Revelation 10, 11 & 12

The Antichrist stands for the universal power which is against God. This idea of a force opposed to God was not new. It's seen all over the Old Testament. Belial is one such reference that became synonymous for evil. An evil man or woman was called a son or daughter of Belial. Eli's wicked sons are called sons of Belial in the book of Samuel. Hannah was accused of being a daughter of Belial when they thought she was drunk in the temple. One of the insults hurled at King David was that he was a son of Belial.

Another evil force recognized in the Old Testament is the dragon of chaos that came to be known as Rahab. Isaiah says "Was it not you that cut Rahab in pieces, that did pierce the dragon." But as far as the Jews were concerned the peak of the manifestation of evil was the dictator Antiochus Ephipanes of Syria who was represented as the 'little horn' in the book of Daniel.

Antiochus Epiphanes invaded Palestine and captured Jerusalem. Eighty thousand Jews were either slaughtered or sold into slavery. To circumscribe a child or to have a copy of the Jewish scriptures was punishable by death. History had, at that point, never seen such an deliberate attempt to wipe out the religion of a whole people. Antiochus desecrated the temple and erected an alter to Zeus in the most holy place in the temple. And to make it even worse, he sacrificed pigs on it. The rooms of the temple were also turned into brothels. Jews today celebrate Hanukkah to honor the Maccabees who conquered Antiochus and restored the temple. (and to not rub it in the Roman empire's face they softened the holiday to honor the oil used to rededicate the temple)