THE BIBLE & ROME | THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST

1. The Bible And Rome 

a) In the four centuries between the Bible’s two Testaments, Persia gave way to Greece, and Greece to Rome. World empires rise and fall, but God’s unfolding plan approached its climax: God was about to set up "a kingdom which cannot be shaken" (Hebrews 12:28) — a worldwide, powerful, spiritual empire.

b) Rome, the kingdom represented by the legs and feet of iron and clay in the image of Daniel 2, came to power in the century before Christ. Antiochus Epiphanes failed to maintain Greece's power. Rome by its iron rule brought peace across the world, and made "the fields white unto harvest" for the coming of the Son of God, the preaching of the gospel, and the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, Rome was a beast, and would bring tribulation to the promised kingdom of heaven just as former empires had brought it to the Jews. The book of Revelation depicts Rome as the archetypal enemy of God's people.

2. The Spirit Of Antichrist

a) The Roman empire fell, but its spirit of Antichrist that drove it (1 John 2:18) is still present in the world. Thus prophecy about Antichrist is relevant to the entire Christian era right up to the second coming of Christ.