ANTICHRIST. The Bible's identification.

ANTICHRIST. The Bible's identification.

Some people say that the antichrist occurred in the past and was such
personages as Pompey, Nero, Muhammad, or Adolf Hitler. Others say that
he came from the Middle East and was Saddam Hussein of Iraq or some
unidentified child in that region. And still others say that the
antichrist is yet to come in the future. How do we know where the
truth is?

Since the word "antichrist" is a Bible term, then it would only be
reasonable to go the Bible to see what God has to say about the
antichrist since we want His interpretations of scripture and not our
own.

The word "antichrist" occurs three times in the Bible in singular
form. The very first occurrence of the word is at 1 John 2:18 which
reads, 

"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." (NIV)

Notice a couple of interesting points in this scripture. The Apostle
John tells us that there are "many" antichrists. Also, these
antichrists were existing in his day, around the end of the first
century.

Thus we know that there is more than one antichrist and that they have
been around for many hundreds of years.  
Does the other occurrences of the word confirm those facts?  1 John
2:22, 

"Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ.
Such a man is the antichrist--he denies the Father and the Son." (NIV)
  In this verse we get a definition of an antichrist; he denies that
Jesus is the Christ and he also denies the Father and his Son. The
last use of the word is at 2 John 7,

"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." (NIV)

Thus we have confirmation that there are more than one antichrist and
more information to include in the definition; a person who does not
acknowledge that Jesus came to earth in the flesh.

So who are these antichrists that the Apostle John brings to our
attention.? There are many, of which include the following:

(1) Persons who deny that Jesus is the Messiah. (1 John 2:22)
(2) Persons who deny that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 2:22; Lu
9:35)
(3) Apostates. (1 John 2:18,19)
(4) Nations that oppose Christ as king. (Ps 2:2)
(5) People saying that they fulfill the Messianic role, not Christ.
(Mt 24:24)

Thus we see that there is a multitude of antichrists which the Apostle
John lumps together as one composite person called the "antichrist" (2
John 7) They have existed in the past and will continue to exist right
up to the time when God says "ENOUGH" and destroys all opposers of His
word. 
(Pr 2:21,22)

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