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In the Ascension of Isaiah, an early Christian apocalypse, Isaiah sees Beliar speaking like the Beloved and misleading people with miracles. In the Didache, an early church manual, a similar deceiver appears as the Son of God and works miracles.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Didache 16:4
Early Christian
3 In the last days, false prophets and corruptors will increase, the faithful will be led astray, and love will turn into hate. 4 As lawlessness grows, people will hate, persecute, and betray each other. The world's deceiver will appear as the Son of God, performing miracles, and unprecedented sin will be committed. 5 Humanity will face a fiery trial, and many will fall away. But those who remain steadfast in faith will be saved from under the curse. 6 Then, the signs of truth will appear: the sign in Heaven, the sound of the trumpet, and the resurrection of the dead. 7 However, not all the dead will rise, as it was said, 'The Lord will come, and all His saints with Him.' 8 Then, the world will see the Lord coming on the clouds of Heaven.
Ascension of Isaiah 4:6
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
4 This ruler in the form of that king will come and there will come with him all the powers of this world, and they will listen to him in all that he desires. 5 And at his word the sun will rise at night and he will make the moon appear at the sixth hour. 6 And all that he has desired he will do in the world: he will do and speak like the Beloved and he will say: I am God and before me there has been none. 7 And all the people in the world will believe in him. 8. And they will sacrifice to him and they will serve him saying: This is God and beside him there is no other. 8 And the greater number of those who will have been associated together in order to receive the Beloved, he will turn aside after him. 9 And there will be the power of his miracles in every city and region. 10 And he will set up his image before him in every city.
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Notes and References
“... The literary and ideological proximity of the Martyrdom of Isaiah and the Didache finds further confirmation in the same context describing the double parousia of Beliar and the Lord, tradition found also in Rev 19:19-20:3; 20:7-10: the deceptive deeds of Beliar - in Did. 16:4 emphasised by the lexeme [...] – will lead astray the people faithful to the Lord dispersed over all the land (cf. Asc. Is. 4:7-12 and Did. 16:4; vd. also Jub. 1:20; T. Reu. 2:2; T. Sim. 2:7; T. Levi 3:3; T. Jud. 23:1; T. Iss. 6:1; T. Dan 5:5; T. Ash. 1:8; T. Benj. 6:1.7; and for Qumran, CD IV:12b-19; 1QpHab. II:1-6; VIII:10; 1QHª X:10.16-17.21-22; XI:27b-28). Beliar’s dominance over the world results in the persecution of the righteous and, often, his disguising himself as the Beloved. As to the persecution of the righteous ones see T. Dan 5:11-12; 1QHª X:16-17.21-22.31-32 and also 4Q174 III:7b-9; as to the disguising, cf. Asc. Is. 4:6b and Did. 16:4. ...”
Del Verme, Marcello
Didache and Judaism Jewish Roots of an Ancient Christian-Jewish Work
(p. 218) T&T Clark International, 2004
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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