19
Commodianus believed that Nero would be raised from Hades as antichrist, and
would succeed Elijah in the final 3 and one-half years of the last seven years. "Then...the
Almighty Christ descends to his elect".
29
While the emphasis of the passage is the
tribulation of the antichrist and the righteous judgement Christ at his return, he does hint
at a one thousand year interval before the final judgement. It is possible that
Commodianus understands descent of the heavenly Jerusalem to earth in this last one
thousand year period, but this is not clear. Also, he does not reveal why he might have
expected a reincarnated Nero to be the antichrist. Likely he considered Nero the most
fiendish of all Roman emperors.
Even Origen gets into the debate concerning antichrist. Against Celsus denial of
the antichrist, Origen states that the reason Celsus denies him is "because he has not read
what is written of him in the Book of Daniel, nor in the writings of Paul, nor what the
Savior has predicted in the Gospels about his coming." Origen goes on to cite scriptural
evidence for antichrist, quoting 2 Thess. 2:1-12 ("showing himself that he is God") and
Daniel 11:31 ("And on the temple will be the abomination of desolation..." ) Origen
understood from 2 Thess.2 that the antichrist would be destroyed by Christ at his
coming.
30
Though Origen makes no mention here of what follows Christs coming to
destroy antichrist, it is evident that even Origen was not averse to sometimes interpreting
prophecy literally.
29
Ibid., The Instructions of Commodianus. Vol.4, 211.
30
Ibid., Origen Against Celsus. Vol.4, 593-594.