Who is the Antichrist? Bible Prophecy Reveals Signs He’s Operating Today

Excerpted from The Rapture, The Antichrist, and the Tribulation.

The fact is a worldwide modification is already underway as the world is being prepared for the appearance of the Antichrist.

An amoral philosophy is being proliferated in media, education, and nearly every sphere of society. Evidence abounds revealing how far delusion and a widespread mutiny against God and His Word have already advanced in the world today. And this way of thinking is being perpetuated in the education of children and young people in schools and universities.

In addition, through the media and every other avenue possible, this worldview is being aggressively pushed by “progressives” who believe they have the right to subject everyone else — including Christians — to their new moral code. But there is a larger satanic plan at work that even these progressives are unaware of. It is a plan to lead society along the prophetic route to a day when the Antichrist will be revealed to the world. The world is being primed and prepared for the ultimate manifestation of the Antichrist at the end of the age.

In the book of Daniel, we find multiple references to the Antichrist making his appearance at the end of the age. Daniel 8:23 says, “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.”

Notice this prophecy refers to the “latter time” and to a moment “when the transgressors are come to the full.” This is speaking of a time at the end of the age when society will be led so far off track that it will completely set aside the law of God. This is precisely what we are witnessing in our own times and exactly what Paul prophesied would occur in Second Thessalonians 2:3.

But Daniel 8:23 is so important to this conversation that I want you to see how it is rendered in other versions.

• The New King James Version says, “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall arise, having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes.”

• The New American Standard Bible says, “And in the latter period of their dominion, when the wrongdoers have run their course, a king will arise, insolent and skilled in intrigue.”

• The New Living Translation says, “At the end of their rule, when their sin is at its height, a fierce king, a master of intrigue, will rise to power.”

Notice all of these translations speak of latter times when sin has reached its zenith and society runs amuck and goes completely astray.

Exactly at that moment:

• “A king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up” (King James Version).

• “A king shall arise, having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes” (New King James Version).

• “A king will arise, insolent and skilled in intrigue” (New American Standard Bible).

• “A fierce king, a master of intrigue, will rise to power” (New Living Translation).

The Antichrist will appear as a progressive world leader, but these versions of Daniel 8:23 tell us that he will in reality be fierce, have fierce features, and be insolent. He will be skilled in darkness, sinister schemes, intrigues, and will be marked with supernatural powers. This goes well with Revelation 13:3-4 where the Antichrist is described as a “beast.” We will return to Revelation 13:3-4 in just a few pages so you can more fully understand why the Bible refers to him that way.

But in Second Thessalonians 2:7, Paul stated that the mystery of iniquity has been working for a long time. It is a covert, secret plan that the devil has been slowly executing right under people’s noses, as he has methodically and tediously walked the world away from the law of God to become a society that has thrown off moral restraints. This is precisely what Paul had in mind when he wrote of an apostate world that has stepped away from the law of God. So Paul, in agreement with Daniel 8:23, predicted a worldwide society in a state of rebellion or mutiny against God would emerge in the last days.

There is a reason this worldwide mutiny must happen first — for if the world had remained rooted in Judeo-Christian principles, as it has for many centuries, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for a man of lawlessness (such as the Antichrist) to rise to power. So before the Antichrist will make his grand appearance, first the world will go through a worldwide modification process to prepare for his arrival.

This is precisely what we have been observing as society has more and more thrown off the voice of Scripture to create a new world with a new moral code that is both messy and chaotic. I’m sure you would agree that we are living in a mind-boggling period of deceived thinking that most of us wouldn’t have imagined possible a generation ago.

And once the “restrainer” (see 2 Thessalonians 2:7) is removed from the scene, all guardrails for morality and godliness will be completely cast aside, and Paul said that is when the Antichrist, or the Man of Sin, will make his appearance to the world as a progressive and great new world leader.

In Second Thessalonians 2:3, Paul referred to the Antichrist as the “man of sin.” The word “sin” in this case is the Greek word anomia, which is actually a form of the word nomos, which is the Greek word for law, and it is regularly used to depict the standard of what is legally or morally correct. But when an “a” is attached to the front of this word, it becomes anomia. That “a” has a cancelling effect, so rather than depict the law or a correct moral standard, the word anomia holds the opposite meaning — that is, without law or lawless — and it pictures either a person or a people who possess no fixed moral standards. It depicts those who live void of standards, without law, or in a state of lawlessness. It is used prophetically to depict a last-days society that will throw out all previously agreed-upon moral standards and will depart from God’s well-established laws at the very end of the age.

Thus, we find that the Bible tells us that as part of a last-days scheme, society will construct a new world order that has few, if any, hard and fast rules of what is morally right and wrong. In essence, this will be a lawless world — that is, a world detached from the “outdated” voice of the Bible.

Society will attempt to disconnect from most moral standards that were once held to be the common rule and view of society. Because Paul used the word “sin” — the Greek word anomia — in connection with the Antichrist, we know that this individual will be void of standards and without law.

This means the Antichrist will throw out all previously agreed-upon moral standards and will rise as an aggressive proponent of departing from God’s well-established laws. He will not be just a person with a lawless attitude; he will be the Man of Lawlessness — the epitome of one who has fully discarded God’s well-established laws to become Satan’s perfect candidate to lead a mutinous world that has likewise rejected the voice of God and Scripture as its internal compass. This word anomia depicts the Antichrist as one who is free of past moral constraints and, hence, free and unshackled from the law of God that once governed society. Because Paul used a definite article in Greek, it tells us this individual is not just a person with a lawless attitude, but, rather, this is the Man of Lawlessness, or the Antichrist.

Again, the current trend toward lawlessness — that is, the construction of a new world order with morals contrary to those stated in God’s Word — will eventually produce a collective mindset in society that no longer feels the pain or conviction of sin and is numb to its consequences. And according to Paul, that mutinous society will be primed and prepared for the Antichrist to be “revealed” at that time.

Paul added that once the world has generally “chucked” the law of God, and it has been modified to become a world freed of past constraints, that is precisely when this lawless individual — the Antichrist — will be “revealed.” The word “revealed” is the Greek word apokalupto, which is a compound of apo and kalupto. The word apo means away, and the word kalupto refers to something that is veiled, covered, concealed, or hidden. But when these words are compounded into apokalupto, the new word depicts a veil that has been removed, thus exposing what was behind the veil, concealed, or hidden from view.

Paul used this word to inform us that the “man of sin” — the Antichrist — until the time of his revealing, will have been concealed and hidden from public view. But a day is coming when, at just the right time, he will suddenly appear and step onto the world stage for all to see. Although the Antichrist will be center stage and ready for his appearance to the world, the curtains that conceal his identity will remain shut until the worldwide mutiny against God — the apostasia, or falling away — occurs and until the “restrainer” is taken out of the way. He will not be revealed until the world is lawless enough to welcome and receive him and his new agenda.

In Second Thessalonians 2:3, Paul also called the Antichrist the “son of perdition.” The word “perdition” is a translation of the Greek word apoleia, and it speaks of something doomed, rotten, ruinous, or decaying. Although the Antichrist’s claim is that he will lead the world into a more progressive future, what he will bring to the world is doom, destruction, rot, ruin, and decay. There will ultimately be absolutely no redeeming values in anything produced by his rule.

As noted previously, in Second Thessalonians 2:7, “…the mystery of iniquity doth already work….” This verse plainly means Satan has been working a secret plan to get the world ready for the Man of Lawlessness to make his grand appearance. But we read in First John 4:3 that the “…spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” It’s not difficult to look around and observe that the antichrist spirit — that which is antithetical, or opposite and opposed, to Christ — is very present in our world system.

Over the centuries, Satan has experimented with various world leaders as “prototypes” of the Antichrist. There have been many visible leaders whom people have “suspected” to be the Antichrist. Among them were Nero, Trajan, Hadrian, Domitian, various Popes, Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler, Anwar Sadat, Gorbachev, Kissinger, even King Charles — and the list goes on and on. And, certainly, during the leadership of some of these figures, those they governed and the world around them experienced “perditious” times rife with doom, rottenness, and ruin. But over the ages — sometimes simply based on people’s likes and dislikes — many have attempted to guess, Who is the Antichrist?

But Paul categorically taught that no one will know the Antichrist’s identity until the “restrainer” has been removed from the earth, and we will look at this in the following pages. Furthermore, when Paul described the Antichrist in Second Thessalonians 2:3, he importantly used a definite article before the name or title “Antichrist.” This signals that the Antichrist will be in a category like none other before him. He will not simply be an evil person; he will be incarnated evil because this will be the son of doom and destruction.