Bob Josey - Antichrist Aug 18 2019

Post date: Aug 18, 2019 9:56:54 PM

Review

During our last three lessons, we discussed the role of Satan in the Tribulation period. He is the first person and the pseudo father figure in the unholy trinity. After Satan’s second attempt to usurp God’s throne ends in failure, he turned his attention to destroying Israel any way he could. Ever since Israel became a nation, Satan’s goal has been to destroy them. If he had destroyed them, he could keep the Messiah from being born.  Even after the Messiah’s birth and failed temptation, Satan continually tried to destroy Him. (Luke 4:13) Every temptation that Luke referred to is seen in 1 John 2:16. Every sin imageable can be placed under one of the three categories named by John.

Satan thought that when Jesus died on the cross, that he had defeated Him. Three days after His death, Satan found out differently. After the Messiah ascended to heaven, Satan changed his focus from destroying the Messiah to trying to destroy Israel.  We saw very plainly in Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 12 that Satan wanted to destroy the woman. 

Introduction

Today we will begin our study of the role of the second person of the unholy trinity, the antichrist. His role in the Tribulation period is much more extensive than Satan’s. The biggest thing that Satan and the antichrist have in common is that they both hate Israel and wanted to destroy her.  Since the Messiah is out of reach in heaven, like Satan the antichrist’s first goal is the destroy Israel, Messianic and non-messianic. During the Tribulation period, the unholy trinity will be the leaders of the most extensive and relentless antisemitic undertaking in the history of the world.

The Role of the antichrist in the Tribulation period

A.   The Title Antichrist – The title antichrist is a compound word made up of

the preposition “anti” and the noun “christ.” The preposition “anti” means against or in the place of.  In the situation of the antichrist, both meanings of “anti” could apply to him, but the emphasis should be on the nuance “against.”  He is both against Christ and he is trying to replace Him as the Messiah. The word Christ means the anointed one. Remember there were three ministry offices ordained and anointed in Israel by God in the Old Testament – the prophet, the priest, and the king.  The Christ or the Messiah would not be an anointed one but the Anointed One became He would be ordained and anointed in all three offices.

The title Christ or Messiah is found 529 times in the New Testament. How many times do you think the term antichrist is used in Scripture?  The term is used only five times in Scripture and these are found only in 1 & 2 John.

1 John 2:18 (2x) - The first occurrence of the word antichrist in this verse is the only one that specifically refers to the antichrist. The other four uses deal with the spirit or the characteristics of the antichrist because John is dealing with the false doctrine.

1 John 2:22 – An antichrist is one who denies that Jesus the Messiah and denies that the Father and the Son of God even exist. 

1 John 4:3 – Every individual who does not confess Jesus as Savior and the Messiah is not part of God’s family.

2 John 1:7 – Another characteristic of antichrists is that they are deceivers. Also, John reiterates that another one the characteristics of the antichrists is that they do not acknowledge that Jesus is God who was born as a human being and is the God-man.

Today individuals who deny that Jesus is the Messiah, who do not believe in the Holy Trinity, who do not confess, to agree with, that Jesus is God, and/or who do not believe that Jesus is God who came to live among men in a human body are deceivers who are deceived and are antiimessiahs.

B.   Other Names in Scripture for the Antichrist

§  The little horn (Dan. 7:8)

§  The prince (leader) that is to come (Dan. 9:26)

§  The one who makes desolate (Dan. 9:27)

§  The willful king (Dan. 11:36)

§  The man of lawlessness (2 Thess. 2:3)

§  The son of destruction (NASB) perdition (KJV) (2 Thessalonians 2:3)

§  That lawless one (2 Thess. 2:8)

§  The Beast (Rev. 11:7, 13:1) (This title is found 36 times in Revelation)