What Reveals the Antichrist?

In this video I want to talk about what reveals the Antichrist, and the reason is because of the belief that the Antichrist won’t be revealed until the church is raptured away, or until he sits in the third temple and proclaims himself to be God.

However, this is simply not what the Bible teaches. So, let’s go over this for a few minutes, starting with Second Thessalonians where we are given this verse:

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;” – 2 Thess 2:3

In this passage, the words “that day shall not come” are a reference to the second coming of Jesus, which – as it explains – won’t happen UNTIL there is a falling away from the faith AND the man of sin is revealed.

This means no matter what we believe about the timing of the rapture, the Bible clearly tells us that Jesus does NOT come until the falling away happens first, and the revealing of the man of sin.

The next verse tells us of an important event to happen, which is that the Antichrist will physically sit in the temple of God, and proclaim himself to BE God, or perhaps, in my opinion, the savior of the world.

“Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” – 2 Thess 2:4

Importantly, this verse is connected to Matthew 24, where Jesus said that this is something that will be SEEN. In other words, it’s not simply an event that happens in a spiritual sense, or metaphorically, but something that we will observe with our eyes.

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)” – Matt 24:15

Notice, however, that neither of these two verses talk about the Antichrist being revealed, and that is because verses 7 and 8 in second Thessalonians explain that something is taken out of the way, which reveals the Antichrist.

“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:” – 2 Thess 2:7-8

What is this that is taken out of the way? We are given more insight just a couple of verses later.

“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” – 2 Thess 2:10-12

So, we can now see that whatever is taken out of the way, it is because some people do not love the truth, which results in their being given over to the strong delusion. And John 16:13 tells us what would be taken away from those who don’t love the truth.

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:” – John 16:13

Thus, we can understand that it’s the Holy Spirit that is being taken out of the way, and it’s specifically because people have fallen away from the faith and no longer love the truth. Because the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way, these people are given over to the strong delusion.

Therefor, we can look at the two verses in 2 Thessalonians as being two bookends on the revealing of the Antichrist. His revealing starts with the falling away from the faith, and culminates with him sitting in the temple and proclaiming himself to be God.

And, indeed, we have witnessed the start of the revealing of the Antichrist in recent years, as tens of millions of Christians have abandoned the Kingdom of God and instead embraced the kingdom of this world.

We simply have had to pay attention to WHO these Christians are gravitating towards to understand the identity of the man of sin. That’s what reveals him to true Christians who do love the truth. It’s the beginning of his revealing.

For the world at large, his entering the 3rd temple and proclaiming himself to be God will be their wake up call, or their come-to-Jesus moment. It is at this time that the world at large will understand who he is. It’s the culmination of his revealing.

In summary, the revealing of the Antichrist BEGINS with the falling away from the faith, which true Christians will know and understand because we can see who those who fall away are falling towards.

The revealing of the Antichrist ENDS with his sitting in the third temple and proclaiming himself to be God, and this revealing is for the whole world. They will know who he is.

Finally, I want to emphasize that the strong delusion happens TO Christians, not to unbelievers. Something is to happen WITHIN the church that causes many to fall away, meaning that the deception will come from someone reasonably close to the faith.

Very few Christians would be deluded by an easy-to-identify, far-left, pagan, Muslim type of Antichrist. Instead, the Antichrist will be embraced by the church, and this man of sin will lead many believers to fall away from the faith.

Once you understand that, you’ll be able to see that the arrival of the Antichrist on the scene is not something that is still in the future. Instead, he is under our noses, right now. ♦