Featured Poll: Was Nero the "beast/antichrist"?

Voting "not" - I'm haven't considered the other threads as I think a specific identification is now unnecessary. THere are many antichrists to be concerned about, some seem nice people & popular & so all the more dangerous.

In John's day there were many antichrists, presumably one was recognised by the Jerusalem Christians before they fled. We haven't an inspired history of the destruction, only prophecy so we don't know his name.

Paul in 2 Thes. 2 refers to "the man of sin" as an individual who will be known. He has specifically warned the Thessalonians, presumably because the Thessalonian Jews were particularly antichristian, pursuing Paul to Berea. AC would become evident by his usurped authority in the Jerusalem temple - God's temple that Jesus claimed & condemned - not some latter day temple yet to be built by people claiming God's authority. He was destroyed by Jesus coming for the destruction.

The beast of Revelation, with his association with the Abyss, seems to be Satan whom Jesus destroyed at Calvary yet many still recognise his power & authority & act as his servants in order to deceive. They will come to a complete & final end when Jesus returns for resurrection & judgment. Note that many references to "earth" could equally refer to the "land" of Israel. When John wrote, Jesus' coming for the judgment of those who rejected him ..... must soon take place..... because the time is near.

John alludes to Jesus' Olivet prophecy a coming that will take place in the lifetime of "this generation" -
1:7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth tribes of the land “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen.

Mat. 24:30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all peoples on earth tribes of the land will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

 

No, he was a type of the future Antichrist still yet to come.

 

If you'd included 'maybe' I'd 'maybe' vote that.

Nero was 'maybe' the PERSONIFICATION of the sixth head of the beast which was the Roman Empire, at the time the book was written. At that time the seventh head was yet to come, the five prior heads were past (Egyptian Empire, Assyrian Empire, Babylonian Empire, Medo-Persian Empire, Grecian Empire). Antiochus Epiphanes would most likely 'maybe' have been the 'personification' of the Grecian Empire (as concerning the persecution of the Woman of Gen 3:15 & Rev 12), Ahasuerus may have been the personification of the Persian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar perhaps was the personification for Babylonian Empire, Sennacherib would most likely qualify for the Assyrian Empire, and the Pharaoh of the Exodus would be the personification of the Egyptian Empire. The ten Germanic kings of the seventh head is anyone's guess, but I would identify Hitler as filling the bill for one of them.

 

Final Antichrist has not yet appeared in world history, as that awaiting the time of the Second Coming itself!

 

'Second coming' dunn 'come and gone'.

 

Nope, as the Resurrection of the Body of Christ , His Church, never happened yet!

 

Yep. "For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry" does not mean thousands of years and still waiting.

28 so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation. Heb 9
37 For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry. Heb 10

His 'second coming' was upon that generation that murdered Him:

38 But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance.
39 And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will let out the vineyard unto other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner; This was from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes?
43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
44 And he that falleth on this stone shall be broken to pieces: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will scatter him as dust.
45 And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. Mt 21

 

20 And being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God cometh, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Lu 17

18 For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
22 but ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, Heb 12

36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Jn 18

 

The antichrist that you imagine is just that, a fictional character inspired by the sensationalism of Dispensationalism. I'm beginning to think that you have 'antichrist on the brain'. Ultimately the beast is also spiritual, he too cannot be seen with the eye or touched with the hand:

12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Eph 6

 

I came across this -

 

I voted "No" for a couple of reasons. You equate "The Beast" with "the Antichrist". I don't believe in "the Antichrist". The popular view has "the Antichrist" as a combination of the Beast of the Sea, the Man of Sin, and possibly others. The Man of Sin was probably Titus, not Nero. I believe the Beast was 1st Century Rome, and largely personified by Nero (666).

 

Actually, there are several good reasons to believe that Rome / Nero fits the Beast. The 7 kings of Rev 17 were: 1. Julius Caesar; 2. Augustus; 3. Tiberius; 4. Caligula; 5. Claudius; 6. Nero; and 7. Galba, who only reigned a short while (6 months). Nero was emperor when John wrote Revelation. Then there is 666. It doesn't make sense that John's original 1st century audience could have calculated the Number of the Beast to be someone in their distant future. On the other hand, it makes perfect sense that John tells them to use wisdom to calculate the identity of the Beast as someone they would be familiar with. The whole political setting fits perfectly with the prophecies in Revelation and the Olivet Discourse. Nero did have authority to make war with the saints and to overcome them. This is not about a future "Antichrist" taking over the whole world, but about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.