20 Bible Verses About the Antichrist

1 John 2:18

“Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.”

Reflection: John writes to churches he calls his “little children” (2:1). He grants what they “have heard”, that antichrist is coming, and then points to the present: many antichrists have already come, and he takes that as the sign that it is the last hour. The expected figure is singular and the present ones are plural, in the same verse.

1 John 2:19

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

Reflection: The many antichrists of the verse before had been members of John’s congregations. “They went out from us,” he writes, and he reads their leaving as evidence that they had never belonged. The next verse turns to those who stayed: “But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.”

1 John 2:22

“Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.”

Reflection: Here John defines the antichrist by what he denies: that Jesus is the Christ. Verse 23 draws the consequence for the Father as well as the Son: “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”

1 John 4:3

“and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”

Reflection: The chapter opens with a command to “test the spirits,” because “many false prophets have gone out into the world” (4:1). The test is whether a spirit confesses “that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (4:2). John treats antichrist here as a spirit already at work, and in verse 4 he tells his readers they “have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

2 John 1:7

“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.”

Reflection: The elder writes to “the elect lady and her children” (verse 1) about travelling teachers who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. He calls any one of them “the deceiver and the antichrist.” His instruction follows in verse 10: such a teacher is not to be received into the house or given a greeting.

2 Thessalonians 2:3

“Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,”

Reflection: Paul asks the Thessalonians not to be “quickly shaken in mind or alarmed” by a spirit, a spoken word or a letter “seeming to be from us” claiming that the day of the Lord has come (2:2). Paul answers that two things come first: the rebellion, and the revealing of “the man of lawlessness.” The ESV calls him “the son of destruction”, the phrase Jesus uses in John 17:12 for the one disciple who was lost.

2 Thessalonians 2:4

“who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”

Reflection: The man of lawlessness sets himself above “every so-called god or object of worship” and takes his seat in the temple of God. The wording is close to Daniel 11:36, where a king “shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god.” Paul reminds the Thessalonians in verse 5 that he told them this in person.

2 Thessalonians 2:8

“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”

Reflection: “And then” follows verses 6-7, which speak of something, and someone, now restraining him; Paul says the Thessalonians “know what is restraining him” but does not name it. The same sentence that announces the lawless one’s revealing announces his end: the Lord Jesus kills him “with the breath of his mouth” at the appearance of his coming.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-10

“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.”

Reflection: Verse 9 gives the lawless one a “coming” of his own, set against “the appearance of his coming” in verse 8. Its source is the activity of Satan, and its means are false signs, wonders and deception. Those taken in are the ones who “refused to love the truth,” and verse 11 adds that God then “sends them a strong delusion.”

Daniel 7:25

“He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.”

Reflection: In the interpretation of Daniel’s vision, the fourth beast is a fourth kingdom and its ten horns are ten kings; another king arises after them and puts down three (7:23-24). He speaks against the Most High, wears out the saints and tries to change the times and the law for “a time, times, and half a time.” Then “the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away” (7:26). Revelation 12:14 uses the same span, “a time, and times, and half a time.”

Daniel 8:25

“By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand.”

Reflection: Daniel 8 names its own subjects: the ram is “the kings of Media and Persia” and the goat “the king of Greece” (8:20-21). This “king of bold face” arises at the latter end of the four kingdoms that come out of Greece (8:22-23). He rises “against the Prince of princes” and is broken “by no human hand.”

Daniel 11:36

“And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done.”

Reflection: The verse comes in a long account of wars between the king of the north and the king of the south. Verse 31 says forces from the northern king will profane the temple and “set up the abomination that makes desolate,” which Jesus refers to in Matthew 24:15 as “spoken of by the prophet Daniel.” This king exalts himself above every god, but he prospers only “till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done.”

Matthew 24:5

“For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.”

Reflection: On the Mount of Olives the disciples asked for “the sign of your coming and of the end of the age” (24:3). Jesus begins his answer with a warning, “See that no one leads you astray” (24:4), and the first danger he names is people using his name and his title.

Matthew 24:24

“For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”

Reflection: The false christs and false prophets perform “great signs and wonders” to lead astray “if possible, even the elect.” Jesus tells the disciples not to believe reports that the Christ is in the wilderness or in the inner rooms, “for as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (24:26-27).

Revelation 13:4

“And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?’”

Reflection: Revelation 12:9 names the dragon as “that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan.” He gives the beast from the sea “his power and his throne and great authority” (13:2), and the people worship both the dragon and the beast. The crowd’s question, “Who is like the beast?”, takes the form of Israel’s song in Exodus 15:11: “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?”

Revelation 13:5-6

“And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.”

Reflection: The beast “was given” its mouth and “was allowed” its authority, and the authority has a limit of forty-two months. A mouth uttering haughty words goes back to the horn in Daniel 7:20, which had “a mouth that spoke great things.” The blasphemy is aimed at God’s name and his dwelling, “those who dwell in heaven.”

Revelation 13:7

“Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation.”

Reflection: The words echo Daniel 7:21, where the horn “made war with the saints and prevailed over them.” Revelation widens the reach to “every tribe and people and language and nation.” Verse 10 follows with “Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.”

Revelation 13:16-17

“Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

Reflection: The subject here is the second beast, from the earth, which “had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon” (13:11) and makes the earth worship the first beast. Its mark, on the right hand or the forehead, decides who may buy and sell. Revelation 14:1 shows the other company: the 144,000 with the Lamb, who have “his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.”

Revelation 13:18

“This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”

Reflection: John calls for wisdom to “calculate” the number, which he says is “the number of a man.” In Against Heresies 5.30 Irenaeus tried names against 666, among them Evanthas, Lateinos and Teitan, and stopped short of a verdict: “We will not, however, incur the risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of Antichrist.”

Revelation 19:20

“And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.”

Reflection: The false prophet is the second beast of chapter 13, identified here by the signs it did and the mark it imposed. The beast and the kings of the earth gather “to make war against him who was sitting on the horse” (19:19), and the next thing recorded is the beast’s capture. The rest are slain by “the sword that came from the mouth” of the rider (19:21).