What comes to mind when you think of the Antichrist?
In pop culture, whether movies or TV, the Antichrist has been pictured as a devil child or a devil-like person who embodies the height of evil.
In popular Christian imagination, the Antichrist is often portrayed as a sinister but charismatic person who rises to a position of immense political power and leads the whole world astray, ushering in the Great Tribulation. This image has been popularized in movies and books about end times, such as Nicolae in the Left Behind series. He is a charismatic leader who eventually rises to rule the global community.[1]
Here is how one popular Bible teacher describes the Antichrist. He will be a “global dictator,” the “most powerful dictator the world has ever seen.” This teacher contends that “the Bible is clear that one man, the Antichrist, will rise up to unite the world under one government during the Tribulation.”[2] Many Christians simply assume that such a portrayal is what the Bible teaches about the Antichrist.
Much of this portrait of the Antichrist comes from combining various Bible passages together into a composite. Two of the key passages used for this composite are 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 which mentions the “man of lawlessness” and Revelation 13-14 which uses the image of a horrific beast, a beast which itself is an amalgamation of the beasts in the book of Daniel.
The identity of the “Antichrist”—or even if there is a single future Antichrist—is up for debate among RENEW.org leaders. In humility, let’s try to untangle the concepts to arrive at a clearer biblical picture.
“Much of this portrait of the Antichrist comes from combining various Bible passages together into a composite.”
The Man of Lawlessness of 2 Thessalonians
In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul mentions the man of lawlessness to address a particular confusion disturbing the church in Thessalonica. Somehow some members of the church had become convinced that the “day of the Lord” had already occurred. Paul reminds them that it could not have occurred yet because the man of lawlessness had not been unveiled and eliminated.
Who is this man of lawlessness? Well, that’s the tricky part. Paul says he is reminding them of things he taught them when he was with them (2:5). So he’s jogging their memory and he doesn’t give many details. We weren’t there in Thessalonica when Paul was instructing the fledgling church, so we don’t have any memory to be jogged…and that leaves us guessing a bit.
Here is the basic description of the man of lawlessness: he “opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4, NASB). Paul also explains that the man of lawlessness is “the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10a, NASB).
“Paul reminds them that it could not have occurred yet because the man of lawlessness had not been unveiled and eliminated.”
The Beast of Revelation 13
Revelation 13:1-10 introduces a new character into the drama of the book, an awful beast that arises out of the sea. It’s important to keep in mind the genre of Revelation, namely, apocalyptic literature. This type of literature uses lots of images and symbols to communicate its message, and in the case of Revelation 13 John is repackaging the familiar image of a beast from Daniel 7-8 to portray kingdoms and kings as beastly opponents of God and his people.
This beast is minion of the dragon (Satan) who gives the beast a throne and great authority. The beast has what looks like a fatal wound on one of his seven heads, but the wound has been healed. He blasphemes God and attacks God’s people who follow the Lamb (Jesus). And the reign of this beast is propped up by a second beast whom we might consider his “minister of propaganda.”
Man of Lawlessness = Beast = Antichrist?
Again, the popular image of the Antichrist is created by combining the man of lawlessness and the beast of Revelation, along with a few other passages, into one figure. Here’s a challenge with that: Neither 2 Thessalonians 2 nor Revelation 13 use the label “antichrist” and it’s not immediately clear that these passages, occurring in different contexts with different details, should be linked together to create this composite picture.
In fact, the word “antichrist” is mentioned in only four Bible passages, all in the letters of John, and none of them include any of the details made famous in the popular portrayal of the Antichrist. Here are the four passages:
- 1 John 2:18 (NASB)— “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.”
- 1 John 2:22 (NASB) — “Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.”
- 1 John 4:3 (NASB) — “And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.”
- 2 John 7 (NASB)— “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the ”
That’s it! Notice that there’s nothing in these passages about a sinister charismatic leader who rises to the peak of political power. There’s nothing about world domination, leading the whole world astray, or ushering in a great tribulation.
“The word ‘antichrist’ is mentioned in only four Bible passages, all in the letters of John.”
What do these four passages say about the antichrist? From them we learn that:
- There are many antichrists
- Many were already present in the apostle John’s day
- The way to identify antichrists is this: they deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who came in the flesh. In short, they oppose Jesus (hence they are anti-Christ).
That’s pretty much all the Bible actually says about the antichrist, or better, antichrists.
So is the beast of Revelation an antichrist? Certainly so.
Is the man of lawless an antichrist? Definitely.
But should the man of lawlessness and the beast be linked together to create a composite picture such as that in the popular portrayal and given the definitive title “the Antichrist”? As for linking them together (the question of whether it’s right to call them “the Antichrist” aside), these two characters don’t actually have much in common by way of biblical descriptions. Perhaps one could link them by way of worship, since the man of lawlessness seeks worship and the beast receives worship. Another link might be that Satan seems to energize both of them.
But in reality, the details of the descriptions are quite different. Additionally, Bible teachers should be honest and note that many of the details which are added to the popular descriptions of a single, global Antichrist are speculative.
This should lead us to be a little less definitive. We should not pass on as the clear teaching of the Bible what is not that clear at all. I think we need to work hard to distinguish between what the Bible specifically says with our configurations of what the Bible says, especially when that configuration goes beyond the words of the text and gaps are filled in with a various amounts of imagination.
“Bible teachers should be honest and note that many of the details which are added to the popular descriptions of a single, global Antichrist are speculative.”
A Future Antichrist?
So, will there be one final great Antichrist before Jesus returns?
That’s possible. There are some hints in Scripture this might be case, but the Bible actually never makes it explicitly clear.
For example, the passages in Daniel that are sometimes used to suggest a final Antichrist are originally addressing events that would happen after Daniel’s time but before Jesus was born, especially those involving a ruler name Antiochus Epiphanes.
The beast of Revelation seems to be envisioning events happening in John’s own day with the Roman Empire, but the fact that Revelation culminates in the beast being vanquished at the second coming of Jesus suggests that the same kinds of things will continue to occur through various anti-Jesus governments and empires right up until Jesus returns.
Paul says that the man of lawlessness will be eliminated when Jesus comes—but also that such lawlessness was already at work in his own day.
So, will there be one final great Antichrist?
It’s possible, but not totally clear and not a necessary conclusion from the biblical data. What the Bible makes perfectly clear is that there have been many antichrists already and there will continue to be antichrists into the future, right up until Christ returns. This is what the apostle John actually says about antichrists.
“What the Bible makes perfectly clear is that there have been many antichrists already and there will continue to be antichrists into the future, right up until Christ returns.”
The main purpose of the Bible’s teaching about antichrists, a category which would include the man of lawlessness and the beast of Revelation, is not for us to be able to scan the headlines to identify the Antichrist. The main purpose is to motivate us as followers of Jesus to faithfulness and to instill hope by reassuring us that God will destroy his enemies and vindicate his faithful ones. Second Thessalonians 2 encourages faithful obedience to the truth by standing firm in what Paul taught them (2 Thessalonians 2:13-15). Revelation urges faithful endurance (Revelation 14:12). And in his letters where he uses the word “antichrist,” John’s overriding concern is faithful doctrine and faithful living.
So, whether there will be a final great Antichrist or not, the main thing for those of us who follow Jesus is to be faithful regardless of opposition, persecution, lies, and error. To love the truth. To obey our King. To persevere in hope, waiting until Jesus returns to defeat his enemies and vindicate his people. When that day comes, any and all antichrists won’t stand a chance.
[1] I do like to remind people that the Left Behind book series is a work of fiction, not a work of theology.
[2] David Jeremiah, “6 Answers to Questions About the Antichrist,” at https://www.davidjeremiah.org/age-of-signs/6-answers-to-questions-about-the-antichrist?srsltid=AfmBOooULq5kb68mBYEaIB9oQK-Nly1adaFY93Yfp8U-qY6LBL38PfuC
