Who are antichrists?
What is the antichrist?
What does antichrist mean?
The Antichrist
Who are antichrists?
What is the antichrist?
What does antichrist mean?
In some circles, it is taught and believed that the antichrist is a single person that will appear in the “last days”, before the End of the wicked world, that will oppose Christ. Some believe that this person would be the half demon, half human offspring of Satan the devil. But is this an accurate belief?
To understand the answer to these questions, it is best to breakdown the term antichrist into its roots.
The prefix is ‘anti’ whose basic meaning is ‘against’. It is used to form adjectives that mean counteracting.
Some synonyms for ‘anti’ are hostile · opposed · antagonistic · averse · ill-disposed · unsympathetic · against · (dead) set against.
Combining the prefix ‘anti’ with the word ‘Christ’ therefore defines someone or something that is in hostile opposition to Jesus Christ.
What is known from reading what the Bible has to say, does not suggest that the antichrist is a single person that would rise and appear in the last days. The apostle John stated that the antichrist was already present and at work in his time.
1 John 2:18-23
18 Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard, “Antichrist is coming,” even now many antichrists have come. We know from this that it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge.
21 I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth.
22 Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah? This one is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son.
23 No one who denies the Son can have the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.
There are several key points we can draw from in these verses that help identify the antichrist.
(a) John states that antichrist were already present when he wrote this letter and that there were many antichrists.
Verse 18
“And as you have heard, “Antichrist is coming,” even now many antichrists have come”.
(b) In the next verse, John states that these “antichrist” were once part of them, but they had left the assembly of true Christian believers.
Verse 19
“They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us”.
(c) And in verse 22 John identifies an antichrist as someone who denies that Jesus is Messiah and the Father/Son relationship.
Verse 22
“Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah? This one is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son”.
John makes this clear three times in his letters. The second time John makes clear the identity of an antichrist is recorded at 1 John 4:
1 John 4:1-3
1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.
3 But every spirit who does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist; you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.
John tells us that any ‘spirit’ that denies Jesus as being the Christ or Messiah is antichrist. (1 John 2:22)
The apostle John restates this truth in his second letter:
2 John 7
7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. (KJV)
These statements by John dismiss any notion that the antichrist is some half-demon half-man monster that would arise in the last days. It is quite possible that such stories are for the purpose of keeping the true antichrist hidden. Antichrists are humans who deny Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul refers to the antichrist as “the man of lawlessness.”
2 Thessalonians 2:3–10
3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things?
6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,
10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
Paul links the antichrist to an apostasy or deviation from the will and commandments of God. To apostatize a person has to desert or depart from pure worship of God. It is a willful, deliberate departure from God, and is never accidental. This statement is very important in identifying an antichrist because it reveals that it would have to be someone or some group that had an established relationship with God.
Based on what the apostle Paul tells us as recorded at 2 Thessalonians 2:4, antichrist also refers to those who stood in the “place of Christ,” that is, claimed they were the Christ or in the position of Christ as Mediator between God and humans.
Verse 4
“he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits in the temple of God, setting himself up as God”.
It is antichrist to attempt to usurp Christ role as the only means of salvation by convincing others that they must be associated with a particular person or religious denomination to gain salvation.
We can make a direct connection between Paul’s statement and John’s statement found at 1 John 2:19:
“They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us”.
This means that the antichrist arises from within the elect anointed church or those who profess to be members of the elect anointed church. These antichrists were/are false teachers who merely claimed to be believers, but they were not.
The Bible writer Jude, the half-brother of Jesus and brother of James, also mentioned that this apostate man of lawlessness, the antichrist, had already infiltrated the assembly of the Church in the first century.
Jude 1:4
4 For some godless people have slipped in unnoticed among us, persons who distort the message about the grace of our God in order to excuse their immoral ways, and who reject Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord. Long ago the Scriptures predicted the condemnation they have received.
The actual Greek word translated here is παρεισέδυσαν. This is the definition of the term according to Strong’s Greek Lexicon:
3921 pareisdýnō (from 3844 /pará, “from close beside” and eisdyō, “enter”) – properly, enter alongside, i.e. secretly or under pretense. 3921 /pareisdýnō (“enter by stealth”) refers to people who appear to be true Christians, but in reality oppose the faith. 3921 (pareisdýnō) is only used in Jude 4 of those “posing to give help.”
It thus appears that such people were/are apostate Christians, rather than unbelievers who oppose from outside the brotherhood in Christ. In the first century era, many of the enemies of the church emerged from within, rather than an outside intrusion.
How did this occur in the first century church?
In What Ways Do Antichrists Reject Jesus Christ?
False teachings of Gnosticism and Docetism
1 John 4:2, 3
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 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. (KJV)
Gnosticism is a prominent heretical movement that arose 2nd-century among those who professed to be part of the Christian church.
The oldest heresies in Christianity have been those that have denied that Christ actually had a fleshly, human body. Gnostics have been purveyors of this false teaching. Docetism is another. Docetism is broadly defined as any teaching that claims that Jesus’ body was either ‘absent’ or ‘illusory’ (not real).
The Docetists said that Christ appeared to be human but that he didn’t have real flesh and bones—he was human image without human substance. Since Gnostics and Docetists believed that Jesus’ body was not a real fleshly body, they were basically professed Christians who denied the bodily resurrection of Christ.
Their thinking and behavior fit the definition of the Greek word παρεισέδυσαν found at Jude 1:4. Gnostics and Docetists are people who appear outwardly as desiring to be true Christians, but in reality, oppose to true faith.
There are plenty of other examples of religious heresies. Time will not allow consideration of them all. Suffice to say, we must be constantly on guard.
Rejecting Jesus as Messiah
Which group of people in the first century does the Bible detail as opposing Jesus as Messiah? Was it not his own kindred?
Remember that initially, the New Covenant arrangement was founded entirely among Jewish converts. While the Jewish religious leaders outright opposed Jesus Christ, many of the Jewish converts believed but had mixed feelings. On one hand, they admired Jesus and believed to a certain extent. But on the other hand, they were desirous of a Messiah/leader who would break the Roman yoke that they were under and would reestablish the national sovereignty. They had nationalistic ambitions that were diametrically opposed to the Heavenly kingdom. There was continuing conflict between the teachings of Christ and the teachings of others who taught about a restoration of natural Israel and the keeping of the Law.
This is borne out by what happened when Jesus performed a mighty miracle when he fed a multitude of 5,000 with just five loaves and two fish. What happened when they witnessed this miracle? It is recorded in the Book of John.
John 6:
14 When the people saw the sign He had done, they said, “This really is the Prophet who was to come into the world!”
15 Therefore, when Jesus knew that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.
For these, the restoration of the Jewish State was their means of salvation. They wanted a messiah, a king to lead them to that end. And since Jesus didn’t do that, many ultimately rejected him.
It did not change the fact that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and the only hope of salvation. Those who have held fast to Judaism and Zionist ambitions, to this day still reject Jesus as the Son of God and the Messiah as they look instead to ritual worship and nationalism salvation.
Summary
The antichrist is not a single person. The antichrist is not some half human, half demon spawn as presented in motion pictures and fantasy tales. The prefix ‘anti’ with the word ‘Christ’ defines someone or something that is in hostile opposition to Jesus Christ. We need to look into the Bible to find the answer to the question: “Who is the antichrist?”
Remember what the apostle John taught:
“For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist”. (2 John 1:7)
And
1 John 4:2, 3
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 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. (KJV)
This is the true identity of the antichrist.
Upcoming soon: “That woman Jezebel” Can You Identify Her?
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