Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

13:13-14
character and office (1 Cor. 15). The counterfeit
resurrection of Rome served as Israel’s false Testimony,
their “proof” that Christ was not the Messiah.
13-14 The False Prophet also performed great miracles
in the service of the Empire: Unlike the powerless false
prophets of Baal, he even makes fire come down out of
heaven to the earth; thus this false Elijah deceives
those who dwell on the Land. Jesus had warned that
“false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show
great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, the
very elect” (Matt. 24:24), and this was fulfilled
numerous times as the period of Israel’s “Last Days”
progressed to its climax. The Book of Acts records
several instances of miracle-working Jewish false
prophets who came into conflict with the Church (cf.
Acts 8:9-24) and worked under Roman officials (cf.
Acts 13:6-11); as Jesus had foretold (Matt. 7:22-23),
some of them even used His name in their incantations
(Acts 19:13-16).
In imitation of the Biblical prophets, who called down
God’s fiery wrath against apostates and lawbreakers
(Lev. 10:1-2; Num. 16:28-35; 1 Kings 18:36-40; 2 Kings
1:9-16; Amos 1:3-2:5; Rev. 11:5), the Jewish leaders
appeared to exercise God’s judgment against the
Church, excommunicating Christians from the
synagogues and persecuting them to the point of death.
Again St. John underscores the apostate condition of
these Jewish prophets, by observing that they perform
their wonders in the presence of men and in the
presence of the Beast rather than “before the Throne
and before the Lamb” (7:9; cf. 3:5; 4:10; 5:8; 7:11, 15;
8:2; 11:4, 16; 14:3, 10; 15:4).
The perversity of Israel’s leadership is such that they
encourage those who dwell on the Land – the Jewish
people – to make an Image to the Beast, as
Nebuchadnezzar had erected an image to himself (Dan.
3). Before we can make a full identification of this
Image it will be necessary to examine the religious
background and context in which it is set. The depth of
Israel’s apostasy must first of all be seen in their
rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true God and
Savior, in favor of Caesar. St. John reveals this in its
true light as idolatry (cf. 9:20). It is not necessary to
suppose that the Jews literally bowed down to a graven
image; the point is that they were worshiping and
serving an alien god.
Some would object that the Jews were never guilty of
“idolatry” after the Exile. In answer, we repeat again
Herbert Schlossberg’s excellent summary of the essence
of idolatry: “Idolatry in its larger meaning is properly
understood as any substitution of what is created for the
creator. People may worship nature, money, mankind,
power, history, or social and political systems instead of
the God who created them all. The New Testament
writers, in particular, recognized that the relationship
need not be explicitly one of cultic worship; a man can
place anyone or anything at the top of his pyramid of
values, and that is ultimately what he serves. The
ultimacy of that service profoundly affects the way he
lives.” 18 Moreover, it is clear that the postexilic
prophets did consider the Jews of their own day to be
idolaters (cf. Zech. 13:1-3; Mal. 3:5-7).
The idolatrous character of apostate Israel is assumed
throughout the message of the New Testament. The
Apostle Paul specifically accuses the Jews of lawlessness
and apostasy in Romans 2. In verses 21-22, he says:
“You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach
yourself? You that preach that one should not steal, do
you steal? You who say that one should not commit
adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols,
do you rob temples?” Clearly, St. Paul is charging
apostate Israel with committing idolatry (or its
equivalent). It is crucial to note that all the accusations
in Romans 2 refer to Israel as a whole; obviously, if they
applied only to a select few his argument would have no
force. (Since he also accuses them of committing
adultery, it is at least possible that he has in mind
“religious” adultery against their true Husband, Jesus
Christ). In general, commentators have supposed the
charge of idolatry to mean either that the Jews were
guilty of robbing from heathen temples (e.g., St.
Chrysostom, Henry Alford, John Murray; cf. Acts
19:37, which indicates that the Jews may have been
considered liable to this offense), or that they were
committing “sacrilege” in a more general sense, by their
impiety, irreverence, and unbelief (e.g., John Calvin,
Charles Hedge; cf. 1 Samuel 15:23; Neh. 13:4-12; Mal.
1:6-14; 3:8-9; Col. 3:5). What is not generally noticed
is that the whole list of crimes in Romans 2:20-23 is
taken from Malachi 2-3, indicating that the charge of
“robbing temples” (and thus of idolatry) is related to
the Israelites’ failure to tithe, their refusal to honor
Him as God (cf. Matt. 15:7-9). God says through
Malachi:
From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from
My statutes, and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I
will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, “How
shall we return?” Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing
Me! But you say, “How are we robbing Thee?” In tithes and
offerings! You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me,
the whole nation of you! (Mal. 3:7-9)
A good part of the Westminster Larger Catechism’s
definition of idolatry (virtually every word of which is
abundantly referenced to Scripture) is applicable to the
religious character of Israel during the Last Days: “The
sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all
devising, counseling, commanding, using, and any wise
approving, any religious worship not instituted by God
Himself; tolerating a false religion; . . . all superstitious
devices, corrupting the worship of God, adding to it, or
taking from it, whether invented and taken up of
ourselves, or received by tradition from others, though
under the title of antiquity, custom, devotion, good
intent, or any other pretense whatsoever; simony;
sacrilege; all neglect, contempt, hindering, and
opposing the worship and ordinances which God bath
18. Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction: Christian Faith and its Confrontation with American Society (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983), p. 6.
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