I’m going to talk about the Antichrist. And I think I will start with the end. God’s victory over the one who throughout human history has resisted God and deceived and destroyed. For although the Antichrist is revealed at the end of this age, he has been active throughout human history. The final showdown occurs when the Messiah comes on the white horse and devours the beast with the breath from his mouth. The first two to end up in the lake of fire are the Antichrist and the False Prophet. It happens before the Millennium.
Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone, Rev. 19:20.
What is the Antichrist?
It is only in the letters of John that we encounter the term “Antichrist”. There we meet it five times and with three different meanings. According to 1. John, The Antichrist will come in the last hour: Children! It’s the last hour! As you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, there are already many Antichrists. From this we know that it is the last hour, 1 John 2:18.
In the 1. John 2 says that whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ is the Antichrist: Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son, 1 John 2:22.
The Antichrist is also a spirit. It does not confess that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh: and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world, 1 John 4:3.
Anyone who does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh is called the deceiver and the Antichrist: For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist, 2 John 7.
In other words, the Antichrist is a person, a system of several antichrists and a spiritual power. The focus of John’s definition of the Antichrist is doctrinal: the denial that Jesus is the Christ come in flesh and blood. John links the Antichrist to the time in which he himself lived. And therefore, also to the times we live in. For we are also living in the last hour in a prophetic sense.
The Antichrist is fighting against Israel
You will find the traces of the Anti-Christ, throughout human history. Let’s start with the beginning, the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had violated God’s will. The Fall was a fact. We know the consequences too well. Now the conditions under which man were to live are described. The earth cursed. Work and toil. Painful births.
Then comes the climax: the promise of victory through the woman’s Seed. There is a clear prophecy about the virgin birth. But it is also a prophecy of a struggle between the Seed of the woman, that is, Christ, and the seed of Satan, that is, the Anti-Christ. And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel”, Genesis 3:15.
We see traces of this struggle throughout the Bible. Evil entered the world and penetrated to all people, as Paul writes in Romans 5:12. But the devil’s aggression is directed first and foremost against the people God has chosen to fulfill the prophecy from the Garden of the End. We see the spirit of the Antichrist at work to exterminate the people from whom Christ was to come. We can call it the Antichrist’s fight against the people, the Jewish people
One of the most frightening manifestations of this struggle is found in Pharaoh’s command in Exodus 1,15-17: Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them but saved the male children alive.
We remember the rest of the story. Moses was born and after three months he was put in a basket on the Nile. There Pharaoh’s daughter found him. The people’s future leader was saved. The entire history of the Jewish people is the story of how the devil, the Antichrist, does what he can to stop the prophecy about the Messiah. The woman’s Seed that should crush the serpent’s head.
Israel was tempted to be assimilated by the peoples around them. They were conquered by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Alexandrians, Ptolemies, Seleucids and the Romans This threatened to wiped out Israel as a Nations. That happened to other peoples. But the Jewish people survived. They returned from captivity. But then came the next attempt to nullify the prophecy from the Garden of Eden.
In Matthew 2:16-18 we read: Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:“A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.
Once again, it affected the children. It is as if the Antichrist in all generations will try to wipe out the next generation. We are also experiencing this today. At that time, the Antichrist used Herod the Cruel to stop God’s plan. But he failed. Jesus was saved because of obedient parents.
The last attempt by the devil occurred on Calvary. But instead of destroying the prophecy from the Garden of Eden, the victory became an eternal fact through the Son’s obedience to the Father’s will: Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it, Col 2.15.
Our salvation was forever secured and our sins forgiven: And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, Col 2,13.
The Antichrist fights against the people of faith
John wrote that the Antichrist would deny that Jesus is the incarnated Son of God. The first major attack on the Christian church in the first two centuries was of a doctrinal nature. It came through the philosophy called Gnosticism. They believed it was impossible to mix spirit and matter, and rejected the idea that God became man. God is spirit and man is matter, they claimed. They claimed that it was impossible that Jesus could be both true God and true man. In that way it fitted well into John’s definition of the Antichrist.
The Gnostics claimed that Christ, when he was on earth, did not have a real, natural body. He just looked like a human being. Some claimed that Jesus was an ordinary person, and when he was baptized by John a divine force descended upon him and he was “adopted” as the Son of God. Others believed that Jesus was true God and true man, but that he was two different persons living side by side in the same body. When Jesus died only the human nature was crucified while the divine person lived on.
It took two hundred years to put in place the doctrine we have today about Jesus Christ. We will find it formulated in the Nicene Creed.
“We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end”.
When Paul wrote his second letter to the Thessalonians, the main theme is that Jesus will come for His Church. The Thessalonians had been shaken by a rumor that the day of Christ had already arrived, and that the believers in Thessalonians were left behind. Now the day of the Lord, the great and awe-inspiring one lay ahead.
From verse 3, Paul gives us important information about the Antichrist, both what will happen before he comes and several of the names that characterize this person and the time when he comes.
First the apostasy must come
There are two expressions or concepts in particular that are described 2. Thessalonians. The first is the apostasy: For that day will not come without the apostasy having first come, (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
The Greek word translated apostasy is apostasia and can also be translated ” “rebellion”, “forsake” or “departure.” What is going to happen before Antichrist comes depend on how one understands this apostasy. If you want to take a closer look at the different interpretations.
In 2 Timothy 3, Paul writes about difficult times. What does that mean? Paul mentions several sins and vices as he continues, concluding with: “those who love lust more than they love God. They have an outward form of godliness but deny its power.”
It seems that he is describing conditions among people who call themselves believers. When we read that difficult times are coming, we may at first glance think that it is the persecution from the world that makes it difficult to be a Christian. But that is not what Paul is describing here. It is not the pressure from outside that makes it difficult. Here the world has come into the church. The apostasy from a Christian lifestyle has entered the Church. What the Bible says we should lay off and put down has been accepted and normalized. The outer form is in place, but the power is missing.
What makes time difficult is that you no longer know what is black and what is white. Sin as a concept has been removed, but sin is alive and well. We are pressured to move away from the standard for life set by the Bible.
The end times will be marked by seduction and apostasy. First there will be subversion, an apostasy, then the son of perdition will appear.
What is holding back?
In 2. Thessalonians chapter 2 Paul writes in verses 6 and 7: Now you know what is withholding, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the secret of lawlessness is already at work. It’s just that the one who is now holding back will be taken away.
What or who is holding back?
The central word is: katecho which means “to retain”, “prevent”, “hold” or “have power over”. There have been many interpretations of this passage, and there have been many understandings of what or who is holding back. Many think that it is the Holy Spirit and the Christian church that is holding back. I think this understanding is right. The Holy Spirit dwelling in the Christian church. This age is in a special way the age of the Holy Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost and dwelt in the believers, He has been at work in a way that is different than ever before.
The church’s age began when the Spirit came on the day of Pentecost and will end when the Holy Spirit and the Christian church is taken out of the way in rapture. Although the Holy Spirit is omnipresent as part of the triune God, His unique relationship with people will cease when the church is taken to heaven.
From this view, the lawless person cannot appear in person until the congregation is taken from the earth. The church is light and salt and a preserving factor in this world and intended to prevent decay.
The Holy Spirit now has a very special ministry in the world. He convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). He does this alone. In addition, the Spirit dwells in every believer. Thus, the church and the individual believer are also part of this power that prevents the lawless from coming.
Only after the church has left this world will the man of sin, the son of perdition, the one who resists and exalts himself above all that is called God, appear in the arena.
The Antichrist Deceives Israel
The times we live in have for generations been characterized by people’s desire to build a world without God. Today, we see it more clearly than ever. Not least politically through the work to establish a common world order, a “Global Reconstruction” as former Assistant Secretary-General of the UN, Robert Muller called it. “We must move as quickly as possible toward a “one-world government; a one-world religion; under a one-world leader”.
He followed up on the vision of Winston Churchill of 1947, who said: “The organization of an authoritative, all-powerful world order is the ultimate goal we must all strive towards. Without an effective, overarching world government being established and quickly operational, the prospect of peace and human progress is dark and doubtful.”
We got such a body with the UN, and the countries of the world willingly transfer exceedingly more power to this “world government.” Even though it has documented its inability to resolve conflicts. When it comes to Israel and the Middle East, the UN has helped to exacerbate the problem rather than bring solutions.
It is several years since the Treaty of Rome was signed on March 25, 1957. What began as a market collaboration between some of Europe’s countries is now a union where increasingly more is decided in Brussels. Also, for Norway, which is not formally a member.
Paul Henry Spaak, the former prime minister of Belgium and one of the architects of European cooperation, was visionary when he stated: “We don’t want another committee, we have far too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature to gain the trust and allegiance of all men, and to lift us out of the economic ditch into which we have sunk.” And he continued: “Send us such a man, whether he is a god or a devil, and we will receive him.”
Stay safe. This man will come, and he will be a devil.
He reveals himself in Revelation 13:1-8 and 16-18.
The seed of the serpent, the Antichrist, failed in destroying the people when he through Pharaoh wanted to kill all Jewish male children. He also failed to wipe out the people when hostile empires conquered the country. And through Herod the Cruel, he was unable to prevent the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, from being born as a true man. Will he succeed in the end, by destroying the people who will receive the Messiah when he returns?
In his discourse on the Mount of Olives as recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus warns against false Messiahs. For false Messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, to deceive even the elect, if it were possible. Behold, I have told you beforehand, Matthew 24:24. “The chosen ones” are, as far as I understand, the chosen ones of Israel. This will happen when the time of tribulation, Daniel’s seventieth week of year, begins.
Satan has a certain power. But he does not have all the power. It is only Christ who is given all power. God is on the throne all the time. It is the Lamb who breaks the seals and who directs development.
If we want to see how Antichrist in the end of this age will try to break Israel and thus prevent the Messiah from returning to his people, we must read the book of Daniel chapter 7:
After this, I saw in my nocturnal visions a fourth beast, fearful and terrible, and exceedingly strong. It had big teeth of iron, and ate and broke, and what was left it trampled down with its feet. It was different from all the animals that came before it, and it had ten horns. I paid close attention to the horns. Then I saw another small horn shooting up between them, and three of the first horns were pulled up to make room for it. And behold, this horn had eyes like the eyes of men, and a mouth that spoke great words, Dan. 7:7-8.
Daniel saw a small horn coming out of the fourth beast. It is described in more detail in verses 24 and 25:
The ten horns mean that out of this kingdom ten kings will arise. And after them there will arise another king, who will be different from the previous ones. He will subdue three kings. He will speak words against the Most High and oppress the saints of the Most High, thinking of changing times and law. And they shall be delivered into his hand for a time and times and a half.
In John 5:43 Jesus points to what will then happen: I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another man cometh in his own name, he will be received.
By cunning and deception, Antichrist will succeed in making a peace treaty with Israel. He hits them at the point where their need is greatest—the need for peace. The people who have always been persecuted and who since the modern state was established in 1948 have experienced nothing but war, are being deceived. Israel enters a peace covenant with Antichrist.
The people of a prince who comes will destroy the city and the sanctuary. It happened in the year 63. The people were the Romans. Out of this people will come a prince who will establish the covenant. Israel’s leaders rejoice in the peace covenant, but God calls it a covenant with death and hell.
Daniel states what will happen when the peace pact is broken after 3.5 years: For one week, he will confirm a pact with the many. In the middle of the week, he will bring food offerings and sacrifices to cease. On the wings of abomination, the destroyer will come, and that until destruction and determination of punishment will pour down on the one who causes the destruction, (Dan. 9:27).
The Antichrist has reached the culmination of his career. He sits in the temple in Jerusalem and receives worship from almost all over the world. Daniel says in 9:27 that Antichrist will make a covenant with the many. Not with everyone. Those who would not bow their knees to the image of the Beast have fled from Jerusalem. Then comes the final phase of the enmity between the woman’s seed and the serpent’s seed.
The Messiah Come with Salvation
The armies of Antichrist have gathered at Armageddon and marched towards Jerusalem. After fierce resistance, they have taken it. Israel’s enemies are determined to wipe out this people once and for all.
Although some remain in Jerusalem, the nation’s leaders, along with many of the people, have fled south-east and sought refuge in the southern Jordan, in Bozra. Antichrist almost gains world power. But it is one area he has no power over, Bozrah and Edom and the children of Maab and the children of Ammon. There, those fleeing from Antichrist seek refuge. They find a place that has been prepared by God.
With Antichrist and his army ready to finish the mission, the Prophet Hosea describes that Israel there turn to God:
I will return again to My place till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face;In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me. … Come and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth, (Hos. 5:15; 6:1-3).
The battle is coming to an end, and now Israel can no longer rely on its military capacity. They stand on the brink of national annihilation. Then they confess their national sin and cry out to God for salvation. When Israel pleads with the Messiah to return, this will not be limited to the Jews who are in Bozra. Also, those who remain in Jerusalem should be included. God pours out on His people the spirit of grace and prayer. They look up to Him whom they have pierced and grieve bitterly.
The prophet Isaiah 63:1 describes the hero of Bozra: Who is he who comes from Edom, in red garments from Bozra, so magnificently in his garment, advancing in his great power?
The Messiah – the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ now returns, defeats the Antichrist and saves Israel from extinction. The battle is over in a millisecond for the victory was won on Calvary. The sword goes out of the mouth of Christ and strikes Antichrist. Together with his propaganda minister, the false prophet, he is thrown into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone.
Conclusion.
Why does the Bible let us know all this?
So that we may be awake and not be filled with the spirit that paves the way for the Antichrist. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit who cries out, “Come, Lord Jesus.” The Spirit that glorifies Jesus. We will go to meet our Savior. May he preserve us from the destructive forces of time.