IS THE END TIMES ANTICHRIST ALREADY IN OUR MIDST? – 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8

Before the Antichrist identity is revealed the apostle Paul said that two preceding events will occur.

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. ⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.  (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8).

When most Christians consider the Antichrist, they think of an individual, because of the beast from the sea depicted in Revelation 13 or the man of sin described in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4. This figure uses satanic power and charisma to globally gain total political, governmental, societal, and economic power. He will even demand and force worship of himself.  

The Antichrist as he is discussed in Revelation 13 will arise in the end times. As prophecy reveals itself day by day, we are beginning to see how it will be possible for a person to subjugate the whole world. 

Governments today shut down entire nations on the declaration of global health agencies. Media of all sorts have stirred up fear and crushed disagreement; even intimidating usually independent people. Watching how quickly and thoroughly this event has conquered the world, it is easy to see now how a single leader possessed by Satan and a consortium of leaders with a shared satanic goal will gain power in the end times.     

The worldwide reaction to the planned crisis that has taken place in the last two year makes for a strong statement for a “global grooming” for the advent of the Antichrist. 

How many put a piece of cloth over their nose and mouth whenever mandated? How many submitted reluctantly to uncertain medical treatment to keep a job or to travel? How many locked themselves in their houses out of shear fear? Even worse, how many churches closed down by agreeing to governmental interference? 

The Antichrist is the final world ruler in this age. He will make war against God in oppressing Israel and the tribulation saints (Revelation 11:7; 12:17; 13:4, 7; 17:14; 19:11, 19; Daniel 7:21; 9:26). 

• The beast, the kings of the earth…gathered to make war against Him… (Revelation 19:19).
• These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them (Revelation 17:14). 

Scripture describes him in many ways, calling him the little horn (Daniel 7:8); a king (Daniel 8:23; 11:36); one who makes desolate (Daniel 9:27) and the worthless shepherd (Zechariah 11:16-17). 

The Antichrist’s most prominent name in Scripture is the Beast. He will reason like a wild beast and will be the cruelest man in history and is called the Beast 36 times in Revelation (Revelation 11:7; 13:1; 14:9; 16:2; 17:3; 19:20; 20:10). 

In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, Paul used three titles for the Antichrist calling him the man of sin, the son of perdition and the lawless one. The most descriptive passages on the Antichrist in the New Testament are 2 Thessalonians 2, Revelation 13 and Revelation 17. In the Old Testament, they are found in (Daniel 7:8, 18-27; 8:9-12, 23-26; 9:26-27).

The Antichrist will be fully human yet fully demonized. He will be a counterfeit to Jesus who was fully human and fully God. Satan will give him his authority (Revelation 13:2). He will supernaturally ascend from the bottomless pit (Revelation 11:7) as Jesus descended from heaven. 

The Antichrist will claim to be God and will demand that the whole earth worship him as he seeks to be the king of kings over all nations. He will have authority and worshippers in all nations, yet will not totally dominate all as some will be protected by God (Revelation 7:1-8). 

• And all the world marveled and followed the beast (Revelation 13:3).
• All who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).
• The counterfeit trinity consists of Satan, Antichrist and the False Prophet (Revelation 13:1-2, 11).
• The Dragon (Satan) empowers the first beast (Antichrist) and the second beast (False Prophet).
• The Antichrist’s reign will last for seven years (Daniel 9:27). 

He will first bring false world peace then in his final 3½ years, he will turn on Israel and all who refuse to worship him. The Antichrist’s worldwide empire will include 4 main components; political authority to make set policy and laws to kill his resistors (Revelation 13:1-2, 15; 17:16); military force (Revelation 13:4, 7); economic control in the nations to establish monopolies and oppress nations (Revelation 13:2, 15-17) and religious control to establish a worldwide satanic worship movement (Revelation 13:4, 8-14). 

The Antichrist’s primary activities will include making political covenants with Israel and Middle East nations, setting up the abomination of desolation (an image of himself in the reconstructed temple in Jerusalem) that helps him raise up a worldwide worship movement and to establish a worldwide economic network (based on 666). 

He will fiercely persecute Israel and the tribulation saints (Daniel 7:21, 25; 8:24; 11:33-35; 12:7, 10; Revelation 6:9-11; 9:21; 11:7; 13:7, 15; 16:5-7; 17:6; 18:24; 19:2). 

The Antichrist’s 10-nation confederation will provide him with the largest political, military and economic alliances giving him the greatest power base of any man or empire in history. He will have the largest army, the largest political and religious network and the most money of any in history and he will be the greatest criminal in history since it began. 

The 10-nation confederation (Daniel 2:40-44; 7:7; Revelation 17:12) will possibly be headquarter in the European Union (revived Roman Empire). 

The Antichrist will be helped by the loyal service of the False Prophet with his great miracles and the image of the Beast which will be a statue of the Antichrist that is empowered by demons so that it will talk, breathe, and make laws (Revelation 13:14-16). 

Here is a summary of the coming Antichrist as the most powerful evil political leader in history.

1. Military Genius (tactics/strategy) – Revelation 6:2; 13:2, 16; Daniel 8:24, 25; 11:38-39.
2. Oratorical Genius (moves and stirs masses of people) – Daniel 11:32, 36; 8:23.
3. Political Genius (diplomacy) – Revelation 13:8, 12; 17:11-12; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Daniel 7:23-24.
4. Commercial Genius (prosperity) – Daniel 11:36, 43; Revelation 13:16-17.
5. Religious Genius (doctrines and history) – 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:4, 8, 12.
6. Intellectual Genius (science, math, technology, languages, etc.) – Daniel 8:23; 7:25.
7. Occult Genius (demonology, miracles, human sacrifice) – Daniel 8:24; 11:39; Revelation 13. 

Scripture makes it clear that God raises up the Antichrist. Yes, Satan fully participates but in the end it is only by God’s decree that the Antichrist has a reign of terror for 3½ years on the earth. The Antichrist will be given the same 3½ years as Jesus had to show himself to Israel as their Messiah. But we have to remember that Jesus has all power and authority in heaven and over the nations on earth. 

Jesus spoke saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). It is He (the Father)…seated Him (Jesus) at His right hand…far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. He put all things under His feet (Ephesians 1:20-22). 

There is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God (Romans 13:1). God shall raise up the Antichrist and grant him authority for 3½ years over the nations. “For indeed I will raise up a shepherd (Antichrist) in the land who will not care for those who are cut off (killed)…but he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces. Woe to the worthless shepherd

…A sword will be on his arm and on his right eye! His arm will be totally withered, and his right eye will be blind” (Zechariah 11:16-17). 

And he (Antichrist) was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months….7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation…15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast… (Revelation 13:5, 7, 15). 

And he (the Antichrist) will speak against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time (three and a half years). But the court will convene for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the empires will serve and obey Him (Daniel 7:25-27). 

Satan also gives the Antichrist his power and authority. “The dragon (Satan) gave him his power, his throne, and great authority” (Revelation 13:2). Satan’s two main purposes in giving the Antichrist power is to lead a global worship movement (Revelation 13:4, and to exterminate the Jewish people (Zechariah 13:8-9; Revelation 12:12-17) so a believing Jewish remnant cannot exist for Jesus to rule Israel as their King during the Millennium in Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37-39). 

Pressure in the Great Tribulation will come from four sources.

1. God’s wrath (Revelation 15:7), against the Antichrist’s kingdom,
2. Satan’s rage against the saints (Revelation 12:12),
3. man’s sin as seen in evil acts against one another (Revelation 9:21),
4. and convulsions in nature (earthquakes, etc.). 

The main emphasis of the tribulation will be God’s judgment (tribulation) against the Antichrist’s empire as seen in the Book of Revelation (7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls). This is NOT against the saints, since “God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9) 

Since God long ago foretold the rise of this beast with the detail that we now see taking shape in our world, we can absolutely trust His Word as to the coming destruction of this beast, both the government and the Antichrist who will personify the beast (Daniel 2:44-45; 7:26-27; Revelation 19:17-20:3) and who Jesus will destroy at His second coming. 

For those of us who belong to Christ, the good news of the Gospel is that Jesus will come for us before the start of the tribulation and the culmination of the Satanic plans of the globalists. 

We do not wait in fear; but we eagerly look forward to the appearance of our great Savior who will take us back to the place He has prepared for us (John 14:1-3). In other words, the believer awaits in anticipation their speedy departure from this world to heaven. 

Yes, the news about our world today is more than a little disconcerting, but our hope is more glorious than we can imagine. 

Jesus is coming to take us home; and we need not buy into the fear of what is happening at this time. 

The lawlessness and violence of our day tell us that the prophesied tribulation is getting nearer. But before that can happen, the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). 

So let us be obedient and watchful for our Lord’s return because His coming is getting nearer every day!

Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen (Revelation 22:20-21). 

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