“Greatness”: A Quality Frequently Associated with the Antichrist
Reminder: If you're new to this blog, start here with my initial post that lists the many links between Donald Trump and the Bible's Antichrist.
The word “great” is strongly associated with Donald Trump. Of course, his trademark MAGA baseball caps feature the words “Make America Great Again” (or, in a less frequently used variant, “Keep America Great”). Trump’s vocabulary, which reflects an exceedingly limited vocabulary, also often resorts to the word “great” whenever Trump wants to effusively praise someone or something (usually himself). Additionally, the acronym MAHA – “Make America Healthy Again,” originated by Robert Kennedy Jr., Trump’s health secretary – actually is a Sanskrit word meaning “great” (as in the word Maharaja).
This
article from the Times of India analyzed the number of times the word “great”
appeared in Trump’s speech to Congress last year, and found that “great” (or
variants thereof) appeared 33 times in the speech, one of the three
most-frequently used words in the speech (the others were “America” and “country”):
I
recently noticed something interesting with regard to this word. The word “great”
– and specifically the growing of something unto greatness (as in the
phrases “waxed great,” “grew great” or “ascended to greatness”) is very
frequently associated with both the end times Antichrist and his kingdom. Let’s
dig into this for a minute, because if you hadn’t originally been looking for
this, you might have overlooked it when glancing over these passages.
First,
let’s look at the book of Daniel, the Old Testament book that most heavily
relates to the book of Revelation, and where most of the Old Testament’s
Antichrist prophecies are located. In Daniel 7, Daniel gets a vision of four
beasts. The final, fourth beast is associated by prophecy researchers with the end
times Antichrist’s kingdom. I’ve bolded below the key mentions of the term “great”:
“Four great beasts, each different from the others,
came up out of the sea.” – the fourth beast is referred to here specifically as
a great beast (a great king, or great kingdom).
Next, the author of Daniel specifically describes the
Antichrist’s personality: he is described as “that horn that had eyes, and a
mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his
fellows.” So in addition to the Antichrist’s kingdom being great, he also
speaks greatly (about greatness?).
After the fourth beast is defeated, Jesus’s taking
possession of the kingdoms of the earth is specifically referred to as His taking
of greatness away from the Antichrist’s kingdom:
“Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the
kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High.”
Now, in Daniel, we see two words used to convey the concept
of “greatness”: the Hebrew gadal and the Aramaic rabrab. Gadal is defined on Bible Hub as:
“1. (properly) to twist
2. to be large (in various senses, as in body, mind, estate
or honor, also in pride)
3. (causatively) to make large (in various senses)”
Note that 'large' is a specific sense of 'greatness' that has to do with size and/or impressiveness. In other words, what we're talking about here is worldly greatness, not necessarily spiritual greatness. That third sense of gadal (to make large) is reflected in
Trump’s slogan, Make America Great Again, which implies a desire to increase the wealth and power of this nation. Bible Hub notes that the second sense
of gadal connotes the pridefulness which is often a feature of great nations and great kings.
Rabrab is defined on Bible Hub as:
“1. huge (in size)
2. domineering (in character)”
So these two Hebrew adjectives, used frequently in Daniel,
connote not just greatness, but further imply the associated terms of pridefulness,
arrogance, and domineering boastfulness.
Now let’s look at Daniel 8, where the Antichrist (and, by
extension, his ancient prototype, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, briefly the ruler of the Seleucid
empire) is further described:
“The goat (ancient Greek/Macedonian empire) became
very great, but at the height of its power the large horn was broken off,
and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven. 9
Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power (the King James Version has "waxed great") to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. 10 It grew until it
reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to
the earth and trampled on them. 11 It set itself up to be as great as
the commander of the army of the Lord; it took away the daily sacrifice from
the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down. 12 Because of rebellion, the
Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in
everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.”
Note here that the goat empire (the ancient Greek/Macedonian
empire founded by Alexander the Great) is described as very great. Then the
little horn of Antiochus Epiphanes waxed great, steadily growing in power,
until finally the Seleucid empire under Antiochus “set itself up to be as
great as the commander of the army of the Lord”.
Later in this chapter, this vision is further explained: “And
at the latter end of their rule, when the transgressors have reached their full
measure, a king of bold countenance, one who understands riddles, shall arise.
24 His power shall be great, and he shall cause fearful destruction, and
shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people of the
saints. 25 By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in
his own mind he shall magnify himself. Without warning he shall destroy
many; and he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes; but, by
no human hand, he shall be broken.”
Again we see the image of waxing great, rising up to
greatness, and magnifying to greatness. Keep in mind this word magnify (which
means to become great or large), as we’re going to explore the word magnify
(the equivalent of the Hebrew gadal) and how it relates etymologically
to MAGA a bit later on.
To wrap up our look at Daniel, let’s look at Daniel 11 and
how the Antichrist is further described:
“And the king shall do according to his will; he shall exalt
himself and magnify himself (make himself great) above every god,
and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper
till the indignation is accomplished; for what is determined shall be done. 37
He shall give no heed to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by
women; he shall not give heed to any other god, for he shall magnify himself
above all. 38 He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these; a god whom
his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious
stones and costly gifts. 39 He shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the
help of a foreign god; those who acknowledge him he shall magnify with
honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a
price.”
Here again we see the word magnify – which means ‘to make greater’ – associated with the Antichrist’s endless narcissism and his flattery of others, which is done so as to get them to bend to his domineering will.
Trump has been ‘magnifying himself above all’ for years now on the political
scene, a condition that many mental health professionals have dubbed malignant
narcissism. He is always bragging about his own achievements (and alleged “achievements”).
Now let’s look at Revelation, where the presence of the term
and concept of greatness is even more striking when we approach the text closely.
However, since Revelation was written in Greek (not Hebrew), we’ll be dealing
with a different word: the Greek word megas. Bible Hub associates the word
megas with these terms: great, loud, greater, greatest, large, big, fierce. The
word megas is where we get the prefix mega- from – as in the video game ‘Mega
Man,’ or the dinosaur ‘Megalosaurus,’ or the heavy metal band Megadeth. When
we use the prefix ‘mega,’ we’re calling something ‘great’. However, since
Revelation is about the ancient Roman empire, it is also highly relevant here to
note that the Greek word ‘megas,’ when translated to a prefix with a Latin
root, is where we get the word mag-nify (to become greater) from. In other
words, the ‘mega’ gets turned into a ‘mag-’ – as in the words magazine, magnify,
magnificent. Megas is, then, linked to the word great and the acronym MAGA,
which sounds like a Latin version of ‘mega’. And the acronyms MAGA (which
includes the word ‘great’ as one of its constituent words) and MAHA (Sanskrit for ‘great’) are both associated
with the terms ‘great’ or ‘greatness’.
In Revelation 12, we have this passage: “And a great
(megas) portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the
moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 she was with
child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. 3 And
another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great (megas) red dragon,
with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. 4 His tail
swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the
dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might
devour her child when she brought it forth; 5 she brought forth a male child,
one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught
up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where
she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two
hundred and sixty days.”
Satan being described as a “great” red dragon, is sitting in
front of the woman who is about to give birth to the Messiah/Body of Christ.
The woman is often associated with Israel, as well as the church and Jesus’s
mother, Mary. The entire picture – woman plus dragon – is referred to twice
with the Greek word for “great”.
But things get even more interesting with Revelation 13 and
17:
From Rev. 13: “And the beast that I saw was like a leopard,
its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it
the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.” Remember that the
sea beast is both the Antichrist *and* his empire. He as the leader of the
beast kingdom represents the specific sins of that kingdom. Here, John
describes this king and empire as having great (megas) authority.
And from Revelation 17, we see this language: “Then one of
the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will
show you the judgment of the great harlot who is seated upon many
waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with
the wine of whose fornication the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” 3 And
he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting
on a scarlet beast which was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads
and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and bedecked with
gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of
abominations and the impurities of her fornication; 5 and on her forehead was
written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of
earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the
saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
When I saw her I marveled greatly……
15 And he said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the
harlot is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. 16 And
the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the harlot; they will
make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, 17
for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one
mind and giving over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God
shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman that you saw is the great city
which has dominion over the kings of the earth.”
So Daniel and Revelation both frequently use the word “great”
(in its various Hebrew and Greek forms) to describe:
- · Mystery Babylon (the capital city/nation/empire captured and ruled by the Antichrist, who is an agent of the ten-horns on the scarlet beast, which is secretly planning to later destroy this end times Babylon)
- · The Antichrist himself (who is portrayed as starting small and waxing great until he reaches an unparalleled degree of global greatness)
- · Those who ‘acknowledge him’ (Daniel 11), who are magnified unto greatness by flattering and bowing down to the Antichrist
- · Ancient Rome and the ancient Roman empire, prototypes of the end times empire
- · The ancient Greek/Macedonian empire (not coincidentally, founded by someone named Alexander the Great, another type and shadow of the coming Antichrist), as well as the Seleucid empire, which was a regional carve-out that formed later as one of the ensuing four horns that replaced the initial large horn (which was Alexander the Great, who left no successor to rule his unified empire after his early death)
And additionally, we’ve noted that the term/concept of “greatness”
is not used in these passages to connote positive corresponding attributes. In
other words, when we say that God is great, or that the eventual divine kingdom
set up by Christ at His second coming will be truly great, we don’t mean that they
are ‘great’ in the way that the authors of these two books use ‘greatness’ in
reference to the Antichrist and his doomed, fleetingly temporary worldwide empire. No, we can see instead that the latter usage of greatness is meant to suggest fierceness, loudness,
boasting, grandiosity, pride, narcissism and vainglory.
The authors of these two books highlight this irony by describing both the Antichrist and his empire as beasts (animals). ‘Beast’ is a word that implies a lack of intelligence or reason, an instinctive ferocity and violence, as well as a tendency to use physical force that far outstrips any ability to contain or soothe the beast with words of instruction or reason. The beast is both unbelievably powerful and unbelievably wicked, crazy and uncontrollable - a combination which will result in its worldwide power being inherently doomed to a swift destruction.
So the word ‘great’ implies a definite irony in these texts – this
man, and his city/nation/empire, are not great in the way we might define true
greatness. Rather, their “greatness” are quickly passing, and will vanish once Christ
returns to establish a kingdom founded on true greatness.
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