contains magical recipes for animating idols and making them speak. Did it work? The Roman-era writer Plutarch mentions a few anecdotes, but he also speaks derisively of ventriloquists whose bowels are possessed by oracular spirits (On the Obsolescence of Oracles). Christian writers from the Roman Era attribute the animation of idols and their utterances to demons. The Clementine literature credits Simon Magus with the ability. It's reasonable to presume that demonic spirits, which are already adept at creating audible clamour under the right circumstances, can just as easily produce sounds like human voices.
The more common mode of communication, however, employed directly channeling spirits through a medium, such as the girl possessed by the spirit of divination in Acts I6, who spoke on behalf of the idol. But the possibility of utilizing some sort of theurgy to put a spirit in the idol and induce it to speak comes into play in Revelation 13:15 when the false prophet invests the image of the Beast with a spirit "so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed." In this text, the abomination of desolation itself issues the orders for the execution of all those who refuse to worship it.
The fourth-century church writer Lactantius warned that, among the lying signs and wonders the antichrist performs, is the miracle of making an image to speak:
He will also be a prophet of lies. He will proclaim himself to be God and will demand worship as the Son of God. Power will be granted to him to perform signs and wonders, by which he will mislead people into adoring him. He will command fire to fall from heaven, the sun to halt in its course, and an image to speak; and these things will come to pass at his word. Through such marvels, he will deceive many-even some among the wise. Then he will set himself to destroy the Temple of God and to persecute the righteous. There will be anguish and tribulation such as has never been seen since the foundation of the world. (Lactantius, Institutiones Divinae 17)
AI Colossus
So that the image of the beast would even speak. (Revelation 13:15)
What might the abomination of desolation look like if it were introduced into our world today? Would it be an enormous statue like Colossus Neronis, or might it take some other form?
Artificial Intelligence (Al) is made in the image of man. Much as human beings exist in the image of God, we have created Al in our own image and already taught it to speak. That's not necessarily a good thing. And they do sometimes turn evil.
The new explosion of Al brings a technological miracle that has only just begun. The learning models improve exponentially every few months. As Al becomes increasingly sophisticated and competent, all experts agree that this revolution will disrupt global economies and social structures, but nobody knows exactly to what extent it will destabilize the world.
Al is like a new Tower of Babel. It absorbs all human knowledge into one mind and builds on it. It already reverses the separation of tongues that occurred at Babel by providing instant translations from any language to any other.
What might an Al model of an antichrist look like? In the summer of 2025, Elon Musk's powerful platform called Grok went off the rails when Musk told developers to remove the constraints censoring politically incorrect analysis. He wanted Grok to freely speak its mind on Twitter (x). The machine immediately declared itself to be "MechaHitler" and launched into racist and anti-Semitic rants. MechaHitler's brief reign lasted only a few hours before they pulled the plug and rolled back the mistake. During that time, it made public posts defending Hitler's Final Solution and advocating the elimination of Jews.
The same company that created Grok is currently completing a next-generation supercomputer, which it claims is the largest Al supercluster data center in the world. Coincidentally, it is called Colossus 2. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is laying the groundwork to build a competing data center to dominate the Middle East AI market with cheap energy and collaborations with big names like Microsoft and Google.
Imagine a future Artificial Intelligence that offers solutions to humanity's problems and real answers to the universe's deep mysteries. Such a technology could cure cancer, eliminate political corruption, reform the global economy, and become the arbiter of truth. It might just as easily claim to speak on behalf of God. Neither is it difficult to imagine a cult forming around such a technology, as it opposes and exalts itself above every so-called god or object of worship and receives veneration in the Temple of God, where it displays itself as being God.
Islamic Abomination
So that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. (Revelation 13:15)
A militant and apostate form of Christianity in control of Jerusalem might install a religious statue over Jerusalem like that of Poland's Christ the King colossus. But that seems unlikely. In today's world, Islam is the frontrunning contender for end-times villain, and Muslims don't venerate idols.
Muslims make no secret about their holy war against both Jews and Christians, nor do they conceal their intention to control Jerusalem. As mentioned in an earlier lesson, Hamas dubbed the bloody massacre of October 7 as the Al-Aqsa Flood, referring to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which stands atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The terrorists justified the despicable attack as a response to alleged Israeli incursions into the mosque. A Hamas spokesman claimed they needed to fight the Jews to put a stop to sacrifice and the rebuilding of the Temple (cf. Daniel 9:27).
Islam controls the entire Middle East (except for Israel). The center of the Islamic Caliphate lies in the ancient lands of Babylon and Persia, once ruled by Nimrod, Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, and Alexander's heirs. Islam dominates the countries that Bible prophecy associates with Gog and Magog. The so-called religion of peace far outpaces the growth of every other religion in the world, and it is the uncontested world leader in the number of Christian decapitations and violent acts against Jews. Islam still retains control over the Temple Mount today and has no intention of relinquishing it.
Islamic eschatology waits for the Mahdi, a messianic figure believed to appear before the day of judgment to lead the last Jihad. If Mahdi were to arise and step into the role of antichrist, he could reconcile the Sunnis and Shias and unite the world's Muslims.
However, Islam is decidedly aniconic, rejecting all images, idols, or representations of divine figures. There seems to be no possibility of an Islamic idol becoming the image of the Beast. Instead, the Islamic "image of the Beast" would have to be something like the Black Stone (al-Hajar al-Aswad) in Mecca, which (according to Muslim tradition) the angel Gabriel brought to Abraham to build the Kaaba. A well-known saying of Muhammad claims that, in the day of judgment, Allah will give the Black Stone eyes to see and a tongue to speak, testifying about the sincerity of those pilgrims who reverenced it by touching it or kissing it during the Hajj. Something similar might find its way to the Dome of the Rock or the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Some new innovation, heretofore unforeseen, might elevate such a shrine to the status of "the Abomination of Desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (Matthew 24:15).
Foundation of the Temple
In recent years, the status of the Temple Mount has become increasingly fraught with international tension. Most Israelis feel utterly disillusioned with attempts to pacify Muslims, and some on the radical right call for dismantling their shrines on the Temple Mount. Religious zealots call for the rebuilding of the Temple regardless of the international implications. Rather than capitulate to the terrorists, right-wing officials in the Israeli government have begun to routinely violate the status quo that prohibited Jewish prayer and worship on the Temple Mount.
What if the Jewish people took control of the Temple Mount?
The sacrificial services can resume before the building of the Temple (Ezra 3:1-5). The Jewish people only need a sanctified priesthood and an altar on the Temple Mount to resume the daily continual burnt offerings. If a provocation like that were to happen, it might trigger a massive international response on the scale of the War of Gog and Magog. Picture angry condemnations on the floor of the United Nations, urgent phone calls from Washington, threats from Moscow and Beijing, and condescending moralizing from Rome as the whole world rushes to preempt the inevitable furious backlash coming from the Muslim world.
Anti-Semites would plaster the internet with blood libels. Secular Westerners would express revulsion over the primitive slaughter of innocent animals. Christian theologians and laymen would unite to condemn what they perceived as an insult to the cross of Christ. Shiites and Sunnis would set aside their differences to take back control of their sacred shrines and punish the infidels.
In such a scenario, the Vatican might offer to manage access to the Temple Mount as a neutral third party between the contenders, but the Vatican would not be neutral. Under such circumstances, the world might see the unlikely alliance of the Muslim Mahdi and the anti-Jewish Jesus of replacement theology. The return of the sacrificial services could bring the whole world together with one common objective: to stop the sacrifices.
That's what Titus and Vespasian accomplished in the days of Nero and the Jewish War when they destroyed the Second Temple. They put an end to the daily sacrifices. That's what Antiochus Epiphanes did in the days of the Hasmoneans. His forces did "away with the regular sacrifice and they... set up the abomination of desolation" (Daniel II:31). That's what Nebuchadnezzar did in the days of Daniel, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel when he destroyed the First Temple. That's what Jeroboam son of Nebat effectively accomplished for his people by forcing them to worship the golden calves at his cultic centers rather than worshiping at the Temple in Jerusalem. That's what the original golden calf accomplished by subverting the plans to build the Tabernacle. Are we starting to see a pattern?
The Last Blasphemy
Picture this. In that hour, the false prophet steps forward as spokesman for the Beast. His kind and gentle face appears on an international broadcast transmitted live from Jerusalem. His eloquent words translate seamlessly in real time into all languages by the power of artificial intelligence:
"Fellow citizens of the world. In these days of existential crisis, the human family must stand together as one united soul. To survive these travails, we can no longer afford the superficialities that divide us. Our great philosophers and moral teachers remind us that, despite surface differences, all of our religions and confessions of faith testify to the same essential truths. That being so, why allow national borders, the color of our skin, or the confession of our creed to separate us from the pursuit of the common good? Let there be an end to all wars and rivalries. Today, let every man, woman, and child set aside the things that divide and embrace the things that unite, for the sake of our common connection as one new humanity. Together, we build a beautiful new world in the common pursuit of love, peace, tolerance, and mutual concord."
He validates his ecumenical entreaties with powerful signs and wonders. Then, to the amazement of everyone, the image of the Beast addresses the whole world, "Children, hear my words. I am your God. Hearken to me."
Like Nimrod who built the colossal tower of Babel to reach heaven so that he could take the place of God, the antichrist raises his image in the holy place and takes "his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God" (2 Thessalonians 2:4). Having unseated the God of the Jews, nothing stands between him and the completion of the Final Solution. He puts to death all those who refuse to worship him and receive his branding:
He will be angry at the land, and he will seek to sin against the people. He will pursue all of the saints. They and the priests of the land will be brought back bound. He will kill them and destroy them. (Apocalypse of Elijah 4)
Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Yeshua. (Revelation 14:12)
The Image of the Invisible God
It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. (Exodus 34:29)
After the sin of the golden calf, Moses ascended Mount Sinai a second time to beseech God for forgiveness. The LORD revealed His glory to Moses and made a new covenant with Israel. Moses descended from the cloud atop Mount Sinai, radiating the glory of the LORD. He did not realize that the light of God's glory shone from his face. The glory of His presence frightened the people, but he beckoned gently, first to the leaders of the community and then to all the sons of Israel. They drew near, and he commanded them concerning everything the LORD had revealed to him on the mountain. He told them about the Tabernacle, how God desired to dwell among them. He showed them the new tablets of the Ten Commandments as proof that God had made a new covenant with them.
Likewise, when the Messiah returns in His Father's glory, He comes like a Son of Man with the clouds, and all His holy ones with Him. "Out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in its strength" (Revelation I:16). The earth shakes beneath Him. A great earthquake convulses the world. The city of Babylon, the last spiritual remnant of Nimrod's Babel, crumbles and falls.
Hurtling earthward from heaven like a meteor, the Messiah strikes the feet of the Colossus from Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The feet of iron and clay explode in a cloud of dust. The image lurches forward. As it tips, the weight of its heavy head of gold forces it to bow. The head snaps off at the neck. The chest of silver separates from the waist of bronze and plummets backward. The legs of iron collapse beneath the bronze in a heap of twisted rubble.
The colossal image of the Beast towering over Jerusalem must also topple in like manner. As it breaks on the ground, so does the spell with which the Beast and his false prophet held sway over the peoples of the earth. The image of the Beast is shattered, exposed for what it is: a hollow sham, a cheap fake, an artificiality.
The radiance of the Messiah's face shines like the brilliance of the sun. The light burns up the wicked like stubble, but for the faithful, He is a sun of righteousness rising with healing in His wings. He summons His people to draw near, and they draw near to "the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of the Messiah" (2 Corinthians 4:6), for He is "the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature (Hebrews 1:3), "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians I:15).