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Topic:
Thoughts
And Things Of The Bible -- Antichrist
From Easton's Bible Dictionary
The word "antichrist" means against Christ, or an
opposition Christ, a rival Christ. The word is used only by the apostle
John. Referring to false teachers, he says (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John
1:7), "Even now are there many antichrists."
(1.) This name has been applied to the "little horn" of the
"king of fierce countenance" (Dan. 7:24, 25; 8:23-25).
(2.) It has been applied also to the "false Christs" spoken of
by our Lord (Matt. 24:5, 23, 24).
(3.) To the "man of sin" described by Paul (2 Thess. 2:3, 4,
8-10).
(4.) And to the "beast from the sea" (Rev. 13:1; 17:1-18).
From Smith's Bible Dictionary
The term "antichrist" is employed by the apostle John
alone, and is defined by him in a manner which leaves no doubt as to its
intrinsic meaning. With regard to its application there is less
certainty. In the first passage-- (1 John 2:18)--in which it occurs, the
apostle makes direct reference to the false Christ's whose coming, it
had been fore-told, should mark the last days. In v. 22 we find,
"he is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son;" and
still more positively, "every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is of antichrist." Comp. (2 John 1:7)
From these emphatic and repeated definitions it has been supposed that
the object of the apostle in his first epistle was to combat the errors
of Cerinthus, the Docetae and the Gnostics on the subject of the
Incarnation. (They denied the union of the divine and human in Christ.)
The coming of Antichrist was (believed to be foretold in the "vile
person" of Daniel's prophecy, (Daniel 11:21) which received its
first accomplishment in Antiochus Epiphanes but of which the complete
fulfillment was reserved for the last times. He is identified with
"the man of sin, the son of perdition." (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
This interpretation brings Antichrist into close connection with the
gigantic power of evil, symbolized by the "beast," (Revelation
13:1)... who received his power from the dragon (i.e. the devil, the
serpent of Genesis), continued for forty and two months, and was
invested with the kingdom of the ten kings who destroyed the harlot
Babylon, (Revelation 17:12,17) the city of seven hills. The destruction
of Babylon is to be followed by the rule of Antichrist for a short
period, (Revelation 17:10) to be in his turn overthrown in "the
battle of that great day of God Almighty," (Revelation 16:14) with
the false prophet and all his followers. Rev. 19. The personality of
Antichrist is to be inferred as well from the personality of his
historical precursor as from that of him to whom he stands opposed. Such
an interpretation is to be preferred to that which regards Antichrist as
the embodiment and personification of all powers and agencies inimical
to Christ, or of the Antichristian might of the world.
Derived from Easton's and Smith's Bible Dictionaries
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