The Antichrist versus the Son of Man

The End-of-days doctrines of the early Church fathers

End-of-days: The early church and the last days.

The early church believed they were living in the last times or the end-of-days. We find clear evidence of that in the writings of the disciples. And that literary evidence continued for the next two hundred years after the death and resurrection of Christ. (Then an allegorical theology crept into Christian thinking.) And that two-century-long belief in the return of Christ should bring us to an obvious conclusion. The end-of-days is longer than a generation. In fact, it’s more likely approximately two thousand years. Read what Irenaeus taught concerning the timing of the Lord’s return. Today, there is often talk of the “last generation” when Christ returns. But as we read in the scriptures, the disciples believed the last days had begun in their day. And yet, in AD 250, the most respected Christian scholars were still writing about and expecting the return of Christ. But they weren’t teaching an “At any moment return.” They referred to “signs” that the Lord and the prophets always directed the careful student to pay attention to.

Yes, the Lord said, “the generation that sees these things will not pass away until all things are finished.” But, when Jesus mentioned the generation, He had a different date in mind than in the first century.

 

Consider the following verses taken from New Testament passages.

 

Hebrews 1:2

But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.

 

Peter Preaches to the Crowd in Acts 2

15These men are not drunk as you suppose. It is only the third hour of the day!

16No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams…

 

1 John 2:18

Little children, it is the last time. And as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

 

Now consider the writings of Hippolytus, who wrote extensively on many subjects. As you’d expect, Bible prophecy was a major topic of his writing.

 

End-of-Days and the Antichrist

Who is the man of sin. And for that matter, the dead man of Rome?
Who is the man of sin? And for that matter, the dead man of Rome?

 

The book cover seen above portrays the idea of a mystery that today is still unsolved. There are many mysteries in the Bible. The mystery of the man of sin is just one of them. The Apostle Paul warned the church they should expect to encounter the man of sin at the end-of-days. That is in stark contrast to the teaching among most Bible prophecy teachers today.

The book contains an intriguing look at the biblical arguments of a prominent theologian of the early church fathers. His name was Hippolytus. You may not agree with his conclusions, but you will have to agree to this. He did believe the end-of-days were approaching. And he gave numerous scriptural references to support his claims. He believed in literal fulfillment as opposed to allegorical.

For instance, he believed in the following:

  1. The Antichrist will enter the Temple of God.
  2. A future and the literal Kingdom of God established on earth
  3. Ten nations will form a coalition against Israel. And he specifically named three of them.
  4. The restoration of Israel in the last days. At the time of his writing, approx. AD 200, Israeli Jews were dispersed and Jerusalem was destroyed.
  5. Two witnesses will arrive in Jerusalem to announce the soon return of Christ.

Hippolytus was one of the most prolific writers among the early church fathers. He believed the scriptures pointed to the mysterious character known as the Antichrist. This disciple believed the Bible sprinkled clues that would lead to the discovery of the Antichrist. But his identity, religion, and genealogy were different, according to his findings, from what most of today’s biblical scholars teach. I find it fascinating which scriptures Hippolytus used to support his ideas.

Do I agree with his conclusions? Some of them, but not all.

Get the book here and see how the early church used the Old Testament scriptures in their end-of-days studies.

 

The Church Fathers and Bible prophecy.

Quotes found below are taken from the book, “The End-Times by the Ancient Church Fathers.” Authored and compiled by Ken Johnson.

 

Barnabas, AD first century

“Therefore children, in six days, or in six thousand years, all the prophecies will be fulfilled.”

 

Irenaeus AD 180

“The Day of the Lord is as a thousand years. And in six days created things were completed. It is evident therefore, they will come to an end in the six thousandth year.”

 

Irenaeus and the tribulation

“There is a resurrection of the just that takes place after the destruction of the Antichrist and all nations under his rule. Many believers will make it through the tribulation and replenish the earth.”

 

The last verse makes it quite clear that Irenaeus believed the church would experience the terror of the tribulation.

 

I invite you to do your own study of the words and beliefs of the early church fathers. They made mistakes. There were errors in their doctrinal positions as they struggled with understanding the scriptures.

But in that, they are exactly like us today. So, let’s keep studying and as we do, let’s draw near to God in humility.

 

1 Peter 5:5

In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.”

 

end-of-days scenario?

 

The ClayWriter

 


Comments

12 responses to “The End-of-days doctrines of the early Church fathers”

  1. ted bruckner Avatar
    ted bruckner

    Dude, this is stellar research! i wonder how many years have passed from the beginning according to the Septuagint? That would also include the Hebrew Scriptures and Samaritan Pentateuch prior to the antiChrist scribes deflated their Scriptures by 1,250 years. For real! Here’s the scholarly professional proof: MT, SP, or LXX? Deciphering a Chronological and Textual Conundrum in Genesis 5 – Associates for Biblical Research (biblearchaeology.org)
    https://biblearchaeology.org/research/biblical-chronologies/4349-mt-sp-or-lxx-deciphering-a-chronological-and-textual-conundrum-in-genesis-5

    1. Thanks, Ted,
      I lean on the hard work of all the others who came before us. At the time of the early church, the Word of God was very difficult to study and understand. Today, we have the benefit of chapters, verses, punctuation, and many things that the early readers of the text didn’t have. I marvel at the recall capabilities that many of them developed, especially seeing that they didn’t have a chapter and verse to refer to. And that’s not even taking into account the resource tools we have at hand.
      One thing that all students should do, when they study, is to try to imagine that the chapters and verses aren’t there as they read. This will help us grasp the context and the entire message of the writers.

      I have spent some time trying to “calculate” some “guesses” as to what the true date is. But for now, that’s on hold. There is a lot of confusion in all of the dating calendars. That includes current and past. For now, we look for signs rather than dates. That’s what we were directed to look for.

  2. Ted Bruckner Avatar
    Ted Bruckner

    thanks for your work. since you brought up the topic, Jews’ say 2021 is 5781 but anti-Christ rabbis back in the first century deflated the Genesis chronologies 1,250 years in their Scripture and got the Sarmatian Pentateuch’s tally to agree. https://biblearchaeology.org/research/biblical-chronologies/4349-mt-sp-or-lxx-deciphering-a-chronological-and-textual-conundrum-in-genesis-5 the paper is too professional to say why. i say it’s so they could use it as a tool to disuade smart Jewish Messiah seekers by the sly rabbis saying, See look, it’s not possible “that man” could have been Messiah, he lived well over 1,000 years too soon.”

    1. Doug Drake Avatar
      Doug Drake

      Ted,
      I am solidly in the camp of those who believe the Jewish calendar dates do not properly align with reality. Why we are free to speculate, but it is easy to guess at the reasons. For sure, they had a big problem to deal with once the prophecies of Daniel didn’t pan out as many expected. They still can’t properly fit Daniel’s timeline into their “revised” dates. I took a brief look at the website you reference. It looks interesting, but I’ll have to delay further study for a later date.
      Thanks again for your thoughts.

  3. Ted Bruckner Avatar
    Ted Bruckner

    hearty greetings Doug, after submitting my (new) communication, i see that it’s not the first time i contacted you. i never received your reply and now thank you for it.
    I am glad for your admiration and praise for the abilities and work the Early Church Fathers and “Bereans.” i see the main difficulty was the lettering was all in caps and no separation between words, can you imagine !
    Good word on how to go about reading. I know you’re right. I often re-search and translate on top of interlinear(s) translations in order to arrive at the closest translation I can. Paying attention to what word endings indicate is very important.

    I’d like to share with you 3 charts I arduously produced : 1) 57 NT quotations of OT verses to compare to the MT and LXX. 2) verses unquoted in the NT (which is really revealing). 3) the MT made God out to be a/The Rock.
    Email me, just ask for the PDFs (and I promise I won’t send you more email unless to respond to you emailing me): hilohouserepairs@gmail.com

    Peace to you.

    1. Doug Drake Avatar
      Doug Drake

      Hello Ted,
      Thanks for re-connecting. In short, I love to study the work of the early church fathers. They provide us with an important understanding as to how the early church understood what the Lord was teaching and how they were developing their theology based on what the first disciples relayed to them…so on and so on… But of course, we know, there were a number of errors that developed as they worked things out. And then, around 250 AD or so, things went downhill at a faster pace.
      Currently, I’m on a bit of a side-issue project that would seem unrelated but will allow me more time in the future to get back to full-time writing. Currently, my writing and studying are limited.

  4. If it is the truth then it is the truth.
    I have written a book called “Unlocking the Mysteries of Revelation” which covers some of the same thoughts, There are three parts to this book: Babylon, Symbols of Revelation and the Lord’s Return. It is on Amazon or I can send them out. Blessings, Justin Douziech

  5. Greetings Doug, I am an Orthodox Christian. I left the Protestant sect after 47 years. I was a pastor in the Church of God in Christ and as I was reading (Acts 13:1-3) something wasn’t right. So I started asking questions about why we don’t do Liturgy like passage states?
    Long story short ,I found the Orthodox Church. The early church fathers is where I started my studies. I found out the Masoretic text was missing vital info and books also. The Septuagint is my main bible that I use. I still use my church of God in Christ bible because of the commentary which is close to some of the early writings of the church. Anyway I enjoyed this writing about the church fathers. I would like to know where the errors are that you stated about the church fathers? I do know they didn’t always agree on somethings, however they all agreed on Christ and everything about him.
    May God bless you and may He grant you many more years.
    An unworthy servant, Demos Michael Rager

    1. Hello Michael,
      I agree that studying the writings of the early church fathers can teach us a lot about what they believed and learned from those first and second-century disciples.

      To your question regarding the errors of the early church fathers, there are many, to be honest. As we read through the New Testament, we see those first writers, Paul, John, Peter, etc. spent most of their writing efforts to correct doctrinal and practical issues that arose in the church.
      And we learn from later writings that many issues arose, such as the divinity of Christ. So, they were much like many believers down through the last two centuries. They struggled to understand the things of God and wrestled, like Jacob, with knowing the Lord and his truth.

      Thanks, and I apologize that life issues will sometimes keep me from writing regularly.

Let me know what you think.

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