The Antichrist

I. The Matter of Response

The Bible tells us about the Antichrist so that we can recognise what spirit is operating in the world — and even around us — so that we know how to respond. This is a point that many people overlook: God expects us to respond in life. Far too often, the focus falls entirely on events and circumstances, when in truth, the greater question is what we do with what we know.

Response is everything. Consider the principle plainly:

Your response is more important than what happens to you or around you. If you don’t have accurate information, your response will be wrong, and if you have the wrong response, you will have the wrong result.

This is a principle of life. Silence itself is a response. And so the pressing question before every believer is this: have you, so far, had the right response or the wrong response? The answer begins with accurate information — and that information is found in the Word of God.

Jesus addressed this matter with piercing clarity when He said:

“I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.”  —John 5:43

What appears at first glance to be a supposition is, in fact, stated in the affirmative in the original Greek. Jesus was prophesying of the Pseudo-Christos — the false Christ. He warned His disciples on multiple occasions about the coming of false Christs and false prophets. It was not a peripheral concern; it was a recurring, urgent warning.

II. The Spirit of Antichrist Already at Work

It was the Apostle John who coined the term ‘Antichrist’ — a term that appears in no other book of the Bible. The word carries a dual meaning: instead of Christ, or against Christ. John wrote with unmistakable clarity about this spirit already being present in the world in his own day:

“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.”  —1 John 2:18

When you read John’s writings in context, you immediately grasp what he is communicating. The spirit of Antichrist is not simply a future political figure; it is a spirit that has been at work in the world across the ages. John also gives us indications of when to expect the ultimate manifestation of this spirit. If you know your Bible — and specifically, if you understand biblical chronology — you will discern when he should come to the world.

There is a disturbing pattern that has repeated throughout history: many who are willing to demonstrate magnanimity toward fake news and wrong doctrine are simultaneously unwilling to accept real truth. The Bible forewarns us that the Antichrist will be a deceiver and a liar, and that many religious leaders will endorse him. These are the same kinds of people who endorsed false prophets in Bible days — and who killed God’s prophets.

When dealing with prophecy, it is essential to hold in mind the law of double reference: something is stated that seems to address the immediate moment, yet the same text carries indicators that reach far into the future. With that lens, we turn to the many names and titles by which the Antichrist is revealed in Scripture.

III. The Names and Titles of the Antichrist

The Scriptures do not leave us guessing. The Antichrist is described by a constellation of names and titles that together paint his portrait in unmistakable detail.

1. The Spoiler and the Extortioner

In Isaiah 16:4, God calls His own people outcasts — a jarring moment that speaks both to the immediate historical situation and to a future reality. The Antichrist is here identified by two titles: the Spoiler and the Extortioner. This is not ancient history alone. The Living Bible’s rendering of Daniel 11:39 makes the contemporary application inescapable: the reconstruction of settlements, the displacement of farmers through intimidation and banditry, the sale of land to corporate entities, the raising of legislative barriers that make individual land ownership increasingly impossible — all of this is already happening. The friends of those who orchestrated the COVID crisis are being rewarded even now. The Spoiler and the Extortioner are at work.

2. The Wicked

Isaiah 11:4 identifies the Antichrist as ‘The Wicked.’ In that same passage, the righteous Judge — Jesus Himself — is revealed as the one who will deal the decisive blow:

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.  —2 Thessalonians 2:8

Daniel 7:11 confirms this end: the Beast is slain and given to the lake of fire. Jesus the righteous Judge will slay the Antichrist with the breath of His mouth. No power, no matter how formidable it appears in the earth, can withstand the Word of God.

3. The Beast

In Daniel 7:11, and again in Revelation 19:20, the Antichrist is called ‘The Beast.’ This title evokes the portrait of a figure who operates outside the bounds of human dignity and divine order — a man who has wholly surrendered himself to a spirit that is fundamentally bestial in nature. The imagery is not incidental; it is prophetic and precise.

4. The Man of Lawlessness

Paul writes plainly in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, and the NIV renders the title ‘man of lawlessness’ — which is more accurate than the word ‘sin’ used elsewhere. Lawlessness is defined as a state of disorder resulting from the failure of government; illegality as a consequence of unlawful acts. Consider what this means for the so-called ‘New World Order.’ It is a misnomer. How can Satan, who appoints a man of lawlessness, produce order? It is a fallacy — a dream that can never be realised. Lawless men cannot produce order.

Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees.  —Isaiah 10:1, NIV

Around the world, unjust laws and oppressive decrees are being legislated. And God says: woe to them. The Lord will give boldness to those who tell the truth. Those who honour Him, He will honour; those who dishonour Him, they shall be lightly esteemed.

5. The Little Horn

Daniel 7:8, 24–25 and 8:9–11 describe this figure as ‘The Little Horn.’ It is the Antichrist who will stop the daily sacrifice — the revived Levitical system that will exist at that time. He emerges from obscurity, but his ambitions are vast and his reach devastating. Scripture is precise in mapping out his rise and his reach.

6. King of Fierce Countenance

Daniel 8:9–10 and 23–24 in the TLB describe a king of fierce countenance possessed of ‘shrewdness and intelligence.’ He will destroy God’s people. He will be a master of deception, defeating many by catching them off guard as they bask in false security. Without warning, he will destroy them. This is not the portrait of a clumsy tyrant; this is a man of calculated, cold cunning.

7. The Prince That Shall Come

Daniel 9:26–27 in both the KJV and TLB introduces a crucial title: ‘The Prince That Shall Come.’ This prince confirms a treaty with many for one week — and then, at the midpoint, he violates it. He will dismantle the whole Levitical system, which would have been revived by that time. He presents himself as a man of peace, only to reveal his true nature in the most devastating betrayal the world will have seen.

8. Son of Perdition

Only two figures in all of Scripture are called by this name: the Antichrist and Judas Iscariot. The designation — found in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 — speaks to utter and final ruin. It is not merely a title of wickedness; it is a statement of destiny. Just as Judas was the betrayer from within the inner circle, so the Antichrist will operate through a facade of legitimacy and peace before his true nature is exposed.

9. The Assyrian

This is perhaps the most misunderstood title in prophetic Scripture. Many translations render it as referring to ‘Assyria’ the nation, when in fact the context demands a personal reference — the text addresses this figure in personal pronouns. Understanding this requires prophetic insight, a return to the original languages, and a grasp of the broader rules for interpreting biblical prophecy. We must not be left at the mercy of translators who were sometimes not even believers; some approached the text purely as a commercial exercise.

The LORD Almighty will lash them with a whip, as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb; and he will raise his staff over the waters, as he did in Egypt.  —Isaiah 30:30–31

The Assyrian will be beaten down with the voice of the Lord. Isaiah 10:24–27 makes it even clearer — this is the same writer, addressing the same subject, and the KJV rightly recognises the reference to the Assyrian both as a people in history and as a spiritual person in prophecy. Then Micah 5 brings it to a breathtaking conclusion:

And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.  —Micah 5:5

That is prophetic about Jesus. The same passage opens with the prophecy of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem — ‘His origins are from of old, from ancient times’ — and reaches forward to the Assyrian’s invasion of Israel in the last days. Jesus, in prophecy, shall be the peace when the Assyrian comes into their land and treads in their palaces.

IV. The Antichrist, Israel, and the God Who Is Peace

Israel’s story in prophecy is inseparable from the story of the Antichrist. Micah 5:3 reveals that Israel would be given up — because they smote the Judge of Israel on the cheek; they rejected Him. From that moment, when Jerusalem was trodden down by the Roman army, the times of the Gentiles began — and they continue to this day, resolution after resolution being passed against Israel in the halls of international power.

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.  —Zechariah 12:10

Eventually, because of this, they will turn to the Lord. But before that turning comes the height of their persecution — the time Jeremiah describes as travail:

Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas\! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.  —Jeremiah 30:6–7

The Antichrist moves against Israel after being accepted as a man of peace. Daniel 11:41 speaks of his movements, and verse 45 places him between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean before he comes to his end. This is not referring to the Assyrian before Babylon; this is the end-time Assyrian, the Antichrist, coming into their land.

And yet — hear this carefully — Jesus is our peace. He has been our peace for two thousand years. The Scripture declares it in unmistakable terms:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.  —Ephesians 2:14

You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.  —Acts 10:36

...and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  —Colossians 1:20

For two thousand years He has been the peace — but they did not know, for they rejected Him. He was the peace all along. And until He shows up again, there is, and can be, no lasting peace. Israel will only know true peace when she finally looks upon the One she pierced and mourns

— and finds in that moment the Prince of Peace she had rejected.

Moab, Edom and most of Ammon will not be taken over by the Antichrist at that time. That is why Isaiah said Moab would hide His outcasts. Matthew 24:16 speaks of the flight to the mountains — and the Jews will flee to the mountains of Moab. This is the flight referred to in Revelation 12. These prophecies are not scattered fragments; they are a coherent, interlocking map of the future.

V. Walking in Truth in Difficult Times

Understanding these things is not merely an exercise in prophetic scholarship. It is a matter of life and death — spiritually speaking. The Word of God is clear:

You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times.  —2

Timothy 3:1, TLB

It will be difficult to be a Christian, because of the difficult and unpopular decisions one is required to make — doing what the Word says rather than what is convenient. Wide is the road that leads to destruction, and many there be that go that way. Do not make decisions in life because they are popular. Never follow the crowd. Use the knowledge of God’s Word to make decisions. Jesus Christ is our wisdom:

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.  —1 Corinthians 1:30

Christ is our wisdom. We function in divine wisdom. He has given us access into divine wisdom — we are not in the dark. These are special days, and we must learn to walk in His knowledge:

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.  —Colossians 1:9–12

Not the understanding of the New York Times, CNN, or Fox News. God wants us to walk in wisdom and spiritual understanding. That prayer in Colossians is good for all of God’s people — it shows us what this beautiful Christian life looks like: what to do, how to respond in life.

The gospel we received came to us in the blood of other men. Read church history. Find out about the persecution of Christians — many were slaughtered in some of the most wicked ways imaginable, but they stayed the course to bring us the gospel of the Lord Jesus. If you believe that gospel, and all you want to do is live a life to make money for yourself and your family, then you cannot face persecution. If you have not been tested unto blood and are moved by pressure, something is deeply wrong.

This point must be addressed plainly: certain ministers were recently called upon by a Governor to verify whether they should insist on vaccination before people could enter their churches. With only two exceptions, all the ministers agreed. There are churches and ministers who decreed that no unvaccinated person could enter the house of God to pray. That is not a church. And those who made such decrees were never sent by God. Which of the apostles — which of the prophets — would have done that? If you think they would have, then you have never truly read your Bible.

This is one of the reasons God allowed the disruption of COVID. God’s churches had stopped being churches. Everyone was trying to use God’s people for themselves. This is more than a vaccine matter. It is a test of faith. In the spirit, where have you actually been? Have you been in the truth? Did you even know the truth?

Oh, how important it is to be trained in the things of God\! To be raised in God’s Word\! The Lord will give boldness to those who tell the truth. Those who honour Him, He will honour.

VI. A Prayer for the Church

At this moment, let us pray for the churches of Christ all over the world. Let us pray for the ministers of the gospel, for many are going through great difficulties and challenges. It is not enough to know the truth — we must stand on the truth.

Pray that the Word of God will grow strong in the hearts of His people more than ever before. Pray that they may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Pray that they may be strengthened with all might, according to God’s power at work in them. Pray that their lives will be filled with thanksgiving unto God.

Christ is our wisdom. We function in divine wisdom. We are not in the dark — and in these significant days, let us walk fully in His knowledge.