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1. The need to define terms
correctly! What have you heard
about "the Antichrist?"
2. There are four (4) verses
that use the term "antichrist"
- 1 John 2.18
- 1 John 2.22
- 1 John 4.3
- 2 John 7
*Note: None of the references to
"antichrist" are in the book of Revelation even though the apostle
John wrote both the Epistles of John and Revelation.
3. Basic Bible study notes on
the four texts mentioning "antichrist"
- 1 John 2.18-19
* you "heard" that antichrist is coming;
(not necessarily true)
* even now many
antichrists have arisen (plurality of antichrists)
* they (the antichrists) went out from the church
- 1 John 2.22
* liar = one who denies that Jesus is the Christ
* antichrist = one who denies the Father and the Son
- 1 John 4.3
* antichrist identified with a "spirit"
* this "spirit" does not confess Jesus
* "heard" antichrist is coming
* according to John antichrist is now already in the
world
- 2 John 7
* antichrists identified as deceivers
* antichrists have gone out into the world (from the
church)
* antichrists do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as
coming in the flesh (proto-gnosticism)
4. Attributes of antichrists
according to John
- Antichrists are
contemporaries of John in the first century
-1 John 2.18-19
-1 John 4.3
-2 John 7
- Antichrists are
multiple: a multiple movement
-1 John 2.28: many antichrists have arisen
-2 John 7: many deceivers have gone out into the
world
-1 John 4.3: the spirit of antichrist (does not
confess Jesus)
-1 John 2.22
John clearly applies the conception of the
one antichrist (ho antichristos)
to
the generic tendency to promote lies about the identity of Christ.
Kenneth Gentry He Shall Have Dominion, p. 373
- Antichrists were
religious leaders who went out from the Christian church. They
arose from the inside
of the church (cf. Acts 20.29-30).
-1 John 2.18-19
-2 John 7 (cf. vv. 10-11)
- Antichrists work by
deception
-1 John 2.22: liars
-2 John 7: deceivers
- Antichrists were
recognizable: this was one of John's purposes in writing (1 John
2.26).
-Examine the teaching
-Certain doctrinal errors are labeled
"antichrist"
*Question: Does Nero fit these attributes? No.
5. Gary DeMar points to a
two-fold problem with identifying "antichrist":
- Treating divergent biblical references as if
they refer to the same person thereby creating a composite figure that is
not found in Scripture, and
- Mistaking the time period in which these
divergent figures are to appear.
Gary DeMar Last
Day Madness, p. 221
*The point
here: Antichrist is wrongly equated with the Beast of Revelation
(See
The Truth About Antichrist and His
Kingdom by Thomas Ice and Timothy
Demy, pp. 8,9, and 21 for an example of this fallacy.)
6. Revelation 13: The Beast
- The Beast as empire
(general): vv. 1-2 (cf. Daniel 7.17)
- The Beast as a man
(specific): v. 18
- The Beast persecutes
the church from the outside: v.
7 and 15 (cf. Rev. 20.4)
*Question: What
about the language "every tribe and people and tongue and nation
was given to him" (v. 7)?
Answer: This
phrase echoes Daniel 5:19, in which we are told that "all the peoples,
nations, and men of every language feared king
Nebuchandnezzar." Yet
Nebuchandnezzar's empire did not extend far beyond the Fertile Crescent,
an area somewhat smaller than the Greek or Roman Empires. Thus,
although the language used is universal, it can have a limited
application
to the known political
world of the writer's time.
James Nance "The Anti-Christ
and the Beast" p. 114
7. Indicators that the Beast
was Nero
- Relevance of Revelation
for original audience John wrote to
-1.1,3 and 22. 6,7,12,20: language of soon/near (bookends of the writing)
-historical churches being addressed in chapters 2
and 3
b. Interpreted imagery of Revelation 17 (see verses
3,7, 9-10): Seven heads equal:
i.
Seven mountains: Seven hills surround Rome
Suetonius and
Plutarch record for us that in the time of Domitian the festival of Septimontium
("the feast of the seven hilled city") was held annually in December
to celebrate the seven hills enclosing Rome. Archaeologists have discovered the Coin (or Medallion) of
Vespasian that exhibits a picture of the goddess Roma as a woman seated on
seven hills.
Kenneth
Gentry Before Jerusalem Fell, p. 149
ii.
Seven kings: five have fallen,
one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little
while (Rev. 17.10)
1. Julius Caesar (49-44 BC)
2. Augustus (31 BC-AD 14)
3. Tiberius (AD 14-37)
4. Gaius (Caligula) (AD 37-41)
5. Claudius (AD 41-54)
6. Nero (AD 54-68)
7. Galba (AD 68 [June]-69 [January])
*This listing of emperors is
detailed in the Roman historians Suetonius
(AD 70-160) Lives of the Twelve Caesars and Dio Cassius (AD 150-235)
as well as the Jewish historian
Josephus (AD 37-101).
c. Persecution time frame of Revelation 13.5: 42 months
(3 1/2 years)
*Nero persecuted the
Christian church from November AD 64 to June 9th AD 68
(Just a few weeks over 42 months)
d. The number 666
* Hebrew spelling of Nero's
name equals: NRWN QSR
* The recognized numerical
equivalents for the letters of the time of the apostle John yield the
following:
N=50 Q=100
R=200 S=60
W=6 R=200
N=50
Total = 666
Suggested Bibliography
1. DeMar, Gary. Last Days Madness. Smyrna, GA: American
Vision. 3rd Ed. 1997.
Chapter 11 "Identifying Antichrist" and chapter 12
"Identifying the Beast."
2. Gentry, Kenneth. The Beast of Revelation. Tyler, TX:
Institute for Christian Economics. [1989], 1994.
3. Gentry, Kenneth. Before Jerusalem Fell. Atlanta, GA:
American Vision. Revised Ed. 1998.
4. Gentry, Kenneth. He Shall Have Dominion. Tyler, TX:
Institute for Christian Economics. 1992. Pages 370-378 on antichrists and the
Beast.
5. Gentry, Kenneth. Perilous Times: A Study in Eschatological
Evil. Texarkana, AR: Covenant Media Press. 1999.
6. Nance, James. "The
Anti-Christ and the Beast" in And It
Came To Pass [The Third Annual CEF Symposium: Preterism]. Moscow, ID: Canon
Press. 1993.
