It was the opinion of the Gnostics that the Tempter was either the same as
the God of the Old Testament, acting in opposition to the Supreme Being,
or a creature and agent of this God. In contradiction to this notion,
Irenæus lays down, and confirms from various portions of Scripture, that
he was one of the angels, attendants upon the Supreme Being, who rebelled
against him, who consummated his rebellion by seducing man from his
allegiance, and who is always setting himself up as a rebel against his
Maker(504).
Having proved this from the past history of the world, he continues the
proof by adducing the prophecies concerning Antichrist, the Millennium,
and the consummation of all things(505). In this way he is led to develope
his own views upon those subjects: and as his opinions on the Millennium
are different from those which have prevailed subsequently, with almost
universal consent in the Western Church, that portion of his Treatise is
rarely found complete in our present MSS., the copyists not thinking it
proper or worth their while to copy what was generally disapproved by the
Church(506).
Irenæus, then, regards Antichrist as a direct agent of Satan, in and by
means of whom he will fulfil the great object of his rebellion, of
procuring himself to be owned by mankind as their king, and worshipped as
their God; by whom he will abolish all idols, and set himself up as the
one idol, uniting in himself all the delusion of all the false gods who
have ever existed. In him, therefore, will be literally fulfilled the
prophecy of St. Paul, 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4(507); for he will literally
enthrone himself in the temple of God at Jerusalem, and by oppressive
methods will endeavour to exhibit himself as God, and Christ(508). Irenæus
applies to this event the prophecy of Daniel concerning _the abomination
of desolation_, quoted by our Lord, Matt. xxiv. 15, 16(509).
He likewise applies to him what is said by Daniel of _the little horn_, in
Dan. vii. 8. 20‐26; conceiving the _ten horns_ to be ten kings of
different portions of the Roman Empire(510), and consequently believing
that Antichrist will be a power, who will overthrow and kill three of the
kings of those divisions, and reign for a space of three years and a half;
during which time he will trample under foot the saints of the Most
High(511).
He affirms that he is the _other_, mentioned by our Lord, (John v. 43,)
_who will come in his own name_; and the _unjust judge, who feared not God
nor regarded men_, to whom the widowed Jerusalem will come for redress
against her enemy; in consequence of which he will transfer the seat of
his dominion thither.
He declares him to be the _wicked king_ of Daniel, (viii. 23‐25,) who for
three years and a half will put down the pure offering which the saints
offer to God, i. e. the Holy Eucharist(512).
He finds him under the _Beast_ of the Revelation of St. John, (xvii.
11‐14,) who will drive the Church into the wilderness, and finally be
vanquished by our Lord. He identifies the ten kings who will give their
kingdom to the beast with the ten divisions of Daniel’s fourth kingdom,
(Dan. ii. 33,) of whom three will be killed by Antichrist; and the rest,
submitting to him, will assist him in conquering Babylon, and burning it
with fire: and he makes the stone cut out without hands to be Christ, who
shall destroy temporal kingdoms, and set up an eternal one, (Dan. ii. 44,
45(513)).
Irenæus again sees Antichrist in the _beast_ (Rev. xiii. 2‐18) whose head
was wounded, who has a mouth given to him speaking great things, and
receives power for forty and two months; who has an armour‐bearer, called
the false prophet, who will work great miracles by magical power, through
the aid of evil spirits; the number of whose name is 666(514).
Respecting this number he enters into a special discussion, in which he
first reproves those who hastily endeavoured to interpret it(515), and
then endeavours to lay down correct principles of interpretation for it.
He suggests that we must wait till the other signs of Antichrist begin to
be fulfilled, such as the division of the Roman Empire into ten parts, and
the sudden coming of another power to their discomfiture. We must also
remark, he tells us, that Jeremiah (viii. 16) has foretold that he will be
of the tribe of Dan(516). We must not be rash in applying the number to
any particular individual or power, for many names will correspond with
it, such as Εὐάνθας, Λατεῖνος, (which he thinks very probable, as being
the name of the last of the four empires,) and Τειτὰν, for which he
suggests many, to his apprehension, plausible recommendations(517).
This is the sum of what he tells us on the subject of Antichrist; and he
declares that when he has reigned, sitting in the temple of Jerusalem, for
three years and a half, then the Lord will come to judgment, and to
introduce the times of the kingdom of heaven, and the true Sabbath, in
which many shall come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob(518).
It is foreign to my purpose to enter into the probability or improbability
of these interpretations: but two things strike me as remarkable: first,
the decided identification of the ten horns of _the beast_ with the Roman
Empire in a state of division; and secondly, the admission of the mystical
meaning of _days_ in the prophecy of Daniel (viii. 27) as signifying
_years_, coupled with the literal interpretation of time in other
passages; as, for instance, Dan. vii. 25, and Rev. xiii. 5.
When the short reign of Antichrist ceases, the undisputed reign of Christ
(according to Irenæus) will begin, and will continue a thousand years. For
as the days of creation were six, and the day of rest one; as moreover one
day is with the Lord a thousand years; this world is destined to endure
six thousand years in this state of turmoil and perplexity(519), and then
will succeed a thousand of rest and enjoyment(520). When that time
arrives, the world will be restored to its pristine state; the very
animals will all associate together in peace; the just will rise with
their bodies, and upon this very earth, upon which they suffered, will
receive the reward of their endurance(521). Then shall Abraham receive,
fully and literally, the promise made to him and to his seed, i. e. the
Church, and shall really enjoy his inheritance from the river of Egypt to
the great Euphrates(522). Then shall Jesus drink the fruit of the vine new
with his disciples(523); for there shall be no more labour, but there
shall be a continual table prepared by a creative hand, by the incredible
productiveness of the fruits of the earth(524). Then shall the righteous
hold intercourse and communion with Angels(525) in Jerusalem, which shall
be then rebuilt(526).
This state of things he believed, as I have said, would last a thousand
years; and he adopted this view, not for want of knowing that there was an
allegorical interpretation, but because he thought it forced and
unnatural, and labouring under irremediable difficulties(527).
And when the thousand years were ended, he believed that the great day of
judgment would come, and the general resurrection, when the New Jerusalem
would descend from heaven, of which the former Jerusalem, in which the
just were prepared for immortality, would have been but an image(528).
Then will there be new heavens and a new earth, in which man will for ever
converse with God. But there will not be only one abode of the righteous:
some will ascend into heaven above the angels; others will enjoy the
delights of a paradise(529); but all will have the continual manifestation
of the presence of God, and be changed into his likeness(530).
This, I believe, is a correct view of the opinions of Irenæus as to
certain departments of unfulfilled prophecy. I offer upon them no opinion
of my own; but it is right to say that he was by no means singular in his
own age(531), and that there is no writer of any importance, down to the
time of Origen, who impugned the doctrine of the personal reign of Christ
on earth. After that time, that doctrine became more and more unpopular in
the Church at large; although many, from time to time, have advocated
views more or less in accordance with those of the primitive millenarians.