The Antichrist in Prophecy

The designation "Antichrist," appearing only in the epistles of John (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7), is made up of the Greek words anti ("against, in place of") and christos ("Christ"), and indicates any agent of the evil one (Satan) who acts contrary to or as a counterfeit of God's Anointed who is destined to rule the world in the end time (Psalm 2:2, 6-8; 110:1-2; Isaiah 9:6-7, et. al.). The use of both the singular (“antichrist”) and plural (“antichrists”) in 1 John 2:18 allows for both a concentrated and comprehensive expression such as in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 13:1-14) where an eschatological duo of antichrists are distinguished as the "first Beast" (the Antichrist) and the "second beast" (the false prophet), who with the "dragon" (Satan) as the origin of their "power" (authority), form a counterfeit trinity (Revelation 13:1-2, 11). According to 1 John 4:3 the comprehensive form of “antichrist” is found in the anti-theocratic and anti-Semitic spirit that characterizes the present age and indicates that this is “the last hour” (Last Days) in which the Antichrist is predicted to arise (1 John 2:18; cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 68). Despite the isolated use of the term Antichrist, the Bible is filled with descriptive terminology of the diabolical and desecrating nature of this future opponent of God and His saints. Among the more obvious epithets in Scripture are: "the little horn" (Daniel 7:8), "the insolent king" (Daniel 8:23), "the prince who is to come" (Daniel 9:26), "the one who makes desolate" (Daniel 9:27), "the despicable person" (Daniel 11:21), "the strong-willed king" (Daniel 11:36), "the worthless shepherd" (Zechariah 11:16-17), "the man of lawlessness" (2 Thessalonians 2:3), "the son of destruction" (2 Thessalonians 2:3); "the lawless one" (2 Thessalonians 2:8), "the beast" (Revelation 11:7; 13:1; 14:9; 15:2; 16:2; 17:3, 13; 19:20; 20:10). Only the futurist school (which includes premillennialism) has been able to develop a self-consistent interpretation of the Antichrist concept from the scriptural witness of the two testaments.