a primer on "antichrist"

The Word for today:
1 John 4:7-5:3


Mark this: 1 John 4:3-4--
If a prophet does not acknowledge Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist. You have heard that he is going to come into the world, and he is already here. But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won your fight with these false prophets, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

It will surprise many that the word 'antichrist' never appears in the book of Revelation. The word appears only here, in the epistles of John (1 John 2:18; 2:22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7). So today we offer a primer--what the Bible student should know about 'antichrist.'

From the beginning, light and darkness were in opposition. This is first depicted in the physical realm: And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:4)

Just so, forces of spiritual light and darkness have been personified and embodied throughout scripture. A few examples:

In the aftermath of sin, we are told that there would forever be enmity--a deep-seated estrangement--between the offspring of the serpent and the seed of the woman. (Gen. 3:15)

This was immediately seen in the lives of Cain and Abel. (Genesis 4)

This also played itself out in the lives of Jacob and Esau. (Genesis 25:22-26)

The forces of light and darkness were even to be seen in the thieves to the left and right of Jesus as He died on the cross.

The wheat and the tares; the sheep and the goats are symbolic of this spiritual dichotomy. (See Matthew 13:25; 25:33.)

Every person on earth, whether we know it or not, is in one of these camps. We either spread the light of Christ or we are enablers of darkness, of "antichrist."

There is no gray area. Christ, the Light of the world (John 8:12), illuminates the world through those who believe in him. Comprised of the Spirit of Christ and the Body of Christ, the church is the light of the world (Matthew 5:14), dispelling darkness.

Copied from this same pattern, we have the person, the body and the spirit of antichrist:

The singular--"antichrist” (1 John 2:18a) refers to the coming final world ruler energized by Satan who will seek to oppose and replace the true Christ.

The plural-- “antichrists” (1 John 2:18b) refers to false teachers whose false doctrine distorts the truth and opposes Christ (Matt. 24:24; Mark 13:22; Acts 20:28-30).
As an assemblage, they are analogous to the church. They comprise a principle of evil, incarnated in men who are hostile to God.

“The spirit of antichrist” (1 John 4:3) refers to the demonic deception that will work to produce the final world ruler who rules as the false Christ. The spirit of antichrist is always actively seeking to distort Jesus Christ’s true nature, perverting the gospel (1 John 4:3b).

The final antichrist will not be something new, but will embody all the antichrist spirits that have perverted truth. See 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8, where the man of lawlessness (Antichrist) is still to be revealed, but the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. (More concerning the character the term 'antichrist refers to is found in Daniel 8:9-11; 11:31-38; 12:11; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; Revelation 13:1-5; 19:20.)

Just as Jesus is here in body (the church) and Spirit, so antichrist is here corporeally and in spirit. The organization of darkness mimics Christ and His church. This should not take us by surprise, for Satan's expressed desire is to be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:14). The image of a devil with a pitchfork is the absolute opposite of what we learn from scripture. Instead, we anticipate an urbane and attractive elite; cosmopolitan, sophisticated, cultured, mannered, refined; and all of it overlayed--gilded--with a facade of virtue that the masses will not see through. The antichrist--the individual--will pass himself off as Christ Himself (2 Thes. 2:4). This counterfeit will succeed on a mass scale until--symphonically echoing Genesis--the Light of the world re-emerges to eternally dispel and banish darkness. Thus the Bible will have come full circle.

Until then, God permits evil--in whatever name, shape, form, or embodiment--for his purposes, a shaping tool in His hands (see Genesis 50:20; Job 1; Romans 8:28). When these cosmic purposes have been served, the "night" will pass, when the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings. (Malachi 4:2)

Today--right now--it is of immediate importance for the Bible student to understand that the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it. (John 1:5)

Darkness never has overpowered it--and it never will:
If a prophet does not acknowledge Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist. You have heard that he is going to come into the world, and he is already here.
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won your fight with these false prophets, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. (1 John 4:3-4)