The antichrist
Who will it be? Adolf Hitler? Perhaps the pope? Maybe Mussolini or Aleister Crowley. Maybe Ronald Reagan? Michael Gorbechev? Bill Gates? Maybe it’s Barack Obama?
For the past 100 years Christians have been seeking to identify this man. Who is this man?
The Antichrist. A lot of people are interested in the antichrist.
Books featuring this antichrist figure have sold in the millions. Hal Lindsey’s book “Late Great Planet Earth” sold 35 million. Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind product line has sold more than 65 million copies. In 2005, TIME Magazine named Tim LaHaye one of the Top 25 Most Influential Evangelicals.
LaHaye and Jenkins were among the top 10 best-selling authors of Amazon.com's 2005 list appearing in Amazon's 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame.
Mark Hitchcock wrote a book called is antichrist alive today? An editorial review from publishers weekly says this about the content of the book: “The Antichrist will emerge as the leader of a European super-state, impose a peace settlement on the Israel "and possibly her neighbors," get assassinated and then resurrected, win the Nobel Peace Prize and be named Time's Man of the Year; after these triumphs, he will set himself up as God and rule the world. Without committing to a date, Hitchcock feels that contemporary developments-the growth of the European Union, Middle East turmoil, globalization, and new personal surveillance technologies, like sub-cutaneous computer chips, that could assist the beast in affixing his mark to all mankind-make it "highly probable" that the Antichrist is "waiting in the wings." He concludes with an exhortation to accept the real Christ as savior, not least because believers will be raptured to Heaven before the Antichrist appears.”
One website www.countdown.org says this, “The Antichrist will rise to power on a wave of world euphoria, as he temporarily saves the world from its desperate economic, military & political problems with a brilliant 7-year plan for world peace, economic stability & religious freedom.”
Many speculate about who the antichrist is and when he will rise to power. This list could go on and on and on and they would all essentially say the same things about the antichrist: one guy, ruler of a one-world government, peace treaty with Israel, you get it.
Let’s see what the Bible says about this figure.
Go ahead and turn with me in your Bibles to first John. Start in the back. You will be at Revelation. Start flipping backwards. You will fly past Jude, only one page, and you will hit 3rd, 2nd and first John. In 1 John 2.
A lot of people that seek to identify the biblical antichrist go to the prophecies of Daniel and the book of Revelation. While those texts are clearly end-times texts, this morning we are going to camp out in first and second John.
We are going to limit our study this morning to first and second John for two reasons. The first reason is that the apostle John is the only one who used the term Antichrist. In fact if you do a search on Biblegateway.com for the term antichrist, you will find it used in only 4 verses and they are all in John’s first and second epistles. 1 John 2:18 (twice), 1 John 2:22, 1 John 4:3, and 2 John 1:7.
The other reason is a hermeneutical reason. One of the rules of hermeneutics is to first understand what is clear and then to interpret the less clear in light of the clear. Daniel’s prophecy and John’s prophecy in the Revelation are less clear than what John writes in 1st & 2nd John. So IF Daniel & Revelation have anything to say about antichrist, then they must be understood in light of what John says in his letter; so that is where we turn our attention. So let’s look at what John says.
1 John 2:18-23 18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
Let’s see what the scripture says about the WHO, the WHAT and the WHEN of Antichrist. Let’s start with the when.
WHEN IS ANTICHRIST?
1 John 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. They heard that the antichrist was coming in their future. I’d like to point out that just because you hear something doesn’t mean it’s true. You could hear something that is false. I believe that is the case here. Let me explain.
John doesn’t say, “As you have heard that the antichrist is coming, indeed he is coming.” And he certainly does NOT say, “As you have heard that the antichrist is coming, indeed he is coming, but he won’t be for 2000 years, so you don’t need to worry about him.” Look what John DOES SAY. He corrects what they’ve heard. He says as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. Do you see what John does there? He takes what they heard: he’s coming in the future. John corrects it and tells them that for them it was present. It was already happening. John’s emphasizes for his first century audience even now (in the first century) many antichrists have come. It’s no longer future for you guys. This is happening, John tells them.
John does the same thing again in chapter 4:3 This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
Again, John tells his first century audience: “you heard that the antichrist was coming. But I want to let you know that antichrist is already here.” John tells his first century audience that what they were told was future to them was actually present. Antichrist was a present reality for John when the letter was written.
This identifies the WHEN factor. John takes Antichrist out of the future for his first century audience and puts it in their day as a present reality.
WHO IS ANTICHRIST?
Most people today think of Antichrist as one singular world ruler sometime in our future. But look what John does. John takes the idea of antichrist and shows that rather than Antichrist being a single individual, John describes Antichrist in terms of a group of people or a movement.
Antichrist cannot be reduced to a single individual. 1 John 2:18b and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. Notice the word many. Not only was Antichrist a present reality in first century, many antichrists had already come. Many is more than one.
Can you imagine if you overheard me telling someone that I have many wives? Would you not take me aside and say, “David, you only have one wife. You don’t want to tell people that you have many.” What if my response was, well many…one same difference. Wouldn’t you say, no, not same difference. Many means more than one.
I would venture to say that John also knew the difference between one and many. I would also imagine that if John anticipated one singular world-wide ruling antichrist individual he would have taken the opportunity to say so in this text where he is specifically addressing the issue of antichrist. However he says that MANY antichrists have come.
Someone may be quick to point out that the text says THE antichrist is coming. Again, this goes back to what they heard. And just because you hear something doesn’t make it true. John is correcting what they heard. John tells them, “You have heard that THE SINGULAR antichrist was coming in your future, but let me correct your understanding: MANY (not one) antichrists HAVE come. The singular is in what they heard. The plural is in John’s correction. www.ncfgeorgetown.com Church in Georgetown, Texas. Reformed church Georgetown, Texas preterist church Georgetown Texas. Pastor David Boone. Full Preterism. Covenant Eschatology. New Covenant Fellowship Georgetown. Page House 10:00 am Loving God. Loving Others. Realized eschatology fulfilled eschatology Preterist church Austin Texas. Bible church Austin Texas Second coming of Jesus Christ LET ME ILLUSTRATE THIS
Imagine with me that Breann reconnects with an old high school friend. She wrote Breann a letter that said, I heard you were going to have A baby. Breann could write back saying, as you have heard that I was going to have A baby, even now I have already had many babies. The friend didn’t realize that Bre already had babies, but thought that Bre was going to be having her first baby. Bre’s letter corrects the misunderstanding of both the timing of the baby and the number of children.
That’s what John does with his audience. He corrects their misunderstanding. In opposition to the popular views of modern-day prophecy experts John indicates that Antichrist is NOT SINGULAR, but PLURAL. Many antichrists have come.
WHAT IS ANTICHRIST?
Flip over to 1 John 4:1-3
1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
According to John, Antichrist is not only a person or people, but also a spirit of deception that permeates this group of individuals. John seems to connect this spirit of antichrist to not only the antichrists but also to the false prophets. John seems to take antichrist beyond a person and to a spirit, an attitude of those among his readers that promotes deception about the personhood and deity of the Lord Jesus.
We saw this in 2:22-23
1 John 2:22-23 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
John essentially says to his readers, “Want to know who the antichrist is? The one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Oh, more than one person is doing that? Oh, a whole group is doing that? That whole group is antichrist. They are characterized by the spirit of antichrist.”
2 John 7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
This is a very clear description of the antichrist. According to what John tells this lady, the antichrist is any one of the MANY DECIVERS who HAVE gone out in his day who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as having come in the flesh.
John indicates that Antichrist goes beyond the identification of a person, and applies it to the identification of a deceptive spirit among the people, one that denies that Jesus is the Christ, one that denies Jesus Christ as having come in the flesh.
So we have identified the WHO WHAT AND WHEN of Antichrist:
According to John, Antichrist is not ONE person sometime in OUR future. Antichrist is a GROUP of people in FIRST CENTURY characterized by a spirit of deception with regards to Christ. It was false prophets and deceivers who either denied the humanity or the divinity of Jesus. They either denied that Jesus was the Christ or that he had come in human form.
B.B. WARFIELD, a professor of theology at Princeton University from late 1800’s – early 1900’s sums it up well. He says that John:
1. “transposes antichrist from the future to present.
2. He expands antichrist from an individual to a multitude.
3. And, He reduces antichrist from a person to a heresy.”
POLITICAL FIGURE, BUT NOT PROFESSOR OF FAITH?
I’d like to point out something else about the popular view on the future-to-us singular antichrist figure. Most agree that this Antichrist individual will arise as a political figure.
But let’s take a look at 1 John 2:18-19 18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
Look what John says. He says that the antichrists went out from us. That means that at one point they were among the church. It sounds like they were professing believers at one point who belonged to the community of faith and then turned away from the faith. They went out from us. But they did not really belong to us. If they did, they would have remained but they went out which indicates they didn’t really belong.
Interestingly enough, most definitions of the Antichrist say that he will be a political leader; never do they say he will be a professing Christian who walks away from the faith. Yet that is what John seems to indicate here.
This is yet another inconsistency between the popular view about the future to us singular individual antichrist and the biblical concept of Antichrist that John wrote about.
QUESTION: ARE THERE ANTICHRISTS TODAY? Well, according to our biblical definition antichrists were a group of individuals who once were professors of faith but went out from the community of faith who deceive people with regards to the personhood and/or divinity of Jesus, and who deny that he is the Christ. If there are such people today, then, yes, there are antichrists today.
BUT, if there are such antichrists today they aren’t the antichrists spoken of in the scriptures since they were significant identifying markers of the last days. In other words we cannot look at people today and say: see…antichrist. Clearly we are in the last days because there are antichrists.
Jesus said that in the last days such deceivers would come (Matt 24:10-11). Shortly after the death of Jesus in Acts 2, Peter points to the outpouring of the Spirit and declares that he and his contemporaries were in the last days. James in James 5 identifies the time of his writing in the first century as the last days. The author of Hebrews in Hebrews 1 identifies the time of his writing as the last days.
Then, 30 years later, John wrote in 1 John 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
Why do I get into all of that? Because many people today say that antichrists today or the rise of AN ANTICHRIST today is a sign that we are in the last days. However, the apostles in the first century shortly after Jesus’ death burial and resurrection said that they were in the last days. About 30 years later John said that it was the last hour. If that is the case, we cannot be in the last days or the last hour today.
Let me put it this way. I was talking to Laylah this morning. Her first semester of school is coming to a close. These are the last days of the fall semester. She goes to school this week for a full week. Then next week she only goes on Mon, Tues and Wed. Her school day is from 8:00 – 3:00 (7 hours). So for Laylah tomorrow will be the first of her last 8 days of school. Next Wednesday from 2:00 – 3:00 will be the last hour. Question: is the time that elapses between 2:00 and 3:00 PM next Wednesday going to be longer or shorter than the 7 days and 6 hours that preceded it? Won’t it be shorter? If the last days of the semester is defined by eight 7-hour days or 56 hours, then the last hour will only be 1/56 of the last days. 1/56 is not bigger than 55/56. The last hour is not longer than the last days. But, if the modern day prophecy experts are right, then ever since the apostles declared the last days in the first century they began and ever since John wrote we have been living in the last hour of those last days. So the last days were only 30 years, but the last hour of the last days has been almost 2000 years.
“WHY BOTHER WITH THIS?” somebody might wonder. If there are so many speculations out there about the antichrist, what makes me so certain that my view is the right one? Why even spend our time on this?
For one, I will acknowledge that there are many views out there. I also admit that I am simply coming to the text and doing my best to understand it from the perspective of the original audience and discern what the Scriptures truly teach. I could be wrong. I have changed my view before when I found that I was in error and I’m willing to do it again if I am in error today.
THIS IS RELEVANT FOR OUR DAY. Why? Just the other day on 12-9-2011, Hal Lindsey wrote on http://www.hallindsey.com/the-hal-lindsey-report-1292011/
Do you remember how I've often told you that the march toward the rise of the Antichrist will mostly be slow, but inexorable? Remember, too, how I've said that each new development that paves the way in the end times scenario will seem imminently logical, rational, even necessary at the moment? In other words, conditions on the ground will make the decisions taken almost irresistible.
A recent example of this is the economic chaos currently enveloping our world. As nation after nation faces fiscal collapse, the calls for a centralized system to control the chaos are growing. For many -- even some of the smartest among us -- a single world authority to control the interlocked global economy seems to be the only solution. Now, the ancient prophets didn't specify exactly why otherwise sensible and intelligent people would accept the total authority of a single man in the last days, they just said that they would. Well, now we can begin to clearly see how that could happen. And when it does, it will be thought to be totally logical, rational, even necessary.
A recent example of this is the economic chaos currently enveloping our world. As nation after nation faces fiscal collapse, the calls for a centralized system to control the chaos are growing. For many -- even some of the smartest among us -- a single world authority to control the interlocked global economy seems to be the only solution. Now, the ancient prophets didn't specify exactly why otherwise sensible and intelligent people would accept the total authority of a single man in the last days, they just said that they would. Well, now we can begin to clearly see how that could happen. And when it does, it will be thought to be totally logical, rational, even necessary.
The man who sold 65 million copies of his book, the man who clearly has a lot of influence over a lot of people is perpetuating the idea that the antichrist is a singular man with total authority over the world some time in our future.
This is a very relevant topic for our day based on the combination of the economic situation and the aforementioned popular teaching about the antichrist.
The doctrine of the antichrist will work with other doctrines to SHAPE YOUR WORLDVIEW. I once believed that the antichrist will be a SINGLE individual who rises to political power, sets up a one-world government, makes a peace treaty, breaks the peace treaty and sends the world into a downward spiral of turmoil and that he is probably alive today out there somewhere. That view to some degree causes one to live in fear and speculation.
On the other hand, if one believes that the antichrist was a term used to describe the people in John’s day who were among them but went out from them and were characterized by a spirit of deception with regards to the personhood or divinity of Jesus Christ, then all such fear and speculation is dispelled.
By rightly identifying the biblical antichrist we are freed from an unhealthy focus on who the antichrist is, we can focus on who the Christ is and who we are in Him. We are freed to focus on Jesus and live a life of faith expressing itself through love.
Our sermon audio and video files can be found at www.ncfgeorgetown.com/media.html
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