The Antichrist of Revelation, also called the beast, is the one who wants to be exalted and worshipped by man as God. From the beginning, Satan’s desire has been to be like God and to take all God creates for good and pervert it—to draw people away from God and to himself. An example of this type of perversion is sex before marriage. God’s desire is for couples to enjoy the greatest sense of intimacy through the confines of marriage. Outside of marriage, to have sex is sin against God and the intimacy is nowhere near the same. Satan lies to make it seem as though it is the same, and he perverts the truth to entice people away from the truth of God. God’s ways are always best and designed to give us the most fulfillment in this life. The Antichrist will act in similar fashion when he comes on the scene. When the Church is removed in the Rapture, the Antichrist will entice people and draw them to himself, and he will release devastation. He will draw them in with lies and then desire their worship. This will be the darkest period of history, but not the end, for Jesus will return and rule and reign in righteousness!
In the meantime, Christians need to be aware of antichrists within our midst. How do we recognize those who are antichrists? By looking through the lens of God’s Word! 1 John 2:22 says, “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.” Those who claim there is no God and/or that Jesus is not the Son of God but just another man, and teach men so, are antichrists. “And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world” (1 John 4:3). Those who would claim the Messiah is not Jesus or that Jesus never really came are also considered to be antichrists. They clearly teach doctrine contrary to the Bible. 2 John 1:7 tells us, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.”
Two other terms used in Scripture to describe the two types of antichrists are “man of sin” and “the son of perdition.” “Man of sin” describes the Antichrist, and the term “son of perdition” is used for both the Antichrist and antichrists, as seen in these two passages. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 says, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” In this verse, we see that the Antichrist is called by both terms and how he desires to be worshipped as God. In this next verse, we see Jesus refer to Judas Iscariot by the term son of perdition. This is further proof that Judas was never one of Jesus’ own, but a deceiver, an antichrist. “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12).
Even though all of this is true and there are those in the world today who oppose and deny Jesus as the Christ, our focus is not to be “Where are they?” but “Where is He?”! Where is Jesus, what is He doing, and how can I be a part of that? Those are the questions to focus on! Read His Word and learn of Him who saves. Those who want to understand counterfeit currency study true currency. Why? So that they will recognize the counterfeit immediately when they see it. Therefore, study God’s Word, study the Truth, and you’ll recognize a lie when it's before you. And then you’ll know how to respond in a way that honors the Lord and His Word.
