Who is the Antichrist? Has he already been revealed?
There is only one area where the word antichrist appears in the bible and that is in John’s epistles.
1 John 2
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come…
What does the word Antichrist mean?
Antichrist ἀντίχριστος antíchristos…an opposer of Christ or one who usurps the place of Christ
Notice that 1 John 2 says “it is the last time”.
John wrote his epistles during the "last time” or in the “last days” (Heb 1:2, 2 Tim. 3:1, Acts 2:17, James 5:3, 2 Peter 3:3) of the Old Covenant age.
The Old Covenant age came to an end with the temple’s destruction in 70AD.
Let’s now compare John’s epistles to Paul’s second letter to the church at Thessalonica.
2 Thess 2
2…the day of Christ is at hand.
3…that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Paul described a “man of sin/son of perdition” that would be revealed before the “day of Christ”.
The “day of Christ” (1 Cor. 1:8, Phil. 1:6&10, 2:16) is the same as the “day of God” (2 Peter 3:12), “day of the Lord” (Is. 2:12, 13:6&9, Jer. 46:10, Ez. 113:5. 20:3 ), “day of Judgement” and “day of wrath” mentioned in the Gospels, Acts, Epistles and book of Revelation.
Throughout the Old Testament God used various nations to deal with his people.
For example, after Israel split into two kingdoms, Assyria conquered the northern kingdom (721BC) and Babylon conquered the southern kingdom (586BC).
God also brought judgement upon Assyria, Babylon and several other nations.
The “day of Christ” that Paul foretold was the destruction of Jerusalem by Roman soldiers that would coincide with Christ’s second coming.
Hence in Matthew 24 Jesus said the “sign” of his coming would be the temple’s destruction.
When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians (around 51-52AD) the day of Christ was “at hand”.
It was drawing near to THEM but would be proceeded by a “falling away” in which the “man of sin/son of perdition” would be revealed.
This “man of sin” would sit "in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God”.
That sounds like the antichrist spirit that John described.
There is a lot of speculation about who this man of sin/son of perdition/antichrist figure is.
One thing I’m certain of is that he was revealed before 70AD when the temple was destroyed and probably by 66AD when the Roman-Jewish war began.
In Matthew 24 Jesus warned his disciples that when they saw “the abomination of desolations spoken of by Daniel, then let them which be in JUDEA flee to the mountains”.
Daniel prophesied that the cessation of the daily sacrifice would spark a three and a half year period of war resulting in the destruction of the city and sanctuary.
In 66AD Eleazar ben Ananias Governor of the temple, persuaded the other priests to “receive no gift or sacrifice from any foreigner”.
According to first century historian Josephus, this was the “true beginning” of the Roman-Jewish war.
The actions of Eleazar ben Ananias resulted in Rome’s first attack on Jerusalem by Cestius in late 66AD, at which point many Christians took heed of Jesus’s warning and fled Judea.
The actions of Eleazar ben Ananias sparked the three and a half year tribulation period that was the Roman-Jewish war.
Could he be the man of sin/son of perdition/anti-christ figure that John and Paul warned of?
It’s definitely not Trump or anyone who is alive today.
We don’t need to look for him to be revealed.
There is no “great tribulation” period to come.
The Old Covenant age has passed away and praise God, we who are born-again live in the New Covenant kingdom of God that will never pass away.
