Hopefully, you’ve read and are familiar with the story of Hanukkah from Day 1. 

In Days 2, 3, and 4, I’m going to show you how the story gives us a picture of the biblical end times and the coming of the Antichrist. One of the most popularly known parts of the end times is the appearance of the Antichrist and his “Abomination of Desolation,” which is mentioned six times in the Bible by four different people over a span of 600 years.

Using that event as the focus of the Hanukkah story, I’ve broken the story into three parts and their prophetic symbolism as follows:

I - The Time Preceding Antiochus IV and His Abomination of Desolation

Part I shows how the wars and turbulent geo-political landscape of 2500-2200 years ago preceding King Antiochus IV’s invasion of Israel and desecration of the Jewish Temple on Kislev 25, 168 BCE are symbolic of the wars in modern history and what is and will be happening in geo-politics in the end times preceding the revealing of the biblical Antichrist. 

II - King Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Abomination of Desolation

Part II shows how King Antiochus IV’s invasion of Israel and his desecration of the Temple (the Abomination of Desolation) are symbolic of the time in the future when the biblical Antichrist will reveal himself on the global scene and his Abomination of Desolation will take place in, presumably, what is a yet-to-be-built, new Jewish Temple in Israel.

III – The Maccabean Revolt After the Abomination of Desolation

Part III shows how the historical “Maccabean Revolt,” which followed Antiochus IV's Abomination of Desolation, led by Judas Maccabee with a small remnant of devout Jewish people against Antiochus IV and his army is symbolic of the future conflict between the Antichrist and his international forces (political, economic, and military) against anyone or any nation who defies him and his rule, particularly the defiant Jewish people and the defiant Christians.

Today in Day 3, we will cover Part II below.

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King Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Abomination of Desolation

Now let’s pick up the story of Hanukkah. Remember after Alexander the Great’s death, his empire was divided among his four generals, and General Seleucus became ruler over Syria, Upper Asia, Babylon, and the East while General Ptolemy became ruler over Egypt, “Palestine” (Israel) and Arabia.

“Antiochus III (the “Great”), the (Seleucid) King of Syria, who reigned from 3538 to 3574 (222-186 B.C.E.) waged war with King Ptolemy of Egypt over the possession of the Land of Israel. Antiochus III was victorious and the Land of Israel was annexed to his empire.”[1]

This foreign king tolerated his nation-states to continue in their native culture and religious practices. However, with the rise of the Roman empire Antiochus III was conquered by the Romans and forced to pay heavy tribute to the them; which he extracted from his nation-states, including Israel.

As the Hellenistic culture invaded Israel under Greek rule, many Jews embraced foreign ways of life while the more nationalistic and religious population adamantly held to their Jewish culture. This caused great conflict among the Jewish population, especially in its political/religious arena where the roles of high priest changed several times due to varying foreign allegiances and internal pressure from within the nation. 

After Antiochus III died, his son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, assumed the Syrian throne. “This Antiochus is styled in rabbinical sources as ‘the wicked’... Antiochus combined in himself the worst faults of the Greeks and the Romans, and but very few of their good qualities. He was vainglorious and fond of display to the verge of eccentricity, liberal to extravagance; his sojourn in Rome had taught him how to captivate the common people with an appearance of geniality, but in his heart, he had all a cruel tyrant's contempt for his fellow men... Antiochus had no wish to Hellenize his conquered subjects, but to denationalize them entirely... His attempt to level all differences among the nations he ruled arose not from a conviction of the superiority of Greek culture, the true essence of which he can scarcely be said to have appreciated, but was simply a product of his eccentricity.”[2]

The Israelites understood Antiochus IV cared more for gold than Hellenizing the nation, “... and a certain Menelaus made use of the fact so shrewdly that he received the high-priesthood in the year 171 BCE,”[3] apparently by having the favor of Antiochus IV.

The Abomination of Desolation

Antiochus IV set out to war against Egypt, “... but when the Romans compelled him to forego his plans of conquest, his rage at the unexpected impediment was wreaked upon the innocent Jews. A Syrian officer, Apollonius, was sent through the country with an armed troop, commissioned to slay and destroy. He first entered Jerusalem amicably; then suddenly turning upon the defenseless city, he murdered, plundered, and burnt through its length and breadth. The men were butchered, women and children sold into slavery, and in order to give permanence to the work of desolation, the walls and numerous houses were torn down... 

Having thus made Jerusalem a Greek colony, the king's attention was next turned to the destruction of the national religion. A royal decree proclaimed the abolition of the Jewish mode of worship; Sabbaths and festivals were not to be observed; circumcision was not to be performed; the sacred books were to be surrendered and the Jews were compelled to offer sacrifices to the idols that had been erected... The possession of a sacred book or the performance of the rite of circumcision was punished with death. 

On Kislev 25, 168 BCE, the ‘abomination of desolation’ was set up on the altar of burnt offering in the Temple, and the Jews required to make obeisance to it. This (idol erected in the Temple) was probably the Olympian Zeus, or (Canaanite) Baal Shamem.”[4]

Now let’s understand that to see its prophetic symbolism in biblical prophecy OF THE FUTURE.

Let’s be clear here. The Bible prophesies an “Abomination of Desolation” (AOD) event, but the historical account we just read IS NOT the AOD event prophesied in the Bible. Antiochus IV foreshadows a FUTURE world leader (the Antichrist) who will come and execute the AOD event of the end times. Although this happened historically, the Bible is clear it will happen in the future. Let’s unpack this.

The Abomination of Desolation (AOD) event is one of the most referenced events in the Bible about the end times. In Jesus’ two-chapter discourse about the end times and his return (Matthew 24-25), he speaks of a future AOD in Matthew 14:15-25 (the AOD of 168 BCE had already happened two centuries prior). And he does so in a way that marks it as THE characteristic event of the end times.

The biblical prophecies about the future (AOD) Event are here: Daniel 7:23-26, 8:11-12, 11:36, Matthew 24:15-16, 2 Thessalonian 2:3-4, and Revelation 13:1-18. As you read these note the similar characteristics of the event’s description. All four writers are describing the same, future event. 

These are the 6 characteristics of the AOD to come:

1. A future king (the Antichrist) will usurp the Temple and declare himself to be as great as God
2. He will take away (stop) the sacrifices 
3. He will bring low (desecrate) the Temple 
4. The saints (Jews and Christians) will be given over to him 
5. He will prosper in all he does, throwing truth to the ground 
6. The future abomination of desolation set up in the Temple will endure until “the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” (Daniel 9:27) 

What end? The 2nd Coming of Messiah.

In conclusion, reading the Bible verses mentioned above we can easily see how the Abomination of Desolation event instigated by Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 168 BCE in his invasion of Israel is a dramatically accurate, prophetic picture of the future AOD event mentioned in the Bible, and that Antiochus IV is a picture of the future Antichrist.

ENDNOTES

[1] Chabad.org website. https://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_cdo/aid/102978/jewish/The-Hanukkah-Story.htm?fbclid=IwAR2fyWT5QL0Uvhi8eCK6i6QRQPZWFlt_gMyxGFC5c0OTDmfnM3falCKFp9s  Accessed 8 December 2023.

[2] The Jewish Encyclopedia website. https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1589-antiochus-iv-epiphanes  Accessed 8 December 2023.

[3] Ibid

[4] Ibid