The Mark Of the Beast and The Antichrist

The expression antichristos is found in the Bible only in the Johannine Epistles (1 Jn. 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 Jn. 7), but the idea behind it is widespread. We should probably understand the force of anti as indicating opposition, rather than a false claim, i.e. the antichrist is one who opposes Christ rather than one who claims to be the Christ. If this is so, then we should include under the heading ‘antichrist’ such OT passages as Dn 7:7f., 21f., and those in 2 Thes. 2 and Revelation which deal with the strong opposition that the forces of evil are to offer Christ in the last days.

The concept is introduced in John as already well known (‘you have heard that antichrist is coming, 1 Jn. 2:18). But though he does not dispute the fact that at the end of this age there will appear an evil being, called ‘antichrist’, John insists that there is a temper, an attitude, characteristic of antichrist, and that already exists. Indeed, he can speak of ‘many antichrists’ as already in the world (1 Jn. 2:18). He gives something in the nature of a definition of antichrist when he says, ‘This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son’ (1 Jn. 2:22). This becomes a little more explicit when the criterion is made the refusal to acknowledge ‘the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh’ (2 Jn. 7). For John it is basic that in Jesus Christ we see God acting for man’s salvation (1 Jn. 4:9f.). When a man denies this he is not simply guilty of doctrinal error. He is undercutting the very foundation of the Christian faith. He is doing the work of Satan in opposing the things of God. At the end of the age this will characterize the work of the supreme embodiment of evil. And those who in a small way do the same thing now demonstrate by that very fact that they are his henchmen.

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