Premillennialism is the false doctrine that denies that Jesus set up His kingdom when He came to earth.  They believe that the millennial kingdom will be established sometime in the future after the rapture and seven years of tribulation.  Their doctrine, however, encompasses many more false teachings than just their erroneous conclusion about the kingdom.

One of the more known aspects of their teachings is that there is going to be a world leader with a diabolical nature called “The Antichrist” who will dominate the world, playing a major role in the coming tribulation.  But, have no fear, according to premillennialism, this evil fiend will be defeated by Christ in the great battle of Armageddon.

In reality, the reason you do not have to fear “the Antichrist” is that there is no such person, nor shall there ever be.  What does the Bible say about antichrist? While premillennialists make it sound like the Bible is full of passages that speak about “the Antichrist,” the truth is there are only four passages in the Bible that use the term antichrist, and all of those passages are found in the epistles of John (1 John 2:18; 1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7).

The first thing that one notices when reading these passages is that John does not use the term antichrist eschatologically.  The antichrist is not restricted to the future from John’s perspective but was something that was already working in his day (1 John 2:18).

The second thing that is clear about the term antichrist is that John was not referring to just one specific person.  He spoke of antichrists, suggesting that there were many of them.  Furthermore, in referring to antichrist, John did not use the term as a proper name.  He did not speak of “the Antichrist.”  He uses the term antichrist, not to denote a specific person, but to identify a false way of thinking, specifically, a false view of Christ.

Whenever studying the epistles of John, it becomes obvious that John is speaking against the false system or doctrine of Gnosticism.  While the doctrinal system of Gnosticism did not develop fully until the second century, there is no doubt that the seeds of it were being planted in the first century.

Both Paul and John recognized the threat of Gnosticism in their writings.  There were many different doctrinal manifestations of this false doctrine, but John deals with its two most common forms—Cerinthianism (deniers of the deity of Christ) and the Docetism (deniers of the humanity of Christ).

It was these forms of Gnosticism, as well as their advocates, that John referred to as antichrist.  “Anti” simply means against.  Those denying the deity or humanity of Christ are against or opposed to Christ.  John refers to Gnosticism as a spirit of error (1 John 4:6), and while he was combating a specific false doctrine in his epistles, any spirit of error is antichrist, i.e., is against or opposed to Christ.

Anyone who hinders the cause of Christ in anyway can be referred to as antichrist.  All false prophets or false Christs are antichrist.  Elymas the magician was antichrist (Acts 13:7-11).  The Jewish Sanhedrin was antichrist (Acts 5:27-30).   It is no wonder that John said that “even now are there many antichrists.”

The lesson for us is that all who oppose Christ and his cause are antichrist.  That means that even we can be antichrists.  Instead of wasting our time worrying about some theoretical person that the Bible never even mentions, we better examine ourselves and make sure that we are for Christ and never against him.       

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.