WHO IS THE ANTICHRIST?

Monday 26 May

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 2 Thessalonians 2:3 (KJV)

Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 1 John 4:2-3 (KJV)

I’m sure you have heard from ministers all over Christendom in various denominations about the possible identity of the Antichrist at some point in your life. Is that true? Even most non-Christians have heard the narrative somewhere along the line. Now I know that this brief devotion can’t cover the entire subject, but as always let’s go to the Word and see what the epistles have to say about it.

Notice both of our passages are from New Testament verses that are doctrinal books. This is intentional because they do not contain heavy metaphors and complex symbolisms based on visions like in Revelation and Daniel.

The epistles are doctrinally consistent with the message of Christ. One written by Apostle John who wrote the book of Revelation and the other by Apostle Paul who wrote the majority of the epistles.

Let’s start with Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. I want to draw your attention to the phrase ‘man of sin’ particularly the word ‘man.’

What if I told you that the word for man in the original text ‘anthropos’ was more accurately described as men plural than a man singular? The English word anthropology is the study of man as in mankind, not one man. Adam meant man as in mankind, more so than the first man who God called out to.

Think about it. There was no other man in the earth and that time so God was calling out to man. Eve was also included in Adam as the Bible says in Genesis 5:2.

‘Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.’

So both Adam and Eve were Adam or Man.

It seems evident from this verse that there is more than one person who will be part of what represents Antichrist. So ‘men of sin’ is the accurate meaning to apply to this verse. ‘Sons of perdition’ plural not singular.

What about John? Remember He was the one who saw the visions in Revelation. Do we find anything in his doctrinal writings about a single person called the AntiChrist? Let’s look.

‘Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.’ 1 John 2:18

So John says antichrist shall come but then says there are already many antichrists in the world. At first glance it seems to contradict itself. Firstly, what does the term antichrist mean?

Antichrist by definition is ‘against Christ’ and ‘in place of Christ.’

Notice John says antichrist and not ‘the’ antichrist. Why is this important? Because although it represents more than one individual, it is in reality a teaching, a system and a spirit not one specific person.

What is the antichrist ideology consist of? There are two elements.

The denial both the humanity of Jesus and the deity of Jesus. Any teaching that says Jesus is not God come in the flesh or that Jesus was not a man is the spirit of Antichrist. Think about it. If Jesus wasn’t the Son of God, His sacrifice could not take away sin. If He wasn’t man, He would not be able to represent humanity on the cross as the Son of Man.

Over the generations, some have believed Nero was the Antichrist. Some thought Stalin or Hitler because of the human atrocities they committed. These days people think Macron, Gates, Obama etc.

I suggest to you, that antichrist is a spirit that works in unregenerate mankind, not one man. From that spirit has come teachings that seek to oppose or replace the message of Christ.

These teachings have created an antichrist system that we see operating in the earth today.

If this is the case, where then should our focus be as believers in Christ? On a different man.

It seems like some have forgotten who the book of Revelation is actually about. John reminds us in the first five words; ‘The revelation of Jesus Christ’. This book is only about one man. Not the ‘men of sin’ but the man Christ Jesus!

APPLICATION

Develop the habit of using the scriptures about Christ in the Old Testament, the words of Jesus in the gospels and the revelation of scripture in the epistles to establish biblical truth.