Originally published in "The Lord's Coming Herald & Wesleyan Bible Prophecy Advocate," Winter Edition 1995
Will The Real Antichrist Please Stand Up!
The word "Antichrist" is never found—
not even a single time!--in any of the prophetic portions of the Holy Bible. The
term is used only in the New Testament epistles of John, where it is clearly
equated with any and every person who opposes the biblical revelation concerning
Jesus Christ (see John 2:18, 22; 4:3; and II John 7).
Given the lack of hard evidence for the usage of the term
Antichrist in the apocalyptic portions of the Bible, the disclosure of the
career of some one future personal so-called "end -time Antichrist" must not be the
central focal point of true end-time Bible prophecy.
Neither is the "beast" of Daniel and the book of Revelation
the same as we moderns' popular Antichrist assumption. The beast in those
apocalyptic materials is foremost an evil empire, not some one selected single
human being, who can be distinguished from all others as "the Antichrist."
Now the person who best answers to the personification of the
beast motif in the book of Revelation is none other than Satan himself, the"god of this world," and the master mind and moving soul behind all seven
historical manifestations of those successive evil empires called "Babylon" (Rev. 17:10-11).
Satan, not some human antichrist figure, for example, is most
certainly the beast of Revelation chapter seventeen, who "was, and is not,
and yet is, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition " (verse 8). He is the beast that "was" in the sense that he was once undisputed
king of the Gentile nations. He is the beast that "is not" in the sense of his
present judicial binding (II Peter 2:4; Jude 6), being wholly dethroned and
led captivity in the cross (John 12:31; Hebrews 2:14), and in the messianic
exaltation of Jesus that followed in the resurrection (Ephesians 1:19-22; I
Peter 3:22).
The "yet is" clause of the beast in Revelation 17:8
indicates, further, that, although Satan was indeed bound by the triumph of
Jesus at His first advent, wherever that victory goes yet unappropriated, he yet
continues his activities of devouring and deceit. Such an interpretation both
glorifies the gospel and highlights the responsibility of human free will. Now
is that good Wesleyan-Arminian theology, or what?
For more detailed insight on the biblical teaching concerning
the concepts of antichrist, the mark of the beast, and other important issues,
please see our published works, now available at the "products" menu
included in this website.
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