Where would you go to find the information about the antichrist? Let us begin from the position of the Christ. The Christ means the anointed One that would come to earth and die for our sins in order to save us. If His coming was prophesied as well as His work, then it would be safe to say there is nothing in the 39 books of the Old Testament which would have the word antichrist in them. If He had not come then how would you find words about an antichrist? The leaders of the religious world are well aware of this so they construct a doctrine about the antichrist from their twisting of prophecy. No prophecy is of any private interpretation (II Peter 1:20).
If the word is not in the Old Testament then surely it would abound in the New Testament. We find then four verses in all the New Testament with one verse having two references. Five times we find the word antichrist. Does it not strike you as odd that so great a doctrine as presented by the religious world would have only five references to the antichrist? Well, let us look then at the five references.
The first one is found in I John 2:18. John says it is the “last time”. What proof does John offer for this statement? John says that when you hear that antichrist will come and even now they were at work. The Bible is not relative but rather absolute. It is a book from God which each generation can learn from and be helped by it. If that is our understanding why would we take it away from those of the first century. Since we are now in the 21st century does the Bible apply to only those generations from 2 to 21? What do I mean by that?
When John was inspired to write the book of First John would it not have been circulated to those of the first century? How would they have understood the term antichrist and that there were already antichrist in the world of John’s day? If one takes the word antichrist from these scriptures and move it to over 2000 years later in this the 21st century how did those of the first century derive any benefit from the knowledge God provided through John?
In verse 19 “they”, the antichrist went out from us. John says they were not of us. Paul speaks about false brethren (Gal. 2:4). Jude writes about those who were spots in the common meals that the brethren enjoyed with each other (Jude 12). In verse 21 of I John 2, the ideas of truth and lying are presented. Who is the liar? The one who denies that Jesus is the Christ is antichrist (verse 21). God, therefore, defines for us who is antichrist. It is the one who denies who Jesus is revealed to be. The Christ (Messiah of the Old Testament) is the one who would come to be a ruler (Micah 5:2). The one who rejects the rule of Christ over their heart is by definition, antichrist.
More knowledge is given along those same lines. John says that everyone that acknowledges that Jesus has come in the flesh is of God. To admit that Jesus came in the flesh would be joined by the truth that when He came in the flesh He was both God and man (Phil. 2:7; I Tim. 3:16). The world of the first century could not deny the truth that the man Jesus lived, that argument would not have stood before intelligent people. Acknowledging that Jesus came in the flesh means acknowledging that He is God and one must obey Him. The spirit that denies that truth is antichrist (I John 4:3). Once more John says it was already at work. As we come to II John, the message is used again. The deceivers are already in the world who will not accept that Jesus is God. These deceivers are called antichrist (verse 7).
A sad warning is given to those who keep going beyond the doctrine of Christ (verse 9). They do not have God. The one in whom the doctrine of Christ lives has both the Father and the Son. This is not just some discussion about the deity of Christ alone. If Jesus is God (which He is) then one would could not accept such a position without accepting all that Jesus taught, that is His doctrine. What if you do not accept His doctrine. Then you are “against Christ”. The word “anti” means against. They of the first century understood and so should we.