Word of Salvation – Vol. 24 No. 40 – June 1978

 

The Antichrist

 

Sermon by Rev. S. Voorwinde, M.A., M.Th. on 2Thessalonians 2:3-4

Scripture reading: 1John 2:18-29; 2Thessalonians 2:1-12

 

The passages of the Bible that predict the future are certainly the most difficult passages to understand in the Scriptures. Many of them have been the objects of the speculation, guess-work and fanciful interpretation of many people. But perhaps in no other area has this guess-work reached such epidemic proportions as in people's attempt to answer the question: Who is the Antichrist? No doubt as a regular reader of Scripture this is a question that you have asked yourself somewhere along the line.

Down the ages people have answered this question in many different ways. Some of the candidates they suggest for the title are understandable, others are quite ridiculous. Many of the early Christians believed that the Roman emperor was the Antichrist. A variation on this theme was the belief that the Antichrist would be Nero brought back to life.

Most of the Reformers (including Luther and Calvin) believed that the Pope was the Antichrist. This was a common view among Protestants for a long time and even found its way into the original version of the Westminster Confession (written in 1648): There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ; nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense be the head thereof; but (he) is that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the Church against Christ, and all that is called God" (25.6). Very few Protestants hold this view today and even in most current editions of the Westminster Confession the statement that the Pope is the Antichrist has now been discreetly left out.

In more recent times history has provided people with quite an array of possible candidates for the dubious title of "Antichrist". Some people saw him in Napoleon or Hitler, others in Mussolini or Stalin. A rather unfortunate identification we encountered a few years ago was that Henry Kissinger was the Antichrist as if he didn't have enough trouble already.

Then today, too, there are those who have given up altogether in trying to identify the Antichrist with any particular person. For them the Antichrist is not a person, but a principle or a system of evil.

So in the midst of this babel of voices what are we to believe about the Antichrist? Is he even a person, and if so who might he be? Was he a figure of the past or someone who is still to come?

If we examine the Bible carefully we can find satisfactory answers to these questions. And as we now examine the Bible we must follow one of the basic rules of Biblical interpretation and that is that we move from the more clear to the less clear. Now the clearest statements about the Antichrist are found in the letters of John (in fact this is the only part of Scripture where the term "Antichrist" is used at all). So let's look at John's letters first and then turn to our text in 2Thess.2.

In 1 and 2 John there are four statements about the Antichrist. Each of these statements adds to the other. With each statement we learn something more. Each is like a step and with each step we go up we see something more.

Firstly, in 1John 2:18: "Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen.....!” There is a whole line of antichrists and this line will come to its climax in the final Antichrist. For John the antichrists were present already, the Antichrist was still to come. The antichrists who were already there were identifiable people (those to whom his letter was addressed knew who these people were) and so the Antichrist will be an identifiable person. He is not a principle or system of evil. He is a person.

Some people have argued, and I think rightly, that just as Christ is a person, so the Antichrist is a person. Pushing the analogy further we could also say that as there are many antichrists there are also many Christs. "Christ" means "anointed one". In the Old Testament, prophets, priests and kings were anointed and they all foreshadowed Christ. There was a line of anointed ones which culminated in the Anointed One, Jesus Christ. Likewise here is a line of antichrists culminating in the person of the Antichrist.

Now that we know who he is, the next statement in 1John tells us what the Antichrist does. 1John 2:22: "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son." The Antichrist is a liar and his greatest lie is that he denies the Father and Son.

But how exactly does he deny the Father and Son? We are told in 1John 4:2 & 3: "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world." The Antichrist denies the Father and the Son by denying that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. He claims that the man Jesus is not God's Anointed One, Jesus is not the Messiah. The fact that we hear this denial so often today is clear proof of what John says, "the spirit of antichrist .... is already in the world."

Now the content of the Antichrist's denial is so important that John repeats this in his second letter, while adding one further thought (vs.7) "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist." Again John is building on what he has said before, with the new thought that the Antichrist is a deceiver. So what John says about the Antichrist is rather straight forward and easy to understand. The Antichrist is a person who lies, denies and deceives. And this lie, denial and deception boils down to his one basic claim. He does not acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.

Now what John writes fits into what Paul writes to the Thessalonians like a hand fits into a glove: The Antichrist is a person. In 2Thess.2 he is called "the man of lawlessness", "the son of perdition" and "the lawless one". The things he does in this chapter are also the kind of things a person would do. The Antichrist is a liar. This comes to expression not only in what he says but also in what he does. He comes "with all power and signs and false wonders". Literally he performs miracles of falsehood (or lying).

Just as Christ performed miracles, so the Antichrist will perform miracles. Christ's miracles were performed in evidence of the truth of His claims. The Antichrist's miracles will be performed to suggest his lies. And those who perish will believe his lie.

John says that the Antichrist denies the Father and the Son. In our text Paul tells us that the man of lawlessness "opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God" (vs.4). Now it is clear why he denies that Jesus is God's Anointed. He sets himself up as God. The same Satanic spirit that was in the Garden of Eden at the beginning of history is now stronger than ever at the end of history in the person of the Antichrist - "you shall be as God".

Finally, Paul, too, says that the Antichrist not only lies and denies, but deceives as well. In vs.10 he says that he comes "with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish". He uses every deceitful craft he can muster even miracles to make people believe his lie and to send them to their doom.

So far then we have seen the overlap between what Paul and John have to say about the Antichrist. He is a person who denies, lies and deceives. However Paul tells us more than John. He not only tells us who the Antichrist is, but more about what he does, when he comes and how he will be slain. It is to these questions that we must now turn.

When does he come? At a time of great apostasy just before the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our text makes this quite clear: "Let no one in any way deceive you, for the day of the Lord will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction" (vs.3).

At the end of time many people will fall away from Christianity.

The Gospel is preached in the whole world at the time when this great apostasy will take place. Jesus speaks of this apostasy very plainly in Matthew 24:10-12: "And at that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many. And because lawlessness is increased the love of many will grow cold."

This is the great apostasy which will be accompanied by the great tribulation. The Antichrist does not get these movements going. He cashes in on them, as it were. He uses them for his own ends and makes the situation so severe for believers that the days will be cut short for the sake of the elect.

The apostasy comes and then the man of lawlessness is revealed. What does the man of lawlessness do? We are told in vs.4 of our text: "He sets himself up against God. He demands to be worshipped. And he proclaims himself to be God." Above all else he wants first place. He wants to be in the highest possible position. Therefore it says: "He takes his seat in the temple of God." And it is this that is so especially deceptive. For when Paul speaks about the temple he is not talking about the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Mostly when Paul talks about the temple he is referring to the Church. And this is no exception.

The Antichrist takes his seat in the visible Church. This Antichrist does not come from outside the Church, but from within the Church. He is not a Roman emperor or a communist dictator. He comes from within the Christian circle and it is there that he takes his place.

It is not by accident that he is called "the son of destruction". There is only one other person who is called "the son of destruction" in the New Testament and that is Judas Iscariot. He did not come from outside the circle, but was a member of the most intimate circle of Jesus' followers, yet he was a liar and a deceiver.

And when John describes the antichrists of his day it is interesting to note what he says about them: "They went out from us but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us.” (1John 2:19). They were from us, but not of us.

Just like Judas, he went from the disciples, but he was not of the disciples.

And so it will be with the Antichrist.

He will be in the Church, but certainly not a member of the body of Christ. The Antichrist he is Satan's last deceptive and desperate attempt to win a war he has already lost. It is his last attempt to annul what Christ has done, to undo the salvation of the elect and to snatch them out of Christ's hand.

What the Antichrist does can be usefully compared to some events that took place towards the end of World War II. As Christians today we are like people living in occupied Europe between D-Day and V-Day. The liberating forces were already on Continental soil, but the day of victory still lay in the future. So we live between Christ's first coming and his second. A decisive victory has been won. On the cross Christ dealt Satan a mortal and fatal blow. But Satan is still alive and kicking. He has been defeated, but not destroyed. That must wait till the day of Christ's Second Coming.

Once the allies had landed in France, Hitler's days were numbered. Yet the days between D-Day and V-Day were some of the worst and toughest days of the whole war, as many of you will remember. Realizing his desperate situation the enemy unleashed all his terror. It was between D-Day and V-Day that there was the terrible Battle of the Bulge when two German Panzer armies thrust into the allied troops in the Ardennes in Belgium. Some of the Germans were disguised in allied uniforms, and even though it was over in a month, the allies sustained severe losses.

The great tribulation and coming of the Antichrist will be like the battle of the Bulge.

It will be Satan's last desperate attempt to gain supremacy. He, too, will disguise himself as a member of the opposite side and seemingly inflict severe losses. But this last bid will be in vain. Even though he will unleash great terror, his days will be severely numbered. The Antichrist's career, though terrible, will be brief: "The Lord will slay him with the breath of his mouth and bring him to an end by the appearance of His coming" (vs.8). Yes, the Antichrist will afflict the faithful with his reign of terror. But it will be short-lived and he will come to a sudden end. As Luther put it so crisply in his well-known hymn:

"The prince of darkness grim
  We tremble not for him,
 His rage we can endure,
 For lo! his doom is sure,
 One little word shall fell him."

The Antichrist - his reign is terrible, but his time is short. The tribulation he brings will be great, but even that falls within the plan and power of God.

Who, then, is the Antichrist?

He is not a principle of evil, but definitely a person. He is not a historical figure, but an incarnation of Satan who appears on the world scene at the close of history and who will be swiftly destroyed when Christ returns.

At this point surely there is a lesson that we should learn from history and from Scripture and that is that we should not be too preoccupied in trying to identify the Antichrist with some historical figure. When he comes it will be clear enough - three times Paul says that "he will be revealed".

Our immediate concern is the present situation:

Paul says: "The mystery of lawlessness is already at work" (vs.7).

John says: "Even now many antichrists have risen" (2:18).

Surely there can be no mistake about the fact that throughout history many antichrists have arisen. There have been many who have denied Christ and often they have brought lawlessness in their train. And the terrible thing is that they have arisen within the Church and have been the greatest enemies of the true faith.

They are those who have denied that fundamental confession that Peter, the disciple, made concerning Jesus: "You are the Christ, the Son. of the living God". The great opponents of the faith are those who denied this great truth.

In the fourth century an elder in the Church in Constantinople by the name of Arius claimed that Jesus was not fully divine. With this he misled many people.

A few centuries later an Arab by the name of Mohammed claimed that Christ was a great prophet, but not God. The effects on Christianity, humanly speaking, were disastrous.

Present-day liberal theologians claim that Jesus was a great teacher and moral example, but not God. They, too, have led millions astray.

Today, also, Jehovah's Witnesses, like Arius in the fourth century, claim that Jesus was not fully divine. Jesus is "a god", but not God.

Now you put all of these influences together. movements that grew up on the soil of Christianity (the Mohammaden religion, theological liberalism and the cults that deny the deity of Christ) and you will have to agree with John: "Even now many antichrists have arisen."

Already many have been deceived. Many have been misled. Many have fallen away. How sure then we need to be of our confession! How clear we must be about where we stand!

As John said: "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God."

The disciple Peter made the clear confession: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God". Will that also be your confession today, tomorrow, and till the day you die?

AMEN.