Who is Antichrist?

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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.)

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 coming, 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 menacing 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 person or an influence, or both. We can begin by saying that the FBI hasn’t been able to get his ingerprints, 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 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:

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. And they worshiped the dragon [this is Satan worship, by the way], because he gave his authority unto the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? And who is able to war with him?

Now I want to drop down to verses 11-14:

And I saw another [wild] beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he was speaking as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first [wild] beast in his presence. And he maketh the earth and the dwellers therein to worship the first [wild] beast, whose wound of death was healed. And he doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven into the earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth the dwellers on the earth through the signs which it was given him to do in the presence of the [wild] beast; saying to the dwellers on the earth that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived.

In this passage that I’ve quoted from Revelation 13, there are two beasts represented. The first beast is Antichrist, the enemy of Christ. The second beast, the false prophet, is like a lamb – but he’s not a lamb. He’s a wild beast underneath. Now this is the one who pretends to be Christ. And you will recall the Lord Jesus in the Olivet Discourse repeatedly warned about one coming in His name. He said, “Many will come in my name and say, ‘I’m Christ.’ Don’t be deceived by that.” Now we today have so lowered our conception of the Person of Christ, that I think we would accept any man who could bring peace to this world. I do not think the world would ask whether he came from heaven or hell, and I don’t think they would care. They would take him. They would elect any man who could bring peace to this world today, and that man will be Antichrist. He will be a false Christ who will bring in a period of peace.

Here in Revelation 13 is presented the first aspect of Antichrist. Let me go over this again rather carefully.

1. We are told that “he stood on the sand of the sea.” “He” refers back to the dragon in the preceding chapter. There the dragon is identified as Satan. Satan is the one who brings this beast up out of the sea.
2. “The sea” is representative of the Gentile nations. So out of the nations of the world he is coming.
3. The beast rising “out of the sea” pictures the first ruler. He will not be a Jew.
4. The second beast, “and another wild beast” (verse 11), has to be a Jew in order to be accepted by the Jews.

So you see, two men are presented on the pages of Scripture, and both men represent Antichrist. There are many antichrists. These two will head up all that the Word of God has to say concerning the Antichrist who is to come. This again is my own translation:

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. (Revelation 13:1)

Then in the following verses he goes on to describe him.

Is Antichrist Rome reunited? Some expositors look at this “beast” as the nation of Rome which is to be brought back together. Others regard him as the Antichrist who puts it together. May I say to you that I think it refers to both. You cannot have a king without a kingdom; you cannot have a kingdom without a king. If you don’t believe that, ask Constantine II, exiled king of Greece, who escaped to Italy. He is no king – he doesn’t have a kingdom. He is out of a job and has had a hard time. A true king must have a kingdom. When you have a kingdom, you have to have a king. This “beast” refers to both the kingdom and the person.

Is he someone from the past? Now verse 3 says something that has disturbed a great many of us – it has disturbed me, I can assure you. Again my literal translation:

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. (Revelation 13:3)

There is a belief abroad that this will be some man who has lived in the past whom Satan will bring back from the dead. Some believe he will be Nero. The early church believed he would be Nero. Also a great many of the church fathers believed that he would be Judas Iscariot. And right now in prophetic circles in this country a belief is circulating that Antichrist will indeed be Judas Iscariot. Now I dismiss all this speculation absolutely, and I’ll tell you why I have to dismiss it. It is because of the fact that the head of the “beast” described here was wounded and he is brought back to life. Can Satan resurrect anyone from the dead? The answer is absolutely he cannot.

I believe this refers to the kingdom of the “beast”; this is the Roman Empire that fell apart and will come back together again. And it’s like a resurrection. The “beast” himself will not be raised from the dead. I do think some kind of chicanery will be used concerning him, but I do not think that he will die and be raised from the dead. Satan cannot raise the dead.

Now I want to turn to a passage of Scripture that I feel is very important in this connection. Note now the words of the Lord Jesus. He is giving the reason that He can say, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.” Why? Actually there are three reasons He can say that, one of which is that He raises the dead, and He is the only one to whom the Father has given that power.

For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and giveth them life, even so the Son giveth life to whom he will. (John 5:21)

Only God can give life. And now the Lord Jesus, who is God, says He gives life also. Now let me drop down in this passage to verse 25:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. (John 5:25)

Whose voice? The voice of the Son of God. Only Jesus Christ can raise the dead. Satan cannot do that. Therefore, Antichrist could not be Nero. He could not be Judas Iscariot. He could not be anybody who has already lived. He will have to be some new person that appears on the scene. He goes on to say regarding Christ:

…All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:28, 29)

What does He mean by “they that have done good”? They came to Him with the question:

…What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered, and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (John 6:28, 29)

Today the good work God asks you to do is to believe on Jesus Christ. It is the believer who will hear His voice and be raised. Then later on, as I understand it, the Old Testament saints are to be raised to enter the Kingdom, during the Millennium, at the end of the Great Tribulation. Then at the end of the Millennium, the lost are raised for judgment. Only Jesus Christ can raise the dead.

Have you ever noticed that no so-called faith healer can raise the dead? God gave that sign to the apostles; not only could Simon Peter and Paul and the others heal the sick, they also raised the dead. And when you find one of these “faith healers” abroad today who is raising the dead, let me know. I’ll go see him then, but not until then. Power to heal the sick and raise the dead was given to the apostles. It’s been given to no one else! Only the Son has power to raise the dead. My, this is a tremendous fact today! Therefore, I don’t see how in the world the Antichrist could be Judas or anyone else who has already died.

How can he imitate Christ? Now let’s look at this other aspect of Antichrist. He’s a false christ, a pseudo-christ. In 2 Thessalonians there are several things I would like to refer to. First of all, will you notice that he’s called here the “wicked one.” That’s another one of his aliases.

And then shall that wicked one he revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. (2 Thessalonians 2:8, 9)

So Antichrist will perform miracles. He will be a miracle worker. And do you know that he’s the only miracle worker the Scriptures promise for the future, with the exception of the Lord Jesus Christ? He’s the only one. For this reason I’m not interested in “miracle workers” today. I am afraid of them.

A family who had belonged to a church I went to pastor in Nashville had gone into spiritualism. The pastor who had retired suggested I go to visit them. I went to see them, and they said, “Why, Dr. McGee, we sat for fifteen years in that Presbyterian church, and we never saw anything happen. We went into spiritualism and, just like that, things began to happen.” And I said, “I believe you. But why would anybody with intelligence sit fifteen years with nothing happening? I think I would have moved before then.” I feel sorry for people who have been sitting in churches for fifteen years without anything happening. My friend, something ought to happen if you’ve been sitting in God’s house listening to God’s Word!

The second thing I said to them was: “The terrible truth is that you have come into something that does have power, but have you ever questioned the source of that power? John says to try the spirits. See whether they are of God or not. Had it ever occurred to you that this may be Satan?” Oh, they had never thought of that. “Well,” I said, “it might be well to try it out. We have no miracle worker today except one that will come finally from Satan.” And I said, “We walk today by faith.” God’s people find that so hard, don’t we? We want to see something. We want to hear something. We want to experience something. And I believe in all of that, but I think the important thing in this world in which we are living is to be able to walk with God by faith.

Now this one we call Antichrist who is to appear denies the Deity – but he assumes deity.

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them who dwell on it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of man, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, that had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he hath power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and enslaved, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads, and that no man might buy or sell, except he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six. (Revelation 13:11-18)

He acts like he’s a lamb, but he’s a wild beast. He’s Antichrist. He pretends to be Christ, and he will be the religious ruler of the world. And he will work with Antichrist, the political ruler of the world.

Part of the mystery in trying to identify Antichrist has been the belief that he is one person and that we must have one person to fulfill the demands of Scripture. However, the first “beast” represents the first aspect of Antichrist that denies the deity of Christ and is the enemy of Christ. The second “beast” represents the second aspect of Antichrist. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing in that he imitates Christ. And both together are the Antichrist. Both are against the living and true Christ. And that’s the reason the Lord Jesus Himself said twice in the Olivet Discourse, “Many will come in my name. They will deceive many.” And that is the tragic thing.

Next Part 2.