Bennett read the verse twice. Then a third time. “I’m not seeing it.”
“Do you see where Daniel says that at the appointed time Messiah will come to Israel and then be ‘cut off,’ or killed?”
“Yes.”
“And after that, see how Daniel says that Jerusalem—‘the city’—and the Temple—‘the sanctuary’—will be destroyed?”
“Yeah.”
“All right, stop there for a minute. What is amazing is that this part of the prophecy has already come true. Yeshua HaMashiach—whom you call Jesus the Messiah, in English — has already come to earth. He has already come to Israel, as recorded in the Gospels. But the Romans cut Him off. They killed Him. And what happened next? Jerusalem and the Temple were burned to the ground. The ‘city’ and the ‘sanctuary’ were destroyed, just like Daniel said would happen. The big question for our purposes is, by whom? Who destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple?”
“The Romans.”
“Exactly,” said Mordechai, a gleam in his eyes. “It was the Roman army under Titus who destroyed Jerusalem, beginning in AD 70. The Roman legions killed over a million Jews at the time. This is important, because Daniel specifically prophesied that Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed by ‘the people of the prince who is to come,’ that is, by the nation out of which the Antichrist will one day arise.”
“You’re saying the Antichrist has to be of Roman origin?”
“Exactly. Daniel 8:8–9 also says the Antichrist will be a king who emerges from the ashes of the Greco-Roman Empire and gathers enormous powers as his military forces move south and east toward the land of Israel, to surround and eventually conquer it. The apostle John in Revelation 13:1 calls the Antichrist ‘a beast coming up out of the sea,’ referring to the Mediterranean Sea. Bottom line: the scriptural evidence strongly suggests the Antichrist comes from somewhere around the Mediterranean and has a Roman bloodline.”
“Not Russian.”
“No, not Russian.”
“So it can’t be Yuri Gogolov.”
“No. No scriptural indication exists to suggest that the Antichrist will be from Moscow. Now it is true that Moscow has long been known by Russians as the Third Rome, and was built on seven hills like Rome. And it is true that Russia was ruled for three hundred years by a dynasty known as the Romanovs. Nevertheless, when Daniel says the Antichrist will have a Roman bloodline, he means Roman, not Russian. That said, the Scriptures also indicate that for much of his reign of terror, the Antichrist will be based in Babylon.”
“Babylon, like in Iraq?” said Bennett.
“That’s the one.”
“How do we know that?”
“The prophet Isaiah describes the Antichrist as ‘the king of Babylon.’ And the book of Revelation makes it clear that the city of Babylon is the epicenter of the evil in the last days. What’s eerie is that Babylon all but disappeared off the face of the planet hundreds of years ago. Only the Bible predicts Babylon will rise again to play a central role in the End Times. For centuries, that seemed ludicrous. But now that you Americans have overthrown Saddam Hussein’s regime and the U.N. sanctions have been lifted, is it really so difficult to see Babylon rapidly emerging as one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful cities?”
“I guess not.”
“Of course not, and the rest of the world does not seem to notice or care. And why should they? They are just glad that Saddam is gone, and that Iraq is finally quiet, and that you Americans have pulled out. They have no idea what prophetic forces have been set in motion. But think about it. If the Antichrist is going to reign in Babylon, then Babylon must rise again in the last days.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Bennett asked. “You said a minute ago that the Antichrist will put something offensive in the Temple. There’s just one problem.”
Mordechai smiled. “The Temple no longer exists?”
“Yeah. How do you get around that?”
“Simple. If the Antichrist is going to desecrate the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, then the Temple has to be rebuilt in the last days. Are you aware that some Orthodox Jewish groups are already preparing the priestly clothing and sacrificial implements in anticipation of the Third Temple?”
“And you think all this means what exactly?” Bennett asked.
“I think the last days are upon us, Jonathan. Which means I think the rise of the Antichrist is imminent.”
“But wait a minute,” Bennett said, trying to make sense of it all. “If the Antichrist is going to be the king of Babylon, doesn’t that mean he could actually be some kind of Arab-Muslim dictator from Iraq, sort of a Saddam Hussein on demonic steroids? I mean, Al-Hassani, for example. He seems like a charming, mysterious, charismatic guy now, but couldn’t he suddenly emerge as the Antichrist?”
“Some Bible scholars think so,” Mordechai said. “Personally, I have my doubts. Racially, ethnically, the Antichrist will be Roman. Geographically, he will emerge from southern Europe, near the Mediterranean. Politically, he will resurrect the ancient Roman Empire and extend its reach across the entire globe. Militarily, he will wage war against Jews and Christians. He will seek to take over the Holy Land and the Holy City, and he will declare himself to be God. Operationally, he will run his empire from Babylon.”
“All right,” Bennett said, “so all the Internet buzz notwithstanding, Yuri Gogolov cannot possibly be the Antichrist; that’s what you’re saying?”
“That is what I am saying,” said Mordechai. “That is the good news. Now the bad news.”
36
“Are they ready, Mohammed?”
Yuri Gogolov stood staring out the window of his palatial and newly refurbished Kremlin office as Mohammed Jibril briefed him on his trip to Tehran.
“Almost, Your Excellency. The warheads arrived at the base in Iran safely and on time, and we have no reason to believe the U.S. or Israelis have detected their arrival. They are being fitted into the nose cones of the Shahab-3 missiles even as we speak, under the guise of routine maintenance. I expect the work to be completed by the first week of October.”
“And the other details we discussed?”
“They have all been taken care of, Your Excellency.”
“Good. Then schedule the press conference here in the Kremlin for eight o’clock Tuesday night. That will be noon in Washington, just hours before MacPherson delivers his big speech. Then contact Tehran. Make sure President Kharrazi is here, along with a large delegation of Iranian legislators and dignitaries. I want them standing at my side when I make the announcement. But make it clear to Kharrazi — there must be absolutely no leaks. We must have the element of surprise.”
“Bad news?”
Bennett wasn’t sure he could handle any more.
Mordechai nodded. “Yuri Gogolov is not the Antichrist. But I am afraid we have a different problem with Mr. Gogolov.”
“What problem?” asked Bennett.
“A little over twenty-five hundred years ago,” Mordechai began, “a Hebrew prophet named Ezekiel had a vision in which he foresaw a conspiracy that could have been ripped out of this morning’s headlines. He saw modern countries then unborn, modern alliances yet unformed, and a day of unspeakable terror, all driven by a tyrant from the north.
“For centuries, scholars have argued over the meaning of Ezekiel’s cryptic vision. Some have said it is merely an allegory of sin and judgment and the spirit world. But others believe what Ezekiel saw was, in fact, a glimpse into the future, that what he saw was the rise of an actual flesh-and-blood leader who would one day take over Russia, form an alliance with Iran and the radical Islamic world, and take up arms against a modern State of Israel — and in so doing unleash an apocalyptic nightmare leading to the Rapture of the church and the return of Christ.