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Who Is Antichrist? by Dr Who is Antichrist? by Dr. J. Vernon McGee Published and distributed by Thru the Bible Radio Network P.O. Box 7100 Pasadena, California 91109-7100 (800) 65-BIBLE www.ttb.org Unless noted otherwise, all Scripture references are from the New Scofield Reference Bible. (This message was originally published in 1973, later fell out of print, and then was revised in 2006 for online publication. The message is also included in the hardback book, J. Vernon McGee On Prophecy, copyright 1993 by Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN.) 1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord is present. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come the falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what restraineth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now hindereth will continue to hinder until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his com- ing, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12) Across the pages of Scripture passes a character who is awesome and appalling. This men- acing figure is mysterious; he is hazy and enigmatic. Sometimes he’s a shady character. Again, he is an evil influence. Then again, he is an angel of light. There is actually no crystal-clear, cameo-cut presentation of him. He moves on the borderline of the natural and the supernatural. Who is this man who is called “that man of sin” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3? Some expositors from the very beginning have seen him as only an evil influence in the world. We will look at that passage where the apostle John speaks of him as “that spirit of antichrist.” Of course, this does not preclude him from being a person, which I believe he is, and I think most accept that today. John does identify him as a person, and John alone calls him by the name Antichrist. This does not mean, of course, that only John refers to him; Antichrist has many names in Scripture. Just as most crooks have aliases, Antichrist has more aliases than any person I know of. He has thirty names which are given on the pages of Scripture. Also, many figures of speech are used in God’s Word to speak of him, to set him before us, and they occur again and again. Also, there are many types of him in Scripture, and I’ll be referring to that later in this message. Now let’s nail down some facts concerning this very elusive character to see if he is a per- son or an influence, or both. We can begin by saying that the FBI hasn’t been able to get his fin- gerprints, and they have gathered no facts concerning him. They do not have a dossier on him, yet Scripture pinpoints some means of identification as well as the time he appears. I think that the time he appears is the all-important question. And this will be the principal subject of this message. Let’s look at the name Antichrist for just a moment. Notice first the preposition “anti” that appears before the name of Christ and which forms his name. “Anti” has two meanings. It can mean “against.” It also can mean “instead of.” It can be a substitute, and it can be a very good substitute or subterfuge for something. It means “in place of” or “in imitation of.” This, then, raises the question: Is he a false Christ, or is he an enemy of Christ? Where is 2 the emphasis placed? Enemy or Imitator? Let’s turn first to the epistles of John and see what John has to say about him. I’m going to consider every reference that he has given concerning him. The first is in 1 John 2:18. He begins by saying, “Little children, it is the last time,” yet it has been nineteen hundred years since John wrote that. We’ve been living in the last days for a long time. Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists, by which we know that it is the last time. (1 John 2:18) Notice that John not only says there is going to be an Antichrist, but already in his day there were many antichrists. Now what was the thing that identified an antichrist? It was one who denied the deity of Jesus Christ. That is the primary definition of Antichrist, as we are told in the following verse: Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. (1 John 2:22) So you see, Antichrist is against Christ, and he denies the deity of Christ. We see now he is an enemy of Christ. John will continue this in the fourth chapter: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. By this know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that spirit of antichrist, of which ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world. (1 John 4:1-3) What is the spirit of antichrist? It is that which denies the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. For example, and I say this dogmatically, the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar is antichrist. It denies the deity of Christ. I don’t want to be ugly, but I must add that every liberal preacher who denies the deity of Christ is an antichrist – but not the Antichrist. You are antichrist when you deny the deity of Christ. You are an enemy of Jesus Christ. That’s very important, I think, to see. The Lord Jesus Himself, you remember, said that many would come in His name and they would deceive many. They would be pseudo-christs; they would pretend to be Christ. And John says: “…And this is that spirit of antichrist, of which ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world.” John nails it down. That is antichrist. Now in his second epistle John gives the other side: 3 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. (2 John 7) He is a deceiver. He pretends to be Christ. On one side he is an enemy of Christ. On another side, he is a deceiver. How can we reconcile these two aspects of the person of Antichrist? How can Antichrist, when he appears be an enemy of Christ, at the same time pretend to be Christ? Well, this has troubled me for a long time, and I have given a lot of thought to it. Probably anybody else would have discovered it in a minute, but it took me a long time to discover it. Now I want to turn your attention to the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation. And if you will forgive me, I am going to quote my own translation – which I do not recommend, as I call it the McGeeicus Ad Absurdum translation! All I’ve attempted to do is to lift out of the original Greek the meaning of the words. It is a little different and I hope a little clearer. Here are the first four verses: And he stood on the sand of the sea; and I saw a [wild] beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. And the [wild] beast which I saw was like unto a panther, and his feet were as the feet of a bear; and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power; and his throne, and great authority. And one of his heads as though it had been slain unto death; and his stroke of death was healed; and the whole [inhabited] earth wondered after the beast.
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