The Adopted Son of Joseph Son of David

Another objection to the Genealogy of Jesus as presented in Matthew and Luke is that Jesus couldn't become an Heir to the Throne of David by Adoption.  Now I still stand by my past arguments for Luke's genealogy actually being Mary's, and even without that nothing anywhere says Mary wasn't a descendant of David.  But considering the value I place on Adoption both morally and theologically, it's about time I said "so what".  Because after all there must be a reason we're given Joseph's genealogy in at least Matthew.

But first, before I even get into that argument. I should address what may sometimes be an internal debate among Christians.  Does Jesus qualify as even an adopted son of Joseph?

Because in the story at the end of Luke 2 when Mary finds Jesus she refers to Joseph as His father, but some people like to say what Jesus goes on to say about doing His Father's business as correcting her.  That has it's origin as an over reaction to how some seek to use what Mary said here against The Virgin Birth.

I feel many American Conservative Christians have dug their heels in on that because of their obsession with the modern nuclear family.  They feel an Adopted or Step father is only needed if the physical sire is a deadbeat or just plain dead, because you can't have "two daddies" that would be horrible.  This is also why so many commentaries refuse to acknowledge that Jacob is referring to Leah as Joseph's mother in Genesis 37.

Luke 4:22 and John 1:45 clearly show that Jesus was legally regarded as a Son of Joseph.

In the past I'd focused more on Luke's Genealogy because even though I've always valued Adoption I felt that Jesus had to be a Blood descendant of everyone Prophecy required Him to descend from so that by His shed Blood gentiles can become Abraham's Seed and mortals can become Sons of God.  And I still think He was, but I've come to realize that Jesus is himself an adopted Son for a reason.

Now when this comes up as a Jewish objection to Jesus, it's not because Jews oppose Adoption or anything, The Torah clearly says anyone Circumcised who follows The Torah is to be considered an Israelite.  It's a claim that Royal Inheritance specifically has to be biological.

II Samuel 7:12 does specifically say Seed.  But it'd be hypocritical to use that against Jesus since these objectors to Jesus often reject dual fulfillment elsewhere.  The immediate context of that verse was clearly the Seed of David who took the throne right after David died.  What's interesting is verse 14 talks about this Son of David being an adopted Son of God.  So the New Testament brings it full circle, The Son of God becomes an adopted Son of David.  And that is why David calls The Messiah his Lord in Psalm 110.

The last verse of Jeremiah 33 seems to say that Israel won't be ruled by the Seed of David anymore when they return from Captivity.  The Root in Isaiah 11 is of Jesse rather then David.  Some Psalms speak of David's Seed, but there is room for interpretation there too.

I stumbled recently unto an online book by a Jew who argues that The Messiah will not be a Son of David but David himself Resurrected, arguing that the Branch is an idiom for a Resurrected Body and looking specifically at Ezekiel 34&37.  As a Christian I obviously disagree with that overall premise, but I do agree that Ezekiel is describing David himself Resurrected as the future Nasi, not using the name David as a code for Jesus as some Christians prefer to look at it.  

I think David himself would take offense at excluding adopted sons from Royal Inheritance, since he was a Son but not by Blood of Saul.  In 1 Samuel 24:9-11 David calls Saul "father" and in 1 Samuel 24:16 and 26:17-21-25 Saul calls David his Son.

Now David's Kingship ultimately came from God choosing his line over Saul's.  But likewise the Son of God incarnate doesn't need descent from any specific mortal to be the rightful ruler of The World.  David became a Son of Saul regardless.

Now you may respond that David was the Son in Law of Saul because he married Michal.  To which I first would say, "like how Christian apologists argue Luke's genealogy sometimes means Son in Law when it says Son".  This is also a good time to bring up The Bride of Christ, who is also the Daughter of Zion The City of David.

But another reason David was a Son of Saul was 1 Samuel 18:1-4 where David's Blood Covenant with Johnathon made him Johnathon's joint heir.

What Moses says of Joseph in Deuteronomy 33 is one of the foundations of the Messiah Ben Joseph doctrine that's become popular in Rabbinic Judaism.  It's the basis for saying it's the Son of Joseph not David who will be killed and then Resurrected.  Something I brought up in my Human Sacrifice in The Torah post, which in turn referenced back to my Nazareth post where I suggested that Mary could have been of the Tribe of Manasseh.  For the sacrificial offering alluded to in that blessing it's being a Maternal Firstborn that mattered, the first to Open the Womb.

But the Messiah Ben-Joseph doctrine also needs it to be a Son of Joseph who's pierced in Zechariah 12:10, even though the context of that verse is all about the House of David.  Chapter 12 begins with a new "The Word of YHWH came unto me saying" so no it's not a continuation of the previous three chapters where Joseph and Ephraim came up a lot.  These three chapters seem to be strictly about the Southern Kingdom.  So the only way the one Pierced can be a Son of Joseph, is if he's a Son of Joseph adopted into the House of David.

The Golden Calf and The Image of The Beast

I've talked previously on this Blog about understanding the Image of the Beast in the context of Adam being made in the Image of God.  And I stand by that to an extent.  But in making that argument I had overlooked a detail of Revelation 13:14 talking about the Second Beast.

And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

I had made a flat out wrong statement that there was no account of the Image being created, and for that I feel really stupid.

I have argued reasons before to see a repeat of much of the History of Exodus and Numbers going on here.  So I looked over Exodus 32 to see if there is any compelling parallel between the phraseology used of The Golden Calf and of the Image of The Beast in Revelation 13, and couldn't exactly find a sufficient smoking gun.  In Exodus it is the people who came to Aaron, in Revelation it is the Beast's idea.

But a passage that does later repeat verbatim language from Exodus 32 is 1 Kings 12:26-33, specifically in 28, when Jeroboam decided to go into Idolatry.

Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

He made his own Golden Calves, and repeats what was said of The Golden Calf in Exodus 32, and also proclaimed his own Feast.

Jeroboam was of the Tribe of Ephraim, and was just given kingship over Ten Tribes, and one Calf was set up at Bethel in territory allotted to Ephraim.  I have a post on this blog arguing the key to understanding the Fourth Beast could be Moses Prophecy about Joseph in Deuteronomy 33.  Because of it's making Joseph an animal that is of a similar kind to a Calf, and possibly alluding to Ten Horns of Ephraim and One of Manasseh.

Jeremiah 31:18 uses the same word translated Calf to describe Ephraim.  Hosea 10:11 says Ephraim is a "Heifer", the feminine form of this word in the Hebrew (not the same word for Heifer used of the Red Heifer).

And I'm now noticing that Exodus 32:20 and Deuteronomy 9:21, could be compared to Daniel 7:11.  The Calf at Bethel was destroyed by Josiah. 

Britam and British Israelists have noted the Calf's association with Ephraim, and from that have among other things sought to see a reflection of this in the Greek Myth of Europa and Zeus taking the form of a Bull  (Some Artistic depictions of this myth have depicted Europa riding the Bull, like at the EU headquarters.)  Some of these Lost Tribes speculators have even imagined that Jeroboam might have claimed to have been fathered by YHWH in the from of a Calf, he was a Widow's Son.

It may be both this and my earlier speculation could be true.  The Golden Calf was a type of the Image of the Beast.

But I can no longer think the Image is simply him being Resurrected by the False Prophet, since the Image had to be made.  But perhaps it will be made via cloning or something?  The Beast is Osiris and the Image is Horus, or something like that.

You may notice, this potentially makes Aaron of all people a type of the Beast from the Earth.

Exodus 7:1 does have Yahuah say that he made Moses a God to Pharaoh and Aaron his Prophet.  So in-spite of Aaron being usually associated with a different office, he is called a Prophet once.  Number 12 involved both Aaron and Miriam citing their Prophetic status presumptuously.  Plenty of Prophets have descended from Aaron, including Samuel and John The Baptist.

Remember, in New Testament times the Priesthood had become Corrupt, Caiaphas and Ananias sought to have Jesus Crucified.

But this could also hint at the Beast from the Earth being a counterfeit High Priest.  Like Kore who challenged Aaron's Priesthood, or the Priesthood created by Jeroboam, a Priest of which named Amaziah during the reign of Jeroboam II of the House of Jehu is mentioned in Amos 7.  Or people like Menelaus in the time of the Maccabees.  Or the Maccabees themselves if you view them more negatively once they take over the Priesthood.

If The Beast from the Earth claims to be Jesus as I've speculated he might.  Jesus is our High Priest after the order of Melchizedek according to Hebrews.  And some Fringe Theorists who want to say Jesus wasn't an Heir to David argue Luke implies Him to have Aaronic descent.

And I've already speculated that Exodus 28:36 and 39:30 may be possibly relevant to the Mark of the Beast subject.  Those verses are about Aaron's Crown.

Rabbinic Jewish eschatological expectations have sometimes said there could be up to four Messiahs.  Ben-David and Ben-Joseph as the Princely or Kingly ones.  Elijah as the Prophet. And a Priestly Messiah, sometimes called the "War Priest" citing Deuteronomy 20.

Islamic Eschatology mentions a descendant of Aaron mediating a peace between the Muslims and the Romans.

Ephraim Ben Joseph is the Horse-Rider of Jacob's Prophecy about Dan

Genesis 49:16-17

Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

This passage is frequently the beginning of attempts to say The Antichrist will come from Dan, along with a reference to Dan in Jeremiah that also mentions Horses.  But who/what are this Horse and it's Rider?

 It is commonly speculated that the reason Dan and Ephraim are left out of the 144,000 in Revelation 7 is how it was through them that Idolatry entered Israel, in Judges 17-18 and then with Jeroboam, an Ephraimite who built Golden Calves at Dan and Bethel in Ephraim.

It is often assumed that the difference with Ephraim is Ephraim is still represented by the name of Joseph, since Manasseh is named separately Joseph here must be only Ephraim.  But Numbers 13 doesn't remind us of Joseph when it identifies Ephraim's Spy, but calls it's Manasseh spy of Joseph.  Manasseh himself as a Firstborn was kind of split in two, the two sides of the Jordan, called Machir and Gilead in the Song of Deborah, and this is needed to justify Jeroboam getting Ten Tribes, attempts to justify saying he also got Simeon will not hold up.  Maybe the two tribes left out of the Sealing are involved with The Mark, Satan's counterfeit of the Seal?

Now, both that Judges narrative and the Jeroboam situation may make you think Ephraim lead the way and Dan followed.  But Ephaim's major spiritual problems don't start till Judges 17, while a Danite has an issue already  in Leviticus 24.  But I also think that the mother of Micah in Judges 17 was Delilah and that Delilah was not a philistine.

Jacob's blessing on Joseph in Genesis 49 says he has a Bow and depicted him as an Archer, Zechariah 9 also depicted Ephraim as an Archer.  Isaiah 28 says Ephraim has a Crown.  Isaiah 63 represents Israel as a Horse.  The rider on the White Horse in Revelation 6 has a Bow and a Crown, and is often speculated to possibly be The Antichrist while others have wanted to make him a more positive figure.

It is interesting to note that Jehu wielded a Bow and Arrow when he overthrew Jehoram while riding  a horse drawn chariot.   Jehu is someone a Messiah Ben-Joseph claimant may seek to model themselves after.

Maybe the False Prophet is from Dan and The Antichrist from Ephraim?  When I look at the Prophetic model lots of Rabbinic Jews are expecting, it's easy to see Messiah Ben-Joseph who is Mortally Wounded by Armilus as the Beast, and the False Prophet as Messiah Ben-David who resurrects him.  There is also a view proposed in Rabbinic writings that Messiah Ben-David's mother will be from Dan. 

I feel like I've made a solid case already, but for those who believe in Mazzaroth/Gospel in The Stars theories, I have one more factor to add.

The most popular constellations to identify Joseph/Ephraim with are Aquarius and Taurus (and if Manasseh needs a separate one it's one right next to one of those).  I see no Biblical basis for Aquarius.  Taurus is justifiable by Joseph's blessing in Deuteronomy 33 where he's called a Cow and an Aurochus (Re'em translated Unicorn in the KJV), but in that context Leo is no longer Judah but either Gad or Dan.

In Genesis 49 Joseph is an Archer, the Archer constellation is Sagittarius, who is also a Horseman and has but isn't wearing a Crown, the Corona Australis.  People looking for astronomical references in Revelation tend to see the White Horseman as Sagittarius for these reasons.  And Sagittarius is right next to Scorpio, which gets identified with Dan based on Genesis 49.

More speculation on The Little Horn

This Daniel 7 speculation could be made compatible with the Daniel 7 theory I posted a couple days ago.  But it arguably works better in the context of the theory before that.  And should definitely be compared with my last post on The Little Horn.

It derives from one of my earliest Lost Tribes posts.  Where I suggested that the Fourth Beast proper is Edom but the Horns are Ephraim.  That drew on connections between Edom and Ephraim made in Obadiah, and also Amalek being in Mount Ephraim during the Midianite oppression.  And in the context of Daniel 2 that sees the Iron as Edom and the Miry Clay as Ephraim.

Now initially the main reason I had for associating the number 10 with Ephraim was that Jeroboam was given 10 Tribes.  But I've noticed something else compelling.

In Deuteronomy 33 Moses gives Blessings to the Tribes of Israel, like Jacob did in Genesis 49.  Verses 13-17 are the blessing for Joseph, one of the longer ones.  This is one of the foundations of the Messiah Ben-Joseph doctrine taught in Rabbinic Judaism.  Other aspects of this blessing I may talk about in future posts, but here I'm going to focus on a specific part of verse 17.

"his horns are like the horns of Aurochs: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh."

Mostly the numbers here are seen as just about how Ephraim has or will have a larger population then Manasseh.  Genesis 48 says Ephraim would become a multitude of nations (or the fullness of them) while Manasseh would simply be one great people.  But what I notice is this is specifically about the Horns of Joseph.  If each Horn is a "thousands", then Ephraim is 10 and Manasseh is 1, making a total of 11.

In the prior Little Horn post, one theory I suggested was seeing the Little Horn as The United States of America.  And I have a prior post about America possibly being Manasseh.

But I also talked about seeing it as Modern Greece.  On my Revised Chronology blog, I talked about possible links between ancient Greece and Northern Israelites, I may talk about that more in the future.  That speculation has included specific figures of Greek mythology who might have been based on Jehu, a king who first arose in Gilead.  But also the possibly of the Dorians coming from Dor, a city linked to Manasseh and Asher.

As far as the recent theory about the Fourth Beast being Arabia and Islam.  The Little Horn being Jordan fits well, a recently created nation at the same time as modern Israel.  It includes the core of ancient Edom and most of the land of the Trans-Jordan Tribes, in fact the capital of modern Jordan is arguably land given to Gilead in-spite of it's modern name making us think of Ammon.  And Jordan also originally had the West Bank territories, which included Shechem, Samaria and Tirzah. And all Palestinians technically have Jordanian citizenship.

When it comes to Genesis 48, people talk a lot about Ephraim, but I think we might be overlooking Manasseh.

Jonathan Cahn is comparing Trump to Jehu, while downplaying Jehu's negative aspects

Jonathan Cahn - The Jehu/Jezebel Template.  (I don't want to get into my political disagreements with Cahn here, that is for the SolaScirpturaChristianLiberty blog).

Clearly, another way for Christians to try to convince themselves that Trump is chosen by God and they should support him in-spite of his obvious moral problems.

Here is what boggles my mind about this.  To me, Jehu is clearly a Type of The Antichrist.  I've been arguing that since early in this Blog's history, back in 2014.  In my initial post about The Four Horsemen.

It comes up when suggesting The Antichrist may be a Messiah Ben-Joseph claimant.  I cite verses like Hosea saying Yahuah will avenge the Blood of Jezreel against the House of Jehu.  And how Jehu had enemies Decapitated like Revelation 20 says The Beast will do, I think the Beast may very well call Christians he dislikes worshipers of Baal, like the Hebrew Roots movement loves to do.

In this context The House of Ahab and Jezebel could be viewed as the Decoy Antichrist.  This overlaps with when I talk about Jeroboam as a type of the Antichrist.

This also comes up in posts like The Antichrist may not be as popular as we assume, and God has used Babylon and he may use it again.

I don't want to say I think Trump is the Antichrist.  But whether he is or not, this upholding the legacy of Jehu as mostly positive is certainly helping in setting stage for The Antichrist.

Update: BTW, who is Hazael King of Aram in Cahn's analogy?  Putin?

Iapetos could be The Name of The Beast

Iapetos was the name of a Titan from Greek Mythology, often called today Iapetus or Japetus because of Latinization, but Ἰαπετός Iapetos was the original proper Greek spelling.

Disclaimer up front, I'm not arguing Greek Mythology is true and The Antichrist will be a Titan from it.  Or even how many Christians usually tie the Titan Mythology into Genesis 6.  Nor would it require him being anyone who lived in the past returning.  By the end it will make sense why a (completely biologically Homo-Sapien) Jewish Messiah claimant, or maybe even someone claiming to be Jesus, would use this name. Just bear with me.

The spelling has a Greek Gemetria value of Six Hundred and Sixty Six.
Iota=10, Alpha=1, Pi=80, Epsilon=5, Tau=300, Omicron=70, Sigma=200.
10+1+80+5+300+70+200=666.

[Update May 2023: Since my overall Eschatological views have become more flexible since I first wrote this I want to clarify that I view this interpretation of 666 as also potentially  Compatible with Preterist Post-Millennial and Historicist views on Revelation even though everything below was primarily argued for in the context of Pre-Mil Futurism.]

This spelling is also 7 letters with no repeats, 7 different Greek letters.  Why do I find that significant?  At the start of Chapter 13 John says the Name of Blasphemy was written on the seven heads of the Beast.  I've long had a hunch this is the same name being dealt with at the end, just not sure what to make of it.  Here I think it possible that each Head had one letter.  Perhaps I could go deeper with that, but not today.

A few Greek names are known to have had this value.  Irenaeus and Hippolytos and other Early Church Fathers speculated on some but didn't notice this one.  Though Tietan, a bizarre I don't think attested anywhere else spelling of Titan, is included, and a Titan is what Iapetos was in Greek Mythology.  I'm not quite the first to notice this however, a google search for Iapetos 666 will mainly turn up stuff about a Metal band (I haven't listened to them).  But no Bible Study seriously looking into it.  At first I myself while excited to have stumbled on this didn't think too much of it.

But then I read how the name is usually interpreted to mean The Piercer.  It's thought to come from the word iapto which means wound or pierce, and usually refers to a spear.  Most scholars think this meaning is meant to apply the idea of mortality to him.

All that is stuff right from Wikipedia.  I myself think it could also be possible to interpret it's derivation from that word as meaning Pierced or Wounded.  Which can make us think of Revelation 13 even if we didn't already have the Gemetria connection.  But maybe The Beast would want both the Piercer and Pierced meanings to apply to him, he was Pierced, but after being healed intends to Peirce his enemies.

I will return to Etymology later.

Homer mentions Iapetos in the Iliad (8.478–81) as being in Tartaros with Kronos. He is a brother of Kronos, who ruled the world during the Golden Age.  2 Peter 2:4 uses Tartaros as a name for The Abyss, The Beast ascends out of The Abyss.  The beginning of Hesiod's theogony also associates Tartaros with the Deep.

The importance of that Homer reference has to do with how the idea of all the Titans being in Tartaros comes later, at first it was just these two.  Given how little we know of Iapetos, and how Homer and Hesiod come after Greek Mythology had already changed in many ways.  It could be Iapetos and Kronos were originally the same.

Egyptian mythology also has more then one Underworld god.  Anubis like Hades is seemingly existing only to rule there.  The other is Osiris who similar to the Titans originally ruled the world of the living but then was killed.  The Pharaoh was Horus in life and Osiris in death.

It is believed there was an underworld god among the Semites named Shalman, the god of the Theophoric Assyrian name Shalmanezzer.  Possibly related to the Hebrew name Shalim meaning Dusk.  In Egyptian Mythology the land of the Dead was also called The West, Amentis, because it was where they believe the Sun traveled from West to East during the Night.  It's not difficult to connect these names to the name of Solomon, as Shalim and Shalem are very similar if not identical in spelling.  And I've argued elsewhere adding an N to the name of Shalmo to get Solomon isn't just a result of the Greek.  And they are also speculated to be related to the Greek Salmoneus, another King imprisoned in Tartaros.  In the Septuagint Solomon is spelled Salomon.

Solomon is linked to the number 666 in 1 Kings 10:14 and 2 Chronicles 9:13.  He was a type of Christ early on when he was doing well, but later he fell into Idolatry.  Even the fact that he built a palace for himself that took 4 years longer to build then The Temple is perhaps a sign of this.  That will be a subject in the future.  But this connection is still only as a type.

I've also talked on this Blog about how The Beast may seek to be an Adam figure.  That one of the titles of Christ he may claim for himself is The Last Adam.  How part of the reason his name adding up to 666 means something may be a connection to the 6th day of Creation being the day Adam was made.  And understanding The Image of The Beast begins with Adam being made in The Image of God.  And that maybe his deception will draw on false teachings that say Genesis 1 and 2 are about two different Adams.

Iapetos in Greek Mythology is made an ancestor of the entire Human Race, or at least the Hellenes and those the Hellenes felt kinship with.  Two of his sons are Prometheus and Epimetheus.  Prometheus is the father of Deucalion, the Noah figure of one of Greek Mythology's Flood Legends.  And Epimetheus married Pandora (arguably an Eve figure) and had Pyrrha, the wife of Deucalion.

It may be interesting to note that being the Grandfather of the Flood Survivor gives basis to identify Iapetos with Methuselah, who's name means "His death shall bring" making an interesting connection for the mortality association.

The Flood connection is a good place to get into how many Creationists (including myself), and even some purely Secular scholars doing comparative mythology like Robert Graves see this name as being derived from Yaphet/Japheth.  Greek mythology is very garbled and so a son of the Flood survivor became an ancestor.  Not unlike Rammah son of Kush becoming Rama with a son named Kusha in Hindu mythology. 

The secular scholars however tend to do so from a desire to late date as much of Genesis as they can and say Genesis took the name from the Greeks.  While Iapetos makes sense as an archaic Greek transliteration of Japheth, if it went the other way I wouldn't expect Japheth to be spelled with only three letters.

This can be a good time to look at how Japheth fits into typological themes of The Bible.

In Genesis 9:27.

 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

The word for Tents here is Ohel and is definitely used of the Mishkan/Holy Tabernacle elsewhere, but also of the Sukkots of the Feast of Tabernacles.   This can be seen as anticipating Romans 9-11 and Galatians talk of Gentiles being grafted unto Israel.  (I've seen a KJV only pastor use Genesis 10 to say "Gentiles" Biblically refers only to descendants of Japheth)  That is good, I love the Adoption theme of The Bible.

The Problem is how many, including some in the Hebrew Roots movement tie that into British Israelism and Two House Theology.  Seeing Ephraim and the Northern Kingdom become intermingled beyond distinction with the descendants of Japheth.  Cimmerians linked to both Gomer and Omri, Scythians linked to both Magog and Israel, The Irish linked to Magog and Judah's son Zarah and later the House of David.  And all of Britam's identifications.  I do see some truth in plenty of that kind of stuff, but it also gets tied into Racist and Nationalist political agendas.

And many of these are expecting a Messiah Ben-Joseph.  Christ White has argued for The Antichrist claiming to be Messiah Ben-Joseph independent of the Lost Tribes aspect.  And I disagree with many aspects of his argument especially Jerusalem as Mystery Babylon, but have explored how that could tie into the Lost Tribes issue.

I have a growing hunch The Antichrist will be using much rhetoric taken from the Hebrew Roots movement.  That he'll talk about Nimrod the same way Rob Skiba does.  And that includes their reverence for The Book of Jasher, which paints Nimrod as Evil and says he fought a War with the Japhethites.  There may be other sources for this Japheth vs Nimrod mythology, I'm unsure.

I've said before I think there may be Decoy Antichrists, including the Terrible of The Nations who will rule Babylonia.  And that The Terrible of The Nations will be an enemy of The Antichrist, and probably who wounds him.

Of all the people who are types of Christ in The Hebrew Bible, it's interesting how it was Joshua of all of them who shares his actual name.  The Shia Muslim reverence of Ali draws a lot on seeing Ali as the Joshua to Muhammad's Moses (even though logically Umar fits that role better).  Well in this un-Biblical Jasher mythology, Japheth becomes arguably the Joshua to Noah's Moses.

Now some Creationists talking about Iapetos as Japheth have claimed Iapetos makes no sense in Greek etymology at all.  And in fairness there are real Greek scholars who have questioned the etymology I discussed above.  But what I want to talk about is how that commonly accepted Etymolgoy for Iapetos can be more consistent with Japheth's Hebrew etymology then you might think.

Going back to Genesis 9:27, the use of Enlarge there is a known pun, as Japheth's name is derived from that Hebrew word, phathah.  But this verse is the only time the KJV translates it Enlarge.  It's also sometimes words like Entice or Beguile, where sometimes a sexual connotation is implied in the context.  And the Strongs definition suggests it could mean "to open".  So the idea of Piercing could come from it, especially as things get clouded through a change in language.

A Yot added at the beginning of a name is often a sign of being Yah theophoric but then contracted, like Jehoram becoming Joram. Yeshua itself is an example of a Yah theophoric being contracted to the point where the letter Yot is all that represents the Holy Name.  Now I don't think Japheth was a Yah theophoric name originally, but I think a future false Messiah deifying himself while going by that name could seek to re-imagine it as one.  Actually the word play in Genesis 9:27 can be interpreted as making Japheth a Yah thephoric now that I think about it.

Those who out of ignorance of how First Century Greek worked try to claim Iesous is really a pagan name.  May add that they feel a transliteration of a Yah theophoric name should have an Alpha after the Iota.  But in Greco-Rroman times all Semitic names beginning with Yot began with Iota-Eta.  And that included Japheth in the Septuagint. But this rule wasn't a factor in more archaic times when the spelling of Iapetos was standardized.  And given the many Semtic via Phonecian influences on Greek, I wonder if Iasus might derive from a more ancient Greek form of Yeshua?

So I can easily imagine a false Messiah Ben-Joseph etymologically connecting himself to Japheth.  And interpreting the name Iapetos to mean either "Yah pierced" or "Yah Piercer".  And either of those proposed meanings could have opposite proposed interpretations depending on if he identifies himself with Yahuah or rejects the name of Yahuah.  "Pierced by Yah" or "Yah is pierced".  And "Yah the Piercer" or "the Piercer of Yah". 

And the Hebrew Gemetria value of the Hebrew spelling of Japheth being 490 he could argue a Biblical Numerical significance for, being 70 times 7.  I've suggested before that the Antichrist might claim to be the Messiah the 70 weeks points to.

And so I feel I have made my case.  What's below is just a supplemental epilogue and not part of the main thesis. 

Is The White Horseman of Revelation 19 someone other than Jesus?

I realize this suggestion is going to be very controversial.  There is a phrase we think of as a Title of Christ mainly because of it's usage in this passage, and yet under that assumption has inspired the title of two Hollywood films.  "King of Kings and Lord of Lords".  That title is also clearly applied to The Lamb in Revelation 17:14.  But in Revelation 19 the person being described has that name written on their vesture and thigh, making their relation to that name perhaps more complicated.

Plus that term is secular in origin, being a term for an "emperor" a King who rules other Kings. And as such can apply to David and Solomon.

First of all this does not change that I think The Arnion (Lamb in the KJV) mentioned as getting married just before this is Jesus.

Second of all regardless of if this is Jesus or not, this is not the Parusia, I've already noted the significance of how that word does not appear in this passage and it has nothing in common with the passages that define the Parusia.  The defining traits of the Parusia occurred in chapters 11-14.

In Revelation 19:12 we read "and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself."  I can understand why that sounds like it could be a title of Jesus at first.  But in Revelation 2:17 that is a promise Jesus makes to faithful Church believers.  "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."  Revelation 3:12 also speaks of Faithful Believers having a New Name written on them.

Another promise to the Faithful in the messages to the Seven Churches is also used here.  The promise to rule with a Rod of Iron, in 2:27 and 19:15.  That is also said of The Man-Child in 12:5.  I've already argued strongly that The Man-Child is The Church citing 2:27 (But the biggest Proof Text of that is Isaiah 65), yet people retort that Revelation 19 makes that clearly of Jesus.  

The only appearance of this phrase outside Revelation is Psalm 2.  Chuck Missler likes to argue Psalm 2 is a dialogue between the Trinity, but an argument can also be made that Psalm 2 is about the same thing as Psalm 8, God's promised Dominion of The Earth to the faithful of mankind.  Also it's a Davidic Psalm and so Yahuah's Anointed here could be David.  David anticipates some promises generally unique to New Testament believers, like being promised The Holy Spirit wouldn't leave him.

But, the term "Faithful and True" is used only three times in all of Scripture, all of them in Revelation.  Revelation 19:11 is the second of them.  The third is at the end not being used of a personage.  And Revelation 3:14 is clearly using it as a Title of Christ.

As I was pondering these conflicting clues, I noticed something in verse 11 of chapter 19.  The Horse itself is described as a "him".  

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war."

So I started wondering, is it possible that verses 12-16 are describing The Horse rather than The Rider?  And then there is 19:11’s parallel to 6:2, and how that White Horseman is viewed as possibly a False Christ.  Could it be chapter 6 is the Church and/or Israel being lead astray by a False Messiah, and then 19 is the true Messiah back in control?

Isaiah 63 is a passage often taken as being the main Hebrew Bible counterpart to this part of Revelation 19.  In Isaiah 63:13, Israel is symbolically described as a Horse.  Zechariah 10:3 repeats this analogy in a more positive context, representing Judah as Yahuah's goodly Horse.  And I should note that Rabbinic Jews who accept the Messiah Ben Joseph doctrine might view Isaiah 63 as about Messiah Ben-Joseph rather than Ben-David.

Certain things are applicable potentially to both Jesus and Faithful Believers.  Being called “Faithful and True” could work as one of those.  As well as the imagery of a Two Edged Sword coming out of His Mouth, referencing the idea of the Word of God as the Sword of the Spirit from Ephesians 6.  And as I’ve considered that I’m maybe leaving the argument that the Rider is Jesus and the Horse the Church.

Many assume it’s the armies following in 19:14 that are Believers.  But Rob Skiba believes those are the Angels and maybe I should now consider him more right on that then I used to (but still not how he ties that into his Flat Earth arguments).  But also this may tie into how Believers will have different classes based on Rewards.

Maybe the Rider is the most Faithful of the Church and the Horse are those who lacked rewards, or Old Testament believers?

I’m not sure entirely what to make of these observations.  

But it has the potential to totally destroy Post-Trib, as even if a version of Post-Trib could be formed that interprets Revelation chronologically, it is dependent on the assumption that Revelation 19 clearly places a Return of Jesus after the Bowls of God’s Wrath.  I believe The Second Coming already happened before the Bowls were poured out.

And again on my Man-Child argument, this removes the only solid counter argument and seals the deal on The Man-Child being The Church.

Update March 4th 2017:

One more layer I could add here is how The Hebrew Bible uses Messiah meaning Anointed One, translated Christ in Greek, of more then just The Messiah.  It's used of Kings, Priests and Prophets, and sometimes seemingly refers to Believers as God's Anointed.

The New Testament is generally assumed to have phased that out (though Believers being called Christians could reflect it).  But Revelation is again often viewed as more Old Testament in style.  Twice the word Christ appears in Revelation 20, in verses 4 and 6, neither uses the Greek definite article before the word.  How the KJV translated verse 6 leaves out the word "his".  It should read "of God and of His Christ".

Remember that David is refereed to as a Messiah.  And that Ezekiel 34 and 37 refers to the resurrected David ruling as a Nasi during The Millennium.  (From that comes debates about if this is the same Nasi refereed to in Ezekiel 40-48.)  Zechariah possibly calls the Horse Judah, David's Tribe.

Maybe I'm reading too much into that.  But it's not a question I feel we can ignore.

Update November 8th 2018: Revelation 19:14 has the armies following the Rider dressed the same as The Bride in Verse 8.  So maybe the Horseman is the New Testament Church and the armies Old Testament Israel? 
https://midseventiethweekrapture.blogspot.com/2018/08/maybe-wedding-feast-isnt-in-heaven-like.html

The Second Captivity of Samaria?

When prophecies like Jeremiah 32 and Ezekiel 16 were foretelling the coming Babylonian Captivity of Jerusalem, they compared and contrasted it to the Assyrian Captivity of Samaria.  The thing I note about this is that Judah ultimately had two captivities and returns, while Samaria has thus far had one Captivity and not yet a return.

Meanwhile I also feel many difficult to fully understand Prophecies are implying a conflict between Ephraim and Judah in the End Times.  From Isaiah 28, (and possibly Isaiah 7-11 which may or may not have Eschatological significance).  And Jeremiah 4, and Zechariah 9-11.  Like how they were often at war during the divided Kingdom period.

Which is a problem for how Two House Theology and British Israelism like to see the Eschatological role of Ephraim.  I should also point out that Mormonism teaches a form of Two House Theology.

I'm not a Dispensationalist as that is usually defined, I agree that The Church is grafted into Israel.  But we're not grafted into a specific Tribe, Ezekiel 37 says Joseph and Judah both have companions joined to them.

Now people might ask, if the "Lost Tribes" returning is a part of the End Times, where is it in Revelation?

Well it's in Chapter 16, in the Sixth Bowl of God's Wrath.  The Euphrates River is dried up to make way for the Kings of the East, East of the Euphrates is where Assyria first took them.  But it also describes people coming from all four corners of the Earth, just as Israel was ultimately scattered to all four corners.  And they are gathered at Megiddo, Northern Kingdom territory, in the valley of Jezreel which had been one of their capitals.

I think it's possible part of the point of The Millennium is so the Northern Kingdom can have a second Captivity.

Chris White talks about reasons that the Antichrist could resemble the Rabbinic expected Messiah Ben-Joseph, an idea that some Hebraic style Christians have also accepted.  But does so leaving the Lost Tribes aspect of that doctrine completely out of it.

I've been talking a lot about The Antichrist possibly ruling from Egypt.  How can that and a false Messiah Ben-Joseph claimant go together?

Well between lots of maps online confusing the Brook of Egypt with The Nile, thus expanding Israel's rightful borders to include much of Egypt.  And fringe history theories hijacking legit Revised Chronology research to say many Kings of Israel and Judah were really Pharaohs of Egypt.  And people trying to claim The Great Pyramid was built to honor Yahuah.  And my arguments that some nations believed to be of the Lost Tribes may really be of Exiled Egyptians (or perhaps both).  And Hosea foretelling that Ephraim would return to Egypt.  And that Jeroboam was a vassal of Shishak.  And Leviticus 24 talks about a Blasphemous Israelite who's mother was Danite and Father was an Egyptian  There is a lot to work with.

But also that Joseph himself, viewed as the first type of Messiah Ben-Joseph, was essentially placed Second in Command of Egypt by Pharaoh.  I think there are a lot of pieces to this puzzle I'm still trying to put together.  And Joshua 10:41 says Joshua conquered all the way to Goshen.  Either that's a different Goshen, or he conquered the same land they had lived in as slaves.  Whichever answer is true, a Messiah Ben-Joseph wanna be claiming to b a new Joshua could well use the latter interpretation.

The Imam Mahdi of Shia Islam

All the speculation among Christians about if the Antichrist might claim to be the Mahdi of Islamic Eschatology barely acknowledges the differences between the Sunni and Shiite views of the Mahdi.  But when it does in general the focus is on the Shia version because there are more details in their traditions to over analyze.  For example, it's the Shiites who call him Imam, to the Sunnis he is a Caliph.  I've tried to be an exception in my past speculations, but have hardly gone too deep into it.

The interesting thing I've discovered recently is, it's not just Christians who think the Imam Mahdi could be the Antichrist, there is a Sunni Website saying the Dajjal is actually the Shiite Imam Mahdi.  And their reasoning is very interesting given my own speculations on a number of subjects.  But I should of course say I doubt all or even most Sunnis would agree with everything on that site, it engages in a lot of weirdness similar to what I'm used to seeing from the most off the deep end Christian websites.

It kind of starts with how the Shiite view makes Imam Mahdi kind of quasi Divine, even giving him a Pre-existence.  While the Sunnis see the Mahdi as not even a Prophet.

Another claim of this website is that Shiites don't always admit to being Shiites, and so ideas it's skeptical of in traditional Sunni sources they suspect could have been planted by Shiites.  Since for most of Islamic history the Sunnis have been in control and haven't always allowed Freedom of Religion, one can't blame Shiites for having a history of hiding.

Today most Shiites live in Iran and Iraq.  Geographically that happens to be the lands associated with the Dajjal in the oldest Muslim eschatological traditions.

The Dajjal was originally expected to be a Jewish Messianic claimant.  This website points out many things that seem oddly Jewish to them about the Shia traditions.  Like Traditions that the Imam Mahdi will use the Jewish Name of God (I've read other Muslim websites agreeing with conspiracy theories that YHWH is actually a pagan god), and rule in the manner of David and Solomon.  And that specifically say the Imam Mahdi will have Jewish followers.

And many Jews have lived in the Irag/Iran region, going back to the exile and the Exilarchs.  Also early Caliphs resettled the Jews of Khyabar in Iraq.  I meanwhile could add my arguments that the Lost Tribes settled East of the Euphrates, and that the Persians and Iranians partly descend from Naphtali and the Eranites.  In the context of all that, seeing the Shiite Imam Mahdi and the Rabbinic Messiah Ben-Joseph as possibly the same personage could fit pretty well.  And that fits how Shiite traditions often treated Ali as the Joshua to Muhammad's Moses.

They are suspicious of prophecies that say he'll discover the Original Torah Scroll and Gospel, and rule the Jews and Christians according to their own laws.  And also re-discover the original Koran as well.  I've commented on the Mahdi's expected archaeological exploits before.

They are also suspicious of the Sufyani tradition, an enemy the Mahdi is said to defeat, who will rule parts of Syria and Iraq and will descend from Sufyan.  When the split between the Sunni and Shia happened the Sunni followed a son of Sufyan, so it could be possible to see Sufyani as a code for a Sunni leader (maybe even Sunni Mahdi claimant) from a Shia POV.  Today ISL/ISIS and it's desire to set up a Sunni Caliphate in Syria and Iraq could be seen as fitting the Sufyani description from a Shiite POV.

They also object to Shiite traditions that seem anti-Arab and even Anti-Mecca.  If you're thinking "how could any version of a Faith founded by Arabs be Anti-Arab" just look at all the Anti-Semitism in Christian history.

The Koran was written before the split happened obviously.  Thing is the word Shia was originally a word for Sect, so this site takes advantage of some Koran and early Haddith usage of that word, including references to the Dajjal having a Shia(Sect).

Thing about all this is, my emphasis on the overlooked fact that the Beast is actually against Babylon, and that his Seat is West of the Euphrates.  Tells me that an Imam Mahdi claimant is far more likely to be a Decoy Antichrist then the real one, and perhaps one of the Kings of the East, or the Terrible of the Nations.

Does that make a Sunni Mahdi claimant the real one?  Maybe, maybe not, there could be multiple Decoys.

And I still have my skepticism the Antichrist will be Muslim or Pagan at all.

Awaited Messiahs of False Religions

One of the unique things about True Biblical Christianity is we believe our Messiah has already come. We're not awaiting anyone new. We're awaiting his return, but it will not be necessary to identify him, the Church will be gathered to him and then he'll go to directly where believing Israel is. Those we expect to appear before him, the Two Witnesses (Enoch and Elijah), are also men who lived on the Earth before. We are awaiting only second comings.

Now false religions may also be expecting someone to return, (including hijacking figures of our tradition, Jesus, Elijah and Enoch ect.), but they're also expecting a new Messiah, or Avatar of their chief god to arise. But we Christians know the next important person to be revealed shall be the Wicked One, and he shall have a False Prophet to back him up as well.

I believe Satan himself doesn't know how things will play out exactly.  I think all these were seeds he planted to potentially use, but it's still possible none will be relevant in the end.

I have discussed The False Prophet in a separate study. I have come to the view he is Judas and will claim to be Jesus. He may claim to be other expected returning figures as well. He may endorse Mormon theories about Jesus coming to the new world after the Resurrection, and also identify himself with Quetzalcoatl, Kukulcan and Gukumatz.

The story of the life of the Mexican divinity, Quetzalcoatl, closely resembles that of the Savior; so closely, indeed, that we can come to no other conclusion than that Quetzalcoatl and Christ are the same being. But the history of the former has been handed down to us through an impure Lamanitish source, which has sadly disfigured and perverted the original incidents and teachings of the Savior's life and ministry." (Mediation and Atonement, p. 194.) John Taylor.

Which are also tied into New Age/Ancient Aliens theories.

The Islamic Mahdi and Messiah Ben-Ephraim, are of unique importance, as one is extra-Biblical Rabbinic Jewish tradition and the other is awaited by Israel's nearest enemies. I have talked about them alreayd and will more in the future. Also "Abrahamic" religions tend to be more detailed in their prophecies, so there is more to say on them.

The Cumaean Sibyl in Virgl's 4th Ecolouge is a prophecy of a new Golden Age, ushered in by Apollo and Saturn, where men and gods will mingle together.  The originally intent was to be about Augustus, but later post Constantine Christians co-opted it and now it is somewhat infamous in New Age and Neo-Pagan circles.

As I've said elsewhere, I believe The Antichrist will claim to be all the awaited Messiahs of all false religions.
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Saoshyant [sou-shyuhnt] is a figure of Zoroastrian eschatology.

I personally believe the original Zarathustra lived about 600 A.D. "258 years before Alexander." And might have been partially descended from exiled Israelites, but that his teachings where corrupted over the generations (and may have been corrupt to begin with, givne the state of the Northern Kingdom), the oldest written texts attributed to hm are much later. Legends about him over time tried to place him further in the past.

Yasht 19.88-96 is the oldest reference to Saoshyant as an expected savior, and only one that comes in the B.C. era. Not a lot of details exist there, he emerges from a sacred lake("rise up out of the sea"?), makes the world perfect and destroys evil.  But he is said to wield a sacred weapon called Verethragna. The Verethragna is sometimes represented as Bow, and is said to have "conquering superiority" (Revelation 6, First Horseman).

He's developed in greater detail in 9th-12th century texts. Zoroastrian tradition envisions three future saviors, one for the end of each 1,000-year period that comprise the last 3,000 years of the world. All three will be born of maidens, conceived while their mothers bathed in a lake that miraculously preserved the seed of the prophet Zoroaster himself. The first will be named Hushedar, the second Hushedarmah, and the third will be Saoshyant, who will lead humanity in the final battle against falsehood.

As you can see, they have begun to borrow aspects of Jesus. The legends elaborate a great deal on this Virgin Birth, and state it'll be 30 years before the finale battle, but this is then contradicted by references to him living for 57 years.

No details are known about those preceding saviors. But if The Antichrist claims to be Saoshyant, and that the third of those millenniums are ending about now, The False Prophet/Pseudo Jesus may well claim to be Hushedar.
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Kalki, the final Avatar of Vishnu in Vedic mythology and Hindu religion, who will end the Kali Yuga.

I could first note that his name means "Destroyer" and can thus be viewed as a Vedic translation of Apollyon. He is also said to come Riding atop a White Horse.

The previous Avatars were Krishna and Rama. Krishna died because an Arrow pierced his Heel. Rama I believe was the Raamah son of Cush of Genesis 10, but the legends were embellished greatly.

Padma will be his consort, an Avatar of Lakshmi, previous Avatars include Sita wife of Rama and Radha consort of Krishna.

The the Kali Yuga is today traditionally viewed to have begun in 3102 B.C. and is supposed to last 432,000 years, someone calming to be him now might seem implausible, but many already have, and their faithful rationalize it all. At any rate I personally believe whoever historically inspired Krishna lived not around 3100 BC but in the 9th century B.C. Due to the archeological evidence for the Kurukshetra war being around that time.

A lot of work among Hindu scholars involves trying to use Astrological references to give him a Birth Date. The possibility of an Evil Counterpart to the Star of Bethleham (Jupiter's conjunction with Regulus on September 11th/First of Tishri 3 B.C.) is intriguing. Sri Potuluri Virabrahmendra Swami, for example, wrote 400 years ago in his Divya Maha Kala Gnana, or 'Divine Knowledge of the Time,' that Kalki would arrive when the moon, sun, Venus and Jupiter entered the same sign. This is not a rare occurrence and last happened in early 2012.
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Maitreya, the next Buddha

Buddhism doesn't really give any specific details at all. But one mention of the prophecy of Maitreya is in the Sanskrit text, the Maitreyavyākaraṇa (The Prophecy of Maitreya). It implies that he is a teacher of meditative trance sadhana and states that gods, men and other beings:

"will lose their doubts, and the torrents of their cravings will be cut off: free from all misery they will manage to cross the ocean of becoming; and, as a result of Maitreya's teachings, they will lead a holy life. No longer will they regard anything as their own, they will have no possession, no gold or silver, no home, no relatives! But they will lead the holy life of oneness under Maitreya's guidance. They will have torn the net of the passions, they will manage to enter into trances, and theirs will be an abundance of joy and happiness, for they will lead a holy life under Maitreya's guidance." (Trans. in Conze 1959:241)

Sounds like a possible precedent for ending all currency to bring in the Mark of the Beast.

One random site on the Internet suggests that Maitreya will be the actual name of the Antichrist. They claim there are 7 different ways to spell Maitreya in Hebrew and that each has a numerical value of 666. I have not independently verified this claim yet, and I still prefer to use Greek to decipher the Number of The Beast. But at the beginning of Revelation 13 it says "having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." So could it be a different form of the same name on each head?

The Maitreya concept is expanded on in Theosphy, and other New Age religions. Which also often utilize Kalki as well.

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The Baha'i faith, is a mingling of Judeo-Chrstian, Islamic and Zorosatrian ideas.

In 1873 Bahá'u'lláh wrote in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas:

"How great the blessedness that awaiteth the king who will arise to aid My Cause in My kingdom, who will detach himself from all else but Me! Such a king is numbered with the companions of the Crimson Ark--the Ark which God hath prepared for the people of Bahá. All must glorify his name, must reverence his station, and aid him to unlock the cities with the keys of My Name, the omnipotent Protector of all that inhabit the visible and invisible kingdoms. Such a king is the very eye of mankind, the luminous ornament on the brow of creation, the fountainhead of blessings unto the whole world. Offer up, O people of Bahá, your substance, nay your very lives, for his assistance."

(Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, 1873) 

This is elaborated specifically:

"In the Lawh-i-Ra'ís He actually and categorically prophesies the rise of such a king: "Erelong will God raise up from among the kings one who will aid His loved ones. He, verily, encompasseth all things. He will instill in the hearts the love of His loved ones. This, indeed, is irrevocably decreed by One Who is the Almighty, the Beneficent." In the Ridvánu'l-`Adl, wherein the virtue of justice is exalted, He makes a parallel prediction: "Erelong will God make manifest on earth kings who will recline on the couches of justice, and will rule amongst men even as they rule their own selves. They, indeed, are among the choicest of My creatures in the entire creation.""

(Bahá'u'lláh, 1868, quoted by Shoghi Effendi in Promised Day is Come)

Globalism in general is important to Baha'i belief.

Shoghi Effendi wrote:

"... It must, however long and tortuous the way, lead, through a series of victories and reverses, to the political unification of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, to the emergence of a world government and the establishment of the Lesser Peace, as foretold by Bahá’u’lláh and foreshadowed by the Prophet Isaiah."

(Shoghi Effendi, Citadel of Faith, 1947) 

Bahá'u'lláh wrote in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas:

"We have appointed two signs for the coming of age of the human race: the first, which is the most firm foundation, We have set down in other of Our Tablets, while the second hath been revealed in this wondrous Book."

(Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, 1873)

The first sign refers to the selection of a single language and the adoption of a common script:

"O members of parliaments throughout the world! Select ye a single language for the use of all on earth, and adopt ye likewise a common script. ... This will be the cause of unity, could ye but comprehend it, and the greatest instrument for promoting harmony and civilization, would that ye might understand!"

(Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, 1873)

The second sign refers to the emergence of a "divine philosophy" which will include the discovery of a radical approach to the transmutation of elements:

"Consider the doubts which they who have joined partners with God have instilled into the hearts of the people of this land. “Is it ever possible,” they ask, “for copper to be transmuted into gold?” Say, Yes, by my Lord, it is possible. Its secret, however, lieth hidden in Our Knowledge. We will reveal it unto whom We will. Whoso doubteth Our power, let him ask the Lord his God, that He may disclose unto him the secret, and assure him of its truth. That copper can be turned into gold is in itself sufficient proof that gold can, in like manner, be transmuted into copper, if they be of them that can apprehend this truth. Every mineral can be made to acquire the density, form, and substance of each and every other mineral. The knowledge thereof is with Us in the Hidden Book."

(Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writing of Bahá'u'lláh, Section XCVII, undated)

In Bahá'u'lláh's tablet addressed to Shaykh Salmán, he mentions a third sign, which is that no one will accept to bear the weight of kingship:

"One of the signs of the maturity of the world is that no one will accept to bear the weight of kingship. Kingship will remain with none willing to bear alone its weight. That day will be the day whereon wisdom will be manifested among mankind. Only in order to proclaim the Cause of God and spread abroad His Faith will anyone be willing to bear this grievous weight. Well is it with him who, for love of God and His Cause, and for the sake of God and for the purpose of proclaiming His Faith, will expose himself unto this great danger, and will accept this toil and trouble.”"

(Bahá'u'lláh, undated, quoted in Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come)

Shoghi Effendi wrote:

"The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Bahá’u’lláh, implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded…"

"A world federal system, ruling the whole earth and exercising unchallengeable authority over its unimaginably vast resources, blending and embodying the ideals of both the East and the West, liberated from the curse of war and its miseries, and bent on the exploitation of all the available sources of energy on the surface of the planet, a system in which Force is made the servant of Justice, whose life is sustained by its universal recognition of one God and by its allegiance to one common Revelation—such is the goal towards which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of life, is moving."

(Shoghi Effendi, The Unfoldment of World Civilization, 1936)

"The Most Great Peace... a peace that must inevitably follow as the practical consequence of the spiritualization of the world and the fusion of all its races, creeds, classes and nations..."

(Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, 1936) 

Of course Bahá'u'lláh was against anyone in the next Thousand years calming to be God, but I don't believe the Antichrist will deify himself at first, only after his counterfeit resurrection in the mid-way point of the Tribulation.
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As I said, True Christianity is not awaiting any new Messiah, but Heretical Christianity has always been around, and it's always had a thing for creating new Messiahs to expect.
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Emperor Constans, foretold by The Tiburtine Sibyl or Albune.

A Prophecy attributed to another of the Sybils written down in 380 A.D.

THE LATIN TIBURTINE SIBYL

Then will arise a king of the Greeks whose name is Constans. He will be king of the Romans and the Greeks. He will be tall of stature, of handsome appearance with shining face, and well put together in all parts of his body. His reign will be ended after one hundred and twelve years. In those days there will be great riches and the earth will give fruit abundantly so that a measure of wheat will be sold for a denarius, a measure of wine for a denarius, and a measure of oil for a denarius. The king will have a text before his eyes that says: "The king of the Romans will claim the whole Christian empire for himself." He will devastate all the islands and the cities of the pagans and will destroy all idolatrous temples; he will call all pagans to baptism and in every temple the Cross of Christ will be erected. "Then Egypt and Ethiopia will be eager to stretch their hands to God." ~ Whoever does not adore the Cross of Jesus Christ will be punished by the sword. When the one hundred and twelve years have been completed, the Jews will be converted to the Lord, and "his sepulchre will be glorified by all." In those days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell with confidence. At that time the Prince of Iniquity who will be called Antichrist will arise from the tribe of Dan. He will be the Son of Perdition, the head of pride, the master of error, the fullness of malice who will overturn the world and do wonders and great signs through dissimulation. He will delude many by magic art so that fire will seem to come down from heaven. The years will be shortened like months, the months like weeks, the weeks like days, the days like hours, and an hour like a moment. The unclean nations that Alexander, the Indian king, shut up (i.e., Gog and Magog) will arise from the North. These are the twenty-two realms whose number is like the sand of the sea. When the king of the Romans hears of this he will call his army together and vanquish and utterly destroy them. After this he will come to Jerusalem, and having put off the diadem from his head and laid aside the whole imperial garb, he will hand over the empire of the Christians to God the Father and to Jesus Christ his Son. When the Roman empire shall have ceased,39 then the Antichrist will be openly revealed and will sit in the House of the Lord in Jerusalem. While he is reigning, two very famous men, Elijah and Enoch, will go forth to announce the coming of the Lord. Antichrist will kill them and after three days they will be raised up by the Lord. Then there will be a great persecution, such as has not been before nor shall be thereafter. The Lord will shorten those days for the sake of the elect, and the Antichrist will be slain by the power of God through Michael the Archangel on the Mount of Olives.

Translated from the edition of E. Sackur, Sibyllinische Texte und Forschungen. pp. 185—86.

In a lot of ways this shows how many of my Futurist interpretations of Scripture were pretty unanimous to early Christians, (Enoch and Elijah, Israel being destined to be redeemed).  Though I no longer support a premillenial Gog and Magog invasion, but I still geographically place Magog in Russia.   It's popular to claim the Gates of Alexander legend wasn't connected to Magog untill the Seventh Century.  In addition to this reference, I feel I can also show it's pre-Christian because Josephus in Wars of The Jews Book 7 Chapter 7 Section 4 says the Scythians (who he in Antiquities says are Magog) were who the Gates of Alexander shut up.

But there is no Biblical basis for this great Christian Emperor, it is in fact the Antichrist who shall restore Rome to greatness again. Before Constantine, men like Ireneaus and Hippolytus got this right.
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Last Roman Emperor or Last World Emperor

The legend first appears in the 7th-century apocalyptic text known as the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, and developed over the centuries, becoming particularly prominent in the 15th century. The notion of the Great Catholic Monarch is related to it

The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius is a 7th-century apocalypse that shaped the eschatological imagination of Christendom throughout the Middle Ages. The work was written in Syriac in the late 7th century, in reaction to the Islamic conquest of the Near East, and is falsely attributed to the 4th-century Church Father Methodius of Olympus. It depicts many familiar Christian eschatological themes: the rise and rule of Antichrist, the invasions of Gog and Magog, and the tribulations that precede the end of the world.

A new element, probably adopted from the Tiburtine Sibyl, was a Messiah-like Last Roman Emperor, who would be a central figure in apocalyptic literature until the end of the medieval period. It was translated into Greek soon after its composition, and thence into Latin (by the eighth century), Slavonic, Russian, Armenian, and Arabic.

Its precise date is difficult to ascertain; dates proposed by recent historians fall within the range 644 - 691 AD (Palmer 1993:225).

It was developed in the writings of Adso of Montier-en-Der, and was particularly current around the end of the fifteenth century.[S.N., Mirabilis Liber, 1522] Christopher Columbus refers to it in his Book of Prophecies.

The 7th Century apocalypses also emphasizes the Last Roman Emperor conquering both Egypt and Syria, which is interesting if you still think Daniel 11:36-45 is about The Antichrist.

Christ White has discussed this subject in the context of comparing it to to the Islamic Mahdi.  One mistake he makes is most Islamic Antichrist theorists make Dajjal Elijah not Jesus.  When I used to lean towards however I never agreed with that and say Dajjal as a Decoy Antichrist.  Another note, the Antichrist being blind in one eye possibly has a Biblical basis in Zachariah 11.

What he misses is the Messiah Ben-Joseph idea was entering it's current form in the 7th Century AD as well.  Particularly due to the Messianic status given to Nehemiah Ben Hushiel which is a part of works like the Sefer Zeubbabel, the poems of Eleazer Ben Killir, the Otot ha-Masiah and the Pirqie Masiah.  And Messiah Ben-Joseph has a Mahdi parallel the Last Roman Emperor does not, being killed by The Antichrist/Armillus/Dajjal to be resurrected by Messiah Ben-David/Isa the Muslim Jesus.  A book called The Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition discussed how the Last Roman Emperor is probably base don Jewish Messianic expectations.

To me none of that refutes the notion that all these awaited Messiahs were potential Antichrist seeds Satan had planted.
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The Great Catholic Monarch

In Catholic tradition, the Great Monarch is predicted to have a restorationist character and to restore the European Catholic royalty in the West, destroy the power of heretics and atheistic rebels, and successfully convert many Muslims and Jews to the Faith.(See Catholic Prophecy: The Coming Chastisement by Yves Dupont)

The concept of the Great King features prominently in mystical and folk traditions, as well as writings of people thought to have been granted gifts of prophecy or special visitations by messengers from heaven (such as angels, saints, or Christ). 

Saint Remigius, bishop of Reims and apostle of the Franks, baptised Clovis I, king of the Franks on 24 December 496. This baptism, leading to the conversion of the entire Frankish people to Nicene Christianity, was a momentous success for the Catholic Church and a seminal event in European history. Allegedly he had had a vision and prophesied that in the distant future, the last monarch who descended from the line of the kings of France, would be revealed and reestablish the Holy Roman Empire at the end of time. This prophecy was related through Hincmar, archbishop of Reims (806 – 21 December 882), and Rabanus Maurus Magnentius O.S.B., archbishop of Mainz (780 – 4 February 856).

Himcar was the Propagandist for Charles the Bald, so he may have invented it to serve political purposes for the Holy Roman Empire. 

The Great Catholic Monarch was very popular in popular folklore until the 18th century Enlightenment. He reappeared in 19th century prophecy when French legitimists believed that the count of Chambord, Henry V of France would be the new king.

Perrie Plantard's original intent in creating the Priory of Sion Hoax was to claim that he was the Great Catholic Monarch, tying it into French Israelism/Franco Israelism. From there the idea is openly advocated for in Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and it's follow up Messianic Legacy, which bring the Jesus Bloodline theory into it.  And Bloodline of the Holy Grail which further linked it to standard British Israelism ideas and Jacobite Politics, and it's follow up Genesis of the Grail Kings which ties in Ancient Aliens theories.
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Mab Darogan, once and future King of Welsh legend.

The concept is of a great future Briton leader who would restore Celtic England and drive out the Anglo-Saxons. The return of King Arthur derives from the concept.  

When The Tudor Dynasty was established it was popular to think this would be fulfilled by King Henry VII.

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The White Horse Prophecy of Joseph Smith

The Latter Day Saints, according to the prophecy, would "go to the Rocky Mountains and ... be a great and mighty people", identified figuratively with the White Horse described in the Revelation of John. The prophecy further predicts that the United States Constitution will one day "hang like a thread" and will be saved "by the efforts of the White Horse". 

Over time this developed specially into a concept that a Mormon would become President of the United States and turn the U.S. into a Mormon Theocracy. It has been speculated about in relation to various Mormon Presidential candidates like George and mitt Romney. Glen Beck who's a Mormon has also subtly alluded to it on TV many times.
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More recently I've become aware of others like how the Druze are awaiting Al-Hakim.  

This can also tie into any King In The Mountain myth.