The Antichrist
Brandon Zeider
The Antichrist: The Coming Man of Lawlessness
Few Biblical topics generate more speculation, and more anxiety, than the Antichrist. Over the centuries, Christians have identified everyone from Roman emperors to medieval popes, from Napoleon to Hitler to modern political leaders as this mysterious figure. Thanks to Hollywood nonsense, many (most?) people, even non-Christians, have heard of the Antichrist, even if they don’t really know exactly what that term means. Now even billionaire tech moguls are openly discussing the Antichrist, seemingly on a weekly basis. Yet despite all of the debate and speculation, we still don’t know who this man is. So what does the Bible say about the Antichrist?
What's in a Name?
Most Christians would probably associate the Antichrist with the book of Revelation, but interestingly, the word antichrist never appears in Revelation, only in John’s epistles (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7). Elsewhere, Scripture uses various other titles to describe this figure:
The Beast (Revelation 13)
The Man of Lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
The Son of Destruction (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
The Lawless One (2 Thessalonians 2:8)
The Little Horn (Daniel 7:8)
In John’s epistles, he speaks both of a future Antichrist and of many "antichrists" already present in the world—false teachers who deny that Jesus is the Christ or that He came in the flesh. This is an important distinction often missed. Throughout church history, the "spirit of antichrist" has manifested in many individuals and systems opposed to Christ. From Nero to Domitian, from certain medieval popes to modern totalitarian dictators, history has witnessed many figures who embodied antichrist characteristics. Yet the Antichrist—the final, climactic manifestation of rebellion against God—remains a future reality.
1 John 2:18 (ESV): Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. Notice here that John says “as you have heard that antichrist is coming” (emphasis added). From this we know that there was a developed teaching about the coming of the Antichrist in the early church that John is alluding to.
A Counterfeit Christ
The Antichrist is not merely a particularly evil human being. Scripture reveals that his coming will be "by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception" (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). He is, in the truest sense, satanically empowered and demonically inspired. Revelation 13 depicts this graphically: "And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority" (v. 2). The dragon, identified elsewhere in Revelation as Satan, delegates his authority to this figure. The Antichrist will be Satan's ultimate counterfeit, a false christ who mimics the true Christ in blasphemous parody.
One of the most chilling aspects of the Antichrist is how closely he will imitate Christ:
Just as Christ received authority from the Father, the Antichrist receives authority from Satan
Just as Christ was slain and rose again, the Antichrist receives "a mortal wound" that is healed (Revelation 13:3)
Just as Christ performed signs and wonders, the Antichrist will perform "great signs, even making fire come down from heaven" (Revelation 13:13)
Just as Christ demands worship as God, the Antichrist "opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship" (2 Thessalonians 2:4)
This counterfeit will be so convincing that "the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast" (Revelation 13:3). Only those whose names are "written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb" will refuse to worship him (Revelation 13:8).
Characteristics of the Beast
Revelation 13 provides vivid imagery of the beast that rises from the sea: ten horns, seven heads, bearing blasphemous names, resembling a leopard with feet like a bear and a mouth like a lion. These details draw heavily from Daniel 7, where four beasts represent successive world empires. The Antichrist will somehow embody or fulfill the evil characteristics of all previous godless kingdoms.
His actions will be both spectacular and terrible:
Blasphemy Against God: He will open his mouth "to utter blasphemies against God,
blaspheming his name and his dwelling" (Revelation 13:6).
War Against the Saints: "It was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them"
(Revelation 13:7). This is perhaps the most sobering aspect: believers will face persecution, and many will be martyred.
Global Authority: His reach will be universal, spanning "every tribe and people and language and nation" (Revelation 13:7). This isn't a local tyrant but a figure of genuinely global power.
Limited Duration: His reign will last precisely "forty-two months," three and a half years (Revelation 13:5). Even at the height of his power, God has set boundaries.
The False Prophet and the Mark
The Antichrist won't work alone. Revelation 13 describes a second beast, later called "the false prophet," who exercises the authority of the first beast and "makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast" (v. 12). This false prophet performs miraculous signs, even "making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people" (v. 13), in a counterfeit of Elijah's ministry.
Most infamously, this false prophet institutes a mark system:
Revelation 13:16–17 (ESV): Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
Instead of speculating what this mark might look like, or whether it’s an actual physical mark or not, let’s instead look at the mark's purpose. The mark serves two purposes: first, it represents allegiance to the beast (much as Christians "bear the name" of Christ), and second, it serves as an economic control mechanism.
Significantly, the locations specified, forehead and right hand, echo Deuteronomy 6:8, where faithful Israelites were to bind God's Word "as a sign on your hand" and "as frontlets between your eyes" as symbols of covenant loyalty to God. Furthermore, we learn in Ezekiel 9:4 that God required a mark to be placed on the foreheads of all who had repented of the idolatry of the nation, indicating that they belong to Him.
The beast's mark is a blasphemous counterfeit, demanding the same exclusive allegiance that belongs to God alone. The consequences for taking the mark and worshiping the beast are eternal:
Revelation 14:9–10 (ESV): 9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
Given the context and the fact that condemnation is for those who worship the beast AND take the mark, taking this mark—whether physical or not—will not be accidental, but rather a conscious decision of allegiance. Another mystery is the number of the beast:
Revelation 13:18 (ESV): This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.
To say that this passage has generated speculation is a bit of an understatement. Somehow, this number, 666 (some early manuscripts say 616), identifies the one we could call the Antichrist. Throughout history, interpreters have used gematria (assigning numerical values to letters) to identify everyone from Nero Caesar to countless modern figures, yet none of these has proven definitive.
What can we say with confidence? The number is associated with the beast, it’s "the number of a man, " and it falls short of seven, the Biblical number of completion and perfection. Whatever else 666 may signify, it marks something fundamentally human, flawed, and incomplete attempting to claim divine status. The theme of Satan’s counterfeit and deceit continues.
These descriptions raise an important question many Christians ask: when will all this occur?
Historical or Eschatological Figure?
What do we know about the timing of the Antichrist? Was he a historical figure, or an eschatological one? Scripture fortunately is not silent. As we’ve already seen in 1 John 2:18, the early church had a developed teaching about a coming Antichrist, but by itself this isn’t definitive, as future to John’s time doesn’t mean future to us. Paul provides more information about timing in his second letter to the church at Thessalonica.
The context of this letter is, as always, important. Some believers in Thessalonica were troubled, thinking "that the day of the Lord has come" (v. 2). Paul wrote to correct this misunderstanding, rather emphatically:
2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 (ESV): 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
So the sequence Paul lays out is:
The great apostasy (rebellion)
The revealing of the man of lawlessness
His blasphemous self-deification
Then the Lord's return
This means that the Antichrist figure is eschatological, and that believers should not expect to be removed from earth before the Antichrist appears.
A note on perspective: This article interprets these passages from a futurist framework, understanding the Antichrist as a figure yet to come. This approach, represented in the scholarship of Ladd and Osborne, is one of several views held by faithful Christians throughout church history. Believers have understood these prophecies through different interpretive lenses—preterist, historicist, idealist, and futurist—while maintaining unity on the essential truths of the gospel and Christ's ultimate victory.
The Defeat of the Antichrist
As fearsome as the Antichrist's power will be, Scripture never leaves us in doubt about his ultimate fate. His doom is certain, swift, and complete.
Paul declares that "the Lord Jesus will kill [him] with the breath of his mouth and bring [him] to nothing by the appearance of his coming" (2 Thessalonians 2:8). No great battle is described, simply the breath of Christ's word at His appearance is sufficient to destroy him.
Revelation 19 depicts Christ's return as a conquering King: "From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations" (v. 15). When Christ appears, the Antichrist and the false prophet are "thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur" (v. 20).
The Antichrist's reign of terror will end in a moment. The kingdom that seemed invincible will collapse at a word. The beast who demanded worship will be cast into eternal torment.
Already But Not Yet
Revisiting 1 John 2:18, we live in the tension of "already but not yet" (see my article on The Olivet Discourse for more on this framework). The spirit of antichrist has been active for millennia, manifesting in false teachers, persecuting rulers, and godless systems. In that sense, we have already seen many antichrists. But the Antichrist—the final, Satan-empowered embodiment of rebellion against God—remains yet to be revealed. When he does appear, believers should not be caught off guard, as Scripture has warned us beforehand. The signs will be unmistakable, and most importantly, we know how the story ends. The Antichrist will rise, deceive many, persecute the saints, and appear invincible. But his reign will be brief. It will end not with a whimper but with the glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will destroy the Antichrist with the breath of His mouth and cast him into the lake of fire. Until that day, we watch, we pray, we remain faithful, and we remember the words of Jesus in The Olivet Discourse:
Luke 21:28 (ESV): Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
For while many antichrists have come, the Antichrist is yet to be revealed.
Sources
Ladd, George Eldon. A Commentary on the Revelation of John. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1972.
Osborne, Grant R. Revelation. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002.