Who IS the Antichrist?

What does the term “Antichrist” bring to mind?  Someone diabolically evil?  An evil genius hell-bent on bringing about the end of the world?  Son of Satan come to Earth to rule over a cowering populace?  Nicholae Carpathia from the Left-Behind series?  The villain in the book of Revelation?  It might surprise you that all of these descriptions are wrong.

The term “antichrist” is used exactly five times in scripture:
Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come.  This is how we know it is the last hour.  19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us.  For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.  21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.  22 Who is the liar?  It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ.  Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.  23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
  - 1 John 2:18-23

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 
  - 1 John 4:1-3

 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands.  As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.  7 I say this because many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world.  Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 
  - 2 John 6-7

The Antichrist does not appear in the book of Revelation.  Some people associate “The Antichrist” with “the Beast” which is in Revelation, but this is an interpretive leap that is not supported in scripture.  In this handful of passages written by John, the antichrist is not one character but a description of the way someone acts. (Note: when Antichrist is capitalized, it implies a character; when antichrist is not capitalized, it implies a descriptor.)  There is not one antichrist but many (1 John 2:18).   An antichrist is one who not committed to the community (1 John 2:19).  An antichrist is one who denies that Jesus is the messiah (1 John 2:22).  An antichrist is someone who thinks that Jesus did not come from God (1 John 4:3).  An antichrist is someone who doesn’t follow the teachings of Jesus and follow his command for us to love one another (2 John 6-7).

Simply put, an “antichrist” is someone who is against the message of Jesus Christ.  An antichrist might look like a member of the community, but they will not act like it.  We are told that there will be MANY people like this: ones who might put a veneer of faith around their words, but their actions will shows that they don’t follow Jesus’ teachings and therefore don’t believe in the message of Jesus.  They are deceivers that dress up like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Calling someone an antichrist is not calling them Satan or the son of the devil; it is saying that someone is living a life that is the opposite of the Gospel message.  And I believe there are many antichrists in the world today: people would love to use the words of Jesus in scripture not to spread love or hope but to oppress and spread hate.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris