Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
This term is employed by the apostle John alone, and is defined by him in a manner which
leaves no doubt as to its intrinsic meaning. With regard to its application there is less certainty. In
the first passage— (1 John 2:18)—in which it occurs, the apostle makes direct reference to the false
Christs whose coming, it had been fore-told, should mark the last days. In v. 22 we find, “he is
antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son;” and still more positively, “every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of antichrist.” Comp. (2 John 1:7) From these emphatic
and repeated definitions it has been supposed that the object of the apostle in his first epistle was
to combat the errors of Cerinthus, the Docetae and the Gnostics on the subject of the Incarnation.
(They denied the union of the divine and human in Christ.) The coming of Antichrist was (believed
to be foretold in the “vile person” of Daniel’s prophecy, (Daniel 11:21) which received its first
accomplishment in Antiochus Epiphanes but of which the complete fulfillment was reserved for
the last times. He is identified with “the man of sin, the son of perdition.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
This interpretation brings Antichrist into close connection with the gigantic power of evil, symbolized
by the “beast,” (Revelation 13:1) ... who received his power from the dragon (i.e. the devil, the
serpent of Genesis), continued for forty and two months, and was invested with the kingdom of the
ten kings who destroyed the harlot Babylon, (Revelation 17:12,17) the city of seven hills. The
destruction of Babylon is to be followed by the rule of Antichrist for a short period, (Revelation
17:10) to be in his turn overthrown in “the battle of that great day of God Almighty,” (Revelation
16:14) with the false prophet and all his followers. Rev. 19. The personality of Antichrist is to be
inferred as well from the personality of his historical precursor as from that of him to whom he
stands opposed. Such an interpretation is to be preferred to that which regards Antichrist as the
embodiment and personification of all powers and agencies inimical to Christ, or of the Antichristian
might of the world.
Antioch
(from Antiochus)-
•IN Syria. The capital of the Greek kings of Syria, and afterwards the residence of the Roman
governors of the province which bore the same name. Situation .—This metropolis was situated
where the chain of Lebanon, running northward, and the chain of Taurus, running eastward. are
brought to an abrupt meeting. Here the Orontes breaks through the mountains; and Antioch was
placed at a bend of the river, 16 1/2 miles from the Mediterranean, partly on an island, partly on
the levee which forms the left bank, and partly on the steep and craggy ascent of Mount Silpius,
which, rose abruptly on the south. It is about 300 miles north of Jerusalem. In the immediate
neighborhood was Daphne the celebrated sanctuary of Apollo 2 Macc. 4:33; whence the city was
sometimes called Antioch by Daphne, to distinguish it from other cities of the same name.
Destruction .—The city was founded in the year 300 B.C., by Seleucus Nicator. It grew under the
successive Seleucid kings till it became a city of great extent and of remarkable beauty. One
feature, which seems to have been characteristic of the great Syrian cities,—a vast street with
colonnades, intersecting the whole from end to end,—was added by Antiochus Epiphanes. By
Pompey it was made a free city, and such it continued till the time of Antoninus Pius. The early
emperors raised there some large and important structures, such as aqueducts, amphitheatres and
baths. (Antioch, in Paul’s time, was the third city of the Roman empire, and contained over 200,000
inhabitants. Now it is a small, mean place of about 6000.—ED.) Bible History .—No city, after
Jerusalem, is so intimately connected with the history of the apostolic church. Jews were settled
there from the first in large numbers, were governed by their own ethnarch, and allowed to have
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William Smith