by David Chadwick
Good guys and bad guys are throughout the Bible. We are combing through Scripture to examine some of the bad guys of the Bible. Men and women who were real enemies of holiness and purity. People who Satan used to wreak havoc on God’s story. But God is able to use absolute mess to release the greatest message ever told. Other people’s rebellion becomes the platform for a massive display of God’s victory!
Nimrod is our next bad guy of the Bible. He was the great-grandson of Noah and the son of Cush. We see him first mentioned in Genesis 10:8-12. Described as “a mighty one on the earth” and “a mighty hunter before the Lord,” one may initially think Nimrod was a hero. But upon further examination, you will quickly find that his life reflected his name meaning: rebel.
His name could suggest that he was the ultimate rebel against God.
Historically, he was sometimes referred to as the hunter of men’s souls. Some perspectives like that of Josephus, a Jewish historian who wrote during and after the life of Jesus, believed Nimrod was the awful, pornographic figure named Gilgamesh, the central character in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Whoever he was, he was a really bad guy.
Nimrod had great skill and plenty of ambition. Some have compared him to the Nephilim in Genesis 6:4, which would suggest he was very tall and exceedingly evil. And though unsubstantiated, many think he was the builder of the ancient city of Babylon and the tower of Babel in Genesis 11. His desire in building this tower? To make a great name for himself, not God.
Others believe he was the one who helped build a religious system against God, which became the seedbed for Nebuchadnezar and the Babylonian pagan religious systems of the world, which eventually will become “Babylon the Great,” the godless system of thought found in Revelation 17 and 18, one that God must destroy. If true, Nimrod was an original antichrist figure and prefigures the evil antichrist who will be much like him.
There is a spirit of antichrist living in people throughout the world and ages (1 John 4:3) and Nimrod seems to be one of the originals. We must always be alert to Satan’s wiles (Ephesians 6:10-20) and ready to fight against his antichrist agenda.
Satan is a lion, ready to devour (1 Peter 5:7). He is the ultimate bad guy and Nimrod gives us glimpses in the natural realm of just how evil Satan is.
BUT he who lives in us is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Always remember this truth.
And you will never have to worry about the antichrist, nor anyone who has his spirit.