Perhaps the Church would be better served if there were fewer books written trying to identify the Antichrist and speculating about geopolitical intrigue, and if instead there were more exegetical works treating what Scripture actually says about these men of evil.

Perhaps no subject broached by contemporary Bible prophecy teachers engenders more speculation and less sound Biblical exegesis than does the subject of Antichrist. This is certainly due to the mysterious nature of the subject itself, as well as to the fact that no other aspect of Bible prophecy lends itself so nicely to speculation regarding the identification of one specific individual who will become the very personification of evil and the archenemy of Jesus Christ and his gospel.

“Pin the tail” on the Antichrist is not merely an evangelical fascination. Indeed, such speculation has gone on almost from the beginning of Christianity. Irenaeus (130-200) argued that Antichrist would be a Jewish born, satanically inspired, usurper of God’s true glory, who would appear in the Jerusalem temple in connection with an end-times great apostasy. (1) The Protestant Reformers, of course, universally identified the papacy with the Antichrist, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession (1540) stating that “the papacy will also be a part of the kingdom of Antichrist if it maintains that human rites justify (XV.18).” The Westminster Confession (1647) contends that the Pope is “that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God (XXV.6).” Rome, not to be outdone, has returned the favor, contending that antichristic Protestant “heresies have swept down from the North, where Calvin, Wycliffe, Luther and legions of Protestants are ravaging the flock of Christ.” (2)

But there is no doubt that much of contemporary speculation has taken the concept of identifying the Antichrist to new extremes. One of my favorite possessions is a booklet passed on to me by my grandmother, entitled The Time of Jacob’s Trouble (1939), wherein the author attempts to demonstrate that the revived Germany under Hitler in the pre-World War II years is the supposed last-days ten-nation confederacy predicted in Revelation 13. Of course, the author very deftly demonstrates how Mussolini is the false prophet and how Italian imperialism in Ethiopia is proof that Rome is the great harlot of Revelation 18 and compatriot of the German beast. I can still remember the fear instilled in me as a child, when I heard, one preacher declare that Antichrist was then living somewhere in the Middle East, probably still a child playing stickball in some crowded dusty street, awaiting the day when he would be possessed by the devil and allowed to wreck havoc on the world after the rapture.

One local Bible prophecy “expert” has made a seminar and media career out of identifying King Juan Carlos of Spain as the Antichrist. Others have tabbed, at one time or another, virtually every leader of the Soviet Union, the Middle East and the European Economic Community as possibilities to become the archenemy of Jesus Christ. Perhaps more representative of modern speculators is Chuck Smith, founder and patriarch of Calvary Chapel. Smith has described Antichrist as one who will deceptively come bringing answers to all of the geopolitical upheaval in the world exacerbated by the removal of all Christians after the rapture. “At that time a man will come on the scene with some fantastic answers concerning peace. He’ll be like a magician in his ability to get nations and people together.” Concludes Smith, “He’ll sign a covenant with the nation Israel, and Israel will accept it. He’ll build his own powerful economic bloc and monetary system. All the world will wonder after this man and follow him and his schemes and programs. This man is the Antichrist.” (3)

I am sure that many of you can identify with these prophetic schemes. After all, such is the predominant view in many evangelical and charismatic circles. But is this really what the Bible says about Antichrist? While it may come as a surprise to many, there are only four texts in Scripture (all in John’s first two epistles: 1 Jn 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 Jn 7) where the term “antichrist” is actually used. And while there is, in my opinion, a definite connection between John’s “Antichrist”, Paul’s “Man of Sin” (2 Thes) and the “Beast” in John’s Apocalypse (Rev 11:7; chapter 13), (4) John’s four texts set out a markedly different understanding of Antichrist than that given us by contemporary prophecy “experts.” Therefore, it is most helpful to review them.

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