Antichrist in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

The word "antichrist" occurs only in 1 Jn 2:18,22; 4:3; 2 Jn 1:7, but the idea which the word conveys appears frequently in Scripture. I. In the Old Testament. Antichrist in the Old Testament: As in the Old Testament the doctrine concerning Christ was only suggested, not developed, so is it with the doctrine of the Antichrist. That the Messiah should be the divine Logos, the only adequate expression of God, was merely hinted at, not stated: so Antichrist was exhibited as the opponent of God rather than of His anointed. In the historical books of the Old Testament we find "Belial" used as if a personal opponent of Yahweh; thus the scandalously wicked are called in the King James Version "sons of Belial" (Jdg 19:22; 20:13), "daughter of Belial" (1 Sam 1:16), etc. The the Revised Version (British and American) translates the expression in an abstract sense, "base fellows," "wicked woman." In Dan 7:7,8 there is the description of a great heathen empire, represented by a beast with ten horns: its full antagonism to God is expressed in a little eleventh horn which had "a mouth speaking great things" and "made war with the saints" (Dan 7:8,21). Him the `Ancient of Days' was to destroy, and his kingdom was to be given to a `Son of Man' (Dan 7:9-14). Similar but yet differing in many points is the description of Antiochus Epiphanes in Dan 8:9-12,23- 25...