1 John 2 vs 18-19 - Antichrist

1 John Chapter 2 Verse 18

In the Bible, there are many antichrist’s (little “a”) such as Nero, Antiochus Epiphanes, Pharoah, Judas and Sennacherib. There is the “spirit of antichrist” which is anything “instead” of Jesus Christ and the Word of God, and there is The Antichrist, the coming one world leader who will openly deny and blaspheme God, refer to himself as God, and in the time of the Great Tribulation that will make war with Israel, the saints and ultimately with Jesus Himself at the Battle of Armageddon.

Now, he goes by many titles in the Bible. The prince that shall come, the man of sin, the Beast, the son of perdition…, all refer to the one coming Antichrist. The question we will explore today is what can we actually know about this ominous apocalyptic figure in the Bible. So, let’s walk through the key passages on the Antichrist and explain exactly what the Bible says about what kind of person he will be and what he will do. 

Now a study on the Antichrist is more complicated than just performing a word search. In fact, the word “Antichrist” is only used in First and Sec-ond John and though John writes this word five times, only two of those uses are specifically talking about THE Antichrist. 1 John 2:18 he writes, “Little children it is the last time and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come.” In chapter 4 verse 3 he speaks of the spirit of antichrist saying, “you have heard was coming and even now is already in the world.” 

John tells us that even though the Antichrist will be coming in the future, his spirit is already here now meaning that today people are already living in a condition of “instead of Christ,” they are living with the spirit of an-tichrist, but where we find far more specific information on the man and his dealings is in the books of Daniel, 2 Thessalonians and The Book of Revelation.

Let's start with the Book of Daniel. In chapter 7 the prophet sees a vision of four beasts. The first one was like a lion with eagle’s wings which can be interpreted to be the kingdom of Babylon and their King Nebuchad-nezzar. The second was like a bear raised up on one side which can be in-terpreted as the Medo Persian Empire. The Medes and the Persians would conquer the Babylonians and their empire would be controlled mainly by the Persians represented by the one side of the Bear raised up. Then came a leopard with four wings. This can be interpreted to represent the Greek Empire which would eventually conquer the Medes and Persians and it would do so as a leopard with lightning speed. The leopard in Daniel's Vi-sion had four wings and four heads because after Alexander the Great es-tablished the Greek Empire he died (at 32 years old) and his Empire was split between four kings…

Then after these (and here is the important part) Daniel saw a fourth Beast that he says was “dreadful and terrible” and had iron teeth. This we can reasonably assume refers to the Roman Empire which was the final world Empire in history and was the nation that conquered the Greeks. This beast Daniel says had 10 horns but in verse 8 (of Daniel 7) he tells us that he watched until there came up among them another “little horn” before whom there were three of the first horns plucked out by the roots and be-hold in this horn where eyes like the eyes of man and a mouth speaking pompous, self-centered words…

Beginning in verse 15 of chapter 7, he is given the interpretation of what he saw. (Daniel 7:15-25) The 10 horns represent 10 Kings and the little horn that spoke great things would subdue three kings and would speak against God and would persecute the elect of God. (Interestingly, Daniel 11:37 tells us that “He shall not regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women…,” which many speculate that the coming Antichrist will come from a predominantly religious culture such as Muslim, Jewish or even Catholic…, and that he will be a homosexual) Now, Rome never had 10 Kings at one time which has led many to speculate that this pas-sage predicts a future resurrection of the Roman Empire in some form which will be led by 10 different Kings until the Antichrist, that little horn, shows up and uproots three of those kings and rises to power in their place.

Then what's very interesting to note is that verse 25 of Daniel 7 tells us that this man represented by the little horn will persecute the Saints “for a time and times and half a time,” which equals one plus two plus a half or three and a half times. What’s that mean?

In Daniel chapter 9 verse 27 we read that this ruler will confirm a cove-nant with many for one week. Now because of the timeline that Daniel gives us of 69 of these weeks from the command to rebuild Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s time until the Messiah will be cut off, we know that this prophecy refers not to a week of seven days but rather to a week of seven years.

According to Daniel, in the middle of that Covenant week, the Antichrist will do something within the temple in Jerusalem that will be an abomina-tion to the people of Israel making the temple desolate. So, we can gather from this that the Antichrist will make a seven-year peace treaty with Is-rael allowing them to worship in their rebuilt Temple again for the first time since 70AD when the last temple in Israel was destroyed. However, though he will promise them seven years of peace, after only three and a half years of that treaty, this man will do something in the temple that is so abominable that the sacrifices there will have to cease and the temple will be made empty.

Interestingly enough, in Daniel chapter 8 and 11 we see another prophecy of a Greek king who does something very similar to this abomination of desolation that chapter 9 says that the Antichrist will perform. Chapters 8 and 11 prophesy about a tyrant king of the Seleucid Greek Empire named Antiochus Epiphanies. This man considered himself to be God and in 168BC, he forced the Jewish people to eat pork which is forbidden for them, he sacrificed a pig (an unclean animal) on the altar, and he even set up an idol to Zeus inside the temple of God. This at that time caused the sacrifices to cease in the temple until the Maccabean Revolt at which time the Jews regained control of Jerusalem and cleansed the temple so that it could be used once again.

But we know that this was only a type, a shadow of what was and is yet to come and was not a fulfillment of the prophecies of the Antichrist in chap-ters 7 and 9. In Daniel 7, we are told that the Antichrist is connected to the Roman Empire but Antiochus Epiphanes was a Greek king. And Daniel 9 tells us that the abomination of the Antichrist will happen after making a seven-year peace treaty with Israel which Antiochus never did.

Also, Daniel 9 tells us that the final week of 7 years (that seven-year peace treaty) would come after 69 weeks of years and those 69 weeks of years were a countdown until the Messiah would be cut off. So, the Abomination spoken of in Daniel 9 had to come after Jesus the Messiah died on the cross for our sins. Jesus died on the cross more than 200 years after the abomination of Antiochus Epiphanies in 168 BC, so we know that Daniel 8 and 11 speak of an abomination in the temple by a wicked man who pictured the Antichrist but Daniel chapters 7 and 9 actually speak of the coming Antichrist himself.

We find support of this in Matthew 24:15-16 and 21 when Jesus spoke of the end times to his disciples. He told them when they see the abomina-tion of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet stand in the holy place then let them in Judea flee into the mountain for then shall be Great Tribu-lation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time no nor ever shall be. 

So, even though Jesus was living 200 years after Antiochus Epiphanies had desecrated the temple, He said that the abomination spoken of by Daniel was still in the future and that it would be followed by a period of great persecution against the people of God and a Great Tribulation upon the world. This fits perfectly with what Daniel says in chapter 7 about the little horn who goes after the elect for three and a half times! Now in Mat-thew, Jesus is confirming that when this man commits this abomination of desolation in the middle of that seven-year peace treaty he will begin per-secuting the elect for the remaining time in that seven years which is three and a half years.

Jesus then continues specifically about the tribulation of those days using the phrase “those days” four different times in reference to Daniel's prophecy. Ok, lets run some numbers which might make your head spin…

Daniel chapter 12:11-12 tells us from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the Abomination takes place, there shall be one thou-sand two hundred and ninety days AND blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty five days… These two sets of days seem to mark out the exact (to the day) timeline from this abomination of the Antichrist until the Second Coming of Jesus.

Ok so seven years before Jesus returns to the Earth (Revelation 19 Second Coming), the Antichrist will make a peace treaty with Israel. Then in the middle of those seven years he will claim himself to be God and will des-ecrate the temple. 

Based on Daniel 12 this desecration takes place after 1,290 days or three and a half years and then after another 1,335 days or roughly another 3 and a half years plus 45 days, a blessed event happens which we can as-sume is the coming of Christ! Make sense!?

There’s more that we can learn about the Antichrist in the prophecy of the Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2. We’re told by Paul (2 Thes 2:3-4), “that before the day of the Lord there will be a falling away and the man of sin or the Son of Perdition will be revealed. This man Paul says will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he as God sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God.” Paul goes on to say that something is currently holding back the Antichrist preventing him from being released upon the world but once it is the right time, that withholding thing will be removed (2 Thess 2:7-10) and Paul writes, “Then shall that the lawless one be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall de-stroy with the brightness of his coming even him who's coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not re-ceive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” 

According to 2 Thessalonians this man of sin will not only set up an idol in the temple but he will literally sit in the temple and declare himself to be God and he will do so with power and signs and wonders. Essentially demonic miracles to convince the world that he is god!

So, let's recap the key elements that we found in Daniel, Matthew and 2 Thessalonians. The man we call the Antichrist seems to rise to power by supplanting three other kings of an Empire that in some way is connected with the ancient Romans. He will gain his power with the skill of his mouth speaking great things and he will make a peace treaty with Israel for 7 years. In the middle of that treaty, he will sit in the temple declaring himself as god, and will be empowered by Satan to do lying miracles in an attempt to prove himself. At the end of the seven years, 1335 days after his abomination in the temple he will be destroyed in the brightness of the coming of the Lord!

With that in mind let's consider the Book of Revelation. In Revelation 11:3 we see two witnesses who John writes will prophesy on the earth for three and a half years. It seems now that this passage is describing the middle of that 7-year week. And John tells us in Revelation 11:7 that the beast ascends out of the bottomless pit, makes war with these witnesses, and kills them though they will rise from the dead three and a half days later and ascend into heaven.

Now this Beast sounds a lot like the prince who brings the abomination of desolation in Daniel's prophecy. According to Daniel 12, he commits the Abomination 1335 days before Jesus comes which could mean that he goes into the temple and claims to be God at the three-and-a-half-year mark which then prompts him to kill the two witnesses. The witnesses no doubt preach against this evil desecration of the temple and show that he is not the true God so he in turn makes war with them and kills them!

Then remember that Jesus said that believers should flee to the mountains if they're in Jerusalem when they see the abomination of desolation be-cause afterward there would be a great persecution, and remember that Daniel says that the little horn speaking of the Antichrist would drive out the elect.

Revelation 11 gives us what may be the catalyst for this great persecution. It may be a result of the two witnesses rising from the dead and putting the Antichrist to shame! Here he is claiming to be God yet when he kills his enemies, they rise from the dead and ascend into heaven! So, the Anti-christ in rage turns his anger against the rest of the believers who refuse to worship him as God. And this kicks off the second half of the Great Tribu-lation, the seventieth week of Daniel, or persecution that Jesus foretold!

This is described in Revelation 12 when a dragon which is the devil who is the power behind the Antichrist makes war with a woman who is Israel. In this passage the woman flees from the dragon and finds refuge in the wilderness for three and a half times exactly as Jesus described would take place after the Abomination. Then in Revelation 13, we see a detailed de-scription of what the Antichrist will do during this time after the abomina-tion of desolation.

Revelation 13:5 tells us that he will speak great things and blasphemies for 42 months or three and a half years this is exactly what we know from 2 Thessalonians 2 and Daniel 7. Then in verse 7 of Revelation 13, (after he receives some sort of mortal head wound but is miraculously healed, that’s verse 3) he is said to make war with the Saints just as we're told by Jesus in Matthew 24 and also by Daniel in chapter 7. And in Revelation 13:8 we read that all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship Him whose names are not written in the Book of Life. This again perfectly coincides with 2 Thessalonians…

But Revelation goes on giving us further information about what this will look like in detail. John writes that the Antichrist, the Beast will have a helper, described as a second beast and we know as the false prophet. This false prophet will do great wonders, make fire come down from heaven, and deceive them that dwell on the Earth by the means of those miracles. He works the Miracles that Paul spoke of and 2 Thessalonians 2 and calls men to worship the Antichrist. 

Not only that but this false prophet actually has power to give life unto the image of the Beast that the image of the Beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the Beast should be killed. So this begins to make the picture more clear when Daniel said that the abomination of desolation would be set up in the temple because it seems what was meant was that not only would the Antichrist himself sit in the temple at a certain moment and claim to be God as we're told in 2 Thessalonians, but also an image or an idol of the Antichrist will be placed in the temple and the false prophet will give that idol the demonic power to speak and he kills those that won't worship the Antichrist!

Revelation 13 goes on to tell us that this is why the mark of the beast comes as the false prophet (in order to force the worship of the Antichrist) makes this mark. This Mark must be displayed either on a person's head or hand to prove that they worship the Antichrist or else they are banned from buying and selling anything in the world economy.

This tyranny goes on for three and a half years, and many believe that it is in this time, just as Jesus descried in Matthew 24, the seven vial judg-ments are released as described in Revelation 16. Specifically, in the fifth vial judgment there is a miserable darkness on the entire Kingdom of the Antichrist and in chapter 18 we see more detail on the destruction of his capital city which is typified by the ancient city of Babylon. This probably cripples his persecution efforts against the people of God and he must re-group and gather his forces to make one final massive assault on God's people in what we know as the battle of Armageddon.

In vial judgment number 6, the river Euphrates is dried up to make way for the Kings to gather together to war against the Saints. Apparently after the destruction of this Capital City, the persecuted Believers on the earth have some respite and they need only wait as Daniel prophesies 45 more days until the 1335 days are completed and Jesus returns to set up his throne. And though the Antichrist will amass a giant force to attack the believers and wipe them off the face of the earth once and for all, Revela-tion 19 tells us that as they gather for war Jesus appears in the sky de-scends to the Earth and slaughters the armies of the evil one!

Revelation 19:15 says, “He treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of all Mighty God,” and he comes to prove and declare that He is the only true King of kings and Lord of lords! Revelation 20 tells us that the Antichrist and the false prophet are taken and cast alive into a lake of burning fire and brimstone where they will be tormented day and night forever!

And that is everything we know about the Antichrist. He comes on the scene with deception and calls for peace! He seeks to claim the title of God and to be worshiped as God! He is empowered by Satan and makes war with the Saints! But his days are incredibly short and his defeat is imminent!

I want to end with what else is imminent. In light of all of that, all that we can know from the pages of scripture, we are not looking for or waiting for the Antichrist. We are looking for and waiting for Jesus! Why? Be-cause before the Antichrist even ever comes on to the scene and is re-vealed, before the Great Tribulation begins, the seventieth week of Daniel, the church is taken out of the way as prophesied in 2 Thessalonians Chap-ter 2 and put on clear display in Revelation Chapter 4. 

Why? How can I be so sure!? Well, let alone the fact that the time of the Great Tribulation, the time of Jacob’s trouble, the seventieth week of Dan-iel, let alone that is a period of time described in the Bible as the time of God’s wrath and judgement upon the earth, which for the church, for the Christian was fully satisfied at the cross of Jesus Christ…, and therefore for any Christian to enter into the wrath of God and God’s judgement not only negates the work of the cross but also brings God’s integrity and jus-tice into question, leave that 500lb elephant alone for just a minute…, Paul says to the church in 2 Thessalonians that what he has told them ought to be used to comfort them, to encourage them…

Why? If a Christian sees the Antichrist, according to all of scripture, the clock has begun! Comfort from others? Not needed. I know the time is short, in fact I can count the days. Comfort is needed because what is be-ing said is troubling and the church would be comforted knowing that the gathering of believers in the rapture would save them out of this time of intense tribulation on earth! Being in the Great Tribulation would itself be a comfort for the church as we would know exactly what is ahead and when it all would end! 

AND, there must be a rapture, a coming of the Lord in the clouds that Je-sus said of the day and of the hour no one knows except the Father Him-self. Why? Because from the day the Antichrist is revealed and from the day he commits the abomination that causes desolation, you can count to the day when Jesus returns in Revelation 19. So, Jesus could not have been talking about the Second Coming…, He was talking about the rap-ture! 

SO, THAT is what we can know of the Antichrist in the pages of the Bible and anything more is interesting but simply just a bunch of talking. And what we know from scripture is not scary at all but exciting indeed!!