No word from the Bible conjures up more dread than the word Antichrist. It is kind of unfortunate, because the word is not used in the Bible in the sense that we use the word. It is John who introduces the word in his first New Testament letter.

Little children, it is the last time: and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; by which we know that it is the last time.

But John’s usage does not speak to a singular, world-ruling Antichrist. (Which is what most people mean when they use the term.)

Now, Paul does speak of such a one in 2 Thessalonians 3. He doesn’t call him Antichrist, but he puts a finger on one powerful person who is a harbinger of the last days. The passage calls him the son of destruction, using the root that forms one of the names of the Devil: Apollyon—the destroyer. And if Daniel is any guide, this man will be a son of the Devil and a destroyer, indeed. Let’s begin in Daniel, chapter 11.

Early in the 2nd century BC, a truly vile man came on the scene in the Middle East. What is it about planet earth that our soil periodically brings forth such singular men—men of consummate evil? That they recur again and again is clear enough. What you may not realize is that the prophets recognized this repetition—at least they predicted that it would be so. How much they understood is less clear. It is only from a later vantage point that we can look back over the prophecies and the history of the time and see the importance of this theme.

If you are computer oriented, you know what an icon is. They are the little images around the your computer screen, each one standing for some action you might want to take. We also see them all the time on signs and labels, implicitly representing a concept.

Daniel, like most of the prophets is loaded with icons. They are verbal descriptions of things he saw. And the things he saw stood for events, systems of government, rulers, kingdoms. Even certain people or kinds of people. If Daniel were on a computer screen with all of his icons around the screen, there would be one singularly important icon. It would be a little horn. So what does this represent?

One of the most fascinating prophecies in the Book of Daniel (and one that raises as many questions as it answers) is the 70 weeks prophecy at the end of the ninth chapter. Frankly, explaining the implications of this prophecy will stretch my abilities to the limit. But maybe, if we concentrate, we can study this together.

Daniel has been in prayer, a deep and repentant prayer that followed on the heels of his realization that he would not return home to Jerusalem. He would grow old and die in Babylon. He learned that the captivity would last for 70 long years. It was a crushing blow and it underlined for him how grievous the sins of Judah had been.

But there was another 70 about to be revealed when the angel Gabriel showed up on his doorstep and tapped him on the shoulder as he prayed. Gabriel said he had come with a message from God that would give Daniel insight and understanding. Let’s hear that message.