What Does the Word Say About the Antichrist?

The following is a study I made using the Cyclopedic index in the front of the Thomas Nelson Open Bible. If you can find a copy and use the features in it, I promise you will find it's the best study Bible around. I have used mine continually for twenty-one years.

This study is in response to a series of question a friend at work asked me.

The Antichrist:
A. Called:

1. Man of Sin (2 Thess. 2:3-12)
2. Son of Perdition (2 Thess. 2:3-12)
3. Wicked one (2 Thess. 2:3-12)
a. The Antichrist will be indwelt and possessed by Satan. The only other person called the “son of perdition” was Judas Iscariot in John 17:12. Judas was possessed and indwelt by Satan in John 13:27.
4. Antichrist: (1 John 2:18, 22) The Antichrist will come, but now there are many “antichrists” who are those who deny that Jesus is the Christ and they deny the Father.
5. The Beast (Rev 11:7) This is the most common name for the Antichrist in the book of the Revelation.


B. Described as:

1. Lawless. (2 Thess. 2:3-12) This means that he will oppose all the laws of God and will actively fight to break them.
2. Opposing God. (2 Thess. 2:3-12) He will oppose God and will exalt himself above God, which was the plan of Lucifer from the time he rebelled in Heaven against God. (Isaiah 14:12-17)
3. Working wonders (2 Thess. 2:3-12) The Antichrist will have Satans power behind him to work miracles. See Pharoes magicians for an example of men working miracles in Satan’s power
4. Inspired by Satan. (2 Thess. 2:3-12) All his plans and thoughts will follow the will of Satan, (Lucifer)
5. Both a person and a system. (2 Thess. 2:3-12) There will be a single person who is the Antichrist, but there is also a system of antichrist in which the world system is constantly opposed to the work and will of God.
6. Seeking man’s worship. (2 Thess. 2:3-12) Satan always wanted to be worshiped in God’s place. (Isaiah 14:12-17). As the Antichrist he will put himself into that position officially by occupying the temple and demanding worship as god. Many people will do exactly that.
7. Deceiving the world. (2 John 7, Rev 19:20, 2 Thess. 2:10-12) The antichrist will deceive virtually everyone into falling for his lies. All who have heard the true Gospel and have willfully rejected it will be deceived by him, because when they had a chance to come to Christ, they rejected Him because they preferred the world and it’s pleasures. 2 Thess. 2:10-12 says that even God will send them delusion at that point because of their prior rejections. The lost world will flock to the antichrist in huge numbers to lift him up. (This does not mean that all will be deceived. During the tribulation many will hear the Gospel and turn to Christ.)
8. Persecuting Christians. (Rev. 13:7) Those Christians who are saved during the tribulation will fall under the wrath and persecution of the Antichrist.
9. He will deny Christ’s Incarnation. (1 John 4:3, 2 John 7) The Antichrist will deny Christ so that people will worship him instead of the real Christ. Anyone who denies Jesus deity and incarnation is showing an example of the “spirit of antichrist” Think of atheists and Darwinists and their adamant denial of God and Jesus and you see it at work.
10. One and Many. (1 John 2:18-22) There will be one “Antichrist” the person, but there are many who show the spirit and attitudes of antichrists. Many will be ex church members who have fallen away and denied the faith. (This does not show that you can lose your salvation, only that those who fall away were never saved to begin with. (see 1 john 2:19)


C. The Coming of Antichrist.

1. It is foretold. (2 Thess. 2:5) The books of Daniel, 2 Thessalonians, Revelation, and at severl other places in scripture speak of his coming as the Antichrist. Daniel 9:26-27 speaks of the “prince that shall come” which is speaking of the Antichrist.
2. He will come in the Last Days. (1 John 2:18) The last days will be especially marked by a spirit of denying Christ. People will mock Christian beliefs and values and will run headlong after the pleasures of this world. Leading up to the rapture Christians will begin to come under increasing persecution. 2 Thess. 2:13-17 encourage us to stand fast in the face of the spirit of antichrist.
3. The Antichrist is now restrained. (2 Thess. 2:6) He will be revealed in his time but not until the time appointed. NO ONE will know who he is until it is revealed, so people should not believe all the predictions being put out by misled men who claim to have figured it out. The Antichrist could be, and probably is alive today. The signs of the times are leaning in that direction. The presence of the church and the Holy spirit are blocking his rise to power at this time. When the church is raptured the Holy Spirit will step out of the way and the Antichrist will emerge ready to take over a broken world system. Almost everyone left will look to him for solutions.
4. The Emergence of the Antichrist will follow the removal of the hindrance. (2 Thess. 2:7) as discussed in the above paragraph.
5. Exists before Jesus return. (2 Thess. 2:3,8) The Antichrist will be around and will be a prominent leader before the rapture. The Rapture and associated events will cause people to seek a leader who can correct the insanity and bring about peace. This leader will suddenly rise to the occasion and have all the answers people are seeking.
6. He will arise by Satan’s deception. (2 Thess. 2:10) The Antichrist will deceive many. Some he will deceive by lies. The devil is the father of lies and is better at it than anyone else. No man can stand up to his lies in his own strength and wisdom. A person must have the Word of God and the Spirit of god in order to not be fooled by Satan. Some he will fool with miracles. They will see his miraculous works and immediately give him credit as being God. These lying wonders will be imitations of the true miracles of Christ. He will even present his own death and resurrection, whether real or faked. In Rev ch. 13 he has a wound unto death which was miraculously healed and he lived again.


D. The Destruction of the Antichrist.

1. Will Happen at Christ’s Return. (2 Thess. 2:8, Rev. 19:20) When the real Christ returns, the false Christ will be destroyed. Christ will simply speak forth the defeat of the Antichrist “by the spirit of His mouth”. Revelation 19 speaks of the return of Christ with His armies and a sword going out from His mouth to destroy the armies of the Antichrist, (the nations). He defeats the armies of the Antichrist with a Word.
2. He will be cast in the lake of fire. (Rev 19:20) The Beast, (the Antichrist) and the false prophet will be captured and thrown into the Lake of Fire forever. In Rev. 20: 1-3 Satan is captured and thrown into a bottomless pit for a thousand years. He will then be released for just a short season to bring a last rebellion against God. Then Satan will be cast in the Lake of Fire with the Beast and the False Prophet forever.

E. The Antichrist has his season, but he cannot and will not triumph.

21This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 22It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 25The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. 26It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. 27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

It behoves a man to think on the things of God. His mental state will be much improved and fortified as he dwells upon the Lord and His faithfulness. God has never failed and never will. He has never abandoned His Children in any way or at any time. Whe we fail and go far astray in sin and God's wrath should justifiably be turned toward our destruction, and consume us, yet His mercy is great and He is compassionate. His Compassions fail not.
Not only do they not fail, they do not grow old. Yesterday's compassion does not work for today. New sin steps in, new rebellion, new faltering in our walk; for we are not yet perfect. We are still very human and the old nature reasserts itself with distressing regularity. When we would give up and hide away from God, His mercy comes edging into our heart reminding us that nothing can separate us from the love of God. He renews his mercy again and again with out fail. Great is His faithfulness. New grace for each new day, hour, minute, situation, temptation, or trial, is renewed and continually extended toward the saint, waiting for us to apprehend it at the Throne of Grace, through prayer, confession and repentance. Yet when we tarry and do not go immediately to the Throne of Grace, still His mercy is there tempered also by His longsuffering. He waits while we go through each storm until we realize the only source of peace is in Him alone. Then we cry out to Him and he is there. Psalm 107 repeats this theme several times in cycles.
The Lord is my portion. He is all-satisfying, and as we learn more of Him we begin to find greater and greater pleasure, and more importantly, satisfaction in Him as opposed to worldly sources. Satis faction is important. Contentedness, with Godliness, is great gain. Satisfaction and contentedness relieve the most part of our lack of peace. Longing for worldly things creates unrest that eats away at our peace and joy, leaving a bitter shell behind. Longing only for God and the things of righteousness leaves a sweet yearning for His presence, but no bitterness, envy, or disappointment. Therefore, we can look to Him in hope, knowing that he will ultimately satisfy our every desire in Himself. He is faithful to the promises that He has made in His Word.
The Lord is good. He gives us good things, continually pouring out blessing upon blessing as we march through this life. All good things come down from Him. He pours out many blessing on the just and unjust alike. He does not do us as we have done Him. He does not give us what we deserve, but instead gives us thing according to His riches in Glory and reserves for the Saints a dwelling place in His Heaven. God's saints get what we don't deserve, at a price we did not have to pay, which we never could have at our own expense.
The Lord is good to them that wait for him and the soul that seeks Him out. God wants our attention. He is central to all the universe and is the One alone in whom we can find fulfillment. Those that seek Him out find that He is good beyond anything this earth has to offer. Taste the Lord and see that He is Good. God is the most precious, highest, most holy, most powerful, awesome, Omniscient, perfect, being in the universe. It is not conceit for Him to want our attention. It is part of His Love that He wants us to experience Him and have the joy that only He could give.
In light of all this, it is good that we look unto God, the Author and Finisher of Our Faith, to gain hope in troubled times and to find the strength we need to endure. His faithfulness is sure. His mercies are renewed daily, continually. He gives us good things. Beyond that, and best of all, the end of all the saints in this world, means the beginning of Heaven. While we struggle with life and the events and trouble here, we can wait for and look forward to that ultimate end of Salvation; eternal in Heaven with Him.
In our days here we must run patiently the race that is set before us. Let us bear whatever yoke is set upon us in these days, knowing that God is good and that all things work together for good to them that love Him, to those who are the called according to His purpose. The future is bright, and God is still in control. His mercy and Love are good forever.

Today is May 1st. I was reading Psalm 107. A friend and I discussed some recent problems in our personal lives and how those problems had hindered our walk with God. We mutually concluded that we need to start over with God and clear some things out of the way, then LEAVE it all in HIS hands. That is the hard part, along with rededicating ourselves to doing His will and always following after Him. We know that it is only through and by the help of God through His Word, His Spirit, and through time spent with Him that we will get back in close fellowship with Him. God is willing and so must we remain so. Give me grace oh God for the journey, and strength for the fight.