In a recent sermon, my pastor preached on the antichrist, so with God’s guidance, I have begun to do a little research on what, or who the antichrist will be when he returns to earth.
In Psalm 55 much is said of the antichrist in his relation to Israel. Among other things we read there, "The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords." (v. 21).
The reason for this is given in the previous verse:
"He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant.”
The reference is to antichrist breaking his seven-year Covenant with the Jews as we see in The Book of Daniel:
“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
- Daniel 9:27 (KJV)
“And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant. And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his father's fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.”
- Daniel 11:21-24 (KJV)
If you read Psalm 55 through, it can be seen that it sets forth the sorrows of Israel and the sighing of the godly remnant during the end-time. The remarkable thing is when we come to verses 11-14 we find that which has a double application and fulfillment:
"Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets. For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company."
- Psalm 55:11-14 (KJV)
These verses describe not only the base treachery of Judas toward Christ, but they also announce how he shall yet, when reincarnated in the antichrist, betray and desert Israel. The relation of antichrist to Israel will be precisely the same as that of Judas to Christ of old. He will pose as the friend of the Jews, but later he will come out in his true character. In the Tribulation period, the Nation of Israel shall taste the bitterness of betrayal and desertion by one who masqueraded as a 'familiar friend'. Hence, we have here the first hint that the antichrist will be Judas reincarnated.
“And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it."
- Isaiah 28:18 (KJV)
The covenant is referred to in The Book of Daniel:
“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
- Daniel 9:27 (KJV)
In The Book of Revelations Chapter 6, a fourfold picture of the antichrist is given. The opposite of the fourfold portrayal of the Lord Jesus in the Gospels. Here he is seen as the rider on differently colored horses, which bring before us four stages in his awful career. When we come to the last of them the Holy Spirit exposes his true identity thusly:
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”
- Revelation 6:8 (KJV)
Now "hell" or "hades" is the place which receives the souls of the dead, and the fact that this awful name is here applied to antichrist intimates that he has come from there.
In The Book of Matthew we read this about the antichrist’s origins:
“The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.”
- Matthew 12:41-43 (KJV)
The antichrist will be a superhuman being, a fallen and unclean spirit. This coming incarnation of satan has previously been on earth. The history of this 'unclean spirit" is divided into three stages. First, as having dwelt in "a man"; second, as having gone out of a man, and walking through dry places, seeking rest and finding none. This has reference to his present condition during the interval between his two appearances on earth. Third, he says, "I will return to my house". This Unclean Spirit, then, who has already been here, who is now away in a place where rest is not to be found, is to come back again!
We see in The Book of John that the antichrist will be Judas reincarnated:
“While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.”
- John 17:12 (KJV)
Let us consider the teaching of Scripture concerning Judas Iscariot which we see in The Book of Matthew:
“The Son of Man goeth as it is written of Him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.”
- Matthew 26:24 (KJV)
But was Judas more than a man? Let’s look into God’s Word for that answer as well. We also read the following in The Book of John:
“Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?”
- John 6:70 (KJV)
Keep in mind many languages have separate words for ‘demon’ and ‘devil.’ There are many demons, but only one devil. Further, in no other passage is the word "devil" applied to any one but to satan himself. Judas then was the devil incarnate, just as the Lord Jesus was God incarnate. Christ Himself said so, and we dare not doubt His word.
As we have seen, in The Book of John 17:12 Christ termed Judas "the son of perdition.”
Also, look at these words from the Second Book of Thessalonians:
“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 Thessalonians 2:3 (KJV)
These are the only two places in all the Bible where his name occurs, and the fact that Judas was termed by Christ not a "son of perdition", but "The Son of Perdition", and the fact that the “Man of Sin” is so named prove that they are one and the same person. What other conclusion can a Christian reader of the Bible come to?
In The Book of Revelations we find the first reference of the beast:
“And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.”
- Revelations 11:7 (KJV)
Here the antichrist is seen issuing forth from the abyss. What is the abyss? It is the abode of lost spirits, the place of their incarceration and torment, which is also mentioned in the following scripture:
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”
- Revelation 20:1-3 (KJV)
“And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.”
- Luke 8:31 (KJV)
“And when He was come into the house, the blind men came to Him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.”
- Matthew 9:28 (KJV)
The question naturally arises, How did he get there? and when was he sent there? We answer. When Judas Iscariot died! The Antichrist will be Judas Iscariot reincarnated. In proof of this we see the following in The Book of Acts:
“That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”
- Acts 1 :25 (KJV)
Of no one else in all the Bible is it said that at death he went "to his own place". Put this scripture together with the following scripture from The Book of Revelation; Judas went "to his own place", the Beast ascends out of the Abyss.
“The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
- Revelations 17:8 (KJV)
This verse is generally understood to refer to the revived Roman Empire, and while allowing that such an application is warrantable, yet we are persuaded it is a mistake to limit it to this. In the Apocalypse, the Roman Empire and its final and satanic head are very closely connected, so much so, that at times it is difficult to distinguish between them.
We are also told:
"And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition."
- Revelations 17:11 (KJV)
A majority of biblical scholars contend that the beast, the "eighth" head, and form of government of the Roman Empire is the antichrist himself. In both, verse 8 and 11, the designation is the same, "the beast"; and in both, we are told he "goeth into perdition."
We take it, then, that what is predicated of "the beast" in 17:8 is true of both the Roman Empire and its last head, the antichrist: of the former, in the sense that it is infernal in its character. Viewing it now as a declaration of the antichrist, what does it tell us about him? Four things. First, he "was". Second, he "is not". Third, he shall "ascend out of the Bottomless Pit". Fourth, he shall "go into perdition". The various time-marks here concern the Beast in his relation to the earth. First, he "was" on the earth. Second, he "is not" now on the earth, unlike those chosen by God as we see in the Book of Genesis:
“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”
- Genesis 5:24 (KJV)
"He was not for God took him"; that is, "was not" any longer on the earth.
Third, he, satan, shall "ascend out of the bottomless pit," where he now is, which agrees with the following scripture from The Book of Revelation:
“And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.”
- Revelation 11:7 (KJV)
Fourth, he shall "go into perdition.” We learn then from this scripture that at the time the Book of Revelation was written the beast "was not" then on the earth, but that he had been on it formerly. Further, we learn that in The Apostle John's day the beast was then in the bottomless pit but should yet ascend out of it. Here then is further evidence that the antichrist has been on earth before.
“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”
- Revelations. 19:20 (KJV)
This gives the last, word concerning the Antichrist. It makes known the terrible fate which awaits him. He, together with his ally, will be cast alive into the Lake of Fire. This is very striking, and confirms what has been said above, namely, that the Antichrist will be one who has already appeared on earth, and the antichrist will not be cast, eventually into the abyss, as satan will be at the end of the millennium as we see in The Book of Revelation, Chapter 20:
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”
- Revelation 20:1-3 (KJV)
He will be cast into the lake of fire which is the final abode of the damned. Why is it that he shall not be cast into the abyss at the return of Christ? It must be because he has already been there. Hence, the judgment meted out to him is final and irrevocable, as will be that of the Devil a thousand years later, as we see in The Book of Revelation Chapter 20:
“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
- Revelation 20:10 (KJV)
Brothers and sisters. I hope that I have properly heeded The Lord’s guidance in this quick look at some facets that convince me that Judas Iscariot is the antichrist. I have used The King James Version of The Holy Bible as my supporting evidence, and to check and cross-check things I have found on the internet. I hope some of this information has been new and helpful, but most of all, I hope you are serving God today!
God bless!
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