This is the first installment of a series titled “Who Is The Antichrist?” Links to the remainder are at the bottom of this post.
When I first came to Christianity, I couldn’t get enough of the Bible. They call this “first love”. In particular, I was very interested in Eschatology or the study of “the end times”. I read and read. I studied. I watched videos on Youtube. I did everything I could to learn more about “the end of days”, or “the end of the era”.
One Sabbath I decided to ask an Elder at my local congregation, a couple of questions about “the end times”. His answers kind of puzzled me because he seemed to have many of the same beliefs as most in mainstream Christianity, which is rare for us, being Sabbath keepers.
At the end of our conversation, he concluded our talk by saying: “All that stuff is a LONG way off. There’s no need to worry about that stuff now. When you see the Two Witnesses preaching in Jerusalem…Then we should worry about the end.”
Now, this is a good man. I respect him, and I respect his knowledge of the Bible. But, that talk blew me away. Not only did he agree with Mainstream Christendom, he also told me not to worry until the two witnesses were in Jerusalem. It was almost as if he was telling me to not even study the end-time prophecies as they were so far off into the future that I needn’t even waste my time studying these things. I don’t think that is what he was trying to communicate, but it FELT that way.
Can Antichrist really fool the whole world?
I found this to be very strange. From everything that I had learned, identifying the “Antichrist” should be paramount to every Christian. And, what about all of the things that were going to happen before the two witnesses came onto the scene? And, what about Revelation 11 when speaking about the two witnesses, the angel describes Jerusalem as “…the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also our Lord was crucified.” Wait! This is a big deal. Jerusalem is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt?!?
There just has to be so much more going on before the two witnesses come to Jerusalem. And, I want to learn about that stuff. Why? So that if I see some of these things happening, I will know what’s going on.
In Matthew 24:24, Messiah says:
“For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders; so much so that, if it were possible, they would deceive even the elect” (ESV)
If one were to read that backward. Could it not be said that: Only the elect will not be lead astray, or fooled by the false christs? Or perhaps put another way: To be counted as the elect, “the first resurrection”, you cannot be fooled by antichrist and the false prophet.
Now, I know that Matthew 24:24 isn’t necessarily saying that. And, I know my argument would only apply to the final generation, while I do believe that Messiah’s message was intended for all generations. It is something to consider.