The word antichrist speaks of one who is against Christ. The prefix “anti” means “against” or “instead of.” The context provides how the word is used in each case. Four times the specific word “antichrist” is used in Scripture (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7). However, the spirit of antichrist is present in both the Old and the New Testaments.
John the apostle made it very plain in his First Epistle that antichrists were already present among them. But there was one who was to come, a specific Antichrist: “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come” (1 John 2:18). That “one” predicted by the apostle John had still not come, but he indeed will come and will be a wicked world ruler during the coming Great Tribulation. And, he could very well be alive now and active in His blasphemous activity.
The future Antichrist is not always named in Scripture. Other names and descriptions are given when the end times are described. For he is “the ruler who will come: (Dan. 9:26), “the king who will do as he pleases” (11:36), the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION (Matt. 24:15), “the man of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:3), “the beast that comes up out of the abyss” (Rev. 11:7).
The number of the Antichrist is 666 (Rev. 13:18) which likely indicates he is indeed far, far less than he pretends to be. When Christ returns, the Antichrist will be “thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone” (19:20) and Christ will institute His kingdom rule on earth from David’s throne in Jerusalem.
John the apostle made it very plain in his First Epistle that antichrists were already present among them. But there was one who was to come, a specific Antichrist: “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come” (1 John 2:18). That “one” predicted by the apostle John had still not come, but he indeed will come and will be a wicked world ruler during the coming Great Tribulation. And, he could very well be alive now and active in His blasphemous activity.
The future Antichrist is not always named in Scripture. Other names and descriptions are given when the end times are described. For he is “the ruler who will come: (Dan. 9:26), “the king who will do as he pleases” (11:36), the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION (Matt. 24:15), “the man of lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:3), “the beast that comes up out of the abyss” (Rev. 11:7).
The number of the Antichrist is 666 (Rev. 13:18) which likely indicates he is indeed far, far less than he pretends to be. When Christ returns, the Antichrist will be “thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone” (19:20) and Christ will institute His kingdom rule on earth from David’s throne in Jerusalem.
