The Beast or Antichrist in the Old Testament Pt.3

In continuing our study of the references in the Old Testament about the antichrist we find a few more verses in the book of Isaiah.

In Isaiah 30 we find another interesting reference we have seen before. In Isaiah 14:29 we saw the verse, “ Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.” It was seen that from Satan would come forth another snake, and from him or alongside him would come the antichrist or the fiery flying serpent. We find the same reference in Isaiah 30. In this chapter, Israel is being chastised for putting their confidence in an alliance with Egypt.

Verses 1- 7 “Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that, cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit, but a shame, and also a reproach. The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.”

God is calling Israel rebellious children. This is not exactly a new problem. They go and take counsel or make agreements with Egypt against God's explicit command. He has most certainly told them to not do this. They do this to try to strengthen themselves by making allies of Egypt. On the contrary instead of making them strong, it adds to their shame before God and to the confusion of the entire situation in the Middle East. The Egyptians were not really proud of this alliance, but saw it as a reproach on themselves. This certainly speaks for the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt today, which since the recent uprising in Egypt appears to be null and void. And just as it says in verse 7, they will not get any help from the Egyptians in spite of their efforts for peace. There are two ways to interpret who sits still. In the first, God tells Israel that their strength would lie in sitting still and not looking for help from any, but trusting in God which they will not do. In the second, Egypt's strength lies in sitting back and not getting involved even after saying they would. This is how they protect themselves. From a later verse though it would appear that the first interpretation is the more correct. Vs. 15 “For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.”

In ancient times, Israel loaded up camels and beasts of burden to carry treasures down to Egypt for the cause of this alliance. Today it is more a case of giving away the land to get a false sense of peace. But notice in verse 6 a curious reference. The young and old lion, and the viper and fiery flying serpent are said to come from Egypt. It has already been discussed that the beast, by virtue of having inhabited all the kings of the seven previous heads of the beast is in turn referred to as coming from each of these lands. This is why it has been so difficult to ascertain exactly from which country the beast of our day will hail. In this passage we are told that both the viper (the cockatrice) and the fiery flying serpent come from the same place, in this case Egypt. It may very well be that the flying serpent is a descendant of the viper, who appears to have been a forerunner of the beast. As Antiochus Epiphanes is the forerunner that Christ refers to in Matthew, it implies that the serpent may be from the same bloodline. The other new reference we are introduced to is the old and young lion. As these two references seem to apply to the same two people as the serpents, we see that the young lion is the same as the fiery flying serpent. This is the second time the beast is referenced as a fiery flying serpent, so it appears it is necessary to consider something that I wished to avoid at this point. The fact is, we know there are fallen angels, demonic spirits, nephilim, and hybrid creatures that exist according to Scripture. In Revelation we are shown that God will allow the release of creatures from the abyss to torture people. The idea of aliens and UFOs has been orchestrated by Satan for purpose. I believe part of the end times deception involves the appearance of these various beings and creatures to convince people that aliens are invading. This seems to be the plan to get people to go along with the idea of a one world government to fight a common foe, the aliens. Much is being done to promote this idea from books, to television shows, to movies, etc. There is a great deal of evidence to support the idea that Satan is reptilian in appearance. It also appears that before the fall he possibly had beautiful wings, of which he was stripped and now he has to crawl around on his belly. This fiery flying serpent may only be of partial human origin. He may be what people will view as an alien, and literally have wings. His serpentine heritage comes from his father THE original serpent of Genesis. At this point, almost anything is possible, so while this is total speculation, it is wise to consider all possibilities, so that when he appears we are not deceived and can reconcile what may appear a completely unexpected circumstance. Most people would never expect something of this nature, but if it is in the back of one's mind as a possibility, one can quickly adapt and accept it as a deception and not be deceived.

Later in verse 31 there is a reference to the beast as the “Assyrian” again. “For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.” This is cross referencing Isaiah 10:5 which said “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.” Now the beast will be beaten down, as he beat others. Verses 32-33 “And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it. For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.” When the Lord goes to punish the Assyrian, everywhere that the Lord makes him pass through the people will be rejoicing with tabrets (type of tambourine) and harps. It would appear from some research that the term "grounded staff" (we have seen the beast called the staff before) is something scholars have not been able to understand. The word "grounded" is a puzzle to them as it has a meaning of foundation. On one hand it might mean that the entire world government rests on the foundation of this man, so he is the foundation of it. In English it has another connotation. When something that flies is grounded, it flies no more. Satan was grounded when God forced him to now crawl on his belly. This fiery flying serpent may also be stripped of his ability to fly.

The reference to Tophet is to a valley near Jerusalem where fires burned continually to destroy things that were offensive. It is also where people offered their children in the fire to Moloch. It is essentially a reference to the fires of hell or the lake of fire, the latter of which has been prepared to throw the beast into after Armageddon.