In September of 2009 I had received an email from a friend asking me to view a video titled “Did Jesus Give Us the Name of the Antichrist?” In the video, the narrator focuses upon Luke 10:18 where Jesus said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” He then states the most probable background for our Lord’s choice of words is from the area of Isaiah 14:12-15.
Based upon the passage of Isaiah and certain texts in the New Testament, the narrator felt Christ said “heights” and not “heaven” in Luke 10. He stated our Lord would have spoken in Aramaic and would have said “barack obama (or ubama)”–barack for lightning and bama for heights, with an “o” or “u” sound as required by the Aramaic/Hebrew depending on certain circumstances. However, comments by Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz recorded in a Salon.com article disprove the thought that Christ would be saying “obama” or “ubama.”
While there are many well written articles and great videos disproving many other statements in the controversial videos, I would like to point something out that hopefully will help to stop, or at least diminish, the spread of future rumors that might be developed by misusing Holy Scripture.
Missing Facts
Early in the video the narrator said the Hebrew word for “lightning” in Strong’s Concordance is “barack.” Immediately this raised a caution in my mind since Hebrew, as often does Greek, usually is more descriptive than English. Sometimes there are many words, each carrying a slightly different shade of meaning and intent, that can be translated to the same English word. Such is the case with the word, “lightning.” In the original video, the narrator said, “I’ll report the facts–you decide.” It seems to me the narrator left some facts out.
Image by author
According to Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies, there are three words that are translated as lightning, viz., entries 2, 3 and 4 in the image above. Entry 1 (not shown) is a Hebrew word which is pronounced much like the English “ore” that is heavily used in the Old Testament for the word “light” and can also mean light in a spiritual sense, among other things. It is translated as lightning in the KJV in Job 37:3. One more word, entry 7, is also translated as lightning in the KJV in Exodus 20:18.
However, it is most probable our Lord spoke in Aramaic. Is there more than one possibility in Aramaic for “lightning?” According to alphadictionary.com there are six words, five of which appeared to me to be the strongest:
1. brq, brq’ (braq, barqā) n.m. lightning
(1) lightning
2. dlq, dlq’ (delqā) n.m. flame
(1) flame
(2) fire
(3) torch
(4) lightning
(5) splendor
3. zyqh, zyqt’ (zīqā, zīqtā) n.f. lightning bolt
(1) lightning bolt
4. zlq, zlq’ n.m. lightning flash
(1) lightning flash
5. kbrytny (kebrīṯānāy) adj. of sulphur
(1) of sulphur–pl.: sooty lightning flashes
While our Lord could have said, “barack,” He could have very well said any of these other possibilities.
Confusion of Terms
The narrator states in a third video, “my updated film makes it crystal clear in a logical, exegetical manner, that the more probable context of the words Jesus spoke in Luke 10 do not speak of the heaven or shamayim of God, but rather the most likely context is the high place, or the heights or the domain of satan himself.” However, it is my opinion his conclusion was not reached in a logical and truly exegetical manner.
When it comes to “heights,” there are also a number of possible words, but we are hermeneutically veering off course if we focus upon the word “heights.” Luke 10:18 specifically uses “heaven,” and if Christ was basing that statement on Isaiah 14, usage of “heaven” is further substantiated since the main line, verse 12, has, ” How art thou fallen from heaven (shamayim, not bama), O Lucifer, son of the morning!”
Furthermore, Jesus was not talking about the Antichrist, but satan (I prefer not to capitalize that name). These are two separate beings, one possibly human (1 John 2:18) and the other angelic. The term, “antichrist,” appears only in 1 John. Most Christians equate the Antichrist with The Beast mentioned in Revelation. He is referred to in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 as the “man of sin” and “the son of perdition.”
While I feel in my spirit that true Christians will sense when The Beast is arising, continued false alarms of, or illusions to, the Antichrist or The Beast will deaden what spiritual senses some of the unsaved have, causing them to be more apt to fall prey to the real Beast when the time comes.
References:
Wilson, William: Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies (MacDonald Publishing Company, McLean, VA) pp. 214, 253.
I would embed the YouTube videos I have referred to, but I feel they have had enough attention.
Good to know this. Precious writing
We do love to speculate on the hidden messages in the text, or try to fit current events into the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.
There have been many, many people who have rumored to be the antichrist. My sister is convinced that Nero was the antichrist. I think he is still to come, and vigilant Christians will recognize him. We are only told to watch and wait, not to speculate.
I see a great progress in your writing, I’d personally really like to make contact. Keep up the great work! Your article is very motivational for a person who is new to this kind of stuff.
To Karen:
Rev. 13:18
”This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.”
We are indeed told to speculate.
bahah.. pres obama dominates!
Obama won a noble prize soon after becoming president and yet he is sending more and more troops to afghanistan.
We are told to speculate? Absolutely untrue! To speculate presupposes a futurist viewpoint. Revelation reveals the number so that the seven churches of “Asia” would KNOW the identity of the antichrist, who was already on the scene of world history. It was coded so that the non-Hebrew-speaking Roman
authorites would understand it.
Nero(n) Caesar, transliterated into Hebrew letters, gives the number 666. (Hebrew letters were also used for numbers.) Adding to the proof, some manuscripts give the number as 616. This is because the final “n” in Neron is not necessary. This subtracts 50 from the number. 666-50 = 616. And there you have it! Nero was the antichrist.
–James Dean McNeish
For James Dean McNeish– Where did I say we were to speculate?