Gary continues his discussion with Bob Cruickshank about the biblical usage of the word “antichrist.” (Click here for Part One.)
You will not find the word antichrist in the book of Revelation. This is significant since the John who defines antichrist for us in his first two letters is the same John who penned the book of Revelation.
Second, according to the Bible antichrist is not a single individual. John wrote, “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18). It is possible that the early church “heard” that one man was to come on the scene who was to be the antichrist. John seems to be correcting this mistaken notion.
Third, whether there was to be only one or many antichrists, John made it clear that “it is the last hour” for those who first read his letters (1 John 2:18). How do we know this? John said, “Even now many antichrists have arisen.” And in case you did not get his point, he repeated it: “From this we know that it is the last hour.” John did not describe a period of time thousands of years in the future. It was the “last hour” for his contemporaries. Keep in mind that Jesus had told His disciples years before, John among them, that their generation would see the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem (Matt. 24:1-34). John, writing close to the time when this prophecy was to be fulfilled, described its fulfillment in the rise of “many antichrists,” that is, many who preach and teach a false religious system, the denial that Jesus had come in the flesh (2 John 7). The apostle’s knowledge about coming antichrists was probably taken from Matthew 24:24: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”
They had heard that “the spirit of antichrist” was coming. For them, “now it is already in the world” (1 John 4:3). Antichrists had arrived. It is inappropriate to look for a contemporary rising political leader and describe him as the antichrist. Such a designation cannot be supported from Scripture. Does this mean that the spirit of antichrist cannot be present in our day? Not at all. It does mean, however, that a figure called the antichrist cannot be alive somewhere in the world today. Having said this, we still must conclude that John had the time prior to Jerusalem’s destruction in mind when he described the theological climate surrounding the concept of the antichrist.
An antichrist, therefore, is anyone who “denies that Jesus is the Christ” and anyone “who denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22). “Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of antichrist” (1 John 4:3). “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 7).
Last Days Madness
In this authoritative book, Gary DeMar clears the haze of "end-times" fever, shedding light on the most difficult and studied prophetic passages in the Bible, including Daniel 7:13-14; 9:24-27; Matt. 16:27-28; 24-25; Thess. 2; 2 Peter 3:3-13, and clearly explaining a host of other controversial topics.
Buy NowGary continues his discussion with Bob Cruickshank about the biblical usage of the word “antichrist.” Modern speculations about particular people being the “antichrist” are off-base because they rarely use the actual biblical texts about antichrist in their speculations. They are wrong time and time again because they begin with false assumptions.