Who is the Antichrist?

by Bryan Gibson

March 21, 2008

Is it some notorious figure from the past, someone like Adolph Hitler or Joseph Stalin? How about Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi ruler who was executed back in 2006? Or could it be someone alive today, someone like George Bush? Don’t laugh, because there is at least one website (bushisantichrist.com) that supposedly offers scriptural evidence that George Bush, our current president, is the antichrist. Instead of engaging in a lot of wild speculation, let’s go to the Bible to find our answer.

First, let’s make sure we make a distinction between an antichrist and the “false Christs” that Jesus warned about (Matthew 24:5, 24; Mark 13:22). An antichrist opposes and denies Christ, while “false Christs” pretend to be Christ.

Here are the few passages in the Bible that speak of an antichrist. Please read them carefully.

“Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18).

“Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22).

“By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world” (1 John 4:2-3).

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” (2 John 1:7).

Here are two conclusions we can draw from the above passages.

Instead of looking for one person to label THE antichrist, we need to understand that there are many antichrists. It was true when John wrote his epistle, and it is still true today.

An antichrist is anyone who denies that Christ has come in the flesh, who contends therefore that Jesus is not the Christ. He may not realize it, but in doing so, he has denied both the Father and the Son.

Now, here’s the scary part. We could confess that Jesus is the Christ, but still be anti (opposed to) Christ—by either teaching something opposed to the teaching of Christ, or going beyond the teaching of Christ. This can easily be seen by reading beyond the passages cited above. For example, we cited 1 John 4:2-3, but keep reading through verse 6: “We (apostles—BG) are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” The apostles were spokesmen for Christ, so to teach differently than them is to go against Christ.

We also cited 2 John 1:7, but keep reading down to verse 9: “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.” We must stay within the boundaries of His teaching—to do otherwise is anti Christ.

So let’s be careful. We may be looking all around for antichrists, not realizing that there is one in our own mirror.