Like the dictators of past ages, he will assume all power – even the power to determine right and wrong. He will assume that all power that belongs to God in fact actually belongs to him. Antiochus Epiphanes – the Syrian king that Daniel talks about as a type of this Antichrist – was such a dictator who proclaimed himself God when he came to power. For example, a coin has been found of the time period when Antiochus Epiphanes ruled. The coin has his picture on it, and the inscription on that coin reads this:
Antiochus: God Manifest. He, Nebuchadnezzar, the Caesars of Rome and Herod – who all did something similar – are types of this Antichrist.But this Antichrist at the end will accomplish what those types never could: A truly worldwide power, where all the world bows before his will. And all men will bow before his will! The whole earth will bow down to him. He will do things that no one else can do. He is going to heal the wound of the first beast. He is going to unite all men as one upon the earth. And remember that he is providing a kingdom that all men think is the earthly utopia that they have been working for in all the history of the world. He will establish a totalitarian state, absolutely, but one that provides wealth and prosperity and the pleasures of sin without all of the consequences of sin. And in order to be a part of it, men will give their allegiance to him. They will! And men will bow. Even if some of them perhaps have some reservations in the back of their mind for a time, they will bow before one who can give all of the world all of those things.1
Cory Griess
4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.