Treatise on Christ and Antichrist

Contents

Reading pages: 1–30 · 31–55 · 56–67

1. 1Hippolytus dedicates the treatise to Theophilus and warns him to share its contents only with the faithful.
2. 2The prophets, moved by the Word like instruments by a plectrum, foretold the future, and the author only sets out what they wrote.
3. 3The Word teaches all people without partiality, rich or poor, male or female, to bring them to one perfect man.
4. 4The incarnation is pictured as the weaving of a robe on the loom of the cross, with the patriarchs and prophets as weavers.
5. 5Hippolytus lists the questions about Antichrist and the end that the treatise will answer from Scripture.
6. 6Antichrist will imitate Christ in everything: lion, king, lamb, apostles, seal, and temple.
7. 7Hippolytus quotes Jacob's blessing of Judah as a prophecy of Christ.
8. 8The lion's whelp is Christ, born of Judah but conceived by the Spirit, and his lying down is his three days in death.
9. 9Christ is the expectation of the nations, whom believers await from heaven.
10. 10The donkey and colt bound to the vine are Jews and Gentiles called into one faith.
11. 11The washing in wine is the baptism at the Jordan; the blood of the grape is Christ's flesh on the cross, from whose side flowed blood and water.
12. 12Christ's eyes are the prophets, who foresaw his sufferings and rejoiced.
13. 13Christ's white teeth are his pure commandments.
14. 14Antichrist will come from the tribe of Dan, called a lion's whelp and a serpent.
15. 15Samson only partly fulfilled the prophecy that Dan shall judge his people; it will be fulfilled in Antichrist.
16. 16Isaiah's oracle against the boastful king of Assyria is applied to Antichrist.
17. 17Isaiah's taunt over the fallen king of Babylon, the Morning Star, is applied to Antichrist.
18. 18Ezekiel's oracle against the prince of Tyre who called himself God is applied to Antichrist.
19. 19Hippolytus quotes Daniel's account of Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great image.
20. 20Hippolytus quotes Daniel's vision of the four beasts and the little horn.
21. 21The quotation continues with Daniel's vision of the Ancient of Days and the judgment of the beast.
22. 22The quotation ends with the coming of one like a son of man to receive the everlasting kingdom.
23. 23The lioness is Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, humbled and brought to repentance.
24. 24The bear is Persia and the four-headed leopard is Alexander's Greek kingdom, divided into four.
25. 25The fourth beast is Rome; the ten toes and horns are future kings, and the little horn is Antichrist.
26. 26The stone from heaven is Christ, to whom the Father has given all authority in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
27. 27The ten toes and ten horns signify future kingdoms still to come.
28. 28A summary table: the image and the beasts are Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, the coming kingdoms, Antichrist, and Christ.
29. 29Hippolytus turns, with caution, to what will befall the harlot Babylon before the judgment.
30. 30Isaiah's prophecy of Jerusalem's desolation has been fulfilled under Roman rule; Isaiah himself was sawn in two.
31. 31Hippolytus praises the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and John, whose words have been fulfilled.
32. 32Daniel's visions of the bear, leopard, ram and he-goat have all been fulfilled.
33. 33The iron fourth beast, Rome, already rules and subdues all.
34. 34Hippolytus quotes Isaiah's oracle against the virgin daughter of Babylon.
35. 35The quotation of Isaiah's oracle against Babylon continues to its end.
36. 36John on Patmos is called to tell of Babylon, and his vision of the harlot on the scarlet beast is quoted.
37. 37The quotation continues: the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and the beast that was and is not.
38. 38The quotation continues with the angel's interpretation of the seven heads and ten horns.
39. 39The quotation continues: the beast and the ten horns will turn on the harlot, the great city.
40. 40The quotation of Revelation continues with the angel's cry that Babylon is fallen.
41. 41The quotation of Revelation continues with the lament of kings, merchants, and sailors over Babylon.
42. 42The quotation ends with the millstone cast into the sea and the silence of fallen Babylon.
43. 43Daniel's last week of years is the end of the world; Enoch and Elijah will preach during its first half.
44. 44As Christ has two comings, one humble and one glorious, so he has two forerunners; the first was John the Baptist.
45. 45John the Baptist leaped in the womb, preached repentance, pointed out the Lamb of God, and went before Christ even into Hades.
46. 46Christ, the first to rise, will come as Judge, and his forerunners must appear before him, as Malachi foretold of Elijah.
47. 47The two witnesses prophesy for half the week until the beast, Antichrist, kills them and wars against the saints.
48. 48Hippolytus quotes John's vision of the second beast from the earth and the number 666.
49. 49The second beast is Antichrist's kingdom, which will revive Roman rule and force sacrifice on all, as Antiochus Epiphanes did.
50. 50Hippolytus cautiously suggests names whose letters make 666, especially Lateinos, without claiming certainty.
51. 51Edom, Moab, and Ammon, whose descendants still exist, will escape Antichrist, as Daniel and Isaiah foretell.
52. 52Antichrist will conquer Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia, then exalt himself against God and attack Tyre and Berytus first.
53. 53After his conquests Antichrist will proclaim himself God, as Ezekiel and Isaiah foretold.
54. 54Antichrist will gather the Jewish people from the dispersion, promising to restore their kingdom, like Jeremiah's partridge.
55. 55Like the partridge that lures another bird's young, Antichrist will lure humanity, promising a redemption he cannot give.
56. 56Antichrist, called on by those who reject the saints, will persecute them; the parable of the unjust judge is quoted.
57. 57The unjust judge is Antichrist and the widow is Jerusalem, which rejected her true Bridegroom and Saviour.
58. 58As Moses foresaw, the people who rejected Christ will seek vengeance on the saints through Antichrist, who will decree their death.
59. 59The Church is a ship tossed on the sea of the world but not sunk, with Christ as pilot and the cross as its mast.
60. 60John's vision of the woman clothed with the sun, pursued by the dragon, is quoted.
61. 61The woman is the Church, always bearing Christ; her flight on eagle's wings is the persecuted Church's refuge in faith in the crucified Christ.
62. 62The Lord's words on the abomination of desolation and the great tribulation are joined to Daniel's numbered days.
63. 63Paul's warning about the man of sin who will seat himself in the temple of God is quoted.
64. 64After the last week, Christ will appear from heaven to bring the conflagration and judgment.
65. 65Scripture's promises of resurrection to life for the saints and of eternal fire for the lawless are gathered.
66. 66Paul's teaching on the resurrection of those who sleep in Christ and the meeting with the Lord in the air is quoted.
67. 67Hippolytus closes by urging Theophilus to keep the Scriptures in faith and await the appearing of Christ.