Who is the Antichrist and from which nation will he come?

The Antichrist is the future religious leader whose headquarters will be in Jerusalem. Sometimes the future political leader of the revived Roman Empire is also called the Antichrist. Although both are anti—against Christ—the religious leader will be in himself the fullest expression of all that is against Christ and God. Other names by which the Antichrist is known in Scripture are:

• The king who will do according to his will (Daniel 11:36).
• The Man of Sin (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
• The Son of Perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
• The Wicked (2 Thessalonians 2:8).
• The Beast out of the earth (Revelation 13:11).
• The False Prophet (Revelation 16:13; 19:20).

This dreadful deceiver is part of the trinity of evil mentioned in Revelation 16:13. When the Lord Jesus comes with His people to judge the earth, the Antichrist along with his political ally, will be cast into the lake of fire. These two become the first occupants of the lake of fire. Listed below are some of the awful things that the Antichrist will do.

• He will deny the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22).
• He will come in his own name and be received by the Jews as their Messiah (John 5:43).
• He will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God (2 Thessalonians 2:4; Daniel 11:36).
• He will claim to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
• His coming will be after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
• He will set up an image of the beast in the rebuilt Jewish temple in the middle of the tribulation period (Revelation 13:14).
• He will enforce the worship of this image under the penalty of death (Revelation 13:15).
• He will make it impossible for any man to buy or sell without having the mark or name of the beast on their right hand or forehead (Revelation 13:16,17).

It seems very clear from Daniel 11:37 that the Antichrist will come from the nation of Israel. "Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers." This is a direct reference to his Jewish ancestry—the God of his fathers being Jehovah. He will also not regard the desire of women. This is a reference to the desire of Jewish women to bear the Messiah. It also seems unlikely that the Jewish people would receive someone as their Messiah if he were not a Jew.

Any attempt to identify this person before the rapture takes place is useless and only conjecture because we are told in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 that he will not be revealed until that which hinders the outbreak of evil shall be taken away. In verse 7 we read, "He who now letteth [hinders] will let [hinder], until He be taken out of the way." The Spirit of God in the church is the restraining power of evil. When the rapture occurs this restraining Power in the church will be gone, and "then shall that Wicked be revealed" (verse 8).

As the rapture is very near, it is possible that the one who will be the Antichrist is living today. May we each then be found to be "redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:16).