THE IDENTITY OF THE ANTICHRIST

Daniel 9

Pastor Rick Jackson

Back in the 1960s and the 1970s there was a rumor going around that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was the Antichrist. Later in the 70s it was rumored to be Jimmy Carter. Since then I have heard that Ronald Wilson Reagan or Bill Clinton must be the Antichrist. There was an email going around the Internet in March 2008 that said:

According to the book of Revelations [sic] Chapter 13: The beast will be allowed to have authority for 42 months, which is almost a four-year term of a Presidency. The anti-Christ will be a man, in his 40's, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal. The prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, he will destroy everything. Is it OBAMA?

I have read where people thought the Antichrist was the pope. One Bible teacher of former days thought Mussolini, the Italian dictator up into WWII was the Antichrist. At least he had some factual information to go on. What does the Bible say about the Antichrist? Can we identify him? Is he alive today?

I. THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE ANTICHRIST

Just as the Bible gives us information to identify Christ the Messiah (His tribe, place of birth, time of birth, type of birth, etc.) which not only identify Him but excludes others (anyone born outside of Bethlehem for example) so the Bible does the same for the Antichrist. There are certain things we know that will be true of him that identify him and excludes others. Here are just a few.

1. He's the man of a place [Dan. 9:26-27] -the revived Roman Empire

2. He's the man of a people [Rev. 13:1, 17:15] -the nations of the Gentiles

3. He's the man of perversions [Dan. 11:36-39]

II. THE EXPRESSION OF THE ANTICHRIST [1 John. 2:18]

John reminds his readers that while the Antichrist is coming since we are in the last days already (in his day and on up into ours) there are many expressions of Antichrists already. The expression of antichrist thinking is blatantly anti-trinitarian. These are characterized by:

1. Liars that deny the Father and the Son [2:22-23]

2. Liars that deny the Holy Spirit and the Son [4:1-6]

3. Liars that deny the Deity of Christ [2 Jn. 7-11]

III. THE INCARCERATION OF THE ANTICHRIST [Rev. 19-20]

The Antichrist will be Satanically empowered. Who can stop this blasphemer yet to be revealed?

1. The Lord Jesus will be revealed at the end of the tribulation [19:11-16]

2. The False prophet and the Antichrist will be thrown into the lake of fire [19:19-21]

3. Satan himself will be incarcerated [20:1-10]