We hear much ado about the eventual rise of the Great Antichrist. What does the Bible really say about it? We must first recognize there are only three instances where the word is even used in the Bible. In all 3 situations, the tense of its use may be summarized by this sentence:

   "For those of you who speak of Antichrist who is to come, I say to you, anyone who denies Jesus is Antichrist."

     Most theologians will claim that this verifies that there will be an Antichrist of antichrists in the end times. They will point to the "who is to come" portion to show that the Biblical writer is affirming that the Antichrist must rise someday.

     Let us look, though, at a substitution of words which shows that this statement was intended to be understood from a completely opposing angle.

     "For those of you who speak of the Tooth Fairy who is to come, I say to you, anyone who puts a quarter under the pillow in exchange for a child's tooth is the Tooth Fairy."

     Does this mean that the speaker is instructing everyone with this sentence that there actually is a little sprite that goes around swapping coins for teeth? No, of course not. He is denying it. This is a corrective statement, not a supportive one. It is a statement of denial, not agreement.

     We must look to the beginning of the sentence to see the intended audience:

     "For those of you who speak of Antichrist who is to come"

     It is not the biblical writer that is saying the Antichrist is to come, but rather others who were teaching it, and the biblical writer was addressing their proposition. There must have been people in the days of the early church who were teaching a heresy that since there was a Christ, there must be an Antichrist. Perhaps it was a Yin and Yang sort of thing. The biblical writer wrote in opposition to this heresy.