03.06.03. Appendix III

Part III The Beast and False Prophet

Revelation 13:1-18 presents the two principle evil individuals who will appear on earth during the Tribulation, using the expression "beast" to describe both. The first will be a political leader who arises from a Gentile country (Revelation 13:1-2), and the second will be a religious leader who arises from within the nation of Israel (Revelation 13:11-15). Both will appear to Israel after a peaceful fashion, but both will later turn against Israel and, together, seek to bring about the destruction of this nation (Daniel 9:26-27; Revelation 13:11).

The question is often asked, "Which of these two will be the Antichrist?" Students of the Word differ at this point. Some identify the first beast as the Antichrist, while others find reason to identify the second beast after this fashion.

The word "Antichrist" is found in only two books in the New Testament -- I John and II John. The word appears four times in I John (1 John 2:18, 1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:3) and one time in II John (2 John 1:7). Thus, the word does not appear in the Book of Revelation in connection with either beast.

But to say that John does not call either beast in Revelation 13:1-18, "Antichrist," is not really a fair statement. Though he does not use the word in Revelation 13:1-18, he refers to that coming evil person after such a fashion in 1 John 2:18. John states, "...ye have heard that antichrist shall come..." And one of the individuals set forth in Revelation 13:1-18 would have to be identified as the person John had previously spoken of in his first epistle.

Note that "Antichrist" is a compound word ("anti," prefixed to "Christ," is a Greek preposition, transliterated from Greek to English and often found prefixed to different words [in both Greek and English alike]). It can be shown that those living during the time in which the New Testament was written, during the first century, understood the word anti to mean "instead of," or "in the place of"; and this is the manner in which the word is invariably used in the Greek New Testament when it stands alone in a sentence (cf. Matthew 5:38; 20:38; Romans 12:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:15). When the word is prefixed to another word though, the thought expressed by anti, usually takes on a meaning more in the sense of "opposite" or "against" (cf. John 19:12; Acts 7:52; Acts 18:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:15 [1 Timothy 2:6 provides an exception]).

In 2 Thessalonians 2:4, the word anti is prefixed to the word "keimai [’to lie,’ or ’to recline’]." The compound word antikeimai means "to lie opposite to," taking on the meaning of "opposition to." And in this passage antikeimai is used relative to the actions of the first beast in Revelation 13:1-18 : "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God..."

Anti prefixed to "Christ," forming the word "Antichrist," would seem, from its contextual usage in I, II John, to also carry this same meaning. Antichrist would be the one "opposed to Christ," the one "against Christ." And this could describe either beast.

Using the other meaning of the word anti, either beast could also be in view. Both beasts actually appear "in the stead of Christ." The first beast appears after this fashion in a political sense, ruling the earth instead of Christ (from Babylon instead of Jerusalem); and the second beast appears in a religious sense instead of Christ -- as a "false prophet" instead of the true prophet.

Thus, in one respect, either way the word "Antichrist" is to be understood, both beasts could claim this title by their actions. But John only had one in mind when he wrote his first epistle.

The first beast is seen as the central figure among the two throughout Scripture. He is, for example, typified by the Assyrian Pharaoh in Egypt during Moses’ day; and he is the one who will be the last king of Babylon. He is the one who will both make and break the covenant with "the many," though the second beast may also play a specific part in both; and he is the one who will sit in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, declaring himself to be God. He is also the one who will be the great persecutor of the Jewish people in the latter days, and even in Revelation 13:1-18 the prominence is given to this individual rather than to the second beast.

The manner in which the first beast is presented throughout Scripture provides the reason why most students of the Word identify him as the one of whom John spoke in his first epistle; and this is the manner in which the expression "Antichrist" has been used in this book.